《UNLIMITED SPEED》


 Chapter 1 01.REINCARNATION

    "Where am I? What happened? Oh yeah, I got pushed off a building by my brother."

    Pathetic.

    "Wasn''t I impaled by I think a pole, don''t remember it happened so fast?

    One moment I was quarreling with him, the next I was staring at the sky gasping for breath."

    "And then I ended up here. Well, dad won''t be happy. He had always warned me to be careful of him. Well, I tried, but I guess it is what it is."

    "But seriously where am I."

    "How long have I been floating, it''s so dark I can''t tell if I''m moving, or not but I know I am."

    "Shouldn''t I be in the afterlife, or is this the afterlife. Well, I guess I''ll have to find out."

    #

    "It feels like it''s been over a month but nothing has changed."

    "I haven''t been able to sleep."

    "Wait do I even have a body right now, if I don''t then I guess spirits are incapable of sleeping."

    "When will all of this end, or is this the hell everyone talks about. Though I don''t see any fire, heck right now I''d love to see something apart from this seemingly endless darkness."

    ##

    "It feels like it''s been over a year since I got here, and still nothing has happened.

    I want to cry, but I am incapable of doing that, this seems to be some bad joke that isn''t funny, I wonder if there is an end to this."

    "I don''t want to stay here forever!"

    "I want out!"

    "I want out!"

    "I want out!"

    "Uh what is that."

    "Is that light? it''s so small."

    "Wait. It''s getting bigger, shit it''s too bright."

    "I''m been sucked out of here finally."

    "But where am I going?"

    "What is happening my thoughts are getting slower!"

    ##*& w#he##e@#re*#$

    ##

    ##

    ##

    "Uh, what was that? Where am I? Wait I can see. I seem to be in a forest, what is that sound it sounds like a growl do trees growl!"

    "Is that a wolf? Shit, it noticed me.

    Damnit, this body isn''t responding, no, no, no. Am I going to die just after waking up?"

    "Respond stupid body. Oh no, there are more of them! I need to do something about this but this body is...."

    "Finally some control I''ll have to get up slowly so I don''t provoke them,"

    Getting up gradually he watched as the wolves circled him, seemingly waiting for the right moment to pounce.

    There were four wolves in total which were only as tall as a man''s hip, so they were average.

    He swept his gaze around and saw only trees.

    Some were too tall, while some seemed climbable.

    He had the thought of running and jumping on a tree but knew he would be dead before he got to one. And if by some miracle he did get to one, he wouldn''t be able to climb it fast enough. Which would lead to the wolves catching up to him.

    Either way, he saw only death, so he simply stood there, trying his best not to show any fear in front of the wolves.

    From his past knowledge, he knew that wolves mostly attacked when their prey showed signs of fear.

    But even though he knew that he couldn''t help but shiver, though only slightly. He wasn''t sure if the wolves noticed, but since they hadn''t attacked, they probably didn''t.

    After a few minutes, which felt like days to him, one of the wolves finally pounced at him.

    Out of reflex he crouched and rolled to his right, where another wolf was getting ready.

    The second wolf bit at him, but missed, since he was in motion, he immediately stood up and started running. He had managed to dodge two of the wolf''s attacks, only because they weren''t coordinated.

    He kept running as fast as he could, cursing under his breath how unlucky he was to have woken up in a forest, surrounded by wolves!

    After a few seconds, the wolves started to catch up.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He felt doomed, he knew that sooner orter they would catch up, heck one had tried to w off one of his legs already, but missed, another one did the same and didn''t miss.

    He stumbled and fell holding his left leg. He tried his best not to pass out from the pain, while blood spewed out of his leg badly, unfortunately, he didn''t have time to think too much about it.

    One of the wolves pounced on him, but he kicked it with his uninjured leg, then another circled and wed his left arm, and he punched its head.

    But before he couldplete that gesture, another wolf pounced on him then his vision went ck.

    ##

    "Uh I''m back here again," he said.

    "I didn''t even spend up to ten minutes," he said in aughing tone.

    "Life sure is hard, but at least though I''m back here I know it won''t be forever."

    "Though I wonder how long I will have to stay here before I''m reborn or whatever that was. I hope it''s not in another forest filled with hungry wolves."

    "I didn''t get to explore," he sighed.

    I''m....."

    "Is that light? That was extremely fast. I thought....not again!" #@&w$##h@$@

    ##

    Opening his eyes he looked around.

    "I''m in another forest?" This time he stood up quickly, then swept his gaze on his surroundings.

    He nced at his body. He was currently butt naked, which he didn''t like. Crouching a bit, he tried to listen to if there were any wolves, but instead, he heard a strange sound, it was rhythmic.

    They sounded like moans! "What the heck," he muttered. Then began walking towards the sound. It came from somewhere ahead of him, so he navigated and when he got close enough, he hid behind a tree and peeked.

    What he saw he wished he could unsee.

    Right there a few meters from his position. Was a grown man with a muscr psyche, and a woman who was well endowed. In the act.

    You would ask how he knew all this, well the reason would be none other than because they were cloth-less.

    He stayed hidden behind the tree and pondered on what he could do. Well for starters he needed clothes, and there they were, on the ground.

    He was closer to the clothes than the owners, but he knew that if he tried to pick them up, he would be seen by them, but he needed them.

    So like every other human being, he shielded his eyes, ran like a cheetah, picked the clothes that he thought belonged to the manor, and skedaddled.

    While running and navigating through the trees like a rabbit, after but a few seconds he heard a boom, and nced back.

    What he saw shocked him.

    there, just about ten meters from him, the ground was visibly cracking, then he heard a voice.

    "How dare you steal from me. Who do you think you are?" the man shouted.

    By then, he was running with even more vigor. Meanwhile, under his breath, he kept cursing his bad luck, though the only thoughts running through his mind were:

    "The humans of this world have Powers!" he was both excited and scared because if the man caught up to him he would most likely wind up dead.

    While he kept running he heard another boom and looked back, what he saw looked like a movie from his former world.

    He saw a man leaping from treetop to treetop, and was visibly catching up to him. He tried to move faster, but it was toote.

    The man crashed around 3 meters from his position, and the shock waves mmed him into a nearby tree.

    "For what you have done, and seen, I''ll have to kill you," The man announced immediately afternding!!

    rms rang in his head, he tried to stand but was struggling, though he eventually did the next second.

    When he got up, he noticed that he was currently bleeding through his nose and that something was broken, but he didn''t have time for that, because there was a man in front of him who was emitting killing intent that made him feel choked.

    He tried to fight it but was struggling to.

    His mind worked overtime to try to get him something to say that could stall the angered man.

    When he looked at the man, he noticed features that he wasn''t able to earlier, like that the man had short blonde hair that was neatly trimmed at its edges.

    His body was well-toned and hadpact muscle''s in the right ces. He was around 6ft and had brown eyes, that seemed to glow.

    Apart from that, his naked body glowed with a light shade of brown, which seemed connected to his strange ability. Though strangely he noticed all that in under a second.

    As he kept trying to cook something up. The man disappeared, or at least he seemed like he did. But actually, he had simply dashed towards Noah, and in a fraction of a second, appeared in front of him.

    Before Noah could react, he felt a punch hit his stomach. He felt like he was run over by a truck.

    The punchunched him upwards a few feet, and on getting down, the man grabbed him by his left leg and threw him towards a tree.

    He felt himself float for a millisecond, just before he a felt like he mmed a brick wall, he tried his best to not pass out from the pain he was feeling,

    but it seemed like he wouldn''t be able to aplish that.

    But then he saw the man slowly walking toward him!, and adrenaline pumped In him, then he saw a strange panel floating in front of his eyes.

    Then everything suddenly went blurry, or more correctly he ran.

 Chapter 2 02. I HAVE A SYSTEM

    After a few seconds, he stopped. Still shocked by what just happened, he nced around and sat near a tree, his gaze still on the strange panel in front of his eyes. Then suddenly it changed.

    [Due to the user''s predicament, partial synchronization of the system with the world and the user was made]

    [Commencingplete synchronization]

    ''Uh, What the heck,'' he said inwardly. ''System?. Synchronization?. What is it talking about.''

    Before he could continue his series of questions, due to confusion. He felt a wave of fatigue wash over him. He immediately tried fighting it, but after a few seconds, he sumbed to it, passing out.

    ##

    Snapping his eyes open, Noah jumped up. The first feeling he felt was his strength. He felt way stronger than he had ever felt in both his two lives.

    Not noticing the fact that he was still naked, he looked at the panel that appeared in front of his eyes and read its contents.

    [Stat panel]

    [Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 1] [Tier: 1]

    [Speed force: Red]

    [HP: 50]

    [Strength: 50] [Stamina: 25] [MP: 200]

    [Intelligence: 20] [Speed: Mach 1]

    [Skills]: Slow motion perception[Passive]

    Speed regeneration [Passive]

    [Inventory: trouser, shirt [2],skirt.

    He was shocked by what he read. Apparently, in this world, his name was Noah, and the system arranged his stats like that of a video game. Though the physical stats, his level, and the tier, were self-exnatory, which made him understand that he was still weak.

    But he didn''t understand what "speed force" meant.

    While he was trying to decipher it. To his pleasant surprise, the panel appeared again like it read his mind.

    [Speed force ]: The color of the energy discharged when the user is running, after each breakthrough the color changes signifying that the user has gotten faster. red -> orange -> yellow -> green ->blue -> $#@#]

    After reading it he sat down. He understood what it meant, and seeing that his current "speed force" was red, which meant he was at the bottom. But what confused him were the unreadable words at the end of the exnation.

    He tried to think about wanting to know it, but nothing happened. So he simply shrugged it off as maybe he didn''t have ess to the information, since it was like a system.

    Then he thought about wanting to know about the first skill he had.

    ? [Slow motion perception [Passive]: a passive skill that allows the user to perceive things in slow motion due to their innate speed]

    A wave of shock filled Noah''s mind. After reading it slowly but surely, he inspected his surroundings and to his surprise, he noticed that everything seemed slower, even the very air he was breathing seemed to move at a snail''s pacepared to him.

    He wasn''t sure if he was supposed to be happy or sad. Being able to perceive things in slow motion had its pros and cons.

    But still, he felt somewhat satisfied to have a skill, even though it didn''t seem useful at the moment.

    Though the "Speed regeneration" was self-exnatory, he wanted to read it since such a skill was sweet to his ears and eyes.

    [Speed regeneration[Passive]: when physically hurt, the body of the user is regenerated fast, costs 1 mp per hp]

    "Nice, a skill that heals me at the cost of Mana. That would be very useful if I somehow got injured."

    "Well, I guess that''s all, oh my inventory,

    clothes?. When did I have clothes?"

    He thought of wanting the clothes, and they appeared on the ground. He felt shocked to find that the clothes were the ones he had "borrowed" from the individuals he met the other time.

    Picking the clothes that were for the man he wore them. The shirt was a in brown short sleeve. While the pants were made of leather, but also brown, though not stylish he was content with them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He didn''t know what to do with the female clothes so he put them back into his inventory still fascinated by how they worked, what ran through his mind was "I have a system."

    With that done. He swept his gaze around admiring the quietness of the forest. He wanted to go somewhere but didn''t know where. Heck, he didn''t even know where he was, since he had simply woken up in the forest, and he had also run without knowing which direction he went.

    Picking a random direction, he started walking, since he wasn''t sure of how he would control himself when running with his ''super speed'', and he didn''t want to run straight into a tree.

    He still thanked the gods for not letting him run headfirst into a tree earlier for he didn''t run intentionally.

    ##

    After about ten minutes or so of walking, and admiring his slow-motion skill.

    Noah heard soundsing from where he was headed, and no they weren''t moans.

    They were growls!

    He froze on his spot recalling what had happened to him in his second life and how he was easily killed.

    He stood there frozen for a few seconds, before deciding to check it out instead of avoiding it. After all, he had a skill that made everything slow to him, and if worse came to worse he would simply run at his full speed.

    Although he could get hurt. He also had a healing skill. So his curiosity to know what it was, and maybe try out his strength took control and before they knew it, he was moving towards the sound, and after a minute or so he found what he was looking for.

    There. Around 15 meters away from him, was an ash-furred wolf with ck patches in random spots. It was also as big as an earth''s brown bear.

    On getting closer. The growls that sounded faint before, were now like standing in front of a truck that honked its horn. Loud.

    The wolf seemed injured since its growls sounded like it was in pain, he hid behind a tree to avoid it spotting him, though he was rtively far from the wolf, he didn''t want to take any chances. Not only because of the wolf, but also because the thing that hurt such a massive beast

    On staring at the wolf a panel popped up in his eyes.

    [ Tier 1 Forest wolf]

    [level: 7]

    [Danger level: Normal]

    "What the heck," he exined. That thing was a tier 1 and was at level seven Yet the system ssified the wolf''s danger level as normal.

    Though the system said the wolf was within his capability, he didn''t want to try it out.

    As Noah turned to leave that ce. Unbeknownst to him, when he had exined, the wolf had heard and turned its attention in his direction. Then began to walk closer to where he was, its mouth releasing low growls in the process.

    Noah froze at that. Then immediately started to think of a solution, while the wolf neared his position.

    The thought of staying to fight it, and test his strength crossed his mind, butmon sense kicked that idea out the window. He didn''t want to die just after a few hours of arriving in a world that gave him powers.

    So he thought of making a break for it, but he still wasn''t confident in trying out his super-speed in a ce filled with trees, and he didn''t know how fast the wolf was.

    All those thoughts were within a second. It seemed that perceiving everything in slow motion also made his thoughts faster.

    After a few more seconds, which by then the wolf was a bit over two meters from his position. It stopped and turned. Seemingly having lost interest, in whatever made the sound is heard.

    Noah was almost jumping in joy for the wolf''sck of interest in him, though it hadn''t seen him.

    So with all that excitement and a little fear, he stepped forward since he hadn''t turned to face the wolf earlier. But being blinded by his excitement, Noah failed to notice the tree branch near him.

    So when he took his second step, he stepped on a branch and stumbled, falling heavily to the ground. That was when Noah knew he had fucked up.

    Everything that seemed to move in slow motion due to his skill, moved even slower. Then he saw the wolf turn around with a murderous glint in its yellow eyes that seemed to scream "Found you."

    It pounced at his position so fast that even for his slow-motion, Noah didn''t expect it to move that quickly, as it was currently injured.

    It wed at the tree that was between it and its prey. Though the tree was tall and looked heavy, after two more sessful hits from the wolf, it broke.

    A deafening cracking sound spread, as the tree nted to its right and started to fall.

    Noah, who was still frozen on the ground, snapped out of his shock and stood up. When he was about to turn around the massive wolf pounced on him.

    Because he couldn''t just run, Noah decided to face it by doing one thing that came as a reflex action.

    He threw a punch.

 Chapter 3 03. I AM REALLY STRONG

    An earth-shaking boom resounded from the punch, as it even overshadowed the sound of the falling tree.

    With his eyes wide open, Noah watched in shock, as a whole, as big as a ser ball, opened in the middle of the wolf''s body, where he had punched. Its body flew for a few meters, before hitting a tree anding to a stop.

    Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, though it did.

    Noah stood there for a full minute. His right arm still stretched outwards after he had thrown the punch.

    Though he eventually lowered his arm and started staring at his fist, and back at the body of the wolf that had stopped moving.

    He did that for a few seconds before the appearance of a panel made him snap out of his stupor.

    [You have killed [ forest wolf level 7]

    [ You have gained exp]

    [ You have leveled up once]

    [ you have leveled up once]

    [ You have gained 5 points to all of your stats]

    [ you have gained 10 points to distribute]

    As he read that, he was even more shocked, this system was starting to look more like a game, so he checked his status.

    [Stat panel]

    [Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 3] [Tier: 1]

    [Speed force: Red]

    [HP: 55]

    [Strength: 55] [Stamina: 30] [MP: 205]

    [Intelligence: 25] [Speed: Mach 1]

    [Undistributed stat points: 10]

    [Skills]: Slow motion perception[Passive]

    Speed regeneration [Passive]

    [Inventory: shirt, skirt.]

    After reading it, he noticed the changes and the new panel that showed him his undistributed stat points.

    He didn''t know what to do at first, but he decided to add everything to strength, since what he had just done was only made possible, due to his immense strength.

    All he had to do was think about it, and everything went into strength, his status changed to this.

    [Stat panel]

    [Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 3] [Tier: 1]

    [Speed force: Red]

    [HP: 55]

    [Strength: 65] [Stamina: 30] [MP: 205]

    [Intelligence: 25] [Speed: Mach 1]

    [Undistributed stat points: 0]

    [Skills]: Slow motion perception[Passive]

    Speed regeneration [Passive]

    [Inventory: shirt, skirt]

    The feeling of getting stronger was intoxicating, so he almost wanted to go look for something to kill, though he didn''t understand why his "speed" didn''t change, just as he was thinking about the matter, a panel popped up.

    [Speed]: This is how fast the user can move. It can only be advanced by the user going through an evolution, at the end of their respective tier. The current speed is Mach 1]

    "Well that exins why it didn''t change, though I wonder what level I''ll undergo my first evolution," he said.

    ? He knew what Mach was since he was taught about it in his former world.

    Mach was used in representing the speed about that of sound (343m/s), or (761mph). So since his current speed was Mach 1, that meant he was just as fast as sound.

    He wasn''t sure if the world he was in following the same rules as his former one, but since the system ssified it as such he believed they were the same.

    After all that, he nced around, seeing the broken tree, he simply ignored it and walked towards the body of the wolf.

    On getting to it, he couldn''t help but still be shocked, the hole he made through it was massive. Due to that, the singr thought that ran through his mind was ''Damn I am really strong.''<novelnext></novelnext>

    After a few minutes of admiring his newfound strength, he heard another sound that sounded like a growl, but now it wasn''t a beast, it was his hungry stomach!.

    Now that he thought of it, he hadn''t eaten anything since he had gotten to this world, and he also didn''t know what to eat.

    After some seconds of deliberation, he decided that since the wolf was dead, at least he could get some meat, but he had a problem. He didn''t know how to cook or carry it, he had never learned how to start a fire using unconventional means.

    He was a city boy. Things like that were considered a waste of time, but now he wished he had learned some outdoor survival skills, though about the issue of carrying it, he simply thought of wanting it to appear in his inventory, and to his surprise, the wolf''s dead body disappeared.

    With one problem out of the picture, he started walking away from the fight scene. While navigating his way through the forest. Although he still hoped to find a settlement of some sort.

    *

    *

    *

    After about two hours, or so of walking, and continuous rumbling of his stomach, he found a small clearing that looked like it was done artificially.

    Moving closer, he saw a few tents, exactly three in number, and a fire.

    Moving even closer, he began to hear voices, that sounded like those of men.

    They seemed to being from the other side of the tents. Walking even closer, Noah failed to notice the two men stationed near the entrance to the clearing. They were on trees opposite each other.

    One of them immediately shouted some words, when they noticed Noah''s figure. At that point, Noah finally looked up and noticed them.

    He immediately froze right on his spot, while still looking up at the duo. By then the man shouted something again.

    At first, Noah didn''t understand what the man was saying, since he seemed to be speaking in a differentnguage. Still unsure of what to do, a panel popped up.

    [Newnguage found, trantionmencing....]

    [Trantionpleted]

    [User can now begin conversing]

    Surprised by how useful the system was, Noah thanked the gods or whoever granted him the system.

    Unbeknownst to him, the two men who were tasked to guard their camp alerted theirrades of the suspicious man who had appeared from inside the deadly forest.

    More men came out of the tents and stood in front of Noah, they all readied their weapons including the men on top of the trees, at him.

    At that Noah became aware of his surroundings, and saw at least 10 men, who were pointing their weapons at him.

    He was about to say something when a man walked out of their midst. Raising his hand, the men all lowered their weapons albeit a little.

    The man. Who seemed to be the leader walked forward, and said In the now understandablenguage.

    "Who are you? and what were you doing in the woods, sote in the night all alone."

    After that, the man looked at Noah''s figure suspiciously, waiting for an answer, Noah didn''t make him wait long.

    "My name is Noah, and I am lost," Noah answered.

    The man looked at him even more suspiciously, seemingly not satisfied with his answer, but still said, "My name is Gerald, and these are my men. We are a hunting group.

    You say you are lost, but how did you get this deep into the forest. Only a fool would venture this deep into the forest without a group," he exined. At thest remark, the men of the hunting group chuckled.

    At that point, Noah didn''t know what to say, the man named Gerald was right.

    Who in their right minds, would stay in a forest, that had monsters, like the wolf he had recently killed, all alone. Though he had an idea.

    "Ah... My group had abandoned me due to a monster we stumbled into," Noah said, while he watched his expression of Gerald, and saw that it flicked when he was done with his words.

    Gerald seemed to think about something, before he asked, "What type of monster did you find?" at that the eyes of the whole group were on Noah.

    "We had stumbled into a wolf monster," he replied.

    At those words, the men of the hunting group gasped, though for some reason Gerald did not.

    "A wolf monster?" Gerald asked with surprise, albeit just a little.

    "Yes a wolf monster, though it seemed to be injured," Noah replied.

    Gerald looked at him for a while before he opened his mouth to talk, "Can you lead us to it?" he said, looking at Noah with expectations in his eyes.

    Noah wondered why the man needed to find the wolf, but before he could say

    anything, Gerald continued, "We will give you food and shelter till we are out of the woods. We just need to find, and kill the wolf,"

    Noah praised the gods again for his strength.

    The other men from the group didn''t seem that strong, and he was sure that none of them would be able to kill such a beast by themselves as he had done. Although together they were capable of that feat.

    About the question, Noah decided to surprise them, so he answered, "I killed it."

    Everything went silent for a few seconds, before Gerald and his men burst intoughter, they wereughing as if they had just heard the best joke on the. Noah even heard a few of them mock him.

    He didn''t lose his cool and simply acted. Though he wasn''t sure if others had the system.

    Nevertheless, he simply made the wolf''s dead body appear right in front of him!!.

 Chapter 4 04. THE NEW WORLD (1)

    Everything went silent, apart from the constant crackling, of the campfire, and the distant sounds of animals in the forest. Every other thing was dead silent.

    The hunting group seemed to be in a daze, as their expression was that of pure surprise. Although for some odd reason, Gerald wasn''t, he just stood there with a light smile.

    Noah was not sure which they were surprised about, was it the fact that he wasn''t lying about killing the wolf, or that he brought it out of thin air, he wasn''t sure.

    After a few seconds, Gerald stopped smiling, as his voice rang out, "What are you doing over there?,e. And bring the wolf with you", he said.

    It was Noah''s turn to be surprised, he hadn''t expected Gerald to wee him like that.

    He expected at least a few questions, like how he made the wolf appear, but the man seemed to not care.

    Noah started walking towards the camp, dragging the body of the wolf-like it was a rag.

    As he walked past the men who were still in a daze, they followed both him and the dead wolf''s body, with their eyes, as though they expected it to jump up alive.

    Getting to one of the five tents, that Gerald had walked into, Noah wasn''t sure of what to do, so he simply waited outside.

    During that short moment, of standing outside the tent, the men of the hunting group all walked back to their various tents, but not without eyeing Noah.

    It seemed they didn''t trust him, though Noah had expected that much from them.

    After a few seconds, he heard the voice of Gerald call out to him.

    "What are you doing out there?e in," he said.

    At that, Noah simply left the body of the wolf outside and entered the tent.

    On getting inside, he noticed that the tent was well lit, apart from that, and the mat on the ground, the tent was empty. Although, there were a few bottles on the ground, which Noah guessed, were either for water, alcohol, or both.

    He saw Gerald sitting on the mat while holding a bottle, and two cups, "Come on. Sit down", he said. Which Noah did without hesitation.

    Sitting close to Gerald, Noah noticed the features, that he had failed to notice before.

    Gerald looked something around histe thirties or early forties.

    He had deep blue eyes with sharp eyeliners. He had ck hair, a short beard, and also had a scar, that ran from under his right eye, to his jaw. Which gave him the look of someone who had been in a lot of life, and death situations.

    Gerald gave him a small cup filled with a golden liquid.

    Noah stared at it, not sure of what to do.

    He still didn''t trust this man, that had invited him into his camo. For all he knew, it could be poisoned.

    In his short moment of hesitation, Gerald noticed his uncertainty.

    "You don''t have to drink it if you don''t want to", he said

    At that Noah, frowned. Though only for a split second. He didn''t want toe off as disrespectful, so he decided to drink it, hoping that the user system would alert him if it was poisoned.

    Drinking the contents of the cup, in a single gulp. Noah felt a hot sensation, run down his throat, till it reached his stomach, though only for a second.

    Then a panel popped up,

    [ A form of poison[ Alcohol] detected]

    [Detoxificationmencing ...]

    [Detoxificationplete.]

    The system continued to surprise him with its usefulness. Though he would love to get drunk one day, at least, he knew he wouldn''t be able to get poisoned easily.

    Noah snapped out of his daze, to see Gerald staring at him, with one of his eyebrows raised, probably wondering what his guest was looking at.

    Noah noticed this and tried to look for an excuse, but Gerald talked first.

    "The whole thing about being abandoned was a lie right?" his voice rang out.

    Noah froze from shock and began racking his brain to look for an answer, but Gerald continued.

    ? "I guess your tense reaction proves I''m right", he said with a shortugh at the ending.

    "Though you don''t have to worry, I''m sure you have your secrets", he said.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah was incredibly embarrassed, he didn''t know what to do, but he still managed to reply.

    "Haha.....Was my lie that easy to see through?", he said trying to fake a shortugh.

    "Yes it was, actually it was unrealistic. Why would your team abandon you, if they knew you could kill it, unless you didn''t tell them, but at least they would know the abilities of their group members.

    So them abandoning you was unrealistic, which is why your story didn''t add up", he exined with a chuckle at the ending.

    Noah facepalmed himself in his mind, because of his stupidity, he hadn''t thought of what to say beforehand, so he hade up with an excuse on the spot, but s he wasn''t a master of lying.

    Gerald looked at him again, seeing that Noah wasn''t responding, confirmed his theory,

    "But still, I would like to know where youe from", he said

    And Noah answered, "You wouldn''t believe me if I told you".

    A few seconds of silence passed before Noah broke it saying, Though I am lost, please can you tell me where the nearest settlement is, and more about where we are, and other countries?" Noah said.

    Gerald looked at him like a freak but just for a second.

    The air was tense for a few seconds.

    Noah was about to tell him not to worry, but Gerald cut him short saying, "Yes I will but at a price".

    Noah thought about it for a second before saying "What do you want"

    "Just the body of the wolf", Gerald answered, with a smile.

    "Done,'''' Noah immediately said. He didn''t require the wolf''s body, apart from the n of eating it, which was before he met the hunting group.

    "Where do you want me to start," Gerald said.

    "You can start anywhere", Noah replied.

    Gerald seemed to think about something, for a few seconds, before starting.

    "There are three kingdoms, The Papine nation, The Cusk nation, and The Nevaldine empire.

    "Each is ruled, by an unknown, near godlike entity. We are in the Cusk nation which is ruled by the Monderi royal family. No one knows who the king or queen, is but ording to records during the time of conflict between the great kingdoms, it was said that a single attack from the mysterious rulers could wipe out a whole city".

    Noah''s full attention was on Gerald, his brain was working in full gear. Imagining the power those mysterious rulers had, he couldn''t fullyprehend it!.

    Gerald let Noah digest, what he said before continuing.

    "I don''t know much about the other kingdoms, but a substantial amount about our nation, though not much Is released to the public, before I became a hunter, I used to work as a guard in one of the noble families, so I know enough", he exined.

    Noah nodded at what he said, while he opened his mouth to talk, "If I may ask, why did you stop being a guard, I''m sure you would have been paid enough".

    Gerald sighed, he seemed to be reminiscing about something, before saying, "I didn''t stop being a guard, we were disbanded", he sighed again this time heavily.

    "The noble family, I used to serve were, found guilty of some crimes, which caused them to be executed, and instead of we the workers being executed.

    We were given a chance to start afresh. Honestly, we weren''t really being paid that much, but still stayed, since to get more power, we needed the noble families" he said.

    Noah once again, digested the information given to him, he didn''t understand the political situation, of the country, and honestly, he didn''t care, but still, it was safe to know a little.

    Noah had wanted to find the next settlement, but he didn''t know where it was, so he asked Gerald where he could find it, "The next settlement which is a rtivelyrge town, named ''Maria'', is located exactly northwest of our current position", Gerald exined, "I doubt you would need to find it yourself since you are with us".

    Noah nodded at his words, making a mental note of their position, he was about to say something, when one of the men of the hunting group brought in their food.

    It was a bowl of some type of soup with meat in it.

    Noah immediately began to eat, he wasn''t worried about it being poisoned since his system would protect him.

    He was done in a matter of minutes, when he looked up, he saw Gerald staring at him with, pure curiosity and a small smile.

    "Thank you for the meal, it was delicious", Noah said. Gerald simply waved his hand in response.

    Since he was done, with his food. Noah decided, to ask a question that had been on his mind for a while

    "Can you tell me more about animals, like the wolf I killed?''''

 Chapter 5 05. THE NEW WORLD (2)

    The new world was filled with many things that, his former world couldn''t dream of having. For example; the fact that there were individuals, who possessed godlike powers or the system that was still a mystery, and most especially monsters!

    "Oh...you mean magical beasts," Gerald answered.

    "hmm....hmm," he replied.

    "Magical beasts are animals that have been integrated with Mana, and evolve with it," he exined.

    "So you mean there are normal animals," Noah promptly asked.

    "Albeit not many, there are.

    Magical beasts are evolved animals, you will hardly find normal animals, since Mana is everywhere, and no organism wants to remain at the bottom of the food chain," he exined.

    "Most magical beasts can control specific elements. We use the term ''Elemental Affinity'', which makes them very dangerous. Although they are usually more powerful from tier 2 up," he continued.

    Noah pondered about the words he heard, it was easy to understand. But he had a question.

    "Can humans control elements too?." he asked.

    "Yes, we can," Gerald answered, seemingly getting used to the fact that Noah was asking questions that he consideredmon knowledge.

    "Like me, I have an affinity for fire, so I am called a fire mage," Gerald exined.

    The more Noah heard, the more this world sounded like a fantasy novel.

    "So humans can control elements," Noah muttered. "How do I check which element I have an affinity for." Noah continued.

    "You can take a test in the town. All towns have an elemental affinity test guild, and it''s for free." Gerald replied.

    "Why is it for free, shouldn''t stuff like that be worth money?" Noah asked his expression that of surprise.

    "It is for free because not many can afford to pay for it, and the royal army is looking for recruits with good affinities. If no one takes them, how will they know?" Gerald exined, with a light shrug.

    Noah was sincerely happy that he could take a test, and for free at that, as currently, he didn''t have any money.

    "Is it possible, for humans to have an affinity for more than one element?" Noah asked.

    "Oh yes, it is, though extremely rare. People can have an affinity for multiple elements, the rarer the elements the more powerful it is." Gerald answered.

    "Can you tell me the rare andmon elements," Noah immediately asked.

    "I knew you would be asked that," Gerald said with a light fascinated smile.

    "The primary elements, which are water, fire, earth, and air. Are the mostmon, since they are everywhere. While an element like ''metal, is rare, but not that rare. Then we have elements like ice, lightning, light, and darkness, which are extremely rare to find, and if someone is found to have an affinity for them, they can immediately get epted into one of the three great guilds of their choice, or even into the royal army for proper training," Gerald exined.

    "Great guilds?" Noah asked.

    "Yes, the great guilds. They are the most powerful guilds in our big nation because they have many powerful experts," Gerald exined.

    "Dayum," Noah exined. he kept learning more interesting things by the minute. ''Powerful experts,'' he said inwardly.

    "Exactly what is the power system, and how do people get more powerful," Noah asked.

    He wasn''t sure how people got stronger, since it seemed that unlike him they didn''t have the mysterious system that let him advance through levels and get stronger fast.

    "Young man; slow down. I know you want to know more, but at least let the ones I have told you sink in." Gerald advised.

    Unknown to Gerald, Noah''s mind was way faster than normal.

    He could think over ten different thoughts in mere seconds due to his slow-motion skill that seemed to affect his mind too.

    "Ah I''m sorry," Noah said. "I''m just excited to know more. Please forgive me. If I was rude or pushy," Noah apologized.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Don''t worry young man, I understand. Although I am not sure why you don''t know all this. Honestly, I find it weird, but don''t worry," Gerald replied.

    Noah was starting to like this man more and more. Firstly he brought him into their camp, and now, though for a price, he was answering all of Noah''s questions, he seemed a good man.

    "There are six tiers of power currently known to man, and all living beings have to go through them. Tier 1 to Tier 6."

    "You may be wondering, how do we know when a person advances or is in a higher tier. Well, that is easy. First of all the Mana flow, we feel from the said individual or magical beast.

    When a person is in a higher tier the Mana flowing from them would be enormous, that it bes an aura, especially if you are weaker than the said person, or beast."

    "You may also be wondering how do we feel the Mana flow?, well that is as easy as breathing.

    Think of Mana flow like the aroma of a meal. The higher the tier, the stronger the intensity of the aroma," Gerald exined.

    He also paused to check if the person he was talking to, was following him. Seeing Noah''s eyes shine with understanding, he nodded his head and continued.

    "That is why a tier 1 can never defeat a tier 2, the gap between tiers is like the sky and the ground,"

    "Second, andstly. There are things we call magic circles, the higher the tier the bigger the magic circle is. We don''t know where magic circlese from, but they appear when one casts a spell after it is learned," he said with a small frown.

    "Now. On how people advance through tiers. Firstly you have to understand what advancing through tiers means. When one advances through tiers, they are not only having more Mana, their body also gets stronger, and they have powerful minds, capable of inspecting their environment even without looking, though that starts from tier 3 ording to records."

    "To advance through tiers, you have to draw the Mana from the environment, and let it circte through your whole body. You will feel the Mana when it''s moving inside your body," Gerald exined.

    A wave of a surprise hit Noah. He expected Gerald to say something like, you will have to kill a magical beast to advance, but surprisingly, there was a different method to advance.

    "Though it is a slow process, it took me ten years, to go from tier 1 to tier 2, and I started when I was twenty years old, but the effort is worth it. ording to records, and witnesses. When a living being advances, their life span also increases, and they age slower. A tier 2 can live for around one hundred and fifty years, while a tier 3 can live for a few centuries, a tier four, and upwards live even longer, maybe up to a thousand years, or more," Gerald exined.

    Noah was even more astonished by what he had just learned, he was shocked at how long it took Gerald to advance, and even more surprised about the fact that the higher the tier the longer the lifespan of the person.

    ? "What tier are you currently?" Noah asked. Even if he knew the answer.

    "Tier 2," Gerald said. "I reckon that in a few years I would advance to tier 3" Gerald exined.

    "Can you teach me how to circte Mana," Noah asked

    "hmm..hmm", Gerald replied.

    "It might take a while. learning to circte mana isn''t that easy for a starter. Though it isn''t part of our agreement I will teach you," Gerald said. Although inwardly, he wondered how Noah was strong, to begin with, he didn''t say anything.

    Then he sat, in what earth called the lotus position. Noah immediately imitated him sitting in the lotus position.

    Then Gerald opened his mouth to talk, "To circte mana through your body, you have to first learn how to feel it. Seeing that you are not finding it hard to breathe, even though you are in a lower tier than me, confirms that you can''t feel mana".

    Noah nodded. Gerald was right he couldn''t feel an ounce of Mana.

    Seeing that Noah nodded Gerald continued. "To feel Mana an exercise has been made. Close your eyes and breathe in. Try to focus on your environment. Mana is like the wind, you will feel it wash over you, and when you do, that would be the first step."

    Noah did as he was told. He closed his eyes and tried his best to focus on his surrounding, trying to feel the breeze that was Mana.

    For a few minutes, nothing happened, but he continued to breathe in and out, and before he knew it a panel popped up, he opened his eyes to check it

    [New Skill: Mana perception [Passive]: gained]

    With that, Noah immediately began to feel it, at first it was just a whiff, but then it began to blow like the wind, then it''s intensity increased, after a while, breathing felt hard, like he was suffocating, he stopped the practice but he could still feel it.

    This wasn''t Mana from the air it wasing from somewhere, then he looked, and saw the only person with him.

    He hadn''t noticed before, since he couldn''t perceive Mana, but now that he could. He could feel that Gerald''s power was currently much higher than his!!

 Chapter 6 06. I MUST GET STRONGER

    Noah was both excited and scared. Excited because he couldn''t wait to be powerful enough to instill fear in the hearts of men, just because of his presence.

    Scared, because if Gerald so wanted, he could crush Noah and he wouldn''t be able to do a thing. During this realization, a panel popped up

    [Gerald: Tier 2]

    [Race: Human]

    [level: 38]

    [Danger level: Impossible]

    Noah''s mind experienced a new level of shock. He had not expected the system to have the capability of reading the levels of humans who didn''t even possess a system.

    But mostly because it showed him that if he and Gerald were to get into a fight the only thing he would be able to do was to run, even with his current strength.

    ''it seems what he said about tiers is true,'' Noah thought to himself, with a slight nod.

    Truth be told, he didn''t understand why the system gave Gerald a level and stats, so he simply pushed the matter to the back of his mind, knowing that Gerald didn''t have an answer for it.

    Gerald opened his eyes to find that Noah was staring at the air.

    "Why did you stop?" Gerald asked with a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

    "I can feel it," Noah replied

    "Huh," Gerald immediately exined, "You can feel the Mana in the air?" he asked, his voice oozing his surprise.

    "Yes I can," Noah stated with a nod.

    Gerald had been so astonished that he sat in his position for a whole minute without moving before he snapped out of his shock.

    "Then let''s proceed to the real training," He eventually said.

    "Though I won''t be surprised if it takes you longer toplete this exercise. After all, it took me a whole month to start circting Mana through my body. So don''t get discouraged if you don''t get it now. Just continue the practice and you will get it eventually," Gerald exined.

    Noah simply nodded, he wasn''t hoping it would take him a month toplete the practice. That hope was reinforced by the fact that he believed that the system would assist him.

    "To circte Mana through your body, you must first be able to perceive it. Which you have learned and then be able to pull it towards your body," Gerald said

    "To do that, close your eyes. Now feel that strange wind blowing around you. Imagine it as multiple specks of dust, and use your mind to pull those specks towards your body.

    Gather them together in any shape you like and force the mass of energy into your body. I would advise you do that in the space under your chest," Gerald exined.

    ? Noah simultaneously listened and did as the man said. Gerald continued to advise Noah after thatst line, but Noah wasn''t listening anymore. Gerald''s voice faded as Noah achieved a state of pure, undiluted focus.

    For a few minutes, nothing happened. He wasn''t sure how much time had passed, he simply guessed.

    Then after a while, he saw it, or more correctly his consciousness saw it.

    Specks of tiny particles that glowed in different colors floated around him, and he found that pulling them towards his boy, was akin to pushing an SUV uphill with its hand brake on. Doable but very difficult.

    After a few minutes or so he had gathered those radiant particles in the shape of a ball. With that, he decided it was time to put it inside of him.

    This was even more difficult, but he was determined to finish it, so he pulled the glowing ball with all the force his consciousness could muster.

    At first, nothing seemed to happen. The ball of glowing particles does not move an inch.

    But then it started to, though slowly, his consciousness began pulling it towards his body.

    But for some reason, he found that although his eyes were closed, he could somehow see the ball of energy close to his body.

    And when it was like an inch or two, he followed Gerald''s advice and let it enter through the space below his rib cage.

    For a while he couldn''t feel anything after the ball of energy had entered him, but suddenly it started. Noah could immediately feel the insides of his body and his skin get hot, so hot that it became unbearable.

    He lost his concentration and started to roll on the ground furiously. it continued for just a minute, but those minutes felt like years to Noah''s mind.

    After a minute or so, the heat vanished so quickly that Noah began second-guessing if he had experienced that sensation.

    And suddenly got hit by a cool sensation that spread through his whole body.

    After a few more minutes, he opened his eyes to find Gerald looking at him.

    Contrary to the worried expression he expected to see, all Noah could see on the man''s face was a surprise, and for some reason, Noah did not like it.

    ''I mean didn''t he see that I was in pain. I know he is cool-headed and all, but at least he should show somepassion,'' Noah thought, annoyed.

    He was beginning to feel like punching this man. To not make a mistake that could cost him his life, he shifted his gaze to the panel that had appeared.

    [New skill Mana cirction (Active) gained]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [You have gained exp]

    [You have leveled up twice]

    [You have gained 5 points to all your stats]

    [You have 10 stat points to distribute]

    [Mana cirction [Active]: When activated, the user begins to draw Mana from the environment. Users can use this to refill their Mp or level up after long use: It costs no Mana and can be activated without meditation.

    Noah felt surprised. He didn''t expect that little training to make level up, twice at that.

    Noah couldn''t hide the grin that formed on his face. He felt like he had hit a gold mine, or more correctly an exp mine. Ignoring the questions that Gerald kept asking he went back to the training.

    This time instead of visualizing the process he simply activated the skill.

    Currently, he could feel the Mana around him draw closer to him and enter his body.

    He did just that for a few minutes, he even went on to close his eyes but nothing happened.

    He could feel his body get stronger but it was so minuscule that he could ignore it. After about ten more minutes he stopped; his hopes of getting stronger fast without much work shattering.

    During his time of disappointment, he heard Gerald talk.

    "Have you gotten it?" the man asked, even though he knew that Noah had.

    But he didn''t want to believe that Noah could achieve in just a few minutes something that took him a whole month to achieve after constant training.

    "Yes, I have," Noah answered in a dejected tone, still sad about what happened.

    "Amazing!," Gerald exined. "You have that much talent in magic, I would not be surprised if you get into one of the three great guilds due to your talent," Gerald said with his surprised tone.

    "Yeah" Noah simply said still looking dejected,

    "Is something wrong?" Gerald asked, seeing that Noah was not as happy about his geniuses as he should be.

    "Oh there is nothing wrong," Noah answered, immediately getting rid of his dejected expression, to avoid being asked more questions than he would not answer.

    "Oh....." Gerald remarked, "Then how about we rest for the night," said, "You look tired."

    "Uh..." Noah felt surprised, he didn''t feel tired one bit.

    Looking at himself, then did he realize that he was drained in sweat, the exercise had made him sweat a lot. He didn''t notice it due to his short-lived excitement.

    "Yeah ok," Noah said getting up. His figure was about to walk out when he turned around to say something but Gerald beat him to it.

    "Where are you going?" Gerald asked, with an eyebrow raised.

    "I don''t know. I was going to look for a ce to sleep outside," Noah replied.

    "Why don''t you sleep in here. That was one of the reasons I brought you into my tent," Gerald said, scratching his head.

    Noah, once again felt surprised by the man''s carelessness. Though they had spoken for a while, Noah remained a stranger.

    "Aren''t you worried that I might do something to you while you are asleep? I am still a stranger after all." Noah asked, narrowing his eyes.

    Gerald looked at him for a few seconds before bursting intoughter as if he had just heard a joke.

    Noah wasn''t sure why he wasughing. Did he say something wrong? Before he could continue Gerald gave him the answer to his question

    "You. Do something to me. You are just a tier 1, though you seem stronger than most tier 1''s,pared to me who is a tier 2 about to advance into the higher stage, you are nothing. So why would I be worried when you would not be able to hurt me even if you wanted," Gerald said switching between hisughing tone and serious tone.

    At the end of his sentence, Gerald let his aura seep out of his figure.

    Noah felt powerless in the presence of Gerald, sheer willpower helped him not to kneel out of the weak feeling his body experienced.

    The air was tense for a few seconds. During those seconds Gerald let his aura continue to flow, before stopping it and going back to his normal self.

    "Are you going to stand there all day," Gerald eventually said, with a smile of amusement.

    He was amazed that Noah had not fallen on his knees even after he released his aura. The young man had guts.

    "Ah I''m sorry," Noah replied, rxing. Immediately Gerald had stopped his aura, Noah noticed that he had stopped breathing during those few seconds and that cold sweat drenched his back.

    Noahy on the mat before wishing Gerald a good night.

    All that ran through his mind was the sentence, "I must get stronger," before his consciousness drifted into sleep.

 Chapter 7 07. HUNTING

    Morning came fast. Noah had never felt so refreshed from sleep in his entire life. All three of them.

    When he sat up, he noticed that Gerald wasn''t in the tent, so he got up and left the tent.

    The first thing that hit his face, was the bright light from the world''s star. He wasn''t sure if they called it the sun like his former world, so he decided to stick with ''star''.

    After getting used to the light, he looked around and found that where he left the wolf, there was no wolf to be found.

    But he didn''t worry about that. He and Gerald had made a deal, and Gerald had fulfilled his side of the deal, while the wolf was Noah''s side of the deal.

    Sweeping his gaze on his immediate surroundings he found that no one was. present, but he heard voicesing from where the campfire was. Which was somewhere behind the tent he was staying in. So he began walking towards the ce.

    Hearing the loudughs of the happy men of the group, Noah smiled a bit.

    Arriving at his short destination, Noah met the beheaded body of the wolf and the men of the group sitting in a circle, all of them celebrating something.

    Gerald spotted Noah during his daze and immediately called out to him.

    "Noah. Come over here," He shouted In an excited tone.

    The men noticed Noah at that point but limited themselves to ignoring him. Noah shrugged that hostile reaction like it was nothing. After all, he didn''t expect them to trust him in one night.

    He walked over to where Gerald was, and on getting there, he noticed the other individual standing beside him.

    "Noah. let me introduce you to my friend. We worked together in the noble family I told you about," Gerald exined.

    "Nice to meet you, Noah, I am Anthony," The man said bringing his hand forward for a handshake.

    "Ah nice to meet you too," Noah replied returning the handshake.

    The man named Anthony was around 6ft in height. Noah couldn''t see much due to his leather clothes, but he knew the man was physically fit.

    Anthony had brown neatly cut hair. He had no facial hair, or rather, it was shaved, giving him a neat look.

    Anthony''s eyes were green in color whichplimented his brown hair.

    Facially he looked as old as Gerald but was still handsome nheless.

    "We were discussing going on a hunt, and I would like you toe," Gerald chipped in.

    Noah initially didn''t know what to say to those words. He wanted to explore more of this new world and also take the test for his elemental affinity. But Gerald had been nice enough to teach him how to perceive Mana, so he simply agreed to go with them.

    "When do we leave?" Noah asked.

    "In about thirty minutes," Gerald answered, while also shouting orders to the others in the group.

    Noah was given food to eat, which he ate with delight. He was seriously happy that he didn''t have to worry about being poisoned.

    #

    #

    The thirty minutes quickly passed and the group was on their way.

    Upon entering the forest, the men of the group wielded their weapons. It seemed they were wary of the forest.

    Personally, Noah wasn''t on edge. After all, he could perceive things in slow motion. Heck right now every other person was moving at a snail''s pace to him, so he knew that even if a creature jumped out of the forest, it would be in slow motion. And if it seemed too dangerous, he would simply run.

    Speaking about slow motion, Noah wondered why whenever he was in a conversation, the person he conversed with did not move in slow motion.

    He had initially expected that he would get tired of talking to people since he was supposed to perceive them in slow motion. But that didn''t seem to be the case during his conversation with Gerald and Anthony.

    The system was really strange and he had just started using it. He eventually pushed the matter to the back of his mind. Not perceiving people in slow motion during a conversation was good.

    Sweeping his gaze on his surroundings, Noah realized that he was behind the group, although Anthony and Gerald were with him, he still had the chance to inspect them.

    The group was twenty in number including Gerald and Anthony, excluding Noah. All of them being tier 1, most being within the levels of 13 to 18.

    The lowest level among them was a man who was level 7. This meant that in terms of level, Noah was the lowest, but ording to his Inspection they all had one thing inmon: None of their danger levels went up to impossible.

    This made Noah confident in his strength, which he wasn''t sure was normal

    He also inspected Anthony the system revealed this to him.

    [Anthony: Tier 2]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 35]

    [Danger level: Impossible]

    Anthony was strong. Although weaker than Gerald by three levels that didn''t change the fact that he was strong.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The more Noah realized how weak he was, the more he wanted to level up and get stronger. And the gods answered his prayer almost instantly.

    A powerful roar suddenly spread out in the air, disrupting the serenity of the forest. Followed by the appearance of arge bear.

    If the bears on Earth were considered big, this one was massive. This bear''s height touched 10ft, and it was on all four of its legs.

    The group immediately reacted to this by enteringbat mode. Most of the men were wielding swords, while some had daggers and a few other types.

    Noah didn''t have any weapons, but he could check to see its dangerousness.

    [Tier 1 Brown bear]

    [Level: 16]

    [Danger level: Normal]

    Noah rxed, albeit a little. Even though the system ssified it as "Normal", it could still kill someone in the group.

    The bear took the initiative, throwing its wed paw at the nearest man. The man tried to parry it with his sword, but the weight behind the attack flung him away, to the side.

    At that, the others from the group did something that Noah could only have imagined for a fantasy novel. They activated their spells.

    Some of them chanted something and small glowing circles appeared right before they threw out attacks, which varied from bullets of water to balls of air or fire.

    While some, their weapons began to gain elemental attributes after they lit up with some strange letters. Most swords caught fire or had blue water dancing around them, while some had daggers that pulled the air around them.

    Noah was astonished. The scene in front of him was simply magical, and it was.

    Noah felt even more eager to know his elemental affinity and get even stronger.

    The men who had their weapons ready, rushed at the bear, though carefully. They didn''t dare to underestimate their opponent.

    Some managed tond an attack on the bear before retreating to let their teammatesunch ranged magical attacks. This tactic of attack continued for a while. The group''s teamwork is seemingly perfect.

    Noah felt utterly useless at that point. He didn''t know whether to join them or not. Although, Gerald and Anthony were simply watching the fight y out.

    It seemed that they would only intervene if something bad was about to happen, or if their enemy was a tier 2.

    Thebat went on for minutes. Between the good teamwork of the group and the lone bear, the team was winning.

    Large cuts that bled badly eventually began to appear on the bear''s body. Its rough breathing could also be heard from Noah''s position. It was slowly dying.

    Noah wondered why it didn''t use any elemental attacks. Gerald had said that magical beasts had elemental affinities too.

    His question was answered, when the ground shook and long spikes shot out of the ground, around the injured bear,

    The men had to retreat at that sight, the bear looked to have had enough of them.

    Everyone''s eyes were on it, even Gerald and Anthony were on alert, afterall a cornered animal was the most dangerous.

    The bear swept its gaze around. its eyes zing with fury. It had never expected itself to get that injured in a fight. It wanted to rip apart the humans that were in front of it.

    "Be careful it seems to be nning something," Gerald shouted.

    He could end the beast, but he didn''t want to, at least not yet. He had told Anthony about the uniqueness of Noah, but Noah had yet to attack at all.

    He also wanted to be sure that what Noah told him was true, so he waited it out since Noah seemed full of surprises.

    Noah''s attention was also fully on the bear, to the extent that he forgot that there were two tier 2''s behind him, who could wipe the bear''s existence.

    Everything moved in slow motion to him. He saw the bear eye the group of men, that were all at alert.

    Some of them seemed to be a bit tired, while some looked exhausted.

    Particrly one man who wielded a sword that was on fire, but he stopped feeling that function with mana, due to his exhaustion.

    The bear noticed the man in his moment of weakness and it instantly attacked.

    The bear created more spikes, to distract the others, but left its target alone. When it saw that its distraction had worked it moved.

    Noah had noticed the man that the bear had eyes on. He had seen the man stop fueling his sword with Mana. He had also realized that the bear had wanted to attack him.

    So when the bear made more spikes, he had seen that it had left its target alone.

    So when it moved to give the man a killing blow, Noah unconsciously moved to.

    Noah suddenly took a step forward, light cracks spreading on the ground where he was. Noah Instantly crossed the distance of about thirty meters, appearing in front of the bear that was just a meter or two from its target,

    Due to Noah''s unholy speed, the bear wasn''t fast enough to react, heck it was even surprised.

    In that split second of getting to the bear''s position, Noah threw a punch at the bear''s head, and it directly exploded on contact

 Chapter 8 08. ILL DO IT

    Nobody had expected the bear to attack that suddenly, and when it did Gerald and Anthony were ready to move, but apparently, they were too slow.

    Noah had not expected the bear''s head to burst with just one punch, and even after the punch did that, the body of the bear flew backward for a few meters beforending heavily on the ground.

    Noah ignored the messages that were popping up, and looked around, to see everybody staring at him with astonishment, he was surprised, he still had not gotten used to his speed, he knew that force equals mass times eleration, but the power behind that punch "was that not too much ?" Noah thought to himself.

    "Noah" Gerald called, the man was already there. Noah turned to face him and for the nth time he saw the surprise on his face and even Anthony was surprised.

    " That was incredible, I was about to act but you finished it fast! " Gerald said, " Are you not supposed to be a tier 1" This time it was Anthony asking, Noah simply gave a helpless smile.

    Noah then turned to look at the man that he saved, and found out that he had passed out, ''probably from shock'', Noah thought, he was already being carried by the others who were still looking at him like he was a monster,

    Noah ignored Gerald''s barrage of questions to inspect the messages that popped up.

    [You have gained exp]

    [You have leveled up]

    [You have leveled up]

    [You have leveled up]

    [You have leveled up]

    [You have leveled up]

    [You have gained 12 points to all stat ]

    [You have 25 undistributed stat points]

    Noah was surprised, he had leveled up five times from the first magical beast they found, this hunt was already giving him more benefits than he had expected.

    He decided to check his status

    [Stat panel]

    [Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 10] [Tier: 1]

    [Speed force: Red]

    [HP: 72]

    [Strength: 82] [Stamina: 47] [MP: 222]

    [Intelligence: 42] [Speed: Mach 1]

    [Undistributed stat points: 35]

    [Skills]: [Slow motion perception[Passive]

    [Speed regeneration [Passive] [Mana cirction [Active]

    [Inventory: shirt ,skirt.]

    He wasn''t sure of where to add his massive number of stat points, but he knew strength had really helped him, but he still didn''t want to dump everything in his strength stat.

    So did what every smart person would do, he shared it equally.

    He had five stats he could add points to, and he had not forgotten how to divide, 35 divided by 5 was 7.

    He did just that .Here was what his stats looked like

    [Stat panel]

    [Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 10] [Tier: 1]

    [Speed force: Red]

    [HP: 79]

    [Strength: 89] [Stamina: 54] [MP: 229]

    [Intelligence: 49] [Speed: Mach 1]

    [Undistributed stat points: 0]

    [Skills]: Slow motion perception[Passive]

    Speed regeneration [Passive] [Mana cirction [Active]

    [Inventory: shirt ,skirt.]

    "Ahhh" Noah exined in a rxed voice, satisfied by his decision and the feeling of strength that was coursing through his whole being.

    Honestly, he wasn''t sure if he was normal anymore, yes for Earth''s standard he was far from normal, but also among his fellow tier 1 there were 18 tier 1''s fighting one bear and he had one shot-ted it, though it was badly injured and was on the brink of death, still that didn''t change the fact that his punch ended the damn Beast.

    "Noah are you listening ?" was what brought him out of his thoughts,

    " Uh," Noah said startled.

    Gerald looked at him for a few seconds before mumbling something to himself,

    He then cleared his throat before saying "we are going to rest for an hour, before resuming our hunt, I have discussed with Anthony, and we think you should fight with the others when we find a magical beast since you seem stronger than the rest of them, and don''t worry when we get back to the town I will pay you for your service" Gerald exined.

    Noah wanted to say "honestly letting me kill the beast is already enough", butmon sense beat the living cr*p out of that thought.

    He was going to need money sooner orter, there was no way he could stay with the hunting group forever, he was getting stronger by the day, he wanted to explore, and he would need money for that.<novelnext></novelnext>

    So he answered with the best smile he could fake "I''ll do it".

    ####

    A weekter...

    During the past week, Noah had fought so many beasts that ranged from Badgers, serpents, to apes to mention the least, he had mostly shot-ted them but some were tricky to kill, like the snake, when they had encountered one he was so shocked to see a snake as thick as a small tree and measured around thirty feet long, honestly, they were trauma-inducing coupled with their slippery skin that was not normal, it made killing it a pain in the a*s, or when they encountered apes that could release sound waves to disrupt their attacks, his eardrums bled so many times in one fight, but his healing skill repaired it as fast as it was damaged.

    The more he leveled up the lesser the exp he gained from the weaker magical beast, though he managed to level up ten times which was on the fifth day and so far he had not leveled up.

    Though the beasts were usually between levels 5 to 20. Throughout the week they had not met a single tier 2, he asked Gerald about the matter, and he said that there was definitely a tier 2 but it was probably the ''Lord of the forest'' or something like that, he also said that magical beast was not that strong in this part of the country, he learned that like normal animals magical beasts had leaders which were usually the strongest among the others. so it would note out unless it was threatened.

    Noah had also gained the trust of the others, he had saved them many times and had made their hunting easier so that naturally turned into trust.

    Noah also noticed that the number of people that used the magical circles Gerald talked about was less than those that simply infused Mana into their weapons.

    He had asked Gerald about that, and he exined to him that spells,

    were very expensive for the average man and that was the reason people joined the royal army or noble families.

    The more Noah learned about this world''s situation the more it resembled his former world, the rich get the most benefits out of life while the poor grovel at their feet.

    Though he tried not to get worried about spells since he wasn''t particrly rich, heck currently he had no money.

    Noah also gained a title after killing his 50th monster or around that number.

    [Monster killer: due to users'' proficiency in killing monsters, when fighting a monster user gets a 20% boost to all stats ]

    He had never thought he would get something like this, coupled with his unusually high stat, those magical beasts couldn''t help but die after his first attack.

    honestly, he was surprised by how many monsters were in one forest if he were alone and somehow got surrounded he would have no choice but to run unless he was a tier 2.

    he decided to check his stats since he hadn''t been assigned any points since the first day, so he wanted to do that first

    [Stat panel]

    Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [Title (s) : Monster killer]

    [Level: 20] [Tier: 1]

    [Speed force: Red]

    [HP: 104]

    [Strength: 114] [Stamina: 79] [MP: 254]

    [Intelligence: 74] [Speed: Mach 1]

    [Undistributed stat points: 50]

    [Skills]: Slow motion perception[Passive]

    Speed regeneration [Passive]

    [Inventory: shirt ,skirt.]

    He decided to divide it equally too,

    [Stat panel]

    Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [Title (s) : Monster killer]

    [Level: 20] [Tier: 1]

    [Speed force: Red]

    [HP: 114]

    [Strength: 124] [Stamina: 89] [MP: 264]

    [Intelligence: 84] [Speed: Mach 1]

    [Undistributed stat points: 0]

    [Skills]: Slow motion perception[Passive]

    Speed regeneration [Passive] ,[Mana cirction [Active]

    [Inventory: shirt, skirt.]

    It pained him to see all of his amassed stat points disappear, but he knew it was all worth it.

    During the week he had decided to practice running at his full speed since his unnatural speed was a factor that helped him in fights, and contrary to his fears he never for once hit a tree, when running it felt natural like taking a stroll, actually he enjoyed it, he also found out that when running red-colored energy were always being discharged from his back, actually they resembled "lightning".

    Now that they were done with hunting, they were on their way back to the town it was going to take them a day and a half to get there.

    Noah was excited, this was going to be the first time in one of the human settlements in this new world. he didn''t expect much since from what Gerald had told him, only the royal city, the mansions of the noble families, and the branches of the three great guilds were grandly built, but he was still excited.

    He had asked Gerald where they kept the bodies of the monsters they killed since they didn''t have anything to carry monsters that big, Gerald had exined to him about the existence of dimensional items that had more space than they appeared to have.

    They were made by cksmiths that had learned to infuse Mana into objects to give them special abilities, he also pointed out that the weapons of the group were like that, though lower tier which made them cheap to buy, though Gerald''s dimensional object was a middle tier, that was the reason they could store all the monster corpse, and this was possible because tier 2''s were given discounts.

    Noah then knew the reason why he wasn''t asked questions about how he brought the wolf out of thin air, though he would not need any dimensional items since he had an inventory, he could buy one to avoid questions.

    Well, all that would beter, but now they were on their way to "Maria".

 Chapter 9 09. MARIWA

    It didn''t take much for the group to arrive at the town. Actually if not for their bi-hourly rest; it would only have taken them a day at most.

    Noah understood that if he ran at full speed, it would take him only a few seconds to get there.

    They arrived at the end of the forest and got to a 20ft tall wall. Which had a massive wooden gate of equal height.

    The gate had had guards standing at its entrance; inspecting those entering the town.

    There were also more guards on standby probably, there in case a magical beast strayed out of the forest.

    On getting to the gate; Gerald and Anthony took the lead. One of the guards stopped them but quickly bowed and apologized.

    The individual seemed to recognize the leaders of the hunting group. Noah didn''t miss any of their interactions, he guessed that this was because the duo were tier 2''s

    The gate was already open, so the group simply walked in after they receive permission.

    On getting in, the first of the multiple details Noah noticed; were the crowded streets, which made the town very noisy. The averagely, poorly built buildings, gave the impression of poverty.

    Andstly; the grand mansion on the hill, facing the town, that Noah was certain, was the lord of the town''s abode.

    He made a mental note to ask Gerald about itter.

    Apart from the powerful auraing from the mansion that looked beautiful even from the entrance of the town; the town was just how he expected a back-water town to look.

    Gerald led the group of 21 to a building, which was probably where he would sell the dead beasts.

    On their way there, Noah inspected the shops and stalls along the way. He heard some merchants advertise magical weapons. Some food. While some advertised potions.

    He had enquired of Gerald if there were things like healing potions. Since the world was more like a fantasy world, he expected something like that.

    And to his expectations, they existed. Potions also came in tiers and each tier had a quality grade from lower to high quality.

    Each with their different prices, actually there were other types of potions like mana potions, potions that helped in their "cultivation" as Noah liked to call it. And even potions that helped men in their "business"

    He also sighted shops that disyed amours and clothes.

    But since none of the men from the group wore any, they were probably too expensive. Still, he wondered why those merchants still disyed their products.

    It was obvious that not many would be able to afford them. But as it wasn''t any of his concern, and he didn''t care about it, he pushed the matter back of his mind.

    Gerald exited the building with a boisterous smile. It seemed the exchange had gone well.

    "Tonight we celebrate! All drinks are on me," Gerald announced happily.

    The men from the group soon hailed him in return. They were all satisfied with the oue of the hunt.

    Gerald led the group to a closed space, away from the public; to distribute the gains among them. Most eximed in surprise not expecting to receive that much.

    Some even gazed at Noah with gratitude in their eyes, they probably wouldn''t have killed that much if not for him even though there were already two tiers 2''s with them.

    Noah simply smiled back at those that thanked him with their eyes.

    After Gerald had given the others their share, he walked toward Noah and handed him a bag, which Noah opened to find a lot of brown-colored coins.

    Some are bigger than others.

    Noah nced at the bag then back at Gerald, who expected Noah to exmation in surprise.

    After a few seconds of ncing back and forth, Gerald seemed to understand something before talking.

    "Let me guess you do not understand the currency system," He said with an incredulous expression.

    Noah simply gave a helpless smile in return.

    "Where were you born? The forest?" Gerald asked, his voice oozing pure astonishment.

    Noah gave no reply to the question.

    "Listen carefully, I won''t say this again," Gerald started to gain Noah''s attention.

    "There are three types of coins. Copper coins, silver coins, and gold coins. Eaches with a grade, small to medium to big," He exined.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "A medium copper coin is equivalent to 10 small copper coins. A big copper coin is equivalent to one hundred small copper coins. A small silver coin is equivalent to one hundred big copper coins. While a medium silver coin is equivalent to 10 small ones. And so on. We follow that grading system even for gold coins," Gerald exined.

    "I''m sure you understand," Gerald ended.

    "I do. And thank you very much," Noah performed a bow. Gerald had been a great help in allowing Noah to fill the gaps in the new world''s system. He would have been extorted if he were alone.

    Now that he understood what each coin meant. he felt shocked to find 100 small copper coins and ten medium copper coins. This was equivalent to 200 small bronze coins.

    He wasn''t sure how much it was worth, but it was a lot.

    He then nced at Gerald with surprise in his eyes.

    Gerald immediately felt satisfied with the surprise on Noah''s face, before his voice rang out.

    "You can earn even more, if you stay with us," He suggested.

    Noah instantly paused. He understood that Gerald was trying to y his card to get Noah into their hunting group.

    The attention of the others was immediately on them. Gerald had said it loud enough for the others to hear.

    Noah remained unfazed by this. He wasn''t going to stay with them. Heck, he never even nned to meet them, so he politely turned down the man''s offer.

    "Thank you, but I will have to refuse," Noah said in a calm and polite tone.

    "Why not?" Gerald asked with a tinge of disappointment in his tone.

    "I desire to travel around the world. Learn new things and achieve more power. And you said it yourself; this ce isn''t filled with those types of opportunities," Noah calmly answered his question.

    The moods of those present turned gloomy at some point. They understood that if he left they would probably not earn this much for a very long time.

    Noah killed the beast incredibly quickly, and most of the time they were not tired.

    Unless someone with his type of strength, stumbled upon them as he did, they would never earn much, and the chances of such happening were nigh zero.

    They understood that powerful people like him who had bright futures, couldn''t hang around in backwater towns like this one.

    Heck, they didn''t like the ce. And put in his shoes they would not hesitate to do the same. Although they knew it was pathetic and selfish of them, they wanted him to stay.

    After a minute or so of everyone thinking their thoughts, the person who decided to break the silence wasn''t Gerald, but Anthony.

    "You all should stop being gloomy. It''s his life, and also aren''t we supposed to be celebrating I don''t see any beer around. let''s gooo!!..." He announced with a jovial tone, walking away. Probably to a bar.

    At those words, everyone cheered and followed him to the bar. Most mening to terms with Noah''s departure. Each one of them swore to work harder and get stronger.

    It took them a while to get to a bar that could apany their number as most of them were filled up.

    ''Some things never change, even in a different world,'' Noah thought with a smile.

    Upon entering the bar, the group sat around a big table, immediately ordering drinks. It seemed as though all of them had forgotten what happened earlier.

    But Noah knew that wasn''t true, the best way a man could let out his emotional stress was through drinking. And that was what they did...

    The same couldn''t be said for Noah, who had already begun cursing the system for its unwanted detoxification.

    He had drunk a bit more than six bottles of the strongest beer in the bar, but each time he drank a cup or even an entire bottle, all he would experience was the burning sensation that went from his throat to his stomach.

    And that onlysted for but a split second, before the pop-up of the system detoxifying it arrived.

    The men looked at him with amazement. He could kill beasts easily and also hold his own with beer!

    A few of them even challenged him to a drinking contest but lost brutally.

    At this point, the sick joke wasn''t funny anymore. Noah felt pure anger.

    The night passed silently, with most of them going home, albeit in groups, due to their drunken state.

    Noah eventually lodged in an inn that Gerald brought him to. He was going to rest well that night because the next day he would take the affinity test.

 Chapter 10 10. ELEMENTAL AFFINITY

    Morning came fast. it had been a while since Noahst slept on a bed, so sleeping on one was like heaven.

    There were things he missed about his old world, things like the inte, his phone, tv, and pizza.

    "Oh god! I would do anything to get my hands on pizza right now," Noah eximed while reminiscing about his past life, in the dining area of the ce he lodged.

    Not long after, breakfast was brought to him. The substance looked like omelets but brown. Probably because it was burnt, and bread.

    Noah was surprised to find that the new world had bread.

    He eventually decided it was time to begin his meal. Taking a fork that had two, instead of three spike things; he stabbed the burnt omelet, took a slice of the hard bread, and ced the omelet on the bread, before taking the second slice and cing it on top of the omelet.

    He bit into it and the first detail he noticed was the toughness of the bread.

    ''''What the fuck,'' he exined Inwardly ''This isn''t bread more like stone.''

    It took him a few minutes of chewing before he could swallow!

    With that time he could run back to the ce they stayed in the forest and be back with a few seconds to spare.

    After about half an hour of a grueling repetition of chewing and swallowing, he finally finished with the meal. He drank as much water as he could, before exiting the hotel and vowing to never go return there.

    He desired to explore the town but didn''t want to get lost. It was his second day there after all.

    Sweeping his gaze on the nd streets, already bustling with merchants and buyers. Noah felt ready to ask someone where he could find the affinity test guild, but before he could, a familiar voice called out to him in a greeting.

    Turning around, his eyes fell on Gerald. His outfit featured a green jacket with leather brown pants. It looked good overall.

    Noah instinctively nced at himself, he had been wearing the same clothes for the past week, and the outfit didn''t look good.

    He decided he would take a detour to at least get new clothes.

    With that in mind, he replied Gerald, who simply smiled back at him, before speaking. "How was the lodge?"

    "Well, it was much better than sleeping on the ground. Though the food wasn''t," Noah replied, recalling his bad meal.

    "Oh I''m very sorry, that was the best ce in town," Gerald apologized.

    "The best ce!" Noah uttered in surprise. He had to leave that ce.

    "Well, aside were you going to look for the affinity test guild?" Gerald enquired.

    "Yes, I was. But I might need to take a detour, and get new clothes for my journey. These are already dirty," Noah exined.

    "I know a ce where quality clothes are sold for a reasonable price. I can take you there," Gerald suggested.

    "Ah yes. Please lead the way," Noah quickly replied, in a grateful tone of course.

    Gerald led him through the town, even answering Noah''s questions whenever he found something Interesting.

    Gerald brought him to the entrance of a rtively small building that was painted yellow.

    It showcased clothes in ss frames that seemed enchanted due to the slight red glow surrounding them.

    Gerald noticed Noah''s inspection of ss frames and decided to exin.

    "They are used as protection against theft. If rough-handled or touched without the owners unlocking them, the magical runes on the ss will explode outwardsunching ss shards at whoever came in contact with it," Gerald exined

    "They are cheap since they won''t work much with magical protections or spells," He shrugged, Noah nodding at his exnation.

    Gerald walked towards the building, pushing open the yellow door which rang the small green bell hung at the entrance.

    Upon entering Noah immediately swept his information-hungry gaze on the room.

    There were clothes on ck mannequins everywhere In the shop. Apart from the reception and some chairs for customers.

    A woman greeted them on entry, she was the receptionist.

    She was ady of average height, around 5.5ft. She sported long red hair which touched her shoulders.

    She wore a ck suit skirt and a white long-sleeved shirt that fit her perfectly.

    She looked no older than 25 and was a little above average in terms of looks.

    "How may I help you today, sir Gerald," she enquired with a light bow.

    Noah felt no surprise at the fact that she knew Gerald since he did say he knew the ce.

    "My friend here would like to purchase some of your clothes," Gerald announced gesturing at Noah, who still went on inspecting the shop.

    At those words, he introduced himself.

    "I''m Noah, nice meet you," he smiled

    "I am Selia nice to meet you, sir Noah," thedy replied blushing a little.

    Noah noticed the redness but didn''t understand why that was happening.

    He had not seen himself in a mirror yet, so wasn''t sure of his looks. But seeing the girl blush was a good sign.

    "Please look around, and pick what you like," She gestured at the rows of clothed mannequins. And Noah did just that.

    The shop had both male and female clothing which made it a bit difficult to scout, but he had spotted some male outfits that caught his attention and didn''t hesitate to move towards them.

    The first outfit was a light-yellow long sleeve, with brown trousers. He liked it, but deemed it too shy and would get dirty quickly if he got into a fight.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The second outfit was a dark-blue long sleeve shirt that fits tightly on the mannequin.

    He touched it, and its material reminded him of rubber. The trouser was also dark-blue, although they didn''t look as tight as the shirt they remained rtively fitted.

    Being made of the same material as the shirt, Noah liked the pair, as it would be easier to move in it.

    He would be running a lot, so clothes that didn''t hinder his movement were very essential.

    He called the attention to Selia and showed her what he had chosen and requested a ce he could test them.

    She quickly led him to a brown door, gesturing at him to enter. He entered the well-lit room.

    He didn''t know if they had electricity in this world, but since the world had mana he simply guessed that they had found a way to utilize it in that way.

    The room wasn''t that big, at most 5sqm and around 15ft in height. It also had a stool for where he wouldy his clothes.

    And most especially, it had a mirror. Noah quickly thanked Selia and closed the door behind him, before Inspecting his face

    He looked nothing like his former self. He had ck hair that was close to reaching his shoulders. He could easily pack it in a bun if he wanted.

    His eyes were bright blue, and they seemed to shine. He also looked to be in his early twenties.

    In terms of look, he remained definitely above average, even close to having a killer look. Which was probably why thedy blushed. His skin looked blemish-free, most likely due to leveling up.

    Noah found himself thanking the gods for endowing him with a good face.

    Done with his satisfying inspection, he removed his current clothes to wear the ones he picked.

    The outfit felt light, almost as though it wasn''t there. It also showcased his toned body as it did little to hide that feature.

    Noah felt the need to wear something in that attire.

    Exiting the room, he found Selia at the entrance the room. Seeing his outfit and how it looked on him, she blushed again.

    Noah ignored her again and scanned the ce for something he could wear on that outfit.

    Finding what he liked he removed a ck jacket that would look good on his attire. Immediately trying it on he felt satisfied.

    "How much would all of it cost," Noah asked.

    She immediately ran towards the reception table, brought out a book, looked through it then ced it on the table then walked back to his position.

    "The first full set will cost 15 small copper''s. While the ck jacket would cost 5. Making it a total of 20," she exined with a serious expression.

    Noah nodded and brought out 22 small copper coins, twenty for the clothes and two as a tip.

    He had spent 8 small copper coins for the lodge, plus his current spending. In total, he still had 170 worth of small copper coins

    "Thank you for your patronage," she bowed collecting the coins. Noah simply smiled back.

    At that, he and Gerald left the store.

    "Are you ready for the test now," Gerald asked?

    "Yes please," Noah replied.

    They walked for a bit more than 20 minutes before Gerald brought him to a brown building that had a sign saying "

    ''Affinity test''.

    They immediately entered, walking straight to the reception. There was a man in his thirties sitting there.

    Gerald helped Noah enquire, while Noah listened to their conversation, they conversed for a minute before Gerald eventually left the reception

    "A few others are using it. We were asked to wait a while," Gerald exined ushering him to the seat.

    The duo waited for about 20 minutes, a few individuals walked out of a room, some looking sad while others are happy.

    A man eventually exited the room announcing his name. Noah immediately answered the call.

    .

    The man led him to a brightly lit room, which had a few individuals clothed in different attires and one in armor.

    They all sat at the side of the room, close to the entrance. Noah raised an eyebrow at this detail but quickly focused his gaze on arge crystal ced at the center of the room.

    "ce your palm on the crystal," the man leading him said In a t tone.

    Noah moved towards the around 10ft tall and around 6ft wide crystal. it didn''t look special, just big.

    cing his palm on the crystal, Noah waited. Nothing happened. Nothing happened until closed his eyes, as he suddenly found his consciousness being sucked into that crystal, and he couldn''t resist the foreign force.

    Noah found himself seemingly inside a lightning storm. He panicked and tried to run, but couldn''t move. Then something happened.

    Some of the bolts of lightning converged, and right In front of him, they began constructing something.

    At first, he didn''t understand what was happening, but after a while, he could make out a humanoid figure,

    After a few more seconds, he understood that he was looking at a male figure, but bright.

    A few more seconds passed and he heard a voicee out of the shining figure. The voice reeked of majesty and yet remained energetic.

    "HOW HAVE YOU BEEN, MY HEIR"

 Chapter 11 11. THE MEETING

    Noah thought he was hearing things, but he knew he wasn''t.

    The bright figure just called him his heir, so he was shocked

    "You must be surprised," the figure said,

    "I didn''t expect less," he said again.

    Noah was still shocked but he decided to talk

    "Who are you?" he asked

    "You don''t have ess to that information," The figure said

    Noah was taken aback.

    "Why?" Noah asked in surprise

    "Because you are too weak, you are only a tier 1," The figure said.

    "Then when do I have ess to that information," Noah asked

    "When you are strong enough," the figure said.

    "When will I be strong enough," Noah asked bewildered,

    "You will know when " the figure answered

    Noah didn''t even understand what was going on at this point, this person appeared and he couldn''t even ask who he was.

    "Is there anything at all I can know about you?" Noah asked

    The figure which sounded like a man seemed to be in thought for a while before answering.

    "Well, you can know that I am the creator of the system you use" the man answered.

    Noah was on an even higher level of shock, he was in front of the creator of his system, and he didn''t know how to reply to that.

    After a few seconds, he mustered up the courage to ask a question.

    "Why did you choose me?"

    "I didn''t, the system did, it seemed to have found your soul among a multitude of souls wandering in the void, and It chose you because it found something in you that qualified you" The man answered almost immediately.

    Noah immediately began to think, the system found something in him that qualified him among other souls, he couldn''t wrap his head around that, he wasn''t special in any way, so what did it find.

    " I know you may be wondering what is found in you, even I am, but I am sure you will find out in due time," the man said.

    Noah was once again surprised, how would the creator of the system not know why his creation chose something.

    " Why don''t you know, are you not the creator," Noah asked, he couldn''t keep it to himself.

    "Well I am not here, this is just a fragment of my soul that you currently have ess to, something happened to the real me, but you do not have ess to that information" the figure answered.

    " Did you die?"

    "You do not have ess to that information" The figure answered in a mechanical voice different from the majestic one.

    "You died," Noah said

    the man kept quiet without saying anything.

    "So what do I get for inheriting your system," Noah asked he had some ideas but he wanted to be sure.

    "You get everything that I ever had," the man said in his normal voice.

    "Please borate on everything you mean," Noah asked getting excited.

    " You get all my skills, armors, pets, the ability to advance through tiers fast, and even my precious realm" The man replied.

    Now Noah''s excitement shot through the roof, he was going to get skills and armors, he wouldn''t have to worry about buying one, he already knew about the ability to advance through tiers fast, though he didn''t understand what he meant "pets" or the "realm" he was talking about, he was still excited.

    "You will have to earn some of them at first, but you will begin to get them as you get to the appropriate tier" the man exined.

    Noah''s excitement was dropping at an rming rate, he didn''t like that he would have to earn some until he was strong enough, he didn''t even know when.

    " And what is the appropriate tier that I have to get to," Noah asked suspiciously.

    " That would be tier 4 " The man replied

    Noah''s bubblepletely popped, " Tier 4!" Noah eximed, when would he get there. He wasn''t even a tier 2 not to talk of tier 4. What sort of joke was this.

    "Why?" Noah asked, more of aint than a question.

    "Because until then you will be too weak to protect some of the treasures you get", " you may not know but you have enemies in this world," The man said.

    This time Noah stopped being angry and turned serious.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Who are these enemies you are talking about," Noah asked.

    "You do not have ess to theplete information," the man said looking at Noah''s Expression to see it flicker" "But, you have ess to the fact that there are a lot of them, and all of them are stronger than you currently are" he continued.

    Noah still did not understand,

    "Why do I have enemies, I haven''t gotten here up to a month," Noah said bewildered.

    The man sighed for the first time, before saying,

    "There are those that wanted my power and now you have them, they haven''t noticed your existence because you are still too weak but when you do, they will, " the man said.

    Noah didn''t like where this was going at all,

    "What power are you talking about, is it the system," he asked

    " The system is just an embodiment of my will to get you stronger in a short period, No the power I am talking about is your ''super-speed," The man said.

    " Why ?" Noah asked bewildered.

    " Haven''t you noticed that you are stronger than your tier, that is because of your super-speed" He said

    "I know but I thought that it was because of the system and the stat points" Noah replied.

    " Yes you can say that the stat points help a lot, but the main reason is because of the super speed, the more you advance through tiers your speed increases drastically, which lets you achieve more power than you currently have, and this Is because the speed force has strengthened your body beyond what your tier allows" The man exined.

    " The only reason you see that description about the speed force is that you have not reached tier 4 " He exined.

    (?o?)

    "Doesn''t that mean I did not have ess to that information?" Noah asked with his imaginary eyebrow raised?

    At that, the man''s figure flickered before he said in a cold mechanical voice.

    "[Due to the user learning information that was not in their current ess level, the meeting will be cut short]".

    *

    *

    *

    "Well you heard, this meeting will be cut short, I know you have a lot of questions like what souls are or if there are other worlds out there, it would have been better if you were a tier 2 since you would have ess to more information, but there is nothing I can do, " The man said in his normal voice

    "So let me give you a piece of advice, get to tier 2 fast, there is something you will get, and try your best to hide the truth about your system and your super-speed, people will get angry, even if I didn''t have the luxury that you currently have, so protect it," He said.

    Noah nodded and asked," when will we meet again?"

    " We were originally supposed to meet when you got to tier two but the system decided to make it now, so till tier 4" The man exined.

    " Oh," Noah said in disappointment before remembering why he was here.

    "What about my Elemental Affinity, that was the main reason I came here," he asked.

    " Oh that, your Elemental Affinity had been unlocked immediately you go here. I hope you like what you get" The man exined.

    Noah sighed in relief, he wanted to say something, but before he could the man and the strange environment they were in began to fade.

    "Well till next time my heir," the man Said before fadingpletely.

    At that Noah felt his consciousness get pulled, and before he knew it he was back in the bright room.

    His palm was still on the crystal,it seemed as though the whole meeting hadsted only a second,

    As he was wondering about what had just happened, the crystal began to glow.

    At first, it was just a little, but it increased in intensity before it divided equally into two colors "Green and Ash"

    It got so bright that Noah had to remove his right palm to shield his eyes,

    During that event, a system notification popped up.

    [Elemental Affinities unlocked]

    [Air Elemental Affinity gained]

    [Lightning Elemental Affinity gained]

    [Two new skills unlocked]

    [Air Elemental magic]

    [Lightning Elemental magic]

    And for the first time in his three lives, he felt a rxing sensation of information rushing down his brain, as though he had always known about the two skills.

 Chapter 12 12. RECRUITING

    Noah was pleasantly surprised, he not only had two affinities but one of them was rare, the day getting better than he had expected.

    He decided to check the description of the new skills he had gained.

    [Air Elemental magic: When a user activates it, the user can control and manipte air magic ]

    [Lightning Elemental magic: when activated user conjures lightning and can manipte it to whatever they desire]

    Noah liked what he saw and what he felt. He couldn''t wait until he was alone to try out his new skills, they would prove to be very useful.

    He thought about what the man said about advancing to tier 2, so he decided that he would go on a hunt until notification of some sort popped up that it was time for him to advance or something like that, he wasn''t sure.

    As he was busy inspecting and nning on his next move, the light of the crystal started to die down, he looked at the abnormallyrge crystal that was getting dimmer by the second, he turned and started walking towards the exit of the room, totally forgetting about the men and women that were sitting at the side, who were currently in turmoil because of Noah''s Elemental Affinities.

    As he was about to reach the exit he heard someone call out to him, that was when he remembered that he was not alone in the room.

    The man that called out to him was a man who looked to be in histe thirties, he wore a purple robe that had yellow-colored cors and yellow colored stripes that ran from the shoulder till the ending of the robe.

    The man introduced himself "My name is Zeker from the ''Purple me guild'', we will like to recruit you since you have such a good Affinity we actu....."

    Before the man named Zeker couldplete his sentence another man interrupted him, by introducing himself.

    "My name is Gordon from the ''zing earth guild, our guild is more popr than his," he said pointing at the Zeker, who snorted.

    "We can give you more benefits if you join us and you might even be promoted to a higher position immediately" he continued looking proud.

    Noah who was lost, simply raised an eyebrow, he remembered that Gerald said joining a guild was a good thing since they got paid more than the average man, and if someone was promoted to a higher position they would get paid even more and enjoyed life.

    He wanted to reply to the two men , but before he could he noticed three people walking toward him,

    What made them very noticeable was not the way they carried themselves With pride, no it was the aura they released, it was an aura of POWER!.

    Immediately they got to his position the two men and the other people who were in the room, either lost hope in recruiting or simply backed off.

    The three were abination of one man and two women,

    The man who looked no older than thirty was dressed in a Green robe with imprinted leaves that were even a darker shade of green in random spots.

    He had brown hair that ran from his head till it reached his shoulder. He was around 6.3ft in height, so he was tall, his face was expressionless, and his eye color was yellow, which when coupled with his expressionless face radiated coldness that made Noah slightly shiver.

    The first woman looked around in her early thirties, she was around 5.6ft in height, and she had red hair that was cut short, it only reached her chin.

    she wore a Frosty Blue robe that had white snow shapes in random spots on it.

    She had green-colored eyes, that, matched her plum face. Currently, her face also radiated coldness.

    The second woman also looked no older than Noah, she was around 5.5ft in height, which made her the shortest of the trio,

    She had Cyan colored hair that reached her back. She wore a ck robe with golden-colored streaks that looked like lightning in ces like the cor, the base of the robe, the waistline, and the chest. in all the attire looked cool.

    Noah could tell that she had a great shape, even though her robe hid most of it.

    She had blue eyes that seemed to sparkle in the light. Her face was blemishless and Noah had to admit that she was very beautiful, actually the most beautiful woman he had seen since he got to this world.

    Among the three she was the only one smiling, which radiated friendliness.

    But Noah didn''t let that fool him because among the three her aura was the strongest!.

    A few seconds of silence passed between the four of them before they broke the silence.

    The man spoke first, " My name is Michael, I am from the Great guild ''Ravaging wind" He said before stopping for the others to introduce themselves.

    The woman with blue hair spoke second," Hello my name is Melissa I am from the Great guild ''Divine Lightning" She said in a friendly tone.

    Before thest person spoke," I am Greta from the Great guild Frozen prism" she Said coldly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah decided to check their levels and what he saw shocked him.

    [Michael]

    [level: ???]

    [Tier: ???]

    [Greta]

    [Level:???]

    [Tier:???]

    [Melissa]

    [Level:???]

    [Tier:???]

    Noah was shocked, ever since he had learned how to inspect people with the system, this had never happened. The only reason he could think of was that he was way weaker than them, which didn''t give him ess to their information. The more he learned how weak he was the more he wanted to advance to Tier 2.

    Noah also noticed that they seemed to respect each other to not fight for him yet. He stood there for a few seconds with the three staring at him, he was so shocked about not being able to check their levels that he forgot to introduce himself immediately, realizing that, he spoke immediately.

    " My Name is Noah, Nice to meet you," He said.

    At that, the Faces of the three changed to that of surprise, before the woman named Melissa started to giggle before she said.

    "Come on guys you know he has lightning as an Affinity why don''t you let me have him, besides I like him already," She said.

    The man named Michael snorted,"he has Air as an Affinity too, why should I let him go"

    "My guild doesn''t want someone whocks respect," Greta said before turning and walking away.

    Noah felt shocked, how did he not have respect. Was something wrong with his introduction? He didn''t have anything to say so he simply told them his name. ''Was that not enough?'' He asked himself in perplexion.

    Before he could say anything Melissa continued, simply ignoring the annoyed woman.

    "Come on Michael you know I haven''t gotten a recruit in thest two months, and you know that finding someone with Lightning Affinity is very hard, so please let me have him," she said in a pleading tone.

    At that Michael seemed to have a difficult expression, he stood pondering something before, sighing helplessly.

    "Okay, you can have him," He said before turning and walking back to the table.

    "Thank you" Melissa shouted at Michael who simply raised his hand.

    At that Melissa turned towards the still surprised Noah and said: " Well it is nice to meet you, Mr. Noah, would you join the guild of the Divine Lightning ".

    Noah was not sure of what to answer he couldn''t just join a guild even though it was one of the Great guilds, he still had to think it through.

    Before he could say anything Melissa talked again, " You are interesting, most people will jump at my invitation, but you are being hesitant" she said before continuing "I will help you. since you seem not sure. Take this, anytime you are ready to drop by, this will show the others that I sent you" she said making a golden box that was small in size appear and float towards him.

    Noah nodded and collected it. He inspected it but found nothing special apart from the weird rune-like marks on it.

    "Push Mana into it," Melissa said noticing his confusion.

    Noah nodded and did just that, he was already good at controlling the Mana in his body since he had practiced it in the forest, he even got 3 extra Mana points.

    So he simply willed Mana to flow from his hands into the box.

    Immediately after he did that the runes on the box lit up with white color.

 Chapter 13 13. LEAVING THE TOWN

    The white glowing runes projected an image in the air that crackled with energy, It was an image of Melissa.

    Noah was pleasantly surprised, he wondered what position she held in her guild for her to have something like this.

    And also, he felt some type of familiarity with her.

    He wasn''t sure what it was but it was there.

    " Thank you for your understanding," Noah said bowing down slightly.

    At that Melissa simply smiled, nodded her head, and walked away.

    Looking at her beautiful figure that dazzled in the room, Noah admired it all.

    When he was done, Noah opened the door and walked out of the room. Seeing Gerald still sitting, he walked over to him. Before he could say anything Gerald talked.

    " How was it," He asked.

    "Well it went well, I think " Noah replied

    " What is your Elemental Affinity," Gerald asked with an eyebrow arched.

    Noah looked at him and smiled before replying " Oh I found out that I have an Affinity for two Elements"

    At that Gerald stood up with pure shock on his face, he had not expected this, Noah seemed to jump from surprise to surprise.

    " What are the Affinities you have," Gerald asked skeptically,

    Noah looked at this scene with his smile getting wider, he was truly enjoying himself.

    "Just ''Air'' and ''Lightning'' " He replied.

    Gerald gasped out loud, before covering his mouth to reduce his voice, which reverberated with tier 2 power.

    " You have a rare Affinity, incredible," He said, more to himself than to Noah.

    Noah simply gave a shortugh at the man''s surprise, luckily there was no one there apart from the receptionist, who seemed busy, and wasn''t listening to their conversation, the man only nced at them for a second before continuing what he was doing.

    " Why don''t we get out of here," Noah said to Gerald who simply nodded absentmindedly.

    Walking out of the building, Noah looked around, admiring the busyness of the town, before looking towards the mansion that was situated on a hill facing the town.

    " Who lives there?" Noah asked Gerald, who immediately snapped out of his stupor before his face turned serious.

    " The Town''s Lord" Gerald replied with anger in his tone.

    Noah noticed this but decided to ignore it, He could guess why the man was angry.

    " What tier is the" Noah decided to ask.

    "Peak of Tier 3, rumours say he has already achieved Tier 4" Gerald answered with a helpless sigh.

    Noah raised his eyebrows, if there was someone as powerful as that ruling a backwater town, he couldn''t imagine what powerhouses ces like the royal city would hold.

    The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to get stronger fast. With the threat of the mysterious enemies he had, he couldn''t afford toze around.

    With that, his next n was to go back into the forest and fight until he reached tier 2.

    With that thought, he decided to check his status.

    [Stat panel]

    [Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [Title (s) : Monster killer]

    [Level: 20/25] [Tier: 1]

    [Speed force: Red]

    [Elemental Affinity (s)[Air , Lightning]

    [HP: 114]

    [Strength: 124] [Stamina: 89] [MP: 269]

    [Intelligence: 84] [Speed: Mach 1]

    [Undistributed stat points: 0]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Skills]: [Slow motion perception[Passive]

    [Speed regeneration[Passive] [Mana cirction [Active]

    [Air Elemental magic] [Lightning Elemental magic]

    [Inventory: shirt, skirt]

    He noticed some of the changes on theyout of his status, like the Elemental affinity panel, the number beside his current level showing him which level would be the cap for Tier 1, this greatly solved his problem of not knowing when he would evolve and also that the elemental magics did not have ''passive'' or ''active'' beside their name. He wondered why, but he couldn''t get any ideas

    With that done he spoke to Gerald about leaving the town, to travel for a while.

    He asked Gerald where he could find a stronger magical beast, and to his surprise, the man answered without asking him why he wanted to.

    Gerald told him that the forest beside Maria was filled with weak beasts, but that if he left the town and went South to where a big city named "Vonol" was, He would surely meet stronger beasts, he could even meet tier 2 Magical beasts.

    With that Noah decided it was time for him to move, but first, he needed a map.

    Gerald took him to a rtively big store, that sold different things, that ranged from, magical toys, to maps, and books.

    He also found out that the map of this world used magic too. When he purchased a map that cost him 30 bronze coins, which by the way was a lot of money.

    He found out that when he infused Mana into it and looked at it, all the information somehow entered his mind, and surprisingly the system identified it as a skill.

    [Mental map[Passive]: When the user explores or finds new ces it is added to their mental map so that they can never get lost.]

    He was loving the system, and with his skill, a 3D map of the area appeared in his mind with clear detail. he could look around and check the ces he had visited. He even saw where he had awoken

    "Incredible" Noah muttered while checking the map he could see himself as a blue dot that blinked. The system was now even more like a game.

    With that settled, Noah decided to spend the rest of the day in Maria and leave the next morning.

    He tried his best to minimize his spending since right now he wasn''t financially buoyant, but he still had to eat.

    So with a heavy heart, he lodged back into the hotel he used the other night since it was the best in town.

    Gerald told him not to worry about his spending, that if he could get some of the monsters that he would eventually kill to the city in one piece, he would make some money.

    With that in mind, Noah also made ns to keep the magical beasts he would kill.

    He was happy since it would be a win-win situation, he would gain levels and he would make money.

    With all his ns for the immediate future made, he slept with excitement about the uing travel.

    Morning came fast, Noah woke up and went down to get his breakfast, which was the same thing he had the other day.

    After about another thirty minutes of grueling chewing, Noah was done with the meal.

    Immediately he left, he swore once again to never go back there. This time since he had a map of the town, Noah decided to wait for Gerald, since he didn''t know where he lived.

    While waiting Noah noticed that people especially women would asionally stare at him as they walked by. When his gaze met some of the youngdies, they would blush and look away walking faster. Some even waved at him, and to those, he waved back with a smile. He was thankful to the gods for his face.

    After about ten minutes Gerald arrived at the front of the hotel.

    "Good morning, I hope the meal wasn''t as bad as yesterday," Gerald said.

    "Oh it wasn''t, it just wanted to kill me" Noah replied jokingly, though he wasn''t lying.

    They both had a goodugh before Noah decided it was time for him to leave.

    They walked and talked, with Noah thanking him for all his help throughout the past week.

    When they got to the city gate, Gerald waved Noah goodbye, who also waved back and bowed. The passersby were staring at them but Noah didn''t care, they would probably not see him again. And to his surprise, the hunting group also came to greet him goodbye.

    After all that Noah began to walk away. You would wonder why he didn''t just run, but since he was supposed to keep his speed a secret, he would do just that.

    After about ten minutes of walking, he had already walked far away from the Town''s gate.

    Looking around Noah crouched like an athlete about to start a race, he didn''t have to do that but it felt dramatic.

    Still crouched Noah''s body began to emit Red Sparks of energy, the Sparks were strong enough to burn the grass a few feet around him, his hair also gained a light shade of red, though he didn''t know this.

    He felt pure energy flow through his whole being, to the extent that his eyes began to glow red, his surroundings slowed down even more neigh stopping.

    He stayed in that position for a few seconds enjoying the feeling that the "Speed Force" gave him.

    Then he moved.

    <strong>BOOOOOOOOOM!!</strong>

 Chapter 14 14. NEW ABILITY

    Noah shattered the sound barrier, immediately elerating to his maximum speed. The wind rushed passed him trying to catch up, but it couldn''t, wherever he passed the surroundings would experience a wind rush.

    The forest was experiencing an unsettlement, the birds flew away from fear, and Magical beasts close to the surroundings roared at his movement, but they couldn''t even see him, all they saw was the red-colored energy being discharged from his back.

    While his surroundings were troubled, Noah was having the time of his life crossing long distances every second, he enjoyed the feeling of air rushing past his face, he couldn''t hear the roars due to his experience if not he would have stopped to kill the magical beasts.

    The energy flowing through him seemed to be endless, and he wasn''t even feeling an ounce of fatigue yet.

    He felt in sync with the world, and as though nothing could hurt him. He ran for a few minutes checking his position on the map, even with his speed he was approaching his destination slowly. He wondered how people would cross that distance, it would probably take them weeks or even whole months.

    Though thanks to the map he had found out that the world he was currently in, was bigger than the earth, a small region on the map was like a big city on Earth.

    After a few more minutes of running, He began to notice signs of a fight up ahead, he could see broke trees from the distance, and uneven grounds, that were caused artificially.

    Coming to a stop abruptly, all the momentum and wind he had been packing, caused the ground to crack and the wind broke some trees.

    Noah was in awe of that result, he wondered what would happen if he punched a magical beast while running at full speed. A shiver went down his spine, he doubted that a tier 2 could survive that.

    Looking around the fight scene that was probably caused by a fight between two magical beasts.

    Noah moved closer, the damage done wasn''t much, probably due to them being tier 1.

    As he moved closer to the wreckage, he began to sense an aura that belonged to a magical beast, and the surprising thing was that it was extremely weak as though it was dying.

    Moving closer faster, Noah got to a very small clearing and in the middle of the clearing was an Ape Magical beast.

    Its body was riddled with injuries, with some beingrger than the others. The ape was lying on the ground it''s breathing rough and weak.

    Looking around for the second beast, Noah found nothing but a trail of red blood that led deeper into the forest.

    At that sight, he sighed, the second magical beast was probably very weak too.

    Noah was going to kill the Ape, no doubt about that. He didn''t care that it was already injured.

    No, what he cared about was how to kill the beast. He didn''t purchase any weapons because he didn''t have enough money to buy a good one. A good magical weapon would cost about 300 small copper coins, and currently, he only had 106 copper small coins.

    And he didn''t want to just punch it because that would cause a bloody mess, and no one would want a magical beast corpse that looked like a rag, it was already barely holding itself together, anymore, and would just be chunks of bloody flesh.

    While thinking of what to do, the Ape noticed him and tried to stand, but it couldn''t even raise itsrge arms. After a few seconds of struggle, the ape gave up and released an incredibly weak sound wave, that only managed to blow some leaves away.

    With that, realization struck Noah, he had forgotten about his elemental affinities, and that he wanted to test them out.

    This was the best time for that, and he had a n. He had always wanted to make swords out of any element, and now he had the chance to fulfill his childhood dreams.

    He decided to choose the element that had the most destructive power in his arsenal ''Lightning''

    He cast the spell "Lightning Elemental magic" to his surprise lightning materialized out of nothing, but it flickered and died.

    Noah frowned at this sight, so he tried again, he activated the spell and tried to imagine a sword.

    The lightning materialized again, it started to form a sword but eventually fell apart, this time it exploded and released a small wave of energy. The explosion didn''t hurt him since it was very small.

    Noah continued this for a few minutes, each try ending up the same way. He almost gave up on his dream of fighting with elemental swords.

    But before he did an idea flickered into his mind, then he tried it.

    He activated the spell again, but this time instead of forming a sword in the air he tried to form it around his hand, and to his surprise, ''lightning'' wrapped around his right hand from his elbow down to his hands then extended a few inches from his fingers, it gained sharp edges and after a second stabilized, it looked solid but if not for the Sparks running around it, no one would know.

    Noah marveled at that sight, the lightning didn''t hurt him, it didn''t even burn his clothes, they simply wrapped around his arm and became pointy.

    After a minute of marveling, Noah decided to try it out. He walked closer to the ape and stood in front of its head.

    The ape tried to move but it couldn''t do much.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Then Noah raised his right hand and shed down. And to his surprised eyes, the head of the ape rolled on the ground cleanly cut.

    He received notifications of gaining exp but he didn''t bother to check them, the ape was only a level 21 so he knew he couldn''t level up.

    Noah looked at the headless ape, the blooding out of its neck did not even irritate him, he had hunted in his past life and this one. After a few seconds of his surprise, a wide grin appeared on his face. The fact that he was powerful sank into him.

    After a few minutes, he stored the body of the ape and looked at his status, he found that he had used 20 Mana points so far. He wasn''t sure if that was a lot but it seemed small.

    After that, he wondered whether to look for the other beast or not since it couldn''t have gone far.

    After a few seconds of contemting, he decided to search for it.

    Following the trail of blood, it left Noah walked for about five minutes inspecting the environment, for any beast around.

    Finally, he sensed the same weak aura that the ape gave, but this time it was a little stronger than the ape.

    Walking closer Noah hid behind a tree to find a yellow tiger, resting beside a tree, it''s breathing was rough, and it was also riddled with injuries.,but it wasn''t that bad.

    Noah inspected it

    [Tiger]

    [Tier: 1]

    [Level:23]

    [Danger level :Normal]

    It was a level 23, and its danger level was normal. Instead of hiding Noah decided to show himself, hiding won''t change anything.

    Coming out of his hiding, and into the sight of the tiger. Noah stood where he was.

    At the sight of Noah the tiger became angry, it roared at him at first but when it saw that Noah did not move, it stood up sluggishly.

    Noah watched this scene without any fear, he simply wanted to try out his new ability.

    After it stood up the tiger immediately started running towards Noah.

    Noah raised an eyebrow at this sight, the tiger still had enough energy for a Sprint. Though it was moving in slow motion to him.

    Navigating through the trees the tiger was about to get to Noah when he activated his spell formed a de around his arm and then shed bedside the tiger.

    The tiger didn''t have enough time to react to Noah''s speed, when Noah shed at its head, it passed through its head like a hot knife on butter, cutting it cleanly.

    The tiger died surprised.

    Noah was okay with the results of the new form of weapon he had. Though it required some concentration, he could pull it off easily.

    He was also surprised to find out that he had leveled up. He decided to keep the stat points until he advanced.

    Storing the corpse of the tiger, Noah checked his position on the map.

    He had diverted a little from the path he was taking before.

    With everything done, Noah ran back to where he had stopped to look for the Beasts and continued on the path towards the city.

    He knew he wouldn''t get there that day so after running for about an hour before his stamina was almost out, he decided to rest for thirty minutes, before continuing.

    He followed this method for a while before stopping to rest for the night.

    He decided that he would cover much ground today which he did, while the next day, he would intentionally hunt for monsters. It would take at least two days in all before getting to his destination.

 Chapter 15 15. MEMORIES

    Noah found himself wondering about what the current situation on earth was. Whether his brother had been arrested for murder. Or what his father was doing.

    He had to admit that he missed his dad. The man had been super caring and was someone any son would want as his dad.

    Noah had never met his mother. ording to his dad; she died when he had been 2 years of age.

    So he didn''t have any memory of her. He wasn''t really happy about that cruel reality, but he had no choice but to continue living. Although some of his peers preyed on him because of it.

    He recalled when one time they were asked to bring their mothers to school. He and his brother were the only ones with their dad, who had decided toe.

    Noah felt perfectly okay with his dad''s presence but still felt like an outcast. Seeing other kids his age having fun with their moms stung his tiny heart.

    His dad had noticed this and decided to take them somewhere else to have fun.

    And this is where we address his problem; which was his younger brother.

    His brother had always been angry, and jealous and had hated him for reasons Noah did not understand.

    They had fought once In a while, but that was what siblings did. It wouldn''t be normal if they didn''t have fights.

    The matter that led to the hatred was probably because their father always gave his attention to Noah. And this was simply because his younger brother Marcus, had always been out with his friends and never really seemed to care.

    When Marcus turned 17 he left the house after a fight with their dad.

    Noah had not been home at that time, and so wasn''t able to stop him. Nevertheless, he tried looking for him for months. But Marcus had seemingly vanished.

    After a while, he gave up on searching and four yearster they met up again.

    Marcus had contacted Noah and asked him to meet at the construction site where he worked. Noah had been suspicious but since the meeting was going to take ce during daybreak, his paranoia faded away.

    Noah had gotten there early. He saw his brother, hugged him, and asked how everything was.

    Marcus had replied normally without any anger or ill intent in his voice. But recalling those events, Noah understood that he had just been good at acting.

    They had gone up the four-story, upleted building to get fresh air and talk more.

    Again, Marcus had been very good at acting. He brought drinks up there, and they continued to talk for about an hour, then all hell broke loose.

    Marcus had used him of stealing everything he loved and wanted, and that he couldn''t forgive him for it.

    Noah decided not to argue, and began to apologize, he felt tired of useless arguments so he decided to take the calm path.

    But after a few minutes filled with yelling and usations, Marcus noticed he wasn''t getting the desired reaction from his brother, so he picked a metal rod and attacked Noah.

    At that sight, Noah knew things were getting out of hand, but he still tried to talk to him during all his dodging.

    After a minute or so of his younger brother, trying to hit the rod on him. Marcus did something Noah didn''t expect.

    He dropped the rod and dashed towards the edge of the building. Seemingly wanting to jump off it.

    Noah''s eyes widened and he too dashed towards him before he could jump. Then Marcus did something he didn''t expect, again.

    He abruptly stopped, and turned around, facing Noah who was about to halt in front of him.

    Marcus used the momentum Noah arrived with, to pull and push him off the building in one swift movement.

    It happened so fast that Noah thought it to be an image. One second he was in front of his brother, the next he was barreling downwards, from the top of a four-story building.

    Noahnded on a sharp pole that instantly pierced his back out of his stomach.

    Noah could still recall the terrifying screams he heard from the people around.

    He could still recall the feeling of the pole inside him, it was burning, probably due to the sun.

    He still recalled gasping for breath while gazing at the sky. Then everything went ck.

    .

    .

    .

    Shaking off the intense sadness that was finding its way up to his heart.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah gazed at the sky knowing he would probably never return to earth.

    He understood that he could die on this journey he was taking, but he didn''t care. As long as he remained more powerful than his enemies they would never get to him.

    Closing his eyes, Noah''s consciousness drifted into the darkness called sleep, with hopes that the next day would be fruitful.

    Waking up, he jumped down the 10ft tall tree. Landing without any problems, he sat and brought out a chunk of roasted meat from his inventory.

    He had found that his inventory didn''t let things rot or spoil. Heck, it kept it the way it was when he put it inside. So the meat still released steam.

    Devouring it, he brought out a jug of water and drank. Done with his meal Noah decided it was time to hunt.

    "ording to the map, this area should have magical beasts around," Noah said.

    He had not chosen just any path to the city. No, he chose a path to the city that had magical beasts around.

    With that done, he stood up and let his peak tier 1 aura flow out. He had learned that since magical beasts were territorial if they sensed an aura with battle intent, they would trante it as a challenge.

    And that seemed to be true, because after walking for a few minutes with his aura out, Noah heard the roars of a magical beast.

    After a few seconds, he could sense it approaching his position rapidly.

    Noah quickly decided to get ready. He formed his "Energy des" on both hands, he had decided to name them that. Then he crouched, and when the magical beast which was another ape, appeared in his sight, Noah sprinted forward at his full speed.

    The sound barrier shattered, and he appeared in front of the ape which hadn''t expected its opponent to be that fast.

    shing his right hand at its torso, Noah divided its body in two. The ape died immediately.

    Noah stored the corpse before it hit the ground, immediately sprinting at his full speed. He sensed another magical beast close to his position.

    Arrived in front of a green snake who was also trying to get to his former position.

    Noah didn''t wait for it to react, as it was moving in slow motion toward him. He shed his right hand at its head splitting its jaw from the rest of its body. He immediately stored the body of the snake.

    Checking his status, he saw that he had not leveled up, but he remained calm about that since he could sense two more magical beasts approaching his position fast! they seemed to be together.

    He soon decided to wait for their arrival, and after a few seconds, they appeared in his sight. Around 30 meters from him were two tigers. He didn''t inspect their levels since he didn''t care. Then he shot towards them.

    Appearing behind the tigers, Noah came to an abrupt stop. Immediately he did, and the upper bodies of both tigers slid off their legs. He had shed them at the same time.

    Storing the corpses, Noah nodded at his hunting prowess. All he could do was sh, but it was effective against the Magical beasts.

    He had leveled up after killing the tigers, bringing him closer to his goal.

    While he was checking his status; something shed in front of his eyes.

    He could recognize it as the tail of a magical beast, so he raised his arms to block it. Or rather he tried to.

    The tail instantly flung him backward, causing him to smash any tree that wasn''t strong enough to handle the momentum of his body.

    He smashed into a tree beforeing to a stop, then screamed in pain

    Gazing at his arms, he could see that they were badly broken. His bones were even sticking out of his skin.

    Coughing a mouth full of blood. Noah tried his best to not pass out, but his consciousness was slowly slipping anyway.

    His passive healing skill had already kicked in, but it would still take a while to heal his arms and internal organs.

    Noah''s eyes were bloodshot he hadn''t expected to receive such a powerful blow from the tail of whatever attacked him. He didn''t even know what type of beast it was.

    Then his answer came in the form of a massive 3m long lizard, that had rocks for scales. At every step it took, the ground shook slightly. Its body was dark brown, while its reptilian eyes were red.

    Noah could feel the aura the lizard released, and he did not like what he felt. To make sure his mind wasn''t ying tricks on him he inspected the beast.

    [Evolved Stone lizard]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 30]

    [Danger level: Insane]

 Chapter 16 16. DANGER

    Noah''s eyes almost popped out. He had truly fucked up. He had not been cautious of his environment, and that was because he thought he was the strongest in the area.

    The lizard looked menacingly at him, then roared, its roar almost burst his eardrums, and the ground shook slightly.

    Immediately Noah used all the strength he had to roll away from his position. Rolling to the side.

    Where he was a 5ft tall earth spike shot out. The lizard wanted to kill him in one go.

    He was about to pass out, the paining from his insides and arms was intense. "What should I do?" Noah shouted inwardly.

    He tried standing up, but he felt devoid of energy, the roll had taken all he had and he was scared.

    Luckily the lizard had not moved from its spot for some reason, but then it did, contrary to the speed of its tail the lizard''s movement was slow and even slower to him.

    Noah''s brain was working overtime to find a solution, to the extent that his eyes began to glow, and Sparks began to umte around his body.

    Noah had unintentionally activated the speed force, which helped his mental faculties, and even sped up his healing.

    Noah felt energy pouring into him, and immediately he stood up, his legs were fine from the beginning, but his internals was still healing.

    Then he ran, or rather he tried to.

    looking at his legs Noah wondered why he had not moved, only for him to find that both his feet were impaled by spikes.

    Noah stood there unmoving as sparks continued umting around and on his body, he didn''t even scream from the pain he was feeling, at this point his hand had healed and his internals were almostpletely healed.

    Noah looked at the iing lizard and felt at peace, he had been careless and now he was going to pay for it.

    "No I don''t want to die, I haven''t achieved anything, this is not how I want it to end", Noah said in his mind,

    The sparks umted around him even more, up until the extent that his figure began to glow with red radiance.

    Noah watched in slow motion, as the lizard twisted its long body cracking its tail at him.

    "No, I don''t want to die" Noah shouted out with terror.

    <strong>BOOOOMMM!!</strong>

    [New skills unlocked]

    [Energy Pulse: When activated sparks umte around the user until it is released in the form of a pulse that destroys anything within a 10-meter radius. Costs 50 Mp. Cooldown 30minutes.]

    [Energy Barrier: When activated a magical Barrier made of pure energy appears around the user, Durability depends on how much Mana is pumped into it. Costs 20 Mp when activated initially]

    Noah stared at the new skills he had gained, he was incredibly happy for the timely unlocking of the skills, what the bright figure said about him earning some skills rang continuously in his head.

    Looking around he found that the Energy pulse had obliterated anything within a 10 meters radius. The trees, the grass, even the spikes made by the Lizard.

    Noah looked at the lizard to see it thrashing around in pain, a quarter of its tail was gone, and the remaining looked badly burnt.

    At that sight Noah rejoiced, the pulse had destroyed Even the spikes that pierced his feet.

    After half a minute or so, his feet were fully healed.

    Immediately after that was done Noah turned around, his body emitting red Sparks, his eyes began to glow, the speed force filled him with power. Then he ran

    <strong>BOOOOOOOM!!</strong>

    Seemingly disappearing from his former position if not for the red Lightning streak, Noah ran away from the lizard, apart from the tail it waspletely fine, which meant Noah was unable to defeat it at his current level. He didn''t gain a groundbreaking skill, so he knew his limits.

    Running for a few seconds Noah crossed a long distance, making the gap between him and the area where he encountered the lizard wide.

    Coming to a stop, Noah retracted his aura, and climbed a tree. He was visibly shaking.

    Honestly, he was close to shedding tears, but he didn''t since he knew what happened waspletely his fault.

    Resting on one of the tree branches, Noah calmed himself down, reviewing the near-death situation he was previously in.

    "Damn Tier 2 beasts are on a different level" was all he could say.

    The experience had thrown him back to earth, making him remember that he wasn''t a ''god'' yet. If he continued his carelessness he would probably get himself killed faster than expected.

    Heaving a deep Sighing, Noah decided that from that day onward he would not rx as long as he was in the wild.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The reason why the magical beast found him was that he had let his challenging aura flow continuously, without caring about other dangers.

    After resting for about an hour, Noah jumped down from the tree and ate a chunk of roasted meat. His healing skill fixed his body to his peak, but he was still hungry. His body still needed nourishment.

    Noah could have decided to stop hunting for the day but since he wanted to get stronger, he had to continue. he decided to check his status

    [Stat panel]

    [Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [Title (s) : Monster killer]

    [Level: 22/25] [Tier: 1]

    [Speed force: Red]

    [Elemental Affinity (s)[Air , Lightning]

    [HP: 119]

    [Strength: 129] [Stamina: 94] [MP: 274]

    [Intelligence: 84] [Speed: Mach 1]

    [Undistributed stat points: 10]

    [Skills]: [Slow motion perception[Passive]

    [Speed regeneration [Passive], [Mana cirction [Active]

    [Air Elemental magic] [Lightning Elemental magic], Energy Pulse[Active], [Energy Barrier [Active]

    [Inventory: shirt, skirt.]

    He was three levels away from his goal. And he nned to achieve them today. He wasn''t sure if he needed to do anything when he was about to evolve, but right now he didn''t care.

    Walking away from his position, Noah navigated through the forest, he was a bit scared of releasing his aura, but he did it anyway. No one would progress without taking risks.

    After a minute or so, he heard roars,ing from different areas around his position. Then he began to sense the aura of the beasts.

    Getting ready Noah formed the ''Energy des on both his arms. Honestly, he wondered why the system did not recognize it as a skill, probably because it was simply a maniption of lightning.

    A Bear entered his line of sight he inspected it, and it was just a level 20.

    The bear was running towards him with fury In its eyes. It navigated itsrge body through the trees, before getting around 10 meters away from Noah.

    At this Noah promptly moved, he wasn''t going to stay in the same position for long during his hunting, which meant he was going for a fast kill.

    shing in front of the bear''s head Noah shed his right hand upwards, splitting its head in two. He immediately stored its body, ignoring the messages of gaining exp.

    In that split second he decided on his next target. He ran to his left dodging trees and arriving In front of another bear. He shed at its side, leaving a gaping wound there which let the bear roar in agony.

    "Crap should have aimed for its head," Noah said.

    Immediately he turned and shed at its head cutting it off cleanly. He stored the body before moving again.

    This time he found a fox, it wasn''t that big for a tier 1, it was around the size of a kid''s bicycle, but it was fast.

    Though it still moved in slow motion to Noah. He appeared beside the fox, shing the backside of the fox with both hands, which resulted in its body splitting in two. he immediately stored it. Before moving again.

    He continued this for about two hours, finding different Magical beasts of different levels, He didn''t expect it to take this long since there was an abundance of Magical beasts and he only needed three levels.

    He only stopped when a message that was shining blue popped up.

    [You have reached the maximum level of your current Tier. Would you like tomence Advancement now]

    [Yes/No]

 Chapter 17 17. ADVANCING

    "Finally,'''' Noah muttered with a sigh of relief. However, he remained uncertain of his next action; whether to ept it now, or not.

    "I don''t want to be caught off guard, it might give me the challenge to ovee or something like that", Noah said in his mind.

    With that, he retracted his aura and climbed a tree. He wasn''t tired physically, but mentally. The encounter with the lizard was still fresh in his mind after all it was only 2 hours ago.

    Honestly, he wasn''t sure why he had not broken down into a mental mess. Maybe it was because the speed force also helped his mental faculties.

    After about half an hour, he wasn''t sure how to calcte the time since he didn''t have a clock.

    Noah jumped down the tree, he was very excited, "I am about to advance into tier 2 just after a week of getting here", he said to himself

    He brought up the message that was still shining with blue radiance.

    [You have reached the maximum level

    of your current Tier. Would you like

    tomence Advancement now]

    [ Yes/No ]

    Choosing Yes with his mind, Noah''s heart began to race even though it had always been, when another blue message popped up

    [To advance user has to ovee advancement conditions]

    [Analyzing Advancement condition.....]

    Noah was right, he Indeed had to ovee something like a challenge, waiting for the analysis to beplete, Noah asked the gods to give him an easy challenge. Then his answer came quick.

    [Analyzingplete]

    [Challenge: To advance user has to be struck by lightning 10 times]

    "Sorry, what?!"

    rms rang in Noah''s head, how could he endure lightning bolts,

    Without giving him time, the sky above him started to darken, he looked up to see dark clouds forming, he could already hear rumblings.

    His body began to emit red sparks, he wanted to run, but he wasn''t sure if he could retake the test or something.

    His entire body was screaming to dodge any Lightning bolt, Then it dawned on him, "Can I even dodge,'''' He wondered.

    He was fast, yes, as fast as the speed of sound which was 343m/s, But a lightning bolt was way faster, at a massive 124,852m/s which was equivalent to Mach 364.

    Which meant that a lightning bolt was 364 times faster than his current speed!.

    As though answering his question, a lightning bolt struck him before he could even blink.

    <strong>BOOOOOOM!</strong>

    The impact with his already energy-filled body caused an explosion, flinging Noah away.

    Noah screamed from pain, or so he thought, ''What the heck'', Noah shouted inwardly while ncing at his body, ''I can''t feel any pain. Heck, this feels energizing'', Noah eximed in surprise.

    The bolt of lightning didn''t cause any pain, it nourished his body. Noah felt euphoric.

    Then another bolt struck him.

    <strong>BOOM!</strong>

    "Ahhhhhhh", Noah screamed from the energy passing through his body, he didn''t feel pain, no he felt full.

    Then the third bolt struck him

    <strong>BOOOOOOM!</strong>

    "Ahhhhhhh", Noah screamed again he felt like he was going on overload.

    Then the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth bolt struck him at the same time.

    <strong>BOOOOOOOOOM!</strong>

    At this point, Noah''s scream couldn''t be heard. The energy coursing through his body did not allow him to make any sound.

    Tendrils of dense electrical energy shot out of his body.

    Anyone witnessing this scene would see a person glowing brightly with red radiance, while electricity ravaged his surroundings. Noah looked like a doctor octopus, only that the robotic arms were reced with the dense tense of lightning bolts, that shifted position constantly.

    Noah opened his eyes, which were glowing so brightly that a person couldn''t see his eyeball. "Am I going to die?" Noah asked himself?

    Then the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth bolt struck. But rather than striking him directly, they converged in the air forming a thick lightning bolt, before striking him.

    Noah''s body went limp his body going into overload, There was no explosion but he could feel it, he felt like he was going to explode.

    <strong>BOOOOOOOOM!</strong>

    Everything went dark.

    *

    *

    *

    Gasping for air Noah woke up. "I''m alive,'''' Noah eximed sitting up while frantically touching his body. He felt like he had been reborn.

    He had never felt so strong in his entire life.

    Looking around he found that, he was currently sitting in a small crater. Everything around waspletely burnt and charred.

    He wasn''t certain how long he had slept, but he somehow knew it was more than a day.

    Noticing a panel that had popped up Noah checked it.

    [You have sessfully Advanced to Tier 2]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [You have unlocked 5 new skills]

    [Lightning Domain, Lightning bolts, Air Domain, Air Spears, Speed clones]

    [Lightning Domain: Create a domain of lightning that covers a radius of 50meters around you. in your domain the damage to all lightning-rted skills is tripled. Cost 20% of total mp, duration 10 minutes, cooldown 30 minutes]

    [Lightning Bolts: Create bolts of lightning, Cost 20 Mp duration N/A, Cooldown N/A]

    [Air Domain: Create a domain of air that covers a radius of 50 meters around you, In your domain, the damage to all air-rted skills is tripled, and Costs 15% of the total mp. Duration 10 minutes Cooldown 30 minutes]

    [Air Spears: Create Spears made of Air. Cost 10 Mp, Duration N/A. Cooldown N/A]

    [Speed clones: Call upon clones made from the depths of the "Speed Force" to confuse your enemies. They are half as fast and strong as you and can be made to explode into an attack made of both lightning and Air. You can also take over their body to see what they see and hear what they hear.

    Currently, clones can summon [1]

    Cost 50% of total Mana, Duration: Until destroyed. Cooldown N/A ]

    [A ss has been chosen for you]

    [You have Unlocked ss HEIR OF THE GOD OF SPEED Tier 2 ]

    [Heir of the God of speed: This ss gives you +50% Lightning and damage -25% damage to all elemental and physical attacks

    +50% to mental faculties

    +50% Mana regeneration

    +25% stamina regeneration

    +25% to all stats

    Innate ability, Mental waves

    [Rank of ss ???]

    [You have unlocked new stats]

    Noah felt his head spin at that sight. The new skills were all great, he loved all of them but the one that was broken was his "speed clones", he could summon one at a time but could continue as long as he had enough Mana. He would not have to endanger his life all the time. The only downside was the cost, it took a massive 50 percent of his full Mana.

    He did not understand the ss thing, but he liked the boosts it gave him, and at least now he knew he was the heir of the god of speed.

    He wanted to check the new stats that were unlocked, so he opened his status.

    [Stat panel]

    [Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [ss: Heir of the God of speed( ???)]

    [Title (s) : Monster killer]

    [Level: 25/50] [Tier: 2]

    [Speed force: Orange]

    [Elemental Affinity (s)[Air , Lightning]

    [HP: 550 (137)]

    [Strength: 700(175)]

    [Stamina: 450(112)] [MP: 985(246]

    [Intelligence: 300(75)] [Speed: Mach 10]

    [Defence: 150(37)] [Dexterity: 50(12)]

    [Vitality : Tier 2]

    [Undistributed stat points: 25]

    [Skills]:

    [Speed Force]

    [Slow motion perception[Passive]

    [Speed regeneration [Passive], [Mana cirction [Active] ,Speed clones [Active]

    [Elemental skills]

    <Air>

    [Air Elemental magic ,Air Domain Air Spears,

    <Lightning>

    Lightning Elemental magic , Energy Pulse[Active], Energy Barrier [Active] ,Lightning domain, Lightning bolt

    [Inventory: shirt, skirt.]

    Noah felt dumbfounded, all his stats had shot through the roof, Tier 2''s were really on a different level, and so was he. His speed was now Mach 10, which was ten times faster, than when he was tier 1

    Noah noticed the new stats '' defense, Dexterity'' and vitality''. He also liked the newyout of the system, it made it easy to read. It was probably an upgrade.

    The new sses were probably the things that the man had said he would get, though he wondered when he would get an amour since his jacket was badly burnt.

    With all that done Noah stood up, dusted his clothes, then willed his consciousness to expand.

    And to his surprise, he could see everything clearly within a 10 meters radius around him. His new Ability mental waves are being used.

 Chapter 18 18. WEAPON

    Noah could see every inch of the 10 meters radius, he felt like an all-seeing god even if on a tiny scale.

    This ability would make it so that he would not be able to be caught off guard in a fight.

    While Marveling at the new ability, a message popped up.

    [Due to you advancing to tier 2 all former spells will undergo evolution. During this period spells will be unavable]

    [Time for evolution toplete 2hours]

    "What the fuck. Why now? I was about to go test my new spells" Noahined.

    Seeing that there was no response, not that he expected one, he sighed helplessly.

    But before he could move on from the disappointment a message popped up again.

    [Due to you being a tier 2, requirements to unlock your first weapon have been met]

    [You have 5 weapons to choose from]

    [Sword, Bow, Daggers, Staff, spear]

    [Please select a weapon, A manual would be provided]

    See this Noah was shocked, then he turned serious, and even sat down. This was a matter that would determine his fighting skills. He had only been shing without any technique, from the earth he knew about martial artists that trained themselves in a particr weapon until it became part of them.

    So now that he could choose a weapon, and would be provided with a manual he had to be very careful.

    Thinking through the options he had, firstly he wouldn''t choose a bow. His greatest strengthy in his speed, a bow would slow him down, or would force him to stop running to attack if he was in a fight.

    Secondly, he wasn''t sure about daggers, they would greatly help in speed but at a cost of him moving closer to his opponent, which wasn''t something he would like, and besides, he had the energy de for a dagger-like an attack variety.

    Thirdly was the spear, he didn''t even understand what it was used for, was it for throwing or stabbing, he didn''t know, and besides, it wouldn''t look cool.

    So now his decision was between the staff and the sword, truth be told he would have probably chosen a sword, but again he had his energy des, unless they couldn''t cut through his opponent, he would not need a sword, and also he had trained with a staff In his former life. With his brother not being on good terms with him, and his father at work. He got bored and decided to learn some staff maniption skills, to pass time.

    So then, with uncertainty, he chose the staff.

    [Would you like to choose the Staff]

    [Yes/No]

    [Your choice cannot be reversed]

    Clicking yes with his mind, Noah watched as the panel disappeared, then immediately after, an unsettlement in the fabric of space appeared.

    A hole the size of a basketball opened right in front of him.

    Then a staff emerged from inside it. After the staff came out a book followed it. With both out, the hole closed as fast as it opened.

    Noah raised an eyebrow at this, he wondered what type of power would make space open like that. Pushing those ideas to the back of his mind, Noah inspected his weapon.

    On the ground was a long staff around 7ft long, it was brown, and it looked weird, "Is that rust?" Noah asked himself dumbfounded, "This must be some kind of joke," Noah thought, trying to lift the staff

    "Heavy!" Noah grunted, he couldn''t lift the damn staff up As he was about to curse the system, a message popped up.

    [Enchanted weapon identified]

    [Analyzing weapon.....]

    [Analyzingplete]

    [Staff of the Monkey king]

    [Grade ???]

    [Infuse with Mana]

    Noah raised an eyebrow, immediately doing as the system told him to.

    Immediately he did that. He felt an invisible line connect him and the staff. It felt weird like he had always had the staff.

    Immediately after the connection was made, the staff began to shine with

    a golden radiance, it''s rust began to fall off like sand. After a few seconds, it stopped shining and when Noah inspected the staff it left him speeches.

    The staff was 7ft long as mentioned earlier. It was banded with gold that circled the staff on each end, it''s body was obsidian ck with inscriptions along with it, that seemed to pulse with energy,

    There was a spot in the middle of the staff where the inscriptions originated, which seemed to be for his hand to be.

    Nheless, the staff was breathtaking

    Immediately after he finished the inspection a message shining with gold popped up.<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Soul bond has been sessfully made]

    [Monkey Kings staff (Cudgel) Matches

    bond level: current level 25]

    [Grade: ???]

    [ Soulbond: Noah]

    [+300 Attack

    +10% Elemental damage

    +150 Attack Speed

    +10% Ignore defense

    +100% Self-repair

    +5% Soul damage

    Skills:

    [Size maniption: When activated ''Cudgel'' can be extended to whatever length you wish, be it the length of the heavens, to deal long-ranged attack, or shrunk to the size of a needle. Cost N/A Cool down N/A]

    [Elemental Charge: When activated it can take on the Elemental properties of whatever element the owner chooses ( Air, Lightning, (Locked[Water, Earth, Fire Gravity, Space, Time)

    Air charge all air-rted skills gain 25% Damage power

    Lightning charge: +500 to both physical, Elemental, and soul Damage]

    : Costs 100 mp for initial activation and10 Mp per minute and 150 to switch elements.

    Cooldown N/A]

    [Cloud storage: ''Cudgel'' has a ce in the clouds. You can store it there, and call upon it when you need it, regardless of where you are. Cost N/A Duration N/A]

    [Other skills, Astral Entanglement, Shapeshifting #$@@#) Currently locked]

    Noah''s head was about to leave his neck, the boosts that the staff brought were crazy, and that was only for his current level !!

    The skill that it also brought was actually awesome, and once again it was not all, He noticed the unreadable words in the locked section meaning he wasn''t strong enough. And also the fact there were other Elements that he had never heard about.

    He wondered if he was capable of having more affinities than he currently had.

    Shoving that to the back of his mind, he was excited to try the staff out, so he tried picking it up again, and to his greatest surprise, it felt incredibly light yet he knew it was very heavy, this was probably due to him being the soul bond. He Activated its Elemental charge skill, Picking Lightning first.

    And immediately the runes on the staff lit up, Then its shape began to flicker, it then began to morph, its body bing like pure electricity, while the formerly golden band ends, condensed forming a thick de.

    Noah was astonished by the result, he decided to wave the staff, and to his surprise, it released curved des of condensed energy that flew towards where he waved.

    Gaining a sweet idea, Noah waved the staff at a tree, A curved de made of condensed energy shot out, cutting the first tree, and even going on to cut Four other trees behind it, before the energy de lost power.!!!

    Noah''s eye widened, this thing was very dangerous, He decided to cast his lightning bolt skill, and to his surprise, two magical circles each the size of arge baking pan, appeared at the end of the staff, and

    <strong>BOOM!!</strong>

    A lightning bolt the size of a tv shot out, obliterating all in its path.

    "Dayum" Noah exined,

    his day was getting better by the second. Though he knew he was currently burning Mp, still he changed the Element to Air, This time its body became a swirling tornado in his hands. But for some reason, it was solid in his hands.

    Trying it out Noah found that, unlike Lightning, The staff did not shoot out des but arrows made of condensed air.

    Whenever he waved the staff arrows would materialize instantly, before shooting out to his target.

    He cast "Air Spears" and two magic circles appeared at the edge of the staff, then five Spears made of dense air materialized, and they floated in front of him until he willed them to attack.

    Happy with the results of the tests, Noah had found that the staff could be used as both a weapon and a channel to cast spells.

    Noah tried the Cloud storage skill, and to his surprise, the staff shot upward, into the sky. Then he willed it toe back, and then it shot down from the sky,nding perfectly in his grip.

    "Cool," Noah said raising one of his eyebrows," This would make for a very bad a*s scene," Noah said chuckling.

    With all that done Noah dropped the staff, only to find that it floated instead of dropping to the ground like the heavy piece of metal, that it was.

    "This is probably the best thing that has happened to me," Noah said wiping out fake tears from his eyes.

    Picking up the brown book, Noah dropped all ns of getting to the city early, he was going to learn whatever was in this book before leaving for the city.

 Chapter 19 19. ISNT THIS CHEATING ?

    Opening the book, the first thing that greeted Noah was the air of ancientness, the book released. It smelled like something that was eras old.

    His face turned serious this was a sign that what the book contained was important.

    The first words he saw were unrecognizable, and now he wasn''t sure what to do, before he could do anything the system helped him.

    [Trantion of Languagemencing]

    [Trantionpleted]

    Immediately after it was done with the trantion, Noah felt something click in his head, looking at the first page Noah understood what was written on it.

    ''Heaven grade Martial arts of The monkey king ''

    "Oh," Noah said raising an eyebrow at the name of the manual. Then he continued reading.

    ''Millennials ago, during the period when the barrier between the heavens and the multitude of worlds was thin. There existed a monkey that ascended from a small, reaching a state of godhood and immortality that little had achieved. This monkey was known for his mischief, due to him being incredibly powerful. His Martial arts made him uncatchable. He achieved great feats until the great one sealed him. His staff cudgel, and the manual he created, were the only things that remained of him.''

    ''A great battle happened between the gods, those who wanted his manual fought for centuries until one day it disappeared right under their eyes.''

    "This is serious. I wonder who took the book,'''' Noah muttered. "Wait... No way, I''m in serious trouble" Noah muttered realizing who the culprit was. And to confirm his suspicions, something was written under the short story.

    "Written by <strong>THE GOD OF SPEED"</strong>

    "What the heck?" , "This guy has gotten me into serious trouble" Noah shouted in his mind.

    "I hope they don''t find me," Noah said with helplessness written all over his face. Sighing Noah turned to the next page, it seemed that only the story part was written by the god of speed since he could remove the page.

    On it were a series of drawings, that featured men performing weird movements while holding a stick.

    Flipping through the book that contained over fifty pages, Noah sighed "This is going to belong"

    Going back to the first page, Noah stood up, he was going to begin his training, but "How the heck am I supposed to practice with this thing on the floor, I wish there was a table for me to put it on" Noah said while furrowing his brows.

    Immediately he said that the book shone with inscriptions that weren''t there before. Then it began to float, It floated In front of Noah, moving when he moved.

    "I wish this existed back on earth," He said shaking his head at howme Earth was.

    Reading the description of the first move which was named "Rushing rod" depicted a man holding a staff and performing a series of hand movements with the staff, which at the ending made it seem as though the staff appeared in three ces.

    Noah decided to try it out. holding a cudgel with his right hand in the middle of the staff, Noah stood with both of his legs slightly apart.

    Then he started, the move sounded simple, but it wasn''t, Though thanks to Noah''s dexterity, vitality, stamina, and that he had basic training, it took him around Forty minutes to execute the move in its a most basic form.

    Noah knew he would have to practice to make it part of him and reach a good level of mastery, this was one thing the system couldn''t do for him.

    Or so he thought.

    Immediately after he had executed the move a panel popped up.

    [MARTIAL ART: THE MONKEY KING]

    [GRADE: HEAVEN]

    [MASTERY:0.02]

    [MOVE(S) RUSHING ROD: Execution

    percentage: 1/100 ]

    [Execute the move using the SPEED

    FORCE]

    Noah raised an eyebrow at this, but he did as the system told him.

    When Noah wants to run, all he needs to do is have the intention, and the speed force would answer him.

    Doing just that, Noah''s body began to emit sparks, unlike when he was tier 1 the Sparks his body produced were dark orange and seemed more powerful due to their thickness. His eyes began to glow orange, and the already burnt ground began to get darker, some soil turned to Ash.

    Noah stood in a stance for the rushing rod. And then he executed it, But unlike when he did it without the speed force, this time it was incredibly fast. If not for Noah''s speed he did not see it move. And rather than appear in three ces, his staff appeared in six !!.

    Doing it again to make sure it wasn''t a mistake, the same thing happened. Then Noah tried it four more times. Every time his staff appeared in six ces instead of 2

    Surprised by what had happened, Noah checked the panel for his Martial art progression And was Dumbstruck

    [MARTIAL ART: THE MONKEY KING]

    [GRADE: HEAVEN]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [MASTERY:0.8]

    [MOVE(S): RUSHING ROD: Execution

    percentage: 30/100 ]

    "What the fu*k" Noah eximed, staring at the panel as though it was a dream, then something clicked in his mind.

    He deactivated the effects of the speed force. Then he executed the ''rushing rod '' his rod only appeared in three ces, it seemed that only when he turned on the speed force would it double, But this time it felt more natural and he did it more smoothly than when he did it before, he felt like he had practiced for a long period.

    Raising an eyebrow, a panel popped up as though it senses his confusion.

    [Due to you being connected to the speed force, you have ess to speed learning, which helps you grasp and understand things much faster. When learning techniques or even how to cook you will never be slow at it]

    Noah''s eyes widened, of all the thoughts that were rushing through his mind, only one sentence came out of his mouth.

    "Isn''t this cheating?" Noah knew it sounded hypocritical, having the system itself made him a cheat. But wasn''t this getting too much.

    He didn''t want to think of how long it took the Monkey king himself to master the techniques. But he was going to do this way faster than he did.

    Sighing with helplessness mixed with excitement. Noah activated the speed force and continued practicing ''Rushing rod '' This time around he didn''t close the panel, he wanted to watch the numbers increase LIVE.

    With each percentage Noah felt something click In his mind, he didn''t stop even when a notification popped up that his skills hadpleted their evolution. He only stopped when the percentage hit 100.

    At this point, Noah was good enough to add elemental attacks to the execution. which led to many innocent trees being destroyed.

    Stopping his practice Noah looked at the martial art panel,

    [MARTIAL ART: THE MONKEY KING]

    [GRADE: HEAVEN]

    [MASTERY:4.00]

    [MOVE(S): RUSHING ROD: Execution

    percentage: 100/100 ]

    There were exactly 25 styles in the manual and He had only learned 1, though he had speed learning it would still take him a while toplete the whole thing.

    With that done he decided to check the skills that at been upgraded.

    [All former spells have sessfully

    evolved]

    [Slow motion perception -> Advanced slow-motion perception

    [Speed regeneration -> Advanced

    Speed regeneration ]

    [Mana cirction -> Mana

    regeneration]

    [Air Elemental magic -> Intermediate

    Air elemental magic]

    [Lightning Elemental magic ->

    Intermediate Lightning Elemental

    magic]

    [Energy Pulse -> Small energy Bomb]

    [Energy Barrier ->Energy armor]

    Noah was pleasantly surprised by the new skills.

    Though not much had changed in the names of some of his skills, the ones that did, sounded interesting. Like the ''Small energy Bomb '' He couldn''t wait to see what it did, same with the ''Energy armor''

    So he decided to check their description, to see if they were as interesting and useful as they sounded.

 Chapter 20 20. NEW MOVES.

    [Small Energy Bomb :Conjure a bomb made of condensed electrical energy. That is capable of tier 2 strength [Currently lower stage , Current damage Capability ->100/300 ,Upgrades when You get to higher levels]

    Cost: 50Mp ,Cool down: N/A]

    [Energy Armour: When casted an armour made of pure lightning ,wraps around you ,It is able to endure 5 attacks from middle stage tier 2.

    Cost: 70Mp . Duration: N/A Cool down: Until destroyed]

    All in all, the skills sounded nice. Though he noticed the new terms in the description, such as low stage, and middle stage tier 2.

    It seemed that him getting to tier 2 was when things really got serious.

    He could guess what those terms meant. Currently he would call himself a lower stage tier 2 due to him being a level 25 while level 50 was the cap for tier 2. if he were to divide them into three that would mean that with roughly every right levels he would enter the next stage of his current tier .

    Nodding his head at his ability to decipher the new information. Noah stood up, He was going to continue practicing his Martial arts and new weapon. He didn''t know how long he would stay in the forest but he would try his best to cover as many techniques he could.

    "This is going to take a while" Noah said heaving a heavy sigh.

    Holding his formerly floating staff. Noah looked at the next move

    in the manual ,which was named ''Dancing Monkey '' It was a move that taught him how to utilize his body and staff,to attack in a way that looked erratic but actually nned movement to confuse his opponent.

    Wearing his serious face, Noah began a  training that would determine how well he would perform in a fight .

    #

    #

    #

    #

    #

    #

    In the green forest that radiated peacefulness and false Serenity. Why false?. Well because there were dangerous beast lurking in it, waiting to catch a prey.

    In a small part of this forest, there was an area that looked like it had caught fire, since there were ck patches of soil here and there,even small craters.

    In the middle of this burnt area, if one looked ,they would see a young man, spinning a staff in a skillful manner.

    once In a while ,around the young man, orange Sparks would flicker into life.  During those few seconds, the young man''s movement would turn into an orange blur.

    Though still standing on the same spot with just little foot movement, the man''s movement would be unable  to be followed by anyone watching

    And of course this young man was Noah.

    Standing with his knees slightly bent, and both hands behind his figure Noah spinned Cudgel incredibly fast behind himself it was a basic move called "Back to back" it was something he had learnt on earth ,Disying a skill that he did not have when he was in earth or when he started his training one week ago.

    Yes it has been a week since he learnt the basic move "Rushing Rod" ,and he had went on to learn 6 other moves from the manual.

    Though the system and speed force allowed him to learn fast, with each new  move, the others became even harder, it could take him hours to simply execute the move once, before going on to use the speed force.

    With fast hands and shoulder movement,Noah stopped spinning Cudgel behind himself, and started doing an over-head spin.

    Charging Cudgel with lightning element, des of condensed energy shot out from his staff. Due to his overhead spinning, the des shot out in a circr motion, cutting down any tree that was too tall to be missed.

    It was a move he had thought of since it was simple and very efficient, if he was surrounded.

    With another series of shoulder and hand movement, Noah stopped doing a over head spin,and decided to Execute a move called  "Six Arms of the asura" It was a defensive and offensive move that forced him to learn how control the flow of Mana in his body .Unlike his simple overhead spin, this move actually drained Mana and his stamina.

    Closing his eyes Noah took a deep breath, Then his Veins bulged, due to an immense amount of Mana flowing through him ,he had injured himself multiple times during his tries to execute it once, his veins had exploded from hisck of Mana control.

    After a split second, Four blue illusory arms as thick as his appeared behind his original arms while two more appeared directly out of his back, making him look as though he had six arms while hiding the remaining two behind him , three out of the six arms were holding an illusory staff.

    For some reason those illusory arms felt like they were part of him

    Then immediately Noah began to spin his staff, immediately he started,the illusory arms also started spinning the staff in their grasp, two arms were each assigned to a staff.

    The move, did not allow any part of Noah to be left unprotected since both his front ,back, left and right were covered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Charging Cudgel with Lightning element a flurry of dense energy des shot out from his front in a circr motion, while the remaining three spinning staffs shot out dense Mana des in a circr motion .This cost him even more Mana since the illusory staff were not real but made from pure Mana.

    After a few minutes of keeping the move on ,Noah stopped, "Damn" Noah said panting, the move put a lot of strain on his body and Mana pool.

    He could move around when executing the move but he didn''t want to lose concentration.

    After a few seconds, He stopped panting, his stamina ,regeneration and Mana regeneration skill puting him back to top shape.

    He had tried his best This past week to learn as many moves as he could,The 7 he learnt were the ones that were suitable for his current level. While the others looked suicidal, heck those moves were ssified under the most dangerous and efficient. He could try to learn one of them but it would greatly put a lot of strain on his body draining both his Mana and stamina probably even kill him.

    Though he couldn''t Learn the rest currently, this were the moves he managed to learn.

    [MARTIAL ART: THE MONKEY KING]

    [GRADE: HEAVEN]

    [MASTERY:28.00]

    [MOVE(S): RUSHING ROD: Execution

    percentage: 100/100

    [DANCING MONKEY: Execution

    percentage:100/100]

    [ SIDE STEP:Execution

    percentage:100/100]

    [A THOUSAND PUNCHES:Execution

    percentage:100/100]

    [MOUNTAIN STOMP:Execution

    percentage:100/100]

    [WAVE: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [SIX ARMS OF ASURA: Execution

    percentage:100/100]

    Though currently little in number the moves he had currently learnt were all useful, He had worked his butt off to learn them and now that he had done that he was kind of satisfied.

    Actually he had gotten bored of staying in the forest ,he wanted to get to the city fast and meet new people,and learn new things.

    But firstly he needed to test is current fighting prowess, " I think it''s time for payback, I haven''t levelled up since I advanced, and that lizard should have enough exp for me to level up at least once" Noah thought with anger seeping out of his figure

    He knew it had been his fault, but he couldn''t let the lizard go. The moment he had escaped that lizard was destined to die by his hands if it managed to remain alive.

    Heaving a light sigh, Noah looked around, he had destroyed a lot of tree''s in the past week, but the Mana in the soil kept regrowing them, it wasn''t an instantaneous thing ,but that couldn''t change the fact that in two days a tree would mature.

    Sending Cudgel to the sky ,Noah had long decided that he would use his staff only when he was in serious trouble, or about to fight a human. The staff was too shiny, which could cause him to have unwanted attention from people.

    Honestly he couldn''t imagine carrying it all-around town. He would either get robbed ,if that was even possible at his current strength,or the weapon would be confiscated by someone stronger than him ,or in a seat of power who deemed it dangerous.

    Dusting his clothes, Noah knew he would have to get a new set, due to his current one being badly burnt.

    Then he unfolded his aura , making his lower lower stage tier 2 Aura burst out with fighting intent.

    Noah crouched slightly, his body beginning to emit orange Sparks, his eyes also began to glow with orange radiance ,the slightly grown grass around him began to burn, His perception of his surroundings slowed down, nigh stopping.

    The speed force pumped energy into him , filling every cell in his body with it''s immense energy.

    Then he moved.

 Chapter 21 21.SNEAK ATTACK

    Wooshing through the forest, Noah ignored any aura that belonged to tier 1 beasts, he couldn''t bother with them anymore.

    Noah navigated himself through the forest, he still knew where he had encountered the lizard, and the map helped in directing him.

    After few seconds, Noah came to a stop, he ignored the sound of trees uprooting, and the ground cracking, to inspect the area.

    Apart from the mess his arrival had caused ,that area was totally fine, it was as though the fight between them had never happened. Though this didn''t surprise him, he already knew this detail about the world.

    Walking around the ce with his aura still out, Noah noticed that no tier 1 beast was approaching his position, heck some of the aura''s left his range of detection.

    Sighing at that matter, it seemed that even magical Beast could feel fear, or at least know when their opponent was not their match.

    After a minute or so of waiting, Noah wanted to give up on the n of killing the lizard, he wanted to kill it so bad, but if it had left he wouldn''t waste his time, though if it was really still around it would have attacked him by now.

    Orange Sparks began to flicker around his figure, and on his body. Noah was about to move, Then he sensed it, it was only small but then it increased.

    A wide grin appeared on his face , he ran towards where he sensed it. Noah wasn''t going to wait for it to make a dramatic entrance.

    In those milliseconds of running, Noah''s already extremely fast beating heart began to beat even faster, he was excited to test his strength.

    Stopping around 10 meters in front of the beast he sensed , surprise appeared on Noah''s face.

    Contrary to the lizard that he expected ,what was in front of Noah was a big Cockrel!.

    The Cockrel was as tall as as him, with it''s feathers green in colour ,and a yellow eyes that looked at him with a tinge of intelligence, Though it still rushed towards him ,with it''s wings spread, and the feathers on its neck standing.

    The Cockrel was crowing at him with rage.With those few seconds Noah inspected the Cockrel.

    [Evolved nt Cock]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 29]

    [Chances of death: 4%]

    Noah raised an eyebrow at the changes ,but he didn''t have time to think about that now ,since the cockrel was already in front of him.

    Forming his "Energy des"  on both hands, Noah shed beside the still raging Cockrel. Rather than just shing Noah decided to try out his physical strength.

    He kicked the Cockrel, sending it flying, it crashed a few trees before stopping, Then it released a high pitched crow.

    Though Noah was surprised that it was still alive, he still noticed the vines that were making their way toward him.

    Then immediately they turned to sharp vines, shooting at him, If not for his slow motion perception, Noah knew he wouldn''t be able to dodge.

    He dodged all of them with little foot, work, his training with the martial art making him dodge the vines like they were child''s y.

    Then the Cockrel came out of the forest, instead of charging at him with rage, the Cockrel stood there, it''s breathing rough, Probably due to its wrecked  wing.

    It seemed that the Cockrel had managed to intercept his kick by cing  it''s wing in the way, which led to a gaping hole opening in it.

    Though it had ced it''s wing in front of his attack ,the side of the Cockrel had caved in, though it seemed not enough to kill it.

    Noah nodded at the slight intelligence of the Cockrel, it had raised more vines ,but before they could attack him ,Noah moved.

    shing In front of the Surprised Cockrel, Noah gave it a upwards kick, sending it flying upwards, then in that split second, Noah took a deep breath, before executing the " Mountain stomp" Move, it was a move that made him focus all of his power on his legs, before stomping the ground with all the umted power.

    It was supposed to be an offensive move, that would cause vibrations to shake the ground and even crack it, But Noah could use it to propel himself upwards.

    Doing just that, Noah''s figure shed in front of the Cockrel midair, Then he shed at it''s neck , cutting it off cleanly.

    Noahnded on the ground with the grace of a ballerina, while the body of the Cockrel hit the floor with the grace of a Rock.

    Storing the body and ignoring the message of the system, Noah bent the upper half of his body backwards, his hands almost touching the ground,

    Then he sprang up kicking the thing that attack him. He sent it flying causing it to crash and break trees.

    Noah looked at the the direction where he kicked the Beast. "That thing is definitely smart, trying to perform a sneak attack on me again, good thing I am not the same way I wasst time we met" Noah said

    After a few seconds Noah heard a roar, the figure of a massive lizard entered his sight, it had rocks for scales, and had red eyes that looked at him with rage.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah Inspected it to be sure.

    [Evolved Stone Lizard]

    [Tier:2]

    [Level: 31]

    [Chances of death: 7%]

    "It has levelled up once" Noah said in his mind. Then he moved, shing behind the lizard, Noah picked up it tail, swinging it like it was a bat. He used it''s body to break trees, before going on to throw it away.

    It crashed on some trees ,breaking them and sending sharp wood splinters into the air, Noah shed in front of the lizard again, he would have loved to y with it a little more, but he didn''t want to let his guard down ,because there could be other beasts hiding waiting for a moment of weakness.

    Noah straightened his right arm, plunging it into the lizards head, through its eye, he stopped only when his elbow was inside it.

    He removed his arms ,then stored the lizards body.

    Then inspected his surroundings, to check if there were any other beasts around.

    After a few minutes of nothing happening, Noah stopped his aura from flowing.

    Then inspected the messages that had popped up.

    [You have gained exp]

    [You have gained exp]

    [You have levelled up once]

    [You have levelled up once]

    [You have gained 5 points to all stats]

    [You have gained 5 points to all stats]

    [You have 10 points to distribute]

    [You have 10 points to distribute]

    He had levelled up twice, Putting his current level at 27. It seemed that the free stat points had increased to 5, while the points he got to distribute had increased to 10 per level.

    Nodding his head at the weed increase, Noah postponed the distribution of stats to ater date.

    He looked around ,he wasn''t tired one bit, and he wasn''t sure if there were other strong beasts around.

    He had long decided to leave the forest, Killing the lizard was just a branch on his journey.

    With that reaffirmed, Noah moved.

    Shattering the sound barrier multiple times ,he moved inside the forest , navigating through it, the 3D mental map showed him his position and which path he could take to get to his destination.

    There were different paths to the city and he had formerly decided to take the one with a lot of magical beast. But now that he was set on getting to the city ,he decided to change paths,it would take him a while but it would still be faster than normal.

    Changing his direction, Noah ran with renewed vigour. Thanks to his current speed he crossedrge distances in seconds.

    He didn''t stop until he saw a clearing,    that looked artificial and was wide enough to allow the passage of two trucks at a time.

    Noah stopped at the edge of the road to check if there was anyone or anything around. Actually he didn''t really stop, his body was still emitting loads of electrical energy, and his surroundings were still moving incredibly slow.

    He had learnt that he could stop running but remain in the influence of running ,he wasn''t sure why, but he had a good guess,and which was that ''his slow motion perception and his super speed made him able to do that.

    He actually hadn''t gotten a name for it but he would, eventually.

    After what seemed to be a few seconds, but was actually less that one, Noah continued his run on the road, ording to the map the road led straight to the city, but it was riddled with bandits, ording to the description of the ce in his mental map.

    Though he wasn''t worried about the bandits ,they wouldn''t be able to see him not to talk of rob him.

    So with that, Noah continued running for hours, his high stamina helping him greatly. He decided to stop only when he had crossed the halfway mark to his destination.

 Chapter 22 22. FIRST KILL.

    Noah stopped running. For real this time. He entered the forest walking a little bit far away from the road. He didn''t feel safe sleeping near the road.

    After walking for a few minutes, he picked a random tree to climb.

    Climbing onto the top of the tree Noah let his conciousness unfold, he didn''t want to get caught off guard if anything happened, and he had also found out that sleeping did not stop his mental waves from working. His mind could still see everything in that 10 meter radius around, his eyes would just be closed.

    Actually it was really weird to exin.

    Noah sat on a branch, with his back resting on the tree .He stayed like that for a while ,thinking about his current strength, his mysterious enemies and the whole world in general.

    After a few minutes,he closed his eyes to sleep .Or rather he tried to.

    BOOOOOMMM!

    An explosion resounded, with splinters of wood flying everywhere.

    Noah opened his eyes , Immediately activating his speed force. Everything single thing slowed down, the sound, the splinters of wood, even the electricity his body emitted.

    Then he jumped down from the tree , "What the fu*k" Noah cursed, looking around, he saw that the explosion was from the road .

    Furrowing his eyebrows ,Noah walked towards the road, he was still under the influence of the ''speed force'' ,so he knew no one would be able to see him, on his way to the road Noah waved off flying pieces of wood. It was as if he had put a pause on the world.

    He could change the direction of the objects.

    Getting to the road, Noah saw some trees on fire, and a carriage across the road ,and around the carriage there were people fighting themselves , while a fire ball was in the air ,there were even bodies in the air, probably due to the explosion ,all of them still moving in slow motion to him.

    Noah heaved a deep sigh, ''Somethings will never change even in a different world '' , Noah said in his mind. This was definitely a group of bandits attacking a carriage scenario.

    Noah was about to run off, he really wanted to help, but he wouldn''t risk his life and secret for people he didn''t know unless he wanted to.

    But before he could ,he saw something that drawed his attention .It was a little girl.

    She was still inside the carriage, but he could see her from the window, She had ck hair ,with a pale skin, he could not see what her eye colour was, but he didn''t care ,the thing that was most striking was that she was crying.

    Noah frowned at this sight, he didn''t like this scene at all. The girl was definitely the person the men around the carriage were protecting , and from the looks of it they were her guards and they were on the losing side.

    Noah could guess which were the bandits and which were the girls guards, because a few of the fighting men wore a ck skin-tight jumpsuit, with their faces covered, actually they looked like ninjas, while the other men fighting wore green coloured leather vests and trousers.

    The most suspiciously looking men were those in ck ,so they were definitely the bandits.

    Pondering about what to do, Noah walked around, his stamina was burning, and sooner orter, the bandits would notice, the figure glowing with orange radiance. he was simply moving fast enough to percive things that way. Not that they were really moving in slow motion.

    Gritting his teeth,Noah decided to help. Firstly he ran towards the carriage, what he was about to do was dangerous. So he entered the carriage, the girl was still moving in slow motion, he carried her ,and ran back to into the forest, and hid her behind a tree a few hundred meters away from the road.

    With the weakest person there in safety, Noah stopped running. Hiding behind a tree ,Noah watched as the girls guards fell into chaos. A particr man, was screaming orders at the other men he was probably the leader. So Noah inspected him.

    [Benos ]

    [Tier: 1]

    [Level: 24]

    [Chances of death: 0%]

    It turned out that Benos was weaker than Noah, by a lot. The system didn''t even recognize him as a threat.

    Shaking his head Noah cast ''Energy Armour''.A magic circle appeared beneath him, and thick lines of lightning shot out, wrapping around his body from head to toe, then they turned invisible, only a small ash halo could be seen around him.

    After casting the spell, Noah heard a high pitched scream that belonged to the girl  "Time to move" Noah shouted in his mind.

    Jumping out of his hiding ce,Noah stretched out his palm and cast "Air Spears" ,A magical circle appeared on his palm then Five Spears made of densely packed air materialised , aiming it at five bandits, who currently in a sword fight with the guards.

    The result was immediate.The ''air Spear'' struck the five bandits he had aimed at ,sending them flying, he wasn''t sure if they were dead or not, But he didn''t pay much attention to that.

    Immediately he had attacked, everyone on the road noticed him, and the result was that a fire ball was sent towards his position.

    Rolling to the side Noah dodged it ,and  immediately he sighted the person that cast the spell. The man looked like the leader of the group.

    In that span of a second Noah inspected the man.

    [Munoz]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Tier:2]

    [Level 29]

    [Chances of death: 20%]

    Noah''s eyes widened at this, before he could do anything, a second fire ball was sent towards him, Noah dodged it effortlessly, but as it was about to pass him, it detonated.

    The explosion sent Noah flying sideways , he hit a tree, breaking it and some other trees. He got back up immediately, his armour had protected him, but he didn''t want that to happen again.

    There were exactly 11 bandits and Noah has taken down 5, The remaining of the 5 were busy with the guards, while the leader was busy with him.

    Before he could do anything , two more fire balls were sent towards his position, not wanting the same thing to repeat itself ,Noah executed ''Mountain stomp '' to propel himself into the air, And that was a mistake.

    He had sessfully dodged the two iing fire balls, but before he could celebrate, another one , struck him.

    The impact sent Noah flying backwards for a few meters "How can he be so precise" Noah shouted in his mind with annoyance, while rolling on the ground

    He wasn''t injured ,but he didn''t like his situation,if he continued like this he would have to use his super speed. Getting up immediately Noah saw three iing fire balls.

    Taking a deep breath, Noah activated the ''speed force '' ,he wasn''t going to continue getting thrown around. Everything slowed down including the fire balls.

    This was his first fight with a human and ,and so far he had confirmed that he was a rookie, and that without the system or ''speed force'' helping him ,he would get killed faster than he expected.

    It had only been half a minute since the fight  started, and he was already learning.

    Looking at the iing fire balls,Noah  simply walked passl them away from their trajectory.

    Immediately he out if their way, Noah pointed his palm at where the leader was and he cast a spell that he had not used in while, ''Small Energy Bomb''.

    A white magic circle, appeared on his palm ,and from it a ball of condensed electrical energy the size of a tennis ball  shot out.

    Stopping the speed force, Noah watched as the bomb struck the position of the surprised man.

    BOOOOMMMM!

    An explosion akin to three hand grenades  resounded, the shock waves , sending some of the bandits and guards flying.

    It seemed that no one died, but a lot of them were badly injured.

    With that ,the short fight ended with Noah almost killing everyone.

    Before the leader could recover, Noah rushed to his position, he didn''t use his speed but he was still incredibly fast, crossing a distance of 50 meters, in two seconds.

    Arriving in front of the leader who was in a critical condition, Noah inspected the kneeling middle aged man ,who looked at Noah as though he wanted to rip his head off and chew it.

    The man had a face that only a mother could love ,coupled with the unholy amout of scars on it and the patches of burnt skin, the man looked truly ugly.

    Noah was at loss of what to do, he had not killed anyone before, and the thought of doing so, made him freeze.

    He thought of leaving the man to the guards, but he was tier 2.

    During Noah''s moment of hesitation, Munoz grabbed his arm saying with a resolute voice " I am not going down alone" . Then magic a circle appeared beneath them, but before he couldplete the spell, Noah instinctively punched Munoz in the face with all his strength. which resulted in Munoz''s head exploding, because of the massive force the punch packed.

    Blood and brain matter sttered everywhere and on Noah''s body ,but he didn''t move, Noah stayed there standing in a slightly bent position ,staring at his right fist covered in blood ,he ignored the men that stood offensively, surrounding him.

    He also ignored the system notification that popped up.

    All Noah could think was  '' I just killed a person ''.

    After a few seconds, Noah began to shiver, his breathing bing ragged, his eyes wide open ,as the reality of what he had done dawned on him.

    Then orange Sparks began to flicker around and on his body. The guards mistook this as a sign that Noah wanted to attack them.

    They all lunged at him with their weapons, but before they could touch him.

    Noah moved.

 Chapter 23 23 . RESOLVE

    A FEW MINUTES AGO.

    In a moving carriage , a little girl named Gloria ,who was the daughter of a small merchant in Vonol. She sat with her head rested on the window of the carriage ,there were 15 men around the carriage and she seemed to be taking to one.

    "I wish dad was here" Gloria said to the leader of the guards Benos .

    "I am sure he would have wanted to youngdy, But you know he is very busy" Benos said In a respectful tone.

    "But he is always busy he never has time for me, ever since Mom died, all he does is work" She pouted.

    Not knowing what to say ,Benos was about to reply ,when one of the guards shouted " We are under attack"

    Immediately the guard said that , a group of men dressed in ck  jumped out of the forest each one of them holding a weapon.

    Benos knew about the existence of bandits, but he had no choice this road was one of the safest, though also riddled with bandits, it wasn''t everytime they appeared, but it seemed that luck was not on their side.

    " Tight formation ,do not let them get to the youngdy" Benos shouted.

    Immediately Gloria heard about the bandits ,fear griped her, she had heard about the horrible things bandits did, and the fact that they were being attacked made her freeze.

    She was so scared that, she did not hear Benos shouting out orders, or when he was telling her to hide inside the carriage.

    Though she still did that on instincts, immediately she crouched inside the carriage, an explosion resounded, followed by the screams of the guards that were hit by the fire ball.

    Hearing the screams Gloria began to sob, she liked Benos ,he was kind and always listened to her, he was her best friend, since after her mother died ,her so called friends left her saying that she was cursed.

    She looked out the window to check whether Benos was okay, and immediately she did that an orange colour shed and she found herself inside the forest.

    Widening her eyes she screamed in fear. This was supposed to be journey to go visit her cousins but it was going south.

    She immediately began to navigate her way through the trees, following the sound of metal striking metal,and explosions that resounded.

    After a minute or so she heard a loud explosion and froze.

    Though she was just eleven years old ,she knew the power spells held, and an explosion that big had to have killed everyone. Her heart began to race even faster, the thought of Benos dying and being left stranded moved her body, running with all her might.

    She eventually came out of the forest all for her to see Benos and some of the guards surrounding a man, he was probably the most handsome person she had ever seen, she stood there not knowing what to do, and after a few seconds she saw orange Sparks flickering around the man, and in the blink of an eye  he was gone, leaving orange colour streaks.

    Immediately that event happened, Gloria''s eye''s lost their lustre, then a purple rune shed in her eyes, though just for a second. And immediately they went back to normal.

    ###

    IN AN UNKNOWN LOCATION.

    A figure sat crossed leg ,floating in an extremely dark ce ,only illuminated by the blinding purple light the figure radiated, anding from the figure ,an oppressive aura of power leaked out ,space itself seemed to bend due to that heavy aura.

    Immediately Gloria''s eye shed, the scenes of Noah leaving yed out on a  panel that manifested floating in front of the figure.

    There was a disturbance in the environment as the figure said in a surprised tone "Is that what I think it is, though he feels incredibly weakpared to what I remember. He seems to be on his way Vonol, very well then I will send someone to watch him just to be sure". The voice that sounded like a females , radiated an ancientness that didn''t belong in that era, an ancientness that could only belong to IMMORTALS.

    ###

    ###

    Zooming through the forest , Noah''s mind was in turmoil, he ran because he needed to think. Running made him calm and collected, enough to sort out his feelings.

    '' I just killed a person. But he was going to kill me''  Noah thought to himself.

    ''I did the right thing, didn''t I? ''.

    '' He was a bandit ,and he was probably going to kill that girl. If I hadn''t been there he would have escaped unpunished '' .

    '' It''s just like killing a beast, he needed to be eradicated, thrash like him shouldn''t be allowed to walk around'' Noah thought to himself, his eye growing cold at thest sentence.

    '' No, I shouldn''t have killed him, I should have disarmed him, Probably break both arms or legs but not kill'' Noah''s mind was in a tug war, and both side were currently equally matched.

    Actually Noah knew that the whole conversation in his head hypocritical, he had killed many magical breasts, so why should killing a human worry him. But actually it wasn''t killing the man that worried him, no it was the fact that it reminded him of his brother.

    When he punched the man''s head , something broke in him, and he knew it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was as though he always had the potential to do it, and finally doing it he felt a tinge of pleasure.

    Coming to an abrupt stop, Noah ignored the ground cracking, and the wind rushing past his figure, he walked towards a tree, and punched it.

    Smashing the tree, Noah looked at it with anger then a secondter he calmed down.

    Raising his head up, Noah stared at the sky and said to himself , " This is totally unreasonable, sooner orter I would have had to do it, this is a new world , people have powers , monsters exist, and besides people don''t stop existing ,at least there soul doesn''t. I am an example of that. DEATH IS NOT THE END".

    With that Noah concluded on the matter, he would kill if he needed to and nothing else.

    With that thought Noah''s eyes turned cold. He wasn''t sure why he was able to adapt so fast, probably due to he speed learning and the fact that the speed force helped his mental faculties ,but he knew it wasn''t normal.

    Heaving a deep sigh ,Noah decided to check the system notifications that had popped up.

    [You have killed your first human]

    [You have gained exp]

    [You have levelled up ]

    [You have levelled up ]

    [You have levelled up ]

    [You have gained 5 points to all stats]

    [You have gained 5 points to all stats]

    [You have gained 5 points to all stats]

    [You have 10 points to distribute]

    [You have 10 points to distribute]

    [You have 10 points to distribute]

    Raising his eyebrows in surprise ,he had actually levelled up thrice ,"It seems like humans contain more exp than magical Beast" Noah said to himself.

    "Maybe I should go on a killing spree" Noahughed .

    With the three levels he was now level 30, though he had leveled up thrice he knew that the higher his level the lower the exp he would get. Sighing at that ,Noah postponed the distribution of stats toter dates.

    Taking a deep breath, Noah''s body began to emit thick orange Sparks, he was going to cover as much ground as he could until daybreak.

    Then he moved. Shattering the sound barrier multiple times, Noah ran at Mach 10, crossingrge distances ever second.

    ###

    Noah ran for five hours straight, his stamina was really unholy. He only stopped when the ''sun'' rose (he had decided to call it that) for him to sleep.

    At that point he was already very close to the city ,but he needed to sleep really bad.

    Choosing a random tree, Noah  climbed it sitting on a branch he slept off immediately his eyes closed.

    Waking up, Noah felt like a new person, he had really been mentally stressed due tost night''s event.

    Jumping down, Noah removed thest piece of meat from his inventory, eating it and drinking water. He seriously needed supplies.

    Resuming his run ,Noah ran for about two hours, checking the map to check how close he was, so when he was about the exit the forest he stopped running ,and started walking.

    Exiting the forest, a massive stone wall about of 35 meters in height entered his sight ,and on the wall he counted about 50 men, the most striking thing was that about 10 of them radiated tier 2 power !!!.

    He knew that the city would be very protected but this was a lot!.

    Though during his run he had sensed a lot of tier 2 magical beast, so the protection was reasonable.

    It was time for his entry into ''Vonol'' .

 Chapter 24 24. GETTING IDENTIFICATION

    Getting on the long line of people and carriages, Noah waited , until it was his turn.

    Unlike Mariwa, Vonol had a small building attached to it''s wall, right before the massive metal gate of equal height with the wall.

    "Show me your ID".A burly middle aged man, who had bored expression like he had said those lines uncountable times.

    "I don''t have one " Noah replied with his eyebrows arched. Honestly he didn''t know there was such a thing as an ID in this world.

    ncing at Noah''s figure for a second, a look of surprise appeared on the man''s face before going back to his bored expression.

    "Step out of the line, and enter that ce an IDwill be made for you" The man said pointing at the small building attached to the wall, it had only a small window.

    Doing exactly as he was told , Noah stepped out of the line, and moved to enter the building.

    Immediately he got in front of the metal door, it opened as though it was automatic.

    Raising his eyebrow at this detail, Noah was surprised that such a thing actually existed, though it was probably achieved through Mana.

    Stepping inside the building, Noah''s eyes widened in surprise, the space inside the building was at least 10 times as what was shown on the outside.

    He had felt some fluctuations now that he thought about it. " Dayum!" was all he could mutter.

    Inspecting the buildings Insides, Noah noticed the Mana light bulbs that lit up the room. The smell of fresh paper lingering in the air, and the differentpartments filled with people that the ce had, though he could not see everything from where he was.

    During his inspection , a man walked up to Noah and stood directly in front of him, the man inspected Noah, and raised an eyebrow when he saw his face. Noah inspected the man too.

    The man looked to be in his early fourties, he wore what in earth one would call a ck tuxedo and ck shoes, though both looked cheap, Noah didn''t care about that.

    Then Noah decided to inspect his power.

    [Nelson]

    [Tier: 2 ]

    [Level :49]

    [Chances of deaths: 56%]

    Noah was pleasantly surprised, the man; Nelson was at the cusp of tier 2, and the system recognized him as someone strong.

    During the inspection , Nelson opened his mouth to talk " First time in a ce like this?".

    "Is it that obvious?" Noah replied with a helpless smile.

    "Yes it was. I saw you all the way from the other side of the room, though it''s normal, spaces that have been stretched are hard to find, even I had the exact same look when I first got here" Nelson exined with a shortugh at the ending.

    Noah simply faked a smile ,before introducing himself, " I am Noah, nice to meet you sir".

    Nelson smile''s and introduced himself " I am ''Nelson Bellion'' ,I work for the ''Identification Bureau'', our work is to identify every citizen of our great nation".

    Nelson said offering a hand shake ,which Noah promptly shook.

    And immediately Noah shook his hand, a heavy pressurended on his body. He shot a surprised nce at Nelson, figuring out what he wanted do ,Noah smiled and unfolded his own aura.

    Nelsons expression changed to that of surprise, as a wide smile grew on his face when he saw that Noah could withstand his aura.

    After a minute or so, their aura fight had begun to attract attention from the other staffs, who looked at Nelson and sighed , shaking their heads, this was probably a normal urance.

    Nelson let go of Noah''s hand and he said in a surprised tone , " You are a tier 2?" He said more of a surprised statement than a question.

    "And a strong and very young one at that" Nelson added.

    Noah limited himself to a shrug, actually he had barely been able to stand, Nelson was at the cusp of tier 2 almost spilling over to the next tier, anymore than that ,and he would be on his knees.

    Then he said "I was told I would get an ID if I entered this building".

    Going straight to the point ,Noah liked to have fun, but he was still too excited to y around, he wanted to see the city, since he couldn''t due to the gates being closed.

    "Oh yes follow me" Nelson replied directing Noah to follow him.

    As they walked pass the other staffs, Noah couldn''t help but admire the scene of people doing paper work with pure seriousness, he almost missed that type of life.

    ''Almost''.

    Stopping at apartment that had a desk and two chairs, Nelson sat on the chair facing the desk directly, and asked Noah to sit in the other one.

    On the table there were weird looking things that Noah had never seen before, there was a strange Yellow box that had a blue gem nted in the middle, there was also a thing that looked like a cup holder only that there were lines made of Mana that ran down the object then disappeared inside the desk, apart from that the rest were paper files,a pen that had a blue glow ,and some other stuff

    "Please ce your palm here, and inject Mana into it." Nelson said pointing at the Yellow box with a blue gem.

    Doing as he was told ,Noah injected Mana into the gem, and it lit up projecting an illusory ''Tier 2'' into the air.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nelson nodded at that, and said in a surprised tone " You are at the lower stage of tier 2 and you withstood the pressure of my aura ?".

    Noah looked at him confused " How do you know all that detail" He asked.

    Nelson nced at him before saying  "when a person injects Mana into power scales, we get their mana signature and their tier. The brighter the light the higher the stage they are in."

    "Though this one can only read up to tier 3, anymore and it would explode" Nelson added.

    Nodding his head, Noah wondered why Gerald had not told him about this, it was either because he didn''t know they existed ,or he simply did not want ruin his surprise.

    "Come with me please" Nelson stood up directing Noah to follow him. They walked to a room that had a big rectangr ,crystal though not as big as the one in Mariwa.

    " ce your hand on it to check your affinity" Nelson exined.

    " But i already know my affinity" Noah said .

    " You may already know ,but protocol says you have to do it ,toplete your identification." Nelson exined.

    "Ohh" Noah replied.

    cing his right palm on the big rectangr crystal. Noah watched as the crystal shone with white radiance until two colours ''Ash'' and ''Green'' became dominant.

    Noah thought the same thing that happened in Mariwa would repeat itself ,but ,the man was right ,until he was tier 4.

    "Double affinities!!" Nelson shouted with wide eyes.

    "Li...li.. lightning !" He stuttered , looking at Noah like he was a monster.

    "I need to inform the bureau ,we must not lose an opportunity like this" Nelson muttered to himself.

    At this sight, Noah cleared his throat,  snapping Nelson out of his monologue.

    " Ah, I''m sorry, um follow me".Nelson said.

    He directed Noah to a waiting room ,where Noah sat for about half an hour. Before Nelson returned.

    "Sorry for the wait, have your ID" Nelson said handing a blue scroll over to him.

    Noah collected it , looking at the strange scroll, before Nelson told him to imprint it with Mana.

    Immediately he did that, the scroll shrunk, until it was as small and solid like an iD card on earth, though unlike earths ID card ,this one radiated Noah''s Mana signature.

    "When you reach new tiers, visit any adventurers guild and they will update it for you" Nelson exined.

    Nodding his head and thanking him ,Noah was about to leave when Nelson talked " Um what do you think about working for the ''Identification'' ''Bureau''," Nelson said with expectation in his eyes '' If I can recruit him I would be promoted immediately'' Nelson said in his mind.

    " Ahh, I am sorry, but I will have to refuse" Noah said politely.

    At this Nelson turned desperate " They pay a lot, and with your affinity you will probably be put in a good position, and don''t worry if you like to fight or explore ,we have a department like that." Nelson said in the tine of someone trying to advertise a product.

    Noah nodded his head with a look of disinterest before saying "I already have an offer from a guild " .

    Nelson raised his eyebrow before he asked in a mocking tone " Which guild?".

    "Divine Lightning" Noah stated with the same tone one used when talking about the weather.

    "All those guil..., Sorry what? !!!" Nelson asked In astonishment.

    "Divine Lightning? ,you mean one of the great guilds?" He asked again with wide eyes.

    " Yes". Noah replied and began to walk away, This man was already taking too much of his time.

    He exited the building and, walked up to the man at the gate.

    The man recognized him and said the same sentence he said earlier " Show me your ID?".

    Giving the man his ID, Noah watched as the man''s face went from boredom to wide eye surprised.

    Looking at Noah with tinge of jealousy and respect, the man returned Noah''s ID Before saying in his bored tone.

    "Wee to Vonol, you may enter" He said pointing at the already opening gate.

    Storing his ID inside his inventory, Noah nodded his head with a smile, proceeding to enter.

    ##

    Unbeknownst to Noah, immediately he had exited the building, Nelson''s eyes lost their lustre ,then a purple rune shed in them, before they went back to normal.

 Chapter 25 25. DEAD GUY

    Walking into the city ,Noah closed his eyes ,and breathed in, the first detail he noticed was that, the Mana density here was more, though not over the top, it was significant enough for him to notice.

    He felt his pores open and wee the inflow of Mana.

    Looking around ,Noah noticed the finely built buildings, some from stone while some from wood ,there were mostly one storey buildings or a bungalow like building.

    He noticed that unlike Mariwa, the ce didn''t looked like a poverty stricken city.

    The people were neatly dressed, the merchant stalls, were lined up in a orderly manner, and once In while Noah would see soldiers patrolling the streets.

    Walking , Noah took everything in, the chattering of people, the running of children the moving carriages, everything.

    Walking down a random street , different merchants advertised their products, which varied from weapons, potions, food, clothes and some other stuff.

    Due of the advertisement, Noah remembered that he needed money, and his only way of getting money currently was to sell the bodies of the Magical beasts he had killed.

    But there was a problem ,he didn''t know where to sell them. Looking around the bustling street, Noah looked for anyone that was less busy.

    Since even though the city had a good standard of living, there would surely be some who couldn''t meet those standards.

    Spotting someone like that, Noah walked up to a young man, no older than himself, the only noticable difference was that ,Noah looked and was dressed rtively decent, while the other guy didn''t look decent ,and wasn''t wearing clean clothes

    "Hey, good afternoon" Noah said with a smile.

    The man looked at him and snorted "Good afternoon ,what do you want?".

    From that Noah decided to go straight to the point. "I need information" he answered in a t tone.

    "What type of information can you get from someone like me?".  The guy asked raising an eyebrow.

    "It''s pretty simple ,all I want is where I can sell the bodies of Magical beasts" Noah replied.

    Straightening his position ,the young man said " Informationes at a cost" He said.

    "How much do you want?" Noah asked

    Smiling the man replied "20 small copper coins".

    At that ,Noah smiled, "5 coins, take it or leave it" ,he replied.

    Snorting the man wanted to say something but Noah beat him to it ,"If you don''t want, I can ask someone else".

    Noah said pointing at some other people, who looked like they needed money badly.

    With that statement the man sighed , before introducing himself , "I am Ben , resident of the city of Vonol" .

    Noah nodded his head and introduced himself too "I am Noah. lead the way".

    "Payment first" Ben said with his left hand outstretched.

    ncing at the outstretched palm Noah  replied " I will give you three coins now and when we get there the remaining two". shing a frown at those terms, Ben agreed.

    Bringing out his bag of coins from the inventory, Noah removed 3 small copper coins, and gave it to Ben, who smiled and began to lead the way.

    They walked for approximately five minutes ,crossing from street to street, until they got to a ash painted building, it was a few meters high and a few tens of meter of meter in width.

    On the outside there was a signboard saying  "Trapper".

    Nodding his head at the familiar word, Noah gave Ben the remaining two coins, before proceeding to enter the building.

    Upon entering, Noah was surprised to find that rather than the smell of fresh meat, there was a sweet fragrance that permeated the whole room

    The room had a reception, and behind the reception table there was a man , and behind the man there was a wooden door. Right beside the reception, there was a wide space that was big enough to aodate two mini-vans .

    Walking up to the reception, Noah saw a thin middle aged man ,the man had short brown hair ,neatly shaved beard and ck eyes, he currently wore a dark blue colored robe , and sat on a chair that brought himself to Noah''s height.

    "Good morning sir" Noah said.

    The man who had seen Noah since he entered replied, " Good morning ,how may I help you?"

    " I would like to sell a few of the dead magical Beasts I have".

    Nodding his head the man stood up.

    "Drop them there ,so I can inspect their condition" ,The man said pointing at the wide space before bending down to look for his tools.

    During that moment Noah decided to Inspect the man''s power.

    [Pascal]

    [Tier: 2 ]

    [Level: 32]

    [Chances of death: 17%]

    Nodding his head at the results, Noah decided to bring out the tier 1 bear he had beheaded.

    Straightening his position, The man Pascal although he had not told Noah his name, looked at the bears body, and raised an eyebrow. He walked over to it and did some inspections, like piercing it''s body to check it''s thickness, and raising some of the arms.

    Then he straightened his position, before shooting a curious nce at Noah and said  "It is in perfectly good condition, But ; it is just a tier 1, and I can only purchase it at 20 small copper coins.Though if you have more let me see them"

    A frown shed on Noah''s expression though only for a second , it seemed that tier 1 magical beasts were very easy toe across, which led to them being very cheap.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nodding his head Noah brought out ,  three foxes , five tigers, two snakes, seven apes and three badgers ,filling up the space ,and going on to drop them on each other making a small hill.

    All of them in perfectly good shape apart from their head missing or their body split in half.

    Pascal''s eyes widened at the number of dead magical beasts Noah had .

    Clearing his throat he Inspected all of them one after the other, it took him a bit over ten minutes to finish, and when he did there was pure surprise in his face.

    " They are all in good condition" The man said more to himself than to Noah.

    "Yes I tried my best to limit the damage they received when u killed them" Noah replied even though he knew the man wasn''t really talking to him.

    When the man heard Noah''s words, he looked at him in surprise and asked.  "You killed all of them by yourself ?".

    Noah nodded his head. He knew how hard it was for normal tier 1''s to kill a magical beast but he wanted to advertise himself ,so that the man would value him.

    Snapping out of his shock a few secondster the man opened his mouth to talk "Since all of them are in surprisingly good condition, I will purchase them in 30 copper coins each, do you agree?".

    Smiling in his mind ,Noah replied "Yes"

    Nodding his head , Pascal opened the wooden door behind him and entered it, a minuteter he brought a bag of coins and handed it over to Noah.

    Using his mental waves, Noah counted the coins , seeing that they numbered 60 medium sized copper coins, he nodded his head satisfaction.

    Pascal went on to store the magical beasts in his space ring, before saying, " If you ever want to sell your hunt pleasee to me".

    Noah nodded his head and was about to leave ,when he remembered something "Please how much is a tier 2 magical beast worth? ".

    Pascal raised an eyebrow before replying "At base price, a tier 2 magical beast will sell for nothing less than 500 small copper , while factors like ,what stage it was ,or what species it is, would determine if it would sell for a higher price" Pascal exined.

    Noah nodded his head in surprise, one tier 2 magical beast would earn him the same as. twenty tier 1.

    Bringing out the evolved lizard ,Noah watched as Pascal''s face went from Normal to wide eyes.

    Then Noah Said " I Would like to sell it please".

    ##

    Coming out of the building , a happy Noah could be seen bouncing, he had made more than he expected, apparently ''Evolved Stone lizards''  weren''t thatmon ,and their rocky scales could be used when making armours or shields making them worth more.

    Due to it being in lower stage , Pascal bought it for 100 medium sized copper coins, which in Total brought Noah''s worth to a whooping 1704 small copper coins.

    Walking down the street, thoughts of what to do next ram through his mind, he was so lost in thoughts that he failed to notice that people were parting ways for a particr man who had a small envoy of 5 men.

    So when he identally bumped into the man Noah snapped out if his thoughts ,"Oh I''m sorry" he quickly apologized.

    only for him to see a fisting his way, though he easily blocked it by holding the fist, then he the crowd gasp.

    Noah looked around to see that everyone was avoiding his gaze.

    Then he turned back to see the person that threw a punch at him.

    There was  man in his early twenties like Noah, who wore a lemon green robe and some expensive looking jewelries.

    The young man''s face had turned red, while pure wrath twisted his face, he seemed about to choke from anger.

    Noah let go of the fist only to find that the guy was about to draw his weapon.

    Noah looked at this scene with surprise, he could see the man move to draw his sword all for him to be stopped by a man who looked to be in his fifties.

    The man wisphered something into the young man''s ear that made him stop.

    " You will pay for what you did" Said the young man before turning to walk away.

    ? As the man was walking away Noah saw that the gaze of the middle aged man was on him ,he instinctively inspected the man.

    [ Boris ]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 48]

    [Chances of death:50%]

    Noah frowned at the discovery , the man who seemed to be the butler of the you man was strong.

    After a few seconds Boris whispered something that only Noah could hear .

    " I''ll find you", At that he turned and walked away.

    Noah''s frown deepened he seemed to have gotten himself into some trouble.

    After a while Noah looked around, all for him to notice that both passerbys ,and merchants who had stalls there, were looking at him with pity in their eyes.

    This scene got Noah even confused  ''What the heck is going on '' Noah shouted In his mind.

    He stood there for minute until a young man who looked slightly older than him, walked up to him and said

    "Hey Dead guy what''s up?"

 Chapter 26 26. NEW FRIENDS

    The person in front of him was a tall 6.12ft man, he wore a blue shirt and ck pants with what one would call sandals.

    In terms of looks ,he was average at best, he looked something around 26, and his demeanor was that of someone who was confident.

    "Sorry what?" Noah asked in astonishment.

    " I said ,dead guy what''s up" the man said.

    " Why are you calling me a dead guy?" Noah asked with one of his eyebrow raised.

    " You look new here how long have you been here" The man asked ignoring Noah''s question.

    Noah frowned at this but still answered.

    " I just got here today, at most an hour or two ago" Noah replied.

    " An hour or two, and you managed to get yourself into trouble ,dude I think you''ve broken a few records" The man saidughing at the ending.

    At this point Noah was pissed  ,he was about to turn and walk away when the man introduced himself.

    " I am James , forgive my rudeness" The man said , stretching his left hand for a hand shake.

    Noah turned and introduced himself " I am Noah , why did you call me a dead guy?." Noah said ignoring the outstretched hand.

    Noticing that Noah wasn''t going to return his hand shake, James put down his hand before saying in a seriously tone , "Well the reason is because of the young man you just offended" he said.

    "But I didn''t do anything " Noah asked though he had an idea of where this was going.

    Shaking his head James continued "That man is the third son of the ''Culcrow'' noble family, they are a middle sized family that have domain here in Vonol." James exined.

    " They have multiple tier 2''s in their ranks, while the power of head of the family is unknown" James exined.

    Noah was beginning to get the point ,and he did not like where it was going.

    Seeing the understanding in Noah''s eyes James continued, directing Noah to leave the road due to the passerbys.

    " The third son whose name is Milo, is especially known to be very notorious, though no evidence has been found against him, so thew can''t hurt him, but we citizens know his bad deeds" James exined, saying thest part with anger filling his voice.

    ''Aish! this isn''t good'' Noah said in his mind.

    " So do you understand what you''ve gotten yourself into, you aren''t the first to cross paths with him " James said.

    "What happened to those that did?" Noah asked knowing the answer.

    James answered, by cing his thumb on his neck and moving it until it got to the other side of his neck.

    '' Yikes !" Noah exmained in his mind.

    The day wasn''t going well at all.

    With that done Noah asked a question that puzzled him, "If you know what will happen to me why are you talking to me, so far everyone is avoiding eye contact with me?".

    Noah said test his theory, he shot a stare at a middle aged man, who promptly turned and walked away.

    Laughing at the almost running man James replied "Well ,that would be because I need you" he said.

    "You need me?" Noah said raising an eyebrow.

    "Yes I do" James stated.

    "For what ?" Noah asked.

    "I want us to enter a game together",James exined.

    Surprise was written on Noah''s face.

    " Why can''t you choose someone else?"

    Noah asked, "And besides I don''t know you "  he added looking at James suspiciously.

    "That would be because you are strong, he may not look it ,but Milo is a peak tier 1 that is why he is prideful. So for you to block his punch so effortlessly, you are definitely stronger." James exined.

    Heaving a light sigh ,Noah was about to once again refuse, when James said something that seized his attention  "And oh, the prize money would be 10 small gold coins each"  James added.

    With that Noah''s attention was fully on him. "Ten small gold coins",Noah muttered In surprise

    "Yes, it''s a lot right?" James asked with a smug smile.

    Heaving a deep sigh Noah opened his mouth to talk, "How am I sure you aren''t making this up" He asked.

    A light smile appeared on James face as though he heard what he wanted "Follow me I''ll show you"

    James took Noah to a massive poster-board ,  apparently one was assigned to each district in ''Vonol'' due to it being a rtively big city.

    On the  poster-board there was a red poster that took the most space on board.

    On the poster there was a drawing of two men standing back to back in an offensive pose, and surrounding them were the drawings of multiple beasts.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Under the art, a name was written  "Bozolom".

    Requesting the meaning of the word, James exined that ''Bozolom was a biannual event ,where people in a team of two will battle hordes of Magical beasts in different phases, with each phase the number of magical Beasts will increase

    The highest tier that could enter for the game was tier 2 middle stage.

    It was a game held by the royal family itself, so the prize money was guaranteed.

    The only problem about the event was the high death rate.

    Hundreds of people would register but only a handful would actually survive till the ending.

    Most people didn''t just register for the money, no some registered to showcase their talent, there would be many dignitaries , so one could get the chance of being admitted into the royal family or a guild.

    The game wouldst for three days, with each day there would be an increase in the strength of the magical beasts, the first day would be solely tier 1 middle stage, almost every one would seed in this stage, the second day would be peak tier 1 and a lower stage tier two, once again most people would seed this day, while the third day which would be featuring tier 2 lower stage and middle stage, this was where the death happened the most.

    The winners would be those that survived the third, regardless of their numbers, And also if a partner dies then the other would be left to die as well, there was no backing out immediately they were in.

    There were a totally of five phases per day, but the number of beasts were determined by the royal family.

    With that exnation, Noah couldn''t help but fall into deep thought, with his power the first two days would be child''s y, but on the third one there were bound to be surprise, since the total family would want to reduce the numbers of those that survived the first two days, and he would have avoid using his speed force .

    After about five minutes of consideration Noah decided to check a crucial information.

    [James]

    [Tier: 1 ]

    [Level: 24]

    [Chances of death: 7%]

    Noah raised an eyebrow at this, the fact that his his chances of death wasn''t zero meant that, James was strong.

    The he asked a crucial question "How long will it take you to advance" he asked.

    "I feel I should advance in about a months time" James replied with a thoughtful look.

    Nodding his head Noah said" That would leave a whole month before the event starts".

    Wait how do you know I was about to advance" James asked with an eyebrow raised.

    Noticing his mistake ,Noah searched for an answer, finding a suitable one he answered "That would be because I am a tier 2" Noah stated, he remembered that those in higher levels could Inspect the power of those who were weaker than them, Noah simply didn''t use that natural ability, opting to use the system Instead.

    James eye widened in surprise " You are a tier 2" he said with a tinge of jealousy.

    Then his expression turned dark before he asked "Are you from a noble family" James said taking a step backwards.

    Noah noticed this and was curious though he didn''t let it show.

    "No I am not" Noah stated simply " Why would you even think that ,do I look like someone whoes from a noble" Noah added with an eyebrow arched while pointing at his burnt clothes.

    Seeing Noah''s honest curiosity, James gave an embarrassedugh before saying, " Well only the offsprings of a noble family can be as young as you ,and be this powerful ,due to them having ess to resources, that will speed their cultivation" James exined.

    "There are resources that can help one speed up their cultivation?" Noah asked surprised.

    James shot a confused nce at Noah, seeing that he was really surprised, he exined.

    "Yes there are, why do you think people join the guards of noble families or the royal army, even the three great Guilds allow that to their members."

    "Ahh", Noah exmained, understanding why Melissa called him interesting, well he simply didn''t know that such privileges existed, and now that he did, he doubted they were as efficient as the system.

    After discussing for a while , James took Noah to a restaurant, Where he  was served something like spaghetti and tomato stew sauce ,served with a cup of orange juice.

    He ate till his stomach begged him to stop. During his one week in the forest, he had only eaten pieces of the meat he had in his inventory. So now that he was in proper city, the food way better than in Mariwa , though it cost him 10 small copper coins per te and he ate five ,it was worth it.

    They discussed about the event, and what they were to do, honestly Noah still didn''t trust the James, but he was starting to like the guy.

    Soon night arrived, the stalls were already almost fully packed, the streets were already empty of passerbys, the restaurant had even kicked them out.

    James had invited Noah to his house , but he refused, how could he sleep in the house of someone he met that day.

    Instead he had asked James for direction to a hotel.

    "Let''s meet at this restaurant tommorow, you need to change those clothes, and go take a bath" James said , wearing a irritated expression at thest sentence.

    Which hurt Noah''s pride, staring at James like he was monster, Noah turned ,and walked away , going to look for the hotel by himself.

    And also because he had noticed that they were being followed, he didn''t want to put someone he just met in danger.

    Walking down the street ,Noah looked for a dark alley suitable for their meeting, and soon enough he found one.

    Stopping halfway into the alley, Noah turned around to wee his new friends.

 Chapter 27 27. FIGHT

    James had told him that he was probably going to get attacked that night, but that since he was a tier 2 he would definitely be able to handle them.

    But nheless, Noah was still surprised to find that they were right on time.

    Six men stood a few meters before him, each covering their faces with a dark piece of cloth with only their eyes visible, coupled with the darkness of the night, there was no way he could see their faces.

    "You have crossed paths with a young man with too much power than he deserves, now face the consequences".

    The man at the forefront of the group said in a deep voice, he was probably the leader.

    Immediately the man ended his words, the remaining five cast spells that charged at him.

    Noah didn''t have time to check their levels but from the aura they released they were all tier 1.

    Noah cast ''Energy armour '', a ash coloured magic circle appeared beneath him, then thin tendrils of electricity shot out, to wrap around his body, then they turned invisible, only a dull halo could be seen around him

    Three azure Spears made of condensed water, one orange ball of fire and a spike made of earth charged at him.

    With his armour ready, Noah tanked the spells.

    BOOOOMM!

    An explosion resounded, it lit up the environment, due to the collusion of elements,unching debris into the air and destroying part of the walls of the alley, bringing a cloud of mist and dust into the air due to the vaporised water.

    The attack could have killed anyone who was a tier 1, or injured someone who was in the lower stage of tier 2, but Noah didn''t even move from his position.

    Immediately the attack ended, a shadow shot out of the cloud of dusty mist, Noah had decided not to use the speed force, but he was still incredibly fast.

    He had formed two ''Energy des'' around his hands. Arriving in front the first person, Noah came to quick halt, using his past momentum, Noah shed at the man''s waist, separating it from his legs.

    Before the body could hit the ground, Noah stored it in his inventory. He wasn''t going to leave any proof.

    Turning to the next person , Noah could still see the bad intents in his eyes, shing at the man''s neck, Noah beheaded him, then stored the body immediately.

    At this time it had only been two seconds since the attack ended.

    Rushing to the third person Noah lunged his right hand at the man, the energy de pierced the man''s chest killing him on the spot, storing the body immediately, Noah twisted his hips and pivoted his feets, spinning and shing downwards at the leader, Noah split the man''s body in two equal halves, then stored the corpse, going on to the next person.

    He repeated the same until he was the only one left in the alley. Only about seven seconds had passed since thebined attack, and there was no one left.

    Heaving a deep sigh at what just happened, Noah knew it wasn''t his fault, if he had been any weaker they would have seeded in killing him, that was him protecting his life, so his killing them was justified.

    Dispersing the energy des and deactivating the Energy armour, Noah nced at the notifications that popped up, he had not gained any level so he simply closed the panel.

    Walking out of the alley, Noah sprinted away, he didn''t use the speed force in case there was someone watching.

    Coming to a stop in a new street where the hotel he was going to was. Noah looked around to make sure no one saw him, then he turned around and walked away.

    ##

    A few seconds before Noah left the alley, the figure of a woman could be seen sitting on a four storey building directly in front of the alley where the fight took ce.

    "He survived!" the woman shouted,

    "This means I will have to finish the job" she said standing up, ''He must be a tier 2 to havee out unscathed'' she thought to herself.

    But immediately she stood up Noah basically disappeared from her sight,

    "FAST!!" she exmained inspecting  the streets frantically, to see if he stopped anywhere nearby. Not finding him, she stomped the roof floor beneath her, hard enough for it to cave in.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Damnit!, I will have to report this to Lord Milo, we have a problem in our hands" She said frowning deeply and jumping off the building.

    ##

    Arriving at the said hotel, Noah stood in front of two story building, that had orange light bulbs at the entrance, making the two guards that stood at the entrance visible in the darkness of the night.

    ''Is this ce really cheap?" Noah thought to himself sceptically.

    He had asked James for somewhere that wasn''t too expensive, and the guy had directed him to this ce, but now Noah wasn''t so sure anymore.

    Walking up to the entrance, one of the guards, a burly man who radiated peak tier 1 power, asked, "Your ID" he said with an outstretched hand ,while looking at Noah sceptically.

    Retrieving his ID from his inventory, Noah watched as the man''s eyebrow arched in surprise. Returning Noah''s ID, the man looked at Noah with a new light.

    "You may enter" he said opening the door.

    Upon entering, Noah held his breath due the pungent smell of dried vomit, that filled the whole room.

    In front of him, was what one would call a rowdy bar, there were round tables with men sitting around it, cups of beer upying the table, while chattering andughter filled the room.

    Shaking off the urge to puke, Noah walked towards the bar table, he had to  dodge someone who was about to throw up.

    Walking faster, Noah got to the bar table, the bartender was a man in his fifties, he looked at Noah, a tinge of surprise appearing on his face, though just for a second, before asking, "What may I get for you" he said with a weing smile.

    Ignoring the sound of puking men Noah answered, "I want a room for the night", Noah answered hastily, he didn''t want to stay down there any longer.

    "That will cost 15 small copper coins" The man answered resisting the urge tough at Noah''s irritated face.

    Bringing out his bag of coins, Noah hastily removed two medium sized copper coins, and gave it to the man, who raised an eyebrow at size of Noah''s purse.

    Giving Noah his 5 small copper coins change and the key to room 32, he tried to describe the direction, but Noah had already run off.

    Getting to the stairs, away from the noise and puking, Noah calmed himself down, he was used to seeing the dead bodies of magical beasts and somewhat of humans, but he couldn''t stand the smell of puke, "Pathetic" he muttered to himself climbing the stairs and getting to the hall that had the rooms.

    He had to go up another floor before he could find the room that was his.

    And upon getting inside, the interior left him dumbfounded to say the least.

    "I asked for a cheap ce ,but this... this is overkill", Noah said to himself staring at the room.

    The room was lit with a yellow Mana bulb, though it was incredibly low in brightness, and would flicker off and on once in a while,

    There was a bed, if one could call it that, the bedstand looked as though it could break at anytime. There was a nket though it looked old, or like it hadn''t been washed. '' is this even clean!? '' Noah exmained in his mind, while touching the nket.

    The floor wasn''t rugged, just the bare wood that had holes in it, "Is this even safe?" Noah said to himself with bewilderment ozzing our of his voice.

    He could take a fall from that height but that would be very inconvenient, no one would like to find themselves falling right after waking up.

    The ce smelled dusty, opening the window and curtains, Noah breathed in fresh air, looking at the building next to the hotel, Noah looked through a particr window of the building and saw something he shouldn''t have.

    If you know what I mean(a��?__a��?)

    "Cough"

    Closing the curtains immediately, Noah put off his shirt andy on the ufortable bed.

    Memories of the recent fight yed out in his mind, it took him a while ,but eventually his conciousness drifted into the darkness called sleep.

 Chapter 28 28. UNEXPECTED

    Snapping his eyes open, Noah sat up, he had left his mental waves unfolded and they had noticed something strange.

    Getting down the creaking bed, Noah walked closer to the door with light steps. Getting to the door, Noah saw moving shadows under it , as though there was someone behind the door.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    NOAH! ,NOAH!

    Someone was banging the door, then he heard the person call his name, something strange was happened, and  he didn''t understand what was going on. The bang of the door sounded distant, even though he was right in front of it.

    Snapping his eyes open, Noah sat up , looking around in surprise, the door was being banged, and the he hard the voice of James from the other side.

    Grunting and getting up "Chill, I''ming" He announced in an annoyed tone.

    Though the bang still continued, getting to the door, Noah saw a fully dressed James with an annoyed expression. "I thought we were supposed to meet at the restaurant" Noah said confused, as James walked in within being invited inside

    Going to the window, James opened the curtains, allowing rays of blinding sunlight into the room, "That would be because someone decided to sleep till afternoon" James replied annoyance oozing out of his voice.

    Noah widen his eyes, then gave a helpless smile, "I''m sorry" Noah said.

    He didn''t realize he was that mental stressed.

    Shaking his head at Noah, James opened his mouth to talk  "Then get ready, we have things to do", He said throwing Noah''s shirt at him.

    Catching the shirt Noah talked "We do?" He said while putting on his shirt.

    "Yes we do, actually I have made a whole schedule for our activities" James said walking out of the room.

    Raising an eyebrow at James words, Noah picked the key and locked the door, hurrying to catch-up with James, who had gone downstairs.

    Upon getting to the bar, Noah saw the bartender looking at him with surprise,  "Good morning",  Noah said looking at the bartender who said, "You are to pay 3 small copper coins for the extra time" the man said.

    Noah opened his mouth but no words came out, then he looked at James who simply shrugged.

    A sigh escaped his mouth, as he retrieved his bag of coins, removing 3 small copper coins, Noah gave it to the bartender, who performed a slight bow.

    "Let''s go" James said walking out of the building. Following him, Noah arrived outside the building.

    The street were filled with passerbys and merchant stalls, everything going back to it''s bustling activities.

    Directing Noah to follow him, James engaged Noah in a conversation.

    "An explosion was heard yesterday, a street or two away from here, but there was no one when the patrollers got to the scene". James said looking at Noah with an eyebrow raised.

    "Oh really, I hope no one got hurt" Noah said in a calm tone and expression, akin to when someone was talking about the weather.

    Resistung the urge to burst intoughter, James replied, "Yeah from the looks of it the target wasn''t hurt", He said with a smile.

    Walking for about half an hour going gr street to street, James brought Noah to a big red two storey building, there were three guards outside that radiated peak tier 1 Power, the guards had their ID checked before letting them in.

    The building didn''t look special on the outside, but on getting ins Noah couldn''t help but be surprise.

    The inside looked like what one would call a clothes store, but the detail that made it surprising was the amount of tier 1 power being radiated,and it wasn''t from the numerous staffs, no it was from the clothes!!.

    "Pretty cool right, if this is surprising wait till we get to the second floor" James said with a smug smile.

    Raising an eyebrow at James words, Noah followed James, they got to a male staff of the store, and James told him that they were going to the second floor, ncing at Noah, the young man raised an eyebrow, before directing them to follow him.

    Getting to the staircase, there was a thick ss door that divided the staircase from the ground floor, the staff had to use a card to open it.

    Naoh raised an eyebrow at this sight ''How did they even get technology like that?'', Noah thought to himself, though they probably achieved it through Mana.

    Walking through the ss door, the trio climbed the flight of stairs and got to a ck metal door, where the staff did the same thing he did before.<novelnext></novelnext>

    On walking through the door, a wide room appeared in his sight, like the first floor it was lit with white lights, but the differences was that the clothes were worm on mannequins and were in ss tubes, but still, Noah could feel the power they radiated and they were in tier 2!!.

    Shaking his head, ''it seems this world has a lot of surprises waiting for me to find'' Noah said In his mind.

    Not waiting for them, the staff handed them over to another staff, a female this time, before going downstairs.

    "I am Sandra what may I get for you sirs" She said performing a professional bow.

    Sandra was in her early thirties, though the mature vibe made Noah think she was older than that, she had ck hair and she was definitely above average in terms of beauty, and the blue shirt and ck pencil skirt she wore emphasized her soft curves, and bust.

    After Introducing himself, James opened his mouth to talk, "My friend here, would like to purchase a set please", James said pointing at Noah, who simply smiled, but said In his mind.

    ''Who asked him that I wanted clothes, everything here looks crazy expensive''

    "Please follow me" Sandra said directing them to follow him.

    Smiling, Noah rushed to James "Dude what the hell?. I don''t have enough money for anything in here, are you going to pay" Noah whispered making sure he almost burst James eardrum.

    Moving away from Noah due to the attempted deafening, " Rx, though they seem that way, their prices are very reasonable" James tried to reassure Noah.

    "Oh very reasonable ,like how much are we talking here?" Noah said his voice oozing sarcasm.

    "Oh just about....." James said but before he could finish, Sandra called their attention.

    "Please choose from any of these" She said pointing at around fifty plus ss tubes.

    Smiling again, Noah walked forward "Choose something nice",James said patting Noah''s shoulder.

    Shooting a '' I''ll kill you Stare '' at James, Noah nced at the avable clothes.

    Most of the clothes looked good, but some didn''t meet his taste.

    After about thirty seconds of speed inspection, something caught his eyes, but it wasn''t in a tube, it was simply hanged, at the side of the room.

    Walking closer to it, Noah could feel something about that dress that made him shiver.

    Getting to it ,Noah was able to inspect it better.

    It was apletely ck full body suit, touching the material, Noah was surprised to find that it was like metal and incredibly heavy.

    Turning towards Sandra, "Where did you get this" he asked.

    ncing at the suit, a tinge of annoyance shed on her expression, before she exined  "We found it a bit over a week ago, it fell from a lightning storm that umted exactly outside of Vonol''s gate. The gate guards had brought it here for us to inspect it since it''s weight was incredible, but our specialist found nothing, all they knew it was currently in tier 2 and it''s stage is unknown.," She exined with a bit of curiosity in her expression. "And worse we couldn''t put it in any space ring, it would simply not enter, or directly damage it" She added.

    Raising an eyebrow at her exnation, there was an idea brewing inside his head but he didn''t want to jump into conclusions.

    Running his fingers across the suit, Noah admired it''s metal like texture, he wasn''t sure why, but he knew that if he punched it at full power he wouldn''t be able to make a dent on it.

    Immediately he finished running his fingers across it''s full length, something unexpected happened.

    A white panel appeared, it was so bright, Noah was sure it could blind him.

    [ ??????]

    [TIER: 2]

    [GRADE: ????]

    [Soul bond: None]

    [Imprint it with your blood]

 Chapter 29 29.TRAINING AREA

    [??????]

    [TIER: 2]

    [GRADE: ????]

    [Soul bond: None]

    [Imprint it with your blood]

    Noah couldn''t help but widen his eyes in surprise, "Holy moly," He muttered to himself, before closing the panel, and wiping off his surprise filled expression, then turned around to look at Sandra.

    "How much for it?" Noah asked trying his best to remain calm.

    Sandra raised an eyebrow at his question, "Do you really want to purchase it, no one has found it''s use, many have found it interesting but none have been able to even lift it, so please reconsider," She said with care in her tone.

    Smiling at this, Noah shook his head response.

    Sighing at his gesture, she opened her mouth to talk, "A normal tier 2 lower grade set, would cost 70 medium copper coin but, due to it being useless, we will give it to you for 20." she said.

    "Our boss had ordered us to dispose it after this week, so you buying it is a gain" Sandra added.

    A grin wanted to break out on Noah''s face, but he used sheer willpower to stop it. Nodding at the price Noah talked "Add it to my tab," He said.

    "What does ''tab'' mean" Sandra said, with confusion written on her face.

    Noticing his mistake Noah corrected himself, he and forgotten that he wasn''t in a fully modernised world.

    "Sorry I meant add it to my list" He said with an apologizing smile.

    Understanding shed in her eyes,  "You are buying another set?" Sandra asked, her face finding it hard to keep her smile in check.

    "Yes" Noah stated, with a small smile.

    Walking around, Noah saw that James had been exploring the shop by himself. Leaving him to his exploration, Noah found something that suited his taste.

    It was a normal silver long sleeve shirt and ck trouser, but they both had inscriptions that ran across them.

    "How much is it?" Noah asked without turning towards her.

    Looking at the set in question she opened her mouth to talk, "Ah, that is a good set, though it looks very ordinary, it has a very good defense capability, able to take attacks even from middle stage tier 2, though just seven time, it is also very light and less conspicuous like the armours, adventurers or the royal army wear, ite at a price of 90 middle sized copper coins" she exined.

    Noah took a deep breath at the price.     ''900 small copper coins!'', he shouted in his mind.

    Seeing his tense reaction Sandra continued. "Though since it is a rule that, whenever a customer buys more than one, they are entitled to a discount, so the price would be reduced to 85 middle sized Copper coins," she said nodding her head.

    Noah''s eyebrows couldn''t help but twitch, ''What''s the difference!?,'' he screamed in his mind.

    Heaving a deep sigh at his emptying purse, Noah nodded and said, "That would be all thank you".

    Nodding at his words, Sandra directed him to follow her.

    Seeing Noah''s figure, James rushed back to him, "How was it, did you find anything that you liked" He said smiling.

    ncing at him Noah replied, "Oh yes I did, what about you?" he said in a defeated tone with small sighs in between his sentence.

    "Oh, no I already have one, you will see it when when we embark on our journey," James exined.

    Simply nodding at James words, inside of himself, he was thinking. ''It seems I''ll have to go visit Pascal again,'' he sighed in his mind.

    Though the clothes were very expensive, he wasn''t nning to let it get burnt or damaged, since unlike when he was in Mariwa, now he had a spell that acted as an armour, he was only buying it to look decent, and because it looked cool.

    Getting to the reception table, meant for the second floor, Sandra directed them to sit on the chairs which faced the reception, before going inside to do some things.

    They talked for a few minutes, after which she returned, with a document of some sorts, and told him to swipe his ID on it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Doing so, the paper began to radiate Noah''s Mana signature, then she did the same, before handing it over to another staff, and asked for payment.

    With heavy heart, Noah parted ways with ''1050" worth of small copper coins.

    Smiling at the transaction, Sandra order some of the male staffs to pack the clothes up.

    The silver shirt, and ck leather trousers were easy to carry, but the ck body suit wasn''t, it took around nine men to carry.

    Noah could carry it, but not for too long, He stored the normal set inside his inventory, faking it to look like it was a space ring.

    During his time in the forest, Noah had cut a tree bark and shaped it into a ring using his energy des, which was really helpful.

    Bowing at their figures, while they walked down the stairs, Noah and James exited the building, after he had removed the normal set and tried them on, he had forgotten to do that until James reminded him.

    After they got outside, and walked for a few minutes, Noah stored the ck suit in his inventory.

    The suit couldn''t enter space rings, but it entered his inventory, without any hitch.

    Rotating his right shoulder, Noah nced at James, who was looking at him with surprise.

    "How did you do that?, I thought you said it couldn''t enter space rings?,"James said in surprise.

    When Noah had told him about his decision to buy the suit, James had nagged him not to, but Noah didn''t even listen to him.

    So eventually he gave up, though Noah eventually told him that it couldn''t enter space rings.

    Ignoring his question, Noah opened his mouth to talk, "What''s next?".

    Noticing Noah''s intention to not answer his former question, James didn''t push the matter, after all this was only their second day of meeting.

    Pulling out a sheet of paper from his pocket, James read through it, before cing his finger on a line, then he turned towards Noah.

    "Ah, yes. Have you been to a training area before?".He asked, Noah who shook his head.

    ''What the heck is a training area?'' Noah Said in his mind.

    Honestly he didn''t care about the whole schedule that James had made, he only wanted to go test the ck suit, heck he kept opening and closing the panel due to his excitement.

    Staring at Noah with astonishment "Where were you born?, the forest?," James said shaking his head.

    Hearing the question, Noah couldn''t help but burst intoughter, it seemed sooner orter everyone would find that out.

    Staring at Noah like he was a weirdo, "Follow me", James said, immediately walking faster.

    Seeing this, Noah walked faster too.

    The walked for a good twenty minutes, the carriages, and people increasing the difficulty of moving.

    James brought Noah to a dome shaped building, outside of the building, a name was written, "Shota family".

    Turning towards James, Noah saw that he was staring at him with a ''I knew you''d ask look''. As Noah could only give a helpless smile at that sight.

    Shaking his head, James talked, "The Shota family, are a big noble family, they control a lot of political power and have branches of their mansions, or establishments in a lot of cities, I am not sure how many but, at least this Is one." He said thest sentence pointing at the dome shaped building.

    "From the look on your face, you don''t know what a training area is, so let''s go inside". James added walking towards the door.

    Getting to the door, there were four men, all of them wearing different attires, but there was an identical crest on their chests.

    Requesting for their ID''s, Noah received weird looks, probably due to his clothes, he had not gotten time to change yet, he also overlooked the surprised nces, being shot at him when they saw his information.

    Though he couldn''t me them, all four of them were still in tier 1 after all.

    Shaking his head lightly, after he had collected his ID, Noah and James proceeded to enter the building.

 Chapter 30 30. MEDITATION

    A small room appeared in their sight, it was lit with bright blue Mana bulbs, and there were big metal doors on opposite sides of the room, the room was painted white with yellow lines, forming a snake wrapping itself around a sword.

    Right in front of them was a reception and behind the reception table were two women, both of them wearing the exact same thing, yellow garment, with a white crest that formed a snake wrapping itself around a sword.

    The crest was the same as the guards outside and on the wall.

    Walking towards the table the two women greeted, "Good day which room would you like to be sirs" They said in unison, creeping Noah out.

    James walked forward and said "Please show us the menu". At that thedy on the right who looked somewhat In herte twenties, and had blonde hair with grey eyes.

    She nodded and opened a drawer bringing out two books, and handed it over to James, who immediately opened it and gave the second to Noah.

    Opening the incredibly short book that only had three pages, Noah saw the cost of using a training room, and the type of training rooms avable.

    There were three major training rooms, which were, the Mana training room for cultivation, Combat training room mainly for martial arts or just weapons training, and Spells training room, which was for testing spells and things like that.

    Each training room was divided into two which were for tier 1 and 2, then those two were divided into three, lower stage, middle stage and upper stage.

    Their cost also varied, with the cultivation rooms being the priciest, ncing at the charges, Noah decided to try the cultivation room for middle stages since he was almost there.

    The price varied ording to time, with the maximum time being 12 hours. He decided to go for the 2 hours n, which would cost him 44 small copper coins.

    Giving the book back to thedy, Noah told her what he wanted. They were surprised since it had only been around three seconds since he opened the book, his mind was moving incredibly fast.

    Paying the woman, she gave him a card that pulsed with Mana lines, seeing his confusion she exined. "It is to allow you ess into the room, there are formations that don''t allow ess if you don''t have this card, when your time is up it would release a sound and you will have two minutes to get out, before it attacks you."

    Raising an eyebrow at the new word ''Formation'', Noah; right there and then decided that he would visit a library, he was really tired of being clueless.

    Thanking her with a smile, Noah watched as her face became flustered, pointing at the the door on the right she said in a shy tone "That is the way to your training area".

    Nodding his head and walking towards the door, Noah waved James goodbye who had already chosen his room.

    Opening the door, Noah''s eye widened, the Mana density had gone up a level, and he wasn''t even in a room yet!.

    Looking at the doors on the left and right Noah saw the name tags on them and continued walking until he saw the one that matched his request.

    Stepping in front of the door, Noah watched as inscriptions lit up on the ck door, then he held the card that had been given to him, and pointed it at the door, and to his surprise a light shed on it, scanning the card.

    At this point Noah was tired of getting surprised. After a second or so the door opened, and Noah stepped inside, he felt some kind of fluctuation, and it hit him.

    The Mana denisty in the room was on a different level entirety, it had taken like three steps up. He could even feel his pores get drunk from it, he couldn''t help but take a deep breath, and he felt like he had been breathing bad air all his life.

    Shaking his head at this, Noah inspected the room.

    The room was dimly lit with red lights, while there were mats on the ground, he could also see people, though they were incredibly few in number, at the center of the room was a glowing yellow stone around 4fts tall, and it looked like all the mats were facing it.

    Walking closer, Noah noticed that no one seemed to sense him, probably due to their meditation.

    Choosing a mat very close to the stone, Noah confirmed that the stone was the source of Mana in the room.

    Sitting in a cross legged position, Noah looked around, he wasn''t really sure if he could still cultivate, so he decided to check.

    [Mana regeneration: (Function 1(Passive): when out of Mana your body constantly absorbs more to refill your pool. This function stops when your Mana pool is filled up.<novelnext></novelnext>

    (Function 2 (Active): Draw Mana from the environment to cultivate your strength and increase your Mana pool. lt can be used without meditation but when only when meditating do you gain understanding.]

    Rasing an eyebrow at the division of functions, and thest sentence of function 2, Noah decided to test what it meant, since this wasn''t in the tier 1 description.

    Closing his eyes while still sitting cross legged, Noah straightened his back and began to breathe In and out in a rythmic pattern, at first nothing happened but after a while Noah could feel his mind get calm and also began to spin, it was a weird sensation that he couldn''t exin.

    His mind explored different things and matter, until it got to the point of his elements and Mana, which were things rted to him.

    His mind spun faster as it tried to grasp something, for a while it couldn''t, but his mind continued unrelenting, until it hit him.

    Information about how to best utilize his elements and mana flowed into his head, he felt like he had been wasteful all his life, the answers and hints to questions he had never asked flowed into his mind.

    Mana was a very big subject, it wasn''t just the energy that allowed spells to function or people to do incredible things, it was something grander, but currently all he could grasp was that it was something that had stages and quality, and currently he was using it''s lowest.

    His mind tried to find something more, but it seemed that there was a massive wall that he couldn''t break, a wall that restricted him from getting answers that didn''t belong to his current level of strength.

    A buzzing sound brought Noah out of his meditation. He opened his eyes in surprise and looked at his surroundings, he could see the few people in the room had stopped their meditation and were staring at him, wondering why he was being stared at, Noah focused on his body.

    All around Noah blue colored waves were rushing into his body, he wasn''t sure why, but that phenemenom continued even after he had stopped meditating, he could feel his body get stronger with every second, and then.

    BOOOOOMMM!

    Mana exploded outwards, sending some people flying backwards, Noah was in wide eyed stupor until a notification or rather a series of notification popped up.

    [You have advanced to middle stage of

    tier 2]

    [You have gained three levels]

    [You have gained 5 points to all stats]

    [You have gained 5 points to all stats]

    [You have gained 5 points to all stats]

    [You have gained 30 points to distribute]

    Shock filled Noah''s mind when he read the messages, he had leveled up thrice, in two hours!, and the explosion was a way to tell the world that he had gotten to a new stage of his realm.

    ''This didn''t happen in tier 1'', Noah said in his mind as he stood up, he only had a minute or so before the formation would attack him.

    Closing both palm in a ''Im sorry '' position to those that got hit by the explosion, Noah moved out of the room.

    He stood inside the hall still recalling what had happened during his meditation. Honestly it felt short, to himself he had only closed his eyes for a few seconds, but outside he had spent two hours.

    Remembering his findings about the fact that Mana had stages, and how to use Mana and his elements better, Noah took a deep breath.

    "Is it because of the new understanding that I advanced?'', he said in his mind,   ''so this is how people get stronger, INTERESTING''.

 Chapter 31 31.TROUBLE

    Walking out of the hall, Noah got into the reception room, seeing the two women greet him, Noah waved back. From the looks of it James had not gotten out yet, so he still had time.

    He had ideas in his mind that he wanted to try, his new understanding had made him want to experiment badly, and the only ce he could do that without leaving the city, was the spells training room.

    Walking over to the reception table, Noah still recalled the prices of using the rooms, paying 30 small copper coins for 2 hours, Noah gave the card back to the woman that had attended to him earlier. Her name was Blessing.

    She did something with the card before gaving it back to him.

    "That is the way to the training room" Blessings said pointing at the door on the left.

    Nodding and walking towards the door, Noah''s mind was running simtions of different ways he could utilize his elements.

    Entering a hall simr to the other one, Noah walked until a wide court appeared in his sight.

    The court was bright due to the sunlight since the roof was made of ss, though in a dome shape.

    Walking into therge hall, Noah saw a few people practicing some spells, from fire balls to jets of water, even earth golem''s, the ce had training dummies for target practice, but he wasn''t sure if he would use any of them.

    Halting his steps abruptly, Noah decided to try something.

    Lightning materialised in front of him, forming what one would call a t board, then Noah tried to step on it.

    Immediately he did that the lightning tform dispersed, though just for a second, he had lost concentration which resulted in his disconnection with the supply of Mana that made the electrical energy, which led to it''s dispersion.

    Though he had not found any usefulness for it yet.

    Noah imagined himself running at full speed but, rather than on the ground, he was running on tforms made of densely packed lightning.

    If he seeded, It would help him if he wanted to get to higher ces, but from the looks of it, that would take him a while to learn and be able to utilize.

    Looking around, Noah searched for a ce that no one was using, finding a ce like that, Noah walked towards it.

    Some of those present had their eyes on him since they had seen him use lightning element, but none approached him.

    Getting to the ce, Noah decided to retry his former idea. Orange coloured lightning flickered into existence as it began to shape itself ording to what he wanted.

    Noah had always been fascinated by the different colors of lightning in his old world, and he wasn''t sure if his current lightning colour was tied to his speed force, though when he was tier 1 it was red. "I guess I''ll be sure when I reach tier 3"  Noah muttered inwardly.

    Forming a t tform, Noah made sure it was as densely packed as possible, he knew that doing so, he was burning Mana, but he didn''t really care much about that.

    cing his right leg on the tform, it held on for a few seconds, during which Noah got excited, and lost concentration which caused it to disperse.

    Frowning at his failure, Noah didn''t like it but he knew he was learning from it, and he couldn''t get disappointed so soon since this was only his second try.

    Forming a dense tform of lightning, this time around Noah had an idea that could help him.

    He imagined the tform to be as solid as a real step, and after a few seconds he put his right leg on it, smiling at the hardness, Noah didn''t let his excitement get to him.

    Expanding the dense tform, Noah ced his second leg on it, and it didn''t disperse.

    Looking around, Noah could see that all eyes were on him, most people were looking at him with a tinge of jealousy, while some were pping at his sess, Ignoring them all, Noah formed another tform, and climbed it, at this point he was around five feet in the air.

    Forming another tform and letting the other disperse, Noah went higher, because of this he couldn''t help but get a little excited, though he didn''t let it get to him.

    Creating another one, Noah climbed it.

    The trick was to always trust the tform to not disperse, and to keep the imagination of it being hard on, since it was linked to his imagination.

    As he was about to create one more tform, Noah noticed a jet of water flying towards his direction, which made  him to lose concentration causing the tform disperse .

    He fell from around 14 feet in the air,nding without any problem. A fall from that height was nothing, but the person that attacked him was the problem.

    Scanning the faces of those In the court, Noah found his attacker.

    He was a man around his age, he had short brown hair, and was around 5''8ft tall, and currently he had a smug smile on his face.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Frowning at the disturbance, Noah wanted to wipe the smug smile that had formed on the young man''s face, so he attacked what every man held dearly, his pride.

    Straightening his position, Noah opened his mouth to talk, "Is that all you can do, I could take twenty of those without moving a muscle" Noah announced. Shooting a mocking stare at the man in question.

    Seeing his smile vanish Noah continued, "Come on, are you going to stand there and cower like a child, aren''t you a man, or are you waiting for your noble dad to fix your problems like you always do.", Noah remarked, he believed the man was from a noble family due to his demeanor and his training clothes that looked expensive.

    This time the man''s face went from no smile, to pure anger. The other men in the court couldn''t help but stare at him to see what his reaction would be, after all everyone would love to see both men fight.

    Seeing that he got the desired reaction, Noah decided to seal it with an even more annoying remark.

    "I didn''t expect anything less, you nobles are really boring" Noah said faking a yawn and turning his back on the man, as though he was going to continue his training, though Noah let his conciousness expand, and to his surprise it reached a radius of around 25 meters, probably because of his advancement.

    As soon as Noah finished his words the man''s face twisted with wrath as he cast spells aiming at Noah.

    Three jets of water moving at break neck speed flew towards Noah, who as he had said earlier let everything hit him.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    They hit Noah squarely on his back, or so they thought.

    Noah wasn''t about to let a piece of trash get him wet, so he pumped 20 points of Mana into a air barrier that blocked the jets of water at thest second, even at that the shock waves didn''t make him move a muscle.

    Everyone in the court gasped at that sight, while Noah moved.

    He didn''t use his speed force, but his speed was still unholy.

    Basically disappearing from everyone''s sight, those present searched frantically for his figure, and when they did find him, they couldn''t help but gasp in surprise again.

    There Noah was, right In front of the man, his face just a few inches from him.

    Noah stared at the young man with eyes radiating coldness, making the young man fall down butt first, due to both surprise and fear.

    Noah didn''t want to fight, since there were too many witnesses, and he was certain that all those currently present, given the right amount of money would definitely act as witnesses against him, and he wasn''t a powerhouse that could do whatever he wanted yet.

    Walking back his former position in therge room, Noah noticed everyone followed his movements with their eyes, but he didn''t care, he had made it known that he wasn''t someone they could toy around with.

    Getting to his former position, Noah watched as the man stormed out of the court but before he could, Noah inspected him.

    [Simon]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 26]

    [Chances of death: 3%]

    The guy was truly a weakling , even James had a better chance of killing Noah than Simon.

    Just before exiting the court, Simon turned and said In a wrath filled tone  "Mark my words you''ll pay for that" he announced leaving the court in a hurry practically running.

    Noah couldn''t help but give a light smile at the threat, while saying inwardly, ''Dayum, I''ve gotten myself Into trouble, again''.

    Pushing the matter to the back of his mind Noah continued his training.

    He created a tform and continued walking upwards until he could almost touch the ss roof.

    Then he came down using the same method. At this point he was good enough to use it in a fight, but before he could be sure he hadpletely seeded in the n he would have to use it while running at Mach 10!.

    "That would definintely be harder", Noah muttered to himself.

    When his feet touched the ground, Noah looked upwards, it had only been around half-an-hour since he got here and the sun was still high in the sky, he still had time for something else.

 Chapter 32 32. DEATHS

    A few seconds after Simon stormed out of the training hall.

    If one was in  the hall right before the training court, they would see a person whose face was twisted with anger practically running, of course this person was none other than Simon.

    He was the second son of the house of Liox, they were a middle sized noble family, like most noble familes in Vonol.

    He had been brought up with the mindset that, anyone who''s status was lower than a middle sized noble family  was trash, and should treat him with utmost respect, after all he was better than them.

    Well that mindset was shaken to it''s foundation, if not destroyed, after he had witnessed Noah''s speed and strength.

    Simon knew that if they were to get into a fight Noah would win hands down, and it hurt his pride as someone as dignified as him. So he was going to erase him.

    Pushing the door to the reception with enough strength to break an ordinary door, though he couldn''t since the door could handle anything lower than peak tier 2.

    Startling the receptionists, who immediately stood up to greet him due to his identity. "Good afternoon young master, I hope your day is going well.", They both said in unison, though with a tinge of fear in their tone, since they could see that he wasn''t in a good mood.

    Coming to an abrupt stop, and facing them, Simons face twisted even more before he opened his mouth to talk, "You...! you two, you let trash into this building", he said pointing an using finger at them, "Your patriarch will hear of this", he added storming out of the building, surprising the receptionists, who looked at each other with confusion, before sitting and returning to what they were busy with.

    Walking out of the building, Simon turned to the right hand side of the building where a carriage, that had a horse, could be seen at the side of the road.

    The horse wasn''t a normal looking horse, since it radiated tier 1 power, and was blue with yellow spot''s in colour.

    In front of the carriage, two men were standing guard, one had blonde hair while the other had ck hair, they both looked somewhat in their forties, and seemed to have a lot of experience in life.

    If Noah were here, he would notice that they both radiated power in tier 2  with both in the middle stage!, and they let their aura flow freely, though it was free of any ill intent.

    When they saw Simon, they both bowed at his arrival. Then the man with blonde hair said, " Young master is anything of the problem?" he said still in a bowing position.

    Hearing the question, Simons face almost fell off, "Oh yes there is a big problem, a lowly rat dared to attack me when I was training." he said his voice oozing contempt.

    Raising an eyebrow at the response, The man was about to say something when Simon continued, " I want the both of you to take care of him"

    The man frowned at that, but didn''t let it show, then he opened his mouth to talk, "Please describe him?" he said straightening his position.

    Simons face regained some calm as he  replied, " He is a pretty boy with long ck hair, but with a burnt blue attire", you''ll recognize him when you see him". Simon said as though he wanted to puke when recalling Noah''s features.

    Raising an eyebrow at the description, the man with blonde whose names was Phs, turned to nce at his quiet partner, who nodded in return.

    Seeing that they agreed, Simon walked into the carriagemanding the carriage man to take him home.

    Bowing at Simons departure, Phs talked, "Do you know who he was talking about, Demios", he said facing his partner.

    A thoughtful expression shed on Demios''s face, before he remembered something.

    "Hmm, I saw someone like that, though there was something different about him" Demios said.

    Rasing an eyebrow, Phs opened his mouth to talk, "Special how?", he said with a curious expression.

    "You, know what I mean when I say special, my eye noticed something" Demios said pointing at his left eye, that was grey in colour Instead of the brown colour that his right eye had.

    "Please borate?" Phs said with a light smile. Nodding his head at the question, Demios opened his mouth to talk, "My eye noticed an immense amount of energy in the individual we are talking about, the small whiffs of Mana his body released were an Indicator that he had arge Mana pool, but that isn''t too strange, instead, the sheer amount of energy his body contained was." Demios exined.

    Phs''s expression turned serious as he asked, "On what scale are we talking about?", he said getting nervous.

    "Hmm, the energy in his body is probably enough to blow up a considerable portion of Vonol." Demios exined in an extremely calm voice,<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Even though he is still in the lower stage of tier 2" Demios added.

    Phs eye couldn''t help but widen in surprise, ''How is that possible?!'' he shouted in his mind, but he trusted Demios, his left eye and evaluations had always proved to be right when they encountered anomalies.

    After digesting the information, Phs opened his mouth to talk, "So do you think we can take care of him?" He asked his voice gaining an incredibly serious tone.

    Immediately he heard the question, Demios for the for time since they began the conversation heaved a sigh, before replying calmly and slowly, "We may be walking into our DEATHS".

    ##

    Back inside the spells training room.

    If one were inside the wide court, that was the spells training room, they would witness the strange sight of a swirling tornado around 9ft in height, which wasn''t moving from it''s position, but after a few tens of seconds the tornado would dispersepletely, as though it was never there, then a young man would be seen just before another swirling tornado, but this time made purely of orange Lightning appeared, it was a truly strange and beautiful sight.

    Of course that young man was Noah. He had formted this style of training his with his elements. He would conjure the elements in a tornado fashion, then would make them disappear as fast as they appeared.

    This style of training helped him to be flexible with his elements, and with each round he found a new way to minimize the usage of Mana and maximize the effects of his elements.

    And so far it had been a sess, he had been doing this for more than an hour and he had only needed to rest once. His stamina was really incredible, and the fact that he kept the second function of his Mana regeneration skill active through out.

    Though he would not gain any enlightenment, he would be getting stronger every second though incredibly slow, it was better than nothing.

    Dispersing the tornado of lightning, Noah conjured air. He did this until a buzz sounded from his left pocket.

    Dispersing the wind tornado, Noah removed the card, seeing that it continued to buzz, Noah sighed, as his time there was already up.

    Most people had left the training room and, only three men remained. Seeing Noah begin to walk towards the exit, all of them wanted to talk to him, but they couldn''t, because Noah''s expression radiated coldness.

    Walking out of the training room and into the short hall, Noah sighed, he had tried his best to not let his cold face crumble and he seeded.

    Pushing the door open, Noah walked out to find James sitting and chatting with the receptionists, who giggled or made small rmarks in response.

    Sighting Noah''s figure, James stood up opening his mouth to talk, "Dude what were you doing...., You''ve gotten stronger!", James exmained.

    Arcing an eyebrow, Noah said with a surprised tone, "You can tell?".

    Shaking his head in jealousy at Noah''s new strength, James talked, " Yes I can, though that is due to the fact that your aura is still leaking". he said nodding is head at thest sentence.

    Widening his eyes though just a little due to his surprise, Noah closed his eyes and focused. Finding out that his aura was truly leaking, probably because he had been training with magic. Noah pulled those small whiffs of his aura and tucked them into his figure.

    Opening his eyes Noah talked, "How about now?", he asked James, who replied, "It''s totally gone, you are surprisingly very good at controlling your aura, most people can only achieve that when they reached the peak of tier 2" , He said with an eyebrow raised.

    Nodding at thepliment, but saying Inwardly, '' most people I have met are very good at that ''.

    Noah opened his mouth to talk, "What''s next?" he said.

    Shaking his head James replied, "Nothing. You can do whatever you want, I will go Into seclusion starting tommorow, and when i advance we will begin our journey". James said walking towards the door while Noah nodded while following him.

    On getting outside, Noah saw that it was already gettingte, the time would be something around 5pm, and he hadn''t eaten anything.

    Turning towards James, Noah said,  "How about we grab something to eat before it''s toote?".

 Chapter 33 33. DEFINITELY

    Walking down the street in silence, Noah and James got to a different restaurant that James said had good food.

    Entering the small building, they saw that only a few people were currently in it. Sitting behind a rectangr table, James called a waiter.

    A young woman attend to them, giving them a list of meals currently avable since they were about to close. Both picking what they wanted, Noah looked around for a few seconds, before two men entered the building, not seeing anything weird, Noah decided to engage in a light chat with James.

    "So where do you live", Noah asked, as this was something that he had to know.

    ncing at Noah he replied, "Hmm, I can''t really describe it since you are still new in this city, but I can show you after we are done." James said nodding his head.

    "Oh, okay" Noah replied. "It''s not much so don''t expect something impressive, it''s just enough for me and my little brother." James added.

    "You have a little brother?" Noah asked with an eyebrow raised. "Yes I do, his name is Jesse." James replied with a light smile.

    "And you left him all alone?" Noah raised his voice, though not by much.

    Smiling at Noah''s worry, James replied, "When I mean little I mean he is significantly younger than me, but still old enough to think for himself."

    "How old is he" Noah asked not feeling convinced. "He is 15.", James stated.

    " And he has started the cultivation journey, though he is still incredibly weak, it''s only a matter of time before he gets stronger" James added nodding his head.

    "Ah", Noah sounded, he was about to say something when the waiters brought their meal.

    A te of what Noah would call rice with a mixture of something like meat and veggies, with a jar of water.

    Taking a deep breath, Noah took a bite, ''It''s good'', he exmained in his mind.

    Taking another bite Noah ate until he was done with the whole te, drinking the jar of water left beside him, Noah rxed, waiting for James to be done.

    After he was done, they both shared the bill, since Noah was kinda low on cash.

    Leaving the restaurant, they both began to walk, the sky was already getting very close to being dark so they had to hurry up.

    Walking for a few minutes in silence Noah decided to start a conversation.

    "So how long have you been in Vonol?", He said.

    ncing at Noah, James replied, "It''s been, I think eleven years or so" he said with a light smile on his face.

    "Damn, it''s been that long. what exactly brought you here" Noah asked with a look of curiosity.

    "My parents, they had something doing here", James replied with a light smile that almost radiated sadness.

    Noah noticed this, and couldn''t help but recall that James had said he lived only with his younger brother.

    He didn''t want to sound insensitive but he decided to ask anyway.

    "Are they okay?", Noah said. This time a tremor ran through James expression, but it returned to normal immediately after.

    James heaved a sigh, "They died, ten years ago, just one year after we got to Vonol" James said.

    "Oh, I''m sorry", Noah said, though he felt bad that he continued the conversation.

    "Ah it''s nothing I have gotten over it, it''s just it''s been a while I had a conversation about that" James said, turning to look at Noah.

    "What about your family, I know you said they were far away, but at least tell me more" James said

    A smile couldn''t help but break out on Noah''s face as he replied, " Yes they are far away, very far away. Actually my mother died before I knew her" shaking his head slightly Noah continued, " My dad tried to fill that space up for me and my brother, but there wasn''t much he could do" Noah said.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Staring at Noah''s face for a while James opened his mouth to talk, " So what happened between you and your brother?" He said.

    "Oh we fought, and let''s just say I was kicked out of their life" Noah replied In the most rxed tone ever known to man.

    Rasing an eyebrow at Noah''s tone, James wanted to say something but he decided against it.

    They walked in apanionable silence for more than twenty minutes, Noah following James where ever he turned or whichever roads he crossed.

    Until eventually they got to a small building near the edge of the city, from where they were Noah could see the cities wall.

    The building was cream in colour, he could still see that due to the little sunlight left. "Wee to my home", James said walking toward the small door that led inside the building.

    Smiling Noah stood beside him as he knocked on the door, a male voice ringing out "Who''s there" the voice said, "It''s me" James replied.

    Immediately he said that the door opened, and a boy who looked around 14 or 15, had brown hair and was about 5''7ft in height walked out,, "Big brother, wee" the boy said.

    Smiling, James walked in, Noah didn''t know what to do, so he simply stood outside until, James invited him in and introduced him to his brother.

    "Jesse this is Noah, the one I told you about that would be my partner for Bozolom. Noah this is my little brother, Jesse" James said pointing at the two of them respectively.

    Widening his eye, Jesse bowed and said, "Nice to meet you sir, big brother told me a lot about you, but left out that you were this good looking" Jesse said shooting a nce at James, who coughed in embarrassment.

    "Nice to meet you too, and he didn''t tell me you were way handsome than himself too" Noah saidughing at James expense, who simply snorted and turned to walk in.

    Patting Jesse''s shoulder, Noah walked inside.

    An incredibly clean house entered his sight, which left Noah slightly surprised, most buildings that housed only males were usually dirty, and unkept, but this was far from that.

    The sitting room was painted yellow like the outside, while the furniture didn''t look bad at all, Noah kind of expected less but the truth left him surprised.

    Shooting a curious nce at James, who understood what it meant replied,   "I worked multiple jobs, saved a lot of money, coupled with the little my parents left, I managed to get this for us" James said shrugging his shoulder and going inside, probably to his room.

    Sitting down, Noah studied the house, he listened to the conversation of the two brothers, and he couldn''t help but feel jealous, the two of them definitely cared about each other.

    Sitting for about five minutes lost in thoughts, James eventually came out,  "Well you''ve seen my home, what do you think" James said.

    "It think it''s lovely" Noah replied without facing James.

    "Thank you. so where are you going now" James asked.

    Noah took a deep breath before opening his mouth to talk, "I''ll go back to that hotel" He replied.

    "Though you can say here if you want" James offered.

    Laughing at the offer, Noah replied, "That is definitely out if the question, I know you know, but let me say it, we were being followed, that was why you took some useless turns in those streets" Noah said his tone growing cold.

    "And I won''t add you guys to my problem, I barely know you, and now that your brother is in the picture things just got more annoying" Noah added his expression radiating unfathomable coldness.

    Furrowing his brows, James opened his mouth to talk, "You do know that now that they know my house I am basically in your problem, so what are you going to do?" he said.

    Noah limited himself to stare at him, before turning. "Please tell your brother it was nice meeting him, but I have to go", he said walking towards the door but before he could leave James said something.

    "Just be careful, you know I need you". He said smiling.

    "Definitely", Noah replied, a smile breaking out on his face as he walked out and closed the door.

    Immediately he got back outside, his expression returned to it''s coldness, as he got ready for the eventual sh.

 Chapter 34 34. FOUR AGAINST ONE I

    Walking away from James house, Noah unfolded his mental waves with it he could see everything in a 25 meters radius around him.

    Looking for a ce that was private enough to fight, Noah walked down the street, it seemed that patrollers weren''t much around that area, even though it was near the city wall.

    After about a minute or two of walking, Noah''s step came to an abrupt stop, before he furrowed his brows then his voice rang out, "I know you are there,e out so we can finish this", it sounded as though he was talking to himself, but after a few seconds of silence, Noah felt four powerful aura''s home on him, as with those aura''s, four figures, two from his left and right walked into the street.

    Noah couldn''t help but be surprised at this, he had expected one or two but four!, and it seemed that they were surprised themselves.

    He studied his opponents, but he couldn''t get their gender since they were all wearing ck robes and covering their face except one man.

    Dues to the killing Intent in their aura''s Noah couldn''t help but ask inwardly, '' What the heck is going on?''

    *

    *

    *

    *

    The night before, a few hours after Noah''s fight in the alley.

    In a mansion of the Culcrow noble family somewhere in Vonol, inside the quarters of the third son, whose name was Milo, there was a young woman kneeling with her head head facing the floor in front of Milo who was sitting on his bed.

    "What do you mean he escaped alive Lily?", Milo''s voice rang out in a very calm tone.

    A shiver ran through Lily''s body as she heard his calm tone, since this wasn''t how he usually conversed.

    "He managed to kill the men we hired, and escaped before I could do anything, my Lord" She said in a solemn tone, to not raise his anger.

    "And what were you doing before he escaped?" Milo asked still in his calm tone.

    "I was watching. I thought they would be able to seed since it was one man against six", Lily replied.

    "Did I order you to watch them fight?" Milo''s voice rang out, his calm tone almost faltering.

    "No, you ordered me to kill him immediately I sighted that he was alone" Lily replied, her voice starting to shake.

    A few seconds of incredibly heavy silence passed, before Milo''s voice rang out, " Raise your head" he said still retaining his calm tone.

    Doing as she was told, Lily raised her head, only to be pped across the face by Milo. It didn''t hurt her much since she was a tier 2 , though still in the lower stage. But Milo did stop at one p, he continued until he began punching her, even throwing her across the room.

    Lily gritted her teeth and endured this, though she was stronger than him the thought of retaliation didn''t cross her mind, afterall her family were at the mercy of his family, one word and they would be killed.

    After a few minutes of Lily being a punching bag, Milo stopped, his breathing ragged from the event, as he said on the top of his voice, " Go clean up the mess at the alley quietly, and call Boris for me now!".

    Standing up immediately, Lily bowed and left the room, walking down the mansions hallway that had garden at its side, then she spotted Boris ordering some the maids.

    Boris was the man in his fifties who had threatened to find Noah when he  identally bumped into Milo.

    Walking up to Boris she ryed the order that Milo had given her.

    Nodding his head, Boris walked towards Milo''s quarters, he had seen Lily''s dishevelled appearance, though she wasn''t hurt, it meant that Milo wasn''t in a good mood.

    Knocking on the door, Milo''s voice resounded, "Come in.", Opening the door, a room that looked like a fight had taken ce In it appeared in his sight, but he didn''t care about that.

    Knowtoing In front of Milo, Boris opened his mouth to talk, "You called for me young master".

    "Yes, yes... You remember that bastard of yesterday, I want you and Lily to find him and dispose of him" He said pulling off his clothes.

    "Yes young master. Though if you don''t mind me asking, what happened to the men you had hired?" Boris said bowing even more.

    "That?. They were all killed and that bitch failed to finish the job" Milo said his anger almost peaking, but it didn''t. It seemed he liked Boris since he had not raised his voice on him.

    Nodding his head, Boris stood up, "May I leave", he said still in his respectful tone. Waving his hand in response, Boris left the room.

    Immediately he got out, an evil grin appeared on his face. he was just as bad as his master.

    *

    *

    *

    *<novelnext></novelnext>

    Now this brings us back to the current scene of four humans standing in front of Noah, he recognized the man who didn''t cover his face, he was the man in his fifties that had threatened him.

    While the three mysterious people he didn''t know who they were. So he decided to check.

    [Boris[

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 48]

    [Chances of death: 50%]

    [Lily]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 29]

    [Chances of death: 10%]

    [Phs]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 35]

    [Chances of death: 39%]

    [Demios]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 39]

    [Chances of death: 46%]

    Noah couldn''t help but frown at the results, this wasn''t good at all, three of the four had a good chance of killing him, and he wasn''t ttered that they were four against one.

    Before he could continue his thoughts a voice rang out, "Ah, it seems, we won''t have to worry after all, Demios", one of the mysterious men who were wearing ck clothes, removed his hood to talk.

    Nodding his head, the other man also removed his hood, it seemed they were confident in taking care of Noah.

    Before Noah knew it, the third person who was a woman removed her hood too.

    Right in front of him, they exchanged greetings, "We are from the Liox family, master Simon asked us to take care of him", The man named Phs said pointing at his partner and then at Noah.

    Nodding his head Boris replied, "That is the same for us too, young master Milo ordered us to deal with gimt, but since you are here we can do it together", Boris said as he shot a cruel nce at Noah.

    Hearing their names and who sent them Noah took a deep breath, he was actually a little surprised that Simon would send people to kill him that fast.

    After they finished their greetings, they turned towards Noah, it seemed they were rxed but before he could say anything, the woman name Lily talked.

    "You are the thrash that got me beaten, you''ll pay for that" She said on the top of her voice seemingly ready to attack.

    But before she could, Boris put a hand on her shoulder, "He''s way stronger than you, if you do anything stupid you''ll be dead before you know it" he said in a low tone, but everybody heard it.

    At that Noah let his aura explode, he had tried to hide his real strength so that they would underestimate him, but that had failed miserably.

    immediately he did that, a look of surprise shed on both, Phs''s, and Demios face, they both looked at each other in astonishment, ''He is in the middle stage'', the both said inwardly.

    Due to his aura, Lily stepped back while frowning, she wouldn''t be able to participate too much in the fight.

    "Do you all really want to kill me?", Noah''s voice rang out with a serious and cold tone.

    He got a chuckle from Boris in response, who immediately after, brought out a sword. Infusing it with Mana, the inscriptions on it lit up with a yellow radiance.

    Immediately after, Phs, Demios and Lily brought out their weapons, a pair of daggers, a saber and a knife respectively.

    Still retaining a cold expression, Noah heaved a deep sigh. Since they were bringing out their weapons, that meant they were ready to fight.

    Though Noah was trying not to reveal too much of his secrets, he wasn''t going to let himself die keeping them. So he did something he hadn''t thought he would do so early.

    He summoned Cudgel!!.

 Chapter 35 35. FOUR AGAINST ONE II

    Raising his right hand in a dramatic way, Noah watched as the four of them charged at him, Boris at the fore front, Phs and Demios on his left an right respectively, while Lily was behind them.

    Noah had two options, one, was to end the fight quickly, or to make itst a little bit long, and obviously he chose thetter.

    BANG!

    Cudgelnded inside his grip with a loud bang, startling his opponents who when they saw the shining staff couldn''t help but get surprised.

    Before any of them could react, Noah executed his ''Mountain stomp'', jumping slightly on his right foot, then Noah tapped his left foot on the ground, only that he used all the force his body could muster, which resulted in him shoot upwards, andnding on a building.

    Charging Cudgel with Lightning element, Noah spun his staff towards his surprised opponents, which resulted in dense de of energy shooting out randomly.

    Watching them dodge the flurry of energy des, Noah side stepped to his right, dodging a de of yellow light. Scanning his opponents he saw that the attacker was Boris, who seemed to be faring well admst the chaos.

    Spinning his staff, Noah blocked the series of yellow des of light, immediately casting ''energy armour'', a magic circle appeared beneath him, then tendrils of lightning shot out wrapping around his body, then afterwards went Invisible, only a dull halo could be seen around him.

    Resuming his flurry of dense energy des, Noah targeted the weakest person who was Lily, seeing that she wasn''t doing well due to the power of the attacks, Noah crouched slightly and shot down.

    BANG!.

    That side of the roof of the one storey building shattered, as Noah basically disappeared under the astonished eyes of his opponents.

    shing in front of Lily, Noah swung his staff in a horizontal sh, which resulted in her being split into two, or so he would have wanted.

    Immediately his staff was around six inches from her body, a red barrier flickered into existence, though shattering immediately and sending the surpriseddy flying.

    That scene left Noah slightly surprised, but he couldn''t stay still for too long. Pivoting his left foot Noah watched as a glowing sword rushed past his face

    ncing at Boris who had a frown on his face, Noah kicked his stomach, only for a smr red barrier to flicker into existence and shattered, but this time it didn''t send Boris flying, but left him surprised, enough for him to voice it out.

    "How can you be that strong?", Boris said. But before he could say any other words, he had to dodge a series of enery des.

    Jumping backwards, Noah decided to try something new, raising his staff up, Noah umted lightning at the end of his staff pointing at the ground, then when it reached a suitable density, he struck the ground, which resulted in an explosion that sent his opponents flying for a few meters, even beginning to break the walls of some buildings.

    Smiling at the results, Noah side stepped to his left, dodging a de of yellow light, he was seriously wondering how the sword could to that, probably an ability of the sword itself.

    Scanning the environment, Noah found Lily, shing towards her, he executed an horizontal sh, this time sessfully dividing her body in two halves.

    Noah watched her die with surprise still in her eyes, immediately storing the body, he charged Cudgel with air element, then he waved his staff at Demios which resulted in five arrow made of condensed air to fly towards him

    Seeing him dodge them with ease, Noah shed in front of him, but before he could do anything, he jumped back sharply, dodging the spike of earth that shot out from his former position.

    Feeling his senses prick him, Noah executed Mountain stump, but this time he added Mana to the execution, which resulted in the destruction of the multiple earth spikes that shot out from the ground barely a secondter.

    Shooting a surprised nce at Boris, Noah saw that his face was twisted in anger.

    Dodging a whip made of water, and a fire ball, Noah saw that his opponents were getting serious, it seemed that killing Lily that early into the fight had made them worried, enough for them to get serious.

    Spinning Cudgel in front of him still charged with air element, Noah blocked the multiple needles of earth that Boris cast at him.

    Deciding to get a little serious, Noah cast a spell he hadn''t used yet,"Energy Domain".

    A Massive magic circle expanded around ten meters above them, then a orange veil that covered a 50 meters radius fell from it, forming a dome. Tough all of that happened in the span of a second.

    Seeing the shyness of the skill Noah knew he had to end this fast.

    Immediately the skill wasplete, Noah felt his connection with the lightning element increase, heck sparks could be seen umting in the air.

    "What have you done?", Boris voice rang out in anger as he charged towards Noah.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Heaving a deep sigh, all Noah said in response was "Lightning bolt".

    A magic circle appeared above each of his opponents, as from them lightning bolts the size of mini vans fell on their body, killing both Phs and Demios on the spot, before they could even dream of reacting, even turning their bodies to ck ash.

    Noah couldn''t help but get surprised at that sight, ''by the gods'', Noah shouted inwardly, the domain really lived up to it''s name.

    ncing at hisst opponent, who was moving slowly on the floor though incredibly Injured, Noah walked towards him, then he crouched in front of the charred body of the still alive man.

    "I hope you do not have any familes" Noah said his eyes cold, seeing that Boris could only grunt in response.

    He stood up, controlling the lightning Sparks umting in the air to enter Boris body until until he turned into ash.

    Taking a deep breath, Noah deactivated his ''lightning domain'' that worked excellently well. He had to be fast since the city guard would soon find that area.

    Using his control over air to cause all the ashes to disperse, Noah looked around to see the aftermath of their battle, uneven grounds, cracks and sh marks on buildings.

    Taking it all in, Noah sprinted away from that area, this was only his second night in Vonol, and he had fought and had to kill multiple humans twice. Shaking his head at that reality, Noah continued his run.

    After about a minute or so of running at a speed that he found slow, but in fact was incredibly fast. Noah wasn''t sure why he was hiding his super speed, after all no one was around and even if someone was, they wouldn''t be able to see him.

    With that thought, he activated his speed force, shattering the sound barrier multiple times.

    He had toe to a stop a secondter, since he had gotten to his destination.

    But before he could enter the building, Noah felt a heavy presence, though itsted only for a second, he couldn''t help but get worried.

    Staying outside for a while, Noah shook off the bad feeling he was having, and proceed to walk Into the building.

    Greeting the guards that recognized him, Noah entered the hotel, and a simr scene likest night appeared in his sight, walking hurriedly towards the bar table, Noah watched as the bar tender had a look of surprise on his face

    "Good evening, I would like a room" Noah said removing his bag of coins and sighing at the small size.

    "That would cost 15 small copper coins, though we have a room that cost 20, since it has some other facilities" the man said.

    Raising an eyebrow at the new option, "What other facilities" he asked.

    Nodding his head the man replied, "a bathroom and a toilet" he stated.

    Widening his eye at the mans words, Noah removed two medium sized Copper coins and gave it to the man, who smiled and gave him the key to the room.

    Before Noah could leave, the bartender introduced himself, "I am Peter by the way" he said. " I''m Noah" Noah replied leaving .

    Walking up the flight of stairs, Noah got to his room, opening the door he inspected it.

    The room was almost identical to the room he used the other night, only that it had another door inside it.

    Checking it out, surprise and joy filled Noah''s mind when he saw the toilet identical to the one on earth, and what resembled a shower.

    Shedding imaginary tears, Noah put off his clothes and took a long bath.

    Coming out a new man, Noah changed Into his new clothes, "Veryfy!" Noah exmained in his mind.

    Admiring the outfit and the lines of inscriptions, Noah infused it with Mana, and it glowed with blue radiance, then some sort of barrier came out, though it only expanded about three inches from his body it was enough.

    Nodding his head at the result, Noahy on the bed, falling asleep practically immediately

 Chapter 36 36. MULIIX

    Waking up, Noah took another bath, using air magic to dry himself. Noah thought of what to do today, he wouldn''t meet James for at least a month due to his seclusion, honestly he wasn''t sure why it would take that long to gain one level, probably because he was at its peak.

    Shaking that thought off his mind, Noah made a list if things to do, Firstly he needed money, so he would have to sell his other tier 2 magical beast, and probably some of the tier 1''s.

    Secondly he wanted to visit the library, James had told him that he would find many interesting things there, so that was a must. Thirdly he wanted to check out the ck full body suit probably by the end of the day.

    Furrowing his brows, Noah said inwardly, ''Why can''t I do that now?", it was still early something around 7, so he still had time.

    With that thought in mind, Noah brought the suit out. Landing on the floor with a heavy thud, Noah sighed, he hoped the man wouldn''t add extra charges because of that, speaking of extra charges, he was almost hundred percent sure that the man would ask him to pay for the water he used.

    Pushing that to the back of his mind, Noah nced at the message that popped up.

    [??????]

    [TIER: 2]

    [GRADE: ????]

    [Soul bond: None]

    [Imprint it with your blood]

    Furrowing his brows, Noah bit his thumb, but it healed before it could bleed. Frowning at this, he bit it again but it healed before he could feel it''s pain.

    "Ahhh" Noah exmained after he had tried more than five times, it seemed he would have to to something more dangerous. An Idea eventually formed in his mind,  lightning flickered around Noah''s right hand, then he stretched out his left hands index finger.

    Raising his right hand to cut it, Noah recalled something, "The lightning would cauterize the wound, it wouldn''t bleed" he said in in his mind.

    Shaking his hand, Noah dispersed the energy des, and this time used air.

    Controlling the air around him, a knife formed mid air which was made from condensed air, pouring 10 Mp into the ''wind knife'', Noah steeled his resolve then used his mind to control it''s fall.

    Cutting one-third of his index finger in one fell swoop, Noah gritted his teeth and let his blood drop by to  the ck suit. Watching his finger heal at a speed visible to the naked eye but was also eating up mana, Noah watched as the ck suit lit up with white radiance the shifted to orange after a few seconds.

    [????, has acquired the blood of entity <Noah>. Commencing soul bonding...]

    [Soul bond has been sessful made]

    [Nowmencing physical bond...]

    Immediately he finished reading that, the ck suit which still didn''t have a name, floated, it''s figure looking as though it was standing and staring at him.

    After a second or so a strange thing began to happen, the ck suit still glowing with orange radiance, began to disintigrate but floated towards him.

    Moving back in shock, Noah watched as it followed his movements, trusting the system, Noah let it touch him, immediately it did it began to cover his skin, totally disregarding the fact that he was wearing clothes.

    After a few seconds Noah looked at himself in shock, the suit felt like his skin, so much so that Noah was beginning to wonder if truly ever had pale skin.

    [Physical bond has been sessful

    made]

    [Origin  of ????? will be revealed now]

    Raising an eyebrow at the message, Noah watched as the suit continued spreading around his body, but when it got to his head, rather that fusing with his skin, it constructed something like an helmet, where Noah could still see clearly.

    [?????? an armour of ancient times, forged from the cores of multiple stars and dipped in the essence that can only be found in the holynds of the spiritual realm, giving it the ability to recede into the soul of the bond, but still give them it''s abilities.

    [Due to it being forged from the cores of numerous stars and ****** ******, it has gained the status unbreakable, any attacks be it physical or magical under the Power of tier ****, will leave it unscratched.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As the armor was forged by the ''God of speed'', who had spent multiple eras getting it''s materials, the armour would amplify the speed of entity<Noah>, due to his partial connection to the speed force.

    Abilities of the armor are, Shock absorber, Detachment, Weight maniption, #$#$#.]

    [Shock absorber: When physically attacked, the armour would absorb the sheer force and direct it towards the owner to use, doubling it when outputted. Due to you currently being tier 2 it is advised that you should avoid using this ability when attacked by tier 3''s due to the fact that your body may get damaged, or you may outright die from too much force.]

    [Detachment: If the owner wishes, the armour can detach from their body and be controlled by them.]

    [Weight maniption: Due to the armour being forged from stars, it''s actually weight can only be carried by Divine beings. Manipte the weight of the armour to be as heavy as stars or as light as a feather what ever you wish.]

    [ Skills the armour grants user are currently unavable due to users inadequate strength. Skills will be obtained when user achieves Tier 3.]

    Noah''s already fast heart beat couldn''t help but get faster, the armour was something that was forged from stars ''How is that even possible'' Noah couldn''t help but ask. The abilities that were avable for him to use were exciting but the most broken one seemed to be the shock absorber. He would be able to use his enemies strength against them, a wide grin formed on his face, but before he could do any other thing.

    [Originplete. Completing bond with entity<Noah>]

    "Uh?".Was all Noah could say before his vision went ck.

    Opening his eyeszily, Noah found himself on the floor. Getting up, he noticed that the suit was still on, and it was still day. Heaving a rxed sigh, he seemed to have passed out for only a few minutes.

    Inspecting his body, Noah mouth were agage when he saw the suits beauty.

    Orange light ran through its length like Inscriptions, once in a while orange Sparks would flicker around him. Noah could feel that the armour was deeply connected to him.

    [Bond as beenpleted, entity<Noah> has acquired Divine armour<Muliix>

    Nodding his head at the confirmation of his bond with ''Muliix'', Noah decided to test some of the abilities that him being the owner of Muliix could use.

    Activating ''Detachment'', Noah watched as ''Muliix'' began to turn into ck particles that floated and reformed in front of him.

    Shaking his head at the magical sight, Noah ced his hands on the suit. The orange light on it had died when it detached from him, making it return to it''s ck state, though he still felt the connection as strong as ever.

    Activating the ''Speed force'', while his hand were still on it, Noah watched as ''Muliix'' lit up with orange radiance, while orange lights ran across it like inscriptions.

    Immediately that effect happened, Noah felt like he had found a lost limb, as he became able to move it. Performing some tests Noah nodded his head in approval, this could be used to confuse his enemies. Though he wondered if he could cast spells with the empty armour.

    Activating ''Weight maniption'', to Noah''s surprise a panel popped up.

    [Muliix currently weight <70kg>

    Maximum weight<25 billion tons>]

    A shudder ran through Noah''s full body, the maximum weight of Muliix could dig a hole through the. That he was sure of.

    Using his mind to increase it''s weight, Noah noticed that when it reached 200kg, the wooden floor began to creak.

    Stopping his experiment there, Noah decided that when he got out of the city for hunting, he would do some more test.

    With that done, Noah recalled ''Muliix'', back to his body. But this time he willed it to recede into his body making it blend with his skin.

    Though before he went on about his day, he decided to test something. Increasing it''s weight, Noah found that he couldn''t feel the weight of the armour. "Weird", Noah muttered, he could move his body like normal, bit when it got to 190kg the wooden floor began to creak.

    Reducing the weight this time around Noah made it get to 10g, and surprisingly, jumping didn''t make a lot of sound, he could effectively sneak into a ce if he wanted too.

    "This is unbelievable!."

 Chapter 37 37. TIME TO LEARN

    Getting out of the room, Noah reviewed some of system messages, he recalled that the system wrote that he was partially connected to the speed force,

    ''When will I be fully connected to it", Noah said inwardly, "How do I even get to the speed force". Sighing Noah pushed the matter to the back of his head, after all no amount of thinking would give him the solution, "Till tier 4 I guess", he muttered.

    Getting to bar, Noah greeted Peter who called him over. Clearing his throat Peter opened his mouth to talk, "Um, you used a lot of waterst night and this morning, and there are charges attached to them", Peter said not making eye contact with Noahs''

    Shaking his head at how predictable humans were, Noah replied, "How much?", he said bringing out his bag of coins.

    Upon hearing what he wanted, Peter replied, "just 3 small copper coins", he said.

    Paying him the amount, Noah left the building. Exiting it anding out into the open. He once again admired the scenery of the bustling street, there was something in it that scenery that felt nostalgic.

    Shaking off the feeling, Noah began his walk to Pascal''s shop, but before he could get there he had to make a quick branch at the restaurant he and James ate atst night, for a quick breakfast of course.

    Leaving the restaurant, Noah walked for more than twenty minutes, until he arrived at his destination.

    Entering the building, Noah saw Pascal doing some stuff, but when he saw Noah''s figure his expression changed to that of excitement. Before Noah could say anything he talked.

    "Wee. Only a day has passed since you came herest, but you are here again, which means you have something to sell", Pascal said standing up from his cha??r, getting his tools ready.

    "As, a matter of fact I do." Noah replied with light smile. Without too much talking, Noah walked over to therge space before removing the tier 2 nt Cockrel.

    Immediately he did so, Pascal eyes widened, as he opened his mouth to talk, "Where did you find that?", he asked as he bent down to inspect it''s condition.

    Furrowing his brows in confusion Noah replied, "The forest, where else?". Ignoring Noah''sst remark Pascal replied.

    "Do you know how rare nt Cockrels are?", he said still inspecting it.

    Furrowing his brows even deeper, Noah replied, "How rare are they to you?".

    Taking a deep breath, Pascal stopped his inspection, as he raised his head up to look at Noah with aplicated expression, before saying, "I can''t buy this", he said with a deep sigh.

    Raising his eyebrows in both surprise and confusion, Noah talked, "Why?, is there something wrong with it?", he said perplexed.

    Shaking his head, Pascal replied, " No. Nothing is wrong with it, actually I am surprised by the fact that it is basically in one piece. The problem is that I don''t have enough money to buy something as rare as this".  he exined

    "But I know someone who definitely has enough funds to buy it", Pascal added, as Noah could only stare at him stand up and write something on a paper before tearing it, and handing over to him.

    "Here, this is the address, his shop is on the other side of Vonol", Pascal said while handing the paper over to Noah.

    Nodding his head and collecting the paper, Noah stored the Cockrel back in his inventory. "Though at least can you buy some tier 1''s, from me?", Noah asked.

    He wasn''t sure if Pascal referred him to someone else because of kindness, after all Noah didn''t know it''s value he could have cheated him, or because he assumed Noah knew what it was worth.

    Nodding his head with less excitement in his expression, Pascal replied, "Let me see them?".

    Walking out of Pascal''s shop, there was a light smile on Noah''s face. He had sold fifteen beasts, which exhausted his stash of magical beasts, but it was worth it, he managed to make 700 coins from them, which was a huge gain, though he couldn''t wait to sell his Cockrel. Thinking of the juicy amount he could get from it, made him want to go there now, but he resisted that urge.

    He had to get to the library first, there was bound to be some information on why it was valuable, and he sure didn''t want to be cheated.

    He had not asked what the price of the Cockrel was, to not blow his cover.

    Walking for more than half an hour, navigating through the busy streets, Noah got to his second destination.

    A big four storey building entered his eyes, the building was painted brown and had a sign saying, "Library".

    Getting to the entrance, a woman stopped his entry, her face was that of a middle aged woman, had dark brown hair that reached her shoulders.

    Although very little, Noah could see wrinkles on her face, which surprised him, since she was radiating a power in the peak of tier 2.

    "Your ID please?", the woman said. Nodding his head, Noah brought out his ID from his inventory, making it look like he had a space ring, which for some reason surprised thedy.

    Handing it to her, Noah watched as her t expression flickered though just for a second.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Handing it over to him, she opened her mouth to talk. "You should visit the Adventurers guild and have your Power status updated".she said, opening the door for him

    "Ah, thank you",Noah said, proceeding to enter the building.

    But before he enteredpletely he decided to check the woman''s strength.

    [Linda]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 46]

    [Chances of death: 43%]

    Nodding his head at the strength of the woman who was guarding the library on the outside, Noah entered the building.

    A massive hall appeared in his sight, looking up, he could see that there were four balconies. The hall was lit up with the sunlight, which entered from the series of dome shaped ss cover''s, to probably reduce the heat from the sun. Speaking of heat, the hall felt cool, like it had an air conditioner.

    And apart from the short queue of which human voices rang out, the ce was dead silent.

    From his position, Noah could see that there were multiple shelves of books on each floor of the building, and on the stairs to higher floors, two persons each was standing guard.

    Walking towards the receptionists table that had a short queue, Noah waited in line until it was his turn.

    "Is this your first time here, or have you been here before?", the youngdy in front of him, said in a t tone, seemingly unfazed by Noah''s looks.

    "I''m new here". Noah stated, while taking a second to inspect thedy.

    She looked like someone in her early twenties, but her cold expression made her look like a hardened killer. She had emerald green hair, whichplimented her brown eyes and sharp eye-lines. Over all she was pretty.

    Currently she wore a white shirt and brown pencil skirt, though to see that Noah had to nce at the other half of her body, which was sitting on a chair.

    He thought of inspecting her power with the system, but he decided against it, from her aura she was atmost in the peak of the lower stage of tier 1.

    "There are four floors as you have seen, each floor has different levels of information and spells in them, with the fourth floor having information and spells that most people don''t know exist, but is also the most expensive,ing at 1 small silver coin per hour for reading, while the price of spells vary, but you won''t find anything less than a silver coin in worth", She exined, still in her t tone.

    While Noah shivered at the price of the highest floor, he wouldn''t be able to ess it for a while, but the existence of spells were pleasant, James had not told him about that.

    "The first floor,es at 10 small copper per hour for reading with only tier 1 spells of fourmon elements are there, while the secondes at 30 small copper per hour with tier 2 spells of the fourmon elements, the third which gives ess to exclusive Informationes at 500 small copper coins and has a range of tier 2 and 3 spells of all elements excluding darkness and light" she added.

    "Which would you like sir?", she said staring at Noah.

    A swallowing sound couldn''t help but resound silently from Noah''s throat.

    "Incredibly expensive", was all Noah could think of immediately after her exnation ended.

    Pondering on what to choose, he eventually decided on the first floor.

    "I''ll take the first floor", Noah replied.

    "For how many hours?", she asked tly.

    "Just for one hour, since i am new here" Noah said making his bag of coins appear out of thin air. Which caused thedies expression to flicker.

    Noah noticed this, but wondered why she was surprised, Gerald, Pascal, the guards at Vonol''s gate, James and even Peter the bartender, seemed to not have cared about that. Ignoring the matter, Noah paid the fee, which in return thedy gave him a card that pulsed with red lines of  Mana.

    "If you want to renew your time or have ess to higher floors, there is a reception on each floor for that.

    Show the guards your card, they will let you in. When your time is up, the card would buzz and you will have three minutes to either exit the floor, or renew it, before the formations attack you. And if you want to purchase any spells take it to the receptionist''s they''ll tell you what to do." she exined.

    Nodding his head, Noah exited the line, and walked towards the stairs, a feeling of excitement building up in his mind. It was time for him to learn new stuff.

 Chapter 38 38. READING

    Climbing the flight of stairs after showing the guards his card, a big library unfolded in his vision. There were rows upon rows of shelves filled with books, while people sat inside some type of tubes, that had two chairs and a table.

    From his position he could see that slots of those tubes were filled up, though there were still some empty ones. Once in a while he would see someone checking out books on the shelves.

    Walking around, Noah pondered on what to read first, there were so many topics and things he would like to know about. Looking for the reception table, Noah found it.

    "Good morning, how may I help you sir" thedy behind the reception said.

    "Um, good morning. I am new here and I don''t know where to find the books I am interested in", Noah replied scratching his head.

    "There are tags at the end of each group shelves, to know what you are looking for," thedy replied, with a smile.

    "Thank you.", Noah said also with a smile.

    Walking back to the shelves, Noah looked for the said tags, and truly they were there. He found tags that said, ''Spell scrolls,'' ''nts,'' ''History books'' ''Magic''.

    And some others, but the one that managed to catch his eye was the tag with history. Though he had heard some from Gerald, he was sure those weren''t all.

    And though he knew that whatever he found on this floor would be the most censored information avable to only the grassroots of the country, he didn''t care.

    Browsing through the collection of books, Noah picked randomly, ncing around to see if there was any space left, Noah eventually found one.

    Walking over and entering the tube through the door like opening, Noah found that immediately he entered the opening was sealed, and the tube lit up with a yellow radiance, and to Noah''s surprise he found that he couldn''t hear what was going on outside.

    Although the ce was quiet, some sounds from the queuing humans inevitably found it''s way up the first floor, but now he couldn''t hear a single thing.

    Deciding to try something, Noah screamed, and found that his voice returned to his ear, as though there was a barrier that couldn''t let it disperse.

    "Is this even safe?,"Noah muttered to himself, "A person could get killed or attacked and no one would hear their screams for help," Noah added.

    "Or maybe the formations are there for instances like that", he concluded.

    Focusing on the green book on the table. Noah read it''s title out loud, '' The Land War" ''by ''Lione Macarness''.

    Rasing an eyebrow at the title, Noah proceeded to open it and begin reading.

    "I remember it like it was yesterday, a fierce battle was about to ur on a vast in that was at the centre before each nation''s border with some hills around it."

    "Three armies on three different sides of the in, each not hiding their intent to fight."

    "I remember asking one of the many soldiers, if he was scared, and the young man whose power was in tier 2, replied in the, ''I am. There are incredibly powerful people in each of the armies, and I am not sure If I will return home. So how wouldn''t I be scared."

    "His words struck me hard. This was what our younger generations were facing. It wasn''t fair."

    Noah could feel the mans mixed feelings of anger and sadness, needless to say he dived back into the book.

    "The reason the three nation''s were about to battle, was because of and, or rather a small forest. That was found out that it could give rise to magical nts up to tier 5."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Most people would not understand the importance, but I did, after all I was a tier 3. Such a nt when refined could probably make me advance to tier 5 or peak of tier 4."

    Noah''s mind spun at those lines, "Tier 5," he muttered, "That would be crazy", he added before he continued his reading.

    "Suffocating aura''s permeated the battlefield, as tension filled the air, this was the first battle, and we all knew it wouldn''t be thest. After about an hour of suspenseful waiting, the leaders finally gave their words."

    "Honestly I won''t lie, the scene was magical, even for someone as old as me. Colourful attacks spread out on the battlefield, as the first battle began. I myself had gone up a hill, not too far from there, so I was able to witnesses the ironic beauty of the scene.

    "But I knew the battle hadn''t began until the powerful experts entered the fight."

    Skipping the parts that talked about the numbers of each armies or the type of battle formations they used, Noah continued when he found an interesting line.

    "Five from each side, each releasing power in the fourth tier, I was shocked by this sight, experts as strong as that were very valuable, but for them to be deployed in the first fight was stupid to me. Or perhaps the nation leaders wanted to end it in one battle"

    "Then they began, immediately their attacks collided, I knew I wasn''t safe in that area anymore, and to confirm my thoughts, the shockwaves released from thier powerful attacks reached my position, destabilizing the hill and bringing it down. Only the shock Waves"

    "I managed to escape with just a few ribs broken, but that wasn''t all, inevitably more shockwaves hit me, worsening my condition. I had to escape, and luckily I was able too".

    Skipping all the parts about the writers pitiful struggle to remain alive, even though he was on the sidelines, Noah dived back in when he found an interesting paragraph

    "To say the least, the battles were brutal. Thousands died, and eventually the Cusk Nation won due to our extremely seasoned experts. All for and."

    The book ended in that line, it turned out that the writer had witnessed almost all the battles that urred within the five year war, between the three nation''s.

    Though he had skipped most of the book, Noah at least knew that their were multiple experts who were powerful, and nts that were valuable existed. "Exciting", He said inwardly.

    Returning the book back to it''s shelve.

    Noah read more of those types of books, some Interesting while some basically garbage, but one thing that wasmon among those books was that during the portrayed struggle between the nation''s, only the Cusk Nation won.

    And this was very fishy, he knew that the ones that had the true stories ,or different oue were in the upper floors.

    Noah read other books from the shelves that interested him in record time. Due to his slow motion skill, he could read a book in twenty seconds.

    He read books talking about magical nts, magical Beasts, some short scrolls about cultivation, and weapons.

    But some were iplete, mostly removed and taken to upper floors.

    He also found some books about the geography of the world, and apparently the name of the his current was ''Cregar'', and it''s sun rose from the South rather than from the East in Earth.

    He also read some other interesting things, but he had to be conservative of time, since he only had an hour.

    Then when he was finally bored of reading books, he decided it was time to check out some spells, though he wouldn''t find his element among them, he wanted to know how people learnt spells without the help of the system.

 Chapter 39 39. ELDER MANSON

    Walking towards the tag that said ''spell scrolls'', Noah browsed through the numerous shelves that had different coloured scrolls.

    The shelves were grouped into, ''attack'', ''defense'' and ''utility'', irrespective of their elements, though he could tell which was which, due to their colours, blue was for water, red for fire, yellow for earth, and green for air.

    Picking a red scroll that was named ''me spikes'', from the ''attack'' shelve, Noah opened it, and a circle with other multiple circles inscribed inside it, which had multiple markings, and some readable words entered his eyes.

    ''This looks like a magic circle!'', Noah exmained in his mind, after seeing the resemnce between the two.

    At this point Noah was starting to doubt what Gerald said about humans not knowing where magic circles came from. ''Maybe he just didn''t know'', Noah said inwardly, ''And now that I think of it i never saw Gerald cast a spell'', he added inwardly.

    Inspecting the ink drawn picture, Noah could feel like there was some sort of understanding he was gaining, but before he coulde to any conclusions, a message popped up.

    [Tier 1 fire spell found]

    [Commencing integration with User...]

    [Incorrect element found...]

    [Copying spell and converting it to users

    elements...]

    [Error.....Function currently locked]

    Noah''s eye were wide open from surprise, he could learn spells from just looking at it''s scroll. ''Incredible'', he shouted in his mind. And the fact that the system could copy a spell and change it to his elements was surprising.

    This proved how overpowered and broken he would be when he got to higher tiers.

    Heaving a deep sigh, honestly he had gotten excited when the system wrote that it was copying the spell, but seeing that the function was currently locked it burst his bubble of excitement, though he kinda liked that it was locked, since he would feel like a cheat, though he already was.

    He was about to return the scroll, to go check an air spell, but before he could.

    "Hey you, what are you doing?!", a man''s voice rang out a few feet next to him.

    ncing at the person, Noah was about to say something, when a buzzing sound rang out from his pocket.

    "I said what were you doing?", the man said walking closer to an already frowning Noah. He didn''t want to get attacked by the formations.

    "I was checking a spell", Noah said putting the scroll back on the shelve, and proceeding to leave the first floor, but before he could walk a few meters, the man stepped into his path, ncing up at Noah''s face, since Noah was taller.

    At that sight Noah''s patience was beginning to run thin, and so was his time limit.

    Being up close, Noah took a milisecond to inspect the man''s features.

    The said man, was around 5''5ft in height so he was shorter than Noah. He had a nearly bald head with ck hair and his face looked like someone in his thirties.

    The man''s face was average at most, making Noah outshine him in looks.

    "I am a staff here, and I found you trying to steal a spell", the man said threateningly.

    His sentence couldn''t help but leave Noah surprised, ''What the fu*k is this old man saying'', Noah said in his mind, but decided to reply the man.

    "I didn''t take anything, so please get out of my way, my time is running out", Noah said his voice gaining a calm tone.

    At Noah''s words the man face turned red from anger, as his tier 2 aura exploded out, alerting the others in the building.

    Noah expression turned annoyed, he didn''t want to cause a scene, but this man''s aura was openly asking him for a fight.

    [Hepter]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 40]

    [Chances of death: 29%]

    Inspecting the man''s level, Noah got ready to move, he had around a minute and half or so, before the formations would attack him, he had to leave.

    "SAY THAT AGAIN KID!", Hepter shouted, his tier 2 voice reverberating loudly and disrupting the quietness of the building.

    Shaking his head, Noah let his tightly bottled aura explode, startling Hepter who didn''t expect the young man in front of him to be that strong, though Noah was still weaker.

    Both of them got ready to attack, as Hepters'' formed fist began to slightly glow brown, while Noah bent his knees slightly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Hepter expression radiated fury, while Noah''s face radiated coldness, he was getting used to that expression.

    But before any of them could move, a massive and heavy pressurended on their figures.

    Noah''s eye widened when he felt the pressure, his rxed instincts screaming at him to escape, up till the extent that orange Sparks began to flicker around his body, he was getting ready to run.

    "WHO DARES TO FIGHT IN THIS SERENE PLACE", a voice that oozed incredible power reverberated through the entire building.

    Those in tier 1 outright passing out, while those in tier 2 held their heads from the massive headache they were experiencing due to the voice.

    Noah wasn''t excluded. He fell on his knees holding his head in his hands, his body still releasing orange Sparks, though they seemed to be getting dimmer.

    After a milisecond or so, the hair on Noah''s back stood up, as he couldn''t help but nce upwards.

    Right there standing on a dense blue tform, a few meters in the air, a man draped in a brown robe, stared at Noah and Hepters figure, his expression Immensely cold, while his body released waves of blue colored light.

    Noah couldn''t help but inspect him out of instincts.

    [?????]

    [Tier: 3]

    [Level: ???]

    [Chances of death: 100%]

    rms rang in Noah''s, already hurting head, as he saw the tier of the man, while the chances of death confirmed his situation.

    Before Noah could do anything, a dense rope of cyan-glowing water wrapped around Hepter and him, bringing them to the man''s height.

    A few tens of seconds passed as the man''s aura remained, though for some reason, Noah found it bearable, albeit a little, after a few more seconds he could Inspect the man''s features.

    The man didn''t look a day pass thirty, though Noah knew that wasnt true. He had long ck hair that had a slight blue glow to it.

    His face was blemishless and looked smooth. Noah couldn''t see the man''s eyes due to the headache that made his sight blurry once in a while.

    Though he could see that the man stared at him, and he stared back. After a few more seconds the man expression flickered, into that of curiosity, though only for a second

    Immediately that happened, the man''s aura vanished as though it was never there. Relieving Noah and the other tier 2''s of their headache.

    "Who are you?", the man''s voice rang out, his question directed at Noah.

    Though Hepter answered, his voice very shaky, " I..I..a...a..am He...Hepter sir, p..p...p..please forgive me".

    Tough all he got in return was the man''s murderous stare, which caused Hepter''s body to freeze and go limp, signalling that the man had passed out.

    "I am Noah. Sir", Noah answered, adding the ''sir'', at thest second. Though his voice was free of fear.

    Staring at Noah for a while, the man freed him of his spell, making Noah fall, though hended safely.

    Though immediately he did, the buzzing sounding from his pocket stopped, signalling that his time was up.

    Immediately that happened, the entire building lit up with red weird looking inscriptions. ''Crap!'', Noah shouted In his mind.

    In the blink of an eye the Inscriptions, started to form a beam of red light that  pointed directly at Noah, but before the  beam could beunched, the weird inscriptions flickered and died, the red light dispersing.

    Shock filled Noah''s mind, as he couldn''t help but nce at the only person who he thought could do that.

    As Noah''s gaze met the man''s, the man opened his mouth to talk, "You can go", he said, his expression losing a tinge of it''s coldness.

    Widening his eyes, Noah did as he was told, rushing down the stairs, and into the ground floor.

    As he was about to leave the building, Noah turned back and bowed before opening his mouth to talk.

    "Thank you sir. And please may I know your name?", Noah shouted his tone respectful.

    Though those standing around couldn''t help but stare at Noah with astonishment, and also nce at the expert in fear of what he would do.

    But opposite to what they expected, the man nodded his head and replied, " You may call me Elder Manson".

    Straightening his position, Noah nodded his head and left the building. Leaving those present asking themselves, ''Who the heck was that''.

 Chapter 40 40. DIFFERENT

    Inside the city library of Vonol, a few minutes before the incident inside the library.

    In a beautifully decorated room, if one looked they would sight the figures of two men sitting opposite to each other, a table separating them.

    These men, were the library keeper Elder Manson, and his friend Joshua. One thingmon to the both of them was that their figures radiated almost nothing.

    Almost.

    The small whiffs of power their bodies exuded held a power more dense and Mana-rich than tier 2''s, which meant they were both experts who held power in tier 3!.

    "What do you mean there would be some changes in ''Bozolom''?", Elder Manson asked, with a frown.

    Heaving a sigh his friends replied, "I don''t know much but the higher-ups of the kingdom are saying that, the royal family wants to change a few things in the games", Joshua replied shrugging.

    A thoughtful look appeared on Elder Manson''s face. He was tasked to keep the library of Vonol safe, due to the power he had achieved, so he hardly left his room in the library, which caused for him to be oblivious to some changes in their nation.

    Although his friend, Joshua, who was a professor in the royal academy, Informed him of things, though he usually did this throughmunication amulets, but because the royal academy had given its students, and staff a leave due to theing ''Bozolom'', he was able to visit in person.

    "Though I did hear that the students could participate, since the prize which is currently unknown to the public, is something that even the noble families would want their heirs to get". Joshua added while caressing his beardless chin with his fingers.

    Joshua was a man who looked somewhat in his thirties orte twenties, he had shorth orange hair, whichplimented his dark-blue eyes, and straight nose. His looks made him above average while his tanned skin made him look even more handsome.

    Heaving a deep sigh, Elder Manson opened his mouth to talk, "The old foggies of this nation seriously need to stop plotting", he said, just before his eyes sharpened.

    Snapping his head towards the direction where he sensed the aura of a person who was ready to fight. Then he moved.

    "I''ll be back", he said, exiting the room at breakneck speed, leaving a smiling Joshua, who shook his head at his friends diligence.

    Arriving just in time to see, Noah release his aura, Elder Manson''s heavy and powerful aura expanded.

    *

    *

    *

    ncing at Noah''s leaving figure, Elder  Manson sighed silently, though no one saw it.

    Sweeping his gaze on the scared figures of the humans, he shook his head slightly. It had been a long time since he met someone that didn''t fear his presence.

    Walking down a tform of condensed water, like Noahs'' lightning tform. Elder Manson stepped on the ground floor, the limp body of Hepter still bound by his spell.

    Noticing that those present were frequently bowing, he ignored them as his voice rang out, "Prisca", he called, his voice calm but everyone could hear it.

    The person who answered his call was the receptionist, who had attended to Noah an hour earlier. Rushing towards Elder Manson''s position, those on the line parted ways to let her pass.

    Arriving in front of Elder Manson, she bowed saying, "You called sir?". Waving his hand to stop her gesture, his opened his mouth to talk, "Who was that man?", he asked.

    Straightening her position, Prisca looked at him for a second unsure of what to say. Seeing her confusion he talked, "I know his name, but do you know where he is from, or if he is from a noble family?", he added.

    "No sir, ording to what his ID said, his name is Noah, and that''s all", she said with a curious expression.

    Furrowing his brows, he let the matter go. Turning his attention towards the still passed out Hepter, Elder Manson sshed water on him to wake him up.

    Groaning while opening his eyes, Hepter seemed to rx, just before realization dawned on him, and the cold stareing from Elder Manson confirmed it all.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Releasing him of his spell, Elder Manson''s voice rang out, "You actually dared to try to attack a customer", he said his voice gaining a chilling tone.

    At those words, Hepter began to shake, he opened his mouth multiple times but no words came out. "What should we do to him sir?", Prisca asked as a tinge of disgust seeped out of her tone, it seemed she didn''t like the man.

    "Do whatever you want, just make sure to remove twenty percent of his monthly sry", Elder Manson said, creating a tform made of Water to return back to his friend, Ignoring the pleading Hepter.

    After a few steps he turned back as his voice rang out, "Also, bring some tea for my guest", he ordered. While Prisca bowed in response.

    Immediately he was sure no one could see his face, a cruel smile appeared on Elder Manson''s face, Joshua hated tea!.

    Getting back into the room, Elder Manson saw Joshua sitting, his eyes not staring at any particr thing, signifying that he was in thoughts.

    Noticing Elder Manson''s figure after he had been there for a few seconds, Joshua opened his mouth to talk, "What happened out there, you seemed ready to bring down the whole building, for a second I was scared for my life", Joshua said, his voice gaining a mocking tone at the end of his sentence.

    Rolling his eyes with a light smile on his face, Elder Manson replied, "Oh, it was just a staff who was about to attack a customer", he said

    Staring at his figure, Joshua''s voice rang out, "And?", he said, dragging it.

    Shaking his head Elder Manson replied, "He was different", he said, "Different how?", Joshua replied

    "He was for starters strong, though still at the begining of the middle stage of tier 2, his aura was able to match someone who was in the peak of that stage, and somehow he was able to withstand my aura though notpletely, that is still very rare.

    But the most significant difference, was theck of fear in his eyes, he looked worried but there was no fear". Elder Manson exined, a light smile on his face

    All Joshua could do was raise an eyebrow. "He reminded me of when we were younger", Elder Manson added.

    At those words Joshua burst Intoughter, "Now that is very rare", he said between hisughter.

    "So what did you do?. Such a person is bound to either get killed fast or get very strong if under proper guidance", Joshua said after he stoppedughing.

    Staring at Joshua with a nk expression, Elder Manson replied, "I let him go". he stated, causing Joshua to act his eyebrows in astonishment.

    "What could I have done?", he asked.

    "Asked him toe again, or that you would like to speak with him" Joshua replied immediately.

    "And then what?, take him under my tutge, to be the next keeper of the library?. This ce is incredibly boring, I wouldn''t want to make someone else suffer it. And besides if I did that wouldn''t word he around and the kid might be targeted. Do you know how many noble families want me to tutor their heirs?, Elder Manson countered.

    Those word left Joshua speechless, scratching his head in mild embarrassment, he remembered something, "Why did you call him a kid, isn''t he a middle stage rank 2" he asked puzzled.

    "Oh, he looked something twenty four, or twenty five" Elder Manson replied sitting.

    "But you know that doesn''t matter, we are over fifty years but still look this young!", Joshua said pointing at their faces

    Shrugging his shoulder''s, Elder opened his mouth to talk "Oh I knew he was a kid, due to his expression and the Mana flowing in his body, he was definitely in the middle stage but he hadn''t totally honed his aura. Those who have lived longer and faced battles automatically radiate a mature aura, but his were still in it''s early stages", Elder Manson exined, causing Joshua to almost fall off his chair.

    "What''s his name" Joshua asked standing.

    Raising an eyebrow at his friends gesture, he replied, "His name was Noah, ording to what I was told, his ID didn''t hold a noble families name", he said causing Joshua''s eyes to glitter, ''So young, I''ve hit the jackpot'', Joshua said in his mind.

    "And oh, he''s long gone by now", Elder Manson said with a smug smile.

 Chapter 41 41. RETURN

    Days passed quickly, as Noah got used to the city of Vonol. The encounter with the tier 3 expert had lit a fire in his heart, he wanted to get stronger. Though for now he couldn''t, due to the power limit of ''Bozolom''.

    He had gone over to the man that Pascal had sent him to, and sold the nt Cockrel, for a whooping 2 small silver coins.

    ording to what he read, the green feathers of the nt Cockrel''s, could be used for brewing healing potions, able to  regenerate lost limbs.

    From that Information, Noah couldn''t help but pluck some feathers, before he got to the man, whose name was Pivolo.

    Pivolo had been ecstatic, as Noah could only stare at him in utter speechlessness.

    After their transaction, he had asked Noah to always visit his ce, whenever he had something to sell.

    Noah had also ventured out of the city for hunting. Although he didn''t kill any tier 2, since he didn''t want to level up too much.

    He also almost didn''t use any spells, attacking using cudgel while running at Mach 10, usually ended his prey immediately.

    He had killed more than one hundred tier 1 magical beasts during those days of hunting, and surprisingly he didn''t level up once!!.

    That didn''t annoy him, it simply made him understand that he was beyond beasts at that level.

    Noah would usually go on multiple hunts every few days, and would sell all his stash, dividing it between Pascal and Pivolo.

    Though each time he visited them, the price would drop by a few small copper''s, but he wasn''t to worried about that, he used minimal effort in killing them anyways.

    Sometimes he would spend entire days training with his elements, but eventually he got tired if that.

    He also tried learning a new technique from his martial art manual, but that didn''t go anywhere, most times he was forced to spend hours waiting for his legs to heal, due to them being broken from his practice.

    Whenever he had nothing to do, he would at times visit James house, but each time, Jesse would inform him that  he was still cultivating, then Noah would leave after a few tens of minutes of chatting with Jesse.

    Eventually the city got boring and uneventful, causing Noah to exit the city walls, just to take a long rxing run exploring the wide forest.

    He would always make use of Muliix during those times, since it boosted his speed making him feel like he was a few mach''s faster.

    Whenever he got back, he would return to Peters hotel, at this point he had be a regr, almost having a permanent room there, and Peter liked it.

    The attacks from noble families had stopped, ever since his fight with the four tier 2''s.

    Only that sometimes random groups thugs would try to rob him, which always ended up with them being beaten to a pulp.

    He didn''t kill any of them since they weren''t worth it, and also because they were all tier 1''s, a tap here and there with his full strength was enough to inflict enough physical damage.

    He had gotten kind of popr after the library incident, and at times people he didn''t recognize in the slightest, especially girls, would wave at him for reasons unknown to him, and he would smile and wave back with uncertainty.

    One particr girl, had even confessed to him, after he had been around for a bit over three weeks, and let''s say it ended awkwardly.

    From that day, he decided to always wear a cold expression whenever he walked along the streets of the city, even releasing a bit of his tier 2 aura to scare people.

    A few dayster, during one of his runs, an issue popped up in his head, ''I need a weapon''.

    Though he had cudgel, he still didn''t want anyone to know about it yet. So he went back to the city. He didn''t know where weapons were sold, so he asked Peter the bartender.

    The man had been kind enough to send someone with him to the ce.<novelnext></novelnext>

    When he arrived there, a rtivelyrge building appeared in his sight. Upon entering the building, a wave of heat filled l his face.

    When he had asked Peter about where to purchase weapons, he had replied with, "Oh you mean the cksmith".

    Which led Noah to that sight, he would see sparks flicker, and the rythmic sound of metal striking metal, filled his ear. He felt kind of rxed, the heat wasn''t doing much to him due to his body, but the sound had a kind of rx inducing effect.

    Apparently all the weapons he saw there, were forged by a young man named ''Jeff'', though he was a bit older than Noah. His Power was in the lower stage of tier 2.

    When the man had asked him if he would like to pick a weapon, or have onemissioned for him, Noah had opted for the former, he didn''t really need anything fancy, if worse came to worse in a fight, he would use cudgel.

    Asking for a staff, Jeff brought multiple of them, after a few seconds of inspection, Noah chose a brown staff. It looked incredibly simple apart from the button on it, pushing the button, a de came out of both ends of the staff, and on those des there were tiny Inscriptions.

    Jeff had exined that those Inscriptions were for boosting the sharpness of the des, he just simply had to infuse little Mana on the button.

    Doing just that a blue glowing line linking the des to the button, appeared.

    Purchasing the staff at 70 medium sized Copper, Noah wished Cudgel had the ability to shapeshift into something less eye-catching.

    After sending the person who Peter had sent with him, on his way. Noah left the city to go familiarize himself with the staff, it''s weight was rtively okay, and it''s size was exactly like Cudgel, only, it didn''t have all those cool features.

    Noah had thought of many ways he could utilize Cudgel, and most of would likely lead to his death. One of them was to make Cudgel fall from the sky at high speed, only that it was the size of a pir of heaven, as the description said. The effects would be devastating on any city.

    A bit over a weekter, Noah decided it was time to visit James again, after all it had been a but over a month since he entered seclusion.

    Arriving at James building, Noah sensed something, and his eye couldn''t help but flicker with excitement.

    Knocking on the door, Noah entered after Jesse had opened it, the young mans expression also that of happiness.

    Rushing to where James cultivated, Noah got there to see a crossed legged sitting James, only that around him,rge balls of cyan glowing water could be seen.

    They changed shape every few seconds and also increased in size, Noah also sensed that, they were capable of proper tier 2 attacks !.

    After a few minutes, James finally opened his eyes, to see a smiling Noah and an ecstatic looking brother.

    Getting up he walked towards Noah who talked first.

    "So now you are a tier 2", he said with a mocking tone. James simply replied by sending a 12 inches de of highly condensed water, which Noah blocked with his bare hands.

    "Apparently not strong enough", James eventually said, Walking towards Noah, who in return checked his friends power.

    [James]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 26]

    [Chances of death: 17%]

    Noah nodded his his head at James new power, It seemed their Journey would soon begin.

 Chapter 42 42. SPARRING

    Making their way to a restaurant, Noah and James talked a bit, "How was your stay in Vonol?", James Said. "Uneventful". Noah stated while shrugging.

    Noticing Noah''s cold face as they walked on the streets, James couldn''t help but ask. "Dude, what''s up with your face", he asked with an eyebrow raised.

    Not understanding what James meant, Noah opened his mouth to talk, "Is there something wrong?", he said touching his face.

    Noticing Noah''s confusion, James held back hisughter before saying, "Oh yes there is something wrong with your face",

    At that point, Noah''s steps came to a halt, many things ran through his mind, until he understood what was going on, "Oh, you mean my expression", he replied.

    Raising an eyebrow at how fast Noah understood, James nodded. Seeing his response, Noah sighed before replying, "Well stuff happened while you were gone and let''s say, I was forced to result to this", Noah exined with a light shrug.

    This got James curious but he decided to leave the matter, after all they had gotten to their destination.

    Entering the restaurant, and ordering food. Noah watched with pure disgust, as James wolfed down multiple tes, without the slightest curtsey.

    After he was done, James rxed, then noticed Noah''s look. "What?, I haven''t eaten for a whole month, what did you expect?", He said rolling his eyes.

    Clearing his throat, Noah gave a helpless smile, the man was right.

    He waited a few minutes to let James digest his series of meals, before starting the conversation that had been on his mind for a whole month.

    "So what next?", Noah said. At those words, James sighed, "You couldn''t even let me rest for a bit longer", he replied snorting.

    Shrugging his shoulders, Noah replied, "We only have a bit over three weeks before the games start", he said.

    Sighing at the fact that Noah was right, he opened his mouth to talk, "Well we can start the preparations, though I am sure you are ready, so give me two days to get used to my new strength", James exined.

    Nodding his head, Noah opened his mouth to talk, "Do you want me to be your sparring partner?", Noah offered with a smile.

    Thinking about it, James replied, "Why not".

    *

    *

    *

    Inside a random clearing in the forest, if one looked, they would notice two young men, but the detail that made this scene special, was the fact that, one of them was dodging projectiles of condensed water with rtive ease, while the other, which was the attacker was moving around trying to get his spells to hit the other person.

    Of course these young men were both Noah and James.

    Noah had brought up a challenge and James agreed to it, the challenge was that if James managed tond a hit on Noah with his spells, he would win. James had thought it would be easy, but now he wasn''t so sure.

    Noah was moving at speeds even his tier 2 eyes couldn''t catch, and not a single spell had managed to hit Noah once, in the over thirty minutes they had been at it!!!.

    "Is this all, I think I can take a nap between your attacks", Noah taunted, while dodging around ten bullets made of condensed water, they hit some trees and the result was those trees being fell.

    Truth be told, if not for his passive slow motion perception skill, Noah knew he would have a bit of trouble dodging James spells, not because they were too fast, no because of their numbers.

    ording to James the spell ''Water bullets'', were easy to cast and had incredibly low Mana consumption, and each cast created five water bullets.

    Casting ''Water bullets", three time In one second, James knew he had beaten his fastest cast time multiple times. Ignoring Noah''s taunt, James decided to change approach.

    Rasing his hands up, James cast a spell, ''Rain of droplets'', he muttered.

    And immediately, a blue magic circle expanded a few meters above them, then immediately hundreds of bullets made of condensed water rained down at high speeds. After he cast the spell James face turned pale, he seemed to have used a lot of Mana on that spell.

    Watching the magic circle, and the rain of bullets in slow motion, Noah cursed under his breath, he seemed to have forced James to take extra action.

    Seeing their many numbers, Noah was forced to use his weapon.

    Retrieving his brown staff from his inventory, Noah crouched slightly.

    Raising his staff above him, he executed ''Wave'', breathing in and out, in a rythmic pattern, Mana flowed out of Noah''s body and wrapped around the staff, which he then spinned thrice, and on the forth instead of a spin he waved the staff to his left side.

    Immediately that happened, there seemed to be a slight ripple in space, when suddenly the iing rain of water bullets seemed toe to a halt, just for a second, when their fall resumed, their direction nted to Noah''s left side,pletely missing him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Heaving a light sigh at the timely execution, Noah nced at James, and saw that almost puke blood from surprise, "How did you do that?, isn''t that against the rules", James said his eye wide open from the scene.

    "There weren''t any rules that I couldn''t use my weapon, if I was connered", Noah replied with a mocking smile, while spinning his staff lightly.

    At those words James wanted to kill something, but couldn''t, he felt like he had been wronged, but Noah was right. There had been no rule that he couldn''t use his weapon.

    "Though, what martial arts do you use, I''ve never seen anything like that, and that wasn''t a spell", James asked, while he sat down to rest.

    "It''s a secret", Noah said cing one of his fingers on his lips.

    Raising an eyebrow at his gesture, James didn''t push the matter. "So what should we do next?", Noah asked, quickly changing the topic.

    Understanding what Noah was doing, James yed along, "I don''t know. Now that you''ve showed off, and left me drained of Mana, how about when I''m done we go for a little hunting, you know for better bonding". James replied, sitting crossed legged to cultivate, and refill his Mana pool.

    Smiling at his offer, Noah opened his mouth to talk, "Yeah ok. Nature calleth me, I''ll be back", He said, turning to a seemingly random direction, and started walking.

    Though it wasn''t actually a random direction. Through out their spar, Noah had left his mental waves unfolded, he was still wary of the noble families attacks, and his mental waves had picked something up.

    Walking for a few seconds, Noah eyes sharpened, as his figure disappeared, shing in front of his target, Noah''s right hand shot forward, to grab the person''s head.

    "Please don''t hurt me", the voice of a young man rang out.

    Noah couldn''t help but be taken aback from those words.

    Wearing his cold expression, Noah opened his mouth to talk, "What were you doing following us?", he said, Lightning flickering around his figure, to make sure the person knew he wasn''t joking around.

    Seeing Noah''s cold face, and the flickering sparks, the young man began to shake, but he still replied, "I was only following you, because my sister said she liked you, I just wanted to see what you were like". The young man, who looked younger than Noah replied.

    At those words, Noah''s mind spun, ''Nani'' he said inwardly, ''his sister?, there were so many girls that tried to walk up to him after the first girl did.

    "I don''t believe you, give me a better reason, or you''ll be visiting god", Noah said as more Lightning flickered around him.

    "Please I''m telling you the truth", the guy said, as he started to sob.

    At that sight, Noah was at loss of what to do. "What is your name?'', he eventually said.

    "I''m Duke, sir", the young man said.

    "Duke do you want to get killed?", Noah asked threateningly.

    "No, no, sir", Duke replied immediately.

    "Then don''t go trailing people, they might get the wrong idea", Noah said letting go of him, and straightening his position in a intimidating way.

    [Duke]

    [Tier: 1]

    [Level: 22]

    [Chances of death: 0%]

    Confirming his name, Noah opened his mouth to talk, "I''ll count three, if I still see you...", Noah said letting the young manplete it himself.

    "One...

    two...

    three", Noah counted, he heard some rustles among the bushes and trees, then opened his eyes. The guy was gone, to confirm it, Noah expanded his mental waves, seeing that he found nothing, Noah heaved a light sigh, before turning and walking back to James position.

    "That was long, did anything happen?", James said immediately he sensed Noah.

    "Oh nothing happened, are you ready?", Noah replied.

    Getting up from the ground, James dusted himself and replied, "Yup, let''s go hunting."

 Chapter 43 43. TRAINING

    BOOOM!!

    BOOOM!!

    BOOOM!!

    A scene was ying out in the quiet forest directly outside Vonol.

    A young man and a beast throwing punches at each other, could be seen, and when their fists connected, explosions due to the impact resounded.

    Of course this young man was James, and the beast he was currently in a brawl with, was a tier 2 ape in the lower stage.

    Noah stood atop a tree, as he watched this scene with a weird andplicated expression.

    From the fight ying out, in front of him, Noah understood that tier 2 magical beast were actually really strong, and so were tier 2 humans.

    The reason he had a weird expression was, because he felt out of ce. When he first reached tier 2, he could kill magical beast at that level with rtive ease, but this show in front of him, made him understand that he was a bit stronger than normal.

    Switching to a different tree, when the one he was standing on was about to crash, Noah studied James fighting prowess. He was definitely strong, but he hadn''t found something that would let him finish the beast fast, as they had been at it for a while now.

    BOOOM!.

    Their fist collided, as a gust of air spread in the environment, using his control over air, Noah made sure that he didn''t miss a second from the fight scene.

    Jumping backwards, to create a bit of space between he and the Ape, balls of water appeared on his right fist, as they continued to condense, until he found its density suitable for what he wanted to do.

    Dashing forward, James threw a punch with his right fist, and the result was another short explosion, with water droplets spreading everywhere. It seemed that he had not achieved anything with that move, but then those droplets of water stopped mid air. Noah couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow at this.

    Then they immediately solidified, and shot towards the Ape, who couldn''t dream of dodging them.

    Tiny holes filled the apes body after the attack ended, then the ape mmed it''srge fist on its chest then raised it''s head towards the sky,

    James dashing forward trying to not let itplete it''s attack, but s he was toote.

    The ape released a sonic roar, smashing some trees in the process, and managing to Injure James a bit.

    Noah didn''t move from the sonic roar, the sound waves only managed to ruffle his clothes a little, he was beyond the beast in every way, and the ape knew it, since once in a while it would nce at Noah''s calm figure on the trees.

    Noah had let his aura run wild, though not in a threatening way, but still that was enough to put the beast on edge, since there was someone way stronger nearby.

    Truth be told, Noah didn''t unfold his aura because he wanted to scare the beast, no, the reason was because it felt rxing.

    Recovering from the attack, James was beginning to get fed up, Noah had challenged him to kill the beast without any spells, and only light water control, but this was taking him nowhere.

    Noticing James frustration, Noah''s voice rang out, "Dude, I''m getting bored. Is that all you have?, if that''s the case, we should forget about Bozolom then. I''ll give you one minute to finish it or I''ll do that for you". Noah announced, while wearing a bored expression.

    James gritted his teeth at those words, he didn''t like Noah''s taunt, but he was right.

    ''Bozolom'' would force them to fight hordes of beast at this level and if he couldn''t beat one, how would he survive.

    Dashing forward, James decided it was time to stop throwing random punches, and start fighting with real technique. He was going to utilize his martial arts.

    Arriving in front of the ape, James side stepped while dodging it''srge fist.

    Grabbing a hold of its hairy elbow, James jumped slightly, wrapping his legs and arms around the apes arm, he twisted his body in one swift movement.

    The result were immediate, he managed to twist the apes arm, thereby rendering it useless.

    Immediately his legs touched the ground, he jumped backwards, then took a deep breath.

    Spreading his legs apart, almost doing a split, James then crossed his arms together, in a weird stance.

    At this point, Noah''s already full attention, reached new levels.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Ignoring the roars of both anger and pain the ape released, James moved.

    Almost like a snake, he crossed the distance between them in a swift zig zag motion.

    Arriving in front of the pained ape, he jumped, then executed a downward kick on the apes head.

    But that wasn''t all, immediately James was done with that gesture, he wrapped his legs around the apes neck, then did a backflip with all the strength he had in in his waist.

    Both crashing heavily on the ground, James immediately got up.

    Seeing that the ape found it hard to get it''s body up, he went towards one of its legs, raised his right leg up, and brought it down with full force.

    A crunching sound spread out, as with it came a cry of pain from the ape, but it seemed like James wasn''t done, as with a nk expression, he walked towards the face of the ape that had begun to understand what terror meant, then started punching.

    Horrifying crunching sounds, spread out inside the rtively quiet forest, as James continued punching until the ape wasn''t making any sound or moving.

    Removing his fist from the bloody hole he had created in the apes face, James turned to nce at Noah, who couldn''t help but swallow a lump of saliva, while his face also expanded in a wide smile.

    If not for the fact that Noah himself had seen some bloody stuff, he would probably be disgusted by the scene in front of him.

    There he was, James standing over a big ape, that wasn''t moving. His face and clothes stained with fresh blood, while there was a significant hole in the head of the dead ape.

    Apart from the momentary sound of the wind, and the rustling of trees, the ce was dead silent, which also aided the bloody scene.

    Jumping down the tree, Noah began to p.

    He had watched the entire fight in slow motion, so he understood how difficult what James pulled off was, at least for someone his level.

    "You did good.", Noahmented while sharing nces between the ape and James.

    "You should clean yourself up", Noah said after he got tired of the scene.

    Nodding in response, James took a deep breath, then balls of water began to appear around him, as he took a bath right on the spot.

    When Noah saw this, a tinge of jealousy couldn''t help but spread in his mind, ''So convenient'', he said in his mind.

    Waiting around five minutes for James to be done, Noah searched for tier 2 aura''s around the ce.

    "So what next?", James asked after he was done, he had extracted the water in his clothes making them dry.

    "That is what I am supposed to ask you", Noah said without facing him.

    Showing a confused expression, though Noah didn''t see it, James opened his mouth to talk, "What do you mean?", he said confused.

    Sighing, Noah turned to face James, then he talked, "I mean, do you want to fight two beast or three at the same time?", Noah said, with his poker face.

    Taken aback, James couldn''t help but open his mouth to talk, "I don''t understand", he said as some ideas of what was about to happen filled his mind, but he shook them away, due to their craziness.

    "Do you think, because you''ve killed one beast at your level you are strong?. If you do, then throw that idea out of your mind, you are going to have to kill multiple beast at that level before I agree to join you for Bozolom", Noah said, this time his tone switching from serious to mocking in-between his words.

    James couldn''t help but blink multiple times, "I thought you had agreed, and I am not going on a suicide training mission", He said with a resolute face expression.

    Bursting intoughter, Noah opened his mouth to talk, "Without this training, Bozolom might as well be an attempt tomit suicide, and no, until I see that you are worth it, I won''t follow you, and besides if you get into a sticky situation, I''ll intervene after you''ve probably broken a leg or something". Noah exined shrugging his shoulders.

    At those words, James resolute expression couldn''t help but crumble. Noah was right again!.

    Heaving a deep and defeated sigh, James opened his mouth to talk, "At least give me a few minutes to rest", he said.

    "Yeah no, we won''t have time for rest during the games. Follow me, I''ve found suitable matches for you". Noah said turning and walking towards a seemingly random direction, though it wasn''t.

    Heaving an even deeper sigh, James looked at the sky, seeing that the sun was still very high, he began following Noah, as that day would be hellish for him!!.

 Chapter 44 44. CONVERSATIONS

    Back inside the city walls, a limping James could be seen using Noah''s body  as a crutch, while they walked down the streets, both bickering.

    "Stopining, at least you are not dead", Noah said, with a ''Why are youining'' expression.

    James seemed ready to puke blood at Noah''s words. When his voice rang out, "I didn''t die; but broke my legs, and received a deep cut on my back, and almost bled to death, from the multiple tiny wounds", he shouted.

    "But, at least I was there to save you, and most of your wounds are healed already. Apart from your hurting leg, you are fine", Noah replied.

    James wanted to say something, as his mouth opened multiple times, but no words came out.

    Eventually he sighed, "Let''s go get something to eat, before they close". Nodding at his words Noah increased his walking speed.

    Noah had forced James to fight multiple tier 2 magical beasts, while he simply watched behind the fights. James had improved with each fight, developing a way to kill the beasts, as quickly as possible. Though not a professional, Noah had managed to advice him, on some of his useless movements.

    Noah had paired him up against two magical beasts at a time, multiple times, and he had been doing well, that was not until Noah decided to pair him up against three.

    The result was him almost dying, though Noah had intervened before that happened. He was still too weak for that, maybe when he advanced more inside the lower stage, but currently his max was, two beasts his level, at a time.

    Noah had been surprised that, they had note across a middle stage magical beast, throughout the one sided training.

    Beasts at those levels were probably deeper inside the forest.

    They had been forced to wait a few hours, to let James heal most of his wounds.

    And during that time, Noah had found that everyone that stepped on the path of power, had the innate ability to heal themselves, but at a cost of Mana and stamina, though not nearly as fast as Noah''s skill.

    They had to return immediately the sun began to set, which leads us to the current scene.

    Arriving at a restaurant, Noah and James ate to their fill.

    Noah wasn''t really hungry, after all, it seemed Mana could also serve as supplements to the body, though only for a while, and also because he had hardly done anything, after their spar.

    Though James was, because his body was currently still healing itself. He needed the extra nutrients.

    After a bit over twenty minutes, they left. Right after Noah paid their bill, he felt obligated to do so, since he was ''partially'' at fault for James condition

    Using him as a crutch, they both began walking to James house. The minutes passed as they walked inpanionable silence, both thinking their own thoughts.

    Until James broke the silence, "You know... I was surprised when you pulled out a staff, the other time. Most people usually opt for weapons like swords, daggers, or long swords.", James said.

    ncing at him, Noah replied, "Oh, it just more or less happened. I didn''t choose to master those other weapons because they are overrated, and a staff is really useful, especially when it has des", He exined.

    James burst intoughter when he heard Noah''s words, "Overrated!. only the privileged can say that. Those weapons are the mostmon, simply because techniques that utilize them, are very easy to find. That was the reason I was surprised, coupled with your strange martial art". James exined, after he was doneughing.

    Noah''s furrowed his brows, he didn''t know about stuff like that.

    It seemed, he was even more privileged than he thought. "What weapon do you use?", Noah eventually asked.

    "From my martial arts disy, what type of weapon do you think is suitable?", James asked rasing an eyebrow.

    Noah fell into thoughts at that point. James martial art, seemed to be based on agility and flexibility, his fight with the ape, had shown him that.

    Though some of his movements resembled that of snake''s. After a bit of thought, Noah came to a speedy conclusion. "I don''t know", he said with a light shrug, and a shameless smile.

    James footsteps came to an abrupt halt, as he nced at Noah''s face, he hadn''t expected that answer.

    Chuckling at the funny turn if events, James opened his mouth to talk, "I use curved daggers, and I''m really good with them", James replied with a proud smile.

    "Nice, I guess", Noah replied with aplicated expression.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Another silence fell on them, as they continued walking, though James broke it again, "You know, I still don''t know your elemental affinity", he said.

    Noah arced an eyebrow at his words, as he opened his mouth to talk, "Seriously?. I thought you knew". He said.

    James simply shrugged his shoulders In response.

    "My affinities, are Wind and Lightning", Noah stated.

    James steps tried to stop, but Noah didn''t allow it. "Se.... seriously?". James stuttered as his eyes were wide open, from surprise.

    "Yes.", Noah replied with a bored expression. James was about to say something when, Noah''s voice rang out again, "Oh, we have arrived". He said pointing at a yellow building, a few tens of meters from their position, which was James house.

    At that point, Noah grabbed James by his clothes, and ran. shing right in front of James door. Noah dropped an astonished James. ''What...just happened?'', James said In his mind.

    Noah''s speed was incredible, he had only blinked, then he appeared in front of his house''s door.

    ncing at Noah''s leaving figure, James wanted to say something, but Noah beat him to it, "Good night, I''ll meet you here tommorow", Noah said waving his hand without turning back.

    James didn''t know what to say at that point. He had aplicated expression on his face, then once again, Noah disappeared. ''Fast!'', James shouted in his mind. It seemed Noah had more than he let on.

    shing on a top of a building, Noah heaved a heavy sigh. "Who are you!?", his voice rang out.

    But no reply came. It seemed he was talking to himself, but his mental waves, begged to differ. It was picking someone, or something up, though very slightly, it seemed whoever, or whatever it was, could evade Noah''s mental waves, and sight.

    After a while, Noah''s eyes grew cold, as his aura surged. Muliix covered his skin, lighting up the environment with it''s orange radiance.

    Then orange spark''s began to flicker around Noah''s body. He was honestly tired of getting attacked at night.

    Immediately he did that, an Intense aura surged, as with that aura, came a voice, "Ie in peace!", a male voice sounded.

    Noah''s eye widened when the aura touched him, But before he could do, or anything, a figure appeared.

    The figure was totally ck in color, only that there seemed to be tiny multicolored lights in it. Actually the figure resembled the night sky!!!.

    The figure had no face, but Noah was sure that the voice came from it, since it raised it''s hands, to signify that it wasn''t there to cause any harm.

    Noah brought out his staff, as he stood in a weird defensive stance. The aura the thing released, was way higher than his level, but he wanted to know who, or what it was.

    "Who, are you?", Noah''s voice rang out again, he was sure he couldn''t beat the figure in a fight but he still held his ground.

    "I am not someone you should know about, at least for now". The faceless figure said.

    Noah frowned deeply at those words, he had heard a sentence like that.

    Bringing down it''s arms the figures voice rang out, "It, seems that bi*ch, was right", it said walking back and forth, though noting near Noah.

    "Do you know how many times I had to scan this city to find you?", the figure continued, but it didn''t sound angry.

    Noah moved back a bit, before his voice rang out, "What do you want from me?", he said.

    Turning it''s hard towards Noah it replied, "Nothing. I just wanted to be sure", it said.

    Noah furrowed his brows, as he opened his mouth to talk, "Sure about what?", he asked, his voice radiating curiosity.

    The figure seemed to smile at Noah''s question, though it had not facial features, as it''s voice rang out, "To be sure that the god of speeds'' heir existed of course".

 Chapter 45 45. FUN

    Noah had been through some scary things, but now that he was a tier 2, and his speed was immense, he had started to lose some fear, after all, he was sure that not even a tier 3 could keep up with him in sheer speed.

    But when he heard the faceless figures words; all that changed. His mind spun, as his already fast heart rate increased.

    The voice of the bright figure rang in his mind, ''You have many enemies, and all of them are stronger than you currently are''.

    His mind put all the pieces together, as he ascertained something, this ''thing'' was definitely an enemy, but the problem was that it could he escape?.

    Noah didn''t know when his eyes zed with electrical energy, then he moved towards the ck figure with his full speed.

    Spinning the staff, Noah swung it horizontally, at the ck figure, But immediately his staff struck it''s body, a sound, as though metal was striking metal resounded, Noah watched in pure horror, as his staff broke, while the figure didn''t move a muscle.

    Immediately that happened, Noah realized what had happened. He had acted out of blind fear, but it was toote.

    The ck figure seemed to nce at Noah''s staff, then it shook it''s head.

    Immediately it did that, Noah watched it raise one of its ck fingers, and point it towards his chest.

    His instincts screamed at that sight, as Noah tried to move but, found out that he was frozen, some sort of pressure was holding him in ce.

    The ck figure ced it''s ck finger on Noah''s chest, tapping it lightly.

    All it did was that gesture, But immediately; Noah felt an unfathomable force hit his chest, and sent him flying!!.

    mming against what that felt like a wall. Noah noticed that there was some sort of barrier around them, ''When did it do that?'', Noah said inwardly, admidst  the Intense pain reaching his mind.

    Landing on the floor, with the grace of a rock. Noah coughed multiple mouthful of blood.

    Muliix had not been broken, or pierced, but Noah found that, a hole had opened in his chest.

    His passive healing skill had kicked in, but it took time to heal him, since his internal organs had also suffered from the finger.

    [Beware, Muliix can only take attacks from Powers only a stage above bonds power level]

    Noah read the message, as he cursed under his breath, "You couldn''t have told me that before now?", he muttered, while still vomiting blood.

    He tried standing up, but his efforts proved worthless. he was badly damaged, and his HP had dropped significantly.

    While trying to get up, the voice of the ck figure rang out, "Shit!, I didn''t mean to do that. It was out of reflex", it said rushing towards Noah, who raised his left hand, to stop the figure froming closer to him.

    At that, the ck figure stopped. It seemed to sigh, but no sound came out if it. "You are one tough bone. Honestly I am surprised that you are still alive, or that your armour is still intact", the figure said.

    Still trying to stand, Noah managed to get on his knees, his breathing ragged, the finger had damaged his lungs, so he found it hard to breathe, but his healing was taking care of it.

    ? Shaking his head, the voice of the ck figure rang out, "You are currently too weak, to partake in matters about higher existences. It seems I might have made a mistakeing to talk to you, though I probably would have still done it.", It exined, almost to itself than to Noah.

    By this point, Noah was healed enough to get up. Staggering on his feet, Noah opened his mouth, but no words came out of them.

    Actually that was when he realized that his vocal cords were damaged, and still in the process of healing.

    Seemingly sighing, the ck figures voice rang out, "Since I''m the one who did this to you, take this as an apology", it said, rasing it''s ck hand and opening it''s palm. Immediately it did that, yellow mes flickered into existence, and danced on its palm.

    Pointing it''s hand towards Noah, the me shot forward, towards a panicking Noah.

    Trying his best to move, Noah saw that the me followed his movements.

    The yellow mes bypassed Muliix, and hit him squarely on his real chest.

    At Noah wanted to scream, but he couldn''t, or rather he didn''t have a reason to.

    Immediately the mes touched his chest, it healed his body immediately!.

    Widening his eyes in surprise, Noah touched his body. The mes had healed him so fast that, he wasn''t sure if he had really ever in pain, and that his mind was only ying a trick on him.

    "Now, to the matters at hand. You have failed to keep your unique presence a secret", the figure said.

    "Huh...., how?", Noah asked, now that he had calmed down. "The fact that, I am here proves that.", The figure replied. Noah could only furrow his brows at that.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Though..., not all is lost, apart from me, no one else knows your real location. A certain bit*ch, seemed to have spot you once, but it seems she can''t totally interfere. So let''s keep it that way, though she has spread the rumors around". the figure exined.

    Noah couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow at the figures words. "How would you do that, and who is this person that spot me".

    "Like I said the other time, you aren''t allowed to know, your existence is too weak to meddle in such matters, but about doing something.....", the figure said, as it spread out it''s ck palm. immediately, a small silver magic circle , expanded on it, then the figures voice rang out.

    "You are currently just a tier 2, this makes it easier for items to work. Take this, it''ll shield you for exactly one year. I''m sure immediately your presence disappears, all the others would get serious, so get as strong as you can between that time". The figure exined, as a bracelet that shone with a brilliant silver light, emerged from the magic circle, and floated towards Noah.

    Staring at the floating bracelet, Noah was at loss of what to do, and also in a daze.

    The bracelet radiated an aura that sent shivers down Noah''s spine, and the system reacted to it.

    [Unique grade bracelet detected]

    [Make contact to perform bond]

    Furrowing his brows, Noah decided trust the system, after all so far it had been his guide.

    Touching the bracelet, Noah watched as it shone even more brightly. Then immediately, multiple messages popped up.

    [User has acquired Unique grade bracelet of secrecy]

    [Grade: Unique]

    [Current Bond: Entity<Noah>]

    [Abilities: Cloaking]

    [Usage: 1 time use]

    [Requirements: N/A]

    Noah stared at the notifications, while the still shining bracelet, wore itself on Noah''s right wrist.

    Most of the things the system showed him, he did not understand, but that wasn''t a problem.

    [Unique

    :  Forged by the natives of ***** ****. When worn, the bracelet activates it''s only ability, ''Cloaking'' to negate all abilities to find the wearer. It''s ability can only be evaded by beings at tier !?&#.

    Duration: 364 days, 23hours 58 minutes.

    After the duration as run the bracelet will turn to dust.

    Note: User must wear it at all times to keep it''s ability turned on]

    Noah didn''t know what to do at this point, "What does this even change?, if the person you are talking about has found me, how would this stop her from just appearing physically, and taking me out?", Noah asked in confusion.

    Shaking it''s head at Noah''s question, "You can''t understand now, there are rules that stop us from directly interfering, and can only Interfere if the persons presence remains, as far as the world is concerned, with that bracelet you do not exist". The figures voice rang out.

    Noah''s face twisted in confusion, what it said didn''t make any sense. "So then how are you here?", Noah eventually asked, sharpening his eyes.

    Bursting intoughter the figure replied, "Here?. No this is merely a very strong puppet, if I were to truly be here, you would be dead by now", it''s voice rang out.

    Though still incredibly confused, Noah understood a little, of what it, or rather  he was saying. "Why are you even helping me, I don''t even know who you are.?", Noah asked with a frown.

    Immediately he said that, the aura of the figure surged, as it gave birth to ripples in space, "Helping you.", it''s voice rang out, but this time it gained a chilling tyrannical tone.

    Noah''s mind shook from the voice, as he fell on his knees, due to the pressure the aura put on his body, heck he was about to pass out.

    "This isn''t help, this is merely fun for me.  It''s been a while something interesting happened, and spending millennials in solitude is as boring as it gets. The other''s are just in annoying, so I''d love to cause chaos among them". it said.

    "If they find you now, at this weak state, the fun will end too quickly, since you would not be able to put up a good fight. So this is me avoiding that oue", it continued.

    Though on his knees, Noah could still mouth a few words, "I didn''t ask for your help", he grunted.

    "And, I am not asking you to take the bracelet, it''s either you take it, or you die now", the figure replied, it''s voice icy cold.

 Chapter 46 46. EFFECTS OF THE BRACELET

    Noah could only grit his teeth at that point, there was no way out of this one.

    "What exactly is your goal in life?", the figure said, relieving Noah of it''s aura.

    Straightening his position, Noah stared at the ck figure, that still had shimmering motes of lights, in it''s body.

    "I want to be strong", his voice rang out.

    "That''s not a definite goal. Everyone wants to get strong, but there has to be a reason for getting stronger, if not you''ll fail, when you hit the slightest wall on that journey", the figure countered.

    Noah furrowed his brows, and began pondering. ''I want to get stronger, but for what?'', he said in his mind. It seemed the figure had managed to get him serious.

    "What do I want the power for?. Proctect myself?. Definitely, but is that enough?. I currently have no family here, so I don''t want it to proctect any loved ones--'', Noah said inwardly. His mind, in turmoil as he kept on searching for the answer.

    Then it dawned on him, ''I dont have a goal!!'', he said inwardly. his thoughts reflecting on his face.

    Shaking it''s head the voice of the figure rang out, "Without a goal you cannot achieve higher realms, that is what the cultivation journey is", it said.

    Noah only gazed at it, as different thoughts ran through his mind.

    "It seems my time is up. Your presence is fading, the world doesn''t consider my presence necessary". The figure eventually said.

    Noah could only stare at it, when a pir of darkness fell from the sky, enveloping the figure, while sending dark winds around, which caused the ground to crack badly. Though it''s voice still rang out.

    "Get a goal, get stronger, and entertain me. Fare well, see you in one year".

    At that point the pir spun rapidly, sending even more of its ck winds everywhere. Noah''s Instincts screamed at him to dodge them. He had to cast ''Energy barrier'' multiple times, since only a small whiff of the ck wind could shatter his defensive spells.

    Eventually the pir stopped spinning, and immediately shot back into the sky, relieving the environment of it''s destructive power.

    Immediately that happened, Noah heard a shattering sound. Then did he realize that, he hadn''t been able to see or hear the outside world!.

    ncing at the damaged roof that was beginning to fall apart, Noah stared at his palms, he had alot of thinking to do.

    "One year uh..." he muttered.

    As spark''s umted on his body, the eye sockets in the ck helmet of Muliix, shone with orange radiance. Then he moved

    A sonic boom resounded in the environment, as Noah broke the sound barrier..... or rather that was supposed to happen.

    Coming to an abrupt stop, Noah nced at his environment, his eyes wide open from surprise. You may be asking yourself, ''why his he surprised?''.

    Well that would be none other than because he found that, the environment wasn''t troubled by his movement!.

    When Noah takes off in his usual eleration, he goes all the way from 0 to Mach 10. Which means that for an instant, ''Sound'' could still reach him, though after that he hears nothing.

    But usually, the only sound he heard was kind of like a ''pop'' sound, which was when he shattered the sound barrier, but this time he heard nothing, as though the sound barrier wasn''t troubled by his stupendous speed.

    ''What the hell'', He shouted in his mind.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Stomping his foot on the ground, Noah saw that is cracked, but there was something amiss. The effect of his stomp, felt weaker, though it actually wasn''t.

    With the urge to understand what was happening, Noah ran. Once again he heard nothing, Even the wind wasn''t blowing past his face, the environment didn''t notice his passage, the world didn''t care about his actions!.

    At this point, Noah was already outside of the city, all he had to do was run past the guards, he had the idea of running on walls but he wasn''t sure he could do that.

    The guards at the gate felt nothing, the wind wasn''t reacting to him, so all that saw was a sh of light.

    Zooming through the forest, many ideas ran through his mind, but eventually he concluded that the bracelet was the cause of the strangeck of reaction from the world.

    The bracelet didn''t just remove his presence, it made him almost like a ghost. He could still affect the physical environment, like his stomp had shown earlier, but some of the effects of his activities were either non-existent or reduced.

    Different rules governed Cregar, so the things that were considered impossible on Earth had to be different.

    Noah now understood, the reason why it was a unique grade bracelet, the effects of its ability was crazy. Alhough he didn''t really understand how the grading of items worked.

    The idea of bing an assassin, crossed Noah''s mind, if his targets, couldn''t sense him, with his speed, they were as good as dead. Although he dropped it, there were other things he could do with the bracelets effect.

    Like hunting, though it was simr to assassination, just that he was killing magical beasts, Instead of humans.

    Suddenly, not having a solid goal seemed okay, after all he could climb the ranks of strength, without much disturbance from other stronger experts. But when he thought of the time limit, he couldn''t help but heave a heavy sigh.

    ''How strong, should I get, tier four, tier five, can I even reach six'', Noah questioned himself.

    ''The whole thing about goals, I''ll just postpone it, who knows, maybe I''ll find someone that would make me want to get stronger. Maybe a girlfriend'', Noah thought,ughing at thest part.

    He had been in a few rtionships in his past life, but they mostly never ended well. He was either too busy, or the girl only wanted him for money, since at that time he was financially Independent, and stable.

    Thinking about that topic, Noah recalled that he had never slept with a girl. ''I died a fu*king virgin'', he thoughtughing heavily at the truth.

    He had wanted to wait until, he found the girl that he would spend the rest of his life with, but that didn''t end well, it had been hard, but he had managed to abstain. Until he died!.

    Coming to a stop, after he had gone an incredible distance away from the wall, Noah sat beside a tree.

    ncing at the bracelet, Noah wondered if it could camodge itself, since he didn''t want people asking him what it was for.

    And to his pleasure, the bracelets sliver colour began to fade and change, until it took the colour of his skin, then it kind of merged with his skin. Though the process didn''t hurt.

    Nodding his head approvingly. Noah thought of multiple topics. Like what his mission was as the heir of the ''god of speed'', there had to be a reason for it all, no one would do such a thing without an important reason, maybe there was, Someone or something he had to fight, he didn''t understand. "Is tier six even the highest level of power?". he muttered.

    "What level do I need to reach, to attain the level of a ''god'', he continued. "Is there like a supreme god somewhere?",

    "How many world''s exist, can I travel to another world without dying?". This were the thoughts that filled his mind, but unfortunately he currently had no answers for them.

    "I just have to get immensely strong", Noah concluded while standing up. He wasn''t sure why, but he could feel some sort of excitement welling up in his being, there were many things he had to do, and find, and it excited him beyond reason.

    "This is seriously going to be fun!".

 Chapter 47 47. GATHERING

    In an unknown location, a figure sat crossed legged, while floating in an extremely dark ce, which was only illuminated by the blinding purple light the figure radiated, anding from the figure, an oppressive aura of power oozed out, even space itself seemed to distort due to the aura

    The figure was currently busy tinkering with a series of illusory floating screens, when suddenly; one of the multiple floating screens dispersed into wisps of light particles.

    If one could see past the purple light the figure radiated, they would see that, the figure, which had the face of a female, raised an eyebrow.

    After a series of finger movements, a new screen appeared, but immediately dispersed into wisps of light particles.

    At that point, the woman straightened her position, then again, summoned another screen, only for it to disperse immediately after.

    Immediately that happened, the dark environment seemed to quake, as the woman traced a circle in the air, then runes immediately formed inside of it creating a magic circle!.

    The magic circle shone with a purple light, then afterwards turned glossy white, before a male face appeared in it.

    "What?", the person said in an annoyed tone.

    Ignoring the annoyed tone, her voice rang out, "We have a problem".

    *

    *

    *

    Inside a brightly lit room, around 100m in width, and 230m in here height, adorned with golden coloured tapestries, multiple chandeliers made of emeralds and carved diamond, luxurious looking carpets, and even golden coloured pirs which pulsed with green coloured runes, and held the roof.

    There sat five figures around a brown table, each of these figures not radiating an ounce of power, but their demeanor which exuded that of authority, gave a hint to their identities.

    Currently, these figures had a pensive expression, as it seemed they were in a serious discussion.

    "So what do you think?", the voice of the female we talked about rang out.

    Currently she wore a purple robe, which had golden inscriptions running across it''s lengths, giving it an exquisite look.

    No voices replied, as all the others seemed to be in deep thoughts, until another female voice rang out.

    "He has definitely gotten help from someone at equal levels as us", the woman, who was currently draped in a green robe said.

    At her words, the expressions of the four flickered, as they all wore a frown.

    "Are you suggesting that one of us has rendered our help to him", one of the three men there, spoke, his voice radiating coldness. He was currently dressed in a red robe, that had mes of  simr colour, dancing around it.

    The expression of thedy who spoke earlier flickered, as she replied, "No. What I meant was that, someone who isn''t among us, but is at our level of strength, has helped him.", she said shaking her head

    At that all their expressions, returned to that of thoughtfulness. "There are multiple entities like that, but, there is only one who would dare to do such", the woman in purple said.

    Immediately she said that, all their eyes flickered with understanding, as the only person capable of doing such appeared in their minds. Though a frown appeared on their faces immediately after.

    "If you mean ''him'', then we have a serious problem", another man who was in blue robe said.

    Thedy in purple sighed, as she replied, "He is the only one with the guts to do that".

    "That is because he has enough power, and resources to back it up.", thedy dressed in green countered.

    "He has definitely given him an item that can erase his presence", the man In red spoke.

    "Which confirms that he is truly the god of speeds'' heir", the man dressed in blue replied.

    "It''s been how many millennials?", the woman dressed in green replied.

    Immediately she said that, a silence fell in their midst, as they all seemed to recall ''special'' memories, since once in a while a tremor would run through their bodies.

    "We cannot let the heir of such a monster grow", the man in red eventually said, as all the others nodded in response.

    "Though is there much we can do. Cregar won''t let us intervene since it can''t sense his presence", the woman in purple said.

    They all went into thoughts once again.

    "How about going to meet ''him", the woman in green offered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Though nobody answered. After a few seconds of silence her voice rang out, "We have to do something!", she said, with a frown.

    "What!. We all know he is too strong, he may be in our level, but we aren''t strong enough for him, he has warned us to never disturb him, so unless you want to die you can go", the man in red replied, as his aura burst out in anger, causing thedy in green to shrink.

    Though, another aura exploded outwards, causing the ce to light up with a purple radiance, "We aren''t here to fight amongst ourselves, so be careful the way you talk ''MARCUS''", thedy in purple said, with a warning tone.

    This time it was the man in reds'', turn to shrink, as he sat on his seat, with a snort.

    Seeing that heplied, thedy in purple folded her aura. "Though he is right, he is too strong, but nevertheless we have to do something", she said.

    No reply came, until thest man who had been silent all this while, stood and talked, "I''ll go", he stated.

    The man was clothed in a yellow robe that had multiple drawings of flowers on it.

    All the faces of those, there flickered in surprise, as they all seemed to consider something. "I''ll go too", Marcus eventually said, while gazing at thedy in purple.

    Ignoring Marcus''s gaze, her voice rang out, "Are you sure?. Though he doesn''t know you, he''ll recognize that you are with us". She said with a worried expression, while directing her question to the man in yellow.

    "I know, but I''ll be careful, so please, do not worry", The man replied, performing a slight bow.

    The other''s showed a weird expression at the scene, but didn''t say anything.

    "What exactly are you going to do, I hope you know you can''t engage him in a fight", thedy in green said, as all attention returned back to man in yellow.

    Giving a light smile, he replied, "I''ll just engage him in a conversation, after all ording to what I''ve heard from you all, he likes to have fun".

    *

    *

    *

    Inside a fairly in room, in a location we currently don''t have ess to.

    The figure of thedy in purple could be seen, as she sat in front of a highly decorated mirror, seemingly staring at herself, while also in thoughts.

    She sat in silence, until a sigh escaped her mouth. "What a troublesome situation", she eventually muttered.

    Immediately she finished her words, a male figure materialized, behind her, his voice ringing out, before she could say anything, "Oh, did I cause you trouble", he said in a yful tone.

    Immediately she heard the voice, her aura exploded outwards. A sword appearing In her hands, as she swung it towards the male figure. Only for it to be caught with his bare hands.

    Immediately she saw the face of her visitor, she frowned deeply, as she jumped backwards, after the man had released her sword from his grip.

    The face, of a man who looked no older than thirty entered her vision. The man had beautiful ck hair, that seemed to glow with numerous notes of light. His eyes ck in colour, as they seemed to glow.

    He currently wore, an absolutely ck robe, that was so ck it''s edges were hard to discern, even in the bright room.

    If Noah were present here. He would recognize the voice of the man, to be the same as the ck figure!!.

    "What do you want?", her voice rang out as she stored her sword, seemingly understanding that he wasn''t going to fight her.

    "I came to return something of yours", he replied, as a person''s head appeared out of thin air, and rolled on the floor.

    Immediately the woman saw it, her expression darkened, as she said nothing, but grit her teeth.

    The head belonged to the man who had said that, he would visit the person standing right In front of the woman In purple. It seemed things had gone wrong.

    "Next time, send someone stronger, and that know how to have fun". The man said.

    "What about Marcus", she replied.

    "Oh yeah, I let him go. Barely", he replied, his figure immediately vanishing the next second. It seems he didn''t want to stay there long.

    Immediately he was gone, the woman''s face twisted in rage, as her aura burst out, heavily damaging the room, though she didn''t seem care.

    Tracing a magic circle in the air, her voice rang out before the person behind the illusory screen could talk, "We have a big problem!!".

 Chapter 48 48. PREPARATIONS

    Sneaking behind an unsuspecting tiger In the peak of tier 1, Noah shed downward with both of the energy des that had formed around his hands.

    The result was the tiger''s body splitting into three parts. The tiger wasn''t the first of its kind, or any magical beast at all to die in such a way that night.

    Noah had gone around the forest, testing the ability of the bracelet, and the result always ended up the same. The beast''s didn''t notice his presence in the slightest, even if he was right behind them, with his tier 2 aura out in full disy!.

    The bracelet truly made him a pseudo ghost. Flicking his hands, Noah dispersed the energy des, though he had not tested the ability on tier 2 magical beasts, it was time for him to return to the hotel. He would do thatter.

    After all it was already veryte in the night, something around 9 or 10.

    Orange sparks began to flicker around his figure, as a ck full body suit emerged from his skin, and even covered his clothes.

    Then the suit lit up with an orange radiance, as Noah took a step forward.

    SILENCE~~

    Apart from the ever so slight crack on the ground, and the orange streak, zooming zig-zaggedly through the forest in the distance, nothing could be heard.

    shing through the cities gate, startling the patrolling guards, and navigating his way through the city. Noah''s figure shed right inside a street next to the hotel.

    Making Muliix recede back into wherever it went, Noah walked towards the hotels door.

    Greeting the door guards, Noah entered, finding the usual crowded and loud bar, Noah walked towards the bar, and simply collected a key. He didn''t even have to ask!.

    Walking up the stairs, and into his room. Noah removed his clothes and took a long shower.

    Getting out of the bathroom, Noah dried himself, and sat on the bed, it had been a while since hest checked his status, and he hadn''t distributed his stat points. So he decided to do that now.

    [Stat panel]

    [Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [ss: Heir of the God of speed( ???)]

    [Title (s) : Monster killer]

    [Level: 35/50] [Tier: 2]

    [Speed force: Orange]

    [Elemental Affinity (s)[Air, Lightning]

    [HP: 600 (150)]

    [Strength: 750(187)]

    [Stamina: 500(125)]  [MP: 1035(258)]

    [Intelligence: 350(87)]  [Speed: Mach 10]

    [Defence: 200(50)]  [Dexterity: 100(25)]

    [Vitality : Tier 2]

    [Undistributed stat points: 125]

    This was his current stat panel, he had only levelled up once when he fought the four tier 2''s. This actually frustrated him, after all the deaths of two humans at his level, one weaker than him, and another that who was stronger, had only manage to let him achieve one level!.

    Though, his one month of keeping the second ability of  ''Mana regeneration'' on, had given him one level, putting him at the current level, 35.

    Pondering on what to do, Noah eventually decided that it was best if he put most of his stat points in defence, and stamina.

    His experience with the ck figures finger had really annoyed him, and the fact that Muliix could only take attacks from people or spells, one stage above his, enforced that decision. He didn''t want to die from an attack before he knew what hit him.

    Adding a massive 50 points to his defense, 30 to his stamina, 25 to his strength and 20 to his dexterity.

    Noah felt his cells rejoice at the upgrade, while information on how to use his hands and Cudgel better while being more agile trickled into his head.

    This is his current stat.

    [Stat panel]

    [Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [ss: Heir of the God of speed( ???)]

    [Title (s) : Monster killer]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Level: 35/50] [Tier: 2]

    [Speed force: Orange]

    [Elemental Affinity (s)[Air , Lightning]

    [HP: 600 (150)]

    [Strength: 775(194)]

    [Stamina: 530(132)]  [MP: 1035(258)]

    [Intelligence: 350(87)]  [Speed: Mach 10]

    [Defence: 250(62)]  [Dexterity: 120(30)]

    [Vitality : Tier 2]

    [Undistributed stat points: 0]

    [Skills]:

    [Speed Force]

    [Advanced slow motion perception[Passive]

    [Advanced speed regeneration [Passive], [Mana regeneration[Active], Speed clones [Active]

    [Elemental skills]

    <Air>

    [Intermediate Air Elemental magic, Air Domain Air Spears,

    <Lightning>

    [Intermediate Lightning Elemental magic, Small energy bomb[Active], Energy Armour [Active], Lightning domain, Lightning bolt

    [Inventory: shirt, skirt, Bag of coins, Beast corpse''s(7).]

    Nodding his head approvingly, Noahy down on the bed, his mind wandering into many topics, most especially the time limit he had. When he thought about Bozolom, it somehow felt like a waste of time. Though he eventually discarded that thought.

    Afte a while, Noah''s eyes closed, as his consciousness drifted into slumber.

    Waking up, Noah climbed down the bed. Seeing that it was already morning, he entered the bathroom and took a quick bath.

    He wasn''t sweaty or anything, it was just an habit from his life on Earth.

    Preparing himself, Noah exited the room, and went to the bar, paying the bill for the night, Noah left the building.

    Walking into a quiet alley way, Noah nced at his surroundings, seeing that no one was watching, he took a deep breath, as orange sparks began to umte around his body, his environment slowed down, as the chatter of the main street seemed to be heavily reduced. Then he moved.

    Basically vanishing from his previous spot, Noah ran. Though the orange streak that he produced could be seen.

    Noah was too fast for most people to notice it, coupled with his soundless movement.

    Though when someone did notice, they would try to point it out, but by that time he was long gone, making them look like they were crazy.

    Arriving at James quiet street, Noah stopped his run, and continued on foot.

    Getting to James''s door. Noah was about to knock when the door opened.

    Sighting a fully dressed James, Noah smiled as his voice rang out. "Good morning".

    ncing at Noah''s figure, James replied , "Good morning. I hope you had a bad night", he said with a mocking smile.

    Shaking his head Noah replied, "Actually I had a great night, there were some minor problems but it ended up good", he said with a creepy smile.

    Bothughing at themselves, James talked, "Though, I hope nothing was wrong. You left in a hurry yesterday, which isn''t normal of you", he said.

    "Nah, it was nothing", Noah stated while shaking his head.

    Retaining his gaze on Noah''s expression, James let out a helpless sigh.

    "What are you going to do now?", Noah asked

    "For starters I need a few things for the travel, since we are departing tomorrow. But don''t worry they aren''t really much", James exined.

    Shrugging his shoulders. Noah opened his mouth to talk, "Well I don''t really need anything. So lead the way", he replied, directing James to leave first.

 Chapter 49 49. CRILION

    They both went around the city, getting things that James said he needed. Although they really weren''t much, the problem was that, there were usually long queues, for some unknown reasons.

    At a point Noah had to leave James to go get something, new weapons. He had broken his old one the other night, so he had to get a new one.

    Immediately he got to the cksmiths shop. The cksmith Jeff, had been surprised to see him just after a day.

    Making an excuse for why he was back for a new weapon, Noah bought another staff and a pair of Daggers.

    Ever since James had told him he used daggers, he had kept it in mind to buy a pair and ask James to teach him, after all it wasn''t bad to learn a new weapon, like the old saying ''Dont keep all your eggs in one basket''.

    Both weapons had cost him, a whooping 95 middle sized copper coins. Surprisingly daggers weren''t actually that expensive, at least low graded one''s.

    Meeting up with James at where he had left him, Noah had to wait for a bit over thirty minutes before they could meet up.

    Honestly during that period of wait, Noah had to endure, the stares of multiple people, both men and women, this was because of his good looking face. It seemed most of them wondered how someone like him was still in Vonol.

    Sighting James figure exiting the one storey building, Noah waved to allow James find him.

    Walking over to Noah, James voice rang out, "Are you done with what you said you needed to do?", he questioned.

    Nodding his head Noah answered, "Yes,". "Good, because where we are going next might take a while", James said as he pat Noah''s shoulder.

    Rasing an eyebrow at his words and gesture, Noah asked, "Where are we going?".

    "To the Carriage garage", James answered, as he began to walk ahead of Noah.

    Rushing to catch up with him, they walked for multiple minutes while James exined their n.

    The Carriage garage was a ce where people booked carriages for their travel.

    The carriages would be booked by multiple people, and until it was filled up, it would not depart from the garage.

    It kind of reminded Noah of an airport, only difference was that, they were an outdated mode of transportation on Earth.

    But that wasn''t the only function of the Carriage garage. Due to the high rate of bandits attacks, the owners of the carriage would always hire people to proctect them throughout the journey, in return for payment.

    Though most people usually signed up, because they wanted to go to wherever the carriage was headed, but didn''t have  money for it, but were rtively strong.

    Of course there was also a minimum power level which was the peak of the middle stage of tier 1 to most quests. Since most bandits were usually as strong as that, or stronger.

    During their discussion, Noah had asked a crucial question about their n, which was, where exactly ''Bozolom'' would be taking ce.

    The question had greatly surprised James who could only stare at Noah''s helpless smile for many seconds.

    Truth be told, it wasn''t really Noah''s fault, the library didn''t have anything on that topic, and he didn''t have anyone he talked to about the event, apart from James.

    Eventually, James had answered, "Bozolom is always held in the city of Crilion", He said.

    It was a big city that had gone through multiple changes over the years, mostly because of the games the royal family held there.<novelnext></novelnext>

    At first it was but a small town, but because of its high Mana density, it was used as grounds for many experiments.

    Which ranged from high tier spells to training grounds for recruits, until a bit over a century ago, the current royal family decided to use it for its games, since it''s Mana rich environment made it easier for formations or inscriptions to work.

    Noah could only be amazed by the many fantastical things Cregar had to offer, and the fact that he had only seen a bit of it made him shiver.

    About the topic of Inscriptions and formations, Noah asked James if he was into any of them, and James reply was, "Well, definitely."

    "During my younger days without my parents, I had to make use of myself. Though I am currently not focused on that, since I have bigger goals, they will definitely be part of me.

    How do you think I was able to pay for the house my brother and I live in. Through hard work and multiple hours of study in the local academy", James exined.

    "The only problem was that, I couldn''t further my education on it, which led me to other things, but they were first", James added with a sad expression.

    Noah could only stare at him with a weird expression, it seemed James was also more than he let on.

    "Would you teach me?," Noah eventually asked after a few seconds of silence.

    "Well definitely, though that would be when we have a bit more time", James replied with a smile. While Noah nodded in response.

    After a few more minutes of discussion,  they eventually arrived at the ce.

    Arge ash painted building entered their eyes, as there was no guards on the outside, for reasons unknown to Noah. The building was more wide than tall, probably due to the carriages on the inside.

    Walking through the door, arge room, lit with yellow lights entered Noah''s and James sight, as inside therge room, there were multiple booths with long queues of people.

    Once in a while they would see humans, either walk into the part of the building sepearated from the room, where carriages could be seen neatly parked, and a good distance away from each other, or walk outside with anger on their expressions.

    Entering a random queue, Noah and James stood there for a few minutes until it was their turn, during that time they would watch people storm out of the ce with loud curses, or try to attack the staff, but before they could do that, they would copse, unconscious!.

    This had left Noah incredibly curious, and James could only answer after he felt Noah''s hot gaze on his back.

    "Formations and inscriptions can do many of things, we may not see it, but as someone who has dabbled in that world, I could feel the movement of Mana, during each activation.

    Like I said they can do many things which range from attacking people with spells that whoever designed them put, or make while castles Invisible".

    "This time inscriptions and formations were used hand in hand. The Inscriptions were probably for making the activation of the formation invisible, while the formation for making whoever that broke a rule pass out." James exined.

    "I can''t really exin much since this type is currently out of my league, I suspect that a highly watered expert did this", James said with a shrug.

    While Noah could only stare with wide eyes. Truth be told he didn''t feel the Mana flow during the activation, but  James did, and the fact that he could figure out that much from one look meant that James was really sound in such topics.

    "What do you want?", The male who was behind the booth asked, with a bored expression.

    "We would like to sign up for a job as guards for any carriage heading to Crilion", James replied with a smile.

 Chapter 50 50. STORY

    "May I see your ID''s?", the man replied, directing them to ce it on the tform right in front of them.

    Doing as told, Noah and James gave the man their cards. During the short moment the man used to look through their cards, Noah took a nce at the man''s level.

    [Carl]

    [Tier: 1]

    [Level: 24]

    [Chances of death: 0%]

    Seeing that nothing was really special about the person, Noah moved on.

    Retrieving their cards after Carl was done. They waited a few seconds since Carl''s seemed to look for something, when he found it he opened his mouth to talk.

    "We currently have two job request like that, you will have to go meet them yourselves, though I am sure they would dly ept you due to your power. The only difference may be their payment, and time of departure." He exined, handing over to them, two papers that had the description of their potential employers.

    "Beware, if the employers do not return to update the request, then we will assume you were not hired", Carl added as they left the line.

    Thanking him, they both read through the job descriptions.

    The first employer was a merchant, who wanted to move his goods to Crilion, but needed 10 people who were at least as strong as the peak of tier 1. He said he would pay them 1 small silver coin per person for the at least three weeks of travel.

    While the second employer was surprisingly the personal guard of a small noble family''s heir.

    ording to the description, the heir wanted to take part in theing Bozolom, and they would need 9 people who were at least as strong as the lower stage of tier 2. The pay was higher than the merchants''ing at 5 small silver per person.

    After they were done with the descriptions, they couldn''t help but know which to choose. "Definitely the noble families heir", Noah said first. As James could only smile since he was going for the same.

    ording to the description, they were to meet at the South wing of the building, where the personal guard was. The description didn''t specify where in the south wing, but they didn''t really put their mind on the matter.

    "Though how do we know which is which?", Noah eventually asked after they were done deciding.

    "There is a map inside", James replied pointing at the ce where carriages could be seen.

    Walking inside the ce, Noah found there was truly a map that described the whole ce, and where each wing was. From the map Noah got to know that the ce was really bigger than he thought.

    Spending about ten minutes of walking inside the massive building, they eventually got to what seemed like a gate that separated the ce from the main hall, but at the top of the gate was a sign ''South''.

    ncing shortly at each other, Noah and James walked towards the entrance, but before they could, a man called out to them.

    "Hey there!", the man shouted. Both turned to nce at the person, since they had not noticed him.

    Walking towards them, Noah inspected the man''s facial features.

    The man looked to be in histe forties, he stood around 5ft8 in height, and his frame looked like that of someone who had worked out a lot, though his grey coloured robe hid a lot.

    The man had long brown hair that touched his shoulders. While from the short distance, Noah could see that he had ck eyes, which when coupled with his round face, and smiling expression, was pleasant to look at.

    "Are you looking to sign up for the job?", the man said when he was within a close distance to their figures.

    Noah and James couldn''t help but nce at each other, with surprise on their faces.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Are you the employer?, if you are tell us the job description", Noah talked first, he wanted to be sure the person wasn''t lying.

    Smiling at the question, the man replied, "Yes I am. In the description you were asked to escort a small noble families heir to Crilion for Bozolom". He ended it there.

    At that point Noah''s doubt was cleared, but his curiosity still remained. "How did you know we were looking for you?", Noah said, as James nodded at the question.

    "Look around, do you see anyone. The south wing has been closed for a week now. That was the reason why I as asked to meet up here". He replied.

    Then did both of them realize that the man was right, apart from the three of them, no other person was currently present.

    "I am Luke from the house of Holon", He said after a few seconds of silence.

    With that, they both introduced themselves. "I am James, pleased to meet you", James said with a slight bow.

    "I am Noah", Noah stated.

    Smiling in return, Luke said, "Pleasee with me. Let''s get a better ce to talk".

    Nodding their heads, the duo followed him. They left the south wing, and exited  therge building, though during that time Luke filled them in on some things.

    "You guys are actually thest two that we need toplete the nine", Luke said at one point.

    "Oh, it seems we were lucky then", James said trying to hold the conversation.

    "There were some others who came but I refused them", Luke said.

    Noah and James shot curious nce at him, before Noah''s voice eventually rang out, "Why?".

    "You''ll know very soon", Luke replied without turning back, to look at them.

    This put Noah and James on guard, since that was usually what shady business men said to their employees.

    After a few more minutes of walking, James and Noah running different scenarios in their mind, about what could happen, they got to a hotel, where Luke brought them to a room.

    ? Inside the room was a table and two chairs, but that wasn''t the most striking detail, no.... the figure of a man standing right in front of the window was.

    Immediately they got inside, Luke went towards this figure, and performed a deep bow before his voice rang out.

    "Young master, I have brought thest two for the job request", Luke announced.

    Immediately he said that, the figure turned, as Noah was able to inspect his features.

    The man looked just a bit older than Noah, he was around 5ft9 in height, the clothes he wore didn''t let Noah see much of his body frame, but from the way he moved he wasn''t overweight.

    He had grey hair, which he packed in a ponytail, which when coupled with his fair face and blue eyes, were very striking, actually he looked stunning!.

    The man seemed to inspect both of them, before his voice rang out a few secondster.

    "Good day gentle men, would you like to hear an interesting story?". He said in a gentle and slow tone.

 Chapter 51 51. PLAN

    Inside the hotel room, Noah and James could see sitting behind the brown table, the young man and Luke, standing right in front of them.

    The air seemed tense, as both Noah and James had a pensive expression.

    "If what you are saying is true, then....", James said as his gaze fell on Noah, who returned the gaze.

    "....Why are you even telling us, what if we refuse?", Noah asked with a helpless expression.

    "I know you won''t", the man whose name was Augustus said, with a light smile.

    "How? because of the money?", James said.

    "No", Augustus said shaking his head. "Well, yes. But mostly because you are good people", He said.

    A wide smile couldn''t help but appear on Noah''s face at those words, ''Good people, he said inwardly

    "And because we''ll have to kill you if you don''t", Augustus added with a serious expression.

    Noahughed inwardly as he checked their power.

    [Augustus]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 48]

    [Chances of death: 25%]

    [Luke]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 46[

    [Chances of death: 22%]

    They didn''t have a big chance of killing him.

    "But you''ll still give us money for helping you", Noah asked with a light smile. Though inside him, he was gearing up for any eventual fight.

    "So do you ept?", Luke asked as he brought two bottles of beer out, and ced them on the table

    Both, Noah and James, nced at each other, as an answer formed in their head, and they answered in unison.

    "Yes"

    "No!"

    Let''s rewind a few minutes.

    *

    *

    *

    "Good day gentlemen, would you like to hear a story", Augustus said in a calm and slow tone, While pointing at the chairs.

    Noah raised an eyebrow, as he walked into the room, with light and careful steps, and sat down, ncing at James who sighed and did the same.

    "I am Augustus, second heir to the house of Holon. We are arge-sized noble family, that has multiple middle-sized noble families under us", Augustus said with a slight bow.

    "I am Noah", Noah said after a few seconds of silence. "I am James, nice to meet you", James said, trying to be polite.

    Nodding his head at their response, Augustus continued.

    "Do you know why you are here?", he asked. "To sign up for the job to escort you to Crilion?", James replied immediately, his voice a bit shaky.

    Shaking his head lightly, Augustus opened his mouth to talk, "That was just a public lie. Let me tell you the real reason".

    Noah arced his eyebrows at those words, while James frowned.

    "As I said earlier, Ie from arge-sized noble family, but what I didn''t tell you is that there is a power struggle and I am in the center of it.

    My elder sister, my only sister, wants to get rid of my existence to im as much property for herself since women aren''t allowed to own much.

    But by getting rid of me, she would be entitled to around 60 percent of my father''s house.

    You may be wondering, don''t we have inner circles and all that. Yes, we do, and she has control over them all. So we need your help to get to Crilion, where a friend of mine will receive me.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But my sister has spies all around, and I am certain that she has nned an ambush for our passage. But don''t worry you''ll be paid handsomely 10 middle-sized silver coins". Augustus said as he finished his ''Story''.

    Noah couldn''t help but heave a sigh, as his voice rang out, "That wasn''t a story, more like an exnation," he said, as his gaze fell on Augustus''s figure. Who shrugged in return, "As long as you get the point."

    Noah nced at James who also heaved a sigh, "How strong is your sister?" James said as his tone sounded like he had asked a dreaded question.

    Augustus sighed helplessly, "She is an expert in tier 3, though she won''t interfere physically." he said trying to reassure them.

    Noah frowned at those words, while James lowered his head seemingly depressed. This wasn''t what he had expected.

    *

    *

    *

    ncing at James because of his answer, Noah raised an eyebrow, as his voice rang out.

    "We agree", Noah announced as he stood up. James widened his eyes as he uttered these words, "What....., No...., why?".

    "Because they''ll kill us if we don''t, and after all the pay was increased to 10 middle-sized silver coins. Last time I checked that''s a lot", Noah stated with a shrug.

    James opened his mouth, but no words exited them, only one of his many sighs escaped them. Noah was right.

    "Good," Augustus said with a slight nod. "Here is the n...."

    #

    Exiting the building, Noah and James walked away, as many thoughts filled their minds.

    The n Augustus had exined to them wasn''t hard to understand, it was just that, its execution was going to be a bit difficult, for the whole team.

    ording to what he had said, they nned to take a specific road to Crilion, but the thing was that his sister was aware of that, and would most likely n an ambush.

    The worse part was, that they couldn''t change it. Luke had acted as a spy and got to know about his young master''s sister''s n, by making them trust him. Changing their n would alert Augustus'' sister about his default.

    Their only job was to make sure he wasn''t killed, which sounded easy until he informed them that the ambushers were going to be mostly in the middle stage of tier 2, even a few peak tier 2''s will be there.

    For Noah that wasn''t much of a problem, but for James, that was close to certain death, after all, he was only a newly advanced, who had barely gotten used to his power.

    "That didn''t go as we wanted", James eventually said, after they had walked in silence for a few minutes.

    "There was nothing we could do. Running away would have been a good idea, but they both are stronger than us", Noah said with a shrug, truth be told he found the whole incident fun.

    "What should I tell my brother?, I might not return home alive", James said with a frown.

    "Our n hasn''t changed. We both are traveling to participate in Bozolom, and will be back next month", Noah stated.

    "How are you not scared? we are about to go on a deadly mission, and you are so rxed!", James eximed, with aplicated expression.

    "I don''t know", Noah replied with a shrug and a slight smile. "Maybe because I know I''ll live through it".

    Heaving a heavy sigh, James went over the n multiple times, and some other topics, probably to calm his mind.

    You all may not understand why James is currently afraid. Let us not forget that he; just like everymon man in Vonol, feared the wrath of the noble families, and unlike Noah couldn''t run at an immense speed, which guarantees his safety, if things went south.

    Arriving in front of Noah''s hotel, James was about to wave Noah goodbye, when he remembered something.

    "Ah!. Before I forget", James said, as a shoe appeared in the air, and he caught it.

    "I saw that your shoes are not shoes, so please take these", James said with a smile.

    A mild wave of surprise couldn''t help but spread in Noah''s mind when he sighted the shoes. They were ck in color, and seemed normal, but Noah could sense a Mana signature from them, though he was mostly surprised because he had never expected such.

    Liberating the shoes from James hands, Noah watched as James turned and left.

    Exchanging gaze''s between James leaving figure, and the pair of shoes, a big smile couldn''t help but form on his face as he silently muttered a sentence, "Thank you".

    Turning and entering the hotel, Noah collected the key to his normal lodge.

    Taking a shower, he sat on the bed, as multiple thoughts flowed through his mind, until the gaze of his blue eyes fell on the shoes.

    Picking them, Noah wore them, admiring their lightness, and the fact that they fit incredibly well, Noah managed to get stunned at how light he felt because of them.

    ''Weird'', he said inwardly.

 Chapter 52 52. NO FIGHTING

    Getting up when the day had broke, Noah took a bath, and went down the stairs. Returning the key back to Peter. Noah decided to inform him about his travel.

    "I won''t be around for like a month, so you can lodge the room to someone else", He said.

    "I see. Let me guess you are going for a job of some sorts", Peter said retrieving the key and keeping it somewhere.

    Nodding his head in affirmation, Noah turned to leave. "When you get back, my rooms will always be avable for you", Peter said with a professional bow.

    Smiling in return, Noah exited the building,ing out into the open, he ignored the bustling street, as he had gotten used to them.

    Finding a familiar quiet alley, Noah ran to James house. Augustus had informed them to meet outside the gates of Vonol, early in the morning.

    Arriving outside James house, Noah knocked on the door. A few secondster, it was opened by an almost crying Jesse, who''s eyes were watery, from the held back tears.

    Smiling at the scene, Noah entered to see a fully clothed James.

    He wore a ck top, which had a ck metallic breast te on it. The breast te had some inscriptions on it, which flickered on and off once In a while.

    His trousers were also ck in colour, but also had lines of inscriptions on it, which ran from his hips down to the edge of the trousers.

    Whistling at how cool he looked in the armour of sorts, Noah opened his mouth to talk. "Are you going to have that on all the time?", he said while inspecting the outfit more.

    Shrugging his shoulders, James''s replied, "There''s nothing I can do currently, dangers lurk in all the corners of the forest, I have to always be prepared."

    At those words, Jesse''s mental wall which stopped him from crying shattered, as tears rolled down his cheeks, his face squeezed like that of a baby''s, as the young man continued to shed tears of sadness.

    Noah''s growing-cold heart, couldn''t help but feel warm at that sight, memories of his brother shed through his mind, as he mouthed a few words

    "Don''t worry I''ll bring your brother back home". He said, immediately signalling to James that it was time to leave.

    Hugging his younger brother tightly for a few seconds, and whispering a few words in his ears, James let Jesse go after that, his expression filled with resolve.

    Catching up to Noah, without looking back at his brother, they both walked in silence, until they got out of the cities gate.

    Walking a few metres, until they spotted a carriage with multiple figures around it.

    The carriage was golden brown in colour, sliver rims ran across it''s top and entrance, giving it an exquisite look.

    While in front of the carriage were two magical beasts.

    This sight surprised Noah, thest carriage he saw had no such beasts, actually most carriages in the city were pulled by people!.

    The magic beasts were ostriches, but rather than ck feathers, these creatures had what resembled scales, yellow in colour, and seemed to glisten in the sunlight.

    Both ostriches stood at over three meters in height, though that was mostly due to their long necks, and powerful looking legs.

    [Evolved Ostriches[Tamed]]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level 27]

    [Chances of death: 0%]

    Surprise ran through Noah''s mind when he saw that description.

    ''Tamed?'', he said in his mind. Their sight lit the fire of curiosity in him, but for James that was different, he actually felt oppressed by the show of resources.

    Walking closer to the carriage, Noah had to snap out of his stupor, when he sensed the power, of the individuals in front of him.

    There were seven unfamiliar faces standing outside the carriage, each of them donned in different styles of clothes, but the mostmon detail was that, all seven of them radiated power in the middle stage of tier 2!.

    Getting to the carriages'' position, Noah immediately inspected their facial features. There were five; three women and two men, who looked middle aged, but with different hair colour and body build, the remaining two, who were males, looked to be in their mid twenties like Noah and James. Unlike the middle aged group, who were reserved, the two males looked vibrant.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You have finally arrived", Luke said, while poking his head out from inside the carriage. "This are going to be your teammates for the next few weeks, so please get to know each other, we shall leave in five minutes", he added, as he went back inside the carriage, leaving an awkward air behind.

    The area remained silent for a few tens of seconds, each of them inspecting the other person.

    "Ah.. I am Jonas", One of the mid twenties guys announced. He was a man in his mid twenties as said before, he had yellow hair which he kept short, he was currently donned in a yellow robe, but had gauntlets and weird nes on.

    At his introduction, the others couldn''t help but Introduce themselves as well.

    "I am Bern, its a pleasure to meet you all, I hope we get along", one of the middle aged men said. He wore a normal attire, a shirt and trousers, but had a pair of swords strapped behind him.

    "I''m Mona," one of the threedies said,

    "My name is Heath,"the other woman said

    "My name is Henry," the other middle aged man said.

    "I am Jessica," thest woman of the group introduced.

    "I am Mathew," the second mid twenties guy said.

    With the others done introducing themselves, they looked towards thest two who hadn''t.

    "Ah, I''m James, nice to meet you all", James said with a bow.

    "I''m Noah". Noah stated.

    With the introductions done, the environment fell silent again, most of them just didn''t want to talk, while some were still inspecting. Although that changed when someone''s voice rang out.

    "What the heck is a weakling like you doing here?", Jonas asked, his face twisted in disdain, while he pointed at James figure.

    James didn''t say anything, as he could only frown. He was a grown man after all, and this guy was a non-noble like him.

    "Answer me," Jonas pressed on.

    Seeing that the person he questioned didn''t reply, his voice rang out again.

    "Luke!, I thought this mission was only for those above the lower stage of tier 2?, why is he here, he''ll only be dead weight!", Jonas shouted.

    Exiting the carriages inside, Luke swept his gaze across the mini experts gathered, as his eyes fell on the figures of James and Jonas. Understanding what was going on his voice rang out.

    "I allowed him for reasons I don''t have to tell you. He is part of the team now.", he said calmly, ignoring the anger filled expression of the young man.

    "But....", Jonas sounded, only to be interrupted by the overflowing aura that immediately fell on his figure.

    "No buts, I will not permit you fighting amongst yourselves. Understood?.", Luke''s voice rang out with a chilling aura. Reminding Jonas that he wasn''t the strongest, neither was he the employer.

    ""Understood"", everybody present said in unison.

    Luke''s aura, receded at that point. "It''s time to move out". He said walking towards the magical beasts.

    A smile couldn''t help but appear on Noah''s face, after the incident was taken care of. He had not intervened just to witness what the young man would do.

    Of course if Jonas had attacked or anything, he would find himself heavily wounded the next second, but Luke had taken care of it like the boss he was.

    Patting James''s shoulder, while walking forward.

    "Rx, I''ve got your back," Noah said to the tense James, who immediately gave a helpless smile in response.

    Taking a position beside the carriage, Noah stood there, as it was time to start their journey.

 Chapter 53 53. SUPERIORITY

    Running casually beside the speeding carriage, Noah nced backwards, and swept his gaze around.

    Seeing that the others were barely able to keep up, he decided to slow down a bit, just a bit.

    He didn''t want to appear too fast, but also wanted to show that in terms of sheer speed, and stamina he was currently a god.

    Apparently the ostriches were fast runners, like he expected, but this was different.

    The creatures were running at speeds the normal human couldn''t dream of achieving, even tier 2''s in the middle-stage could barely keep up. It seemed mother nature still kept things bnced.

    ncing at the figure of Luke, who sat on top of the carriage, Noah couldn''t help but click his tongue, he wasn''t that his current activity was ufortable, it was that he himself would like to be up there.

    Feeling the gaze, Luke turned back to see that amongst the nine runners, Noah was the closest to the carriage, "How are you even this fast?," Luke asked with a fascinated expression.

    Shrugging his shoulders while running, "Plenty of workout," Noah said with a light smile.

    Luke burst into a shortugh, as Noah couldn''t help but wonder how that was even possible.

    The carriage was moving really fast, and the conflict between his stationed body, and the carriage moving forward, should push him off the carriages top.

    But it seemed he probably had some sort of barrier that allowed those gestures possible.

    "We both know that, isn''t a good reason, but I''ll not push it. In the mean time try to catch up," Immediately Luke said those words, it seemed as though the ostriches heard him, and they immediately increased their already incredible speed.

    The sight of the ostriches obeying orders, without anyone holding their reins, really made Noah curious, but he could only give a light smile, as the carriage began to move further away from his running figure.

    Once again, Noah swept his gaze around his current teammates, he saw that everyone of them had a frown on their face, and seemed to be struggling, though not long after, Jonas shot past Noah, his figure zing with mes, as he immediately caught up with the carriage.

    Noah raised an eyebrow as he had read about such technique''s, which were basically called "movement techniques or spells".

    When executed they allowed the executer, achieve eleration that they normally shouldn''t be able to achieve, at the cost of Mana and stamina.

    If the executers'' body couldn''t keep up with the eleration, their body would either break down into a physical mess or die from the strain. But it seemed Jonas had learnt one.

    But the others proved him wrong, one after the other, they caught up with the carriage leaving small craters where they had previously been.

    Either their legs would light up with a colour, or a magic circle would appear beneath them as they shot forward.

    A few secondster, only James and Noah were left, which the former changed, when he performed some weird foot movements, and then he took a huge step forward, leaving a trail of water behind, as Noah was now thest.

    A wide grin cracked on Noah''s face, as faint sparks could be seen around him, his already slow moving environment slowed down even more, as Noah activated the ''speed forces''s'' effects to its barest minimum. Then he took a light step forward, just a light step.

    shing hundreds of meters in front of the carriage, Noah''s eye were wide open, he had moved too fast.

    ncing backwards, Noah could see that every person he could see, had an incredulos expression, as they had neither sensed, nor seen Noah when he ran past them.

    Deciding to maintain that speed, Noah looked forward to the road In front of him, leaving an even more surprised audience, wondering how he could maintain that speed, as they even began to respect the young man.

    They ran like this for many hours, as eventually they had to stop, though by this time, it was already night fall.

    Throughout the journey, the carriage, and the mini experts had never been able to catch up to Noah, who would only nce backwards once in a few hours.

    The group had only covered an incredibly miniscule distance in the map, as even with Noah''s top speed it would take him a while.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Setting up camp a few hundred meters from the road, the group had to make a clearing, to do this. After about an hour or so they were all done, as then did they see Augustus.

    "Good job today," Augustus said as he swept his gaze on the sitting figures of the mini experts, though itnded on Noah''s sitting figure, and spent a bit if time on it before moving.

    "You all should eat, and get some rest for tommorow," He added while he stretched his right hand forward, and two bags appeared on the ground. Immediately he did that, he went inside the parked carriage a few tens of meters away from the camp fire.

    With Augustus gone, Luke also left, but instead of entering the carriage, he sat on top of it, guarding his young master.

    Now that the two bosses were gone, the area fell silent.

    Apart from the crackling of the camp fire, no one uttered a word or sound for over a minute.

    That changed when, Bern stood up, picked the bags, opened them and began to divide the food stuff  inside them, since no oneined.

    The bags were filled with bread and dried meat, which they boiled, using conjured water and the camp fire.

    "You were awesome today", James said as he walked over to Noah''s sitting position, and sat beside him.

    A smile broke out in Noah''s face, "You all were. Honestly I had not expected those movements techniques," Noah said, as he took a huge bite from the already cooked meat.

    Chewing with an eyebrow raised, Noah couldn''t help but stare at the chunk of meat in his grasp. Immediately he swallowed some of the chewed bits, he felt energy rush into his body, as the meat seemed to be special.

    "This meat belongs to a magical beast. When cooked, they can help in providing energy to a person," James exined, while taking a bite from the meat in his hand. While also closing his eyes to savour it''s taste, and the feeling of energy rushing through his body.

    They ate alone for multiple minutes, as Noah found that apart from the first bite, the nigh euphoric feeling of energy rushing through his veins, didn''t ur again.

    He had thought that was normal, but James had never stopped closing his eyes, after every bite.

    Soon the meal got boring, as it only took a few minutes for Noah to finish it.

    Sweeping his gaze around the camp fire, Noah found that the others were also done, but weren''t talking to each other.

    Though each time his eye met someone''s, their expression would flicker, as it turned to that of both respect and fascination. Even Jonas who seemed to not care about anything.

    Eventually someone walked up to them.

    "Hi, I''m Matthew," the man said. Matthew looked to be in his middle ages. He had brown hair which was really short. He was around 5ft6 in height which made him shorter than Noah.

    His round face and bushy eyebrows gave him a funny and cunning look.

    "I know. Do you need anything?", Noah replied with a bored expression.

    Ignoring his expression.

    Matthew continued, "I saw your movement technique today, and it was impressive, coupled with your monstrous stamina it really got me thinking, how about we exin each other''s....", Mathew said, but before he could continue, Noah stood up.

    ncing at the middle aged man with cold eyes, Noah''s voice rang out, "If you have nothing to say, please leave", He said, as his voice spread out in the environment, alerting the others of the incident.

    Though before Noah could do, or say anything more, the remaining six who were currently sitting, shot up from there positions.

 Chapter 54 54. TENSION

    Feeling a strong tug on his left hand, which pulled him towards that position. Noah watched in utter shock and surprise, a metallic spear, wheeze past his former position, and struck the sitting Matthew on his head, piercing it, and killing the man on the spot.

    It took Noah only a milisecond to understand that, James had saved his life. He didn''t always expand his consciousness, because it hurt his head, when it was out for an extended period of time. Which was why he didn''t notice the spear.

    Immediately the spear struck Matthew, it didn''t take another second, before multiple spells wereunched by the rest of the team, who had reacted almost immediately.

    Large explosions resounded due to the collusion of spells. Immediately that event happened, Noah saw the figure of Luke jumping down the carriage, as they all formed a circle, each of them protecting themselves.

    At that point, Noah was able to expand his consciousness, as surprise still filled his mind. Though his consciousness had not been out, he ought to have sensed the attackers presence, but he sensed nothing, which was really weird.

    Though twenty five meters wasn''t much, whoever that attacked should be within such a range, or at least he would be able to sense another attack.

    Multiple minutes passed, as no other attacks appeared, the tension building inside their minds reached new levels, as nobody wanted to be the next target.

    Eventually something happened, but it wasn''t an attack, it was the sound of footsteps, which belonged to Luke.

    Walking out of the circle, Luke went towards the dead body of Matthew, seemingly ignoring the scene, he removed what looked to be a scroll from the end of the spear.

    Reading it''s contents, Luke''s expression changed to that of calmness, which made the already overflowing tension, rise even more.

    "You all should calm down, they are currently gone," Luke''s voice rang out, as he seemed to try and hold back the anger, that was beginning to find it''s way through his calm expression.

    No one moved for another minute or so, each of them seemingly reviewing his words, until it dawned on them, ''They are gone, how?'', each of them said Inwardly.

    Seeing that his employees were calm, Luke walked towards the carriage and entered it.

    Everyone stopped raising their weapons at that point. It seemed Luke was right, since at this point over thirty minutes had passed since the spear.

    Though their guards weren''t downpletely, as each of them apart from Noah, couldn''t help but get jumpy.

    This didn''t happen to Noah, because his consciousness was already out, and he had activated the effects of the speed force, which made his perception of the environment, even more slower than normal.

    Storing his staff inside his inventory, Noah''s eyes fell on James, as he opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted.

    "You don''t have to thank me, just manage to stay alive until we get out of here," James said, as his eyes were on the dead body of Matthew.

    It didn''t seem to bother him too much, but Noah could see that he was currently reminiscing. So he only nodded, and decided to leave him alone to his thoughts.

    Noah swept his gaze on the figures of the remaining six mini experts in his team.

    Astonishment couldn''t help but flow inside Noah''s mind, when he saw that none of them had fear on their expression. They simply looked worried, and battle ready.

    Smiling lightly at that sight, Noah decided to have start a conversation with them.

    Walking over to their position. The six had all sat in a circle, to probably always have someone watching their backs.

    "Hey," Noah said as he sat amongst them. His figure seemed to bring surprise to their faces, as they all followed his movements with their eyes.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It''s been one heck of a day," Bern said, as his gazended on Matthews corpse, before returning back to them.

    They all did the same, until a sigh escaped their mouths. "Do y''all think he had a family?," Jessica the middle aged woman said.

    Silence reigned in their midst, until Noah talked, "Who knows, the only person that does is him," pointing at the corpse.

    "After all we all signed up for this, knowing it would be dangerous," Noah added, and the others nodded.

    Although they were all forced to be present for the mission, they still didn''tin, as the pay enticed them into staying. After all if they so wanted, they could have escaped during the journey.

    "So what should we do now?", Henry the mid twenties man said.

    "We can only obey what our employers say," James butted in, and sat down beside Noah. Nobodyined about that gesture, as they had all seen, that he was the reason Noah was alive. Some even began see him in a new light.

    They all nodded at the answer, and all nced at the carriage, that had been silent for a while now.

    It seemed whatever Luke read was directly connected to their mission, or the situation in the Holon family.

    They sat like this for hours, as talks about their life and situations spread, that activity really helped in reducing the tension.

    Although they were considered moderately powerful in the lower society, someone in that same status had died in the blink of an eye, without leaving any trace of his existence.

    Nobody wanted that to happen to them, which was why they all silently agreed to talk about their life. In the span of a few hours, Noah learnt a lot about the personalities of his team members, which greatly relived them of their situations tension.

    During their talks, Bern had brought up the question of their Elemental affinities, and ''Jonas had been the first to answer, which was that he had an affinity for Fire. Followed by ''James who had an affinity for water, then ''Bern who had an affinity for earth, then ''Jessica who also had an affinity for earth, then ''Henry who had an affinity'' for wind, then ''Heath the woman who looked the oldest, who had an affinity for water.

    Followed by ''Mona who was the youngest looking woman, she suprisingly had an Affinity for ice, and was on her way to Crilion to meet a guild agent. Though she had not mentioned which guild, many ideas formed in the minds of the others.

    Finally it got to Noah''s turn, when he told them about his double affinity, the look of surprise still on their faces due to Mona''s element, vanished as it went through different changes, which ranged from astonishment, to envy, then back to surprise.

    It seemed double affinity users had a bigger chance at reaching greater heights in life.

    Eventually they spent the whole night talking, none of them felt the least bit sleepy, as their meal coupled with the still present tension, and the fact that they were tier 2''s in the middle stage, made that possible. Heck they could stay a week without sleeping, though that would put a lot of strain on their bodies.

    It was when the sun rose, that they saw the figures of Luke, and his young master Augustus.

    Although unlike his normal calm expression, Augustus''s face radiated coldness and anger, as he swept his gaze across the already standing mini experts, andstly the covered corpse of Matthew.

    Then back on his still-alive employees, as his voice; which sent chills down the spines of everyone present, rang out. "There has been a change of ns".

    _______________________________________

    *Author''s note*

    I found that most people don''t read the authors note, so I''ll be staying here whenever I want to pass out an important information.  Thank you.

 Chapter 55 55. MANSION

    That sentence could mean a lot, but currently they didn''t care about that, as immediately he finished his sentence, a rtively big bag appeared on his palm, and he threw it on the ground, right in front of the experts.

    The sound of coins clinking and rustling, spread in the air, followed by the silver glimmer of those coins, which confirmed that they were all silver coins!.

    The experts all gazed at the bag of coins for a few seconds, then back at Augustus, as they couldn''t help but swallow the lumps of saliva that had unconsciously umted in their mouths.

    "There is more where that came from.  "This is for the troubles ofst night," Augustus said.

    "Anyone who wants to leave now, can leave, I''ll pay you half of what I promised," Augustus continued, "But if you stay and continue with the new change if ns, I''ll triple the price".

    Their eyes were wide open, at those words. ''Tr...triple'', Noah said inwardly, cold sweat dripping from his back.

    ncing at the others, he saw that no one seemed ready to move, as the area remained silent for a few minutes, until Augustus nodded, then his voice rang out.

    "Luke!," he said. Who immediately rushed into their midst, and ced a big map on the ground. Gesturing at everyone to gather around it, his voice rang out.

    "We are changing our route. Our destination will remain the same, only that we are going to stop at a mansion along the way....." he started, as the voice of Noah rang out.

    "What exactly are we doing, when we get to this mansion?," he said as the others nodded in affirmation.

    "Attack it," Augustus said. As everyone turned to look at him with weird expressions.

    "There is someone we have to take with us to Crilion, I was going to postpone this after i met with my friend, but things have changed I am pushing this forward,". He exined.

    "But don''t worry, the mansion is only run by three individuals in the peak of tier 2, but we''ll deal with them," Luke added.

    The minds of seven of the mini experts went through different emotions, as the thought of fighting people in the peak of tier 2, scared them. And only Noah remained calm, as his voice rang out.

    "Will they be aware of our arrival," he said with narrowed eyes.

    Heaving a sigh at how precise Noah''s questions were, Luke opened his mouth to talk. "Yes they might..,".

    The already gradually receding fear in the minds of the group, apart from Noah, returned; as weirdly the thoughts of leaving crossed their minds, but when they nced at the bag of coins it vanished.

    "Once again do not worry, we have a solution for that," Augustus voice rang out.

    Doubts surged in the mini experts minds, as they wanted to voice out theirin, but when they saw Noah''s calm expression, they could only push it inside, as the doubts fed on their confidence.

    Unknowingly to them, the reason Noah wasn''t scared, was because he knew unless someone in the tier 3 or higher attacked them, no one his level could really put his life in danger, after all he also had his Superspeed.

    The nning continued for a bit more than two hours, by that time the sun was already a bit high up in the sky.

    Many topics were discussed as ording to Luke''s calctions, if all went well, they would get to Crilion at just a day or twote, which wasn''t much, considering the fact that they would be changing routes, and even engaging in a fight.

    With the nning done, they set out after they had burnt the corpse of Matthew, they didn''t know his family, or if he even had one, and couldn''t bother with his corpse.

    Once again, Noah''s figure was at the forefront for a few hours, but when they got to the diversion point, the carriage slowed down, though still fast, it was slow enough to allow the mini experts, fanout on all sides of the carriage, with Luke on top of it.

    It got to a point where they encountered a few magical beasts that had strayed from inside the forest.

    The beasts were mostly in tier 1, for the first few days of their travel, but then they began to encounter tier 2 beasts, which were all easily taken care of, since the creatures were mostly in the lower stage, and only a few in the middle stage.

    The multiple nights of no attacks, or incident at all. Increased the tension in the minds of the group, not even Noah escaped that feeling, since his life was on the line every time he wasn''t looking.

    The group bonded more, they weren''t yet in the stage of friendship, but already good aquintences, the multiple nights of talks, made the ever-hanging fear of death, bearable.

    Coupled with the magical beasts the group met on the way. Which they used as mediums to vent their frustration.

    The Mana denisty in the area steadily began to increase, as lush greenery eventually entered their sigh after eight days, into their journey, at this point their position to the mansion was only a few couple of days away.<novelnext></novelnext>

    During those days, Noah and James, could be seen sparing with each other, but this wasn''t a normal spar, since Noah wasn''t weilding his staff, but a pair of Daggers.

    During their training, Noah found out that James wasn''t just very good with daggers, he was a frigging monster.

    His agility and precision scared Noah to no end. Noah confirmed that if not for his slow motion skill, he would die multiple times in one fight.

    Though thanks to his innate ability, ''Speed learning'', it only took Noah five days to get up to a standard level though not yet as good as James, he was at a level where he could utilize his dexterity skill to almost it''s maximum, killing magical beast became easy, as once, Noah even regretted choosing a staff instead of a dagger, but he pushed that to the back of his minds, after all learning two weapons was very good.

    As Noah improved in his dagger learning skills, James also improved. He found that Noah was a monster when it came to dodging, only when Noah feinted attacks, would he be able to touch him, as his friend seemed untouchable and all knowing, which helped him making in good decisions, as he also saw himself get faster after every exchange, since he always tried to match Noah in terms of speed and stamina, but always failed, though most of the times he would almost be close, but Noah would seemingly turning a blur, and that was it, he lost.

    Once in a while the others from the group would join their spar, as they gained respect for each other.

    While Noah found that surprisingly, ice actually slowed him down.

    Whenever he was in a one on one fight with Mona, each time she spread her ice in the environment, Noah''s agility and sheer speed would reduce by a significant margin, though he was still very fast, he wasn''t at his fastest.

    During one of those days, Noah decided to check this incredible woman''s status, and when he did, his view of the world changed.

    [Mona]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 37]

    [Chances of death: 54%]

    Tremors ran through Noah''s mind when he read this. Surprising Mona had the highest chance of killing him, than even the experts in the peak of tier 2.

    Noah had not yet understood how the system gauged a person''s fighting prowess, but he now he knew that their element was also a big ying factor.

    On their eleventh night into the journey, after they had finished setting camp, when Augustus exited the carriage, because the next day they would reach the mansion. This made a lot of the dispersed tension return as this was kind of like a grand finale.

    Augustus brought out items, which he exined would cover their presence, to not alert the guards of the mansion. They had all kept it for the night, since he exined it would onlyst half a day.

    On the twelfth day, they set out, as most of them slept very well the other night, after all the next day could be theirst.

    They ran for a few hours but this time much more slower, because the n was to attack during nightfall.

    After a few hours past afternoon, they made a quick stop, whereby they all wore the items, rested a bit and continued.

    After about two hourster, a massive brown mansion entered their sights.

    _________________________________

    *Authors note*

    Hey guys, I''m here again, I''ve been thinking, how about I change the release frequency to only Saturdays, but this time around 14 chapters every Saturday.

    The chapters are progressing too slowly, and I want to change that.

    Though it would depend on what you guys say. Please tell me if you would be okay with that, or if you are okay with one chapter per day. You can do that in thement section.

    Thank you.

    I''m really sorry for taking your time.

 Chapter 56 56. ESTEEMED GUEST

    The mansion was painted brown, as it had multiple wings attached to it, they couldn''t see all of its size, but it was big.

    Immediately the group was multiple hundreds of meters away from the mansion. They parked the carriage as the stunning figure of Augustus and Luke exited the carriage.

    Augustus was currently draped in what looked like a ck kamishimo, that fit him perfectly, coupled with the multiple flickering inscriptions that seemed to scream defense. In his hand was a Katana, which when coupled with his grey ponytail, made him resemble a real samurai.

    Luke himself was actually in a grey armor, which also flickered on and off with simr colored inscriptions, though eventually, they died down. Strapped to his back was a giant sword though it didn''t seem to bother his movements since he looked incrediblyfortable.

    All in all, their figures radiated danger.

    Bringing out a scroll, and spreading it on the ground, to Noah''s shock, he found that the scroll housed theyout of the Mansion, with even exnations.

    Noah couldn''t help but voice out his confusion. "How do you even have a blueprint of the Mansion, I thought this was a change of n," Noah asked as he inspected the scroll.

    "This building belongs to the Holon family, and before I left the main mansion, I took all scrolls that had theyouts of any of our multiple mansions," Augustus exined with a shrug.

    Nodding his head, Noah''s voice rang out, "Please rebrief us on our n,".

    The mansion was used by the Holon family to breed experts who would be loyal to the, and there were exactly five of these types of mansions, where multiple experts had been made.

    But the only difference about this one was that it had only recently been set up a few decades ago, which was why the experts there were only as strong as tier 1 and 2. Augustus exined that the remaining four had multiple experts in tier 3 and upwards.

    The n was to enter the mansionpound, through the back gate which was where they currently were, and from there take out the weaker numbers, while Augustus and Luke would take care of the peak tier 2''s.

    This sounded easy, until when Augustus Informed them that, the ce contained multiple experts at their level, that, the real reason they were attacking the mansion, was to rescue a person, and that their most important job was to create a mess big enough for Augustus and Luke to deal with the people in charge, and rescue the person.

    Bern had asked how they would return, and the answer was, that they would have to meet up at their current position, which was where the carriage was, they would spend another day, or two going back to a new route that would take them to Crilion.

    After a bit over thirty minutes, the debriefing was done, they had a bit over an hour toplete this rescue of the still unknown person, and return to the position of the carriage.

    But a question was brought up, "Who''s gon stay behind to watch the carriage?" the voice of Jessica rang out, bringing all attention to her.

    "I''ll do it," Noah announced, as all eyes fell on him. Truth be told he wanted to fight some people, but he had a lot of doubts about the whole rescue mission, and if no one contested it with him, he would stay.

    "No I''ll stay, they will need your incredible speed to finish off most of the targets," the voice of James rang out, "And besides, I am the weakest here, I''ll just be deadweight," he added while ncing at Jonas, who avoided it.

    Sighing inwardly at James'' point, Noah retrieved his staff from the inventory.

    Nodding at their decision, Luke shot a threatening nce at James, which meant, ''Don''t you dare run away.

    Focusing on the seven, Luke''s voice rang out, "Let''s go!".

    #

    #

    Inside the walls of the brown mansion, our mc and his group are about to forcefully enter, and carry out a rescue mission.

    Within a big chamber, adorned with multiple types and colors of tapestries, carpets, and curtains, which isn''t the main focus here.

    The figures of two men and a woman could be seen sitting around a small ck table and discussing something.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Their voices were low even though they had power in the peak of tier 2, as at times it would seemingly turn to whispers, though they still heard each other due to their heightened sense, as experts in tier 2.

    "It''s been twelve days since we sent that golem. It crumbled signifying, it hadpleted its mission, but do you think he would take the bait?" one of the three present said.

    He was a man who looked to be in his early thirties, he had short ck hair, and his eyes were brown, he currently wore a brown robe like his colleagues.

    The woman present burst intoughter, then she immediately reduced her voice, and replied, "Of course, he would. She is his lover after all,".

    The woman looked to be in her mid-thirties but was actually above average in looks. She had ck hair that reached her shoulder, which looked neatly groomed and oiled. Her eyes were ck which gave her a mysterious look whenever she was silent.

    "You two should stop the argument, we all know he is either here or very close. We should visit our esteemed guests, to see if they need anything," Thest person of the trio said, in a tone so silent, that his audience had to strain their ears to make out what he said.

    The man looked the oldest, being at around histe forties or early fifties, his aura was also the strongest as it threatened to spill over into the next realm any second. The man had blue long hair, and grey eyes, he wasn''t blind as they seemed to shimmer in the dimly lit environment of the room.

    All standing up from their seats, at the same time, without any more words, they left the room. Walking down the passageway, which was lit with bright lights due to the sun already beginning to set.

    The trio encountered multiple other experts, who would bow respectfully at their passage, straightening their positions after the trio had walked past them.

    They walked for a few minutes, until the man at the forefront, who was the oldest, opened a brown door, which led to a stairway that went deeper down into the building.

    It didn''t take long for them the walk down the flight of stairs, as a big ck metal door entered their sights.

    Opening the door, the three experts were greeted with the smell of damp air, as the ce was constantly locked.

    The room, or rather the hall which they entered, featured multiple cell-like structures, as even the smell of corpses permeated the whole ce, though it didn''t seem to bother the three.

    Walking for a few seconds, they were greeted with the sight, of ady chained to the ceiling with both her arms, which caused her thinly clothed figure to dangle left and right.

    She seemed to notice the three new presences, as she raised her blonde haired head, to nce at them.

    Immediately she saw who her visitors were, she put down her head seemed to rest.

    Her body was filled with multiple wounds, as the woman herself was an expert in the peak of tier 2 like them.

    This sight made cold sweat run down the backs of the three, as they turned their heads towards the sitting figure by the side.

    The man had an expressionless face, which made him look meek, but the three knew that was the face he made when he was bored.

    The trio bowed towards this cleanly clothed figure, as he nced towards them, and back at the chaineddy, then he gently rose from his seat.

    Straightening his position, an intense aura seeped out of his figure, sending chills down the spines of the trio, as this their esteemed guest, radiated power in the realm of tier 3!!!.

    __________________________

    *Authors note*

    I''m still open to more answers to my previous suggestion.

    Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

 Chapter 57 57. ATTACKING

    Moving quietly among the various bushes and trees, nine figures, which belonged to the hired team of Augustus; the second child of the house of Holon, that had been kicked out by his sister, stopped in front of a ck metallic door on the outside wall.

    Everyone present wondered why it wasn''t guarded, as their answer came quickly. "Only those who have been given permission, or bear the blood of the Holon family can open such doors safely," Augustus exined, as he promptly rushed towards the door, bit his finger which drew blood, then traced a rune of sorts on it.

    The nine watched as the door lit up with a brown radiance, though it wasn''t that bright, then immediately after, the sound of locks opening resounded as the door opened before them.

    Immediately that happened, the voice of Augustus rang out, "Don''t forget, you are to get out using this door, it won''t close until someone manually does, so make sure to not leave any person alive that can do this," he exined in a low tone.

    All of them nodded, as they put on stern  expressions. Seeing that gesture, Augustus walked through the door first, then the others did the same.

    A massive building entered their sights, they saw multiple small gardens, and empty spaces filled with sand, probably for training.

    Immediately they had sessfully entered, Augustus and Luke ran towards a direction, leaving the rest, who weren''t worried, since they all knew what their primary jobs were, ''Create chaos''.

    Noah himself could only smile while he cast ''energy armour'', a magical circle expanded beneath him, while tendrils of electrical energy shot out, wrapping around his body, and leaving behind only a dull halo.

    With that done, Noah nced around to see that his teammates, were shooting perplexed gaze''s at him. Smiling in response to their gaze''s, Noah moved forward.

    Expanding his consciousness, he managed to pick up multiple aura''s, they mostly belonged to those in tier 1, and a few in tier 2.

    Running towards the area that was congregated the most ording to what he felt. Noah found himself rushing down a hallway, his staff being waved left and right, as he cut down the numerous people he saw on the passage way.

    He didn''t let his mind wander into the fact that, he could be killing potentially innocent people, while he kicked a thick wooden door down. He saw over thirty humans, who were currently sitting and chatting, some standing, while they ate the food before them.

    ncing behind himself, Noah found that he had left his teammates behind, but soon enough, multiple explosions rang out and screams could also be heard.

    Steeling his heart, Noah activated the effects of the speed force, which caused his environment to slow down even more, as the figures of people trying to attack him basically stopped.

    Noah didn''t hide his speed, because he knew none of them would be leaving alive.

    Taking a step forward, while switching his staff with a pair of Daggers. Noah did a series of finger movements with the daggers, as he arrived before his first victim.

    shing at the young man''s chest, Noah watched In slow motion, the mans chest split open, as a fountain of fresh blood threatened to spill out, but Noah was faster.

    Moving onto his next target before the first knew he was dead, Noah shed upwards at his head...

    This continued for just seven seconds, as Noah took care of the tier 1 individuals, in the cafeteria of sorts in record time.

    Exiting the room, with a bloodied pair of daggers, but not a single drop of blood on him, Noah did a side step, dodging the arrow of water, that tried to kill him.

    ncing at the expert that did this, with cold eyes, Noah sensed that he was a tier 2, but merely in the lower stage.

    The man also sensed the young man''s power to be much higher than his, so he decided to try and escape, but before that thought couldpletely form in his mind, he saw Noah''s figure disappear, and in the next instant, he found that his perceptions of the environment, was currently upside down, also seeing a headless body that resembled his very much. The man died with surprise in his eyes.

    Rushing through the passage way, while chaos spread every where, Noah continued taking care of the experts he encountered. He also tried his best not to encounter his teammates, as he went deeper in to the mansion.

    Noah found halls that stretched for multiple tens of meters, with doors on each side, he clicked his tongue, as this was going to take a while.

    *

    *<novelnext></novelnext>

    *

    Dashing down a brightly lit hall, while taking rights and lefts, as though they knew theyout of the Mansion, Luke, and Augustus cut down anyone that was unfortunate enough to encounter their figures.

    Taking a right into one of the multiple other passages. Augustus swung his sword so fast, it seemed as though he hadn''t moved, though the divided body of the tier 2 expert in front of them proved that he had actually attacked.

    They had gotten into the inner walls of the mansion, where the elites or so stayed.

    It was a ce where only those chosen by the Holon family could have ess to, as cultivation resources were a bit more abundant than the outer walls.

    ncing at the figure of Luke, who currently had a map stretched out in front of him, while he led the duo deeper into the mansion.

    Augustus couldn''t help but think about the person he was here to save.

    He had put her in mortal danger by just being her lover. Honestly he had wanted to break their rtionship up when things began to turn sour in his family, since, all of his younger brothers had sided with his elder sister.

    Which meant that something was brewing.

    Taking another right, ording to Luke''s direction. Augustus found that there were multiple tier 2 expert and tier 1 humans in the hall. Honestly he wished he had brought the mysterious guy who had the capability of immense speed.

    If his family got their hands on someone like him, even without his rare elemental affinity, he would grow up to be incredibly strong, and he had seen a lot of them.

    One was his old tutor, just at the bottom of tier 3, but most middle staged respected him because of his strength. But eventually he was killed during a mission.

    Heaving a sigh at the sad memory, Augustus cast a spell. A magic circle expanded right in front of him, as multiple jets of mes shot out, devouring all that was in their path, but he wasn''t done.

    Another magic circle expanded above him, and des of air materlized, and shot out randomly, but also managed to finish off the people that had survived the jets of mes.

    Surprisingly, Augustus was also a double affinity user, though his weren''t rare. This was one of the reasons his sister hated him.

    Arriving inside a hallway, which was the same as the one the three peak stage tier 2''s used.

    Sighting that their goal wasn''t far, Luke jumped in front of Augustus, as he mmed the floor with his giant sword, while also a casting a spell.

    A magic circle flickered on his sword. Immediately it made contact with the floor, multiple spikes made from earth shot out, impaling the scrambling experts.

    Though amidst the chaos, an area remained unaffected by the spell, as three aura''s spread out, followed by the figures of the three formerly mentioned peak stage experts.

    "It''s a pleasure to meet you, young master Augustus," the oldest of the trio said, while he locked gaze with Augustus.

    _____________________________

    *Authors note*

    Hope you enjoyed the chapter, don''t forget toment.

    Thank you.

 Chapter 58 58. RESCUE

    Augustus expression changed to that of coldness, he had never met these experts before, but from the letter he received, he understood they meant no good.

    "Would it be possible if you could get out of my way, without a fight," Augustus said, while he stared at the trio, inspecting them.

    Finding that the old man was the strongest, followed by thedy, thenstly the man, Augustus frowned inwardly, but kept a cold demeanor.

    "That wouldn''t be possible young master," the old man replied.

    Shaking his head, Augustus''s voice rang out, "Then may I know your names?," he said. Although he read files about the current keepers of the mansion, their names wasn''t included.

    "Of course. I am Alca, head of the current keepers of this mansion," Alca announced.

    "I am Brte a keeper of this mansion,"  thedy announced.

    "I am Gideon, a keeper of this mansion," thest man said.

    "I am Augustus Holon, of the Holon noble family," Augustus shouted. though

    It seemed unnecessary for him to do so. After a few seconds he saw that the reaction he expected didn''t happen.

    ''I see, they have not taken the oath yet. I at least, expected them to have,'' Augustus said inwardly, as a sigh escaped his mouth.

    "I am Luke. Personal guard to the second son of the house of Holon," Luke announced, while ncing at his master, who nodded.

    Readying himself, Augustus watched as the trio cast spells. Alca sent a jet of densely packed water, Brte shot multiple arrows made of Earth, and Gideon conjured a small tornado.

    Each of those spells charged at Luke and Augustus, but they were ready themselves.

    A magic circle appeared in front of the duo, then a thick 7/7ft wall of fire flickered into existence. Immediately that happened, Luke stabbed the ground with his giant sword, then a wall made of earth, the same size as the mes, rose up.

    Loud explosions resounded, when the spells collided. The attacks of the three experts managed to destroy the elemental walls, but lost a lot of power in the process, though they still managed to get through, but by that time their targets were gone.

    Jumping to the side where the training court was, three magic circles glowing with red radiance appeared around Augustus, as clyndrical mes emerged out of them, ravaging the hallway, causing pirs to fall, and spreading a bit of destruction.

    He managed to avoid Luke''s figure, but the attack did nothing to his targets, as a secondter the mes were forcefully dispersed, then a small beam of water shot towards him, though he dodged it with a long side step.

    Frowning at the oue, he saw that Gideon and Brte, moved towards Luke, while Alca focused on him.

    Understanding what they nned to do, Augustus tried to run towards his personal guard.

    Taking a step forward, immediately his feet touched the ground, his instincts raged at him, as he jumped backwards with all the strength his legs could muster.

    Barely missing the magic circle, that flickered where he formerly stood, followed by a cylindrical jet of water shooting upwards.

    Frowning at the disturbance, Augustus nced at Luke, seeing that he was holding on a bit, he parried the sword that appeared in front of him.

    "You have good reflexes young master," Alca''s voice rang out, while he swung his sword multiple times at Augustus, who continued to block them sessfully.

    Not responding to the man''s words, Augustus cast a spell, ''Turbnce'' he whispered.

    Immediately he did; a magical circle expanded above them, for a few tens of meters, then the wind began to move in an erratic motion, gaining speed every second, as they threatened to lift Augustus off his foot.

    Augustus didnt like this spell, because it could also hurt him, but he needed Alca a bit far away for him.

    Also casting air des, while shifting the flow of air currents towards the old man.

    Augustus watched Alca gain multiple wounds, while he tried to escape the deadly wind currents, which had begun to form a 4 meters tall tornado around him.

    Continuously casting air des inside the air currents, Augustus moved to help Luke.

    Unsheathing his sword, he shut his eyes just for a milisecond, before opening them.

    shing downwards at the duo currently trying to break Luke''s defense.

    A sh made of dense mes shot out, but didn''t manage to hit his targets. Tough he seeded in interrupting their attacks.

    Dashing towards the hallway, Augustus was about to arrive there, when an explosion resounded, sending him flying for a few meters, though he managed tond on his feet.

    Straightening his position, Augustus''s eyes fell on where the explosion came from.

    Standing inside a curved wall of water, the bloodied figure of Alca could be seen. His face filled with wrath, while his voice rang out, "Time to stop ying," he announced.

    Immediately he said those words, short explosion resounded, which made Augustus snap his head towards Luke.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His eyes were wide open, when he saw a sword going through Luke''s left shoulder, Brte and Gideon, glowing with yellow and green respectively, as it seemed that they had been powered up.

    "I''m okay young master," Luke shouted, as he mmed his giant sword on Brte sending her flying.

    Heaving a deep sigh, Augustus jumped backwards, dodging the multiple spears of water.

    Focusing on his current opponent, '' I''ll have to finish this fast,'' he said inwardly, while his aura intensified, his attire glowing with multiple inscriptions, then a green and red aura light shone around him.

    This was the stage a person had to get to when they were about to breakthrough into tier 3, this was the result of their Mana concentrating so much, that it began to take an actual colour, and also form a core!.

    Taking a step forward, Augustus figured disappeared, as he appeared in front of Alca.

    Lunging forward, he watched as two colours red and green wrapped around his sword, while it rushed forward.

    Seeing Augustus''s attack, Alca made multiple small magic circles appeare in front of the swords trajectory, which formed small walls of water.

    Shock filled Alca''s mind when he saw the sword piercing each of the water walls, then..

    BOOOM!.

    And explosion resounded, as both experts were flunged backwards, each receiving injuries, with Alca being more injured.

    ncing at Augustus, he saw him disappear. Confirming his suspicion, that the young master was indeed faster than he was.

    Catching a slight sh, Alca ced his sword there, with the hope to block the iing attack. Although he got the swords direction right, when the sword met his'', an incredible force mmed it, as his grip threatened to give way.

    Gritting his teeth, Alca held on, while putting his own weight into the sword trying to counter the force. But he failed miserably.

    The sword flew at of his grip, as in the next second, Augustus shed multiple times, inflicting gashing wounds on his body, coupled with the ones he had before, worsening his condition.

    Landing on the ground, with the grace of a rock, Alca watched with pure horror and surprise, Augustus stand right above him.

    While he recalled words the tier 3 expert had told him, "Don''t underestimate him, he may be young, but he isn''t weak,".

    The words sounded boastful of the young master, but now, when he looked back at their fight, it didn''t make any sense, he had barely done anything and now he was lying in the pool of his own blood.

    "Please spare me," Alca''s weak voice rang out.

    ncing at the nigh dead man, Augustus wondered why the fight had been so short, he had fought magical beasts that gave him a much harder time.

    Rasing his sword, he brought it down, cutting the man''s head, ending his life. Sweeping his gaze on his guard he dashed forward to assist.

    The fight continued for the next series of minutes, as thest figures standing belonged to Luke and Augustus.

    Brte and Gideon had been easy to take care of, since Augustus was the strongest among the four seasons of them.

    "Let''s go," Augustus said, while sheathing his sword, and helping Luke up.

    He had gotten injured multiple times, but he could still manage without passing out.

    Walking down the destroyed hall way, Augustus had to move some debris to get to the door of their target

    Opening it, they went down a flight of stairs, and found a ck metallic door.

    Opening the door, the stench of rotten corpses, invaded their noses.

    Walking down the hall, Augustus saw the figure of a woman chained to the ceiling with her hands, causing her body to dangle.

    Thedy raised her head to look at the person that entered, but immediately she did, tears rolled down her eyes.

    Watching this scene for a few seconds, Augustus''s voice rang out, "I''vee for you Lisa."

    ___________________________

    *Authors note*

    Sorry for the superte chapter. See you guys next week saturday with 14 chapters. I hope the power stones don''t drop, cause if they do, that would seriously hurt.

    Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter, don''t forget to leave ament.

    __________________________

 Chapter 59 59. SIGNAL

    Around half an hour before the fights started...

    The expert straightened his position, then an intense aura seeped out of his figure, sending chills down the trios spine, then they felt all their secrets, wereid bare before the expert.

    "They are here," the man''s voice rang out.

    This startled the trio, who could only shoot nces at each other without a single word.

    "Just nine of them," the experts voice rang out.

    "Make sure to stop him from getting here, Alca,"

    "He may be young but from all the years I''ve watched him grow, he is definitely not weak. After all he, and that his guard managed to escape the main mansion alive even after we hired multiple men to kill him." The expert exined.

    The trio bowed at his words, as Alca grit his teeth in annoyance, but didn''t allow it to appear on his face.

    "I''ll proceed to my quarters, now," the man said as he turned to walk away,

    but Alca''s voice stopped him.

    "I''m sorry for my disturbance, but may I ask a question," Alca said with a deep bow.

    The expert nodded his head in approval.

    "Why won''t you kill Young master Augustus yourself, you have a better chance than we do?," Alca said.

    The man simply smiled, while words proceeded out of his mouth, "That is because I have an oath with the Holon family."

    Immediately he finished those words, he left the prison of sorts, and went back to his quarters.

    Leaving a confused set of humans who couldn''t help go into deep thought, ''An oath?,'' Alca said inwardly.

    They had not been asked to take an oath, he wasn''t sure why, but he didn''t like the ideas his mind gave him.

    *

    *

    *

    Inside a room, the figure of the expert could been seen cultivating, as he sat crossed-legged, and waves of mana flowed towards him, those waves of mana seemed to get sucked into an area just below his chest.

    At this point the fight had started, since he could hear the muffled sound of explosions, and rumbles.

    After a while, the expert sighed, then opened his eyes. He stood from his cross-legged position, sat behind a table, brought out a jug of wine and started drinking.

    ''"Let''s see what''s going on outside," the man muttered, as immediately his aura red just a bit, then he expanded his consciousness, which covered the whole mansion!.

    Everything happening, he saw, including the fact that the trio were dead, and Augustus was currently unchaining his woman.

    Surprisingly a grin broke out on his face, as it seemed not bothered by the fact that many were being ughtered, and the very person he needed to kill was having his way.

    He actually continued drinking, while he recalled the conversation he had with Augustus''s sister before arriving here.

    He recalled her informing him that the trio, who were now dead nned to revolt, and the whole ce was already disposable, the main attraction was Augustus''s woman.

    Seeping the wine from the cup he had, the expert continued to rx, as he watched tier 1''s get ughtered, while a few tier 2''s held on, it actually surprised the man, that just seven people could do so much damage in mere minutes.

    Though something caught his eye, or rather someone. This person could surprisingly expand his consciousness and was killing experts his mates like they were ants before his unholy speed, as with the way this young man was moving, the expert was certain he could solo the whole mansion, and in record time.

    With this thought the expert decided to get serious, he ignored the fact, that Augustus was done unchaining his woman, and focused on the low realmed expert.

    #

    #

    Dashing through the multiple halls, Noah shed left and right with his daggers, as his opponents were dead before they knew it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This massacre as Noah had realized, had been going on for a while now, and the amount of people remaining had drastically reduced, Noah wasn''t sure if the other''s were okay, so after a while he decided to return back to the outer walls, since during the minutes he had been killing, he found that a wall sepearated the outside from the inner circle, though there was a gate.

    Dashing through the halls, Noah got to an open court, he wasn''t yet in the outside walls, but this was just a stop before that.

    Sighting a few experts, Noah spread his arms, bringing them back to his body after he had run past the experts, they all dropped dead. A fountain of blood gushing out either their necks or stomachs.

    Honestly he had gotten bored of killing lower levelled experts, coupled with the fact that he had killed nearly a hundred people without gaining a single level.

    shing continuously, Noah came to a halt, ncing around he saw that no one was currently around apart from he and the multiple dead bodies.

    nting his head to the side, Noah dodged an arrow. Sweeping his gaze around he found the culprit. Dashing towards the person, while basically disappearing, Noah arrived in front of the shivering woman, as with cold eyes he performed a horizontal sh.

    Watching her head roll, with red blood flying everywhere, Noah was about to move when a notification popped up.

    [You have killed you hundredth human]

    [You have gained title: Killer]

    [Killer: A being that values no human life, as it goes on a killing spree. When in a fight grants 5% bonus to your stats and reduces your ability to feel sympathy by 2%]

    [Killer titles, next level up to -->> [intermediate Killer, kill 500 humans[0/500.]

    Noah read this message, as his heart shook from the name the system gave him. The feeling the boost gave him was washed away by the feeling he was currently having.

    Heaving a heavy sigh, Noah looked up at the sky, seeing that it was almost time for night fall, he decided it was time to move, but before he could something startled him.

    Noah had left his consciousness unfolded, which allowed him to see everything around him without having to looking, but he felt something touch his consciousness!!.

    Focusing on his surrounding, he tried to inspect the environment, since he was currently alone, but when he got to a particr spot, his wave of consciousness shattered, as it was unable to go past that position.

    Immediately that happened, Noah felt the undescribable feeling of being watched.

    Many ideas surged through his mind, but only one conclusions seemed correct, ''A tier 3!'' he shouted in his mind, this was because only from tier 3 should a person he able to unfold their consciousness, he was just an anomaly

    Noah knew if he was right the the entire mission was doomed. Feeling something make contact with his consciousness before he could run, Noah heard a voice.

    "Who exactly are you?." the voice of a man said, while Noah froze, ''People can talk through their consciousness?''. He said Inwardly.

    "Yes people can," the voice answered.

    Noah began to freak out, at that point, unconsciously orange sparks began to umte around his body, which boosted Noah''s mental faculties.

    "What the...." the expert exmained, because suddenly, he couldn''t make out Noah''s thoughts, for they were too fast.

    "I do not know why you can do such things, but I''ll take you." the man said.

    Immediately Noah heard those words, he felt an unknown force wrap around him tightly and begin to lift him up.

    His eyes widened at that point. All of a sudden Noah didn''t care less if the mission was sessful or not, he wasn''t going to get himself captured for anything.

    It was with this thought, that his eyes zed with an orange light, his body released loads of energy, as Noah became a shining figure.

    Seeing that this wasn''t enough to let the man''s consciousness leave him, Noah thought of multiple things in the span of an instant, then he came to a conclusion.

    The expert was currently somewhere in the whole mansion, which meant if he were to be distracted he wouldn''t be able to keep Noah bound. ''I must destroy the entire ce,'' Noah concluded.

    How was he going to do that, he wasn''t even in the peak of tier 2, and wanted to destroy the whole ce, the answer would be to summon Cudgel, but he couldn''t do that, since he himself risked dying.

    BOOOOOOM!.

    ? An explosion resounded, as Noah managed to nce behind himself, to see a tall pole made of earth.

    This was the sign that Augustus said meant the mission was a sess, and everyone was to return to the carriage.

 Chapter 60 60. ESCAPE

    The expert watched with pure shock,  Noah''s body light up, with so much energy that it strained his consciousness!!!.

    His consciousness threatened to let the young man go, but he held on. This young man wasn''t ordinary in the slightest, as he had never seen such a technique before, so he had to take care of him.

    That was when he saw Luke the personal guard was of Augustus erecting a pole of earth, immediately making the people he brought, stop their fighting and begin to dash towards the exit.

    The man wanted to do something, but he couldn''t, he had no doubt that the person he trapped would escape if he lost concentration, because the man was very heavy, and shockingly he couldn''t sense an ounce of auraing from the man, but he could see him, which meant a lot of things, normal not being one of them.

    Heaving a deep sigh, while his face twisted because of the mental strain.

    The man brought out a pill from his space ring. Swallowing it, he felt only a miniscule amount of relief, and was forced to take two more.

    This pill was a medicine, used to boost the mental faculties. Although pills that could work for those at his level weren''t rare, but still expensive.

    It wasn''t until after he had taken seven of them, could he stop frowning in pain.

    Getting up from his seat, he walked towards the door, he figured if he couldy his hands on the young man, he would be able secure his capture.

    As for Augustus and his team escape, he didn''t care, after all the n had never been to capture him in the mansion.

    Exiting his room, he began to walk towards the direction of his captive, after a few seconds he decided to also bring the young man closer to him.

    #

    #

    Silence had reigned inside of Noah''s head, although he was constantly thinking of a way to escape, it had been but a minute since the stone pole, and no voice had spoken to him.

    Heck one time he felt like the unknown energy, or rather the tier 3 experts'' consciousness, would let him go, but it returned to its full grip.

    That all changed when his body began to move!.

    Noah''s mind pushed itself to it''s limit, his body released more energy, as he became even brighter, though a notification that Noah had never thought possible, popped up.

    [WARNING WARNING WARNING]

    [Your body is going into energy over load, continue and you risk falling apart]

    [WARNING WARNING WARNING]

    [Your body is going into energy over load, continue and you risk falling apart]

    Shock ran through Noah''s mind, as all thoughts were halted, ''Overload?, falling apart?'', Noah said inwardly.

    As if answering his question, Noah noticed something, it was so small that if not for his heightened brain activity he wouldn''t have noticed it.

    Right there, on his right arm, a tiny piece of his skin fell off, and turned to dust a milisecondter!!.

    Fear gripped Noah, as to his horror, his body released more energy, and he witnessed more of his skin turn to dust.

    Immediately that happened, something clicked inside his head, Noah remembered a skill he had never used before, and it''s usefulness seemed to fit this situation perfectly.

    [Speed clones: Call upon clones made from the depths of the "Speed Force" to confuse your enemies. They are half as fast and strong as you, and can be made to explode into an attack made of both lightning and Air. You can also take over their body to see what they see and hear what they hear.

    Currently clones able to summon [1]

    Cost 50% of total Mana , Duration: Until destroyed. Cool down N/A ]

    Casting the summoning skill. Noah watched as the energy that umted around his bodye to a halt, then a orange magic circle appeared right in front of him, with that magic circle came a big drain to his nana reserves. Noah had never felt this way before, after all fifty percent of his mana was going into the skill.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A milisecondter, a hand emerged out of the magic circle, followed by the summons whole body, but it looked unstable, but it didn''t have any of Noah''s facial features, only eyes and ears.

    Immediately it got out into the open, the halted electrical energy around his figure flowed towards the clone, entering it, and bringing it to life.

    An Instant after that happened, Noah felt like he had found a lost limb, he immediately knew how to control the summon, and that was what he did.

    Commanding the clone to grab hold of him, Noah made it run, with his body in its hands.

    And to his expected surprise, it failed to work, it seemed a person mental wave wasn''t just an invisible force it could also hold things in ce, even after  external force tampered with it, but Noah had never utilized it this way.

    Heaving a deep sigh, Noah nced at his body. After the clone had siphoned some of the energy around him, he had stopped falling apart, and the system had stopped sending warning messages.

    ''I guess that is the only thing I can do now,'' Noah thought.

    ncing at the clone, Noah also looked at himself with the clones eyes, and he had to admit that he was good looking, very; actually.

    Kicking that thought out his mind, Noah proceeded toplete his escape.

    The tier 3 expert had not yet caught hold of his clone even after multiple seconds of its arrival, which confirmed Noah''s theory, about his body being all the expert could hold on too, which also made his n seem able to work.

    Noah''s body had still been moving albeit slowly. Casting energy armour, since it had deactivated long ago, and he hadn''t recasted it since, he didn''t need to.

    A magic circle expanded beneath his floating body, but rather than tendrils of energy shooting out and wrapping around his body.

    The magic circle stayed open, while some of the energy his body continued to release wrapped around his skin, forming a armour.

    The magic circle disappeared at that point, but Noah remained astonished by what had happened, it seemed the energy from the speed force, could be used to cast a skill.

    Noah wanted to do some test, but he pushed that to the back of his mind.

    ncing at the speed clone that was walking beside his floating body, Noah closed his eyes, as hemanded it to explode!.

    BOOOOOOOOM!.

    An intense explosion resounded, as a small pool made from electrical energy and condensed air, spread out in the environment, ravaging the walls, and making them begin to crumble!!.

    As for Noah, his figure could be seen, rapidly moving in the air, like a ragdoll.

    The explosion had flung him away, and he even threatened to pass out, but he didn''t.

    Using his control over the wind to slow down his movement a bit, Noah''s was able to watch the destruction that the explosion caused.

    He could see what looked like a rapidly expanding pool of multicolored energy destroying everything in its path, as a side of the mansion began to copse, further worsening the whole chain of destruction.

    mming the ground with the grace of a rock hurled from the sky, Noah found that he was only a few tens of meters from the back gate.

    He also found that both his arms, a few ribs and shoulder were badly damaged, his clothes were barely hanging on to his body, while multiple ck patches of skin could be seen on his body

    This caused him to continually spit blood, as pain ravaged his mind. His body was healing itself but he wouldn''t be awake to witness it.

    Though just before he passed out amidst the scrambling figures, of some of the people still alive in the area, he saw clearly the running figure of James, then his vision went ck.

    #

    #

    Back inside the still crumbling mansion, the figure of the tier 3 expert could be seen holding his head, while he knelt on the ground, his eyes filled with rage, he was currently experiencing an immense headache, but inside of his head, he continued screaming ''I''ll kill that bastard, I''ll kill him!''.

 Chapter 61 61. EXPLOSION

    Snapping his eyes open, Noah sat up, his body going intobat mode. Though when he saw the face of Augustus and a woman, he rxed.

    "It''s good to see that you are okay," Augustus voice rang out, as Noah inspected the insides of where he was. Finding that they were currently inside the carriage, he rxed even more.

    "I''m sorry for troubling you," Noah said as he inspected his body, to his surprise he waspletely healed.

    "You''ve been out for a day now," Augustus voice rang out with a shortugh.

    Noah eyes expanded in surprise, "A whole day!," he blurted out.

    "Yes, and surprisingly your body heals incredibly fast. Who exactly are you," Augustus said with an eyebrow arced.

    Noah could only smile in helplessness, which meant he wasn''t going to say anything.

    Shaking his head, Augustus reassured, "I am not going to pressure you for answers, after all you have the ability to end us all," he said.

    Noah widened his eye again. "We saw and heard the explosion, what the heck was that, it was incredible," Augustus remarked fascinated.

    Noah felt awkward, he couldn''t help but sigh when he thought of the multiple questions he would be asked by the others.

    With that thought he recalled that James was thest person he saw before passing out.

    Though before he could poke his head outside the window to check up on him, Noah felt an Intense gaze on his body, as he remembered that there was ady in the carriage.

    Focusing on her bandaged figure, he inspected her facial features.

    The woman looked young, like Augustus, though he expected as much, she had long yellow hair, whichplimented her oval face, which had delicate features, such as her thin eyebrow, which boosted her orange coloured eyes, and sumctsious pink lips.

    She currently wore a purple robe, but Noah could see what resembled bandages around her arms and neck, but those bandages had a green glow which left him curious.

    He couldn''t really see her full figure, because she sat very close to Augustus. Over all she looked stunning.

    [Lisa]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 47]

    [Chances of death: 36%]

    "It''s a pleasure to meet you," the delicate voice of Lily rang out, after Noah had spent a while staring at her.

    Noah snapped out of momentary daze, "You too," he replied as his gaze met hers, a slight smile appearing on his face.

    The sound of someone clearing their throats rang out, as Noah''s gaze met Augustus, who narrowed his eyes at him.

    Immediately standing up, Noah found that he was currently In a ck robe, recalling that his previous attire had been badly damaged, Noah sighed from sadness, he had only worn it for a month or so.

    Thinking about clothes, brought up a problem, ''Who changed my clothes,'' Noah shouted inside his mind, as a bit of embarrassment tried to show on his face.

    He thought of asking Augustus, but he quickly dismissed the thought, that would make the already awkward environment, even more awkward.

    Bringing his hand forward, Noah opened the curtain. Shielding his eyes from the sunlight that ravaged his eyes, it took him a few seconds to get used to it, before he couldfortably look outside.

    He saw the running figures, of James,  Mona, Jessica, Jonas and Bern.

    Searching for the figures of Heath and Henry, Noah realized that they weren''t present.

    Shaking his head, while his gaze met, James was at the far end of the road due to his slow speed, but had a bright smile on his face, he seemed to understand what Noah was looking for, since he shook his head.

    Heaving a deep sigh at the reality, Noah felt weird, for a second he had actually expected every one of them to return alive, or even unscathed, but that wasn''t the reality, they weren''t him, even he had returned badly Injured, and he could see some injures on the others too.

    Smiling at James, while exchanging gaze''s with the rest, Noah returned into the carriage, then his eyes fell on Augustus.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Understanding what Noah meant with that gesture, his voice rang out, "I know, I know, their deaths were tragic, I myself aren''t really happy about that, but that doesn''t change the fact that most of us returned, which is very good , since this mission is far from over," Augustus sighed while ncing at Lisa.

    Pretending not to know, Noah faked a curious expression, while his voice rang out, "Uh.....Why is that?,"

    Heaving a sigh once again he replied, "That would be, because I got to know that a tier 3 was present in the mansion. Honestly I thought you would have found out since you spent the longest in there." He remarked.

    Noah frowned, while he recalled the issue, he for one didn''t want to get caught again, because the expert might not let him live if they met again.

    "Have you told the others," Noah asked while rasing an eyebrow.

    Watching Augustus nod his head slowly, Noah heaved a light sigh.

    "Do you have a n, or know the reason he had let us escape," Noah''s voice rang out.

    A moment of silence passed then Augustus voice rang out, "I never told you the experts gender," Augustus said with a frown, as a dangerous glint lit up in his eyes.

    Realizing his blunder toote, Noah''s brain came up with an excuse, but he decided to tell the truth, but stretch it a little bit, "He spoke to me with his mental waves. He had tried to offer me a position, in your family, but I refused," Noah said.

    Augustus''s eyes didn''t lose the dangerous glint, as his voice rang out, "I''m sure the offers were good, so why did you refuse it?,"

    Noticing that this could turn into mistrust, Noah decided to reveal a bit of  himself. "Why?, because I didn''t want to. And I''ve received better offers from other guilds," Noah exined, while he brought out the box Melissa gave to him a month earlier.

    "Don''t tter yourself Augustus. Noble families are nice and all, but I doubt one of the three great guilds isn''t better," Noah remarked with a snort, immediately returning the box to the inventory.

    Augustus calmed down at that point, he had to be honest the box had actually surprised him, but eventually it didn''t, after all the incredible individual In front of him was definitely worth it.

    The air turned weird, as Lisa was forced to speak. She had kept quiet all along due to the fact that Augustus hired Noah, but the turn of events changed that.

    "What are we to do about the expert, I am sure he could catch up to us before we get to Crilion." She said in a calm tone.

    "Definitely. Did he mention anything about their ns during your time with him?," Augustus said holding her hands.

    "No he didn''t, all I heard was that he couldn''t hurt you due to the oath, but there was definitely another n," Lisa replied with a sigh.

    Noah''s curiosity got piqued when he heard about the oath, "What oath?," He eventually said.

    "Everyone above the realm of tier 2, is required to take an oath if they wanted to get more resources or be trusted. The oath was created by the head of the house, my father whose tier even I don''t know. The oath bounds them to never hurt anyone who has the Holon blood, and to never release any information considered confidential." Augustus exined while stroking his chin with his fingers.

    "Can this oath be broken?," Noah asked after a moment of thought.

    "ording to what I read. The oath can only be broken if my father releases the individual of the oath, or if someone stronger than my father removes it,"  Augustus exined.

    "What exactly do they lose, if they break the oath?," Noah asked.

    "Tier 3''s lose their core, I don''t know the rest," Augustus stated.

    Noah couldn''t help but raise his eyebrows, he had never heard anything about a core.

    "What....-"

    "Do you think there are any loopholes to the oath?," Lisa said before Noah couldplete his sentence.

    "I don''t know," Augustus said shaking his head.

    The carriage remained silent for a few seconds. The requirements to get the oath broken seemed impossible from the tone which Augustus used to exin it.

    "What if assassin''s were sent?," Noah eventually asked.

    "That what I expected at first, but it''s been a whole day, and we haven''t encountered any trouble yet," Augustus sighed.

    Another loud sigh resounded, then the entire carriage exploded.

 Chapter 62 62. LOOT

    Crashing on a tree a few tens of meters from the road, Noah clicked his tongue as Muliix receded back into his skin. He had seen the explosion begin, and had reacted in time.

    Putting the pieces together, Noah got a full picture, Lisa was sent to kill Augustus.

    Dashing out of the forest, Noah saw a badly injured, Luke, who had his legs blown off. He had been on the carriage so the explosion caught him off guard.

    His gaze swept the road, as he frantically, searched for three figures, James, Lisa and Augustus.

    Sighting James who was only lightly Injured, since he had been further away from the Carriage. Seeing Lisa stabbing Augustus in his stomach, Noah shook his head.

    Dashing forward, he retrieved his staff, spinning it he used it to m Lisa off Augustus. Sending her flying for a few tens of meters, he nced at Augustus who though still alive, was badly injured, it seemed his clothes had protected him from the st, not letting it kill him.

    Crouching in front of Augustus, his voice rang out, "Are you okay, can you stay awake?," he said.

    ? "Yes," Augustus weak voice rang out, he had multiple patches of burnt skin, his beautiful face was badly burnt, but he could still talk.

    "What should I do about her," Noah said, after all it seemed she was his lover or so. A moment of silence passed, as Augustus seemed to think.

    "Deal with her but leave her alive," Augustus''s voice rang out, as multiple bottles appeared, as he gestured for Noah to feed it to him.

    Picking a bottle up, Noah tried to feed it''s contents to Augustus, when he sighted, Lisa''s, swording for him.

    Clicking his tongue, Noah got ready. immediately her sword was about to strike him, he raised his hands and caught it.

    This greatly surprised her, since her eyes were wide open when she realized that she couldn''t remove her sword from Noah''s grip.

    Dropping the bottle in his right hand, Noah formed a fist, then he punched her stomach, so fast, Lisa only saw a blur before she was sent flying towards the forest with the speed of a bullet.

    Nodding at the sessful attack, though he actually didn''t reduce the power of the punch, purely because she hade out of the carriages explosion unscathed.

    Picking the bottle back up, and pouring it''s contents into Augustus mouth, Noah watched in surprise, his body glow a green shade, so slight it was almost imperceptible, but Noah saw it.

    Making Augustus drink five bottles, Noah watched as his skin began the regrow. Feeding him the sixth, Noah stood up, since Augustus had fallen asleep.

    Heaving as sigh, he swept his gaze on the destruction caused by Lisa. Luke and the two magical beasts were dead, Jonas badly injured, Bern also badly Injured, Jessica had passed out, Mona too. James simply sat on the ground, his hands holding his head.

    ncing at the three remaining bottles, Noah picked them up, rushing towards Bern he fed him the bottles contents, seeing that his body stopped bleeding, Noah rushed towards Jonas, but immediately he arrived in front of him, he found that he wasn''t breathing.

    Noah''s expression darkened at this sight. Taking a deep breath, he went back to Bern and fed him another bottle,  watching his body being to heal, Noah checked on Jessica seeing that she had simply passed out, he rxed though he still fed her a bit of the bottles contents, to be sure, he also did the same for Mona.

    Walking towards James, who sat crossed-legged cultivating, Noah wanted to say something, when he sighted the crawling figure of Lisa.

    Immediately shing in front of her, he picked her up. Seeing a caved in hole in her stomach which bled badly, he gave her the remaining contents of thest bottle, to make sure she didn''t die on him.

    Immediately she drank it, after a few seconds of struggling, she fell asleep. Not knowing what to do, Noah went and tore a long piece of cloth from Jonas''s attire. Then tied Lisa to a tree where he could see her clearly.

    Sitting next to James still cultivating figure, Noah practiced his elemental control, since they helped incredibly well. After about thirty minutes, James stopped cultivating.

    "So she was sent to kill him," James said while his eyes fell on the still unconscious Lisa.

    "It seems so," Noah stated with a light shrug still practicing.

    "Then why was she found wounded, it doesn''t make sense," James said with a confused expression.

    Noah gained a thoughtful expression, the his voice rang out, "It was all probably staged," he said. "That''s why the tier 3 expert didn''t kill us," he added.

    Shock ran through James''s mind when he heard those words, "Tier 3," he muttered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Yes. And he even spoke with me," Noah said getting up from the ground.

    "Seriously, what did he say?.....Is that why you were that injured?," James questioned.

    "Nothing much, but yes that''s why I was the reason I got that wounded," Noah said walking up to Luke''s corpse. Crouching next to it, he Inspected the body.

    Picking up the right hand, Noah removed the ring on it. He was almost sure that there were valuable things inside it, but he couldn''t take much since Augustus would probably ask for it.

    Calling James over since he couldn''t do it alone, solely because he wasn''t alone.

    Wearing the ring, Noah inspected it. The ring was made out of a metal, but he couldn''t determine it just from look.

    Although it was ck in color, it seemed to sparkle, just a bit in the sunlight.

    The ring had a very tiny gem embedded into it. ''Damn'' Noah couldn''t help exmain in his mind.

    The gem embedded into it showed that whoever that crafted it knew what they were doing, extremely well at that.

    "This one had been imprinted by him," James said, after a few seconds of spection.

    "But he is dead now, and the fact that it hasn''t blown off your finger, proves that," He added.

    Surprise ran inside Noah''s mind when he heard those words. "Wait people can imprint space rings, and unless the imprinter dies if anyone wears it, the would explode?," Noah questioned.

    "Yes, and yes,"James replied, simply shaking his head in wonder.

    "I see...." Noah muttered. "Let''s see it''s contents," James eventually said with an ever so slight hint of greed on his expression.

    Nodding his head, Noah did exactly that. Controlling the space ring, a rtively loud thud resounded in the area. Noah and James nced back and front, to make sure no one was awoken by the sound.

    Sighing in relief when nobody woke up, they focused on the items on the ground.

    There were exactly six bags, an armour, a giant sword, multiple scrolls, and bottles, a few good looking clothes, andstly the gruesome scene of multiple disembodied body parts!.

    Noah didn''t want to think of why Luke stored body parts, so he immediately put them back into the ring, followed by therge grey armour, and the giant sword, there was no doubt Augustus would ask for it.

    Now all that  remained, were the clothes, six bags, multiple scrolls and the tens of bottles.

    First moving to the bags, Noah uncovered their contents. Four of the bags were filled only with foodstuff like bread and some meat, Noah took some of them so did James.

    The remaining two smaller bags, the size ofrge yam tubers, were suprisingly filled with coins, silver ones!!.

    Greed seeped out of every corner of Noah face at that point.

    After all multiple silver coinsy right in front of him. Although for the first bag Augustus gave them, he had managed to get 6 small silvers coupled with the 5 he previously had from his work in Vonol, putting the amount of money tied to his name at 11 small silver coins.

    But after Noah and James shared a portion of the bag, he managed to get 30 each!!, and there was still a reasonable portion of just one bag!.

    Honestly Every cell in Noah''s body wanted to just take both bags and run to Crilion, but he couldn''t. Though after a few seconds they both added 10 each, with James asking Noah to take his''. Which Noah did with a smile.

    Now he was a mini rich man, with 66 small silver coins, 7rge copper coins, 80 medium sized coins and 300 small coppers.

    Nodding his head in satisfaction, Noah moved to the bottles.

 Chapter 63 63. RUMBLE

    There were exactly 21 bottles present there, and each had a readable tag on it. With 10 of them saying ''Healing potion'', and the other 11 saying ''Mana potion".

    James had been ecstatic when he saw the Mana potions, saying they were quality ones, and were very expensive.

    Noah couldn''t help but nce over towards Augustus still healing body. The man had to have way more than his personal guard. Which caused multiple ideas to run through Noah''s mind, though he kicked them out immediately.

    They shared the Mana potions just 2 each, and the healing potions 3 each. Storing the rest inside the ring, Noah moved on to the scrolls.

    The scrolls were mostly filled withyouts of mansions, but Noah found a map of their country, and surprise filled his mind when he saw that the map had the locations of the Three great guilds and some others.

    The map was really big but also readable, because Noah had gotten used to the mental map that constantly updated itself whenever Noah walked pass a new location.

    Storing the map inside his inventory, and the rest of the scrolls inside the ring, after he had asked James if he needed any of them, which the young man replied no.

    Moving to the clothes, Noah directly stored it, because Augustus must have probably seen them.

    With that done, Noah returned the ring to the exact finger which Luke previously had it on. Returning to their former positions, they sat with happy expressions, the loot had been very rewarding.

    They had to sit and converse for an hour before anyone showed signs of waking up. The first to wake was Mona, who was surprised to find the person they went to rescue tied up.

    Followed by Bern, who though still had a few wounds left, was out of danger, the man sat to cultivate, just like Mona.

    A few tens of minutester, Jessica awoke. She too began to cultivate, as it seemed all of them felt safe as long as, Noah was awake.

    This put a kind of unwanted responsibility on Noah, every time the idea that he was responsible for them sprouted in his mind, he would kick it away with ''They are all adults,'' actually most of them were older than he was.

    Eventually Lisa woke up, but Noah went, and sat in front of her tied figure. He had to be honest, her body looked great and her helpless situation made the sleeping dragon want to rise from it''s ever so long slumber, but he would focus on something else.

    It wasn''t up until sunset, did Augustus show any signs of awaking. By that time his body was practically fully healed. Around twenty minutester, Augustus awoke.

    When the young master, saw the dead body of Luke his face darkened beyondprehension, Noah had never seen such an expression on the man''s face.

    Eventually he walked closer to Lisa, seeing that Noah sat right in front of her, he sighed in relief, the fact that he could handle a peak tier 2, at his middle stage level, seemingly not bother him too much.

    "Thank you," Augustus said.

    Shrugging his shoulders without ncing back, Noah''s voice rang out, "Are you going to question her now. I have refrained from doing that because of you," He said his gaze not moving away from Lisa''s frowning figure.

    Augustus didn''t know what to say, he simply stared back and forth at Noah and Lisa, his voice ringing out eventually, "No.... I''ll cultivate for an hour. My body needs to reduce the stress caused by the excessive use of potions," He announced walking toward a position where he could still see Lisa''s figure, and was not to far.

    Noah simply nodded, his eyes still on Lisa. Most of you may currently be wondering why he was so focused on her, well that would be none other than the fact that, Noah was trying to make up multiple fantasies, but he didn''t get the desired reaction.

    "Do you want to eat anything," the voice of Mona resounded behind Noah. She had heard from James what Noah did, and couldn''t help but feel a bit of indebtedness.

    "Na....You know what yes," Noah said, since he saw that Augustus stopped his cultivating just to bring food out.

    "...Oh okay," She said walking back to the group, and after a few tens of minutes, brought a loaf of brown bread, and some cooked meat, which Noah wolfed down, and still felt nothing.

    Noah was almost a hundred percent sure that, when he advanced higher, he would need more food.

    Eventually an hour passed, and Augustus stood from his sitting position, and walked toward Noah, who did the same.

    Through out the series of hours of being tied to the tree, Lisa had not spoken a word, she simply closed her eyes, seemingly sleeping, though she opened them when Augustus had awokened the other time, and closed them again, but immediately Noah and Augustus got up, her eyes opened.

    The main reason why Noah had sat in front of her was because, though she was tied she still had ess to spells, which meant she was still dangerous, he wasn''t even sure if items that stopped people from casting spells existed.

    Retrieving his almost broken daggers from his inventory, Noah and Augustus walked slowly towards her, Noah even keeping Muliix on the tip of his mind.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We just want to ask you questions," Noah said when he was closer to her

    "Why...why did you do it," Augustus pain filled voice rang out.

    No reply came for a few tens of seconds as the area remained tense.

    "Answer me!," Augustus yelled startling the woman since she flinched. And also alerting the others of the ongoing questioning.

    "They would have killed my brother," Lisa said after a few seconds.

    Noah couldn''t help but take a step back in surprise, this wasn''t how he expected the story to start. Even Augustus remained silent for a few seconds.

    "There was nothing you would have been able to do. Your sister had under control most of the inner circles old men, and since your father as been in a slumber for decades now, I had to choose," Lisa added while tears rolled down her cheeks.

    Noah mind shook slightly when he heard those words, his eyes couldn''t help but fall on Augustus''s figure.

    A sigh escaped Augustus mouth, "I''m sorry for being this weak," he said.

    "It seems i''ve failed in multiple areas of my life," He added with a light sigh.

    "But...were there any n apart from you killing me, or was that thest?," Augustus voice rang out

    Silence reigned for a few seconds, "Not that I know of," Lisa replied.

    Noah didn''t trust that answer one bit, and so did Augustus, although her reason was pitiful, that didn''t change the fact that she was still protecting her younger brother.

    Another sigh escaped Augustus mouth, he nced at Noah who also returned the nce.

    Though immediately they did that gesture, a series of red glowing lines interwoven into themselves, lit on Lisa''s fore head.

    Noah and Augustus jumped back at that sight, but shock filled their minds, when a voice not belonging to Lisa spread out.

    "It''s been a while brother," the voice rang out of Lisa''s mouth, as her eyes had lost their sad expression, which was now filled with a big smile.

    Noah''s eyes fell on the darkened expression of Augustus. cing the pieces together, Noah came to an obvious conclusions, ''His sister,".

    ''I didn''t know this was even possible,'' Noah said inwardly, as his eyebrows expressed his confusion.

    Though he had an encounter with the ck figure, which ording to it was just a puppet, Noah didn''t know a person could control someone else''s body.

    Lisa''s head turned to nce at Noah, "So this was the special person Pete talked about. He does have good face, enough to even match yours, Augustus," she said with a big smile.

    A frown appeared on Noah''s face after those words, it seemed he had gotten a new enemy.

    "I am not here to do much, just to say goodbye since I never got to do so," she said in a sweet voice.

    "I hope you enjoy my gift," she said, as immediately, Lisa started to shake which then turned to writhing. It was as though she was trying to escape from the rope that tied her.

    A sinisterugh resounded out of the still writhing Lisa, then the red inscriptions vanished, and we''re immediately reced with golden lines that ran across the full body of Lisa.

    Then she raised her head towards the darkening sky. An immensely high pitched scream resounding out of her mouth, followed by the visible withering of Lisa''s body.

    Silence reigned for a few seconds, as Noah quickly shot a gaze at Augustus who had a dark expression.

    Then it began, under their foots, gradually increasing, the unmistakable vibrations of a rumble!.

 Chapter 64 64. BEGINNING OF HORDES

    Noah didn''t know what to do, and Augustus seemed frozen. So he expanded his consciousness and also held his daggers tighter.

    The rest of the group gathered around Noah, as the ground continued to shake, reaching intense levels, forcing Noah to act.

    "Augustus!. What is happening?," he shouted bringing the man out of his stupor, as a deep frown appeared on his face. "This is big trouble," Augustus answered.

    Immediately hepleted his words, Noah picked up an aura, belonging to a tier 1. Then two more sprouted as the rumbling continued, then ten belonging to tier 1, followed by more than seventy belonging to a tier 1.

    At that point, Noah understood what was going on and the ironic-ness of the meaning brought a smile on his face.

    "Prepare yourself guys, a horde ising," Noah announced immediately casting ''energy armour'', and walking over to Luke''s corpse, removing the space ring he stored it in front of the astonished eyes of the others.

    "What?. We are about to die, might as well die with something good with me," Noah countered their astonished gaze''s.

    Focusing on the environment at that point, Noah announced, "Let''s move," he said running towards the direction they were headed before the carriage exploded.

    The other''s were startled for a billi-second, but immediately chased after him, as they understood his reasoning, it would be crazy to stay where the beasts would be centered at.

    Noah continued to pick up wild aura''s, as he ran, the shaking ground almost made him stumble multiple times.

    Though after a few seconds of running the first batch of beasts arrived, Noah counted 30 tier 1 beasts, as immediately lightning flickered into existence around him.

    Shaping them into tiny arrows with his mind, Noah sent them flying, kill practically all of them.

    Ignoring the multiple notifications saying he had gained exp, Noah continued to run, as multiple ideas filled his mind, all of them ending with revealing his superspeed.

    Truth be told he had once thought of telling James but decided against it, but now, he was ready to grab James and run if the situation required it.

    Eventually more beasts exited the forest, surprise appeared on Noah''s face when he saw the monsters fighting themselves!.

    Though some still found their way toward him, shing left and right with his dagger when they got to close. Noah switched to his staff for a not so close-distance battle.

    Eventually tens of tier 1, began to pour out, forcing Noah to slow down and let his group catch up to him.

    ncing at James seeing that he was alright, Noah began to spin his staff madly, kill loads of the tier 1 beasts in the process, followed by Augustus who was swinging his sword incredibly fast, Though Noah could still follow it''s movement.

    The night sky illuminated their surroundings as magical beasts of various species poured out of the forest, most entering a deadly brawl with each other, while the few that managed to burst out from the brawls, were ughtered like the ants they were by the group of six.

    Although that changed when a few tier 2 beasts in the lower stage arrived. Only Noah and Augustus could easily kill them. Eventually the area became crowded, forcing Noah and the others to utilize spells.

    Grabbing the fist of a tier 2 lower stage ape, Noah utilized his control over lightning, as he poured 10 Mana points, into it. Controlling the electrical currents to run through the apes body, Noah watched with an annoyed expression, the ape fry.

    Hurling it''s body across the crowded battlefield, Noah also got to watch the tier 1''s devour it.

    Retrieving his daggers, since the area was crowded, Noah was about to say something when Augustus voice rang out.

    "It''s time to switch to spells," he announced, then a magic circle expanded above their heads, fire balls the size of fully grown humans, rushed out in their tens. Causing destruction, and sending mild shock waves.

    The other''s nodded at that point, since the magical beasts before their eyes, numbered in hundreds.

    Searching among his skills, Noah looked for an area of effect (Aoe) skill. Though he ignored the domains since it was too early for that, so he stuck with ''Air Spears'' and ''Lightning bolts''.<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Air Spears: Create Spears made of Air. Cost 10 Mp, Duration N/A. Cool down N/A]

    [Lightning bolts: Create bolts of lightning, Cost 20 Mp duration N/A, Cool down N/A]

    Two magic circles, appeared in front of his figure, then five Spears made of densely packed air shot out, impaling multiple magical beast.  Followed by an incredibly fast lightning bolt, which caused an explosion, killing tens of magical beasts even those in tier 2.

    Noah''s spells weren''t the only ones, as immediately after he was done, a giant hammer made of water flew and smashed multiple beasts.

    The ground opened cracks as from them emerged, massive stakes, it seemed the two earth affinity wielders were working together.

    shing at a tier 2 tiger detaching it''s legs from the rest of its body, Noah felt his movements slow down as he felt sloppy, then he noticed that he could see every breath that left his mouth, ncing at the only person capable of this, Noah clicked his tongue, kicking a tier 1 lizards.

    A blue magic circle expanded under their feets for tens of meters, followed by ice stakes over 10ft high which numbered in hundreds, appearing on all four sides like a box, impaling the beasts, creating a space where they got the chance to rest for a bit.

    The whole group couldn''t help but shoot gaze''s at Mona, seeing that her face was a bit pale, and her breathing was rough Noah nodded his head at her good work.

    Sweeping his gaze on the bluish withe ice, Noah admired this scene for a few seconds, until he heaved a sigh, the group weren''t getting anywhere, they had moved a few hundred meters from their previous position, but having to fight magical beastsing from all sides really slowed down their movement.

    "What exactly was that?," Noah asked Augustus.

    A few seconds of silence passed as sounds cracks could be heard but no one did anything.

    "It was a secret technique called Beginning of hordes. It was used by my family to trap enemies in a horde of raged monsters," Augustus exined passing a Mana potion to Mona who drank it immediately, and her face regained their colour.

    "Is there a way to reverse it?,"  Noah asked furrowing his eyebrows.

    "Yes but the person that reverses itpletely has to be more powerful or equally as strong as the activater,"  Augustus exined with a sigh.

    "Can you do it?," Noah asked.

    "I can, though notpletely, but I will have to sacrifice someone, as you have seen," Augustus stated.

    "We mostly used ves or our own enemies the activate it," Augustus added.

    "So does the technique affect all magical Beasts?," Noah asked

    "No. It only affects magical beasts one stage below the activaters power, and it range is also limited, about two kilometers or so," Augustus answered.

    "Two kilometer!," Noah blurted out.

    "So basically you mean for you to reverse it you''ll need a person, and it would only work on middle staged beasts," Noah said after he was done being surprised.

    Augustus nodded in affirmation. "Does the person have to be alive?," Noah asked as an idea formed in his mind.

    "Well only people with a reasonable amount of energy can let it activate, like you saw the other time. Lisa was in the peak stage which was enough for the activation," Augustus exined with a frown.

    Noah''s ears perked up when he heard the word energy. "Ohhhh if you meant energy then I have lots of that," Hemented with a smirk.

 Chapter 65 65. HORDES II

    Augustus remained confused at that sight, Noah words made no sense, it sounded like he wanted to sacrifice himself.

    "What do you mean?," the man asked in confusion, still ignoring the spreading cracks.

    "How long would it take you to draw the inscriptions?," Noah asked while electrical energy crackled around his body.

    "I''d say around a five minutes. Why?" Augustus replied immediately.

    Noah nodded his head as his voice rang out. "Listen up everyone. We are going to keep the beasts away from Augustus for six minutes, by then the solution to remove them should be ready," he announced.

    The confusion on their faces couldn''t be more evident, as none of them thought they would be leaving alive.

    "Uh.....I said the the technique needs a person full of energy, and no one is ready to be that person," Augustus exmained in disbelief.

    "Unless....." Augustus froze when he said these words.

    "Rx I''m not sacrificing myself," Noah replied.

    Augustus was at loss of words at this point, nothing Noah said made sense, well that wasn''t until Noah cast a spell.

    Heaving a sigh, Noah cast the spell that he had used just before he passed out the other time.

    ''Speed clones''.

    A magic circle expanded in front of Noah, as he felt his body get weak, his eyes tried to ze with the speed forces energy but he shielded them, but unlike the other time, where the summoning made use of the energy around his body.

    This time a thin tendril of electricity shot out of his chest, made contact with the magical circle, and then a hand emerged.

    Followed by the full body of the speed clone. The other stepped back at this sight, they had never seen such a thing in their entire lives.

    "A summon," Augustus blurted out in shock.

    "Begin the process, this thing is full of energy," Noah said, as immediately he finished his words the ice stakes, which also served as thick walls shattered.

    Magical beasts of different species and levels of power poured out. The team of six now reduced to five formed a circle around the kneeling Augustus drawing something on the clones body.

    "Do not let them get too close!," Noah shouted, stabbing his staff on the ground, as electrical energy flickered into existence, wrapping around the staff, and stretching, almost like a wall of lines.

    Those lines thickened, as Noah poured 50mp into this attack he made up on the spot. The thickened lines shot out, clearing a square area, for a few hundred metres in front of Noah.

    Noah couldn''t help but marvel at that sight, though his Mana pool had currently been halved, he still wouldn''t mind spending a bit to make sure he wasn''t overwhelmed, if that was even possible.

    The other''s also did meaningful things, the two earth wielders, who protected the back of the group, usually worked together to form attacks.

    Arge ball of earth sepearated from the ground, then a yellow magic circle shone on it, making the ball of earth shoot spikes at the iing beasts, greatly relieving them of the magical beasts who seemed to have lost the fear of death.

    James who was thought couldn''t do much at the beginning of the mission was actually do incredibly well, though that was against tier 1 beasts and a few tier 2''s.

    shing incredibly fast with his dagger, James decapcitated six tier 1 magical beasts trying to take a bite out of him.

    Sighting a bit more than twenty moreing his way. A blue magic circle opened beneath his legs, then tendrills of water shot out of them wrapping around the beasts, giving him enough time to disembowel them.

    Mona was basically on par with Noah''s ease, as not a single beast could be seen in front of her for a few tens of meters, or rather they were all frozen.

    The magical beasts resembled ice sculptures, giving that area an eerie and cold atmosphere. Though that changed when more poured out, this time mainly in tier 2.

    Noah also noticed the change in the level of the beasts. So far he had only killed around ten or so, but currently he could count over twenty. This scene scared him, not because he didn''t have enough power to kill them, it was because he didn''t want to level up too much.

    So far not a single level had been granted to him, only the messages of receiving exp, but if this continued he would definitely break into the upper stages of tier 2.

    If he weren''t going for Bozolom this would have been a great chance to level up quick, but it simply put a bad taste in his mouth.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ncing over at the still working Augustus, Noah wondered if he could learn the rune and maybe sometimes use it to amass magical beasts for his gain.

    The system seemingly heard his thoughts, immediately his eyes fell on one of the multiple lines been drawn on his clone, a panel popped up.

    [Iplete inscription found]

    [Determining purpose of the iplete inscription]

    [Purpose determined]

    [Iplete grade B inscription]

    [Do you want to learn it]

    [ Yes/No]

    Noah was ecstatic, he actually wondered why the system had never shown him this in the multiple inscriptions he had seen. ''Maybe I have to will it to work,'' Noah concluded in his mind.

    Choosing yes with his mind, Noah waited for the simr feeling of information flowing into his brain, but it never happened.

    [[ERROR ERROR ERROR]]

    [[USER DOESN''T HAVE ACCESS TO THIS FUNCTION]]

    [Terminatingpletion of the inscription.....]

    [Terminationplete]

    Noah''s heart shattered when he read those words, now he understood why the system never brought this up, but he learnt it the hard way.

    His face darkened, while lightning flickered into existence around his figure.

    Pointing his palm at the iplete beasts, while waving have staff at the ones that were directly in front of him, Noah cast a spell he hasn''t used for a while.

    [Small Energy Bomb: Conjure a bomb made of condensed electrical energy. That is capable of tier 2 strength [Currently lower stage , Current damage Capability ->200/300. Upgrades when You get to higher levels]

    Cost: 50Mp ,Cool down: N/A

    A magic circle expanded on his palm, then a ball of energy emerged from it.

    BOOOOOMM!.

    The explosion was more powerful than Noah expected, as he had to shield his eyes from the dust that rose up.

    Using his control over air to clear the dust, Noah''s eyes fell on the destruction the bomb caused.

    There was a 20m wide crater, inside of it were different body parts of tier 2 beast. The other''s from the group couldn''t help but take a second to nce at the crater, each of them swallowing lumps of saliva, when they realized that the attack could one-shot them.

    Taking a deep breath, Noah parried the w of a tier 2 badger with his dagger, which broke immediately after.

    Clicking his tongue, he stabbed his hand into the beasts chest, gouging out it''s organs in one swift movement.

    Spinning his staff and stabbing it into another beast, Noah found that he had taken a step back. All of a sudden the beasts had increased in number.

    Then a cry rang out, snapping his head towards the direction, Noah saw a magical beast about to punch James.

    The magical beast radiated power in the peak of tier 2.

 Chapter 66 66. HORDES III

    Noah instinctively moved, while ignoring the dread filled expressions of the others. The beast was 3 meters tall ape in in the peak of tier 2, Noah wondered how he had not sensed it''s presence, though his consciousness wasn''t out.

    Appearing in front of the punch, Noah ced both arms forward. When the fist touched his palms, a shock wave exploded outward.

    The ape watched in shock as Noah stopped it in its tracks, while Noah raised an eyebrow when he realized that the punch had made him take a step backwards.

    "You seem strong. Let''s test that out," Noah whispered.

    Taking a step forward, he dragged his right arm backwards, formed a fist and threw a punch with all his strength.

    BOOOM!.

    The punch sent the best sliding for a few meters, squshing some weaker beasts in the process. A growl resounded out of the apes heavily teethed mouth.

    mming it''srge hands on its chest due to the anger it felt for such an ant trying to stop him.

    Noah rushed forward as he had seen weaker apes perform this attack.

    Leaping upwards, he kicked the apes face sending therge ball of meat flying, further decimating weaker beasts.

    Dodging attacks from other beasts that tried to kill him, Noah dealt with such beasts easily, but his eyes remained on the ape.

    Truth be told Noah wondered how the ape actually survived both attacks, it seemed he had reached his limit.

    The beast roared revealing to the world it''s long sharp canines, then charged forward, not minding the disgusting bursting sound that spreadout each step it took.

    Taking a deep breath, Noah inspected the ape.

    [Evolved wind ape]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 49]

    [Chances of death: 35]

    His chances of dying from the ape were not that high, but that didn''t mean he would be able to kill it easily. He seemed to learn new things about topics he thought he understood.

    Taking a deep breath while still killing the beasts around him, Noah nced at Augustus, it had been more than five minutes since he started, it seemed the man only said what he said, in the heat of the moment.

    ''Lets have fun with this guy, and if he isn''t finished, before I am done with this ape, then I''ll have to leave with James,'' Noah said Inwardly.

    ncing at James he saw that he was still going on, but fatigue could be seen on his and the others face, Noah was just an anomaly.

    Bending his head downwards, Noah grabbed the ape outstretched arm, punching it with all the strength he could muster.

    A cracking sound spread out, but it didn''t seem enough to shake the ape. Noah himself felt like he had just punched a wall.

    Sliding underneath it''s other arm, which it tried to p Noah with. Orange Sparks flickered around Noah body, his environment slowed down extremely, as his eyes zed with energy.

    Throwing a punch, Noah gathered sparks on top of his fist,.

    BOOOMM!

    The punch hurled the ape for tens of meters, causing it to crash with a loud thud. Staring at his arm surprise filled Noah''s mind when he realized that he had broken it!.

    Though it healed a secondter, Noah confirmed that peak tier 2 beasts were his current limit. Seeing the ape trying to get up, Noah dashed forward ramming all other beasts in his way like a tank.

    Arriving in front of the beast, Noah ignored the hole that had formed on its chest, trying something he had never done before, he punched it with both his hands but this time more than 30 times!

    BOOOOOOM!

    The collective sound of the punches caused a great explosion, that directly killed anything less than middle stage, even injuring some in that level.

    A massive hole had formed in the beasts chest, the light of life having left it''s eyes long ago.

    Heaving a sigh, Noah nced at the messages that popped up, seeing that he had only gained exp, he frowned.

    He liked that he hadn''t levelled up, but theck of levels showed him how hard he would have to work to get to tier 3.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Retrieving his staff from the inventory, Noah''s eyes were cold, when he found that he had left the group a few hundred meters back.

    Taking a deep breath, he stored the body of the ape, but an Idea formed in his mind.

    Bringing the body of the ape out, he grabbed it''s legs with both legs, as it was heavy. Lightning flickered around his body as the ape became easier to carry once he activated the Speed force.

    Gritting his teeth, he started swinging.

    BOOOMM!

    The air wheezed as the ape passed, killing immense amounts of beasts in the process, immediately clearing that spot, though other beasts tried to fill it up, but Noah didn''t stop with one swing.

    Multiple explosions resounded, scaring the others who had not seen Noah for a while, though that changed when they saw multiple beasts being flung into the air like ragdolls, and with this came a weird sight.

    They could see Noah swinging the body of the ape so fast, he almost caused a tornado. Arriving in front of them with the path behind him basically cleared.

    Noahs voice rang out, "How long?," he shouted at Augustus.

    "Now!!" Augustus exmained, then immediately after, the clone began to writh in what looked like pain, as Noah had to unplug his consciousness from it.

    Then golden lines shone on its body, as immediately after, a scream so high-pitched that their ears couldn''t hear, erupted out of the clones mouth, overshadowing the hundreds of roars and growls in the environment.

    Everything seemed to stop, since not a single sound could be heard, then a few seconds after, the numerous beasts began to rush back into the forest!.

    It only took only five seconds for this particr path leading to Crilion to be empty of the once overflowing numbers of magical beasts.

    Multiple sighs escaped the mouths of the group, who had been flung away from the unheard sound waves.

    They all sat on the ground, in relief, unbelief shining in their eyes, as they had not believed they would survive it.

    "That was a good job," Noahplimented Augustus who only nodded and drank a mana potion.

    "We should better leave here," Augustus announced, the beast from middle stage downward are gone, but there should be a few upper stage on their way, though the mass of beast should reduce their speed.

    At that the others jumped up, with resolve in their eyes, they were going to reach Crilion that night, which was actually impossible.

    Nodding his head at their resolve, five bottles appeared on the ground. "They are Mana potions, drink it and we will be on our way," Augustus said.

    All except Noah did this, who simply stored it inside his inventory.

    "That''s 1 silver coins out of your tripled pay," Augustusughed dashing forward.

    The five froze as a wide smile appeared on Noah''s face, who also dashed forward to catch up with Augustus. The rest promptly did the same, but with pouting expressions.

    It seemed the trouble of the day were over, and it actually was.

    #

    #

    High in the sky a hooded figure could be seen standing on a tform made of condensed air.

    "They managed to escape. What should I do" the figure said to a circle shaped object that had inscriptions on it.

    A moment of silence passed before a voice came out of the object.

    "No....Leave them be. We''ve wasted too many resources on them. Anymore and the other noble families, even the royal family will begin to ask questions," the voice of Augustus''s sister rang out.

    The figure who was a man nodded, "What about the mysterious man you talked about?," the man said.

    "ording to the information my men gathered. It was said that he first appeared in Mariwa with a group of hunters, where he took his affinity test, and then travelled to Vonol. Apart from that, there is nothing else we could find," she exined curiosity oozing out of her voice.

    "He is abnormally strong, able to defeat a upper stage beast. Should I intercept only him," the man said with a frown.

    "No... Leave him be too. Something tells me we''ll see more of him soon. In the mean time you can go to Crilion, a carriage will pick you up," She said, then a clicking sound resounded.

    The man stored the object inside his space ring, as a sigh escaped his mouth.  Then his tier 3 aura red, as he shot forward towards Crilion, not flying, but running on tforms made ofpressed air.

 Chapter 67 67. ARRIVAL

    The group stayed on that path for six whole days, until finally the road bent into a sharp curve, and on the seventh day, which was in total their twentieth day into the journey, a massive wall entered their sights.

    The wall looked to have been built purely from metal, as it stretched on both sides as far as the eyes could see, and around 50m in height. Apparently this was only one of the three gates of Crilion.

    The group had to rest for half an hour, before Augustus gave them a change of clothes, to not let them look too suspicious.

    Arriving on a long line, Noah took the time to inspect the environment more.

    There were multiple paths that led directly to the gate, which meant the influx of humans would be much.

    The queue was separated into two, one for carriages and the other for people, and at the entrance of the city, were multiple guards, each inspecting and searching.

    "I wonder what the royal family will feature in this year''s Bozolom," a group of three men who were directly in front of Noah discussed, as Noah decided to eaves drop.

    "I hope it''s something fun at least, but they have been quiet about any eventual change," one of the three said.

    "Although I did hear a rumour that big changes are going to be made this year,"  thest person of the groupmented.

    Noah couldn''t help but frown and begin to ponder about the matter, such things were to be taken very seriously, since ording to James exnation Bozolom already had an immense death rate, any more dangerous changes and it would basically be a death sentence.

    The group had to stay on a line for a bit over an hour until it was their turn.

    "ID please. And are they with you," A man who looked in his thirties but radiated power in the peak of tier 2, said.

    "Yes they are. Actually they are my hired escorts," Augustus exined with the tone of a young master, after passing over his ID card, although it didn''t identify him as a person from the house of Holon.

    "Oh....i see then. Do not forget immediately the game starts, you''ll have to pay to leave the city or enter," the man said, after he had seen the cards of the others.

    Opening the small gate which was meant for humans, the guard did a slight bow, as the ground entered.

    Noah''s first step into the city, was rtively normal, apart from the incredibly high Mana density in the environment.

    The ce was so filled with mana, it made Vonol''s mana density feel like a slight breeze. Noah could see even multicolored mist, although the sun was sky high.

    Taking a deep breath, Noahs body rejoiced at the inflow of Mana. In just one breath, he felt like he had cultivated for days. The other''s also experienced simr reactions, though it only took about two minutes, before their bodies adjusted to the new environment.

    With that, Noah was able to inspect his environment, and the first thing he saw in the distance, was a massive wall like structure, it actually reminded him of a collusem but way bigger in size.

    Around the collusem were high rising buildings built from stone or metals. The lowest buildings were one storeys'', while the maximum reached 10!.

    Noah couldn''t help but feel like the city was a high tier city, which meant the standard of living was also high. Which all boiled down to a quick emptying purse.

    A sigh escaped his mouth after that conclusion, all of a sudden he felt poor, ''I seriously need to get a real job that pays well,'' he said Inwardly, while Augustus led them into the city.

    The streets of Crilion were multiple times better than Vonol, as instead of clustered streets, there were finely built shops on each side of the street. That only advertised their products through ss frames and announcements.

    Finally, the people of the city looked well fed, as almost all of them radiated power in tier 2. It seemed a new city came a new base level, at this point he wouldn''t be surprised if a tier 3 popped out somewhere, but that wasn''t really a new thing, it was the rulers of the city that made him wonder.

    The type of power, that would allow someone able to control such a city would be immense. Noah could already guess tier 4''s and the thought made him want bozolom to end fast so that he could continue his levelling up.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He had checked the amount of time left for the ring and he was twenty one days short of the 364 at the beginning, this put a massive pressure on his mind, constantly making him doubt himself, and ability to level up fast.

    The group walked for over thirty minutes, with Augustus at the lead, it seemed he knew where he was going since he took precise turns into different streets.

    Eventually they got to a two storey building where the word "Armour" could be seen outside.

    Noah rose an eyebrow, as they entered the building, since there were no guards outside. A brightly lit hall entered his sight, to Noah''s surprise he realized that the Insides of the building were more than what was on the outside.

    There were multiple thin dome shaped frames with outfits or metallic armours inside of them. The ce smelled nice as the fresh scent of flowers ravaged his nose. There were multiple humans walking around, inspecting the outfits while uniformed men or women could be seen with them.

    Those people nced at the group of six, bit they ignored those stares.

    Augustus walked directly to the reception, the others following closely.

    Immediately Augustus reached the reception, the youngdy behind it bowed frantically, as she took a round object with inscriptions on it, and talked to it, Noah finding out that they had objects that functioned as phones!.

    "He said you shoulde in," thedy eventually said, pointing at a brown door  behind the reception.

    Augustus nodded, while he gestured for the group to follow him. They walked Into the door, and found another door after the door, which led to a small hall, as Noah kept wondering how much space was in the whole building.

    At the ending of the hall was a ck metallic door. Knocking on the door, the group of six watched in silence, the sound of locks opening, then Augustus proceeded to enter afterwards.

    A aura hit their faces, as Nosh heaved a sigh when he realized that the power the aura oozed belonged to tier 3.

    "My friend!!," the vibrant voice of a young man resounded, from the end of the room, where a table and chair could be seen, behind this table was a man who looked to be in histe twenties or early thirties.

    The man wore a dark green robe which featured multiple inscriptions and items that Noah didn''t know their uses.

    "It been a while," Augustus said while walking closer to the man who was basically jumping in happiness.

    "I see you''ve advanced to tier 3," Augustus sighed hugging his friend.

    "Come on both of us know, that if not for your families problem, you would have advanced first," the man said still hugging his friend.

    "Can..t breathe!," Augustus exmained after some point making his friend drop him.

    The man noticed the rest of the group at that point, and also realized that something was amiss. "Where''s Luke?." the man said.

    Augustus simply shook his head, but his friend understood the meaning of that gesture. "I''m sorry for your loss."

    Augustus waved his hand in dismissal, "This is the group I hired, we were more than this twenty days ago, now only five of them remain," Augustus exined.

    "It''s nice to meet you all," the man said while his eyes swept the group, his eyes spending a bit of time on Noah, as a glint of surprise appeared on his eyebrows just for a second.

    After that the man nodded his head, and six chairs appeared out of thin air.

    "If you all don''t mind I''d like to talk with my friend," the man said, as his aura expanded creating an invisible dome where no sound could be heard.

 Chapter 68 68. BEAUTIFUL

    Sitting on the chairs the man had given them, Noah''s eyes would asionally nce at their sitting figures. He could see their mouths move but not even the slightest sound escaped the small area.

    Noah had thought of spreading his consciousness, but he dismissed that thought, since hisst encounter with a tier 3 expert showed him that their mental waves could feel when another consciousness interacted with theirs.

    The talk continued for a while, as the group sat in silence inspecting the room. The room or office itself wasn''t that big, but simply had a lot of lights and the singr chair and table which belonged to the owner.

    Eventually the two stood, then Noah could hear their voices. The man''s eye fell on Noah figure, as Noah couldn''t help but be a bit surprised, it seemed Augustus had told him a bit about him.

    "It''s been a while but you''vee to the end of this mission," Augustus performed a professional bow.

    The other''s all bowed in return, "And as promised a triple of your initial pay," He added, waving his hand and a big bag of coins fell on the floor.

    Then Augustus opened it, and began handing over to them smaller bags, it seemed he had distributed it beforehand.

    Noah counted the coins inside the bag handed over to him, but surprise filled his mind when his consciousness counted more than 30 small silver coins, actually there were 50 inside of it.

    Noah''s gaze tried to meet Augustus''s, but the man ignored it. He could only keep it to himself at that point. Though Augustus had eventually asked for Luke''s space ring, after Noah had managed to salvage 20 more silver coins.

    This bonus or so, put his current purse at 136 small silver coins!. The faces of the others brightened up after they received thier pay, Mona heaved a sigh when she received hers, it seemed a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

    "I thank you all, for protecting my dear friend. I am Sir Mchi and goodbye to you all," the man said with a smile.

    Augustus gestured at them to leave, but when Noah was about exiting the office. He felt a force hold on to him, he didn''t like it and he showed it on his face.

    James tried to say something, but the door got shut on his face before he could. The force let go of him at that point, "I''m very sorry, it''s just I have something to say to you," Sir Mchi said.

    A frown spread on Noah face, although he nodded. "I would like to offer you a job at--," Sir Mchi said.

    "No. Thank you," Noah cut the expert short. "I have no interest in working for you," Noah stated with resolve.

    Sir Mchi''s face went from surprise to a frown, "....But you haven''t even heard my offer," he stated.

    "I don''t have too," Noah nodded. "Augustus told you about me, and you want to shoot your shot, but no," He added,

    Augh resounded out of Augustus''s mouth at that point, "I told you.....He is different from the masses. He even has an invitation from the one of the three great guilds," Augustus said.

    "You didn''t tell me that!," Sir Mchi exmained at Augustus who burst intoughter.

    "Ehm.... I''m sorry for dying you, Please forgive me. Just know that my offer still stands," Sir Mchi said handing a card over to Noah.

    Receiving and storing the card, Noah performed a bow and left the whole building.

    On getting outside, Noah couldn''t help but nce at the whole size of the building, and his memory of what was inside. He shook his head in wonder.

    Seeing that the others hadn''t left, but banded outside the building, Noah walked over to them.

    "It was a pleasure meeting you, I hope we meet again sometimes," Bern said with a bow, and left.

    An eyebrow on Noah''s face rose at that gesture. "Like Bernny, I hope we do meet again," Jessica said while she also took her leave.

    Silence fell on the remaining three, they didn''t know what the say, until Noah spoke up, "You mentioned you were going to meet a guild agent,"

    "Yeah, I am. I just.....no I think they all wanted to say thank you. None of us would be here if you hadn''t pulled a new trick out your sleeve," Monaughed.

    Noah simply smiled and replied, "You are weed," he said. "I do hope we meet when we get stronger." Mona bowed and left at that point.

    A few seconds of silence passed, as memories of the past twenty days filled their mind.

    "So what do we do?," Noah asked looking around, still admiring the fresh environment.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Frankly I don''t know," James sighed. "All I nned was to get here just before Bozolom. And now we are here," James added, dispersing a mist that had formed in front of him.

    Noah shook his head, "It as good thing, I overheard a few discussions on the matter," he said.

    During their long stay on the line of people, Noah had managed to eaves drop on more conversations. He found out that apparently, bozolom was to start, just a week from today. Which gave the two a bit of time to get to know a bit about the city.

    He even got to know where the registration to enter for bozolom would be, or rather he knew it''s name.

    Apart from that he heard people talk about a strange event that happened the week before, the conversation stated that the travellers saw hordes of beasts moving towards a particr direction.

    He also heard a few others things but they mostly didn''t pertain to their current situation.

    "So do you think we can get a map of the whole ce?," James said while they walked in the street going nowhere in particr

    "There should be a shop like that... Let''s see if we can find anything," Noah said.

    They both walked for multiple minutes, the streets of Crilion were easy to understand, but almost everywhere looked the same.

    They eventually found a shop with those services, and got a map of the whole Crilion, with a few important highlights, for 3rge Coppers which is equivalent to 300 small copper coins.

    This may sound small, but when youpare it to the fact that, in Mariwa a weapon cost around that price, but here he was only getting a map!.

    Although it turned out that they could return to update the map just for 5 small coppers, Noah doubted he would stay there for long since he was only there for bozolom.

    After they had gotten the map, they explored the city a bit, even eating food there, which tasted incredible, but a te cost them over 300 small coppers,pared to the around 30 to 50 of Vonol.

    Eventually night came, then did Noah and James see the true beauty of the city.

    The night sky was filled with stars, but the environment had shiny multicolored light particles that danced around, then disappeared a few secondster but there were thousands of them around.

    The scenery was the most beautiful thing Noah had ever seen so far. It truly made him understand again, that he was really in a different world filled with amazing things.

    After spending a bit more than half an hour admiring that scene, they went to the hotel they had found during their tour of just a part of the city.

    The building was a three storey, but had a lot of blue lights around it, which lit up it''s environment. The insides of the building, was actually spectacr, but that sight didn''t bring the least shred of joy to Noah.

    Though he and Luke had been sharing the pay of everything they bought, it didn''t change the fact that this ce that had gotten to, was a trap to make you spend all your money.

    The insides featured a ground hall, where tables and chairs could be seen, there were three balconies to be exact, inside the building, and many doors could be seen on each floor.

    And once again, the ce was bigger than it''s outsides.

    Walking up to the reception or so, ignoring the multiple stares of finely clothed individuals. Noah booked a room for both he had James, and it cost them 1 small silver and 5rge copper coins.

    The price shook them, but they still paid it. Although Noah vowed to bring the whole ce down if their facilities, and food weren''t good enough.

    The receptionist who was a woman, gave them a key, and a male guard or so, walked them to their rooms, since they were new there.

    And to Noahand James''s surprise the ce was beautiful. The room was brightly lit with white lights, it featured two beds, a bathroom and what looked like an air conditioner since the whole ce felt cool.

    All of a sudden Noah didn''t care about the price of the lodge, after all ording to thedy this was just a low grade room.

    James had his bath first then Noah, who enjoyed every single second of it, after all he hadn''t taken his bath in over two weeks.

    Exiting the bathroom with a rxed sigh, Noah sat on the white sheeted bed, wore only his trousers like James did, andy on the bed. A few seconds of silence passed, before Noah''s voice rang out.

    "There''s this question I''ve wanted to ask for a while now,".

 Chapter 69 69. LINE

    "Yeah, what is it?," James replied ncing at Noah.

    "You know, you said you had left the learning of Inscriptions to opt into a job which made you enough money to care for yourself and your brother. What job was it exactly," Noah voiced out.

    A few minutes of silence passed, Noah''s eyes not leaving the lying figure of James. A heavy sigh eventually resounded.

    "I was part of a gang of thieves," James sighed as thoughts flowed in his head, he seemed to go through a sad emotion from that topic.

    "Though eventually I managed to get out, but that was after the rest had been killed during an operation," Jamesughed in sadness.

    "I was desperate, no one was willing to help us without asking for a big price, and Jesse was just a kid, I had to do something," James said ncing at Noah to see his expression.

    Actually Noah had no expression on his face, the whole thing didn''t really surprise him, he actually expected a more dirty work.

    Another sigh escaped James mouth, he was about to say something when Noah talked. "You know my former brother actually hated me, for personal reasons," Noah said.

    "Why did you use ''former, he is alive and you-,"

    "I''m dead to him, our lives can never be the same!," Noah countered before James couldplete his words.

    Noah sighed eventually, "Let''s just get some sleep," Noah said. "We''ll have to go for the registration tommorow," he added,ying on the pillow provided by the hotel.

    James nodded, alsoying on the bed, many thoughts ran through his head untill the darkness called sleep enveloped his consciousness.

    Waking up early in the morning, Noah got up, took his bath, put on his clothes, then woke James up to do the same.

    Going down the stairs, Noah saw that a lot of humans were actually lodged in the hotel. Getting to the ground floor, the two sat down behind a table, where the were served breakfast.

    Surprisingly the whole thing was just bread and water, but when Noah took a bite out of the bread.

    His eyes widened in shock. He had never tasted a bread so sweet in his entire life. Before he knew it the small loaf given to him was gone.

    This marked the end of their lodge. Returning the rooms'' key, they both left the building.

    Upon getting out, Noah couldn''t help but blink twice, as he saw banners simr to the one he saw the first time he learnt about Bozolom.

    His eyes fell on James who also returned the gaze, his eyebrows also expressing his confusion at the whole scene.

    The banners were massive, able to cover the lengths of whole buildings, and shimmered in the sunlight, as their texture seemed to be made of metal when Noah touched them, but they weren''t.

    Noah stood there, as he also saw multiple people wonder about the same thing. Eventually he and James snapped out of their surprise, and went their way.

    Studying the map, Noah led them towards the ce to register for bozolom.

    Apparently his speed learning, also helped in understanding maps. It had only taken him about ten minutes before he figured out the whole thing, which was weird, since the information didn''te from the system, but he actually learnt it, by himself.

    Arriving in front of a storey building, very close to the massive collusem, Noah and James were in shock when they saw the incredibly long line, that was multiple streets long.

    Boredom fell on Noah''s mind right there and then, as it would be a very long day.

    Rushing to take their spots in the line, since people were constantly adding to the long queue, they waited.

    They had entered the long queue around something 8 or 9 in the morning, but it wasn''t until he could see the sun begin to set, did he get into the building!.

    He wasn''t tired or anything, he could stand for a whole week if needed, no, he had simply died many times from boredom.

    He and James had engaged in light conversations at different periods, but even that eventually grew boring.

    They couldn''t leave the line, since the guards there said if they did, they would start all over from the back. No one could dispute this because ording to what he learnt from James those armoured men were from the royal family!.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Entering the building, a wide dimly lit room entered his sight, at the end of the room was what looked like a booth.

    Inside the room were multiple armed men each lined up in a straight line on both sides.

    He couldn''t sense their strengths for some reason but he knew they were strong.

    Arriving in front of the booth, Noah saw a old man with a long grey beard and hair, behind it.

    This greatly surprised him since he had hardly seen old people ever since he got to Cregar.

    Although the man looked old, Noah couldn''t dispute the fact that he radiated power in tier 3!.

    "Give me your ID young man," the man said. Doing exactly as instructed, he tried to hand the ID over to the man, but it floated towards him.

    "You should get this updated in the nearby adventurers guild," the man''s voice rang out after a few seconds.

    Noah simply nodded.

    The man seemed to do something, since some tools or so floated around him, asionally being grabbed by the man to do something.

    Noah had to wait a few minutes before the man''s voice rang out again. "Take this. It is a card that you''ve signed up for bozolom. When it''s time to start the card will ring and when you get to the collusem you will be guided to your ce of wait," The man exined.

    "Lose it and forget about your participation, it has my Mana signature, and the material is something only the Royal family can issue, so forget about it being forged. Andstly imprint it with your mana," the man added.

    Doing just that, Noah watched as the card lit up with a orange radiance, then a blue illusory image of his face appeared.

    "When it''s time you will have to do this to show the guards that you are really a participant," The man exined.  "With that,vI am done. You can leave,".

    Noah performed a respectful bow, and turned to leave. Exiting the building, Noah watched James enter, since he had being right behind him.

    Noah waited for a bit more than ten minutes, but during that time he stared at the card, many thoughts flowing through his mind, he almost couldn''t believe that he was actually going to participate in the event.

    It felt almost like yesterday when he woke up in the forest, and now he had been through a bit, gained power, and also information about a bit of his future enemies.

    He still hadn''t found a goal, but that didn''t worry him too much. His n was that after Bozolom, he would dive straight into levelling up, that thought led him back to the ever counting down of days the system showed him about the bracelets effect.

    [Duration: 343 days, 9 hours 23 minutes]

    A heavy sigh escaped his mouth, at that point. ''This is going to take a while,'' he said Inwardly, right before James tapped his shoulder.

    "I''ve got my card," James said immediately storing it inside his space ring.

    Noah simply nodded, and wiped the troubled expression off his face.

    "So what should we do now," James asked after a few tens of seconds had gone without a single word.

    "Well, our registration is done, all we have to do is explore more of the city, and probably get a few things done." Noah replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

    "Then let''s do just that," James announced with a big smile.

    _________________________

    *Authors note*

    Remaining chapters will be out in a few hours.

 Chapter 70 70. INCREDIBLE

    The week passed by incredibly fast, Noah and James had used it all to get to know the amazing city better. Noah also got to find out that the city actually had ces where you could get tamed magical beasts, and keep them with as pets, or for moving carriages.

    Although they were a little costly, it wasn''t too much, but the thought of buying one didn''t cross his mind, since the bright figure had said he would receive pets eventually, and so far, from what he had received from the system, he was certain those pets would be crazy.

    Today they had woken up early, since the cards had buzzed the other night, and surprisingly a voice came out of it, saying the next day was the day, and all participants were to get to the collusem before afternoon.

    This wasn''t an issue as the the two of them had gotten up really early, ate in the cafeteria, and left for the collusem, but shock filled Noah''s mind when an incredibly long queue entered his sight, though it reduced really fast, it was still a long line. Making him wonder if people even slept at all.

    After a bit more than 20 minutes, Noah got to the gate of the collusem. "Are you a participant or spectator," the armoured man said in a deep voice.

    "A participant," Noah said.

    "Show me your proof," the man replied.

    Retrieving the card from his inventory, Noah infused Mana into it. Making a projection of his face appear on it.

    The man nodded and pointed at a separate gate from the collesems main one.

    Waking inside a dark passage way, Noah walked for a bit more than five minutes, before an immense room entered his sight.

    The room was incrediblyrge, sorge Noah was sure he could almost fit a small town into it. He honestly wondered how this was possible, though he knew how.

    He could swear that the sun was shining and the Collusem was open, but this ce had a very high roof, one that Noah knew if he fell from he would definitely get injured. The room was lit with yellow mana bulbs, many of them.

    "Incredible, right,?" the amazed voice of James rang behind him. Turning to nce at him, Noah replied, "Yeah it is."

    Noah''s eyes fell on the multitude of people inside the room. He could bet his entire life that the people here numbered in their hundreds.

    "Where are they even going to fit these amounts of humans,'' Noah shouted inwardly.

    Though the ce was not nearly half full, the poption was crazy. Noah was certain if he killed everyone present, he would definitely reach tier 3. Though he quickly shook that thought off. He couldn''t help but wonder if that blood thirsty thought, was because of the "Killer title", or because he was simply stating facts.

    Noah and James moved around a bit, there were no chairs there, so they had to stand, but that wasn''t a problem.

    After a bit of walking the chattering of humans became incredibly loud. Though it was to be expected, after all there were hundreds of humans present.

    Noah tried inspecting the men and women there. Some of them had light garments on while others were donned in armours of different colours and size.

    ncing at his attire, he couldn''t help but feel weird, his former attire had been destroyed, and this was the one Augustus gave him, butpared to the others even James, he looked I''ll prepared for the whole dangerous event.

    "We both know that armours don''t really change a difference right!. You are not normal and that''s a fact, but I won''t ask why until you tell me," James said with a shortugh.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah could only smile helplessly at that point the man was right. The minutes passed as the influx of humans reduced, it seemed those who were really participating came very early.

    Eventually the whole thing got boring, Noah even sat on the incredibly tiled floor, ignoring the weird looks people gave him. Some even tried to bad mouth him, but a few cold stares here and there fixed it.

    The thing was that most of the experts there were at either the lower stage of tier 2 or the middle stage, with a few being in the peak.

    This detail greatly surprised Noah, ''Peak stage,'' Noah shouted in his mind. He couldn''t help but shoot immensely confused gaze''s at James, while ideas began to form in this mind, and he didn''t like them.

    Although something changed after an hour or so of boredom. From the entrance into the massive room, a group of people could be seen walking in, they only numbered a bit over fifty, but there were a lot of differences, as even the chattering of humans seemed to reduce.

    The group were dressed in different attires and armours, but one look and Noah could tell some of their hair pins worth more than he did!.

    At the forefront was a young man, who looked to be in his twenties. He was around 6ft in height. He had blonde hair which he kept short. Noah couldn''t tell what his eye color was due to the distance.

    He wore a red robe which had multiple inscriptions on it. And his way of walking made Noah think he was from a noble family.

    And shockingly he radiated power in the peak stage of tier 2.

    Beside him was another young man, he was around the same height as the first guy, and he had long brown hair, but he radiated power in the top of the middle stage, basically ready to spill over.

    The other''s were mixed with men and women but the two at the forefront seemed to be the strongest, since the others were mostly lower stage and middle stage.

    The chattering in the massive room reduced, as Noah saw that people gave way for the group.

    It seemed most people knew those faces, but he couldn''t care less. After all his main problem was why peak stage tier 2''s were in the game.

    Not long after another group but smaller entered the ce, but this time led by ady, Noah got able to inspect her facial features, after she was close enough, though still a bit further away from him.

    Thedy looked around Noah''s age, she had ck silky hair that fell on her incredible shoulders, her face was fair as it held many delicate features, like her love shaped cherry lips, her slim eyebrows which seemed to hold many secrets.

    She was donned in green and ck skin tight armour, that let her incredible curves be made know to the world, the two balls that rested on her chest seemed able to lift the very heavens themselves, her delicate footsteps that made even ballerinas pale inparison, andstly her crimson red eyes, which seemed to hold deep pain and happiness.

    Noah had never seen someone so elegant and beautiful in his whole life, the thought of walking over to over to her crossed his mind, but for the first time since he got to Cregar, he lost confidence immediately.

    He seemed tinypared to her, even though she was only in the top of the middle stage.

    Though he had been sitting, Noah was currently on his feet, his eyes following the movement of this angel, as shock filled his mind when her eyes met his.

 Chapter 71 71. RULES

    Noah instinctively took a step backwards. He didn''t understand how that happened, he was basically far from her, but she had locked gaze''s with him.

    Even more shock filled his mind when he saw her walking towards his direction!.

    Panic filled his mind, as Noah took a millisecond to inspect himself. Disappointment raged in his mind after the inspection, he looked like a poor mongrelpared to her. ''Does my breath smell?,'' Noah asked himself, that was when he found out. ''I haven''t brushed in months,''

    The realization made him dizzy, he had only thought of baths, but not brushing.

    It took only a few tens of seconds for thedy to get near him. The entire ce had went silent, immediately her figure entered the room, it seemed all the men were thinking the exact same thing.

    When she got to his position, Noah watched in shock as he went past his figure, and continued walking on the pathway made my people.

    During his moment of shock, he managed to nce back, and inspect her, out of sheer curiosity.

    [Isabe]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 40]

    [Chances of death: 40%]

    Noah''s mind felt a buzz, this woman was strong. ncing aback at James, Noah saw that he too was in a daze. Immediately he noticed that, his fascination suddenly disappeared. It felt like a public thing, so his mind got used to it instantly.

    ncing at her stationed figure, Noah realized that her beauty didn''t affect him, nor amaze him anymore. He could only me his innate ability to learn fast, or adapt to a situation fast.

    Heaving a sigh, ''I can''t even admire a beauty,'' Noahined in his mind.

    He like that his speed learning helped him in many ways, but this was getting too much.

    The same thing happened with Lisa, when he had tied her to the tree, he tried forcing himself to imagine things, but he got absolutely no reaction, making him look focused.

    Eventually the ce returned to its boring state, Noah was already bored out of his mind, that he decided to practice his elemental control a bit.

    Pouring Mana into that skill, Noah watched as a tiny tornado appeared in front of him, but immediately that happened, red inscriptions lit up in the ceiling, then Noah lost control of the tornado making it vanish.

    ncing around, Noah found that everyone had their eyes on him, seeing staring nkly, some with disdain, some were even mocking him with the smile on their face, while somedies stared at him with admiration.

    Noah didn''t know what to do, the whole thing became incredibly awkward, his mouth was about to release words when something took their attention away from him.

    The floor of the room, lit up with a blue radiance, Noah only managed to get a glimpse of the multiple runes and intricately webbed lines, before he found himself under the sun''s radiance!.

    He felt dizzy from the experience, that he had to hold his head, after a few seconds the realization of what had just happened dawned on him, "We just teleported," he screamed inside his mind.

    Immediately he said that, he began to hear the voices of people, actually it felt like they were cheering. Snapping his head to inspect his surroundings, Noah found that they were currently inside the collusem.

    Rows upon rows upon rows of seats filled his vision, and on them were thousands of humans, but there was a side where there weren''t any cheers, actually those individuals simply sat, and stared at the multitude of humans that just got teleported.

    Noah nced at his fellow teleportees, they had all recovered from the teleportations effects. "That was my first teleport," James sounded next to Noah. Who simply nodded at him, "Mine too,".

    Honestly Noah almost didn''t believe such a thing was possible but it seemed the people of Cregar proved him wrong.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The area remained noisy for a few minutes, Noah instinctively ncing at the area where neatly dressed people, sat and didn''t cheer, his mind told him that all of them were important identities.

    Eventually something changed, the collusems'' insides glowed with a blue radiance, then screens the size of buildings appeared, and it showed the participants inside the collusem.

    Noah''s mouth were wide open, though those screens were actually illusory, they looked looked exactly like TV''s.

    During his moment of surprise, another event ured.

    An incredibly heavy aura, fell on the entire collusem, as Noah directly fell on his knees, his nose dripping with blood.

    He felt he was definitely going to pass out, but his body released mild sparks, though they helped a bit, against the pressure there wasn''t much they could do.

    Then the aura vanished as fast as it fell, relieving the weak experts. At that point, Noah''s body began to gush with energy, as immediately after he managed to open his eyes without an headache. ncing at sky, which hurt his head, Noah saw the figure of a floating man, wearing a red robe.

    He couldn''t see the features of the man due to his still recovering head, but he could confirm something, the man was the owner of the heavy pressure, but tier 3''s couldn''t do that much to him, which only meant, ''Tier 4,'' Noah screamed in his mind.

    To the floating man, Noah was but an ant, actually the entire participants present could actually die from his sole pressure!!.

    Spitting the blood that had umted in his throat, Noah managed to stand, all for him to realize that, he was the only one who had recovered fast.

    Immediately, he felt heavy gaze''s on his figure, as he couldn''t help but nce at the ce filled with important identities. Shock filled Noah''s mind when he found that none of them was affected by the aura.

    ''Damn, I''m really still very weak,'' Noah said Inwardly, while a sigh escaped his mouth. Then he sat down on the ground, trying to ignore the gazes

    It took around ten whole minutes before, signs of waking up showed, yes most of them had fainted, even James.

    Noah had decided to cultivate during that time, since it really helped him.

    Eventually the whole collusem was awake, but not a single sound could be heard, after all not even the audience was spared of the pressure.

    "Good," the man''s voice rang out epassing the entire Collusem, even spreading beyond it.

    "I wee you all to this year''s edition of bozolom," the man announced, but not a single person cheered, from fear that they might anger the expert.

    The man seemed to not care, as he continued, "As you all should know, bozolom is an event organised by the royal family, and few Large noble families, to test it''s people and see their capabilities. So please a standing ovation for their grace," the man said slowly pointing at the area filled with the important individuals.

    The whole collusem stood as they performed a standing ovation, but not from their will, but of fear, even Noah pped.

    The man waved his right hand, and everyone immediately stopped. "Now, to the exnation of this year''s rules,".

    "Some of you may already know this, but there have been some changes in this year''s bozolom," the man said, while he shot sharp gaze''s at multiple peak stage tier 2, who flinched.

    Although he wasn''t part of them, Noah himself flinched, the gaze seemed to have enough power to kill him.

    "But it isn''t to worry, there shall only be an increase in the difficulty," the man announced.

    Bells rang in everyone''s mind at that point, ''An increase in the already stupendous difficulty of the event,'' Noah shouted in his mind, but didn''t dare to say anything.

    "There are a few rules of this years'' edition, but the first and maybe the most important rule is. You''ll have to kill yourselves,"

 Chapter 72 72. TEAMS

    Noah was absolutely taken aback by the man''s words, he couldn''t help but shoot a gaze at James, who also returned it, fear seemed to be creeping into his mind.

    "Let me clear up on that. For this year, you''ll all be grouping into teams of five. There are exactly one thousand one hundred, of you participants, which would equal to two hundred and twenty groups."

    "You may all be wondering how do you do this, that simple," the man said, as he waved his hands causing hundreds of hand bands to fall.

    "Wear those hand bands. Swipe it with your card and infuse your Mana into it. When you''ve done that your names will appear on the leader board," the man exined as everyone did as he Instructed.

    "There are going to be points for this game, as you gain points from the level of beasts you kill. There are magical Beasts that only range from the lower stage up to the middle stage. When you kill a lower stage beast you get 1 point, when you kill a middle stage you get 5 points, and when you kill a higher stage, you get 15 points. The more points you get the higher you get on the leader board." He exined.

    "Now back to killing yourselves. The cultivation journey is filled withpetitors and harshness. You''ll have to fight and fight through out. This isn''t any different, only that with each kill you receive the points of who ever you kill," the man announced, as gasps resounded inside the collusem.

    Noah could already immediately see how those in the higher stage had an advantage, but that revealed a problem. The gasps stopped as the man opened his mouth to talk.

    "You may be wondering, but we are in teams, are we going to lose all our points just from one member?. Well the answer is no. As a team you won''t lose all your points, but you also won''t stay a team through out the event. As a team each points a member gets, is added to your overall points, so if a member dies their contributed ponts will be deducted,".

    "This stage willst for only three days, and only the teams in the top hundred will qualify for the next stage," the man exined.

    A sigh escaped Noah mouth after that exnation, the first stage was more of a group work, which meant even if a member didn''t gain any points, as long as their team as a whole made it to the top hundred they would pass.

    "Now for the second stage, since we''ll only have three this year. The members of the first hundred teams will then split into teams of two, with normal calctions that means a total of 250 teams, but things could go wrong." He said.

    "When you''ve be a team of two, you''ll be transported to a ce where you''ll fight beasts for three days straight,  there would be five waves where beast that range from the lower stage up to higher stage will appear. All you have to do is survive this three days, and your team will advance into the third and final stage." the man stopped, giving them a few seconds to digest the information.

    Noah found the second stage a bit bothersome, the fact that they would have to fight beast for three days posed two questions. One would they have time to rest?, and two, how long will each wavest?. Noah couldn''t help but feel like the man left those details out to increase the difficulty of the whole thing.

    "Now the third stage which will onlyst a day, would feature the experts that had managed to survive the second stage. In thisst stage, in teams of two, you are to fight and kill, or make your enemy surrender by utilizing the aspect of the hand band which teleports you out of the area.

    "In thisst stage you don''t really have to be in a team, since only ten people should be left. All you have to do is make sure that, only that number remains" the man exined.

    "Thanks to the royal family, which has allowed you the option to surrender and be teleported out, only by using the hand bands. And for warning, it takes thirty seconds for the band to activate the teleportation Inscriptions and formations in the area, so beware," the man exined.

    "Now you all may be thinking, what the prize would be. That''s simple, thest ten individuals will get resources that will push them to either peak of tier 3, or the beginning of their 4, in a short period of time, but there are some conditions which are forter," the man said,

    While the entire ce burst into chattering, every single person present apart from the VIPs, were gasping in surprise.

    Noah himself couldn''t help but widen his eyes in surprise, ''Tier 4!,'' he shouted in his mind, that was crazy, this really boosted his morale to win. Although the conditions the expert mentioned worried him, the prize was still stupendous.

    "With that done, you all have one hour to form teams of five. When you have decided, ce your cards on each others, then infuse your mana''s into it, to be identified as a team. The maximum is five so only that number can be allowed." the man finished the exnation.

    "Andstly you all can address me as Elder Michael," he added, as he began to float towards the VIP area.

    With that done Noah nced at James, a sigh escaped his mouth. "Let''s go look for three others." he said while James nodded.

    Sweeping his gaze on the multitude of people, Noah could immediately see people already swiping their cards on each others, as their names were grouped together, on the massive screen''s.

    "We should probably band together and search for people," Noah advised, while James only nodded, after all Noah was the strongest.

    The two walked among the crowd, Noah inspecting the experts he saw on the way, eventually he found someone.

    [Ka]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 35]

    [Chances of death: 32%]

    The person was strong so he walked towards her. "Hey do you want to join our team?," Noah asked with a smile.

    The young woman who looked as young as Noah, had long brown hair, ck eyes, was wearing a ck robe, and was around 5ft5 in height, inspected the duo.

    Then all of a sudden, a small condensed ball of orange mes materialised in front of her and shot towards Noah. Who frowned and simply caught the ball with his left hand, tightening his grip the ball of mes dispersed.

    Noah wanted toin about the attack when her voice rang out, "I''ll join your team," she said as surprise filled her eyebrows.

    Noah and James were totally taken aback by that turn of events. "...Okaay," Noah replied unsure of what to do.

    "That attack was strong enough to hurt most people in the middle stage, but you caught it with your hands. You''re strong," she said.

    Noah could only give a weird smile, truth be told the ball of mes had only felt warm in his hands, he didn''t actually think it was an attack, but now it seemed he was wrong.

    "I''m Ka. The daughter of two small merchants, and the older sister to three younger brothers," Ka Introduced herself with an out stretched hand.

    "I''m Noah, the son of no one, and the brother to no one," Noah introduced, taking the hand shake, while gesturing at James to do the same.

    Ka stared at Noah with a weird look, it seemed his introduction had taken her by surprise.

    "Let''s go look for two other people," Noah announced after James was done Introducing himself.

    The two nodded, as they walked around,  it took them over ten minutes, before Noah found someone suitable for his team, but immediately he was about to walk towards the man, someone got there before him, and the person was in the peak stage of tier 2.

    [Desmond]

    [Tier: 2]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Level: 46]

    [Chances of death: 40]

    Desmond talked to the man Noah had eyes on, the man seemed to agree, since he nodded.

    Desmond turned and saw the figures of Noah''s iplete team. "I am Desmond," he said aftering closer to the trio.

    "I''m Noah,".

    "Can you join my team we are almostplete," Desmond said ncing at the man beside him.

    Noah had a difficult expression, but he still nced at the two humans behind him, seeing that they nodded, although James had a weird expression on his face.

    "Sure," Noah announced.

    "Though i have another teammate. So you''ll have to remove him," Desmond said pointing at James, in disdain

    Noah''s expression immediately went cold ''I see'' Noah thought.

    "No can do," Noah answered with his cold expression.

    Thus greatly surprising everyone present, especially Ka, Desmond and the other man.

    "Can you repeat yourself," Desmond said with surprise on his face.

    "I said, that''s not possible. Ka if you want to join him, you can but he''s not going anywhere," Noah said in a chilling voice, for the first time in a while he began to actually lose his patience, while anger creeped up his emotions.

    "Noah you don''t-,"

    "Don''t give me that crap," Noah cut James short.

    A sigh escaped James mouth at that point. "Ka!," Noah called out. "I''ll stay," she replied taking a step back, for a second there, her instincts screamed at her to escape from the danger which was Noah, further solidifying her belief that Noah was strong.

    Noah simply nodded his head, while he turned around to go look for other participants.

    "You''ll regret this," Desmond shouted at him, while he also turned around, but this time a wrathful expression shone on his face, while he wiped the beads of cold sweat that had formed on his head, due to the fear Noah had inflicted.

    Noah simply ignored this, as he continued walking, the group walked in silence, while Noah continued to inspect the experts around him.

    Eventually the one hour time period ended, as two other figure could be seen standing around Noah,pleting the team of five.

    The first person was a man who looked to be in his early thirties, he had short yellow hair and brown eyes. He was around 5ft7. He currently wore a full body suit, but also had a silver coloured breast te, metal knee pads, metal elbow pads, and a ck boots. All flickering with multiple inscriptions.

    [Mark]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 37]

    [Chances of death: 32%]

    The second man looked to be in his mid twenties. he had short ck hair, brown eyes, was around 5ft7 in height, and was currently wearing a blue robe that was heavily filled with inscriptions.

    [Steve]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 34]

    [Chances of death: 30%]

    Gesturing for them to swipe their cards together, they watched, as their names appeared as a group on the screen, while their points were currently zero.

    Noah was also surprised to find that he could check the leaderboard from the band on his wrist.

    "Very well," Elder Michael announced after everyone was done.

    "You''ll all be sent to a forest in a distant ce, but is under the control of our great nation," Elder Michael continued, as Inscriptions lit on the ground.

    "You''ll be sent to random areas of the forest, so be ready as there may be  magical beasts present," he added.

    Every participant wore stern expressions at that point.

    "Goodbye and good luck," Elder Michael said, as the Inscriptions lit up even brighter, then the experts all disappeared.

    "And oh....There might be a few surprises," Elder Michael said, but the participants didn''t get to hear him, since they were all gone, but if they had, they would have also noticed that his aura gained a murderous feeling.

    ________________________

    Till next week, i guess

 Chapter 73 73. WEIRD

    Snapping his eyes open, Noah felt his vision get blurry, but that didn''t stop him from retrieving his staff, and expanding his consciousness in a split second.

    This allowed him to see everything within an area of 25m. Mild sparks left his body, as he immediately felt better. ncing at his teammates he saw that they were still recovering from the effects of the teleportation, since they held their heads in their hands

    Deciding to let them recover first, Noah inspected the environment. They had been teleported to a forest, that he knew before hand.

    The forest had tall thin trees, multiple storey buildings in height, which made the wind able to flow freely, the bushes weren''t that much, which allowed Noah be able to see a few hundred meters ahead of him.

    The sun illuminated the environment, but when he looked up, he noticed the multiple flickering of Inscriptions, It seemed the whole ce was covered by a massive Inscription, but that wasn''t too surprising, what surprised him was the absoluteck of magical beasts in the environment.

    It seemed the whole ce was devoid of those monsters, giving the ce a very serene vibe.

    Taking a deep breath, he realized that the Mana density here was actually bad, not even as good as Vonol, though he expected a simr situation, after all elder Mchi had said the whole forest was under the Cusk nation''s control, which meant experiments would have probably been done on it.

    Seeing that his teammates had recovered, Noah couldn''t help but feel awkward from their stares.

    It seemed they had silently made him the leader of the group, since he had gathered them, not even James seemed to go against the idea.

    A light sigh escaped Noah mouth, as immediately the band on their hands buzzed, checking it, Noah found that a team had gained points!!.

    "There is no n in particr, since we don''t really know theyout of the whole ce. So all we''ll do is move around carefully killing beasts, and try not to encounter any other team," Noah announced, while the others simply nodded, and wore stern expressions.

    Noah himself cast energy armour, he had gotten use to it, since it really helped a lot in terms of defense.

    The other''s apart from James marveled at the spell, but didn''t fail to get ready.

    Ka brought out a long sword that had red Inscriptions lit on them, immediately it touched her hand it began to emit heat, then it eventually caught fire, the orange mes danced around the edges of the swore, before they seem to go solid, giving it an incredibly cutting ability.

    Mark revealed a pair of axes that had bright yellow inscriptions on them, the axe looked heavy, but it seemed to not bother the mans movement.

    Steve retrieved a saber, that lookedpletely normal, apart from the buzzing sound that escaped it''s fabric.

    Noah didn''t understand what was up with the saber so he postponed his curiosity to when they got into a fight.

    James simply wielded a pair of ck daggers flickering with cyan coloured inscriptions.

    Noah nodded at them, as he dashed forward, the four following closely behind. Noah decided not to run too fast, since he wasn''t alone, and the team was very valuable.

    The group ran for multiple minutes, but encountered no beasts, during that time, Noah saw multiple teams advance in the leaderboard but that didn''t really put a pressure on him.

    It was until after they had been running for over an hour did they encounter a magical beasts.

    Surprise ran through Noah''s mind when he saw a big panda, hanging off a tree, it seemed to sight their figures, since it''s mouth opened to bare it''s teeth.

    [Evolved Panda]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 29]

    [Chances of death: 0%]<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was in the lower stage which meant it wasn''t much of a threat to the team, though that changed when the panda seemingly disappeared.

    Another wave of surprise filled Noah''s head, when he saw the panda moving incredibly fast, it''s ws out while it tried to get to Noah who grinned.

    Coming to a quick halt at the surprise of his team. Noah grabbed the panda''s head with his left hand. Spinning his staff above his head, Noah mmed it on the side of the pandas'' head.

    A crunching sound filled the environment, while the panda panda was sent flying at break neck speed, ignoring the system notification of gaining exp, Noah voice rang out.

    "We are going to have to be more careful, it seems the beasts here have special qualities," Noah said to his still surprised team. They had barely been able to follow the pandas'' incredible movement, before Noah killed it even faster.

    The forest seemed to listen to Noah''s voice, when he sensed multiple iing aura''s moving at speeds he didn''t expect.

    Ignoring the bands buzz of their team gaining one point, Noah face turned serious, he took a quick nce at his teammates, seeing that they too had sensed the aura''s and we''re ready, he cast a spell.

    #

    #

    Loud explosions resounded in the environment multiple times in the span on an hour, as Noah and his team ughtered the evolved pandas''.

    It seemed the group had arrived in a ce popted with them, since Noah stopped counting when their numbers had reached two hundred.

    Loud panting could be heard, as Noah wiped the drops of blood that had manage to reach his forehead. ncing at his tired team, who sat on the ground. Noah decided to checked their position on the leaderboard.

    Seeing that they had gained a total of 745 points which put them at 53th position, he sighed. He himself had 300 points to his name which meant he contributed a lot.

    "We''ll rest for a few minutes before continuing, we have to get to ces with more powerful beasts," Noah announced.

    Through out the whole battle, the levels of the panda were mostly in the lower stage. Noah ad only killed three in the middle stage and that was all.

    His teammates sighed as while they stared at Noah''s untired figure, he had been the best in killing those beasts, and he didn''t try to hide it, and his stamina seemed off the charts, since his breathing wasn''t ragged in any way.

    Truth be told, Noah only felt like he had done a few light exercises, lower staged beats didn''t really do much to him, only beasts at the peak could make him exhaust himself.

    The time for their rest eventually passed, when Noah stood up, swept his gaze on the mini battlefield, seeing the multiple corpses of 2m tall panda''s on the ground, he shook his head.

    Dashing forward, Noah nced at their position on the leaderboard. During their short rest they had fallen to 60th position.

    The group ran for just thirty minutes, before Noah sensed an aura, actually multiple wild aura''s in the middle stage, but he didn''t stop.

    Eventually he sighted the beasts, and a wave of surprise filled Noah''s mind when he saw 2m tall apes dashing towards them at speeds he didn''t think we''re possible for them, and weren''t actually normal.

    He couldn''t help but stop at that sight, ''What the fuck is going on,'' he thought.

    A magic circle flickered into existence in front of him, as he cast lightning bolts multiple times.

    The apes weren''t able to dodge it but that didn''t remove the weirdness of the scene.

 Chapter 74 74. ENCOUNTER

    Removing his staff from the head of a ape, a deep frown showed on Noah''s face. After the fight with the apes though they were only 17 in number, Noah hade to a conclusion, there was something wrong with the magical beasts, or rather they seemed to have been experimented on.

    Even the others hade to simr conclusions. "What should we do?. If all the beasts are abnormally fast, that would mean we don''t want to get surrounded by stronger ones," Ka said while the others nodded.

    "It seems the elder had Intentionally left out that detail on purpose, that means it''s not safe to assume that all the beasts have this same features,"  Steve said, while the others went into  thought.

    "It''s both a good things and a bad thing. I guess their either trying to get us to adapt to our environment, or inly want us dead, but that would mean we should expect a lot of beasts, or even a potential treasure somewhere," James said,

    "Na...I don''t think so, he would have mentioned it, if it were true, after all we can''t find something we aren''t looking for, in a ce we don''t really know about. A hint would have been enough, and I doubt they are generous enough to leave something valuable," Noah exined with a shrug.

    "Honestly all we can do is try not to die. No amount of thinking can really reveal anything to us, as long as we manage to enter the top 100 without dying, the forest can throw anything at us," Noah announced, while the four nodded in unison.

    They continued their journey, with Noah consistently checking the leader board, he found that the other teams had slowed down in gaining points, which made Noah''s team maintain 54th position.

    The group met a few middle and lower stage apes on the way, but eventually it got boring. Noah was almost certain that the main objective was to bore the groups out, at least those that ended up in the outer part of the forest.

    Though at some point that boring scene changed, when they got to a burnt area in the forest, at that time it was already sunset, but they hadn''t seen any fire during their run.

    Noah advised them to be cautious after that scene. Something kept bugging him that there was danger lurking around them, but he couldn''t find anything.

    That changed when space seemed to bend, the path before them stretched until it resembled a tunnel, then their figures vanished from their previous position.

    Taking a step forward, Noah nced behind him, his instincts raging at him, as he brought his staff up, In front of him.

    BOOOOOM!.

    A massive forcended on his figure, as Noah was sent flying with his teammates behind him.

    Slight sparks immediately began to  flicker around his body, while his environment slowed down incredibly.

    cing his feet on the ground, Noah managed to stop his motion. ncing at the thing that hit him, Noah saw a massive bird like creature, with metallic feathers, and a orange shining beak, it resembled an eagle.

    The bird was the size of a minivan, and was in the peak of tier 2. Noah didn''t understand what was going on, but he didn''t hesitate to act, ncing at his staff, Noah decided to store it.

    Electrical energy crackled on his fingers as Noah got to watch in slow motion how his energy des formed.

    The electrical energy, orange in colour, crawled up his hands, until they were like multiple snake''s on his fingers and arms.

    Then those snake like tendrils, spread out, connecting to each other, then two edges turned incredibly thin but very solid.

    Taking a step forward, Noah didn''t mind that his environment was moving super slow. Arriving in front of the bird, Noah was surprised to see that it seemed able to follow his movements, but he removed that idea when he saw the bird looking at another direction, different from his position.

    Rasing both hands up, Noah brought the energy des down. They went through the birds body like butter, totally undisturbed.

    Noah stopped running at that point, and everything went back to normal. The bird was sent flying, as Noah dispersed the energy des.

    ncing backwards, he saw that all four of his teammates had their eyes wide open, Noah had basically teleported in their eyes.

    Walking toward the unmoving body of the bird, Noah inspected it.

    [Evolved ck Eagle]

    "Huh.....," Noah muttered. For some reason the system didn''t show it''s remaining stats, "Maybe because it''s dead...," Noah concluded.

    ""How did you do that?,"" The voices of Ka, Mark, and Steve, sounded in unison. Noah simply shrugging, "Did you guys see anything when it attacked me," Noah''s voice rang out

    "No I didn''t. It was moving too fast. How did you even manage to kill it aren''t you a middle stage like us," Mark remarked.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Ignoring thest part of his words, Noah stored the falcons body. Immediately he did that, multiple aura''s but this time not as wild as a magical beast spread out.

    ''Humans!,'' Noah thought, the rest of the team also sensed those aura''s. Everyone went on guard, as the figures of five humans exited the forest depths.

    A wave of surprise filled Noah''s mind when he recognized two figures from the five.

    The face of the man that tried to kill him on his first ten minutes on Creagar, and thedy he was with that day.

    [Matthias]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 34]

    [Chances of death: 20%]

    [Lilia]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 38]

    [Chances of death: 29%]

    Noah couldn''t help but take a step back, not from fear, but from how awkward the whole situation was about to turn out.

    "You!....," The voice of Matthias rang out after a second of inspecting Noah''s group, while he pointed his finger at Noah, who tried to hide his face.

    "How are you still alive?...You vanished that day," Matthias continued, everyone present switching nces between Noah and the exquisitely armoured man.

    Matthias looked to be the leader of the group, since not only was no one talking, but his armour outshined the others followed by Lilia, who only kept quiet.

    "Is he a problem?," one of the two men in his team said.

    "Yes he is...A very big one," Matthias replied, thus time pointing his sword at Noah.

    "Look...Let''s forget about that day, and move on.....We don''t have to fight," Noah eventually said.

    "Uh....Do you really think I''ll let you go after what you saw, low life''s like you don''t deserve to witness events like that," Matthias said.

    "Or are you scared....If you kneel and beg I''ll let your whole team go," Matthias mocked.

    "Noah do you know him?," James voice sounded. "What should we do?," he added.

    Noah simply sighed, and raised his hand. "I''ll handle this,"

    "Let me rephrase that. If you drop your sword I''ll let your team go," Noah said scratching his head.

    Matthias''s face twisted in confusion and anger, "Trash like you--"

    His words hung in his mouth, as Noah''s aura burst out coldly,

    "I''m actually tired of being called a trash by another trash. You know what, I''ll just gain all your points," Noah''s voice rang out, sending chills down every ones spine.

 Chapter 75 75. LIE

    Time seemed to stop for those present, in the span of a second, Noah became a tyrant among them. Each of their instincts told them that only death waited after a sh with the young man.

    He immediately became unbeatable in their way eyes. "But...due to my not so bad mood, I''ll give you a second chance. Drop your weapon or greet death," Noah exined.

    Matthias who''s hand had been frozen in its pointed position, immediately dropped his sword, as he took a step backwards. ''What the fuck. He was only at the bottom of tier 1 a few months ago,'' He shouted inwardly.

    "That''s good...Now go away." Noah waved his hand. Truth be told he wished someone acted out of line, after all the leaderboard showed that Matthias''s team was in 30th position.

    The group of five did as they were told, though there was struggle on their expressions, they didn''t dare act in anger.

    Though before they could leavepletely, a high pitched screech resounded in the environment, followed by thirty aura''s, belonging to the peak stage!.

    A stern expression appeared on everyone''s face, not even Noah could escape the frown that everyone had immediately after.

    Incredibly fast moving figures filled the sky above them. Noah was able to follow those movements, but wasn''t inclined to help the opposing team, actually he did something that surprised everyone.

    Appearing in front of a man who was the target of on of the thirty eagles, Noah punched the man''s chest which directly exploded. ''Better to salvage as much as I can'' Noah said inwardly, after all the man was as good as dead, if Noah wasn''t there.

    His team directly gained 200 points from the kill, elevating them to 49th position. ncing at two who were about to tap the surrender button, Noah shook his head and decided to leave them, though the eagles would kill them before that time, his teammates were his priority.

    Dashing back to them, Noah stood in their middle, while he cast one of his very powerful spells.

    [Lightning Domain: Create a domain of lightning that covers a radius of 50meters around you. in your domain the damage of all lightning rted skills are tripled. Cost 20% of total mp , duration 10 minutes, cool down 30 minutes]

    A magic circle expanded above them, as a thin orange veil fell from the magic circle. Immediately that happened Noah found that he was totally in control of the area. Sparks began the flicker in the air, as all those including the other team,  felt their hair stand due to the electrical energy in the very air they were breathing.

    The thirty eagles entered the domain at that point, as Noah didn''t waste time in casting lightning bolts.

    Multiple magic circles appeared above the fast moving beasts as before they could get a bite out of anyone, lightning bolts the same size as their bodies fell on them.

    A wave of surprise rushed through Noah''s mind when he saw that the lightning bolt did not kill the creatures, but he didn''t let that sight slow him down, since he cast lightning bolts again.

    The exact same thing happening, it wasn''t until Noah cast lightning bolts three more times did they die.

    [You have gained exp]

    [You have levelled up once]

    [You have levelled up once]

    [You have levelled up once]

    [You have gained 15 points to all stats]

    [You have received 30 points to

    distribute]<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah felt weird at those notifications, he wasn''t sure whether to be happy or sad, after all he had killed 30 peak tier Beast which only gave him 3 levels, and he was only in the middle stage!.

    Ignoring the notifications for now, Noah swept his gaze on his immediate environment, then he clicked his tongue, he had identally saved the other team.

    Everyone present didn''t know what to say. It was either because Noah had just killed 30 beasts stronger than him, or because his team had jumped to 15th position.

    "Let''s go," Noah eventually said to his teammates after the two that activated the teleport function of the hand bands, had disappeared.

    They silently agreed, as they saw Noah in a new light, ''Incredibly strong,'' each of them said Inwardly, not even James escaped that feeling.

    Noah heaved a sight after a few tens of minutes of not hearing anyone''s voice, so he decided to address the matter.

    "I hope you all aren''t seeing me as someone who can do impossible things, because I can''t," Noah shook his head, while his audience raised an eyebrow at his words.

    ''What the heck is he talking about, he has done what is considered Impossible twice, and he''s asking us to not see him that way, when he''s actually monster,'' Steve said inwardly.

    Seeing that no one replied, Noah was about to say something when he got cut short. "Who exactly are you," Ka said. "How can you do things like that?. Are you hiding your true cultivation level?. Or you are just not normal," she added.

    "She''s right, we''d really like to know who you really are, or else you''ll break our courage with your abnormal achievements," Mark nodded.

    Noah was at loss of what to do, his shot a ''i need help,'' nce at James who simply shook his head in response.

    Noah could only heave another sigh, at that point, "Honestly I''m really not someone special," Noah lied. "I''m actually just hiding my cultivation level," he lied again as a sweet n formed in his head.

    Multiple gasps resounded in the area, as Noah found that Matthias and his lover were behind his team.

    "How.... When, is that even possible!," James stuttered, while Noah only nodded his head, and turned to face the direction they were moving towards, though James didn''t buy the lie one bit.

    "With that done, I guess we can leave the whole thing for the maybeter" Noah said, as smug smile appeared on his hidden face.

    They all nodded, and dashed forward before he even moved. ncing at Matthias team of two, Noah''s voice rang out, "You can follow, but don''t disturb," he said dashing towards his teammates, and catching up immediately.

    "Are you sure!," Lilia said in a worried tone. "Yes...He may be a low life, but he has the power to make us seed in this stage, we just have to follow closely, and steal a few targets," Matthias grinned, as the two dashed forward.

    The group ran for multiple minutes, as the remained in the top 20 throughout that period, Noah himself finalising his n.

    He had lied about hiding his cultivation level, since it would allow him level up in peace and actually reach the higher stage of tier 2, which would speeden up his advancement to tier 3, the only problem was the powerful audience watching, and James.

    Noah couldn''t help but realize that he had gotten smarter than his first day on Cregar. He had intentionally shown a bit of his powers, without really revealing his speed force, which was basically his main strength.

    To the world he was just a strange tier 2 expert who had two elements, and was recently found to have been in the peak stage. Although the VIPs probably knew that he was lying. If he was ever asked he''d simply say he was fast at cultivating.

    Although only the first day was about to end, Noah and some others had gained the attention of multiple VIPs, and even some of the normal audiences, as within the VIP area, multiple conversations able to change the lives of most individuals were going on.

 Chapter 76 76. CONVERSATIONS

    Back in Crilion...

    In the VIP area of the collusem, multiple sitting figures could be seen each having their full attentions on the illusory screens right in front of them.

    Once in a while these individuals would nce at their sitting partners, it seemed they were talking but no words left their mouths.

    A particrdy who watched Noah''s team, Noah to be exact. Would smile multiple times, as she seemed to enjoy what she watched.

    "Is he really that interesting," The mental voice of her sit partner said.

    "Oh, he actually is. If you would just stop fantasizing about sleeping with little Isabe, you would understand, Solomon," She replied sharply, her mental voice not holding back on the mockery and disdain it held.

    The man could not reply, as only a frown appeared on his face, though he nced at thedy''s screen, and only after a minute did he get interested.

    Multiple other individuals also tuned in to Noah''s team, each of them carrying different ideas in mind, but one thingmon was that they all knew he was dangerous.

    "Who exactly is he?," Solomon said in astonishment after witnessing Noah''s Lightning domain taking out the evolved eagles.

    "I think he''s someone that can be useful," Thedy said with a light smile on her face.

    "But we barely know anything about him, he could be very dangerous if he advances in power," Solomon replied.

    A few seconds of silence passed, before thedy answered. "Yes, he may be someone dangerous. So far I''ve seen many extraordinary qualities in him, if left to grow he would definitely be someone threatening, that''s why we should bring him on our side," She replied.

    "What type of offer would you give him, and don''t forget he''s but a mere peak stage tier 2," Solomon said.

    "If he manages to win the whole event, offering him something would be difficult, due to the royal family, but it isn''t impossible, after all I''ll offer him something he can''t turn down," Thedyughed.

    "And besides he isn''t actually in the peak stage, if you had inspected him earlier, you would know this," She snorted, then focused on the scenes on the screen.

    In another side of the VIP area, a deadly conversation about Noah was going on.

    "What should we do about someone like him? He''s too dangerous to be left alone." A ck haired man dressed in a beautifully embroidered Red robe, which had yellow inscriptions flickered every now and then.

    "He isn''t the only outstanding individual. Yes, he''s abilities and even elements are too top tier for someone like him, but apart from that, he''s on par with Isabe and Moses," The man''s seat partner who was draped in an equally red robe, but had yellow hair and a bored expression said.

    "Exactly. He isn''t from any noble family, neither is there any information about him." The man said visibly serious about the matter.

    "Ugh...Polo, you can do whatever you want. Just make sure you don''t disturb the Royals'' ns," The man said.

    "But sir Oliver, that''s not possible." Polo exmained.

    "Exactly!. So leave me be. Whatever happens, we''ll know. This is still the first day after all," Sir Oliver said, returning all his focus on the scenes ying out on the floating screen''s.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Polo only sighed, as he also returned his attention on the floating screen''s, whatever happened would determine his next move.

    In another part of the VIP area, a morex conversation was going on.

    "Do you think he''ll be on par with my sweet Isabe," A man who looked in his middle age said, to his seat partner, who was also his spouse. The man''s eyes didn''t radiate lustful Intentions but fatherly love.

    "Hmmmm. He seems able too. Everyone of us knows he lied to his teammates about his cultivation level. So as a middle stage, he actually has a very high chance at defeating her. I just hope they don''t sh I fear of the oue," The middle aged woman exined as worry formed on her face.

    "Don''t worry we trained her to be smart. If she does encounter him, I''m sure she''ll y it smart" The man tried to reassure his wife, but even he couldn''t escape the clutches of parental worry.

    Multiple other conversations of noble identities went on, some weren''t about Noah, but the ones that did involved important people who will be introducedter into our story.

    Though one particr conversation was happening, and it was among the representatives of the royal family.

    "We''ve found possible winners of this event, and it seems this whole stage is actually child''s y for them." A man who looked in his mid twenties, had long blue hair, and an aloof aura, said to his group of three.

    "Yes. Most of which we know about, but this person, we know nothing about." Another on of the three said. He also looked to be in his mid twenties, but had blonde hair.

    Thest person, who was Elder Mchi said through his mental waves,. "Hmmm...Truly it''s strange, we''ll have to inform the higher ups about him. But let''s wait and see, after all this is only the first day. Time and chance can change it all." he exined calmly.

    Elder Mchi was a man who looked like he had just entered the age of thirty. He had long earth brown hair which he kept in a simple ponytail. He eyes were bright yellow, as they seemed to shine in that environment. Something about being in tier 4 amplified his natural beauty.

    His small movements caused ripples to spread In the environment, as if not that most people present were also in tier 4, or had items to withstand pressure at that level, he would greatly difort them.

    His expression revealed someone who was absolutely detached from his emotions, he smiled once in a while, but those smiles were usually cold. His yellow eyes radiated someone with many years of experience, as they held secrets that most people didn''t know could exist.

    He was the one elected by the royal family to be the host of this year''s bozolom, but that wasn''t all. He also had a very important job. Which was to fish out eventually trouble makers of the country, and currently he had multiple candidates in mind.

    Bringing out a jug of wine that was expensive enough to buy mansions. Elder Mchi drank, while he watched the scenes of the ongoing event, the sh of an ideaing to light up his cold expression, as he stood.

    Sweeping his gaze around the VIP area, that was big enough to ce a house in it.

    Elder Mchi''s aura seeped out of his figure, alerting the other personalities about his interest to converse with them.

    Seeing that they all got the message, he spoke using his consciousness.

    "I hope you are all enjoying yourselves," he said, seeing them nod, he continued.

    "I''m sure you all have seen how easy this stage has been for our participants, I''m sure most of you aren''t finding it too Interesting. So I have a proposal, why don''t we crank things up a bit, just when this stage is about to end."

 Chapter 77 77. CONFUSION

    In an unknown part of the forest, inside a building that looked incredibly old, the figure of a thin being could be seen. It seemed to be talking with someone as it sneered during the conversation.

    "You''ll use me just to make things fun for your people," the beings screech like voice resounded.

    "Yes. As long as you do what I asked, you''ll get what you want, eventually," the voice of a sir Mchi resounded.

    "After all I''m sure you''re bored. It been a while you''ve been locked up there, so use this for your fun. And I got into a bit of trouble for even wanting to involve you, so don''t disappoint."

    "Just remember your minions shouldn''t be more than the peak of tier 2." Elder Mchi exined.

    The white thin figure hissed, but didn''t try to counter the man''s words. "I''ll agree just this once," the creature replied, immediately dropping themunication amulet.

    Then it stood up, as it''s height towered 5 meters. It''s arms so thin they resembled sticks, while it''s bald round head, which housed it''s absolutely ck eyes, two holes for breathing, and a weird looking set of lips, as under thatyer of skin were its jagged teeth.

    The creature walked away from the chair it was sitting on, as it''s footsteps made practically no noice, only that it''s entire figure was trauma inducing.

    The creature walked towards the door that sepearated it from the outside world. It opened the door, and tried to stretch it''s arm out the door, but a series of blue inscriptions lit up, as it found it''s arm beginning to burn with blue and red mes, and a barrier of some sorts that made it dizzy, stopped it from leaving.

    The creature released what resembled what sounded like a sigh, as memories of the outside world filled it''s mind. It had been a long time since the Cusk nation locked it there, and its hope of escaping had long since vanished into mere day dreams.

    Turning back with slow steps, while the ck door closed by itself, the creature walked up the stairs of the building, and found itself in a small dark hall.

    Raising it''s incredibly thin four fingered palm, a purple ck magic expanded on it palm, as it threw it on the floor. Immediately that happened, the magic circle expanded to epass the small halls space.

    The creature muttered words in a weirdnguage, that sounded like random incorrhent sounds, but seemingly weren''t. After a few seconds, the sounds of screeching could be heard, as a grin appeared on the creatures face.

    "Whoever encounters them, will wish they never participated," the creatureughed in a terrifying manner that seemed toe straight out of a horror movie.

    *

    *

    *

    Inside the forest, a few tens of kilometers away from Noah''s position. A group of people could be seen sitting around a camp fire, their weapons out, as they seemed ready to battle any moment, though they didn''t let it show on their expression.

    One of the individuals in this group, was the beautiful Isabe.

    She sat right in front of the fire, as she seemed lost in thoughts. The red mes illuminating her angelic face, while the slight winds tried to get under her silky hair.

    She sat in this position for multiple minutes until one of her teammates started a conversation with her.

    "Lady Isabe. Might there be anything wrong?," the young man said with a caring expression on his face.

    Isabe seemed to snap out of her thoughts as she replied with a smile, that could make weak men go crazy, but this only made the man flinch.

    "No. it''s nothing Leon," she replied.

    "So why haven''t you touched your meal," Leon said ncing at the te of some vegetables and meat.

    "Not too hungry," Isabe replied calmly, storing the te in her ring.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "But you''ve been killing monsters all day, enough to put us in second position," Leon countered.

    A smile burst out on Isabe''s face, before they returned to normal, "Leon you don''t have to worry about me, I''m fine and you know it." Isabe replied.

    Struggle appeared on Leon''s face but then he seemed to give up, since a sigh escaped his mouth.

    "Don''t worry about me okay. I''ll take care of watching over us. You guys should get some sleep," Isabe announced to the others, while she stood up with the grace of a princess, and walked over to a spot where she could watch over the whole camp.

    She would once in a while ce at Leon, she couldn''t me him for his worry, he was tasked by her father to proctect her, even though she hardly needed protecting, she was only tired of the lustful gaze''s most men gave her, which was why she requested for a guard.

    Her eyes swirled with many thoughts, while she checked the leaderboard. Her team being ced second, while the man she knew too well being ce first.

    She scrolled down the many teams, names she knew and those she didn''t appearing, but she didn''t really care much, onlying out on top mattered to her.

    Though her eyes flickered with light of curiosity, since just now a team had jumped madly across positions. This team with the name of the highest contributer being ''Noah'', shockingly being ced third!.

    This event didn''t go unnoticed, as multiple teams who had thought they would rest for the night, set out. Their eyes brimming with resolution, while they moved to gain more points.

    Isabe herself straightening her position. She was a woman who had always been considered top tier, as her abilities and incredible fighting prowess, were usually unmatched by those in her stage.

    The other''s from her team, who were also people she knew stood. They definitely didn''t want to fall back on the leaderboard, so they set out. Some even taking the matter personally.

    _ _

    Dashing through the forest, Isabe wielded two swords, as she cut down the middle staged magical beasts in her way.

    Sighting a bit more than twenty beasts that radiated power that only ranged from the lower stage of tier 2, to the middle stage.

    Isabe chanted a few words, then a ck magic circle expanded around her body. A ck mist emerging from her, as it went ahead of her team.

    Immediately the ck mist reached the beasts, tentacles of darkness shot out, rapidly wrapping around every single beast, as they began to melt at a rate visible to the naked eyes.

    The tentacles wielding corrosive power, which caused that reaction.

    The four humans behind Isabe seemed unfazed by the show of her rare element, since they too cast spells at the newly emerging beasts from the forest.

    Leon to be exact, cast a spell simr to Isabe''s, only that it''s element was fire.

    A small ball of condeny mes formed above his head, illuminating the environment a bit.

    As tendrils of mes shot out of the ball, but rather than wrapping around the beasts, the tendrils only fell on their bodies, as suprisingly they immediately caught fire, wails and roars filling the environment.

    The team were only attacking at a rxed pace, since they only wanted to keep their position on the leaderboard, actually their current activity could be regarded as a light exercise, due to how easy it was killing beasts at lower levels than them.

    Although that all changed when they encountered a barrier of sorts, then suddenly, space seemed to stretch, as immediately they found themselves back at a spot they knew was a few kilometers away from their former position.

    ''What just happened'' Isabe said Inwardly, while her eyebrows expressed her utter confusion.

 Chapter 78 78. SPECIAL MISSION

    Hurling the body of a tier 2 bear to the side, Noah nced at his surroundings with a boredom filled expression. He had never thought the event would be as boring as he currently experienced it.

    He wasn''t too sure wheather it was because if his strength, or simply because the whole objective of the stage was very monotonous.

    "Alright, let''s set camp here," Noah''s voice rang out a few secondster, the others who also had bored expressions simply did as he said.

    This was the second night of the first stage, which meant the next day would be thest. Noah had never been so happy.

    At this point he practically longed for the stage to end, or for something eventful to happen. Shooting a gaze at the figure of Matthias and Lilia, Noah shook his head, the team of two hadn''t really done much apart from steal a bit of their kills.

    But Noah wasn''t angry about that, after all his team was currently ced third with over six thousand points gained, so he could share a little.

    "What should we have for dinner tonight," Ka asked with a yawn. Everyone ncing at Noah, who sighed, while pointing at the dead bears on the ground, "We''ll have them tonight," he said.

    They all nodded, and went on to cut the meat of the bears. Finding a good spot to sit, Noah stared at the sky. The inscriptions up in the air obstructed the moonlight a bit, but the sky still remained beautiful.

    The past day had been less stressful than the first, the surprises of the beasts weren''t really that much, just them being very fast, but not nearly as fast as Noah, he wasn''t sure how that was possible, but it was.

    During their journey of sort, they had encountered a stream, which was the first small body of water Noah had encountered in Creagar, the stream shone with the blue glow of Mana, Noah realizing that the stream was kinda like a mana potion, only that ording to his team mates, if one drank directly from it they would most likely die.

    In order to drink the water, they had to separate it into a container, then waited a bit more than as hour for it to lose it''s small Mana concentration.

    Heaving a deep sigh, Noah continued to stare at the sky. He usually tried to forget about the countdown of the bracelet, but he simply couldn''t.

    Every single day that passed drew him closer to the day he would be revealed back to the world.

    They eventually ate, then took turns to guard the group, Noah starting the shift first, then Mark second.

    _ _

    Morning came eventually, and the group had to move out again. They continued like this, nothing much happening for hours. But that all changed when the inscriptions in the sky lit up brightly.

    "There has been a few additions to the magical beast in the forest. The rules are still the same. Good luck," The voice of Elder Mchi spread in the whole forest, as all participants were alerted.

    It didn''t take a few secondster, until an explosion resounded, followed by a massive screeching sound, then a malevolent aura spread In the entire forest, as this additions or so emerged into the limelight.

    Noah''s instincts screamed at him to get out of the whole forest, but he couldn''t, he had to seed in the stage.

    His group waited for a few minutes, the aura permeating the environment increasing in intensity, then the additions revealed themselves.

    Noah stared with an expression mixed with disgust and horror, the eight figures of these creatures.

    The beasts or creatures, where thin in every aspect of their body except their head. Standing at a bit over 1 meters in height. Their eyes were totally ck, and their growling mouths revealed jagged teeth.

    They were ash pale inplexion, and a ck aura escaped their bodies. Noah realizing that the ground they stood on decayed. The creatures actually resembled aliens fromics

    He instinctively took a step back, the sight of these monsters being a bit overwhelming. The monsters spread out surrounding the five, as Noah felt surprised. The creatures seemed intelligent, which brought their dangerousness to a new level.

    There were seven in the middle stage and one in the lower stage, and they seemed intelligent enough to know their match, since the lower stage one went towards James, and continued growling, releasing bucket worth of saliva.

    Noah watched two of the monsters walk towards him, then he instinctively inspected them.

    [?????????]

    [Tier 2]

    [Level: 38]

    [Chances of death 49%]

    Shock filled Noah''s mind when he read their description, the beasts both had a 49 percent chance of killing him.

    During his inspection, a distant scream resounded in the area, followed by more screams of pain, during that moment of distraction, the monster''s attacked.

    The two beasts dashed forward to Noah, as their four fingered hands, turned to sharp ws. The two monsters reached Noah at that point, both shing at the same time.

    Noah effectively dodged it by stepping backwards, but surprise filled his mind when he saw ck w shes flying through the air towards him.

    Noah immediately cast energy armour, but it shattered immediately those ck shes touched them, even managing to get to Noah''s body.

    Intense pain spread inside Noah''s mind. ncing at his chest where the shes met him, Noah watched with a pain filled expression as his skin withered at a speed visible to the naked eyes, but his healing fixed it a few secondster, but during those short seconds, he had to dodge more shes.

    During that time, Noah found that the ck shes drained his vitality, and his chest was still healing even after the wound hadpletely closed.

    "They are very dangerous!," Noah shouted, "Don''t let their attacks touch you or you''ll die," He added, dodging more of the ck shes.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His teammates heard him, as even more serious expressions appeared on their face.

    Noah brought out his staff at that point,  he wasn''t sure if it would be able to handle the shes, so he poured 100 points of Mana into a makeshift barrier of sorts thinly wrapped around the staff.

    Spinning the staff in front of him, Noah watched, as the staff managed to deflect the shes, it seemed the monsters could only attack that way, so Noah decided to take the offensive. Taking a step forward, Noah eyes widened, while his instincts screamed at him.

    Jumping backwards, Noah watched in slow motion, a ck tendril of sorts sprout out of his former position.  He immediately wanted to inform his teammates, when a cry of agony spread out.

    Noah snapped his head at the direction of the cry, a visibly withering Steve could be seen in a static position, while a ck tendril wrapped around his legs.

    Terror filled the teams mind as they became weary of the ground, they couldn''t help but want to retreat.

    Noah grit hit teeth, as he cast lightning Spears at the monsters in front of him, the Spears struck home, but after a second they disappeared, right after a ck tendril had wrapped around the spears body.

    ''They can make spells wither too. What the heck is even going on,'' Noah shouted in his mind.

    Tuning to lightning, Noah cast lightning bolt. A magic circle expanded right in front of him, then a bolt if lightning the size of a bike shot out.

    BOOOM!

    An explosion resounded, then Noah used his control over wind to clear the cloud of dust that rose.

    A new wave of surprise spread through his mind when he saw that the monsters were still alive, though badly injured, and even healing. This was only possible for peak stage beasts, but they weren''t.

    Immediately casting seven lightning bolts in quick session, Noah only rxed when the system messages popped up.

    An even bigger wave of surprise filled Noah''s mind when he found that he had actually levelled up once!!.

    During that time of surprise, a voice spread in the area, "Oh..I didn''t expect that," the voice sounded like two metals scraping each other, as it almost deafened them.

    Noah immediately understanding that whatever that talked didn''t belong to his level of power

    "Let''s see if you can handle this guy--," the unknown voice sounded again, but it was cut off before any other words could sound.

    At this point Noah didn''t understand what was going on, it had only been a few minutes since the announcement, but one of his team members was dead.

    Though before more thoughts on what was happening could form, an intense aura surged, as Noah directly made Muliix cover his arms, just for a split second.

    BOOOOOOM!

    Noah''s body was sent flying with the speed of a bullet. Crashing on a tree and directly bringing the tall thing down, Noah immediately made Muliix recede into his body, while coughing a mouthful of blood.

    Staring at the monster that hadnded on his former position, Noah''s instincts ran mad at the sight of the creature in front of him.

    The creature looked the same as the others, only towering over 3 meters in height, and radiated an aura in tier 2. Noah had never felt an aura so Intense at that level.

    [??????????]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 49]

    [Chances of death: 80%]

    Shock and fear spread through Noah mind, he didn''t get the chance to form a thought, when another panel popped up.

    [Special mission]

    [Defeat the creature]

    [Difficulty: Hard]

    [Chances of failing: 80%]

    [Reward: You will be forcefully

    advanced to the top of tier 2]

    [Do you ept]

    [[Yes/ No]]

    [Note: If you do not ept you''ll be de-advanced to the bottom of tier 2]

 Chapter 79 79. HELP

    ''Uh....,'' Noah screamed inwardly, as time seemed to slow down for him, his environment almost stopping, while he stared at the unexpected panel.

    ''Is this even possible or allowed,'' Noah asked himself. But when he thought to how he actually levelled up, seeing that it made no sense, he kept that question to himself.

    ''How am I supposed to kill something that has an eighty percent chance of killing me,'' Noah screamed inwardly

    [Use the speed force]

    Noah couldn''t believe what he was reading, ''Use the speed force. Are you crazy,'' Noah thought, But no answer came from the system

    ''Im talking to myself,'' he sighed.

    ncing at the panel, he chose ''yes''.

    Immediately he did that, the whole world resumed in its normal speed.

    Sweeping his gaze around in an instant, Noah found that no one else had died yet, but we''re still fighting the monsters.

    He also found that his staff was a bit damaged, ''This won''tst,'' Noah immediately concluded. He really wished he could use Cudgel, but people were watching on the other side of a screen.

    Straightening his position, and dashing towards a direction in one swift movement, Noah affirmed that the monster wasn''t as fast as him(of course it wasn''t).

    During the short seconds of running, Noah tried to make up a n, based on what he knew so far about the monsters.

    Their touch could make anything wither, they also had ess to weird abilities that were also very dangerous.

    ''I don''t know enough'' Noah shouted inwardly. Heaving a sigh, he turned back, and cast lightning bolts on the 3 meters figure running towards him.

    The monster didn''t try to block or dodge it, but when the spell reached it''s body, it seemingly vanished.

    A deep frown appeared on Noah''s face at that point, while he dashed forward again. The monster wasn''t like it''s middle tier counterparts, it''s innate ability or so, to make spells wither was crazy.

    "Should I just keep running, until the whole day runs out," Noah muttered while speeding up, to not allow the monster catch up.

    ''Ahhh....the system.'' he said inwardly. It hadn''t said anything about him not winning, and Noah wasn''t confident enough that he could kill it, heck he didn''t want to touch it.

    ''Should I continue to spam spells,'' an idea formed in his mind, ''If my Mana finishes I''m dead meat,'' he thought.

    He continued running for a few minutes, many thoughts running through his mind, he ignored the asional screams that spread in the forest, since it basically didn''t concern him.

    Though something changed eventually. During his run, Noah watched a dark ball or so, crash on a tree and....

    BOOOOM!.

    Noah''s body was sent flying, while he writhed on the floor. The left side of his face was falling apart, and the intense pain it spread through his mind blinded his eyes with tears.

    Noah immediately didn''t care about his Mana pool, he cast his lightning and air domain, each domain ovepping on themselves, while both energies shed.

    Then he immediately started spamming ''Lightning bolt'' and ''air spears''

    He couldn''t see anything, but he knew the monster wasn''t dead, but he seemed to have slowed it down, since he wasn''t dead yet.

    His face healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, but it still took it two minutes topletely heal. During that period, Noah had never stopped casting spells, and his Mana reserve was reaching a critical stage.

    Getting up from his half sitting position, while his mind continuously cast the two spells. Noah nced at the monster''s position, he couldn''t see much due to the convergence of the spells, but he knew it wasn''t dead.

    Halting the spells just for a second, Noah got able to inspect the beast, but he didn''t like what he saw.

    The beast was injured, but also healing,  very fast at that. Noah''s expression darkened, there seemed to be no way to kill the thing.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He resumed casting the spells while also checking how much Mana he had left.

    [Mp: 197]

    [Mp: 162]

    Noah swallowed a lump of saliva, he could keep the monster in one position, but didn''t have the fire power to kill it.

    Recalling what the system said, about him killing it with his speed force, he stopped the spells. A n formed in his head, ''how do I kill a monster, that makes things wither, and also seems to absorb the energy,'' Noah thought.

    ''Overload it with energy,''

    From what he saw, the monster wasn''t just making things wither, it actually absorbed the energy in his spells and used it to heal itself, but that meant his spells actually hurt it, only that a high percentage was being absorbed, before it could do much damage.

    Watching the monster walk towards him, Noah''s body began to emit mild sparks, which he shut off. Staring at his right palm, Noah watched it begin to glow, as electrical energies were being umted in it.

    Soon he got the warning of the system, at this point the monster was about three meters from him, it seemed that it wanted Noah to experience terror.

    Though before it reached him, Noah watched a ck horizontal pir of darkness, wash over it, and turned into a ball of darkness.

    The ck pir pushed Noah away, as he found that a tiny piece of his body was melting from being close to it, a tiny piece.

    ncing at the person who did this, Noah saw the beautiful Isabe rushing towards him.

    "Are you okay," she asked him, bringing him out of his stupor.

    ''That was my moment!,'' Noah shouted inwardly but nodded at her question.

    "Good let''s go," she tried to drag Noah, but and an explosion resounded, the ck ball dispersing in the process, and the sight of the monster perfectly okay appeared in their eyes, but Noah couldn''t help but ask a question,

    ''Why didn''t it absorb the spell,'' he thought, while getting on his feet, both he and Isabe entering a offensive stance.

    "You are of darkness element," Noah asked Isabe, who nced at him with a glint of surprise in her eye, though she nodded.

    "It didn''t absorb your spell for some reason," Noah added, "Was it supposed to," the sweet voice of Isabe rang out, but Noah wasn''t fazed.

    "Yes it was. This means you have the potential of hurting it," Noah said ncing at the stationary monster.

    For some reason it had not attcked them yet.

    "I doubt that, it''s in the peak stage," Isabe said. Noah only sighed, words were about to proceed out of his mouth, when a magic circle expanded under the monsters feet, as Noah instincts raged at him to get out of that area.

    Noah instinctively grabbed thedy beside him, carried her in a princess carry, turned and shot forward.

    Immediately their figures left that ce, tens of ck tendrils shot out of the ground, directly causing that small area to be a dead zone, as they drained the ground of its energy.

    Stopping after a few seconds, Noah nced at his environment, he could sense the monster approaching them incredibly fast. A frown appeared on Noah''s face, then he remembered he had someone in his arms.

    Immediately dropping Isabe, Noah wanted to apologize, when her voice resounded, "Thank you. But don''t ever do that again," she said her gaze turning cold.

    Noah could only nod, while he retrieved his staff. His Mana was already regenerating, so he had to make sure he didn''t die before that time, or directly go on with his n.

    Sighting the running figure of the monster, Noah talked, "Thank you for your help, but I''ll handle this," he said practically disappearing from his position.

    Pulling his arm backwards Noah closer he eyes, gathering as much energy in his right fist, he ignored the warning messages, pouring 20 points of Mana into a makeshift barrier of his staff, Noah mmed it on the monster, seeing that it left it unfazed; not surprised, Noah did a side step, then ced his right hand on the monster, pouring all the energy he could muster.

    His vision went ck, right after an explosion sent him flying.

 Chapter 80 80. SUCCESS

    Noah found himself in a blurry environment, he tried to move around but found that this was currently only his consciousness. During his trial to move around Noah heard a soft female voice,

    "Please hurry there is no time," the voice said, and then the scenery changed, as Noah snapped his eyes open.

    Immediately sitting his body up, Noah nced around his environment. Shock filled his mind, when he saw that he was currently in the massive room they were in, right before the first stage started.

    The whole ce seemed like a graveyard, since Noah could hear wails and cry''s, he also noticed that the numbers of people present had dropped immensely.

    Memories of what happened shed in his eyes, as Noah immediately got worried, searching frantically for James he found that he was lying next to him, asleep.

    A rxed sigh escaped his mouth, as then did Noah notice the floating panels right in his retina.

    [You havepleted special missions]

    [You have been advanced to the peak of tier 2, and gained a weapon]

    [Analyzing users need of weapons....]

    [Analyzingplete...]

    [You have gained unique weapon: Daggers of Withering]

    [Daggers of Withering]

    [Grade: B]

    [Tier: 3]

    [Ability: Wither]

    [Wither: When utilized the Daggers have the ability to absorb energy and nutrients from whatever they are embedded in, to boost their other abilities which is. sh of Withering]

    [sh of Withering: When activated, the daggers can send out etheral shes that drains whatever was hit, of their energy]

    [Note: The highest level of energy that can be currently absorbed is energy at the peak of tier 3, any more, and the daggers will be badly damaged]

    [Dagger can be upgraded to tier 4]

    [Upgrade requirements: 50 tier 3 Mana cores. 7 horns of tier 3 metal rhinoceros.  1 tier 4 poisonous nt]

    [You have levelled up 9 times]

    [You have gained 45 points to all stats]

    [You have received 90 points to distribute]

    [You are now level 48]

    Noah couldn''t help but raise his eyebrows at those messages. It seemed he had actually killed the monster. ncing at his right hand, he saw that it was totally fine.

    ''It was so easy to kill,'' Noah thought, ''What exactly is the speed force,'' he couldn''t help but ask himself. He had cast spells on the monster for over a minute, in a domain that amplified the elements power.

    Shaking his head, Noah closed the panels, he thought of distributing his stat points, but decided against it. Instead he decided to check the daggers since they were in his inventory.

    Though as he was about to do so, he heard a voice call out to him. "Hey!," the female voice said, as Noah couldn''t help but nce upwards at the angelic figure at his front.

    "Isabe!," Noah blurted out. Isabe raised her eyebrows at this, "I never told you my name," her sweet voice that could make even the best singers envious, rang out.

    Noah gave a helpless smile, while trying toe up with an excuse. Seeing his struggle, her voice rang out.  "That doesn''t matter. How are you feeling," she said.

    Noah furrowed his eyebrows at her question, "Good. Why?," Noah asked visibly confused.

    Sitting beside Noah, causing people to nce at their figures, Isabe replied,

    "When you attacked the beast with your ability. It exploded, but your right hand withered and fell off," She exined ncing at his right hand, seeing that it was as good as new, her eyes widened.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah''s mouth also fell open, as he couldn''t help but clench his fist to make sure it wasn''t actually damaged. "It''s totally fine. How many hours was I out?," Noah asked.

    "Around five?," Isabe said, her gaze still on his hand.

    "Just five hours," Noah muttered, but when he thought to how fast his healing was, and the fact that he also levelled up, it didn''t feel so surprising. Although his hands had never fallen off before, it was a weird experience knowing that such actually happened.

    A slight sigh eventually escaped Isabe''s mouth, "Let''s re-introduce ourselves. Hello, I''m Isabe, first daughter of Sir Thomas, head of the Molosk noble family." Isabe stood and performed a bow.

    Noah immediately stood, "I''m Noah, I don''t belong to any family important," he said, while his gaze fell on her outstretched hand, then he nced back at her. Seeing that she nodded, he took it and kissed it lightly.

    Multiple gasps resounded in the area, as Noah couldn''t help but shoot a nce at the people in the hall.

    Seeing that most of the men had gawking expressions, Noah shot cold nces at them, some tensing up when his gaze met theirs.

    A chuckle sounded in front of Noah, shooting a curious nce at the angel like human, she immediately stopped. "Nice to meet you sir Noah," she said, turning and leaving.

    "I hope we meet in thest round, though we probably would, how can anyone here beat you with your strength," She said without ncing at him.

    Noah simply smiled, ''Oh, we''ll definitely meet," he muttered. ncing at James''s still unconscious figure, Noah tried to search for his other teammates, but he couldn''t find them.

    Opening the illusory panel that showed the leaderboard, Noah saw that his team had umted a bit over 7 thousand points, cing them at third, there was also the word ''Qualified'' on their names.

    A sigh escaped his mouth when he saw that Mark had also died, leaving his team at only three members. "I guess we aren''t teammates anymore," he muttered.

    Eventually an hour passed, and James woke up. He was a bit Injured, but nothing too bad. The two talked a bit, James exining to Noah what happened after he passed out.

    Apparently, immediately each person killed their opponents, or got killed by them, no other monsters would attack them. And after a bit over an hour, all the monsters seemingly disappeared, and they were teleported back here.

    Noah had many ideas on that matter, he actually went back to his videogame experience. It seemed those monsters were like avatars of a yer, since before the peak stage beast attacked him, he heard a voice.

    But he wondered why he was attacked by three of those monsters, when others only fought one.

    He also found that Matthias had been killed in the small event, only Lilia managed to survive, only that she had multiple patches of withered skin, though it would eventually heal.

    Noah wasn''t sad at the news, he only regretted that he didn''t pay the man back for what he did when they met a few months back.

    Noah had asked James how he killed the monster, and he said he had magaged to ce an inscription that dispersed energy, and the monster simply dried up and died, it body not being able to find a suitable amount of energy to keep itself together.

    Noah''s thirst to learn inscriptions increased, if he could do that, he would have easily killed the monster, heck that could actually kill most people, unless they had unlimited energy.

    "How long do you think we''ll have to wait until the second stage starts," Noah asked, his gaze on the lighted ceiling of the massive room.

    "I don''t know. I just hope it''s soon, I''m already tired of the whole event" Jamesughed.

    Noah only smiled in return. They had to wait for three more hours, during that time Ka visited the two of them, while also informing them that she was quiting, apparently the number of deaths had scared her, and she didn''t want to be one of those dying in the next stage.

    At some point something eventually happened, the floor lit up with blue inscriptions, then Noah found himself out under the sun''s radiance, it seemed the sun just rose.

    The loud cheers of the spectators filled his ears, but he didn''t care about that. No, the mulitiple big craters in the VIP area, the arena itself, and even in the spectators area, caught caught his full attention.

    It seemed a fight had gone down, a big one at that, since Noah could still sense traces of strong aura''s in those craters. But surprisingly he could see those craters begin to close up, though incredibly slowly.

    The figure of Elder Mchi, floated freely above the arena, as Noah wondered how that was possible, so far the only way a person could actually go that high, was to create tforms of whatever elements they had, but this man was simply hovering up there, like it was the most normal thing in his life.

    "I wee you all from the first stage, a bit over 500 of you survived or didn''t quit, and only a bit over 400 are left, since the others didn''t meet the requirements, but you did," Elder Mchi paused, while the screams and cheers of the spectators increased.

    "Now it''s time for the second stage. You all will be sent to separate ces where you''ll survive multiple waves of beasts. You only qualify for the next stage if you manage to survive it." he exined

    "I assume you all have chosen a partner by now, so do the same thing you did when forming a team of five before, only that this time only two Individuals are allowed." Elder Mchi continued.

    It took only about a minute for everyone to be done. No points section this time, since all they had to do was survive the whole stage.

    "Now without further ado, the second stage willmence now!," He said. Inscriptions immediately lit up beneath their feets, as they were teleported away.

 Chapter 81 81. FIGHT

    Two days ago, the night of the first day...

    "I''m sure you all have seen how easy this stage has been for our participants, I''m sure most of you aren''t finding it too Interesting. So I have a proposal, why don''t we crank things up a bit, just when this stage is about to end."

    The VIP''s seemed to like the idea since they cheered. Although some weren''t okay with it, they kept quiet for now.

    "How are you going to do that?," A man shouted, while the others nodded at the question.

    "I''m going to introduce, Luvatinous''s minions to the stage," Elder Mchi nodded, while the others gasped.

    "No!. I disagree!," The voice of Isabe''s father rang out, as he stood. His expression that of anger, while whiffs of his aura seeped out of his figure.

    "Please calm down sir Thomas," Elder Mchi said. "I''ll only ask him to send a few of them, and they''ll only be at the peak of tier 2," He said trying to reassure the man.

    "No. We all know that, that tier 4 existence is to dangerous, that''s why he was locked up to begin with. Why do you want to utilize his abilities now. It''s too dangerous," Sir Thomas replied, his expression still that of anger.

    "How about limiting the amount they can fight to only one, and at their respective levels of power," Elder Mchi suggested. Seeing that sir Thomas shook his head in disagreement, he continued.

    "How about I also tell him to remove he''s most dangerous abilities, and leave the more milder ones, maybe two or three," He said in a calm tone.

    Seeing that the man still disagreed, he shook his head, "How about we cast a vote, those who want me to go ahead with this n, please raise your hand!."

    Over ny percent of the VIP''s, raised their hands apart from sir Thomas, his wife and two others. "Majority has spoken. I shall go ahead with the n," Elder Mchi announced.

    But immediately he did. Sir Thomas''s aura burst out, radiating killing intent, his aura spreading across the entire collusem, and even stretching out beyond it.

    Some of the spectators, either directly passed out, or some straight up died from the aura''s pressure!.

    "Sir Thomas there is no need for that," Elder Mchi said, his voice and expression still calm.

    Seeing that the man didn''t listen, even going ahead to wield his weapon, his voice rang out.

    "Sir Thomas, you do know that fighting me for no good reason, is punishable by ourw. The royal family as given me the authority to do such things. I only asked for your opinions out of respect." Elder Mchi said, his expression getting colder every second, while his aura seeped out of his figure.

    The other existence''s in the VIP area deployed their defense technique''s at that point. A fight between those existence would definitely cause big damages, and they would just watch it unfold.

    Seeing no reaction from sir Thomas, his aura even beginning to radiate battle intent. Sir Mchi sighed while bringing out his sword, then his aura exploded outward, cancelling Sir Thomas''s'' out.

    Sir Thomas began at that point. The air in the whole collusem seemed to get immensely heavy, as curved des the size of small buildings, made of condensed air that had gained a white color, formed and converged on Sir Mchi, who simply snorted, while blue mes incredibly hot in temperature, flickered into existence, and shot out destroying the des of air, with precision.

    Massive explosions resounded in the environment, as multiple running spectators died instantly.

    Sir Thomas moved at that point. The world seemed to understand his Intent to move, for dust rose up in arcs around Sir Thomas''s body, just before he shot forward.

    BOOOOOM!.

    That area immediately began to crumble, as Sir Thomas reached Elder Mchi in an instant. Raising his sword at the stationed body of Elder Mchi.

    Massive wind currents gathered above the collusem, as the shape of a massive sh fell on Elder Mchi.

    An incredible explosion resounded, as the whole Collusem fell into chaos. Intense shock waves ravaged the whole ce, as it seemed like a cmity had befallen Crilion.

    Inside the eye of the explosion, sir Thomas''s sword could be seen in the grasp of Elder Mchi, his body releasing blue mes that burnt the air before it could touch him.

    "Is this all you have to throw at me," the cold voice of Elder Mchi snorted.

    Sir Thomas seemed to get angry at that taunt, as the whole storm of air vanished instantly. A second of silence befalling the whole collusem, then a massive green magical circle expanded very high above the Collusem even spreading far beyond it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The whole world seemed to hold it''s breath, as an incredible spell was about to be casted.

    Elder Mchi seemed to sense danger at that point, since he formed a fist, then threw a punch at Sir Thomas, who blocked it with his sword, but was sent flying in the process.

    "Do you want to destroy the whole city!," Elder Mchi shouted, shooting upwards, a streak of blue mes forming behind him.

    A blue magic circle expanded below Elder Mchi, while he was underneath the green magic circle.

    Sir Thomas''s spell started at that point. A massive wind current flowed out of the magic circle, multiple tens of building being torn from their foundation, as a massive sword the size of small towns, descended down the magic circle.

    But Elder Mchi was ready for it. A massive shield made of blue mes, the size of the collusem itself rose from the magic circle beneath Elder Mchi.

    Time seemed to stop, when those spells met in the air.

    BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

    An explosion that sent even Elder Mchi shooting towards the ground resounded, as the sword of wind tried to pierce the shield of blue mes.

    Multiple explosion of incredible scales, continued to resounded, as the two immense spells ate each other up. It took about three minutes before both spells vanished.

    The world returned to normal at that point, but the city wasn''t. Multiple buildings were missing as they had either been thrown away, outside the city, or crashed into another building killing hundreds to even thousands of people in the process.

    Elder Mchi stared at this scene with a dark expression. Searching for sir Thomas with his eyes, he shot towards the man when he found him floating in the sky.

    Punching Sir Thomas when he arrived at his position, Elder Mchi sent him towards the ground. His body dug the ground for few tens of meters beforeing to a stop.

    "What the heck were you thinking?," Elder Mchi shouted. "Give me one good reason not to kill you right now!," he continued, as his body released blue mes, a sort of armor forming on his body, while his sword also caught blue mes.

    Sir Thomas said nothing, his face having a solemn expression on it. Elder Mchi raised his sword at that point, the air itself beginning to heat up.

    "Please don''t kill him!," the voice of Sir Thomas''s wife resounded, as she floated down to the spot, of the still buried body of Sir Thomas.

    Kneeling beside the hole, she bowed, "Please don''t kill him. He was only worried about our daughter," She said.

    "We''ll ept whatever punishment the court gives him, but please don''t kill him now. If you do he won''t be able to get punished for the deaths he caused," She exined without rasing her head.

    "I''m sorry. I got blinded by my anger," Sir Thomas, bowed after he was out of the hole his body dug.

    Elder Mchi calmed down at that point, his armour of blue mes dispersing, then he stored his sword.

    Without removing his gaze from the couple, he issued a call with hismunication amulet, requesting for backup.

    It took about twenty minutes before the group of twenty-one soldiers arrived, all in tier 3, and their leader in tier 4.

    "FWEET~" The tier 4 soldier whistled when he saw the destruction caused by the short fight. "You are going to court for a while," the man said, cuffing Sir Thomas and taking him away.

    "The n will continue as before, all this was but a waste," Elder Mchi said coldly at the leaving figure of Sir Thomas.

    ncing back at the almostpletely destroyed Collusem, he performed a series of hand signs, then a series of intricately webbed blues lines the size of a football field appeared around him and fell on the Collusem.

    Immediately that happened the Collusem surprisingly began to fix itself though only at a rtively fast pace.

    With that done, Elder Mchi issued a call to someone who then directed him to the person or rather existence he wanted to get in contact with, Luvatinous.

 Chapter 82 82. SECOND STAGE

    Noah opened his eyes to find himself in a massive cave of sorts only that the cave was neatly carved in a circr shape. The cave was around 800m in size, it was lit with multiple orange lights. The ce had no doors, or any openings at all.

    Everything Noah could see was made of rock, even the Mana bulbs seemed to be made of stone.

    ncing at the figure of James beside him, Noah nodded at him. This was the second stage!.

    James brought out his daggers, while Noah checked out his staff that was for some reason inside his inventory.

    Realizing that it was badly damaged, and could at most be used a few times, Noah promised himself that when he advanced to tier 3, he would begin to use Cudgel as his permanent staff.

    He longed for the cool abilities of Cudgel, and the fact that it was more durable than anyother weapon he currently had.

    With that in mind, Noah decided to store the staff, and brought out the new Daggers. A pair of obsidian ck Daggers appear in his grip. The Daggers had dark purple inscriptions embedded into their material, and it pulsed with a unique energy that Noah''s Instincts told him was very dangerous.

    "Dude where did you get those?," James said, his face filled with both jealousy and fascination. "I''m so jelous." James sighed.

    "I''ve been using Daggers for way longer than you have, but you''ve gotten incredibly good at using them, in a short period of time even, and now have a pair of nice looking ones at that," James sighed again.

    "That reminds me. You remember your lie about you being a peak stage tier 2?. How the heck are you one now?," James asked his expression that of disbelief.

    Noah scratched his head with a daggers base, as words proceeded out of his mouth, "I simply am very fast at cultivating," Noah said with a nod.

    "Uh...Is that even possible normally? Or does that mean you have a special cultivation technique?," James gasped, while Noah furrowed his eyebrows.

    "What''s a cultivation technique?," Noah said. James'' eyes almost popped at those question,

    "What do you mean, what is a cultivation technique?. Many people have one--," James said but was cut short, because of the appearance of five inscriptions at the far ends of the circr cave.

    They both wore stern expressions at that point, Noah rasing his Daggers in from of him, even doing light finger tricks to get them warmed up, James did the same, but in a less rxed way.

    A few seconds passed then a small army of five magical beasts all in the lower stage of tier 2, appeared, numbering 25 magical beasts in total.

    The small army of beasts had different kinds of species, but that didn''t stop Noah and James from finishing them in a few minutes, Noah casually cast one lightning bolt, killing all the beast from his side. James also casting a spell.

    Immediately they were done, a blue inscription appeared, and then the illusory figure of a old man appeared. Noah could not inspect the illusory figures facial features, since it''s features wasn''t static.

    "Wee to the second stage of bozolom. Participants Noah and James," a voice came out of the illusory man, startling the two, who could only nce at each other in surprise.

    "Now let me exin the rules of this stage," The illusory man said.

    ''I thought we were already told this,'' Noah said Inwardly, but still paid attention to the words of the hologram or so.

    "The second stage willst for three days in which you''ll have to fight monsters of various levels," the hologram started.

    "This stage is the subdivided into two levels. Each will run equally for a day and a half. These two levels are then subdivided into 5 waves, which will run for seven hours, where you''ll fight beast like the tutorial you just did," The hologram exined.

    "In the first level, which you''ll soon begin, the monsters will only have powers from the lower stage to the middle stage, with only the increase in the numbers of appearing beasts after every hour, for the seven hours of each wave."

    "The second level will only have monsters from the middle stage to the peak of tier 2. With only increase in the numbers of the beasts ever hour, for the seven hours of each wave." It continued, Noah and James paying their utmost attention.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "After every wave you''ll have a four minutes break, to rest as much as possible before the next wave begins. Only when you are about to cross into the second level, will you have a ten minutes break," The hologram exined.

    "Do not forget, you can decide to quit, using the surrender option of your hand bands. Note that once you do this, you won''t be able to reverse it," the hologram added.

    Noah and James were nodding basically every second of the exnation, they were able to see how hard and also a bit easy the stages were, after all there was a time for break, though it wasn''t really much, it was better than no break.

    "Without further ado. Your first wave of monster''s will begin in two minutes," the hologram said, as it performed a bow then disappeared. Noah and James also bowing at it before it left.

    "We have only two minutes, and we won''t rest for the next seven hours," Noah quickly said. "Do you think we need a n?," James said.

    Noah put on a thoughtful expression, "Not really, we just have to watch each other''s back," Noah replied with a nod.

    "Do you have any area of effect spells?," Noah asked James. Yes I do, but they will only be effective enough on lower stage beasts, middle stage will only be injured a bit, but peak wouldn''t have a scratch on them.

    Noah nodded in approval, "You don''t have to worry about the peak tier 2''s. They are my problem to face," Noah reassured James.

    James only nodded, the two waiting in silence for the first wave to begin. ''Who knows, maybe I''ll be able to reach tier 3,'' Noah said in his mind.

    A bit of excitement starting to rise up his chest, though he immediately killed it, when he thought of the number of tier 2 beasts he would have to kill, just to gain one level. "Probably hundreds," Noah sighed.

    Though he didn''t darein, after all the system had made him advance way faster than anyone in the world could. The fact that he wouldn''t have to wait for decades was more than enough.

    After that line of thought ended, five inscriptions lit up in five spots of the cave, then tier 2 lower stage beast appeared, 50 of them!.

    The two immediately readied themselves, "On second thought, our n is to make sure they don''t get too close," Noah shouted, due to the mulitiple roars and bellows spreading in the closed cave.

    "That means we''ll have to use spells," James shouted. "Yes. Do you still have Mana potions?," Noah said.

    "Yes, just two." James replied. "Good, just try your best to kill them with the most minimal amount of Mana," Noah said casting ''air spears'' at the beast on his side, an explosion resounded killing all of 25 of them instantly, though a new set of 25 appeared immediately after.

    James nodded casting his own spell, a small magic circle expanded on his palm.

    Pointing it at the magical beasts, hundreds of small water bullets shot out of the circle, filling most beasts with tiny holes, only that those holes numbered in hundreds, which led to them dying instantly.

    Noah nodded at that point, this was how they began the first level of the second stage of bozolom.

    _________________

    *Authors note*

    I''m sorry for thete release. Anyways, I want to inform you all that I''ll be returning to one chapters everyday, starting Monday.

    And I also want to reach top 200 this week. I hope it''s not too ambitious, so please give me your power stones, and reviews if you really enjoy my book. Thank you!

    I''m also sorry for only 10 instead of 14.

 Chapter 83 83. CRIMINALS

    Plunging one of his daggers into the head of a tier 2 bear in the middle stage, its body began to dry up, while it''s rich brown color turned sickly grey.

    Noah and James swept their gaze''s around, hearing a loud ding which signified that a wave was done. Noah removed his dagger, and sat on the ground, not minding the pool of blood on it.

    James did the same as they both had ragged breaths. Yes Noah''s breathing was ragged. How wouldn''t it be, after all he had been fighting for over 29 hours basically non stop.

    This was the short four minutes break before thest wave of Magical beasts, for the second level of the second stage.

    "Good job," Noah''s tired voice rang out, patting James''s shoulder.

    James simply nodded, not having enough strength to bother in replying.

    Noah couldn''t help but pity this lower stage cultivator, which made him bring out a health potion. James wasn''t really injured, it was because Noah had found that health potion also helped refill stamina, the only problem being that continuous usage meant reduction in its ability to affect them for a period of time

    James happily received the bottle, as he immediately chugged the whole thing down, a slight green glow appearing on his body, while a rxed sigh escaped his mouth.

    Noah also drank a health potion, closing his eyes to savour the refreshing feeling of his refilling stamina. Quickly bringing out a loaf of bread for the two to eat, Noah and James felt a lot better.

    "This is thest fight before we seed in this level. Lets do our best," Noah announced, James nodding in response, resolve and excitement beginning to find its way on his face.

    Why was he excited?. Well because the thought of bing a tier 4 just a bit after he became a tier 2 was immensely crazy, and this was only possible because of the young man by his side.

    Noah cast energy armour, he didn''t really have a problem with mana, due to his high regeneration capability, which let him freely use Mana.

    A tier 2 magic circle expanded beneath is feet, followed by the emergence of tendrils of electrical energy, which wrapped around his body, only a dull halo signifying the armours existence.

    Noah nced at the daggers in his hands, they were incredibly useful, even as powerful as spells, all he had to do was stab a beast was the it, and the beast would be food for the daggers.

    He knew when the daggers were filled, because of the gauge of sorts on their handle.

    Another ding resounded, which for some reason wasn''t there in the first level of the stage, probably because it was recently added, Noah didn''t really care, all he cared about were the five inscriptions that lit up in the far ends of the circr cave.

    "Uh...!," Noah exmained when his eyes fell of the figures that appeared out of the inscriptions light.

    "Why are there humans?," Noah couldn''t help but ask an equally confused James. When his eyes inspected the five scantly clothed but armed men, who also inspected the duo, while snorts resounded from their mouths.

    Three of the men were middle staged cultivators, but seemed in the bottom of that stage, while the other two were at the very top of the middle stage, threatening to spill into the higher stage.

    During their moments of immense shock, Noah couldn''t help but think to what the illusory figure said, it didn''t actually say magical beasts opting for monsters and just beasts, which could mean different things instead, ''Are they criminals of the state, or something,'' Noah wondered in thought.

    As if listening to his thoughts, an inscription lit up, on the caves roof, while the same illusory figure emerged from it''s light.

    "Congrattions participant Noah, and participant James, on getting to the veryst wave. Just as normally, this wave will alsost seven hours, only that you can leave before that time." it started.

    Noah raised an eyebrow at the hologram words but still listened.

    "Thisst wave has been given a seven hours time limit, where you''ll have to fight just three batches of these criminals, who have death sentences," it continued, affirming Noah''s guess.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The faster you end them, the earlier you''ll get out of here, it''s all dependent on your fighting prowess. The first batch only features five middle stage, the second will feature two peak stages, while thest will feature all in the peak stage, all at the bottom of the stage." the illusory figure exined.

    "Do not have pity on them, each of these men havemitted nasty crimes, and are here to have a chance to be cleared from their death sentences." it warned them.

    "Good luck, may the best win." The illusory figure ended it''s exnation at that point. Disappearing the next Instant. While leaving an awkward air among the opponents.

    Noah scratched his head, he wasn''t sure of what to do, and it seemed the five cultivators were also the in the same predicament.

    After all Noah was a peak stage tier 2, and they were all middle stages, by all normal standards they wouldn''t be able see the next day if they shed with him in a one on one battle.

    The five didn''t say anything for a while, untill one of the two most powerful middle stage among them talked.

    "I know we barely know each other, but it doesn''t matter. None of us can beat him in a one on one fight, so how about we band together and overwhelm them. The second is just a lower stage after all," the 5''6 tall man said, his eyes ncing at Noah once in a while.

    The other four didn''t seem to go against the idea as they walked towards the man that gave the idea, Noah not bothering to inspect their names, since they were dead to him.

    A sigh escaped Noah''s mouth when he saw that they were about to attack him.   "At least tell me the crimes youmitted," Noah said with a bored expression. Whatever they were nning wasn''t going to work, he would only take the wave of sorts seriously, only when the group had peak stage tier 2 cultivators.

    None of them answered, Noah shaking his head again, while his voice rang out, "I actually asked that question: to know if I should give you a painless death or painful one. But oh well, painful it is," Noah shrugged, his aura sharpening intensely, the five cultuvators sensing immense danger.

    Noah ran; without using his super speed. Appearing behind the group of five, one of his daggers going to stab the man right in front of him.

    During his multiple hours of using the daggers, Noah found that it caused organisms Intense pain, as he had tried touching the tip of the dagger which immediately siphoned energy from his finger.

    The dagger entered the man''s back, as Immediately he began to dry up, but before the man could let out a scream of pain, Noah moved to the next person.

    Leaving his de in the man''s back, Noah stabbed his second dagger into another person''s waist, and also left it there.

    shing to his next opponent, this time he kicked the man''s leg, moving before the snapping sound could spread. For his fourth opponent, one of his fingers entered his eyes, puncturing it in the process.

    At that point Noah stopped moving, and walked back to James''s position.

    Ignoring the screaming and writhing humans. Noah let thest man, who brought up the idea of them banding together, experience terror.

    He cast long stakes of stone towards Noah and James, who dodged it effortlessly, as the attacks weren''t coordinated, but out of panic.

    The man ran towards the end of the cave screaming about wanting to return to prison, and that he wouldn''tin anymore.

    Noah shook his head, ncing at the recovering James; who still seemed to be amazed by Noah''s abnormal speed capability.

    "Should I end it, or should we rest a bit," Noah''szy voice rang out.

    Shooting a weird gaze at Noah, who still ignored the screams, he replied, "Na....let''s rest a bit," James said, kicking the dead body of a magical beast next to him.

    As immediately after, an inscription lit up on the ground, then all the dead beasts, and even their pools of blood were teleported away. After which a light of sorts washed over the ground, bringing it to its formerly clean glory.

 Chapter 84 84 UNEXPECTED

    Noah could only smile at that point, sitting down on the ground, he sat in a crossed legged position. Bringing out a chunk of uncooked meat, lightning crackled on Noah''s fingers, then they went on to fry the meat.

    Noah stopping when the meat had reached a suitable level for eating.

    The two sat there for around ten minutes, as eventually the whole thing got boring.

    Jumping back up on his feet, Noah saw the perfectly okay man begin to shake. Ignoring his cries for mercy, Noah went and retrieved his Daggers from the already dried of corpses of the two men.

    Stabbing the man with a broken leg and the partially blind man, Noah watched their bodies lose it''s lustre, and turn into ghostly grey, until they resembled sculptures of ash.

    "I''m sorry, please don''t kill me, I''ll do anything, please!," thest man standing begged, Noah simply shrugging his shoulders, while walking closer to him, "I''m sorry too, it''s just..., your survival isn''t an option, and besides you were already on a death sentence, what did you expect."

    The man tried to cast a spell at that point, but Noah''s daggers were already In his chest before he could do so.

    The light of life left the man''s eyes, as he dried up. Noah couldn''t help but heave a deep sigh, he wondered why he found it so easy to kill them. Was it because of the situation? or because his mindset, coupled with the killer title had changed?.

    A ding resounded In the area, Noah going walking back to James, who pat his shoulders, "I could have done it if you didn''t want to," he offered, Noah simply shaking his head, deep down he kinda didn''t mind it!!, and he also needed the extra exp.

    A few secondster five inscriptions lit up at the end of cave, followed by the appearance of five scantly clothed figures, all women!.

    A frown immediately appeared on Noah face, not because they were just women. No, because they were half naked women, some even having their entire lumps-of-fat sticking out, it was incredibly distracting.

    ncing at the roof of the cave, Noah uttered curse words at the nners of the stage.

    "Oh what a fine man," one of thedies there said, her eyes filled with lust. She was around 5''5 in height had short brown hair, and was currently covered in strips of tattered green cloths, which barely left anything to the imagination.

    "How about I get a taste of you, before we fight," anotherdy said, even taking a step forward, Noah and James going on guard, after all thedy was in the peak stage.

    Thedy was a bit tall at over 5''8 in height, she had a slender frame, big busts and long ck hair. She was the most decently dressed woman among the group, even though she still remained half naked, with just strips of ck cloths around her chest and waist which barely went past the beginning of her thighs.

    "Feisty! I like feisty men!," she remarked licking her lips. Seeing that she got no reaction whatsoever from the two men, she continued.

    "Being locked up among crazy women for months has really increased my desires. Can''t you help a young woman fulfill them," She added with a sad face

    Noah''s eyes were extremely cold, he didn''t like what was going on, so he decided to move.

    But shock filled his mind when he saw stone needles shooting towards he and James, almost imperceptible to the naked eyes, only that Noah was faster.

    Snorting at the smart attack, Noah used his control over the wind to cause a strong gale to blow, interrupting the needles, and stopping the attack, but that wasn''t all.

    Noah also watched multiple arrows made of orange mes fly towards the duo, it was casted by the other peak stagedy there, but it wasn''t much of a problem, since Noah also extinguished them with a powerful gust of wind, causing mild explosions.

    "Wow!. You managed to stop those attacks. You really are a fine man," the firstdy remarked with a smile, then her expression suddenly turned murderous.

    "Let''s see how many attacks you can dodge at a time," she announced, while a big magic circle expanded in front of her, Noah noticing hundreds of stone needles rushing towards them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Get behind me," Noah shouted when he also saw arrows made of mes, des made of wind and four jets of water flying towards them.

    Noah couldn''t help butmend them for their incredible team work, he wasn''t sure if they knew each other, but if what the first batch of men said were true, none of them knew each other.

    "Your team work is incredible, but it''s only a pity you were matched up with me," Noah muttered, while bringing his palms forward, the air there began to condense right I front of Noah, at an incredible rate.

    A milisecondter the wall of wind was done, then Noah sent it forward. The collision of spells caused an explosion to resound, but to the pure shock of the five women, Noah''s wall of wind stopped their spells in its track. After all he had poured over a hundred mana points into it.

    Even after the five spells had vanished, the over 10/ 20ft wall of wind remained floating, which obscured Noah from their sights. A very dangerous thing.

    Noah didn''t let their minds wander too much, he shot forward with the speed of a bullet, arriving a few meters in front of the surprised group, he cast ''lightning bolt'' six times, one for each of them and thest for good measures.

    BOOOMM!

    The explosions resouded as one, shaking the cave a bit, as dust and stone fell off the sturdy looking cave.

    When the dust cleared, all that could be seen of the women were charred corpses, which disappeared after the ground lit up with a yellow Inscription.

    They were done with the second batch at that point, James barely doing anything than to stand and watch the events unfold.

    If he had to be honest, he was tired of being weaker than Noah. Which was why he anticipated the prize of the whole event even more.

    A ding resouded in the area, but Noah being in a bad mood, did something James hadn''t expected.

    A magic circle expanded above the duo, then a thin orange veil of sorts fell from it, going to form a dome like shape.

    The air crackled with electrical energy, as James felt the hair on his neck and even head rise up, due to the abundance of electrical energy.

    Noah had cast his lightning domain, after all the illusory figure never said nting a trap for their future opponents was against the rules, so Noah took it upon himself to finish the whole thing fast.

    He knew that most people would struggle with the stage, after all it wasn''t easy to fight multiple people at your level of power, who also have experience, and can n, just like thedies had shown Noah.

    The human Ingenuity made them incredibly dangerous.

    Five Inscriptions lit up In the far ends of the cave, followed by the five figures of three men and two women, all radiating power in the higher stage of tier 2, but contrary to what the illusory figure said, three of them were actually at the very peak of tier 2.

    Noah didn''t know why this was so, probably because his strength wasn''t normal, but he didn''t care.

    Immediately their figures were done teleporting, multiple magic circles expanded above their head, as in the next instant they were struck by lightning bolts the size of the standard car.

    The five rtively strong experts, who were also criminals died without even knowing their opponents, or what killed them.

 Chapter 85 85. HIDDEN REWARDS

    Smoke rose up in the air, as the smell of burnt meat permeated the whole cave. James sighed at the sight of the dead experts, his eyes falling on Noah''s back.

    The young man, who he even seemed to be older than, never seized to surprise him. But shock filled James mind when he realized that he had recovered from the surprise of what happened just a few seconds after it urred.

    It seemed he was beginning to get used to Noah''s abnormality.

    A ding resounded in the cave, Noah nodding his head at the turn of events.

    Now they would get a few hours to rest. Those who didn''t, would get eliminated fast in thest round. Noah already wanted the whole thing to end.

    Two Inscriptions lit up in the cave, one on the ground and the other on the caves ceiling.

    The charred bodies of the five experts, disappeared while a light washed over the ground making it clean.

    Once again the illusory figure appeared out of the other Inscription.

    "Good job, participants Noah and James. You''ve seeded in surviving the second stage of bozolom. For that I congratte you," it started, Noah wondering why they were even still inside the cave.

    "As the first team of two to finish the stage, you''ll both receive the hidden rewards for the surprising feat." The illusory figure said.

    Noah''s eyes sparked up at that point, ''rewards!'' he said Inwardly. He was totally down for that.

    "Like you both have seen, this year''s bozolom has had a few surprise''s," it continued, Noah and James nodding in unison.

    "So I hope you expected that there will be some in the final stages," it paused, seemingly wanting the two to ponder on the matter, which they did.

    "Thest stage will determine who will receive the generous rewards of resources meant to elevate ten participants to the realm of tier 4, it has to be more challenging," the figure exined, Noah couldn''t help but nod at the truth of the matter.

    "This goes directly with the rewards you''ll receive. Which are a map of where the tier 3 beasts are situated in the site, and a meter that would show you how many participants are left in the final stage," the illusory figure said.

    Intense shock ran through Noah''s mind when he heard its words. ''Tier 3 beasts,'' he shouted inwardly. He wasn''t sure he could beat beasts at that level but he knew one thing, and that was that they were definitely dangerous.

    The second reward wasn''t really necessary, only that knowing how many people were left would be a great help.

    A ding resounded in both their hand bands. Checking to see what it was, they saw an illusory yellow map, which had eleven red spots that moved like mes, signifying where the tier 3 magical beast were in the ce they would be teleported to.

    And also a bar of sorts, that currently had zero on it. Which Noah expected since the second stage wasn''t done yet, till then could they determine how many participants survived.

    "You''ll also be teleported to a safe ce in the location, which you''ll the start eliminating other participants. Do not forget as long as only ten participants remain, the stage isplete. It doesn''t matter how the others were eliminated, be it being killed by other participants, surrendering or even devoured by the magical beasts, all is allowed," the illusory figure exined.

    A big smile appeared on Noah face when he understood what the figure meant, and also the fact that they were basically being given a headstart.

    "We''ve as good as won." Noah muttered.

    "I hope the rewards were to your liking. All this is thanks to the council of both the royal family and a few noble families." The illusory figure bowed at the duo, who also did the same.

    Immediately that gesture was done, the ground lit up with a blue inscription, then Noah found himself back in the massive room. Only that it was totally empty.

    Noah shot a happy ce at his partner, who also smiled in return. Returning his focus on the room, Noah became able to witness it in all its glory.

    "Massive," Noah muttered. Even though this was his third time in the room, he still wondered how that much space could fit into the collusem.

    "So what should we do now?." James asked looking around.

    "Wait I guess. The next stage isn''t starting until the others are done." Noah said sitting crossedlegged. He decided it was time to distribute his stat points, thest stage may feature surprises that even they didn''t know about.

    James walked a bit from Noah''s position. He also sat crossedlegged, and began to cultivate. Noah nced at James, he recalled him saying something about a cultivation technique, but he didn''t know what they were, although the name was self exnatory, he wondered if he would ever get something like that.

    Pushing the matter to the back of his head, he opened his status page.

    [Stat panel]

    [Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [ss: Heir of the God of speed( ???)]

    [Title (s) : Monster killer, Killer]

    [Level: 48/50] [Tier: 2]

    [Speed force: Orange]

    [Elemental Affinity(s)[Air, Lightning]

    [HP: 665 (165)]

    [Strength: 840 (210)]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Stamina: 595 (149)]  [MP: 1100 (275)]

    [Intelligence: 415 (103)]  [Speed: Mach 10]

    [Defence: 315 (78)]  [Dexterity: 185 (46)]

    [Vitality : Tier 2]

    [Undistributed stat points: 130]

    ''That''s a lot,'' Noah thought staring at his undistributed stat points.

    ''Should I dump them into my mp,'' Noah thought. ''It''ll barely make a difference. What about strength?. I''ve focused too much on it. But it''s very useful,'' a tug of war went on in his mind, no side overpowering the other.

    Noah, at this point was practically unmatchable in his current level of power. Although he liked it, he didn''t usually have good fights, since most of his opponents were weaker than him.

    A sigh escaped his mouth at we point, ''I''ll just dump them in strength, and defense.'' Noah concluded.

    Sharing the points equally among the mentioned stats, Noah closed his eyes to savour the refreshing feeling of his skin getting tougher, and his muscles, and bones getting sturdier.

    [Stat panel]

    [Noah]

    [Race: Human]

    [ss: Heir of the God of speed( ???)]

    [Title (s) : Monster killer, Killer]

    [Level: 48/50] [Tier: 2]

    [Speed force: Orange]

    [Elemental Affinity(s)[Air , Lightning]

    [HP: 665 (165)]

    [Strength: 905 (226)]

    [Stamina: 595 (149)]  [MP: 1100 (275)]

    [Intelligence: 415 (103)]  [Speed: Mach 10]

    [Defence: 380 (95)]  [Dexterity: 185 (46)]

    [Vitality : Tier 2]

    [Undistributed stat points: 0]

    [Skills]:

    [Speed Force]

    [Advanced slow motion perception[Passive]

    [Advanced speed regeneration [Passive], [Mana regeneration[Active], Speed clones [Active]

    [Elemental skills]

    <Air>

    [Intermediate Air Elemental magic, Air Domain Air Spears,

    <Lightning>

    [Intermediate Lightning Elemental magic, Small energy bomb[Active], Energy Armour [Active], Lightning domain, Lightning bolt

    [Inventory: shirt, skirt, Bag of coins, Bag of meat & bread, Map, Image box, Daggers, Staff]

    Noahy on the tiled floor, his eyes still on his stat panel. He had been in tier 2 for a while now, and he was ready to advance and encounter stronger people. He was even ready to join a guild since he needed money, and wanted to learn new things, and go on adventurers.

    His mind wandered into many topics, during the wait. Until he found himself thinking about what the beautiful Isabe was doing, whether she was having trouble with the stage or not.

    ''I need a girlfriend,'' Noah clicked his tongue.

 Chapter 86 86. ENDING

    Taking a deep breath while parrying the axeing her way. Isabe managed to dodge the attacks of the peak stage cultivator she was currently in a battle with.

    Unlike Noah''s version of the stage, her version of thest stage featured 3 middle stage cultivators in the first batch, five in the second batch, and four with a peak stage cultivator.

    It seemed the whole stage was customized ording to the participants strength.

    Performing a side step, she dodged the ball of water flying towards her. ncing at her partner Leon, who currently had two middle stages fighting him, she furrowed her brows, and decided to go all-out.

    She had been at it for over an hour but the peak staged cultivator seemed to have absolutely no weakness, which pissed her off, coupled with the lustful gaze he constantly had on her which indicated that the fight was just a fun game to him.

    Jumping backwards, dodging the over head sh. A dark gas seeped out of her figure, going on to form ten tentacles that stretched towards the peak stage man at break neck speed.

    Effectively dodging the tentacles, the man immediately got serious. His instincts told him that only death awaited him if one of the tentacles touched him.

    Dashing forward with both her swords outstretched by her side. She waved them in a cross sh, but stopped half way, surprising the man.

    Crouching a bit, she spinned her body while her swords were still outstretched.

    CLANG! CLANG!

    The man managed to block the strikes with his axe, going on to try and smash it on her head, though the tentacles attacked at that point.

    Five tentacles wrapped around the axes'' de. Shock spreading in the man''s mind when he realized that he couldn''t overpower the tentacles.

    The other five cracked at his figure, but he was gone by that time. Isabe clicked her tongue when she saw him jumping backwards.

    "Incredible you almost got me there. And you are a darkness affinity user at that." The man mused, while he watched his only weapon melt from the tentacles grip.

    A swallowing sound escaped his throat at that sight, if he were to get hit by those things, his half naked body wouldn''t stand a chance.

    The man gazed at Isabe''s figure, he couldn''t help but admire her. The ck tentacles swimming around her, almost like tails, made her look valiant, coupled with her determined expression.

    ''I won''t be leaving here alive,'' he concluded. Without his weapon he would only be able to dy his inevitably death, and he didn''t have any defensive spells.

    Dashing forward with all his strength he decided that he would go out with a bang.

    His body began to glow a blue shade, his body roiling with Mana, he had a few spells, but there was one which he considered his best. If it didn''t kill her he wouldn''t live.

    A blue magic circle expanded beneath them, covering most of the cave. Isabe sensed danger, she immediately reacted casting another spell.

    A ck magic circle exploded below her, then ck gas seeped out of it and encased her in a solid ball of darkness which also had corrosive features.

    The man''s spell began at that point, a small shining blue ball emerged from the magic circles middle, then...

    BOOOOOM!

    As though a river bank had burst open in the cave, liquid water exploded outwards ravaging the entire ce.

    inside this small sea of water were many constructs which varied from thick spears of water to knives or spears, each carrying power in the peak of tier 2.

    The two other middle stage died instantly after being impaled by many of these weapons of water.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Leon managed to react in time by epassing himself with mes. His barrier of sorts managed to protect him for a few seconds, before it was extinguished by the liquid, causing only a few water constructs to stab him.

    Isabe only fared a bit better, her ball of darkness managed to proctect her for a few seconds, before cracks began to spread on it. But before the water could destroy her protectionpletely, she made it condense and formed ayer just above her armour.

    That only managed to buy her a few more seconds before she found herself inside a sea of blue water, multiple weapons rushing towards her, while she drifted in the pools depth.

    The spells effectsted for around a minute until it seemingly evaporated instantly. During that period Isabe had managed to stay alive, but badly injured

    Crashing on the ground with grace of a rock, she coughed up multiple mouthfuls of blood, while immediately drinking a healing potion.

    Searching for Leon, she found his unmoving body a few tens of meters from her position. He was dead.

    Intense sadness filled her mind, but she didn''t let it overwhelm her. Taking mulitiple deep breaths, she calmed herself, while the many stab wounds healed.

    A ding sound resounded as shock filled her mind, she had totally forgotten about her opponent. Her eyes searched for him, and to her surprise she found him in a pool of blood, a deep wound in his head, with multiple others scattered in his body.

    The ground lit up with a yellow Inscription, then the five bodies present except for Leons'', were teleported away, while a light washed over the ground, making it as clean as it was in the beginning.

    ''He died from his own spell,'' she thought. ''Pathetic,'' she concluded. Crawling to Leon''s body she stored it inside her space ring, afterwhich an Inscription lit up on the ground, then the scenery changed.

    Finding herself in the massive room, she was shocked to find Noah and his friend cultivating.

    He opened his eyes, as she saw curiosity and fascination. She tried to say something, but before she could, Noah walked towards her, a sigh escaping his mouth. "How bad are you injured?."

    She simply shook her head, not wanting him to touch her. Noah seemed to understand the meaning behind that gesture, but still persisted.

    "Do you have any healing potions?."

    A weak sigh escaped her mouth, Isabe was beginning to lose her consciousness. So she decided to let him help. Two bottles appeared out of thin air, and gentlyy on the cream-colored tiles.

    Noah shook his head and fed the bottles'' contents to her. Her body glowed a green hue, then she passed out immediately.

    Noah shook his head as a light sigh escaped his mouth. Inspecting her body he found that her multiple wounds were closing, but his eyes eventually fell on her exposed skin.

    Noah instantly got mesmerized, but shook off that feeling, when he thought to who she was and probably somethings she might had experienced, coupled with the fact that he felt dirty staring at her thighs, Noah immediately carried her and ced her somece near his cultivating position, though far enough to not be distracted.

    ncing at her peaceful figure, a smile crept on his face. Closing his eyes and sitting crosslegged, Noah went back to cultivating.

    It barely did much, after all he had kept the skill on for over a month not a single level being gained. He simply loved the soothing feeling of the meditation.

    Hours instantly passed, more people being teleported back to the room, most of which were badly injured. During that period, Noah did nothing but cultivate, he gained little insight on somethings he should do moving forward and getting stronger.

    Eventually Isabe woke up, and also began cultivating, but Noah sensed something different about her during that time, first was the fact that Mana flowed faster towards her than normal, even pulling his own towards her.

    Secondly, once in a while, he see the Mana flowing towards her change to a ck color, Noah med this on her element, since it wasn''t normal.

    ''Is this what a cultivation technique does,'' Noah thought.

 Chapter 87 87. FAME

    Fascination filled his mind for a while until he got bored, by this time he had gotten tired of cultivating, and instead decided to check out the participants that survived.

    It seemed an hour at most remained before the time limit of thest wave ended, but Noah could already ascertain that the numbers that would enter thest stage, will be a bit over a hundred.

    The number of people had decreased dramatically, more space being left in the massive room making it feel empty, even though there were tens of people present.

    The whole ce was more silent than ever. Noah was able to hear even whispers, as most people weren''t talking but cultivating. While some simply sat, their eyes lost in thoughts.

    Noah shook his head in slight pity at those who sat silently. They had either lost someone important in thest stage or were doubting their chances of winning the event as a whole.

    Noah felt like a cheat at that sight, though he actually was. Those people had spent years training and cultivating, while he, who barely knew anything about the world. Was amongst them and even above them in terms of sheer strength.

    Although he eventually wrote the thought off. Honestly, he didn''t care about being a cheat, after all, everyone in the world would never pass up on an opportunity to advance faster, he was just the lucky one out of them.

    A bit more than an hour passed, by that time everyone had assumed that those present were the only survivors.

    So when an Inscription lit up on the tiles, everyone watched with nk expressions as they were teleported back to the coliseum.

    The roars of the crowd filled Noah''s, and the other participant''s ears. He kinda wished they would just teleport them to thest site of the event.

    The shouts continued for a while, shock filling Noah''s mind at one point when the crowd began to cheer out his name.

    James had a light smile on his face, while Isabe shot quizzical nces at him. Noah avoided them all.

    He was incredibly d that not everyone knew his name. So when confusion spread among the remaining participants, Noah and James simply yed along.

    That all changed when one of the massive illusory screens portrayed Noah''s picture.

    Noah''s expression darkened instantly, while he avoided the gazes of everyone present, some shooting curious nces at him; wondering why he had gotten so popr among the spectators. Many ideas were flowing through the minds of the participants, some guessing it was rted to the past stage.

    As if answering their silent questions. Another screen carried the feat that Noah and James achieved.

    ''He finished first, and before an hour,'' Most participants shouted in their minds. This time shooting incredulous gazes at him.

    Even Isabe did that, though she had finished second after Noah which was multiple hours after he hadpleted the stage.

    "Who the fuck is he?," Most people including the VIPs, asked themselves. Who in the world could do such a thing, was he a powerful expert hiding his true cultivation level?. Was he a descendant of a god or something?. They all wondered.

    Though that surprise changed topetition for the participants, ''He''s dangerous,'' they all concluded in their minds, including Isabe.

    At this point, Noah was definitely going to get into that top ten, and they had to secure their position. Most peak tier 2''s saw him as a target, but couldn''t sum up the courage to think of fighting him alone, though few did.

    Noah himself knew what the higher-ups of the event wanted to achieve, and that was to put a target on his back.

    He was certain that the participants saw him as a danger to their potential positions in the top ten, but he wasn''t sure if they would band together to take him out, or just let him be.

    Another few minutes passed. Elder Mchi then floated above the arena, draped in a light blue garment.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Good day participants. Imend you all for getting this far into the game. It seems our nation has great experts in the making," He started. Noah noticed that although the man was a few hundred meters in the air, his gaze seemed to be on his figure.

    The crowd cheers louder than ever at that point. Stopping only when Elder Mchi raised his hand.

    "Now the third and final stage shall begin. You all are tasked to eliminate each other until only ten of you will remain," he continued.

    "Do not forget it doesn''t matter how your fellow participants are eliminated, be it from you killing them or forcing them to surrender using the hand bands feature." He said, all the remaining participants nodding.

    "I won''t tell you how many of you remain. You are all going to be teleported to a random location in the new site."

    "Make sure you keep moving to eliminate the others until only ten of you are left. You''ll hear a ding when that requirement has been met. Don''t forget you all only have a day for you to achieve this." Elder Mchi exined.

    Everyone pondered on the matter. Until shockingly some girl raised her hand. This greatly shocked everyone as they thought they couldn''t ask questions.

    A small orb of sorts floated towards the young woman in the higher stage. "You may speak," Elder Mchi said, due to his height they couldn''t see his raised eyebrow.

    "I thank you for the opportunity to speak," she started, seeing Elder Mchi wave his hand lightly, she continued.

    "Your words have made me understand that only ten participants are to be left before the end of the day, for the stage and the whole event to be considered over. But that begs the question, what if more than ten people are around after the day ends." She said bowing down to signify that she was done.

    "Very good," Elder Mchi''s voice rang out, though his face couldn''t be seen, Noah could swear that the man had a smile on his face.

    "For the answer to that question, you''ll find out if that happens." The man said as anxiety couldn''t help but grip everyone''s heart.

    His words didn''t inspire the least bit of confidence in the participants, some were already having thoughts about giving up. They didn''t want any surprises as it would most likely lead to their deaths.

    "If the subject of your fellow participant''s question urs, you all will be notified about what to do," Elder Mchi broke the silence.

    "Till then I wish you sess and may the best of youe out sessful." Elder Mchi spread his arms, blue Inscriptions lighting up the whole arena, as Noah couldn''t help but snap his head towards James.

    He wasn''t sure if they would be teleported to different positions, so worry inevitably filled his mind.

    The only thing that ran through James''s mind was: ''Oh shit.''

    _________________

    *Authors note*

    Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

    I''d love it if you guys dropped a review. I don''t really like saying these things, but I''d really appreciate it if you did. Overall I just want you guys to read the story, that''s fulfilling for me.

    Thank you for your time.

 Chapter 88 88. INSHA

    Noah opened his eyes in the middle of a street. Furrowing his brows, he scanned his environment with curiosity, he hadn''t expected that type of terrain.

    The whole ce seemed abandoned as there were many broken buildings, even the streets looked badly kept.

    The tallest building present was just a storey tall. Most of the buildings even had vegetative growing on and in them, as the ce smelt old and ancient, but also looked big.

    Finding that James wasn''t with him, Noah heaved a sigh, and wished he would remain safe until Noah found him.

    Noah couldn''t help but want to explore the whole ce, but he didn''t lose focus. Opening the map, Noah got a better understanding of it.

    He was currently in the said safe ce which was in the edge of the city''s south region, but was also close to a tier 3 beast.

    Noah could see that in the center of the city was a green circle, he didn''t understand what it meant so he moved on. Opening the meter that held the number of participants, Noah was surprised to see 178, on the meter.

    ''Whoa that''s a lot of work,'' Noah thought. One hundred and sixty eight participants would have to be eliminated to meet the stages'' requirements, but it felt impossible to do all that In just one day.

    Noah ran for around five minutes, and remained speechless when he found James. It seemed that their present area was the so-called safe spot.

    Noah wondered why that was so. Was it safe from the magical beasts or participants.

    "I''ve never been anywhere like this," James marvelled at the abandoned city, Noah simply nodding in response.

    "We should to begin eliminating participants, you''ll have to stick with me," Noah said retrieving his staff since the situation wasn''t too troublesome.

    "We''ll simply have to remain a good distance from the tier 3 beasts," Noah added expanding his consciousness, which could cover over 70m around his figure, greatly assisting him.

    "Why exactly are you letting me stick with you?," James asked, his expression mixed with curiosity and helplessness.

    Noah gazed at him, their eyes locking gaze''s for multiple seconds, before his voice rang out, "For starters, we had nned to be partners through out the whole thing. The change of events didn''t change that in my mind," Noah nodded.

    "But I''ve been feeding off you. There are many others who will actually be more useful than me. Why did you stick with me. It just doesn''t make sense," Jamesined.

    Noah''s eyes immediately turned cold, his expression reaching chilling levels, even his voice. "This isn''tpletely for you. Don''t forget I promised Jesse that I''d bring you back to him. This is just me fulfilling my promise." Noah turned and gazed at a far distance from them.

    A difficult expression appeared on James''s face at that point. He had many things to say about the matter but he didn''t push it. Noah had told him his primary reason after all.

    "Let''s go," Noah announced, sprinting towards a particr direction, James following closely behind.

    Noah didn''t actually know where they were going, the map didn''t indicate where  the other participants were, which would have been an even better reward than the meter, but they probably wanted to keep it a bit fair, as such a reward would have been outrageous.

    The number of the participants dropped once in a while, but not steady enough to make Noah think clearing the stage would be easy.

    Though after ten minutes of running, weaving through the cities streets, the duo encountered a person, a man in the middle stage.

    When the man sighted Noah''s face, he began to run from them. But Noah caught up to him before he could escape.

    "Do you choose to surrender or be killed?." Noah hastily asked, there wasn''t much time. "I surrender," the around thirty years man said, his voice shaky from what Noah could do to him.

    His incredible speed had frightened the man, causing him to believe that Noah feats were actually true, and besides Noah was peak stage, he naturally didn''t have a chance.

    "Good. You chose the easy way. Now activate the teleportation function." Noah ordered the man, whoplied but with a dark and helpless expression.

    Noah let whiffs of his aura escape his body, which terrified the middle staged man in the process.

    An inscription lit up on beneath the man''s feet and also on his wrist, then a blue light wrapped around him. His sad figure disappearing an instantter.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah smiled when he saw the number on the meter drop by one.

    Dashing forward, the duo ran for a while. During that period, Noah tried thinking of what could happen if the requirements weren''t met in just a day.

    Would they send those still unknown creatures to them or something else, Noah tried to figure it out, which he couldn''t.

    Eventually the duo found another participants, a woman in the peak stage.

    Seeing the duo''s figures, thedy suprisingly didn''t run, but instead mmed both her palms on the ground. Noah and James immediately understood that she was about to cast a spell.

    James dashed towards a different direction away from the two peak stages''. While Noah''s steps came to an abrupt halt just for a millisecond. Double tapping his right foot, he shot up into the air. He had performed one of his martial arts.

    Noah understood that in the air he would basically be defenseless, which was why immediately he had reached the peak height his mountain stomp could currently take him; a whirlwind or so flickered into existence beneath him. Interrupting thedies spell while also protecting himself from her.

    Landing on thedy''s position. Noah was surprised to find that she was gone, and he couldn''t see her with his eyes due to the spinning wind currents, but his mental waves picked something up.

    Spinning his staff, Noah raised it horizontally above his head. Then he felt a foreign weightnd on his staff, which was held with both his hands at each ends.

    The weight immediately vanished, so did the whirlwind. Noah was able to see her figure on the building right in front of them.

    "You are strong," her voice rang out.

    Noah only raised his eyebrows, he didn''t understand. ''I am strong, but we haven''t even started yet,'' he thought. ''Was that attack supposed to be overwhelming,'' Noah wondered in his mind.

    Seeing that Noah gave no response, she brought herrge hammer in front of her.

    "I am Insha second daughter of the house of Verilon. And we shall battle to the death," she announced. Noah simply nodding his head, then shot upwards. So fast she could barely follow his movements.

    Noah kicked at her hammer, sending her flying towards the edge of the roof. But she managed to grab one of the mulitiple metal poles, stopping her descent in the process.

    Noah moved at that point. mming his staff on the ground, Noah caused a sharp de made of condensed air to fly towards her.

    Thedy seemed to have sensed danger, since she released her grip on the pole and fell downwards.

    Noah dashed forward immediately after. He had tried not to overwhelm her but it seemed she couldn''t keep up too well.

    Jumping down the building, Noah cursed his rash action.

    Multiple stakes rose up at a threatening speed beneath him. Noah watched all this happen in slow motion. Stretching his fist forward since no spell could work as fast as he currently needed.

    Noah punched at the first spike with all his might.

    Immediately his fist touched the first pointy stake, an explosion resounded sending sharp rocks everywhere.

    To Insha''s surprise, her attack had been destroyed with just a punch. Noahnded on the ground at that point,

    "You almost got me there." Noah announced, he immediately switched weapons In an instant.  Rasing his dagger up, it glowed with an intense dark purple light, indicating that Noah had activated it ability.

    Insha immediately sensed danger, but couldn''t move since a thin spike had struck and impaled her right leg.

    Doom filled her mind at that point. ''Am I going to die,'' she thought as fear took over her emotions.

    Noah was about to sh at her when he sensed something that made him divert his attack.

 Chapter 89 89. DIE

    The etheral sh flew towards Noah''s left side. It struck someone as a cry of pain rang out, it belonged to a man.

    Noah immediately shed again but this time at a despairing Insha. "I surrender-" she tried to say, but a dark purple sh dug into her chest. She nced at the wound and back at Noah, the light of life leaving her eyes the next instant.

    Noah rushed to the person that got the first sh. It was a man who seemed to be in the middle stage, but Noah couldn''t be certain of that, since he had dried up.

    A sigh escaped his mouth, followed by the iing figure of James. "I chased him here," James panted.

    Noah was taken aback with his words, his confusion spreading on his face.

    "What. I''m good at Inscriptions, one here and there is enough to protect myself and also harm a middle staged," James said as a triangr Inscription flickered on his armour.

    Noah waved his dagger at the incredibly fast and tiny ball of water that almost struck him.

    "Nice," Noahmented while checking the meter. Although not even an hour had passed, Noah still couldn''t help but feel like the requirements won''t be met, as only 9 people in total had been eliminated.

    ''How far apart were we teleported,'' Noah thought shaking his head.

    The two eventually continued their run, weaving through the cities street, while also avoiding the areas with tier 3 magical beast.

    Noah also wondered why those beasts were even present to begin with, and the fact that he couldn''t sense them worried him.

    Their run continued for over an hour, not encountering a single person. Noah managed to enjoy the view of the old city, and also its size.

    The mental map made a whole section in his mind which was meant for the city, each street he passed would be added to the map, following his exact speed.

    Noah wondered if he could forget any of those Information, as it was just a skill.

    A bit after an hour of encoutering the now dead Insha. Noah picked up three aura''s, it seemed they were in a fight since their aura''s currently radiated killing intent.

    The duo slowed down. As Noah directed James to a one storey building which the both climbed. Though James had a bit of trouble doing that.

    Noah made sure to wrap his aura tightly around his body, to ensure that he wasn''t found out, James also did the same.

    Crawling on the t roof, Noah peeked down the building, and into a street. Shifting his head to the side, he dodged the splinters of rock flying through the air.

    Shaking his head he peeked again, the figures of three men entered his sight, all radiating power in the middle stage. Noah immediately got bored.

    He immediately decided that he would go down there and eliminate them, but before he could his ears picked up something interesting.

    "I''ll be the one to get her, you two aren''t worthy,"  One of the three men announced while casting a spell which caused three fireballs to shoot forward.

    The man looked to be in his mid twenties, like most people Noah met. He had short brown hair and was around 5''7 in height. He looked averagely good looking. Very average actually.

    He was currently draped in a ck skin-tight clothing. Which had gauntlets, a breast te and metal boots. All flickering with different coloured Inscriptions.

    "Shut your mouth. I''ve known her for way longer that you do. So I should be the one to get her," the second person announced, while blocking a fireball with his ck shield and jumping backwards to dodge the fireball that exploded on the ground.

    He looked also in his mid twenties. Had very short ck hair which looked neatly brushed. He looked to be around 5''9 in height, and was currently in a in brown garment, though it glowed with a yellow hue.

    The third person stayed silent after dodging the fireballs, but acted by shing his sword in horizontally towards both his opponents.

    Immediately he shed the ground followed the movement of his sword. As jagged earth spikes rose up for over twenty meters. Forcing his opponents to search for higher ground.

    "I honestly do not care about your bickering. I just want to eliminate both of you." The young man said after the attack.

    He looked a bit older than the two. Had blonde hair, was around 5''6 in height, and was currently draped in a bright yellow garment, which had multiple red Inscriptions on their fabric.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah watched thisical scene, with a fascinated expression. ''These guys are totally out of their mind. We were tasked to eliminate each other and they are fighting about their love Interest.'' Noah shook his head, James doing the same.

    The trio continued battling each other. Noah getting more curious, as they had not mentioned the name of the woman they were both in love with.

    Noah stayed there for a bit more than ten minutes, waiting to hear the persons name, but then it dawned on him that they weren''t going to mention it.

    The trio immediately lost their usefulness at that point.

    Noah''s aura spread eventually. Alerting the trio about the dangerous individual close to them.

    The three seemed to immediatelye to a silent agreement to battle whoever that showed up before them. But fear immediately appeared on their expressions when they saw Noah.

    "Would you tell me who you were talking about?," Noah''s voice rang out. Surprising everyone present including the spectators in the collusem.

    No reply came for a few seconds. Noah frowned at thatck of reaction. "Who was the person you were talking about?." His said, his eyes cold.

    "Uh...It wa...wasdy Isabe," the fire mage stuttered. A weird silence fell on the environment, until Noah burst intoughter, surprising everyone present again.

    "Isabe;. Nice choice," Noah said, jumping down the building, causing the three to take multiple steps backwards.

    Each of them ready to run. ''He can''t catch the three off us if we run.'' All three of them thought, sharing nces at each other.

    Noah noticed this silent interaction andmented on it. "You can run, but just know that only death awaits you if you do," He shrugged.

    "Currently you have the option of surrendering without anyone dying," Noah added shooting quizzical gaze''s at the trio. Who had difficult expressions on their faces.

    "I''ll count to three, if-," Noah couldn''tplete his words, since the three cast spells at him.

    The world slowed down in Noah''s eyes. He shook his head in disappointment. He had expected them to be smart, but it also wasn''t their fault. If they had witnessed his prowess, surrendering would have been the only option that came to their minds.

    A fireball the size of a standard car, a wall that had sharp stakes on its surface, and ten des of condensed wind shot towards the duo.

    Personally Noah had nothing to directly stop the spells. Heck if not for his slow motion perception skill, they would definitely escape. But he did have a martial art move that could.

    He didn''t want to use any of his martial arts apart from his mountain stomp simply because people were watching. But since he hade to the final stage, he wanted to show a bit more of what he was worth.

    His damaged staff appeared in his hand. ''This would do,'' Noah thought.  Stepping forward, he spun his staff in front of his figure. Mana directly flowed out of his body and wrapped around his staff.

    Holding the bottom of his staff with both hands, Noah waved it to his right, pointing directly at the spells.

    A small tremor ran through the fabric of space, as the spells seemed to stop for an instant. Before they suddenly shot towards Noah''s right side.

    A big explosion resounded a few hundreds of meters from their position. It seemed like something had hurled the spells to that direction.

    Pure and utter shock filled the trios mind, even Noah himself was surprised.

    It seemed advancing to the peak stage had increased the effects of the martial art technique, since before now, Noah could only get spells to nt a bit to whatever direction he waved his staff. But noe he could send spells flying for hundreds of meters. Though he wondered if that would happen for spells with power in the peak stage.

    The trio were dumbstruck, even the spectators and VIPs.

    The three middle stage experts were frozen in their spot intense fear spreading in their minds.

    Noah only uttered on word, while a magic circle expanded in front of him. "Die!."

 Chapter 90 90. BEAST

    Noah jumped on top of a building, James right behind him. He had eliminated the three middle staged experts which was a few hours ago.

    During the period, he and James had managed to eliminate five other participants, which wasn''t much, and when he checked how many people were left he saw there still remained a bit over 120.

    Currently they were somewhere in the west side of the city, which had two magical beasts present though they were widely spread apart from each other.

    Noah''s curiosity had gotten the best of him. Causing him to go near the position of one of the eleven beasts.

    "Noah. Are you sure about this?. You are strong and all, but tier 3 beasts are on a different level," James said with a clearly worried expression. After all he was a mere lower stage cultivator.

    "I know, I know. It''s just, we can''t miss this opportunity. I know we''ll eventually get to see them once we get stronger, bute on....tier 3 beasts!." Noah pointed at a big building. Which was where the map indicated the tier 3 beast was.

    James frowned, but his curiosity also got the best of him, so he couldn''tin. Noah waited in silence, his gaze fully on James. He wasn''t going to go if his partner didn''t want to.

    A heavy sigh escaped James mouth, "Let''s get this over with." he said with a defeated expression which immediately changed to excitement.

    Noah''s face brightened up, "I''ll make sure nothing happens to us," Noah reassured James while unfolding his consciousness.

    The two jumped down the building they were currently on, and began to walk towards the dome-shaped building across the street.

    Noah inspected the buildings with his consciousness, but he couldn''t get much.

    The building looked normal in all ways, it even looked old, and coupled with the fact that he couldn''t sense the tier 3 beast, the danger inside the building was basically hiding in in sight.

    Walking around the building, they found a big metal door. Which they immediately tried to open. The door was heavy to open but Noah pulled it off after a few minutes of pushing.

    Upon entering the building, a massive square cage entered their sight. The cage spanned for a few tens of meters in height and width.

    Around the cages'' base and top were multiple red glowing Inscriptions which constantly rotated.

    After that inspection Noah''s eyes fell on the figure inside.

    Arge lion the size of school bus appeared in his sight. Its mane tail and a few spots of its body had orange mes dancing on their edges. The lions colour was deep orange-brown, which looked like that of normal lions. The beast was currently lying on its paws, but when it sensed their presence it arose.

    Its bright yellow eyes immediately fell on his figure, Noah instinctively taking a step back at its gaze. It began to growl at them while it''s mane became more of mes than hair.

    Noah saw metallic ck ws emerging out of its paws, as it pounced on the cage. A powerful roar escaping its mouth.

    Noah and James were sent flying from the sheer force the roar carried, the whole building seemed to shake, but the cage stood strong after multiple other attempts to destroy it.

    After a few seconds of trying to break the cage Noah understood that it couldn''t escape.

    The lion seemed to understand that Noah had gotten to that conclusion since ity down on its paws, only its vicious gaze following their movements.

    Noah couldn''t help but smile at that point, ''Powerful,'' he thought while inspecting the beast.

    [me Lion]

    [Tier: 3]

    [Level: ???]

    [Chances of death: 100%]

    Noah shook his head at the result. He was definitely strong but he currently couldn''t jump tiers, even though he was at the peak of tier 2.

    They stayed for a while, James eventually lost his fear for the beast, as the two walked around the cage, the lion growling at them baring it''s powerful looking teeth at them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah ignored all this, for it seemed as long as the Inscriptions were on the cage the beast would remain caged.

    "Do you know how to make such Inscriptions?," Noah eventually asked James who nodded.

    "I can but it would only be able to hold something at my level, and would probably be able tost a few tens of attacks," James exined.

    "But I wonder where the core of the Inscription is," James said his gaze still on the cage.

    "Uh..What do you mean by core?," Noah asked genuinely curious.

    "More like power source." James replied, "It''s needed to keep every Inscription running, and if damaged the Inscription will shut down. I am sure you remember that sir Augustus needed a body full of energy to activate the Inscription that repelled the beasts,"James added.

    Noah kept a mental note of what he learnt. He understood what James meant. "Where should it be in a normal situation?," Noah asked as he himself got curious.

    "It''s supposed to be in the center of the Inscription," James replied with a thoughtful expression. "At least that''s what I know."

    Noah also pondered on the matter himself, then an idea pooped up, and he didn''t hesitate to share it.

    "Wait. If what you say is true, then there should be a core powering all the Inscriptions currently. How do people get teleported out of here?," Noah said as potential answers kept forming in his mind. James also seemed to understand, as he took Noah''s words out of his mouth.

    "Inscriptions light up on the ground, and they get teleported!-," James said as he shot a wide eyed gaze at Noah, both opening the map.

    Now that Noah checked again, the eleven me like lights surrounded the city in a perfect circle, and at the center of the circle was the green circle.

    ""The city is on top of an Inscription,""" They said in unison, bursting intoughter an instantter.

    "So that green light should be where the core is," James said after they were doneughing.

    "How hard is it to pull something like that off?," Noah asked staring at the cage and its inscriptions

    "As far as I know, someone at our level or even tier 3, shouldn''t be able to pull it off. The amount of power in that core should also be incredible. Teleportation isn''t an easy thing, coupled with keeping the beasts caged," James exined, while Noah nodded.

    A few minutes of silence passed, the two thinking their own thoughts. "We should get going. I have an idea of what could happen if ten people aren''t left by the end of the stage, and it''s a bad one." Noah eventually said, while he began to walk towards the exit of the building.

    During that period a question popped up Noah''s mind, he couldn''t help but voice it out. "So what happens if the power source gets damaged?," He said pushing the big door open, while also ignoring the roars of the lion.

    "Obviously the whole thing would shutdown, we won''t be able to teleport out of this ce, and the cages of the beast will mostly be broken by them, since the inscriptions keeping the cages strong were gone" James exined, "Why do you ask?," he added walking out of the building.

    "No reason," Noah shrugged, "Though how exactly can it be damaged," Noah said stopping and ncing at the silent street.

    "Well if someone so much as touches it, or uses from its power without the creator giving it that function, the thing would explode. Though it would only be a small explosion. Only that the energy inside of the core would quickly disperse," James exined.

    "I see..." Noah muttered still standing outside the building. "What are the odds of that happening?," Noah asked again, as James couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

    "Well I am not sure anyone is dumb enough to touch a ball palpitating with raw energy, that is clearly above them in terms of quality. So I''d say zero." Jamesughed a bit.

    "What if they were dumb enough?,", Noah nced at James with a light smile

    "If they were that would be very bad--."

    James couldplete his words since an explosion of light suddenly shot up into the sky. Everyone in the city being able to witness it.

    Noah and James themselves immediately wore serious expressions. As the sound of a familiar massive cage falling apart resounded in their ears.

 Chapter 91 91. BEASTS

    Noah didn''t know what to do, but running was never not on the table, and that they did.

    Dashing across the street, Noah jumped on a normal building not waiting for James, who also did the same. Merely a few secondster Inscriptions lit on the sky as Elder Mchi''s voice rang out.

    "We are sorry for this, we never expected a person to actually touch it. All functions of your hand band will shut down until the back up kick-starts, which will be two hours from now. During that period I am sorry but we won''t be able to watch you. So you''ll have to survive the eleven tier 3 Beasts. I wish you all su..ess," Elder Mchi exined until the inscriptions in the sky died down, so did hopes of many participants.

    As though listening to the man, powerful roars spread out in the city, everyone being alerted.

    Noah himself watched a pir of orange mes emerge out of the dome shaped building, followed by the explosion of the said building.

    Noah couldn''t help stop and watch. James''s minds boggling when he saw this scene. "Noah!," he shouted at his partner who nodded and continued running.

    The lion shook it''s mane causing all the debris in it to fall out. It raised its head towards the sky, a roar escaping its mouth, causing multiple buildings around it to directly crumble from the its full power.

    Fiverge balls of orange mes flickered around the head of the lion, as beams of mes shot out of them causing immense destruction in the process. Then the lion moved around, slowly burning everything in its path.

    #

    In another area of the city. An ape the size of a mini-building, mmed its massive fists on its chest, a sonic roar escaping its mouth immediately after, as waves of powerful wind currents spread in the environment leveling tens of buildings multiple hundreds of meters around it''srge body.

    Immediately it was done with that show of power, its sliver-ck skin released tails of dense wind currents spreading around it like limbs while it leaped from its position to start causing destruction. Those limb like currents smashing into buildings or anything in the apes path.

    #

    In another position of the city. A giant rat skittered in the city''s streets seemingly causing no trouble, but when it found a group of participants running from its veryrge figure.

    A high pitched screech resounded from its mouth, as the earth rose to impale the participants, destroying the street in the process. The rat then went and gobbled up their bodies, before continuing its soundless travel.

    #

    Near the center of the city. Arge yellow snake unwrapped itself from the tall metal pole it slept on. Seeing that the inscriptions that kept it locked in the buildings existed no more, itsrge body  crawled down the pole.

    Smashing the cage and the door that kept it in the building, it slithered around the city''s street, most of its body taking the space in the street.

    A few secondster it found itself in front of arge charred crater that spanned for a few kilometers in radius.

    It didn''t seem to mind the condition of the hole since it went into it then coiled its body in the middle of hole.

    If a person was present they would notice that the air present got really moist, then suddenly water began to appear in the rtively deep crater. Eventually the crater got filled with a light-green coloured water.

    #

    Scenes like this spread out in the city as the other beasts caused destruction in the city, some participants weren''t present in those ces, but the ones that were, got killed by the rampaging beasts.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Most participants ran towards the center of the city seeking refuge, most got killed in the process, but the ones that didn''t would band together when they met each other, it seemed they had silently agreed to pause the game for now, as they couldn''t kill the beasts themselves.

    *

    *

    *

    Noah and James stood on a building staring at the obvious destruction being caused by the beasts.

    A sigh escaped Noah''s mouth when he found that they were in the middle of three beast slowly approaching their position.

    "Could it have killed them to ce a barrier or something around the core?," Noahined to James who had a grimacing expression on his face, but still replied.

    "Cores that are as powerful as that have to feed from the world''s Mana without any obstruction. So ording to my knowledge they couldn''t. And I''m sure they didn''t expect anyone to be dumb enough to touch the core." James exined trying to relieve himself of the tension building Inside himself.

    "Besides there is a backup," James added. "Yeah that would only work two hours from now," Noah countered, while he tried to form a n in his head.

    James nced at the three iing destructive beasts. Taking a deep breath, his voice rang out, "Do you have a n?." He furrowed his brows.

    Noah simply shook his head, "Apart from running and hiding. I''ve got nothing," Noah replied, though his words  were partially lies. He wasn''t too worried about the beasts, revealing his secrets worried him.

    ''They currently can''t see us. What if its a lie to get us to lower our guard, and reveal our secrets,'' Noah thought in the span of an instant.

    ''Is James trustworthy enough for me to share a secret with him?,'' Noah asked himself, a silent sigh escaping his mouth.

    ''I can''t get through this one without going a bit all-out. Although the daggers can help I''m not sure how effective they''d be,'' he thought retrieving one of his daggers.

    ''Who knows maybe I can get to level up andplete the levels required for tier 2. I just have to kill one of them,'' Noah thought; excitement welling up in his being. Though he immediately shook those thoughts off.

    ''The system says I can''t beat any of them with my strength. But that''s just my strength. I have the Daggers. But should I even try.'' Noah thought, a frown appearing on his face.

    ''But if I don''t, I''ll definitely have to reveal some of my more important secrets.'' Noah concluded, ncing at the explosions resounding in the distance.

    The me lion was the closest to them and it also seemed the most dangerous amongst the three about to sh.

    For some reason they could endure the coagtion of tier 3 aura''s, probably because the beasts were weakened from who knew how long starvation.

    Turning to face James after his instant long thoughts were finished. He opened his mouth to talk, but was cut short by James surprising words.

    "Let me guess you have some crazy way of at least killing one of those beasts," James said his expression mixed with incredulosness and slightck of surprise.

 Chapter 92 92. KILL

    Noah raised his eyebrows in surprise but nodded his head in affirmation, and James fell on his knees with a dejected expression.

    "What exactly are you?. Is that even allowed?," James voiced out hisints, more to himself than Noah.

    A shortugh escaped Noah''s mouth, he liked how James tried his best to relieve himself of the tension their current situation brought, even if it meant he thinking of things he considered impossible; possible.

    "The n isn''t that hard orplex, but  might lead to my death if I''m not carefully." Noah started, James listening attentively.

    "You won''t really have to do much, since the n is mainly based on these babies piercing them," Noah said gesturing at the Daggers.

    "All I''ll ask of you, is to distract that guy for a few milliseconds, before I step in." Noah pointed at the lion that shone amidst the ck coloured smoke rising up into the sky. It''s ming mane resembling a moving star in the night sky, while orange spheres floated around it, shooting beams of light every second.

    James eyes almost popped out, his mouth opening and closing many times, no words proceeding out of them.

    "How do you expect me to even do that. Pull out a surprise?," James asked sarcastically after he had gotten over the shock.

    No reply came from Noah who limited himself to stare at James, signifying that he was serious.

    "How are you even sure I have anything new?," James asked a bit annoyed.

    "Don''t think I didn''t catch nces of you practicing a new spell during our travel to Crilion," Noah narrowed his eye, James heaving a sigh in response.

    "And besides if you truly don''t have anything new, we would simply die," Noah shrugged bringing out the other dagger and gripping them tightly.

    James got serious at that point, his eye falling on the ming mane in the distance.

    Watching Noah dash towards the lion, James did the same.

    He still had doubts about the incredibly simple n from Noah, but he couldn''t do much in that situation.

    Noah stopped a few buildings from the Lions position, gesturing at James to do his part of the n.

    Seeing his partner nod, Noah jumped down the building. Sneaking towards the Lions position, while Muliix covered the non exposed part of his body which were almost everything,bapart from his head his arms and neck.

    Noah had to dodge many small chunks of buildings and incredibly hot stones, while he waited for James to act.

    Standing on top of the same building Noah had jumped off. James gazed at the tier 3 beast. He almost couldn''t believe he was about to something as outrageous as this. Attack a beast one full tier above him.

    James browsed through his collection of spells and found only one suitable for the current situation. He knew it wouldn''t do much since he was a whole tier below the beast, but Noah only said to distract it.

    A magic circle expanded beneath James covering the buildings'' top, James pouring all his Mana into the spell he was about to cast.

    Crack''s spread on the building as James raised his left hand which felt incredibly heavy. Tendrils of liquid water emerged from the magic circle, and began to snake up his body all towards his left arm.

    Wrapping around his outstretched arm, the water began to spin on his opened palm.

    James felt incredible pain from that process, his arm and nose bleeding from it.

    After a few seconds the liquid stopped spinning and shot towards the lion.

    James''s body was sent flying backwards from the recoil. He almost passed out from the shock his body went through, but he stayed awake to witness his spells action.

    The spinning water that had an azure glow managed to strike the lion without evaporating.

    Nothing seemed to happen as even the lion seemed to not have noticed the tiny ball on its not ming nose

    That changed when a swirling sound spread out in the environment, then suddenly arge ball of water flickered into existence on the lions nose, forcing it to take mulitiple steps back.

    The beast was outraged at the disturbance, one of its ball of mes shooting a dense beam at it destroying the spell instantly, which had only managed to get it''s nose wet for a while, although mild cracks had spread on the ground due to the spells power.

    The lion immediately scanned its line of sight for the person that had cast the spell.

    Sighting a weak James who currently had one knee on the floor and his right hand holding his left arm, it released a powerful roar while it moved towards James.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But Noah acted at that point. Electrical energy buzzed and crackled around Noah''s body then he crouched a bit. Shooting upwards Noah found himself a few hundreds of meters above the lions slowly moving body

    Not letting himself get too surprised, Noah gritted his teeth. Raising both daggers above his head while falling, he immediately stabbed the lion with the daggers when he fell on its back

    A millisecond of silence passed, then a powerful cry of pain resounded across the whole area.

    Shockingly the beast didn''t directly dry up from the daggers effect since it only gradually spread.

    Noah''s eyes went cold when he saw the lion begin to shake furiously trying to  make Noah off its back, who in return gripped the daggers tighter while sinking them deeper.

    The shaking continued for multiple seconds, Noah gritting his teeth from the sheer force of the wind hitting his face, he couldn''t let go until the Daggers were done sucking it dry of energy.

    A wave of shock filled Noahs mind when he saw the lions fur directly under him turn to mes. This time the beast stopped shaking and directly started running through buildings.

    Noah''s legs and clothes burnt under the influence of the mes, a painful cry escaping his mouth, while he also endured the rocks smashing into his face.

    It eventually got to a point when Noah hung off the lions furiously moving body.

    His hands, shoes and legs badly burnt, as intense pain invaded his mind, tears falling from his eyes but were immediately evaporated by the ever rising heat on the beasts back.

    Running Into buildings immediately turned into rolling on the ground when Noah refused to budge.

    Noah did dare let go, even when his head struck the ground, a sense of lightness filling his head, his body getting badly bruised while patches of his skin got scraped off.

    It got to a point where Noah asked himself why he hadn''t let go, after all the daggers would still do their job, he was only suffering for nothing.

    With that thought Noah fell unconscious, as his hands slipped from the daggers and he was sent flying.

    His figure shot into the sky due to the beasts rapid movement, he then flew for a few seconds until he smashed into a building his body going through it until a b stopped his movement.

    That stop revealed Noah''s gory condition. His body bled profusely although his speed healing had long since kicked in, he had too many Injuries.

    His ribs were all broken, his back had caved in from smashing through the building. His lungs were burnt from the constantly inhtion of hot air, even his hair was basicallypletely burnt.

    Both his arms were so badly burnt that his muscles and bones were out in the open, multiple internal organs were also damaged.

    All these injuries kept the speed healing stacked to the extent that it seemed Noah would die with if he didn''t get extra help.

    And shockingly that''s exactly what happened.

    Tendrils of electrical energy escaped Noah''s body and wrapped around him in a glowing cocoon of sorts, where his body could heal fast since his skill couldn''t find anymore energy to continue his recovering.r4pfp

    Noah eventually opened his eyes, but before he could inspect his body, his eyes fell on the shining screen in front of his eyes.

    [You have levelled up twice]

    [You have gained 10 points to all stats]

    [You have received 20 points to distribute]

    [You have reached the maximum level

    of your current Tier. Would you like

    tomence advancement now]

    [   Yes/No ]

    [All remaining exp gained will be distributed only after you advance]

    [Note: Picking ''No'' doesn''t forfeit your chance of advancing. Whenever you are ready this will reappear]

 Chapter 93 93. STUMBLED

    Noah''s mind buzzed at the panels'' words, and he instantly got excited because of it. ''It seems the daggers managed to kill the beast,'' Noah thought with a sigh.

    Reading the systems words about not forfeiting the advancement if he decided to turn it down now. Noah immediately chose the negative option.

    He definitely was excited about finally being able to advance, but he couldn''t do it here, not right in the middle of the event.

    Inspecting his body, Noah found that his body still featured a few injuries. His right shoulder was still in shambles, some of his ribs were still broken, and his knees hurt. But he would live, It seemed his body had only decided to stabilize his condition.

    ncing at the pool of blood he currently sat in, Noah shook his head. If he were still on earth he would have encountered his death multiple times during the past few months, but his speed healing; which prevented that, made him reckless.

    Grunting while he stood, Noah walked towards therge hole his body had created in the barely stand building. He could still hear explosions which meant the two hours time hadn''t expired.

    A tired sigh escaped his mouth when he saw glimpses of two beasts fighting a few kilometers away. Honestly he wondered why they didn''t make a run for it. After all they were free to go anywhere they wanted, the inscriptions holding them were gone for now, that was the sensible thing to do.

    ''Maybe they aren''t smart enough to reason,'' Noah thought while he struggled to get down the one storey building with the stairs he found just beside the hole he created.

    ''I wonder if magical beasts will ever get sentient. That would be terrifying,''  he shook his head.

    Grabbing an uneven side of the wall he held on too due to the fact that a part of the stairs had crumbled. Noah clicked his tongue when it broke off, which caused him to stumble and fall, rolling on the stairs until he reached the ground floor.

    Arriving on the ground floor, Noah found that his knee stopped hurting, his remaining ribs had been fixed, but his shoulder still hurt.

    However immediately those pains were gone, he felt a wave of fatigue wash over him, that meant his body had used up his stamina and energy to heal his body, as though he couldn''t see himself hisplexion turned pale.

    Crashing on the ground just immediately after getting up, Noah immediately brought out a piece of uncooked meat from his inventory. He managed to pour electrical energy on it until it got cooked. His Mana finished at that point, but it began to regenerate.

    Biting a chunk of the meat, Noah didn''t savour, as he simply chewed and swallowed. It took him over five precious minutes before he could stand, he didn''t have water but that didn''t matter for now.

    Resuming his walk. Noah left the building but it immediately crumbled when a shock wave hit it. Noah was sent flying in the process, but he didn''t let that event disorient him. Keeping both his legs on the ground, Noah managed to stop his movement after he slid for a few meter.

    Coughing a mouthful of blood, he nced at the sky, an object was fast approaching his position, and he didn''t hesitate to disce himself.

    Orange sparks flickered into existence around him, his body discharged waves of energy, as Noah immediately felt better, but he didn''t focus too much in that detail.

    His surroundings slowed down immensely then he took a step to his left.

    His figure directly crossed miles long distance in an instant, then he found himself near the edge of the city.

    At this distance he couldn''t even see the explosion caused by the beast that got hurled by its opponent.

    Noah sighed, shook his head and swept his gaze on his surroundings, to his surprise he realized that he was currently in the area he got teleported into when the stage started, but not a single beast had caused a rampage in it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah furrowed his eyebrows pondering on the matter, but he couldn''te up with any good reason for the beasts to not attack the area.

    He pushed the issue to the back of his mind after a few seconds. He had to find James and also retrieve his daggers since they were the only weapons able to affect tier 3''s

    Orange coloured lightning flickered around his body, but he suddenly decided against running at full speed, because he didn''t want to get caught unawares whenever he stopped running.

    Dashing forward with all the speed his body could muster without the effects of the speed force, Noah practically became a blur due to his speed, crossing a few hundred meters in an an instant.

    He ran like this for multiple minutes constantly avoiding the magic beasts rampage, but he couldn''t do that when he got to some areas in the city.

    Curses escaped his mouth every time he got hit by a shock wave. He eventually cast energy armour, which barely did anything in that situation, so he let Muliix cover his chest and some other covered parts of his body.

    During his troublesome journey, Noah had sighted tens of crushed bodies, and tens of barely living participants. He even saw the bloodied figure of Desmond who he had met before the event started.

    Thoughts of stopping to help some of them crossed his mind, but that would only increase his workload, and he definitely didn''t want that.

    After a few more minutes he found the area he had been flung from, but his expression darkened when he saw that all that remained there were just piles of rubble, all the buildings he could see for a few kilometers had been levelled starting from his position.

    Though he found the body of the lion, and its state left hims shocked, but he actually expected something simr.

    The lionsrge body had turned sickly grey, Noah also found that some parts of its body spread with the wind like dust.

    Climbing the lion''s body, Noah''s leg sunk into it with each step he took, some of those former skin breaking off and dispersing into the wind.

    Noah eventually found the daggers, and when he removed the des, he was shocked to realize that they actually felt heavy, really heavy. The daggers also glowed with a dark purple light, causing Noah to immediately understand that he could kill multiple tier 3 beasts with them.

    Lifting the heavy daggers, Noah jumped down the lion''s body. Unfolding his consciousness, he tried to carry the daggers with them, but couldn''t, probably because their structure was filled with tier 3 energy.

    A helpless sigh escaped his mouth, inspecting his environment he could feel tinges of anger rise in his mind. If he found that James had died, he''d make sure the foolish nners of the event paid with their heads when he got stronger.

    Luckily for the nners, Noah sighted a staggering figure in the distance from where he came from. Dashing towards the figure Noah found a not-so-badly Injured James.

    "How in the world are you not dead?," Noah asked genuinely surprised by how the young man escaped death multiple times in a row.

    James shrugged his shoulders weakly, as he sat on the ground, his weak voice ringing out, "I stayed around waiting for you, but during that period I stumbled upon some other participants, and you know one of them," James said, closing his eyes and cultivating.

    Noah raised an eyebrow at the Injured man''s words, shifting his gaze to the direction James came from, Noah felt surprised to find six figures walking towards the him. Amongst them was Isabe and the young man that had entered therge room with a group behind him just before the games started.

 Chapter 94 94. CORE

    Several thoughts ran through Noah''s mind in the span of a second. He wondered if he should answer all their eventually questions truthfully or with lies in the mix. He eventually decided to remain neutral, and answer their questions with whatever the situation required.

    "How are youpletely alright?," Isabe questioned with a tired expression, while Noah Inspected her body.

    Her body featured Injuries in multiple spots, her hair dishevelled and contained many rocky debris, her new attire was also badly damaged and its Inscriptions which kept it in one piece barely flickered.

    The mulitiple blood stains on her chest area signified that she had coughed blood mulitiple times, as some even looked fresh. Apart from still stunning face and surprisingly elegantly shaped body, she looked homeless.

    "Luck. I guess," Noah shrugged ncing at the man next to her, who Noah still recognized.

    Isabe noticed the direction of his gaze and immediately tried to introduce the man, but he beat her to it.

    "I''m Moses. It''s nice to meet you," The young man said with a slight bow and an  outstretched hand. Noah felt surprised by his gesture and that he didn''t mention  his noble family''s name, which was something those spoilt brats did.

    "I''m Noah. Nice to meet you too." Noah said, storing his daggers and shaking Moses'' hand.

    A slight pressure fell on him at that point, as Noah nced at the Moses in slight surprise. Understanding what he wanted to achieve, Noah returned the gesture.

    Suddenly his aura turned cold which contrasted with the slight smile on his face. Then a massive pressurended on Moses'' figure, his eye widened when he realized that he was about to kneel from the pressures weight, and cold sweat dripped down his back.

    The contest of sorts continued, Moses continued to surprise Noah since he didn''t sumb to the pressure on his figure. Even going on to straighten his figure, though with obvious difficulty.

    ''He''s strong. Very,'' They both concluded after about a minute went by, then the two burst into a shortugh.

    Isabe shook her head at the two of them. Her eyesnding on the gradually dispersing body of the tier 3 Lion

    "You actually killed that beast," She voiced out, walking towards the body.

    Noah nced at her with a bit of curiosity. "Well I didn''t really kill it with my own strength. I used these beauties." Noah''s voice rang out, bringing the daggers out of his inventory.

    Isabe stopped in her tracks and nced at the raised daggers. Moses did the same, his eye widening when they fell on them. "Tier 3 weapons. Past the lower stage at that," His genuinely curious and surprised voice rang out.

    Noah arced his eyebrow shooting a ''how did you know'' gaze at Moses who felt it. "Ah I''m a cksmith as an hobby," Moses said, his eyes still on the des.

    Noah nodded surprised. "How did you even get these," Isabe and Moses said in unison. "Go on," Isabe gestured at Moses.

    "Can I see it," Moses asked. Nosh didn''t really see anything bad in it and gave him one of the des.

    Moses furrowed his brows when the daggers'' weightnded on his hand, he almost dropped it but grabbed it with his other hand.

    Shooting a surprised gaze at Noah who simply smiled and shrugged, Moses returned his attention on the de.

    He inspected it for a few tens of seconds, his mouth muttering random words, while his eyes also widened from time to time. The Inspection finished after he touched the tip of the de, which hurt him.

    "How in the world did you get such a masterpiece," Mosesmented returning the dagger to Noah, who only shrugged.

    "This isn''t something that is sold in the public market. More like auctions or underground trades, and it would be incredibly expensive," Moses asked shaking his head in wonder.

    "Coupled with the fact that itst a tier 3 weapon with such a vtile ability. I recon that even this weapon at tier 2 would be too expensive for most noble''s," he added this time his full attention on Noah''s expression. Which only showed a smile.

    "I''m sorry to ask but who are you?," Moses added ncing at his still healing finger. Noah smile widened at that point.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Lately I''ve been getting that exact question. But I''m just Noah, I have no family and not working for any organization currently." Noah shook his head, his voice that of genuine honesty.

    "I find it hard to believe you. Your power and those weapons don''t inspire the least bit of belief in me," Moses replied, Isabe nodding at his words.

    A sigh escaped Noah''s mouth at that point. It seemed no one would believe him if he continued being abnormal.

    "Let''s leave that matter forter. Currently we have a bigger problem at hand," Isabe immediately changed the subject.

    A pensive expression appeared on the remaining four figures whom Noah had totally forgotten about, nor did he care to really focus on.

    "With your strength I feel we should be able to proctect ourselves from the beasts," Isabe added.

    "Once again I can''t beat those beasts with my own strength. I don''t dare take an attack from them. I simply managed to kill that one due to it being distracted with his help," Noah exined pointing at James at the end of his exnation.

    "That doesn''t change the fact that those weapons can kill them." Moses said with a serious expression.

    A sigh escaped Noah mouth again. "So what do you think we should do?," Noah asked flexing his right shoulder.

    "I''ll advise that we simply stay together and wait for the remaining hour to expire, but you are the strongest among us, what do you want," Isabe voiced out.

    "I don''t see any better n than that," Noah replied, the two nodding. "But don''t you want to see if there are any survivors you can save," Noah said trying to test them.

    A shortugh escaped Moses''s mouth, while Isabe chuckled. Then suddenly their expressions turned cold. "It would be better if they died. Would shorten the time we''ll spend here," Moses said with a chilling voice.

    Isabe limited herself to nod, but her expression couldn''t show more of her agreement to his words.

    Truth be told Noah got creeped out by their reaction, but he also liked it. "Good. Now let''s get out of here," Noah announced.

    James stood at that point, hisplexion less pale and some of his injuries healed, but it would take a longer resting period to bring himself back to his peak.

    "Can you run?," Noah asked James. seeing that he nodded his head in response, Noah nodded too.

    The group of seven were about to leave the area, when Isabe''s voice rang out.

    "Do you think the mana core would still be inside it," She suddenly said, her gaze on the lions body.

    "Ah I totally forgot. Although I''m not sure it still is. The daggers ability might have affected it," Moses added.

    Noah immediately got confused. He heard of cores a few times but he didn''t fully know what they were and that magical beasts had them.

    Noah decided to remain silent, and followed the duo towards the beasts body.

    Moses jumped on the lions back, around the middle of its body length, then immediately released a barrage of punches on it, particles of the body rising in the air like dust.

    A few seconds passed. Moses remained shrouded in the cloud of ash coloured dust, though eventually a crimson light pierced the ash colour of the dust, then he jumped down the already falling-apart body.

    Noah''s eyes couldn''t help but widen from the wave of shock that hit him when his eyes fell on the lights source.

 Chapter 95 95. CRUMBLE

    Noah had seen a few beautiful things since he got to Creagar, most of them being cities themselves, but whaty on Moses''s palms was a totally different type of beauty.

    A round object the sizes of a tennis ball at mosty on Moses''s palm. The ball or rather core pulsed with mana, wisps of blue light escaping it''s red surface which contrasted a lot.

    The ball shone with a red radiance which seemed qualitative. But the Mana itself remained blue. Noah felt like he had spent a whole day staring at the core, the panel that popped up dragging him out of his stupor.

    [Mana core found]

    [Quality Grade: Red]

    [Tier: 3]

    [Element: Fire]

    [Quantity of essence left: 6230/12045]

    Noah''s eye bloomed with surprise when he read the panels contents. Most of what it contained he understood, but there was sure to be somethings he didn''t fully understand. Right there and then he made a mental note to visit the library before he advanced, so that he could gain a better understanding of the next realm.

    Moses walked towards Noah his palms cupped while it was outstretched towards him.

    "Uh?." Noah exmained. Totally forgetting that he had the right to the core.

    "You killed the beast. You are the owner, and it''s just a red Mana core, its not much. Though I guess if it were any stronger you would probably be dead," Moses exined grabbing Noah''s palm and cing the core on it.

    "Let''s go," Isabe announced. But Noah couldn''t focus too much on their actions since a new panel had appeared in his eyes.

    [Would you like to absorb Mana core]

    [Yes/No]

    [Due to elemental difference, only 50% of current quantity of essence will be absorbed]

    [If you absorb Mana core this may cause difficulties due to high concentration of Mana essence in your weak body]

    [Would you still like to absorb Core]

    [Yes/No]

    Noah didn''t know what to do at that point. He ran with the group but opted to stay at their rear.

    Due to his low knowledge he couldn''t make a decision on the matter, after all he could probably die from too much essence since the system ssified his body as weak.

    Eventually deciding to store the core, Noah pushed the matter forter, which was after bozolom had ended.

    Dashing to the front of the group, Noah ignored the stupefied gazes of the middle tier cultivators in the group.

    Multiple explosions resounded in the environment, Noah wondering why they hadn''t gotten attacked by a magical beast after over ten minutes of running.

    The group searched for buildings that looked solid enough to aodate them and wouldn''t copse on their heads, but unfortunately they didn''t find any.

    The destruction the tier 3 beasts had caused was immense, their power put them on par with natural disasters, coupled with their numbers the city couldn''t dream of remaining the same.

    That sight made Noah want to get stronger already. The freedom such power would grant him was pleasant to his imagination.

    Coming to the most abrupt stop his legs could muster, Noah turned towards the street on their right. Clouds of dust had formed In the street causing its inside to remain blocked out to the groups view.

    Noah''s abrupt stop confused the the others, but then a powerful wild aura smashed into their sense''s as understanding dawned on them, causing all eight of them to go into battle mode.

    Raising one of his daggers, Noah watched with horror the snout of a what looked like a rat exit the dusty cloud at break-neck speed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But he was ready at that point, activating the ability of the dagger, Noah shed at the snot which revealed the giant body of a rat.

    The dark purple sh shot out of the dagger faster than the giant rat could reach him. It struck the snout and dug deep into the rats nose disorienting the creature in the process.

    The rat missed Noah at that point, but its body which was filled with spike-like fur grazed his body, and he was sent flying in the process.

    The other''s could barely do anything in that Instant. The rat had appeared before they could prepare any attacks, and Noah had attacked it even faster.

    A loud screech immediately resounded in the area their eardrums aching badly because of it.

    The rat thrashed around the area mulitiple lower pitched screeches escaping its mouth every second.

    The rat, which was surprisinglyrger than the lion mmed into multiple buildings due to its painful and non-coordinated movement, demolishing most of them in the process.

    Noah''s body flew across the street, crashed into a building and stopped after a few tens of meters into the said building.

    Inside the right side of his torso were multiple spike like objects. Intense pain spread inside Noah''s mind. Though it surprisingly wasn''t enough to make him pass out.

    His left hand rose up then he plucked those spikes. He didn''t want his body to heal wiyty the spikes in it, but a small shout escaped his mouth due to that rough action.

    A few secondster he rose up and dashed out th building. He hadn''t gotten any notification about killing the rat.

    ncing at the other side of the street, Noah saw the standing figures of his team. On their faces were difficult expressions which he understood the reason for.

    But he couldn''t help but felt kind of hurt at that sight, no one including James hade to his aid which also really annoyed him.

    Tracing the direction of their gaze''s, Noah''s eyes fell on the writhing rat. itsrge body crushed buildings every few second and it seemed to still be in serious pain.

    ''After just one sh,'' Noah thought walking towards the group, his voice ringing out.

    "Why didn''t you guys attack it?," He asked in an annoyed tone.

    They all nced at him with strange expressions, until Moses spoke. "We tried but our attacks simply bounced off its body," He exined, James, Isabe and the others nodding in affirmation.

    Noah heaved a helpless sigh at his words, ''I guess I''ll have to deal with this,'' he thought, raising his dagger again.

    Noah could sh two more time before its power ran out and he didn''t n on getting injured.

    Truth be told they all could just leave the beast there, but Noah wanted to pile up exp for his future advancement.

    It got him really excited and curious when he wondered about what would happen if all the exp piled up to an extreme point.

    Activating the ability of the dagger, Noah''s environment slowed down immensely, even the writhing body of the rat slowed down enough for him to be able to target it with his dagger.

    Bringing the dagger down, Noah watched a dark purple sh shoot forward at the rats currently exposed right side.

    The sh, which had the length of a  sword struck the rats side with extreme precision, that area beginning to lose energy and wither while also spreading.

    Another loud screech escaped the rats mouth, as its trashing Increased but this time it moved towards Noah and the group.

    Turning back and dashing forward, Noah left his group in the dust, they too were already running from therge beast

    Surprisingly during those short seconds of trying to escape, the rat caused spikes to begin shooting out of the ground, chasing the group with them.

    Noah immediately jumped on a building near the cloudy street, but before his feet could touch the buildings roof, it suddenly crumbled.

 Chapter 96 96.BUILDING

    No one present had expected such a thing, including Noah. Even for his slow motion perception the building still crumbled faster than he couldpletely react.

    He crashed on the ground,nding perfectly. Such heights couldn''t do anything to him. But the scene of a veryrge ape currently in a brawl with arge centipede terrified him.

    Crouching incredibly fast, Noah dodged the hurled body of the centipede, but was also thrown away by the wind current around the centipedes body.

    The ape then leaped upwards ready for an attack. Noah immediately got up and ran from the building he had flown into.

    The ape raised its massive fists above its head still in the air, then brought it down in a powerful blow.

    BOOOOOM!.

    Noah had never felt something so powerful before. The ground caved-in as intense shockwaves spread in the environment ravaging most buildings causing destruction in the process.

    Noah was sent flying due to the shockwaves, but he managed to make Muliix cover his entire body in that Instant, saving himself, though he wasn''t sure about his partners since he couldn''t see them due to the cloud of dust that had rose up.

    "James!." Noah yelled after he had regained his bearing. The man was only a lower stage tier 2, such shockwaves would kill him if he were to be hit.

    No reply came as Noah couldn''t but have a dark expression under the ck helmet of Muliix.

    Though something bright eventually shot out of the cloud of dust, Noah immediately making Muliix disappear at that sight.

    Noah watched in slow motion a multicolored ball of what seemed like different elements, shoot out of the dust.

    It crashed a few meters from his position, and dispersed exposing a group of seven barely standing humans.

    Noah rushed towards them, while ignoring the booms he heard. Luckily the shockwaves had thrown them over a kilometer from the beasts battlefield.

    "Are you guys okay?," Noah asked, though he immediately felt stupid for asking such a question, after all he could clearly see that their bodies were in need of serious medical attention.

    Everybody simply nodded while Isabe brought out four bottles of healing potions and Moses did the same.

    They then drank the bottles contents, rxed sighs escaping their mouths.

    Noah waited a minute or so before anyone could stand. Surprisingly they were all fully healed, but looked drained of mana.

    "Won''t you drink?," Isabe asked ncing at thest bottle and back at Noah. But seeing that he lookedpletely fine apart from the blood stains on his clothes, she furrowed her eyebrows and her voice rang out.

    "Still drink it, you need to be at your peak in case anything happens." She said turning her attention on the others. Noah simply smiled and did as she said.

    ncing at the panel which said he had gained exp. Noah smiled internally but regretted that he hadn''t been able to take the Mana core of the rat. Who knows he could probably sell it and make a lot of money.

    Savouring the refreshing feeling the health potion brought, Noah wondered how they were brewed, and promised himself to learn how to do the same, after all learning how to make them could make him money and they would be very useful in a fight.

    Eventually everyone was back to their peak physically, but still remained mentally stressed.

    Noah scanned the area with his eyes, there wasn''t much he could see, but it still felt safe to do so.

    His eyes eventuallynded on a small brown building. The building didn''t really look special in any way, only that it looked stable and wouldn''t copse, though he wasn''t too sure about that detail just from looking at it.

    Walking closer to the said building, Noah didn''t mind the fact that the others followed him, though he didn''t really consider himself the leader more like a cooperation between the three of them, while the weaker experts followed.

    Running his hand across the buildings wall, Noah felt surprised to realize that it was made or rather seemed to be carved from a brown stone, and it felt sturdy.

    The other''s did the same and came to a simr conclusions. They all searched for a door but the perfectly square building was brown all through, increasing the difficulty of finding a door.

    Though they eventually found it or rather Moses did. He had ced his palm on the building and caused tiny orange lines to spread from it, the orange lines covered the buildings length and breadth until a long rectangr outline was revealed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah shot a questioning gaze at Moses who shrugged, smiled and replied, "What?. I also study inscriptions."

    Noah could only shake his head at that point, he too wanted to brag about having knowledge like that.

    After the knob-less door had been revealed no one pushed it for fear of what may be inside it, as the building existence didn''t really make sense.

    Isabe sighed and pushed the door, but she seemed to struggle in that action, so Noah helped her push.

    The surprisingly heavy door slowly opened and revealed the inside of the barely 10m tall building. Darkness.

    Noah furrowed his brows at that unexpectedly expected sight, spreading his consciousness, he managed to cover the entire space inside the building.

    His mental wave brought pictures of what existed inside the building and surprisingly it was only an empty room, though Noah found a small destroyed room, he didn''t put too much thought on it.

    Taking a step into the building, Noah''s nostrils were assulted with the most oldest air he had ever breathed in his entire life.

    He immediately used his air maniption to cause a breeze to enter the building flushing it of its disgusting air.

    The other''s didn''t understand Noah''s action until their noses picked up whiffs of the bad air.

    Nodding his head in affirmation, Noah walked into the building, the others following him closely.

    They could barely see anything past a few meters into the building, only the light from the outside world being the singr source of illumination.

    "I can do something about this."

    "Let me create some light," James and Moses said respectively, then they nodded at each other to do their thing.

    Moses ced his right palm on the wall. Then his left hand drew some weird lines in the air, though nothing appeared, that was until Moses closed his eyes then suddenly a square filled with various lines interconnected intricately in themselves appeared glowing with a bright yellow radiance.

    This square of sorts floated in the air for a few seconds, then suddenly it multiplied into two then four, and flew to different parts of the room attaching themselves to the walls, illuminating the building with their bright light.

    Noah almost felt like giving a p, but he refrained from doing so, limiting himself to stare at James who smiled and began his own process.

    His right hands index finger lit up with a blue glow on its tip, then James drew a circle, inside the circle he drew multiple other circles, then at the very center of the whole thing he drew a triangle with intricately webbed patterns inside it.

    Noah felt at a loss of words seeing that level of precision, he wondered how the young man even saw what he drew.

    As soon he was done with that, Noah watched a blue line shoot out of his finger andnd on the triangle. Immediately that happened the inscription, though glowing a bit before, lit up in a very bright radiance, then it doubled and floated to two sides of the room and attached theirselves to the wall.

    Noah felt speechless at that sight, so did the others apart from Moses and Isabe.

    "Nice nice. Though you seemed to have infused too much Mana into the core inscription, you need a few lessons in some other ces, but overall it''s very good." Mosesmented with a smile.

    While James simply nodded and smiled in response.

    After the light show of sorts, the group settled down, though they remained vignt since their weapons were still out in the open, ready for any situation.

    Muffled explosions continued to resound in the area, but it didn''t get too close to the building.

    Everyone sat in silence, waiting for the building to be blown open, but such never urred.

    Noah thought of starting a conversation, but decided against it. They were still potential opponents after all. Though he doubted anyone would want to fight him after he had killed two tier 3 beasts.

    The dead and suffocating silence broke when their hand bands lit up.

 Chapter 97 97. TALKING

    Everyone immediately stood up. Excitement was obvious in their eyes, while they checked that the bands worked again.

    Noah immediately exited the building after that quick inspection. He did that for two reasons. To go check if the beasts had stopped fighting, and also use the secret function given to them as a reward.

    On getting outside, Noah immediately noticed something, and that was silence.

    Not a single roar or explosion. The city was silent. Switching his attention to the sky, Noah saw blue inscriptions flickering high above them, and he nodded.

    Immediately opening the meter, he felt shocked to find that 14 humans remained in total. He clicked his tongue at that result.

    ncing at the emerging seven, Noah immediately formed an idea, but Isabe and Moses probably won''t agree with it.

    Gesturing at James toe closer to him, Noah was about to say something when Elder Mchi''s voice rang out in the whole city.

    "Good job on surviving the ident, we are pleased to inform you that all is back to normal. Although you all may find it difficult to continue due to what just happened, I advise you do so." He said.

    "You all have 15 hours to eliminate each other until only ten of you are left." He concluded.

    Noah simply raised an eyebrow at the man''s words. It didn''t bother him that elder Mchi failed to sound apologetic enough, but it did for some of the weaker experts who uttered curses at the man.

    Noahughed inwardly when he heard a few funny curses.

    A few seconds passed before the air present turned heavy, and everyone knew why.

    *

    *

    *

    Back in Crilion...

    Elder Mchi had just finished talking to the participants and he sat on his seat.

    His eyes were fully on the illusory screens that disyed two scenes, but these scenes weren''t of any participants, no, they were of the magical beast''s dead bodies. The lion and the rat.

    His face showed incredible coldness at that scene, while other VIPs, stared at the scene too. Multiple thoughts crossing their minds.

    They all knew who the culprit was, or at least those that watched Noah''s progression in the event, the state of the beasts was what his special dagger did to living things.

    "What are we going to do about this?. It wasn''t something we expected the least bit, and the royals probably won''t be happy." The blue-haired man beside Elder Mchi said with his mental waves. His face revealing a frown.

    Barely a second passed before Elder Mchi replied. "It''s not much of a big deal, after all, it also goes along with what the royals want of the potential winners." Elder Mchi started, but his partners didn''t understand, so he exined further.

    "What do you do to someone that owes you?" he asked the duo. The blue-haired man immediately replied, "You make sure they pay back?" the man said, elder Mchi nodding in affirmation.

    "And this young man has killed our precious magical beasts and even stolen a Mana core. This means he''s indebted to us." Elder Mchi exined.

    "During the period of giving out the rewards he''d have to choose between working for us or dying," Elder Mchi smiled with a cold expression.

    ? Understanding dawned on the other two as simr cold smiles appeared on their faces. "Oh he''s in for a show," the blonde-haired man who had been silent spoke.

    "Though I''ll have to report this to the royals first, it wouldn''t be a problem since that had asked me to rope as many participants I can into working for them," Elder Mchi said picking up hismunication amulet.<novelnext></novelnext>

    In another part of the VIP area, another two individuals watched the scenes of the two dead Beasts.

    "Well this was unexpected," Solomon said swiping at the screen causing it to change the viewing perspective of the scene.

    "He even took the Mana core," he remarked staring at the hole in the middle of the lion.

    ncing at his seat partner, he shook his head "Aren''t you going to say anything Linda," he questioned.

    Linda, who had a thoughtful look on her face frowned and replied to him, " Can''t you read the room, I''m thinking here." she said annoyed.

    "Oh, I''m sorry. I simply thought you had nothing to say," Solomon apologized, his mental voice and expression dripping with sarcasm.

    Linda clicked her tongue in annoyance while shooting a death re at him. Eventually, a sigh escaped her mouth then Solomon heard her mental voice.

    "This is going to interrupt my ns, but there is nothing I can do apart from waiting to see how this ends. Though losing such an individual to the royals would pain me, I do not have much power to change things," she exined shaking her head.

    "The young man would either have to join the royal army or die," she added.

    "What if he manages to escape," Solomon said after a few seconds of silence.

    "That would be very interesting though I doubt," Linda replied with an eyebrow raised.

    In another part of the VIP area, another conversation was going on.

    Polo had a smug smile on his face while he nced at the screens portraying the dead beasts.

    ncing at his seat partner, he saw that the man didn''t have any expression, he simply sat there staring at the floating screen.

    "If you are expecting me to make you feel good, then you''ve sessfully wasted your time, and besides he didn''t seem to have killed the beasts with his strength just those strange daggers." Sir Oliver eventually said.

    Polo immediately clicked his tongue when he heard his seat partner''s words, his mental voice also sounding.

    "I know, it''s just that he actually killed it. Two tier-three beasts!. You have to agree with me that he is someone of value. Or did you have any such achievements when you were in that level of power," Polo started. Seeing that Oliver shook his head he continued.

    "If he hadn''t killed those beasts we would have been forced to kill him, but now that he has let the royals catch him in a debt, they''d either take him or kill him if he doesn''t agree to their terms. Either way he''d most likely be an outcast with a secret bounty on his head. Which would make it easier for us to take him or kill him," Polo smiled.

    Sir Oliver seemed to go into thoughts his mental voice ringing out a secondter.

    "All you''ve stated is true, but you always have to remember that he could actually join them, and they''ll have a potential powerhouse in their midst. We all know the reason the royal family made the rewards so, was to gather powerful experts in their ranks, in case the unrest among the noble families turns into a civil war," He exined.

    "We simply have to be cautious, he doesn''t seem an unreasonable person, so the option to talk is always on the table," He concluded by switching the scenes to what currently happened then putting his full attention into it.

    Polo nced at his honourable seat partner who was also his friend and superior in terms of both cultivation level and political power, with a weird look.

    Sir Oliver was the son of a powerful Marquess, but he had also gained poprity among the royals due to his power, causing them to crown him an earl around a century ago.

    During that period he had seen and done many things which shaped his mind into someone more calmer and intuitive.

    Polo nodded his head after he let those thoughts flow, ''We can also take the option of talking,'' he said Inwardly, switching to the current scenes. It seemed a fight was about to happen between Noah and his team.

 Chapter 98 98. ELIMINATION

    Sweeping his gaze on the six individuals spread out in front of him, Noah heaved a deep sigh, things were about to get a bit messy.

    "So are we going to turn on each other now?," Moses shook his head.

    "Well not necessarily. We might just take out the weaker ones," Noah replied, his gaze smashing into the four middle staged cultivators. Though he intentionally left Isabe out. She was strong.

    "We are not that weak. You are just unreasonably strong," One of the four middle stage cultivators said, his voice a bit shaky, but he of course tried to cover it.

    Noah raised his eyebrows, but nodded at the man''s words. "Well you can say that, or you can just let me take out the four of you. No one has to die," Noah shrugged his shoulders.

    "If you are going to do that at least give us a headstart," Isabe''s voice rang out. "You don''t seem a bad guy so I believe you can do that much," she added ncing at James.

    One of the four middle staged cultivators seemed to notice Isabe''s gaze on James so she spoke, "What about him. He''s not even supposed to be among us, but you don''t threaten him," Thedy said with a desperate look.

    Words were about to proceed out of Noah''s mouth, when James stopped him. His mouth opening instead.

    "I''m sorry for being the weakest here, but there''s nothing we both can do about it. We are all here to win the prize and I happen to have teamed up with a freak that you all would also like to team up with," Jamesughed, Noah joining him too. Then his expression went serious.

    "I hate to do this, but you guys will have to be eliminated," Noah said pointing at the four, who suddenly cast spells at him, making a break for it during that time.

    Surprisingly all four of them had fire elemental affinities, which made for the eight balls of searing mes shooting towards him at breakneck speed.

    Dodging was out of the option, though Isabe and Moses had jumped away from the spells'' trajectory.

    So he had only one option, which was tanking it.

    Grabbing James with his right hand he hurled him away from his position in one swift movement.

    The eight balls of fire converged on his body, a powerful explosion resounding In the area due to the collision of spells, sending multiple bits of rocks into the air, while a cloud of smoke rose up to the sky.

    An instantter a powerful gust of wind blew right from within the smoke, clearing it and revealing the target of the spell.

    Surprisingly Noah had note out unscathed, only with a few patches of burnt skin, which healed fast enough to be visible to the human eyes.

    Taking a deep breath, Noah swept his gaze on his surrounding, ignoring the iing James, Noah focused on the six running figure in the distance. Ignoring Isabe and Moses, Noah left his gaze on the four middle staged cultivators, they were his target.

    Their spells had been powerful enough to hurt him and buy them a few seconds, but that was all it bought them, a few seconds.

    Still ignoring James who was running towards him for the distance Noah had thrown him was far. Noah took a very deep breath, and shot forward.

    His figure seemingly flickered as he disappeared from his former position. He crossed the mulitiple hundreds of meters distance, the four cultivators had gone, in an instant.

    Raising his right hand forward, Noah moved to finish the stage quickly, he had spent too much time in that game, he wanted to go back into the outside world.

    His right hand grabbed the still unsuspecting cultivators shoulder. Tightening his grip he directly crushed it, stopping thedy from running.

    Before her scream could alert her colleagues, Noah kicked the second person close to her.

    Shattering the man''s ribs and hips, with a bit of his back, Noah sent his pained body flying for meters.

    Those actions had been done in just a second, which was enough time to alert the remaining two cultivators.

    Seeing that two of their mates were down in an instant, the remaining two cultivators who were a duo of a male and female, cast spells without care.

    Noah watched a tornado of mes flicker into life, and an expanding ball of mes trying to reach him.

    Coming to a quick halt, Noah thought of what to do next, which he decided in an instant. Noah performed his mountain stomp in quick session to his halt.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His figure shot into the air while surprisingly crack''s spread in the ground.

    His fast reaction to the cultivators spells had fazed them not, since they weren''t watching his movements to begin with.

    Still In the air, Noah watched the two cultivators cast three spells each in an instant, but he didn''t care, since his next action had been decided.

    Rasing the dagger that had appeared in his hand during that instant. Noah sent a sh downwards, not targeting any of the cultivators, but simply the ground.

    The long sh struck the ground faster than anyone was moving, then an explosion immediately spread out, sending both cultivators flying since Noah had targeted the space in-between them.

    The explosion managed to keep Noah in the air for just an instant longer, but during that period of time he was able to cast two spells.

    Pointing his palms at the two tumbling cultivators, Noah sent a lightning bolt to each of them. Killing them on the spot.

    Landing with a heavy thud, Noah swept his gaze around. Marvelling at the deep charred cut on the ground for a few milliseconds, Noah shook his head.

    He almost forgott that the daggers he wielded were weapons in the realm of tier 3. Which was why the impact of the sh with the ground caused an explosion.

    Pushing his wonder to the back of his mind, Noah searched for the two cultivators he had injured earlier.

    His eyes eventually found them but in front of them each were the figures of Moses and Isabe.

    Noah immediately had a frown his face while bringing out both daggers.

    A few seconds of silence passed among them. Only the wails of the two cultivators breaking the heavy silence.

    Noah took a deep breath and was about to move when Moses''s voice rang out.

    "You are going to fight us if we don''t move right." He said. Seeing that Noah limited himself to not do anything he sighed.

    A sword appeared in his hands which he stabbed into the head of thedy. killing her on the spot.

    Isabe also shook her head. A wave of ck smoke escaping her outstretched palm.

    Immediately the smoke made contact with the man, his face began to melt in a horrifying manner. The man not being able to let out a scream since he died immediately.

    Noah was absolutely taken aback by their actions. No words managed to escape his mouth until James arrived at the scene, his eyesnding on the four corpses with shock evident on his face.

    His mouth was about to produce words, when the sky suddenly lit up with blue Inscriptions an automated voice ringing out.

    "Requirements of the stage has been cleared. Teleporting winners out of the site," The voice said.

    ? Immediately the voice was done, a weird bussing sound spread out in the whole city.

    Noah immediately ced his hands on hie ear, his mind wondering why such was necessary.

    Noah was about to say something to James when he realized that James was on the ground, passed out.

    Noah''s eyes widened when he realized that Isabe was passed out while Moses was currently struggling, but he too soon passed out.

    Immediately that happened, a wave of fatigue hit Noah like never before.

    His sight went blurry as mild sparks tried to exit his body, but the power behind the effects of the sound were currently beyond him.

    Noah''s mind went ck immediately his body hit the ground.

 Chapter 99 99. IMPORTANT

    A grunt escaped Noah''s mouth, then his eyes slowly opened. Sitting up groggily, Noah scanned his surroundings.

    A fluffy andfy objecty below him, a massive room adorned with golden coloured tapestries, silky white curtains and a red carpet that stretched out of the closed bright golden door, entered his eyes.

    The ceiling was garnished with blue radiance-glowing chandeliers. It looked breathtaking in Noahs opinion.

    There sat a fine brown chair beside where he currently sat, a small table with a mirror right in front of it.

    It took Noah a few more seconds to realize that he was in a room. A grand one at that.

    Hastily getting down the incrediblyfy bed, Noah also realized that he was in a new attire.

    He was currently wearing pair a white neatly ironed trousers, a white shirt with cor reaching the base of his neck, a ck waist coat with golden embroideries in a line pattern. Then a full-body length ck jacket which flickered with golden inscriptions.

    Noah immediately went towards the mirror to behold his beauty. "My god!," Noah muttered when his eyes fell on how he looked.

    Noah couldn''t help but thank the gods for his beautiful face, because right now he resembled a stunning young master.

    Immediately those thoughts ended, the golden door flew open, a woman entering the room.

    Noah turned sharply to see who entered, then his eyes fell on thedy.

    She looked to be in her early thirties, long brown hair with dark green eyes, was about 5''7 in height and was currently in a gown.

    Overall she looked beautiful, coupled with the whiffs of tier 3 aura she released, Noah knew to respect himself with her.

    "Good day sir Noah. I see you are already admiring your attire. I am Abigail, a maid of the royal pce, and I will be your escort for the night," She bowed.

    Noah simply stood there, his mind wondering what was going on, until it dawned on him. "It is a pleasure to meet you Abigail," Noah bowed also.

    Thedy straightened her position at that point, going on to inspect Noah''s features, "You look stunning sir," sheplimented with soft smile.

    Noah smiled at her words though he didn''t really take it to heart.

    "Now quickly sir the night has begun the others await your arrival," She stretched her left hand outwards for Noah to grab them which he did.

    During that moment, Noah decided that since she was his escort it was only normal that he Inspected her attire and probablyplement her.

    Abigail wore a long ck off-shoulder gown which disyed her alluring bronze skin and thin neck.

    Her hair was packed in a long ponytail, a few hairpins and hair bands holding it together. In her right hand was a silver purse adorned with many gems that reflected the rays of light in the room.

    On her feet was a pair of ck heels which elevated her height up to what it was, meaning she was originally around 5''5.

    Noah didn''t know why to say after the inspection. In his opinion she was a total hottie who he would have been eager to take on a date, but she was just a maid.

    The two walked out the room into a long corridor brightly lit with multiple orange light, and decorated with a red rug.

    They walked in silence for around five minutes still in each others arms, until they got to a flight of stairs, which they walked down, and another door that stood In front of them.

    A light knock by Abigail caused it to open which revealed another long corridor but at its end Noah could see an open space.

    Ignoring the two guard''s at the door, the two walked in silence for another minute of so, Noah not expecting the corridor to be that long.

    Just a few meters to the exit of the corridor, Abigail''s voice rang out, but it wasn''t her mouth but mental voice.

    "I''ll Introduce all the dignitaries you''ll meet sir. Just greet them in the most polite way you can," she said not even looking at him.

    Noah nodded at her words, his face almost going stern, but he stopped when her voice sounded again. "And keep a smile on. We don''t want to offend them," she smiled at him this time around.

    Noah nodded again this time keeping a light smile on his face.

    They exited the long corridor at point.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Arge room eventually appeared in his sight. The room sorge that he could fit a small mansion inside of it. The room was also lit up with multiple Mana chandeliers.

    Inside the ballroom were many people both male and female all dressed in exquisite looking attires, while few maids served them drinks.

    ncing at the ceiling of the room, Noah found that directly parallel to the balcony they stood, a room stood. ss covered its opening to shield whoever was Inside from the outside.

    "This will be the ballroom, right before the feast begins," Abigail said while they walked down the stairs.

    Noah nodded and focused on the room again. When they got to a particr height people started to notice their descent, and surprisingly they began to p.

    Noah was hit by a wave of surprise, but yed along, some even shouted his name, but he kept a smile on.

    Eventually it died down, though most still had eyes on him, it seemed they had gotten distracted by something or rather someone else.

    On getting to the ground Noah saw their distractor. and It was of course Isabe.

    Before she coulde any closer he Inspected her attire in its entirety.

    Isabe was draped in a long silver satin dress that tried its best to hide her incredible curves but failed miserably. On her neck were multiple silver nes with one particr ne having a red gem in it.

    Her silky hair flowed freely down her delicate neck, moving softly on her shoulders. On her feet were also silver heels which shimmered in the light of the ballroom. In all she was breathtaking.

    Noah knew he wouldn''t be exaggerating if he said she was the light of the show.

    Many men would agree with him on that, not even Moses or James seemed to be able not be able keep their eyes off her, since they would steal nces once in a while.

    Even her escort a young looking man with short ck hair seemed to agree with him. As Noah could see on his face a proud expression of being able to escort the angelic beauty.

    Noah was almost sure the young man cried a few times when they announced to him that he would escort Isabe.

    Immediately scanning the area, Noah could see that many men had ced themselves strategically around her in order to steal as many nces as they could.

    "You look great," Isabe was the first to talk among the three with James and Moses being the other two.

    "Thank you. I''m sure I don''t need to tell you that you look as beautiful as ever," Noah smiled, while she chuckled a little.

    Inspecting the reaction of her escort, Noah found that he frowned a bit. He must had tried his best to make herugh like Noah did, but probably didn''t achieve it.

    "You both look good too," Noah said gesturing at James and Moses who he didn''t bother to inspect much, only the beautifuldies in their arms.

    ''Are all the royal maids beautiful?,'' Noah couldn''t help but ask himself at some point.

    He couldn''t fathom how such women were maids, though that of royals, they probably ate more than most citizens did.

    "Why do you think they are doing this," James eventually said.

    "Probably to advertise us to the other noble''s," Moses immediately answered, he seemed to know a lot when he came to politics.

    "But at least they could have Informed us. Being put to sleep and finding yourself in an unknown ce isn''t nice," Noah spoke, but said the other half of the sentence in his head.

    "It was probably a surprise of some sorts," Isabe answered with a light nod. "After this, would probably be the prize giving ceremony or something" She added with a light shrug.

    "Let''s just have as much fun as we can. Potential messy events are about to ur we should prepare our minds," Moses said and walked away with his escort, leaving the rest confused.

    "Goodbye for now," Isabe also said and walked away leaving the two men in a weird silence.

    Being left with only themselves, Noah was about to say something to James when Abigail''s voice rang out in his head.

    "A nobleman is on his way, and he''s very important," She announced.

    Noah immediately turned his head to face her then traced the direction of her gaze. His eyes immediately fell on a young looking man who had a few escorts behind him, walking towards their position.

 Chapter 100 100. WANT

    "He''s the third son of prominentrge sized noble family. They control a lot of resources to be able to force the royal family in giving them many pardons when crimes aremitted by their members," Abigail exined without the slightest change in her expression.

    Noah couldn''t help but wonder if he was allowed to know such things. Which he knew he wasn''t. Though only a bit, he had taken some sses about politics, and his current situation worried him.

    Abigail Informed him about a few other things which Noah didn''t really find important, all he wanted to know was how strong the man currently was.

    And to his surprise Abigail told him she couldn''t give him that Information.

    This greatly pleased Noah, knowing that at least a bit of Information was withheld from him, though he really wanted to know.

    The man and his escort of five arrived at that point. During that short period, Noah had told James to give them a little space, he didn''t really know if the man had any bad intentions.

    "Good day sir Noah. I see you are enjoying yourself," The man bowed slightly.

    Noah could only stare at that gesture, though he knew the man''s name, he couldn''t just say it. Abigail said to let him Introduce himself before further Interactions.

    Seeing his difficulty in reacting, the young looking man continued, "I am Felix, third son of the house of Meriol. Arge sized family with manynds to our name," Felix boasted.

    "It''s a pleasure to meet you sir," Noah started. Although he didn''t know Felix''s cultivation level he could definitely feel that it was higher than his'', even more than Abigail.

    "What do I owe the greetings of someone of such high caliber as you," Noah bowed, while he cringed to know end in his mind.

    He was currently doing as Abigail Instructed. ording to her, Felix was one of those really strong spoilt brats who loved it when they were exalted by others. It was a way the royal family bought their way into his life.

    A wide smile appeared on Felix''s face, his eyesnding on Abigail for a moment.

    He didn''t know who she was, but seeing as she had arrived with Noah, she was most likely attached to the royal family.

    "Good. Good," Felixughed, hisughter attracting some attention. Most small or medium sized noble families gasping when they saw who Noah conversed with.

    "I will like to have a moment with you alone," Felix suddenly said, half of his attention on Abigail''s expression.

    Seeing that her nk expression flickered for a second he affirmed his previous theory.

    "Yes I will like a word with you, away from prying eyes," Felix smiled at Noah, who could only smile back while he had a conversation with Abigail.

    "Normally I wouldn''t ask you for permission to do anything. But seeing as you were assigned as an escort to me, I assume there are somethings I am not allowed to do," Noah said as he had begun to understand what Moses said earlier, his mood getting cold with each passing second.

    "But what should I do." Noah eventually said after a billi-second of silence.

    "Go with him," Abigail stated. "He definitely won''t hurt you, but I just want you to remember that you owe the royal family," Abigail''s voice sounded as she unwrapped her arm from Noah''s before he could speak.

    "Ah good!" Felix exmained, gesturing at Noah to follow him. Which Noah did still in a bit of a daze from what happened.

    The group of six walked out of the massive room and into thepound of wherever the party was. Noah finding himself in a courtyard after a minute or so.

    A soft breeze blew on Noah''s face while he and Felix stood in the middle of the courtyard. Felix had sent his guards or so, to stand watch if anyone wasing.

    Staring at the small pond at the side, which reflected the half Moon in the sky. Noah''s mind wheezed through thoughts in milliseconds.

    He thought to what Abigail had said earlier, and it worried him. Since when did he owe the royal family?. What exactly would they ask of him for whatever he owed them?.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He could had slight ideas for the second question, and he immediately didn''t like it. Pushing those worrying thoughts to the back of his mind, Noah focused on the problem at hand, Felix.

    Although Abigail said he wouldn''t hurt him, it didn''t change the fact that scenarios like this usually ended badly.

    "I''m truly sorry for the invite on such short notice, but I promise it won''t be a waste of your time," Felix started trying to lighten the mood, but failed miserably.

    Nodding slightly at the man''s words, Noah kept a nk expression, and tried his best not to make it falter.

    "What i have to say to you, is about joining a faction in my family. Although many of us weren''t able to appear physically in the event, we were able to watch from our various abodes, and we''ve seen what you can do." Felix started, still keeping his boastful expression.

    "Although many of us are skeptical about your origin as we couldn''t find much about you. We are certain that you are valuable, and are worthy enough to recieve such an offer.

    I have spoken with my brothers and they all concur to this decision," He stopped for a few seconds, his eyes fully on Noah at this point.

    "What exactly do I get from joining your noble family sir," Noah smiled, trying to act interested.

    A bright smile bloomed on Felix''s face, he seemed to have bought Noah''s acting, but only he knew that he himself simply yed along.

    As someone who had entered the realm of tier 3 experts, there were many things he had seen. Although he remained a spoilt brat in his core he too wasn''t dumb. Actually, he had led battles in the past making a name for himself in the process.

    "There are many things, but one of the important one is that you get ess to our family''s spirit-core pool," Felix said his voice gaining a sharp and slightly excited tone to it. Noah getting curious Instantly.

    "May I know what it does," Noah asked genuinely curious about the new word.

    "Good question. When bathed in it-" Felix couldn''tplete his words since a powerful auranded in their midst.

    Immediately snapping his head towards the sky, Noah saw the floating figure of Elder Mchi, draped in a long sky-blue garment which flickered with many inscriptions of white radiance.

    "Ah! young master Felix, it''s a pleasure to see you. I trust you are having a nice time," Elder Mchi''s voice rang out with a light smile on his face.

    Felix''s boastful expression immediately flickered at that point. But he managed to pull himself together replying the next Instant.

    "It''s also good to see you, Elder Mchi, and yes I am having a good time. With our star winner too," Felix gestured at Noah.

    Noah immediately sensed the elders gaze on his body. Feeling ufortable Noah greeted, "Good evening elder" Noah bowed deeply.

    No reply came for a few seconds, a frown appearing on Noah''s face while he remained in a bowing position.

    "Young master Felix, I hope you wouldn''t mind if I borrow him," Elder Mchi suddenly said.

    Felix immediatelyughed, "Definitely not Elder," Felix said walking away from the courtyard, but when he got inside the building his expression turned wrathful as he clenched his fists, going on to converse with his brothers secretly as they weren''t present in the current celebration.

    Being left alone with the still floating Elder, Noah straightened his position. A smile on his face while he looked at the man.

    "You can stop pretending sir Noah. I watched you for a whole week, I know you enough to tell that you are pretending," Elder Mchi''s voice eventually rang out.

    Noah tried to keep his smile after the man''s words ended, but after a few seconds of staring at the man''s cold smile, a frown flickered and set on his face.

    "What do you want?," Noah''s annoyed voice sounded an instantter.

 Chapter 101 101. TALK

    Elder Mchi kept his gaze on Noah for a few seconds, until augh escaped his mouth. His voice ringing out the next instant he was doneughing, "What gives you the notion that I want something sir Noah?."

    Noah felt at a loss of words, this wasn''t going how he expected.

    "Calm down, I have no hostile intent towards you. I simply want to talk," Elder Mchi spoke, his mental waves expanding to wrap around Noah and pull him up, while elder Mchi floated higher into the sky.

    "Come let''s find a higher talking space," Elder Mchi said. The duo continued to fly higher and higher for a few minutes until elder Mchi stopped. At this height Noah couldn''t clearly see buildings anymore only the outline of the regions.

    Though he was currently being carried by elder Mchi''s consciousness, the effects of gravity felt lesser than normal.

    A frown stayed put on Noah''s face during those minutes of flying. Currently he would only be able to survive a fall from that height unless he used a lot of Mana, which he wasn''t ready to do.

    "Do not fret, I won''t drop you; it think, and even if I do, you might pull out a surprise," Elder Mchi smiled.

    Noah limited himself to stare at the elder even though he didn''t like his unsure answer about dropping him, he didn''t say anything.

    Though Noah put on a bold ground, deep down he wasn''tfortable with the man''s powerful presence.

    Despite the fact that he couldn''t sense elder Mchi due to his Incredible control over his aura, Noah''s instincts told him that nothing in his arsenal could help him survive an attack from the expert.

    "Why are we even up here?," Noah eventually asked after a minute or so of silence.

    "I have an offer for you." Elder Mchi stated while sweeping his gaze on their surroundings, seemingly admiring the scenery.

    Noah furrowed his brows at those words, but remained silent to let the man talk.

    "As most people have told you: your existence is interesting and many find you valuable even the royal family, and unlike most of the other winners, you have no attachment to any noble family. Which makes you all the more interesting." The man started slowly, his words sinking into Noah ears and mind.

    "I''m also sure that you''ve heard many offers from other individuals, and I advice you to turn them down if you are actually considering them," He stopped for a second. Noah''s voice ringing out the instant he was done.

    "Why should I. It''s not like you know the best for me or something. I respect your power but I refuse to listen to those words," Noah spoke calmly.

    A cold smile immediately appeared on elder Mchi''s face when Noah was done. Words proceeding out of his mouth the next second.

    "You are a smart man Noah, and I''m sure you understand your current situation. I''mm also sure Abigail has Informed you about your debt to the royal family," He spoke coldly.

    Noah stayed silent after those words his mind racing through thoughts, things were getting a bit dangerous.

    "How exactly am I owing the royal family?," Noah eventually said, confusion spreading in his mind, while he also ignored the fact that elder Mchi had stopped with the formalities.

    "That is for you to figure out Noah. All I have to tell you is that by the time the rewards are done being distributed you''ll be questioned, and a negative answer will lead to dire consequences." Elder Mchi exined still in a cold expression.

    "What exactly are these consequences," Noah tried to provoke an answer.

    Elder Mchi limited himself to keep his cold gaze on Noah''s figure. Noah feeling a slight pressure from those eyes.

    A few seconds passed, the two remaining in that position. "Come, it''s time for the banquet," Elder Mchi suddenly said shooting downwards.

    Noah shot downwards with him, but when they got to a certain height Elder Mchi''s consciousness unwrapped itself from Noah. Leaving him in a free fall while Elder Mchi''s figure basically disappeared.

    The suddenck of the force which was elder Mchi''s consciousness, caused Noah to get disoriented, as he spun in the air, trying his best not to throw up and getting his bearing.

    Noah''s eyes eventually went cold after he managed to re-orient himself. His mind racing to find a solution to that unexpected situation, which it did, but first he had to gain an idea of how far he was from the ground.

    Realizing that he was still multiple kilometers from tye ground, Noah gritted his teeth while he started his n.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Stretching both his palms towards the ground where he thought the building he exited was. Noah closed his eyes, while he imagined a massive tform made solely from densely packed electrical energy.

    Solidifying the imagination In his mind, Noah opened his eyes as his Mana moved to do as hemanded it.

    A blue wave of energy exited Noah''s body as surprisingly he needed over 500mp to do what he nned.

    Clenching his teeth Noah watched as a massive orange wall made of densely packed lightning flickered into existence a bit far from where he currently was.

    Noah had to keep a constant mental connection with the tform to not allow it disperse, which wasn''t all too hard, only annoying.

    With the real solution done, Noah took a a deep breath as his body sped up without his consent.

    It got to a particr point where his clothes threatened to catch fire, but the inscriptions on them activated at that point. Stopping that physical effect from uring.

    Noah eventually arrived on the tform, but Instead of stopping his body dug into the tform which he had made only a few tens of meters thick.

    The tform managed to reduce the speed he was falling at, so when he struck the ground which was surprisingly therge courtyard of the mansion, he didn''t feel any pain, but anger.

    Sweeping his gaze on his surroundings he found a smiling elder Mchi. "I knew you would survive it," The manughed walking inside the mansion

    Noah clenched his fists in anger. Taking a deep breath he calmed himself down. ''I''m not strong enough to take him yet,'' he thought, while dusting his body. Luckily for him there were no guards to watch what had happened.

    Walking inside the ballroom, Noah felt surprised to find that it waspletely empty, but on the other side of therge room was a ck door which probably lead to another room.

    He sighted the figure of Abigail walking towards him but he paid less attention. Walking towards the ck door, Noah let Abigail hold his arm.

    She said nothing throughout the short moments of walking to the ck door, and still said nothing even after Noah pushed it open.

    Immediately he did that, arger room than that of the ballroom entered his sight. Noah at this point had stopped getting shocked by how much space buildings in Cregar had.

    Inside the room were many rows of very long tables and seats. On these white clothed tables were all sorts of delicacies which ranged from meat to wine, and sitting on the chairs were all the guest.

    "Follow me." Abigail whispered walking towards a section in the room dedicated to the winners of bozolom.

    During those short seconds Noah managed to inspect the room more.

    Beside the section dedicated to the winners of bozolom, was a pulpit of sorts. ''Probably for a speech or something,'' Noah thought when his eyesnded on the pulpit.

    Ignoring the fine decorations of the banquet room, and the stares of the noblemen, Noah and Abigail sat next to each other.

    Inspecting the individuals on the table, Noah saw the other six winners of the game, four men and two women.

    When his eyes met theirs, they would nod at him in respect going on to eat their meals.

    Noah didn''t bother to start any small talks. His mood wasn''t good enough for those interactions, he only anticipated what would happen after the banquet was done, and nothing else.

    Hours eventually passed. Noah barely really eating the food before him. He had only continued his thinking and had eventually gotten ideas on why he owed the royal family, but they sounded unreasonable to him.

    Eventually something happened apart from the chattering of people.

    A finely dressed man walked up the pulpit, his loud voice spreading out in the room epassing all of it.

 Chapter 102 102. CHALLENGE

    The man looked to be in his mid twenties, he had long yellow hair which he let fall on his shoulders. He was currently dressed in a pair of ck trouser, ck long sleeve shirt, and a waistcoat with bright red line on its surface.

    In his hand was a small piece of paper which was what he read words from.

    "Good eveningdies and gentlemen. I am Alex Kiol of the Kiol noble family, I''ll be the host of today''s events," He started with a bow.

    "I''m sure you all are having a good time. As you all know we are here to celebrate the winners of this years'' bozolom. It''s been an interesting week. We all feasting our eyes on the experts of this generation," He stopped for a few seconds, the whole room being filled with the ps and cheers by his audience.

    "Like every bozolom ever done, I am here to announce the names of winners of this year. Since there isn''t any particr position. I''ll be announcing in the ascending order of the most popr. ording to your votes that is,," He took a light breath in, the noblemen cheering and pping. They all stopped when Alex raised his hand.

    "Coming in tenth position of poprity: Collins of the Macron noble family." Alex announced, but the ps and cheers for the young man weren''t much.

    The announced man walked up the stage, his face expressionless.

    Searching the crowd for his family he sighted their smiling faces, but didn''t react, only waiting for the next person to be announced.

    A few tens of seconds passed before Alex raised his hand, the small cheersing to an end a secondter.

    "Coming ninth ce: Reza, a student of the royal academy. She majors in forging and a little of battle arts, and is among the top students," He announced gesturing at the saiddy, who stood from her seat and walked up the stage standing next to Collins.

    She too wore an expressionless face, shooting nk nces at the audience.

    The cheers that filled the from sounded just s but more than that of Collins, which wasn''t that much.

    Another few seconds passed before Alex stopped the cheering.

    "Coming in eight: Delia of the Turenio noble family. She is also a student of the royal academy and majors in alchemy," Alex announced, loud cheers sparking up from different angles of therge room.

    Noah watched this scene with slight curiosity while the names of the most popr participants in bozolom were called.

    He himself didn''t really care about the whole event and mostly wondered what was taught in the royal academy, but a wave of surprise couldn''t help but fill his mind when his name was called as the second, he couldn''t help but shoot a nce at thest person sitting, who was Isabe.

    Moses took the third while James took the fifth position in the results of the votes; which Noah still wondered when was taken.

    Even though his name was called in second, the whole room seemed to shake from the powerful cheers of the audience.

    They seemed to go wild when his name was called, as sounds came from every angle Noah looked. A smile couldn''t help but crack on Noah''s face during those moments of walking up the pulpit and standing near Moses, who shook his head with a light smile.

    It took around a minute before Alex raised his hand, the cheers stopping a few millisecondster.

    "I''m sure most of you have been waiting for this. The most popr participant of this year''s bozolom: Isabe of the Molosk noble family, and also a top student of the royal academy, who majors in battle arts," Alex announced while the crowd went wild.

    Noah could sight almost all men present had gawking expressions. Their hand waves trying to get her attention.

    "You seem to be a celebrity among people. What''s your secret," Noah asked with a tone dripping with sarcasm.

    Isabe simply clicked her tongue her voice ringing out the next instant.

    "They''re all lustful men who would do anything to get me in their room," She snorted, her expression gaining a hint of coldness.

    Noah replied not to those words, his eyesnding on the wild noblemen. A slight sigh escaped his mouth when he thought about the helplessness of men.

    Alex raised his hand eventually, the cheersing to a stop.

    "Now that we are done with that, lets move on to the next thing we have." Alex spoke, while a set of blue and green inscriptions appeared on the small space behind the lined up participants.

    Noah turning in surprise to watch a spectacr scene unfold.

    The small ground-space covered with the Inscriptions seemed to stretch as Noah felt himself and the whole room move backwards.<novelnext></novelnext>

    After the space got a bit big, it rose up a few feet creating a round stage stretched out around 500ft.

    After that was done, another Inscription lit up on the stages surface, then a thin light-purple veil rose up to cover the round stage in a dome like fashion.

    Noah raised hie eyebrows at the sight, it was surprising but not that much, he only wondered what it was for, though he got a rough idea on that topic.

    "I''m sure most of you watched the participants in their various battles and it entertained you. But rejoice, the royal family has given you the chance to test your strength with them. All you have to do is walk up to this pulpit and call out the name of who you wish to challenge," Alex exined gesturing at the stage, while gasps spread out in the room.

    Noah''s eyes couldn''t help but focus on audience at that point, he wanted to know and quickly Inspect those who would walk towards the pulpit.

    A few seconds passed, no one seemingly ready to challenge the winners, but that changed when three figures left their seats and began walking towards the pulpit.

    The other less courageous men, and women pped the three persons who were all men.

    Noah immediately Inspected their levels of power with the systems ability.

    [Pete]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 49]

    [Chances of death: 36%]

    [Mike]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 49]

    [Chances of death: 47%]

    [Dan]

    [Tier: 2]

    [Level: 47]

    [Chances of death: 33%]

    Noah nodded his head at the results of the Inspection, but didn''t bother to Inspect too much of their facial features only recording that they all looked to be in theirte-twenties, and the man named Mike looked bulky. As it seemed he had worked the heck out of his body.

    The three eventually arrived In front of the pulpit. Alex''s voice ringing out.

    "State your names and who you want to challenge," He said his eyes fully on the three men.

    "I am Dan the fifth son of the Tendi family. I wish to challenge winner Elliot to a fight," The man named Dan bowed.

    Elliot was the man who came in sixth in the position of poprity. He was a man in the higher stage of tier 2, almost reaching the peak.

    "I am Pete Third son of the Heril family. I wish to challenge winner Moses to a fight," The man named Pete announced while performing a slight bow.

    Thest person among the three seemed to take his time while he swept his gaze on the winners. His eyesnding on the still stunning figure of Noah who noticed his gaze, a slight smile appearing on his face after their gaze met.

    "I am Mike second son of the Noligia noble family, and I wish to challenge sir Noah to a brawl." The young looking man announced.

    His fabulous shirt and ck robe vanishing, then a ck sleeveless garment; which looked much like a singlet from Earth, took their ce on his body.

 Chapter 103 103. MISTAKE

    Mike''s bulky frame appeared in everyone''s sight. Noah himself couldn''t help but have a tinge of respect for the man. His body had gone bronze most likely from long exposure to the sun. Though burly, his body hadpact muscles and there were no excess fat where there shouldn''t be.

    By normal standards he looked to be the perfect man for mostdies, coupled with his long ck hair, he was simply beautiful.

    The other three seemed to give way for his figure, stepping back to let him have his turn first.

    Mike nodded his head at that sight, his eyes never having left Noah''s figure.

    Alex turned to Noah and was about to say something when Noah''s voice rang out.

    "I ept the challenge," Noah stated walking towards the round stage, while also removing his long coat since it would get in the way of his fight.

    Mike immediately began walking towards the stage. The entire room totally silent as they anticipated the fight.

    Noah himself would have preferred that they foughtst since it would probably be the best fight, but he remained okay with the current turn of events.

    Climbing the stage, Noah watched the light-purple veil give way for his entrance, solidifying after he hadpleted his passage.

    Mike did the same, no words escaping his mouth even after they had spent a few seconds over 300m apart from each other.

    During that period of both men inspecting each other, green inscriptions lit up on the roomsrge ceiling.

    Those Inscriptions then fell down in walls in straight green lines until they arrived and connected with the round stage, floating screens appearing thereafter.

    "It''s a great pleasure to be able to fight a man like you," Mike said, right after the appearance of the floating screens. Their words being heard by all in the room.

    "We haven''t really started, but okay," Noah replied unsure of what to really do or say.

    "Why don''t we tell each other a bit about ourselves." Mike spoke with a genuine smile on his face. Noah felt even more at loss of words at that point.

    "If you are unsure of what to say I''ll start," Mike reassured taking a few steps to the side.

    "As you can see I put a lot of work into my body. This is because I n to focus more on it and my mind when I achieve tier 3." Mike immediately started, Noah listening attentively.

    "I''ve been matched with people my level and won multiple times, but after seeing you in action, I wanted to know how I fared with pure geniuses."

    "Physical strength has always fascinated and excited me so I hope you do not disappoint," Mike performed a light bow.

    Noah felt awkward after Mike''s words, the young man had not really said much about himself. Only that he nned to focus more on his body and mind when he became a tier 3, which was a bit interesting, since Noah didn''t have much information on such levels, but not really much.

    "I appreciate your calling me a genius, but that is not so. I am only slightly better than the mass," Noah said taking a few steps to his right side.

    "I personally do not have much n on when I achieve tier 3, so there won''t be much on that," Noah started an aura filled with battle intent began to seep out if his body.

    ".....but in the subject of strength why don''t we test ourselves," Noah said, his aura gaining Intensity. Mike also starting to get excited, performing light stretches to get his body ready for the eventual sh.

    Right before Noah moved, he recalled something which he didn''t hesitate to confirm from Mike.

    "Just to make sure we are on the same page, there won''t be spells right?," Noah said.

    "Yes of course, why did you think I called it a brawl," Mike raised hisrge arms up, as their excitement reached it''s peak, silence prevailing admidst them.

    Then they moved.

    Both their figures directly vanished from their previous positions, mild cracks spreading on the stages surface.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The two men closed the space between them in an instant, their fists going on tounch an attack immediately.

    Bringing his right fist in front of him, Noah watched as Mike fists met his.

    An explosion of power spread out, causing both men to getunched backwards.

    ncing at his fist Noah saw that he was totally fine, but that couldn''t be said for his opponent who had dislocated his right arm after the sh.

    ''I held back a lot of my power," Noah thought while he watched Mike immediately put his arm back into its joint, without showing the slightest bit of pain.

    Noah dashed forward right after Mike was done with that action.

    Mike watched Noah dash forward, but shock filled his mind when he realized that he couldn''t follow his opponents movement.

    Worry tried to spread in his mind but he cut it off. He had trained his body to take as many hits as possible and remain in a good state.

    Mike was known among his peers for his Incredible resilience, being able to take hits from more than five people his power level, which was why he trusted his body to handle whatever Noah threw at him.

    But that trust vanished when Noah''s kick struck him.

    Mike clearly remembered to have been focused on the space in front of his eyes, but when the incredible power in Noah''s kick met his body, he instantly found himself at the edge of the stage, intense pain filling his mind.

    Multiple mouthfuls of blood poured out of his mouth, while Mike ascertained that most of his ribs had been bashed.

    His mind threatened to lose consciousness but his innate resilience kicked in at that point. While surprisingly ecstasy filled his mind. He had never taken a hit so powerful in his life.

    ''Incredible,'' Mike thought in the span of an instant. ''At this rate this wouldn''t even be a proper fight. I have to give it my all, he''s a monster,'' He thought.

    For some reason Noah waited for him to move which Mike found as a sign that the fight wasn''t all that threatening to him.

    Anger burned in his mind at that sight. Taking a deep breath, Mike felt his muscles bulge, as he prepared tounch most powerful non-magic attack, whichs effect on the body was something on par with a spell on the peak of tier two, and that Noah wouldn''t expect.

    sping both his palms, Mike focused his entire mind on the still stationary Noah, who had a look of slight curiosity.

    Lunging forward with both his palms still sped, Mike watched as ripples spread through the air, the incredible power the technique carried causing that event.

    Noah watched Mikeplete his attack. His instincts screamed at him to move, but he had been an instantte in reacting, and had promised to use only his body''s power in the fight. Due to those conditions Noah could only watch in slow motion, the attack spread past him, but couldn''t dodge.

    The attack only managed to make Noah slide a few meters, but when its effects were done, Noah felt shocked to sense the Incredible weakness that his body experienced.

    Still trying to figure out what had just happened, while also cursing himself for underestimating the young man, Noah heard Mike''s voice.

    "Now that I have brought your full power down a considerable level. let''s have a proper fight," Mike smiled straightening his position, and spitting the blood that had umted in his throat.

    ______________

    *Authors note*

    Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I''m sorry for the unstable release time these days. As I''m sure none of you know I actually write with my smartphone, and let''s just say phones disappoint a lot.

    So please bear with me, and if you find any typos please inform me.

 Chapter 104 104. WINNER

    The trick behind the effect of Mike''s attack was simple.

    When the technique was executed, it would create a ripple-like effect In the air. Each ripple contains power inside of them, all ripples being of equal power.

    When an object was hit by those ripples of power, they would seem like one attack, but in fact, were multiple. They would wear down the objects material, due to the barrage of attacks or batterey the body of a human or magical beast had endured.

    The move was so difficult that it took Mike seven years of constant practice to achieve, and it worked like a charm on his opponents.

    The only downside to the technique was that it could be easily dodged, and it took a few instants to perform, which were solved since the two of them were both in a contained area, and Noah had failed to dodge.

    "Your body is Incredible for it to remain uninjured after my attack," Mike shouted dashing towards Noah, his fist ready for anything.

    Noah himself didn''t do much, only limiting himself to jumping backward, sessfully dodging the man''s rampage, but he noticed that his movements had gotten sloppy.

    Landing on the edge of the stage Noah pondered in that Instant, what to do.

    His current state wasn''t hopeless, he only remained surprised by what had happened. Though when he reyed the scene in his head, he got a rough idea of why that had happened.

    The thought of activating the speed force crossed his mind but he shook it off. He didn''t want to be a cheat in the battle. Although no one would know, he still didn''t feel it was right, he would only do so if Mike stopped following the simple rule he made.

    Sticking to remaining in that state would have been hisst option, but that thought process vanished when his strength suddenly returned.

    He had forgotten about his speed healing and its Incredible effect.

    ''It''s a pity you chose to fight me,'' Noah thought stopping Mike''s punch with his right palm before immediately grabbing it. Slight cracks spread on the ground due to the flow of force.

    Mike''s eyes were wide open when that scene registered in his mind. ''How is he totally fine,'' Mike screamed inwardly, but it was already toote to escape.

    Dragging Mike''s body towards himself with the fist he had in his grip, Noah threw a punch at the man''s stomach.

    A mild crunching sound escaped that part of Mike''s body, while he shot backward at breakneck speed.

    His body mmed the wall like veil, multiple injuries registering in his mind, while his mouth coughed out the blood that had umted in his throat.

    Mike''s mind went through multiple ckouts in that Instant, his eyes almost rolling back due to the punches'' power, but it didn''t.

    Determination, fear, and reverence surged in Mike''s mind when his eyes fell on Noah''s walking figure.

    He didn''t want to lose the fight when it had barely been a minute since they started.

    "I''ll have to break our earlier rule," Mike whispered, Mana, surging out of his wounded body.

    Noah instinctively dashed forward at that point, his own Mana moving with him. Although barely, Noah had heard Mike''s words, and he moved to stop him.

    Lightning flickered around Noah''s palms as he clenched them into a fist bringing it forward to strike the man on the spot.

    But surprisingly had been toote. His fist connected with a blue shield of sorts, an explosion of power resounding in the process.

    Noah''s body was sent flying backward, as surprise filled his mind, but he didn''t let it take over his mind.

    "You are definitely someone worth fighting. I can''t imagine having to use my Mana in this fight, that shows how much of a monster you are," Mike''s pained voice spread out in the whole room, the audience holding their breaths due to it.

    Noah watched this scene with cold eyes, his Mana moving in his body, he was ready to cast a spell.

    "I know this won''t be a long fight, but I''ll try my best to entertain you and the audience," Mike announced, as multiple blue arms of sorts shot out of the blue halo and magic circle that had formed around him.

    The five arms were made purely of liquid, which made for the trails of water that escaped theirrge structures.

    Each arm was the size of a fully grown human, and their power was at the peak of Tier 2.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah watched the moving arms in slow motion, he wasn''t really worried about them, since immediately Mike had decided to utilize spells the fight had ended for him.

    Taking a step forward, Noah shot towards Mike, his palms touching the two arms that had appeared in his way since they threatened to send him flying backward.

    Electrical energy poured out of Noah''s palms, he had utilized his Lightning Elemental magic.

    Commanding the energy pouring out of his hand to snake up the arms, Noah caused them to curl around the arms'' full length, and tighten like a rope.

    The arms exploded instantly, but there were three others about to touch Noah, which they did.

    Noah''s body shot towards the edge of the stage, his body mming into the wall like veil as pain spread in his mind, though it vanished as soon as he sensed it.

    During that short period, Mike had created five more arms that floated around his barely standing figure.

    Furrowing his brows, Noah did a side step, dodging one of the three arms flying towards him.

    Grabbing the base of the arm which looked like that of a decapitated arm, Noah spun it and mmed it on the other two arms.

    The mass of water which was the arm, directly exploded on contact with the other arms, they too exploding in the process.

    Before Noah could rejoice over that small victory, five more arms shot toward him.

    This time a frown appeared on his face as he moved to stop the caster of the spells.

    ''How do I even stop the fight. Kill him? Definitely not. Then knock him out it is.'' Noah concluded as his figure vanished from his position before the arms could reach him.

    Truth be told, Noah could have ended the fight way before it escted to this point. He had the speed and power to do so, but something inside of him wished to have a prolonged fight which he would struggle to win.

    Not to get him wrong he loved his strength, but he also desired to encounter someone his level, who would challenge him enough to make him go all-out, and even at that point still struggle to win.

    He wanted to earn his victories, but that didn''t mean he would prefer being weak.

    Noah instantly arrived in front of the bloody figure of Mike, who seemed to have multiple broken bones in his body, his palm moving towards his head.

    Mike tried to react by making his spells return to protect him, but Noah''s movement had been too fast and unpredictable

    His consciousness went ck when Noah''s palm mmed his forehead.

    Mike''s spells immediately vanished after their caster had lost connection with them.

    Immediately Mike''s body slumped on the ground, the veil of sorts vanished, then five men rushed into the stage.

    They fed Mike some healing potions before going on to carry him out of the stage, one of the men tried to give Noah a potion but he refused it.

    Noah heaved a soft sigh after that was over. Sweeping his gaze on the stage, Noah finally realized how damaged it was, causing him to feel slightly amused by it.

    Jumping down the stage, Noah''s eyes fell on the other winners and the audience. There were no cheers or anything, everyone simply stared at him seemingly in a daze.

    Eventually, Alex''s voice rang out, "The winner of the battle is Noah!," He announced.

    It seemed the nobles were waiting for his words, since immediately after hepleted his words their cheers filled the whole room. Even the participants apuded him with respect filling their eyes.

    A slight smile appeared on Noah''s face while he enjoyed the attention he was given.

    "The next challenger should please step on the stage," Alex eventually announced to Pete and Moses, walking towards the stage that had begun to repair itself.

 Chapter 105 105. RASH

    Moses and Pete walked up the stage, neither of them saying a word to each other.

    The surface of the stage continued to repair itself even as they stood on it. It took multiple seconds before the whole process ended.

    During that period of time both individuals limited themselves to stare and observe the other person, both dashing forward immediately after the inscriptions on the stage dimmed and disappeared.

    Both men seemed hell-bent on not wanting to speak to each other, as an instantter they arrived at each other''s paths.

    A sword appeared in Moses''s grip, his face expressionless, while orange mes flickered and enveloped the de of his sword, Pete retrieving his weapon.

    A spear suddenly appeared in Pete''s grip, Moses immediately adopting a serious expression at that sight.

    Parrying the spears'' de with his sword, Moses tried to grab it, but Pete had moved it from his hand''s path.

    The ground suddenly shattered beneath Moses''s feet, which managed to disorient him for a few instants, Pete taking advantage of that moment of weakness.

    Pete Instant spun on the spot, his spear cutting the air to slice Moses''s torso area, but Moses wasn''t an amateur in fighting, he wasn''t among the top of his ss even the whole academy for no reason.

    The spear managed to get a few inches close to Moses''s body but a yellow barrier of sorts flickered into existence stopping it in its tracks. Moses''s previously prepared inscription had activated and saved his life.

    Surprise tried to overtake Pete''s mind but he pushed it to the deepest depths of his mind and jumped backwards, his left hand holding his spear behind his body, while his right hand pointed at Moses''s standing figure.

    A yellow magical circle expanded on Pete''s palm, over fourty sharp stones shooting out of it, all aiming at Moses who was already prepared.

    Moses''s right hand shot outwards and drew a series of yellow lines in the air, a second barrier appearing to reinforce the first one which he had prepared a while before the banquet began.

    As an acolyte of the study of inscriptions, he had to constantly remain prepared in case potentially dangerous events urred.

    The sharp stones arrived an instantter all converging towards Moses''s body.

    nging sounds immediately resounded in the whole room, as the stones weren''t able to pierce the first barrier, only spreading slight cracks on its transparent surface.

    A slight smile appeared on Moses''s face as he shot out of the cloud of dust that had formed from the previous attack.

    His figure crossed an area of over fifty meters in an instant, his ming sword stretched behind him.

    Raising his sword up in a downward sh, Moses tried to sever the man''s right arm, but he of course knew he wouldn''t be able toplete that action, because he could sense a foreign flow of mana around him, Pete was about to cast a spell.

    So Moses decided to make the sword''s attack a feint.

    His down-shing sword suddenly vanished from his right hand, his figure adopting a crouching position immediately after.

    Dragging his left leg behind his right, Moses threw his left fist at Pete''s abdomen.

    The man''s figure shot backwards, while surprise and shock ravaged his mind, his spell casting being disrupted in the process.

    Pete''s grip inevitably loosened from the spear, while his body struck the veil of the stage, and surprisingly it stretched at the point of impact!.

    The audience gasped in surprise, while Moses immediately stopped in his tracks.

    Pete''s body and the veil shot out for a few tens of meters until the power of the punch got exhausted, then the veil sent his body flying forward an instantter.

    Moses readied his sword, but from the looks of things it seemed he wouldn''t be able to handle the moving body, so he jumped sideways dodging Pete''s body, but not without casting a fire ball on his figure.

    An explosion resounded, as a charred crater formed on the ground, ck smoke filling the whole ce, while the smell of burnt meat spread inside the stage.

    Moses could do nothing but wait, the turn of events hadn''t been something he had expected at all.

    Eventually a shout spread out in the whole room, the smoke clearing instantly as an angered aura filled the whole space.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Pete''s pitiful figure appeared in Moses sight at that point.

    The man had multiple patches of burnt skin, some parts of his skin were missing, and most of his attire had burnt and there was a caved-in spot on his stomach which bled.

    His previously short ck hair was gone, revealing a nearly bald head, which also had burnt patches of skin, his breathing remained roughed as Moses stared at him, his head shaking in pity.

    "We don''t really have to continue this fight," Moses eventually said, but no response returned to him, his voice ringing out once more.

    "You might die if we continue. It''s not worth it," Moses tried to make the man stop since his aura continued to re without any signs of wanting to stop.

    "I refuse," Pete simply stated, then he shot forward, the ground creating spikes for him which bent forward towards an already prepared Moses.

    Moses''s aura also exploded outwards, an orange glow escaping his body, while he decided to move more Mana into the spell he was about to cast.

    Pointing his palm towards the iing  Pete and his envoy of moving spikes; a small magic circle flickered on his palm, as he cast a very simple spell, only that within it was more power than normal.

    A small orange ball exited the magic circle, Moses''s clothes immediately catching fire due to the Intense heat the spinning ball emitted.

    His skin even began to burn after a few moments of prolonged exposure to the balls power, so he sent it forward.

    Pete''s instincts screamed at the sight of the fire ball, multiple walls springing out of the stage to block the rapidly moving spell and prevent it from touching him.

    The ball of highly condensed heat eventually touched the first of the four walls raised, and a spectacr explosion resounded.

    A blinding orange radiance filled the stages insides as the walls and the spikes were instantly obliterated.

    The fear of death inevitably gripped Pete''s formerly anger-filled mind, while he watched the scene of an intense heat wave rapidly approach him, his life shing in front of his eyes, regret spreading inside him.

    The veil instantly ballooned up due to the explosion, as the audience, including the remaining participants bent for cover.

    But before the explosion could escape the insides of the stage, an intense aura exploded outwards, filling the entirety of the rooms space. Multiple noble''s holding their breaths due to it, though no one was hurt

    A gust of wind seemingly blew inside the stage, as the smoke that had filled its insides instantly cleared to reveal a calm Alex floating in front of petrified Pete, his left hand outstretched.

    While a transparent green ball wrapped around Moses''s surprised figure.

    Alex had saved both their lives, easily at that.

    "No one is allowed to die in the fights, and i advise you to refrain from using highly destructive spells, to ensure your safeties of course," Alex''s calm voice filled the room.

    During that period Noah managed to get a rough idea of his power, and he shook his head in wonder when he sensed that it was far higher than the beginning of tier 3.

    The audience calmed down at that point, but their eyes couldn''t leave the obliterated ground.

    The explosion had levelled the stage and even caused a slightly deep crater to form in it. But the inscriptions had kicked in, though it would take a while for itsplete repair.

    Five men immediately rushed to the scene, most of their attention on Pete who had already passed out from the shock.

    Alex left the stages area at that point. His eyes falling on Moses when his consciousness wrapped around him, his voice ringing out in his head.

    "You shouldn''t have done that Moses," he said.

    "I apologize for my rash action," Moses replied with a slight bow.

    Alex floated towards the pulpit his voice ringing out. "We''ll have to wait a few minutes to watch thest fight, please bear with me," He bowed. The nobles engaging in short discussions to pass the time

 Chapter 106 106. EMPTY

    Six minutes eventually passed, the whole room almost silent due to the anticipation of thest fight. After the battle between Moses and Pete, most were highly excited.

    Noah himself continued to y the scenes of the explosion in his mind, and tried to simte a way to escape or counter the attack if he had been in that situation.

    Constant shock filled his mind when he realized that he would need to utilize Muliix to remain unscathed.

    Even more respect for Moses filled his mind after that Internal observation.

    Although he didn''t overestimate his power, he knew his strength wasn''t normal, so such an achievement needed respect.

    Moses came and stood beside Noah his expression that of helplessness, though he looked perfectly okay.

    "What''s wrong? aren''t you happy about your overwhelming victory?. It was so overwhelming Alex forgot to announce it," Noah teased with a slight giggle.

    A chuckle escaped Moses lips, his mouth releasing words afterwards.

    "If by overwhelming; you mean almost getting killed by my own spell, which I had unleashed without logical thinking, then no," Moses replied.

    "You ended up okay though," Isabe butt in, her face having a mixed expression between seriousness and fascination.

    "I didn''t see him move," She said, after a few seconds of silence.

    Her soft gaze on Alex who was in conversation with one of the five men that had rushed to the scene.

    "Yeah me too. All I remember is a sudden cold breeze even when intense heat tried to melt my skin, then suddenly I was okay," Moses said with a thoughtful expression, his eyesnding on Noah.

    "It was the same for me," Noah lied through his teeth, his expression immediately adopting a fascinated one.

    "It''s amazing how strong they are," Isabe shook her head with determination. "Let''s get stronger than them and go on adventures," She suddenly announced, surprising both men who could only chuckle and return their attention on the almostpletely repaired stage.

    Noah himself fell into thoughts, he had lied about not seeing Alex move, when actually he did. But the man man''s blur like figure disappeared at some point when he entered the stage.

    The power tier 4''s had was amazing, but the uncertainty of his immediate future worried him to no end.

    He eventually began to doubt if he would get rewarded at all. The threats elder Mchi made put a pressure on him that he couldn''t ignore, after all he looked serious and his power would be enough to end Noah.

    ''I need a break,'' Noah thought massaging his temples. He didn''t feel any pain whatsoever only that it felt rxing to do so.

    The stage eventually finished it''s repair after a few more minutes. Alex voice rang out the next Instant, "Last challenger please step on the stage," His voice spread out across therge room, Dan and Elliot walking towards the stage.

    "I liked your prowess with the sword , and I''d like to test myself on you, though spells are allowed." Dan immediately said after they had gotten on the stage.

    Elliot limited himself to nod, a sword appearing in his right hand, then he crouched slightly, both hands holding his sword while he raised it up to his face, it''s tip pointing at Dan.

    A smile cracked on Dan''s face, his figure suddenly springing towards Elliot. He had used a movement technique.

    Swinging the sword that had appeared in his right hand upwards, Dan tried to destabilize Elliot''s firm stance, but he failed.

    In a quick and decisive method, Elliot took a small step backwards dodging the upward sh by a hairs width, his stance still as firm as before.

    In that time frame of dodging Dan''s attack, Elliot noticed a loophole in the man''s defense, but he didn''t attack, opting to jump backwards dodging the des of air that Dan had set for him.

    "You''re sharp. I like it," A wide grin appeared on Dan''s face, while six magical circles expanded behind him, each circle spread out enough to take a significant part of the stage, almost like a wall.

    Suddenly pirs of air shot out of the magic circles, each pir converging towards Elliot''s stationary figure.

    Elliot watched the iing spells with a calm expression, his eyes immediately scanning the round stage.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Dan had yed a smart move making the attacks cover a wide area in the stage, only leaving a bit of space for him to move, which he would most likely get ambushed in.

    So his sword vanished from his grip, his body roiling with mana immediately after.

    Waving both his arms up, Elliot caused arge thick wall to rise up, splitting the stage into two unequal halves.

    Although very tricky, and mana reserve draining, he had a solid n.

    A wave of mild surprise hit Dan as his spells crashed on the thick wall and it suprisingly withstood their power, causing an explosion of wind and mild dust to spread out.

    Dan had to raise his arm to shield his eyes from the gust of wind that struck his figure, a mistake he didn''t know hemitted.

    Suddenly a magical circle expanded on the stages surface epassing it, then the earth that the stage was made of suddenly turned soft and malleable, causing Dan to fall due to the suddenness of the attack, but that wasn''t all.

    Suddenly the ground turned solid again, causing Dans left hand; which he had used to try and bnce himself to get stuck, and both his leg that were already knee deep into the ground to get stuck.

    A deep frown appeared on Dan''s face at that point, although there wasn''t much he could do at that point, he still tried.

    A magic circle flickered on his right palm as he got prepared to injure himself while escaping that predicament.

    But he suddenly felt a sharp edge dig into his neck a little, his entire body freezing up.

    "It''s over," Elliot''s tired voice sounded behind Dan, who stopped the spell he was about to cast, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

    The ground around Dan turned soft but this time Elliot helped him out.

    Dan got to see Elliot''s face at that point, and understand his condition.

    Elliot''s face had gone ghostly pale due to draining himself of Mana. His breathing sounded ragged and forced, and he seemed to get tired with every slight movement his body made.

    Dan understood that a punch from him would probably cause Elliot to pass out.

    The thought of cheating crossed his mind, but he remembered that a tier 4 existence spectated the fight.

    The veil suddenly disappeared, three men walking into the stage and handing healing potions to both cultivators, who walked down the stage.

    "The winner of thest challenge is Elliot," Alex announced the crowd pping the young man.

    Respect for the winners of Bozolom spread in the minds of the nobles who saw them worthy of theiring rewards, though not everyone was happy.

    "With that done, we will end the day with more celebration," Alex announced, inscriptions lighting up on the stage then  it crumbled, all the stones receding into the ground and going back to normal.

    Alex directed the ten cultivators to return to their seats, then a group of finely dressed women and men walked up the stage, and to Noah''s surprise they held musical Instruments in their hands, or brought one out of their space rings.

    The night ended with more eating and drinking, while listening to the group y music that Noah considered weird andcked polish. Though the others seemed to enjoy it so he said nothing about it.

    Hours inevitably passed until Alex announced the celebration over and that the nobles could return back to their various homes.

    It took over half an hour for the room to bepletely empty, multiple noble mening to greet Noah and his fellow winners. Though Noah felt a few hostile gaze''s among the crowds that had formed around their table.

    Noah limited himself to smile and reply a bit, causing the nobles to get bored and leave him early, though surprisingly Isabe had not a single person talking to her, and Noah med that on the cold res she gave anyone that tried approaching her.

    Eventually the whole room was absolutely empty, only remaining the ten winners and a silently floating Alex.

 Chapter 107 107. VESSELS OF POWER

    The ten of them stood silently; waiting for Alex to say something, but he simply kept his gaze on their figures.

    Tension inevitably built in their minds while they waited for the man''s words.

    Another two minutes of silent passed until a door at the edge of the room flew open. Ten recognizable figures exiting the door.

    Noah watched ten humans which amongst them was Abigail.

    Going back a few hours earlier, Noah recalled that immediately after the winners were called to the stage, their escorts left the table.

    "They will lead you to your rooms, where you all will spend the night. The reward allocations wille tomorrow," Alex exined, "I congratte you once again for your efforts, and wish you a good night," He performed a slight bow.

    Alex immediately floated towards the ground, as soon as his feet touched the ground, green inscriptions lit up in the entire room. The inscriptions green light then converged on his body, his figure vanishing afterwards.

    Noah could only shake his head at that scene, his eyesnding on Abigail who walked closer to him, her real voice ringing out.

    "I trust you had a good night," she smiled, "Please follow me."

    Noah limited himself to nod, his eyesnding on Moses, James and Isabe, who smiled and nod their head''s at him. That was the closest way for them to say goodbye.

    Abigail began her walk towards a seemingly door-less area in the room, actually all of them seemed to be going the same way, but no interactions were made.

    Being at the front of the line, Abigail ced her right palm on the wall, yellow glowing lines lit up and spread from where her palm touched, then a part of the wall caved in. Abigail pushing it open.

    A long brightly lit hall appeared in Noah''s sight after that. Without saying a word Abigail proceeded to walk into the hall, Noah following her closely.

    There were many branches in the hall, some of the winners walking into it and disappearing from sight, but Noah, Abigail and James continued to walk down the hall with no turns whatsoever.

    Eventually Abigail stopped at a door, which signified that it was his room, and surprisingly James''s room was directly next to his.

    "I''lle back tomorrow. Have a good night," Abigail bowed, her figure turning and walking down the hall.

    Noah heaved a sigh when she had walked far enough for her figure not to be seen. Shutting the door close, he turned and swept his gaze on the room.

    By all standards the room looked like a top ss room, which he probably didn''t have enough money to lodge in, if he were on his own.

    Walking towards the king sized bed, Noah found a set of clothesid on it. ''Probably for tomorrow,'' Noah thought pulling of the clothes he had on.

    Luckily there was a bathroom, so he took a quick shower to rx his mind.

    Exiting the bathroom, Noah dried his body using air magic. Honestly he wondered to himself why he hardly used it in fights, and instead used lightning.

    Watching Dan utilize it in his fight and losing didn''t really help the issue.

    Naturally air magic seemed weakerpared to other elements, but Noah concluded that it was hisck of proper knowledege on how to use it that caused that mindset.

    ''Who knows, I might find a trainer or something someday,'' He thought with a smile. Suddenly he heard a knock on his door.

    His mind went on alert instantly, his consciousness expanding immediately, as he tried to figure out who it was.

    "It''s me," James''s voice sounded, Noah rxing; though he still remained a bit on guard.

    Unlocking the door, Noah found James standing with a smile.

    "I see you''ve already gottenfortable," James spoke, his eyending on Noah''s shirtless chest; his head shaking in jealousy.

    "You know, apart from the upgrade Mana gives us from cultivating, working out also helps the body, though that would be less needed from tier 3 upwards," James clicked his tongue while walking in, "But you already seem to not need working out, while I had to work my butt out when I was younger," He added.

    Noah only raised an eyebrow at the young man''s words, his mind noticing an opportunity to get information on that subject, and he didn''t hesitate to grab it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How much do you know about tier 3," Noah suddenly said, after he had shut the door.

    "A whole lot actually. What do you want to know, specially?," James replied, seemingly not minding the fact that Noah asked him a question most tier 2 cultivators at his level of power knew.

    "Everything," Noah replied sitting on his bed, while also inviting James to do the same.

    "Most of my knowledge might not be really specific since most valuable information about that topic is really expensive in the library, at least before we left Vonol it was," James started.

    "Just tell me what you think I need to know," Noah said hastily, James nodding in response and clearing his throat.

    "ording to books and what I''ve heard, the tier 3 realm is referred to as thest step before bing a demi-god, or at least tier 4 is considered the ranks of lesser demi-gods," James started his expression that of thoughtfulness.

    "When an individual reaches tier 3, they form a Mana core which is also called spirit core, since Mana is referred to as a spiritual energy, but I don''t know much on that," James continued, Noah eyes, ears and mind fully on him.

    "They also form a soul core which is basically our mind, but far more powerful and very influential in terms of spells casting. The stronger your mind is, the more powerful spells you can cast, though it would then depend on whether your Mana core has enough energy to fuel the spell."

    "Thenstly our bodies. When stepping into the realm of tier 3 our bodies would need more power than normal, and go through evolutions that tier 1 and 2 didn''t bring.

    There is even a ranking to determine how powerful your body is, but I never managed to read about that," James said with a sad sigh, but he continued immediately.

    "To get this vessels of power; as they are called, to improve, you will need a body cultivation manual, specific to the type of element you have. You''ll need a Mana core cultivation manual which is also specific to the element that you have. As for the mind I don''t really know much. Information about that is very tight, and once again very expensive," James stopped, his eyes falling on a attentive Noah. A smile appeared on his face at that point, his mouth opening to produce words.

    "Actually all these vessels of power have rankings, but i don''t really know much, apart from the levels of mana cores which are ranked as red core, orange core, yellow core, green core and blue core. Only these five are currently known to man." James took a deep breath in.

    "Each of those colors are further divided into three ranks, with a rank 1 red Mana core being the lowest possible quality, and rank 3 blue Mana core being the current highest," James stopped.

    "Do you have any questions?," he asked Noah, who didn''t hesitate to talk.

    "What exactly is the difference between the ranks of Mana cores?. Is it quality or quantity of Mana, or is it both?," Noah asked.

    "Both." James nodded, "A rank 3 red Mana core has a higher quality of Mana essence, and a higher quantity than a rank 1 red core. But the difference between a yellow core and red core is immense, hence the change in color," James exined.

    "How are we to know the difference between ranks?" Noah asked.

    "Well ording to what I''ve read, they all have different shapes. A rank 1 Mana core being spherical in shape, a rank 2 looking like a ring, and a rank 3 is shaped like an octahedron," James exined.

    Noah''s couldn''t help but raise his eyebrows at those words, his mouth about to ask a question, but James answered it before he could talk.

    "Yes with every breakthrough into a new color, the Mana core returns to a spherical shape and begins the same shape transformation as it evolves," James smiled, Noah nodding his head in appreciation.

    "That being said," James expression turned serious, "Our body has to be able to handle the power and quality of energy the Mana core produces, or else the body risks exploding, or the spirit core being damaged, which means a permanent disability in being able to cast spells." James exined.

    Noah nod his head attentively, his mind rushing through thoughts. It seemed there was a lot more to know about after tier 2.

    "What exactly do Mana core manuals do?," Noah asked though he knew the answer.

    "Think of it like drawing raw Mana from the environment, except this time you''ll need a technique that draws Mana faster, as the process is Incredibly slow due to the change of quantity you can hold, and it would have to be a refined Mana that has only your elements energy in it, thereby increasing the already long process,"James said.

    "Then what about those with multiple elements," Noah asked with genuine curiosity.

    A few seconds of silence passed, James scratching his head as he spoke, "I don''t know," he stated.

    "I did tell your it''s not everything that is out in the public. That is why most joinrge guilds or the royal army," James shrugged.

    A helpless sigh escaped Noah''s mouth at that point.

    "Thought i do know a bit of how the body improves. Do you want to know?," James said, Noah''s head nodding frantically.

 Chapter 108 108. CHAMBER

    "Well the body is a very essential part of a cultivator as we all know," James started. A bottle and two cups appearing on the bed, James pouring booze into the cups and passing one to Noah.

    Gulping down the contents of the cup in one go, Noah ignored the detoxification notice the system showed him. His full attention on the about-to-talk James.

    "The body consists of the mostly of the bones, muscles, organs, blood and finally the skin.

    And ording to what I''ve read there, are multiple pathways in which energy or rather mana flows all around the body to strengthen it as a whole. And these pathways are all connected to the mana core.

    Which is why we feel weak when we''ve drained ourselves of mana, even though our bodies are in perfect condition." James took a light breath and continued.

    "The importance of the body''s strength is cannot be overemphasized, but like i said earlier once you reach tier 3, it doesn''t matter if you do normal work outs, since it won''t work. You''ll instead need to cultivate the bodies strength, by absorbing Mana from your Mana core."

    "This may sound easy but don''t forget; our bodies have been doing this by itself through out tier 1 and 2, but this time we''ll need to do perform this procedure ourselves, since if left to our body''s ability to absorb Mana, we might not progress at all, as its effects would be too minimal, and might not even work due to the change of energy needed to be absorbed.

    This process at first would be excruciating since the Mana pathways aren''t used to that forceful absorbtion of Mana, and its new quality."

    "That is why it''s adviced to start gradually. Starting with the pathways in your bones is adviced. Followed by your organs, then muscles andstly your skin.

    Immediately you''ve managed to get Mana to flow through them consciously then you''re ready for the real deal. Apparently there are pills to help this process, but they are a bit pricey," James stopped to pour another ss of wine.

    Noah''s thoughtful expression didn''t leave his face, his mouth opening to ask a question,

    "But why does the cultivation manual need to be element specific?," Noah said gulping down what James poured for him.

    "Well since your Mana core now requires refined Mana, and your body is used to general mana, you''ll need to find cultivation manuals that have studied the behaviors of your particr element, and use it for yourself. Do not forget I told you it''ll be excruciating, this is also one of the reasons."

    "But the third reason would be because the body has; ording to what I read, Impurities," James nod his head.

    "What are these Impurities?," Noah immediately asked.

    "They are bodily tissues or bones that the body finds unsuitable for the new standard that the body has. A standard that should be ready to step on the path of demi-gods," James replied.

    Noah''s expression changed to a mix of helplessness and confusion.

    "Much doesn''t add up," Noahined.

    "I told you my information would not bepletely specific. I''m simply telling you what i know. Go find out the rest yourself," James snorted.

    Noah heaved a deep sigh, his mind wandering into multiple thoughts. It seemed he would have to ess another library very soon.

    The duo talked for a bit more time. James telling Noah some other things he knew, though Noah still found them insufficient, and riddled with nk spots, but nevertheless he was thankful.

    "I''ll be returning to my room now," James yawned, "We have a big day tommorow," he added, Noah''s countenance falling for a millisecond, but James didn''t notice.

    "Good night," James said walking towards the door.

    "Good night," Noah said shutting the door behind James.

    Walking back to his bed andying on it, Noah heaved the deepest sigh he could. A bit of worry tried to find it''s way into his mind, but he seeded in stopping it.

    Closing his eyes, Noah didn''t let any anxiety inducing thought find its way into his mind.

    His consciousness eventually found its way into the darkness called sleep.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A knock on the door woke Noah. Who jumped off his bed, his mind going into battle mode as lightning crackled around his figure.

    "It''s me," Abigail''s voice sounded. Noah immediately calmed down at that point. Walking towards the door, Noah was about to unlock it when her voice rang out again.

    "You should have your bath and dress, before you let me in," She said, Noah immediately remembering that he was still shirtless.

    Noah limited himself to nod his head at her words. Although he couldn''t see her, she could probably see him, and that would be by her spreading are consciousness. Though Noah wondered if his expanded consciousness could bypass solid objects.

    Walking into the bathroom, Noah took a ten minutes bath, his mind preparing himself for anything that happened. He even kept powerful spells at the tip of his mind because of his paranoia.

    Exiting the room fully dressed. Noah''s eye''s instantly fell on Abigail. She was clothed in a short green gown, yellow heels, and her hair was tied in a ponytail.

    "Good morning. I hope you had a peaceful night," Abigail curtsied.

    "I did," Noah stated with a nk expression.

    "Please follow me," She said after that interaction. Noah simply followed her lead in response.

    The duo walked for multiple minutes until Noah remembered James, as they had not encountered anyone.

    "What about the others?," Noah eventually asked, as slight anxiety spread in his mind.

    ? "They are fine. Everyone of you has been assigned different chambers to receive your rewards. So do not worry," She exined without turning to face him.

    Noah could only show a weird expression at that point. He didn''t have any idea what the royals were nning, and he couldn''t act rashly since they could erase his existence if he caused trouble. So he remained silent.

    Eventually they took a turn into another hall, and at the end of the hall was arge door. Noah''s normally fast-beating heart increasing in speed due to that sight.

    His heart rate reaching its peak when Abigail knocked on the metal door lightly. Therge object beginning to move backwards, the deafening sound of metal scraping metal filling the hall.

    Noah felt his heart jump into his mouth when he saw Abigail gesturing for him to walk inside.

    ''Alone!,'' Noah screamed in his mind, but he still entered anyways.

    Immediately he had taken a few steps into the dimly lit room, therge door shut him in. A swallowing sound escaping his throat.

    Though with the shutting of the door came a wave of surprise.

    As Noah felt his body praise the environment, his pores being filled with the rejuvinating energy called Mana, for it''s concentration was over the top in the room.

    The concentration of Mana in the room was so much that Noah could see blue shimmering mists here and there. Ayer of blue mist even began to form on his clothes after a few seconds.

    During that period of fascination, Noah failed to notice both the source of the phenomenon and the individuals present in the room.

    But soon he would.

    Suddenly a bright light lit up the entire room. Noah''s eye''s falling on a rotating flower like object that shot multicolored lights out of its fabric.

    And around the object that Noah confirmed to be the source of the high concentration of Mana, were two individuals, a man and woman. Both radiating power in the fourth tier.

    "Wee Noah," They both said in unison. A chill running down Noah''s spine.

 Chapter 109 109. OATH

    Noah could only stare at the two figures whom he had failed to notice earlier.

    Performing a bow, Noah tried his best to remain calm and keep his eyes off the slowly rotating flower, but he failed woefully in thetter part.

    His eyes left the two humans, and focused on the rotating object. He had never seen anything like it in his three lives, and personally he found it beautiful.

    Coupled with the fact that it radiated an Intense aura that Noah confirmed to be higher than tier 3.

    ''Is that the reward,'' Noah couldn''t help but get excited, though his excitement vanished when his eyes fell on the two patiently standing individuals.

    Straightening his position since he had been in a bowing position for thest second. Noah fully Inspected the facial features of the individuals, not bothering to utilize the systems function since it would be useless.

    The male between the duo looked to be in his early thirties. He had short dark-blue hair and fair skin that seemed to sparkle in the multicolored lights the flower released.

    His eyes shone with an orange glint, as the man had his eyes on Noah, thoughts that Noah couldn''t discern flowing in those eyes.

    The young looking man was draped in long blue garment that matched his blue hair, red coloured inscriptions flickering on its fabric.

    Moving on to thedy, Noah felt surprised to find that she looked to be middle-aged. She had long ck hair which she let fall loosely, although it looked finelybed.

    Her eyeballs sported emerald-green eyes that directly shone in the room, the light smile on her face making her look out of the world even though she looked middle-aged.

    She was currently wearing a grey coloured garment, that covered her full figure even her arms and feet.

    Noah managed to finish that Inspection in barely a second, though he had gotten used to that level of cognitive speed, it still remained Impressive.

    "I trust you had a good nights rest," The woman said.

    "I amdy Urel, captain of a branch of the royal army, and this is my partner Kreg, but you may address him as Sir Kreg," Lady Urel introduced, sir Kreg nodding slightly, his eyes still on Noah.

    "I know you may have heard about the rewards that would be given foring out among the top ten in bozolom," Lady Urel gestured at the spinning flower.

    "But this can''t actually allow you to achieve our level of power. It''ll at most take you to the higher stage in tier 3 after you''ve absorbed it, which would take a bit over fifty years if you are slow  in cultivating, or around two decades if you are fast," Lady Urel started. A wave of shock hitting Noah when he heard of the time needed to absorb the energy in the flower, but he didn''t let any emotion get to his face.

    "Let''s not even start about the body and soul core," Lady Urel waved her hand in dismissal.

    "So Noah...Let''s talk about something more productive for someone as valuable as you," She said her voice gaining a cold hint, as a table and three chairs appeared on the floor.

    "Have a sit," She said, but before Noah could take a step, an external force wrapped around his body and pulled him  towards the table. The force cing him gently on the chair.

    Noah''s nk expression flickered after that event. He had barely been able to react when he reached the chair.

    Lady Urel and sir Kreg sat down, their eyes still on Noah.

    Noah sat on the chair for a few seconds, but a frown couldn''t help but appear on his face; his head turning to look at the spinning flower. Its tier 4 pressure affected his head, giving him a headache.

    Lady Urel immediately noticed hisck offort, her voice ringing out while she waved her hand, causing the flower yo vanish.

    "I apologize for the difort," She said, her eyes meeting Noah''s gaze.

    "Now...," This time it was sir Kreg talking, "Let''s get to the main reason we are here," He said.

    "I''m sure you''ve heard from Mchi and Abigail your current state towards the royal family. So i ask you, do you agree to join the royal army?. You''ll be given a good spot," Kreg started his gaze still on Noah.

    Noah reacted in no way to what sir Kreg said, but his mouth opened to reply him.

    "Is it about me being indebted to the royal family because i killed a few tier 3 beasts and took one core?" Noah asked coldly.

    He hade to this conclusion after many hours of thinking, and seeing that the only valuable things he had taken was the beast core, he concluded on the matter, but he also found it childish for them to use it as a reason to try and rope him into their army.

    "If so, I''m apologize for killing the lion and rat out of self-defense, and you can have the lions core back," Noah suddenly said, a red orb appearing in the air. It''s red radiance lighting up the whole room. Noah had moved straight to the point.

    "And I refuse your offer to join the royal army. I know it''s a good ce but It doesn''t entice me," Noah added, his mind on the tip of his powerful spells.

    Both Kreg and Urel stared at the Mana core nkly, Noah not being able to understand the thoughts in their glowing eyes.

    "I see. So thats how it is," Kreg eventually said, his mouth opening to talk.

    "Since that is over with, let''s move to the conditions of receiving the rewards," He said while the red core vanished from the wave of his hand.

    Noah remained shocked by the quick change of topic, which kept him on edge. He wondered if there were other tricks they had for him.

    "As I''m sure you already understand. Tier 4''s are very valuable cultivators thats hold Incredible power, which when in the wrong hands can lead to cmities, and unnecessary destruction in our peaceful nation," Kreg started.

    "So the condition is that your are going to swear an oath to not hurt the royal family in any way. Don''t worry It''ll onlyst for two centuries," Kreg said.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A frown inevitably appeared on Noah''s face when he thought to how long that time was. "And what if I break the oath?," Noah asked.

    "You''ll lose your Mana core," Lady Urel simply stated, Noah''s eye''s falling on her smiling face.

    "Yes," Sir Kreg backed his partner up, Noah nodding his head.

    Although he didn''t like the oath mainly due to it''s time span. He had no choice, it was the condition to receive the rewards.

    "Good," Kregmented, a red sheet of paper appearing on the table.

    "Read it''s contents to be sure we aren''t scamming you," Lady Urel said. "Infuse your Mana into the paper to activate the oath," She added.

    Noah read through the papers contents, seeing that it was ording to how sir Kreg had said it, he did as he was told.

    cing a finger on the glowing sheet, Noah poured his Mana into it. Immediately he did that, a panel popped up.

    [Tier 4 temporary oath detected, do you want to sign it]

    [Conditions state that user must not harm the royal family in any way for a span of 200 years. If broken user will lose their Mana core]

    [Do you want toplete it]

    [Yes/No]

    Noah read through the panels contents, his mind remembering something.

    "But I currently don''t have a Mana core," Noah asked with pure curiosity.

    "The oath will attach itself to your Mana pool and pathways for now, then when you form one it''ll bind itself to your core," Sir Kreg exined.

    "But what if i break the oath before then?," Noah asked another important question.

    "You''ll find that all the pathways that absorb Mana naturally in your body will explode, causing your death in the process," Lady Urel butt in.

    Noah nod his head at their words, his mind going on to pick yes.

    Immediately he did so, the red sheet glowed brighter, then it''s fabric broke and turned into red glowing particles that flew towards his abdomen, their passage not causing too much pain, only a slight tingle.

    [You have formed tier 4 temporary Oath]

    [Duration until termination: 199 years 364 days 24:59 hours]

    Noah read this note with a slightly heavy heart.

    ''I wonder if I can break it before that period of time,'' Noah thought.

    Then he recalled Augustus''s words about oaths, remembering that he said only someone more powerful than the oath maker can break it.

    "Is there anymore?," Noah asked with a dark expression.

    "No," Sir Kreg said, Lady Urel waving her hand a ring appearing and floating towards Noah.

    "You''ll have to make two more trips here, and you''ll need this to collect the remaining resources," Lady Urel gestured at the floating ring.

    "Keep it with you at all times," She added.

    Noah grabbed the ring and wore it.  Checking it contents he saw that the space ring contained the flower.

    Excitement couldn''t help but surface in Noah''s mind, but before he could do or say anything, Lady Urel spoke.

    "Come have a drink with us," She said as a bottle and three cups appeared on the table.

    She grabbed the bottle and poured its contents into the cups, one of them floating towards Noah, who hesitated to drink it.

    Watching Lady Urel and Sir Kreg drink theirs didn''t help the matter, but he put his trust in the systems annoying function.

    Gulping the contents of the cup in one go, Noah felt a cool sensation flow down his throat. He instantly wanted more, but before he could ask, the systems panel stopped him in his tracks.

    [You have ingested a tier 4 substance with unknown effects]

    [Scanning substance to determine it''s effects...]

    [Scanning will take two minutes]

 Chapter 110 110. HALLUCINATIONS

    Noah''s mind froze when he read the system''s words. He immediately dropped the cup, albeit gently not the alert the two experts.

    "Would you like some more?," Lady Urel asked with a smile.

    Noah stared at the duo with uncertainty evident in his eyes. "No," He replied standing up.

    "If that is all, I''ll be leaving," He said.

    "Thank you for the drink," he added leaving the table, but before he could leave the room, Lady Urels voice sounded.

    "Goodbye, and please watch your steps," She said, Noah not being able to see the cruel smile on her face while he walked out of the chamber.

    Nodding his head he watched the door open and walked outside.

    On getting outside, Noah realized that Abigail was nowhere to be seen. But he didn''t worry too much about that detail. He knew his way back to his assigned room.

    ncing at the panel from time to time, Noah was about to exit the hall leading to the chamber when another notification appeared in his eyes.

    [Effects of substance determined]

    [Ingested substance was a tier 4 nt that attacks the mind of whoever that drinks it and doesn''t have a tier 4 mind]

    [Examples are heightened emotions, hallucinations....]

    Noah didn''t manage to read the whole notification, since suddenly he couldn''t move, not even his eye balls.

    Cold sweat dripping down his back when his eyes fell on the hall in front of him.

    Noah could swear that the hall had gotten darker. Intense fear like never before spread in his mind, his breathing immediately bing ragged, his body losing its previous vitality and falling to the ground.

    Noah''s eyes remained wide open, but he couldn''t move, the fear of death gripped his heart as memories he had almost forgotten flooded into his mind.

    He re-lived the scenes of almost getting killed by the tier 2 lizard, but this time the lizard seemed stronger andrger than it really was.

    Noah spent a few seconds on the ground, his body trying to release sparks to try and run, but no sparks found its way out. But suddenly he jumped up, strength filling his body.

    Clenching his fists in surprise, Noah re-lived his advancement into tier 2, his body remembering the great feeling of strength it experienced.

    But his moment of happiness was cut short, when he noticed a flicker in the shadows of the hall. His eyes immediately moved to find out what it was, but he saw nothing.

    Taking a step forward still experiencing the feeling of strength he had, Noah began his march to his room, during that period of time he managed to get a hold of a part of his senses, his mind confirming that this was all a n by the royals.

    Before Noah could think any more rational thoughts, his mind was overtaken by an immense feeling of anger, the shadows of the halls twisting and turning into the wolves he remembered that killed him.

    Dashing towards one of the totally ck wolves that had red glowing eyes. Noah threw a punch at the shadows head, its head exploding instantly.

    Suddenly he felt one of the wolves w at his leg, but its ws didn''t manage to pierce him.

    Suddenly Noah grabbed it and hurled it towards the wall, a kick descending on its moving body.

    The ck body of the wolf suddenly dispersed as Noah''s kick struck the wall, only a small dent managing to appear on it.

    Now in his right senses, Noah realized that he had been the only one in the hall, and there was another dent on the wall where he had punched.

    Before he could focus on the hallway, an intense pain spread through his mind, as Noah saw himself bleeding profusely, his body was in shambles and his clothes torn.

    His body went limp on the ground as Noah re-lived a near death experience, but this time he couldn''t die.

    The scenes of his body getting ravaged by the explosion of the speed clone in the mansion shed through Noah''s eyes. This time he managed to understand how badly Injured he was.

    Undescribable pain rushed through Noah''s body, his eyes almost rolling back, when suddenly he regained his senses.

    A sharp breath followed that event, Noah immediately getting up and marching towards his room, he didn''t want to run due to his unstable state of mind, but he walked as fast as he could.

    The walls of the hall seemed to stretch forever, Noah confirming that his mind was ying a trick on him, but nevertheless the continued his march.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Multiple minutes inevitably went by. Although he tried his best to stop it, Noah still experienced multiple heightened emotions and sensations, but he mostly experienced anger after some point.

    His mind either showed him images of his brother or the ck figure. He also experienced regret and guilt, mostly for the lives he had taken.

    Noah cried mulitiple times on his way to his room. The process was nerve rending, and it broke him in multiple aspects of himself.

    All the emotions he thought he had forgotten or pushed to the side came crashing into his head. And due to the fact that they were many, he cked out sometimes.

    Noah had to m his head on the walls at times to reduce the frequency of his hallucinations, but that only worked a bit.

    Clinging to the walls of the hall, Noah eventually spot someone, and it was the standing figure of Abigail.

    Sighting his figure, she ran towards him, but Noah stretched his hand forward to stop her.

    In the span of a few seconds her figure had twisted into both his brother and one of the six men he killed in the alley, his first night of arriving in Vonol.

    Abigail immediately halted her steps, worry evident on her face.

    Backing up on the walking Noah, she saw him m his head on the wall, his body almost slumping to the ground but he held himself up.

    Noah kept his arm outstretched during that period, for worry of hering closer and he losing his mind.

    He wasn''t sure but he guessed that hurting a maid of the royal family was akin to hurting the royal family. So not wanting to die, he didn''t let here any closer.

    Eventually he arrived at his door, Abigail''s voice ringing out.

    "Are you okay sir?," She asked with a worried tone.

    Noah Inspected this scene with uncertainty. She worked for the royal family which meant she had to be in on the n that he wasn''tpletely sure was about, but he still replied.

    "I''m fine," He stated going for the door knob quickly. He could already feel his mind slipping. The perfume she wore made him feel angry.

    "I just wanted to Inform you that sir James is inside. He came a few minutes ago wanting to speak to you so I let him," She exined.

    Noah simply nod his head and opened the door.

    Due to the fact that he had his back turned on Abigail, he failed to see the smug smile that formed on her pretty face.

    Closing the door, with heavy breathing, Noah felt his anger rise as mulitiple images shed in his eyes.

    Turning to face his room, shock filled Noah''s mind when he saw the ck figure standing at the end of the room.

    He tried to m his head on something, but a scent entered his nose and it resembled what Abigail smelled like. But before Noah couldplete his thought process he lost his senses to pure rage.

    The room intently darkened, as Noah felt himself get warped into a different environment.

    His rage-filled eye''s recognizing the rooftop where he had met the ck figure, regret, anger and an Intense feeling of worry pouring out of his mind.

    Noah''s bottled up worry about the time limit untill his potential death, flowed into his mind. Hisck of a truepanion that could actually help him, increasing the intensity of his loneliness and worry, and he med it all on the ck figure that had ruined his peaceful life.

    Noah''s rage-filled eye''s stared at the ck figure. He wondered why it hadn''t moved or talked, but he didn''t care since he dashed forward.

    His figure instantly crossed the small distance and arrived in front of the ck figure.

    Even in his rage-filled state, Noah''s mind still remembered the immense strength the puppet had, and that his attack wouldn''t be able to do anything to it.

    But Nevertheless he still wanted to vent.

    Noah formed a fist and threw it at the figures chest an instantter.

    Shock and surprise finding its way Into his rage-filled mind, when his fist tore through the figures chest.

 Chapter 111 111. ACCUSATIONS

    Noah''s raged state felt at loss of what to do, but before he could force his arm out of figures chest, he heard a weak voice saying, "It''s all fake," then a weak breath escaped its mouth.

    He instantly regained his senses, his environment going back to normal immediately. Sweeping his gaze on the figure in front of him, Noah''s heart skipped a beat when his eyes fell on James''s face.

    Noah instinctively took a step back, while his mind processed that scene.

    He could see a pool of blood forming under the body of James the light of life having left his body.

    During that period of denial Noah''s mouth instinctively whispered James''s name, and immediately the word ended in his mouth, the door behind him burst open, two tier 3 aura''s spreading inside the room.

    Noah immediately turned to look at what had happened, his eyes falling on two armoured men who had their swords pointed at him.

    "Do not move." One of the men said while walking towards Noah, who wanted to say something, but felt his mind begin to slip.

    All the dots Instantly connected in his mind. ''A set up,'' he thought, right before his main consciousness was enveloped by uncontroble rage his body dashing towards the tier 3''s without his permission.

    #

    #

    Noahzily opened his eyes in a dimly lit room. His eyes tried to scan his environment when pain hit his senses like a freight train.

    Noah immediately started to writh, his mind registering that he was currently hanged with his wrists.

    During that period, Noah managed to feel the cold stone wall behind him, but no further sensations apart from pain spread in his mind.

    His mouth instinctively let out pained cries, Noah wondering why he had not healed.

    He eventually managed to calm down a little, enough for him to Inspect his body, and his state caused him a heart to skip a beat.

    Noah''s eyes fell on a long sh mark that stretched from his chest all the way to his hip. Dried blood staining its edges and surface. It seemed his body had tried to heal him, but was stopped mid way. He wondered why he was in such condition; trying to recall what happened, but all he experienced were splitting headaches, and ck visions.

    Before he could continue his bodily Inspection, the sound of footsteps entered his ears. Snapping his head towards the metal bars at the entrance of the room, Noah confirmed that he was in a prison cell

    Two figures entered his line of sight, the metal bars shifting to one side to allow the figures enter.

    "I see you are awake," The voice of a man Noah knew not, spread out in the cell.

    Noah only half cared about the figures, his mind still buzzing from the deep wound on his chest, while he Inspected the cell he had been chained in.

    The whole ce looked like the medieval dungeons he saw in movies on Earth, only filled with blood and the repulsive stench of a corpse.

    Noah''s scanned the stone walls, his eyes managing to pick up tiny blue inscriptions that he traced to the chains that hung him.

    Noticing that the chains also had blue Inscriptions, Noah without a shred of respect asked a question.

    "What are these for?," He spoke, not ncing at the young looking man.

    The man nced at the direction of Noah''s eyes, a look of understanding shing on his face.

    "They are mana dampeners, used to siphon the Mana from whoever they are attached too, to keep the captive in ce," The man exined.

    "So basically it keeps me mana-less, to stop me from casting spells," Noahmented with a weak chuckle.

    "Exactly," The man replied.

    "So that means you''ll let me bleed to my death. Are you really that worried about me escaping, because i am sure this is a special treatment," Noahughed without removing his eyes from the glowing shackles.

    A shortugh escaped the mouth of the young looking man, his mouth opening to talk.

    "Oh no. Do not think so highly of yourself Noah. You are strong, yes. Strong enough to give tier 3''s a bit of problem, but this is a normal treatment for anyone who''smitted a crime," The man exined.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah''s head turned to face the man his voice ringing out, "Crimes. You mean a set up," Noah said calmly

    "I know not of what you speak of. All i came to ask you is why you did it, and where did you hide sir James''s flower," The man said, two chairs appearing behind him, he and his silent partner who was also a man, sitting.

    Noah kept his gaze on the two seated men, his expression having turned cold immediately they entered.

    "Before I answer any questions, I want to know your names," Noah said.

    "Very well. I am Count Pedro, i have been charged to question you about your crime," The young man said.

    "I am Feligo. Special adviser and personal bodyguard to count Pedro," The silent man said.

    Noah limited himself to stare at the duo coldly, Count Pedro''s voice ringing out.

    "Now....back to our main business. Are you going to deny the fact that you killed sir James, with your own hand," He said with his eyes narrowed.

    "I do not, but it wasn''t my intention to do so. But I understand that you won''t believe me no matter what I say," Noah replied with a dark expression.

    "Hmmm. What do you mean by murdering sir James not being your intention. Did you only n to steal his reward?," Count Pedro asked.

    A deep frown appeared on Noah''s face after the man''s words, he could immediately confirm that this was another crime they wanted to rope him into.

    "I did no such thing," Noah countered ncing at his bloody fingers. Finding that the ring was nowhere to be found, Noah grit his teeth in annoyance. ''They had it nned all along,'' He thought

    Count Pedro shook his head in a mix of disdain and pity his mouth opening.

    "You managed to stay and hide the ring before the guards got to the scene, and now you deny it!," The man said his tier 3 aura ring up, almost suffocating Noah in the process.

    Noah coughed multiple times, blood also escaping his mouth, it took him a few seconds to regain hisposure.

    "I apologize for that," Count Pedro said after Noah had stopped coughing.

    "I refuse to answer anymore questions. I want a legal advocate or someone to defend me in court," Noah shouted.

    "It seems you''ve misunderstood, sir Noah," Sir Pedro exined with an eyebrow raised, "Your case has already been decided by the royals. You do not have ess to any such thing," he said coldly.

    "Is that even allowed by thew," Noah said, his mind still based on  how Earth was ruled.

    "I do not understand what you speak of, but our nation''sw has always been this way," Sir Pedro replied.

    "I did a little digging about your roots and found nothing, which was why i agreed toe here. But it seems you are just a scum that should be killed off," Sir Pedro sneered.

    "I find it funny that you could say that with such a straight face. Lying I mean," Noah said staring at the young man dead in his eyes, silence reigning among them.

    "If you truly value your life, I advise you cooperate with the man that enters here next, he isn''t as lenient as i am," Sir Pedro eventually said standing up.

    "Why didn''t they kill me right there?," Noah asked before the man left.

    "It seems the royal family sees value in you, which is why you were only restrained. This hasn''t been disclosed to the public, so you still have time to do as you are told," Sir Pedro exined with his back turned.

    Anger burned in Noah''s mind at those words, checking his mp points, Noah found that he only had 1 point which flickered every second.

    "I''ll find you," Noah eventually said. "I''ll find you and destroy everything you value," Noah announced with bloodlust pouring out of his eyes.

    A chuckle escaped sir Pedro''s mouth at that point, his voice ringing out. "Survive him first," He smiled, he and his body guard walking out, while a bulky, barely clothed man walked in.

    "All you have to do is break him. The royals will take care of the rest," Sir Pedro whispered to the individual, before vanishing into the orange lighted hall.

 Chapter 112 112. BRUTAL

    Noah gazed coldly at the young looking man. His mind already preparing him for what was toe. Nevertheless he still found it hard to believe that he would find himself In such a seemingly hopeless situation.

    The bulky man dressed In a long green apron and an ash shirt, walked into the cell. A table appearing on one side of the room, afterwhich different types of metal tools appeared on the table, each tool looking dangerous.

    The man silently arranged those tools un rows, Noah''s mood having reached extremely dark levels he never thought he could achieve. It looked like he was about to be tortured.

    "What is your name young man," The individual said, his nk gaze now on Noah.

    "I am Noah," Noah replied while also locking gaze at the man.

    "Aren''t you supposed to know my name," Noah asked subconsciously trying to stall a bit.

    "Ah, I normally should. I usually receive Information about my clients a week before our meeting, but I was only Informed about you a few hours ago, your name wasn''t included in my contract. Only that the royal family finds you valuable." The man replied calmly.

    "I am Vincent by the way," Vincent said, making a wooden chair appear underneath Noah''s hanged figure.

    Noah nod his head at the man''s words, while he felt his body get lowered onto the chair.

    Vincent walking over and strapping Noah''s neck arms and legs to the chair, and also strapped his fingers and toes separately.

    Noah watched this scene with utter coldness. Vincents vice like grip didn''t give him a chance to move anyhow, and his chest still buzzed from the deep wound in it, theck of mana powering his body constantly also made him feel incredibly weak.

    With those issues unsolved Noah didn''t dare to try and fight the tier 3 expert.

    Vincent suddenly brought out a small bottle and poured its contents on Noah, who gritted his teeth due to the burning sensation that spread in his body.

    Though, he also found that his chest wound closed rapidly, but notpletely.

    "That''s new," Vincent exmained at Noah''s still notpletely healed chest.

    "That was a middle tier potion for peak stage tier 2''s. Usually that is more than enough to heal individuals of your level, but this doesn''t seem so for you. No wonder you were able to give tier 3''s a bit of trouble," Vincent exined with a nod, pouring another bottles content on Noah.

    This time his chest''s wound closedpletely, a bit of energy returning to his body.

    "Truly Interesting," Vincent remarked, sitting on the chair that he brought for himself.

    "Let''s have a short talk sir Noah," Vincent said, with a serious expression.

    "I''m sure you understand what is about to happen to you, and how gruesome and painful it would be," Vincent started, Noah nodding his head in response.

    "But all of it can be avoided by simply agreeing to the royals offer and swearing an oath of service," Vincent nodded. "I believe you to be a smart young man, who only made a bad decision and got caught. So make your choice now," he added with a stern expression.

    Noah heaved a weak sigh at the man''s words.

    Immediately he found himself in the prison cell, his anger had been turned on the royals.

    They had gone as far as drugging him to put him in a messy situation, and they expected him to actually ept their offer.

    "Pathetic," Noah whispered with a dark smile, Vincent narrowing his eyes.

    "Can you repeat that?," The man asked. His serious expression vanished and turned to anger.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I disagree," Noah spoke, ring at the man, who nod his head and stood up sharply, a punch suddenlynding on Noah''s stomach.

    The air in Noah''s lungs escaped his insides, while blood flowed out of his mouth, causing him to cough multiple times.

    "I''ve already tried my best for today. That is as patient as I can get."

    "You may not know; so let me inform you. I''ve been paid enough to stay with you for a few years. Before that time expires, I promised to deliver a broken you into the royal family," Vincent exined, picking up what looked like garden scissors, but a bit bigger.

    Then he began walking towards Noah, who''s heart instinctively began to race.

    Vincent arrived in front of Noah and crouched in front of his fingers. He was about to act when he remembered something.

    He stood and brought out a thick looking cloth. His eyesnded on Noah''s body, then his fist struck Noah''s abdomen again, causing him to open his mouth wide open.

    In that split Instant, Vincent inserted the cloth into Noah mouth before he closed it. "We can''t let all your screams get out now, can we?," Vincent said with a cruel smile.

    Noah could only swallow his breath painfully and prepared his mind for Vincent''s next move.

    Vincent crouched again, his eyes staring directly into Noah''s, who switched gaze''s between his left fingers and Vincent''s face, his breathing rapid.

    Then suddenly, Vincent grabbed Noah''s middle finger the scissors going on to sever it.

    Noah had tried his best to prepare himself for the brutal pain he would experience, but that didn''t seem to work much, since a wild scream escaped his mouth, the cloth choking most of it, but his voice still remained loud.

    A p struck Noah''s face but that barely phased him. The Intense pian of his severed finger caused tears to cloud his eye balls. Just one finger!. He had experienced more painful wounds than that.

    A wildugh escaped Vincents mouth, his voice ringing out to the screaming Noah. "Do you think that was just a healing potion. It heals yes. But also heightens the sensitivity of the pain receptors in the human body. You didn''t feel much pain earlier because it takes one minute for it topletely kick in, andsts for two hours," He exined stillughing.

    He then grabbed one of Noah''s toes hisrge scissors cutting it.

    Noah''s almost choked on the cloth in his mouth, his mind buzzed intensely, all of a sudden he wanted the whole thing to stop, but he didn''t have the chance to say or do anything since he felt his left thumb get cut off.

    The sound of Vincent''sugh faded in Noah''s ears, as he lost consciousness. Almost.

    Right before his eyes rolled backwards,  a liquid sshed on his body, his pain vanishing instantly, his fingers and toe regenerating, while he regained his senses.

    Noah took a sharp breath in. He felt like head been revived from a near death state.

    "We have just begun and you are already passing out," Vincent clicked his tongue, while walking towards the table of tools and picking a hammer.

    Noah continually red at Vincent, his eyes filled with more blood lust than he had ever felt.

    "We are going to deal with that," Vincent shook his head at Noah''s re.

    "I''ve seen better rers who didn''tst a week. Let''s see how long you''llst," Vincent said smashing Noah''s hands with the hammer in one quick movement.

    His hammer also went for Noah shoulder''s, disgusting crunching sounds and gushes of blood escaping Noah''s body, his loud screams filling the halls of the cell, while Vincentughed hysterically, the light of madness filling his eyes, whilst he poured healing potions on Noah''s body and continued the brutal beating.

    This was how Noah began a gruelling experience that would change the course of his life, forever.

 Chapter 113 113. CUDGEL

    If one looked into Noah''s prison cell, they would see a pool blood that had formed due to the blood that dripped from his fingers and toes that had all been cut off.

    Noah''s face remained expressionless while Vincent severed his toes. Apart from the asional flinch, no signs of pain could be seen on Noah''s face. If not for his rythmic breathing a person would think he was dead.

    Noah had been subjected to almost two weeks of torture.

    He wasn''t sure whether it was his innate ability to quickly adapt to his environment and situation, or the useless system that had not helped him in the time he needed it most, but he had eventually gotten used to the immense pain that came with those torturous procedures.

    Vincent cut hisst toe off, a clicking sound resounding from his mouth. He had lost the enjoyment of Noah''s torture ever since he stopped reacting to pain.

    "It seems that is thest for the day," Vincent said wiping his hands of blood and pouring three potions on Noah. Normal ones this time.

    Noah''s fingers, toes, yanked off hair, bones and skin, regenerated rapidly, but that didn''t stop him from feeling drained, mentally that was.

    Through out the almost two weeks of torture, which Noah had been able to count due to Vincent''s talkative nature.

    Noah had gone through three rounds of torture every single day, with only about thirty minutes of rest, which was absolutely useless since he was deprived of food and water, only living on potions.

    Noah''s mind had gone through different stages which ranged from anger at the initial days of his torture, then regret for not heeding to elder Mchi''s words and fleeing.

    He also experienced a questioning stage, in which he asked himself why exactly he didn''t want to join the royals, he passed that stage only because of one thing, he wanted to kill them!, badly.

    Andstly a calming stage in which he nned an escape.

    Vincent had also been a great source of information. The guy seemed to want attention constantly and Noah didn''t mind giving it to him. He didn''t have a choice after all.

    Noah hade to undrestand that although the young looking man seemed to enjoy torturing people, he was only doing his job, and not because he hated Noah in any way. But that didn''t mean Noah wouldn''t kill him brutally if he had the chance.

    ording to Vincent, the next day, which was going to be Noah''s 14th day in the cell, there would be a festival in the town surrounding Count Pedro''s region of control.

    But the festival wasn''t held because it was an annual event, it was simply because there would be a political meeting between the count and an esteemed individual.

    The most important point in the information was that Noah would be left alone in the cell, apparently to let he and Vincent rest.

    Noah could only rejoice inwardly at that point. The n he had been using a few days to put together could finally be implemented, and with the full day leave, Noah was almost hundred percent sure he would escape.

    The only issue he had to worry about was the escort of tier 3''s that would gather in the town to protect the esteemed guest.

    But he tried his best to push that matter to the side of his mind, if his n worked perfectly he doubted any tier 3 in the area would be able to survive.

    "It seems it truly is a goodbye," Vincent''s said dramatically while he walked towards the cell''s exit, Noah''s body being pulled up by the chains and hung, while Vincent waved his hand and the torture chair disappeared.

    "I hope when I get back you give me the reaction that I want," Vincent spoke exiting the cell with a smile.

    Noah watched that scene with dead eyes, all he cared about was being left alone to finalize his escape n.

    Vincent''s steps on the stone floor faded in the distance, silence befalling the cell room.

    After a few seconds Noah heaved a slight sigh while violent imaginations of making Vincent suffer yed in his head. He shook those satisfying thoughts after a few minutes.

    Closing his eyes to have the longest rest he would have in almost two weeks.

    Noah was about to fall into his so rightfully deserved sleep, when he heard footsteps approaching his cell.

    His eyes opened slowly, the figure of Count Pedro and his bodyguard entering his sight.

    The cell''s gate slid to the side allowing the two figures in.

    "What do you want?," Noah asked slowly, not hiding the annoyance and anger in his voice.

    "Incredible, almost two weeks and you still have that amount of fierceness," count Pedro shook his head.

    "What type of monster are you," He added, Noah only ring at him in response.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Clearing his throat after a few seconds of awkward silence, the count opened his mouth to talk.

    "I simply wanted to inform you that you''ll be moved out of my mansion. The royals want to take you somewhere more secure." he started.

    "Vincent would still be with you, but he''ll have far more resources to do what he does best," He ended with a nod of his head.

    "And why are you telling me this?," Noah asked coldly.

    "Just to make you understand how much the royals are willing to spend on you. You won''t be left alone easily, and they would most likely seed. So I advise you to drop your pride and just ept their offer. It''s not bad at all-," Count Pedro couldn''t finish his words since Noah cut him short.

    "Did they send you here to tell me that?," Noah asked with pure disdain.

    "No they didn''t, i-," Sir Pedro was cut short again.

    "I see....They aren''t totally ready to spend too much on me so you were sent to try your best. Well I still disagree," Noah spoke closing his eyes.

    A sigh escaped Pedro''s mouth, his head shaking in the process. "If this is how you want it, then we''ll y along," He said turning and walking towards the exit of the cell.

    "And this move will happen the day after tomorrow, but I doubt you''ll know the difference," Count Pedro announced walking outside, his figure leaving Noah''s line of sight, while the bars slid back into ce.

    A sigh escaped Noah''s mouth after a few seconds, his wrath filled eyes opening. Although he had acted tough, he really wasn''t.

    A sense of urgency filled his mind after the meeting, he wasn''t really sure when to implement his n. He ced his bet on a around ten hours from his current time, but he also didn''t want rush it too much. He wanted it to be the right time.

    Checking the countdown on the bracelets function, Noah estimated the time period, hoping he would get it right.

    Closing his eyes Noah slept. His sleep being filled with dreams, mostly of his two weeks of torture, anger even managed to seep out of his consciousness, he really wanted to pay the royals back.

    *

    *

    Noah''s eyes snapped opened, his mental waves Instantly spreading to cover the cell room. Calming down a bit, Noah scanned his environment.

    His frantic awakening was as a result of Vincent''s brutal way of waking him, which was by stabbing him anywhere he saw fit.

    Checking the bracelets countdown, Noah saw that he had slept for almost twelve hours. He expected the day to be morning already.

    A rxed sigh escaped his mouth when he saw that no one came towards his cell.

    He initially had doubts about that information, but it seemed he had been worried for nothing.

    A look of resolve suddenly appeared on Noah''s face, his mind moving to bring the most important instrument of his escape.

    A small explosion instantly resounded a few meters in front of Noah, stone and debris falling from the roof of the cell, a floating stick appearing in lime light.

    He had summoned Cudgel.

    Noah didn''t waste any time, he wasn''t sure if there were any guards watching his cell so he kept himself on a strict one minute time limit.

    Causing Cudgel to float towards his body, Noah made it float horizontally, its base touching his skin.

    With that done, he also made Muillix appear on his body. What he was about to do could kill him if he didn''t have extra protection, not that he was scared of pain.

    ording to Noah''s fears, he heard multiple footsteps rapidly moving towards his cell.

    Noah''s eyes managed to fall on the first running guard, but before the man could do or say anything, his mouth whispered one word.

    "Grow."

 Chapter 114 114. MESS

    A few minutes before Noah''s escape, count Pedro could be seen sitting in a nicely decorated room, and in front of him was a man who looked to have just hit the age of thirty.

    This young man sat quietly in front of count Pedro, his lips sipping the cup of tea he had been served, while his long blonde air fluttered in the cool morning  breeze that entered the room through the wide window, which also illuminated the room by allowing in sunlight.

    "I hope your travel wasn''t too harsh. I heard that the roads to get here from the northern regions are filled with powerful beasts," Sir Pedro initiated a conversation after a few seconds of silence.

    The young man who''s name was Nigel, the son of a prominent noble family that had risen up after multiple centuries of hard work in the Cusk nation and had managed to seizends during the sh between the three main nation''s.

    Nigel being the fifth son of the house rose to fame after soloing a region popted with magical beasts his level of power at that time, around a century ago.

    The royal family saw potential in him after that Incredible feat and moved to form an alliance with his family, the Deligon noble family, but they had to hold on for over fifteen years to allow Nigelplete his advancement into the fourth tier.

    Now, count Pedro was charged to amodate him for a few months until the representatives of the royal familye to take him, since the distance to the central city was Incredible, taking years to cover even on flying Beasts.

    "No it wasn''t. Though they were weak I got the chance to test out my strength a bit," Nigel spoke sipping more tea.

    Count Pedro smiled at that point, it seemed the individual would be easy to talk to.

    "Is there anything that I may get you to soothe your arrival," Count Pedro stood up and bowed.

    Nigel raised his eyebrows in mild surprise, multiple thoughts coursing through his grey coloured eyes.

    "Actually there is." he started. "I saw that the towns people were celebrating something, and I would like to get something to eat. It''s been over a decade since I ate something good, and I departed from my home immediately I awoke," Nigel said standing up from his chair, his eyesnding on the outside world.

    "I also heard from my men that you have a prisoner here," Nigel suddenly said walking towards the window.

    Aplicated expression flickered on Pedro''s face his mouth opening to talk.

    "Yes there is, and he goes by the name Noah," He answered with a bow.

    "Hmm. I would like to see him, but I want to eat," Nigel chuckled slightly, turning to face Pedro, when his eyes suddenly sharpened, his aura bursting outwards to engulf Pedro''s figure.

    Immediately that happened a powerful explosion expanded outwards a massive pir-like structure erecting Into the sky at amazing speeds.

    *

    *

    *

    Noah Instantly found himself barreling upwards rapidly. Already being over a kilometer from the ground. His eyes were wide open as shock filled his mind, but he didn''t let it stay too long.

    ncing at his arms, Noah saw that the chains had been broken, Mana immediately beginning to fill his body.

    During that short second the staff continued to grow higher and expanded even further, its base looking like arge golden wall to Noah.

    Stopping Cudgels growth, Noah took a deep breath in. it felt like ages since he had a breath of fresh air.

    Watching his mp get refilled at a rapid rate, Noah felt the joy of his escape vanish as anger reigned in his mind.

    He wanted to make someone pay for his suffering, and he instantly decided on something very dangerous.

    Focusing his gaze on Cudgels base, Noah tried to see how high he had gotten but couldn''t.

    He had erected the staff in a horizontal position, but as it attained height it began to rise up a bit, enough for Noah to be able to lie on, but all he could see was the sky above him.

    Commanding Cudgel to shrink, Noah saw the immense pir thousands of meters high and hundreds of feet wide, instantly vanish. Dust spreading on the ground due to that sudden emptiness.

    Noah immediately began to fall but that didn''t worry him, his eyes were on the portion of the ground tht had a huge hole in it.

    Excitement tried to reach his mind at that sight but he cut it short. What he was about to do could end his life but he didn''t care, or rather he he had a back up n. His advancement.

    Grabbing Cudgel while still descending, Noah caused the air beneath him to solidify enough for him to get at least a second of suspension, toplete his attack.

    Spending around 40mp on that, Noah activated the speed forces effect on his body.

    Immense energy suddenly filled his body. Noah''s former fatigue instantly vanished as strength coursed through his veins, but that wasn''t the main reason for his using that ability.

    Orange lightning exited his hand and wrapped around the staff, Noah didn''t stop until he couldn''t see Cudgels surface.

    Raising the already vibrating staff above his head, Noah utilized all the strength his body could muster to hurl Cudgel down at an astonishing speed.

    A bright orange streak flew towards the ground, the disoriented town''s people barely noticing the streak. When it suddenly erged!

    Noah caused Cudgel to grow again but this time in a finishing move.

    The sky trembled when the massive figure of Cudgel descended down the sky. Doom fell on the towns people as their lives shed In front of their eyes, death seemed the only oue of that event.

    But just as the massive staff was about to hit the ground, a figure shot towards its base, a tier 4 aura spreading In the city, but he couldn''t do anything, as Cudgel was immensely heavy.

    Cudgels massive structure struck the ground with a powerful thud, intense shockwaves barreling out around its base. Arge portion of the town being destroyed as hundreds were killed instantly.

    Barrages of messages about receiving exp filled Noah''s eyes as he descended.

    Landing on Cudgels surface, Noah managed to quickly scan his environment.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Cudgel seemed like a goldennd that stretched for almost a kilometer, Noah wondered how he could even achieve that without mana.

    Before he could admire his weapon longer, a panel that Noah couldn''t ignore appeared in his eyes, followed by an intense sensation of pain.

    [You have broken tier 4 oaths conditions]

    [Your Mana pathways will now begin to explode]

    [You have ten minutes before death]

    [9:59]

    - -- -- -

    [9:58]

    - -- -- -

    [9:57]

    Noah''s expression instantly darkened at that prompt, then he vomited blood.

    His mind quickly moved to leave that area, but he couldn''t jump down from that height, he would surely die.

    ''I wonder if I can let Cudgel reduce in height but retain its width,'' Noah thought desperately.

    As if listening to his thoughts, Cudgels length rapidly reduced, Noah almost getting pulled up due to the sudden descension.

    Without scanning his absolutely destroyed environment. Noah looked for the nearest signs of forestation, his eyesnding on some which were a few kilometers away, but that wasn''t a problem.

    Jumping off Cudgels structure which was around one meter high from ground surface, though it had dug far deeper into the ground, he calmed down a little.

    Noah turned Cudgel back to normal and sent it to the sky while he sprinted forward. Unable to see the bloodied figure of Nigel at the bottom of the massive hole his attack had created.

    Noah immediately crossed the distance between he and the forest, though with a few struggles. The ground had be an uneven mess due to the power contained in the shockwaves.

    Not stopping at the entrance of the forest, Noah continued for just four seconds, then another intense pain spread through his mind.

    He instantly stumbled and fell, rolling for a few hundreds of meters, before smashing into a tree.

    Mullix receded back into Noah''s body as he coughed bucket''s worth of blood, surprise filling his mind when his eyes fell on blue coloured blood.

    Quickly ignoring that aspect of his blood, Noah opened the advancement panel

    [You have reached the maximum level

    of your current Tier. Would you like

    tomence advancement now]

    [   Yes/No ]

    [All remaining exp gained will be distributed only after you advance]

    [Note: Picking ''No'' doesn''t forfeit your chance of advancing. Whenever you are ready this will reappear]

    Ignoring the other messages, Noah immediately picked yes, while another Intense pain struck his senses, this time he almost lost consciousness, blood pouring out of his eyes, noes, mouth and ears.

    Noah knew for sure that he would die, but the system managed to surprise him.

    [Advancement will begin....]

    [ERROR ERROR]

    [User has their mana pathways destroyed]

    [Generating a new mode to advance..]

    [Generatingplete]

    [Due to users predicament, you''ll have to be stripped of your connection to Mana]

    [Do you ept]

    [Yes/No]

    [Note: If you agree there will be no going back]

    Noah didn''t care about anything at that point, the countdown had reached two minutes, and he already felt his life slipping.

    Choosing yes, Noah waited for something to happen, but nothing did for a few seconds, his pain even beginning to reach blinding levels.

    Noah was about to stand, when his body exploded into a gory mess.

 Chapter 115 115. SENTIENT

    Noah found himself floating in a familiar dark environment.

    "Am I dead?," Noah wondered, then he realized that he didn''t have his body, only his consciousness.

    Sadness surged in his mind at that point, regret for his rash actions raged in his consciousness.

    "Am I going to get reincarnated again," Noah thought, "I barely spent three months in Creagar," He added.

    "It seems I was destined to not live long in any life," he sighed.

    "I wish I could pay those damned royals for their actions. But this the reward for my actions. I brought this upon myself."

    Noah felt himself float in that familiar darkness for what felt like hours then eventually days, Noah beginning to lose hope in returning. But a change suddenly happened.

    [ADVANCEMENT PROCESS COMPLETE]

    [Integrating users body and mind]

    [Five seconds tillplete integration]

    A automated voice boomed in Noah''s environment, shock washing over his existence.

    Before he could react in any way, a bright white light mmed into his senses, Noah felt his consciousness speed through different environment until he stopped.

    Snapping his eyes open, Noah sat up while he frantically inspected his body using his hands, a wave of shock and joy spreading in his mind.

    Before he could rejoice further, mulitiple system panels appeared in his eyes. It took him a few seconds to sort through them.

    [You havepleted your advancement into tier 3]

    [You are now level 61]

    [You have gained 2200 stat points for distribution]

    [Due to users destroyed Mana pathways, you have evolved into a different species]

    [You have gained status Speedling-Hybrid[iplete]]

    [Hybrid: An existence that has gained features from two different species]

    [Your body, mind and energy core have been evolved]

    [Due to your new state you are qualifed for a new element]

    [Browsing through collections of elements that suit your level of power....]

    [Suitable element found]

    [You have gained ICE AFFINITY]

    [You have gained skill ICE elemental control]

    [You have gained 80% resistance to cold environments and attacks]

    [Due to your new state, all your spells have been desconstructed and will be evolved to suit your current state]

    [Time remaining forplete evolution of spells: 5 days 7 hours 24 minutes 12 seconds]

    [Your stats have been grouped into new modes]

    [ HP, Strength, Defense, Vitality, Stamina= Body]

    [Intelligence, Dexterity= Soul/Mind]

    [Due to your destroyed Mana pathways you have lost connection with normal Mana. Now you have ess to the speed forces energy]

    [SE= Speed Essence]

    [SE= Core]

    [You only have ess to rank 1 purity of the speed forces energy]

    Noah stared at the messages for a few minutes, his mind feeling numb, he understood only a small portion of the messages.

    He hadn''t felt the new changes the system is talked about, but most especially.

    ''I can''t use Mana, and I have a new elemental affinity!''. Noah screamed in his mind.

    Quickly standing up, Noah suddenly felt an immense feeling of strength like he had never felt. His eyes widened in surprise at that sensation.

    Opening his palm and closing it, Noah saw sparks flicker from that simple action.

    Throwing a punch at the space in front of him, Noah watched, as ripples spread through the air. The force contained in his casual punch demsolising tens of trees, even the ground gave way for that power.

    Excitement ravaged his mind at that sight, but then he noticed something else.

    His consciousness instantly expanded, Noah finding to his surprise that he could cover a radius of around a kilometer.

    Every nook and cranny of that space, he saw, and his mind didn''t get stressed from that influx of information.

    Noah also noticed that his thoughts had reached new levels of speed.

    Marvelling at his new level of strength, Noah was about to explore more when a green panel appeared.

    [You now have ess to your Soul core realm]

    Mild confusion spread in his mind, but he didn''t let it get the best of him, after all he knew that tier 3 brought new things.

    Thinking of going to the soul realm the system talked about, Noah suddenly felt his consciousness get pulled into his body.

    Noah opened his eyes, or rather mental eyes inside a white, almost empty space, vast in size.<novelnext></novelnext>

    At the center of this white environment was what looked like a small ind. His mental body or soul, floated towards this ind instinctively.

    Stepping on the small ind, Noah felt a sharp pain that disappeared as fast as it came, then he opened his eyes in seemingly another environment.

    A wide space of around one kilometer entered his sight, in the middle of this space was a spinning ck object, the size of a man''s head.

    Multicolored lights swirled around this ck object but Noah''s focus had been snatched from it, his eyes on a massive box that floated above the core.

    The box''s size stretched for far more than the ind itself. Noah even wondered how he had not noticed it earlier, that thing was immense.

    After gazing at the white box for a while, Noah confirmed something, ''I don''t know anything,'' he thought.

    Walking closer to the core, Noah suddenly saw a wisp of red light depart from the core and touch him.

    Memories suddenly surged in Noah''s head. He saw shes of moments he remembered to be from his time on earth.

    Opening his eyes in real life, Noah realized that had been standing, and only around a second had passed.

    ''Is that my memory box or something,'' Noah thought reviewing the memories he had almost forgotten, a feeling of nostalgia filling his mind.

    [[That is your soul core]]

    A panel suddenly appeared in Noah''s eyes.

    [[It''s the core that holds all your spells and memories. The bigger it is the powerful spells your spells are, and the powerful your mind bes]]

    More words shed in his eyes. ''What about the white box?,'' Noah asked the system or so.

    [[ME]]

    Noah stared at this word when it finally dawned on him. The system had be sentient!.

    ''Wait am i talking to you for real?,'' Noah asked taking a step back mentally.

    [[Yes you are Noah]]

    [[Unfortunately you can''t hear my voice since you don''t have ess to that function yet]]

    Noah blinked multiple times, this time he truly became excited. ''Deos that mean you can answer all my questions,'' Noah asked.

    [[Yes, but only those that you have ess to]]

    A wide grin appeared on Noah''s face after those words, ''Then why didn''t you help me stop the effects of the drink,'' Noah asked with a chilling expression.

    No answer came for a few seconds, Noah not knowing what to do, he was about to say or rather think something when another panel shed.

    [[You misunderstood Noah. I don''t detoxify anything, I was only made to simplify your rise to power. Your body deals with the detoxification, I only Inform you about the process]] The system exined.

    Noah could only get silent at that point.

    [[But I can bestow upon you abilities]] The system added.

    ''I don''t totally understand,'' Noah said.

    [[You don''t have to. Just understand that, that is my general function]] the system wrote.

    A few seconds passed, Noah not saying anything to the system.

    ''So does this mean you will continue to read my mind,'' Noah asked.

    [[Yes. But you can turn off this function anytime]]

    [Do you want to turn off the sentient part for the system]

    [Yes/No]

    ''I''ll pass,'' Noah shook his head, ''For now,'' he added.

    ''Currently I need you to exin this new state of mine. And every new thing i can do with my new tier,'' Noah said sitting in a cross legged position.

    [[Where do I start]]

    ''Anywhere you see fit,'' Noah replied.

    [[I advise you to leave this area before I start. It might take a while]]

    ''Oh....Okay,'' Noah replied standing up.

    Sweeping his gaze on his environment, he chose a random direction to go.

    Taking a deep breath, Noah activated the speed forces effect, but something different happened.

    Rather than his body simply emitting energy, he felt an object spin in his stomach, energy rushing up his body as his blue eyes zed with a yellow light.

    His skin seemed to harden, as his hair now white in color gained a yellow hue to it. His now hardened skin eventually began to emitt yellow sparks.

    Noah felt this same energy move into his soul core, the object spinning intensely, while yellow sparks flickering madly on its surface, as Noah''s environment practically stopped moving.

    Forming a fist, Noah watched as electricity poured out of his fist. He seemed to have be a powerful mass of energy.

    [[Take a step forward]] the system advised.

    Doing as he was told, Noah Instantly vanished from his position.

    The wind tried to move in a powerful explosion, but the bracelets effects on Noah didn''t allow that. Silence reigning instead.

    All that could be seen of Noah was a rapidly moving streak, yellow in colour.

 Chapter 116 116. DESIRE

    "What do you mean most of the town was destroyed," A middle-aged man asked the person kowtowing before him.

    "A huge hole was found in it, my Lord. Arge portion of the towns people are dead. The ones who survived are on deaths door." The individual exined without a moment of silence, respect and solemness radiating in his voice.

    Silence reigned In the throne room of sorts. The middle aged man on the ck metal throne talking.

    "What about my son, Nigel," The man asked, his tone incredibly cold.

    The still kowtowing individual trembled at those words. Although he was a tier 3 expert, his power was nothingpared to his Lord who stood above the lower stage of tier 4.

    "Young master Nigel was found badly Injured, but he survived," The man promptly replied.

    A relived sigh escaped the middle aged man''s mouth, another set of words leaving them afterwards.

    "What about his men?," he asked.

    "Almost all of them survived due to the items you rewarded them my Lord," The young man replied.

    "So that means few still died," The middle aged man said with a dark expression.

    The young guard nodded his head solemnly. "ording to them the attack had been too quick," the young man added.

    "I see," The middle aged manmented suddenly standing up from his throne of sorts.

    The young guard immediately looked up, "Where to, my Lord," He asked respectfully.

    "I desire to see the results of this attack myself," The middle aged man said walking towards the exit.

    "But the distance is far my Lord. It took young master Nigel and his men almost two months to get there," the young man respectfullyined while follow his Lord.

    "They travelled onnd, and killed beasts along the way. I n to take Herx," The middle aged man replied without stopping to nce at his house servant.

    The young man widened his eyes at those words, his mouth immediately shutting, while he limited himself to follow the head of the Deligon noble family.

    Therge door leading outside the room opened on its own, both men walking through it.

    A hall entered their sights at that point, but neither stoped to admire the beautiful tapestries, paintings and items that filled the hallway.

    They both walked down the brightly lit hallway, a few words escaping the middle aged man''s mouth.

    "How have the royals reacted to this sudden event?," The man said walking up a flight of stairs that had Inscriptions running along their material.

    "Their representatives teleported to the scene with around fifty individuals to help in the rescue," The young guard replied.

    "Oh...?," The middle aged man remarked,ing to a quick halt and faced his servant who equally halted his steps.

    "They teleported?," The middle-aged man said.

    "Yes they did, my Lord," The guard responded.

    "They must take it seriously to utilize such an expensive mode of transportation," The middle-aged man said resuming his walk.

    "Or did they have something valuable present there?," The man wondered out loud.

    "ording to what I heard, there was a prisoner present in count Pedro''s mansion. But who he was and where he came from wasn''t mentioned," The guard exined.

    "What about the count. How is he?," The middle aged man asked stopping in front of arge metal door, his palm going on to touch its surface, orange-red lines lighting up on the door, the sound of the metallic door opening, spreading in the air.

    "He survived, though barely," The guard replied, shielding his face for what was about to happen.

    Immediately the door opened, a powerful gust of wind exploded outwards, the young guard being sent flying, a mouthful of blood escaping his throat.

    The middle aged man on the other hand simply walked in, his body not being affected by the shockwaves of the fight ongoing therge room.

    "You can return to your quarters, and try not to say too much," The middle aged man said walking into the room, therge door closing behind him.

    The young guard immediately bowed and left.

    Immediately the door closed behind the middle-aged man, his eyesnded on two figures, one a woman, the other arge winged beast grey in colour that closely resembled a dragon!.

    During that short moment of Inspecting the room, five different shockwaves mmed his body, but it didn''t bother him. Seeing as the two figures hadn''t noticed him, he decided to watch their fight a bit.

    Dodging the torrents of ws, the young-looking woman jumped backwards, a powerful gale, the shape of a hammer mming the wyvern, but the attack barely fazed it.

    Opening its teethed mouth, a jet of orange mes burst out from its insides, the whole room rising in temperature instantly.

    Thedy saw this attack and snorted. Retrieving her sword from her dimensional-ring, she waved it at the ball of mes, mulitiple times bigger than a man.

    Her sword struck the ball of mes, and it instantly dispersed. Immediately she was done with that, her powerful figure shot forward.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Instantlynding the wyverns head, she struck it with a powerful punch.

    The ground directly shattered for hundreds of meters, dust rising into the air due to the powerful force.

    Ignoring the cry of pain the wyvern released, she punched it again, this time sending itsrge body across the room.

    Grabbing her formerly floating swords she pointed at the wyvern, taunting it.

    The wyvern straightened its position after regaining it''s bearing, shaking itself free of the rubbles on it''s body, it prepared to move again.

    Stretching its wings that spanned for over thirty meters, the wyvern pped them. A powerful gust of wind lifting itsrge body up.

    Leaving itself at a height of around fourty meters from the floor, the wyvern started.

    Red mes began to exit its body, an armour made of incredibly hot mes appearing on its draconic figure, but it wasn''t done.

    Around its already ming body, smaller sized wyverns made purely from mes flickered into existence, their numbers towering over twenty, the whole room getting illuminated by the orange radiance the mes emitted.

    The youngdy immediately turned serious at that show of power.

    A magic circle flickered beneath her body, her tier 4 aura intensifying.

    Then suddenly a powerful roar resounded behind her figure. Tworge golems made from highly condensed air both in the fourth tier, appearing behind her, but she didn''t stop there. Against the attacks prepared by the wyvern two golems weren''t nearly enough.

    Apletely green magical circle expanded beneath her golems, their numbers suddenly multiplying, as she spent arge significant portion of her Mana reserves to make them number up to thirty.

    Thirty golems with tier 4 power!

    At this point the air in the room had gotten incredibly heavy. Long cracks spreading in the rooms structure, both existences who had power in tier 4, getting ready to attack.

    Just as they were about to move, the middle aged man voiced out aint.

    "Are you two going to demolish this ce again," The man said rubbing his temples, a helpless expression evident on his blemishless face.

    No sooner than his voice spread, did the two cancel out their attacks, bother dashing towards the man.

    "Ah...Father I didn''t know you were there," The youngdy said floating around the man.

    The wyvern instead coiled its head around the man who pat it gently, then his aura suddenly turned cold.

    "How many times have i told you two, to desist from sparring indoors. I cleared out a spot in the forest just for that," The man said, sending chills down his audiences spines.

    "Ah... about that," The young woman said floating backwards, but suddenly froze when her father''s aura wrapped around her body.

    "Yes about it?," The man said staring at her straight in the eyes.

    "We destroyed the environment there, w had to stop.....," Thedy said immediately activating her defense techniques.

    But contrary to her expectations, no attacks came only the sigh of an almost old man.

    "I hope you don''t kill me before my enemies do," The middle aged man said retracting his aura.

    Thedy chuckled, "I definitely won''t," She replied trying to float past her father, who replied by punching her across the room. But he didn''t use his full strength, since that would surely kill her.

    Her figure mmed and dug the ck wall of the training room, blood pouring out of her still smiling lips.

    "Fa..ther....that hurt," she grunted freeing herself of the hole, and drinking a potion.

    Ignoring her wince of pain, the man nced at his pet wyvern, who shrinked in fear.

    Shaking his head in wonder, he floated onto itsrge head and sat on it.

    "I''ll be back a few days from now," The man said while the wyvern pped its wings, happiness surging in its mind for not getting punished.

    "Where to?," Thedy asked shielding her face from the gust of wind.

    "Count Pedro''s region of control," The man replied while the roof of the room opened.

    "Is there anything wrong?," Thedy asked, worry evident on her face.

    "Nothing you need to worry about," The man replied with a smile.

    "Who is going to spar with me then," Thedy suddenlyined, her blonde hair trying to get into her mouth.

    "Go hunting or something. Just don''t kill any of my men. I won''t listen to your apologies this time, and I don''t care if it was an ident," The man replied tapping Herx''s head, his lips whispering something to it, as yellow mes suddenly flickered on its wings, then it shot out of the roof.

    The already badly damaged ground and walls trembling to no end, more cracks appearing on them.

 Chapter 117 117. DEAD

    The finely dressed figure of the head of the Deligon family, could be seen atop his pet wyvern, Herx, who currently hovered high above the ground, itsrge body attracting some attention.

    Beneath them was a huge crater that had a lot of debris around it, the light of spells could be seen once in a every few seconds, as around fifty people radiating power between the peak of tier 2 and lower stage of tier 3, moved to clear the broken buildings and rescue the people trapped beneath the pile of rubbles.

    The middle aged man whose name would remain unknown for now, had arrived at the site a few hours ago.

    Traveling for a bit over a day on his pet, he managed to cross an amazing distance in that period of time, although he didn''t make any stops, because he didn''t need to rest.

    Multiple thoughts swirled in the powerful mind of this seasoned cultivator. Each time his eyesnded on the hole, and the Incredible destruction around it, he would shake his head.

    Personally his thoughts about the power of who did this, told him that the person didn''t seem to be any less stronger than he was, probably even stronger.

    "Ah...Good evening sir," A young looking tier 4 cultivator, greeted immediately he arrived at the middle aged man''s position in the sky, his eyes asionally darting to the wyvern that didn''t seem to care about his presence.

    "How are the rescues?," The middle aged man immediately asked without responding to the salutation.

    "It''s going well. It''s been four days since we started, and we''ve managed to rescue around 700 people," The cultivator replied not bothered by the man''s disrespect.

    "I see," The middle aged manmented, "Are you a representative of the royal family," The man asked.

    "Yes, but they are the remaining," The young looking cultivator answered, pointing at four floating figures, among which were, elder Mchi,dy Urel and sir Kreg, with one other man who felt stronger than the others, his figure at the forefront of the existences.

    "It''s been a while, Lord of the Deligon family," The man leading them teased, his hand outstretched to the middle aged man who immediately shook it.

    "It''s been I think a century and half or so. How is working for the royal family, and I see your cultivation level is keeping up," The middle aged manughed.

    "It''s been....Hmmmmm. I can''t totally exin my experience," The man replied with a shortugh.

    The middle aged man swept his gaze on the remaining four cultivators, a sigh escaping his mouth at how strong they were.

    "So what do you think about that?," The middle aged man asked, his attention now on the ground.

    "It seemed to have been done by a tier 4 existence. But we don''t know why. Pedro wasn''t much of a big deal politically, and there has been silence from the old noble families. We didn''t expect any attack of such scale," The man exined with a thoughtful expression.

    "But we do have rogue cultivators," The middle aged man furrowed his brows, "One of them might have noticed my son''s entry, or gotten Information, and decided to attack," He exined.

    "I do want to see him, but I''ve been informed that he was taken to the central city," The middle aged man sighed.

    "You may be correct about your point, but still, the timing was off. Unless they wanted to kill Nigel, which they obviously didn''t, then why did they even attack. Or was their n only to kill the town''s people," The leader of the representatives shook his head.

    A moment of silence passed among the six existences until the middle aged man talked, "At this point we can only wait to see if any other moves are made."

    Everyone nodded at those words but suddenlydy Urel spoke.

    "ording to survivors, the attack was a massive golden pir that struck the mansion with a powerful force. And that a first explosion happened before this massive one. Which is why there is a smaller crater over there," She exined pointing at a hole which looked tinypared to the major one.

    A frown appeared on their faces at that point, the representatives of the royal family having a more deeper frown than the middle aged man.

    They talked for a while mostly theories about what or who could have attacked.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Apparently there were many individuals which such power who had be criminals to the nations.

    The middle aged man eventually departed to his mansion, he had seen what he wanted to, and the sight made him slightly worried for reasons all noble families that heard the news knew. The fear of a possible civil war.

    The representatives of the royal family gathered somewhere close to the site, during nightfall, stern expressions on their faces as they discussed about their main worry.

    "You''ve confirmed that the smaller hole was from the cell''s beneath the mansion," The serious voice of the leader sounded, his rtively young-looking face having turned cold.

    "Yes," Lady Urel nodded with a slightly worried look.

    "I hope none of you think he actually caused all this," Lady Urel asked, no replying returning to her.

    "Impossible! We all know tier 2''s don''t have that type of power," She tried to cleanse the doubt that had begun to grow inside her.

    "Mchi did say he was full of surprises, and we watched a few scenes of his fights too," Sir Kreg spoke with a helpless shrug, his eyesnding on the person in question.

    "He did, but even I find it hard to believe he had such power. It''s simply impossible," Sir Mchi spoke calmly.

    A few seconds of silence passed, their aura-less figures in deep thoughts.

    "This topic would have been more valid if we believed he were alive. After all you confirmed that the oath activated," The leader suddenly said.

    "Yes it did. He''s definitely dead," Lady Urel sighed.

    "That must mean that during themotion he killed a few town''s people," Sir Kreg spoke.

    "I still do not believe he had that much power, but he he could have had in his possession, a very powerful treasure," Sir Mchi''s pointed out, the heads of his group nodding in approval.

    "We didn''t, and still don''t know his origins, so we can''t rule that out of the possible scenarios," Lady Urel spoke.

    "But weather he did it, or a rogue cultivator did, we can''t ask him. He''s dead," She added slowly standing up.

    "You''re right. It only saddens me that such an individual was wasted. He could have been a great addition to our ranks," Sir Mchi sighed also standing up.

    "What do we do now?," Lady Urel eventually asked, "The royals will be disappointed about this oue, but there is nothing we could''ve possibly done," she added.

    "I''ll inform them about the turn of events, after all I was assigned as your leader," The leader said standing up and beginning to float.

    "I just hope the young man who helped us in the initial n to get Noah bes something worthwhile," The leader added shooting upwards, the others nodding and doing the same.

    With this decision, the royals received the news and buried Noah in their minds, their thoughts never for once crossings the possibility of him being alive, after all, a tier 4 oath had killed him.

    ___________________

    *Authors note*

    I feel this is a good ce to end the second volume. See you guys in the third volume. And a big thank you to you all for your support, I hope to keep getting the motivation to write.

 Chapter 118 118. CALL

    Retaining his grip on the head of a peak-stage tier 2 ape, Noah watched as it tried to escape his vice-like grip. But he simply studied the hopeless aura the ape exuded.

    Eventually, it stopped trying to remove Noah''s hand and proceeded to turn gentle, a whimper-like sound escaping its teethed mouth. It had given up.

    Noah only nod his head at that sight. Relieving its head of his hand, Noah watched it try to run, but its head exploded into a bloody mess.

    ''So my mind is this powerful,'' Noah thought, although, he currently conversed with the system.

    [[Yes it is, and stronger than normal. When you interact with other cultivators you''ll realize this more]] The system replied, Noah, nodding in response, while his eyes fell on the over twenty dead beasts around him, all of their heads having exploded.

    During his two days in the forest, Noah had learned that his mind, or rather consciousness, could interact with his environment, and all he had to do was apply a little pressure on the bodies of peak tier 2 beasts to kill them.

    He had also learned that he couldn''t level up like he normally did, which was because he had lost his ess to normal mana, while his body ran on the speed forces energy.

    But ording to the system''s exnation, when he kills a tier 3 beast the system would automatically extract their mana cores, which would then be transformed into energy he could absorb. Though he hadn''t tested that function.

    Being cut off from Mana had given Noah a lot of advantages and disadvantages, one of those disadvantages being cultivating. He couldn''t simply sit outside and cultivate. No energy would be drawn towards his body.

    Rather, he had to enter a room within a different space that was connected to the speed force.

    Noah understood most of the details about his new state, but some still managed to escape his grasp.

    Like the fact that he had to be conscious of how much energy he used.

    Now; his superspeed was powered by his speedcore, which he would also use to cast spells.

    The system had exined that having his connection to mana, cut; His core would have to bear the weight of his spells and running since before the event, two different energies were ying a role in his body.

    Mana for running most of his body''s functions and spells, while the speed forces energy strengthened his body and granted him speed.

    The bodies of the beasts suddenly disappeared, he had stored them in his inventory.

    Noah also asked the system how he would strengthen his mind, and it only told him about a book he would read to expand it.

    This greatly confused him, but he didn''t focus too much on the matter, after all, everything about his current state wasn''t normal.

    His hybrid status wasn''tplete for reasons the system didn''t reveal to him, and also why his hair changed color.

    Although his white hair looked cool, Noah figured it would stand out too much, but he still left it as it was.

    Expanding his consciousness to its limits Noah wondered what to do now.

    He couldn''t simply level up, and the system had told him to wait until the countdown on his spells ended before he would receive his new body cultivation manual and soul core cultivation manual.

    Which left cultivating his core, but he currently had a full tank. Killing tier 2 beasts didn''t force him to go all-out or even utilize any of his current abilities.

    There was also the option of distributing his stat points, but that would only take a few seconds, and he wanted to keep them for now since ording to the system they were more valuable than he thought.

    The speed force exined that now that his body had evolved past the limits of tier 2, things like his stat points could be gotten any time, mostly from converting mana to it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Frankly, Noah didn''t understand why that was so. He could already transform normal mana into something he could cultivate, but ording to the system, stat points contained the simplest form of energy, one that could be used in different aspects of his strength.

    The exnation sounded good until the system told him how much it would cost him.

    Which was that more than half the energy in a standard Mana core would have to be cut off to achieve that simpleness, but Noah didn''t like that idea.

    [[How about leaving this area and finding a town]] The system advised Noah, who shrugged at its words.

    Personally, Noah wasn''t ready to interact with humans. His experience with the royal family left a bad taste in his mouth, coupled with the death of James, but he didn''t want to think too much about that topic.

    The thought of returning to Vonol and meeting Jesse crossed his mind, but he couldn''t imagine himself breaking the news to the young man, and he also didn''t know where he was.

    It seemed that he had been transported from the mansion the incident happened, to count Pedro''s domain, who he wished wasn''t dead. As he would love to end the man himself.

    Noah''s eyesnded on the vegetation around him, he wished to test his ice affinity but he still had a few days to go.

    [[Then what about more hunting]] The system wrote.

    ''I''ve been doing that for almost two days now, I want stronger beasts,'' Noahined.

    ''I know my spells aren''t ready but from how your exnation of how strong I am, and from the numbers in my stats, I should be able to take a few beasts with my body,'' Noah said admiring the quietness of that area.

    [[Then you should do just that]]

    ''How? My consciousness hasn''t picked up any tier 3 beast, and we should be very deep into the forest,'' Noah replied.

    [[Then make a call. Due to your iplete hybrid status you have gained a few features from the SPEEDLINGS]]

    ''How do I even do that?''

    [[Just open your mouth with the intention of calling and let your body do the rest]]

    Noah furrowed his brows at those words, they made absolutely no sense, but he still tried anyway.

    With his consciousness expanded to its very limits, Noah opened his mouth with the vague intent of calling or rather challenging a tier 3 beast...

    Shock filled his mind when he felt a tiny portion of his energy leave the ck spinning object that was his speedcore, and enter his vocal cords.

    A powerful high-pitched sound that Noah affirmed wasn''t audible to the human ear, escaped his mouth, as his surroundings shook from the power in those sound waves.

    Shutting his mouth in surprise, Noah felt another wave of energy; also minute in quantity, flow to his soul core and influence his consciousness.

    A faint tremor spread in his mind, as Noah felt an emotion he couldn''t totally exin. A few Instants after that event, something strong struck the range of his consciousness

    A tier 3 beast had heard his challenge and epted it!

 Chapter 119 119. ONE HUNDRED

    The beast, which was arge ram like creature with a series of azure spots on its grey coloured skin, and horn, dashed towards his position.

    Noah could see the rage in its eyes, as it destroyed the lush vegetation rich with Mana, but didn''t seem to care.

    Quickly snapping out of his shock, Noah focused on its figure using his consciousness.

    Trying to raise it up with his mental waves, Noah managed to get it a few inches In the air, but an explosion suddenly expanded from its over three meters tall figure. The trees immediately shattered as the ground caved-In from the discharge of powerful water that hit it.

    Noah''s mental waves in that area Instantly crumbled, but another wave soon filled that spot.

    With that experiment failed, Noah got prepared to face it head on.

    [Forest Ram]

    [Affinity: Water]

    [Tier: 3(Lower)]

    [Level of danger: unknown]

    Noah frowned a bit at the new way of Inspecting things, but he didn''t let that bother him too much, since the beast had arrived.

    A powerful explosion resounded in front of him, as wood and patches of the ground flew everywhere, but Noah didn''t care about those.

    Retracting his consciousness to wrap around his body, Noah raised both his hands forward to stop the beasts rampage.

    An Incredible forcended on those limbs, but to both the Ram''s and Noah''s shock, his body didn''t move an inch, while crack''s spread on the already damaged ground.

    A grin instantly appeared on Noah''s face at his level of strength.

    Grabbing the rams horn with his left hand, since it had bent its head to Noah''s height.

    Noah was about to throw a punch when its body suddenly began to glow. azure water filling Noah''s vision an instantter.

    Quickly expanding his consciousness, Noah watched a wave of azure glowing water sweep him away from the beastsrge body, but the water didn''t just push him away.

    Noah felt some of that bright liquid try to seep Into his skin, then a panel shed in his eyes.

    [You are taking damage, 29 hp lost]

    Noah couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow at that sight, he hadn''t felt any pain whatsoever, but the system said he was taking damage.

    Focusing on the water, Noah felt his core spin faster while he tried to understand the properties of that liquid.

    A sudden sh filled Noah eyes when understanding dawned on him.

    The ck color of Muliix''s material suddenly covered his body as Noah fended off that poisonous water!

    Increasing Muliix weigh to over a thousand kilograms, Noah managed to stop himself from being carried away by the water, although it annoyed him.

    Crouching a bit still inside the wave of blue liquid that seemed never ending, Noah shot up with a powerful bang.

    The ground directly shattered from the power and weight his body had.

    Quickly reducing Muliix''s weight to normal, Noah didn''t have time to admire its new cosmetic features.

    At this point he had reached around 40ft into the air. sping both his palms, Noah brought them down in a powerful smash.

    His hands struck one of the beasts horns, its material directly crumbling from Noah''s smash.

    That event left the Ram dibobted, while pain entered its wild mind, its Instincts kicking in.

    Just as Noah was about to deliver another blow to the other horn, which he found very dangerous, Noah watched every single blue spot on the Ram''s glow intensely, his insctincts which seemed to have been heightened, ringing from that sight.

    In the nick of time, Noah managed to jump as high as he could, right before an incredible explosion resounded.

    The Rams surroundings for around five hundred meters got caught in the release of power, as the trees, nts and even the  ground beneath its body, suddenly disappeared, the wind picking up in speed due to that event.

    Noah found himself free falling from around 100ft, the rams attention fully on himself.

    A tinge of annoyance tried to seep Into his mind at that sight. There had been around two exchanges and the beast wasn''t dead, this wasn''t how he expected things to go.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah watched mulitiple ballsrge in size, shoot towards his figure, but he couldn''t dodge, opting to destroy them with his body, since they didn''t do any damage with Muliix on him.

    His figure eventually arrived a few feets above the ram, who didn''t hesitate to activate its most threatening ability.

    Its skin began to glow with a blue radiance, when Noah decided to take it seriously.

    Energy immediately left his core, flowed through his body and mind, bringing his skin to a new level of toughness, while his soul core spun so fast that he percived things in slow motion.

    Noah ignored the bright yellow light Muliix radiated, and opted to stand on the beasts back.

    A light sigh escaped his mouth at that point, he didn''t like the fact that he needed to activate the speed forces energy to win.

    But nevertheless, he raised his right fist and brought it down in a powerful punch.

    Still in slow motion, Noah watched his punch cause a ripple effect on the beasts skin, then his fist proceeded to dig a few inches into its flesh, while the Ram''s back caved in.

    Noah decided to stop running, and everything returned to normal speed.

    The Rams back bent in an unnatural position, as life left its ck eyeballs instantly, its body being no match for the power in Noah''s punch

    Noah also noticed that the environment suffered from his punch, although it was simply a powerful gust of air, which Noah believed would kill a peak tier 2 beast Instantly.

    Jumping off the Rams back, Noah watched a bright red object shoot out of its dead body, and float towards his figure, which he immediately stored in his inventory.

    But that wasn''t all, the beasts body suddenly disappeared, but it wasn''t Noah who had done that, it was the system.

    [Dungeon creation: 1/100 tier 3 beasts]

    Noah nodded at that notification, his powerful mind recalling the systems exnation on that topic.

    ording to the system, since Noah couldn''t level up normally, and that was the goal from the start, it had unlocked a function in which it would create a dungeon for him.

    All Noah had to do was collect one hundred beasts in tier 3, and the system would generate the dungeon.

    Noah at first didn''t really understand, but he remembered the few video games he yed on Earth and got a rough idea.

    ording to the system, the beasts would be powered by the speed forces energy, which would allow him be a able to gain exp and level up.

    ''But one hundred is too much,'' Noahined, ''I''ve only managed to call one beast in that level,'' he added with an unhappy smile.

    [[There is nothing I can do currently. I was programed to give you this function when you achieved tier 4, but had to bypass my code and unlock it for you before then. When you achieve tier 4, you''ll be able to edit the numbers as you like]]

    ''That doesn''t help. How would I achieve tier 4 at this rate, and I don''t directly gain exp from cultivating,'' Noahined.

    []Then just keep cultivating and increasing your base power as high as you can]]

    ''But you said if I do that, the exp needed to level up also increases,'' Noah frowned.

    []Yes it does, but wouldn''t you like to have a middle stage tier 3 power when you are still in the lower stage]]

    ''I would, but levelling up would be harder, which is the main goal here. And I hope you haven''t forgotten that you told me I can only cultivate past a certain point before i stop increasing In strength,'' Noah rolled his eyes.

    [[I know, but before that period of time you would have gather the amount of beasts you need]]

    ''And how long do you estimate, O great system,'' Noah snorted.

    [[Around five years with your current cultivating speed]]

    Noah almost choked on the saliva that wasn''t in his throat.

    ''Five years!. Have you forgotten that I have a death penalty practically waiting for me at the end of this year?!.''

    [[I never forget. But that time period is the only normal way]]

    ''Thanks, but no thanks. The normal way would get me killed. So please if you don''t have any other options; i want to go searching for Beasts,'' Noah waved his hand with a nk expression.

    [[There is also the option of upgrading the bracelet to increase its time limit]]

    ''Huh!.''

 Chapter 120 120. EVOLVED

    A wave of surprise filled Noah''s mind when his eyes fell on those words.

    A tinge of hope and excitement tried to seep into his thoughts, but after advancing into tier 3 Noah had gotten a good control over his emotions. Those feelings didn''t have a chance, coupled with the coldness locked inside of him, which would find its way out when he begins to interact with humans.

    ''Whats the catch. If it''s so easy why didn''t your code give me the option far earlier than now?,'' Noah asked with a serious expression.

    [[Unfortunately you are right. Due to the bracelets special grade and the tier it currently is, you have no chance of upgrading it because the materials needed to do so are scarce, and some aren''t even in your current realm]]

    Noah read those words carefully, his mind analyzing them to find clues about new things.

    When his eyes fell on thest word, he couldn''t help but ask.

    ''How many worlds or realms exist?]

    [You do not have ess to that Information]

    A helpless sigh escaped Noah''s mouth, his icy blue eyes falling on the sun that was beginning to set.

    Honestly he wished he had a friend. Yes the system acted as a sort ofpanion, but he wanted a real person.

    It had only been almost three days and Noah already missed Jamespany.

    A tinge of guilt tried to reach his mind, but he quickly shook it off, his eyesnding on the already repairing terrain of the forest.

    Most due to his disconnection with Mana, Noah couldn''t feel the energy present in the air, but that didn''t bother him too much.

    His eyes eventually fell on Muliix''s material, the helmet receding into his head, his nose getting to breathe the air without obstruction.

    Noah admired the new patterns on the armours wrists, he wondered if he had gotten any new ability from the armour.

    Although he had barely had the chance to really utilize the already crazy abilities of the armour.

    ''Can Muliix conceal its true form to look like normal clothes? I''ve been in this rag for a few days now,'' Noah asked the system while Muliix receded into his body, revealing the barely hanging clothes on his body.

    [[It can, but, your current strength isn''t enough for that]]

    Noah simply clicked his tongue at those words, his mind quickly moving on to other matters. ''So hunting it is,'' Noah sighed.

    [[Are you going to perform a call]] The system asked.

    ''No, that takes too much time. Instead I''m good to cause so much destruction, the tier 3 beasts won''t have any choice toe out. It''s also to test the limits of my strength,'' Noah exined; Muliix covering his skin, while yellow electrical energy began to crackle around his figure.

    Taking a deep breath, his daggers appeared in his hands, while his aura surged with battles intent. His immediately consciousness expanded to its very limits, while Cugels figure shot downwards in front of his figure.

    Making Cugel point horizontally at the space in front of him, Noah caused it to grow longer and expand for a few tens of meters.

    Of course that action resulted in the destruction of trees for over a kilometer in front of Noah, a make shift path stretching as far as the distance.

    Soon enough Noah began to hear the roars of multiple beast, most of them far weaker than him, but a few radiated intense aura''s.

    A grin immediately appeared on Noah''s face inside Muliix''s ck helmet, his figure silently disappearing from his position. A yellow streak behind him.

    *<novelnext></novelnext>

    *

    *

    Stabbing Cugel into the head of arge  bluish-green serpent, Noah heaved a heavy sigh while the light of life left the beasts eyes, his mindmanding Muliix''s helmet to disappear.

    Quickly sweeping his gaze on the destruction around his figure and the over 60 meters long, and over 2 meters wide serpent, Noah sat on its lifeless body, a red object immediately shooting out of its body, Noah immediately storing it.

    Not long after, the serpents body dissappeared, causing Noah to fall on the ground with a loud thud, but he didn''t care about that, his entire focus was on the panel in front of his eyes.

    [Dungeon creation: 9/100 Tier 3 Beasts]

    Noah had been hunting for almost three day''s and he had only managed to kill eight tier 3 Beasts.

    From his observation, it seemed his current location wasn''t really popted with them. The majority of the beasts being within the range of tier 2, no tier 1''s.

    During those almost three days, Noah had managed to understand his body to arge extent, and the results astonished him, even though he already had his stat panel.

    Every one of the beasts he killed couldn''t take his punch head on.

    They only managed tost as long two minutes due to their various abilities, but for the most they died in a few exchanges.

    The longeststing fight was the one he just had, taking over an hour.

    The tier 3 serpent had been a pain, its slippery scales caused his fist to slip away, and surprisingly it could also cause the sh from his his daggers bounce of its scale. Though it only utilized that ability a few times.

    Due to the low energy in the daggers, Noah opted for Cudgel, which was effective against the serpent for a period of time, until it began to dodge his attacks!

    Due to its shape, the serpents agility was incredible, Noah only being able to keep up due to his unique state.

    But its loss began when Noah managed tond a solid kick on its head. The events following that, leading to its death.

    ''At this rate it''ll truly take me five year''s to gather as much as I need,'' Noah thought.

    ''It seems I''ll have to return to the human civilization very soon,'' he sighed.

    Inspecting his ck core, Noah saw that he still had a bit over half his full capacity, and he hadn''t cultivated at all.

    ''I really need those manuals soon,''  Noah frowned

    ''Why do I have to receive them only after my spells are done evolving,'' Noahined.

    ''Before you give a long exnation on that topic, I know they are done,'' Noah grinned while a blue shining panel appeared in his eyes.

    [Evolution of spells has ended]

    [You have gained ess to all your former but reconstructed spells]

    [You have unlocked 15 new spells]

 Chapter 121 121. OVERPOWERED

    Noah had been through many surprises during his time on Cregar, and this moment added to that already high number.

    [Old skills]

    [Advanced slow motion perception[Passive]

    [Speedling Hybrid regeneration [Passive]

    [Speed clones [Active]

    [Advanced Wind Elemental mastery(Tier3) [Air Domain(Tier3)]

    [Air Spears [Active]

    [Advanced Lightning Elemental mastery(Tier 3)]

    [Energy bomb[Active]

    [Speed force armour [Active]

    [Lightning domain(Tier 3)]

    [Lightning bolt(Tier 3)]

    [New skills]

    [Advanced Ice elemental mastery(Tier3)[Passive]

    [Frozen prison(Tier 3)[Active]

    [Frozen Golem''s[Active]

    [Frozen touch[Active]

    [Icicle beam[Active]

    [Frozen Movement[Active]

    [Lightning kes[Active]

    [Lightning chains[Active]

    [Lightning Storm[Active]

    [Air Storm[Active]

    [Zero air[Active]

    [Upliftment[Active]

    [Elemental aura[Passive]

    [Elemental charge[Active]

    [Speed Force potion creator]

    Noah raised his eyebrows at the barrage of panels, his eyes falling on his new spells, while his mind went on to enquire for their descriptions.

    [Advanced Ice elemental mastery[Passive]: You gain advanced control over cold temperatures, having the ability to manifest them anywhere you want.

    Costs: N/A, Duration: N/A, Cooldown: N/A]

    [Frozen Prison[Active]: When activated you create a 20m prison of ice around your targeted enemies, who are within the range of your consciousness. You can create as many prisons as you like, as long as you have enough energy to support their creation.

    Costs: 100SE/Prison, Duration: 10minutues(As long as they are not destroyed), Cooldown: N/A]

    [Frozen Golem''s[Active]: When activated you create 2 Golem''s capable of tier 3 power.

    Cost: 300SE, Duration: Until they are destroyed, Cooldown: N/A]

    [Frozen Touch[Active]: When activated your hands gain the unique attribute "Frost", and are capable of freezing anything they touch as long as it doesn''t have cold resistance higher than the users.

    Cost: 20SE, Duration: 1 minute, Cooldown: 15 seconds]

    [Icicle Beam[Active]: When activated, a beam of highly condensed ice particles getsunched at your target.

    Costs: 900SE, Duration: 3 seconds, Cooldown: 0.6 Seconds]

    [Frozen Movement[Active]: When activated, user creates cold mirages when they move as a result of the cold aura user naturally emits. Use this to cause your foes confusion.

    [Costs: 1SE/minute, Duration: N/A, Cooldown: N/A]

    [Lightning kes[Active]: Cover the radius of your mental consciousness with hundreds of floating kes made of highly condensed lightning. What ever thates in contact with these kes triggers their explosion, capable of tier 3 power.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Costs: 2000SE, Duration: N/A, Cooldown: 30 minutes]

    [Lightning Chains[Active]: When cast, users fingers attain the ability to create chains made of Lightning. These chains can stretch as far as the users mental consciousness.

    Costs: 1000SE, Duration 20 minutes, Cooldown: 1 hour]

    [Lightning Storm[Active]: Generate a tier 3 storm of Lightning within the radius of your mental consciousness, that strikes your enemies down.

    Costs: 800SE, Duration: 4 minutes, Cooldown: 20 minutes]

    [Air Storm[Active]: Generate a turbulent windy storm within the range of your mental consciousness.

    Costs: 700SE, Duration: 5 minutes, Cooldown: 20 minutes]

    [Zero Air[Active]: When activated, the area within the range of your mental consciousness instantly gets drained of air, creating a vacuum like environment.

    Costs: 3000SE, Duration: 1 minute, Cooldown: 3 hours]

    [Upliftment[Active]: When cast a powerful rush of destructive air shoots out of the ground. User only has a safe space of a 20cm radius around them, while the rush spans for as far as the users consciousness.

    Costs: 2000SE, Duration: 10 seconds, Cooldown: 3 hours]

    [Elemental Aura[Passive]: An aura is constantly formed around the user, and reacts to users emotions. This skill is abination of the auras of the users currently unlocked elements. Lightning aura+Air aura+Cold aura.

    When user unlocks more elements their aura''s will.be added to this list.

    Costs: N/A, Duration:N/A, Cooldown:N/A]

    [Elemental Charge[Active]: Be the emodiment of your unlocked elements, as your power is pushed one whole tier up. When activated you gain 700% boost to the attack power of all elemental skills, which have also been pushed a whole tier up]

    Costs: 99% of users SE pool, Duration: 30 minutes, Cooldown: 30 days.

    Bacsh: -90% too all stats. Duration: 2 weeks]

    [Speed Force potion creator: You gain the knowledge to transform the speed force essence into ingestible potions. You can only create potions in your cultivation room. You can currently create one rank 1 potion every hour, each potion capable of refilling 50% of your rank 1 speed core. You can currently create one rank 2 potion every 24 hours. Due to the current level of speed essence purity your body can handle: a rank 2 potion or raw rank 2 speed essence has a 70% chance of killing you if you cultivate it or ingest it]

    Noah read the description of the spells, excitement bubbling in his mind after he was done.

    He noticed therge speed essence cost the spells needed, but it didn''t bother him, after all his pool of speed essence was quite much.

    When his eyes fell on the most powerful skill in his current arsenal, a shiver went down his spine. There were multiple reasons for that reaction, but it was mostly due to the bacsh.

    "Two weeks, and utterly weak," Noah muttered. The skill was a trump card he would use only when he was sure he would die if he didn''t gopletely all out.

    Thest skill which was a very useful skill, also revealed shocking Information about the hierarchy of the speed force essence.

    Honestly he didn''t totally understand what it meant, that was because the system hadn''t told him anything pertaining to that subject.

    Overall his new skills were Incredible, coupled with the fact that he had a new elemental affinity, and it was also the one that he was formerly weak too.

    "Am I not getting overpowered," Noahughed, until his eyes fell on the old but renewed skills.

    Their names hadn''t changed much apart from the mastery at the end of the elemental control skills, and a few other ones.

    [Air Domain[Active]: Create a special environment just for yourself, which spans as far as your mental consciousness. In this environment, all air based elemental skills get 100% boost to their power, and 20% reduced SE cost for their activation.

    Costs: 30% of full SE pool, Duration: 30 minutes, Cooldown: 10 hours

    [Lightning Domain[Active]: Create a special environment just for yourself, which spans as far as your mental consciousness. In this environment a lightning based skills get 100% boost to their power, and 20% reduced SE cost for their activation.

    Costs: 30% of full SE pool, Duration: 30 minutes, Cooldown: 10 hours]

    [Speedling Hybrid regeneration[Passive]: Due to your new species being an iplete hybrid of the Speedling race, you have gained ess to a quarter of their true healing speed.

    Costs: 10 SE/Second, Duration: until fully healed, Cooldown: N/A]

    [Speed Clones[Active]: Create a clone physically identical to you and has 50% of your full power and speed. You can summon 2 of these clones(0/2)

    Costs: 70% of SE Pool and 50% soul core fragment per Clone, Duration: N/A, Cool Down, N/A]

    A wave of shock and excitement filled Noah''s mind after that wave of panels, his speed clones skill had to be the most safely overpowered skill in his arsenal, although he didn''t totally understand the cost, since it had soul core in it.

    With the ability to summon two clones, he had the potential of having three allies, though their full power would be equal to his, making for two of him, which was definitely crazy, even his other skills didn''t fall short in terms of craziness.

    With that done, Noah moved to ask the system the next most important question.

    ''Can I receive my cultivation manuals now?,'' he asked trying his best to calm his eagerness to test the spells, down. After all he needed a full tank to test themfortably.

    [Yes you can]

    With that singr sentence, Noah watched as multiple lights began to glow around his figure, three cracks suddenly opening in the fabric of space.

 Chapter 122 122. TUTORIAL

    Three small cracks spread in the fabric of space close to his figure. As blinding golden lights poured out of their insides, forcing Noah to shield his eyes.

    From within the cracks came three books. Each book glowing with golden radiance while they floated around him.

    The lights eventually died down, while the cracks in space fixed themselves instantly.

    Noah immediately uncovered his eyes, as theynded on the books, that shockingly radiated suffocating aura''s of the old.

    [Fully unlock them with your blood]

    Reading the panels words, Noah immediately searched for something to cut himself, finding none, he simply bit his thumb until it drew blood.

    Without any other instructions from the system, Noah managed to make his blood drip once, on one of the books, before his finger healed.

    A frown appeared on his face at that point, he immediately bit that thumb again, and only managed to extract one drop of blood before it healed.

    He did the same thing for the third book, and watched as all three vibrated intensely, a humming sound soon escaping their fabric.

    The humming suddenly stopped, after a few tens of seconds. A wave of silence spreading in Nosh surroundings, then a few secondster the sounds of locks breaking reced the silence, while a few panels appeared in his eyes.

    [You have obtained Body cultivation manual]

    [You have obtained soul cultivation manual]

    [You have obtained core cultivation manual]

    Noah nod his head at those prompts, his icy blue eyes falling on the still floating books.

    Their golden lights had died down, but their fabric still shimmered in the in that environment.

    Grabbing one of the books, Noah watched the other two immediately drop to the ground, but that detail didn''t matter much to him.

    Reading the words on the surprisingly heavy book in his palms, Noah immediately knew which one it was.

    "Soul cultivation of the Archaic Speedling race"

    ''That''s new,'' Noah raised an eyebrow, lifting the metal-like cover of the book.

    His powerful eyesnded on a set of golden words, "Those who wish to obtain power must give in to speed."

    He tried to gain any new meaning to that sentence, but he soon gave up on that goal. The sentence only sounded dramatic.

    Just as he was about to turn to the next page, the systems words shed in his eyes.

    [[You must be careful. It wasn''t attuned for your unique race. So you may encounter a few difficulties]]

    Noah nod his head sternly at those words, but surprise still managed to fill his mind when he turned to the next page, his eyes immediately fell on a set of shining words, then his vision suddenly went ck!

    Sitting up frantically, Noah quickly swept his gaze on his surrounding, realizing that it was already night fall, he quickly stood up and picked the three books, storing the two that weren''t the soul cultivation manual.

    "What the heck was that?," Noah asked the system.

    [[I did tell you that you might encounter some difficulties]]

    "You did, but why didn''t you tell me that I would straight up pass out?," Noah frowned.

    [[I didn''t know this would happen]]<novelnext></novelnext>

    "But, aren''t you in total control of stuff like this?," Noah asked, bewildered.

    [[You are a new species. This wasn''t how full Speedlings react. Actually I''m storing your body''s reaction in my database for future use]]

    A sigh escaped Noah''s mouth at that point, "So basically I''m a test subject."

    [Yes]

    "Then let''s continue testing."

    Noah sat in a cross-legged position, the golden book on hisp.

    Opening the book, Noah sighted the golden words, then a tinge of nervousness suddenly appeared in his mind, but he quickly shrugged it.

    Taking a deep breath and turning to the next page, Noah''s eyesnded on a series of shining words he didn''t understand, but that wasn''t the main problem.

    Immediately he sighted those shinning words, his soul core trembled beyond reason, as a massive headache struck his senses.

    Noah, in that Instant felt his consciousness begin to slip at an rming rate, but just before he couldpletely pass out, a wave of energy left his core and shot towards his soul core

    The ck object which was his soul core spun intensely at that assistance. Noah managing to stare at the first set of words for a few instants longer, then he passed out, again.

    Noah suddenly snapped his eyes open, the sunlight filling those organs, but he didn''t shrink from that suddenness, since his consciousness was inside his soul realm.

    A wave of excitement spread in Noah''s mind when he found that his ind had expanded by a few millimeters, and his core had gotten bigger though its increase was almost non-existent. Honestly he wondered how he could tell the difference.

    The system further confirmed his thoughts, with the prompt that appeared in his eyes.

    [You have gained exp. Your mind has gotten stronger]

    ''So all I have to do is stare at the shining words to strengthen my mind,'' Noah thought. ''But how do I do that if I keep passing out after barely a second,'' Noah sighed, hoping the system would answer his question, which it did.

    [[All you have to do is train it]]

    ''Please exin more on that,'' Noah shook his head

    [[I meant that your mind is currently at the bottom of its rank, which means its sturdiness isn''t high yet. The sturdiness of your soul realm is very important, as it allows you handle higher mental pressures like the manual. You can currently help it by practicing spells]]

    "Practicing spells," Noah muttered.

    [[Yes. As a result of your recent breakthrough, your soul core is still fresh and hasn''t received any pressure that''ll force it to get sturdier. You can normally achieve this sturdiness by cultivating your soul core, but for now you''ll have to practice spells, since they are less tasking]]

    "I see...," Noah stood up. "My mind is too weak to currently withstand what ever is in the book," Noah muttered. "So I have to give it more of a tutorial to allow it handle the real deal."

    [Precisely]

    "I''ll do that after I''m done testing the other manuals," Noah suddenly said, "Though u do wish i knew more about soul cores," he stored the the soul core manual, then brought out another one at random.

    His eyesnded on a simrly looking golden cover to the soul cultivation manual, only that the words written on it were different.

    "Unbreakable body of the ancient Speedlings"

    "Now! that is how you name a book," Noah chuckled.

 Chapter 123 123. WILL

    "I should expect a few difficulties for this one too, right?," Noah prepared himself.

    [[Probably]]

    Lifting the book''s cover, Noah''s eyes fell on a set of golden words, "Those who wish to obtain power must give in to speed." The simr sentence left Noah surprised.

    ''Is this some type of motto, or magical word,'' Noah wondered, but didn''t put too much thought on it.

    Turning to the next page, Noah steeled his mind for what ever would happen, but to the downfall of his fear, instead of shinning words his eyes fell on a set of diagrams and words.

    A sigh of relief escaped his mouth at that sight, but just before he could rx even more, a yellow panel popped up in his eyes, followed by a powerful quake in the fabric of space around him.

    [Transporting user to cultivating room...]

    With those words, he felt a powerful light wrap around his body, his figure vanishing from the forest before he could react.

    Noah suddenly opened his eyes in a blinding environment, a sharp pain spreading in his eyes, as the intensity of the light felt beyond the sun''s!

    It took him a few minutes to reopen his eyes, the light of the environment seemingly lower in intensity than before.

    After that, Noah managed to Inspect his environment, and what he found left him in awe.

    He was inside a room that was shaped like a square, around 50m on every side, but its height seemed endless from Noah''s point of view.

    Standing up, as he had been teleported still cross-legged, Noah moved to inspect the walls, but he also used his mental waves.

    The walls of the room looked metallic, but Incredible runic patterns ran on their surface, which were the reason for the white light. The walls themselves being ck in color.

    Noah couldn''t touch the walls due to the runic patterns that felt Incredibly hot to his consciousness!, but surprisingly their heat didn''t go past a few inches from the wall.

    Noah stared at the runic patterns in awe, they were so many that they almostpletely overshadowed the ck colour of the wall.

    "What do I now," Noah eventually asked after a few minutes of staring.

    [[Begin your cultivation, every other thing will fall in ce]]

    "Okay...," he replied unsure.

    Walking back to his former position, Noah found the book on the ck marble like floor of the room. Picking it up he opened to the diagrammed page, which also had a few words.

    "The process of cultivating the speed force essence is a long and grueling task for those beginning alone. Luckily for you; whoever you are, I''vepiled everything Into a few stages, skipping the stages that would require too much time and less benefits, for those that require a bit lesser time but exponential benefits," The writer started.

    "Beware, the process, though rtively short, will be harsh and agonizing. The chances of death is also high enough to be considered. So continue this with those thoughts in mind."

    "With that done, let''s begin." The writer ended.

    "Revised by The God of Speed"

    Noah felt surprised by the ending, but when he thought to how everything he currently owned once belonged to the god of speed, that feeling quickly died down.

    Quickly moving his eyes to the first diagram, which also had a few words, Noah got ready.

    [[Don''t you fear the possibility of dying]]

    A panel suddenly shed in Noah''s eyes, his mind moving to reply.

    ''Why should i?,'' Noah asked genuinely curious.

    No words appeared in his eyes for a few seconds, a sigh soon escaping his mouth.

    ''Look, even if I was afraid, do I really have any choice. This is the only rtively quick way for me to get stronger in my current state, I''ll definitely take my chances with death due to that. After all I''ve already died thrice,'' Noahughed, returning his focus on the book.

    Studying the diagram, Noah realized that he was ready, since the diagram depicted a man sitting cross-legged.

    "First stage: Meridians opening"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Moving to the second diagram, Noah saw the picture of a faceless man standing with ck dots on specific points in his body. Beside the diagram was an exnation, which Noah didn''t hesitate to read.

    "To begin refining your body with the wonderful speed force essence, you must first allow the essence break through 6 essential points in your body, which are in pairs of two."

    "These points are, the shoulder joints, the elbow joints, the wrist joints, the hip joints, the knee joints, and the ankle joints." The writer stopped.

    "Note for you to urately do this, you must supervise the movement of the essence with all your attention, as a mistake could lead to agonizing consequences."

    "Also note that moving the raw speed force essence isn''t an easy task at first try, which is why you must practice that."

    "To learn this, turn exactly seven pages from your current one," The writer instructed.

    Doing exactly as he was told, Noah''s eyesnded on the title of the page.

    "Substage: Essence control"

    "To move the essence of the speed force, you must learn how it feels," The writer stopped.

    "I believe you should be present in the special cultivation room. To activate it, say the password."

    Noah frowned at the end of that paragraph, his mind wondering what the writer meant.

    ''Password?. I wasn''t given any password,'' Noah furrowed his brows.

    [[The first sentence you read is the password]]

    ''You mean the golden words?,'' Noah replied turning to the first page, his mouth opening to read out the words.

    Still unsure, Noah read the words out loud, "Those who wish to obtain power must give in to speed."

    As soon as he finished those words, the white runes Instantly glowed brighter, an intense buzzing sound filling Noah ears, then the white light went through multiple colour changes before settling on dark yellow.

    [Current rank of speed essence: 1]

    Right after the change of color and the appearance of a panel, what looked like yellow gas seeped out of the walls, a unique aura like Noah had never felt, permeating the room.

    Noah felt his body rejoice when that strange energy came in contact with his skin.

    He instinctively closed his eyes to enjoy that moment, a refreshing feeling spreading in his mind, mana never felt this good.

    He eventually opened his eyes to find that the whole room was densely packed with that energy, but it didn''t bother him in the slightest.

    Returning his gaze on the book, Noah calmly read the next paragraph.

    "Now that you''vee in contact with the raw speed forces energy, you will have to make it do what you want. Do not worry I''ll lead you through it."

    "Firstly, I''ll exin the basics of what you are going to be doing. I wouldn''t be exaggerating if I say you''ll be doing this for the rest of your life," The writer began.

    "To control the speed forces essence like any other essence, you need to infuse your will into it. If you''ve ever used any energy that isn''t the speed forces''s'', then this shouldn''t be new," The writer paused.

    "The only difference between other energies and the speed forces''s'', is that it only answers to my race, the speedlings."

    Noah nod his head at that point, but a question inevitably rose in his head.

    ''Would it answer to me; an iplete hybrid?,'' he wondered.

    "To infuse your will into the speed force essence shouldn''t be hard, making it perform ording to what your will demands, should. I advise you immediately try it," The writer paused.

    Noah nod his head and immediately closed his eyes to attempt it, but he suddenly reopened them an instantter. His expression totally nk

    Scratching the left side of his head, Noah smiled sheepishly, "I don''t know how to infuse my will into anything."

 Chapter 124 124. WORTHY

    Noah could almost feel the system shake its head in wonder. If it actually possessed a real head, which Noah doubted.

    ''What do I even do about that,'' Noah thought.

    ''I''ll need to visit a library to learn this stuff, but that''ll dy my progress for a bit. And I''m also not ready to deal with humans nonsense,'' Noah frowned.

    [[I can always bestow upon you that knowledge]]

    ''You can? I thought your code wouldn''t allow you," Nah asked perplexed.

    [[I can do this, only because what I''m giving you isn''t a skill just a tiny bit of knowledge. You''ll have to do most of the work yourself]]

    ''That''s good then. Please get on with it, Noah sat silently.

    [Do you wish to receive >Knowledge< Basics of Will control]

    [Yes/No]

    Quickly choosing yes, Noah felt a trickle of information flow into his head, his soul core beginning to spin slowly, as it processed that Information and gave it to him in its refined state.

    The process of the refinement was automatic, Noah didn''t have to do a thing throughout the two seconds of the process.

    Foreign ideas suddenly rushed Into Noah''s mind after the refinement. The ideas managed to leave him a bit surprised, as he wondered how he hadn''t noticed or thought of the ideas.

    Noah suddenly closed his eyes after a few seconds, his body radiating a serious aura, as he tried to unlock something inside himself.

    The information he had obtained, told him of something deep inside of him, something that was normally Imperceptible to those who hadn''te in contact with it, a person''s will.

    ording to what he received, a person''s will was basically a mass of their raw desires.

    But for that desires to have an effect on physical things, such as his environment and mostly energy, it had to be clear, Intentional, and Intense.

    The ideas that shed in his mind told him that those who had powerful wills, were mostly seasoned experts who had seen a lot, and their minds had been harden enough to withstand and affect a lot of things around them.

    Noah wasn''t sure he fit fully into that qualification, but he remained certain that he been through a fairly amount of bad situations, and that his current mind was definitely hardened.

    A cold aura suddenly burst out of Noah''s figure, his eyes opening to reveal his expressionless face, filled with a significant amount of blood lust.

    ''So I''m supposed to gather my desires in their rawest form, and infuse secondary desires into those already many desires, then apply it on my environment, or in this case, the speed forces''s'' energy,'' Noah thought, his cold eyesnding on the dense yellow fog around him.

    "But do I only want to kill the royals? After that what next?," Noah suddenly muttered, his cold aura flickering.

    After that event did he notice that ayer of ice had formed beneath his body, covering the room''s floor, but couldn''t affect the walls.

    He could also sight sparks flicker here and there, while a tiny cloud which also crackled, formed a few tens of meters above him.

    A tinge of curiosity flowed into his mind, but he soon destroyed it by focusing on the main issue.

    "Honestly I just want to explore the world," Noah suddenly sighed, "Killing the royals is simply a side mission, which I can only achieve with overwhelming power," Noah muttered, his cold aura suddenly vanishing.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Power,'' Noah thought, ''The only thing that truly matters in this new world," he shook his head.

    "Do I desire it?. Yes I do. Is it my only goal?. No it isn''t. Do I need it badly?.Yes I do. But I also want to explore this world, and probably others. Do I need power for this. Yes I do," Noah sighed, while his thoughts finally calmed down.

    In that moment of self reflection he managed to clearify something: his desires were many and he couldn''t pick just one, but their fufillment also depended on how much power he had, which eventually brought up the idea he currently had in mind.

    ''Can''t I just mash them up together as my own will. I can subtract from themter,'' he thought.

    With that decision, Noah felt his soul core spin intensely, a unique energy that almost escaped his senses seeping out of his soul core.

    Controlling a portion of that energy to leave his mind, Noah inmbued what he currently desired into that mass of almost-Invisible energy. ''Control''

    His consciousness soon expanded again, this time being filled with his will which carried an intense desire to control the energy around him.

    Noah soon felt his mind grab arge amount of energy in the room, he then felt the speed forces''s'' energy resonate with his desire to bring them under his control.

    He had seeded in that feat.

    But when he went on, to try and move those chunks of energy, he encountered his first difficulty.

    Immediately he tried to move the speed forces''s'' energy, he felt his mind instantly lose control of them, a wave of surprise smacking his mind, but he didn''t give up.

    His mind grabbed arge chunk of energy In the room, they also resonated with his intent to bring them under his control, but when he tried to move them, he felt them slip out of his control.

    His will seemed Intense enough to seep into their fabric, but making them move ording to his will felt hard, and it seemed like the chunks of energy didn''t want to move.

    Noah felt as though he tried to move a whole with his bare hands. Its not an exaggeration to say that feat was impossible, which he obviously gave up on trying after that observation, a soft sigh escaping his mouth.

    A mass of shock suddenly filled his mind when he realized that his mind felt  fatigued, and sweat drenched his ragged clothes.

    "What gives!," Noah yelled in annoyance, while he felt his mind get back into shape. His healing skill had kicked in.

    "At least I''ve seeded in making my will," Noah nod in approval, "I just have to learn to make a bow to my will," He slumped his shoulders In defeat, his concentration eventually returning to the book.

    "Hard wasn''t it. Seemingly impossible even, but it actually isn''t," The writer started.

    "Think of the speed forces''s energy like a rebellious child. Not just any rebellious child, a very powerful one; capable of wonders that even Mana couldn''t hope to achieve," The writer paused, Noah reflecting on those words for a few seconds, before resuming his read.

    "To get this very powerful rebellious child to do your bidding, you have to show that you are worthy of its respect"

    "I''m sure you are currently wondering how you wouldmunicate with a mass of energy that isn''t sentient," The writer paused again, a smile appearing on Noah''s face as he had truly been thinking that.

    "The first thing you have to do is strip that notion from your mind. The speed force is a mass of energy, yes. But it is sentient in its own way, you will realize more of this as you advance in the purity of essence you are able to use,"

    "After you''ve stripped that notion from your mind, you''ll need to mediate on yourself, by mainly spreading memories of your past achievements to the energy around you, to reveal to it that you truly are worth it. And that you are also ready to bow to it for it to bow to you. All other things will fall in ce if you seed in this task," The writer ended at that point.

 Chapter 125 125. UNIQUE

    Noah remained speechless for a few seconds, but the reality of what he was to do, soon dawned on him.

    "Show it my aplishments. Make it see worth in me," Noah muttered straightening his back, and closing his eyes.

    His consciousness directly travelled to his soul realm, his feetnding on his ind.

    Walking towards the ck core which had multicolored lights swirling around it, Noah stood before it, while he wondered on what to do.

    "Am I simply supposed to y my memories and transmit my emotions to the energy in the room, or does my soul core have the ability to project images on its own?," Noah muttered with a solemn expression.

    Truth be told he felt a little nervous about the whole situation, as doubts  gradually piled up in his mind.

    Questions like ''am I going to seed? do I have the potential? is it even going to listen to me?,'' rose in Noah''s mind even after he tried his best to stop them.

    Noah saw himself sighing in his soul realm, his eyes falling on the seemingly endless white environment, while his ind only covered a miniscule portion of that environment.

    Thoughts of how the whole thing was even possible calmed his mind down, curiosity reigning in his mind.

    "Do I even have anything worth calling an achievement," Noah muttered, unknown to him his thoughts and the emotions he experienced were currently being transmitted into the energy-filled room.

    "I''ve barely been able to do anything so far. If not for the cheat i have ess to i would barely be average In terms of strength."

    "Should I even have been sent to another world? The rules that govern this realm are far different from what I know. Chances are, that i might have been a mistake," Noah muttered, a sense of defeat spreading in his mind, and beyond it.

    "But it happened twice," Noah suddenly said, "There had to have been a reason," Noah added as a sense of confidence reced the momentary sadness.

    "I even managed to escape a few life and death situations," Noah giggled, "Though it was through the help of things I had been given, it doesn''t change the fact that I utilized them to fit my situation," Noah smiled.

    "But are those achievements enough," he muttered, as scenes of his past dangerous situation yed in his mind, Noah''s consciousness being able to watch those scenes on projections made by his soul core.

    The scenes eventually ended after what felt like a two hours, while a helpless sigh escaped Noah''s mouth.

    "I don''t have what it takes currently," Noah eventually decided, "But you can help me achieve greater things," Noah suddenly spoke, his consciousness returning to his body.

    "With your power, which I still do not fully understand; you can take me to heights only the best geniuses can achieve or probably even more," Noah found himself transmitting his thoughts to the energy around him, a sense of personal peace taking over his mind, as his mental state transformed.

    "I need you more than you need me. Without you I''ll continue to remain unworthy."

    "Yes I know my current state is due to my decisions, but you can help me, and i acknowledge that," Noah said, a light of understanding dawning on his mind.

    The more he let his thoughts loose, the more he understood the words on the books first page.

    "Those who wish to obtain power, must give in to speed," Noah muttered, a few changes beginning to happen around him, "I give in!."

    A heavy silence suddenly fell on the whole room. Noah finalizing his thoughts and decision, a few doubts even starting to sprout after a minute had passed since his confession.

    A sigh was about to leave his mouth, when all the energy in the room suddenly trembled, Noah himself feeling the energy in his spherical core spin in excitement.

    The yellow fog which was the speed essence began to swirl madly around him, the movement soon resembling a cyclone, with Noah at its center.

    Contrary to his expectations, Noah didn''t feel ufortable in that environment, he felt at peace being in the middle of that spinning storm<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It seems you''ve answered," Noah''s voice suddenly spread in the whole room, his figure standing up, as a smile gradually appeared on his face.

    "Let''s test that," he muttered while excitement filled his mind, the cyclone picking up in speed, until Noah couldn''t see past the length of his forearm.

    Nevertheless, his consciousness still exploded outwards, an intense aura spreading in the whole ce, "Bow to me!," Noahmanded, while the energy around him resonated to his will, the cyclone instantly stopping!

    That event left him slightly surprised, but it hinted something that he didn''t hesitate to try.

    Hemanded a portion of the energy surrounding him to move towards his body, genuine shock spreading in his mind when he realized that before he could actually finish his thoughts most of the energy and mmed his body, sending him flying.

    But his body suddenly stopped moving before he could hit the wall, a dense cloud of yellow energy had stopped his movement.

    [You have gained UNIQUE INNATE ABILITY: SPEED ESSENCE MANIPULATION]

    [You connection with the speed force has increased from 2% to 15%]

    Noah read the panels contents with slight curiosity, he recalled the words ''connecrion to the speed force'' being used by the system a while back.

    cing his feet on the ground, Noah''s mind moved to test his new ability even, more.

    Rasing his right hand, Noah watched as energy swirled around that limb, and to his shock, he felt his right hand get far stronger than it normally was, but at the cost of the energy around him, which the runes on the walls quickly re-filled

    Stopping that demonstration, Noah watched his right arm lose its empowerment, a bit of understanding flowing into his mind.

    ''What exactly does the speed force energy do that Mana can''t?,'' Noah asked the system which had been silent for a while now.

    [You currently do not have ess to that information]

    Noah clicked his tongue at those words, but it didn''t really bother him, after all he had managed to seed in controlling the speed forces''s'' energy.

    ''What is a unique innate ability?,'' Noah asked the system, hoping he had ess to that information, luckily for him a panel pooped up.

    [[It''s an ability that is ingrained inside of you, meaning it wasn''t derived from me, nor can I take it away. Think of it like your personality. I didn''t give it to you neither can I take it from you]]

    Noah nod his head in understanding, ''So what about my other skills, can you take them away?,''

    [[Yes I can. Though if you managed to learn replicate the exact same effects using your elemental mastery; taking it from you would be pointless, as it would be a knowledge that would remain part of you]]

    "I see," Noah muttered in response, ''So does that mean it''s advisable to begin learning to replicate the skills myself?.''

    [[Naturally it is, since if you did you''ll be able to control the amount of energy poured into a spell, and would be able to use them on a smaller scale. But since the chances of me needing to remove your skills are 0 it isn''t necessary]]

    [[You have the basic knowledge of all your skills, but to be able to replicate them would mean higher elemental mastery, and a refined expertise in the the energy you wield, moreover it would mean spending decades practicing]]

    ''Thank you,'' Noah responded. He had another question; which was if he could increase his elemental mastery without the system. But from its exnation he understood that he could do that, which was by constantly practicing, but that method would take him a long time, and too much time he currently didn''t have

    From the system''s exnation Noah could see how the system was created to make his rise to power quick.

    Walking back to the golden book, Noah sat cross-legged again. It was time toplete the basics of his body cultivation method.

 Chapter 126 126. AMASSING

    Flipping to to the next page since the first one had ended, Noah''s eyesnded on the first set of words the page contained.

    "Now that you''ve seeded in manipting the speed essence, let''s move to the topic of this stage."

    "As i had mentioned earlier, there are in total 12 joints in your body which you must allow the speed forces''s energy flow through to begin your body refinement. I shall exin the process below," The writer the paused.

    "This method isn''t the only way to start refining your body, but it is the fastest way. Unfortunately it doesn''t bring that much of an improvement to the Speedling body, but that was never the main goal."

    "The main goal of every beginning process to cultivate the speed essence, is to make your body a massive pathway, capable absorbing the speed forces''s energy just by being in its midst, though a little meditation helps this process."

    "The process of making those joints opening, in which the speed forces''s energy flows into your body, is called the meridian opening stage, the end result of the stage''spletion is as i have stated above," The writer paused.

    "It is advisable to have a person assist you in this stage, since its procedure will be excruciating, but if you don''t have anyone, you''ll simply need to have a strong will to live. Are you ready?. If so, then let''s begin," The page ended.

    Noah took a deep breath at that point, his expression growing cold while he turned to next page; a lot of diagrams having been drawn on it, with exnations beside the drawings.

    "The first key to begin this process is to limit the obstruction of the speed forces''s energy to your body as much as possible, which means all clothing''s must be removed," The writer started.

    Noah quickly took off his ragged clothes at those instructions, his body nowpletely naked.

    "With that done, the next thing to do is memorize the positions of those joints using your mind. Imprint their positions into your mind as it would be very crucial when you start," The writer paused.

    Noah nod his head at the paragraph, part of his consciousness wrapping around his body tightly, while Noah let that unique force seep into his skin, visuals of how his insides looked filling his mind.

    A bit of curiosity tried to disrupt that process but he didn''t let that''s happen.

    It took Noah barely a minute to memorize the positions of his joints, down to how far apart they were from each other. This was how powerful his mind was.

    With that done his eyes fell on the book again. "Now that you are certain you''ve memorized the positions of your joints, I advise youy on your chest, as the whole process would take ce on your back."

    Noah was a bit taken aback from those words, ''How am I supposed to read,'' he thought, but he soon recalled that he could still see, as long as his consciousness was spread out.

    Noah soon took a lying position, the book in front of his bowed head, while his consciousness focused on the page, the live images being transmitted to his mind.

    "Since you might not have a partner to help you, I''ll continue," The writer started.

    "With all those preparations met, we can continue."

    "Basically, what you about to do is drill a hole in each of your joints, in which you''ll then make the speed essence flow into. Only that you''ll need to let the essence flow ording to how I''ve listed the joints. From your right shoulder joint to your left shoulder joint, then down to your right elbow joint. I''m sure you understand," The writer exined.

    "Do note that you''ll have to let the exact amount of essence flow in each of them, while also making sure that the essence you drew isn''t too small or too much. An error in any of this two would lead to excruciating pain."

    "You might be wondering why you have to ensure that the essence isn''t too small or too much, and the reason for that is because, to kickstart the changes that will begin inside your body, you will need a certain amount of the speed forces''s energy: Too little would mean the changes might not start, and too much would lead to a critical overload which would most likely kill you."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The amount needed varies for each person, so I cannot give you a particr measurement. But when gathering the essence, you''ll know when to stop or continue," The writer paused, Noah digesting those instructions, and reviewing them thoroughly.

    "Now that we are over that, let''s begin."

    "Firstly, you are going to amass six ball''s of speed essence. Like I said, each ball''s quantity of energy would have to be what your instincts tell you would be enough for your body," The writer started.

    "Note; if the energy needed isrge in in quantity, this would mean your body''s requirements for cultivating are high, but the bright side to this is that, your body would have a very powerful base strength and defense" The author added, Noah nodding inwardly.

    Noah''s consciousness expanded to the very limits of the room, his mind calling upon the speed essence in the room, while he listened carefully to his heightened Instincts.

    The essence present in the room looked fairly much, as Noah believed their quantity might even be too much.

    That line of thought instantly vanished, when all the energy in the room suddenly converged to one point, Noah''s Instincts not reacting in the slightest!

    A wave of astonishment hit Noah when images of thepletely energy-less room reached his mind, though the runes immediately began to generate more.

    A few secondster and the room was filled, Noah''s mind calling on the speed essence which were more in quantity than before.

    An even more astonished expression appeared on Noah''s face when he saw that all the essence in the room converged towards the first ball of spinning energy, again.

    Doubts immediately began to grow in Noah''s mind about his instincts. He wasn''tpletely sure if he could rely on it any more.

    A question popped up in Noah''s head, but he refrained himself from asking the system and waited for the room to be refilled.

    He called upon the essence in the room, and they all converged towards the first ball, this time a worried expression appeared on Noah''s face then he sat up to stare at the yellow ball of energy.

    Noah could immediately feel that the ball had enough energy to Injure him badly, but his instincts didn''t think it was enough for the process he was about to undergo, and this was only the first one.

    ''How am I supposed to know when my instinct say''s it''s enough,'' Noah furrowed his brows in worry. But deep down it wasn''t his Instincts probable mistakes that worried him, no, it was the fact that his body would need more energy to improve, which tranted to a slow increase in power.

    The process continued for a few more turns, Noah''s worry increasing with each round of energy.

    It wasn''t until the sixth round did his Instincts buzz intensely, Noah immediately understanding that it was enough.

    His eyesnded on incrediblly dense yellow ball of energy that he hadpressed to the size of a man''s head.

    The ball of energy almost resembled the sun only that itcked heat, but it contained enough energy to definitely kill him.

    A sigh eventually escaped Noah''s mouth, his mind preparing to call upon the next round of energy, "This is going to take a while," He muttered.

 Chapter 127 127. HOT

    Six bright balls of energy floated around Noah''s cross-legged figure.

    It had taken him almost an hour to amass those balls of energy. Although the refilling rate and quantity of energy increased after every round, Noah still went through neen rounds.

    Each ball radiated enough power to kill Noah if they went off, so it isn''t an exaggeration to say that, the fact that those balls of energy would go inside him, worried him.

    Noah found himself taking a deep breath, and returning to his former lying position.

    Noah''s consciousness held those balls of energy together, and due to the power each ball contained, he felt a pressure on his soul realm, which helped it improve a bit.

    Wrapping his consciousness around the book, Noah resumed his reading.

    "With the first things ready, I want you to create a drill like construct using the speed forces'' energy, but do not create it from your gathered energy," The writer warned.

    ''A drill like construct...,'' Noah wondering, his mind gathering a small portion of the energy in the room, before causing it to spin rapidly, a low mechanic whirling sound spreading in the environment

    Giving the spinning ball of essence, a pointy edge, Noah made sure it had enough energy to ensure that it wouldn''t disperse if it came in contact with his body.

    "When you''re done with that, i want you to drill a 1 inch hole in each of the joints i mentioned. There''s no particr order of drilling them, just start where you feel like. And don''t forget to stop your body''s healing ability. Do this by restricting the flow of energy from your core." The writer ended.

    Noah read those words carefully, part of his consciousness immediately seeping into his body to surround his ck energy core.

    With that preparation done, Noah quickly moved the drill close to his body, but he suddenly stopped.

    ''Why do I have to use just one, when i can create eleven more, and drill all my joints at the exact same time,'' Noah raised an imaginary eyebrow, then immediately did as he wanted.

    A few secondster, twelve spinning drills created from condensed speed essence, hovered above the twelve joints mentioned. The additional eleven drills put a lot of pressure on Noah''s mind, but he weed that opportunity to improve.

    Noah''s eyes turned cold when he lowered the drills on each of his joints.

    Pain instantly flooded Noah''s mind, while disturbing noises filled the room, with red blood flying everywhere.

    Surprisingly only a grunt escaped Noah''s mouth during the drill. That process only managing to get that much out of him.

    The drills dug through his skin effortlessly, but when they arrived on his muscles it took those drills a few milliseconds to dig their way through.

    The drills finally arrived on his bones, this time multiple seconds were needed to go 1 inch through.

    The speed essence inside Noah''s core immediately tried to spread and heal his wounds, but Noah''s will managed to overpower the activation of that passive ability.

    The process didn''t take more than ten seconds, but it felt like hours had passed for Noah.

    Although his resistance to pain had drastically increased due to the half-a-month of brutal torture, the pain he felt didn''t reduce, only that he could put up with it.

    The energy in Noah''s core raged madly at its restriction, that energy almost escaping after a series is struggle''s, but Noah quickly dispersed the drills, and allowed a significant portion of his mind to keep his energy in ce. An Instant of distraction could make him restart the painful process, and that he didn''t want.

    A sense of weakness seeped into Noah''s mind due to his injured state. He had also lost control to all his limbs after the process ended, but he had expected that much.

    Ignoring the pool of crimson blood forming around him, Noah quickly read through the next instruction.

    "With the drilling done; now divide each of your ball of essence into two, making that twelve balls for the 12 joints. Each ball containing the exact quantity of energy as the other." The writer started.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah furrowed his brows at those instructions, he wished the writer had mentioned that earlier.

    Noah focused all his attention on the balls of essence, his mind deciding on how he would divide them; and that was by relying on his Instincts.

    Starting with one ball at a time, Noah spilt them into two parts; shuffling and reshuffling the essence into the other until his Instincts stopped buzzing, creating two smaller balls of equal energy.

    This process took Noah a bit over an hour, at this point he had stopped bleeding, but the sense of weakness filling him had increased by multiple levels, but he could still hold on perfectly. He thanked his insane stamina and resilience for this.

    With the splitting of energy done, Noah couldn''t help but nce at his soul realm, the pressure on his mind had reduced a lot than when he started, and that was because his mind improved during that short period of time.

    Focusing his consciousness on the book again, Noah read the next set of instructions.

    "With the splitting done, we''ll start the crucial part."

    "To kickstart the changes that''ll ur in your body; as I have mentioned before, you will have to allow the speed essence pass through the holes you''ve drilled. The process would be a bit painful, and you are only allowed to go one ball at a time.

    "Direct the essence you''ve gathered to the first joint, then lead it into the hole. You''ll have to be careful to not let any the essence spill, so I advise you supervise their passage with care. You can do this as slowly as you want, just ensure that it''s sessful."

    "When you are done with the first joint you move to the next, like i exined to you. When you are done with the procedure, your body will take care of the rest. Good luck," The exnation ended.

    Noah immediately nced at the diagrams on the book, and got an even better understanding of what the writer meant.

    After a few minutes of carefully studying the diagrams, he began.

    Moving the first of the twelve balls that hovered in a circr fashion a few meters above his head, Noah drew its essence in a straight line.

    The process didn''t take much effort, but when the essence arrived a few inches from his body, Noah felt his mind tremble, as he almost lost control of the essence and even his core.

    Noah''s concentration instantly reached its peak, while he dragged the energy into that hole.

    A slight quiver spread on Noah''s body when the essence came in contact with his bones, followed by a warm sensation.

    It took around twenty seconds for the ball of essence toplete enter that hole, and surprisingly when it did, it began to spin, but Noah didn''t mind that reaction.

    The process of drawing the energy went on for tens of minutes, Noah didn''t encounter much trouble apart from the initial resistance when the energy got very close to his body. Surprisingly, with each joint he filled with essence, the stronger the resistance for the next joint was.

    Eventually Noah was done with the process. The twelve joints previously mentioned glowed with a deep yellow radiance, while the energy within them spun rapidly. By this point Noah''s body felt warm. Thefy type of warmth.

    ''What now?,'' Noah asked himself after a few minutes had passed since he ended the procedure.

    [[You wait]] The system suddenly replied.

    Noahy there for over twenty minutes before something happened.

    An intense vibration suddenly shook Noah''s body, all his wounds healing Instantly.

    Noah didn''t get a chance to react to that sudden event, before an unbearable searing sensation rose up in his body, followed by blood, plenty of it!.

    Noah felt like his insides were on fire, agonizing screams escaping his mouth while he shook furiously.

 Chapter 128 128. MEDITATION

    Blood mixed with a ck substance poured out of Noah''s mouth, ears, nose, and even his skin, while he writhed in pure agony

    In a matter of seconds the marble like floor was soaked in a disturbing amount of the weird blood.

    The searing sensation continued for whole minutes, Noah having lost control of his mind a long time before then.

    shes of his environment managed to get to his mind since he couldn''t see because of his blood clouded eyes.

    He eventually stopped bleeding, but something worse began. Disturbing crunching sounds escaped Noah''s skin, whole sections of his skeleton hanging out in a gory fashion.

    Noah directly lost consciousness multiple times in those minutes, no scream escaping his throat as it had been broken.

    A few bone sharpnels had punctured his lungs, with some sticking out of his chest; causing a stream of blood which originated from his mouth.

    It seemed his whole body was undergoing a significant change, a very painful one.

    Noah''s will to live faltered almost vanishing multiple times in those minutes, but he only strengthened it by managing to think of the his desire for revenge, before pain clouded his being.

    The bone process went on for tens of minutes. Eventually his desire for revenge barely had any effect on his will-less mind.

    The bone process, and the hot sensation eventually ended, but in return Noah felt his previously burning insides literally twist!

    Noah felt all his internal organs apart from his heart, burst inside him, and he immediately couldn''t breathe.

    Noah felt his eyes suddenly get heavy, an intense desire to sleepnding on his body. A tinge of fear spread in his mind at that point. He knew the oue of sumbing to that feeling, but he couldn''t stop it.

    ''Am I seriously going to die here!,'' Noah tried to sigh, but instead of air, blood flew out of his nose.

    But just as he was about to shut his eyes, an Incredible wave of energy filled his body, all his organs instantly regrowing, the pain he experienced immediately stopping.

    Noah felt all the energy in the room rush towards him, while his core Instantly emptied itself to heal him.

    A secondter he was totally fine, but he passed out anyway.

    *

    *

    *

    Noah eventually opened his eyes with a groan, followed by the most pungent smell he had ever perceived.

    Quickly scanning his environment, to find the source of the smell, Noah realized that it came from him.

    His eyesnded on his body at that point, but instead of his skin, Noahid his eyes on a thick ck mould that encased his body.

    The ck substance which had some slimy edge''s, emitted the pungent smell.

    ''What the heck is this," Noah wondered, but he recalled James'' exnation about Impurities.

    The ck stuff seemed to be the dried up waste blood and bones his body excreted during the painful transformation.

    Noah broke free of the mould, an incredibly feeling of strength suddenly rushing through his body.

    "Incredible!," Noah couldn''t help but exmain.

    "It feels like I''ve been reborn. Again," Noah muttered while reveling in his strength.

    "How long was I passed out," Noah eventually asked the system.

    [[Approximately 2 days 8 hours 38 minutes and 16 seconds]]

    Noah''s mind froze immediately his eyesnded on those words and numbers.

    He felt himself get dizzy, though he didn''t, "Two day''s," He muttered.

    A few seconds passed then he let out a sigh, focusing on his body again.

    Noah could clearly see that his skin had gotten stronger, far stronger than it did before, which confused him.

    "Was the author wrong about the improvements the process would bring," Noah pondered.

    His mind seemed to tremble at that thought, his instincts instantly noticing that his body was under constant empowerment, and he wasn''t doing anything.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah could immediately notice his body use the speed essence around him, but they weren''t under his control.

    "I see. So basically I''ve gotten the natural ability to gain enhancement just by being around the speed essence," Noah nod his head, "But how do Improve more. Am I going to repeat the process multiple times," Noah pondered while trying to ignore the smelling from the ck substance.

    His eyes fell on the golden book a few meters from his position, his naked body that gleamed in the rooms light, moving towards it.

    Picking the book, Noah opened to the page hest read. Turning to the next one, his eyesnded an almost empty page with a just a few paragraphs written on it.

    "With that stageplete, you can now begin refining your body. To advance you''ll need to keep cultivating the speed essence until your body isn''t improving," The writer started.

    "You''ll know when you breakthrough into new mid stages, as you''ll experience the removal of Impurities again."

    "There are more things you''ll use this book for, but until you are ready you won''t have ess to it. Congrattions my Heir," The writer ended, while a panel instantly popped up, followed by an influx of information.

    [You have gained >knowledge< Body cultivation(Iplete)]

    Noah Instantly knew the next step to take after that, but before he began, he walked to edge of the room to avoid the smell. He wished he could destroy it with ice, but he had not a single ounce of energy in his core.

    Noah proceeded to sit cross-legged, then he closed his eyes and began to practice the knowledge he had gained.

    ? ording to the knowledge he currently possessed, to refine his body, Noah had to absorb the speed essence with his body.

    Firstly he had to gain a better understanding of his new pathway, which was his body.

    Noah spent over thirty minutes simply listening to his skin, muscles, bones and even organs react to that energy filled environment.

    During that period of time, Noah also utilized his consciousness, which helped him see the insides of his body.

    Noah observed that his organs hadn''t changed much, apart from the yellow shade their structure had gotten, mixed with the natural red.

    And due to this yellow shade he saw that they each palpitated with the speed forces'' essence, allowing for constant enhancements.

    Immediately he had gotten a better understanding of his body, he began cultivating. Noahmanded his skin to inhale the essence around him

    The enhancements Instantly stopped, as that energy travelled down his skin, blood, muscles, bones then reached his Insides.

    The essence that had arrived inside him spun for a few milliseconds, undergoing some type of transformation, before exploding outwards, in a wave of power, surprisingly touching every single part of Noah''s insides.

    Noah felt his internal organs get a bit durable. He felt his bones harden when that energy touched them, he felt his muscles get denser, his skin also hardening in the process, while the blood his heart pumped featured the speed essence inside of them.

    Not even an instant passed before an evenrger amount of essence rushed into his body and did the same thing.

    Eventually the process became so fast it didn''t seem like it would end

    Noah felt his mind enter a deep state of rxation and focus, the outside world fading into the background, as he directly cultivated for hours. The runes on the walls never stopped pouring essence into the room during that time.

    Noah suddenly snapped out of his mediation, the feeling of abundant strength making his body pulse with essence. Coupled with the immediate enhancements, Noah looked liked a transformed man.

    "So this is true meditation," Noah muttered, "How long did I cultivate?," Noah asked the system, while straightening his power-filled body.

    [[9 hours]]

    Noah arced an eyebrow at that point, but a smile eventually appeared on his face, while he read through the mulitiple panels that notified him of receiving different points directly into his stats, he was increasing his base power.

    [You gained 299 points to your strength]

    [You gained 236 points to your defense]

    [You gained 80 points your stamina]

    Those were few of the panels that he saw.

    "I have to be honest I feel amazing," Noah suddenly announced, "I didn''t expect the cultivation to be so potent," Noah remarked, while studying his body more.

    The system remained silent even after a few seconds, but Noah didn''t mind, he went over to the body cultivation manual, and tried to flip to its middle pages.

    A slight wave of surprise spread Inside Noah, when he found that most of the books light-yellow pages which seemed to have not been affected by time, were empty.

    He eventually discarded that detail when he recalled the writers words.

    But there were still a few initial pages of the book that contained words with no diagrams, and Noah didn''t hesitate to sit and read them.

 Chapter 129 129. CONVENIENT

    Noah learnt a bit from those pages. He learnt the ranks of the body, which were simply grouped into, the ss stage, the stone stage and the metal stage.

    He also learnt a disappointing truth about his current state.

    Apparently the rank 1 speed essence was the lowest rank which were for beginners.

    If he listened to the writers words, he normally should have ess to rank 3 speed essence, which could put him directly on par with peak stage tier 3''s or lower stage tier 4''s, while still in the lower stage of tier 3.

    It seemed the writer knew he would face this issue, and reassured him that he could catch up, but that was by letting the speed essence transform his bodypletely, and that could only happen after a lot of cultivation.

    When the rank 2 essence stopped improving his body, he had crossed the threshold, and would be able to use the essence meant for his body.

    But the author did mention another option, which was to try and cultivate the next rank of the speed essence that he had ess to.

    But ording to him, that was a very dangerous and was basically an unorthodox method, that if seeded in, would bring massive improvements, but could also kill the person if it failed.

    Noah instantly considered the idea, but eventually disposed of it. He had recently just started cultivating the speed essence, he would most likely die if he tried it.

    So because of this, Noah tried to map out a training schedule, but remembered that he hadn''t learned how to cultivate his essence core.

    "Ugh..! I''m tired," Noah pouted, "I hope I don''t have to do a long process that would take me days worth of time toplete," He sighed immediately bringing out the third book, and storing the one in his palm.

    "Core cultivation techniques of the ancient speedlings"

    Immediately his sense''snded on the book, Noah could immediately tell that it was old.

    An air of ancientness poured out of its fabric, as Noah felt like he could literally smell its age.

    "Thousands of years," he muttered.

    Unlike the other manuals; this book wasn''t golden in the slightest. He honestly wondered how he had mistaked all three to be golden in colour.

    The book''s cover was dark brown, and looked to have been smitten with age. Its title was the only thing bright on its fabric, being yellow in colour.

    The most important point that made Noah believed even more that the book had been ces, was the three inch long sh on its back.

    Noah could immediately tell that he couldn''t damage the book at his current strength, since the sh''s mark radiated a slight aura that screamed power, but he couldn''t grasp itpletely.

    Noah lifted the brown wooden, nigh-metallic cover. His eyesnding on a page that contrasted with the old look of its cover.

    The page looked to have been printed a few seconds ago, even though Noah knew his age couldn''t match it.

    The old saying; "Don''t judge a book by its cover" rang multiple times in Noah''s head, but he knew for sure that the book was old.

    The cream color of the book disyed a set of familiar words.

    "Those who wish to obtain power must give in to speed"

    He immediately flipped to the next page, which was totally full of words, the next one being the same, and he immediately began reading a few instantster.

    The first page of the book, consisted mainly of things Noah already understood, like the ranks of the speed force energy, though it listed that there were 10 ranks of the speed essence, each level of purity far powerful than than the other.

    ording to the book, the cultivation of higher levels of purity became so hard that most Speedlings gave up, and simply kept advancing through the tiers of power, with a lower speed essence purity.

    They would be powerful among those using lower levelled enegy, but among their mates they would most likely fall out in terms of strength.

    The book even went as far as to give an example, which portrayed the scenario of a tier 5 existence who wielded rank 4 speed essence purity.<novelnext></novelnext>

    By all standards he was a tier 5, but when paired with tier 5''s weilding rank 5 essence, the difference in their capabilities would be too much.

    With that exnation Noah understood how bad his situation was. "A tier 3 utilizing rank 1 essence," Noah shook his head in disappointment.

    Some of the exnations, he didn''t totally understand, but he did get one thing: ording to the book, once an individual had ess to rank 4 speed they could continue advancing through the tiers of power with that essence, but that would result in a lower power level than expected.

    The book eventually reached the main topic, which was the cultivation techniques.

    Noah had noticed the pluralization in the word ''technique'', so when the book mentioned that there were three basic techniques to practice, it did really surprise him.

    The first technique, called the ''Breathing technique'', was basically the process of breathing in a certain pattern while also calling on the energy around him.

    It, ording to the book, was the easiest and most used among all three, but had a ''little'' lesser gain in improvements than the remaining two.

    The second technique, which was the most astonishing one of all three, was named ''Dual cultivation'', which in theory was performed between two people, who would do something he had never done before, have sex; while also gathering the the energy around them, to generate something unique during the intercourse, or something like that.

    Noah didn''t really grasp in understanding, the process of dual cultivating, but ording to the book, it had the highest benefits.

    The third technique, which was almost as weird as the dual cultivation, saw a speedling cultivate using their legs!

    In theory, the person would basically absorb essence from their environment, send it up their legs, shuffle it a few times, then send it into their speed core, to erge it. The technique was on par with the breathing technique.

    There were pages upon pages of the full exnation of their process, but Noah simply did a quick read, to gain a rough idea of their process.

    Noah Instantly chose the breathing technique, since it was the easiest, but an idea came up, which was to cultivate using both the ''breathing technique'' and the ''lower limbs technique''.

    And luckily for him the book made emphasis on that, and apparently it simply wasn''t possible.

    No speedling had ever seeded in cultivating using both techniques, at the exact same time, because apparently their cores couldn''t handle it, since the pressureing from both techniques would crush it.

    A sigh could only escape Noah''s mouth at that point, but he quickly moved on to begin practicing.

    Noah saw himself sitting cross-legged with his back straightened, and his palms open on his thighs.

    The process started with him breathing in a rythmic pattern of sixrge breaths, then a powerful but smooth exhale.

    When he had done this for a few minutes he began the real deal.

    ording to the book, he had to inhalerge amounts of essence, which would then flow down his chest, seep into his ck core, and erge it.

    But to begin the ergement he had to refill his core.

    Noah felt essence rush in through his nose, barrel down his chest, but when it arrived at his core it swirled around it for an instant, before entering his core and settling at its base, a wave of energy filling Noah''s body after that.

    It took Noah over thirty minutes to refill his core which really annoyed him, but that annoyance vanished when a panel popped up immediately his corr was filled to the brim.

    [You have unlocked a new skill]

    [Speed essence regeneration[Passive]

    [Speed essence regeneration[Passive]: When in the midst of speed essence, your core automatically begins to rapidly refill itself.

    Cost: N/A, Duration: Until core is filled, Cooldown: N/A]

    A grin immediately appeared on Noah''s face when he read the skill''s description, "Now that''s very convenient."

 Chapter 130 130. EXIT

    Noah immediately went back to his breathing technique. In the span of half an hour, he had managed to learn to drawrge amounts of essence with littles breaths.

    The new essence that rushed towards his core didn''t refill it, but Instead, Noah watched his core absorb the energy which immediately caused it to expand by a few millimeters.

    The growth might have been small, but when Noah fell into a meditative state simr to when he cultivated his body, he remained in that state for a few hours, before snapping out.

    His eyes fell on the panels that had popped up, but his consciousness focused on his core which had increased in size by around 3cm.

    In actuality it wasn''t much, but when hepared it with the boost he gained he didn''t darein too much.

    [Your speed core has gotten stronger]

    [You have gained 1200 SE]

    ''How long did I cultivate?."

    [[7hours 5 minutes and 27 seconds]]

    "That''s a lot," Noah muttered, "Isn''t there a way to gain more improvements," Noah continued looking at his core.

    [[There is, which is by increasing the density of the speed essence in the room]]

    A perplexed expression appeared on Noah''s face at that point, "I can do that?."

    [[Yes you can]]

    [Do you wish to adjust the essence density settings of your cultivation room]

    [Yes/No]

    Noah promptly chose yes, then another panel popped up.

    [Current density settings[0.5/12]

    A few milliseconds of thought was all Noah needed to decide, and his mind immediately went on to adjust it.

    [Current density settings[12/12]

    Not long after he adjusted it to the max, Noah watched as what looked like a river if essence directly gush out of the walls, the visibility in the room instantly reducing.

    A few secondster and Noah''s body felt drunk with the speed essence.

    [[If you over cultivate you risk the chance of damaging your body or core]]

    Noah read the system''s words, though its warning sounded important, he decided to try and cultivate.

    Straightening his back, Noah immediately started cultivating his energy core.

    The essence that flowed into his nose felt liquid like, but didn''t affect him. The dense essence, eventually arrived on his core, and Noah saw it expand far faster than before.

    He did this for over ten minutes when a crack suddenly appeared on his core, a slight wave of fatigue hitting his senses, causing him to stop immediately.

    But before he could worry too much, he watched his core use part of the energy within it to fix itself. The process was instantaneous.

    Quickly bringing up the adjustment panel, Noah reduced it to its former level.

    [Your speed core has gotten stronger]

    [You have gained 300 SE]

    "In just ten minutes!," Noah exmained, "But the issue of damaging my core can''t allow me use it for long. I shouldn''t abuse this privilege," Noah muttered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It might take me a while but I''ll definitely reach tier 4," Noah nod his head while picking up the manual.

    Just like the body cultivation manual, it also had a lot of nk pages, and a few worded pages, which he immediately read.

    Noah eventually stored the book after he was done reading, and stood up.

    ''What next,'' he thought. There were a two things he could utilize the cultivation room for, which were transforming the energies in his attained mana cores or trying out his speed potion maker.

    But after the systems exnation on the transformation of mana to speed essence, Noah ruled out that option, because he deemed it wasteful, opting to sell them for money whenever he returned to human civilization, which he could tell would happen soon.

    With those decisions already made he decided to try out the potion creator skill.

    [Speed Force potion creator: You gain the knowledge to transform the speed force essence into ingestible potions. You can only create potions in your cultivation room. You can currently create one rank 1 potion every hour, each potion capable of refilling 50% of your rank 1 speed core. You can currently create one rank 2 potion every 24 hours. Due to the current level of speed essence purity your body can handle: a rank 2 potion or raw rank 2 speed essence has a 70% chance of killing you if you cultivate it or ingest it]

    Immediately he activated the skill, a small magic circle expanded above his head, but the symbols within the circle didn''t look like what he recognized, which were star like shapes with sets of weird words.

    instead, this magical circle disyed a chaotic jumble of runic words that resembled something that shouldn''t even exist in this time.

    The runic words sepearated from the dark yellow circle, and flowed into his soul realm. The words then floated towards his core and sunk Into its ck material.

    Immediately that event happened, Noah felt a dense wave of information flood his head, which took him a few tens of seconds to sort out.

    His blue eyes eventually began to glow a deep yellow shade, while his eyes nced at the things happening In front of him.

    Noah understood the process of creating a speed potion, even though its actually creation remained automatic.

    It was like the skill was a switch to activate the process that only the room could perform.

    Dense essence left the yellow runes on the walls before swirling in one spot, the process had begun, but it would take one hour to finish.

    Noah eventually lost interest in the process after a few minutes, his mind nning on what to do next.

    "I''ve been in here for day''s, I guess it''s time to leave," Noah stretched his arms, while a n formed in his head.

    He nned to kill a lot of tier 3 beast to make money andplete the dungeon requirements and also join a guild to make more money since their resources would be useless to him, but before those he nned to return to Vonol.

    Noah''s eyes trembled when he thought of visiting Jesse. He began to simte conversations between the young man and himself, but they all ended up in his disappointment and anger.

    "Do I adopt him or something," Noah muttered, "Or just give him money."

    "Or should I help him get stronger. I can give him a tier 3 core, that should boost his strength quickly," Noah pondered.

    "But first i have to leave this ce," Noah sighed after a few more seconds.

    [Do you wish to exit the cultivation room]

    [Yes/No]

    Noah raised his head to nce at the seemingly endless height of the room.

    Multiple ideas about that ce rushed through his mind but he soon discarded them.

    Eventually choosing yes, Noah felt a unique light wrap around his body. His still naked figure vanishing from the white room, which continued brewing the first potion.

    Noah opened his eyes in a familiar vegetation-filled environment, but a frown suddenly shed on his face, while his arms shot up beside him.

    Immediately he finished that gesture, two forces'' of negligible power,nded on both limbs.

 Chapter 131 131. PARTY

    "What have I stepped into?," Noah frowned, while Inspecting the source of the pressure on his arms.

    A nk expression immediately appeared on Noah''s face, when his eyes found two men radiating peak tier 2 power, resting on his arms with their swords.

    They too looked dumbfounded as their weapons were supposed to sh notnd on a naked man''s body.

    Noah''s eyes soon found that there were four other humans, and one of them, who was a middle-aged man, had power in the lower stage of tier 3.

    Energy crackled around Noah''s body, as he took only one step forward, his figure directly vanishing from that area while he left a long yellow streak.

    It seemed like he had teleported, but in truth he was simply too fast.

    A significant amount of essence vanished from his core, but he didn''t care about that, after all his knew the reason behind it.

    Instead, he stood unmoving, while his mind rushed through thoughts. ''I''ve screwed up,'' Noah grabbed his hair.

    ''They''ve seen my face. I ran in front of them,'' Noah frowned. ''It''s my fault, but can i let them be?. No. They''ll inform everyone about their sightings. I might even encounter themter In the future,'' Noah''s thoughts went on, but really onlysted a few instants.

    A dark expression appeared on Noah''s face after few more seconds. He repositioned his body, facing the direction he came from, this was because he didn''t want to arrive at a different ce.

    Without even bothering to cover his nakedness, Noah took a step forward at his full speed, his figure vanishing again.

    *

    *

    *

    A few minutes earlier....

    Two men sparred in a clearing inside the forest. Four others, two girls and two men, simply spectating their spar.

    Among the six in total, five of them radiated power In the peak of tier 2, while thest person held power in tier 3.

    "Do not forget to always take a step back to watch his next move!," The middle aged man shouted while circling the sparring duo.

    The six of them belonged to a small guild called the Evergraze. They had ventured into this particr forest for search of beasts, and Hendo being the one assigned to the youngsters had to take care of them, and also train them.

    "Do you always have to take that side step? It''s a wasteful movement, it just slows down your reaction time!," Hendo shouted at one of the two men who managed to nod his head, but was punched by his opponent for his distraction.

    Hendo rubbed his temples from mild frustration, although he had been assigned to them as a trainer, he couldn''t take it anymore.

    "Two weeks," Hendo muttered, "Two weeks and he has only managed to get beaten more," he nced at the weakest link of his five trainees.

    "If not for our shortage of members, I would have sent him on his way by now," He sighed, when suddenly both men, jumped back, to take a few seconds breather, then shot forward at each other, their weapons raised to bring down the other.

    But that never happened. To the shock of all six individuals, a man in his birthday suit suddenly appeared between the two men, his arms stopping their weapons.

    Hendo could only stare in pure astonishment, while he Inspected the surprisingly beautiful individual.

    Another wave of surprise spread in his mind when he found out that he couldn''t gauge the strength of this person, but he remained certain that he was in tier 3.

    Hendo nned to move, when the individual suddenly began to crackle with intense electrical enegy, his figure vanishing a few Instantster, an Incredibly bright yellow streak stretching behind him.

    No words could describe the shock of all six Individuals.

    ''What the actual fuck just happened,'' Hendo screamed, his figure still unmoving. Everything had happened so fast, he didn''t have time to react.

    A few seconds of heavy silence passed before the whole group understood what just happened went on alert.

    Hendo was about to call them to himself, when a bright yellow light appeared in their midst, the Individual had returned.

    Fear and confusion filled the minds of the tier 2''s. They could already tell that their power wouldn''t be nearly enough to take down the beautiful man.

    The individual stood unmoving, his face pointed at the ground, while his long white hair covered a significant portion of it, but they all could still see his face.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Hendo nned to talk since his experience told him that engaging the Individual was a bad idea.

    "Did you see my face?," The man''s voice suddenly spread, causing intense shivers to run down the spines of the tier 2 cultivators, but Hendo stood his ground.

    Truth be told, felt at loss of what to do. The tone of the question wasn''t in anyway hostile, but it hinted at a possible dangerous turn of events.

    "Good day-," Hendo was cut short by the individual''s sigh.

    "I''m sorry. I truly would have loved to avoid this, but i have to keep my identity a secret," Ice began to spread beneath the individuals body that surprisingly glistened in the sunlight.

    Hendo felt another wave of shock at the rare affinity, but he had to do something.

    "You do not have to do anything drastic. We promise to not say a word about out encounter with you," Hendo stalled, while his mind seeped into his dimensional ring searching for something which he immediately found.

    No response came from the white haired man, a slight frown shing on Hendo''s face.

    "We can always take a oath?," Hendo smiled, his mind activating hismunication amulet, then he sent a distress signal to the receiver.

    .

    .

    .

    Noah couldn''t help but raise his head at the man''s words, but he eventually sighed. He could sense that the man was up to something, so he moved.

    Noah''s soul core spun, as essence moved to activate a skill.

    [Frozen Touch[Active]: When activated your hands gain the unique attribute "Frost", and are capable of freezing anything they touch as long as it doesn''t have cold resistance higher than the users.

    Cost: 20SE, Duration: 1 minute, Cooldown: 15 seconds]

    Noah''s environment Instantly slowed down, while he walked towards the middle aged man, afterimages forming behind him, since he utilized his speed, but in its barest minimum.

    Noah totally ignored the tier 2''s, s d didn''t even bother to check their name''s as stood behind the middle-aged man.

    "I''m truly sorry," he whispered, then his right hand grabbed the side of the man''s face, his entire figure Instantly turning to ice.

    Noah immediately smashed the ice statute, pieces of the man''s body, which were now frozen flying everywhere.

    A scream spread out, as terror gripped the minds of all five remaining cultivators, as they began to run in the same direction, practically falling over each other in fear.

    Noah could only shake his head at that point, while ice spread from beneath his feet, instantly catching up to the scrambling group of five.

    They couldn''t react when the ice spread beneath them, even going on for a few ten meters. Then an instantter, jagged pirs of ice shot up, impaling them in the process. The light of life Instantly vanishing from their eyes before they could feel the pain.

    Noah stood in silence. His eyes focused on the dead bodies of the five cultivator''s, their bodies having been raised around a meter by the spikes, while red blood poured out of theirrge wounds.

    Noah snapped out of his daze when a orange spherical object shot out of the shattered mould of ice beside him.

    He stored the mana core without bothering to Inspect it. He felt bad for killing the party, but it had to be done.

    One after the other, Noah removed the rings on the tier 2 cultivators. His ice had destroyed the middle aged man''s ring, so he couldn''t ess it.

    Noah found a few things in the rings but they weren''t really valuable. Nevertheless, he managed to find a set of clothes, and a small map, which he didn''t hesitate to take, the rest were just edible things, which he also stored in his inventory.

    A few minutester Noah found himself sporting a green shirt and ash trouser, and on top of them was a orange garment, that flickered with mild inscriptions.

    With that done, Noah took another step forward, this time he limited his speed to around twenty percent, as he didn''t want to use too much essence.

    Needless to say, his figure vanished, leaving a yellow streak; but not before he questioned the system regarding what just happened.

 Chapter 132 132. SEVERED

    ''Why did I have to get teleported to a different location? The former one was good enough,'' Noah asked the system.

    [[The room simply noticed your desire to return to the human civilizations, so it randomly chose an area a bit close to a settlement]]

    Noah could only get angrier at that point, causing yellow sparks to flicker around him, ice to spread with each rapid step he took, making the temperature around him drop drastically, while arge rumbling cloud trailed his figure high above him.

    The event that had just urred left a really bad taste in his mouth, but that was all the effect it had; a bad taste, he didn''t feel bad in the slightest.

    Coming to an abrupt stop after only a second of running; Noah expanded his consciousness to its limits.

    He wanted to vent his feelings on something, and luckily he found two powerful aura''s roaming the forest.

    ''After this I''ll n my return to Vonol,'' Noah thought, while sprinting towards the first aura.

    He didn''t utilize the essence in his core, as running actually burnt a lot of it, so he settled for the sheer speed his body could handle, and the results left him astonished.

    Noah found himself almost too close to the beast which he sighted to be arge ck ape, that released a powerful roar at his arrival.

    "What is with these forest''s and apes?," Noah asked with genuine curiosity.

    Ever since he had gotten to Cregar, the most popr magical beasts he had encountered were apes. He couldn''t help but think they had a special connection to that world.

    Noah came to a stop, casting ''frozen prison'' after browsing through his list of skills.

    [Frozen Prison[Active]: When activated you create a 20m prison of ice around your targeted enemies, who are within the range of your consciousness. You can create as many prisons as you like, as long as you have enough energy to support their creation.

    Costs: 100SE/Prison, Duration: 10minutues(As long as they are not destroyed), Cooldown: N/A]

    His mind held the ape as the target, which immediately caused arge bar cage 20m in size to appear around the 30ft tall ape, then he dashed forward.

    The surrounding trees were directly uprooted, since the cage needed space to formpletely.

    Noah found himself suddenly halting in front of therge cage. ''I didn''t expect it to be this big,'' He raised an eyebrow, ignoring the ape thrashing around.

    During that moment, Noah managed to notice that the ice had a yellow shade to it.

    He immediately understood that it wasn''t normal, heck he found the casting speed of the skill to be incredible, it had appeared immediately he wanted it to.

    After a few more seconds passed before the ape rushed towards Noah, who didn''t feel any fear In front of it.

    [Wind Ape]

    [Affinity: Air]

    [Tier: 3(Lower)

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    ''Why is that unknown?,'' Noah asked the system, while ignoring the powerful roars the ape released.

    The roars were so Intense that trees close to the prison were directly blown away from their various positions, but the cage stood firm. For now at least.

    [[It''s to teach you to rely on your instincts, and not get conceited, as the results may not actually be urate, since existence''s change, they may also have trump cards, or just be different, like you are]]

    Noah shook his head in understanding, while he reminded himself that he had killed beasts that were in the next tier, simply because he wielded a weapon that could do so.

    ''It''s troublesome, but I''ll bear with it,'' Noah replied, when the cracks spread on the ice cage.

    "It managed to withstand over twenty attacks from the ape, Noah muttered, "Though I wonder why it hasn''t utilized any special abilities."

    The cage soon shattered, and the ape Instantly jumped towards Noah, its fist barreling towards his tiny figure.

    Immediately the apes fist collided with Noah''s body an explosion resounded, shattering the ground, and causing the wind to swirl erratically.

    Noah found himself smashing through hundreds of trees in an instant, but surprisingly the clothes managed to handle it, though tears eventually began to spread on the garment.

    Noah had intentionally not dodged the punch, just to test how powerful his skin was to something on the beasts level.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A smile appeared on his face when he realized that only his clothes had been damaged.

    Noah''s foot suddenly struck the ground, as he tried to stop his movement, those limbs digging into the ground due to that.

    Noah could already hear the furious march of the ape, but he figured the ape wouldn''t fare much against the anger he wanted to expel, so he decided to attract the other beast to his position.

    Noah raised his head to the sky, a high pitched sound escaping his throat, this time around, the ground shook from that sound.

    The ape suddenly got angrier, while the other beast rapidly approached his position.

    A grin directly cracked on Noah''s face at that point, "Let''s do this!."

    Therge ape eventually arrived in front of Noah, as it tried to perform an overhead smash, but failed.

    Just before the ape couldunch that attack on Noah, arge shadow struck its figure sending it flying sideways. Multiple trees and even the ground being destroyed in the process.

    Noah''s eyes fell on thergest rabbit he had ever seen in his life. Towering over 12 feet in height, ck fur and two sharp teeth out in the open, the beast looked beautiful.

    [Forest Bunny]

    [Affinity: Earth]

    [Tier: 3(Lower)

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    Although the rabbit was in the lower stage, Noah could sense that it had gone up a bit into that stage.

    The ground shattered beneath Noah''s feet, as the rabbit rushed towards him. Long spikes rushed towards him, but he dodged them with a single linear sprint.

    Noah''s left footnded on the rabbits soft fur, as everything seemed to move in slow motion, then its body suddenly disappeared with a lot of trees, until an explosion rang out a few hundred meters from Noah''s figure.

    The event had taken Noah by surprise but he couldn''t focus too much on it.

    Stepping back a bit, Noah dodged arge bullet of air that rushed past him, his eyesnded on the ape at that point.

    The apes body featured rings of rotating air around its arms, from which thoserge bullets of air shot from.

    Noah''s eyes captured three bullets of air rushing towards him, coupled with the incredibly fast but Injured rabbit that was about to arrive on him.

    Not a single bit of worry could be found on Noah''s face, as he tapped his foot on the group, ice spreading beneath him, from which several thick walls of ice rose up 30m, in a circr fashion, shielding him from their attacks.

    Muffled explosions reached Noah''s ears, while he admired the use of his ice affinity.

    Many ideas on how to turn that protection into a weapon appeared and disappeared in Noah''s mind, then he found himself cing both his palms on the walls of ice, essence flowing to make his idea a reality.

    Outside of Noah''s protection, both beasts seemed to have agreed to kill Noah before killing each other, since they kept trying to smash their way to their target.

    The ape kept punching relentlessly, while the rabbit kept sendingrge rocks towards the tall pir of ice, that kept rebuilding its damaged walls faster than the rocks could destroy them.

    This continued until spikes suddenly shot out of every space on the pir of ice.

    The ape found over fifteen thin spikes embedded in its body, in which ice spread from, killing it on the spot, as almost half of the spikes had pierced it head.

    The spikes stretched for around five meters from their source, but didn''t manage to touch the rabbit since it had not been close to the pir, and had managed to react fast enough to escape unschathed.

    Needless to say, after the rabbit found that its temporary partner was dead, instinctive fear seeped into its mind causing it to sprint away from the spiky pir.

    But not even a second after it began its escape, did the ice pir explode. A shadow Instantly appearing on its escape path.

    The bunny tried to flee when Its ck beady eyes fell on Noah, but a spinning disk abruptly zoomed behind its body before it could move.

    The light of life Instantly escaped the rabbits eyes at that point, as its body had been severed in two.

 Chapter 133 133. PATHS

    Two red objects shot towards Noah, who had his eyes on a 4ft wide disk, made of ice, floating beside the dead rabbit.

    The bodies of the ape and rabbit suddenly vanished after a few seconds, but Noah didn''t mind that.

    Reviewing the fight with both beasts, Noah could already realize to some point how powerful he was.

    The Instant death of the tier 3 cultivator already hinted at his great strength, but it still felt good to test his power.

    "I wonder how i stand against middle staged cultivators,'' Noah thought while opening his stat screen just to admire it.

    [Name: Noah]

    [Race: Speedling Hybrid>Iplete<(evolution criteria yet to be met)]

    [ss: Heir of the god of speed(???)]

    [Titles: Monster killer, Killer]

    [Level: 61/150] [Tier: 3[Lower]]

    [Speed essence rank:1]

    [Speed force: Yellow]

    [Affinities: Lightning, Air, Ice]

    >Vessels of Power<

    [Body>ss stage<]

    [HP: 18000(+4500)/22500]

    [Strength: 12568(+3142)]

    [Stamina: 5243(+1310)]

    [Defense: 7190(+1797)]

    [Vitality: Tier 3[Lower]

    [Mach: 75]

    [Soul core]

    [Intelligence: 4690(+1172)]

    [Dexterity: 2830(+707)]

    [Energy core>Spherical<]

    [Speed Essence: 9600/16400]

    [Undistributed stat points: 2020]

    >Skills<

    >Lightning Affinity<

    [Advanced Lightning Elemental mastery(Tier 3)]

    [Lightning domain(Tier 3)]

    [Lightning bolt(Tier 3)]

    [Lightning kes[Active]

    [Lightning chains[Active]

    [Lightning Storm[Active]

    >Air Affinity<

    [Advanced Wind Elemental mastery(Tier3)

    [Air Domain(Tier3)]

    [Air Spears[Active

    [Air Storm[Active]

    [Zero air[Active]

    [Upliftment[Active]

    >Ice Affinity<

    [Advanced Ice elemental mastery(Tier3)[Passive]

    [Frozen prison(Tier 3)[Active]

    [Frozen Golem''s[Active]

    [Frozen touch[Active]

    [Icicle beam[Active]

    [Frozen Movement[Active]

    >Elemental<

    [Elemental aura[Passive]

    [Elemental charge[Active]

    >Speed force<

    [Advanced slow motion perception[Passive]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Speedling Hybrid regeneration [Passive]

    [Speed clones [Active]

    [Energy bomb[Active]

    [Speed force armour[Active]

    [MARTIAL ART: THE MONKEY KING]

    [GRADE: HEAVEN]

    [MASTERY:28.00]

    [MOVE(S): RUSHING ROD: Execution percentage: 100/100

    [DANCING MONKEY: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [ SIDE STEP: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [A THOUSAND PUNCHES: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [MOUNTAIN STOMP: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [WAVE: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [SIX ARMS OF ASURA: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [Soul bounds]: Cudgel, Muliix]

    [Inventory:((Tap to disy items))]

    Noah could only nod his head at that panel. His stats remained impressive, but his current inability to level up really bothered him.

    "Isn''t there any other way to level up than killing beasts?," Noah sighed.

    No response came from the system, so he could settle for what it had told him before.

    Noah found cultivation too slow for whatever event would happenter in his life. Although he seemed strong, at least to the tier 3 beast, he still wasn''t certain how good he would do amongst humans stronger than him.

    ''What now?,'' Noah thought, ''It''s time to return to the human civilization.''

    ''I wonder if anyone will recognize me,'' he smiled, ''Would my ID card even be usable?.''

    ''I don''t have ess to Mana, which means I might not be able to get a new one.''

    ''Shouldn''t there be ID cards for those who don''t cultivate. Do such people even exist,'' Noah continued.

    ''Maybe I should simply tell them that I never had one or lost it at some point. I''m a tier 3 expert, I''m sure they''ll respect me,'' he grinned.

    ''What if I encounter someone stronger? Would I be able to hide my different core,'' Noah said Inwardly, but the question was directed to the system.

    [[You can. Since your core contains a higher form of energy, they''ll not be able to inspect it, but you''ll be able to inspect theirs. At least those within your range of power]]

    Noah sighed in relief at that point. He couldn''t imagine what would happen if someone found out that he wasn''t powered by mana.

    "They''ll probably experiment on me," Noah muttered with a nostalgic smile

    ''I don''t think there is a way out with the issue of the identification card. I desire to change my name, and the change of hair colour makes the card unusable, coupled with my current strength. I might need to bribe my way into bigger settlements,'' Noahughed, while two maps appeared in front of him.

    The first map which was bigger, was the one he took from Luke''s ring, and the second one being far smaller, was the one he recently got from the party.

    Due to his use of maps during his first week in Crilion, Noah was able to read the map and understand his location ording to what the path the party had nned, and he quickly realized a problem.

    ording to the smaller map, Noah''s position was roughly 240 miles from the city of Vonol on a straight line, which wasn''t much for someone moving at over 15 miles every second, though he would probably run out of energy before he arrived there.

    The major problem wasn''t the distance but the obstacles along the way. Around 30 miles from his position was a, ording to the small description in the map; an artificial mountain chain, which spanned for over 500 miles in length and 70 miles in width!

    Noah wasn''t really sure what the map meant by artificial mountain chain, but his guess was that a really powerful individual created it, millennials ago, ording to the description.

    Though from Noah''s inspection, the mountain chain acted as a wall which blocked the body of water next to thend. And the in the short description the map had for the body of water, was that it''s weakest beasts were peak tier 4 creature''s!, so it was dangerous to try and traverse it.

    Once again Noah quickly moved on and looked at the right end of the mountain chain. The map showed that there was a veryrge and dense forest, which was highly saturated with mana.

    This was due to the influence of the mana-filled body of water that was currently blocked, but since the ocean used to flow unto thend for an unknown amount of year''s, it remained that way.

    The dense forest contained dangerous beast that were no weaker than the lower stage of tier 3, and within them were packs of beasts who had powerful leaders of the same species leading them.

    The idea of venturing into that forest crossed Noah''s mind, but when the description came flowing into his mind, he quickly dismissed the idea.

    ording to the flow of information, thest time the forest was checked was a few centuries ago, and the adventurers who ventured into it and returned, spoke of many packs filled with tier 4 creature''s as their leaders.

    Once again, Noah''s eyes moved to where the path the group had treaded, and if Noah were to follow that path, he would need to run south of his current position, for just 30 miles, where a vige of sorts was.

    He would have to pass through the vige as it was the only way to continue on a safe path which stretched for over 70 miles, before the road took a sharp turn that spanned only 2 miles.

    After that sharp turn, he would arrive at an area a bit close to the forest and mountain chain, but at that point the road would divert into another part of the not so dense forest, which he would then travel for around 6 miles before arriving at a big city.

    After this city he was out of the range of the dangerous forest. Then he could continue on a path that featured a small in, before entering another forest, which had many paths, with one leading to Vonol.

    The entire journey didn''t appear long to Noah, his only worries were the settlements he would have to pass through.

    He could bypass the first vige, which was by moving around either hills that it was situated between. But that was around 8 miles each, and he''d still have to travel 4 miles before arriving at the path he would have to take.

    Noah wondered how small hills; ording to the map, could be so wide. He understood that Creagar was farrger than Earth, but that was overkill.

    "First stop, the slightly hostile vige of Enil," Noah sighed as energy crackled around his figure, he wasn''t going to run at his full speed since it took around 3000se to move at that speed for just one second!

    Even at his full tank he could only keep it up for around 5 seconds.

    ''Around Mach 1 it is then,'' Noah concluded, ''Or should i quickly refill my core,'' he thought, stopping all essence from flowing.

    ''I''ll do that, then immediately begin,'' Noah concluded, afterwhich his figure vanished.

 Chapter 134 134. SENIOR

    Halting his incredibly rapid steps, Noah''s figure slid for a few meters beforeing to a stop, and on his face was an annoyed expression.

    ncing at his core, Noah found that he had used almost half of its contents in the two minutes he used to cross the around 30 miles distance he had calcted.

    "6000!," Noah remarked, ''I need a far bigger core than this, else i will not be able to fight much,'' He thought.

    Although the whole situation annoyed him, he couldn''t me anyone but himself. Noah immediately decided that he would keep the potion making skill on constantly.

    He needed a lot to move around, and even more to utilize his other abilities, so that decision was a necessary one.

    "I miss Mana," Noah groaned, while setting his eyes on the road before him.

    He had stopped at his current position because he was already close to the vige. He knew this because, he was already surrounded by the massive hills the vige was built between.

    Both hills were a bit far apart from each other, being more than 20 kilometers apart.

    Without bothering to spread his consciousness, Noah began walking, while admiring the serenity his environment radiated.

    He could notice that the environment possessed far more mana than normal, but he couldn''t feel how strong it was, though he didn''t care much.

    Noah continued his walk for a few minutes, hundreds of thoughts rushing through his mind during that period. He managed to gain a few insights on some topics that concerned him personally, but not full answers.

    An eyebrow rose on Noah''s incredible face, when his powerful ears picked up erratic sound waves.

    A few more minutes and Noah could hear muffled explosions, and eventually he arrived at the scene of the fight.

    Arge clearing with an over 50ft wooden gate appeared in his sight, but that wasn''t the most striking detail about the ce.

    It wasn''t even the scene of two men who radiated power in the lower stage of tier 3, battling arge ck ape, that was the most surprising detail.

    What really blew Noah''s mind was that both men were being pushed back by the singr ape!

    "Don''t tell me all humans are this weak," Noah muttered as an ugly expression appeared on his face, while he coldly Inspected that scene.

    Both men had red spherical cores, though they looked farrger than his. It seemed they were both about to breakthrough into the next rank, but Noah didn''t care. He knew he was far stronger than they were.

    Powerful explosions spread out, even reaching Noah''s body, but he didn''t flinch. Both men looked to be far older than thirty years, one having an affinity for earth, while the other had an affinity for water.

    From Noah''s observation both cultivators were totally in sync, as theyplimented each other''s actions, but were still getting pushed back.

    Noah stood in front of that battle for a few minutes, his ugly expression eventually vanishing, a bored one recing it.

    "They are just inexperienced in battles on this scale," Noah shook his head, then took a step into the destroyed clearing. The explosions from the battle, had really messed up the terrain in front of the gate.

    "At least they stopped it from reaching the gate," Noahmended them, not minding the shouts to escape, from both cultivators.

    The ape also noticed his calm figure and didn''t hesitate to dash towards him, probably to hold him as an hostage or something. If it was even smart enough for suchplex reasoning.

    ''I wonder why magical beast never stop to observe their opponent''s," Noah wondered genuinely amused, ''I should visit a library and read books about the animals of this world,'' Noah concluded while stopping the apes right fist with his left palm.

    "This is the end buddy," He shook his head. Digging his fingers into the apes fist, Noah suddenly twisted his body, then threw the beast with half the power his body could muster.

    Needless to say; the ape crashed through hundreds of trees while its over 20ft figure shot backwards.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The faces of both men froze at that scene, everything had happened so fast, that they doubted the scene that just yed out, did.

    "Excuse me," Noah said dashing towards the apes position. He had Intentionally sent the ape far from their position, so as to not let the individuals witness what was about to happen.

    Noah instantly arrived in front of the confused ape, and threerge spears made from densely packed air materlized around him, and immediately shot towards the ape, impaling it.

    Noah spent around 200SE on that attack, but it was definitely worth it.

    A cry escaped the apes mouth as terror spread in its mind. It tried to do something about therge spears'' in its body, but Noah made them explode before such could happen.

    The ape died instantly, as its torso was ripped from its legs, blood and organs flying everywhere, but didn''t touch Noah.

    Arge red core shot out of the apes body, Noah quickly waving his hand to store it. The apes body disappeared soon after, then the men arrived at that point.

    Noah turned to face them immediately, and a smile appeared on his face when he saw their astonished expression.

    "If you are searching for the beast, I''ve kept it for myself. I hope there isn''t any problem with that," Noah asked.

    "No it isn''t senior," The earth mage answered with a bow.

    Noah showed a weird expression at the respectful tag, but eventually pushed the matter to the back of his mind.

    A few seconds of silence passed, before Noah opened his mouth. "I wish to pass through your vige, as I am on journey to a far distance," He announced walking past them, "I do hope you don''t mind," Noah asked with a cold tone.

    "No we don''t. But the head of our vige may, as he also wishes to thank you for your help," The earth mage answered, with a slight bow.

    Noah furrowed his brows at the man''s words, "The vige head wants to see me?," he asked.

    "Yes he does,'' The water mage replied this time around.

    "Okay then. As long as it doesn''t take too much of my time," Noah nodded his head, "And please do not call me senior, it''s obvious that you both are older than i am," Noah acted politely.

    Both men nced at each other, until a shortugh escaped their mouths, Noah beginning to get annoyed.

    "Why do youugh?," He furrowed his brows.

    The cultivators noticed his change of mood and didn''t hesitate to straighten things out, "We apologize for our rudeness, but in the hierachy of power age doesn''t matter, only power does," The water mage exined.

    Noah felt surprised by those words, but a smile eventually appeared on his face, "Please lead the way then," he gestured.

    The two men didn''t hesitate to dash towards the vige at that point, Noah following closely behind them.

    A few secondster, and they arrived at the gate, but things were different now.

    Atop the 50ft gate, Noah could see ten Individuals, their power ranging between the middle stage of tier 2 and the higher stage, non reaching the peak.

    ''So they are the ones meant to guard the vige, but they probably escaped due to the battle,'' Noah thought while walking behind the two cultivators, who conversed with a man.

    Noah could feel the gazes of the ten individuals on him. They had seen his actions, and felt respect for the nigh breathtaking young man.

    "Please follow us," The earth mage gestured at Noah who didn''t hesitate to walk through the wooden gate, he had official arrived at Enil.

 Chapter 135 135. LIE

    Noah''s eyes fell on a series of scantly positioned buildings, most of the ce being filled with lush vegetation. Though this didn''t surprise him, it was a vige after all.

    Most of the buildings he saw looked to be built out of wood, and were small in size, while the few that weren''t made of wood, were built with stone, but were also small.

    The vige itself was actuallyrge in size as Noah couldn''t cover its entirely with his mental consciousness since it stretched for about 18 kilometers in radius.

    ''There must be a lot of humans here,'' Noah thought.

    Many eyes fell on him upon his entry, but they quickly looked away before his gaze could meet theirs.

    An air of gloominess permeated the whole environment, and the eyes of the adults he saw looked on edge, like they were constantly afraid of something.

    He didn''t understand the reason for this, so he pushed it to the back of his mind.

    Noah felt a bit surprised at what his senses picked up when he Inspected the power of the vigers around him. Most of the vigers radiated tier 1 power, only few having power up to tier 2, which was incredibly low.

    After a few minutes of walking through the vige, Noah realized that the more he walked towards where the cultivators led him, the farther they got from the vige buildings.

    Eventually the trio arrived in front of 6ft wooden wall, that looked to have been constructed circrly, and spanned for at least a kilometer or so in radius, and inside of it was what looked like a big wooden cabin.

    Noah''s consciousness spread while he waited for the duo, who conversed with someone.

    His mental waves tried to Inspect the contents of the walled space, but they got pushed back by an unknown force when they tried to go past the rectangr building.

    Confusion spread in Noah''s mind at that point, while he tried to break past the invisible limitations that appeared to exist somewhere there.

    A few seconds passed and Noah didn''t manage to go past the building''s edge.

    "You won''t be able to," A man''s voice spread in Noah''s head, while he felt another consciousness interact with his.

    "Why don''t youe in first," The person said. A bit of worry spread inside Noah''s mind at that point. He honestly didn''t expect the vige head to have power in the realm of tier 3.

    "Pleasee with us," The earth mage said to Noah, who returned his focus to the cultivators.

    ncing at the open section in wall, Noah nod his head and walked into thepound, his mind and body on alert since he felt the gaze of the vige head.

    The trio arrived at the front door, and it swung open by itself. Noah nced at the cultivators a secondter, but it appeared they weren''t going toe with him.

    "He only wants to meet you," The water mage bowed, "We shall remain outside here," The earth mage added.

    Noah could only nod at those words, a slight sigh escaping his mouth. Taking a step into the house, Noah kept a cold expression when the door shut behind him.

    Walking down what looked like a passage, Noah arrived inside a well lit room, and inside the room, was a man sitting behind a table with a smile on his face.

    "Come. Sit," The man promptly gestured at the chair before him. Noah simply walked towards the table, while inspecting the man.

    The vige head, looked younger than the two cultivators outside, but older than Noah. He appeared to be in his mid thirties, and his eyes featured dark spots  and wrinkles. He looked to be exhausted.

    The man had short ck hair that was neatly groomed and oiled, giving him a professional look, a neatly shaved beard and on his body was a grey garment that shone with simrly coloured inscriptions.

    To Noah''s surprise the man had an orange core that looked like it was about to break into the next rank. A body that Noah would call a peak ss stage body, and a powerful tier 3 mind.

    "Nice to meet you, I''m Jon, the head of the vige, Enil," Jon''s voice rang out, his hand stretching out for an hand shake.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah nced at the outstretched hand for a few milliseconds, before his mouth opened to release words, "I am Will, a lone traveler," Noah made up a name on the spot, and shook the hand.

    "Ah. Thank you Mr Will. I heard from my trainees that you helped them eradicate the tier 3 threat on the outside," Jon sepearated his hand from Noah''s.

    "I truly wish I could have done it myself, but I have bigger matters here," Jon spread his arms up, then his eyes fell on Noah.

    He tried to Inspect the man young man sitting before him, but he found that his senses were only able to ascertain his level in the lower stage of tier 3, nothing more.

    A look of surprise tried to pierce his smiling face, but he had great control over his emotions.

    Noah noticed this inspection, but only showed a cold face at it, he expected that much from a vige head.

    "No need to worry sir. I was only helping what seemed to be a bad situation," Noah replied.

    A sigh escaped Jon''s mouth at that point, "I''m sure you noticed how weak they were, but truly you can''t me them. They''ve been in this vige far longer than I have, and had been stuck in the middle stage of tier 2 for year''s, until over twenty years ago that I arrived here did I begin to help them, and they managed to advance just a few months ago," Jon exined with a reminiscing smile.

    "I give them a few months and they''ll get the hang of it. They are very hard-working after all," Jon added.

    Noah could only shake his head, and try to form a pitiful face, but failed miserably.

    Augh suddenly rang out of Jon''s mouth, startling Noah. "I didn''t mean to garner your pity Mr Will. I was simply telling you why they weren''t enough to kill the beast," Jon exined.

    A tinge of embarrassment spread in Noah''s mind at that point, his left hand going to scratch his head due to that, which caused Jon tough more.

    "Can I be on my way," Noah eventually asked after Jon was doneughing.

    "You can. Though I do have a question for you Mr Will," Jon announced.

    Seeing Noah''s nod he continued, "Did you encounter a party of six on your way here?," Jon asked with a smile.

    Noah furrowed his brows at those words, as he knew what the man was talking about.

    "No I didn''t," Noah stated.

    "Hmmm. I don''t think you are telling the truth," Jon suddenly replied.

    Feeling a bit curious, Noah opened his mouth to talk, "Why do you think so?."

    Jon smiled at that question but instead of replying with an answer, he dropped a new question.

    "Mr Will, where did you get your attire from," He asked with a polite tone.

    Noah frowned this time around, his eyes ncing at the clothes he wore before he replied. With a lie of course.

    "I bought it from the town I began my journey from," Noah announced.

    Jon suddenly burst intoughter at Noah''s words, heughed as though he had heard the best joke Creagar could provide. Needless to say this annoyed Noah, but he kept his cool, it seemed the man had something in his mind.

    "That is also a lie Mr Will. You may also be wondering how I''m certain of this, and that would be non other than, because i gave this exact attire to a young man in party of six that passed through my vige just a few days ago. This attirees directly from my closet," Jon exined in a sharp tone, the air in the room turning heavy.

    "You''ve been caught in a lie, Mr Will, and i don''t fancy liars," Jon''s peak lower-stage aura seeped out of his body, his figure standing up slowly, as he loomed over Noah''s dark face.

 Chapter 136 136. CATALYST

    Noah had been in many sticky situations ever since he got to Creagar. Most times he didn''t really have to lie, but instead say something close to the truth. This time around things were different; he had not only lied, but had also been caught in the lie.

    Multiple thoughts flowed through Noah''s mind in the instant his lie was exposed. He felt unsure of what to do, as the situation was only embarrassing to say least, but it could also turn violent

    Noah wasn''t totally sure how well he would do against a peak lower-stage cultivator since his instincts felt a bit of danger from the man''s presence, but not too much, so he felt confident in his power. Heck he could literally remove the vige from the map if he wanted to.

    ''I didn''t think I''d have to do this on my first ten minutes of arriving in a settlement,'' Noah sighed inwardly as he prepared himself to fight if things went south.

    ".....But frankly I don''t care," Jon suddenly announced, his aura vanishing while he fell on his seat with a tired expression.

    Noah almost fell off his chair at the man''s words, his face showing a weird expression, and Jon didn''t hesitate to address it.

    "What? did you expect me to get angry over that," Jon raised an eyebrow, "We are cultivators. So what you killed the party of six? What do I care. It''s your choice. I don''t know what conspired so it isn''t any of my concern actually. I''m not going to give you a moral speech, since I''m not exactly clean myself," Jon exined with a nk expression.

    Noah felt a bit embarrassed again. All that the man said was true, and he had actually gotten ready to fight over something that happened everywhere.

    ''It seems i haven''t gotten over Earth yet,'' Noah sighed inwardly, but on the outside he had a smile.

    A soft silence befell the duo at that point, as both individuals had many things going through their minds.

    "Though I do have something I want from you," Jon broke the silence instantly grabbing Noah''s attention, who immediately responded to those words.

    "I''ll pass please," Noah stated, "I told your trainees that i''d answer to your invitation as long as it didn''t take me long," Noah said standing up.

    "I''ll pay you for you for it. Just hear me out," Jon replied without getting up from his chair.

    "What exactly can a run down vige with low tier cultivators offer me?," Noah arced his eyebrow.

    A wide grin appeared on Jon''s face immediately Noah finished his words. It seemed he had expected that question

    "Quite a bit actually. As run-down as my vige may look, we were valuable enough to get ced on the map, and not the other viges around us," Jon exined.

    Noah felt really curios at that point. "Exin," he announced, sitting down.

    Not minding the nigh-order tone, Jon began his exnation.

    "You see Mr Will, my vige produces a special nt that is very valuable to cultivation that even the royal family acknowledged it, and unfortunately, so did other viges."

    "Although it can only be utilized after a few requirements are met, as if they aren''t it could actually hurt the user. This is one of the reasons why the power level of the vige isn''t something to write home about," Jon sighed.

    "On to the main topic of why I need you-," Jon was cut short by Noah''s words.

    "You still didn''t tell me what the nts can do," Noah stared at the man nkly.

    "I wish you wouldn''t be so hasty," Jon replied, "I''ll tell you after I''m done with the exnation," Jon tried to bargain.

    "No. I won''t waste minutes of my time to find out that it isn''t really useful to me," Noah shook head, as he threathened to leave.

    Another sigh escaped Jon''s mouth at that point. "It''s actually a nt that improves every aspect of the users cultivation process. The only down-side, is that you''ll need to utilizerge quantities to see good results," Jon exined, his mind sensing Noah''s rapidly waning interest. "But it can be sold at high prices due to its usefulness," Jon promptly added.

    "How much?," Noah asked narrowing his eyes. "Up to 20 to 50 medium sized silver coins per bundle. And a bundle is just 30 nts," Jon exined with a proud expression.

    "How am I sure you even have up to that," Noah suddenly asked, and Jon understood what he really meant.

    "Come, let me show you. It''s not really much of a secret to begin with," Jon announced standing up, and walking toward a red door that led somewhere behind the building, where Noah couldn''t see.

    The door opened immediately Jon touched it, and a dark passage entered their sights.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The reason why your couldn''t see past this building is because there are many protections ced around that area," Jon pointed out, when suddenly, inscriptions of multiple colors popped up in the dark passage, lighting it up.

    The duo walked in silence for a few minutes, Noah simply Inspecting those shining lines, and he surprisingly understood their functions just by looking at them, and they ranged from mental blockage, invisible walls, attack formations and a few more.

    The passage eventually ended and the sun''s radiance struck Noah''s eyes, but he didn''t flinch since his focus was fixed on the massive farm in front of him, and the weird aura that permeated the entire ce.

    For hundreds of meters as far as his eyes could see; rows upon rows of grey coloured flowers that grew only two feet from the ground, spread out

    The aura that Noah felt wasn''t one that belonged to something he had ever felt, and that gave the scene a magical vibe.

    [You have found special farm]

    [Low grade Nindiom nt farm]

    [Nindiom nt: A magical nt able to increase cultivation speed of all vessels of power. Can only be utilized after being refined by an alchemist]

    [Difficulty of refining: Medium]

    [Analyzing number of nts present...]

    [Analyzingplete]

    [nts present: 389,276]

    "I see...," Noah muttered in wonder.

    "Beautiful isn''t it," Jon''s voice rang out beside Noah, who raised an eyebrow while ncing at the expert.

    "I guess....," Noah furrowed his brows in slight confusion. "Now that you''ve seen it, we can leave," Jon announced after a few seconds.

    The duo eventually walked back Into the room, but this time Noah had his full attention on the cultivator.

    Although he wasn''t sure the nts could do anything for him in terms of cultivation, it could bag a lot of money.

    "Before you begin your exnation on whatever you need me for. I want to know why the vigers didn''t utilize the nts since it''s that much," Noah asked.

    "Oh. That''s very simple. We don''t have anyone with the knowledge of an alchemists. Which is where the royal familyes in," Jon started.

    "We sell the nts to them in exchange for a few things, with protection being on of them. As i told you earlier we aren''t the only ones around here, and they want what we have," Jon stopped.

    "Then why didn''t they just continue to cultivate or just move somewhere else. You already have the help of the royal family?," Noah spoke.

    Jon''s expression flickered at those words, then a sigh escaped his mouth.

    "For the first point; the vigers being sentimental didn''t want to leave, as thisnd belonged to their deceased ancestors. And they also couldn''t just cultivate since the nts siphon a lot of mana from the environment causing their cultivation speed to be slower than normal. So, they simply opted to continue farming to have something give the royals," Jon exined.

    "But recently even that went wrong," Jon suddenly added.

    Feeling the exnation hit its climax Noah couldn''t help but voice out another question, "What do you mean by went wrong?."

    "Around a week ago, a massive object fell from the sky, apparently destroying a slightly important town. The royal soldiers posted here were then called to help over there, as worry about a potential civil war spread. Which in essence left my vige uprotected, and our rivaling viges are preparing to raid us to loot as much as they can, before a war breaks out. This Is actually why i need your help," Jon exined while shaking his head in wonder.

    Noah could only show a totally nk face after the experts exnation. A bit of pity spread in his mind for the Jon after a few milliseconds of reflection, after all he was the catalyst of his vige''s trouble.

 Chapter 137 137. BARGAINING

    "A massive object?," Noah acted surprised, and he managed to fool the man.

    "Yes a massive object. A pir to be exact, I could witness its grandeur all the way from here. We all could," Jon stared at the ceiling in wonder, "Howe you didn''t know of this?," He asked, after he snapped out of his daze.

    "I did hear of it, but i thought it was just a rumour not based on true events, as I had been in a seclusion for a few weeks," Noahid out the lie he nned on the spot.

    "I see. Unfortunately it wasn''t just a rumour, it actually happened and has left my vige vulnerable," Jon nodded his head.

    "Now to the main reason I need you," He started, Noah listening attentively since he felt a bit guilty of the whole situation.

    "Like I told you earlier, our vige received information from a few of our people spread out across each vige, that they are nning to raid our vige two days from now," Jon continued.

    "Normally I wouldn''t need outside help but, there are five viges, smaller in size that ours, but they each have more powerful experts in their midst, since they didn''t face the same issue as we did."

    "Three of the vige heads have power close or on par with mine, while thest two are only peak tier 2. And as you have witnessed on the outside, my trainees are not fully prepared for battles on such scale, leaving only me to fight the three of them. Which is basically madness," Jon stopped for a bit.

    "So you need outside help to fill in that power gap," Noah cut in.

    "Precisely," Jon responded.

    "Then why didn''t you ask the party of five for help," Noah questioned.

    "At that time we hadn''t gotten this information, and the group were also from a guild," Jon answered.

    "And even if we did ask them, and they epted, we would still need more help, since there are going to be weaker troops in the mix, andpared to the joint forces'' of the viges, we are outnumbered," Jon exined with a serious expression.

    Noah had also adopted a serious expression, as the situation of the vige looked grim.

    On Jon''s side was himself, and two weak tier 3''s with a few number of tier 2''s. And on the opponents side; were three individuals with experience in tier 3, and a joint numbers of weaker troops, even with Noah''s help the deaths would still be many.

    "And the vigers still n on staying here. That''s stupid," Noah frowned.

    "After a lot of talking we''ve actually managed to convince them into leaving this region and travelling somewhere south, which leads to bigger settlements," Jon nod his head with a smile, though it vanished a secondter, then he leaned forward. sping his palms on the table he stared into Noah''s eyes. "So do you ept?," Jon asked.

    Noah could only sigh at that question, he didn''t feel obligated to help him, but he wanted to anyway, he would also get paid.

    "How many bundles do I get?," Noah put on his bargaining face.

    "50 bundles," Jon immediately stated. "120 bundles," Noah responded with a nk expression.

    Jon''s eyes widened when Noah''s words reached his ear, "Just rob me!," He exmained, "That''s is too much, the vigers will need food-."

    "I don''t really care, but I''ll reduce it to 110," Noah cut the expert short.

    "Seventy five," Jon offered

    "One hundred. if you don''t ept then I''m leaving," Noah stated coldly.

    Jon opened and closed his mouth multiple times, no words escaping his throat, only a sigh.

    "How do I know you''ll even be much of a help," Jon eventuallyined.

    "You can always test me out, you are my employer after all," Noah grinned, he had won the bargaining contest.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You mean like fighting you?. Do you have a death wish Mr Will?," Jon raised his eyebrow.

    "No I don''t," Noah stated, "You can decide to fight me with only half your strength, but you''ll probably go all-out eventually," A confident smile appeared on his face.

    "Oh really? We shall see then," Jon announced standing up, "If you manage to get me to unleash 70% of my power on you, then I''ll add five more bundles to the hundred you asked," Jon nod his head in confidence.

    "And if I don''t?," Noah arched his left eyebrow.

    "You''ll have to settle for 50 bundles," Jon grinned, "Deal?."

    "Deal," Noah nodded trying to hide his excitement, but then he remembered something.

    "Though before we do this, I have a question," Noah spoke before Jon could leave his seat. Seeing that the expert nodded, he continued.

    "Why haven''t you all moved yet? Since you know when they are attacking why don''t you just run before that time," Noah asked.

    A knowing expression appeared on Jon''s face immediately those words werepleted, but his eyes suddenly went sharp, as words proceeded out of his mouth.

    "We couldn''t just run. We have much to move, and have only found out recently. Moreover, even if we had found out earlier and actually made ns to move before then; we risk forcing them to attack far earlier than was nned," Jon stopped.

    A look of understanding shed on Noah''s face instantly, "A traitor amongst you." Noah muttered loudly.

    When Jon nodded in agreement a deep frown appeared on Noah''s face.

    "Actually, we''ve found, mulitiple times, clues that lead to the conclusion that there is a traitor amongst us. We limit the interactions between the viges as much as possible, yet important information still gets out," Jon started, "For this reason nning to leave far earlier would alert the traitor, who would then alert the other viges," Jon stopped.

    "So you n on just fighting then," Noah shook his head.

    "Not just fighting, we also n to move that same day," Jon grinned, "We the elders of the vige know that the traitors know that we know they exist, although we don''t know their identities, so why bother doing things covertly," Jon shrugged.

    "But you could have gathered a group of highly trustworthy individuals and create a secret n or something," Noah furrowed his brows in annoyance.

    "And who said i didn''t," Jonughed, "I''ve been the vige head for a while now and I''ve scouted old men who really care about this vige. Although their power isn''t much, I trust them a lot," Jon exined.

    "If you say so," Noah shrugged standing up, "I just hope things turn out well," he added.

    "Is that the reason you asked to meet me alone," Noah raised an eyebrow.

    "Well yes. Apart from the old men everyone is a suspect," Jon nodded.

    "When do you think packing will be done. It seems the whole vige cannot wait to leave," Noah chuckled.

    "We estimate by tomorrow''s evening. We have over twenty men harvesting the nts, with the rest preparing for the fight," Jon exined while walking towards the door, Noah closely behind him, "I''ll give you more information on our battle strategy tommorow," Jon added.

    Coming to a halt, Jon''s cold voice exited his mouth, "Mr Will i trust you won''t mention a thing about our deal," he said.

    "Of course. I''m just a traveller whom you managed to persuade into staying and sparring with you," Noah giggled with a nod, "Though I''m sure the traitor would guess that I''m actually going to help," Noah studied the house a bit.

    "Good then," Jonmented, "And about them already knowing, we''ll shock them. But I''ll give more details about that tommorow," Jon exined opening the door and walking out into the open, where the weak cultivators could be seen chatting with each other.

    "Delius, Enik! Prepare a good fighting spot for me. I wish to spar with our guest," Jon shouted, a boisterous smile on his face.

 Chapter 138 138. PALM

    Sweeping his gaze on his surroundings, Noah calmly Inspected the square shaped clearing he and Jon currently stood in.

    The clearing which had been made artificially by the cultivator named Enik, stretched for about 300m on all sides, which wasn''t much, but considering the fact that not a single building could be seen for bit, it hinted at something else.

    "How much space does your vige even have?," Noah spoke after a few seconds.

    "Much of what we own isnd, the buildings themselves aren''t many and the vigers are just a bit more than one thousand," Jon replied, while multiple curved pirs 2 meters in height, rose around the clearing.

    Nodding his head and gazing at the short bushes that surrounded the clearing before a few trees could be seen, Noah took a deep breath and nned what to do.

    Among his three elements, Noah had decided not to reveal his ice affinity, as it would be an ace up sleeve. Between his air an lightning affinity, he would normally go for lightning, but opted to utilize air, since he hardly fought with it, and a lot of ideas had formed in his head after his advancement.

    ''I wonder if I should use my weapon,'' Noah thought, but a smile appeared on his face when he imagined Jon''s face after he won the bet without using a weapon.

    [Name: Jon]

    [Race: Human]

    [Title: Vige head]

    [Tier: 3(Lower)]

    [Affinity: Fire]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    The panel for humans had also changed, an addition of their race and title being a light surprise to Noah.

    ''Are there other races apart from humans in Creagar? Where do Speedlings evene from,'' Noah wondered, since he hadn''t been able to do so due to his cultivation. ''I wonder if he has knowledge on such topics,'' Noah added focusing his gaze on Jon who had a smile on his face.

    "Wield your weapon Mr Will," Jon announced, "I n to spar without mine, but you''ll need yours," He added.

    A tinge of annoyance seeped into Noah''s mind after those words, ''Are all the strong cultivators this bitchy,'' he thought while his mouth opened to release words.

    "I too also n to fight you without a weapon," Noah announced coldly, while bottling most of his emotions, an aloof expression surprisingly appearing on his face.

    Both Jon and his trainees shook at those words. ''Who exactly is this young man,'' Jon couldn''t help but wonder.

    "If you say so," Jon replied, ''You can make the first move," he gestured at Noah, while bending his knees a bit.

    Noah saw no problem in the man''s invitation, so he didn''t hesitate to sprint forward.

    The ground shattered when Noah moved, his figure appeared in front of Jon instantly, and he didn''t hesitate to m his right palm on the experts abdomen.

    Without the chance to react, Jon found himself disappearing from his position, only to stop after over 600m from the clearing, arge tree had stopped his movement, though it began to break.

    A sharp pain spread from Jon''s chest. A wave of astonishment and disbelief spreading in his mind when his eyesnded on the area that Noah''s palm touched. He could literally trace the palm.

    Blood poured out of his mouth in waves, his eyes threatening to shut, but a bottle quickly appeared in his hand and he drank its contents immediately.

    A few secondster he dashed towards the clearing to find a calm looking Noah, who didn''t even have a smile on his face from his aplishment.

    "I''ve found myself a monster," Jon muttered as respect began to form in his head.

    "Before we continue. Was that your full strength?," Jon asked with a serious expression.

    "Of course not, isn''t this just a spar," Noah replied rasing his eyebrows in genuine surprise.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Jon''s serious face crumbled in front of that answer, as the surprise on the faces of the weak cultivators reached new levels.

    "Do we continue?," Noah asked after a few seconds of silence.

    "I will give you the bundles I promised you, but I also want to continue this fight, to test most of my prowess on you," Jon announced without an ounce of shame or the arrogance he had earlier.

    Noah felt surprised at the man''s words, he had expected a few more exchanges before something like that happens, but he didn''tin.

    "Okay," Noah replied as sevenrge spears made from densely packed air materlized around him, while he waited for Jon,who shook his head at that disy.

    A powerful aura exploded out of Jon''s figure as his focus reached its peak, he could already tell that only at his full concentration would he be able to have a chance at matching Noah''s Incredible speed.

    Sixrge rings of seemingly solid mes, exited Jon''s body and went on to float behind him.

    Two swords suddenly appeared in his grip, their materials suddenly catching fire before the mes condensed around the edges, giving the swords a new level of sharpness.

    Noah felt his opponent to be ready enough at that point, so heunched his spells.

    Therge spears'' shot towards Jon and instantly arrived in front of him, but suddenly dispersed before they couldnd on his body.

    An eyebrow rose on Noah''s face at that sight, but he still sent five more spears towards the still stationery man.

    The spears instantly arrived above Jon, but like their predecessors they vanished without a trace.

    Noah could only furrow his brows at that point, and he shot forward to understand what was going on.

    His figure directly appeared in front of Jon''s figure, but Noah''s eyes widened when a sudden sensation of heatnded on his body.

    The garment on his body instantly disappeared, as Noah found himself almost naked.

    Just as he was about to jump backwards, one of the six rings of fire shot towards him almost as quick as he was, but suddenly exploded before touching him.

    Noah found himself shooting backwards in a river of mes, but the mes didn''t affect his body in the slightest, his mind only making out a warm sensation.

    Noah''s consciousness immediately wrapped around his body to stop his attire frompletely burning, while he waited for the explosion to end, which it did an instantter.

    Immediately Noah got visuals of his surroundings, he sighted a orange sword approaching his left arm but he caught it.

    An Incredible forcended on Noah left arm when the ming swordnded in grip. His fingers immediately began to burn at that point, but Noah ignored the pain while focusing on the second sword fast approaching his chest.

    A small shield appeared on the swords path, and it managed it stop it for an instant before shattering.

    Noah felt no danger at the approaching sword, he perceived everything in slow motion which meant he could dodge anytime he wanted to, he simply wanted to give the expert the feeling that he was actually struggling.

    The sword eventuallynded on Noahs shoulder, and dug a bit of his skin, before getting stuck, but the mes couldn''t do much.

    Jon showed a surprised expression at that sight, he had only ever been in such a situation once, and he wasn''t battling a human.

    A grin appeared on Noah''s face, then he kicked at Jon, but a ring a fire blocked it, before exploding.

    Noah felt himself flying backwards in a river of mes. Annoyance seeping into his mind at the explosion, so immediately his feet managed to touch the ground, he shot upwards, creating an empty section In the river of mes.

    Instantly locating Jon''s figure, Noah spent a bit of SE to create arge ball made of denselypressed wind currents, before sending it towards Jon at breakneck speed.

    Just before the boulder-like ball of air could touch Jon, Noah suddenly detonated it, and the Incredible explosion following the event almost killed the weak cultivators spectating the fight.

 Chapter 139 139. LEARNT NOTHING

    Noah watched the two cultivators get blown away, as multiple Injuries filled their body. Jon himself wasn''t too far off, but he had managed to proctect himself by detonating his rings of mes, thereby repelling most of the force in Noah''s spell.

    Noah struck the ground with a powerful thud, sticking thending. He immediately realized that the ground had receded down by a few feet''s and featured many small craters.

    Sweeping his gaze on his enviroment, Noah shot towards a still recovering Jon. Arriving in front of the cultivator, Noah tried to grab his shoulder, but an explosion appeared in his face instead.

    "You are strong. Very even. But youck battle tactic, and experience. You remind me of my early days as an inexperienced cultivator with a lot of drive," Jon''s voice spread out on the battlefield.

    "You need to slow down and n your moves, or else you will not be able to utilize your strength to its fullest," Jon added.

    Noah felt weird at the advice, but he took it anyway. cing his two feet on the ground, Noah dug the charred terrain for a few meters beforeing to a stop.

    As soon as he stopped moving, he heard Jon''s voice amidst the smoke that had risen up, due to the explosions.

    "Let''s really start the fight now," The man''s voice boomed across the whole battlefield, as to Noah''s shock, his instincts felt danger.

    Not even a second after the voice ended, the ck smoke blocking Noah''s view, suddenly cleared, as tworge shes made from pure orange mes, shot towards his position at Incredible speeds.

    The shes radiated power at the peak of the lower-stage of tier 3, almost falling into the next stage in terms of quality. Noah didn''t know how he understood this, but he did.

    Pointing his right hand at therge shes, Noah moved essence into the action he was about to take.

    Snapping his finger when the shes were just a few meters from him, Noah caused that simple action to generate a thin film between he and the shes, only that in that film he poured over 200se into it.

    The shes immediatelynded on the film, and struggled to cut through it.

    Noah didn''t have the time to rejoice at that small sess, since an orange magical circle expanded beneath him, even stretching for a few hundred meters more.

    Noah immediately spread his consciousness at that sight, but the spell activated at that point.

    Chains made from pure mes shot out of the magical circle. Latching into his body like hooks, they then went on to wrap around his body.

    "You shouldn''t have stayed stationary. Your most powerful threat to your opponent is your Incredible mobility, do not let it get taken away," Jon''s voice struck Noah''s ears like a church bell, shock filling Noah''s mind when his ear drums suddenly began to burn, beforepletely burning from the Intense heat.

    Pain spread through Noah''s mind, but he barely flinched, only surprise being evident on his face, and also because it had healed already.

    The shes eventually vanished since they hadn''t hit their target after a few instants, allowing Noah to cut his connection with the wall.

    Focusing on the chains that had already burnt his clothespletely, Noah tried to enforce his strength on them, by pulling his arms, stretching them in the process. He seeded in breaking a few chains in that Instant, but Jon had already moved again.

    The environment suddenly trembled, as a bright orange light illuminated the environment, even the vigers witnessed the spelle to life.

    A st of searing heat suddenly spread throughout the whole battlefield, burning the still standing trees around them,, and surprisingly destroyed the chains holding on to Noah.

    But he had no reason to celebrate over that momentary freedom, since thergest fireball he had ever seen in his time on Creagar, had begun to move towards him, the ground parting way for that Incredible, yet simple spell.

    A slight sigh escaped Noah''s mouth in that Instant. His environment slowed down immensely as thoughts flowed through his mind.

    He couldn''t just evade the fireball since there might be some other attack, and his unempowered body didn''t have the sheer strength and speed to just run through it.

    ''I can''t use my speed here. That would be overkill. I might even be left empty," Noah thought checking his core but he still had a nearly half filled tank.

    Browsing through his air affinity based skills, Noah felt at a loss of option, the cheapest spell there would span for a kilometer In radius, and he didn''t want to pull the weak vigers Into the fight. Heck, even the tier 3 experts watching, had fled.

    ''You managed to force me into something I didn''t n to do,'' Noah nod his head at Jon''s battle prowess.

    An object suddenly shed in Noah''s palm, as he crouched to execute a martial art move he hadn''t used in a long time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Four illusory arms, yellow in colour and twice as thick as Noah''s, appeared under his real arms, two on each side. Then, two arms appeared directly out of his back, causing him to look like an old being with six arms.

    ? Each pair of arms had a staff assigned to their left partner, causing for four staffs to be present In total.

    Noah felt a reasonable amount of stamina vanish from his figure, while 300se created the six arms.

    Unlike his first execution of the move, which featured flurries of shes while he spun Cudgel, Noah had a different n in mind.

    Taking a deep breath, Noah felt those arms begin to crackle with erratic energy, as their Insides got denser, Noah pouring 200se more into them, which resulted in that reaction.

    Noah''s environment still moved at a snail''s pace to him, which made him feel confident in theplete execution of that move.

    His eyes zed with a yellow light as he raised Cudgel over his head with both hands holding it. The other arms doing the same, as Noah looked to have multiple hands gripping multiple sword''s, with the armsing from his back giving that scene a strange look.

    Charging Cudgel with the air affinity, Noah brought the staff down, that gesture looked slow but was actually instantaneous.

    Immediately his really staff reached the ground, Noah felt his mind tremble uncontrobly, when three lines made purely from the speed forces''s enegy shot towards the fireball, splitting it In three portions.

    Time resumed at normal speed at that point, as Noah watched with wide eyes the fireballe to a halt, before exploding due its structure being destabilized.

    Arge wave of mes washed over Noah, pushing him backwards for hundreds feet, before ending.

    Noah shrunk Cudgel and ced it inside his hair at that point, while his passive ability healed the patches of burnt skin on his body. The execution of the ''''six arms of asura'''' had worked

    He eventually swept his gaze on his surroundings, and his eyes fell on the damaged environment. Noah realized that he stood inside a crater over 700m in radius and around 2m deep.

    The whole ce looked ck due to the fire spells it had handled and smoke still rose up into the sky. Noah''s eyes fell on Jon at that point, but he immediately knew that the fight was over.

    Jon looked sickly pale, and he clearly struggled to keep standing. Noah could also feel his consciousness tremble once in a while.

    "What exactly was that?," Jon''s consciousness interacted with Noah''s since he was to tired to move.

    "Something special," Noah grinned sitting on the ground, not minding his naked state.

    "You managed to make me drain myself Mr Will," Jon shook his head, "Are you even in the level you radiate," he added, "I can''t even make out what colour your core is. Who exactly are you," Jon shook his head, while a few bottles appeared around him, and he drank them immediately.

    "Like I said, I''m just a lone traveler," Noah grinned keeping his gaze on the sky, while reviewing the man''s words of advice.

    It seemed he hadn''t learnt anything during his time on Creagar, only repeating the same thing he did, which put him into trouble most times.

    A sigh eventually escaped his mouth, then he stood up, and began walking towards Jon who had regained a lot of his naturally color.

    "I need a ce to stay," Noah said to Jon, who nced at Noah, and didn''t flinch from the young man''s nakedness.

    "Take this....," A red garment appeared and floated towards Noah, who didn''t hesitate to put it on.

    "Give me a few minutes to cultivate, I''ll take you to your quarters," Jon stated, before closing his eyes and cultivating.

    Noah could only nod his head, and proceed to study the man''s cultivation process.

    ___________________

    Author''s note: I hope you enjoyed it. I wasn''t feeling to goodtely, my head and eyes hurt, and I wasn''t able to write much, but I''m fine now, thanks to the Impromptu break.

 Chapter 140 140. ELDERS

    A few tens of minutes passed before Jon stopped cultivating and stood up with a light stretch. Noah also stood up, since he had sat down during that period, but felt like had wasted his time.

    He hadn''t managed to learn a thing about the man''s cultivation process, since all he could see were mist like particles flowing into the area his core was.

    A few tforms made of mes appeared before Jon and he didn''t hesitate to step on them exiting the charred crater.

    He gestured at Noah to also walk up the stairs of mes, but Noah opted to simply tap his foot on the ground, and his body shot out of the crater.

    Jon could only shrug, while the mes dispersed. The duo walked towards the vige inpanionable silence, both men thinking their own thoughts anding to different conclusions on the topics they thought about.

    The vige eventually entered their sight, and Noah felt slightly surprised to see the vigers gathered at their point of entry, expressions that Noah didn''t fully understand showing on their faces.

    Amongst the vigers were the two tier 3 cultivator''s, and on their faces were respect-filled expressions.

    ''They probably have more battle experience than I do, but simply aren''t totally good at fights on this scale,'' Noah sighed softly, ''They''ll eventually get used to it and have a better battle prowess than I do.''

    "There''s nothing to worry about, you all can go continue your respective activities," Jon announced to the vigers, who immediately began to leave silently, but not before taking a final look at Noah''s nigh breathtaking face.

    The vigerspletely disbanded eventually, but 7 individuals remained behind. Five of those individuals looked very old, and only radiated power in the middle stage of tier 2, and the other two were Enik and Delius.

    The old men who all had grey hair, or no hair at all, kept their experienced gaze''s on Noah, who was beginning to feel ufortable due to the number of gaze''s he had received in the span of a few seconds.

    ''Why do they stare so much,'' Noah frowned in his mind.

    "Ah. Elders. I was going to introduce our guest to you after our spar," Jon walked towards the five men.

    "Spar? You call that a spar Jon?," One of the the elders said in a surprisingly vibrant voice, seemingly not affected by age.

    ''I wonder how old they are,'' Noah couldn''t help but shake his head. From the exnations and what he''d seen, Noah understood that most young looking cultivator''s were usually older than he was, so seeing five aged men who had power at the peak of the middle stage, they had to be over one hundred.

    "It''s simply because our guest was far powerful than I thought, we could have gone farther towards the edge of the vige of I know," Jon smiled with a tinge of shame on his face.

    The five individuals sighed in unison, which looked creepy.

    "And does this your guest not have enough manners to reference his elders," another of the five spoke, his expression turning to that of irritation.

    Noah instantly felt at loss of what to do, he hadn''t actually learnt any customs or traditions the people of Cregar practiced, which further deepened his annoyance with himself.

    ''What have I even been doing this past months,'' Noah felt disgusted at himself, ''There''s almost no difference with when I got here and now,'' he thought, ''I''ll have to make a note of important topics to read about for whenever Ie across a library,'' Noah shook his head.

    "Ah...Good day sir''s....," Noah bowed, his very figure radiating an aura of uncertainty.

    A few seconds of silence passed and Noah kept his face down. His feeling of uncertainty shot through the roof during those seconds, and he had to hold back the nigh irresistible urge to facepalm himself.

    When suddenly a loudughter burst out, followed by multiple others.

    Noah almost lost his bnce when his eyes fell on theughing group of eight.

    "Rx young man. I was joking," The same man spoke between hisughter.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah honestly didn''t know how to react, he felt unsure of whether to feel d about theirck of care for things like greetings, or to feel worried about their annoying sense of humor.

    "Come, follow us. We shall escort you to wherever he has chosen as your quarters," Another of the five spoke, while gesturing at Jon to lead the way.

    "Are all of you like this," Noah spoke next to Jon. "Yes. In normal circumstances, the vige is usually bright and joyous, but the situation has changed things," Jon sighed.

    "I really desire to go back to those times. The elders are only trying to keep it up so as not to crack under the pressure of our problem," Jon exined before going silent.

    A tinge of pity spread in Noah''s consciousness after those words, the vigers situations reminded him of the mission with Augustus, and how the group tried to have fun to reduce the tension they felt.

    Eventually a sense of guilt set in, Noah had managed to sight some children in the vige and their eyes had lost the childish lustre it should have, they looked Incredibly fearful and mostly stayed in their homes.

    ''Why do my choices have to be so catastrophic,'' Noah nced at the sky, "It seems with great poweres great responsibility," he shook his head, before cringing from that line, the words reminded him of his time on Earth.

    Although he surprisingly still had memories of his childhood inside his soul core, Noah preferred to leave them as they were, since the memories brought him pain, and he wanted to move on.

    A few minutes eventually passed, and the group of nine arrived In front of a wooden building.

    The building resembled a hut, but was square shaped, its roof looked to me made of leaves piled on each other with logs of wood here and there.

    The small building also featured two mid-sized windows and a door.

    "This is where you will stay," Jon gestured at Noah, who walked towards the door and opened it, before sending his consciousness to inspect it.

    Finding its Inside quite decent, Noah proceeded to thank Jon before trying to enter, but a voice stopped him.

    "You didn''t even tell us your name young man," The same old manmented.

    "Oh. I''m N---Will," Noah bowed putting on a normal face, and it seemed that the experts didn''t notice his stutter.

    "It''s nice to meet you Will. We are the elders of this vige, and thank you for your help on the outside," The elders bowed in unison.

    "It wasn''t a problem," Noah waved his hand, before ncing at Jon, who nodded his head ever so slightly.

    Walking into the building and locking the door behind himself, Noah heaved a sigh. ''I almost screwed up.''

    ncing at the room whicg featured only one brown table, a wooden chair, three mana bulbs, and a mat, Noah sat on the chair.

    He figured since he was done with the spar, he would address the matter that had popped up a while ago.

    [1 speed potion has been created]

    The panel had appeared during his talk with Jon but he didn''t have a chance to simply disappear.

    After making sure that no one was outside his door, and that the windows were closed, Noah''s figure silently vanished from the room, while Jon and the elders had a discussion.

 Chapter 141 141. SILHOUETTE

    "What a weird fellow," one of the elders said after Noah had closed the door.

    "A powerful one you mean," Jon shook his head while chuckling, "He''s managed to not let me know much about him. Though I can''t me him, we haven''t met for even an hour yet."

    "And he let you give him a house," the same elder spoke.

    "Well with his power, i wouldn''t fear people in my level. I could barely touch him throughout the fight. And even when i threw a massive ball of fire at him, containing power at the peak of his stage, he managed to cut it," Jon exined with a look of wonder.

    "At least I managed to force him into using a weapon, but i didn''t get to see it," Jon shrugged, turning and walking towards where his building was, the others following closely behind him.

    The elders had thoughtful expressions on their faces, but the matter they desired to talk about was something they had agreed not to mention outside closed doors.

    "Enik, Delius. I hope you learnt a few things from our fight," Jon suddenly asked his trainees, who were at the back of the elders.

    Aplicated expression appeared on the duo''s face at those words, they had not been able to focus on the fight since they could barely follow it, and were busy protecting their lives.

    "There was too much going on to actually learn anything," Enik the earth mage stated with a nod.

    "I see...No worries then. Though would you help me get something for our guest to eat. I''d feel bad as a host if I didn''t at least give him food for his trouble''s" Jon turned to gaze at the duo.

    Seeing them nod in affirmation, he repositioned his head.

    Enik and Derius halted their steps to bow at the elders, who waved their hands in dismissal. With that done, the duo dashed towards the vige.

    An air of seriousness instantlynded in the midst of the now group of six, their expressions also changing to suit the mood.

    "Let''s get to my office before any discussion starts," Jon announced before any words could escape the elders mouths.

    A few minutes passed, one filled with pure silence, and they arrived at the vige heads'' building.

    Jon used his consciousness to create an area where no sounds could escape into the outside world, before settling down.

    "So....did he ept the offer?," One of the five spoke with a stern expression, the others shooting questioning gazes at Jon, who sat silently behind his table.

    The five elders were the group of trustworthy men Jon had gathered a few years prior, when the political situation between their vige and the others had started to getplicated and deadly.

    "Fortunately he did," Jon replied after a few seconds of silence, "And I''m happy he did."

    "Why exactly did you spar with him?," Another of the five questioned.

    "To test his strength of course. He requested for a rtivelyrge amount of bundles, and I wanted to see if he was worth it," Jon exined.

    The elders nodded at that point a series of rxed sighs escaping their mouths after they paired his current exnation to the ones he told them before arriving at the building.

    "How much did he ask for," One of the five suddenly questioned.

    "It''s nothing for you to worry about," Jon quickly replied startling the old men.

    "Though he did point out a problem," Jon stated, bringing out six cups and a jug of wine. His consciousness proceeding to fill the cups and pass it to the old men.

    "Which is?," The man that had spoken with Noah asked.

    "That the traitor would figure out that I asked for his help, and Inform the viges," Jon exined sipping wine.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "But you have a solution for that don''t you," Thest of the five spoke, shaking his head.

    "Oh you know me too well," Jonughed before going serious, "Before I address that matter; has any of you received new intel from any of the spies we sent?," Jon finished his cup of wine.

    Dark expressions appeared on the five elders immediately he finished those words, their heads shaking with disappointment.

    "We conversed about this beforeing to meet you. It''s been a few days without anymunication, so we''ve concluded that they''re all dead or have been captured," The man that spoke with Noah exined, chugging down the remainder of his wine, before asking for more.

    Jon could only sigh in disappointment. A few months ago he had asked the elders to assign three men each from their families, who would travel to the other viges to extract Information however they could.

    There had been a steady flow of information which helped them stop alot of the hijacks that would happen when supplies were being delivered to them by the royals, who only sent low levelled cultivators for such jobs.

    The flow of information had suddenly stopped after they received intel from all fifteen men that the viges were nning to raid their vige.

    Most would believe that the fifteen men had changed sides, but Jon made sure to bind the group of 15 with oaths, which he made by himself, and there had been no indication that the oaths had been broken.

    "I n to bait them into thinking that he''s going to leave," Jon started, "I haven''t told Mr Will yet, but I''m going to send him out of the vige tommorow, but he''ll then return the night of the raid. Covertly that is," Jon shrugged.

    "By doing so we''ll make them think we don''t have any reinforcement," One of the five spoke as an excited smile cracked on his aged face.

    "You never manage to let us down vige head Jon," Another elderughed.

    "It''s nothing much, I''ve actually had it on my mind for a while, peradventure someone did show up at our gate," Jon drank more wine.

    "But how do we trust that he won''t just run away. Seeing as he''s as strong as you and that oaths only work when you the oathmaker is stronger that the oath reciever...," The elder phased out.

    "I won''t pay him until I see him on that night," Jon simply stated.

    Multipleughs suddenly burst out in the room. The minds of the five elders having been calmed by their leaders ns.

    "You have everything under control why do we even bother," One of the elders announced amidst hisughter.

    The cultivators continued talking for a few tens of minutes before leaving one after the other. Their hearts cheerful, as a sense of safety filled their minds.

    Jon eventually found himself alone inside his office, a smile apparent on his face since he could see the victory he was about to im, as it could push his cultivation to the next stage.

    Straightening his position, and seeing that it was past midday, he walked towards a picture-frame portraying a vast blue valley, then he ced his finger on its center, injecting mana into it.

    Red coloured inscriptions immediately spread on the painting, as the wall moved right ways to reveal a heavily inscribed ck door.

    He proceeded to unlock this door which revealed a staircase that lead beneath the buildings ground level.

    Walking down the well lit passageway built from stone bricks, Jon arrived at another door, but this one wasn''t inscribed, just a normal metal door.

    Knocking on the door, he heard a series of loud sounds, then he moved the door''s knob, unlocking it.

    Stepping into the room, Jon didn''t seem to mind its pitch ck state. After a few seconds of silently walking he suddenly halted his steps.

    A smile eventually appeared on his face when he sensed a powerful presence move behind him.

    "You know I can feel you, yet you try to sneak up on me," His voice rang out seemingly to no one. But a few secondster a loud growl resounded right behind Jon''s figure, the rooms ckness twisting in multiple areas, while the silhouette of arge beast flickered above his head.

 Chapter 142 142. ACTING

    Studying the object floating before him, Noah ignored therge amounts of speed essence moving around him in that white environment, and continued to focus on the bottle.

    The bottle which seemed to be made of speed essence, contained a dense yellow liquid shimmering with multiple coloured lights that Noah didn''t understand.

    The liquid within the bottle emanated an aura that Noah''s Instincts liked, it seemed as though his body already understood what that bottle of liquid would do to it, and it desired it.

    ''What exactly have I be,'' Noah couldn''t help but wonder at that strange feeling.

    ''No physical changes have happened after my evolution, so to speak, but my senses have definitely changed,'' he thought.

    ''Can Speedlings do something that humans can''t, apart from their connection with the speed force?'' Noah asked the system, and a panel he knew too well answered his question.

    [You do not have ess to that information]

    ''I never do. How am I supposed to utilize my new self to its fullest, if I don''t even know what my body can do,'' Noah sneered at the system and its creator.

    [[Kill many beasts, level up and be a tier 4]] The system replied.

    Noah couldn''t help but feel a little emotion from that obvious answer.

    ''Are you even capable of emotions,'' Noah wondered.

    [You do not have ess to that information]

    ''I wasn''t even asking you.....,'' Noah''s thoughts faded out, ''Okay maybe I was. But you don''t have to sh those words all the time you know. You can just stay silent,'' Noah snorted, and the system didn''t reply.

    Shaking his annoyance off, Noah focused his attention on the bottle. He had been studying it for a few minutes now, and his instincts didn''t find it harmful, not that he doubted the system or anything.

    Uncorking the bottle, Noah poured its contents into his mouth, and a bitter-sweet taste spread In his mouth, followed by a hot sensation, which quickly disappeared.

    The potion reached his stomach, but that organ didn''t hinder its passage tond on his ck core.

    His whole body seemed to pulse from that connection, as his core absorbed the liquid on its surface, and a reaction quickly followed that event.

    Noah watched with a satisfied feeling, the essence in his core bubble up until it reached an almost filled-up state, before stopping.

    Immediately Noah finished with the bottle it suddenly dispersed and floated towards the essence in the room.

    [You have taken your first SE potion]

    [Rank: 1]

    [Quality of potion: 50%]

    [Note: Excessive use of this low quality potion may lead to reduce in SE reserve or damaging of SE core]

    Noah read the contents of the carefully making sure to take in the system''s warning.

    ''How much counts as excessive,'' Noah wondered, "Five? Ten? Thirty?,'' He gave up, ''I guess I''ll know when that timees.''

    ncing at his surroundings, Noah wondered what to do next, and after a few seconds his figure vanished from the cultivation room.

    Appearing inside the room, Noah immediately heard a knock on his door, and his consciousness didn''t hesitate to seep past the door to inspect the person behind it.

    Realizing that it was the two trainees of the vige head, who had in their hands one tray each, Noah calmed down a bit.

    The duo didn''t seem to notice his consciousness on them, which was probably because of their difference in power level.

    Unlocking the door to let them in, Noah left his consciousness unfolded. He didn''t trust the duo one bit, and even though they were weaker than he was, he wasn''t going to make the silly mistake of underestimating them, since those who had done that to him so far, eventually ended up dead.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We were ordered by the vige-head to get you something to eat," Delius said cing his tray on the table, so did Enik.

    "And the vigers offered to give you more as an appreciation for defending our vige," Enik gestured at the other tray.

    Noah felt like there was a hidden meaning to those words, so he chose his words wisely, since one of the duo could be the traitor

    "Like I said I was simply helping," Noah shook his head with a smile.

    "But they- No, we all appreciate it," Delius bowed.

    "Now that I think of it why didn''t the vige head assist you, he''s far stronger than the beast," Noah spoke carefully, making sure to use Jon''s title rather than his name, to make his request sound formal.

    Delius nced at Enik, a silentmunication going on between them.

    "We honestly thought he would have mentioned that to you," Delius scratched his head.

    "Why would you think that?," Noah raised an eyebrow.

    "Oh nothing. Just our guess," Delius replied, "Well since it isn''t actually a secret so...Well, the reason he doesn''t leave the viges border is because there are protections that only he can activate, which shields outside eyes from the work going on in our farm," Delius exined.

    "So basically he''s tied to the vige," Noah narrowed his eyes.

    "Not necessarily. It''s just a duty he imposed upon himself, as the vige head that is," Enik butt in.

    "Oh I see.....," Noah muttered.

    "Though there is something else in that building, but it''s only a mild suspicion. He''s very secretive about it," Delius shrugged, "But he''s our master, we respect his privacy," Delius added.

    A tinge of surprise filled Noah''s mind at those words, but it quickly vanished. He had only been in the vige for less than an hour, and Jon definitely couldn''t tell him everything.

    "Thank you for your time, and the food," Noah bowed.

    "No worries sir Will," Delius also bowed.

    "How long will you be staying senior Will," Enik asked before leaving.

    Noah didnt know what to really reply so he gave a vague answer, "Very soon," He smiled.

    "I really wished you could stay a week but things do not favour such ns," Delius sighed shooting aplicated gaze at Noah.

    "I don''t understand," Noah immediately yed dumb.

    Slightly but surely, Noah saw Delius''s expression flicker for a bit before his mouth opened to release words.

    "Do not worry senior, it''s nothing a guest like you should concern themselves about," his voice rang out.

    "Are you sure, if there''s anyway I can help feel free to ask," Noah put on his most convincing expression, and it worked.

    "No do not worry. Have a good day senior," Delius quickly replied, he and Enik exiting the room after those words.

    Shutting the door behind the duo, a wide grin appeared on Noah''s face, ''I should receive an award for my acting skills,'' he giggled.

    Shooting a hungry gaze at the tray of food, Noah proceeded to eat and drink the meal he had been served.

    He didn''t totally understand why, but only after eating, did he realize how hungry he actually was, causing him to eat part of the edible supplies he had in his inventory.

    A few tens of minutes passed, and seeing that no one came knocking he decided to go cultivate, but he would try his best to make sure he returned before  sunrise.

 Chapter 143 143. LEVEL OF PREPARATION

    Staring at a book lying on the marble like floor of the cultivation room, Noah felt his mind quiver every once in a while,  as his soul ind expanded during those periods gazing at the shining words within the book.

    Noah had developed a method tost longer in cultivating his souk, which was to simply close his eyes every few seconds. It sounded simple but even at that he had passed out a few times.

    His mind expanded at a rtively quick rate, but it remained slowpared to Noah''s expectations.

    [You have gained 992 points to Int]

    [You have gained 564 points to Dex]

    Rasing his head up, Noah felt his very core tremble multiple times, a big headache beginning to rise in his head.

    ''How long have I been doing this,'' Noah asked the system while closing his eyes.

    [[7 hours 12 minutes and 49 seconds]]

    ''That long. How many times did I pass out in total,'' he questioned.

    [[43 times, each onlysting a few tens of seconds]]

    ''Thats a lot of times to pass out,'' Noah exmained with a grin, ''But I can feel my mind beginning to handle this rank," Noah affirmed.

    Before starting the cultivating session, he had decided to flip through its pages, and surprisingly the pages had ranks apportioned to them, for which higher level cultivators would cultivate in.

    Currently Noah cultivated in the rank 1 section which was for those within tier 1 to 3. The one''s for tier 4''s upward only had nk pages, and Noah appreciated it.

    ''I wonder what a rank 2 would do to me,'' Noah furrowed his brows still in pain.

    [[Kill you instantly]]

    ''Wow!, that''s.....I honestly do not have words for that,'' Noah smiled.

    ''But I''ve been thinking, are there only 6 tiers in existence?. The book has too many pages for the tiers to stop only at six, even the speep essence has 10 ranks,'' Noah asked, and he received no response from the system.

    Shaking his head in pure wonder, Noah proceeded to stand up. His core had stopped trembling and he felt the need to rest. In the outside world that is.

    ncing at the 7 bottle''s on the floor, Noah nod his head in satisfaction, he would never turn off the brewing process; ever.

    With a slight stretch his figure silently vanished from the cultivation room.

    Arriving directly outside his door, Noah felt a bit surprised by the event, but even more shocked when he sighted Jon''s figure walking towards him from afar.

    The environment currently had no sunlight, making for an eerie vibe.

    ''I reckon two hours,'' Noah thought focusing his gaze on Jon, who had an eyebrow raised.

    "I hope you had a good night''s rest, Mr Will," Jon''s mental voice touched Noah''s, and he immediately felt something different.

    "You''ve gotten stronger!," An astonished expression appeared on his face.

    "At the cost of my sleep," Noah shrugged his shoulders. "What do I owe this Incredibly early visit?," Noah asked trying to push his door open, when he realized that it currently remained locked from inside.

    "Discussion''s on my next move. Which involves you," Jon started, "But I''d like us to go somewhere," He added, an orange circr inscription suddenly shooting out of his opened palm, before expanding outwards, touching Noah in the process.

    The orange light emitted by the circr inscription increased slightly in intensity, and the duo vanished after that event.

    Arriving at the top of the right hill surrounding the vige. Noah felt his soul realm tremble from the teleportation, his previously receding headache rushing back with far more intensity.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What the heck was that!," Noahined, as his abrupt annoyance caused the wind to pick up around them. Tiny yellow sparks beginning to flicker around them, as the temperature dropped rapidly for a few hundred foots around them, but he quickly strapped his feelings at that point.

    Jon noticed all this, and needles to say his shock had caused his mind to go nk for multiple seconds

    "Who exactly are you?," he felt the need to ask that question once again.

    Noah kept a straight face at that question, his eyes fixed on the middle aged man. He felt ready to go all-out to erase Jon, if he reacted or probed too much.

    The expert noticed the potential danger in that situation and immediately regained hisposure.

    "I apologise for the abrupt teleportation. My n would need you to understand a bit of this area''syouts," Jon apologized focusing his gaze on the space below them.

    Noah calmed down at the man''s words, and focused on the vast space before him.

    He could see the vige in its entirety and even farther than it. His eyes could pickup the path that led into the forest. After that were what looked like a sea of trees currently ck due to theck of sunlight.

    Noah felt his headache recede even more at that scene, something about that view felt rxing, coupled with the early morning breeze that fell on his face, distorting his long hair.

    "What exact are we doing here?," Noah eventually questioned the expert, who had remained silent all this while.

    Clearing his throat at the question, Jon decided to talk using his mouth.

    "I''m sure you find the view soothing, but that isn''t why we are here," Jon started.

    "I hope you recall my words of surprising the traitor, and this is what i need you to do," Jon''s gazended on a distant location near the entrance of the forest.

    "You see, I want you to leave the vige today," Jon spoke, "But you won''t actually leavepletely I want you to reside in a cave away from the travel path. Do not worry i have a map at hand, but you should still get the rough location since I''ve hidden it well," Jon exined pointing at a seemingly random spot a few hundred foots from where the road actually started. Nevertheless Noah still made a mental note of the direction.

    "Let me guess after I fake my exit, you''ll have me return when the battle is about to begin," Noah kept his straight and slightly cold face, his eyes still on the spot the expert pointed at.

    "Affirmative," Jon nodded.

    "What time do I leave?," Noah asked after a few moments of silence.

    "A few hours after sunrise,"Jon responded.

    "Hmmm. Okay then," Noah turned to face the expert, "I have a question. Why aren''t there any protections from up here. If I were the other vige leaders I''d simply attack from up here," Noah said ncing at the thick bushes and even the trees on that wide hill.

    "Oh but we do," Jon smiled as a dome shaped veil, white in colour, flickered into existence, before vanishing again, startling Noah.

    "And about the other viges simply attacking from up here...well it would have been an effective n if the hills were that easy to scale," Jon swept his gaze around them.

    "As you may not know, there are actually multiple tier 3 beasts simply roaming both hills. You can sight many trees blocking our view, so do expect a few beasts at that level to silently lurk within them," Jon smiled.

    "If that wasn''t enough, I''d taken it upon myself to ce traps in random spots on the hill. I''ve done this constantly for a few years now, and even I have no idea where I ced all those tier 3 traps," Jon grinned wryly.

    "asionally, explosions go off, but they aren''t nearly as many as I have nted," A shiver went down Jon''s spine at the thought of the sheer amount of traps he had created and ced on both hills.

    Noah remained stunned at the man''s level of preparation, he almost had the whole situation under control, apart from hisck of man power.

    "The protections are part of the reason the mana density here is very low," Jon shook his head, "And high-tier mana cores or even mana stones are very pricey, even for us," Jon sighed, but Noah''s ears perked up at the sound of the new words.

    ''Mana stones?,'' Noah thought, ''No one ever mentioned any such material,'' he sighed heavily.

 Chapter 144 144. HIDE

    "With that done, take this," A folded paper appeared and floated towards Noah.

    Grabbing the scroll of sorts, Noah unfolded it to study the map. A few momentster he stored it in his inventory.

    A heavy silence fell on the duo after that. Noah felt the silence to be a bit awkward, and was probably because he had been ready to proctect his secret a few minutes ago.

    Truth be told Noah had the silent idea that Jon tried to intimidate him with the protections surrounding the vige, but he felt no danger from the expert. His full power could one-shot the cultivator.

    The silence eventually turned annoying when no words had been said for ten whole minutes.

    ''I wonder if there are cultivators with three elemental affinities,'' Noah wondered, ''Is it safe to announce my probably very rare status,'' he thought.

    ''Probably not,'' he answered his own question, ''I should get protection first,'' he concluded.

    "Can you take me down. I really want to rest," Noah turned to focus his gaze on Jon, who silently nodded his head, and a familiar circr Inscription expanded between them.

    The duo arrived back in front of Noah''s quarters, but Noah didn''t care about that. His mind shook from the teleportation, causing a bit of confusion and pain, but this time he recovered far quicker.

    "Is this your first time teleporting?," Jon asked with a bit of concern.

    "Well yes," Noah lied partially, "Is it a normal symptom," he asked.

    "Yes it is, for those new to it, that is. The longer the distance the more effect the teleportation has on your mind," Jon exined.

    "Though high tier teleportation methods have little to no effect, as the process reaches a level of seamlessness, that amateurs like me can''t achieve, though they cost far more energy," A sigh escaped his mouth.

    "I do apologize for the troubles," Jon bowed slightly, "We shall meet a few hours from now," He said about to walk away, when he suddenly turned to say a few things.

    "After you arrive in the cave, I''ll send you a signal when it is time for you to show up," The man quickly said before walking away.

    Noah could only nod at that point while his mental waves seeped into the room and unlocked the door from inside.

    Noah entered andid on the mat, his eyes shutting as he fell asleep almost instantly.

    A knock on the door brought Noah out of his short and dreamless slumber. He soon found out that the visitor was Enik, who had a tray of food on his hand, and the sun had also risen.

    After epting the meal, Noah informed the man of his n to leave the vige around an hour from then.

    Enik showed a frown at that information but didn''t say anything and left. Noah found the reaction very normal, he even felt pity for the man.

    He would have his vige raided by the other viges'', and by normal means Enil would get destroyed in the process, but he soon buried that pity, after all he wasn''t really leaving them.

    Noah ate the meal and simply sat for a while, though he was actually Inspecting his soul core and ind.

    His soul ind had expanded by a few meters and it sturdiness was far different from when he advanced around a week ago.

    Noah couldn''t stop a few memories of his past from surfacing. His wrath and hatred towards the royals burned even more at those fresh memories.

    His desire to get stronger also shot up in terms of intensity, he wanted to achieve tier 4 as fast as he could, since that level of power felt enough to kick-start his revenge.

    ''Can''t i just cultivate inside my cultivation room after the ring expires. I''ll definitely achieve an exponential increase in strength,'' Noah thought.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''But the need for beasts for the dungeon,

    won''t allow me stay inside for too long,'' he sighed. ''I hope tier 3 Beasts attack me before I reach Vonol,'' Noah chuckled standing up. It was time to leave.

    Exiting the building, Noah decided to go fake a farewell to Jon, to make his exit more believable. ''Is that even necessary,'' he soon furrowed his brows, sweeping his gaze on his environment.

    Noah immediately found that his earlier concern wasn''t necessary since his gazended on the the seven figures of the five elders, Jon and Enik.

    They soon arrived at his position, and Noah didn''t hesitate to talk.

    "I''ll be taking my leave elders," he bowed at them, their hands gesturing at him to straighten his position.

    "It''s a pity to see you leave so soon, but since it''s what you want, we have no opinion in the matter," The elder who had teased Noah the other day spoke, the others nodding at his words.

    "Enik informed us of your n to leave, and we''d like to escort you," Jon spoke with a straight face, his tone formal.

    Noah only nodded his head and they began to lead him towards the path that led out of the vige.

    The elders questioned Noah about his past, but he constantly, without failure, gave vague answers. His mind studied their words carefully, and it produced an answer so fast, Noah felt like he had rehearsed their conversation before hand.

    Noah also threw questions at them, and they all responded, seemingly truthfully also. His questions even looked to bring them a nostalgic feeling.

    Surprisingly, the elders had been in the vige of Enil for over a century, and each of them, at one point in time had been the head of the vige.

    That all changed when Jon arrived at their vige, badly wounded, and the vigers took him in.

    At that time Jon had power at the middle stage of tier 2, which was around thirty years in the past.

    They helped him heal, and also ambushed the men that had been trying to kill him. A few vigers died but the ambush still seeded. From there on things changed drastically for the vige.

    Jon had knowledege of Inscriptions which he utilized in protecting the vige. He also possessed skills in trade, which managed to get the attention of the nobles, and even the royals to purchase the products the vige produced.

    Eventually Jon would then be elected as the vige head, and had been in that position for a bit over twenty years now.

    Apparently the elders formerly numbered twelve, but the others had sadly died from old age.

    The Information Noah got wasn''t necessarily anything Important, but it was something anyway.

    They eventually arrived at the gate, which signified the end of Enil, and Noah didn''t hesitate to cross it and begin walking towards the forest.

    Noah spent a bit more than ten minutes to reach the beginning of the forest, but he didn''t divert, he simply continued walking on the path.

    Another twenty minutes passed before he decided he had gone far enough into the forest.

    The map Jon gave him appeared in his hands at that point, and he didn''t hesitate to expand his consciousness to pinpoint the area he was, and satiate the feeling he''d been experiencing for a while now.

    But he soon stopped looking at the map to shoot his gaze at a spot a few tens of meters from the road, but it wasn''t where the map disyed as Jon''s cave.

    "At least try to hide your blood thirsty aura," his voice boomed out of his mouth, reaching its target, or rather targets.

 Chapter 145 145. UNDERGROUND

    Noah didn''t totally understand why, but his perceptive sense had increased so much that he felt he could touch any stares that struck his back.

    A few minutes after he entered the forest an ufortable feeling fell on him and he sure didn''t like it. So he decided to expose his followers when he walked far enough from Enil, where most explosions wouldn''t be heard

    Noah''s face remained cold when five figures all radiating power in the peak of tier 2 sprouted from different points around him.

    He could clearly see them due to his unfolded consciousness, which meant he had the ability to directly kill them where they stood.

    "We apologise if we have angered you senior," Thedy amongst them spoke with a bow, her voice soft.

    She looked older than thirty and her mature vibe emphasized on that.

    Thedy had long brown hair which she kept straight. She sported a pair of green eyes and sharp eyebrows, which directlyplimented her pointy nose and plum pink lips.

    [Sra]

    [Race: Human]

    [Title: N/A]

    [Tier: 2(Peak)]

    [Affinity: Air]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    Noah felt the need to check her stats and he remained satisfied after doing so.

    "What do you want," Noah spoke harshly, his aura seeping out of his figure menacingly.

    "We wish to acquire your help, senior," She replied quickly while her calm mind got ravaged by Noah''s aura.

    "I am Selera, from the vige of N, and these are the men sent with me by the other viges, to meet you," she exined with her calm face still on.

    An eyebrow rose on Noah''s face at those words. The whole situation immediately felt funny to him, but he didn''t want them to waste too much of his time.

    "My help? Why?," Noah practically barked at them causing the group of five to flinch. Their bodies screaming at Noah''s aura. They felt trapped.

    Closing her eyes to regainposure, Selera nced at the the two men behind her and they nced back at her.

    Her eyes also fell on the other two men in separate positions, but they had their gaze''s focused on Noah.

    The mission to talk to the young man they had been informed seemed to be taking a wrong turn, and could lead to their death if not well handled.

    "We desire your help in an uing struggle, and-," Her words were cut short by Noah.

    "I have no desire for that," Noah said taking a step forward, and he saw them all go into defensive stances.

    Pondering on what to do about the matter, Noah searched for ways to quickly send them away, since he didn''t want to go farther down the road.

    "I want you all out of here," Noah spoke again, this time his aura burst out of his body radiating the irritation their presence brought him.

    The hearts of the cultivators raced as they all took an instinctive step backwards, but no further movements were made.

    A dark expression appeared on Noah''s face at that point, he immediately decided on the drastic action he would utilize to send them away.

    But before he could make any moves, a hystericalugh suddenly burst out, soiling the silence among them.

    A crazed expression appeared on Selera''s face sending a wave of surprise through Noah''s mind.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Her crazedughter which contrasted with her formerly soft voice, continued for a few tens of seconds before actual words escaped her mouth.

    "If he won''te with us peacefully then we''ll have to take him forcefully," her loud voice spread out.

    A red thread of sorts suddenlytched onto Noah''s arm, followed by dozens more which wrapped around his entire body. Noah immediately found himself trapped in that bundle of shining threads.

    "Don''t try to do anything. Those are tier 3 weapons. They siphon the mana in your body and limit your consciousness," Selera exined walking towards him with a green marble like object In her left palm.

    Noah simply watched the events y on with light amusement. He didn''t feel any danger in the slightest, nor did the binding of sorts really do anything to him.

    He only felt his consciousness get limited to only a few feet around him, but that was all. He could break out of the binding immediately, and he did just that.

    Flexing his arms a bit, Noah snorted at how easy it was to destroy the threads. Without bothering to focus on the terrified expressions of the cultivators, Noah proceeded to apply pressure on their heads with his mind. A series of disturbing bursting sounds spread out in the environment at that simple mental gesture.

    Tapping his shoeless right foot on the ground, ice spread beneath Noah at that simple gesture, and froze the headless bodies, solid.

    Tiny arrows made from condensed air materlized and shot towards the frozen bodies in tens, destroying them in the process.

    Immediately after that, Noah caused a strong wind to blow, dispersing the frozen bits in the air.

    With that done, Noah let his consciousness unfold to its limits, to prevent anyone from sneaking up on him.

    The map appeared in his hand and he immediately began to dashed towards the cave site. The event which had just happened not weighing on Noah''s mind in the slightest.

    A few seconds after dashing, Noah came to a sharp stop. ncing at the map, he confirmed that he had arrived at where the cave was supposed to be, there was no cave.

    Noah swept his gaze around in confusion, he had definitely arrived at the cave site but there wasn''t a single stone in sight, only rows of tall slim trees.

    A frown eventually appeared on Noah''s face, ''Was it a lie, or is there something I''m missing,'' Noah thought focusing his consciousness on his environment, and he found something after twenty minutes of searching.

    Totally Imperceptible to the eyes and almost his consciousness, Noah noticed a weird marking on a particr tree which didn''t look different from the other trees.

    The marking also blended well with the tree''s rough bark making it practically invincible.

    Noah walked closer to the tree and ced his palm on it. Nothing happened to the tree, but the map in Noah''s hand suddenly began to vibrate, a series of writings simr to those on the trees appearing on its fabric.

    Realization soon dawned on Noah, and he immediately ced the map on the trees carving, and with a rumble, the earth beneath him gave way.

    Noah found himself falling but his feet soon touched the ground. He immediately let his consciousness inspect the ce, and an expression of amazement appeared on his face.

    The underground cave was around 200sqft, and it ceiling was 50ft in height. The ce looked to have been artificially caved since Noah could sight smoothly stone edges here and there.

    Up in the room was a yellow mana chandelier which illuminated the cave, almost leaving no dark spots.

    The cave featured a wellid blue bed with a nice brown table beside it, then across the room over at its left edge was arge 10/20ft shelve, which was filed with lots of scrolls, books and even random pieces of paper.

    At the side of the cave was a massive metal door, which when Noah tapped it, he could hear the empty space behind the door. The door had multiple inscriptions shining on its material and in its center was a 3 inch circr orange gem.

    Noah immediately noticed something off about the gem, it clearly wasn''t a mana core, and it looked to absorb energy from the air. Noah could even see the orange object pulse with energy ever second.

    ''Is this a mana stone?,'' Noah wondered, ''It has to. It isn''t a mana core,'' Noah concluded.

    The gem was guarded by a metal gauze of sorts, which also looked strong. Noah figured he could probably destroy it, but he didn''t want to tamper with things he didn''t understand, he could bring down the Incredible ce Jon had definitely worked on.

    ncing at the hole he fell from, Noah saw that a woodendder hung from its edge. The ceiling looked to be a few 10fts from ground level, since if it wasn''t the ceiling would easily copse.

    "I guess I''ll wait," Noah muttered. His eyesnded on the bookshelf and he didn''t hesitate to look for books that would interest him.

 Chapter 146 146. SILENCE

    A few minutes after browsing through the bookshelve, Noah realized that most books within the wooden shelf talked about magical beasts.

    Not just about magical beasts, but the techniques used to tame them, or even more surprising, binding them to the tamer.

    A second or two of flipping through the pages at high speed was all Noah needed to finish one of the over thirty books based on the afermentioned topics.

    His tier 3 mind sorted the information almost as quickly as he read them, and he soon understood the contents to a moderate degree.

    Most taming books spoke about simply feeding the beast for a long period of time, while also revealing yourself in bits to the magical beast until it bes docile to the tamer.

    The other books spoke of brutally beating the magical beast or threatening it with your superior level of power. Those sorts of books made emphasis on the tamers power being more than enough to tackle the beast in whatever way it wanted to attack.

    Usually there was a warning at the end of such books exining to the reader that the method exined would be more effective on beasts that respected superior power, and didn''t pride themselves in theirs.

    The other methods mentioned in other books, wrote of the tamer simply setting it free in a confined space, where after a period of time it would get bored due to its loneliness and seek to find the existence that kept it there, eventually recognizing the existence as its master.

    There were other methods, but Noah quickly got bored of the topic. He wondered why Jon had such books in their tens, but didn''t ce too much importance on the matter.

    He moved on to the books that spoke of ways to bound the beast to the tamer.

    Noah found the topic very interesting and useful, at least for the future. He recalled the shining man that spoke to him, speaking of pets as part of his inheritance.

    Surprisingly all books on that subject spoke of only one way to bind yourself to a beast, which was by tethering it to your soul.

    The tether would bind itself with the beasts core and its very body, allowing the cultivator almost full ess to its energy reserves if needed.

    The process, ording to the books would take days or weeks, depending on what type of beast it was and what level of power it wielded.

    When the binder dies the beast also dies, but when the beast dies the binder would remain.

    Most of the contents in those books were filled with how the procedure would go, and warnings about what could go wrong and the precautions to take to not allow them go wrong.

    Eventually Noah felt he had learnt enough and decided to move to the other books in the shelf.

    He found books containing basic control of mana and elements, mostly fire elements. He read a few books concerning formations. Something he hadn''t seen being utilized for a while now, but he couldn''t grasp the knowledge contained within them.

    The books was usually around the fourth to sixth series, all by different writers. He couldn''t dream of understanding them.

    The books about inscriptions were also the same, not something that he would understand since they weren''t meant for beginners.

    It seemed Jon had intentionally not left any books containing sensitive knowledge, or anything that could harm he or the vige.

    ''The important ones are probably in his ring,'' Noah clicked his tongue.

    Noah eventually got bored and didn''t hesitate to cultivate his mind since it wasn''t based on being in the presence of speed essence.

    A few hours passed with Noah taking mulitiple breaks and even cking out once in a while.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With every ckout, Noah found it easier to stare at the white shining words. He also managed to gain a few insights on troublesome actions he caught himself still taking.

    He realized his trouble-bringing habit of letting people have they way with him a few times, when he could simply shut himself in and preserve his peace.

    But another realization followed that realization. Noah found that he had begun to enjoy the mishaps that actually happened to him!

    His mind had adapted to getting into danger far more than he realized.

    Although he still longed for a challenge that would force his existence to strain itself, he found himself subconsciously enjoying his, most times; deadly situations.

    ''I''m fast. Definitely the fastest tier 3 in current times, but have i been utilizing my speed to its fullest,'' Noah addressed another issue he had managed to keep at the back of his mind for a long time now.

    ''Why isn''t there a guide for something like this,'' Noah felt down, ''Are there even still speedlings out there,'' he wondered. A sense of deep loneliness washing over him at that thought.

    He had the system as a sort ofpanion, but it couldn''tpare to tangible humans. ''Maybe that is why I let myself get vulnerable,'' Noah sighed closing the cultivation manual and storing it.

    [You gained 467 points to Int]

    [You gained 163 points to Dex]

    His intelligence had increased far more than normal but he didn''t focus on that.

    Noah''s eyes swept therge cave and he found nothing of interest to do.

    Shifting his gaze to thedder, Noah wondered if he could go out for a bit. The silence in the cave had be too suffocating for him.

    He soon found himself walking towards thedder in hopes of finding something to kill.

    But he abruptly halted his steps as thoughts of cultivating his body fought his desire to escape the sickening silence.

    His aura suddenly red up after a few short moments. His desire to get stronger had won the battle and his body instinctively reacted to that win. A reaction he found shocking since he felt his whole body tremble in sudden, almost unexined, excitement.

    It took Noah a few seconds to calm down, but then a powerful bang suddenly reverberated through the entire cave.

    The erratic sound waves causing ripples to spread on Noah''s clothes, but nothing else.

    A deep frown appeared on Noah''s face. Focusing his gaze on therge metal door, Noah felt another powerful blow strike it. The sound only being slightly annoying to Noah.

    Muliix practically crawled out of his skin,  and he quickly located Cudgel inside his hair. Its figure erging to its normal size.

    Five more blows had struck the metallic door at this, point but therge door stood strong. And surprisingly the whole underground cave lit up with red and yellow inscriptions. Most likely reinforcing the structural integrity of the entire ce.

    After more than six more bangs, silence reigned, causing Noah to wonder what exactly was behind the door.

    A few minutes eventually passed, but no other bangs spread in the room. Noah felt himself begin to rx, but the door vanished.

 Chapter 147 147. WILD

    Danger spread in Noah''s mind, but he hadn''t the time to focus on that sensation, since an object shot out of the now empty door space, to smash into the wall behind him.

    Noah''s already expanded consciousness managed to capture what the object was, and Muillix immediately receded back into his body. He considered hiding Cudgel but decided against that. He wouldn''t handicap himself Incase of a battle.

    Noah turned to focus on Jon''s body and he felt shocked to see five deep cuts that spanned from his chest, all the way down his waist. Blood pouring profusely from those Injuries.

    The expert looked to have passed out, causing Noah to panic and move towards him, but his instincts suddenly screamed at him, and he pivoted his foot jumping sideways andnded on his bed.

    Noah saw a burst of what resembled dark air shoot out of the empty door post, and collided with the stone wall.

    The whole ce shook at that impact, rubbles falling off the walls, asrge cracks spread on the walls.

    An even bigger wave of surprise filled Noah''s mind at that sight, and when he felt an aura that had long broke through the lower stage of tier 3 his body trembled.

    Jon seemed to have been awokened by the sound of the impact. Noah''s ears managing to pick up his sharp breath amidst the sounds of falling rocks and even the dust that had begun to rise up.

    "What the heck is going on?," Noah barked at Jon, while his figure appeared in front of the man.

    Pulling him out of the crater his body had formed, Noah watched the expert almost pass out again, but he gulped down two bottles of healing potion before that could happen.

    During that period, Noah had managed to make out a loud growling from within the dark door post. His mind quickly ced the clues together, and he arrived at a grim conclusion.

    "Is that supposed to be your pet?," Noah had to raise his voice due to the jumble of noises around them.

    A smile broke on the now stable Jon, then his eyes fell on Noah''s golden staff, causing him to shoot a questioning nce at him.

    His saw Noah''s frown and immediately turned serious. "I see you''ve been reading," Jonmented, "Yes she is," he stated, "But I haven''t been able to bond her with myselfpletely," Jon exined, a series of inscriptions appearing and disappearing during his words.

    "I''ve only managed to achieve 50%. Even at that, it''s been a very long times since she''s been this violent," Jon''s exined, pointing his palm at the empty door post.

    His pointed palm featured a series of red inscriptions snaking up and down his arm.

    A beam of red light shot out of that palm, then Jon''s mental voice rang in Noah''s head while he dashed towards the empty door post.

    "I need your help to stop her rampage! Follow me," Jon beckoned, but Noah didn''t move.

    "What do I get from helping you. Last time I checked this wasn''t part of our agreement," Noah shook his head.

    Jon frowned at those words, but didn''tin, "What do you want?," he hastily asked, standing at the entrance to the dark room.

    "Books for studying inscriptions," Noah quickly replied, dusting off the specks of dust that fell on him.

    "Done!," Jon answered almost immediately, "Now follow me!," he said hurriedly.

    Noah smiled and dashed forward, but carefully. He arrived past the door post and his eyes fell on dimly lit room, but Jon moved to fix that problem.

    The expert sped his palms together before waving raising them above his head. Multiple spheres made from shining lines shot out of his palms, illuminating the room with their bright yellow radiance, which quickly overshadowed the red light Jon had sent into the room earlier.

    Noah unconsciously drew his breath at the scene he witnessed. His eyes fell on a panther who''s height had definitely surpassed 50ft.

    Its length spanned for around 40ft, not adding its tail that was multiple times longer than a fully grown man.

    The panther was totally ck. So ck that Noah almost failed to make out its edge''s. Even itsrge eyes seemed to be covered by a dark membrane.

    The sheer aura the beast emitted almost choked Noah, but his body fended it off quite easily.

    The room they were in was farrger than the beast. Around 600sqm and 200m in height.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The entire ce was covered with dark metallic tes that currently had inscriptions running on them.

    Noah''s shot a questioning gaze at Jon, but the expert seemed to bepletely focused on what he was doing, to react to his gaze.

    Jon circled the beast which tried to m him with itsrge paw. The panther didn''t move from its position, simply sitting, as it tried to squash its half master.

    Noah quickly came to halt. He felt insulted by the beast for not noticing him, and surprisingly his body reacted to that feeling in ways he didn''t know it could.

    Noah''s aura red, as he felt his mind get overtaken by pride. His gaze condescending and filled with disdain.

    He felt his body move on its own. When he raised his head up, a trickle of energy seeping out of his core and reaching his mind.

    A powerful high-pitched sound, that Jon didn''t seem to percive, escaped Noah''s mouth and reached the panthers ear.

    Noah felt all his former feelings get washed away when the panthers wild gaze fell on him.

    Danger reced those feelings and Noah sprinted away from his position.

    A powerful roar escaped the beasts jaws, as its wild aura shot through the roof, then it moved.

    Never in Noah''s time on Cregar had he seen something sorge move so fast.

    The massive panther almost instantly arrived at Noah''s former position the moment he left. The whole room trembled as its middle stage tier 3 aura filled the whole ce.

    Noah quickly arrived at Jon''s position, a sense of guilt appearing in his mind when he confirmed that the whole charade was his fault. Though it all happened without his consent, which was when his aura red outside. He honestly wondered how the panther had sensed it through the metallic door.

    "What do we do?," Noah''s mental voice smashed into Jon''s mind. They didn''t have time to stand around.

    "If you manage to keep her distracted for a minute or so, I should be able toplete the countermeasure i created for situations like this," Jon''s mental voice replied, without his eyes leaving his rapidly moving hands, which flickered with tens of inscriptions.

    Noah''s Instincts tingled again, and he shot upwards, managing to do a flip.

    His feet touched the metallic ceiling, and when his eyesnded on the beasts back, he shot downwards towards it.

    His figure arrived on the beasts back, and he didn''t hesitate to m Cudgel on that body part.

    Noah''s arms creaked and almost exited their respective joints, when hepleted that attack.

    He felt a slight wave of surprise wash over him when he realized that his attack had not left a mark.

    He quickly jumped down the beasts, then dark spikes shot out of its back.

    Noah felt a wave of excitement fill his existence when his mind confirmed that only by utilizing a significant amount of his full-power would he stand a chance of actually killing the beast. But he couldn''t kill it due to its unique connection with Jon.

    "Darkness affinity, huh. It''s definitely the strongest beast I''ve fought so far," Noah muttered while his environment slowed down as a result of the essence that had moved to his soul core.

    Noah''s body hardened as energy tried to crackle around his figure, but his consciousness prevented that from happening.

    He moved when the beast moved, causing them to sh head-on.

    The panther wed at him with talons covered in ckness, which radiated a dangerous aura.

    Noah caused Muillix to wrap around his right leg, then he threw a kick at the descending paw, that spelled doom for most cultivators his level.

    Their attacks connected, and the sheer power released from that collusion caused the ground beneath them to cave in by multiple foots. The two seemed to be equally matched.

 Chapter 148 148. FREAK

    Noah felt his right leg shatter from that impact. But it got rebuilt an instantter, allowing him to jump backwards.

    ? Noah smiled when he noticed his foots mark on the panthers paw. He had managed to dig a bit into its Incredibly tough skin, which showed how powerful that kick was.

    The panther seemed to calm down a bit as it studied it paw and its opponent. A hint of intelligence seemed to appear in its dark eyes, but it soon vanished when her eyes fell on Noah''s proud smirk.

    ''I wonder how much essence my body can handle,'' Noah thought, pouring more essence into empowering his body.

    He hand given up on casting air affinity based spells since they probably won''t hinder its movement.

    The panther arrived in front of Noah''s palpating body and he didn''t hesitate to jump and send a powerful kick from under its opened jaws.

    His kick instantly shut the beastsrge mouth, which he was certain could fit his entire body in one gulp, and still have room for otherrge objects.

    In quick session to his kick, Noahnded on the beasts face. Grabbing its big nose, Noah pulled it downwards with all the power his arms could afford.

    The panther found its face mming the hard ground an instantter, as anger rose in its beastly mind.

    ck gas seeped out of its skin, and Noah quickly let her go. He suddenly found himself heeding to Jon''s advice, to watch his opponents movement''s and base his next action on theirs.

    He didn''t have time to think much about the matter, since fiverge bullets made from its darkness element, shot toward, curving mid-air to circle him.

    Noah smiled at the attack which he had already judged to be futile. He quickly nced at Jon. Seeing that the expert remainedpletely focused on whatever he was doing, and didn''t have his consciousness unfolded, he moved.

    Time seemingly stopped moving, as Noah ran towards the beasts''rge figure. He circled it and arrived at its back side.

    His hands grabbed stone-like tail and he immediately spun his body, letting her go mid-spin, causing her to fly off.

    The panther struck the ceiling with a powerful bang, but managed tond on its paws.

    Jon looked up at this point, and he felt shocked to see that his pet stood still, her eyes fully focused on Noah''s also still figure. The duo seemed to be having a stare off.

    But Mana roiled out of her body a few momentster, and he almost choked on his saliva when he realized that she was about to unleash one of her strongest ability.

    "Move!!," Jon screamed dashing towards the panther. He wasn''tpletely done with the countermeasure, but he figured he would unleash it in hopes that it would be enough.

    Noah felt his instincts scream at the beasts still sight. The room instantly went ck as whatever it wanted to do was powerful enough to darken the whole ce.

    The pitch of his screaming Instincts reached a level that he felt his body go numb. He froze.

    Muillix jumped out of Noah''s body and he cast his armour skill. The ability the panther was about to unleash was definitely and area of effect ability.

    He considered escaping through the exit, but he realized that the panther had her back facing it.

    Noah suddenly felt his anger rise at that situation, but he quickly calmed himself. ''Most of my battles end like this,'' Noah sighed ''Not this time,'' he concluded.

    Taking a step forward even though his body begged him to escape. Noah shot forward without the speed essence empowerment.

    The darkness in the room felt tangible, and it actually applied resistance to Noah''s rapid movement, but that wasn''t enough to deter him.

    He couldn''t see anything but he could sense the panthers presence. He felt his figure arrive In front of her, and an idea suddenly flickered into his mind.

    Noah felt the environment tremble, then the darkness suddenly gathered into a dense rotating ball, but Noah was nowhere to be seen. Most of the light radiating inscriptions had been snuffed, making for a barely lit room.

    Jon released his countermeasure at that point, and a flurry of illusory chains wrapped around the panthers body.

    The chains seeped into her body, and her entire body shook violently, causing her attack to disperse.

    Noah who was actually beneath her belly found it the right time to strike.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gathering as much speed essence as he could within his left arm, Noah felt its strength rise beyond his current level.

    He only stopped when he felt a painful strain in that limb. Something that had never happened before.

    Pulling his seemingly heavy arm downwards, Noah threw a punch at the beasts belly, releasing all the energy in his arm.

    An incredible explosion resounded, almost crushing Noah in the process, as his internal organs shook from the wave of power that bounced back at him.

    His punch managed to lift the beasts body for a few feet before running out of power.

    The panther dropped with a heavy thud, and didn''t make any further movements.

    Red blood poured out of the beasts nostrils, ears and mouth, Noah fearing that he had actually killed the beast.

    But after a few seconds and no core shot out of its body he rxed.

    Jon ran towards the panther and proceeded to unleash more of his countermeasures on her.

    As soon as he finished the process he shot an astonished gaze at a sitting Noah.

    "You actually brought her down. A middle stage tier 3," Jon''s mouth shook as he uttered those words, something he never thought he would say in his entire life to someone weaker than him.

    He hadn''t seen Noah''s attack since he remained busy producing the countermeasure, and the dim lights. But he had managed to sense something he had never felt in his life. But its trace vanished the moment he perceived it.

    Noah scratched his head at that statement. He beat her but he didn''t or rather couldn''t kill her.

    ''So this is the best rank 1 purity can achieve at my current level,'' Noah thought ncing at his fist.

    [SE: 2090/22500]

    ''I need to advance to the next purity rank quickly,'' he stood up, ''But I might risk my life once again,'' he bottled up the raging excitement trying to find its way out.

    ''That would be after I''m done here,'' he concluded.

    "Are you okay?," Jon asked after his astonishment had subsided by a significant amount.

    "Yes," Noah promptly replied.

    "Will she be okay," He enquired ncing at the still unmoving beast.

    "Yes. Give her a few hours and she''ll be up. But you really knocked her out bad," Jon smiled.

    "Not without your help," Noah shook his head. "I understand why you didn''t mention her," Noah''s suddenly changed the subject, his gaze still on the ck beast.

    "She''s a darkness affinity beast, and can also be unstable, for now at least. An attack from her would wipe out the entire vige," Jon exined, "The fight would have been tougher if she had been at peak power," Jon said.

    "She wasn''t at her peak," Noah exmained sensing the pride his achievement brought, plummet.

    "She wasn''t," Jon stated.

    "We carried out a procedure which brought our bond to 50% just a few days ago, and It weakened her by a significant margin. Which was why I had the guts to ask for your help. You a beginner tier 3 cultivator," Jon exined with a straight face, ''Though can I even ssify you as such,'' he said Inwardly.

    Noah felt his pride shatter at those words, he suddenly felt utterly weak. His chances of standing a beast at that level quickly revealed to lower than he thought.

    "Nevertheless you are a freak," Jonughed In pure amazement. "Hope remains for the cultivation journey if a monster like you ascends to real power, not what the nobles have turned it into."

 Chapter 149 149. HYBRID

    The duo eventually exited the room to go rest inside the now messy cave.

    The metallic door suddenly appeared in its spot after Jon waved his hand. Noah''s curiosity being piqued by that action.

    "Why exactly did you remove the door earlier?," Noah asked blowing off the dust that had settled on the bed. It pained him to see such a nice piece of foam get soiled.

    "I didn''t want to get connered by her. That would most definitely end up with my death. And I also knew you were here," Jon exined while shining lines exited his space ring to fall on the caves walls.

    The shining lines seeped into the cracks, their light seemingly mending them.

    "I''ll need a bit of time to fix this cave up, but we''ll be moving by tommorow, I guess there''s no need for that," Jon sat on the wooden chair.

    Apanionable silence washed over them  Each man thinking their own thoughts during those seconds.

    "I really appreciate your help," Jon suddenly announced. "We''ve been together for over fifteen years now, she''s basically my best friend," Jon smiled ncing at the door.

    "I honestly never thought she would get this strong so fast, but she did. And a few months ago I started the process of bonding. It''s been quite hectic but we''ve gotten this far," Jon nced at an attentive Noah.

    "You must be wondering how exactly I built this ce, but somethings should be left unsaid," Jon giggled standing up.

    Four books suddenly appeared and dropped on the table. "Your pay. They are the best inscription learning books I have. Although for beginners, you''ll learn a lot," Jon exined walking towards the metal door, which parted ways for his entrance.

    "I''ll see youter," Jon waved, walking into the door, then it shut.

    Alone once again, Noah heaved a sigh of relief and grabbed one of the four books.

    Simply flipping through them briefly without much focus, he ced it back on the remaining three, then all four disappeared.

    A few food items exited his inventory, and he immediately dug into them. His hunger had increased after the fight, and not after eating what Noah considered too much for humans did he get satisfied.

    Noah took a deep breath and teleported into his cultivation room to cultivate his body, this time he increased the density of the essence in the room to 3, and he cultivated non-stop for the rest of the day.

    He eventually stopped cultivating, and the first sensation he experienced was pain, lots of it.

    ording to the system he had cultivated for 13 hours with the essence density at 3. It seemed his body couldn''t handle any more than that.

    Honestly he felt full. His skin, muscles, bones, and organs felt drunk with the speed essence, and needed time to properly absorb those gains.

    [You gained 2548 points to str]

    [You gained 2028 points to def]

    [You gained 624 points to sta]

    His gains had been super explosive, but at the expense of his momentary weakness. Not even his healing seemed to work. His whole body felt stressed not Injured. And only proper rest could solve that.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His figure appeared in the cave then hey on the bed and slept for a few hours. He didn''t want to remain unprepared for the events that would happen that night.

    Noah found himself in an unrecognizable environment. A room to be exact. His eyes fell on a figure who had their backs facing him. From the persons body shape he could tell they were female.

    He desired to take a step, but found that he couldn''t. A few tries to move, ended in failure so he settled for simply staring at the figures back.

    ? The room looked hazy and he couldn''t focus on the features for reasons he didn''t understand. Even his consciousness couldn''t be unfolded in that environment.

    "Hurry!," A female voice boomed all around him, forcing him to shield his ears with his hands. His eyes suddenly shook when he found that the figure was about to reveal their face, but his eyes snapped open just before that could happen.

    Sweat drenched Noah''s body. His breathing had suddenly increased as though he has been short of air, and even now his environment looked blurry.

    It took Noah a few seconds to realize that he had been dreaming, and that he was also suffocating from an extremely low amount of oxygen.

    He got off the bed and jumped towards thedder which hung 3ft from thed, in one swift movement. Quickly climbing it, he tried pushing the metallic cover off, but it didn''t budge.

    At this point he had begun to feel light headed, and his lungs gasped for air, which had be practically non-existent in the cave.

    Noah''s fist struck the cover, and it dug into it. But it seemed far thicker than he realized.

    Desperation filled him at that point, and three more punches stuck the cover, but his fist only kept digging, and eventually cracks began to spread from the point. But that wasn''t what he needed.

    Noah soon felt his muscles go limp and his eyes get heavy, from theck of oxygen. His felt a smile crack on his face, as he thought about the ironic-ness of his situation.

    With all the might and Incredible things his body could perform, theck of oxygen was enough the render him useless, and was probably enough to kill him.

    In ast attempt to save his life, he recalled his cultivation room but his eyes shut before he could make anymands!

    Oxygen, a very essential element in the continuation of life. All basic living forms needed it to survive, to allow all the body break down food nutrients and turn them into useable energy.

    But on Cregar there were no such things as "basic" life forms. All things, big and small, living and nonliving, had evolved due to the wonderful energy called mana.

    Even at that, the beasts of the still needed oxygen to move about, as it was everywhere. Even the dominant humans needed it to survive. But our protagonist isn''t aplete human anymore.

    He''s be an Hybrid of the wonderful and terrifying race called the "speedlings". Why should he be bound to the rules of the weak constituted humans, when he was something much more...

    Essence shot out of Noah''s core on its own. Seemingly intelligent, it searched for any signs of breathing. Finding none, it rushed into his nostrils, and not just that; it created an area where speed essence existed, by doing so it emptied Noah''s reserves, but the job was done.

    A few minutes passed and Noah''s eyes snapped open. His nose inhaled the essence around him, and his body functioned more efficiently on that exclusive energy avable to only his race.

    A grin appeared on his face, as his mouth uttered words in a tone that resembled surprise, but also eptance.

    "I''m really an hybrid," heughed, before going into the cultivation room to refill his now empty core.

 Chapter 150 150. ABODE

    "It''s time," Jon''s voice rang out in the cave, which was currently filled with breathable air.

    After refilling his core, and cultivating a bit, Noah managed to open the hatch.

    All he had to do was ce the map Jon had given him on the metal cover, and it would slide open after inscriptions appeared on it.

    After his experience breathing speed essence, Noah felt ordinary air to be nd. But he couldn''tin. It was free after all.

    Using his control over air, Noah pulled fresh air from the outside, down into the cave, filling it up.

    The more Noah pondered about his new race, the more he realized that "Speedlings" seemingly ran almost soley on the speed forces'' energy.

    He eventually wondered if humans could breath mana, but recalled that they couldn''t manipte it the way he could manipte the speed essence. At least those at his current level.

    Getting off the bed, Noah''s mind constructed and dismissed multiple thoughts in mere milliseconds. The main subject of his thoughts were how dramatic his entrance should be.

    ''A massive spear of ice, with my valiant figure sitting on it should do?,'' Noah considered, but soon dismissed the idea. He currently kept his ice affinity as a trump card.

    ''Maybe I should arrive with the panther,'' Noah wondered ncing at the still closed door, ''Would he even let her out?,'' he thought. Recalling their ns to leave the areapletely, he realized that the cultivator would eventually have to reveal his powerful pet.

    Honestly simply revealing her presence, would stop the viges in their tracks. The beast was capable of destroying the whole vige after all.

    ''Or does he have another n or objective to carry out,'' Noah wondered, waiting for orders for his next move.

    ''To probably reveal the traitors,'' Noah eventually concluded. ''But how would he do that,'' He began simting different scenarios that would provoke the traitor to reveal who they were.

    He eventually arrived at a suitable one, and a smile inevitably broke on his face.

    ''Should he do that, I''d love to see it y out,'' he giggled.

    The sound of moving metal echoed in the cave, and Jon''s figure walked out of his pets house.

    An eyebrow rose on Noah''s face immediately his eyes fell on Jon''s armour.

    The expert was donned in an all red, light armour with a very rough surface. The armour had three de like structures on the sides of his lower arms, but they looked retractable.

    The whole armour didn''t flicker with a single inscription, but Noah could immediately tell that it wasn''t something that could be easily pierced, at least for those weaker than he was.

    A direct punch from Noah would shatter and probably kill the expert before he could react.

    [You haveid eyes on your first real magical armour]

    [Forged from the hides of a tier 3 rock lizard, and a tier 3 me lion]

    [It holds a defense that sits at the peak of the lower stage of tier 3, almost spilling over]

    [Grade: B]

    [Abilities: me thrower, Lava defense]

    A whole panel about the armour appeared in Noah''s eyes, further assuring him that it wasn''t something he had seen before.

    "I have the fullyout of our battle n. Come, let me exin where youe in," Jon''s stern voice rang out.

    .

    .

    .<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Do you all understand?," Jon asked a group of about fifty men standing before him. He had immediately came to these men after he finished with Noah.

    The group of fifty all radiated power within their 2, but their powers varied in quality. With more lower staged cultivators being present than middle and higher stage cultivators.

    Five individuals, four men and a woman, stood at the fore front of the group. Their faces cold, while their bodies released power at the very peak of tier 2.

    They were the geniuses of their vige, and had also been given the roles asmanders. Each person would lead a group of ten men into the battlefield, and execute the battle formation Jon had drawn himself.

    The figures of Enik and Derius stood behind Jon, their faces dark while their aura''s were tightly concealed within their bodies.

    "We shall begin at the first sign of movement," Jon announced, "But remain ready at all times," He said turning.

    "I know we can do this, so please give it your all," He added walking out of the square shaped building which had been built at the east side of the vige. A bit far out from the vige and its activities.

    Jon dashed towards another location. A simrly built building as the one he had recently exited, but slightly bigger, appearing in his sight.

    This was where the weaker troops resided. They weren''t going to participate in the fighting, but they had a role almost as important as the fighters. Which was to help move the people and their properties.

    There were almost one hundred individuals that had signed up for that role, and meeting them in an orderly fashion, further calmed Jon''s growing anxiety.

    A few words of encouragement was all they needed, and a reminder of their various responsibilities, which had been exined to them a few days back by the elders.

    Jon and his trainees did a few more running around, and he eventually arrived back at his office.

    The farm behind him had been cleared, and the space rings that stored those important goods had been ced somewhere no one apart from he could currently ess.

    He had faked storing all the nts with himself to further ce a target on his back so as to draw out the traitor, since only a few people witnessed him perform the act.

    They were the five elders Enik snd Derius, and five other Individuals whom he knew by name and recognized.

    Sitting quietly behind his table, a jug and cup appeared in front of him. Booze flowed into the cup, and he didn''t hesitate to gulp it down.

    His body tinged while the booze went down his throat to arrive at his stomach, then his body absorbed it.

    He felt his body get stronger by an insignficant margin, but he didn''t care, he only wanted to think.

    ncing at the empty seat before him, Jon''s mind took him back to the peaceful days of the vige. When all he had to worry about were the petty disputes among the vigers, and few other things.

    The vige thrived during those times and he didn''t have to worry much. But that all changed when the royals noticed them.

    A sigh escaped his mouth when his memories reached that point. He wondered till this moment if what he did back then had been good or bad, or if things were always bound to escte like they had.

    His memoriesnded on his trainees who had gone on some errands, and a sense of loneliness swept over him almost instantly.

    He had consciously grown distant from them, due to the issue about a traitor, and because he didn''t want to have to doubt their loyalty.

    He recalled the day they came begging to be his servants as long as he could teach them something.

    "Ah..." He sighed again, he missed those days badly.

    Hours eventually passed, and it wasn''t until the sun had nearly setpletely did he sense arge group of powerful aura''s

    He felt a wave of shock sweep over him when he sensed those aura''s. It wasn''t the over two hundred presences in tier 2 that produced that reaction.

    No it was the five tier 3 aura''s he percived that caused him to get up his seat sharply, his expression grim. Three of the five auras held power on par with his, while the remaining two seemed to have just advanced.

    But he soon felt himself rx tremendously, when his mind recalled the two monster''s residing beneath his abode.

 Chapter 151 151. SURROUNDED

    Jon dashed out of his office. His figure crossing hundreds of feet in mere seconds.

    He could sense the tension present in the now quiet streets of the vige, and felt he could slice it with his swords.

    His eyes fell on the vige gate, and tforms made of orange mes didn''t hesitate to materialize in front of him. His feet stepping on them to arrive on the empty guard''s post up there.

    The five most powerful figures stood at the fore front of the clustered group of around 200 tier 2 experts.

    The path to his vige had been too narrow for such arge number of people to ply without difficulty.

    Apart from the marching sounds and asional gruntsing from the clustered troop''s, there was utter silence.

    Wearing a dark expression, Jon went ahead to sweep his gaze on the leaders. Their faces were filled withplete confidence, and one of the five men present spoke.

    "Good day, Jon," He called out informally. The man looked to be in his mid thirties or early forties, he had a bald head and a long ck, neatly groomed beard.

    His outfit featured a light green garment that shone with few Inscriptions and nothing more. Actually all the leaders present were donned in light garments. They didn''t seem to take the whole event seriously.

    Why would they? They were five against one after all.

    "I''m sure you understand your current situation," The bald cultivator spoke. "So we; after a few series of discussions, have decided to give you a chance," The man smiled.

    "We ask that you to release all the Nindiom nts in your viges'' farm, and we''ll leave without any fighting," The man announced. Intentionally not being specific about where the nts were, so as too not reveal their informants.

    "Not only that, We''ll also sign an agreement to take 50% of the Nindiom nts you harvest every year," The man added with a grin, the others nodding in agreement.

    Shaking his head in disagreement, Jon shot a sharp gaze at the talking man, "How do you expect me to ept that offer or even believe you, when your face is filled with the desire to draw blood," Jon snorted with a cold smile.

    As a vige-head, he had naturally gathered information about the heads of the viges'' around him. And one Individual stuck out most amongst the five.

    The head of the N vige, a man known for his bloodthirsty desires. He would buy ves from the underground market, wasting vige funds. Then kill them for fun. Simply taking pleasure in watching their agonizing deaths.

    The baldy utterly disgusted him. The few tmes they had actually met, had given birth to that Intense feeling, and he soon found his mind begin to make up satisfying scenarios about slowly killing him.

    A cruel smile broke on the bald man''s face at Jon''s words, his voice ringing out with power in its fabric. "Bring down the vige!"

    That singrmand caused over twenty aura''s in the middle-stage of tier 2, to suddenly flicker into existence at different points within the border of Enil. Multiple explosions resounding from those areas.

    Screams of pain soon apanied that event. Jon''s expression got darker when he understood that hismanders, and the guards still around, would probably have a hard time dealing with the new threat.

    Magical circles shone in front of Jon, followed by myriads of elemental spells.

    His figure shot down the wooden gate then he dashed forward while the spells converged on it. But just before the multiple tier 2 spells could actually touch it, a massive white veil appeared between the spells and the gate, preventing it''s destruction. For now.

    Jon''s consciousness immediately expanded at that point, and he managed to witness a significant amount of events going on within the vige.

    His mind Immediately spotted the troublemakers, and he couldn''t help but wonder who had let them in, and how they did it.

    The group seemed to have snuck in before the main troops arrived, causing for that oue.

    His mind moved to snap their necks, but a yellow light shone on their figures fending off his consciousness.

    The event left Jon surprised, but he couldn''t let it linger in his mind too long, since during his time sprinting from the gate, the leaders had been attacking the veil.

    The sound of shattering ss spread forth in the vige, followed by the demolition of the front gate.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The troops flooded in at that point, and they quickly moved around searching for vigers, but found none.

    Jon had moved the vigers to five empty buildings around a kilometer from the viges'' exit. He had assigned the individuals who signed up for helping to those buildings.

    But things had changed due to enemy troops within the walls, they were no longer safe in their position. He hoped Enik and Delius would figure this out and get there before he did. And he couldn''t help but wonder where they were.

    Sensing five powerful consciousness lock unto him, Jon prepared himself to defend, and a series of spells shooting towards his figure, proved him right.

    Tworge boulders riddled with thick spikes, arge spear made from condensed liquid, two horizontally spinning des made from densely packed air, and two fire balls, converged towards his position at break-neck speed.

    Just before the spells could arrive on his body. Jon stabbed his swords into the ground, a magical circle expanding beneath him at that action. Mulitiple thin pliiars of mes shot upwards before twisting upon each other to form a defensive area around him, but that wasn''t all.

    The now twisting pirs of mes, condensed into a beam above him, and his consciousness moved to lock onto the iing spells, seven beams immediately shot towards the seven spells at hismand.

    An incredible explosion followed that event, spreadingrge cracks on the ground for hundreds of meters, but Jon''s attack didn''t manage to finish off the boulders and spinning des.

    The attacks fell on his defense, and their peak lower-stage power began to shred into his dome-shaped defensive area of twisting mes.

    The spells eventually destroyed his defense, and he didn''t hesitate to activate his armours ability at that point.

    A wave of Intense mes suddenly spread outwards from Jon''s figure. Followed by a dispell of searing rocky liquid. Lava.

    The explosion pushed the experts backwards and they didn''t hesitate to shoot upwards, tforms of their respective elements suspending their figures a few tens of feet above the ground.

    The mes eventually died down, and Jon''s new form appeared in the darkness of the night, illuminating his immediate surroundings.

    His armour glowed with a deep orange hue which was as a result of the Intense heat it emitted. The armours surface seemed to be boiling as drops of hot red liquid shot out from time to time.

    The ground beneath him eventually began to turn red and burn, but Jon didn''t care about that.

    Raising his swords, he quickly executed a sh at the newly advanced cultivators.

    Large orange shes over 20ft in length shot out of his swords and moved towards their targets, who scrambled at the sight of that attack.

    Ten balls of mes exited the magical circle that formed beneath him and hovered around his body, in quick session to his sh.

    He noticed the slightly serious expressions the cultivators adopted at that show of power, but he knew it wouldn''t be nearly enough.

    His mana reserve bore the load of all his shy abilities, and was diminishing at a rapid rate. He would run out of mana only after a few exchanges.

    During their moment of hesitation his mind processed what his next action should be.

    He was obviously surrounded, and would definitely die if the cultivators went all-out on him. He desired to go protect the vigers, but leaving his current position to the cluster of buildings wouldn''t be any different than killing his beloved vigers.

    His opponents would tail him, and their battle would kill the vigers far quicker than the weak cultivators scouting for them.

    He could summon Noah. But he felt it too early for that action. He still didn''t know who the traitor was, and revealing a trump card like Noah would ruin his n.

    ''Fuck it all. I''ll fight till I''m exhausted. The traitor should reveal himself at my moment of weakness. Then the monster of a man will take over,'' A battle cry escaped Jon''s mouth after he concluded, followed by multiple arrows of mes shooting at the cultivators above him.

    Unbeknownst to him, his trainees watched him struggle from the sidelines.

 Chapter 152 152. HERO

    Near death experiences. An event that usually only happens once or never in the lifetime of the average human.

    Events that could traumatize the best of minds, rendering them into mere cry babies, or fearful existences....

    A hard breath escaped Jon''s bloody lips. It had been a very long time since his body had been in such a state. So long that he had almost forgotten the series of events that led to that point.

    But the vige had saved him, and even helped him eradicate his killers. Today he ced his life on the line for the same vige, and he felt not a shred of regret doing so.

    ncing at his body, Jon swept his gaze across the now damaged suit of armour. cksmiths could repair it, but there weren''t any Individuals with such skills for tens of miles.

    His chest area featured a series of deep cuts that stretched all the way to his abdomen. Blood oozing from those wounds.

    His face had endured many tiny cuts, which piled up until his eyes couldn''t be seen through the red blood, and his hair stuck to the partially dried blood. A metallic smell ravaging his nostrils.

    His right arm featured a deep long sh that spanned from his shoulder down to his wrist, causing it to go limp. Within his body, his organs featured Injuries that would kill any normal human. Some of them felt close to shutting down.

    Jon''s pitiful figure knelt weakly in the middle of the cultivators, who had gathered roundabout him. Their confident smiles had long returned while they watched him struggle for his life.

    A tinge of respect sprouted in the minds of each cultivator after the fight which had barelysted three minutes. The head of Enil had an incredibly amount of resilience, and he deserved recognition.

    Not until his mana had run out without the opportunity to drink potions, did they manage to inflict such deadly injuries.

    By normal standards, he would die eventually. But that would only be if he didn''t have in his possession, pills meant for healing physical damage at their level.

    Though such pills were pricey; they couldn''t rule out that possibility. Or was it due to the tinge of fear they felt for him; that caused them to want to kill him immediately they were finished with their mission.

    "Pitiful...," The head of the vige of N, spat at Jon. "We could have arrived at a favourable agreement, but you chose to waste your life," The man said, slowly circling Jon''s near-dead figure.

    "You can still keep your life, if you hand over all that your vige has," The head of the Mera vige butt in, but he received res after his words ended.

    The man looked to be in his mid-forties, had short brown hair, and a pair of green eyes. His defined jaw-line gave him a premium masculine look, coupled with his already handsome features, and the mature vibe he radiated, all emphasizing his charming nature.

    Jon nced weakly at the person that had spoken to him, his head facing the charred and uneven ground a moment after.

    The bald vige head didn''t seem to like Jon''sck of response, since a kick descending on his head, sending his face digging into the ground.

    Then In quick session to the first kick, anothernded on Jon''s side, lifting his figure up by a few feet, afterwhich he flew backwards, tumbling on the ground, breathless.

    "If you will notply, we''ll have to make you," The bald man announced with a cruel smile. "Reveal yourselves. There''s no reason to be afraid!," The expert spoke, his voice being empowered by his aura.

    No response came for a few seconds, then a voice rang out a few tens of meters from their position, and Jon''s body shook to no end when he recognized it.

    "Fool! We were only supposed to be revealed after he had summoned the young cultivator," The elder that teased Noah a few days back, cursed!

    Snapping his head towards the figures walking slowly towards his position, Jon felt his throat dry up Instantly.

    He felt his already ragged breath get rougher and rougher as memories of the past twenty years flooded his mind, then he saw them shatter, all seemingly lies.

    Pain flooded his mind in ways he never thought possible, and he hated it. He felt the intense desire to die on the spot. He didn''t want to listen to anymore of what they had to say. He didn''t want to learn the cruel truth, he only wanted to escape that ce.

    But s reality wasn''t so generous to do his bidding. With a pained heart, Jon watched the figures of his supposedly five most trustworthy elders, and his two trainees walk towards him.

    Jon''s head spun at the realization that he had been alone in his quest to protect the vige. But how long it had been that way, he wanted to know.

    "How long?," Jon''s voice shuddered as those words exited his lips, "How long have you harboured such emotions towards me?," He said.

    The irritated expressions on the elders, couldn''t be more obvious, but his gaze wasn''t on their figures. He kept his face on the ground for the fear of breaking down in front of them.

    "Oh child. It all started when you, an outsider became our leader," The same elder spoke. His voice oozing Intense contempt and disdain.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A powerful tremor spread through Jon''s body at those sharp words, "That long!," he muttered softly, but they heard him.

    "Yes it''s been that long," The elder replied walking towards the bald cultivator, the others simply ignoring his existence as they discussed.

    "Even you guys....," Jon felt a burst of pain so powerful that warm tears ran down his cheeks, as he pondered on what had actually went wrong that even his trainees would turn on him.

    "Why?.....You all agreed to it. Why is that your reason for sabotaging the vige?," Tears interrupted his voice but it mattered not.

    One of the elders nced at him with a raised eyebrow, his voice ringing out.

    "Of course we agreed to it. The vigers all adored you. We had no choice but to allow an outsider lead us," The elder exined, "We should have never saved you that day," His sharp tone mmed into Jon''s ears.

    "Then our carefully thought of n to gather as much resource as we could to improve in power and leave this damned ce met an obstruction. You!," Another elder spoke.

    "Who asked you to y hero. Did we ever protest about the missing goods, or the hijacked carriages to you. No! You were the one who decided to y detective and solve every mystery. Only you!. We simply yed along, and this is what you get in return," The elder calmed himself down, regaining hisposure.

    Silence unintentionally reigned after those words. A sense of inner peace surprisingly swept through Jon''s mind afterwhich he stopped sobbing, he still held not regrets for what he did.

    "Enough chit chat. Summon Will, and let him face his death. I desire to see the look of despair when he''s paired against five cultivators his level," The elder that teased Noah spoke, a disturbing amount of cruel excitement existing in his voice.

    "Yes. He killed our men. I desire to watch him die slowly," The bald cultivator shuddered with excitement. A cynical smile ever so evident on his face.

    "Now summon him. After he''s dead, you''ll give us the space ring," The same elder ordered.

    A troubled expression appeared on Jon''s battered face at those words. Could he call only Noah? Would the monster of a man be enough to take down five tier 3 cultivators? He couldn''t take the risk, the young man was currently the only person on his side, at least due to their transactional rtionship. He preferred to summon both of his trump cards.

    A glowingmunication amulet appeared in Jon''s hand, then he suddenly crushed it.

    The existences gathered around him wondered what that action was meant to achieve, but were also prepared for any attack, since he remained an inscription master.

    Contrary to their expectations of being attacked. The sound of earth copsing on itself spread from outside Enil''s back gate. Clouds of dust rising to prove that something had actually happened.

    The ground trembled when Jon''s building also suddenly copsed, startling the cultivators.

    During the construction of the underground cave and his pet house. Jon had utilized, or rather the constructors who swore an oath to never mention the project beneath the ground, had utilized techniques topress the space between his office and the underground cave, to allow easier ess to the pet house and the cave.

    The job had siphoned arge amount of vige funds, but he had worked double time to regain them.

    With uncertain expressions, the group of 12 waited for the arrival of something or someone. And exactly that did they received.

    An immense aura swept the whole vige immediately halting every activities going on within it. Some weak tier 2 cultivators directly died from the aura''s pressure, causing fear and panic to spread amongst the troops.

    Before their senses could react to the now deadly situation, a massive shadow; barely visible in the darkness of the night, barrelled out from underneath the remains of Jon''s office, and arrived a few meters beside the group of experts.

    The ground shattered upon impact and two of the elders died as soon as multiple sharp rocks pierced their weak bodies.

    Everyone scrambled for their lives when their minds affirmed the reality of their situation. A middle-staged tier 3 Beast hadnded beside them, and it radiated an aura of anger!

    But that wasn''t even all. To the mind reeling shock of everyone including Jon.

    A calm and slightly amused voice rang out from atop therge beasts'' head.

    "Oh....What have we here?," Noah giggled when his consciousness swept the scene. The smile on his face never decreasing in intensity, even after he noticed Jon''s bad state.

    "You all should consider yourselves dead...."

 Chapter 153 153. BEACONS

    Noah''s words startled everyone present, but when paired with the danger of the beast before them, it sounded possible enough for all the vige heads to scramble.

    A frown instantly appeared on Noah''s face at that sight. Each person ran towards a different direction, putting enough distance between themselves.

    Only at full speed did he have a chance at catching up to them. But the issue of knowing their exact positions remained. He couldn''t see In the dark, and the whole ce was surrounded by trees.

    Noah made all these conclusions in less than an instant. His thinking speed, already didn''t match his power level.

    Not minding its growls, Noah slid of the panthers head, then quickly trapped Jon''s trainees and the remaining three elders with his consciousness.

    For some odd reason they had not fled. He could understand the situation of the three elders, their minds probably wasn''t fast enough to react, but Enik and Delius were different.

    His figure shed between the duo''s figures. cing his hands on their shoulders, a chilling aura seeped out of his figure to interact with his audience.

    "I''m only saying that once, whose side are you truly on?," Noah''s voice rang out slowly.

    He felt their bodies tremble at his touch, so he understood that his words had gotten somewhere.

    No replies came after a few seconds, and he didn''t hesitate to slide his hands down their arms and apply a powerful tug on them, resulting in the entire limbs being removed.

    Blood flew everywhere, but he didn''t mind. Before their screams could escape their mouths, he crouched and punched one of their knees each.

    A crunching sound escaped those body parts, as their legs snapped forward abnormally. Their bones piercing the other side of their legs, causing them to stumble and fall.

    He didn''t want to kill them since he hadn''t gotten permission from Jon to do that. But those light Injuries would prevent their escape.

    Ignoring the shivering elders, Noah crouched in front of Jon. His voice ringing out immediately.

    "The vige heads are getting away. Do you have something I can work with?," He spoke.

    Jon nod his head at those words, and a series of inscriptions flickered on his palms. His mouth releasing words while he continued whatever he was preparing

    "During our fight I ced inscriptions on them in case of a situation like this," He exined.

    "What do they do?," Noah enquired, curious.

    A smile broke on Jon''s face, "My work will speak for me," he muttered, then the shining lines and runic words rotating on his palms glowed brighter, but they suddenly died off, startling Noah.

    Almost immediately the inscriptions disappeared, pirs of light shot towards the sky at different positions in the vige, and an excited smile inevitably shone on Noah''s face.

    The event had shocked the escaping vige heads, who noticed hundreds of inscriptions running on their attires and even parts of their skin, producing bright beams of coloured lights that stretched towards the sky.

    Fear and confusion mmed their minds when they realized that they had be beacons, and they would soon be hunted down.

    "Do something about your body already," Noah snorted after that show of Inscriptional mastery.

    Jon immediately brought out a few bottles, and he immediately chugged down their contents.

    "We''ll deal with the vige heads, while you sort out your family issues," Noah mocked him, before quickly shifting his gaze to ignore Jon''sints.

    ncing at the panther that had not taken a step since they arrived. He felt her gazend on him, and a foreign method ofmunication transpired between them.

    He totally didn''t understand how, but he felt he could understand the panthers growls and feelings, now that she wasn''t enraged.

    Low growls exited her mouth as Noah tried tomunicate his desire to go hunt the moving beams of light, and he wanted her to also do that. He needed her help.

    A frown soon appeared on his Noah''s face. From what he understood, she felt reluctant to leave Jon alone, since his death could lead to hers, as they were already bonded by 50%.

    ''I promise, he won''t die,'' Noah spoke to himself hoping she would somehow understand him, and she did, since she straightened her back and shot towards one of the moving pirs of light.

    Each stride she took caused the ground around her to shatter for multiple meters. Her mere steps; powerful explosions in their own right.

    Noah felt a wave of pride wash over him after that weird scene. ''I literally just spoke to a magical beast,'' Excitement bubbled in his mind, but he quickly focused on the mission a hand.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Applying a light pressure on the heads of the elders, Noah watched them pass out and he immediately dashed towards a red pir of light, that looked to be almost outside the borders of Enil.

    From his guess, the lights probably indicated their elements, since it would be easier to identify them that way.

    His figure crossed hundreds of feet in seconds, and he soon found tier 2 cultivators running for their lives.

    His consciousness expanded to its limits, then he applied his full mental pressure on them, causing their heads to explode into a bloody shower of brain matter and chunks of gory flesh.

    Noah resembled the god of death simply moviy through the battlefield, and everyone around him died, except for the individuals dressed differently than the masses. He didn''t want to kill Jon''s people unintentionally.

    His figure smashed through the gates'' wall to arrive inside a cluster of trees just before getting to the hills base.

    The pir of light had stopped moving at this point, to probably face him, since his aura had never receded into his body. His monstrous potential was on full disy.

    Cudgel appeared in his grip, and a quick spin with his control over air caused the entire area to fall into chaos.

    Trees left their roots, as Noah spun his staff. He had gotten that idea on the spot and quickly praised himself for following through with it.

    His mind touched the wind currents around him, and hundreds of tiny des materlized around him to barrel towards his target.

    A powerful explosion resounded when the des of wind collided with a static ball of orange mes.

    The environment suffered that sh, and whole chunks of the ground disappeared due to it.

    Noah arrived in front of an over 15ft tall and 8ft wide ball of me. It didn''t move from its position, and he could surprisingly still sight the pir of light originating from within it.

    "A defensive spell," Noah muttered. "Futile," he immediately concluded.

    Raising Cudgel above his shoulder, Noah charged it with lightning affinity, andunched it towards the individuals defense, an action he shouldn''t have taken due to its repercussions.

    Noah instincts screamed, and he managed to jump backwards before an explosion of pure mes spread out engulfing an area of about 60m in radius.

    The mes surprisingly flickered into a blue colour before returning to its orange radiance. Tree''s within the st radius directly turned to ash, a cavity just asrge as the explosions'' radius appearing.

    Barely escaping the explosion, Noah stretched forth his right hand, and Cudgel shot into his grip, its bright figure crackling with long strides of electrical currents that touched the ground and burnt it. His attire even suffered from it.

    Sending his consciousness forward, Noah found a badly burnt manying right in the middle of the charred crater. His attire barely hung to his body, while big patches of his skin had gone ck.

    Sensing Noah''s consciousness inspect his body, words quickly exited the man''s lips in hopes to stop the monster before him.

    "Stay back!," The individual shouted trying to crawl backwards, but mind reeling pain paralyzed him at that simple gesture.

    [Mark]

    [Race: Human]

    [Title: Vige head]

    [Tier: 3(Lower)]

    [Affinity: Fire]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    Simply checking to see the man''s name, Noah raised Cudgel above his shoulder, and Mark began to plead.

    "Please! I''m sorry! I swear I''ll leave for good! Don''t do this!," He tried to crawl, but kept getting reminded that his body was on the verge of breaking down.

    With a cold expression, Noah sent Cudgel forward, impaling the man''s head with impable precision.

    The head exploded, and a orange spherical core immediately shot towards him, which he stored without a moment of thought. But the corpse suddenly disappeared.

 Chapter 154 154. SADNESS

    "I thought the human body couldn''t be used for the dungeon creation?," Noah asked the system when he saw the monster gauge go up by one unit.

    [Dungeon creation: 12/100 Tier 3 Beasts]

    ====

    [Dungeon creation: 13/100 Tier 3 Beasts]

    [[They can. Only that there will be some changes to their physiology, to match the requirements]]

    "That''s a relief," Noah sighed in relief. The human body had use to him now.

    "I''ve lost it. My sympathy. I just want to get stronger," he shook his head ignoring the distant explosions his ears could pick up.

    The panther was probably having a field day hunting down those weak prey. It was the apex predator in the whole vige, and probably a few miles beyond it.

    ''I mustn''t ck off,'' Noah thought deciding on the next pir of light he would hunt down.

    He felt something inside him rage at the thought of being outdone by a mere magical beast, and he didn''t hesitate to sprint towards the green pir of light.

    The individual had long since crossed the border of Enil and was somewhere about to circle the hill and disappear behind the massive structure.

    A few seconds of sprinting at the maximum speed his body could naturally endure allowed him to near the person dangerously, who began to sense Noah''s outpouring aura.

    Trees appeared in his path before he arrived a 200m wide clearing, and a bald man stood at its edge, about to return into the forest.

    Noah immediately stopped in his tracks to study the individual, who had on his face a look of disdain. Something Noah hade to understand that his very being hated.

    "You are merely at the bottom of the lower-stage of tier 3. Without the beast you are nothing," The bald man spoke, his voice filled with contempt and anger.

    "For ruining our n I''ll kill at least you. Then we''ll be back to take whatever is left of the pitiful ," The baldy announced, mana beginning to move from his orange core.

    "You talk too much," Noah snorted and his figure disappeared.

    Flickering behind the baldy, Noah pivoted his left foot to raise his right one, and swing it backwards in powerful kick that struck the man''s hairless head.

    His kick instantly snapped the man''s neck partially separating it from his body.

    ''That was fast! I guess most cultivators are all talk,'' Noah frowned. The fight had ended too quickly. Could he even call it a fight. He didn''t expect his kick to do that much, and it left him dissatisfied.

    Arge orange core spherical in shape shot out of the man''s body, followed by his body itself.

    Noah nced up to check for more pirs of light, and clicked his tongue when he found none.

    With a defeated sigh he returned to the vige, and a powerful presence soon washed over him when he arrived at the position he had left Jon.

    ''Don''t you dare try to rub it in,'' Noah showed an ugly expression at the panthers expressionless face, as It couldn''t actually make any.

    Nevertheless, his Instincts could feel its proud gaze on his figure, and its released low growls which tried tomunicate with him, but he shut his natural interpretation off, to focus on his environment. Then did he notice the empty space before him.

    Another sigh escaped his mouth when he felt the panther move closer to him, ushering him to climb its back.

    ''When did we be this close,'' His ugly expression deepened, but he eventually jumped on her back, and she immediately moved.

    The wind practically punched Noah in the face, but his sturdy skin could perfectly withstand the force.

    Grabbing onto her short fur, Noah leaned forward to bnce himself properly, and various sensations spread through his body.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He could feel the rushing wind around them, the graceful yet powerful steps the panther took. He could make out every single change in her muscle movement, and could feel the ground shatter beneath her power steps.

    He felt his mind rx as he focused on that unique experience. His desire to own a pet suddenly shot up in his mind, a tinge of envy spreading Inside him when he thought to the fact that Jon would constantly enjoy this experience andfort, while he would remained a ground walker.

    The panther whose name he still didn''t know, came to a sudden stop and his eyes immediately fell on the five buildings before him.

    The fully wooden two storey buildings'', were positioned in such a way that four of the buildings surrounded the fifth one which was in the middle.

    Noah could immediately sense an air of sadness upon arrival, and he quickly got off his ride to walk towards the first building in front of him.

    His eyes noticed topletely demolished door, and with cold eyes he walked into the brightly lit room, and his expression darkened.

    Blood stained every single spot his eyes could inspect, followed by bodies, tens of them.

    Some of the bodies looked totally unrecognizable, resembling masses of flesh rather than formerly living humans

    The stench of death filled the ce, or was it the blood that made him feel that way? The entire building waspletely silent, only his asionally sighs being heard.

    Sweeping his gaze on the yellow lit building that had stairs leading to its top, Noah hoped the other buildings weren''t like this.

    Turning his back and leaving, Noah searched the buildings surrounding the center one, and all he could find were dead bodies, and literal pools of blood, which poured down the stairs to settle on the ground floor.

    With a heart filled with pity for the vige head, Noah walked towards the center building, and he quickly sighted Jon''s figure through the opened door, and rushed towards the building.

    A slight sigh of relief escaped his mouth when he sighted a few tens of Individuals, all alive.

    The whole building was filled with the sounds of wails and sobbing. As even here, bodies stilly around unmoving.

    Those present had expressions totally devoid of warmth, only undiluted sadness as the strong ones fought the immense urge to weep, though their eyes had gone red, and watery glistening in the halls light.

    Noah found Delius and Enik bound with inscriptions at one side of the room, their figures unconscious, but not healed, at least notpletely.

    A burst of heat suddenly washed over Noah''s mind, an intense feeling of hate welling up from deep inside him. But it soon vaporized when he realized that he wasn''t exactly pure himself, and a tinge of guilt tainted his mind at that thought, be he didn''t hesitate to shake it off.

    Walking closer to Jon, whoforted the crying children and adults, he sepearated himself from the vigers and his voice rang out after being close enough to be heard by Noah.

    "How did it go?" He enquired, sorrow and remorse evident in his voice, as he didn''t even look up to face Noah.

    Noah considered cracking a joke to lighten the mood, but he felt he woulde off as insensitive if he did.

    The emotional wound was still fresh, and the situation too fragile for jokes.

    "We seeded," Noah''s deep and serious voice rang out. His face cold and his eyes struggling to produce the right amount of sympathy.

    Jon noticed his struggle but didn''t focus too much on it. The young man had no connection whatsoever to the vige. It felt ordinary to not be able to sympathize, since cultivators also had to learn to sever their emotions from their actions

    "Thank you," Jon replied, his voice almost a whisper, but Noah could still understand him.

    Nodding his head in response, Noah tried to say something, but no words left his lips, and a heavy silence inevitably fell in their midst.

    The weeping of the vigers could still be heard around them, but the whole room felt silent to them nheless.

    "Your job is done. Take your pay. You have nothing else to do here," Jon suddenly spoke. Arge bundle of seemingly glowing flowers appeared between them. Noah didn''t hesitate to wave his hand to store it, but with a frown evident on his face.

 Chapter 155 155. VISITOR

    "What about moving?," Noah asked the pained man.

    "I''ll deal with that myself," Jon replied, "We aren''t as many as we used to, there''s no need for you to help," He exined.

    Noah understood his words, but he wasn''t leaving that easily. "What if you get attacked by multiple tier 3 Beasts," Noah raised an eyebrow.

    "I''m an inscriptions master. I''ll find a way," Jon replied with a t tone.

    "What about them?," Noah gestured at the unconscious traitors. "What are you going to do with them?," He inquired.

    "Mr Will, I''ll do whatever I want. So please do not worry," Jon performed a slight bow, his voice firm.

    Noah could only give up at that point. He didn''t have a ce there, and he n to visit Vonol still held. "I guess I''ll leave then," Noah announced walking towards the exit, Jon following closely behind him to see him off.

    "Although I''m not able to show it. I apologise for your loss," Noah nced at the man before walking out of the building.

    "I appreciate what you''ve done for me, or rather us," Jon bowed, this time deeply. "I hope to see you again. Stronger than we are this time around," He smiled.

    Noah showed aplicated expression at those words. The chances of them meeting anytime soon were really low. ''Probably a few decades of even centuries from now,'' Noah mused inwardly.

    "It was a pleasure working with you," Noah bowed deeply. Straightening his position, he swept his gaze on the buildings before expanding his consciousness.

    Honestly it felt awkward leaving just after the event had happened. But since the expert, who was also the vige head, wanted it, he would give it to him.

    Locating Enils'' back gate, Noah felt ready to move, when Jon called out to him.

    "Before you go. Can you tell me your name? Your real one," A beaming smile shone on Jon''s face.

    Noah''s eyebrows flickered with bottled up surprise. ''He actually noticed,'' Noah giggled inwardly.

    With a helpless sigh, Noah''s voice rang out, "I am Noah." Then he vanished from his spot soon crossing Enils'' border.

    The event startled Jon; who sighed at the young man''s monstrous speed. "I''ll never get used to that. Ever," he muttered gazing at the sky. But a smile soon broke on his face, followed by hardughter.

    A few minutes eventually passed after Jon stoppedughing, his raging emotions having calmed down by this point.

    He hadn''t moved from his spot during those minutes, seemingly waiting for something to happen. And a change eventually ured

    Space tore open a few feet above him, then an intense grey light flooded out from within the unnatural phenomenon.

    Jon seemed unfazed by the whole thing, and simply waited, only raising his hand to shield his eyes from the light''s intensity.

    "I''ve done what you asked of me," Jon eventually spoke, adopting a kneeling position.

    "We see that," A voice flowed out of the light, followed by an utterly auraless humanoid figure. Whose features were hidden by the intense light around them.

    "You handled the whole situation expertly well. And we thank you for it," The male voice; smooth to the ears, rang out.

    "Well I honestly adapted your request to my situation. You told me that a very special individual will make his way towards my vige, and I decided to utilize him," Jon exined, his head facing the ground.

    No other words were spoken for a few moments, until Jon decided to break the silence.

    "Why exactly is he special? He''s strong; A monster even, but there has to be more to it for you to ask me to meet him," Jon asked.

    A few seconds of silence passed before the figures'' soft and youthful voice spread in the environment again.

    "Oh Jon! we''ve told you about our cause, but there''s still much you don''t know, or rather aren''t allowed to know until the timees. But seeing as you dealt with the situation to our taste, we''ll tell you a bit more," The entity exined.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He paused for an instant before continuing his words."You see Jon, the existence you just parted with truly isn''t normal ording to what you''ve discerned, but he''s more than that. Far more," The entity seemed to get excited, but it didn''t show in his voice.

    "He''s part of something that even we thought to be a myth, something so terrifying that even we fear what he would be when he ascends into true power," The entity exined.

    A frown appeared on Jon''s face at those, "Why don''t you just end him then. If he''s as dangerous as you say, that is," Jon suggested.

    "Oh Jon! we wish you could know more," The entity seemed to sigh, but there wasn''t a change in its tone.

    "We can''t kill him Jon, he''s too important. He''s the break we''ve been waiting for, and we''d like to initiate him into our cause," The entity exined.

    "Then why didn''t you just appear to him, I''m sure he''ll have no choice but to hear what you have to say," Jon''s frown deepened, but his tone remained respectful.

    "We would have done that, but he''s had misunderstandings with existences far more powerful that he, and utilizing their method would only hinder our work, or even worse, cause enemity between us," The figure exined.

    "Then what exactly did we gain from my meeting him. I didn''t mention a thing about you to him," Jon asked genuinely curious.

    "Think ahead Jon. You belong to our cause, and you''ve met him. He sees you as someone that can be trusted, even if by a little. That is all we need, for now at least," The existence replied.

    Jon fell into deep thought at that point, but his mouth soon opened to release words.

    "What exactly does he belong to, is it another force that shares our goal?," Jon spoke.

    "I remember when I hadn''t gotten to this stage in my existence," The figure spoke. His words confusing Jon as they didn''t answer his question.

    "I had a special existence that trained me. He held great power and knowledge, speaking of a race of beings so powerful that their names caused fear among powerful existences," The figure continued, but didn''t say anything afterwards.

    "He belongs to a different race?," Jon asked, his eyes wide open with surprise, "But he doesn''t look any different from humans, and has no resemnce to the races that exist in the other nations," Jon thought out loud, but no reply returned to him.

    "That is all we can say for now," The entity spoke, "All you need to know is that he is a gift that fate gave to our world. An entity that we do notpletely understand, but will be one of the pirs," The entity revealed.

    Jon seemed to almost choke on those words, ''A pir!,'' his mind reeled in shock. The tag the entity uttered holding immense importance to him.

    Minutes of silence passed and Jon felt himself still tremble from what he had heard. He felt overfed with Information, and sensed the need to go digest the incredulous things he learnt.

    "As a reward for handling the situation well, and a means to also prepare you for the future. Take," The entity announced, a ring floating towards Jon.

    "To prevent the degradation of your potential as a cultivator, we haven''t given you anything too ground-breaking, but it will be enough for what is soon toe," The entity exined.

    Receiving the space ring and checking its contents, Jon felt surprised to find a series of books, two orange mana stones the size of an average human head, and a sword.

    He immediately shot a questioning gaze  at the figure

    "The sword is something we recently forged. For now you may not find it too useful, but when you get stronger, we assure you that you will like it," The figure exined, an indiscernible smile appeared on his unseen face.

    Jon''s curiosity got piqued by those words prompting him to voice out a question. "What is it called?," he enquired.

    "You can name it anything you want," The figure replied, his eyes satisfied with Jon''s excitement.

    "It''sing Jon. It could be a few decades from now, or even millennial. But it will arrive," The entity suddenly announced eeriely, his figure receding into the light.

    The grey light which moved like smoke suddenly increased in brightness, then the sound of ss shattering, spread out, followed by the mending of space. Everything going back to normal in a few seconds

    A somber expression remained on Jon''s face after the disappearance of his vistor. His figure eventually turned to return to his vigers after a few minutes of thoughts.

    Whatever he decided would be, and he decided that they would travel to the north of their nation, where Mana was abundant, and deadly creature''s thrived. His vigers needed to get strong, and fast.

 Chapter 156 156. ENTITLED

    Keeping his gaze on a massive wall before him. Noah seemed to be in deep thought; for he didn''t mind the weird stares people shot at his stationed figure.

    He resembled a breathtaking statue that stood at the side of the path which stretched out of the forest behind it.

    He had arrived at the big city, which was over 72 miles from Enil. It had taken him two days to get here. It took this long simply because he limited himself to run at the speed his body could take him, as returning into the cultivation room just to refill his core and empty it a few minutes after, bore him.

    A few breaks had also ured along the way. He did this not out of stress, but simply for rxation sake. He also found himself reviewing the events that happened in Enil multiple times during most of those breaks.

    But upon arriving at the city named Keriele, he had to face an issue he had pushed to the back of his mind a few days ago. His identity.

    Noah''s gaze remained on the over 30m long bridge. The stone bridge was built between the city and the space that sepearated it from the forest.

    Therge city itself, was built on arge piece ofnd that seemed to have been sepearated from the rest of the terrain around it. The height of the demarcation being around 120ft. Whether it was naturally made or not, Noah didn''t know, nor did he care.

    Before entering the city itself, like every settlement Noah had been to in Cregar, was a massive stone wall, that stretched as far as the eye could see.

    The walls height looked to be around 70m, but he could still sight tall buildings from his position.

    Keriele was one of the more advanced cities in Cusk, and its architect had to prove it.

    Now, back to the main issue, his identity.

    Noah felt at loss of actions. Deep down he actually felt nervous. Returning into suchrge settlements; filled with thousands of humans who had different personalities and characteristics disturbed him.

    Even now, people flooded into the city like ants, their numbers varying from groups of two, to asrge as twenty.

    Some even had tamed magical beasts pull carriages filled with either goods, or humans, as transportation.

    The stone bridge was over 25ft in width which allowed for suchrge objects to freely move

    Noah''s figure stood beside a tree while he Inspected all this.

    ''Will they be hostile?,'' Noah wondered ncing at the human figures atop The wall. He had stopped counting after their numbers surpassed 70.

    During the five minutes he had arrived there, his mind had gone through tens of ideas, which he eventually discarded as either too dangerous or outright foolish.

    He felt torn between two final ideas, which were to either walk up to the guards in front of the gate and base his next actions on whatever they told him, or to cause amotion and make a break for it.

    The issue about thetter idea was the probability of it working out. He had sensed over ten tier 3 Individuals atop the wall and was certain that there were more.

    A spell would definitely cause amotion, but its origin would easily be traced back to the direction it came from. There could even be defenses around the city making it even more risky to try and break in.

    ''Overwhelming power solves everything,'' Noah sighed defeated. ''A tier 4 spell; I''m certain would demolish the whole ce,'' He mused, praying to whatever gods existed to help him.

    But s nothing happened, at least for the first two minutes of waiting, but when he eventually gave up, and decided to go on with the former of his two ns, something happened.

    "Hey...do you have an issue entering the city?," A sweet female voice rang out behind him, prompting his head to snap towards the Individual.

    His eyes immediately fell on ady no older than 22. She had long brown hair, which she let loose. Her eyes were grey in colour, and seemed to glimmer in the sunlight. Coupled with her pale skin which looked well nourished.

    She had the right amount of curves on her, since the tight fitting dress she wore revealed them. Her height seemed to be around 5"5, and was perfect. Overall she looked stunning, and Noah wondered why someone like her would even talk to him, when he recalled his facial features.

    The gods received more praise from him at that realization. A feeling of pride welling up in his heart, but he didn''t let it show in his demeanor, after all he needed all the help he could get.

    "You noticed?," Noah scratched his head ying nervous, hiding the annoyance he actually felt from her being too close to him.

    A smile bloomed on thedy''s face, and Noah felt his body react to that smile in ways he had almost forgotten he had, and had probably been heightened by his change of race.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Before his mind could stray from rationality, ge managed toy his eyes on the group behind the young girl, and it dawned on him that they were a party; of five.

    "Since we are also going into the city, we could help you if we knew your problem," The young woman suggested.

    "He''s probably a criminal," a male voice rang out from behind the girl, Noah''s eyesnding on him.

    The young man had power in the lower stage of tier 3, so did all of them, which wasn''t too surprising.

    An eyebrow rose on Noah''s face at the young man''s words. He instantly felt a tinge of annoyance wash over him, but he needn''t fight for himself.

    "That''s rude," Thedy reprimanded, ring at the individual that talked, who said nothing in return, simply snorting.

    "But he may be right," The otherdy in group spoke, ncing at Noah for an instant, "We shouldn''t Interfere with weak peasants....." her words faded due to her inability to percive Noah''s power.

    The woman who talked seemed to be the strongest amongst them and even the oldest woman of the three present, butpared to Noah she felt small.

    "I apologize for my rudeness sir. What mydy was trying to say is that we are willing to help you into the city, as long as you have a good reason for not being able to enter," The woman who looked to be around her early thirties spoke in a changed tone, a polite one.

    Noah and the two men present felt surprised at the change, but he responded to her anyway.

    "I''m actually a traveller, but I lost my ID, and do not wish to be held back by the process of getting a new one," Noah spoke, equally polite.

    A lot of eyebrows rose at his words, but seeing as the youngdy before him, who seemed to be a noble child didn''t mind, they said nothing.

    "That''s easy, I can help you," She announced.

    Unsure of what to say, Noah simply smiled.

    "By the way, I am Elle, second daughter of the house of Relere," She curtesyd, but without her hand stretched.

    "I''m Allen, a traveller," Noah bowed slightly.

    "I am Fr, personal guard ofdy Elle," The oldest looking woman bowed,. "And these are distant family rtives of mydy," She gestured at the three individuals behind her.

    Noah ignored the expressions on the males and found himself gazing at thedy behind them.

    She had been quiet the whole time, and remained so. She seemed distracted by something as her eyes weren''t on her group, and wasn''t particrly focused on anything either. She had dazed off.

    "Great! let''s go then!," Elle announced walking towards the gate, everyone following closely behind her stunning figure.

    Noah noticed individuals on the bridge make way at her passage, but felt it to be normal.

    The now group of 6 arrived at the gate, and as expected the guards requested for their ID''s.

    The guards seemed to know her, and had looks of utter respect. At this point Noah began to feel ufortable, he didn''t like that tier 3 existence''s had tinges of fear on their expression.

    That was never a good sign in any situation, he thought.

    Eventually it got to Noah''s turn, and she spoke for him. Complicated expressions appeared on their faces, but Elle''s next words sent shivers down everyone''s spines, including Noah''s.

    "I''ll have your families brutally killed if you do not let us in," She announced with a tone utterly devoid of the cuteness it formerly dripped with.

    ''Great! Another entitled and spoilt noble,'' Noah facepalmed himself inwardly.

    ''What have I gotten myself Into?,'' heined to the gods.

 Chapter 157 157. STUNNED

    Orders resounded, metal locks clicked, gates were open, and Noah suddenly found himself inside the city.

    He had sessfully arrived, but now a new issuey on his hands. It wasn''t one that threatened him mortally, but he still didn''t want to draw attention to himself.

    Doing so in the past had gotten him tortured and almost had his freedompletely taken from him.

    Noah would rather destroy the entire city or die, than to let that happen again.

    "I really appreciate your kindness," Noah spoke after they crossed the gate.

    He didn''t even have the time to admire the wonderful scenery the city held. All he wanted was to leave, and fast.

    "No worries," Elle smiled, her cuteness returning like it never left. But at this point Noah understood that it could just be a facade.

    A series of silent seconds passed, until Noahs voice rang out.

    "I''ll take my leave now," He quickly announced turning, but he felt a hand suddenly grab him, followed by an intense burst of anger from within the very depths of his mind.

    Intense danger spread in the minds of the cultivators around him and even individuals passing by, but it vanished as quickly as it came.

    A smile appeared on Noah''s face while he turned to face the individual that had grabbed him. Beneath that smile were angry thoughts, he didn''t like her touch, heck he could feel his mind slipping under the pressure of the anger raging Inside his mind.

    "You can''t just leave. Why don''t we have tea together," Elle suggested, her voice mixed with tones that Noah struggled to understand, but didn''t mind much.

    His eyesy unmoving on the pale and tiny hands that grabbed him, and Elle soon released it, seeing his displeasure.

    Noah felt his anger begin to evaporate at a rapid rate at that action. Nevertheless he felt highly disrespected, but managed to bottle it up for the time being.

    Sweeping his gaze on the remaining four figures surrounding him, Noah managed to notice their dark expressions flicker off their face at his gaze, but he didn''t let it bother him. For now

    "Tea.... It''s only polite to ept your request, for what you''ve done for me," Noah spoke with a tinge of warmth mixed with other feelings.

    Those present couldn''t discern his feelings due to his almost unmoving face. They could mildly sense his displeasure, but it couldn''t be noticed on his beautiful face.

    "Great! I know a ce..." She announced gesturing at them to follow her.

    Noah could only sigh inwardly at that sight. ''I could have taken my chances with the guards,'' He thought.

    During the minutes of walking, He managed to take in the beauty of that highly developed city, and marvel filled every inch of it.

    Keriele felt like an entirely different world, as the architecture there wasn''t nd like the rest of the settlements he had been to.

    There were hundreds to thousands of high rising buildings, constructed with various materials drenched with mana.

    Noah could tell that most of the buildings present, wouldfortably withstand his strongest attacks. They were that sturdy.

    Inscriptions flickered to no end in the city, even the well tard roads had inscriptions run on their materials, creating a scene that pleased the eye.

    Noah felt excited to witness the view nightfall would bring, as it would be nothing short of magical. But would he stay that long.

    The people moving about the city looked well fed and their power level was rich. Though tier 3''s were still hard toe by, which made for the respectful gaze''s thrown at their figures.

    The city felt immense and probably was, since all his eyes could see were rows upon rows of buildings, making the city almost feel like earth.

    Almost.

    Thest detail that made the city even more special than every other city he ad been to, were the flying beasts moving rapidly above them.

    Cultivators rode those beasts, using them as a means of transportation, and the beasts varied in size and power.

    Simply fantastical

    The flying cultivators seemed to have their own rules, since they flew at a certain speed, didn''t soar too high, and didn''t move too close to tall buildings, for risk of running into the.

    Noah felt his gaze linger on the sky and the flying beasts for a while, before the view began to feel monotonous.

    He had to get used to sights like that, as he wasn''t on earth anymore, and would most likely get to see more outrageous things.

    Nevertheless he found himself snapping his head towards the sky whenever rapidly moving beasts shot past above them.

    The group of six eventually arrived at a building, which had a ss wall at its entrance, allowing for those inside to gaze outside, watching the streets, and those outside to gaze inside.

    The building was constructed In a position not close to the tall buildings before them, and closer to the road.

    The building reminded him of the modern day cafe, and a wave of nostalgia hit him at that realization.

    Fr rushed forward to push the door for herdy, and the rest didn''t hesitate to walk in.

    Upon entering, Noah felt multiple eyes lock unto his figure, but he easily shrugged them off.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The design of the inside also resembled the cafes he had visited during his time on earth. Only that this time, the chairs and tables were hovering above a fixed point!

    Hundreds to probably thousands of inscriptions ran along the cafes floor creating an even more beautiful scenery.

    Multiple rows of those inscriptions then converged at the various positions the chairs and tables were, suspending them a few tens of inches above the ground.

    Noah tried to hide his surprise at that new sight, but his efforts crumbled when illusory animals floated out of the inscriptions to dance near the ceiling before vanishing, another set of illusory animals jumping out immediately after.

    Thankfully, the others apart from the silent girl; failed to see his shock at that marvel. He felt embarrassed knowing that someone saw his excited expression, but soon moved on.

    The red haired girl, whose name he still didn''t know, noticed that he noticed that she noticed his expression, but didn''t react in any way, why would she.

    The air in the rtivelyrge room, turned stale when the individuals sitting behind different coloured tables saw the figures that entered.

    Not only did the groups'' power level leave them ufortable, but the stunning individual at the forefront left them scared.

    ''Who exactly is she,'' Noah found himself wondering while being led to a table by one of the male staffs.

    Noah watched Elle and Fr walk towards the bar to order something, and he felt disrespected for not being asked what he wanted, but also happy, since he wouldn''t know what to say.

    A few minutes passed, and silence reigned among the four individuals around the floating green table.

    The man who had called Noah a criminal shot suspicious and disdainful res at Noah, while the other simply did his own stuff.

    The girl on the other hand, had her dark brown eyes fixed on him for whole minutes.

    Noah obviously didn''t understand her reason for doing so, and quickly felt his ufortability reach maddening levels.

    That was; until Elle and her guard''s maid, arrived. The noble daughter immediately sat beside him, but he didn''t let it bother him too much.

    "Allow me to apologize for not enquiring of you for what you desired, but I felt to treat you with the best they had," Elle''s voice rang out.

    Noah''s peripheral vision picked up the flicker on the groups expression, and noted it.

    Something definitely wasn''t right.

    "There''s no need for your apology," Noah replied, cringing from how he sounded, and how the whole situation felt.

    A smile bloomed on her face at his words, then she gestured at the cup before him, taking hers and sipping it.

    Noah''s mental waves instantly barraged the brown liquid within the cup with multiple rounds of inspections. The event with the royals was still too fresh in his mind for him to loosen his guard.

    And soon enough he sensed something within the drink that excited his senses.

    Still unsure about the drink, Noah waited for the others to take sips of theirs, before deciding to take his.

    Although he felt stupid, he didn''t totally have a choice. He couldn''t pour the tea away as it would probably be too expensive for him topensate. And he couldn''t announce his distrust, it would only get him into more annoying situations. He could only trust his body.

    With one gulp, Noah downed the brown liquid. And a tingling sensation rushed through his body.

    The tea tasted sweet and creamy. Its texture made him keep a bit in his mouth to savour it, and he regretted it not.

    At least that was until a series of panels popped up.

    [You have ingested an aphrodisiac]

    [Your arousal has increased by 200%]

    [Your body is battling the foreign substance...]

    [Your body has sessfully neutralized 70% of its effects]

    [You will now experience a 60% increase in arousal level for 30 minutes]

    [During this period you will experience heightened sensitivity to touch, smell and seductive gestures]

    [You will also experience a decrease in the function of your mental waves]

    Half expecting poison, Noah felt utterly stunned to find that he had basically been given a love potion!

    His thought process quickly crumbled when a wave of heat sent shivers down his entire being.

    Noah felt his expanded mental waves tremble and crumble in multiple spots, but most of all, he felt his breath go hot.

    So hot, it felt like mes had been ignited in his chest, and was half certain he would breathe fire if he didn''t control his breathing.

    He felt aroused beyond reason, and his string of rationality inevitably broke when heid eyes on Elle''s figure.

 Chapter 158 158. WORDS

    After the internal incident, did he. perceive the sweet scent of flowers that Elle''s body emitted. The fragrance felt so intoxicating that Noah thought he would pass out from prolonged exposure.

    Her neckline glistened in the rooms light, and he felt mesmerized by its shine. Noah soon felt his right hand rise to get a feel of her neck, but a cold material obstructed him, sending shivers down his body due to its temperature.

    A wave of surprise shook Noah back to rationality, when his eyes fell on the sword stopping his hand.

    Tracing the sword back to its source he found that the owner was none other than Elle''s personal guard.

    Her eyes were cloudy as she seemed to lose focus multiple times in the span of an instant. Even the sword in her grip shook to no end, and it eventually disappeared.

    Noah focused on her face amidst his pleasure seeking desire, and realized that Fr''s face was flushed.

    Actually it had gone bright red, and she soon slouched on the chair to ce her right arm on her face, shuddering every once in a while.

    The weird sight caused Noah to sweep his equally cloudy gaze on the Individuals around the table, and his mind experienced another wave of rity at the scene he witnessed.

    Every one of them had bright red faces, and either ced their head on the table or slouched backwards to calm themselves. Moans even escaping their mouths once in a while.

    Then did it dawn on him that he wasn''t necessarily drugged for evil intentions, since everyone was given the exact same drink.

    He felt embarrassed to think that an aphrodisied tea was the best the ce had to offer.

    Then again, if he paired the unique drink with the half naked waitresses walking around, it would sound more reasonable as to why that was so.

    Even Elle shuddered every second, and she eventually ced her head on the table to gain control of her body, muffled moans escaping her lips.

    Heated breaths still exited Noah''s nose, but he didn''t feel the anger he desired to experience, since the whole situation was only a misunderstanding.

    ''Lesson one, always ask what the tea does,'' Noah tried to giggle, but only heated moans escaped his mouth.

    cing his hands on the table he pushed his body up, and felt it quiver to no end. His knees tried to give up on him, but essence soon seeped out of his core to reinforce his whole body. But he also went sober in the process.

    Noah felt his mind tremble in shock at that event. He hadn''t expected the speed essence to cure him, but it did. Instantly even.

    Walking out of the cafe, Noah took a big breath of fresh air. The seconds he had spent being under the influence of the love potion had quickly made him forget what fresh air tasted like.

    Reasoning to the fact that his hosts were under the influence of 200% increase in their sexual desires made him tremble. He wondered why they would do such to themselves.

    "I would run mad," Noah muttered, then he spent the next ten minutes gazing at the main roads in which only carriages rapidly moved.

    The jumble of sounds smashing Into his ears gave him a sense of peace that the forest had made him forget, and his mind eventually began to wander.

    ''I got lucky,'' Noah eventually said Inwardly, his face cold while he reviewed what had just urred, ''I could have actually been poisoned,'' He reprimanded himself.

    But the event taught him something very useful, and he didn''t hesitate to gain better understanding from the system.

    [[The speed essence doesn''t actually heal you. It only empowers your body enough for it to seem like it healed you]]

    "So all that; was my body''s doing?," Noah questioned.

    [[Yes. But it wouldn''t be able to do so without the unique quality speed essence holds. Mana cannot do what the speed forces'' energy did]]

    "What quality does the speed forces'' energy hold, that makes it more powerful and special than mana?," Noah tried to probe the system of juicy Information, but it saw right through him since no reply arrived.

    Giving up on trying to outsmart the mighty system, Noah decided it was time to leave. He didn''t want to stay with the group any longer, but he also didn''t know his way around the city, and not even his maps provided that information.

    "Hey," A female voice shook Noah out of his thoughts.

    ncing at the owner of the voice, Noah felt slightly surprised toy eyes on the red haired girl.

    "What do you want?," He spoke trying to sound polite, but failed.

    The young woman didn''t seem to mind his tone, since she walked closer to his figure to stand right next to him, and stare at the blue sky.

    A frown appeared on Noah''s eyebrows at that sight, and he soon felt ready to say something, but she beat him to it.

    "I apologize for what happened back there," She stated without focusing on him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "But it wasn''t your fault," Noah replied. "Although i desire to know why they would purchase such," Noah announced, but she didn''t immediately reply, limiting herself to gaze at the sky for a few more seconds.

    "That was for rxation," She eventually replied looking directly into Noah''s eyes.

    Focusing on his blue eyes, she tried her best to understand the person in front of her. She needed to; for what she was about to do.

    But the calm and confident expression he constantly wore wouldn''t allow her do that. Nothing seemed to worry the beautiful man, and she eventually voiced a soft sigh.

    Noah felt far more ufortable than he had ever felt in his time on Creagar. The young woman had eyes that unnerved him. Trying to dig out his thought process and find something that shouldn''t be said.

    He felt mildly unsafe around her.

    "For rxation?," Noah raised an eyebrow

    "Yes," She stated, "We just got back from a week long mission, and had decided toe here for tea. Lady Elle simply found you along the way and invited you" She exined.

    Noah limited himself to nod at her words before voicing another question.

    "Howe you recovered so fast," He asked.

    "I would ask you the same," She stated, "I had a healing potion at hand. You?" She answered his question, her eyes still on him.

    "My body dealt with it," Noah replied vaguely but truthfully.

    The duo kept their eyes on each other for a few seconds, before shifting their focus to the sky. Where arge ash feathered bird could be seen hovering in the midst of five men, all suspended by elemental tforms.

    The bird seemed scared, for it frantically tried to escape the figures surrounding it. People soon began to stop to watch the scene y out, Noah himself feeling slightly amused.

    "This happens very often," The red haireddy announced, "A magical beast loses its owner and goes on a rampage," She exined without moving her gaze, her words only gaining another nod from Noah, who also didn''t shift his gaze.

    The beast eventuallyunched attacks at the five lower-stage tier 3 cultivators. High-pitched screeches spreading erratic windy waves, which managed to push the cultivators backwards. But they too; began attacking.

    Noah felt surprised to find that the five cultivators couldn''t directly deal with the beast.

    Not even after minutes had passed, and more soldiers of the city arrived to reinforce the five.

    The battle got so heated that those on the ground had to move to avoid falling projectiles, of either rocks or mes.

    "Incredible," Noah couldn''t help but mutter at the fight scene. Now did he understand how monstrous he really was. Managing to bring down even a weakened middle-staged beast was a feat most cultivators at his level could only dream of.

    A powerful, and seemingly final explosion, eventually resounded. As mes and charred rocks flew everywhere, blocking the view of the sky-high battle.

    Everyone watching immediately sighted arge object barrel downwards. Its structure being shrouded by the ck smoke in the sky, leaving a trail of smoke as it descended rapidly.

    The object eventually revealed itself to be therge bird as it fell towards Noah''s position.

    Noah realized this and he didn''t hesitate to pour SE into creating a bowl like structure above he and thedy beside him, but she had also acted, only a second slower.

    A deep yellow magical circle expanded beneath her feet, and three golems made of stone rose to try and catch therge bird.

    The peak tier 2 golems being over 13ft in height rushed forward with their rocky hands raised, but Noah''s bowl-like structure caught the bird before they could.

    The red haired woman snapped her head towards Noah''s position, her eyes filled with surprise as she had not sensed his mana move to create anything, and so fast at that.

    The dense bowl of air kept the bird whose length stood around 16m, and each wing stretching for around 8 to 11m in sheer length!

    Noah eventually released the ash feathered bird from his spell, and the golems caught hold of its badly wounded body until the soldiers came to retrieve it.

    Noah saw that they shot thankful gaze''s at him, and he gave a slight nod in return.

    ncing at the red haireddy to see how she was doing, Noahid eyes on her Intense gaze, and her next words managed to startle him.

    "I want to be yourpanion," She announced moving closer to him. Her experesion that of dead seriousness.

 Chapter 159 159. MONEY TALKS

    Bad things, there were a lot of bad things that the world seemed to wish on Noah, but it seemed the world had transitioned from that; to directly ufortable and weird situations.

    A moment of silence passed after the red haired girl spoke, her face almost directly in front of Noah''s, though her 5"5 height only let her reach his chest.

    "No," Noah frowned, "Why would you even say such a thing," Hemented taking a step back.

    "I want to be close to you," She repeated, this time her voice a tad bit louder than before. But thankfully no one heard.

    "Thanks, but no thanks," Noah replied, "And I barely even know you," He continued, taking another step back. He desired to get away from her and the situation in whole.

    She saw this and took two steps forward, her face only a few inches from his chest.

    "I haven''t known you for thirty minutes," Noahined trying to shrug off the weird stares they were receiving.

    "That takes time. And we can get to know each other on your journey," She exined, her voice soft.

    "Which journey?," Noah raised an eyebrow.

    "The one you are about to go on," She replied, "Didn''t you say you were a traveller," She raised her head to stare at his face.

    "I am," Noah stated getting annoyed, "Can you please take a step back, before I identallymit a crime," His expression turned cold and his voice dripped with annoyance.

    Her Instincts trembled at his words and she took a few steps backwards.

    "I do not even know your name," Noah shook his head after a few seconds, wondering how their conversation had even turned out like that.

    "Where are my manners. I am Emillia. Fifth daughter of the house of Gerio," She dropped a curtsy.

    Noah could only show aplicated expression at that sight, but his voice rang out eventually. "Lady Emillia, I do not desire to have anyone travel with me," He stated.

    "You may not desire it, but you need someone," Emillia spoke, her expression back to its nkness.

    Noah noticed the change but ignored it, an eyebrow rising on his face, "What do you mean?," He enquired.

    "I mean no offense when I say this; but you sir Allen, look like a vige bumpkin," She replied, in a tone that managed to pierce Noah.

    Without giving him the chance to speak, she continued, "You obviously need someone to help you out of this massive city. Not only that, you also need someone to show you the interesting activities this city has."

    Noah felt a mix of embarrassment at how true her words were, and curiosity, at the activities the city had.

    Ignoring her hurtful words, his voice rang out, "What events do the residents of this city partake in?," He enquired.

    Smiling at the fact that he had basically confirmed her words, Emillia spoke, "Activities that range from armourmissionings, weaponsmissioning, selling or buying parts of magical beasts, auction houses, the adventurers guilds missions, more knowledge-filled libraries, and many more," She listed. Her expression still nk.

    Picking up a word that piqued his interest, Noah didn''t hesitate to gain more knowledge.

    "Can I buy whole magical Beasts," Noah asked, while also questioning the system on the matter.

    And it confirmed that he could buy whole magical beasts or slightly iplete magical beasts, and the system would absorb them for the dungeon creation.

    Excitement bubbled in Noah''s stomach at that confirmation, but he calmed himself. He couldn''t get excited until Emillia had confirmed it.

    "Yes you can...But I doubt you''ll have enough money for those. At least for tier 3 Beasts," Her sharp words didn''t manage to hurt him enough.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A sense of satisfaction filled Noah''s mind at her words. The world fading out as he imagined finally being able to level up. He would rather pour all his funds into that, than waste time interacting with the human civilization. At least, until he was reasonably strong.

    ''I do need someones help,'' Noah soon concluded. But he wasn''t sure she could be trusted. He still felt a mild sense of danger being around her.

    "How much do you estimate a full tier 3 beast would cost?," Noah eventually spoke.

    "On average, if you aren''t looking for anything rare, they would cost around 30-50 small silver coins. Those are for lower-stage beast," She replied, and Noah struggled to keep his calm expression on.

    A helpless sigh eventually escaped his mouth, as the cruel realization dawned on him. ''I don''t have nearly enough money,'' He affirmed.

    His purse only contained 108 small silver coins, and a few hundred small coppers. He would only be capable of buying less than three beast if he got lucky.

    "Why would you need whole magical beasts?," Emillia asked genuinely curious.

    "What jobs can one take to gain more money," Noah spoke, Intentionally ignoring her question. While his mind processed tens of thoughts in that Instant.

    Emillia immediately frowned at his words, she didn''t like being treated as a mere source of information, but she replied anyway.

    "There are lots of jobs you can take. But i presume you want one that would make you a significant amount of money," She paused. Seeing his nod she continued.

    "There are a few major ways to make lots of money. One: Join an independent guild," She raised her right index finger to simte the number.

    "Independent guilds offer lots of missions, and even have wages for their members. But that depends on what position you hold, and how much you''ve contributed. But they do have rewards forpleting missions," She exined.

    "Guild members of more popr guilds, like the three great guilds make more money monthly than some small noble families earn in a whole year," She paused again.

    "You can also be an adventurer. This is an upation that the nation itself made, and therefore is funded by the royal family. They don''t pay much for lower ranking adventures, but when you be a 3 star adventurer, the danger of the missions drastically increase, so do the rewards," She shook her head seemingly recalling something.

    "I''m a 2 star adventurer. And it''s taken me five years of hard work to achieve that," She said. "Actually we all are 2 stared adventurers, apart fromdy Fr; who''s a 3 star," She added.

    Noah simply performed slight nods at her words.

    "The second method is by joining secret organizations that deal in shady businesses," She announced without slight smile.

    "Are you supposed to tell a country bumpkin like me, something like that," Noah asked, amused.

    "It''s not a secret. Every knowledgeable bumpkin knows they exist. Rumors even go around that the royal family patronizes them," She shrugged.

    Noah could only find sense in her words, for they were true. "Where would i get in contact with a secret organization," He asked yfully.

    "You don''t. They get in contact with you instead," She stated far seriously than Noah had expected.

    Clearing his throat, Noah tried to get her back on track, "Is that all?," he asked.

    "No. There are other methods but the first two I''ve mentioned are the most clean and effective way to make money. At least if you have an absurd amount of talent," She replied almostughing, but still managed to retain herposure.

    A smile inevitably broke on Noah''s face at those words. He recalled the image box he had been given by the agent of the "Divine Lightning" guild, and he still nned on joining, but that would be after he had concluded with his current objective. Visiting Vonol.

    "So can I be yourpanion?," she spoke after a few moments of silence.

    "I definitely need help around this city. And since you offered, I''ll take it. But as for apanion I don''t know, nor trust you enough for something so sensitive," He exined, "So I''ll pass on that."

 Chapter 160 160. ONWARD

    Noah spent a few hours touring the city with his female volunteer.

    She remained polite while they did this. And he; for the first time in a while, experienced exploring with someone who didn''t like talking much.

    Emillia stayed silent for most of the tour, only voicing out exnations whenever they came across something she considered not known by those living outside of developed environments.

    The city was sorge that there were provisions for moving around. Simr to cabs or public busses on Earth, only that the transports were magical-beast-drawn carriages, and their destinations were announced by the carriage rider or riders.

    Noah also learnt the role of the inscriptions running along the roads surface. They were to control traffic, surprisingly.

    There were multiple roads into multiple districts of the city, and thousands of Individuals living there. Without such, there would only be chaos.

    The traffic regtors, as Noah would call them, sat inside a floating ck box which had hundreds of inscriptions running converging below it, keeping it suspended.

    Whenever the traffic regtors raised their hands, the inscriptions on the road would turn red, Instructing the moving carriages to stop. And whenever they lowered their hands, the inscriptions would return to their blue colour allowing the carriages to resume their journey.

    The regtors seemed to have motion sensing remotes or something simr, since one Individual could control the traffic of three roads, each road having twones.

    Surprisingly, the regtors had power in tier 3, none being more than the lower-stage.

    The city felt like earth, only its unique energy and architecture being far different from thes''.

    Emillia had taken Noah to a stadium, and Noah felt the highest shock he had ever felt since he arrived to Creagar; seeing a ser pitch!

    Apparently they didn''t call it ser or football, instead naming it Kemari.

    The sport resembled the beloved ser in every way, apart from the yers.

    There were 22 yers on the pitch, and just one ball. But watching them y sent shivers down his spine.

    What the yers of the sport did on the field would be considered extreme on earth, even impossible.

    Noah watched the yer cast spells on themselves as they moved to score a goal!

    The actual spells were ced on the heavily inscribed ball itself. As Noah even witnessed the ball light up with orange mes while it barreled towards the opposing teams. Each defending yer activating their defensive spells to stop that attack.

    This scene got etched into his very soul.

    Explosions urred multiple times, but the stadium being fortified by hundreds to thousands of inscriptions stood strong withstanding tens of tier 2 spells.

    The duo spent only a few minutes there, but Noah felt he had seen enough. It satisfied him to see the people of Cregar participating in sports.

    There were a few other sporting activities going on in the stadium, but they didn''t have time to sit and watch all of them.

    The city held a great number of buildings and one of the more popr ones ording to Emillia, was the Keriele library.

    The building itself stood on around 40 acres ofnd, ording to Earth''s measurements. Which made for its wide hall.

    The architectural style of the building also didn''t look tooplicated. Its cubical shape gave it a modern feel, while its ss and metallic build made it look solid and expensive.

    The ss windows were separated by pairs of rectangr metal panels, that spanned for the entirety of the buildings height, which was around 200ft.

    They could only stay for a few minutes, but Noah had experienced enough of the exquisite feel the fifthrgest library in Cusk had.

    He also felt poor.

    They eventually spent the next hour exploring more of the city. Apparently Emillia wasn''t obligated to inform her group of her whereabouts, which made for the time she could spare for Noah.

    "I guess that is all for now," Noah announced gazing at a glowing pond right in the middle of a downhill street.

    Nodding at Noah''s words, Emillia yed with the blue liquid, her mouth opening to speak.

    "What will you do now?," She asked, ncing at Noah; who was quick to reply.

    "I still have a ce I want to visit. But I''ll definitely be back here," He exined, keeping his n vague.

    Emillia could only nod at that point, the young man wasn''t letting anyone close, even after two hours, he hadn''t lowered his guard once.<novelnext></novelnext>

    She had failed her mission, and decided to stay as quiet as possible. Something she normally did.

    A sense of embarrassment still filled her mind when she recalled her earlier boldness.

    The gods knew she wasn''t nearly like that. She found herself constantly wondering how she achieved that feat with her shy nature.

    "I presume you do not own amunication amulet," Emillia spoke after a few minutes of silence.

    "Yes," Noah answered nkly. He had only heard of its existence a few times. And he didn''t see the need for it. For now at least.

    "Is there something wrong with that," He continued.

    "No," She replied, her focus still on the mana-filled liquid.

    No words were spoken between the two, each individual thinking their own thoughts.

    Noah soon felt it was time to move. ording to his calctions, getting to Vonol would take him a bit more than a day.

    He sensed the need to get more serious with his life, but he wanted to check up on Jesse first.

    "How exactly do I leave the city?," Noah voiced a question.

    "It depends on where you want to go," Emillia replied, her focus now on him.

    A series of thoughts filled Noah''s mind at those words, he didn''t see a way out without telling her his destination. She had yed her card well.

    "Vonol," Noah announced, "I wish to visit Vonol."

    "The fifth gate would lead you on the path. But you''ll encounter a in," Emillia exined, her expression unreadable.

    "Where is the fifth gate," another question left Noah''s lips.

    "I''ll take you there," She quickly replied.

    The duo spent the next half hour boarding carriages till they arrived at arge ck gate.

    Actually, throughout the tour Noah had been the one paying for their rides. She had been his guide but he funded the whole thing.

    Soon he saw his purse hit 99 silver coins, leaving him with what he considered barely enough. The city was expensive, too expensive.

    Focusing on the 10 inch thick gate, Noah swept his gaze on the multiple tier 3 guards patrolling it. He felt a tinge of nervousness, nothing more.

    "You''ll need to pay an exit fee," Emillia spoke, her gaze also on the guards, "They never ask for ID''s, only money," She continued.

    "Why?," Noah feltpelled to ask.

    "Because they have the chance to," Emillia responded, "There are a few issues ongoing with the powers of our nation. The rulers of suchrge cities do not have time for such small details," She paused.

    "It''s a chance for the guards to garner as much as they can before bad things happen," She exined.

    "How do you know all this, and shouldn''t you as a patriot do something," Noah spoke in a mocking tone.

    "Everyone knows this, why do you think things are so expensive. I also do not want to get into unnecessary trouble. My family doesn''t need more," She exined not minding his tone. Her experesion filled with the reluctance to say anything more.

    Noah nodded in response, his eyes falling on the gates again, ''What mess have i been thrown into,'' he thought, walking towards the gate.

    ? A short queuey before him and when his time came, he paid the fee of 1 small silver. Something he considered outrageous, but could only agree with, for now.

    ''I wonder if I can run on walls,'' He mused exiting the city''s walls, ''That sure would be convenient,'' a smile broke on his face.

    ''I definitely should be fast enough, but Ick the confidence. For now,'' He nced at the walls, before locating an empty spot to sprint from.

    Onward to Vonol.

 Chapter 161 161. BLACK ARMY

    ncing down a small cliff which had short trees growing a top it, Noah gazed at the grassy in before him.

    Kilometers ofnd stretching out as far as the eye could see, giving the scene a serene vibe.

    The green colour of the in struck Noah''s sense''s as something beautiful, and he didn''t hesitate to Inspect every wave of the grass in the winds. His calcting mind expressing its joy at that scenery.

    Taking a deep breath, Noah exahaled softly, he could get used to views like that, as they shew him the immenseness and breath-taking beauty of the new world.

    All that changed when an explosion resounded behind him, sendingrge pieces of tree barks, and chunks of the ground everywhere.

    Clicking his to tongue at that sound, Noah, without bothering to look back, caused ice to spread beneath his feet.

    Most of the cliff''s structure instantly froze at that simple action, causing confusion for his beastly attackers.

    Turning back sharply, Noah grabbed the head of the buffalo like creature barreling towards him, his fingers sinking into its furry face.

    Rotating his waist in one sharp movement, Noah sent the beasts figure down the over 190ft cliff, then he shot downwards with it.

    Loud cracking sound''s engulfed the sounds of the beasts powerful growls, as the cliffs'' frozen portion broke off at Noah''s powerful descent.

    His mind didn''t focus on those details, his feet soon touching the beasts belly. The duo smashed into the grassy grounds with a powerful force, and the frozen chunks ofnd crashed on them.

    ''Stupid,'' Noah clicked his tongue sprinting out of the danger zone. His feet had dug deep into the beasts belly, but it wasn''t dead. Hopefully the cliff would finish the job, but he doubted that possibility.

    A tier 3 beast couldn''t be killed so easily.

    However, his mind had dropped that matter and moved to the next. Five tier 3 beasts soon burst out from the bunch of trees surrounding the cliff to smash into his figure, and he didn''t hesitate to summon Muillix.

    Their blows only managed to move him backwards by a few centimeters, but he had utilized an ability of Muliix, which he had never used, up until now.

    Noah felt an immense quantity of raw power move through his muscles. Muliix''s dark material lighting up with a blue colour as he utilized "Shock absorber"

    [Shock absorber: When physically attacked; the armour absorbs the sheer force and direct it towards the owner to utilize; doubling it when outputted. Due to your body currently being ss-stage tier 3, it is advised that you avoid using this ability when attacked by metal-stage tier 3''s, to prevent your body from getting damaged, for you could outright die from too much power]

    His fists barreled outwards, and the head and chest of a ming leaopard and arge brown bear, directly exploded, immediately killing them.

    Two octahedral red mana cores exited the beasts'' dead figures, and he quickly stored them. Their bodies disappearing an instantter.

    Utilizing the remaining foreign power in his body, Noah kicked the ground; and it shattered. Sendingrge bits of the ground into the air.

    The remaining beasts fled his figure, but remained nearby. ''Why are they even working together,'' Noah wondered. He had sensed their presences immediately he exited the forest.

    Now that he thought about it, travellers didn''t utilize the path. Only he being the one that ventured into it. The ce seemed popted with powerful beasts.

    ''I guess they need to feed,'' Noah concluded Inspecting Muliix.

    His first time actually utilizing one of its abilities had proved sessful. Thinking about it, Muliix should have gained more abilities when he advanced into tier 3. He just hadn''t checked.

    Opening his stats, he scrolled down to the ''Soul bond'' section. Choosing Muliix he opened its Information, and soon spotted the abilities that had the ''new'' tag.

    "Why wasn''t I informed about the new abilities," Noah questioned the system.

    [[You were informed. You simply died during that period. It naturally got deleted]]

    Nodding his head at the response he checked the new abilities.

    [Spherical defense: As ''Muliix'' is made for protecting its wearer; it gains the ability to shed itself and create a spherical defensive area, with the wielder within it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With each hit the armor endures, a bit of the wielders stamina is chipped of. As long as the attacks aren''t far powerful than the wielder, they should be okay]

    [Note: Sub-abilities shall be unlocked when the user achieves tier 4]

    An eyebrow rose on Noah''s face at that description, the new ability didn''t seem like something useful, or that he would need to use.

    He was simply too fast to really need it. He would run if he had the unfortunate opportunity of encountering an individual that could end his life in a singr exchange of attacks.

    Nevertheless, he tried it out.

    Particles of Muliix''s material sepearated from the main suit, and went on to form a ball around his figure. But Muliix itself remained on Noah''s body, the sphere only being an extension.

    Darkness enveloped his senses, but he could expand his consciousness, and the sight stunned him.

    He resembled arge ck metallic orb sitting in the midst of that grassy in. The orbs surface saw yellow lights rapidly moving across it.

    The three magical beast around him; a blue-green serpent over 25/4ft in size, arge rock-skinned badger, and a deer with heavily ming horns, watched this scene y out. Curiosity inevitably filling their wild minds.

    A series of spells soon struck Noah''s defense.

    A wave of blue liquid shot towards the orb, then the earth surrounding the orb gave rise to tens ofrge stakes which tried to pierce the object, but failed.

    An orange beam of fire shot out of the deers horns and collided with the orb after the two spells failed. The attack sent the 15mrge object flying backwards.

    Noah felt and saw his defense move backwards and m into the cliff behind them, bringing more of it down.

    A mild sense of weakness spread in his mind at that point, his body felt like it had lost something to the attacks.

    The ability wasn''t exactly very useful, but if he were ever surrounded by equally powerful beings as him, he would utilize it. But Noah doubted the possibility of such a situation.

    With a nod, Noah decided to check the next ability, while the beasts tried their best to break into his armour.

    [Illusory army: Being bonded with <Entity: Noah> Muliix has ess to his mental capabilities. When activated, Muliix creates multiple illusions of itself. Its limits being as far as the wielder wants it, as long the space is within the range of their consciousness.

    The tangibility of the illusions increase as the wielders power Increases]

    Noah felt a wave of disappointment at the ability''s description. Actually, both abilities weren''t groundbreaking enough for him. Both falling into the mediocre realm to him.

    A few tens of attacks hadnded on the extended Muliix at that point, and his body had begun to feel fatigued.

    A tiny amount of essence eventually spread through his body eradicating that feeling.

    With a disappointed sigh, Noah deactivated the ''spherical defense'' ability, and three different spells tried to reach him.

    With onemand, Noah activated the enhancements of the speed force.

    Noah watched his environment halt its movement, and he simply took a few steps forward. He didn''t want to waste a significant amount of essence dodging those weak spells.

    Exiting the spells range, Noah activated the new ability after expanding his consciousness to its limit.

    In the twinkle of an eye, the in manifested with hundreds to a few thousand ck figures, all radiating Noah''s Intense power!

    It looked as though he had summoned a whole army to that spot, and the surrounding areas of the in trembled at the grandeur of that scene.

 Chapter 162 162. GOLEMS

    Astonishment. This was all Noah could currently feel. He also felt overwhelmed by his own aura, and felt he would drown in it, if he didn''t do something.

    Luckily, his body easily pulled it off, allowing him enough thinking space to marvel even more at that sight.

    A kilometer radius of the in seemed to have been tainted with a ck substance exuding hundreds of aura''s in tier 3.

    A feeling of excitement mixed with pride, swole in Noah''s gut. He felt he could get away with anything if he pulled this out of his sleeve.

    The magical beasts in the midst of his illusion stood still, their terrified eyes scanning the area for any escape route.

    Finding none, they simply stood still until the auras got so sensually deafening, that they were forced tounch attacks.

    Needless to say the illusions vanished like ck mist, but they quickly moved in ordance to Noah''s will.

    The illusions were solid enough to withstand the wind currents around them, but nothing more. The mere grazing of a knife would instantly destroy them. But the ability had potential.

    Noah could already ascertain that a time woulde in his existence, when the illusions would be tangible enough to withstand real attacks, and would be able to fight with him.

    The possibilities were simply limitless. He would have a real army at hand, the only problem would be controlling each and every one of them.

    The figures could be controlled individually, but their numbers were too great. Noah stopped counting when they surpassed 2000.

    He couldn''t currently dream of manipting them individually; each one having a different role!

    His illusion disappeared and reappeared due to the beasts rampage. He wondered what the drawback for that ability would be, and he got his answer soon enough.

    Mental fatigue.

    After a few hundred illusions had been destroyed and recreated, Noah felt his soul core protest.

    His mind experienced a few mild tremors, a slight headache even around the corner. Those side-eftects were enough to affirm his need to stop the beasts.

    His figure shot towards the escaping creatures, but within the Incredible numbers of his illusion, Noah''s moving figure wasn''t noticeable.

    He soon arrived behind the scrambling beasts, but suddenly halted his rapid steps.

    His blue eyes never left the rampaging beats, but he didn''t take any step further.

    With a sigh of relief; Noah sat on the frozen seat he created on the spot.

    Seeing as he tested new abilities, he decided to check out more of them.

    ''Know your enemies and yourself, and you''ll be unstoppable'' This was an old saying on earth.

    [Frozen Golem''s[Active]: When activated you create 2 Golem''s capable of tier 3 power.

    Cost: 300SE, Duration: Until they are destroyed, Cooldown: N/A]

    At Noah''smand, a whitish magical circle expanded beneath his sitting figure, spreading out for a few tens of meters.

    The magical circle had no resemnce to what the humans utilized, but he didn''t mind that detail.

    Tworge figures soon emerged out of the magical circle, to stand next to Noah''s sitting figure.

    The golems were tall, towering over 17ft in height. Their arms wererger than the heads of two fully grown humans, and their icy structures featured sharp edge''s on spots like their knees, elbows, fists, and even their faces.

    They were armed to the teeth, literally.

    The golems were so cold; the ground beneath them froze, and a cold white essence could be seen exiting their structures like smoke.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The golems had no specific facial features, but he could see two empty spots that seemed to be their eyes, and nothing else.

    Their figures exuded a power level at the bottom of tier 3, which made Noah doubt their ability to carry out his orders.

    The fleeing beasts, whether he liked it or not, possessed power in lower-stage of tier 3, even past the halfway mark.

    Their resilience would be Incredible. Only monsters like him being able to take them out easily.

    Or so he thought.

    "Go," Noah whispered, and his golems shot towards the rapidly escaping beasts.

    The beasts had almost left the range of his consciousness during the few seconds he used in Inspecting his spells, but Noah cleared a path for his creations, and they surprisingly arrived at the beasts positions pretty quickly.

    "They''re fast!," Noah couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow while coldly Inspecting that scene.

    ''Is this due to the energy that created them?,'' Noah questioned the system.

    [[Yes]]

    The system replied, and Noah''s former doubts soon vanished when the magical beasts and his golems engaged inbat.

    Noah felt surprised to see his golems create makeshift shields to fend off the attacks of their opponents.

    The areas around them froze at their mere passage, as they carried out their masters will with brutal efficiency.

    A tinge of pity rose in Noah''s heart for the beasts, at what he considered ughter. The golems were performing far beyond his expectations.

    Although pieces of their body parts had been lost in the ten minutes long battle, his golems stepped out victorious.

    "Damn!," Noah couldn''t help but exmain. The ice element had gained his full respect, it deserved to be rare, and he felt his whole being swell with pride at the reality of his power.

    Running his fingers across their cool surface, Noah ignored the missing limbs, and suddenly delivered a powerful punch to one of his golems.

    Needless to say it shattered into a million pieces, tiny shards of ice spreading everywhere, a burst of cold air washing over that spot.

    The other golem remained still, its bulky frame soon receiving a powerful punch from its creator, and it also exploded.

    With a satisfied smile, Noah straightened his figure. Although he had destroyed them rtively easily, he couldn''t deny the sturdiness of their structure.

    Noah almost couldn''t believe that only 300SE created those monsters. It didn''t seem fair in the slightest, but he didn''t care. He would definitely spam that skill whenever he was in a sticky situation.

    Having deactivated the illusions long before the fighting finished, Noah''s eyes fell on the frozen craters in the distance.

    He wondered why tier 3''s were that powerful. On Earth, they would be considered demi-gods, as their spells would certainly devastate small settlements. And the mere mention of their name would strike fear Into the hearts of men. They would even be respected to a degree of nigh worship.

    Yet on Creagar, Individuals with such power levels weren''t nearly the strongest. They had three tiers of power above them, each far more powerful than thest.

    A red octahedral core suddenly shot towards his position, and he quickly stored it. The buffalo was dead.

    With that done, Noah resumed his journey to Vonol, he had only left Keriele a few hours ago. His calctions to reach Vonol remained on point.

    Noah''s rapidly moving figure, still covered in Muliix''s material, soon crossed the beautiful in to arrive on a forested path.

    Without the slightest thought of stopping, Noah utilized his Incredible stamina to run as fast as his body could naturally take him. His agility at that Incredible speed; increasing exponentially.

 Chapter 163 163. UNKNOWN

    Weaving through the trees of Creagar, with the grace and expertise of a veteran obstacle racer, Noah traversed the forest silently.

    He had long left the real pathway to travel in the forest. He constantly felt unsafe and naked running on the cleared path.

    Alhough he doubted the actuality of being seen at his current speed, his mind wouldn''t let him be.

    Having arrived on thest path which led directly to Vonol, Noah readied his mind for whatever he would find there.

    A bit more than two months had passed since he wasst in Vonol, he expected changes, but didn''t know how much the city would have transformed in that time frame.

    Barely being able to sleep the other night, Noah''s mind had been filled with his words for Jesse. He felt his heart twist at the thought of killing James.

    Although he understood the whole situation had been a set up, he couldn''t bring himself to tell the young man.

    Noah soon found himself running downhill, and navigation got a bit annoying. But wasn''t something he couldn''t handle.

    ording to the map, he wouldn''t arrive at Vonol''s fronts gate, but its back, something Noah hadn''t known until then, existed.

    His eyes soon fell on a stone wall around 35m in height, by this point he had stopped running, his hand resting on a tree, while he Inspected the wall.

    He currently experienced the exact same issue he faced before entering Keriele.

    His power remained far higher than the middle-staged tier 2 before his eyes, but he still couldn''t do anything he wanted. He couldn''t barge into the city.

    ''Time to test my running prowess,'' Noah eventually concluded. He couldn''t get into the city the normal way, at least not where people had chances of recognizing him and causing him trouble. Moreover he had stayed in Vonol for quite some time.

    His thoughts eventually fell on getting a mask, and his whole being agreed to it.

    With an expresion filled with determination, Noah moved essence from his ck, constantly rotating core.

    His whole body experienced an overall strengthening, but he didn''t focus too much on those details.

    His soul core spun madly, as his white soul environment got tinted with a deep yellow color. Eventually his ind began to vibrate, while energy coursed madly through its structure. Then did Noah consider it the right time to move.

    Taking a step, while ignoring hispletely frozen environment, Noah chose not to move to fast, something around mach 2 or 5.

    Needless to say, he instantly arrived in front of the grey wall. He had moved a few hundred meters from the gate and the line of people to remain unseen.

    Without the tiniest bit of hesitation, Noah ced his right foot on the stone wall. He felt a force try to push him to the ground when his other foot arrived on the wall, but he was moving too fast for gravity.

    With both legs on the wall, Noah experienced a view he had only really imagined.

    It felt rtively easy moving on the wall still at that speed, so when he took another step forward, he did it with ease.

    In the flicker of an eye Noah had arrived on the section of the wall where guards normally stood, and he didn''t hesitate to ce his feet on the its side again, this time crossing over.

    Facing downwards startled him a bit, but he quickly got over it, he wouldn''t die even if he fell from that height.

    His eyes fell on a series of short buildings away from public eyes, and he didn''t hesitate to basically walk down the wall, though moving Incredibly fast, to stand behind one of said buildings.

    In reality he had spent less than a second running up and down the wall.

    A sense of achievement soon filled Noah''s mind while stopping his essence from further empowering him.

    He had arrived inside the city rtively unseen, and without any trouble.

    ''I should do this more,'' He giggled quietly.

    His consciousness soon unfolded to inspect the streets around him. While he understood that tier 3''s were really scarce in that small city, anomalies like elder Manson could be anywhere.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The residents of that area couldn''t sense his consciousness wash over them to see what they did, this was majorly due to their weakness.

    There were many tier 1 Individuals in that area, and he had to greatly reduce the intensity of his consciousness to avoid their deaths.

    Soon Noah found the area safe, and decided to move. His figure shed out of that area and he quickly arrived at the top a building a few hundred meters from his former position.

    His 3D mental map quickly zoomed in to Vonol, and Noah eventually found James house, which was on the other side of the city.

    Noah pakoured from building to building at high speed. His movements were far faster than the average tier 1 or 2 could percive, and he soon arrived at James'' area.

    Heaving a heavy sigh he jumped off the building he stood upon, to walk towards James'' house.

    Much hadn''t changed in that area, apart from the renovated street and additions of what resembled streetmps, but had wooden pirs.

    Striking softly on the door using his knuckles, Noah heard clearly the sound of an Individual scrambling towards him.

    His heart leaped for joy when he heard the bars behind the door shift, but that feeling vanished when a man in his mid thirties appeared behind the door.

    The individual seemed to be startled by Noah''s beauty, as his face failed to hide his amazement.

    "How may I help you?," The man spoke without leaving the borders of the building.

    Emotions raged in Noah''s mind at this sight, but his facial expressions had already been cut off from his emotions, so he remained calm for the time being.

    "Sorry to bother you, but do you know who Jesse is?," Noah enquired in a polite tone.

    While he knew James had no other rtives apart from his younger brother, he had to understand what the situation was.

    The individual looked to take Noah''s words seriously, as a thoughtful expression appeared on his face before an answer proceeded out of his mouth a momentter.

    "Oh the other tenant. He was kicked out by the owner around a month ago, or something like that. I don''t really know anything else," The man exined.

    For a millisecond there, Noah felt ready to blow up. He could already envision the whole ce bing an icy environment in mere seconds, but his anger remained under his tight control.

    "Do you know where the owner stays?," Noah asked, his voice having lost the warmth in it, and his utterly aura-less figure bing dangerous to his audience.

    With a sharpened expression the man quickly gave him an answer. "Yes, he owns a bar exactly 25 buildings from this building," The man pointed towards his right. His efforts to understands Noah''s power had provedpletely useless.

    The breath-taking young man before him was stronger than he, a lower-stage tier 2!

    Was he a noble? the man wondered in pure shock.

    Noah''s eyes slowly traced the man''s pointed arm, his now frosty voice ringing out again, "I thank you for your help," He said immediately walking towards the said bar, his eyes numbering the building as he slowly moved down the street.

    "Sure..." The man replied, but Noah had left by then.

    Walking down the seemingly immense street, Noah''s mind raged with violent thoughts.

    Thoughts he never knew his mind could remotely produce took over his mind. But his environment remained unaffected. His emotions were still under his control, for now.

    He eventually arrived in front of the said building, and it truly resembled a bar. His mind didn''t bother to Inspect the shy features the building held as he walked towards the guard-less building.

    His steps halted, then he tore a piece of his garment to shield the lower portion of his face.

    Pushing the thick wooden door, Noah stepped into a rowdy room filled with tens of men, and even a few women.

    But the entire room turned silent immediately everyone presentid eyes on his figure. And for reasons unknown to them, shivers went down their spines, the air in room suddenly going stale.

 Chapter 164 164. ABNORMAL

    Noah''s aura-less figure walked towards the bar-table with steps audible to everyone, due to the pin-drop silence.

    Each person he walked past felt their whole bodies quiver in instinctive fear.

    And their faces remained pointed towards the ground as cold sweat umted on their backs.

    Noah''s beautiful face, although half covered, had quickly be terrifying to those closer to him. Their human survival instincts screamed at them to leave, but they found their legs unwilling to move.

    Was it the beer, or their unknown source of fear, they knew not. All that could be done was hope nothing too strange happened.

    Noah had already unfolded his consciousness the instant he stepped into the bar, and his mindpletely disregarded their power-levels.

    With a single thought every single one of them could perish, as their peak tier 1 power to lower-stage tier 2 prowess would provide not the slightest resistance to his power.

    He soon crossed the room to arrive at the bar-table; where four Individuals, all men, could be seen gazing at him with difficult expressions.

    "What may we get you?-" The man''s words were interrupted by Noah''s.

    "Where is the owner of this enterprise?," Noah''s cold voice rang out softly, but was audible to all present in the room, who felt the hair on their bodies rise.

    Utterly startled by the beautiful man''s voice, the bartenders tried to inspect the young man''s power but failed.

    Then did it dawn on them that they had a potentially dangerous issue at hand.

    "He isn''t here," One of the four quickly answered. Too quick for Noah''s satisfaction.

    "I won''t repeat this again, where is the owner of this bar," A murderous light flickered in Noah''s seemingly glowing eyes, and the Instincts of everyone present screamed pure danger into their hearts. And the bravest of them stood to quickly exit the ce.

    But s Noah wasn''t about to get himself into trouble. His consciousness gripped the escaping individuals and theirs fears vanished, terror recing it.

    ''A tier 3 existence!,'' Their terrified minds screamed.

    Most Individuals present had never met anyone with such power, but words from those who had, had been etched into their memories. And the iconic ability was something those within tier 2 couldn''t achieve.

    "No one leaves," Noahs spoke letting his intent to brutally punish anyone that disobeyed, flow out of his figure freely.

    Needless to say, the whole room turned into an icy abode almost instantly.

    But surprisingly, not one person made a sound, their minds were far too busy to mind that alsopletely rare phenomenon.

    Noah frowned at that sight, he still desired to keep his ice affinity a secret, but he figured that since no one knew him for that ability, he would remain unknown.

    Although word would spread about a mysterious individual who had ice as an affinity, he didn''t mind. He would be long gone before they knew it.

    This was one of the reasons he had covered his face. He wasn''t dumb enough to let them go on living with half his identity unsafe in their tiny minds.

    The bartenders were shivering at this point. Whether or not it was due to the cold or his presence, Noah didn''t care, he only wanted answers.

    "He''s in there," Another of the four men, frantically spoke when he sensed Noah''s intent to make a move on their powerless figures.

    The eyes of his colleagues widened with surprise, but they made no sounds.

    Actually, Noah could sense relief in their eyes, for they had desired not to be the one to sell out their employer.

    Noah tapped his right index finger on the frozen bartable and it shattered. The tenders made way for his figure, and he didn''t hesitate to gently apply a pushing force on the ck metal door before him.

    His gentle push immediately flung the door open.

    His physical strength was simply too much for such light actions to not cause powerful reactions to his environment.

    Walking through the red curtain, Noah heard a strangely anger inducing voice yell at his shrouded figure.

    "What the fuck are you bastards doing!," The voice dripping with contempt, cursed, but Noah remained silent.

    Noah''s eyes fell on a rtivelyrge room, filled with multiple book-filled shelves.

    At the end of the brown painted room, was a red wooden table, and behind the table was man around his fifties.

    The individual had grey, but full hair, and his aged face looked riddled with wrinkles.

    The man''s facials looked as ugly as his voice sounded.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The old man remained clearly startled by Noah''s figure. Although he could only make out half the strangers face, he felt blown away by the individuals beauty, his body longing for such.

    But the aura-less danger the individual exuded, soon overwhelmed that astonishment.

    "W...who are you? And state your business," The man announced trying to get up, but he felt an immense pressure fall heavily on his figure, and with a heavy thud, he fell back on his seat.

    Fear engulfed the man''s mind, as he found that his body nor inscribed attire, could offer any resistance to the Invisible but powerful force

    [Name: Cespian]

    [Race: Human]

    [Title: Owner of the Yulo bar]

    [Tier: 2(Middle)]

    [Affinity: Water]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    "Hello Cespian," Noah walked further into the room, his figure sitting on the empty chair before his captivated audience.

    "I...if you were sent by one of my rivals, y...you''ll pay heavily for it. I have protection from the head of the city. Consider yourself dead when he finds out about you," Cespian announced frantically, his pitch reaching an all-time high, when an intense sensation of cold and pain engulfed his mind.

    Shock and wonder filled his mind, Immediately heid eyes on hispletely frozen right foot.

    He nced at the only individual in the room, and he quickly understood from experience that things had quickly gone south, and he could lose his life.

    Seeing that the vile old man understood hisck of patience, Noah''s voice rang out.

    "I''m not from your rivals, I only came to ask you a few questions. Your friends out there allowed me in," Noah spoke slowly.

    He found himself reying the words of the man who had spoken to him earlier, and felt his anger rise.

    Cespian could only nod as he bit his lips to not allow his grunts of pain escape his mouth.

    "There was a tenant staying at your property a few months ago, where did he go?," Noah enquired, his expression nk.

    "I...I have more than o..one property," Cespian replied.

    "The one exactly 25 buildings from this point," Noah quickly specified, and the expression on Cespians face puzzled him.

    The old man had his eyes wide open, seemingly in shock, and he soon began to shake his head with a look of despair.

    "I can''t..." The old man soon spoke, his eyes filled with fear for something or someone Noah didn''t remotely know about.

    "You will; if you want to keep your life that is," Noah announced, understanding that something wasn''t right.

    "I''ll die anyway," Cespian announced, "I''ll tell you anything apart from that," He quickly suggested.

    Noah felt his puzzlement reach new levels at those short words, and he didn''t hesitate to gain clearer knowledge.

    "Why? For what would you die if you carry out my request," Noah asked, his mind producing an idea he considered totally unsuitable for the situation.

    "I was forced to make an oath to not talk about it," Cespian exined.

    "By who?," Noah frowned, his guess had been right, but it confused him greatly as to why someone would do that.

    "I can''t say," Cespian responded, his voice having been drained of its arrogance and rudeness.

    Noah''s frown deepened at those words, but his calcting mind soon provided another idea.

    "Will you die before or after you reveal the information," Noah asked coldly, he didn''t care about the man''s life, all he wanted were answers.

    Cespian looked ready to talk, but his face suddenly twisted in extreme agony, while his fatty frame shuddered uncontrobly

    Noah simply watched the scene y out with mild curiosity, when a series of red and ck inscriptions appeared on Cespians body searing his skin, then his frame suddenly began to swell abnormally.

    The old man had started screaming in pure agony at this point, and Noah didn''t hesitate to leave his seat and jump backwards, right before the old man exploded into a gory mess.

 Chapter 165 165. POORLY CALCULATED

    Noah had his eyes wide open at this point, and his mind struggled to process what just happened.

    Ignoring the bloodied scene of scattered flesh and internal organs, Noah dashed out of the room, where the unmoving customers had grim expressions.

    They had heard the man''s scream and the sickening bursting sound, and their mind couldn''t stop reying it in their heads.

    Noah saw this and raised his left hand with his palm wide open. Those present saw their lives sh before their eyes, but Noah never nned to kill them.

    The ice in the room suddenly gathered on his opened palm, and he closed it to destroy the frozen ball.

    Shock filled his audiences eyes, but their mouths refused to make a sound, something Noah found pleasing.

    Staying still for a few seconds in order to clear his mind, Noah peeked into the room, and an astonished gasp escaped his mouth at the sight before him.

    Clean!

    Not a single drop of blood or mass of flesh could be seen anywhere in the room. All traces of the man''s exsitence had literally vanished.

    Fortunately, he managed to catch sight of what resembled ck dust vanishing into thin air, and the room returned to its stillness.

    Those were the only traces of Cespian and they had also disappeared.

    Whoever wanted the man''s mouth shut, had gone to extreme limits to ensure he never managed to spill anything.

    The only issue bothering Noah, was why such was even needed.

    Jesse and James had mostly been unknown throughout their lives, and did not possess anything that made them different, even if slightly, from the majority in Vonol.

    ''Why would anyoneone do this then?,'' Noah felt utterly lost in the whole situation.

    Entire chunks of the matter were missing, he had absolutely no way of understanding what exactly was going on.

    He eventually refocused his gaze on the tavern. Luckily, during the mere minutes of his visit, no one had tried to gain entry into that ce. But sooner orter someone would.

    With a helpless sigh, Noah walked towards the exit, all eyes following his movement.

    "Thank you for cooperating," He announced, leaving the bar and vanishing from the front door.

    Sitting atop a building where he could get clear visuals of the tavern, Noah watched the terrified customers flee the ce, practically falling over themselves.

    This sight immediately gained the attention of the passerbys, and soon enough city guards were dispatched to the scene.

    Noah felt not a shred of pity for the man that had died, he simply experienced deep hopelessness and longing for answers.

    ''Where do I even begin,'' He heaved a deep sigh leaping from building top too building top, at speeds fairly un-noticeable to the human eye.

    He eventually came to a stop on a tall building that stood at the center of the city.

    Cespian hadn''t been able to drop the slightest of clues capable of helping him, and Jesse could be somewhere dangerous.

    Noah immediately felt his mood darken at that thought, and he inevitably recalled his promise to the young man.

    Now that James was no more, the least he could do was protect his powerless brother.

    But he had nothing to start with, and couldn''t give up that easily. He would never forgive himself if he didn''t at least try to search more.

    Thoughts about the royals being connected to the whole matter sprouted in his mind. He felt a deep hatred rise in his heart, at the mere thought of them.

    But even that seemed far-fetched. The royals had no prior knowledge about them, and even if they had sources, why would they kick the young man out.

    ''Did they desire to hand over his rewards to his only living family,'' Noah considered, but soon threw that thought into his mental garbage can.

    ''Those stingy bastards would never perform such a noble and potentially dangerous act,'' Noah concluded, but didn''t rule out the possibility. He currently had no way of actually getting to them, which meant he couldn''t confirm his words.

    Helplessness permeated strongly in Noah''s mind, and he eventually spent a few minutes simply sitting atop the building while ideas were constructed and dismissed hundreds of times each minute.

    He truly had to give up. He felt bad for only trying a bit, but he had nothing that could lead him to more information.

    ''I only hope he''s okay wherever he is,'' Noah concluded getting up. His eyes scanned the city and he could almost taste its ndness.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Having stayed in Keriele for only a few hours had made him forget theck of beauty in ces like Vonol, but it remained far better than Mariwa.

    Noah felt unsafe in the walls of Vonol, a search would probably be ungoing for him.

    His facial features were striking enough for all those who had been present in the bar to recognize, and be able to describe; even if they had only seen half his entire face.

    He nned to leave Vonol in one go, and an idea inevitably appeared in his head, but he pondered on the possibility of it being sessful.

    However, his mind provided many reasons why leaping out of Vonol was possible for him.

    Picking the direction he wished to travel, Noah counted a few tens of building backwards, that would act as a runway of sorts for him, and he quickly shot backwards.

    He needed a significant amount of momentum to sessfully execute a few kilometers leap.

    "Here goes nothing," He muttered readying himself for the crazy stunt he was about to pull.

    Essence rapidly moved from his core, and his body immediately red with dense energy.

    His soul core spun intensely, crackling with bright electrical energy, and his environment seemingly stopped moving due to it.

    His white hair gained a yellow shade to its colour, and whole sections of it stood due to the influx of energy.

    Rank 1 speed essence remained Incredible as Noah felt his body get stronger, but his overall level remained the same.

    His blue eyes zed with a yellow light, its colour seemingly turning green for a moment, before the yellow within it overwhelmed his natural colour.

    Taking a step forward, Noah tried his very best to calcte his speed, but failed.

    Nevertheless he managed to gain solid footing on a particr building, a few buildings from what he previously nned.

    His knees bent a bit and he leaned forward, almost falling off the building.

    Just before taking off; his body red with even more essence, and he shot upwards.

    Although his movement had been mostly silent due the bracelets effects, but the building he utilized as his propeller, almostpletely crumbled, only a rtively significant portion caving in on itself.

    Noah killed a few tier 1''s with his actions, but he would never know, as he was long gone.

    Noah felt his environment whezze past him, as Vonol almostpletely disappeared from behind him in that Instant.

    His figure, which sped around mach four, made an arc high in the air, before rapidly descending.

    Noah felt his clothes begin to tear-off his figure during his rapid descension, and Muliix quickly exited his body, to salvage the remainder of his attire.

    Preparing his mind for thending, Noah tried his best tond perfectly, but s, he remained too inexperienced for suchplex actions.

    His feet struck the ground with a powerful thud, and the ground immediately shattered, but his Incredible momentum couldn''t be quenched simply with that.

    Noah''s legs creaked in their various joints and he tripped. His body gotunched forward due to his mis-step, and he ended up smashing through trees like mere tall twigs.

    Noah eventually stopped after traveling more than half a kilometer.

    He received no injuries due to Muliix''s protection, but that couldn''t be said for his environment.

    He had created a linear path through a portion of the forest, every inch of the path dripping with destruction.

    He had no regrets whatsoever, after all he enjoyed every moment of the crazy ride.

    ____________________

    *Authors note*

    I apologize for the poor release ratetely, I came down with a cold. Hopefully it gets better soon, as I n to increase the chapters published per day. It''s not official yet, but I''m working towards it.

 Chapter 166 166. NEXT PHASE

    Performing a few stretches, Noah seemed to daze off afterwards.

    He had experienced the same hazy dream he had a few days ago, and it also ended when the entity was about to reveal her face.

    Being the third time he experienced the same dream of sorts, he understood that it wasn''t something normal. But had no clue whatsoever of what it meant.

    He tried searching for a pattern, wondering whether it happened as a result of what he did before falling asleep, but found none connecting to the three incidents.

    After reviewing his crazy action, he had gone through a series of thoughts, mostly worry, but those were normal at this point.

    Soon thoughts based on his next move flowed into his mind, but he had fallen asleep before he could gain any real ground on that matter.

    Luckily, it seemed he had only been asleep for a couple of minutes.

    ''Maybe an hour,'' Noah thought, when his eyes fell on the path he had created.

    The trees had began to regrow, and the path now featured tens of rtively tall tree stumps.

    He felt satisfied to see that mana still took care of such things, as he didn''t exactly find pleasure the destruction of nature.

    He had spent a significant amount of time in such environments during his time on Earth, after all.

    With nothing else to do, Noah resumed his thoughts on his next n.

    With his business in Vonol partially done, and he had nothing really keeping him there, he felt it was time to move onto the next phase of his life.

    Joining a guild.

    Both his maps exited his inventory at that point, and he didn''t hesitate to check therge one which he got from Luke''s ring.

    The map indicated most of the important locations in Cusk, but he hardly understood why they held importance, as it didn''t have a description like the map he got from the small party.

    Apart from names like the royal city which was situated exactly in the center of Cusk, and the names of the three great guilds, Noah understood not the rest.

    From his inspection of the map, he had spent thest three to four months at the very edge of the country.

    Even Keriele was situated at the edge of Cusk, only being a city far richer than the surrounding ones.

    Moving on to his real target; the ''Divine Lightning guild'', Noah felt his mind ache at the sheer thought of the distance he would have to travel the reach it.

    Even worse, it was only the major branch.

    The real thing wasn''t identified on the map, and he inevitably wondered why that was so.

    Actually only the major branches of the great guilds were identified on the map.

    His mind searched for the easiest way into getting admitted, and he soon gave up on it.

    Only travelling would take him there, but the distance would be too much, it could take him weeks, and he desired not to waste such time.

    His mind soon recalled a ce in Keriele; which ording to Emillia was a faction that allowed people board flying beasts, which would then travel from city to city.

    The idea sounded great, but Noah found it utterly useless.

    He had better chances of getting to his destination running than patronizing that mode of transportation.

    ''I could run,'' Noah eventually considered. His earlier calction which resulted in spending weeks was by moving at the speed his body could naturally take him, but not his full speed, Mach 75, which was around 25,000m every second.

    While he could only sustain that velocity for merely five seconds, he had potions simply piling up in his cultivation room.

    Their numbers already neared hundred, as he had drank some during his journey from Enil.

    Utilizing his potions would allow him arrive at his destination far faster, though at the cost of his cores'' stability.

    He would simply cultivate for a long time after that.

    Noah soon approved of his n, it was simple but effective. He didn''t expect the journey to be easy, as there were sure to be obstacles made by the environment, but he trusted himself to handle them efficiently.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With his thoughts on that matter settled, he focused on another slight problem:

    He didn''t know his current location.

    Although he had chosen an area close to the Vonol''s front gate during his leap, his flight had taken him far away from the city''s perimeters.

    His 3d mental map remained active, but at this point it featured whole sections of nkness.

    Unfolding his consciousness quickly updated the map, but the issue remained.

    He could guess his location on the map, but, its indication of the city and its surrounding areas was too small, it wouldn''t do much.

    Deciding to on a solution, Noah''s body crackled with energy. He felt free being able to express such a key aspect of his existence. Someone about being part speedling seemed to add to the intensity of that emotion.

    Noah performed a quick scouting of the area, by simply running around in no particr order.

    He perceived things in slow motion, so he didn''t have to worry about smashing into trees during his multiple circr runs.

    The area saw a bright yellow streak rapidly move across its terrain, absolutely undeterred by the hundreds of trees or bumpy grounds.

    Noah enjoyed every second of the search even though it burnt a significant amount of energy.

    He soon left the perimeters of that area to perform a wider search. It wasn''t until after a few seconds did he arrive at a path he recalled clearly.

    He came to a quick halt and his consciousness unfolded to further scan that environment, and he soon ascertained his location.

    He currently stood on a path that would lead him back to Mariwa if he ran straight down, but he didn''t n on doing that.

    His maps quickly appeared to float in front of him at that point.

    In mere instants he understood his position on the maps.

    While his evaluation remained rough, it proved more than enough, as Noah''s eyes snapped to a direction West of his current location.

    His destination was arge city, even bigger than Keriele. Its name being something that vaguely excited him.

    On his way to the said city would be a series mountain chains and exactly three valley''s, which spanned for multiple miles. There would be a few smaller settlements too, but he nned to avoid them.

    He would then encounter argeke which was the final hurdle before arriving at the Dragons w city.

    ''I hope I don''t have to simply run all through,'' Noah grinned, he felt excited.

    The new environments he would witness made his blood pump, and the thought of almost getting killed in a battle, pushed him to a state of nigh ecstacy.

    A potion appeared in his palms, and he didn''t hesitate to chug its contents down.

    His speed core immediately bubbled with essence at that actiu. Although he would need to abuse that medicine for a while, his core remained at its best condition currently.

    Essence rumbled out of our MC''s body, his figure lighting up his immediate surroundings, though only by a bit, the sun still stood high above him.

    His destination was the exactly the west region of the nation of Cusk, and his position being the southern side of the nation, he remained a few thousand miles from it. A distance that could fit a medium sized country on earth!

    Wrapping his conciousness around his figure, Noah took a big step forward, and he turned into a bright yellow streak travelling at around 10,000 meters every second.

    ______________________

    *Authors note*

    It''s here, my work going premium. I''m well aware a few of you will drop it due to this, but I''ve been writing for over half a year now, and I''d dyed signing the contract for two months already.

    I believe it''s fair, so please help me earn from my book.

    Thank you.

 Chapter 167 167. SNAKES VALLEY

    ncing at the massivendmasses a few miles from him, Noah didn''t hesitate to run on the mountain chain as soon as he arrived.

    His figure zoomed up the rocky terrain without any hindrance. Landing on a once again horizontal path, Noah''s eyes scanned the deadly looking surface before him.

    He almost couldn''t call it that, as spikes protruded out of the mountains surface for kilometers, but he already had a solution.

    Ice shot out on a linear path before him, and it continued moving.

    His figure dashed forward at that point, and he never stopped pouring essence into that makeshift path.

    A bottle soon appeared in his hand, and he quickly drank its contents and felt his core bubble with energy.

    He soon crossed the mountain range, and stopped fueling the icy path. But began to fall at that point.

    Cudgelnded on his palm at that point, and he didn''t hesitate to throw it downwards; before allowing it grow.

    Cudgels figure barreled up in sheer size, and it collision with the forest below it caused an explosion, great in size to burst out.

    Noah disregarded the destructive consequence of his actions, and ced his feet on Cudgels surface. His figure turned to streak almost immediately, as he ran down his staffsrge structure.

    Noah kept Cudgel in a moderate size so as to not allow it get seen by any surrounding settlements. Nevertheless, its figure remainedrge.

    He soon arrived on the messy ground, and Cudgel instantly shrunk to shoot back into the sky.

    Noah''s mind calcted his current position, and he felt d to realize that only the valleys and theke remained before reaching the city.

    He had been on the road for two days now. This was as a result of the rests he took along the way. He also utilized those periods of rest it to cultivate his mind.

    Noah felt himself go downhill, then a sharp elevation followed, and he immediately arrived at a drastically different environment than he was used to.

    Coming to an abrupt stop, Noah felt his eyes widen at the sight before him.

    "Immense," He muttered. His eyesy on a series of hills andrge ponds of sparkling blue water.

    Noah couldn''t sight smoothnd for miles; only linear lookingndmasses beside a long river of shimmering water.

    He had arrived at region called the Snakes valley, and he quickly understood the reason for that.

    From the height he stood, Noah could trace what resembled a curvy snake which was formed by the river and long masses ofnd.

    The whole ce was coloured with deep purple. From trees, to the grass.

    A weird aura permeated that scenery, and he didn''t hesitate to cut a de of grass from beneath him, as the strange purple began from where he stood.

    [You havee in contact with a poisonous nt]

    [Tier: Below 1]

    [Note: This nt isn''t naturally urring. It has been mutated due to the blood of a tier 5 serpent]

    Noah felt his mind buzz with shock at that prompt.

    The miles upon miles of purpleness was as a result of one snake''s blood!

    His shock soon turned to excitement. He recalled the requirements to upgrade his dagger. A tier 4 poisonous nt being required.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The only issue was the possibility of such a powerful organism existing there. Even if it existed, he doubted that it had not been harvested, or even eaten by a beast.

    Stillon that thought, Noah noticed theck of beasts in the area. His eyes scanned his environment even more, and he quickly sent his consciousness forth, but that proved to be useless.

    Had the area be an unhabitable environment due to the event that urred there, he wondered.

    ''I''ll be back here wherever I have the chance,'' Noah thought, he didn''t want to embark on missions along the way, as they would dy him too much.

    His eyesnded on the liquid below him, and he felt it was time to continue his journey, only this time, on a different surface.

    Essence moved, and he shot forward. It took his figure a few seconds to near the surface of the river, and Noah felt his focus reach its max almost instantly.

    His feet touched the shimmering liquid and he immediately felt his body begin to sink.

    ''Steps! Noah, steps!,'' his mind screamed at him, as he struggled to gain bnce on the liquid.

    He sank in slow motion to himself, and soon felt his confidence begin to wane.

    With each movement of his feet, he seemed to paddle his way deeper into the river, and his confidence took a powerful blow due to that.

    Doubts began to pile up In his mind about the possibility of the action he nned to take, but something within him refused to ept failure, and memories of his Incredible feats yed in his mind.

    Noah''s mind trembled in unknown excitement, and he felt about to move, when a dangerous presence struck his senses.

    Somethingrge wrapped around his waist. As Noah watched in slow motion a reptilian limb pull him into the river.

    Speed essence rushed into his nostrils and he remained able to breathe. This allowed him to focus on what exactly was going on.

    During his dive into the river, he managed to ascertain that he was being attacked by a magical beast.

    But things turned dangerous when he noticed fiverge serpents surrounding him, all radiating power well in the lower-stage of tier 3.

    Managing to grab the tail of the snake trying to drown him; he twisted his body mid float, and flung it.

    Then did his eyes reveal to him how potentially dangerous his situation really was. Over one hundred tier 2 snakes floated around him, which was already a few tens of meters below the rivers surface.

    They all barreled towards him not wanting him to get any chance to act, but that failed.

    Noah quickly threw a punch towards the swarm, and the power inside that limb pushed them backwards, but they remained mostly unhurt.

    Their hisses almost deafened him as the tier 3 seemed to give the weaker ones instructions; forcing them to attack the clearly not-drowning individual.

    Not wanting to get pulled deeper into the river for his Instincts informed him that something he currently could''ve dream of handlingy quietly down there; he tried beating the water around him with his legs while activating the the speed force.

    This pushed him upwards, but he soon found that a tight array of snake''sy above him.

    How they managed to bypass his senses left him baffled, but he didn''t ce too much of his focus on that matter.

    The liquid around him gave birth to spears of ice in their tens, and he didn''t hesitate to send them forward while he himself shot upwards at breakneck speed.

    His attacks skewered tens of the serpents and he soon found himself bursting out of the river.

    But the environment before him had changed drastically. Noah sensed and saw hundreds of serpents around him, and tens of them held power at the peak of the lower-stage.

 Chapter 168 168. CHASE

    Noah could immediately tell that only death awaited him if they actually attacked.

    He noticed all this in mere instants, as his figure seemed to pause in the moment of exiting the river.

    He felt a tinge of fear spread in his mind at the sight, as the serpents remainedrge creatures, filling the rocky ground and even the walls around him with their greenish-ck scales.

    [You havee in contact with poison][Your body is battling the foreign substance.....]

    [Your body has sessfully neutralized the poison]

    The prompt left him surprised, as it him wondering when he hade in contact with poison.

    The scene before him seemed to receive a powerful blow as an immense crack literally spread in the reality before him. And it immediately shattered like ss.

    Suddenly his Instincts didn''t sense hundreds of snake''s, and the disgusting swarm before him had magically vanished into nothingness.

    His feetnded on the small piece ofnd beside the river, and powerful bursting sounds resounded behind him, followed by water spreading everywhere.

    Noahid eyes on the tier 3 snake''s. Their repitilian eyes held a tinge of intelligence, as theirrge figures stayed afloat without moving towards him.

    They seemed tomunicate with their hisses and Noah tried to grasp the topic of their conversation.

    His instincts seemed to tune into their frequency at that desire, as he became able to understand them, though vaguely.

    Theirmunicative abilities weren''t as advanced as the ck panthers'', which made for his difficulty in understanding them.

    Muliix exited his body to wrap around his figure, but he left his head uncovered.

    The beasts noticed this, but remained in their various positions. Noah felt ready to kill them, their bodies were valuablemodities to him. But his instincts stopped him in from moving.

    They eventually stopped with the hissing, and he felt their reptilian eyeballspletely focus on his figure.

    Noah sensed immense danger at that sight, and he clearly felt his Instincts tell him to run. But curiosity dyed that movement for a few instants, and he got toy eyes on the source of that mind wracking danger.

    Arge object burst out of the river, as the tier 3 snake''s present moved backwards to give way for thatrge beast.

    An aura so dense that the area immediately got filled with fog followed that event, and Noah felt his body move on its own.

    Just before he left that area, he managed to inspect the beast, and his heart almost stopped.

    [Mutated Serpent]

    [Tier: 3(Peak)]

    [Affinity: >Deviant< Posion]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    His feet struck the rivers surface, and Noah found himself sprinting on water, ignoring the loud high-pitched roar the serpent released.

    He travelled like this till he arrived at the end of the valley, this journey taking him a whole day of running and resting, as the distance was great.

    *

    *

    *

    Gazing at the sheer size of thest obstacle before the city, Noah wondered how the body of water wasn''t called an ocean, as its size proved to be crazy.

    And after that was an immense wall. It seemed like a smooth mountain had been constructed, as the view of the world ended at the beginning of that white wall.

    But firstly, he had to cross theke which served as a demarcation between the two masses ofnd.

    Theke being almostpletely linear wasn''t that far across, but it''s overall size easily surpassed 10,000sq miles.

    As a result of this reality Noah expected the wall before him to be mind more blowing in size that it looked from that distance.

    With the valley being behind him, and a small forest separating him even more from it, Noah decided to rest here.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The sun looked close to setting and he could feel his energy core be less durable than before.

    He had utilized over twenty potions after all, and hadn''t cultivated that vessel of power much to begin with.

    Noah stayed a safe distance from the shore. Although he would be able to escape, he desired not to get attacked by something at the peak of tier 3.

    He currently understood why no clear path was made on this side of the country. It being a wild area probably only traversed by stronger existences.

    As this surely wasn''t a ce for anyone weaker than the peak of tier 3. Because to his abnormal power he could easily kill a few tier 3 beasts, but for the average human at his level, that was basically courting death, not to mention the higher levelled danger lurking around him.

    "Let''s get out of this ce quick," He muttered waving his hand, and arge tree appeared before him.

    He had stored such naturally urring supplies for situations like this, and he didn''t mind using them even if there were tons of trees behind him.

    His mind diced up the tree into multiple sizeable chunks, suitable for a campfire.

    Cultivating his mind had proved very useful, as tasks like this became easy to carry out, even allowing him multitask.

    Sparks exited his finger and quickly lit the stacked woods. Noah didn''t hesitate to unfold his consciousness at that point, before retrieving the inscription manual from his inventory.

    He had started a few days ago, but hadn''t made any real progress.

    Most of the books pages contained diagrams on how beginners were to perform, but he never managed to conjure a shining line since he began, which was the bear minimum to start the full journey of bing an inscription master.

    ording to the books exnation, the first step an individual had to take into learning inscriptions, was to listen to the energy around them.

    Then when they learned that to amoderate level, they would need to condense the energy around them into an ink of sorts.

    But the condensed energy would need to bear the Individual''s will in order for it to function as they desired.

    That was all that the first book spoke about, and Noah understood it fine, but had never managed to actually learn to listen like the book had exined.

    There were even instructions on what thought process the conjurer had to lead at that point, and a breathing pattern which they had to practice in order to calm themselves long enough to be capable of listening.

    Noah did all this, but nothing ever managed to happen. He found console in the writers words about some spending decades to achieve it that seemingly simple requirements, but still tried nheless.

    A few hours passed and the sun eventually set, but he made no progress, causing for his disappointment.

    He stored the book and returned Into his cultivation room to cultivate his core, which onlysted a few hours.

    ''I wonder why i even made a fire,'' Noah thought after returning to the outside world.

    By this point the sky had turned pitch ck, and the ''moon'' as Noah called it, wasn''t present, nor were the stars. The night featured a totally ck sky.

    Noah feasted on the supplies in his inventory, and soon found himself gazing at the ck sky.

    The soft wind blowing on his skin at that view, made him feel nostalgic. He recalled multiple nights like this on Earth, and inevitably gave a reminiscing smile.

    Noah felt himself begin to doze off at some point, but just before the darkness of sleep enveloped a significant portion of his mind; his unfolded consciousness Informed him of a foreign presence entering the small space it covered.

    Noah immediately sat up toy his eyes on the entity that had strayed into his domain, and he remained utterly stunned.

    His eyesnded on a tall figure around 6ft3. The entity looked pale as even in the dark sky he could see their body seemingly shimmer, probably due to his fire.

    The facial features of the existence looked masculine, and Noah felt surprised to find a beauty that closely neared his.

    The entity had no upper clothes on, which allowed Noah gaze at a ripped body in a state of nigh-perfection, coupled with the long grey hair the entity sported, he almost wanted to worship them.

    Thest detail that told this strange existence to clearly not be human, was his pointy ears.

    They resembled knives attached to his stunning face. Though for some reason Noah found them quite alluring

    The duo stared at each other for a few seconds, as the entity looked clearly stunned, so did Noah.

    "Shit!!," The entity exmained in anguage Noah didn''t understand, before turning and dashing into the trees obscuring the valley behind them, and Noah quickly sprang up to give chase.

 Chapter 169 169. EFFECTS

    ''Fast!,'' Noah exmained inwardly, seeing as the entity turned into a blur immediately he returned into the woods.

    Noah quickly unfolded his mental waves to pinpoint his location, and a wave of shock filled his mind, when his consciousness found nothing.

    Now that he thought to it, the entity had been aura-less, and he had only been able to notice him due to his entry into the range of consciousness. Not even his heightened Instincts notified him before that.

    Nevertheless, Noah tried to search the area. Without his true speed of course.

    He could be dealing with someone potentially dangerous, and wouldn''t risk revealing the only thing that made him different.

    But he gave up after a few minutes, as his consciousness found the man to no avail.

    Noah quickly returned to his fire, and found that it remained as it was a few minutes ago.

    Now realizing that he wasn''t alone, Noah couldn''t fall asleep, and kept reviewing the mysterious male.

    Half of this was because of the entitys looks, while the other half was simply out of pure curiosity and marvel.

    ''It seems there are truly other races out there,'' Noah thought, utterly amused.

    If he hadn''t know any better, he would tag the individual; an angelic being, as his features were simply too striking, even if their encounter barelysted more than a few seconds.

    The night eventually passed, but the individual never returned.

    Feeling not the least bit fatigued, for he could stay up for weeks, Noah destroyed the fire, and prepared to move.

    But now that an unknown individual could potentially have eyes on him, he felt shy to act, and also couldn''t reveal his secret. He would have to kill the enity if his secret got out.

    The tingling sensation of potentially being watched got so sensually deafening, that Noah noticed his actions be stiff, and he soon found himself calling out to the individual.

    Needless to say no response returned, making Noah feel even more suffocated, and the space around him eventually gave birth to air based spells.

    Large spears of condensed air materlized around him in their tens, and his mind didn''t hesitate to send them forward.

    Thetrees before him experienced a disturbance, as powerful explosions resounded every now and then.

    A sizeable chunk of the ground and trees before him, vanished as a result of those attacks

    Noah felt tempted to utilize one or two of his more powerful spells based on that affinity, but he opted for more spears, even though they cost a rtively significant bit of his SE.

    A minute eventually passed and Noah never stopped spamming his ''Air spears'' skill during that period.

    At this point he had cleared hundreds of meters ofnd and arge crater had begun to form in front of him.

    From above thatnd mass, he seemed to shaved that portion of the ground.

    Feeling his core reach a critical state, Noah stopped the spells, and quickly drank two bottles of speed essence potions.

    He trusted the rising cloud of ck dust to shield him from whoever was looking, though only for a few seconds.

    His core quickly returned to its filled state, and Noah felt unsure of his next move would be

    Silence reigned for a few seconds, as Noah waited for any sort of retaliation from the mysterious entity.

    Nothing happened for another minute, and it eventually dawned on him that he was probably alone there.

    Nevertheless, his paranoia wouldn''t let him use his speed in the open, and he soon found himself crouching to ce both his palms on the ground.

    Shutting his eyes to envision arge wall, big enough topletely shield him from prying eyes; Noah moved essence to bring his imagination into reality.

    The ground rumbled as Noah''s surroundings experienced a significant drop in temperature. Ice soon escaping Noah''s palms to do as he willed it.

    120 SEvanished from his core, to give rise to a powerful looking wall, over 50ft in height, and around 150ft in length.

    The wall being 9 inches thick, stood tall above Noah, and a feeling of satisfaction permeated his mind at that sight.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Quickly moving on to the real reason for that wall, Noah focused his gaze on the sparkling blueke before him.

    His Instincts warned him about dangerous beings potentially lurking in thatke, and Noah felt his focus reach its max.

    He didn''t n on dying his movement even by a milliseconds, for his instincts assured him that such would most likely lead to his death.

    Speed essencemoved in his body and Noah experienced a state of strength allowing him feel like he could take on anything.

    He felt ready to move, when something strong struck his ice wall.

    Noah watched for a few instants,rge pointy green vines burst out of his wall.

    The ground beneath him have birth to hundreds of snaking vines as they tried to reach him, but he had moved by this point.

    ncing back after a few seconds of moving around mach 1, he felt a wave of surprise hit him at what he witnessed.

    He watched his ice wall crumble, and managed to make out five figures gazing at his yellow streak.

    One of the five figures suprisingly jumped on theke, a series of vines materializing under their feet, but Noah sped up, and he seemingly vanished.

    Only the disturbed water being evidence of his passage.

    Increasing his velocity to its max, Noah seemingly parted thatke as his movement was simply too Incredible.

    ? Although spending more essence,he quickly arrived at the sandy shore just before the great wall, and his earlier evaluation about its height was spot on.

    The white wall stood around 700ft in height!

    Noah wondered why something sorge was even needed, but the power of the beasts in that region exined why.

    He looked tinypared to that Incredible wall.

    His feet took him closer to the walls base, and he felt mesmerized by its whiteness, prompting his touching it; an action he shouldn''t have taken

    A series of multicolored inscriptions appeared on the spot touched, and a buzzing sound soon escaped the walls material, as a beam of blue light holding power at the peak of tier 3 burst out.

    Luckily, still having the speed forceseffects at the tip of his mind,

    Noah managed to sprint out of that position, but not without getting his left arm almostpletely blown off by the attack.

    Pain quickly spread in his mind at that serious injury. A significant chunk of his left arm had vansihed. But he felt able to bear the pain, as essence soon left his core to repair that limb.

    ''No touching,'' Noah concluded, retrieving his map. He had arrived at the back of the city, and needed to know where its gates were.

    Noah feared running on it, part because of the deadly defenses ced on it, but mostly because of the protection it would have on the inside.

    The city could even possess a barrier that he definitely wouldn''t be capable of breaking into.

    During those few seconds of Inspecting the map, Noah heard the wall rumble, as a cubical portion of tha structure opened to give way for three Individuals,

    their power being something that Noah couldnt face now.

    The group of three managed toy eyes on him for an instant, but his figure turned into a bright yellow streak before they could fully make out his features, or act.

    Their dumbstruck expressions couldn''t be more evident, but being existence''s in the higher-stage of tier 3, they quickly regained their regalposures,S and returned into the city''s walls to alert the higher ups of the strange sighting.

    The security of all ten gates the city had were immediately beefed up.

    Any suspicious looking individual had to be immediately apphrended and questioned.

    These were the effects of Noah''s first arrival to the Dragons w city.

 Chapter 170 170. POTENTIAL TROUBLE

    Sprinting on the sandy shore of sorts, Noah made sure to keep a safe distance from wall, ignoring the change of scenery.

    The incident which just ured had been too close. He hoped the cultivators didn''t see his face, since things would be troublesome if they did.

    His steps came to halt for he had arrived below a metal bridge which led Into the city.

    The bridge stood a few ten meters above his current position, and was used to cross the small river between the city and the otherndmasses.

    Noah moved, and swiftly crossed the river, before sprinting towards a direction away from the orderly queues.

    There were a few trees present, which were adequate enough to shield him from the eyes of people.

    Noah immediately understood that the situation would most likely be slightly difficult, and amotion at the gate confirmed it.

    He had crossed a distance of a few miles to arrive there, and the information of a strange figure had already circted.

    Noah watched as a few soldiers Inspected the queues, and soon began drawing people out, before walking them away into the city''s gate. Those being walked away obviously didn''t like their situation.

    Some individuals tried to struggle, and were rough-handled in the process, eventually being taken away, as their power wasn''t enough to escape the lower-stage soldiers.

    ''I need a new attire,'' Noah thought Inspecting himself. His clothes didn''t look neat, as whole sections of his attire were missing.

    He resembled someone who had just exited a wild environment, very odd amongst the neatly dressed citizens.

    His eyes scanned the queuing Individuals, and found that a few of them; mostly those at the far end of the line, left their positions to avoid the still Inspecting soldiers.

    The soldiers didn''t notice this as their full focus was on those right in front of them.

    Spotting a young man who had an outfit he found pleasing, Noah began his slow walk towards this man.

    Being one of the individuals that left their spot on the line in fear of what was going on, Noah managed to catch him alone, and his figure shot forward at the right moment, his movement utterly silent.

    Noah grabbed the man like a doll, and brought him towards a secluded area amidst those tall trees.

    The young man suddenly tried to scream; something Noah hadn''t seen anyone do in Creagar, but his mental waves stopped him.

    Having covered his face with Mullix''s dark material, Noah spoke to the young man without fear of his identity being known.

    Even without that mask, his identity remained unknown, as he had literally crossed the country, and was even supposed to be dead.

    "Your clothes, give them to me," Noah announced menacingly. His tone that ofmand.

    The young man felt dumbfounded by the request, as he froze in surprise.

    Noah frowned inside his armour, he didn''t like thatck of reaction, and moved to make himself clear.

    "I''ll ask only once more, give me your clothes," he spoke, allowing the pressure his figure naturally gave off, but had been concealed, to seep out.

    Fear and panic spread inside the your man at that point. Being a mere peak-stage tier 2, his natural defense couldn''t withstand that pressure for long, so he quickly began putting off his clothes, not minding Noah''s unmoving gaze.

    Waving his hand to store the clothes, Noah has another idea, and though he didn''t like it, he still went on with it.

    "How much do you have on you?," He asked feeling shame spread in his mind.

    His very being hated that action as it made his pride crumble.

    Would such a unique existence be reduced to a meremon thief?

    Noah felt a battle go on in his mind on that matter. Part of him felt he needed to take such actions since he still had a time limit on his days of calm. While the other part felt he shouldn''t stoop so low as to practically beg for money.

    He had enough power to make as much as he wanted if he were in the right ce, which was where they nned to go.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The battle ended in a draw, either part not being able to win, and Noah felt a wave of anger hit him.

    The internal strife had barelysted a second.

    The young man widened his eyes at what was going on, and Noah managed to sense a tinge of disgust in his eyes, causing for even more anger. He felt stupid.

    The young man said nothing while waving his hand to allow a small bag appear. The sound of coins spreading at its impact with the ground.

    Noah honestly didn''t expect much from the man, as he didn''t look to be a noble or anyone rich, and his hunch proved partially correct.

    Noah counted exactly 230 small silver coins, which were more than he currently had, but wasn''t anything ground-breaking.

    There was also the possibility that the young man hid the rest from him, but his furious pride wouldn''t let him receive more looks of disgust.

    Noah picked the purse and his figure immediately vanished, leaving the young cultivator even more stunned.

    Putting on the clothes, Noah figured he shouldn''t stay on the line yet.

    The young man definitely had more clothes in his ring, and would probablye looking for someone dressed in his stolen attire.

    A few tens of minutes passed, and Noah actually sighted the young man again.

    He had a new attire but this time his figure featured three other Individualsstanding beside him, and he conversed with them.

    asionally he would nce here and there, most likely looking for his thief, who was watching him from a safe distance.

    Noah decided to leave that gate and move to another one, he didn''t want to risk getting caught for stealing.

    He formed an arc with his movement,, and arrived at a simrly looking bridge, but this one had red patterns drawn on it.

    Ignoring the gazes he received when he got on the line, Noah queued, waiting to get inspected by the soldiers.

    His turn eventually arrived, and he felt his mood darken when the three soldiers circled him and one of them came forward to speak.

    "Can you follow us please? We will like to question you," the man said, his hand gesturing at the gate, while his colleagues looked ready to pounce on him if he struggled. He didn''t have much of a choice.

    Immediately faking a smile, Noah nodded his head, and walked forward.

    His mind beginning to provide possible questions and their suitable responses.

    The soldiers led him to the red gate, which stood at half the height of that Incredible wall, and a few other soldiers took their ce in leading him.

    A small portion of the gate was opened to him, and Noah found that there was a brightly lit pasaage which ended at another gate before actually stepping into the city.

    This told of how hard it would be for that wall to get destroyed.

    Instead of leading him through the other gate into the city, the tier 3 soldiers stopped him halfway through the passage, a ck door standing in that spot.

    "Please enter," One of them gestured, and he didn''t hesitate to grab the knob, opening the door before stepping in.

    Feeling a change in the density of space, Noah found himself inside a brightly lit room with exactly 11 Individuals inside it, all men.

    A smile suddenly cracked on Noah''s face when he noticed a detail that told him he could potentially be in big trouble.

    The heads of the individuals featured mostly ck hair with shades of grey. And he stood apart by havingpletely white hair. This meant the peak tier 3 cultivators had noticed that feature in the mysterious Individual.

    ''I guess I should have stayed away for a day or two,'' he facepalmed himself inwardly, but his smile remained.

 Chapter 171 171. CLEAN

    All eyesy on Noah as he walked towards the empty corner of the white room.

    He ced his back on the wall while ncing at the tiled floor. Still feeling the gazes of the men in that room, Noah furrowed his eyebrows, before slowly raising his head to shoot cold res at their weak figures.

    Needless to say they all shrinked, but some remained persistent as they locked gaze''s with him, their expressions filled with confidence, they knew he couldn''t touch them, and Noah knew that also.

    Heaving a slight sigh, he lowered his head again, and continued with his thought process.

    Many possible questions rose in his head, and his mind produced suitable answers to them, but some eventually fell short of his standards and he had to remake the stories.

    Thirty minutes passed and another person entered the room, also being a man. Noah felt the tension inside him rise.

    Whatever description the peak tier 3 soldiers had made, would probably fit him, but he had to remain as calm as he could, since any signs of fretting would cause more probing.

    A few more minutes went by, and a soldier entered the room, but unlike the lower-stagedtier 3 cultivators, this rtively young looking man had power in the middle-stage.

    In that room filled with weaker Individuals he was god.

    The men in the room quickly straightened their positions as a show of respect, and Noah did the same.

    The man''s ck eyes scanned the room, and they remained on Noah''s figure a bit longer than normal before moving on.

    The man''s ckbat clothes, adorned with golden coloured embroideries on his shoulders, sleeves and neck, spoke of his high position in the security agency of that city, and Noah felt the need to remain careful.

    A minute or so of silence passed, before the man''s vibrant voice rang out.

    "I apologise for the interruption of your entry into the great city, but an incident urred not too long ago and you all fit the vague description we received," the man started, slowly shifting his gaze on that group.

    "I am lieutenant-Colonel Gret, and by my honor I promise that we shall not do any harm to you, as long as you remain orderly and aren''t found to be an intruder," he announced with a bow, his tone experiencing a sharp change at the end of his speech.

    Murmurs immediately spread at the man''s words, ''intruder'' they all muttered in surprise, the event seemingly being something rare.

    Gret allowed their murmurs for half a minute before rasing his hand, and their words shut in their mouths.

    "I will lead you into a room, but different from what the guards told you, your minds will be checked instead," he announced, sensing their panic he continued, "Do not worry we''ll only be looking back exactly two hours ago, and all information will be kept confidential if you are found not wanting," he announced with a tone that radiated assurance.

    While the men still didn''t like their situation, they could only ept it. After all, the high-ranking officer had sworn.

    Noah on the other hand, could feel his heart in his mouth. His ever fast beating heart experienced another increase, as panic and fear spread in his mind, all his former nning crumbling in mere instants.

    He saw no way of escaping, they would most likely be taken to an enclosed room, definitely filled with powerful existences. And he would be captured without having much to do.

    ''Okay Noah, you''ve fucked up again, no doubt about that. But you need to figure a way out,'' he tried to calm himself, but failed.

    Instead, he marvelled at the fact that such procedure was even possible. Which meant if the royals wanted to, they could have checked his memories and found him not guilty.

    At least that would have been so if they didn''t want to take him for themselves, or if he had actually known such methods existed.

    ''What to do! what to do!,'' Noah paced inwardly, then he recalled the systems existence, and quickly questioned it.

    ''Is there anyway to bypass such procedure?,'' he enquired, feeling his heart skip when he saw Gret open the door and gesture for their exit.<novelnext></novelnext>

    [[Yes there is, but you may not like it]]

    ''I legitimately do not care right now, anything is better than being locked up. We both know I wouldn''t let them capture me, so that means death,'' hemented, ''So hit me with what you''ve got,'' he announced.

    [[There are a few ways to bypass a memory check, but I''ll give you two which you''ll find interesting]]

    The system replied, seemingly with emotions.

    ''Go on,'' Noah hurried it, walking out of the door, being led by four soldiers across the passageway, where another doory.

    Space distorted at their entry, and Noah found himself Inside arge, white and almostpletely empty room.

    The room featured a table and two chairs in its center, and above it was a ck shiny ball which floated quietly above the table.

    Lined up around the room, were ten guards, all having power in the lower-stageof tier 3.

    Behind the table, was ady, and she tinkered with a series of shining words and lines.

    They were made to stand on a single file before taking turns, and luckily Noah stood at the end of the line.

    [[The first solution can only be carried out with your clone skill]]

    The system started when Noah focused on their conversation.

    [[I believe you recall one of its requirements being your soul core. Well, only because of that, will the empty clone be capable of inheriting your memories]]

    [[When you active that ability, you will be capable of transferring whatever portion of your memory you want. Or simply lock a portion of its inherited memories]]

    [[Although this would weaken you, it''ll assist you lot. The issue remains as to what they''ll see, since your even a small portion of your life isn''t exactly something that you want out in the open]]

    ''Thanks, I never knew that, but it doesn''t fit my current situation,'' Noahined, asionally ncing at the person whose memory was about to be read, and something eventually happened.

    The ck shiny orb lit up with hundreds of shining words, as it began to spin. Thedy behind the table shut her eyes while muttering words that Noah couldn''t make out.

    The ball soon projected a beam of red light into the man''s head, and he immediately passed out.

    Then another beam of light this time blue, shot into the woman''s head, her middle-stagetier 3 aura bursting out due to her partial unconsciousness, but colonel proctected the weaker existences.

    Actually the unconscious man had also released a burst of his aura, but it being middle-stage tier 2, Noah''s body hadpletely disregarded it.

    The beam of light soon stopped and thedy regained her consciousness. A few secondster she shook her head.

    "He''s clean," she announced, then the man regained his consciousness and was walked out.

    The next person was led to the seat, and Noah regained his focus on the system at that point..

    ''What''s the next one?'' Noah asked impatiently.

    [[The second way, is to of course wipe your memory clean...]]

 Chapter 172 172. VANISHED

    Noah felt his mind go nk at the systems words. He re-read the panel multiple times to ascertain that he hadn''t read wrong. He hadn''t.

    ''Are you crazy!'' Noah screamed, ''Wipe my memory!'' He grimaced, ''I''ll take mychances with death than do that,'' He concluded.

    [[I am incapable of bing crazy, as I am a series of *****ws put together in a ****** material. You have only utilized the tiniest bit of me]]

    Noah felt shocked by that seemingly angry reply, he soon began to wonder if the system actually held emotions.

    [[That wasn''t theplete exnation of the solution]]

    ''Please continue then,'' Noah spoke with his calm regained. It seemed he knew nothing about the system after all.

    [[After I save your memory to my database, I''ll wipe it]]

    [[Although your connection with the speed force gurantees that your memories continue to exist; you not being at the permitted level to utilize suchplex skills, we''ll simply have to settle for mine]]

    Noah''s eyes sparkled at the second panel. He had gained information that he never would have thought to ask.

    Unfortunately it seemed the system wouldn''t go deeper into that topic.

    [[After wiping your memories, I''ll refill your soul core with the simtion I''ve created]]

    An eyebrow arched on Noah''s face at those words, ''How do you have such a thing at hand,'' Noah felt perplexed.

    [[I just generated it]]

    ''Go on then," he quickly replied, seeing that the second Individual was done.

    [[You''ll be Aiden an only father of two sons, as your wife died a few years ago. Being an adventurer from Crilion, you came here for missions purpose]]

    Noah felt really intreasted in that stroyline, but he didn''t let himself stray.

    ''What was I doing a few hours ago?,'' Noah raised an eyebrow.

    [[You just arrived here of course]]

    ''I know you said you generated it, but how will you simte andscape you don''t know about. She''ll notice if she doesn''t recognize thend areas,'' Noah spoke.

    [You do not have ess to that information]

    "What the-" Noah muttered in pure shock. That simple query had met a powerful wall.

    [[Do not worry about that, though they''ll be a few ws, as they are something I can''t control]]

    ''Like?,'' Noah felt genuinely curious.

    [[The new personality will be unable to control the speed forces''s essence, thereby being unable to cast spells or run, though he''ll remain physically powerful. But since the speed force doesn''t recognize his consciousness he won''t have ess to it]]

    [[He''ll also find that his reason foring here actually doesn''t exist, only having a fake memory]]

    A soft sigh escaped his mouth at that point. He didn''t like going into something so sensitive, blindly, there were even ws in the n, but he could only trust the system.

    [[You could just return to your cultivation room]] The system suggested seemingly reading his thoughts.

    Noah''s expression darkened at the understanding of those words.

    ''And do what?,'' he enquired.

    ''If I suddenly disappeared, my face will be on whatever medium they utilize inmunicating that a person is wanted,'' Noah snorted.

    ''I''ll be unable to enter the city, join the guild, or do anything rtively important with myself,'' he continued.

    ''And even if I went on with vanishing, where will I go? Back to Vonol?, or Enil, or across theke filled with unknown entities, or behind the city''s wall most likely swarming with newly added surveince,'' his mental voice dripped with annoyance and disgust at the thought of returning to those backwater settlements.

    He''d be unable to buy beasts, and would have to hunt, which could take weeks to months. Heck even those settlements won''t allow him in, as he would be a criminal to them.

    The system remained silent at the evaluation of his options. It had done that to ensure that its host knew exactly what he was doing.

    A few seconds of calm filled Noah''s mind and he conversed with the system again.

    ''After all this when will my memories return,'' He asked, as that was the most important thing.

    [[Unfortunately you''ll have to spend three days with that artificially generated identity]]

    Noahs mood took another dive at those words, but he soon came to ept those terms.

    ''I wonder how having my memory wiped will feel,'' Noah mused, ''I''d practically be dead during those days,'' he giggled softly at his thought.

    ''I seem to have a knack for dying and returning,'' he couldn''t hold himself and a broad smile cracked on his face, but

    It quickly vanished.

    Noah hoped no one had seen him, but unfortunately lieutenant Gret did, and his cold expression didn''t allow Noah understand the light that flickered in those ck eyes.

    The turn of the fifth person came, and Noah could only watch while trying to keep himself calm.

    He still had seven Individuals before him, and could use that period of wait to think more about the action he would ask the system to take.

    The person proved innocent again, how wouldn''t he, after all the real culprit hadn''t been checked.

    The sixth person did theirs, and was also released, but when the seventh person got ready to move, a masculine voice dripping with the authority stopped him.

    "Let''s do him first," Colonel Gret announced, gesturing at Noah, who felt his soul almost leave his body.<novelnext></novelnext>

    All eyes fell on the handsome man behind the queue, and Noah felt a massive pressurend on his shoulders, but no one had acted on him.

    Thedy at the chair gestured at him to walk forward, and Noah did, but each step felt insanely heavy.

    ''When will you begin,'' Noah questioned the system.

    [[When you sit]]

    ''Wouldn''t that be toote,'' Noah asked fiercely battling the doubt trying to form inside him.

    [[If I begin before you sit, your body will attain a new personality, who doesn''t know I exist. I wouldn''t be able to inform him of what is happening, and his inevitable dy due to your body losing its consciousness momentarily will alert them. The timing has to be urate]]

    Noah tried to frown but stopped himself from having such an expression.

    ''You better know what you''re doing,'' he pouted.

    His steps to the chair felt like it took eternity, but he eventually arrived.

    Noah swallowed a lump of saliva while trying to disperse the tension within him. And his eyesnded on thedy before him.

    She looked to be in her mid thirties, as her blemishless face retained its youthfulness even if she could be a century old.

    Her sharp eyebrowsplimented her skiny face, and her hazel hair; which she let loose further higlited the delicate features of her face.

    Her dark-browneyes fell on Noah''s face, and he managed to make out a stunned look on her.

    Their closeness probably let her witness his beauty in more rity.

    "There might be a few difficulties due to your developed mind and improved natural defense. But do not worry my power can handle them,'' she exined tinkering with a series of shining lines which featured words.

    Noah nod his head at her words, waiting for the system to begin.

    "Are you ready?" she said focusing on Noah. Seeing his nod she began.

    The ck shiny ball lit up with multicolored inscriptions while she chanted something that Noah still didn''t understand.

    Watching the balls light increase in intensity Noah wondered why the system hadn''t acted.

    ''Anytime soon!'' he shouted seeing the balls light reach an all time high, then a beam of red light shot towards his head.

    [Commencing deletion of <Hosts> memory....]

    [Deletionpletely by 5%]

    -- -- -- -- --

    Deletionplete by 13%]

    Noah felt his consciousness get pulled into his soul realm, as it seemed like a storm had hit it.

    He watched a red light try to pierce his barrier, but his realm stood strong.

    [Deletionplete by 43%]

    A few Instants passed and Noah felt something deep inside him vansih, he soon couldn''t recall most of his life, but remained conscious.

    The beam of light eventually broke through his defense, but a limited amount of essence moved to reinforce his mind.

    Thedy clearly struggled on the outside, as a few tens of seconds had passed, and she wasn''t done with him.

    She expected a difficulty but the man''s mental barrier was Incredible.

    [Deletion ofplete by 89%]

    -- -- -- -- -- --

    [Deletionplete by 93%]

    The red beam eventually shattered his barrier and no other essence moved to reinforce it.

    It travelled rapidly towards Noah''s ck core, but at this point Noah had no idea who he is and what was happening.

    [Deletionplete by 100%]

    Noah''s consciousness vanished from the face of Cregar, his soul core losing its swirling lights. Only his now empty body remaining, but the system Instantly acted.

    [Finalizing deletion procedure...]

    [Procedure finalized]

    [Running constructed simtion...]

    [Simtion has sessfully been run]

    [Revamping simtion...]

    [Revamping sessful]

    The beam of light struck Noah''s ck core at that point.

 Chapter 173 173. LANDMASSES

    "He''s clean," thedy announced visibly prespiring. Her face looked tired as fatigued breaths escaped her lips.

    The new personality within Noah''s body, Aiden, gained consciousness, and he quickly stood up seeing that he was done with his memory check.

    The system had also included those memories.

    "You have an amazing mental defense," thedy couldn''t help butpliment him, her face that of nigh awe.

    Aiden gave a broad smile that seemed to light up the room. His facial features seemingly being enhanced by that genuine smile.

    This scene being etched into the mimds of most present, especially the person it was directed to.

    "Hard work sure pays off," Aiden spoke, his figure turning to exit that ce.

    Totally being caught off guard by the smile, thedy froze, but regained herposure when she saw him begin to leave, her voice quickly calling out to him

    "If you are interested there is a vacancy that you could fill in our agency. That is, after you''re done with your current objective," she announced ignoring Gret''s questioning gaze.

    Turning back to face thatdy, Aiden smiled again, "I''ll think about it," He said exiting that room.

    "You can make your way into the city," The soldier escorting Aiden spoke, his hands gesturing at the inner gate.

    There seemed to be a tinge of reverence in that man''s behavior, for reasons unknown to Aiden.

    "Ah thank you," Aiden replied immediately making his way towards that gate, and it soon opened to allow his entry.

    With his entry into that great city, Aiden took a deep breath, as the air there excited his body for reasons he didn''t understand. But he didn''t ce too much focus on it.

    Aiden focused his gaze on the city at that point, this was the first time he would actually arrive there and it excited him.

    Although he had an objective he had to take care of, he felt the need to understand why that city was so popr amongst the knowledgeable.

    The city was huge, as from where he stood Aiden could tell that moving around the city would be an hassel.

    Nevertheless the city remain remained beautiful.

    The sheer grandness of the buildings, and the style of the architecture gave off both an ancient and modern feel.

    The bustling streets, and the orderliness the city portrayed, showed of the advancements that ce had gone through.

    Right from his position, Aiden could make out threendmasses of sorts, lined up in a parallel position to the other.

    Not understanding what it was didn''t deter his curiosity.

    ''A bit of exploring wouldn''t do bad,'' Aiden mused taking a step forward, and being someone who loved gaining new knowledge, he soon found himself ociating with the people of that region in the city.

    Apparently he had arrived at the poor portion of the city. The richer regions being close to the centre of the city, which was also a peculiar ce to the nobles of that city.

    After a bit of asking, Aiden found out that the reason the city was named as it was, was as a result of an event that urred millennials ago.

    "A great Dragon!" Aiden repeated, conversing with a middle-aged man in the lower-stage of tier 3.

    "History has it that the ruler of Cusk at that time angered a lot of powerful existences and someone eventually took aggression," The man exined.

    "The great Dragon was one of them."

    "Being a dragon with the royal bloodlines within it, the great dragon Terugand, held great power, and was feared amongst the other races on the different continents," The man continued.

    "His pride at that time had pushed him into attacking the ruler of Cusk," he paused seemingly in wonder.

    "Their battle they say,sted for decades. As the whole world witnessed cmities that imed millions," he shuddered. There seemed to be more at y, but Aiden didn''t dare interrupt him.

    "Thendmasses you see aren''t naturally urring. They are as a result of one of Terugands w attacks, which was also where one of his severed wsnded. Spanning miles apparently."

    "The fauna of that environment witnessed a drastic change as more powerful beasts rose from that region. It became a haven for really powerful magical beasts," The man stopped.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Is the severed w still there?," Aiden chipped in with much interest on his face.

    "We don''t know. Much wasn''t spoken of it, and records about it do not exist to the public. This is all we bloody civilians know," the man burst into a boisterousugh chugging down the beer he had in his cup.

    "That''s all for now kid. I''ve got work to do!" The man announced getting up.

    "I have kids," Aiden arched an eyebrow, and the man shot a surprised gaze at him.

    "What are their names?," He asked with a smile Aiden didn''t understand.

    "Ian, and Seth. 19 and 17 respectively," Aiden announced with a proud smile.

    The man before him watched that scene and sadness soon appeared on his eyebrows. His voice ringing out a few secondster.

    "I heard that i lost my only daughter to a cmity that urred in Crilion a bit over a month ago," he held his breath.

    "Apparently a tier 4 existence went rouge and caused a lot of destruction," he exined, his experession that of deep pain, and Aiden stayed silent for a few seconds to allow him share his feelings.

    "I''m sorry for your loss," Aiden eventually spoke, his tone that of genuine sympathy. He really couldn''t imagine ever losing his sons. They were his world.

    "Where were you during that event, you said you live in Crilion," the man spoke wiping the tiny tear that exited his eyes.

    "We were on a mission in Keriele, all three of us. But I only found out when I arrived at the destroyed city," Aiden exined reviewing his memories.

    The sheer destruction caused by merely two people frightened him.

    "Oh I see. Then why are you here, so far from home," The man enquired.

    "On an important mission. I have this vague feeling that my life depends on it," Aidenughed.

    "Oh, then I hope it all works out fine. I''m John by the way, you can find me here at evening times like this. I''d love to buy you a drink sometimes," The man announced smiling, before leaving.

    Aiden could only nod his head at those words. He didn''t make any promises but he felt he would see the man again.

    ''A bar only for tier 3''s,'' Aiden shook his head sweeping his gaze on that dimly lit room filled with nice looking furnitures, but featured blinking multicolored lights.

    With the day settled, Aiden figured it was time to find ce to sleep. He had travelled a bit Into the city, but remained in its edge.

    Taking in the beauty the city had at night, Aiden wondered how such an environment could be termed poor, it already out did most cities he had been too.

    Not knowing where to go, Aiden simply took a strool down the still bustling streets.

    He found himself asionally ncing at thendmasses at the horizon, and felt an urge to go there.

    It had an ecosystem seemingly special only to it. An adventurer like him would definitely desire to check it out. But the distance remained quiterge, and he still had something to do.

    ''Whenever I get the chance,'' Aiden sighed, but his eyes suddenly sharpened, his keen sense''s picking up a few presences.

    Five individuals appeared behind him. "Turn left if you don''t want to lose your life," a rough voice called out to him from behind.

    An eyebrow rose on Aiden''s face at those words, he looked forward and saw a diversion into a ce away from public eye.

    "What do you want?," he asked slowing his steps, while trying to understand their power.

    "We''ll talk over there," another voice replied him.

    The five of them had power a bit over the bottom of the lower-stage.

    Although they tried to hide it; he could sense three other presences close to their positions.

    ''They know what they''re doing,'' Aiden thought without the slightest tinge of fear. ''I''ll hear them out,'' he concluded doing as they said.

 Chapter 174 174. ADVENTURE

    "So what do you want?," Aiden enquired after arriving at the end of enclosed alley of sorts. It seemed to been constructed simply for events like that to take ce.

    In front of him were five individualspletely clothed in ck, their faces also concealed by their ck hoods and masks.

    Three presence''s remained on three points above them. There were probably roofs capable of hiding their figures, but not their aura''s.

    No response came to him and he began to feel impatient.

    ''Are they trying to be cool,'' He giggled inwardly, he could clearly sense their intent to talk.

    "I don''t have much time, I don''t know my way around this city," Aiden announced, and their auras burst out, their I''ll intents pouring out of their figures.

    "We don''t want something from you. We want you," One of the five announced omniously.

    Aiden couldn''t help but feel stunned by those words. "Why even tell me. You could just knock me out and do whatever you wanted, or something," he exined bemused. His face not showing the slightest bit of fear.

    "It matters not if we told you or didn''t" the person at the forefront spoke before dashing forward, the four following closely behind him.

    Aiden''s senses immediately sharpened. Seeing no direct way out of that position, he shot upwards.

    His feet struck the walls and he swiftly jumped off it tond on the roof, where the remaining three stood.

    Aiden raised his palm to cast one of his wind spells, but shock filled his mind when his energy didn''t move ording to his will!

    His target barreled towards him with a glowing knife, and he didn''t hesitate to perform a side step. Grabbing the individuals arm, he snapped that wrist with one swift movement and tried to cast a spell again but nothing happened.

    His feet struck the man''s torso with full force, but a brown barrier obstructed his leg. The kick sent the man flying nheless.

    ''When did I get this strong!'' Aidenmarveled, but didn''t have time to think much since seven figures converged on his figure.

    Strangely enough, they utilized no spells, only their weapons out in the open.

    ''Are they nning something,'' Aiden wondered, but their weapons struck his body before much of his thoughts could continue.

    And to his and his opponents shock, his body withstood their attacks, only his clothes being torn.

    Their figures shot downwards at that point, as Aiden still shook from what just happened.

    "We yield!," The leader of that group announced, "We wish to converse with you," the man added.

    Aiden felt unsure of his next actions, but seeing their weapons disappear, and their aura receding into their figures, he understood that the man meant what he said.

    Still on full guard, he jumped down the wrecked stone roof, and stayed a safe distance from their figures, and they didn''t move closer to his.

    "I apologize for the earlier incident. I had to understand how strong you were," The same person spoke, Aidenconcluding on him as their leader.

    "What do you mean?" Aiden frowned.

    "You see; we found out that you were an adventurer. Someone who could be useful for something we n to do," The man exined.

    "Ah, the soldiers told you, or was it that woman. Though that Information isn''t really a secret," Aiden raised an eyebrow.

    "I cannot disclose that Information, but will you hear me out," The man stated.

    "I don''t have much of a choice, just go straight to the point," Aiden shrugged, his mind never lowering its guard.

    "We n to embark on an adventure. The location, the w region," the man started closely Inspecting Aiden''s expression, even In the drakness of the night.

    An eyebrow almost immediately rose on Aiden''s face, "If I''m correct you mean there," he pointed at the distantndemasses, their structures seemed to glow, even from that immense distance

    Seeing the man nod, words quickly escaped his mouth. "Aren''t really powerful beast like the norm there," Aiden eximed. The idea sounded stupid.

    "Yes, but we''ll have equally powerful individuals with us," the individual replied.

    "I really doubt that, but how strong are these individuals?" Aiden almost mocked.

    "Tier 4''s," the man quickly replied, "And there''ll be more of us," he added.

    A moment of silence passed before the individual spoke again.

    "We wish to recruit you for the journey," he announced.

    "What do you crazies even want there?," Aiden spoke utterly bemused by what he heard.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "A treasure. That is all I can tell you, for now at least," the individual replied.

    "Ohhh! And what would I get for joining you on your crazy mission," Aiden mocked.

    "Gold. Lots of it," the man spoke as though it were the most reasonable price.

    "Hmmm.....I refuse," Aiden stated with a shrug, startling his audience.

    "Why?," the man quickly enquired.

    "There are a lot of reasons, but I''ll mention the most important one," he paused, "I don''t trust you."

    Aiden watched his audience grow silent at those words, and he soon continued.

    "I don''t know any of you, how do you expect me to trust you. Only the worsts of fools would do that," Aiden''s voice went serious.

    "I have a family that I love to see, the prospect of lots of gold isn''t the main reason you''ll be capable of buying me over," he stated coldly.

    Difficult expressions appeared on his audiences face behind thier masks.

    "What do I need to do gain a bit of your trust?," the man enquired.

    "Show me your face. All of you," Aiden stated. "If you do that, I''ll consider your still crazy offer," he added.

    Grunts escaped their mouths at his words. Most weren''t ready to reveal themselves to someone who hadn''t joined them.

    "I can''t allow that, but I can show you my face and tell you my name," the man suggested.

    The others immediately voiced outints, but he quickly spoke.

    "Can anyone of you do what he did? If you can''t then I''ll do as I wish."

    No other words were spoken at that point, and Aiden couldn''t help but see the individual in a new light. He seemed to know what exactly he was doing.

    "I am Williams, a low-ranking soldier who has remained in his position due to unfair judgements of my agency," the removed his mask and hood before bowing.

    The man looked well over fourty, which hinted at stagnation in his cultivation.

    "I am Aiden, a mere 3-star adventurer," Aiden announced with a smile.

    The two conversed for a few more minutes, Aiden eventually epting the offer.

    He understood the danger of going on that mission, but as an adventurer; that was exactly what he did, take risks.

    He had lost count how many times he had almost died, but this could go different due to the presence of stronger existences.

    "When exactly is the journeymencing," Aiden asked,ying his back on the wall with he arms folded.

    "Two months from now, but we''re expected to have gathered by at most a week before itmences," Williams exined still in his position.

    "How are you certain that I''d still be in this city by then?" Aiden raised an eyebrow.

    "That''s why we''ll contact you two weeks before the date, to allow you enough time," Williams exnined.

    Aiden sighed at that point, they seemed to have everything in consideration.

    "Gold isn''t the only reward is it?" Aiden suddenly announced.

    "A treasure that even tier 4''s desire has to be something. There might be something for us," Aiden mused studying the man''s expression intently.

    "I don''t know much about that," William spoke nkly, afterwhich a few seconds of silence passed.

    "Here!" Williams threw something at Aiden, "We''llmunicate with you on that," he exined.

    Aiden nodded his head and simply held themunication amulet.

    "Thank you and goodbye!" William''s announced at that point, and their figures shot upwards.

    A sigh escaped Aiden''s mouth at that point, but his expression suddenly turned dark. He had to figure out what exactly was going on with his vessels of power.

 Chapter 175 175. HUNT

    Aiden eventually spent the night in that alley of sorts. All he did throughout was continue to run tests on his body, and the results caused a grim expression to appear on his face for most of that night.

    Not feeling the least bit tired, Aiden found that aspect normal, but the extraordinary strength wasn''t something he understood.

    Ever since he started the cultivation journey over 40 years ago, he had only been a bit above average, never going past that point.

    But his body suddenly broke the very limits he understood, to stand at a level that feltpletely ridiculous.

    Having such strength would very well break the known stages of power. He risked been captured for experiments.

    Something almost everyone in Cusk understood was the norm.

    With a dark expression on his face, Aiden reviewed his findings on that baffling matter.

    He couldn''t control his mana, and could only see a ck core with his mental waves. Confusion and fear couldn''t help but spread inside him at that strange sight.

    His soul realm remained essible, but it felt different than he remembered.

    There was something really wrong, and he couldn''ty his finger on it.

    His dark expression remained even as he left that ce during sun-rise. The streets of that area had already gotten busy, but none of its beauty fazed him anymore.

    The issue at hand had siphoned any joy he could experience at the moment, and he felt the need to get something to drink. But like the other night he recalled that an incident had happened along the way, and his dimensional ring had been lost.

    He had no money, but his body remained perfectly okay.

    Unknown to Aiden due to the reality of his existence, he couldn''t percive speed essencecircting his body constantly.

    Noah''s body had seemingly activated auto-mode as all important functions went on without any supervision.

    It would take a long while for hunger to appear inside of him, as he couldn''t even utilize the reserves in any way. He could very well stay okay for weeks.

    Aiden spent most of the day travelling like an aimless existence, as he had realized that the objective he came to carry out in that city didn''t seem to exist.

    The thought of testing the unreal physical strength crossed his mind, but he didn''t know where to go for such.

    Asking around was an option, but he felt too confused to engage in any meaningful conversation.

    Nothing felt right. Nothing actually was right, and amongst all his worries, he feared never being able advance in strength the most

    On that note he had realized his inability to feel the energy around him.

    He wondered how he had missed that important detail. Though it seemed his body had already epted it''s fate.

    Not being caable of sensing the mana around him meant he couldn''t cultivate. At that point did he notice the details that were missing in his life.

    He recalled to have forgotten his soul cultivation manual, but now that he thought to it, such mistakes weren''t like him.

    He had been a diligent person in matters concerning his cultivation, as he valued power as an adventurer.

    It seemed all things worked together to make sure he didn''t have any of his important resources at hand, and it baffled him beyond reason.

    ''What exactly is going on?'' Aiden found himself asking throughout the day.

    That simple question had only one answer, and that was tat he didn''t know.

    Nothing made sense all of a sudden, and his whole being trembled violently when he doubted who he was.

    Aiden experienced headaches after such thoughts, and his environment soon faded into the background.

    Soon he wanted nothing more than to get his mind off the annoying matter, and only by doing something dangerous did he have a chance at that.

    His chances of doing so could only appear the next day, as travelling by foot proved difficult.

    Aiden found himself walking towy a small forest which had two rtivelyrge hills on its sides, and in front of the forest was a gate.

    If felt funny how different environments could fit into that city, but he didn''t focus too much on that detail.

    Both hills had multiple buildings constructed on their surfaces. A small street was even built to make those buildings easily essible.

    His target not being the hills but the green forest before him, Aiden reviewed his memories on what people said about that ce.

    Apparently that forest was a domesticated environment, as every four days; a batch of tier 3 beasts would be delivered into that forest, for people, mostly teams, to hunt down, and be given prizes for their kills.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This was as long as they had evidence of their kills; the head of the dead beasts, since no one would be watching them.

    The higher the number of kills; the more rewards they would receive.

    It was a way the leaders of that city allowed its people have fun amidst the growing political tension of their nation.

    But was a safe way Aiden could test his power, since no one important would be watching.

    Aiden sighted nothing less than thirty Individuals, all having power in the lower-stage stage of tier 3.

    That number of powerful Individuals could threatenrge towns, but were merely considered a bit powerful in that city.

    Most had red cores, while only few boasted orange spherical cores.

    The colour of one''s core showed how powerful their spells would be, as the quality of mana would be outstanding, and their reserves higher.

    The major hindrance for humans in the realm of tier 3 upwards was the mana core. If an individual couldn''t advance their core after a significant period of time, they would find that their cultivation speed would reduce drastically, only their minds being able to improve at a steady rate.

    Most Individuals believed that talent determined that aspect of their exsitence, for there were individuals who seemingly advanced their core without much effort.

    They weren''t totally wrong, but also equally not right.

    Hardwork had an important role to y in that aspect like all other vessels of power. While a persons natural talent helped, it would only be capable of doing astoundingly well if one had the right cultivation technique. Which remained something that most non-noble or important individuals would never get their hands on.

    Most of the humans Aiden sighted had already divided themselves into groups, and only waited for the gates to be opened.

    From the words he recieved there would be exactly 8 tier 3 beast. Their power only in being in thelower-stage, but those beasts would feature an escort of 20 tier 2 beasts each, their power being random.

    "Where is your team?," One of the four guards in front of the metal gate asked. It wasn''tpulsory to have a team, but highly advised for most of the mass.

    Nevertheless, there were exceptions. Though rare, there were individuals who could take-on beasts thier level, single handedly.

    Individuals like that were mostly scouted into important positions at some point, but events like that remained rare.

    "I don''t have one," Aiden replied without removing his gaze from the ash coloured gate.

    "Sorry what!," the guard eximed, iming the attention of a few Individuals, who could only focus their attention on the person conversing with the guard.

    "I don''t have one," Aiden repeated, "Are you going to not let me in because of that," he frowned, doubting the information he had received.

    His mind still remained in a mess due to his still ongoing internal strife. He would doubt the blueness of the sky if a reason for such arose.

    Clearing his throat to regain hisposure, the guard wore his bored face to reply.

    "That''s not a problem, you''ll be allowed into the forest when it''s time. But do take note that whatever consequence''s you face will be soley bore by you alone," he exined.

    Aiden nodded his head to move away from that position, but his eyes never left the gate, or rather the forest.

    He felt surprised to be able to, although vaguely, sense the presences of those powerful beasts, even from that distance.

    Those who had heard the guards reply shot curious gaze''s at the breathtaking man, but none dared to move closer him due to his cold expression.

    His gaze felt able to freeze his surroundings if not careful.

    They soon noticed hisck of interest for their presences and couldn''t help but look at the direction he gazed at.

    Seeing nothing but the gate, they nced at him with pitiful expressions, he seemed to have lost his mind. And truly they weren''t wrong.

    Although they couldn''t understand his power, they figured he would be somewhere close to them in power.

    A few more minutes passed, and soon the murmuring amongst the groups stopped as the giant gate slowly moved to reveal its insides.

    A minute or soter and they all moved to enter the forest. The hunt had begun.

    Those who had left their gaze''s on Aiden''s figure would notice a flicker in his cold expression, but never understand the meaning behind that action.

    Only Aiden understood that within that forest; another presence had risen amongst the 8, and it moved rapidly inside that dense forest.

    The nners of that small event seemed to have left a surprise for them.

 Chapter 176 176. MARCH

    Dashing through the forest quietly, Aiden marvelled at the sheer speed his body could attain. That velocity being something he never thought was possible for someone at his level.

    Then again, things he never thought possible had been uringtely.

    Being inside the forest allowed his Incredibly sharp sense''s pick up the positions of the beasts.

    Nodding his head inwardly at the fact that each beast was far apart from the other, Aiden moved towards the one rtively closest to him.

    Having immediately separated himself from the various teams, during his entry into that quiet environment, Aiden moved without fear of being seen.

    The terrain of that forest proved difficult to move on, as uneven grounds spread for kilometers worth ofnd. Huge vines asionally stretched towards the sky, some bearing spikes and all sorts of dangerous features, causing for his slowing down every once in a while.

    Although his body seemed to easily handle that speed, Aidens mind proved ipatible. His reaction time at that speed seemed Incredibly slow, as being only an instant slower was all he needed to tumble for multiple meters.

    Strangely enough, his body seemed capable of handling even that rough situation, and Aiden soon got reckless.

    He spent a few tens of minutes simply running around enjoying his environments turn to a blur. The quietness of his movement also helped him momentarily forget his problems, and let the world fade away.

    However, he eventually decided to achieve his goal foring there.

    During his fun-time Aiden had made sure to keep a safe distance from the nine magical beasts, but the fast one often caused him to change direction, even though its actually position was still far from his.

    He soon set his senses on a magical beasts nothing more than a kilometer from him, and his body took him there.

    He halted his rapid steps when sound vibrations reached his ear, and he didn''t hesitate to get a safe spot to inspect his targets.

    Aidenid eyes on a pack of beasts, their species having no particr order.

    The asional roars from the twenty beasts disrupted the serenity of the forest, and thier march destroyed trees.

    His eyes soon fell on the beast at the center of the escort of twenty mostly middle-stagedtier 2 beasts.

    He sighted a tusked boar the size of a school bus, its fur deep brown, as it almost glistened in the little light that prated the trees.

    Its curved tusks stretched for a few feets, causing Aiden to wonder how it moved around with such arge thing.

    Its roars of sorts, were the loudest amongst the tier 2 beasts, as it seemed to order them around, though that action remained purely on instincts. Its ck eyes didn''t possess a tinge of intelligence.

    Soon enough, Aiden watched the boar feast on a peak-stage tiger which had died in a submissive posture.

    The sickening crunching sounds escaped the boars mouth to shower the space around it with its disturbing glory. And fear couldn''t help but spread in Aiden''s mind while he watched that scene.

    Hesitation soon followed that emotion and Aiden found himself tailing the beasts from behind. He made sure to not allow his aura seep out of his body.

    Countless doubts surged in Aiden''s mind as he watched the beasts travel without a care in the world. At least the boar didn''t seem to have a care, but its followers were under very.

    A few minutes passed and he simply kept them in his sight while rethinking the action he nned to take.

    Although his body had proved able to handle multiple strikes from tier 3 individuals, Aiden couldn''t help but hesitate in front of thatrge beast.

    He also couldn''t be too sure of his evaluation, as the strikes had been non-magical.

    Being used to having a group fight one tier 3 magical beast caused his heart to race while he dashed forward towards the beasts, and his mouth couldn''t help but voice a battle cry.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His targets immediately heard him and turned to focus their hungry gaze''s on the direction of the cry, but no figure could be seen.

    Confusion spread in their wild minds, but something soon happened.

    A portion of the circrly positioned beasts suddenly turned to bloodly pulps, as a figure burst through their defences tond on their tyrannical leader.

    Needless to say therge boar smashed through trees as breakneck speed, causing even more confusion to spread.

    The eyes of the tier 2 beasts managed tond on Aiden''s figure for an instant, and the fear of death kicked their survival Instincts into action, something not even the boar had achieved.

    Aiden''s figure seemed to be the emodiment of death to their weak figures.

    Marvelling at the sheer power he could muster, Aiden felt a wide grin appear on his face while still in the midst of the escaping tier 2 beasts. They weren''t his target after all.

    A powerful roar followed by an explosion shook Aiden out of his blood pumping excitement.

    The tier 2 beasts had almostpletely dispersed at this point, only the fatally wounded ones staying around to experience the battle of beings they considered gods.

    A wild aura burst forth from the boars figure as its alreadyrge frame seemed to increase in size.

    It began its march towards Aiden and the ground shook at every step it took.

    Soon it had started sprinting towards the tiny figure that dared disrupt its peaceful march to freedom.

    Aiden hadn''t simply stood around watching his opponent dash towards him; the dead body of a tier 2 middle-stageapey in his right hand, and he soon dashed towards his beastly opponent.

    His figure arrived in front of the furious boar, and therge ape in his grip struck its head.

    Aiden watched blood and furry body parts fly everywhere, as the attack had only managed to move the boar a few meters to his left. Most of the damage being taken by the dead ape.

    Quickly letting go of the gory lower body, Aiden threw a punch at the space between he and the boar.

    His opponent experienced a force that felt unhinderable smash into its left side of its face turning it into a meat paste.

    Not even the tusk on that side of its head survived the attack.

    Feeling far more confident, Aiden dashed forward to grab the suffering beast.

    His fingers sunk into the its tough skin, and he didn''t hesitate to raise it up then bring it down in one powerful smash.

    The ground beneath them shattered as shockwaves smashed the trees around them. Aiden''s feet threatened to lose their bnce, but seeing as the beast remained moving even when its head had dug a few feets into the ground, he gritted his teeth and sunk his fingers deeper into its skin, before spinning and flinging it away, destroying many trees in the process.

    Ignoring the loud growling sounds reaching his ears, Aiden let the boar experience terror as it struggled to move its crippled upper body to escape the monster before it.

    The earlier smash had shattered its back.

    With a sadistic smile that expressed his satisfaction at that scene, Aiden finally threw a punch with all the force his right arm could muster.

    The world in front of him immediately turned red at thepletion of that action.

 Chapter 177 177. REPULSIVE

    Wiping his face of the blood that got to him, Aiden felt an intense wave of satisfaction wash over him.

    His eyes soonnded on the beasts almost unrecognizable body. His punch had created arge hole from its neck down the midsection of its body. The head had almost vansihed. Those gory details didn''t manage the faze him.

    Aiden felt powerful at the sight before him, he had just aplished something the majority of tier 3''s his level couldn''t aplish. His pride shot through the roof at that thought and a chuckle soon escaped his mouth.

    That chuckle soon turned to loudughter, but the scene would remain disturbing if one were there.

    He picked the beasts almostplete destroyed head, and wondered what to do. He didn''te there for the money, but it didn''t feel bad to earn something. He currently had no money after all.

    The only issue was carrying thatrge body part around. It still dripped blood and would definitely stain him. Not to begin with the problem of keeping it while fighting.

    He risked having it eaten by a tier 2 beast, even though the body on the ground would probably suffer that same fate, which would allow such beast or beasts advance after a period of full absorbtion.

    Magical beasts unlike humans, had the leisure ablity of absorbing mana from absolutely anything and everything that bore it.

    As long as it remained chewable, they could feast on it and get stronger from such meals.

    Although refilling their core proved difficult which was a way nature kept things in bnce, this was why most beasts simply utilized their natural offensive abilities.

    Nevertheless, the higher tier a beast; the faster its absorbtion of the energy around it.

    Seeing no way out of that problem, he decided to bear the consequences, and his consciousness soon expanded.

    Its range wasn''t asrge as Noah''s, being something around 600m in radius.

    The idea of buring the beasts head somewhere crossed his mind, but the problem of finding it overweighed that idea.

    The forest looked identical and he''d have to run around searching for beasts.

    Moreover the speed at which he ran at didn''t allow him capable of estimating how far he had gone from his former position.

    ''I guess I''ll have to carry this thing around,'' He sighed then his body shot forward. Unknown to him, the beasts body vanished from its spot immediately he turned his back on it; the red octahedral core also separating from its now dead host and arriving in his inventory.

    His senses picked up the position of a beast which appeared somewhat closer to his position, though that distance still stretched for a few kilometers.

    Aiden found himself travelling deeper into the forest, and he soon arrived at his target, but his findings left him disappointed.

    A battle unfolded in his vison, as the trees present were mostly on fire, and the resounding collision of spells further destroyed the environment.

    A group of six Individuals were in a heated battle with a ming lion, whose every movement caused mes to spread.

    The lion seemed to be in a desperate position as its brownish body featured multiple deep wounds.

    Its opponents weren''t totally fine either, as some had nasty burns on the exposed parts of their bodies.

    The battle seemed to have been going on for a while, causing Aiden to wonder why he hadn''t sensed the cultivators earlier.

    He didn''t put much thought into that matter since something he sensed something move towards him at high speeds and a powerful force suddennded on his chest.

    Aiden seemed to blink away from his position since his body shot backwards at maddening speeds.

    His back eventuallynded on a rough surface stopping his movement, but a crack resounding behind him nheless.

    His body had remained mostly fine, but he didn''t have time to focus on his condition since a figure shed in front of him.

    Arge grasshopper of sorts appeared in his vision, its height being around 12ft. While its length couldn''t be seen from his angle, he could tell that it would be something.

    Aiden only managed to catch sight of thatrge yellow figure for a second, then its figure transformed into a blur. He couldn''t follow its movements!

    His instincts tingled at that sight, and he managed to jump towards his right.

    The beasts figure appeared on his former position and its weirdly jagged mouth bit on the tree behind him, destroying it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A swallowing sound escaped Aiden''s throat at that sight, and he didn''t hesitate to jump backwards before it moved again.

    Quickly dashing forward without any real direction, Aiden didn''t mind his half naked state while he evaluated his opponent.

    It was fast. Far faster than his eyes could follow. While his whole body seemed to possess memory of moving at that speed, his mind remained far slower than it. A big problem.

    He also affirmed that something in that area didn''t allow his senses work properly, since he had only sensed that beast only when it had been toote

    His senses Informed him of a rapidly moving figure behind him, and he felt surprised to find that the beast looked close to him.

    Its powerful legs smashed the ground with each hop, and it''s wings allowed it maintain its direction. It didn''t seem able to fly, simply gliding.

    Aiden also noticed a grey glow around the beast, and the wind currents seemed to obey it, allowing it reach higher velocities.

    Aiden came to a stop andunched a kick at the beast, but its figure vansihed, and another powerful forcended on his shoulders.

    Therge beast appeared to stand on his shoulders, probably to try and crush him, and Aiden didn''t hesitate to grab its legs.

    As if reading his mind, Aiden watched its two legs develop sharp features immediately he grabbed them.

    They didn''t manage to pierce his palms some even snapping due to his seemingly imprable palms, but a sizzling sound soon spread in Aiden''s ears, followed by pain.

    The edges of the spiky objects secreted a brown substance that melted his palms, though slightly. And those superficial injuries soon healed.

    Right before he could celebrate that repair, Aiden felt something hot stab into his sides, but it didn''t go past his skin.

    The grasshopper had stabbed him its ws, but hadn''t seeded in bringing him down. Those substances were being generated by its concentrated mana which allowed for injuring Aiden''s body.

    Struggle soon began between the two, as Aiden refused to let go of its legs while his hands went through a constant cycle of damage and repair.

    Despite itsrge figure the grasshopper found that it couldn''t move Aiden, his strength was too great for it.

    A n tried to form in Aidens mind during their seconds, but nothing worthy came.

    Letting go of the beast would mean surrendering himself as a kicking dummy. He couldn''t follow its movements meaning he would have to endure its attack.

    A weapon would do currently, but he had none which meant he hand to find a way to kill it while it remained on his shoulders.

    Unfortunately the beast wouldn''t let such happen as a liquid exited its back side which remained above Aiden.

    A repulsive smell struck Aiden''s nose with the force of a freight train, while his figure got covered with the deep brown substance

    Aiden felt his gut tremble madly at the stench of the beasts faeces, as whatever had been inside him threatened to spill out.

    The grasshopper had yed dirty, literally.

    Anger burned in Aiden''s mind at the sickening realization, but something hot spilled on him, and his hands gave up.

    Pain struck Aiden''s senses like it had never before, he watched with horror his skin give way to that hot substance, as his brain had shutdown his pain receptors almost instantly.

    Blood poured out of him as it mixed with his melted flesh. The beast gained it bnce and immediately bit on his suffering figure.

    ''What the fuck is going on!'' Aiden screamed in confusion. The core within him tried its best to heal him, but its contents had been lower than half by the time Aiden gained consciousness.

    Nothing managed to happen when the beast tugged on Aiden''s bitten shoulder. His exposed muscles remained too powerful for its teeth. And it soon let go of him after that realization.

    His figurecked skin at this point, only the redness of his blood could be seen, but his muscles remained in good shape.

    A loud chirping sound escaped the grasshoppers figure, then it kicked Aidens figure sending him flying. But by this point he had already lost consciousness.

 Chapter 178 178. MERE SCRATCH

    The grasshopper beast thrashed Aiden''s figure multiple time more, but its attacks didn''t manage to hurt him enough.

    It released more of its acid like substance on his still unconscious figure, but nothing worked.

    It eventually bit on his torso, lifted him up, and suddenly dashed towards a seemingly random direction.

    Being a really agile beast allowed it traverse that forest will almost full ease, but its encounter with other beasts slowed it down.

    It managed to Injure its opponents, but did nothing more, before continuing it travel.

    A few hours eventually passed, and it arrived at a cave deep inside the forest. At this point only quietness could be heard, as being an artificially empty forest, nothing produced any sound.

    ? At least that was valid until the grasshopper arrived. Itnded a few meters from the cave with a powerful thud. Part of the ground around it featuringrge cracks.

    Each of its steps towards the cave sounded heavy, and a light eventually lit inside thatrge natural space.

    A whistle escaped the caves insides, and the beast rubbed its wings withs its legs to generate a chirping sound.

    A series of Inscriptions lit up on the caves empty entrance, and two figures quickly exited it.

    Their cloaked figures moved towards the yellow beast, and their soft steps gave off an eerie vibe.

    "Good girl," One of the two figures spoke, cing his left palm on the grasshoppers head, and her reaction spoke of her satisfaction.

    The other person raised his hand and she dropped Aiden''s body on him, before proceeding to sit beside the caves entrance.

    Although it looked big enough for her entry she wasn''t allowed into it.

    "He''s still alive!" the man who received Aiden''s body eximed. The acid like substance had dried up at their point making it safe toe in contact with Aidens still skinless body. He also didn''t bleed since the acid-like substance had cased his body with its properties upon drying, or rather solidifying.

    The person who hadmended the grasshopper gasped at his partners words, walking forward to Inspect that grotesque scene.

    "He''s still alive," he gasped, still in disbelief. ncing over at his pet grasshopper; he frowned.

    "Let''s get him inside first," the other person eventually spoke.

    The two still cloaked men carried Aiden into their cave, and the inscriptions shone again, before returning to their invisible state.

    Inside the well lit cave five other figures could be seen sitting around a fire. So as not to get noticed by the outside world, they had to limit their use of magical items.

    "She actually got someone else!," one of the three males eximained, his eyes mocking Aiden''s figure.

    "It''s fascinating how many Individuals try to act cool in these events," one of the two female spoke; giggling at the end of her words.

    "Well many are tired of their subpar lives, and are trying to gain valuable attention," another male spoke.

    "Yeah, yeah. All I want to know is why he''s still breathing," the owner of the grasshopper spoke, letting go of Aiden''s body carelessly, so did his partner.

    "Does it really matter. We were asked to bring them dead or alive after all," the other female present spoke.

    "Delivering a living person for a ritual isn''t a problem I want to face. He probably still has most of his powers," the owner snorted.

    "Well just end him then....I do wonder why she hadn''t. Maybe someone spotted her," the man that spoke upon the duo''s entry suggested.

    "Already on that," the other of the duo spoke, an axe suddenly appearing in his grip.

    "Whoa, whoa! We are eating here! At least let us finish. I do not desire human flesh in my food," thest male presentined, his face filled with disgust as the imagination of hisst words.

    "But he might wake up," the individual wielding the axe spoke.

    "In such a state? I doubt that," one of the females spoke. She had ck hair while the other sported blue.

    "He might even die before we need to butcher him up," she added taking a bite from her te.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A sigh escaped the expert holding the axe, and it soon vanished from his hands.

    "I guess you''re right," he stated dragging Aiden''s body to the egde of the cave, where two corpses could be seen. Both males.

    The group of seven ate and conversed; mostly jokes. As they seemed to know each other to a moderate degree.

    Their meals eventually ended, and by this point the sun had fully set. The darkness of the night seemed to engulf that area in even more darkness, as not a shred of moonlight prated the densely packed trees.

    "It''s time to move. We don''t have much time. I''m sure the other''s are already on their way to deliver their findings," the owner of the grasshopper spoke, his tone that of authority.

    The man looked to be in his mid-thirties, had short blonde hair, tired looking features, and held power at the peak of the lower-stageof tier 3.

    Actually, they all held power at the peak of the lower-stage, only tiny differences in powers existing amongst them.

    "His he still alive?," the ck haired woman enquired absent-mindedely.

    "Ye...yes!" the axe owner exmained, and his axe immediately appeared in his hand.

    The others nodded at his action, and without hesitation he swung the axe down in one powerful move.

    To their utter shock, the axe bounced off Aiden''s exposed muscles, and the sound of metal striking metal resounded in the cave, echoing in their perplexed ears.

    Silence reigned in their midst as they tried to process what just happened, until it eventually dawned on them.

    "Uh...." The axe holder muttered In a daze, and his axe suddenly struck Aiden''s chest again.

    A nging sound echoed in the cave, and he couldn''t help but nce at his colleagues to see their expressions.

    "Aren''t you doing it well?..." The blue haireddyined, trying to deny the reality of what she just witnessed.

    "I definitely am....." The axe wielder muttered, then his axe lit up with multiple green inscriptions, as the weapon suddenly gave off an aura of its own. Its metallic material began to radiate power at the bottom of the lower-stage of tier 3.

    That heavy weapon soon arrived on Aiden''s chest with a powerful bang.

    An explosion resounded immediately the empowered axe touched Aiden''s exposed muscles, and immense shock filled their minds when they saw that the axes'' tip and barely pierced him. The effect of that attack being a mere scratch!

    The axe wielder delivered two more attacks, the next contained more power than thest, but the results were only slightly better.

    "What the fuck!" The axe wielder exmained taking a few steps back. His eyes remained wide open in utter disbelief, and his colleagues faces featured the exact same expressions.

    They had felt the power in those attacks, and confirmed that they were something even they would have to cast defensive spells to block.

    But they had merely scratched the unconscious figure before them.

    "Let me try," the owner of the grasshopper announced moving forward, and a silver sword quickly appeared in his left hand, mes instantly bursting out of its tier 3 material.

    Soon the caves insides experienced a sharp increase in temperature, and he soon executed a sh with what looked like all the power his body could muster.

    His colleagues shot out of the room at that sight, and the entire cave trembled violently when the sh arrived on Aiden''s body.

    Orange mes exploded out of the caves opening and its entire structure sawrge cracks spread on it, threatening to bring the whole ce down, but fortunately didn''t.

    The others quickly rushed back in after a few seconds to witness the effects of the attack, and their hearts inevitably skipped a few beats at the sight thaty before them.

    A red mark stretched from Aiden''s chest down to his waist, and it only bled superficially.

    Their shock couldn''t be expressed with words.

    "What sort of monster have we gotten our hands on?" The fire mage grimaced. His brown eyes flickering withplex emotions, fear being one of them.

 Chapter 179 179. CRIMSON

    Silence. His words met utter silence; but he didn''t feel insulted by theirck of words.

    Heck the question was more to himself than his colleagues, which showed of how weird their situation had be.

    "Is he even human?," one males present spoke, and his words met another wave of silence.

    "He definitely is. He has no resemnces to the other races," the man fire mage exined, storing his sword, and straightening his position.

    "But I heard that high level dragons, or dragons with noble blood can manipte their physical form...." The man who had mocked Aiden upon his unconscious arrival tried to make sense of the situation.

    "You heard yourself. How would a high level dragon, or even noble dragon lose to a mere grasshopper. What would one even be doing here," the fire mage snorted cing Aiden''s body on his shoulder.

    His colleagues reasoned his words while carefully following his movements due to the entity on his shoulder.

    "It''s time to go," the fire mage, who also seemed to be a changed man announced seeing that they weren''t moving.

    "Shouldn''t we leave him! And will he even be suitable for the ritual," the ck haireddy questioned, worry evident on her face.

    "We can''t leave him. He''s thest Individual we need to fulfill our side of the deal. He also isn''t imprable; all we need is more power," the fire mage spoke, getting on his grasshopper.

    "There will be middle-stagedexperts present for the ritual. I doubt his body can withstand one of their attacks," he exined.

    "All we need to do his make sure he doesn''t rise from his slumber," he added.

    "Seeing as he hasn''t moved sincest night, we can only hope he remains like that until we arrive at our destination," he exined while cing Aiden''s body on his beast.

    The others nodded at his words, each of them simting what could happen if their luck ran out out. Would they even be capable of stopping him? They thought.

    They journeyed deeper Into the forest, until finally arriving at its end, where an underground passgeying await for them.

    They crossed the hill from underneath it and the passage took them towards the outskirts of the w city, where mostly trees and small bodies of water existed.

    The flora and fauna of that city thrived Incredibly due to the high density of mana, but most of the beasts migrated towards thendemasses at the horizon, and they usually did in groups.

    Their travel remained mostly silent as no one desired to awaken the sleeping beast.

    This reality further added tension to thier minds. Everyone was on edge, and suddenly the pay for that mission didn''t sound good enough.

    Morning eventually arrived, this day being the third day since Noah arrived there, but only a few hours remained for that time limit to beplete.

    Not having an ounce of energy in his core, Aiden couldn''t gain consciousness. And even if he were close to it, the pain his body experienced would shock him back to hisa of sorts.

    It seemed being part Speedling had started to reveal its cons.

    "We''ll rest here," the man atop the grasshopper eventually announced, stoping in front of another rtivelyrge cave.

    They had travelled for nine hours straight, and the sun had already risen at this point, but the day still remained fresh.

    Relieved gasps escaped their mouths at those words, and they quickly filed into the identical cave. They had utilized it on their journey to the small forest.

    The illumination from the outside wasn''t enough for the cave, so mana bulbs were utilized.

    They had reduced their usage of magical items in the forest since the barrier they had set in that area of the forest needed such requirements.

    It was to keep their presences hidden, while their beast went out to bring individuals into that area.

    They ced Aiden''s body at one corner of the cave; where their eyes could easily sight him. They weren''t taking any chances.

    A few hours eventually passed, and something eventually happened to Aiden''s body.

    [Commencing reintegration of >Hosts< real memories.....]

    [Process will begin in seven seconds.....]

    *

    *

    *

    Darkness

    Noah felt himself exist inside a strange darkness. It didn''t feel like the one where his disembodied soul resided, but something else something both strange and familiar at the same time.

    It seemed even with his memories wiped, he still existed outside of himself, something that baffled him beyond measure.

    Time seemed to flow both normally and abnormally that ck space, as he felt capable of numbering the passage of time, but not by his own will.

    It felt as though he did that simple action through someon elses'' view of time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Even the space in that utterly ck ce; felt both immense and small. And he felt as though he would pass-out from the overwhelming feeling the ce gave off.

    Noah''s thoughts flowed in ways he didn''t totally understand. He didn''t seem to think, yet actually did. He didn''t seem to exist, yet actually exsisted.

    That state remained confusing, seemingly dreamlike, but also real.

    A period of seemingly years passed, but in reality were only three days.

    And he felt shocked to hear a voice at some point.

    "What do we have here?" The male voice boomed softly. A few seconds of silence passed, and the voice released a short ''hm''.

    "Your situation looks pretty grim, so I''ll assist you," the seemingly tired yet energetic voice spread out.

    "I''m not supposed to do this but since you''re so close, I''ll make apromise," the voice exined, and Noah immediately felt a tug on his consciousness, something that shouldn''t have been possible.

    His environment instantly changed, and he found himself descending into a white area with an ind at its center.

    An instantter he felt memories wash over him; someone else''s life mixing with his, causing great confusion.

    Ignoring his present internal dilemma, Noah willed his consciousness back into his body, and the first thing he felt was pain.

    An incredible amount of pain and seeming emptiness engulfed his mind, as his body threatened to go back to its unconscious state.

    Panic spread inside him during that instant, but a crimson coloured panel abruptly appeared in his eyes, and power suddenly filled his whole being.

    [You have received skill from an unknown entity]

    [Unique Berserker(Active)[Tier 3]]

    [Unique Berserker(Active)]: During your time of dire need; call upon the power of your rage and the resources avable to you to receive Incredible power. When activated you experience a 25% increase to all stats for 15 seconds.The skill is termed "unique" due to its ability to utilize whatever source of energy the user has avable.

    Cost: 2500SE/Whatever is avable to user. Duration: 15 seconds. Cooldown: 2 days.

    Bacsh: 10% decrease to all stats for 3 days]

    [Note: Skill can only be upgraded when the right conditions have been met]

    [Conditions for upgrade:

    >Utilize the skill 30 times: 1/30<

    >Gather 40 skill points: 0/40<

    >Kill 500 people under the influence of the skill: 0/500<]

    Noah could only read the first line of the panel as rage engulfed his mind before anymore words could reach his eyes. A red maisma then burst out of his figure, sending waves of violent energies into the cave.

    His eye sockets zed with a crimson light and his environment got tinged with that unique colour, a foreboding aura quickly stretching out to match that fantastical scene.

    Noah felt pure power course through his whole being, but couldn''t focus on that detail since in return for that might, his body had almost turned into a skeleton. A very powerful one that is.

    He soon understood that the skill would only be capable of keeping him awake for a second or two; as his body needed essence to sustain it. He could even die from prolonged exposure to its violent energy sapping feature.

    Four small bottles of yellow contents appeared in his hand, and his environment slowed down immensely.

    Feeling his consciousness tremble while it threatened to return into his body, he threw the bottles into his mouth and directly crushed them with his teeth.

    His tongue received Injuries in the process but healed almost instantly.

    In the next second he had eaten the remaining three bottles, and their energy vansihed immediately his core absorbed them, nut in return his healing process began.

    He soon turned off the skill to lessen the strain on his body, but still passed-out anyway.

    His body healed so rapidly, that steam eventually began to pour out of his body in fumes.

    In the next second, his muscles had regrown, and he soon got able to remain conscious, which he did.

    Noah sat cloth-less on the bare ground, and quickly unfolded his consciousness to trap the individuals with him.

    The event that just happened had urred in four seconds, which was enough time for his captors to make their escape.

    But having been blown away by Noah''s explosion of power, their bodies had inevitably recieved Injuries which in turn dyed their escape.

    Shivers shot down their spines when their consciousness touched his. In addition to that; their bodies also gave up on them when their eyes met his cold one''s.

    Noah was livid, and the already frozen cave confirmed it.

 Chapter 180 180. ONLY THROUGH DEATH

    Intense anger filled Noah''s mind even though he had turned off the berserk skill.

    His eyes swept its cold gaze across the icy cave, not hiding his anger in the slightest.

    However, due to his experience in that world so far; he didn''t allow that boiling rage ovee his rational thinking.

    Nevertheless, ice spikes still exited the frozen walls and grounds to stab into the bodies of the seven. Of course he stabbed the non-fatal ces. He still needed answers after all.

    Another bottle appeared in his hand, and he didn''t hesitate to chew on it again.

    That sight sent shivers down his terrified audience, but he didn''t care.

    A minute of silence passed as Noah reviewed the memories that rushed into his mind.

    ''Am I Noah or Aiden?'' He pondered in genuine confusion. His eyes also remained nk while those thoughts filled his mind.

    His life as Aiden yef inside his head, but he understood that many details were missing in that life. Soon, his life as Noah yed inside his mind. It started all the way from his time on Earth till the moment he epted the systems help.

    He tried to recall where he was during the period three days, but only nkness filled his mind.

    [[You are Noah. My host]]

    The system affirmed, and he took it as the truth.

    "Why are my memories mixed with Aiden''s," Noah spoke outloud; weirding out his audience, as they struggled to get an answer for his question.

    [[It would always have been that way. But I can erase them if you desire that]]

    [Do you wish to edit out simted memories]

    [Yes/No]

    Noah gazed at that panel in hesitation. Truth be told, he loved Aiden''s life, even though he knew it was artificial.

    Nheless, he found that memories of things he never knew existed amonst the misceneous ones, and he considered them valuable knowledge.

    He wondered how the system recreated wholendscapes, and seemingly right information of that world, without him actually knowing them.

    He valued those memories since they contained useful knowledge.

    "Can I keep them?" Noah eventually enquired of the system.

    [[You can; but do note that you may experience short bursts of confusion or distractions. I created a whole set of habits, idealogies, experiences, and a personality far different from yours. Keeping it may prove troublesome in the long run]]

    An internal sigh resounded in Noah''s head at those words, then he voiced words again, still weirding his now captives, out.

    "Is it possible to keep the information filled memories?."

    [[No and Yes. No because that is against what you currently have ess to. Yes because I can go ahead and do it since it''s nothing too important, but there will be a consequence]]

    "What type of consequence?," Noah asked feeling his anger reduce a bit.

    [[You''ll have to lose a portion of your soul ind. Which would make you weaker]]

    [[This is simply because you still do not have ess to that function. So in order to utilize it, you''ll have to give something in return. Basically a sacrifice]]

    "Hmmm....That''s a bit," Noah furrowed his brows, "How long do you think it''ll take to regain that portion of my strength?," Noah enquired, stabbing his captives when they tried to free themselves of their impalement.

    [[ording to my calctions, with a steady training session; it''ll take you a week at best]]

    A frown appeared on Noah''s eyebrows at that point startling his Injured audience.

    "A whole week," he muttered, "That''s a lot of power gone," he shook his head.

    "We''ll do thatter. For now I need to focus on them," he announced, shooting a cold re at the seven experts, and his body busrt out with even more coldness at that point.

    ''This is really inconvenient,'' Noah thought at the effect a spike in his emotions made.

    ''I may as well stop hiding my trio-affinity status if this is what I constantly have to deal with,'' he mused standing up.

    The eyes of the seven followed his movement, and their minds couldn''t help shudder at his naked figure.

    Although he barely gave himself credit for it, Noah had an amazing body. One that looked regally sculpted by a god obsessed with perfection.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His skin looked firm and spotless even from the few meters distance, and it seemed to glisten in the cold mist around them. Even his little brother seemed to shine in there.

    Noah took a step forward and that simple action brought them out of their daze, danger quickly spreading in their experienced minds.

    They felt his anger from their various positions, and silent prayers to suddenly disappear, thereby escaping the breath-taking monster, filled their minds. But reality wasn''t so nice.

    A series of difficult expressions appeared in thier minds with each step Noah took. They all still had their powers avable to them. And could try to escape, though the chances of sess looked low.

    Nevertheless, they had to try anyway, their lives were at stake. It felt naturally to take such risks, so the nning began.

    If each of themunched a spell towards his figure, a few of them would have the chance to escape, but the others would most likely get killed. And no one wanted to be the one to sacrifice their life.

    The fire mage had an idea which he didn''t hesitate to pass on to his teammates using his mind.

    Fortunately, they couldmunicate without Noah listening. One of the perks of mental-waves.

    One could create a space where theirmunication using their consciousness was safe. Only existences withrgely stronger minds being able to bypass such protections.

    "Are you sure?," The axe owner questioned to the fire mage. His voice that of worry.

    "I''m ready to sacrifice her if needed. As long as we get the chance to escape," the fire mage replied, his mental voice somber.

    No one objected any further at that point. They didn''t want to die after all.

    Noah''s barefooted steps echoed in the cave, each step sounding wet.

    He seemed to take his sweet time crossing that distance, or maybe he wanted them toe up with some sort ofescape n.

    The light of inscriptions flickered on the caves entrance, and arge figure burst into the cave at break-neck speed.

    The seven cultivators gritted their teeths in that Instant, breaking the ice spikes in their bodies to stand up, and make a break for the exit.

    A few magical circles also tried to expand, tounch spells at Noah''s figure, but not on his watch.

    The world slowed down in front of Noah almost instantly. A cold grin immediately broke on his face, at their already failed attempt to escape.

    He had found the perfect reason to not keep them alive, and that was none-other than to allow them see him use his speed.

    Yellow sparks of pure electrical energy crackled around his figure, as he utilized the empowerments of the speed forces''s energy mostly on his mind. Allowing for that unique view of the world.

    He took another step forward and appeared in front of the oversized grasshopper.

    He recalled Aiden''s fight with that creature, and felt he needed to show his superiority.

    He ced his palm on its head activating another skill he hadn''t utilized in a while.

    [Frozen Touch[Active]: When activated your hands gain the unique attribute "Frost", and are capable of freezing anything they touch as long as it doesn''t have cold resistance higher than the user''s.

    Cost: 20SE, Duration: 1 minute, Cooldown: 15 seconds]

    Noah watched ice begin to spread slowly on the creatures body, as it froze it down to its very insides.

    He moved forward at that point, calmly walking towards the exit. Creating a series of densely packed walls with his control over ice, Noah couldn''t help but admire that affinity even more.

    With that done, he walked towards his former position; allowing his perception of things return to normal.

    In the blink of an eye a ice sculpture appeared in the cave, the exit of the cave sealed shut with a whitish-blue material.

    And a yellow streak moved around the cave.

    The first person to reach the exit mmed the ice wall face-first and bounced back. Her nose and part of her lips being crushed as a result of the impact.

    The blue-haireddy had only been mere inches from the exit, such an effect on her face was absolutely expected.

    The others managed to stop in their tracks, but confusion and terror remained evident on their faces.

    What just happened? They thought in utter shock. And their necks slowly turned to nce at the only Individual who seemed capable of doing such.

    The cold smile on Noah''s face confirmed it all, and their moods soon turned foul; a grim expression appearing on their faces.

    They had seen smiles like that, heck even made ones like that. Which was why they understood that the only way out of that cave was through death.

 Chapter 181 181. DEVIANTS

    Heavy breaths escaped the mouths of Noah''s captives, and he felt pleasantly surprised to see them sit in a cross-legged position.

    His cold smile never left his face, and he too soon adopted their sitting postures.

    Noah could sense the fear in their eyes, and for reasons unknown to him he enjoyed it.

    "Now that I have your full attentions; I have a few questions in mind," Noah started, his cold smile never leaving his face.

    "I believe you wish to know why you are here," the fire mage spoke ncing at his frozen solidpanion. Great pain spread in his heart at that sight. How things had turned out that way; he didn''t understand.

    "I didn''t ask you to talk, but what is your name anyway" Noah announced raising an eyebrow.

    "I am Bernard, a merecenary. Actually I am the leader of this group," the man mage spoke nonchntly, he had already epted his fate in front of that young monster.

    "Good, Bernard. Why did you capture me?," Noah enquired with his smile still on.

    "I have no obligations to answer that," Brenard answered, his gaze nk.

    "If you want to keep you life, you will," Noah stated almost breaking into augh, but Brenard did, and his smile slowly faded.

    "Keep my life? We both know you don''t n on doing that," Brenard spoke, ignoring Noah''s cold gaze.

    "If I''m going to die either way, why do I need to answer your questions," Brenard stated, his expression also turning cold.

    A heavy silence fell upon them at that point. The six didn''t want to speak so as to not anger Noah, but their leader seemed intent on doing that.

    "Oh I see...." Noah muttered suddenly sweeping his gaze on the still silent six, a nasty idea forming Inside him.

    He hesitated in carrying out the idea, but Brenards uncaring expression annoyed him.

    "I might eventually not kill you..." Noah stated slowly shooting gaze''s at the man''s colleagues. He did so until their eyes widened in surprise, then fear.

    Brenards expression flickered at the understanding of Noah''s words. He nned to use his team against him.

    "Are you going to be a coward and do such a dishonourable thing," Brenard spoke trying to bottle up his ever growing panic.

    A big smile cracked on Noah''s face at those words. "I can hear your heartbeat," he announced truly focusing on that detail. And he felt surprised to actually hear them.

    He had never tried using his senses in that way, and the results left him stunned. Their heartbeats sounded like distant drums, not too close, but also not too far; just enough for him to clearly hear them.

    Brenard limited himself to remain silent at Noah''s words, he wasn''t sure if the young man was bluffing, but that wasn''t the point.

    "You have tens seconds," Noah eventually announced.

    "Nine...Eight....Seven.....Six.....Five..." Noah counted down to 2, then did Brenard raise his hand, and a bigger grin appeared on Noah''s face.

    "Go on," Noah ordered with his grin. He enjoys the whole scenario.

    A sigh escaped Brenards mouth at that point. He caught nces of his colleagues sighs of relief, and felt he had done the right thing. Or had he?.

    "We were hired by an expert to deliver dead or living humans," He stated.

    "For what?" Noah immediately responded.

    "For a ritual apparently," Brenard announced, and Noah''s smile faded.

    ''A ritual,'' he thought. At this point in his life he had began to ept every new thing he heard as the truth of that world. His constant shock at new information had started to subside.

    "What type of ritual?," Noah asked. He doubted that the man knew that detail, but asked anyway.

    "I don''t know. We were only sent to bring bodies, and be paid for our service" Brenard promptly exined.

    Seeing Noah''s frown his mouth opened to voice more words.

    "Nheless, we were given a few details. Mostly concerning the levels of those who would be performing the ritual," Brenard announced.

    "Ohhh..how strong will they be?" Noah felt intrigued.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Apparently middle-stagedtier 3 cultivators to even the peak of tier 3 will be present," Brenard exined stroking his beardless chin. "Though a rumor from the other hired groups spread. The rumor spoke of even tier 4 experts being among the nners of that diabolical event."

    Noah fell into thoughts at those words, he picked up the words like "other groups". Confirming that the whole ritual would be arge and well funded event.

    He didn''t desire to dabble into things such as rituals, as he didn''t know much, or even events with such powerful cultivators.

    "Where were you going to deliver me to?" Noah eventually spoke, his anger having subsided by a significant margin.

    "We were journeying towards an abandoned mansion deep in the outskirts of the city," Brenard exined, his expression soon turning solemn.

    "I see...Do you know who hired you," Noah asked nkly. He had lost most of his interest in that matter.

    "No. The expert kept their face hidden during our conversation, but I suspect even he was but a messanger, although he had power in the middle-stage," Brenard exined.

    "Hmmm.... troublesome," Noah shook his head. His lips parted to release words, but a red glowing object shot out of the frozen grasshopper, and floated towards Noah, who proceeded to y with it for a bit, before eventually storing it. But the beasts frozen body didn''t disappear.

    His audience had their mouths open.at that sight. They had never seen such an effortlessly extraction of mana cores in their lives until that point.

    Now that they thought to it, the man before them had done something even more astonishing; by moving far faster than their eyes could follow.

    Technically, they were supposed to be at least faster than he was, even if his body had more defense, which made for their surprise.

    "Are you a Deviant?," Brenard suddenly threw a question at Noah.

    Recalling that he had seen that word on the mutated snake''s panel, Noah proceeded to ask questions on that matter, as even Aiden didn''t have that knowledge.

    "What is a Deviant?" he enquired, startling the group of seven.

    Complicated expressions appeared on their faces at his words, they weren''t certain if that question was a joke or not, as he could be testing them.

    Not wanting to provoke the seemingly genuinely curious man, Brenard opened his mouth to answer that question to the best of his knowledege.

    "Deviants, are as the word means. Those who deviate from the normal system. Most especially in elemental affinities, or abilities," he exined. "Deviants are also usually very powerful. Far powerful than the norm, causing for their immense value."

    "What type of Deviants exist," Noah spoke, finding the topic Interesting.

    "Well I don''t know much, since individuals like that are really rare, and their abilities can also be really random ording to what I read. But from what I''ve heard; there are deviants who have monstrous physical strength, or have the elemental affinity of nts, being able to manipte them, and so on. You can literally input anything in the nk spaces,'' Brnard exined.

    "So basically, they are special amongst even the special," Noah stated.

    "Yes," Brenard replied.

    "Have you ever met one. A Deviant?" Noah asked.

    "No," Brenard replied.

    "That''s nice knowledge, I guess," Noah announced getting up. He found himself having thoughts about the mutated snake in the valley, and wondered how much it would sell in the market.

    "Are there Deviant magical beasts. And if there are how much are they worth in the market," Noah asked without giving a hint about his knowledge of a real deviant.

    "Yes there are, though they are usually born from mutations, kind of like the beasts of the w region, some Deviants were found there," Brenard exined, "As for how much one would go for in the market; I believe it would be Incredible. Even a tier 1 deviant beast could make a person as rich as a small sized noble family. That''s how rare they are."

    An excited smile threatened to break out on Noah''s face at those words, but he managed to retain his cool.

    He immediately promised himself to keep his findings a secret. Hopefully no one would find and kill it before he returned.

    Stretching his body since a stiffness had appeared in his arms, Noah opened his mouth to speak.

    "I don''t think I''m a Deviant, and honestly I don''t care," he stated tly.

    "Do you know where the head branch of the Divine Lightning guild is?" Noah asked, focusing his now cold gaze on the still seated experts.

    "Yes," Brenard responded following Noah''s arm movements with his eyes.

    "Good, I need you to take me there," Noah announced, then a popping sound escaped his right arm.

 Chapter 182 182. FIRST BATCH

    "Eh!" Brenard eximed, a deep frown appearing on his face.

    "I''m sorry, but I can''t do that. Not when my life isn''t guaranteed," Brenard exined shaking his head.

    Noah nodded his head in understanding, the man had fufilled his side of the forced deal, there was no reason to enforce anymore actions.

    "I guess it''s time to end this," Noah announced without the slightest bit of hesitation in his deep voice.

    Panic spread in the minds of the seven cultivators, and each of them quickly shot nces of plea at Brenard. They wanted him to do something, anything.

    Brenard saw all of this and his mind managed to produce an idea right before Noah acted.

    "Wait!" Brenard called out, adopting a submissive position, by cing his forehead on the ground. The other six doing the same.

    Noah saw this and frowned, but still responded to the man''s call anyway.

    "What do you want?" Noah asked.

    "Is there anyway we can keep our lives," Brenard enquired, his voice dripping with utter respect.

    Having had a conversation with Noah, he understood that the young monster wasn''t an unreasonable person. Meaning he had to find a way to appeal to him.

    An eyebrow inevitably rose on Noah''s face at the man''s words, and his mouth opened to make their situation clear.

    "There isn''t. You all have seen too much," Noah dered, beginning to move his essence.

    ''So that is it!'' Brenard eyes widened, and a solution to Noah''s insecurity rose.

    "How about we all swear an oath," Brenard suggested rasing his head up for the first time since he began that conversation.

    Noah furrowed his brows at those words and quick consulted the mighty system.

    ''Is that possible?'' Noah enquired.

    [[Yes. But the oath would have to be on your terms, since mana can''t affect the essence you bear]]

    ''I thought only those stronger can form an oath with the weaker party,'' Noah wondered.

    [[Affirmative. Only those stronger than the oath-taker can be sure of the safety of the oath. But it is the purity of the energy the oathmaker bears that makes the difference]]

    Understanding dawned on Noah at those words, and he quickly ced all the pieces of information he had to arrive at a rather obvious conclusion.

    The speed forces''s energy was something the entirety of Cregar didn''t have ess to, and apparently mana wasn''t as powerful as it.

    In short, any oath he made would continue to hold as long as the bearer of the oath doesn''t achieve a purity of essence that matched the speed force.

    "Hmmm...an oath," Noah muttered cing his left-hand on his beardless chin.

    Seeing that Noah considered the idea, Brenard promptly continued.

    "Yes. You can bound us by an oath that would keep your secret, our cores being at stake if we break the oath," he exined.

    "It''s the perfect way to keep your secret safe, and we our lives," he borated more on the idea, and soon lowered his head again, but a grin shone on his hidden face.

    Knowing that the purity of a persons mana was a core path of an oath; he felt reasonably safe.

    Although he couldn''t sense what color Noah''s core was, or even the man''s power in general, but he remained certain that he wasn''t in the middle-stage.

    Being an expert who had an octahedral red-core about to spew into the yellow realm, he felt his freedom guaranteed.

    And having a body at the peak of the first-grade further assured him.

    "It is do-able," Noah announced, "But I''ll need to add a few more conditions to it," Noah exined.

    "Thank you for your consideration!" Brenard exmained, a smirk spreading on his still hidden face.

    ''How do I make an oath,'' Noah soon questioned the system.

    [Do you wish to form an oath]

    [Yes/No]

    Picking yes, Noah saw another panel quickly appear in his eyes.

    [Please input the terms in which you wish the oath to carry...]

    Doing as the system told him to, Noah watched a few more panels pop up.

    [Generating Oath.....]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Generation of Oath sessful]

    [Bringing oath into existence]

    [Note: this will cost you a portion of your essence]

    [Oath has been sessful brought into existence]

    A unique aura suddenly spread inside the enclosed cave, alerting the bowing cultivators, and Noah.

    All immediatelyid eyes on a bright yellow sphere the size of a man''s fist.

    The sphere of condensed speed essence, had runic symbols of an even deeper shade of yellow running on its surface, making for that aura.

    Feeling an intense urge to inspect that floating orb of energy, Noah did as his Instincts wanted, and felt multiple waves Information seep into his mind at that action.

    The oaths contents flowed into Noah''s mind, and he nodded when he confirmed that it remained ording to what he wanted.

    The seven cultivators instead; felt astonished to see that floating orb. Oaths usually weren''t in that refined form, as it seemed like something put together by an expert proficient in oathmaking.

    A tinge of respect rose in their hearts at the quickness of the oaths creation, and its stunning beauty. However, one simple question rose in their minds.

    Why is it yellow? They wondered.

    Their mental waves soon moved to inspect the floating sphere, and a few waves of Information flowed into their minds.

    Their expressions immediately went dark after they understood the oaths contents.

    epting that oath would mean practically be ves to Noah.

    They would have to keep whatever he termed a secret, secret. And would have to obey his every orders. Failure to do both would result in their cores brutal destruction.

    But if theyplied with the oaths conditions Noah wouldn''t kill them, but it wasn''t stated what would happen to Noah if he actually decided to kill them without any real reason.

    Complicated expressions remained on each of their faces after the inspection. Their eyes locked gazes multiple times as they struggled to make a next move.

    Brenard had the idea of rasing an objection to the oaths conditions, but Noah''s cold gaze trapped any words he had to say, in his throat.

    Seeing the struggle evident on their faces, Noah''s voice rang out.

    "Do you have an objection to the oath," Noah asked. "If you do; raise your hand. I''m willing to listen," he dered.

    Uncertain expressions appeared on their faces at those words, and they soon exchanged nces in hesitation.

    "I promise I won''t directly kill you," Noah smiled. But even that failed to calm their ever growing paranoia.

    Seeing that no one looked ready to talk, Brenards eventually spoke up.

    "Um...sir," he started, "The issue with the oath is that it doesn''t state what would happen, if you went ahead and took our lives without any concrete reason," Brenard exined respectfully.

    "Oh that''s your worry," Noah giggled sinsterly.

    "Now, Brenard. I''ll ask you one thing, why exactly should i have to be punished," Noah spoke slowly.

    "I can end your exsitences on the spot if i so wanted. Yet I give you a chance to carry on with your lives, only with a few conditions," Noah paused.

    "Why should I be punished for my act of mercy," Noah''s voice reached an all-time cold, and a bolt of yellow electrical energy shot out of his figure to strike the caves frozen walls.

    A heavy atmosphere fell on the seven at that point, as even moreplicated expressions appeared on their faces.

    Noah''s words were valid, he didn''t seem to need them. Even though he desired their help to one of the great guild; everyone knew where it was. He could simply ask around.

    They found no way out of that situation, and could only remain silent.

    "Notwithstanding, i want you all to trust me. I promise not to end your lives simply because i desire to, and i promise not to go back on my words," Noah dered sincerely. His icy blue eyes flickering withplex emotions.

    Noah felt he spoke those words more to himself than the cultivators, as the true trantion of those words were more personal, rting to his hate for the royal family, and the fact that he didn''t want to be like them.

    Heavy sighs escaped the mouths of the cultivators at that point, how were they supposed to hold on to his words. They had barely began talking for half an hour.

    "I ept," Brenard eventually announced. For reasons he couldn''tpletely exin, he felt assured that the young man would do as he had promised.

    The others saw this, and simr sentences soon escaped their mouths, even though they remained uncertain of their decision.

    The whole cave shone with a blinding yellow radiance at that point, as Noah''s first batch of allies, although slightly forced, was created.

 Chapter 183 183. SEPARATE WAYS

    Seven thin streams of yellow runic symbols exited the floating sphere to stretch towards the seven kneeling cultivators.

    The streams shot into the lower part of their abdomen, where their core was and proceeded to imprint themselves on that vessel of power.

    The end product of that event, was what looked like ck chains wrapping around their mana cores, and Noah immediately felt a connection stretch between he and them.

    With that done, singr yellow runic symbols floated towards their soul cores to also imprint themselves on the edges of that vessel of power.

    Noah watched the body of the seven experts shine with a bright yellow radiance, totally overshadowing their ck clothed figures.

    [You have sessfully made oath with Entities: >Tex< >Faria< >Darius< >Brenard< >Anna< >Mark< >Den<]

    A smile shone on Noah''s face at that prompt, and he immediately decided to wait a bit, to allow the current state of their realities sink in.

    Brenard felt an intense force wrap around his mana core and soul core. Although it didn''t hurt, it felt unhinderable.

    The effects of the oath had been far more than he expected, and helplessness soon spread inside him.

    In his over sixty years of life, he had never experienced an oath so powerful. Not to talk of one made by someone who was supposed to be weaker than he was.

    Fear and regret soon reced his helplessness, as something deep within him Informed him of the nigh-impossibility of breaking free of that oath.

    The others experienced simr emotions, but not as strong as Brenards; who had formerly begun looking forward to his eventually escape, but his chances looked really slim now.

    A few minutes passed, as Noah simply stood there cloth-lessly silent, his eyes Inspecting their expressions, and the uncertainty he expected to see was present.

    "I''m sure your current situation has sunk in enough," Noah suddenly spoke, "I need to leave this ce already," he stated.

    "Does any of you have an attire I can wear," Noah enquired. He didn''t want to enforce his authority just yet.

    One of the males present, his name being Den, raised his hand, and a ck long garment appeared in his hand.

    Noah nodded his head, and brought the in attire to himself, using his mental waves.

    The females present shifted their gaze''s in embarrassment, and Noah couldn''t help but experience a tinge of that emotion himself.

    Allowing them see him in that state had been bearable when he nned to kill them, but things had changed now. They would continue to live with that scene etched in their minds.

    With that thought in mind, Noah couldn''t help but stray into slightly unclean ideas.

    ''They have to obey my every order; even the females. Which means....'' That thought process faded out as he fell into a daze. His rational mind struggled to battle the growing desire, but it eventually did.

    The seven cultivators watched him stand still for whole minutes after he put on his clothes, and they couldn''t help but feel ufortable.

    Needless to say Noah eventually returned to their midst.

    ''That was close!'' Noah exmained inwardly. He could swear he felt his younger brother twitch, threatening to rise from his slumber.

    ''That surely would have been ufortable,'' he sighed in relief.

    Clearing his throat while unintentionally stealing nces of the two females, Noah proceeded to talk after that quick inspection.

    "Like I said earlier, I need you to take me to the Divine Lightning guild," Noah began, regaining his seriousness.

    "But I also want you to deliver your goods," Noah added.

    "Since you have been hired to do so, and i really do not care what those existences n to do, you are allowed toplete the mission. But that is after you''ve delivered me to my destination," Noah exined admiring the hood the garment had.

    "But we needed a minimum of three bodies," Brenard exined, returning to his cross-legged position.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah had be his master, he had to retain his worth in his eyes.

    "How many do you have," Noah frowned, he hated that topic.

    "Two," Brenard stated.

    "Well I''m sure someone will try to kill us on our journey. You''ll take them," Noah shurgged.

    Brenard furrowed his brows but said nothing more.

    "Now how far is the guild from our current position," Noah enquired, and a map quickly appeared in front of Brenards figure, who immediately moved closer to Noah''s position.

    The other six did the same, and soon all were staring at arge brown map.

    "The Divine Lightning guild is located on the western region of the city, and our destination is on the eastern side," Brenard exined pointing out the positions of their different destinations.

    "Hmmmm..We are closer to your destination than mine," Noah muttered thinking up a n.

    "Is there a time limit for the first delivery?," Noah asked not shifting his gaze from the map.

    A surprise filled expression appeared on the faces of the seven, and Brenard quickly spoke up to exin the reason for that action, even though Noah hadn''t seen them.

    "Sir...this isn''t our first delivery. It''s thest. Making fifteen in total," Brenard exined, and Noah couldn''t help but choke on his thoughts.

    Silence fell on their figures as Noah blinked a few times to allow what he heard sink.

    ''Fifteen!'' he shook his head, but didn''t ce too much focus on that detail.

    "So is there a time limit or not," Noah swept his gaze on their figures.

    "Well yes. We have three days to deliver thest batch, or we lose the money promised," Brenard exined.

    "How long will it take to get to the guilds branch from here," Noah asked again.

    "A minimum of ten days on foot," Brenards stated after a bit of thought, "On carriage it would take you a week. But I''m assuming you don''t want that," Brenard exined.

    "Troublesome....." Noah muttered falling into deep thought.

    He desired to have his underlings on his way to the guild, but they also needed to deliver those bodies.

    Noah felt their mission important since they would be a source of ie whenever he didn''t have much.

    He could also decide to leave them and go his way, seeing as his super speed would really shorten that journey.

    On that note, Noah felt a weird sensation rise up inside his mind.

    He could tell or show the seven his uniqueness now that they were bound to keep his secret. Something he never thought he would get to do.

    They would be the first persons he would be allowed to show his real power to without much fear, and that reality both excited him and saddened him. He had grown used to having to keep his secret.

    "Ah yes! Before we proceed further into our n; all that you''ve seen me do today should be kept a secret," Noah dered, and felt something inside him churn at that sentence.

    He felt the connection he had with the seven grow stronger, as they too felt their connection to him deepen. His words seemed to apply a heavy pressure on their minds and cores, but it didn''t hurt, strangely.

    "Now that, that''s settled. I''ve decided on our next move," Noah paused, a grin spreading on his blemishless face.

    "You all are going to contribute a bit of your coins to me and we''ll go our seperate ways. You''ll slow me down if we don''t," Noah announced.

 Chapter 184 184. GIGGLES

    Thinking about his decision, Noah felt it a rather obvious one. His mind remained set on getting into a guild at all cost. He had literally risked his existence for that goal.

    Being so close to it; he didn''t dare get carried away by a mere side mission, which didn''t even hold any importance to him.

    It reminded him of how a total waste of time bozolom had been, if only he had actually reaped the rewards that were rightfully his.

    Joining a guild, one of the great ones, would open doors to more interesting missions, something like joining or stopping a ritual ddn''t sound nice enough.

    Noah felt surprised to find that his underlings sighed in relief at his decision, but he expected that much.

    His eyes fell on their wounds, but they all seemed to look totally okay. Their statuses as tier 3 experts didn''t allow such non-fatal physical injuries do much to them.

    "How much do you want from us?" Brenard eventually enquired of Noah.

    He felt his heart race at Noah''s silence, for he feared the possibility of the young man being greedy, and asking for everything.

    "Not much," Noah shrugged. "What I need, your pursesbined would probably not be enough to achieve it. So just tell me how much you have, and I''ll take a reasonable amount from it," Noah exined, ending his words with a light shurg.

    The seven immediately went on to name the estimates of their purses, and Noah couldn''t help but feel inferior as a result to the numbers they uttered.

    ''Over 2200 medium sized silver coins!'' Noah''s mind trembled in deep shock.

    Each person had a minimum of over 300 medium silver coins!

    Compared to them, he was poor.

    Greed shone in Noah''s eyes at that calction, and the urge to gather half of their worth for himself, rapidly spread in his mind.

    With that type of money he would be capable of buying the hundred beasts he needed. Even though his requirements weren''t up to that anymore.

    A problem arose however. His current calction remained based on Kerieles economy, and that city was literally thousands of miles from his current position. Things were bound to be different.

    The quality of the beasts would probably change, and the sellers were probably well fed existences who wanted to remain well fed. Price''s had to be different, but the only currently way of confirming his hunch was before him.

    "Say, Brenard. How much would a lower-stage tier 3 beast cost in the market," Noah asked, startling the expert who had not expected such a change of topics so quickly.

    A difficult expression appeared on the experts face after the question, and his left hand rose to scratch his head, while his voice rang out.

    "Well i can guess a few hundred small slivers," Brenard stated, and Noah''s mind Instantly went nk.

    "Why...." Noah spoke, his voice nearly shuddering.

    "Well demand is high, and although there are a lot of tier 3''s, most don''t find hunting beasts profitable, since the chances of death are really high; which makes for low supply," he exined.

    "Even I do not want to risk it. I can''t imagine battling a peak orange core or even yellow core beast with power at the top of the lower-stage of tier 3" he shook his head.

    "The fauna of this city is Incredible, even tier 4 beasts lurk in unexpected ces since the mana desiity here is really high," Brenard added.

    Naoh could only shake his head at those words. He understood that logic far more than he expected.

    The system had built detailed battles in which Aiden has partook in, and it managed to simte the struggles one rtively strong tier 3 beast brought to a whole group of about seven.

    ''How did you even simte all these,'' Noah couldn''t help but wonder. The memories were so detailed that Noah found it hard to believe that those events never actually happened.

    The system remained silent since the answers to Noah''s words, he wasn''t allowed to know.

    "May i ask what you need then for?" Brenard soon spoke again, his voice still respectful.

    "Oh it''s nothing thatconcerns you, just a little project of mine," Noah waved his hand, but deep within him he knew those words weren''tpletely true.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Getting into the dungeon would let him level up again, which would allow him prepare adequately for the trials he would face by the time the bracelet turned to dust.

    He hardly thought about his annoying situation so as to not kill himself with worries, but they really were the main reason he wanted to get strong so badly.

    If he weren''t in such a situation, he would probably been on an adventure or something, simply whiling away his time, afterall his life expectancy remained really high.

    A heavy sigh eventually exited Noah''s mouth after a few moments.

    ''The struggles of this world are a lot. But at least I have the system,'' he thought.

    Realizing that he hadn''t given the system its due credit, Noah took that instant to do so.

    He felt sure that he wouldn''t be alive on Cregar it not for it.

    It''s crazy perks had allowed him quickly advance in strength in a really short period of timepared to the denizens of that.

    ''But I need more,'' Noah concluded. His need for 100 beasts had slowed down his advance in power, and he didn''t feel his current power enough for what was toe. Even tier 4 seemed to fall short In his mind.

    "I want 50 medium silver coins from each of you" Noah announced, "Do not worry this''ll probably be the first andst time I''ll actually ask you for money," Noah added, even though he didn''t need to.

    While they didn''t like the amount he requested, the exact sum he named, exited their rings to float towards him anyways.

    Soon Noah found 350 medium silver coins floating in front of him, and words couldnt express his joy.

    He had gone from barely 100 small silvers to 3500 worth of small silvers!

    Noah''s face shone brightly, and he soon waved his hand to store his gains.

    "That''s much of all we need-" Noah said, recalling something.

    "How do wemunicate," he asked, and unsurprisingly, Brenard already had a solution.

    "We all ownmunication amulets, we''ll simply add our contacts to yours," the man exined.

    "Unfortunately i don''t have one," Noah shrugged, he didn''t need to hide such details about himself.

    "Then one of us will have to give you ours," Brenard announced sweeping his gaze on his annoyingly silent colleagues.

    "Seeing as no one will, I''ll give you mine sir," Brenard dered, and an object appeared in his hand.

    Noah watched this scene y out and couldn''t help but feel a dirty feeling spread in his mind.

    Brenard seemed to want to gain his favour, and looked ready to be a bootlicker to achieve it.

    The round amuletnded in Noah''s right palm, and he didn''t hesitate to Inspect it. This was his first time holding one, disregarding Aiden''s talk with the ck clothed men.

    Speaking of that; themunication amulet given to him by Williams wasn''t on him anymore.

    Aiden''s fight with the grasshopper had destroyed it. He had hung it over his neck, and the beasts acid-like substance had destroyed it, effectively severing that eventual event from his list of to-do''s.

    The amulet resembled a normal amulet with a ck gem, only bigger, and it''s surface featured a series of metallic wires intricately welded to that ss like material.

    At the center of the amulet was a blue swirling light that Noah confirmed to be condensed mana. How it hadn''t blown up, he couldn''t grasp.

    "How do i use it?" Noah eventually asked, after staring at the object for a minute or so. And he uttered those words in t tone.

    The experts before him saw that question as thest straw, and unintentional giggles soon slipped out of their mouths.

 Chapter 185 185. SHOW OFF

    Their hands quickly shot towards their mouths to stop that action, and a tinge of fear inevitably spread inside their minds; immediately their eyes fell on Noah''s frown.

    No words were spoken for a while, as everyone waited for the breath-taking young man to talk. And his eventual words let out the nervous breaths each had been holding.

    "I know it''s funny and all, but i really do not know much about this world. I''ve mostly been dwelling in the poor settlements of this nation after all. I literally just got here a few days ago," Noah exined surprisingly calm, his frown also leaving his eyebrows.

    "So how does it work?" He asked again.

    His exnation managed to leave the experts stunned, as their minds tried to reason the possibility of such a reality.

    After a few instants most confirmed that his words sounded eptably true.

    Nevertheless, a subject still bothered them deeply enough to cause them to doubt his words. His power.

    How he had stayed decades with such incrediblness hidden inside of him, left them blown away.

    His young looking age signified how fast he had advanced through the tiers of power, and the little prowess he had disyed told of how ridiculously unfair his potential was.

    His dual elemental affinities of both rare elements, also emphasized his shocking and enviable potential.

    Noah was the emodiment of perfection, and would be considered a genius even among top geniuses.

    This obvious evaluation caused their minds to seriously ponder on how and why no bigshots of their nation had recruited him yet. Most of which would dly kill to get someone as outrageous as him.

    Then again, he did mention his desire to journey to one of the great guilds. That alone spoke of his intentions. And even they had to admit that he was worthy of such a prestigious establishment.

    "You simply input your mental waves to activate it. Most of its functions can be essed through that. The only thing you would need to do without your consciousness is charge it," Brenard exined.

    "It''s not a high tier amulet which is why you can sight the mana within it and not a mana stone. It also doesn''t hold the many features that more expensive ones have. So when you desire to charge the device, you''ll need to feed it the energy within a mana core," he stopped.

    Noah immediately did as the man exined, and felt a series of names flow into his mind. But they were only those of the cultivators present there.

    "I''ve cleared the non-useful contacts Informations and left ours. I''ve also severed my ownership with it. Which would allow your mind get notified when you recieve a call," Brenard exined further, his eyes beaming with a light of pride.

    "Thank you," Noah simply uttered, getting up. He had all he needed now, which meant it was time to move.

    The experts stood up as well, paving a path for him towards the still sealed entrance.

    Noah lightly tapped on the ice wall, and it immediately shattered into millions of frozen kes

    The sunlight on the outside immediately shone on Noah''s face at that point, further increasing the caves temperature. The sun had risen far higher than when they first entered that ce.

    The smell of the environment before him washed in an out his nostrils, but he barely focused on such unimportant details.

    He had begun to stop minding the uniqueness of the environments of Creagar. Only things extraordinaril spectacr could fascinate him now.

    Noah felt he had changed a lot in the three days he spent out of his body.

    If it was due to Aiden''s still present memories, he didn''t know. Or simply because something within him had really begun to get serious, he still didn''t know. But he perceived that a change had definitely happened within him.

    He took a step forward, fully exiting that cave, then turned back to look at the experts after a few more steps.

    They all seemed to wait for some sort of sign, but Noah wasn''t going to give any.

    He swept his gaze on the nervous looking experts, and giggled inwardly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He wouldn''t see them for a rtively long time, and might not evenmunicate with them much, but he didn''t care.

    He had gained people who could witness him in all his glory, and he didn''t hesitate to show off.

    He turned his head forward and took a deep breath, raising both his arms.

    His environment seemed to tremble at that simple action, when a series of dense electrical sparks materialized around his figure; shooting out to obliterate most of the surrounding trees.

    Not only that, ice spread beneath his feet covering arge surface area. Even the cave didn''t escape that event.

    Suddenly, tree-like structures of pure ice seemingly emerged out of the the frozen ground to rece the fallen trees.

    He released the breath in his mouth, and a powerful gust of wind followed that action, but the ice trees managed to withstand the power in that blow.

    Noah''s white long hair fluttered in that scene, and the watching experts felt that image burn into their soul. Noah resembled a magestic being that had seen the peak of power.

    The soft yellow glow the speed forces empowerment produced further emphasized that beautiful scene, but only Noah knew how much essence he had wasted on that action.

    "I guess it''s time for our separation," Noah announced wearing his poker face on making it seem as though the series of magical actions he executed had simply been refreshing.

    ""Yes"" They said in unison; immediately snapping out of their daze.

    A mixture of emotions filled their minds at that moment, envy being one of them, but also reverence.

    That disy of power showed how Incredible the amount ofprehension he had achieved in both his affinities.

    "You may need this," Brenard called out bringing forth the map they had previously inspected.

    Noah nod his head and epted the map, performing a quick inspection on it.

    Brenard saw this and quickly gave him details on their current position, which was all Noah needed.

    "I hope you find someone toplete the batch," Noah stated, his eyes slowly checking them out again.

    Most of their injuries still remained, but none looked sickly pale. Their Injuries had also stopped bleeding.

    "When next would we meet?" Brenard chipped in seeing that Noah looked ready.

    "Whenever the time is right. I am about to go on an adventure that would spiral into other adventurers. It could take years before our next meeting, so do whatever you like," Noah exined nkly, but died of cringe on the inside.

    Brenard nodded his head at that point, but his mouth quickly opened to release words again, another question escaping his lips. But it was one most of his colleagues also had in mind.

    "Sir may we know your name!" Brenard stated loudly, performing a slight bow.

    Noah fell into quick thoughts at that point. He understood that he could tell them his real name, but he already felt tired of "Noah" and opted for a name he currently had.

    "Aiden," Noah announced; his body bursting out with powerful electrical energy, then he promptly took a step backwards, immediately turning into a bright yellow streak.

    Needless to say, his unique departure to say the least, shocked the experts who failed to quickly process what had just happened.

    Immediately after their minds settled down, regret almost instantly filled thier minds. Why?

    Because their mouths would never be able to speak of the wonderous expert they had encountered on that journey.

 Chapter 186 186. TINY

    Noah zoomed across the streets of a certain area in the Dragon''s w city, without much care.

    His current speed, although really draining in terms of essence consumption, was simply to quick for even tier 3''s to follow.

    However, the yellow streak which were actually reminants of the essence that allowed him move that fast, could be clearly sighted.

    News of the strange sightings spread across that districts residents like wild fire. The fast yellow streak only few could even sight, became a sort of news, but nothing more.

    Most didn''t even believe, further reducing it to nothing more than a rumour.

    Having always noticed the tendrils of electrical energy he emitted while running, Noah had performed multiple tests during his travel to see whether he could stop the only thing that made his quick movement obvious.

    Unfortunately that required a deeper understanding of the speed force which he didn''t have currently.

    Noah felt utterly lost in trying toprehend the speed force as a whole. He gained what felt like the general idea of that energy, but something deep within him told him that there was far more.

    Where to start he genuinely didn''t know. There weren''t any guide for that topic provided to him, at least as of current. He hoped such would be avable to him in the time toe.

    Temporarily moving away from that topic, we move to Noah''s current position.

    From the maps illustration, the head branch of the Divine Lightning guild was located in a district called Guio.

    The district or area, or whatever the people of Cregar termed it, was surrounded by a wide river, but out of that river emerged multiplerge curved and pointy rocks, almost like a makeshift cage.

    The veiw from the emptynd area elevated a few 50 feets allowed him witness that strange scene well.

    Truth be told, Noah viewed the whole city as a state, he found it hard to see the entire ce only as a city.

    But seeing as the people of Creagar didn''t divided suchrge poptednd areas into such; instead opting toe together as a nation, he could only settle for that.

    The town of sorts whichid before him didn''t have any walls, but the multiple bridges connecting it to thend around it allowed for certified existences to stand guard.

    Waves of people poured in and out of that special environment. The district felt like a city of its own, but its acritecture remained smilr to the others.

    On his way there, Noah had encountered mostly tnds, filled of course with hundreds of popted buildings.

    He didn''t have the time or rather didn''t want to spend time admiring the beauty of the city.

    With therge wall that showed the end of that city in the distance, Noah kept getting reminded of his reason for being there.

    A sigh eventually escaped Noah''s mouth while he continued to gaze at the sparkling blue water in the distance.

    A soft breeze blew upon his face sending his pure white hair flying everywhere, but he didn''t bother to straighten them

    The sun above him tried its best to prate the seemingly coolyer constantly surrounding Noah''s body but failed miserably.

    The way down that rtively high ce was rocky. He could perform a simple sprint and be over with it, but didn''t.

    Instead he took his time walking his way down, even if there remained a clear path only a few hundred meters from his position.

    Halfway down the elevation, Noah seemed to snap out of a daze, as he straightened his position to sweep his gaze on his surroundings.

    ''What the heck am I doing,'' he wondered in genuine confusion. A frown appeared on his while he reviewed his memory, and found nothing odd, yet why was he struggling his way down that ce, instead of just running.

    Noah stayed put for a few tens of seconds until he managed to make sense of his situation. At this point his figure had begun to recieve stares from those above and below him.

    ''I guess this is what the system meant,'' Noah sighed. Something seemed to have taken over him during his time watching that district from above.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His weird behavior had been triggered due to the hesitation and nervousness brewing within him, and his mind found walking down the rocky terrain the best way to stall.

    ''Nothing happened during my time with the cultivators two days ago, why now,'' he wondered, finding a good spot to stand without having to crouch.

    A tiny portion of essence flowed out of his barely half-filled core to wash over his body, Noah disappeared from that spot after that event.

    His figure produced no yellow streak due to the Incredibly low amount of essence used.

    His figure flickered over 36 ft below his former position; which at this point the t ground.

    That event certainly caught attention, but in a world filled with monsters able to level cities even as big as the entirety of the Dragons w city, Noah''s feat remained only amusing, even if their eyes wasn''t able to follow his movement.

    Notwithstanding, some tried to walk up to the suprisingly Incredibly good looking guy, but he had vanished again.

    Noah arrived in front of the river surrounding that district. His hand slid down the obsidian ck rock hundreds of meters high, and tens of meters wide.

    That curved stone seemed to offset something inside of him since Noah blinked mulitiple times.

    ''Very troublesome!'' He eximed inwardly.

    Eventually leaving that site, Noah proceeded to walk up to the line into the district.

    Not being a private body, there weren''t any need for ID''s.

    Experiencing multiple short bouts of confusion andck of focus, Noah confirmed that the reason for the sudden event was due to the nervousness he felt.

    It seemed having two active personalities within his mind caused for a sh of ideas. With both sides losing to each other, his body simply moved on Instincts.

    Anything that so much as tickled his curiosity would gain his full attention, almost literally pulling him towards it.

    To deal with this Noah had to practice the breathing technique he utilized for his energycore cultivation. His senses calmed down and he eventually passed the security inspection. A rowdy one it was.

    During his time on that queue, Noah had the full attention of his surroundings.

    Men clicked their tongues at him, women muttered with short giggles and nces, while the tamed magical beasts steered away from him.

    Now that he thought to it, his time waiting on lines were usually like this, only this one being filed with much powerful existences.

    A bit of asking was all Noah needed to get himself in the right direction towards the guild branch. Most replied him simply because of his looks, while others due to the respect they had for his aura-less power.

    The bouts of confusion experienced an exponential increase now that his goal remained only a few kilometers from him.

    The breathing technique worked, but only a bit; as thoughts on what exactly he would say when he arrived there filled his mind.

    Truth be told he remained clueless on what to do. He nned to show whoever would attend to him, the box given to him by Melissa, who''s identity he still fully didn''t know.

    The approach could work, but questions he didn''t desire to answer would eventually be asked, and even worse he could have to confront her again if they desired to cross-check his identity

    But changes that happened during his almost four months on Creagar had been to much. She wouldn''t even recognize him since he had gone from looking close to killer, to downright breath-taking.

    A series of battles continued within Noah''s mind on his walk towards the ce described to him by the really friendly residers of that district.

    However, all conflicting thoughts vanished from Noah''s mind when he arrived in front of a tiny, run-down looking building.

 Chapter 187 187. LUCKY

    Deep confusion ravaged the insides of Noah''s mind at the sight thaty before him.

    He couldn''t help but sweep his gaze on his surroundings; to confirm that he had arrived at the ce the people had directed him to.

    He had confirmed from exactly seven Individuals before getting there, so he knew this was it. ''But really,'' he wondered, perplexed.

    Noah fully expected a grand building pained with golden colours and bustling with Individuals.

    He even half expected the ce to be surrounded by a dark cloud releasing bolts of heavenly lightning, or something.

    But all that imagination went down the drain when his eyes continued to fall on a run-down building with ck and grey-ish paint, causing for its old look.

    The buildings around the ck building made a massive contrast, as his destination seemed to be in a world of its own.

    People even avoided the building like an ugly scar, as they didn''t even spare it a second nce.

    Multiple minutes passed, and Noah felt the excitement he had for that guild burn. That emotion exiting his head like smoke.

    Doubts filled Noah''s mind about the whole thing, but the old saying; don''t judge a book by its cover, rang in his head, giving him boost in morale.

    Unfortunately the insides of the book looked just as bad as its cover.

    Noah pushed the brown, barely standing door, to step foot into a dimly lit environment.

    The smell of dampness and dust fought their way into his nose, and he shurnk back in disgust, wondering how a ce could smell dry and wet at the same time.

    ''Whenst was this door opened,'' Noah couldn''t help but wonder.

    Dusty surfaces filled his entire view and what he recognized as seats looked to have been clothed with decades of dust.

    "What a surprise!" A young and vibrant voice suddenly spread Inside the almostpletely dark room, disquieting it.

    All Noah needed was a few more seconds, and he would have concluded the ce abandoned.

    Noah managed to sight the shadowy figure of a person sitting across the room, behind the probably dusty reception table.

    "Stop staring ande over," the male voice sounded, promoting Noah''s suspicious movement.

    His spells remained at the tip of his mind since he couldn''t sense the power of the individual. If he could, he wouldn''t have thought the ce deste.

    He soon arrived before the reception and gained clearer visuals of the person speaking to him.

    Noahid eyes on the face of s middle-aged man. The man had green coloured hair that seemed to shimmer under the rooms low lights.

    He sported round brown eyes that seemed aged even from that short inspection.

    Although looking middle-aged, the man''s face featured no blemishes or wrinkles, and the light smile on his face further enhanced his slightly above average looks.

    "What do you seek young man?" The man spoke before Noah could open his mouth.

    Trying his best to understand the man''s power but failing, Noah relied on the system to aplish that goal while he spoke.

    [Name: Rhy ]

    [Race: Human]

    [Title: Guild branch coordinator]

    [Tier: 3[Higher]]

    [Affinity: Lightning]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    Noah felt surprised to see the man''s affinity, but that emotion didn''t show in his voice.

    "I wish to join the Divine Lightning guild," Noah announced not shying away, even though the cultivator held more power than he.

    Silence reigned for a few seconds, the middle-aged man seemingly contemting something.

    "I''m sorry young man, but you are already toote," the cultivator eventually announced, causing Noah''s mood to instantly darken.

    "Registration ended a few weeks ago, and it had been on for more than two months," he exined shaking his head.

    "When will the next registrations start," Noah asked trying to find a glimmer of hope in that unexpected situation.

    "We only recruit every two year''s," the man stated.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah held his breath unconsciously at those words, and he soon felt his n begin to crumble rapidly. The mere thought of traversing the forest again sent chill down his spine.

    The middle-aged man; Rhy, watched Noah''s expression experience multiple changes, each expression darker than thest.

    A tinge of pity shone in his eyes at that point. The young man was someone of the lightning element, he could clearly sense it due to the familiarty that elements have to each other.

    "Will this change things," Noah suddenly spoke startling the man, while a golden box appeared in Noah''s palm, an illusory image of the beautiful Melissa brightening up the room with its yellow light.

    An eyebrow rose on Ryhs face at that point, and he soon furrowed those green and thick brows.

    "She said I should drop by anytime I had chance. I didn''t know that the distance was this far. And I''m a traveller" Noah exined, desperately trying to find a way out.

    "Young man when did you receive this from her," Rhy asked, his consideration looking do-able in his mind.

    "About two months ago or three," Noah replied genuinely unsure. Too much had happened during that time and there wasn''t any proper way of recording the passage of time. At least as far as he knew.

    "Hmmm....Lady Melissa only gives this to those she finds impressive. I believe I can make apromise," Rhy exined, his cool voice sparking hope in Noah''s heart.

    "Although we only have three weeks till the screening process. I can still allow your registration," Rhy announced, and the whole room lit up with a deep golden radiance.

    The dust in that ce vanished and the whole ce seemed to tidy itself!

    A series of orange Inscriptions shone in front of Noah, as the whole ce seemed to stretch; two round metallic tforms appearing before he and the man, further separating them.

    "You are a really lucky man to arrive here at this time. I was about to begin the preparations for the gathering of the already registered aspirants," Rhys voice spread in the room, his exactly location not visible from Noahs position.

    "Stand here," the man suddenly appeared behind him, his expression that of light amusement. But the details that caught Noah''s attention the most was his outfit.

    Disregarding the good looking and regally adorned ck garment with golden stripes and a few other things; Noah focused on the sensation his instincts experienced at the garments material.

    Nothing he could currently do felt able to pierce it.

    A series of yellow and and orange lights scanned Noah''s full figure, spreading a weird sensation through his body.

    Soon a live model of himself appeared before him, but it was illusory.

    "Ah! You have a niceprehension of the lightning affinity for your level. It''ll help you a lot, but it''s still not enough," the man exined.

    "As far as I''m concerned in the category of tier 3 experts your base power is the weakest. Multiple experts with peak-lower-stage prowess and middle-stge prowess signed up. Although most weren''t lightning affinity weilders their power can''t be denied."

    Noah''s illusory image shurnk into a nothing more than a thumbs size, and an illusory ck box contained it.

    "What is your name young man?" Rhy asked tweaking with a few floating panels.

    "Aiden," Noah replied, and a series ofrge yellow letter''s spelling his name appeared in front of him, before shrinking to enter the box.

    "ce both your hands on them," Rhy gestured at the round metallic tforms.

    Doing exactly as he was told, Noah felt a strange jolt of energy course through his whole body, while vibrant red lights spread throughout the ck metallic objects at his touch.

    "This confirms your affinity. Non-lightning affinity holders would have been sent flying," Ryh giggled.

    "It is done," the man eventually announced, after a minute or so of silence.

    A ck ring oted towards Noah, and he didn''t hesitate to grab it.

    "When you active it, your information will be disyed," Rhy exined while the rooms light died down, and everything began to recede to how they were before. Dirty.

    Noah wore the ring and his mind quickly activated it. A series of stats shone in the space in front of him, but Noah noticed something that he didn''t hesitate to read out.

    "Registration position, 12,079," Understanding dawned on him and he couldn''t help but swallow nervously.

    "Yes, there were twelve thousand aspirants this season. But only around three thousand or two will be allowed in. If things go well," the expert exined from a position Noah couldn''t see.

    "So go prepare young man. I''d hate to see someonedy Melissa rmended go to waste," Rhy seemed to disappear and reappear at certain points in the building, until he finally returned to his seat. Allowing Noah focus on him again.

    Noah didn''t bother toin inwardly, he understood that such a well sought out guild would have high requirements.

    ''But damn!'' he still couldn''t help but shake his head.

    However, a question soon rose in his mind amidst his multiple thoughts.

    "If this building is the head and only branch, and it is currently empty, not to talk of small. Where will that many people stay?," He didn''t hesitate to voice his confusion.

 Chapter 188 188. SECLUSION

    "You need not worry about that for now. Just remember to return here when the ring signal''s you. Failure to do so will mean forfeiting your registration," Rhy shrugged the question.

    Noah could only keep his ideas to himself at that point, and silence soon spread before them.

    "I really don''t know how you''ll do it, but try as much as possible to increase your power young man. Thepetition will be fierce, some will die, but only few will gain entry into our great guild," Rhy adviced.

    "I look forward to seeing you join our guild. Lightning affinity holders aren''t easy toe by."

    Noah performed a deep bow in genuine thanks, the expert had really made his day.

    Noah proceeded to walk towards the exit after his bow, Rhys hawk-like gaze following him.

    "Before I go. Why exactly is this ce small. I know the space within it can be manipted, but still, I expected something grander," Noah turned to quickly speak.

    A wide smile broke on Rhys face at that very familiar question. "You have no idea how many times I''ve had people ask me that. However, you''ll only understand when you are fully a member of our guild. Our abode.....is a bit special," Rhy giggled, and Noah felt a powerful force act on his body, then he found himself outside.

    Confusion and curiosity spread in Noah''s mind at that point, but he tried his best to limit it, his focus quickly going on his next n.

    "Three weeks," Noah muttered, ''I should be capable of getting stronger in that time,'' he thought, walking down the street with no real destination in mind.

    "I hope this isn''t a waste of time like bozolom," Noah spoke as doubts began to appear in his mind.

    He didn''t like the wait that followed most events in that world, even though it was a totally normal.

    Making provision for 12,000 humans wasn''t something to be rushed.

    Noah reyed Rhys advice in his head, and the only way he could think of getting exponentially stronger was of course, through cultivating.

    Having found that the boons of cultivating were actually much, Noah decided it was time to focus more on it.

    A few weeks had gone and he had barely cultivated seriously, it was time to return into seculsion.

    "A little exploring won''t kill me," Noah eventually grinned after concluding on his n.

    He would be spending a long time grinding his way into power, a little fun wouldn''t hurt before that boring activity started.

    The district of Gioh remained arge ce, and there weren''t any shortage of engaging activities to try out.

    Mostly eating his way through the restaurants around him, Noah spent only a tiny bit of his money.

    He still had the Nindium nts which he could sell, but doing that would only slow him down, for now at least.

    ''I can even utilize them. Or at least try,'' Noah thought, exiting a building with what looked like a slice of cake.

    He had been greatly surprised to find that something bearing such resemnce to the earthly cusine exsisted.

    However its taste remained horrible.

    Ugly expressions spread on his face with each bite he took, but his powerful stomach didn''t manage to budge under the nauseating effects of the food substance.

    How people enjoyed the disgusting mass of flour and condiments he couldn''tprehend, left his mouth agape.

    His meal of sorts eventually finished, and Noah felt himself really begin to consider opening a bakery in that world. That would be for the greater good of humanity in that.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That tasted like shit," Noah grimaced trying to freeze his tongue, but his spells didn''t work on him.

    His icy blue eyes eventually paused to scan his surroundings. Ignoring the waves of people traversing the wide street meant only for those on foot, Noah took a deep breath, before exhaling. A cold mist forming in front of his mouth.

    His figure still caught the attention of passerbys who had their focus partially on their surroundings, and he soon began to recieve gaze''s.

    He limited himself to begin movement at that point, so as to avoid someone approach him. After all such had happened before.

    Ideas on on what to do before the sunset were constructed and dismissed multiple times in mere seconds.

    And he eventually arrived at one that wouldn''t get him killed or waste too much time, which was to take a bath.

    ''It''s been a while,'' Noah thought finding his way to any building resembling an inn. ''I wonder how I don''t smell in this world,'' he chuckled.

    Eventually found an inn he didn''t hesitate to take a room for a period of 6 hours, since that was the least amount of time he could lodge in one.

    Paying a sum of 5 small silver coins, Noah felt that price worth it since the whole ce looked top-notch.

    His entry into his room proved his earlier guess right, and Noah didn''t hesitate to dive into the bathroom.

    A brown tuby before him upon his entrance, causing a wave of nostalgia to fill his mind.

    The most he had experienced in that world were simply hose''s that poured water.

    Noah spent the next three hours calmly sitting inside his soapy tub, multiple thoughts filling his mind while in that soothing activity.

    A wave of sleep tried to engulf him at some point during the three hours, but circting a minute amount of his essence vanquished that feeling.

    "It''s time," Noah''s eventually muttered at some point, exiting the tub to wash himself clean and exit the room, not minding the three hours he had left.

    An environment with an almost fully set-sun,y before his eyes as Noah began his move towards a seemingly random direction.

    At some point down the street, Noah felt he had experienced enough of that scenery, and his figure vanished.

    Arriving Inside his cultivation room which had it''s surface filled with tens of bottles filled with the familiar yellow liquid, Noah waved his hand to store his gains. However, he unfortunately couldn''t make more of his potions, at least for now.

    A prompt had informed him of the limit of his brewable speed potions being one hundred. As long as he had exactly one hundred at hand, more wouldn''t be produced.

    Three golden books appeared, floating before him. As his now expressionless gaze fell on their surfaces.

    A dialogue went on with the system, and he asked it to divide the day into three parts which he would use soley for cultivating all his vessels of power.

    "Signal me when each session has ended," Noah ordered putting off his ck garment.

    He felt the need to allow the essence which would soon fill that ce directlye in contact with his skin, and he also didn''t want to destroy his only clothes.

    "Which shall I start with..." He muttered ncing at his three manuals. Noah currently had a vague goal for the time period he would spend cultivating, and could only hope things would go well enough for that significant boost in power to be achieved.

    Deciding to start with his essence core, Noah activated the cultivation room, while also setting its density to the level he could currently handle without much issues.

    From that day on for the next couple of weeks, Noah did nothing but cultivate, cultivate and cultivate, as he prepared himself for the trials ahead knowing that they would test his limits. Hopefully.

 Chapter 189 189. TERMINATION

    Noah quietly sat inside the whiteness of his cultivation room, while rivers of seemingly liquid essence of a deep yellow shade floated around him.

    Something about that energy felt different as its quality seemed to have taken a significant hike, standing in a realm of its own.

    Noah, who''s body remained cloth-less, saw his chest rise and fall in a series of rythmic patterns, allowing for his the cultivation of his essence core.

    A few hours passed and his whole body experienced a violent tremor, forcing him to stop that training session.

    "This one too," Noah muttered, lifting his eyelids to gaze at the spot his spherical corey, peacefully rotating

    However, different from the usual ck core it had, Noah''s core had clearly experienced a change. His core looked far darker than before, and the essence within it resembled liquid, and exuded a level of power and purity far higher than he should have.

    The essence surrounding his body eventually died down, and surprisingly, Noah''s body gave off a yellow glow of its own.

    Every inch of his body looked to have undergone a change even if slightly. Noah had lost a bit of his bodily fat, his figure featuring morepact and clearly defined muscles.

    His facial features seemed to have also been high-lighted, since Noah looked far beautiful than before.

    Performing a series of light stretches, Noah got used to the new level of strength he had, and the confidence he exuded spoke of something. Something that he had only hoped to achieve but had actually aplished.

    "I''ve really acquired rank 2 speed essence," Noah announced, and the space surrounding his figure seemed to tremble at his ever growing excitement.

    Having cultivated like a mad-man for multiple days, at the mark of his second week, Noah found that his core wouldn''t improve, half-way into that day''s session. His first bottleneck.

    A series of tries which ended in failure confirmed that reality, and for the next few hours which he had utilized in cultivating his soul core, his mind remained filled with worries.

    However, at the end of that training session, an idea sprung up within him, and he didn''t hesitate to question the system.

    Apparently he had reached the limit of rank 1 speed essence.The extra pages in his cultivation manual specifically exining the process for the breakthrough, confirmed that.

    The process for the breakthrough, had been more excruciating than thest, but he had scaled through. Barely.

    From that point, his mind also experienced a bottleneck, but unlike his core, its next breakthrough would have to be into tier 4. Which only levelling up could aplish.

    Then his body stopped improving too, now being filled with rank 2 essence, it too needed to level up to improve.

    Finally, his core didn''t ept more of the essence around it. And it had sent a violent wave of energy through his body to inform him of that.

    Truth be told, Noah currently felt filled. His muscles, speed core and even mind felt loaded with too much energy. And he felt the need to release that un-hurtful stress, which only levelling up could achieve.

    Noah''s icy blue eyes; which seemed to posses an increased level in intensity, swept his surroundings, still filled with thoughts.

    Two days earlier, the ck ring had informed him of the nearing departure.

    He had four days to left before he would be required to return to the guild branch, and he felt the need to take care of a few important matters first.

    Even with those needs in mind, Noah decided to check out his stats first, and they left him greatly satisfied.

    [Name: Noah]

    [Race: Speedling Hybrid>Iplete<[evolution criteria yet to be met]]

    [ss: Heir of the god of speed(???)]

    [Titles: Monster killer. Killer]

    [Level: 61/150] [Tier: 3[Lower]]

    [Speed essence rank: 2]

    [Speed force: Yellow]

    [Affinities: Lightning, Air, Ice]

    >Vessels of Power<

    [Body>ss stage<]

    [HP: 48,000]

    [Strength: 40,000(+10,000)]

    [Stamina: 15,000(+3,750)]

    [Defense: 29,500(+7,375)]

    [Vitality: Tier 3[Lower]

    [Mach: 80]

    [Soul core]

    [Intelligence: 18,900(+4,725)]

    [Dexterity: 10,500(+2,625)]

    [Energy core>Spherical<]

    [Speed Essence: 65,000/65,000]

    [Undistributed stat points: 2020]

    >Skills<

    >Lightning Affinity<

    [Advanced Lightning Elemental mastery(Tier 3)]

    [Lightning domain(Tier 3)]

    [Lightning bolt(Tier 3)]

    [Lightning kes[Active]

    [Lightning chains[Active]

    [Lightning Storm[Active]

    >Air Affinity<

    [Advanced Wind Elemental mastery(Tier3)

    [Air Domain(Tier3)]

    [Air Spears[Active<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Air Storm[Active]

    [Zero air[Active]

    [Upliftment[Active]

    >Ice Affinity<

    [Advanced Ice elemental mastery(Tier3)[Passive]

    [Frozen prison(Tier 3)[Active]

    [Frozen Golem''s[Active]

    [Frozen touch[Active]

    [Icicle beam[Active]

    [Frozen Movement[Active]

    >Elemental<

    [Elemental aura[Passive]

    [Elemental charge[Active]

    >Speed force<

    [Advanced slow motion perception[Passive]

    [Speedling Hybrid regeneration [Passive]

    [Speed clones [Active]

    [Energy bomb[Active]

    [Speed force armour[Active]

    >Unique<

    [Unique Berserker(Active)[Tier 3]]

    [MARTIAL ART: THE MONKEY KING]

    [GRADE: HEAVEN]

    [MASTERY:28.00]

    [MOVE(S): RUSHING ROD: Execution percentage: 100/100

    [DANCING MONKEY: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [ SIDE STEP: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [A THOUSAND PUNCHES: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [MOUNTAIN STOMP: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [WAVE: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [SIX ARMS OF ASURA: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [Soul bounds]: Cudgel, Muliix]

    [Inventory:((Tap to disy items))]

    His stats had shot through the roof, and the extra boost of breaking into rank 2 essence made them even more outrageous.

    However, thinking to the fact that these stats would be unchangeable for a period of time, didn''t make the seem outrageous anymore, even if they were. For his level at least.

    ''Can i even be considered a lower-stage cultivator at this point," Noah giggled, ''The aspirants are in for a surprise,'' a cheeky grin inevitably found it way to his face.

    A bit more of marvelling at his stats was all Noah needed to experience a significant boost in confidence, he almost couldn''t wait to fight powerful cultivators, especially middle-staged experts.

    Willing the yellow glow his body radiated to die down, Noah nodded in satisfaction when exactly that happened.

    He had gained an increased control over the speed essence,but wasn''t sure if that tranted to an Increase inphrension.

    With most of his time having being used for cultivation, Noah had virtually no time to practice his elements during the two weeks.

    However, Ideas flowed into his mind whenever he thought of them. This was simply as a result of his nowrger and sturdier soul core and ind. Which brings us back to the need he nned to satisfy.

    He had something else to do in rtion to that vessel of power. Something that had proven to be an issue even during his cultivation.

    ''I want Aiden gone,'' Noah announced to the system, and a panel almost immediately popped up.

    [[Are you prepared to face the consequences? Going ahead would mean you won''t be at your peak during the uing fights]]

    ''I understand. But keeping him would mean i could lose focus anytime. Suffering such during a battle could have me lose. I''d be stupid leaving it,'' he exined, ''I can always work my way around the slight weakness i''ll have to undergo,'' he added with a resolute expression.

    ''Though, I''d still like to know how much of my power will be lost,'' he said after a few seconds of silence.

    [[The exact amount remains vague. But I believe it shouldn''t be more than 7% or 10%. Do keep in mind that those figures could increase or decrease anytime]]

    ''Go ahead anyway,'' Noah replied.

    [Do you wish to undergo the termination of all misceneous memories of previously intergrated simtion, while keeping the knowledge-filled portions]

    [Yes/No]

    [Note: This will cost you a portion of your soul ind]

    Heaving a slight sigh, Noah chose the affirmative option, and waited for something to happen.

    A few tens of seconds passed with his focus being in his soul realm, but nothing happened.

    However, exactly after a minute of waiting, Noah experienced an intense pain that stemed from a ce deep inside his head.

    He lost and regained his consciousness multiple times in the span of an instant; when a significant portion of his soul ind suddenly vanished.

    [Termination of misceneous memoriesplete]

    [You have sessfully lost 30% of your soul stats]

 Chapter 190 190. TRANSFORMATION

    An astonished expression shone one Noah''s face at the words the systems prompt contained.

    An incredible thirty percent of his soul stats had been shaved off, permanently.

    Although the issue remained important, he needed to find a way to not lose consciousness.

    Noah''s entire soul realm trembled violently at the sudden emptiness of a portion of itsndmass.

    His ind immediately began to reshape itself in order to amodate the missing portions, but there was only so much it could do.

    Noah felt Intense jolts of pain ravage his mind, and he suddenly found himself trapped within his own mind. The whiteness of his soul realm also seemed to dim, further causing more pain.

    The immense ck box far above his ind,y without so much as a tremble, and Noah wondered if touching it would do something.

    His soul of sorts began its flight towards the systems material, however at a particr point almost halfway there, an equally immense transparent barrier appeared before him stopping his ascension.

    Noah had gotten desperate at this point, chunks of his ind had begun to fall off, dispersing into the immense bottomless pit that was that environment.

    "Give me something! Anything!" Noah cried out when arge crack began to find its way across his ind''s 5 kilometer radius.

    Noah felt his consciousness experience a sort of glitch at that sight, and his whole figure seemed to stretch downwards, crashing into his ind.

    Unfathomable pain blinded Noah''s very consciousness, as ckness began to spread around him.

    No thoughts flowed through Noah''s mind at this juncture, more cracks beginning to spread on his ind, as chaos continued to reign supreme.

    A crack eventually appeared on his ck soul core, and beams of multicolored lights flooded out of its insides. Noah immediately lost the tiny consciousness he had left, and the whiteness of his soul realm continued to darken.

    However, being a part of the Speedling race and having ess to rank 2 essence, Noah had a few more privileges avable to him, even if he remained far from being aplete speedling.

    The essence within his ck core churned violently, before bursting forth; flowing into that separate realm.

    Seeing the damage Noah''s soul core suffered, that mass of energy seemed to wail, before shooting forward.

    Unlike the normal empowerment the speed forces''s energy applied to his mind, this process remained somethingpletely different.

    Noah''s soul ind saw a not-so foreign energy engulf its surface. His essence core almost emptied itself at that action, but 10,000 SE points remained.

    The liquid-like essence which stood at the second rank of the speed forces''s purity, shone in that environment as a transformation ured within that cocoon of sorts.

    The liquid essence began the process of merging with the inds remaining mass after stabilizing it.

    Multiple hour''s passed as this seemingly simple but Incredibly fragile operation ured, but there seemed to be no end to it yet.

    More hours passed, and Noah''s soul ind saw the bright yellow light enveloping its surface, die down. Revealing the deep yellowndamasses that filled the spots of its formerly emptynd-areas.

    The only thing that remained rtively unchanged was his ck core, which the essence had only empowered to allow it heal itself.

    The process eventually ended, but not an ounce of essence utilized remained unused.

    A whole day had passed at this point, but it wasn''t until another day went by; did Noah regain his consciousness.

    A groan escaped Noah''s mouth as he rolled on the marble-like surface of his cultivation room.

    He had experienced a sharp headache immediately he lifted his eyelids, but that sensation had vanished as fast as it appeared.

    ''What happened,'' Noah thought; trying to recollect the events that had ured before he lost consciousness.

    A series of images flooded his mind at his will, and he couldn''t help but hold his breath in fear. The transformation hadn''t been recorded, so he remained unsure of the state of his soul realm.

    Pulling his consciousness into his head, Noah felt his ethereal feetnd on a solid surface.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He immediatelyid eyes on the shocking scene of yellow of a series of yellow portions of hispletely stable ind.

    Noah''s consciousness soon floated upwards to gain, an overhead view of his ind, and the results left him even more astonished.

    His ind had undergone a drastic change both cosmetically and qualitatively. And he could also sense speed essence all around him!

    At seemingly random positions of that ind, mostly its edge''s; were yellow pieces of solid ground, which he could sense was made of the speed forces''s energy.

    Realizing that he had lostplete control over the essence that made those strangends, Noah wondered how something like that was even possible.

    Surprisingly, there were small ponds of rank 2 speed essence, and just staring at them caused a weird feeling to well Inside him.

    They had be apart of his ind, but he didn''t find any use for them. Their presence seemingly just for the beautification of that special environment.

    The same couldn''t be said for the solid portion of the speed essence though.

    He understood that his mind had gotten far sturdier than before, even if his ind had shrunk to about half its former size.

    He could already understand that increasing the strength of his mind would be a chore since the quality of that vessel had increased, tranting to an increase in requirements.

    "This is both a patch, and aplete change," Noah muttered still Inspecting the yellowndmasses.

    Cultivating his mind would give birth to the normalnd, which meant the yellow shades would either get overwhelmed, or they would eventually be end up only in the middle of his ind.

    Exiting his soul realm after over an hour of exploration, Noah sat down to refill his core.

    It felt scary to see that his mind had needed that much energy to reach a stable state.

    ''If i''d done this two weeks ago, i would be dead,'' Noah affirmed. A shiver inevitably running through his sturdy spine.

    ''Maybe the new purity rank was a reason this could we happen. As far as I know the rank 1 essence could only empower my mind nothing else,'' he thought while his chest rose and fell rythmically.

    ''There might be a change to my body too,'' he thought. A tinge of excitement welling up in his heart.

    ''But i should gain more knowledge about the vessels of power before undergoing any such operations. I''m alive only because of the energy i use,'' Noah concluded.

    Although a slight weakness still filled his mind, it remained almost un-noticeable.

    The bacsh of the berserk skill had made him feel more weak, even though he did his best to look okay in front of his then audience.

    Noah refilled his core and tried to cultivate his mind, but nothing happened. It wouldn''t expand even after three hours. And he eventually gave up.

    His soul stats had experienced a 10% drop instead of 30, which meant the speed essence had done a great job in its addition of solid grounds.

    Noah stayed Inside his cultivation room reviewing Aiden''s memories after the unproductive training session.

    He learnt a lot he didn''t know about the humans of that world, but even that didn''t feel enough.

    "I''ll gain more knowledge when I be a member of the great guild," Noah muttered standing up.

    The time left for the meeting at the Divine Lightning guild branch, only remained a day, his seclusion hade to an end.

    After a meal which was thest edible supplies he had, Noah immediately decided on spending the remaining day buying food.

    A white light soon covered his now clothed body and he disappeared from that white room.

    Unknown to Noah, deep within his soul core an even more significant process of transformation had begun. A power that he''d be unable to utilize until the time was right.

 Chapter 191 191. SHARE

    The hustle and bustle of the Guio district remained as it was thest time Noah had been there. Actually, there seemed to be more humans moving about the streets of that area than he expected.

    ''Probably because of the uing gathering,'' Noah thought, walking down the different streets of that district.

    He had limited himself to telport outside the district, before going through the Inspection again. That activity being as seamless as he remembered.

    Deciding not to leave for the run-down looking building; which was the Divine Lightning guilds'' head branch, Noah carried out the task he had nned out earlier.

    Unfortunately for him,modities had taken a sharp hike in price, and he could only buy what wouldn''t hurt his purse.

    "15 small silvers!" Noah grimaced, standing in front of a wooden stall. His audience, the seller of the multiple fruits before him raised his head up in pride, he seemed to enjoy watching that beautiful man utter curses.

    "If you do not have the funds to purchase my goods; leave! A line of more capable Individuals is behind you," the man''s pompous voice rang out, his left hand waving Noah away.

    A frown appeared on Noah''s face at those words, and he didn''t hesitate to step out of the line. However before leaving, he imprinted the man''s face in his mind, concluding on teaching the mere lower-stage cultivator a lesson.

    Due to the three tier 3 guards standing beside the stall, Noah couldn''t afford to make a scene.

    Short trips to other stalls mostly ended up with his disappointment. However, stalls disyed by female merchants remained the most productive ones, since they usually gave him unfair discounts.

    Noah found himself bottling up his shame while making visits to female stalls. They never dissaponted, and he soon found himself with what he considered enough food supplies.

    A sigh escaped Noah''s mouth after concluding his buying. Having sepearated himself from therge crowds gathered at the front entrance of that district, he felt the desire to rest.

    "Rest is for the weak," he chuckled sweeping his gaze on his surroundings, before his eyes suddenly sharpened.

    Although he remained rtively in the open, his senses had picked up an individual tailing him. The presence had popped up after he patronized a particr female merchant.

    ''Do people still sense me as a lower-stage cultivator,'' Noah wondered. He had gotten tired of being followed by suspicious individuals in everyrge settlement he arrived at.

    ''I guess stalking isn''t a crime here,'' he quickly held back hisughter, since a person suddenly walked up to him.

    An eyebrow rose on Noah''s face when a man dressed in a fine green garment came and performed a light bow in front of him.

    "How may I help you?" Noah announced, not feeling threatened in the slightest. The reason even he couldn''t cause a scene was the same for the man.

    "I am Sertio. I came not of my own ord, but of mydy''s," the mid-thirties aged man revealed. His peak lower-stage power tightly bottled up within his figure, yet Noah could clearly sense his presence.

    "Go on," Noah ordered taking a step backwards, he didn''t like their closeness.

    "Mydy wishes to spend the night with you," the man immediately went straight to the point. Needless to say, Noah felt surprised by that tancy.

    "Me," Noah uttered, his words more to himself than the man before him.

    "Yes, young sir," Sertio responded.

    "What do you say young sir? She''s also willing to reward you for your time," Sertio revealed, but hisst words darkened Noah''s mood.

    "Are you suggesting that I be a mere prostitute," Noah eyes shone with disgust and anger. His expression turning ugly at the mention of that word, yet his emotions remained tightly concealed.

    A swallowing sound unconsciously escaped Sertio''s throat, at the silent danger he felt from the young man before him.

    "Never, young sir! I was simply informing you of the possible gains," Sertio tried to exin, but even his words didn''t sound convincing to his ears.

    "Then my answer is a resounding no," Noah dered, turning to walk away, quenching every slight consideration he had on the offer.

    "Sir, please do not be offended!" Sertio called out trying to grab Noah. His arm froze mid-air before that action could bepleted. As he felt the presence of something that shouldn''t exist, manifest in front of him.

    In mere instants Noah''s figure had be the emodiment of death!<novelnext></novelnext>

    Sertio''s Instincts told him of the oue of his frozen action, and cold sweat inevitably ran down his back.

    Noah limited himself to allow a whiff of all his anger seep out, however passerbys around him had turned towards his figure, fear evident on their weak faces.

    Thankfully, Noah had just enough control to limit the effects of his passive ''''Elemental Aura'''' skill to not turn that ce into an icy environment. But even that couldn''t stop frost from forming beneath his barefeet.

    Continuing his walk at a rtively fast pace, Noah moved to quickly leave that area entirely.

    He could feel the gazes of curious individuals on his back, and only after a few minutes did he get the chance to cool off.

    "That was close," Noah muttered standing in front of a ss window which belonged to a cafe.

    His eyes inevitably fell on the tea drinking establishment and he didn''t hesitate to walk in to have some.

    Noah spent the rest of the day simply moving about that district. He confirmed that the ce had really experienced an increase in activities, and the reason remained obvious to him.

    However, when night-fall arrived, the increase in activities and travelling individuals proved to make things more difficult.

    "We''re out of space," a middle-aged man sporting finelybed grey hair, and neatly steamed ck butler-like attire, announced to a dejected Noah.

    A sigh escaped the borders of his lips, then he exited the empty reception of that fine inn.

    This had been his fifth hotel and like the other four, their rooms had been fully booked.

    ''Why didn''t I think of this and book a room earlier during the day,'' Noah facepalmed himself, searching the well lit cobble stone streets with his eyes.

    He found himself spending tens of minutes traversing the streets of the district in search of an inn he could spend the night in.

    Eventually finding a nice inn, three stories in height, Noah quickly rushed in, his eyes shooting dense beams of hope.

    He however encountered someone on his way there, but didn''t pay much attention to thedy.

    "Do you have a room avable!" Noah nearly shouted, but felt surprised to hear a second voice utter the same words.

    Turning to nce at the individual who dared to try and steal his room, Noah realized that it was the samedy he almost bumped into on his way in.

    "There''s only one," the female receptionist announced switching gaze''s between Noah and the otherdy.

    Noah felt relief spread in his mind at their words, and his bag of coins quickly appeared in his hands while he requested for the price.

    "50 small silvers," thedy revealed, and Noah''s arms instantly went weak.

    ''By the gods!'' Noah screamed Inwardly shooting an astonished gaze at the receptionist who promptly dodged it.

    She couldn''t dare lock gaze''s with that man, whom she confirmed was the most handsome person she had seen in her life.

    Reluctance appeared in Noah''s mind at that sight, and he immediately began considering crossing the whole district to sleep in the forest.

    "I''ll take it!" Thedy behind Noah practically jumped, and an ugly expression inevitably appeared on his face.

    "I''ll take it," Noah''s deep voice rang out inside the reception, before fiercely locking gaze''s with the good-lookingdy before him.

    The ck-haireddy behind the reception watched this scene unsure of the next action to take. Nevertheless, a sentence soon escaped her mouth.

    "Will you both be willing to share?" She announced.

    ""Huh!"" Noah and thedy eximed in unison.

 Chapter 192 192. EXTREME

    ''How did I even get talked into doing this,'' Noah grimaced sweeping his gaze on a luxurious looking room, before pausing on thedy literally across the room.

    Both individuals stared at each other, both not willing to drop their guard.

    Noah felt unsure of the full power the middle-stageddy before him held, but he understood that he wouldn''t be far behind in might. Hopefully.

    Up until his full assimtion of Aiden''s memories, the matter concerning understanding the power of individuals around him, had been something he did instinctively.

    However, with Aiden''s knowledge now in y, he could clearly understand what to look for, which were; the density of the individuals mana and the persons body. The mind was a different issue.

    Like the woman before him, Noah could feel a really high concentration of manaing from her figure. Although she expertly bottled up that power within her body, his senses managed to pick up extremely miniscule whiffs of that energy, which were more than enough. For him at least.

    The quality of her mana also spoke of her talent, but its color seemed visible to only his senses. Something that both confused him, yet hepletely understood.

    Her body on the other hand simply gave off a highly sturdy aura.

    Having encountered lots of lower-stage tier 3''s who had body in the first grade, he could clearly sense the superiority between hers and theirs. But it also wasn''t overwhelming to him, like that of higher stage cultivators, whose bodies felt untouchable to him.

    "Are you going to keep up with that," Noah eventually broke the heavy silence, rubbing his temples in the process.

    "You''re far stronger than me. I clearly can''t make a move on you," he lied through his teeth. With the power he currently held, he felt capable of pinning her down. Even if for merely a few seconds. Although he couldn''t be sure of that evaluation. She could be more powerful than the norm.

    Recieving nothing but a nk stare; Noah sighed in slight annoyance.

    Sweeping his gaze once again on the rtivelyrge room, his eyesnded on the king sized bed. Looking wellid and fluffy even to his eyes. In short it looked beautiful.

    He however, definitely wouldn''t be able to share it with her, due to her obvious insecurity. But he also didn''t want to sleep on the ground; even though it was well rugged.

    A battle between the teachings on earth and his own desire raged within his mind. But both seemed to be perfectly matched, none exiting victorious even after five minutes!

    "I can''t totally sense your power," thedy''s voice eventually rang out, and she soon raised her knees to her chest, her arms holding those limbs in ce.

    "I refuse to believe you are weaker," she announced, her voice almost a whisper, but still audible.

    Noah could only shake his head at that point. With those simple words, his gentleman side had found the strength to win the battle.

    "I''ll sleep there then," Noah announced pointing at a space a few meters from the bed.

    "No need, I''ll sleep over here. You take the bed," she countered.

    "You''re making this difficult," Noah frowned. "I''ll sleep on the ground," he dered, his tone final.

    A few moments of silence passed after that exchange of words. Only the soundsing from the street being heard.

    "I''m Ariana by the way," she eventually spoke, breaking the silence, but not making eye contact with Noah, despite his tries to achieve that.

    Truth be told, Noah felt thedy before him, a totally different person from the one in the reception.

    Her tone had experienced a drop, and the fierceness in her eyes had vanished. She looked cute now that he thought to it, and he couldn''t help but re-inspect her features.

    Ariana was a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties, which spoke of her immense talent in cultivating. She sported long blonde hair which she allowed to fall on her shoulders, but had a ck ribbon on the side of her head.

    Her attire featured a skin tight trouser ck in colour, which did no job in hiding her nigh-perfectly shaped hips and above average sized butt. A detail Noah had noticed earlier in the reception.

    Her chest featured a pair ofrge; but not over the top, seemingly perfectly round breasts, that looked plump and potentially bouncy even from Noah''s position. Her red fitted shirt couldn''t do much to hide those Incredible details.

    Her fair skin seemed to glisten in the light of the room, probably due to the level of her body. But it remained mesmerizing nheless.

    Ariana''s face remained blemishless, and her azure eyes mixed with a green hint, further enhanced her natural beauty.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Although she wasn''t breath-taking like Isabe, her looks stood far above average.

    "Why did you agree to share when you knew you''d be insecure," Noah asked, almost mocking her.

    She noticed his tone and promptly opened her mouth to speak, her fierceness quickly flickering back into her eyes. But that reaction was short lived, since no words eventually exited her mouth. And she soon turned her head to the side, her face flushed.

    Understanding dawned on Noah, and he struggled to keep the smile trying to find its way to his face, in check.

    "I see...." He muttered. ''I guess she agreed due to my looks,'' Noah grinned inwardly.

    "Well I''ll go take a shower," Noah announced, his n to embarrass the youngdy even more kick-starting.

    Feeling her uncertain gaze follow his movement, Noah hid the smug grin on his face while he entered the bathroom.

    A few minutes quickly passed and he exited the bathroom revealing his bare upper body, only a long white towel around his hips. It reached his knee in length.

    Shaking his head to get all the water out, Noah didn''t forget to add a bit of drama to that normal action, and he smiled when he saw that he got the right reaction from his only audience.

    Staring in utter awe, Ariana found herself struggling to rip her gaze from the Incredibly charming entity before her.

    Feeling her experienced heart, beat faster and blood rush to her face, she watched him shake off the water in his hair. That event seemingly happening in slow motion to her, as Noah''s pure white hair sparkled in the rooms light.

    ''He''s a vixen!'' she exmained Inwardly, but her thoughts proved wrong, since the ck attire he had on before, quickly appeared on his figure after that disyed.

    Walking towards the spot he had promised to sleep on, Noah felt himself enjoy teasing that woman. A person he had barely know for an hour.

    Grabbing a pillow from the wellid bed with white sheets, he proceeded to ce it on the ground, before promptlyying on it.

    Closing his eyes for a few minutes, he furrowed his brows before suddenly reopening his eyes, sessfully catching his roommate stealing a nce at him.

    "I''ll get naked if you continue staring that much," Noah teased, repositioning his body to rest on his palm, his elbow lifting his head up.

    Watching her face go red in utter embarrassment, Noah grinned as he watched her get up and enter the bathroom without so much as a word.

    A sigh escaped his mouth at that point, and he found himself wondering where he got the confidence to tease a woman.

    ''I thank the gods for my looks,'' Noah grinned after a few light thoughts found their way into his mind.

    Ten minutes eventually passed but Airiana remained inside the bathroom. However, Noah didn''t seem to notice the passage of time.

    He had already begun to wonder about the events the screening process would hold.

    Multiple ideas appeared and disappeared in his mind, but he couldn''t be sure of their possibilities.

    Noah''s deep thought was interrupted by the sound of the bathrooms door closing.

    A figure stepped out of that room, and Noah remained stunned when heid eyes on a barely clothed Ariana.

    A white towel remained the only thing that shielded her nakedness, and Noah''s mind inevitably struggled to remain calm at that realization.

    She clearly wanted him to notice her, and he soon understood that this was her way of paying him back.

    ''Isn''t this a bit extreme,'' Noah thought, his eyes struggling to leave her figure.

    "Oops..." Ariana''s t voice resounded, and the towel wrapped around her figure dropped to the ground.

 Chapter 193 193. WHITE MANSION

    Noah felt his concentration reach its peak in that Instant, and he soon began to perceive that scene in slow motion.

    However, to his disappointment, Ariana had a ck bra and a short-shorts on.

    Noah subconsciously clicked his tongue at that sight, but his eyes remained fixed on her nheless.

    Her bust was clearly defined due to the less amount of clothing, and he felt himself marvel at that sight. She looked more endowed now that he could get a clearer picture.

    Only a few short seconds passed before a bigger garment appeared in her hands and she immediately wore it, a smug smile clearly on her face.

    Not caring that she enjoyed seeing his suffering, Noah found himself revisiting that scene in his head. His mind able to clearly rey that image multiple times.

    ''I guess mother nature continues to remain unfair even in this world,'' Noah thought straightening his back on the floor.

    "I''m Aiden by the way," Noah announced, seeing Ariana get on the bed.

    Recieving no reply, he unfolded his consciousness to a few feets around him. He still couldn''t let his guard down, even if she seemed non-violent.

    Closing his eyes without really falling asleep, Noah allowed multiple thoughts flow through his head; which were still pertaining to the screening process he''d have to undergo.

    ''By screening, he means; weeding out the weak and merely average cultivators; to allow the truly talented shine,'' Noah mused.

    ''I''ll have to show myself valuable to their guild then,'' he concluded.

    Allowing more thoughts flow through his mind, Noah felt himself begin to get sleepy.

    Although his body remained capable of staying awake for weeks, even to a few months, yet that naturally process still took ce.

    Sleep remained more refreshing than simply circting his essence to reinvigorate himself.

    "Are you new to this city?" Ariana''s voice suddenly rang out, pulling Noah out of his sleepy state.

    "How did you know," Noah replied, not wanting the stretch out that conversation.

    "Your behavior," Ariana simply replied.

    "Do I really act like a country bumpkin?" Noah mused.

    "Well I didn''t think that, but thanks for the info anyway," she giggled lightly.

    "And no. Those who''ve been here even twice would learn how crucial it was to be cautious of who they spoke to," Ariana exined, her tone serious.

    "There are a lot of really dangerous exsitences out there. And it''s hard to find someone who''d be capable of sharing a room with a stranger," she exined.

    "Isn''t that normal everywhere," Noah raised an eyebrow, his face turning to nce at Ariana, who remainedin on the bed.

    "Well it is. But if only you understood the dangers of this ce, you''ll be capable of grasping how outrageous of an action we both took," She stopped.

    Confusion quickly spread in Noah''s mind at those words, he truly didn''t grasp what she was saying. Afterall, he had only really allowed them to share a room, since he felt confident enough to fight her and not be in a disadvantage. Not because of some naive kindness, or because he was thinking with his lower half.

    "You seem to know a lot about this ce. Please, tell me more," Noah''s t tone rang out.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Nah. You already sound uninterested. I guess you really are strong," Ariana shook her head, a smile evident on her face.

    "Why do you say that?" Noah replied, amused by thedy''s intuition.

    "Only the strong sound uninterested about the events happening around them, since their power would allow them scale through it things went south," she exined.

    ''If only she knew of the entities I''ll be forced to deal with when my days of peace expire,'' Noah scoffed inwardly.

    "I''m not really that strong," he shrugged while lying down.

    Ariana burst intoughter at thepletion of Noah''s words, and he couldn''t help but smile at how adorable she sounded.

    "Not really strong? Yeah right. If you; someone who doesn''t seem to be in the middle-stage but can confuse me with your strange power, and make my trained instincts feel fear, then no one is strong," she chuckled.

    A soft silence fell on the duo at that point, as no words were spoken for entire minutes, each person thinking their own thoughts.

    "I feel ttered by your words, but in the real sense I''m not that extraordinary," Noah spoke, immediately falling silent.

    Seeing as Ariana understood his intention to remain silent, Noah quickly drifted into sleep.

    *

    *

    *

    Snapping his eyes open at around an hour after daybreak. Noah promptly moved into the bathroom to take a quick shower. Seeing as his roommate remained asleep, he did his best to move around silently.

    Exiting the bathroom to find Ariana awake, Noah performed a silent greeting, a few light exchanges of words also uring between them. Afterwhich he immediately proceeded to exit that room, leaving her to whatever she wanted.

    Getting to the ground floor since their room had been on the first, Noah checked out of that establishment, not forgetting to mention that someone remained up there, since the individual behind the reception this time around, was a man.

    Quickly finding his way through the mulitiple streets of that district, Noah felt mildly surprised to find that most streets were crowded with humans.

    Not minding such scenes too much, he managed to find his way even through such crowds.

    During the mulitiple minutes he spent forcing his way through the barricade of living humans, Noah had caught a few Individuals trying to steal his ring.

    How they held such skills, he didn''t know nor care. However, he also didn''t forget to grab their sneaky hands before proceeding to squeeze them into meat pastes.

    Of course screams of agony tried to escape their mouths, but his mental waves always snuffed those erratic sounds out. Since the power of the perpetrators usually fell between the peak of tier 2, or beginning of tier 3.

    Arriving at a position where the crowd had reached an insane density, Noah felt himself struggle immensely while trying to move through them, as the power of those individuals were mostly past the beginning of the lower-stage.

    Grunting his way through the crowd, while utilizing the strength in his body to basically bully people out of the way. Noah arrived at a scene that left him properly stunned.

    Right on the spot, where the run-down building was supposed to be; stood a white mansion.

 Chapter 194 194. WILD

    "They are a awfully lot this year," a male voice rang out within a wide golden room, five other individuals sitting around the table he sat in front.

    "Well we did record a number above twelve thousand. It''s not our highest but it''s been a while that many people desired to join," a purely red haireddy spoke. Her eyes remaining focused on the golden illusory screen that broadcasted the mass of people in front of the white mansion.

    "I guess most of them just want to be on the right side before the growing tension explodes into something nasty. And besides, most of them out there are simply here to witness the take-off. It''s practically an event on its own, at this point," another man spoke, and the room immediately fell silent.

    Amongst the five Individuals four male and one female, was Rhy. And from his silence; it could be understood that the five Individuals around the table held higher authority than he.

    Furthermore, although the experts radiated no aura whatsoever, it remained evident that they held great power.

    "I hope this season isn''t as uneventful as thest. We''ve even changed a few events to allow us spot interesting individuals," another male individual spoke, his expressionless face not matching the energy in his voice.

    "Oh I''m sure it won''t," Rhy suddenly announced, when he managed to spot a particr white -haired fellow, making his way towards the white building.

    *

    *

    *

    Breaking forth from the barricade of humans, Noah noticed how that annoying crowd never crossed a particr portion of the street, allowing for multiple Individuals to walk towards the forming line.

    ''Probably the aspirants,'' Noah thought walking towards thergest line which led Into the mansion. His eyes fully on the grand looking building before him.

    ''How did i not notice this earlier,'' Noah wondered, perplexed.

    Although the sight didn''t do more than startle him for a few instants, it still felt weird how a suchrge building could exist there, and the other buildings beside it didn''t look damaged.

    Heck they were the exact ones he remembered seeing two weeks earlier.

    ''They probably stretched thend-space the run-down building stood on,'' Noah concluded. Even at that he wondered how they were able to execute such a delicate process so ntantly.

    As far as he remembered, all such manipted spaces were usually within an already established body. Expanding thend space would mean that area itself was an enclosed space.

    ''If it isn''t that, then this has to be some really high level work,'' Noah thought, stepping forward.

    "Your ring?" A fully armoured man ordered, stopping Noah''s movement on the line.

    Revealing unto him his illusory stats, Noah watched the person seemingly pause for a second before ncing at him again.

    At least it seemed so. The man''s face was fully covered with a silver helmet, which was the color of his entire armour.

    "Go there," the armoured man gestured at another line. This one being far shorter than the normal one.

    Doing exactly as he was told without much thought, Noah momentarily ignored the individuals on the line before continuing his former evaluation.

    "White haired man!" A feminine voice suddenly called out from somewhere behind him, but Noah simply ignored it.

    "White haired man!" The voice called out again, but he continued to ignore it stepping forward on the line.

    ''There has to be some other person with white hair right...'' he frowned, feeling something prick his senses.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Don''t i know that voice,'' Noah thought turning to the direction of the voice; and behold, there she was; the perfectly endoweddy Ariana, standing on the long line he had just exited.

    Noticing his attention, she shot a big smile towards him, startling him.

    ''What the fuck is she doing on that line,'' Noah thought, but it eventually dawned on him when he saw her disy a set of illusory panels holding Information.

    However, before he could try to say anything, he felt an incredible pressurend directly on his soul realm, trying to shake it, but it remained un-moved.

    He had stepped into the bounds of the white mansion, and the scenery around him quickly warped to reveal an immense golden room.

    Shaking off the annoying feeling he experienced from that distortion of space, Noah swept his gaze on the Incrediblyrge room, immediately confirming that his eyes couldn''t make out its end.

    "Please go this way," a silver amoured man promptly gestured at them upon their arrival, leading them downstairs.

    Surprisingly they had arrived at the top floor of that space, and were required to proceed downstairs.

    Two armoured individual led the group of seven down the spiral stairs which had hundreds of multicolored inscriptions running on their surface.

    ncing down the over 600m height needed to reach the ground, which unlike the top floors had no rooms and was simply a t surface that stretched for multiple kilometers in every direction. Noah caught sight of a scene that made his heart skip in excitement.

    There were rows upon rows of moving humans who looked like ants from that height, but that wasn''t the sight that caused his excitement. No, it was the sight of hundreds of magical beasts that did so.

    However, those beast weren''t just any beasts, they were flying beasts of different species.

    Noah had never seen so many magical beasts in one ce. Even bozolom paledparison, coupled with the quality and size of those beasts, he couldn''t help but get excited.

    Due to the Incrediblyrge amount of beasts. And their power being above even the middle-stage of tier 3, Noah perceived the air in that massive ce stale, as a result of the multiplepowerful auras.

    He would never survive if that many beasts were set loose on him, afterall even tier 4 beasts were present!

    Which was why his Instincts constantly warned him of danger.

    Having never seen any beastd in that level, Noah felt unable to remove his gaze from their Incredible size, and their seemingly unspecial looking figures.

    Focusing his gaze on arge crimson redish-orange bird which sat un-moving. Noah felt mesmerized by its colour, as nothing seemed special about it apart from its sensually deafening power.

    However, Noah''s senses could tell that it remained one of the strongest beasts even among the tier 4 ones.

    The group eventually arrived on the golden coloured floor, and their guides continued to take them further into the room, passing hundreds of tier 3 beasts and multiple groups in the process.

    Of course that event put everyone apart from the armoured individuals, on edge.

    But now that they remained close to the beasts for tens of minutes, they could clearly sense their docile state. Even if the beasts held more power than thembined.

    Their guides led them deeper into the room, this journey of sorts taking over an hour toplete, but no oneined.

    They eventually arrived before arge cyan feathered beast in the fourth tier. Its height towering over 35m, and its lengthfortably tripling that number.

    And to Noah''s dismay immediately his group arrived before the terrifying beast, he felt its dark-red eyesnd on his tiny figure, and his instincts inevitably ran wild due to it.

 Chapter 195 195. TRANSPARENT

    Gritting his teeth while trying his very best to remain calm. Visibly sweating. Noah felt the beasts heavy gaze remain on his figure, while his group''s guides conversed with the guides of the other groups. Three group''s in total, each with two guides.

    Remaining a safe distance from the beastsrge figure. Noah stood in silence, his head lowered, while jolts of fear ravaged his body and mind.

    His expression looked visibly dark, but the others in his group were to busy being wary of the Incredibly powerful beast.

    ''I can''t take this anymore,'' Noah thought slowly raising his head to lock gaze''s with the magical beast.

    With that simple action Noah felt his fear shoot through the roof, yet a calmness existed somewhere within that chaotic mass of emotions.

    The beast red eyes didn''t necessarily radiate any hostility, but the entirety of Noah understood that the beast seemed able to look into his very body to expose his secrets.

    Their stare-offsted for whole minutes, but they felt like days to Noah.

    A tinge of anger rose inside him at some point. The speedling portion of his mind raging at the fact that a mere tier 4 magical beast could put his whole body on a lockdown.

    Although he sided with that anger to calm himself, he couldn''t deny the sensually deafening power of the magical beast.

    He felt only capable of knowing that it stood in the fourth tier, and that it had gone below the bottom of that power-level.

    And he felt positive that such evaluation was possible due to his different species.

    "You will be riding this beast," one of the silver armoured men suddenly announced. Managing to pull Noah out of his daze.

    "When they give you the order you are to mount it and remain within the chamber," the man continued, "For now you are to wait," he ended.

    Just before walking past them. Someone from Noah''s group raised their hand, and the armoured man nodded in acknowledgement.

    "Why aren''t we over there; where most people our level are," the mid-thirties old man enquired, and Noah immediately confirmed that he stood in the middle-stage.

    Actually only he remained in the lower-stage. As all of them, even from the second and third groups held power in that level.

    "You have been given special treatment due to our scouters rmending you," the same person stated.

    "I''m sure you all present; were given an image box by any of our over two hundred representatives."

    Seeing them nod, including those in the other groups, he continued, "That is a proof that you are rtively special. However do not delude yourselves into thinking that you will be given such special treatments during theing trials," he exined.

    "There are over twelve thousand of you. If you wish to be given merit again you need to scale through excellently. That will be all," the man concluded, quickly performing a bow seemingly to the beast, before he and three other armored men left. Only two remaining behind.

    Noah assimted those words like the others, and a bit of nervousness couldn''t help but rise in his mind, even if it vanished as fast as it arrived.

    ''I''ll definitely do exceptionally well," Noah encouraged himself.

    Feeling an awkward silence fall in their midst, even if the voices of hundreds of individuals could be heard in the background. Noah felt the gazes of the experts before him, fall on his figure.

    Not sure whether that was due to his looks or his confusing power, he limited himself to simply ignore them, finding a lone spot around the beast to sit.

    Now that they had been merged into one group, their numbers totalled 25, each one of them a powerful cultivator in their own right.

    Still ignoring the curious gaze''s his temporary group members gave him, Noah found himself studying therge beast before him, that actually stood at that previously evaluated size while still lying down!

    It still had its eyes on him, but also seemed busy with something. Noah had no idea what it did exactly, and he also couldn''t see the beasts top from his position.

    The waitsted for multiple hours and two more groups of rmended experts arrived, increasing their numbers to 43.

    No other groups were led their way after they reached that number.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Eventually taking out the inscription guides at some point, due to his growing boredom. Noah read through the books multiple times in mere seconds.

    He could breeze through long books at Incredible speeds, which made him wish he had possessed such an ability during his time on earth. Exams would have proved far easier if he could revise tens of times in minutes, and hundreds in mere hours.

    ''I wonder if I''ll be capable of returning to earth at some point,'' Noah mused, but suddenly found himself hating that topic more than he expected himself to.

    A change eventually happened at some point, as a loud voice spread throughout the room, everyone listening attentively.

    "The time limit for the gathering hase to an end. All beast riders prepare your apportioned groups. We leave in thirty minutes!" The male voice announced.

    Nervous breaths escaped the mouths of almost everyone in Noah''s group, including Noah. And all of them eventually looked towards the magical beast, uncertain of the next action to take.

    "Do we climb the beast ourselves?" Some began asking the two armoured men, who limited themselves to remain silent to those questions. Not even moving from their position.

    Tension inevitably rose after tens minutes passed, but before any rash action could be taken on the armoured men, who''s armour hid their power even from Noahs senses. A man''s voice abruptly sounded from above the beast, startling the troubled experts.

    "Allow them up," the voice said, followed by the appearance of a middle-aged man, whose power far exceeded the bounds of tier 3.

    A metallicdder appeared on the beasts body at the man''s words, and the armoured men immediately ordered them to form a single file.

    Everyone had eyes on the tier 4 existence who floated calmly above them, his eyes sweeping its gaze on their immensely weak figures.

    Noah felt a wave of surprise hit him when his Instincts affirmed that the man held more power than the beast before them. But how far apart the gap in power was; remained beyond his current capabilities.

    Feeling the man''s soft gazend on him, Noah couldn''t help but get even more nervous.

    Worry began to pile in his mind about the possibility of the expert finding out his unique status.

    However most of his worries dissappeared when the man moved his gaze.

    Most.

    Moving up thedder as steadily as he could, so as to not anger the beast. Noah eventually arrived on-top of the cyan feathered creature.

    And to his surprise was a box over 5m in width and around 4m in height.

    The box''s brown surface featured a series of golden coloured tings, shimmering with the light of multiple inscriptions.

    There was a rectangr space cut out In the box to allow entry into its Insides.

    ''How will that fit over fourty Individuals,'' Noah thought, but quickly dismissed that thought as a stupid one.

    Walking into the box, Noah felt space twist the second time that day, and a different environment immediately appeared in his eyes.

    The Insides of the box was really spacious and featured a series of cream-coloured couches attached to box''s surface.

    The couches also featured what resembled seat-belts; on which multiple inscriptions were present.

    Unlike the wooden look on the outside, the floor of the box was metallic; gold coloured. A color Noah had begun to dislike, even if he knew he would see more of it.

    Thest suprising detail of that box was its transparent nature!

    From within the box, Noah could experience the view that height brought, with such rity; he almost began doubting the reality of that ce actually being enclosed.

    ''Do they always have to be so damn outrageously advanced!'' Noah grimaced.

 Chapter 196 196. TAKE-OFF

    "Strap yourselves to the chairs. The flight will be a bit bumpy," one of the two armoured men coldly announced. The first type of emotion Noah had heard in any of their voices so far.

    Doing as they were ordered, the group of 43 strapped themselves to their chosen seats, calmly waiting for whatever announcement would be made.

    Picking a seat at the back of the room of sorts, Noah had decided on that spot due to the view he hoped to get.

    The seats in that room totalled 60, which meant there was at least one seat separating them from each other.

    With that done, the guard''s exited that room to converse with the middle-aged man. But their voices couldn''t be heard.

    They eventually finished their talk, and one of the duo immediately went down thedder, the other walking into the room to say a few words.

    "You are to remain on your seats until you are given the go ahead to leave them. There are extensions in the cushions to allow you sleep. For the journey wouldst nothing more than three days. Four to five if you encounter trouble," the man exined.

    Seeing their affirmative gaze''s, his voice rang out once again, "I wish you a safe journey," he said, immediately leaving afterwards.

    ''Three days,'' Noah thought. ''How far is the distance, and how slow is this beast,'' he wondered seeing the entry space into the box close off. But that event made no difference whatsoever. They could still see the outside world clearly.

    Silence fell in the room at the exit of the guard, but no one seemed ready to talk, even after over 6 minutes passed.

    "I''m Nathan," someone suddenly said from beside Noah, his hand out-stretched towards him, but the distance remained too far for the interaction of their limbs.

    Rasing an eyebrow in slight amusement, Noah sent his mental waves forward to Interact with the man''s.

    "Good to meet you mate," Nathan said again, histe twenties to early thirties aged face stretching with a smile.

    Nathan had ck hair which hebed backwards giving him a neat look. His eyes sported deep orange Irises that seemed to glow from Noah''s point of view.

    Featuring a clearly defined jaw line and a sharp pointed nose, Noah affirmed that the man was definitely above average in looks.

    The only detail that ruined his looks for Noah was his smile.

    Although they seemed genuine, Noah could spot details that told him that he forced that smile. He most likely wanted something from Noah.

    Deciding to keep his name secret, Noah replied him, while also making sure his mental voice sounded as t as his real voice would, if he had spoken with it.

    "Nice to meet you."

    "You''ve remained all by yourself since your arrival. What''s up?" Nathan enquired still keeping his smile.

    "Nothing that concerns you," Noah stated coldly.

    Nathan performed a fakeugh at Noah''s icy response, but Noah could clearly sense his anger.

    Straightening his position to stop facing Noah, Nathans smile slowly vanished and he didn''t nce at Noah''s side again.

    Enjoying the quietness that room featured, Noah waited patiently for their departure, and his mind couldn''t help but drift to Ariana''s whereabouts.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Wondering if she was okay, even if she most likely was. Noah whiled his time away, until another announcement was made.

    "One minute till take-off. Beast riders please prepare yourselves. And remember to depart in the formation in which you have been given," the voice exined before going silent again.

    Excitement inevitably rose in Noah''s, mind at those words, and he found himself counting down.

    ''45,'' he said Inwardly, when the entirety of the golden room suddenly experienced a violent tremble, shockwave''s of dizzing power barreling out in all directions, but blue Inscriptions promptly lit up around every single beast there, protecting them from the waves of power.

    A pin sized tear suddenly opened in the space far above them, which neared the roof. Further causing more shockwaves.

    The tiny tear expanded Incredibly rapidly, that event releasing a high pitched sound, that even the box couldn''t protect them from.

    Noah felt his ear drums tremble madly, and he immediately sped his ms on his ears, an instinctive reaction to therge amount of noise.

    The erratic soundwaves ended as soon as the tear had expanded in every direction within that room.

    A red light immediately shone on the edges of the torn space, preventing its closure.

    Seeing the light of the sun-set hit his face, Noah raised his head to stare at the open sky which featured a mix of blue and orange light.

    He struggled to begin to understand how much of a task that show had been, since tears in the fabric of space was something only the system had done.

    ''Or is there more to this,'' Noah thought in astonishment. That sight sunk deep into his mind to inscribe itself as one of the more beautiful views Noah had ever seen.

    ''It feels like a different ce,'' Noah thought when suddenly the beast they sat upon arose. Its height easily crossing 40m. The middle-aged man had positioned himself on the beasts neck at this point.

    "Five!...Four!....Three!...Two!...One!" Halfway through the countdown their mount unfolded itsrge wings before slightly crouching. Immediately that countdown ended, Noah saw the beast p its wings, and the immense golden room around them vanished as they appeared high in the sky!

    Feeling his gut experience a weird sensation at that sudden elevation Noah widened his eyes when he confirmed that their movement had sessfully shattered the sound barrier.

    Frantically looking backwards to see the city below them, Noah and all the others witnessed droves of flying beasts ascending behind them.

    The party of hundreds of beast proceeded to circle that district multiple times, entertaining the cheering people below them.

    Their rapidly moving figures soon focused on a specific direction before moving higher into the sky, and the city below them soon vanished below the clouds. Noah barely had a chance to see the threendamasses from that height, but he did, and a sense of satisfaction inevitably spread in his mind.

    Straightening his position to focus on the Incredible view around him, Noah felt his ever fast heartbeat increase in speed, as excitement coursed through his whole being.

    The others experienced simr emotions at that view and they soon sat back to enjoy that rapid but steady ride among the skies.

    Right there and then, Noah vowed that whatever pet he would gain would have to be capable of flying.

    And so the take-off ended. The journey to a location unknown to all the passangers beginning.

 Chapter 197 197. SHOOTING STARS

    Tapping his fingers on the chairs arm, Noah''s bored eyes swept its gaze around the transparent room he currently sat in, and his eyes quickly fell on the moving scenery around him.

    The lower side of his bodyy on an extended portion of the chair, allowing for him to partially lie down.

    It had been around a day and half since their departures from the dragons w ind, and the darkness of the night remained all around them.

    Most of his group-mates were busy asleep, as even they had gotten used to the scenery around them.

    ''I knew flying would mostly be uneventful, but what the actual fuck,'' Noah thought heaving annoyed sighs.

    The journey so far had been mostly quiet, since most of the experts in there decided to keep to themselves. Noah had even pissed off his seating partner of sorts, which made the silence even more awkward.

    However there had been a series of fun moments during that journey. Their mount, a tier 4 magical beast, liked ying.

    It had executed multiple dives during that journey, sending jolts of excitement and fear through the minds of its passangers.

    Not only sharp dives at Incredible speeds, but also rapid spins whenever they encountered a cloud with a big enough hole for it. And also loops, mostly when it had lowered its height.

    Those experiences had been quite interesting, but its ying had stopped when the tier 4 cultivator calmly sitting on the beasts neck announced that they had gotten to the northern regions of their nation.

    The announcement had brought about an air of solemness, utterly confusing Noah who knew next to nothing about the different environments in that nation.

    Not being able to ask questions really hurt Noah and suddenly he began to regret his rude behavior towards his seat mate.

    Nevertheless, he had a few guesses about the matter. The first and most convincing one being that, they had gotten to a dangerous environment.

    While the second guess saw the reason for the sudden somberness being because they had left the regions that they knew.

    Noah sided with the first one, but the second one also felt valid. Even he found himself reminiscing about his time in the outskirts of the Cusk nation.

    Totally exiting the areas to a ce only the opourtuned could go, felt weird. The events that had happened in those months had begun to feel like proper experiences adding to his life''s story.

    He had started a new chapter in his life on that, such emotions were perfectly normal.

    Hours eventually passed, but Noah had fallen asleep by this point. Fortunately unfortunately, something eventually happened along the line.

    An explosion of Incredible scales barreled outwards, miles from their position. The orange light of mes lighting up the darkness of the night.

    Shockwaves and jets of me''s, arrived at their area even if the distance wasn''t small. Every single person instantly exited their slumber at the turbulent impact. And only after a few seconds had gone by did they understand their situation.

    Three more explosions of blinding power shook the sky, but this time it had gotten closer.

    Seeming rivers of deep-orange mes lit up the sky''s darkness even more, as their mount re-gained its bnce to shoot towards the weaker beasts behind it.

    A few secondster and Noah got to witness devastating power.

    Tens of miles from their position was an extremely bright figure dripping with rivers of mes. It was the red bird Noah had seen in the golden room. But its opponent was what caught Noah''s eyes first.

    A massive flying serpent, literally on fire, appeared in his eyes.

    Whether the serpent produced the mes or it was as a result of the red birds own mes, most didn''t know, but that sight remained Incredible nheless.

    The two beasts battled each other fiercely, Noah confirming that the serpent was also of the fire affinity since it created fiery snake''s to ravaged its opponent who defended itself pretty easily.

    Jets of mes in their hundreds, shot out of the birds ming wings tond on the serpents also ming figure and fiery snake''s.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The collusion of tremendous power caused another catastrophic explosion, Noah confirming would be able to wipe out a city, after sessful shielding his eyes from the light.

    They were going all out and their battle caused the sky to seemingly tremble.

    Pity for the passangers on the beast, rose in the hearts of those privileged to watch without being in too much of a danger.

    However that could not be said for those riding tier 3 beasts and were rtively closer to the fight.

    Although they were far away from the fight, the first explosion had caught almost everyone off guard, causing the weak beasts to recieve Injuries.

    However, the tier 4 beasts who were totally unaffected by the shockwaves, like Noah''s current mount, flew around the battlefield catching the boxes whose mounts and riders had turned to bloodly meat pastes.

    Thankfully it seemed the box in which everyone stayed in couldfortably withstand the power of tier 4 attacks.

    The middle-aged man clearly used his mental-waves to catch falling boxes while the other 15 tier 4 beasts did the same.

    The battle with the ming serpent raged on while the rescue missions continued.

    Unfortunately, things changed when four other aura''s well in the fourth tier flickered into existence distrupting the process.

    Real fear couldn''t help but spread inside Noah''s mind at that point.

    Although the number of tier 4 beasts on their side remained far more than the wild beasts. Most had to go around rescuing the endangered aspirants.

    ''Magical beasts don''t have the ability to expand their consciousness. Only the cultivators can. And the cultivators probably aren''t as fast as the beasts,'' Noah evaluated, and he soon came to a grim conclusion.

    "Sacrifices will have to be made," he muttered. ''They won''t die from the fall, but would be surrounded by really powerful beasts. Which would lead to simr oues,'' he concluded.

    ''Should I help,'' Noah thought, seeing that they had begun to struggle. But he soon dismissed that idea as one beyond stupid. He wouldn''t expose his most powerful trump-card for people he didn''t know.

    Only a few seconds had passed since the arrival of the four tier 4 beasts but tens to hundreds of tier 3 beasts, regardless of their stage had died already.

    Chaos spread everywhere as their mount tried its best to cover the distance between it and the multiple falling boxes.

    ''What sort of shitty formation do they have if that many powerful beasts can''t keep us safe,'' Noah thought seeing more tier 4 beasts engage each other.

    At this point, the sky around them had turned into an unsafe mess of tremendous power. Noah could immediately understand that he would instantly perish if merely grazed by those shockwaves.

    Anywhere tier 4 beasts fought, only blinding white lights could be perceived by the weaker spectators.

    Those entities were practically god''s to them, since the sheer power within their singr attacks remained off the charts.

    Noah felt unimaginably excited to achieve such power.

    When everyone had began to doubt the capabilities of the Divine Lightning guild, something spectacr happened.

    "Get ready for a bit of roughness," The voice of the middle-aged man, who was also the pilot of that beast; rang-out amidst the multiple explosions in the area.

    Their view of the world suddenly turned dark before mana-bulbs lit up inside the room. Before the experts could properly react, their now enclosed box suddenly experienced a violent jerk, causing everyone to hold on to their seats.

    However on the outside world, every single box had been ejected from its beast; as they lit up with golden Inscriptions, turning into streaks of golden light all shooting towards one direction.

    The skies of that unknown region witnessed what resembled a shower of golden shooting stars.

 Chapter 198 198. LAUGHTER

    Deafening silence prevailed within the now enclosed box featuring mana-bulbs. The sudden turn of events had really ced tension in their minds, and they could only hope things worked out.

    They all could feel the box remain in motion, but where it was headed remained unknown.

    It had been hours or a day since the event. And they were sure that the four tier 4 beast would have already been killed. But why hadn''t their guides returned.

    Switching to the outside world, the sky saw hundreds of high-speed objects shoot through the sky, leaving in their wake streaks of golden light.

    Each box housed a group of set Individuals who had different personalities and ambitions, but their moods currently could be ssified as simr.

    Some had light chats mostly about the fight and what exactly was going on, while most stayed silent amongst themselves.

    The event that urred had been too sudden; even traumatizing. At leastfor those who witnessed their mount riders turn into meat pastes expecting simr fates to befall them.

    However, during the battle, all tier 4 experts 17 in number, had decided amonst themselves to activate a function in which they formerly nned on activating when their destination was only a few hundred miles from their position.

    The function saw the inscribed boxes activating the auto pilot mode, which would travel towards the direction of the singnal meant specifically for them.

    However this would only be capable of working when they were within a particr range, which was one of the reasons it hadn''t been activated at the first sign of danger.

    Thankfully that requirement had been met, even if barely.

    A few hours had to pass for the aspirants, before there was a change in that monotonous event.

    Feeling the box suddenly jerk sideways, Noah furrowed his brows at the sudden rumbling the entirety of the box experienced, forcing him to grab unto his seat-belt.

    The rumbling got more violent, as it seemed something had smashed into the box.

    asionally their box would randomly tilt sideways. Or something would violently shake it from beneath them.

    This set of events continued for many minutes. Worry soon beginning to pile up inside Noah''s mind.

    He couldn''t see what was going on outside, since his mental waves weren''t capable of bypassing the box''s material.

    A powerful force suddenly pushed on the box and the roof immediately featured a bump.

    Noah raised his eyes to stare at that damage in utter shock.

    The attacks of tier 4 entities, although distant, hadn''t scratched it. What exactly was going on outside, they wondered.

    However contrary to their expectations, everything suddenly stopped.

    Their box''s movement experienced no disturbance, and a sense of uncertainty couldn''t help but spread Inside their minds.

    Everyone nervously exchanged nces, their eyes except Noah''s, featuring tinges of fear.

    ''There definitely can''t be anything to worry about....'' Noah thought, trying to make sense of what was happening.

    Before anyone could crack under the influence of their growing fear, a bright white light suddenly shone on their faces, from outside.

    Untold shock flickered unto their faces to make that body part its rent-free home.

    And the sight of individuals dressed in ck graments featuring golden stripes further left them in wonder, but this time their minds rxed.

    "You''ve safely arrived at the Divine Lightning guild, aspirants," a ck haired, young-looking female, radiating power well at the peak of the middle-stage,annoucedwith a smile.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah felt his arms slouch in relief at those words, and the sight of a rectangr space opening in that box ced his heart in full calm.

    He had been ready to use his strongest skill if he had been in mortal danger, but it seemed there wasn''t any need for that.

    "Kindly step out," thedy said, after a minute or so of silence. Which was to allow their safety properly sink in.

    Quickly getting out of the box, Noah felt a wave of astonishment hit him when heid eyes on the hundreds of boxes on a row of two each, stretch down an incredibly long and fully lit metallic hallway of sorts.

    There was a group of two male individuals, one having brown hair and the other ck, weing their group with a smile.

    Both were gesturing at the door shaped space shimmering with red lights on its edges directly opened on the metallic wall before them. And the duo''s actions inevitably pulled their eyes towards it.

    The door was clearly made as a result of Inscriptions or whatever advanced practice that guild owned, but no one really cared.

    Noah''s group of 43 Individuals walked past the magical door, noneining about the pressure that mmed into their minds upon entry.

    "This will be your room," one of the two males leading them, said. The other walking deeper into thatrge room to do something.

    Sweeping his gaze on the room, Noah felt totally unmoved when his eyes fell on arge room worthy of 5-star hotel.

    He couldn''t even begin listing out the luxurious features it had, since his mind had gone nk when a realization hit him.

    ''Where will the women stay," Noah wondered ncing at the 13 females in the group.

    Thedies of the group seemed to realize the same thing, since difficult expressions appeared on their faces.

    The men in that group were more than double their number. Fear of being defiled even if they remained some of the more powerful and experienced experts, rose inside their minds.

    However before anyone could voice out aint, a wall slowly emerged from the ground, splitting the room into two equal halves.

    One metallic door present in the center of the wall.

    "You are capable of splitting the room into parts to allow privacy for the opposite sex. You can also move the beds to aodate your numbers on one side," the expert that had walked into the room exined with his voice raised. Before eventually bringing the wall down.

    Over the next period of around twenty minutes, they were basically taken on a tour inside that room. The obvious guild-members of the Divine Lightning guild exining the different functions of that room.

    ''Is this even allowed to be called a room. More like a smart safe house,'' Noah thought in digust, when one of their guides exined how the room could withstand tier 4 attacks.

    The contrast between the advancement in that mere room and cities like Vonol or even Crilion was wide. It felt weird to even think they were in the same country.

    "That is all," the brown-haired man spoke. "Due to the unintended event, you all have been given a day to rest. Thepe.....screening process begins the day after tomorrow," the young man announced, his words raising multiple eyebrows.

    "You will all be summoned the day after tomorrow. Do not forget; you are to stay inside this room until told otherwise," the ck haired member added, before the duo walked out the still opened magical doorway. And it immediately closed upon their exit.

    Needless to say, the room fell into an awkward silence.

    Notwithstanding, someone suddenly started giggling. His giggling soon turning into hardughter.

    Not understanding why the individual wasughing, everyone present soon found themselves chuckling, their chuckles also turning intoughter.

    The room soon got filled with their loud, unintentional and uncontrobleughter. Allowing all their pent up tension quickly vanish.

 Chapter 199 199. DITCH

    After their weird, but tension relieving activity, they promptly got into moving the various beds into nice positions.

    Although the beds were bunks, their size rivaled king-sized ones which made them really heavy.

    But being experts capable of liftingrge magical beasts. Such furnitures didn''t weigh more than soft-balls.

    A weird sensation spread in Noah''s mind at the sight of rtively tall females, lifting furnitures that weighed hundreds of kilograms as though they were nothing.

    There were exactly 25 bunk beds present, but one side of the room wasn''t capable of holding that many, which meant there would be need for pairings.

    Although he had silently helped them in the movement, when it came to who would sleep with who, he was left out.

    Noah didn''t feel the least bit offended at that treatment. Heck he even appreciated it, since he didn''t want to burden himself with someone. Like he did with James.

    Regardless of their unwillingness to totally associate with him even if they did so amonst themselves; they left a bunk bed all for him.

    There were a few excesses and he was granted one of them. Nobody objecting to that seemingly unfair treatment.

    ''Are they afraid of talking to me. Or are they discriminating due to my seemingly low power,'' Noah pondered. Then it hit him.

    ''I see....just like me they don''t want to associate with someone who would potentially slow them down,'' Noah concluded.

    Although his power remained confusing to their untrained minds, he clearly remained in the lower-stage.

    Not even Noah disputed that reality. Ig it hadn''t been for his timely breakthrough into having ess to rank 2 speed essence, his power would be beyond subpar.

    He would be unable to knock out a middle-staged cultivator, which would put him in big disadvantage, and anyone that was paired with him. If such happened.

    His only advantage would be his Incredible speed, which didn''t seem much.

    ''Speed is everything,'' Noah harrumphed inwardly. ''With enough practice i should be capable of killing those a bit stronger than me,'' he thought, but he hadn''t fought in the way he currently imagined it.

    ''That would be really draining,'' Noah frowned simting himself delivering hundreds of punches to his opponents from different angles.

    ''I''m currently not agile enough for that. And it would take an insane amount of energy every second, as I''ll have to be moving at my full speed,'' he admitted.

    ''Unless...I manage to find a way to minimize the consumption of essence or be capable of reducing my speed while executing suchplex actions,'' he thought.

    ''Too fast would mean wasting essence, and too slow could mean my opponent could be capable of doing something,'' he continued to ponder on the matter.

    After experiencing the tier 4 bird''s speed, which was multiple times faster than sound. Noah had figured that at some point down his rise to power, he would be surrounded by entities probably capable of moving as fast as him.

    ''What would i do then...'' He wondered. But soon dropped the matter since he had no way of currently knowing.

    The voices of his roommates continued to ring out in the room while Noah simplyy on the top of his bed.

    They chatted as though they had been doing so for a long time, and it soon dawned on Noah that they probably conversed in the inscribed box using their consciousness.

    Some of their conversations managed to reach his ear but they were mostly mundane stuff.

    Noah eventually found his situation funny at some point. He felt like the quiet kid who was always left out off the interactions of his ssmates.

    However he actually didn''t experience such treatments during his time on earth. Heck he would be a student ssified as the light of the ss.

    Notwithstanding, the lessons that world had taught him, caused him to prefer not being the centre of attention at all times. Since they usually led to troublesome situations.

    What period in the day they were, none knew, but also didn''t care. And their conversations inevitably continued for hours.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Feeling the urge to eat after spending what felt like three hours simply reading the inscription manuals. Noah got off his bed to walk towards a cylindrical object across the room.

    cing his palm on it, the ss material of the cylinder lit up with multiple orange lines.

    Interacting with those Inscriptions using his mental waves as they had been taught, Noah felt a stream of Information enter his mind.

    That was the way to check the menu the guild provided.

    Deciding on a few things that sounded and looked juicy since, since even their images were present.

    Noah waited for around five minutes until the cylinder suddenly lit up with the light of a teleportation, and a te filled with his order revealed itself.

    The surface on which the te sat on ascended, allowing Noah lift the te.

    An aroma unlike he had ever perceived mmed into his nostrils, sending waves of excitement through his body.

    ''Oh my...bloody god,'' Noah exmained in excitement.

    His te consisted of things he had never seen outside a refined environment, but he barely minded that detail. He felt immune to poison due to his unique status.

    The aroma Noahs order emitted made him realize how hungry for good food he had been. Instead of the make-shift meals he had indulged himself in due tock of better option.

    ''I could eat this everyday,'' Noah thought happily walking towards his bed. His eyes clearly radiating an intense desire to devour that meal.

    However a few meters from his bed five experts suddenly surrounded him. All males.

    An eyebrow rose on his face at that development, but he didn''t do much.

    "How may I help you," Noah stated.

    "Give that to us," one of the five men ordered, his ck mustache moving at every word he pronounced.

    Noah furrowed his brows at the man''s tone and words, "You mean my meal?" He asked to clearify his situation.

    Seeing the other four giggle in mockery while the mustached man nodded, his gaze utterly condescending.

    "You can just get yours from over there. Like we were taught," Noah spoke. His tone experiencing a sharp drop at thest sentence.

    "No we desire yours. Now give it to us," the mustached man dered.

    Noah couldn''t but sigh at that point, his head turning backwards to see what the others were ready to do about it.

    Seeing that they simply watched without showing the slightest intent to move. Only a few of thedies turning their faces away from his.

    "Are you deaf boy," the mustached man barked. His weirdly soothing voice filled with disdain.

    Deep down, Noah felt the situation a bit funny. Only a bit.

    The expert before him had gone multiple steps into the middle stage, which meant he was trouble.

    Coupled with the other four also middle-staged experts, he didn''t like his situation.

    "Weren''t you taught in what ever ditch you crawled out from to respect does higher than you!" the mustached man roared, seeing Noah''s unmoving gaze.

    Seeing the expert bring his palm forward to deliver a p to his face, Noah casually raised his right hand to grab it sessfully stopping it. But the other four pounced on him at that point.

 Chapter 200 200. INFLUENCE

    ''I see...'' Noah thought percieving his surroundings in slow motion.

    ''They obviously feel confused about my power. Which is why there are four of them. But isn''t this overkill,'' Noah clicked his tongue, casually walking out of their midst.

    While Noah remained an extraordinary expert, that many middle-staged cultivators would be too many for even him. At least until they were in a proper fight.

    He wasn''t going to go all-out in that ce, even if it could apparently withstand tier 4 attacks.

    ''I want peace. This tiny show of abilities should be enough to keep them in ce. Hopefully,'' Noah thought climbing his bed to sit on it. Then everything continued normally.

    With nk eyes, Noah watched his opponents literally copse on themselves, their mouths expressing annoyed grunts.

    The others in the room who were casually spectating, stood up from their various positions in utter disbelief.

    To their perception, Noah had simply vanished from the midst of the five to appear on his bed.

    "What the fuck was that....is he a Deviant" Most muttered.

    "I''m afraid i can''t do that," Noah coldly announced from his elevated spot.

    Seeing that the five looked ready to cast spells, he quickly opened his mouth to speak.

    "Please do not forget our location. We could be under surveince, and your actions could cost you your entry into this great guild," he calmly exined, knowing that the same applied to him. Hopefully they weren''t actually watching.

    Understanding his words as pure facts, the five regained theirposure, but that didn''t change their feelings towards him for humiliating them.

    Clearly sensing their bloodlust, Noah''s eyes shone with a tinge of his own, his mouth quickly opening to release words.

    "If you wish to retaliate, let''s meet on the field. I''m happy to take you on anytime," his eyes literally shone with a dangerous light. His words directed towards all present in the room.

    "And i assure you that a you won''t be escaping a fight with me with your lives intact," he added menacingly, and the room immediately turned chilly. But he stopped before any adverse effects of his emotions could ur.

    Needless to say his audience were spooked out by his odd behavior, but none took his words to heart.

    "He''s insanely strong for a lower-staged cultivator, but against all of us he''s only courting death," those words moved between themselves.

    Quickly digging into his meal after threatening a proper group of cultivators who wielded enough power to devastate cities, Noah lost himself in the taste of his meal.

    He inevitably ced orders for two more, and ended up finishing them in record time.

    Laying on his bed to continue his studies, he eventually stopped after an hour or so, and decided to get some shut eye.

    His sleep like most he had experienced, was dreamless. Only filled with darkness.

    Slowly regaining consciousness, Noah took a deep breath, rolling a bit on that divinelyid bed, before sitting up.

    Sweeping his gaze on the room, he saw that his roommates were suprisingly all awake. Cultivating.

    Each one of them sat in different positions in the room rtively far apart from theirselves, clearly in a trance of sorts and Noah could see their bodies glow. The different lights indicating their elemental affinities.

    He weirdly found that sight normal, afterall they were middle-staged experts, such discipline was expected if they wanted to advance in power.

    The only issue about that suprisingly beautiful scene was that Noah knew he couldn''t cultivate currently.

    The bottleneck which could only be ovee by the feature he gained from having the system; levelling up, really frustrated him, but he hoped to escape it soon.

    Determination surged in Noah''s mind at that point. He would do his best to gather as many beasts as possible, since even after the first dungeon run, he would need more beasts.

    Getting off his bed, Noah wondered what exactly he could do.

    They weren''t allowed to leave the room even if the metallic doory very close to them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He couldn''t practice his elements since such a sight would ce too much attention on himself, something he didn''t want.

    He wanted his roommates and everyone whi would see him to underestimate his prowess, so he could totally blow their minds with his feats.

    The only activity he could really do was read. And even that had gotten boringtely.

    Making no progress whatsoever had made that activity a chore instead of a fun experiment.

    A deep sigh eventually escaped Noah''s mouth at the evaluation of his current situation.

    "Being amidst people sucks," he muttered falling on his bed with another sigh.

    Casually gazing at the ceiling of that Incredible room, Noah thought to the mulitiple functions it had.

    Apparently the room could increase or decrease its temperature allowing them train their resistance to such environments.

    It remained only one of the over twenty different functions, but it piqued Noah''s curiosity, who suddenly wanted to understand how much heat his body could handle in its new state.

    Immediately getting down from his bed, he walked towards a seemingly empty wall, and tapped his finger on it four times.

    That action resulted in a series of Inscriptions flickering into existence.

    Interacting with those shining lines using his mental waves, Noah found the feature he wanted and quickly expanded on it.

    He wanted to limit it to one spot in the room, and luckily even that feature was avable.

    Picking a spot next to his bed, Noah nced back to see a blue inscription light up on the floor, creating a cylindrical area where that feature could easily be edited.

    Quickly walking over to it, Noah sat crossed-leg inside the space and his consciousness promptly expanded to activate the functions.

    What looked like a lever appeared in his mind, the higher he pulled it the higher the temperature, the lower he pulled it the lower the temperature.

    But before he started, his ck garment vanished, and Muliixs material covered his groin like an underwear.

    There were also grades of the temperature, which went from tier 1 to tier 3 higher-stage.

    Immediately beginning to pull the lever past tier 1, Noah barely felt anything even when it reached the very peak of tier 2. Only that the air had gotten warmer, barely.

    Even if the actual temperature had already surpassed 300��C.

    The lever soon broke into tier 3. Noah beginning to feel his environment get reasonably warm.

    Halfway through the lower-stage which consted of three small grades, Noah began to feel really warm.

    At the peak of the lower-stage he felt as though he had been dumped inside hot water. But he could stillfortably bear it.

    The middle-stage arrived and the temperature took a dramatic increase. The water had begun to boil.

    At this point Noah was already drenched with sweat, and his hair stuck to his face and back.

    It wasn''t until he arrived at the peak of the middle-stage did all his hair catch fire, and his skin began to receive bad burns.

    Noah felt unable to breath at this point, and even his sweat didn''t exist anymore.

    Multiple patches of his skin burnt under prolonged exposure to that heat. And he eventually had to reduce the over 1600��C temperature, when he began to get burnt faster than his body could heal.

    Suddenly dropping the temperature to the cold level of the lower-stage of tier 3; that 5m radius of magically confined space, experienced a slight quake.

    But Noah''s attention wasn''t on that event, since he found out that his body healed far faster under the influence of the cold.

 Chapter 201 201. TALENT

    ''Is this supposed to be,'' Noah thought Inspecting his already healed skin.

    For the sake of experimenting, he increased the temperature to the peak of the middle-stage again, and simr grotesque and mostly charred injuries appeared on his figure.

    Noah''s skin burnt till it turned ck, blinding pain ravaging his mind due to that extreme practice. But even at that, he still stopped his essence from leaving his core, opting to reduce the temperature instead.

    Regardless of his pain resistance, Noah rolled on the floor, cries of agony escaping his mouth, but the barrier stopped any sound from escaping its insides.

    His writhing figure caught no attention since the only Individuals capable of watching him, were busy cultivating.

    However, immediately the temperature dropped to the middle-stage far below zero, he felt the pain he experienced reduce significantly.

    [[Due to your affinity with ice, your body is able to undergo healing when in extremely cold environments]]

    It took him a while to actually read those words, but when he did he felt a wave of surprise hit him.

    ''Can i do that with all my elemental affinities?'' Noah asked the system.

    [[Yes. But it''ll have to be naturally urring and not filled with mana that isn''t the world''s. You won''t heal if struck by a lightning, ice or wind spell. Those types of memories should be somewhere in Aiden''s memories]]

    Furrowing his now regrown brows. Because he found the healing allowed by his ice affinity too slow, he naturally allowed his liquid-like essence to flow.

    Eventually finding such memories, Noah felt surprised to find more information under that topic, and he soon realized why he hadn''t noticed them faster.

    Technically he knew about that natural feature, but since it was ssified as something subconsciously known, he had to actively search for it.

    ''So basically it''smon sense,'' Noah thought cancelling the feature of the room. He had quickly gotten bored of it.

    Walking towards the tform to get food even if he wasn''t really hungry, Noah tried something new, and it also tasted good.

    The aroma of the meal managed to bring a few people out of their trance, but they soon returned to cultivating when they saw that it was Noah.

    Noah''s roommates, whose names he didn''t know, and didn''t want to bother to check using the system, cultivated for the whole day, but even that wasn''t enough to significantly increase their power.

    Amidst the other subconsciously known information, were interesting things about cultivation.

    Apparently everyone had different cultivation speeds. Which was how fast they could absorb the energy around them.

    Those who held higher cultivation speed, were termed geniuses since their rise to power would be far shorter than their peers.

    But the cultivation technique an individual practiced and what affinity they wielded was also an important factor. How dense mana was in an environment also mattered.

    The average tier 3 cultivator would need a few months to really see any changes in his power. And it would take the average lower-stage cultivator a decade to achieve the middle-stage, and probably double to to even triple to achieve the higher-stage.

    Those numbers scared Noah, who had barely started his rise to power for five months.

    Spending decades to achieve something felt unimaginable. Then again the stronger a cultivator became the higher his life expectancy.

    ''All that work only to be randomly killed by a wild beast in the fourth tier,'' Noah sighed recalling the cultivators that had turned to bloodly masses of flesh during the sudden battle.

    ''Only power truly matters in this damned world,'' he thought, gazing at the ceiling.

    ''Only power matters in any world,'' he added recalling his life on Earth and how those who held authority got whatever they wanted as long as it was avable.

    Eventually deciding to sleep since the next day would hold challenges, Noah drifted once again into a dreamless sleep.

    *<novelnext></novelnext>

    *

    *

    A loud voice pulled Noah out of his sleep, and the sight of three individuals standing at the entrance into that room made him get up quickly.

    Understanding that the time hade for them to begin their trials, he promptly got down his bed to wait for their words.

    The person at the forefront of the trio was a woman who held power one stage above the middle-stage of tier 3, and her colleagues clearly gave her the respect she deserved.

    "Form a line before me," thedy ordered gesturing at the space in front of her.

    Promptly moving towardd her front where seven other Individuals had gotten before him. Noah and the group of 43 queued before that powerful expert.

    Her expression being that of utter aloofness, she opened her mouth to speak.

    "You are going to walk behind us at all times, anyone who fails so adhere to this simple rule could have their chances in the uing tests nullified," she exined sweeping her cold gaze''s on them.

    Even Noah felt chilled by her look, and hoped she found nothing weird about him apart from his looks.

    Unfortunately reality proved to hold a different idea.

    "You," she called out, pointing at Noah''s figure weirdly stiff figure.

    "Get in front of them. Someone with such talent as yours should be at the forefront," she ordered coldly, not minding the shock on the faces of the others.

    ''You''ve just increased my problems woman,'' Noah sighed inwardly.

    Doing as he was told while ignoring the res he received, Noah stood unmoving in front of her.

    ''She''s of the lightning element!'' Noah screamed inwardly, experiencing a sense of familiarity from her figure.

    ''So we are able to tell each other apart,'' Noah thought at that new discovery.

    The sense of familiarity he experienced was as though something within him churned at their closeness, informing Noah of the individuals status.

    "Before we move on. I am Lady Sophie. Only those who seed in bing part of this guild are allowed to call me that. Just keep it mind," she stated.

    "With that done, let''s go," she said turning towards the metallic door which was promptly opened by her colleagues, who held power in the middle-stage.

    In a single file the group exited the room to arrive inside a wide hallway, where other groups and their leaders could be seen walking towards the same direction.

    Every once in while another group would exit a room, each one of them featuring stern expressions, some even nervousness.

    Being at the forefront of the group, Noah tried to see if he could spot Ariana, but failed.

    The walk in that regally decorated hallway featuring picture frames of people Noah didn''t know, or weird statue''s, and of course golden coloured ceilings and even tiles,sted for multiple minutes.

    Only the sound of footsteps being heard, as everyone kept their mouths shut.

    Their numbers eventually got so much that those at the back had to slow down their steps, so as to not bump Into each other.

    After multiple more minutes, Noah''s group arrived at the end of the hallway. And surprisingly they didn''t experience the feeling of space twist and the pressure that came with it.

    Which made the sight of an Incredibly massive hall, farrger than the one in the Guio district, very much astonishing.

 Chapter 202 202. CATEGORIES

    The hall was surely a few tens of miles in radius. It had massive golden pirs hundreds of meters tall and tens of meters wide, keeping the white ceiling up.

    Wrapping around those pirs were golden zig-zagged figures, which clearly resembled streaking lightning bolts.

    ''I wonder if they have a guild crest,'' Noah thought never removing his gaze from the room.

    Right across the room was a massive golden stage a few tens of meters in height, but spreading across for a kilometer or so.

    On this tform, Noah could clearly see four magical beasts all radiating power far above tier 4, and in the midst of them was a figure he couldn''t make out from that distant.

    Without halting his steps, Noah walked down one of the two steps on opposite sides at the end hallway.

    The massive ground space which had yet to be filled had rows of humans pour into it from the nine hallway endings in that room.

    The walk towards the front of the pulpit began this journey taking almost an hour toplete. But even at that, there were already a thousand individuals before them.

    "Do not leave the line. Now we shall wait for all you fellow aspirants to arrive," Lady Sophie announced, standing perfectly straight, her head rasied towards the Individual before them.

    Nodding their heads at her words, the group of 43 stood in a straight line with minimal movement. They were capable of standing for hours and still not budge, which was exactly what they did.

    Two hours passed before people stopped walking into the room, and even by then, the room still wasn''t filled.

    The level of boredom Noah had experienced during those two hours had caused him to hum a few songs he remembered from Earth.

    Having gotten closer to the pulpit, Noah had obviously gotten a better view of the individual that stood atop the pulpit without so much as an inch of movement.

    However, the persons face was covered by a ck veil, leaving only their blonde hair in the open.

    The individual was clearly a man due to their straight ck and golden striped garment with a long golden cape, and hairstyle.

    However when it came to percieving the persons power, Noah senses were at a loss. The man radiated not an ounce of power.

    Maybe it was because they were Intentionally not allowing their aura out, since even tier 4''s were like that unless they released whiffs of their aura, but the event still startled him.

    Noah could clearly sense that the beasts around him were above tier 3, although they didn''t enforce their full aura which would probably be enough to kill them, however due to his understanding of magical beasts, he could clearly sense reverence in their intelligent eyes.

    The matter sounds unimportant, but if one looked at the fact that a single Individual would struggle to defeat a beast their level.

    Unless they were monsters like Noah, or the rules changed in favour of man in tier 4, then the scene was totally weird.

    "Good day gentlemen anddies. I hope your stay in our refurbished hostels were nice," the man''s voice epassed the whole hall, and he continued without waiting for a response.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We greatly aplogize for the inconveniences you experienced on your way here. But thankfully all of you are present," he paused.

    ''Yeah, at the sacrifice of your members,'' Noah thought, his anger not present on his face.

    "As you all know, our guild; the Divine Lightning guild, is one of the three great guilds in out nation. And evenpetes with other guilds in the two other nations on our continent," he suddenly began to float.

    "Why do I say this? Due to the toughpetition and in order to keep our status, we do not appreciate anyone who isn''t above average in terms of being a cultivator. Which is why out guild members are tagged geniuses amonst the higher echelon''s," he paused sweeping his calm gaze on the multitude.

    "Now that you all understand a bit of our requirements, lets get on to the real deal," the man said flying higher into the room, before stopping at a particr height.

    "The screening phase willst for merely four days. But in this period you will know if you will be one of those gaining entry into our guild," the expert exined.

    "There are three categories of the screening phase. Which consists of different tests. The first is the body, the second being the mind andstly your cores," he paused before continuing.

    "Let me expanciate. The first three days will hold three different tests each day holding trials for the vessels of power as i have mentioned," he exined.

    "Thest day will feature a race. More will be said on thatter one," he exined standing on the head of the metallic fox beside him, over 50m in height.

    "I''m sure the tests sound easy. But do not forget that they will be difficult even for geniuses who have highprehension in whatever affinity they wield. They were fashioned to the Incredible requirements that we set for our guild members," the man exined pausing for a few seconds to allow his audiences assimte his words.

    ''This feels like a cult,'' Noah giggled inwardly.

    "Now to how things will y out."

    "There are three categories of cultivators in this room, those who are tier 1''s to tier 3''s. And due to this, we can''t ce all of you in the same court," he started.

    "I''m certain you all have a group leading you. Well they will be your guide through out the entire screening process. So please group leaders be nice," the expert seemed to smile.

    "You will all be grouped into the categories you stand. Tier ones please gather here," the expert gestured at the left side of the room.

    "Tier two''s here," he gestured at the right side. "And tier 3''s please gather in the middle," he exined, and they quickly began to do as told.

    Due his group already being in the middle, Noah didn''t need to move much, simply allowing others to go through their line.

    The process took another hour, but proved to be one of the smoothest organising process Noah had ever witnessed.

    "Hey white haired man."

    Someone suddenly sounded beside Noah, and he felt surprised to see Ariana, and suprisingly she too was at the forefront of her group.

 Chapter 203 203. ACTIVE VOLCANO

    Although they had been asked not to leave their lines, there had never been an order to remain silent. They only did so as a form of respect to the individual that couldfortably wipe them out from the face of the.

    "Why do you keep calling me that. You know my name," Noah whispered, before deciding to utilize his consciousness.

    Of course Ariana''s interaction had caught the eyes of his group and hers.

    Noah''s group members who had started developing envy towards him, felt the fuel of their jealousy increase.

    He looked breathtaking, was a genius in cultivation, enough for a powerful expert to acknowledge. And even had connections to a prettydy.

    He had it all.

    "But I guess you don''t want it out," she replied.

    "True. I would have ignored you if not for your specific description of the person you were calling out to," Noah shrugged with a light smile.

    "I honestly am surprised to see that you are one of the rmended aspirants. But I guess your weird power speaks for you," she spoke focusing on the now sitting man.

    "And I''m surprised to know that we were going to the same ce," Noah spoke also focusing his gaze on the man, and his three tailed metallic fox.

    "Well I hope we get into the guild," Ariana spoke going silent immediately the man stood up again.

    Nodding his head at her words he got ready to receive more Information.

    "Thank you for doing things as quietly as possible," the expert started.

    "Now that you are done, each of you in different categories will now be transported towards a different location where more information will be given to you," the expert exined.

    "Please space yourselves from the other categories," the man stated rasing his right hand where arge green magical circle immediately expanded.

    The magical circle moved towards the tier 1 group before expanding to meet their Incredible size.

    Immediately the circlended on them, they all disappeared!

    Doing the same for tier 2''s, Noah felt astonished at the level of expertise that man held.

    The sheer amount of energy utilized would have been unholy, yet he casually executed those high tier teleportation.

    With two groups gone, remaining the tier 3 category, who only numbered a bit above 2 thousandpared to tier 1''s who were over 5 thousand.

    Confusion spread in the minds of the aspirants, but everyone remained calm.

    "Tier 3 aspirants. I''m sure you all understand how important you are to organizations. You carry the future of any organization unlike the tier 1''s and 2''s who still have a long way. Or the tier 4''s who aren''t that many in number," the expert suddenly started.

    "I simply want you all to understand that epting experts in your level will do a lot to help our guild, but you have to meet the requirements first. So please do your best," the man encouraged, before casting his teleportation spell on them.

    Noah''s felt the light of the telportation spell caress his body, as all of their figures made arge jump from one location to another.

    Opening his eye a secondter, Noah shrunk back when blinding white light flodded into his eyes.

    Moving speed essence into those organs while still keeping them shut, he got able to repopen them without experiencing that annoying issue.

    His eyes fell on another empty room, only far smaller in size than the first.

    ''How big is this ce,'' Noah wondered sweeping his gaze on the orange painted room with bright white mana-bulbs.

    In the center of the room was a cylindrical tform only around two feet from the ground, and a woman donned in a ck garment featuring golden stripes shaped like lightning bolts on her cor, shoulder, waist and the edges of the attire.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Her midnight ck hair flowed down her shoulders reaching her waist, and the tiny figure sitting on her shoulder couldn''t be more eye-catching.

    Her power felt beyond the realm of tier 3, and even the female figure on her shoulder shockingly held more power than even her.

    Focusing his gaze on the tiny figure, Noah inspected her with the system.

    [Elemental me fairy: Tera]

    [Race: Fairy]

    [Title: ???]

    [Tier: ???]

    [Affinity: Fire]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    Shock couldn''t be more evident on Noah''s face at that sight, but thankfully he wasn''t the only one surprised.

    ''Even fairies exist in this world,'' Noah thought in excitement.

    ''Where did she get her,'' he wondered Inspecting the barely six inches figure.

    The fairy''s attire looked to be made of mes, but unlike the normal orange mes really popr, her''s were blue. But they didn''t seem able to burn stuff.

    The fiery attire was long straight gown reaching her feet, featuring a long-sleeve constantly shifting in shape.

    The fairy had deep yellow hair long enough to also reach her waist, and it clearly glowed in the rooms light.

    The pale skin of the fairy and its many delicate and child-like features caused most to stare at her gorgeous looks.

    However, her looks paled inparison to Noah''s. And he soon felt her pristine gaze smash into him.

    ''There are a lot i still need to know about this world,'' Noah thought momentarily locking gaze''s with the fairy.

    ''Does she even have a mana-core,'' he wondered.

    From the looks of things, it seemed there would be different ways to attain power now that there were literally fairies in existence.

    "What are you?" Noah suddenly heard a voice echo in his head!

    From the high pitch and its child-like features, he immediately guessed it was the fairy. But that realization left him stunned.

    However the ck haireddy spoke before he could continue to wonder.

    "Good day aspirants. I amdy Edna. I''m certain you''ve met my colleague out there and already understand why you are here," her mesmirizing voice rang out pulling everyone''s attention to herself.

    Seeing their nods, her face shone with an incredible smile before she continued.

    "The first day of the four days being the one meant to test your bodies, there will be three different tests split into seven hours each" she began.

    "The first will see you all being teleported to a different space or realm. Within this realm, its environment will constantly have its conditions raised to the extreme."

    "Example; if a region in the realm is supposed to experience heat. Or what we term a really sunny day. You may as well consider yourselves walking into an active volcano instead."

 Chapter 204 204. GOING AGAINST THE ELEMENTS

    Lady Edna''s words managed to sound both shocking and totally thrash at the same time.

    ''Is that even allowed,'' Noah thought both in wonder and slight fear.

    "Likewise if the environment was to experience rain; then consider it a full-blown storm able to remove most town-sized settlements from the map," she continued with her light smile.

    "Simply put you will be going against the elements. Extreme ones," she paused.

    "Not only that, but the changes will also be random. Which means, you could be experiencing a wind storm when suddenly everything turns into an icy tundra," she continued.

    "Even we, won''t know how things will turn out. This is a ce built by our best experts in crafting and inscriptions. It has taken decades of pure work toplete. I hope you enjoy it," she giggled stopping the hearts of the weak males.

    Thankfully Noah felt able to withstand her charm even if by a bit, and his mind couldn''t help dwell on the issue at hand in return.

    ''Those sound bad,'' he thought, ''Not even I can be confident in my ability to seed,'' he sighed, ''At least it will onlyst for 7 hours.''

    "Ah before I leave this out. The time within that space is different. An hour out here is one whole day inside. So basically you''ll be spending a week under those extreme conditions," she exined shattering whatever hopes any of them had in scaling through with ease.

    A dark expression arrived on Noah''s face at those words and his nervousness soon shot through the roof.

    "However since it''s only a test, not all of you will be able to seed. You will be given arm-bands which will constantly scan the state of your body. If your state is really bad, then you''ll be teleported out. But you can also quit yourself if you consider it too much."

    "Though you''ll have to wait till all the tests arepleted before being taken back home," she exined waving her hand.

    The whole room lit up with green lights and ck armbands shimmering with the light of multiple Inscriptions floated toward everyone in the room.

    Putting it on, they felt a weird light scan their figures to construct stats and the conditions of their bodies.

    "They are items at the peak of the higher stage of tier 3, and most of you are middle-staged. So don''t worry about their uracy or if they''ll get destroyed," she exined.

    Seeing the band disy his body in an illusory form, with ''Hp'' and ''Condition'' being the only stats present.

    The band wrote all hp''s as 10, the only difference would be how fast those numbers dropped.

    "If health points strike 2, you will be immediately teleported out. But as I mentioned earlier, you can choose to quit by using your mental waves to interact with the band," she exined.

    Letting her audiences who already looked troubled process the information they had received, she wondered if telling them the next addition was a good thing. But not telling them would also be unfair.

    "Last but definitely not least. During the one week you''ll have to fend off magically generated beasts whose only goal is to reduce your hp," she announced and the groans that escaped their mouths made a bit of pity appear in her head.

    During her time she hadn''t been required to face that many challenges. And that was only one of the three events happening that day!

    ''They aren''t ying about this!'' Noah thought nigh-experiencing a mental breakdown. Even bozolom wasn''t that bad, and their rewards were going to take them to tier 4!

    ''If not for the function able to teleport us out. No one would survive the test,'' Noah concluded.

    "Are we allowed to cast spells," a man suddenly inquired, his face already dark beyondprehension.

    "Good question sir. Fortunately, you are allowed. Unfortunately, you can only cast five spells per day. Any more and you''ll be immediately teleported out," she shook her head. Even she considered it too much already.

    Only the best would exit that ce in one piece.

    Noah felt his head get dizzy for a few seconds. Reying her terror-inducing words, Noah swallowed multiple times, his nervousness had made him feel numb to any more of it.

    "Fortunately that''s all for the first stage," she announced.

    "I could exin the remaining two, but I don''t want to vanquish your hope before you even begin," she chuckled.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Although she felt pity for the youngsters, she couldn''t help but find their downcasted and pouting faces funny.

    "You have one hour to prepare yourselves, while your guides provide you with the descriptions of the monsters you''ll find within the different space. You are allowed to at least that," she announced before disappearing.

    Just likedy, Edna had said, every one of them was given a small book housing the multiple types of monsters.

    ''I''d love to meet the bastards that designed this hell-hole and give them my proper thanks,'' Noah cursed reading the features the beasts would have.

    Due to the break, they were all allowed to mingle, and to Noah''s surprise, he soon found individuals forming small groups as they went around scouting for others.

    Of course, they left him out, but he didn''t mind.

    "Why don''t we take him," Ariana''s voice sounded behind a lone Noah.

    Turning to nce at her, he saw that there were six Individuals behind her, four men and twodies.

    Understanding what was going on, Noah could immediately see their reluctant gaze.

    "Thanks, but I don''t think they''ll want me to burden them," Noah scratched his head. Deep down he appreciated her for even considering him. It showed what type of person she was.

    "Don''t worry I''ll be alright. I''m used to being alone," Noah reassured seeing her reluctant expression.

    "Who said I was worrying. You better survive the stage," she harrumphed turning to leave, but not without ncing at him again.

    A light smile shone on Noah''s face at her reaction. He found her cute.

    However, his expression soon turned dark since he had to prepare himself for the very worst.

    A sense of sad loneliness permeated Noah''s mind at his situation, but he quickly shook it off.

    The hour eventually passed, and Lady Edna reappeared on the tform, but this time her fairy was gone.

    However, Noah could still vaguely sense the fairy''s presence even if his eyes failed to see her.

    "It is time,"dy Enda announced and a red light suddenly shone in the room.

    A wide circr space twirling with red mist-like lights of different shades. The phenomenon resembled a portal in the movies Noah remembered.

    "On a single file. There''s no particr order," she announced gesturing at the rift.

    Those who had formed groups quickly lined up in front of each other, their faces beaming with newly found confidence.

    Alone; seeding in the stage would be Incredibly hard. But with a group, things looked far brighter.

    "Before you leave, I hope you all know that you''ll be randomly teleported to different regions there. It''s primarily a survival test after all" she stated. Her words sparked fear in the hearts of those who had formed groups.

    Noah held back the urge tough as he stepped through the rift, his expression immediately turning stern.

    Feeling his feet touch solid ground, Noah got ready to expand his consciousness, when an Incredible force lifted him from the ground, high into the weirdly dark sky.

    Before proceeding to rapidly twirl his figure in the cloud of thick dust and mass of debris it circted a center point.

    Noah had arrived inside a tornado of immense portion.

 Chapter 205 205. THE BEAST

    There are many things terrifying and extremely deadly to the lives of man.

    Many events able to wreck and shake Individuals up for the rest of their life-time, and Noah''s situation couldn''t help but fit into such categories.

    Sound!

    Lots of it, Noah felt his ears tremble violently at the sheer sound the tornado released. It sounded like a hundred freight trains were speeding and crashing into each other directly next to him.

    And only by sheer luck with the durability of his eardrums did he not lose his hearing.

    Not being able to see anything apart from his arms, Noah felt himself get smashed into hundreds ofrge pieces of rocks while the massive tornado spun he and everything within its range.

    The air density inside that terrifying environment was next to zero, Noah eventually having to result to to speed essence to get a chance to breathe, since the asional rocks smashing into him constantly took his breath away.

    The speed of the tornado was Incredible, definitely reaching speed of over 900mph, everything within its twister, even mere grains of sand felt like speeding bullets.

    However they weren''t totally enough to pierce him, only the rocks inflicting some light scratches.

    Inside such an environment, Noah felt unable to get his bearing due to the sharp debris literally zooming faster than the speed of sound around him.

    He had no chance toin due to sheer amount of dust trying to directly pass through him, and when he thought his situation wouldn''t get any worse it did.

    Lightning!

    ''Oh dear lord,'' Noah managed to put together that simple thought, when a lightning bolt no less stronger than tier peak lower-stage 3, and multiple timesrger than a humans figure, smashed into him.

    Surprisingly even while inside that already fast environment, his body shot downwards travellinghundreds of meters. But a massive rock crashed into him before he could get to the ground.

    Blood tried to escapes Noah''s mouth, but the fact that therge piece of rock was too big for his body to totally smash through and it still continued moving, his gut could only bow to the centrifugal force.

    Having being embedded into the rocks surface, Noah managed to get a few seconds of thinking time even if sharp pieces of rocks crashed into his figure managing to bounce off, but not after removingrge pieces of his attire.

    ''Muliix!'' Noah screamed inwardly and its ck material immediately appeared on his skin. However that barely did anything than to make him an unpierceable ragdoll.

    Crack''s suddenly spread throughout the rocks surface and the sheer power of the tornado ripped it apart, leaving Noah to its mercy.

    A popping sound escaped Noah''s head, and all the sound around him vanished. But his essence healed his ears as soon as that injury appeared.

    Gritting his teeth while crashing and smashing through another rock, Noah tried to see if he could gain control over the tornado.

    Expanding his consciousness to its max, Noah began his n, but only pure chaos spread all around him while he continued to be carried around by the tornado.

    Suddenly time seemed to slow down as he empowered his mind with the speed forces''s energy, but his figure exploded forth with a bright yellow radiance anyway. Incredible power surging through his whole being without his full permission.

    Shock filled Noah''s mind at that utterly unexpected event. He had literally moved a minute portion of his liquid-like essence, but it seemed even that was enough to allow his body overflow with power.

    Pushing that matter to the back of his mind, Noat utilized the Incredible power avable to him to seize the tornado Incredible movement speed.

    Blood flowed out of Noah''s nose at that feat, but more essence flowed into his mind at that point relieving him from the stress that action brought.

    Managing to halt that tornado for a mere instant, which was the entirety of hisprehension of the air affinity, Noah tapped the dust filled space in front him, and his figure shot out of the tornados range, creating a deep yellow streak.

    But instead of totally dispersing, the tornado simply resumed its movement.

    Crashing into the ground a few tens of kilometers from that natural disaster, Noah rolled on the floor before crashing into a small cliff.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A series of curses exited his mouth at that point, while he held his head in pain.

    Feeling his soul realm tremble violently due to the action he had just performed, Noah concluded on his Incredible weakness.

    Coughing a mouthful of blood even if he remained in perfect condition, hey on the bare ground, before suddenly beginning tough. Of course he did all this after removing Mullix''s helmet.

    "That was fun!" He screamed feeling a painful pang in his head.

    Laying on the ground for a few minutes until his head stopped hurting, Noah ignored the rumbling sound in the distance.

    From afar he could immediately understand how dangerous his situation had been.

    "Being a speedling is awesome. I should be close to dead" he chuckled, jumping atop the barely standing cliff.

    His eyes scanned the environment from that over 50ft height, and felt shocked to find multiple other tornado''s far into the region.

    But there was one which looked massive even from that distance. Noah termed it ''The beast''.

    ''What do I do,'' he thought sitting on the cliff. The wind around him had started to pick up, though slightly. The tornado''s were weirdly converging towards his location.

    Lady Edna''s words soon rang in his head at that point, and he felt astonished by the incredulous conclusion he came to.

    ''So that means the disasters will be out to get us, while the beasts alos do the same,'' Noah thought shaking his head.

    ''This is going to be a hassle. I wonder how the other''s are doing. I doubt any of them can easily escape as i did,'' he nodded his head gazing at that weirdly beautiful scenery.

    "Time to get moving," he grunted standing up, when five figures entered his line of sight.

    ''What the--'' Noah''s eyes had sharpened. He hadn''t sensed the creatures arrival.

    Raising his right arm to block the rapid blowing towards his figure, Noah got flunged away, but a weird green liquid remained on that arm.

    Sticking thending before sliding for a few meters, Noah immediately sighted the creatures attacking him.

    "Grotesque," he muttered in disgust but didn''t hesitate to dash forward, at his bodies normal speed that is.

    A group of five serpentine creatures ghostly grey in colour, and featured uneven bumps protruding out of their scale''s.

    The creatures featured two legs featuring three sharp talons. Each four inches in length, able to keep them on vertical surface''s.

    The real danger was their tails.

    Parted in two and featuring two stingersrger than even their heads, those features caused Noah to wonder how they were still so fast.

    ''Maybe they don''t weigh much,'' Noah thought focusing on them.

    Flickering into their midst before their over 13 meters long and 2.1m tall figures could move. Noah grabbed the uneven reptilian head of the closest creature, before proceeding to m it into the ground.

    The small piece ofnd which was the cliff, crumbled at that point, but Noah only felt mildly surprised to find that the beast hadn''t received any Injuries.

    These were the Two tailed scorpio-lizards.

 Chapter 206 206. BIG GUY

    "They''re pretty weak," Noah muttered, dodging the five rapid stringer attacks of one of the three beasts still standing.

    mming his right feet on the ground already filled with multiple small craters, Noah threw dust andrge stone bits into the air.

    Although this didn''t deter the nigh-mindless creatures before him, it allowed him merely test the power in his kicks.

    And the results wowed him. The ground shattered beneath his feets spreading for hundreds of feets around him.

    The shattered ground only stopped the beasts from moving a for a second, which Noah used to m his knee into one of the lizards jaws, dislocating and crushing it.

    "Tch" Noah sounded, he he had expected a more powerful effect, but the materials of their body couldn''t be denied.

    The actual strength of the beasts stood somewhere at the peak of the lower-stsge, but they didn''t possess mana-cores, just brutal strength that even he had to acknowledge.

    A roar resounded behind him and he ducked, sessfully dodging the monsters tail whip.

    "So obvious," he pouted, but he could only deal with it. If the lizard had been created battle smart, it would be unfair for the limited cultivators.

    Delivering a powerful punch to the lizards lower side before it could totally turn, Noah crushed its backside creating a hole between its tail an its body. The lizard inevitably died on the spot.

    ''One more,'' he thought searching for thest lizard beast within the range of his unfolded consciousness.

    Furrowing his brows when he found not the beast or even the corpses of the others, Noah lifted his head to perform a call, but that idea couldn''t find its way out of his head.

    ''Wouldn''t i just be making myself a beacon,'' Noah thought putting into consideration the extra power his essence possessed.

    ''Do the creatures here even work like real magical beasts. Aren''t they just randomly spawned or something,'' he pondered lowering his head.

    However before any more of his thought could continue; the ground suddenly experienced a violent shaking spanning miles.

    The tornado''s in the distance suddenly vansihed and the dark sky returned to normal.

    The ground split beneath Noah''s legs, and he had to result to a make-shift spell to remain on his position.

    A dense tform of wind formed beneath Noah''s feet and from his position he watched the terrain of that region fall into pure chaos.

    Large chasms suddenly opened and the ground copsed on itself, forming pits spanning for kilometers in size.

    Elevating himself even higher, Noah felt his heart skip a beat at the sheer amount of destruction that ce experienced.

    Soon clouds of thick dust began to rise up, forcing him to move from his spot.

    "How do they expect anyone to survive this without help," Noah muttered crossing kilometers of clearly shiftingnds.

    The little vegetation in the area had vansihed, as whole forests were buried underground.

    Noah watched this scene with pure fascination, wondering how others were faring.

    He was perfectly fine. Heck so far he hadn''t really found it annoying, yet.

    He had yet to spend a full hour there after all.

    Noah eventually got bored of that scene, he needed somewhere tond.

    "That''s one spell down," Noah muttered gazing at the dark piy below him over 60km in radius and definitely a few hundred meters deep.

    ''How will all this even return to normal,'' he wondered inwardly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Unfolding his consciousness around his figure, he prepared himself for any attacks.

    He couldn''t naturally sense the beasts since they weren''t real to begin with, but his consciousness remained able to see them since that ability was an expression of his physical sense''s, at least for now.

    Now that he thought to it, he barely got curious about the abilites he had, and what meaning they had to him as a cultivator.

    Maybe it was due to the events constantly surrounding him, or just hisck of concern, he didn''t know. But hopefully there would be libraries in the new guild able to exin to him.

    After a bit of scouting Noah eventually found a seemingly solid ce tond.

    Although his current spell barely took up to 5SE points, he still needed to utilize essence to move it.

    Just a few meters to the ground, Noah sighted three high-speed figures moving towards him and he immediately identified the name of the beasts.

    "Tailed falcons," Noah muttered preparing himself for their attacks.

    He currently couldn''t run around due to therge piece ofnds missing literally ever five feet.

    A powerful bang resounded in the area when their figures converged on him.

    The creatures were termed the "Tailed falcons" mostly because if their over 8ft long tails, but that name didn''t do justice to their real power. The inumberable spikes protruding out of their nigh-bony tails dripping with poison able to temporarily paralyze someone.

    To the shock of the almost-mindless birds, Noah had vanished from his position before they actually reached him.

    ''Its such a hassle to not be able to use spells,'' Noahined appearing a few metres above their hovering figures.

    sping his hands together, Noah brought it down on one of the falcons exposed back, in one powerful blow.

    Its figure bent downwards in an unnatural way, tearing its stomach and allowing all its gut to burst out into the open. The green blooded bird died before it could voice a screech.

    With his only way of being suspended gone, Noah immediately began to fall, and his direction was arge pit only 20 kilometers in radius.

    The ck feathered birds shot towards him at that sign of weakness. However Noah suddenly pped his hands while facing the pit.

    ? The sheer strength in his arms caused a strong enough wind current able to propell his figure upwards.

    Furrowing his brows while shooting past the figures of the birds, Noah tried to grab one of their wings, but missed.

    Reaching a height where the force had run out, Noah took a deep breath before beginning to fall.

    The birds saw this and shot towards him. But they were too dumb to spread out from each other, allowing Noah smashing into them.

    A series of blows carrying the entirety of his 50k strength fell on the beasts and multiple portions of their bodies exploded, leaving clean holes.

    The birds died on the air, but their figures suddenly vanished like dust.

    ''I get nothing for killing them, Noah thought, ''I guess it would only be easier utilize it,'' he thought bringing out his daggers.

    ''But i have to find a way to escape that big guy,'' he thought ncing at the massive worm silently crawling within the pit he rapidly approached.

    That region experienced powerful explosions that travelled the regionsnds. Making those a bit closer to him wonder what sort of monster was in a battle.

    If only they knew.

 Chapter 207 207. CALAMITY

    "Oof" Noah eximed sitting cross-legged atop a golden surface.

    The fight with the horned worm had been hectic and annoying. Like how annoying snakes were the beast was even more annoying. Having the ability to dig through the rocky terrain like it was mere sand.

    It proved troublesome to constantly escape its horned rampage.

    ''Let''s never fight one again,'' Noah thought reying the fight that had taken an incredible 39 minutes to finish.

    The beast held power well into the middle-stage and Noah could only make do with what he had.

    His strength was Incredible, but it fell only slightly short of the beast''s power.

    After that long but not-so draining fight, Noah could confirm that his prowess stood at the middle-stage, but he hadn''t gone far into it.

    However considering his real level, he could grin at how strong he would be the more he leveled up.

    ncing at Cudgel''s shiny surface, Noah could only sigh when he saw that it met the golden standards of the Divine Lightning guild.

    However, that wasn''t the main problem.

    He worried that they were being watched, and seeing him utilize such a weird weapon would surely raise some important eyebrows.

    Although he had only used it to fill the space of the over 20km pit, its ergement would have been really obvious to anyone that was watching.

    ''Hopefully, they weren''t watching,'' Noah thought, but his words didn''t even sound convincing to his ears.

    A sigh escaped his mouth at that evaluation, but there wasn''t much he could do. He had gotten to the stage in which holding back his punches could get him killed even with all his power.

    ncing at the stats on the armband, he saw that it still disyed his full Hp, and his condition remained "Excellent". All courtesy to his Incredible healing.

    Most of his feats wouldn''t have been possible if not for that simple but Incredible feature.

    Standing up after feeling the rest had been enough, Noah gazed at the blue sky.

    Wondering how the entire ce was even possible, he continued to find howme life on Earth had been.

    "People studying for over 20 years of their lives, before working jobs for almost double that period. Only to have barely 10 years of rest before passing on," he shook his head.

    "Subpar," he muttered.

    Although life as a cultivator remained really hard, he got the chance to see and do stuff literally considered fiction.

    ''Let''s be a god,'' Noah thought smiling at whoever was watching from whatever screen those scenes were being broadcasted into.

    Tapping Cudgel''s surface, Noah watched it shrink almost instantly and he kept its pin-sized figure in his hair.

    His ck attire looked like a rag, asrge portions of his bare body were out in the open.

    "I need a permanent attire," Noah muttered in frustration. Hopefully, Muliix would one day be capable of being worn like a normal set of clothes.

    "I guess that''ll have to do for now," he muttered causing Muliix to wrap around the lower half of his body, which consisted of his waist down to his feet. It even acted as a shoe.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Due to the ragged garment still being long, Cudgel''s material wouldn''t be sighted much by people, if he met any.

    Beginning his journey towards solid ground, Noah saw himself continuously feeling at loss of what to do.

    He had hidden his assets for so long that having to utilize them multiple times felt nerve-racking.

    Sighing after utilizing Cudgel for the tenth time in a row, Noah punched the air in frustration, and bullets of sheer force contained in his arm traveled the space in front of him before eventually dispersing after hundreds of feet.

    Unlike the hardship he expected would be annoying, the only thing felt was a mixture of worry and frustration, topped off with the annoyance of having to move around dodging pitfalls.

    ''This needs to change already,'' Noah thought tapping his feet on the ground.

    Not feeling the extra vibrations he would feel if it had an empty space beneath it, he decided to settle there.

    After all, it had been an hour since he began his destination-less journey.

    Only Carnage could be sighted for miles, and Noah felt fed up with that sight.

    "This is more boring than I thought," Noah said, "Maybe because I have a few powerful tricks up my sleeve," he added waiting for something that would test him to arrive, as no beasts had even attacked him since the worm.

    Unfortunately, it wasn''t until around two hours had passed, did his expectation get met.

    Having already left the area he had been due to boredom, Noah had finally gotten to solid ground that spanned a few tens of kilometers in size. However, at that exact moment did the whole world seem to experience another terrible tremble.

    Understanding what that event meant after witnessing it only one time.

    Noah got prepared for whatever that realm nned to throw at him.

    A deep and powerful howling sound could soon be heard hundreds of kilometers from his position. His ears straining their selves to pick up those erratic sounds.

    It wasn''t until the howling had begun to feel deafening, and an incredibly powerful gust of cold wind had swept thends, did his eyes catch sight of what wasing towards him.

    Noah''s expression darkened when his eyes fell on the monstrosity approaching him. His stomach trembled as he forgot how to breathe in the span of an instant.

    Real fear for the first time since the beginning of that day, appeared in Noah''s mind. And multiple curses escaped his mouth when he realized how quickly trapped in that situation he had be.

    Deep yellow lightning crackled around his body in the uncertainty of his next action.

    But was there much he could do at that juncture?

    Noah continued to frantically sweep his gaze on the impending danger barreling towards his tiny figure from all sides.

    Definitely, hundreds of meters to probably kilometers in height and spanning miles in size; an immense mass of shining blue water ravaged thends with the power of its incredible size and speed.

    Earth shaking reverberations traveled the empty regions. As the world around him seemed to bow to that cmity.

    Even Noah felt the fear of death at the sight of a tsunami!

    The water converged on Noah''s cowering figure, and his hp experienced a rapid decrease to the Incredible number of 3.

 Chapter 208 208. SHINY

    Noah felt his mind go numb to the amount of pain his body experienced in that Instant. He felt sure he had died during the impact; which had removed the ground beneath his feet.

    But thankfully he had moved essence into empowering his body, and Mullix''s material which had immediately covered his body had limited the damage on his body.

    But even those didn''t stop his arms from turning into gory meat pastes. His legs from bending into unnatural positions, causing his bones to tear through his skin, but couldn''t exit Muliix''s material. And finally, his back bending on itself. Giving Noah a hunch-back.

    However, his healing kicked in before he could perish in those moving waters.

    Snapping sounds escaped most parts of his body, as they healed causing even more pain to Noah, but those weren''t levels of pain he flinched at.

    His condition quickly stabilized, but another problem soon revealed itself.

    Due to the sheer amount of pressure he felt from being at the very bottom of the now monstrous ocean, Noah could barely try and oppose the water current, as he felt paralyzed.

    Already switching to speed essence for breathing, Noah found himself stuck to moving with the ocean''s current.

    From his position, there wasn''t any source of light apart from the constant tube-like mass of deep yellow essence originating from his abdomen, before stretching into his nostrils.

    The violent wave of water brought wet sand into Noah''s environment further making seeing a hassle.

    He could immediately guess that most aspirants would have given up at the sight of the tsunami. And even he considered that option, but his ambition wouldn''t let him give up that easily.

    Having caused Muliix to protect his body, Noah could withstand the asional bangs on the ground.

    The power in the water made him feel like he had been thrown into a washing machine, while the dark and muddy waters reminded him of his current danger.

    Noah soon found himself smashing intorge pieces of uprooted trees, and their crunching sounds muffled by the watery environment echoed in the ocean giving him forboding chills.

    He felt alone in the whole world, and after spending hours in that state he almost began to believe that.

    Whole environments unfamiliar to his eyes zoomed past him, but thanks to the water''s speed he didn''t manage to drop into whatever pits that still existed in regions of that realm.

    He had tried multiple times to swim upwards, but he didn''t know how to. And the waters'' terrifying currents wouldn''t even allow that.

    Not to even begin mentioning therge chunks of debris carried by the moving water. That environment was more than an obstacle course.

    Noah experienced the same feeling he felt during his time inside the tornado. His environment couldn''t damage him, but he almost couldn''t do anything about it either.

    He had also tried reducing Mullix''s weight to the lowest which was around a few tens of grams. But that had barely worked. It only made it easier for any size of debris to drag him along its path in the ocean.

    Although he asionally found himself getting elevated, something always happened to stop him from reaching the very surface of the ocean.

    The whole situation felt like something only individuals in tier 4 could properly handle, and he felt it unfair that such trials would be given to them, mere tier 3 experts.

    Different ideas on how to escape that environment formed in his mind, but he couldn''t think of any genuine action able to help him.

    None of his elements could achieve anything in that environment, at least not at his current level. He couldn''t freeze a whole ocean, or somehow divide a path in the water using his air affinity.

    However Cudgel soon entered his mind, and he found himself wondering why humans forgot their important assets during danger.

    ''I''m still not properly trained for events like this,'' Noah thought, recalling the multiple times such had happened.

    However, worry still rose in his mind about the issue. He feared the staff being carried away by the tsunami''s current, but remembering how heavy it was supposed to be, he decided to trust the Divine item in his ownership.

    Commanding the staff to erge itself after letting it go in the ocean, Noah watched it barrel out in size, but it wasn''t until after half a minute had passed, did it begin to elevate him.

    ''I''m going to be cing too much attention on myself,'' Noah thought, but he would have to choose between taking that risky action, or staying inside the water for who knew how many days.

    A few difficulties appeared on his ascent, but Cudgel steadily parted the water to arrive at the very top of the ocean.

    An explosion of force urred when Cudgel''s surface burst out of the now ck and murky waters.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Kneeling with his face on its golden surface, Noah coughed out the water that had been stuck inside him.

    The windswept past his body, but he barely felt its chilling cold.

    Laying on his weapon''s golden surface, Noah affirmed how overpowered he was. And finding a situation that would make all his assets useless didn''t seem possible in that world.

    ''Maybe when gods are in the mix, I might have trouble escaping situations,'' Noah thought standing up to walk towards Cudgels'' golden edge.

    His staff stretched for a few kilometers in radius, and that seemed to be its limits. At least currently. But even that size remained more than enough.

    Having risen around 50ft above the water''s surface, Noah got able to witness the incredible sight from a rtively safe position.

    The ck waters entered his sight and he couldn''t help but feel his heart tremble.

    The ocean raged back and forth, mming into Cudgel''s metallic structure, but all its power didn''t manage to do anything to it.

    A strange murky scent struck his nostrils, as he smelled mud amongst the mix of scents. The others were unfamiliar to him.

    The water stretched as far as his eyes could see and from his position, Noah could see floatingndmasses get torn apart by the water''s Incredible speed and power.

    Serious pity rose in his heart for the other aspirants. He believed himself to be the only person out there since the event had been devastating to even him.

    Noah sat at the edge of his safe zone casually listening to the sound of the raging water over 40ft below him.

    He eventually brought out his food to eat and spent the next hour simply sea-gazing

    However at some point, Cudgel''s figure suddenly experienced an intense tremble, and Noah almost found himself inside the ck waters but managed to hold on before such could happen.

    His staff''s immense figure suddenly tilted towards where he was hanging on, and the fear of entering the water filled his mind.

    Even with the sounds of the water below him, Noah could still hear a muffled set of soundwaves travel up the ocean, its vibrations also being enhanced by his staff''s metallic figure. Telling of how intense whatever was going on beneath him was.

    Cudgel soon began to tilt opposite to where he barely hung on, but he dared not make a move, since it suddenly experienced a deep drop.

    The waters around him twisted and turned at that event, but there wasn''t much it could do.

    Ideas on what could be going on surged in Noah''s mind, while he continued to hang on. Something with the most likely possibility eventually appeared in his head.

    The idea saw that thend beneath Cudgel''s figure had begun to give in to its Incredible weight, coupled with the raging water constantly soaking it.

    Cudgel continued to sink until Noah had begun to enter the water.

    The thought of erging Cudgel more crossed his mind, but to what end he thought.

    Heaving a sigh while feeling his torso begin to get submerged, Noah erged its size allowing it to stretch for a few more feet.

    Climbing onto its surface when it had begun to steadily sink. He paced around its golden surface, a battle ongoing in his mind.

    He could certainly find his way out of that situation, which was by simply running on the ck ocean. However, the issue remained about being watched. He didn''t feel ready to risk it.

    But even with that issue, he had to find a way to remain in his position. Shrinking it before allowing it to grow after a few minutes of moving inside the water was an idea. But his current issue would simply continue after a few short minutes of calm.

    Unknowing to Noah, during his moment of hesitation, a few Individuals had found themselves floating towards a shiningndmass.

    They eventually arrived at it and began their climb towards its top. Thankfully Cudgel''s erged figure gave space for multiple sections able to allow them up.

    The sound of multiple grunts pulled Noah out of his thoughts, and he slowly turned himself toy eyes on a group of a few familiar individuals, and Ariana happened to be one of them.

 Chapter 209 209. LIE

    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.

 Chapter 210 210. SKY SHATTERING

    A few seconds of silence passed before any words were spoken. The experts didn''t have the leisure time to remain in their shock for too long.

    "Well that''s a relief," Ariana spoke walking towards Noah before suddenly delivering a punch to his right arm.

    Having gazed at the punches'' arrival for what felt like minutes, Noah felt totally confident in taking it.

    Her fist struck his figure, but it only managed to ruffle his clothes.

    However, Noah''s senses weren''t able to pick up the minute wave of energy that washed over his body, being more concentrated in his right arm.

    "Nice. But you should have dodged it," Ariana smiled; when Noah suddenly felt the liquid blood coursing through that arm halt their movements for an instant, then blood suddenly gushed out of his nostrils and mouth.

    Simply standing still in surprise, Noah nced at the pool of blood that had quickly formed beneath his feet.

    Due to his incredible stamina, he felt almost nothing from losing that much blood, but the sight remained dumbfounding nheless.

    Shooting a query-filled gaze at Ariana''s smiling face, Noah felt ready to talk, but she spoke before he could.

    "I practice a special Martial art that has a few effects on people. That''s just one of them. Thanks to my water affinity which also allowed me to be proficient in it. That technique was meant to halt every liquid movement in your body before it then exploded out of every hole in your body. But it seems that was all I could achieve," she exined expressing her displeasure.

    Noah felt a wave of calm sweep his mind at those words, but that didn''t stop him from re-evaluating her danger level.

    Multiple strikes from her would be enough to ce even him in a pitiful state.

    However, amid that growing respect for thedy, was excitement.

    ''It seems I might not have to wait for gods, before a real challenge arrives,'' Noah thought while he regained his color.

    Her mention of a martial art forced Noah''s remembrance of his.

    ''I might have to begin to practice the moreplex ones,'' Noah thought wiping the blood that had umted on his nose and chest area.

    "There are two earth affinity holders, but their skills are unusable In our situation. There''s one fire affinity and one air, but there''s almost no difference between them," Ariana started, gathering them around.

    "That leaves you, and the two of us. A lightning affinity holder and we water," she exined.

    "Without further ado, let''s get to our n," she dered, and a series of discussions immediatelymenced.

    Their discussion was mostly based on their inability to disobey the ocean currents, which caused them to drift towards ces they had mostly avoided, like the northern and southern regions.

    The matter soon branched into what steps would be taken if they were attacked by beasts since apparently, their group had lost two people to such incidents.

    Thankfully, Noah''s affinity allowed for most of those issues to be solved.

    He would create an array of dense electrical energy around their bubble, which he would be able to manipte into whatever offensive techniques

    he desired.

    Although he hadn''t done such before, he felt confident in his ability to do so. And hisrge essence pool further boosted his confidence.

    The two water mages would handle keeping the bubble together, while he protected it. The remaining cultivators on the other hand were almost considered dead-weight.

    Their affinities had a chance of working underwater, but that probability remained slim.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Fire could wellpromise their protection, and there was also a chance of it getting quenched before actually doing anything.

    Earth was even worse, there literally weren''t any signs ofnd for kilometers below or around them, and the metallic ind couldn''t be weirder at that realization.

    The air affinity holder could help the water mages but only in situations that would require his skills.

    However, Ariana surprisingly didn''t seem to mind their inability to assist.

    Noah felt unsure of her true personality since all he had witnessed could have been her really good acting. But he appreciated her kindness nheless.

    "I believe that''s all," Ariana announced nodding her head with satisfaction.

    At this point, Cudgel remained only a few feet from being submerged, which caused the experts wary worry.

    The cultivators nodded at her words, and they quickly gathered around a radius of 30 meters.

    Small streams of the ck water around them immediately emerged out of the ocean, to begin to form a spherical structure.

    Hundreds of such streams converged around them as both mages worked together to create that structure.

    Not even a minute passed before the sight of arge ball of water casually swirling around a fixed point on the kilometers wide ind appeared.

    The ck water glistened in the light of that realm and a low liquid swirling sound spread out in the environment.

    Noah nced at the structure all around him in mild fascination, it felt surreal how they were practically underwater, but not a single drop of liquid had touched him.

    Due to the ckness of the water, their eyes couldn''t see much, but their unfolded consciousness remained more than enough.

    With their feet still on Cudgel''s golden surface, the water mages figured they would wait for the mysterious ind topletely get submerged, before creating a semi-solid liquid ground.

    However, Noah couldn''t wait for them to leave his weapon any longer. So he slowly but gradually began to reduce Cudgel''s height.

    This event startled the cultivators but before much time could pass cold water had started touching their feet.

    Seeing the water mages immediately begin to create a solid floor, Noah caused Cudgel to rapidly shrink beneath them.

    The ball of tight liquidnded on the water''s surface at that point, and the water mages didn''t waste time in letting their bubble proceed underwater.

    That event remained spectacr, but most had their focus on the shrinkingndmass.

    Incredible shock and fascination spread on their faces at that sight, as Noah allowed them to witness at least that.

    Soon Cudgel''s golden surface vanished beneath the ck and murky ocean.

    He couldn''t bring it to himself since the focused experts would surely notice the needle-sized object speeding towards his figure.

    With that realization, Noah immediately sent it towards the sky. However before he could recall that he wasn''t on Creagar, Cudgels pin-sized figure had struck the artificial sky of that realm and proceeded to createrge crack''s in it.

    Due to its status being ''''Divine'''', Cudgel seeded in exiting that realm, but not without shattering arge portion of its sky first.

 Chapter 211 211. BLUENESS

    Within an almostpletely dark room, around arge table of sorts, were Individuals over twenty in number.

    Their eyes intently gazed at the illusoryndmass spanning almost the full length of the over 30 meters perfectly square table.

    The golden table featured seemingly thousands of runic symbols and words, all glowing a red shade.

    The symbols looked to project thendmass which had a significant portion of its expanse get covered by a ck-colored liquid,

    Above the illusoryndmass were hundreds of thin red beams of light present in random ces, which signaled the positions of the aspirants.

    Also above thendmass was a t surface seemingly transparent. It created its light looking down upon thendmass, perfectly covering everything.

    A series of discussions were going on amongst the individuals, but no words could be heard since they utilized their minds.

    These Individuals were the ones designated to spectate the tier 3''s in their trials, and they had been doing so for less than three minutes.

    However, although they spectated the illusoryndmass, they were only able to see the names of the red lights that disappeared or remained.

    Only the creators of the realm had ess to what the different aspirants were doing.

    At some point during their various conversation, a loud sound suddenly pulled their full attention toward the illusoryndmass.

    And to their astonishment, a crack had spread in the sky, and soon arge portion of it suddenly disappeared.

    Due to the ind being a mere projection, they didn''t see Cudgel''s passage there. No, the experts managing the stabilizing of the realm were the ones to fully experience Cudgel''s might.

    Now inside an incredibly bright yellow lighted room, almost like ab room on earth. A series of ck attired experts could be seen scrambling up and down the ash-painted room.

    Multiple orders were thrown at different Individuals as everyone moved to find a quick solution to stabilize the hole that had appeared on the purple spherical ball of sorts tens of feet in circumference, hovering at the center of the room.

    The dimly glowing purple ball featured multiple red rifts extremely tiny in size floating around it.

    A dense amount of mana poured out of the hole as the experts prepared to eject the aspirants since more cracks had spread apart from the hole. But they couldn''t make a move until told to.

    Further adding to their problems, was the news of an object directly digging through the multiple defenses ced around and inside the room.

    Cudgel traveled towards the sky unhindered by the defenses able to stop even peak tier 4 experts in their tracks.

    Its pin-sized figure eventually burst out of the building at maddening speeds, now free to reside in the clouds.

    However thick ck ones surrounded its environment.

    "What just happened!?" A male voice boomed inside theb not managing to deter the experts from their various activities.

    "We fail topletely understand, but please not now," A middle-aged man replied to the voice while hundreds of tier 4 magical circles expanded and crumbled before him.

    The magical circles, however, firstnded on the purple ball before crumbling. Not able to properly aplish its goal.

    Seven other experts did the same as their power felt well into the realm of tier 4.

    "Do you have a solution?" The male voice sounded again, but this time his tone was calmer.

    "Yes, but we never dreamed that such would happen. The immediate repair of the different space will require really valuable materials. Are we permitted to utilize them?" The middle-aged man exined without removing his focus from trying to stabilize the realm.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Or do we eject them and move on," the expert quickly added.

    A silence that hadsted for only two seconds urred, but they felt like days to the multiple centuries-old cultivators.

    "You are permitted to eject the remaining aspirants. They''ll simply continue to the next stage of their trials," the voice answered solemnly.

    The middle-aged man gritted his teeth at those words, his mouth uttering a few curses.

    He felt betrayed that his and his colleagues'' hard work would be abandoned to save resources.

    However, he could only voice a helpless sigh when he listed the multiple materials needed to fix the mere sky, as none were below the middle-stage of tier 4 in terms of quality.

    If the issue had urred with the terrain of the realm, it would have been better. But the sky remained something very sensitive.

    Its damage would severely impact the realm''s condition, and the whole thing could eventually crumble.

    They didn''t know what existed outside their dimension, as even that realm was simply arge piece ofnd gathered from all over their continent.

    It existed Inside the expanded space before them, and its boundaries were theyer of light and air pressure around it.

    If left to the force of nature, they suspected it would simply copse on itself, killing whatever was contained inside it.

    Of course, that exnation was only the most basic words capable of describing the realm, since multiple other things were utilized.

    "Get ready to eject the aspirants within the different space!" The middle-aged man announced, his words further saddening the experts who had heard the foreign male voice speaking to the expert.

    "Are we allowed to get at least Mana stones? We have a chance of repairing the damage but it might take a few decades," the middle-aged man added as a series of calctions appeared within his old and experienced mind.

    "Yes. The Divine Lightning guild would greatly appreciate it if you could," the voice replied, and a sense of calm appeared inside the over one hundred listening experts.

    The other seven experts stabilizing the realm all nodded at each other as they prepared themselves for arge amount of Mana about to be utilized to forcefully teleport the aspirants.

    "We are ready for the ejection!" A female expert at the peak of tier 3 announced, speaking to the eight experts.

    The whole room experienced a violent shaking at that point, as the tier 3 experts in the room felt the Mana density in the room experience a sharp drop.

    Although high-quality Mana stones were also at y, they couldn''t stop that event from urring.

    A bright blue mass of Mana capable of fueling multiple experts into tier 4 converged below the realm.

    A few seconds passed as the room continued to see rivers of blue essence rush towards the spherical mass of already Incredible portions of Mana.

    A series of green magical circles and funnels of converging inscriptions appeared above the mass of energy.

    The eight experts nodded at that point and pushed the heavy mass of mana into the funnels, fueling the teleportation spell.

    <strong>BOOOOOM!!</strong>

    The room experienced an explosion of blueness as some directly went blind in front of the intense light.

    Another rumble shook the whole building and everything went dark, the only illumination being the rapidly spinning purple sphere.

 Chapter 212 212. ROARS

    Having spent multiple hours within the realm after sending Cudgel to the sky.

    Noah recalled to have regretted his actions, but it seemed things worked out.

    However, he couldn''t deny the sheer amount of trouble his action had caused, after all, there was now a huge hole in the sky.

    Cudgel''s exit had resulted in probably the most powerful explosion he had ever experienced, and they had already gone a few hundred meters below the ocean''s surface!

    The impact had literally shattered even the water below the sky, as multiple sections of the ck ocean suddenly went empty.

    That event resulted in the scene thaty before Noah and his impromptu group.

    Everyone sat on arge rock a few ten hundred meters in radius. The chunk of solid earth reminded him of the tall rocks found in canyons, only that this one was wet.

    The expert''s expressions being stern, they would asionally nce at the ever-expanding hole of seeming doom above them.

    Large cracks, probably kilometers in length spread out in every direction from a ckish-purple hole that could be seen from anywhere in that realm.

    The horrendous sounds each crack released always forced them into sping their ears with their hands.

    Noah couldn''t count how many times he had gone deaf during those extremely long hours even if it had only been two hours so far.

    Heavy silence remained amid the experts, as everyone prepared for whatever the realm wanted to throw at them.

    Possible ideas about the terrifying hole in the sky spread in their minds, only Noah knowing what exactly had caused it.

    Some wondered if it was the realm falling apart, or something else; like an environmental hazard.

    However, no one had ever heard of the sky falling apart in their multiple decades of life, leaving them at a great loss.

    The piece of rock on which they sat, featured a series of worrying cracks, but there wasn''t much the experts could do, after all the ground below them remained crawling with tens of horned worms!

    It seemed they had arrived at a spawning point of sorts since every few minutes, around five horned worms would materialize.

    Thankfully most weren''t asrge as the one Noah fought.

    Only most.

    Surprisingly the artificial beast had the same ability as a real magical beast, which was the ability to feast on anything that contained energy and be stronger due to it.

    This simple and currently annoying feature allowed for threerge worms probably twice the size Noah fought to be present below them.

    The massive worms asionally feasted on the new spawns; only allowing them to feast on each other when they needed more substantial nutrients.

    The three were like the lords of that region since no other beast smaller in size approached them.

    This of course favored the cultivators who weren''t in the right state of mind to properly fight, but it also trapped them up there.

    From the looks of things, the spawning rate had drastically increased which meant traveling thends would most likely lead to death.

    Thankfully the worms weren''t smart enough to crawl up the over 500 meters tall stone, even if their sheer length couldfortably allow them fit its size inside their mouths.

    ''They are pretty dumb,'' Noah concluded after watching their rtionship with the world around them.

    The beasts simplyzed around, not bothering to kill each other, only opting to eat the newly spawned beasts.

    Although they featured something that real magical beasts possessed. The power of the worms wasn''t increasing all that much.

    Their power looked to have passed the halfway point of the middle-stage of tier 3.

    Ariana alone seemed to hold that much power, not to talk of Noah who felt able to pummel them if he tried hard enough.

    You might currently wonder why the experts felt threatened by the presence of the worms if they seemed to have the advantage in power.

    That would be none other than because every newly spawned worm held almost that much power, the only difference being in their various size.

    And unfortunately for them, there were already over fifty scouring down there.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The experts would be wiped out if they engaged Inbat.

    The fauna of that realm thrived in that chaos, so naturally, the experts were outnumbered.

    Therge piece of stone they sat on, asionally trembled as a result of the movements of the worms, causing more cracks to spread.

    Heaving a helpless sigh, Noah swept his gaze on the sitting experts and his eyes eventually fell on Ariana.

    Her hair fluttered in the winds of that realm, and her nk eyes hinted at the worry hidden behind them.

    Noah sat next to her, not minding the equally nk nces of the surrounding experts. He remained silent for a few seconds before eventually speaking.

    "Do you feel pressure for being the leader of sorts?" Noah''s words seemed to hit the spot since her expression clearly flickered at them.

    "You don''t have to worry, all of us here are capable of taking care of ourselves," Noah continued, gazing at the mesmerizing color of the expanding hole.

    "Why even worry about a bunch of people who are only ready to save their skin," he paused, hearing her heave a sigh.

    "I know, I know. But...." Her words faded.

    "You still feel responsible for the group," Noahpleted her words feeling a sense of disgust well up from deep inside him.

    Her slight nod further heightened that feeling, but it wasn''t directed at her. Rather Noah felt disgusted by himself.

    Memories of his earlier life on Cregar yed themselves, and he could immediately understand how naive and dumb he had been.

    That state didn''t seem natural to him now, but he couldn''ty his fingers on its cause.

    "Where Ie from I''ve always been at the forefront of a group. And my years as a tier-one and two cultivator weren''t pleasant," she suddenly started, pulling Noah''s attention.

    "I''ve had friends get killed due to my wrong decisions and their deaths still haunt me till today," she spoke, her face radiating a tinge of sadness.

    "Although most times the events were seemingly unavoidable, it still begged the question--"

    "What would have happened if you hadn''t taken those decisions," Noahpleted her words, feeling his mood plummet.

    The conversation reminded him mostly of James. ''What if I had declined that day,'' Noah thought, feeling guilt trying to find its way into his mainstream mind.

    Lifting her eyes to nce at Noah due to how well he seemed to understand her. Ariana felt surprised to find that a sad expression had appeared on his breath-taking face, and she unconsciously lost her breath at the scene.

    Another few seconds of silence passed, the world seemingly fading into the background around them. The duo felt to be the only ones in the world at that moment as multiple thoughts flowed through their minds.

    "I''m such a mood killer. I''m sorry for bothering you with my personal issues," Ariana apologized feeling genuinely guilty.

    A smile bloomed on Noah''s face at those words, and he couldn''t help but conclude on the kind nature thedy before him, possessed.

    "Why are you smiling!" Ariana eximed embarrassed, her loud voice catching the attention of the others.

    "No reason in particr," Noah replied wondering how he could feel that free with her.

    Ariana pouted in embarrassment, her former worry slowly beginning to vanish at Noah''spany.

    Whether it was due to his ever-confident aura, or his good looks. Or some hidden but unique attributes, Ariana felt drawn to the young man before her, even if she still felt unsure of him.

    Their conversation continued for a while, Noah managing to surprise himself at how good he was at mundane topics.

    Due to their chatty mode, the mood of the others couldn''t help but lighten, and they too, soon engaged in a few dialogues.

    Needless to say, something eventually changed at some point.

    Three powerful roars suddenly spread throughout the region, followed by the appearance of three massive figures asrge as the snake''s beneath them.

    Behind the overlyrge beasts were tens of the same species and all three packs moved towards the positions of the three worms, which in effect meant Noah''s.

 Chapter 213 213. EXCEPTION

    ''Why are they so damn big!'' Noah frowned, getting up.

    Just like him, the others were also on alert. As stern expressions appeared on their faces.

    Exchanging meaningful nces with themselves, each one of them prepared for a battle, one that could prove to be very tough if things weren''t handled efficiently.

    Inspecting the oversized beasts by listening to his Instincts. Noah felt mildly astonished to find that the beasts were also in the middle-stage, albeit seemingly at their peak.

    This of course would prove troublesome since none of them held such power.

    "What do you think we should do?" Noah voiced a question to a serious Ariana.

    Her gazended on him and she immediately went into deep thought.

    However, her experienced mind quickly provided her with multiple ideas and her mouth immediately opened to voice them.

    "From the looks of things the whole region would probably experience a battle. We can utilize thatmotion to find somewhere safe. But we''ll have to remain close to each other," she exined, her words receiving nods.

    "What about that," the other water mage pointed at the hole in the sky, "It''s getting bigger, and it might be a problem at some point."

    "There''s really nothing we can do about it; except hope, it gets fixed or something," Ariana shrugged.

    "I guess we''ll need to head that way if we want to have a chance at safety" Noah suddenly announced gazing at thends behind them.

    There remained a small forest, although most of it was gone, it would provide some type of shelter since its distance from their position was a bit lengthy.

    "That should do for now, but we''ll have to be fast," Ariana nodded a sword appearing in her grip. "Don''t forget to stick together, there are surely going to be packs of roaming beasts still out for our skin," she added seeing her group prepare themselves.

    A series of weapons appeared in the hands of the cultivators, as they all got ready to escape the soon-to-be battlefield.

    A pair of ck daggers shimmering with a dark-purplish color at its sharp edges appeared in Noah''s hands. And its sight couldn''t help but catch the attention of the others.

    However, no one said anything. Only limiting themselves to stare at it before focusing their gaze on the task ahead.

    The height of the piece of rock they stood on remained around 500 meters, but its base was crawling with the worms and was also wrapped by the long length of one of the massive horned worms.

    The worms were mostly golden-brown but featured patches of dark brown skin.

    From the distance, they would almostpletely blend with that terrain since it had been a desert of some sort, but the water had dealt with that issue.

    The over 70m long horns held the ability to stir up dirt and rocks, hence giving them some sort of affinity. They were the only beasts in that realm to hold such an ability.

    Electrical currents crackled around Noah''s figure as strands of his white hair floated due to that event. His body immediately began to emit a soft yellow glow, and the earth beneath his feet soon turned ck.

    He poured around 50SE into empowering his body, and that was the mildest effect he could reach.

    Noah felt ready to take off but needed to wait for the others to prepare whatever technique they wanted.

    ''Do movement techniques count as spells,'' Noah thought seeing different colored techniques light-up their almost dark environment.

    "That''s some pretty cool stuff," Ariana spoke, while tendrils of azure glowing liquid exited her legs to d them in a boot of sorts.

    Her expression went cold at that point, as the others were also ready. Lifting her right hand, she quickly brought it down signaling their movements.

    The top of that vertically erected rock crumbled; as a loud bang carrying the force of multiple tier 3''s, ravaged its structural integrity.

    Seven different colored streaks appeared to speed past the sky, only to form an arc heading towards the ground.

    Although the realm was currently in a mess, the various creatures present still held their primary goal within them, which caused over thirty creatures of different species to begin their wild dash towards the seven.

    Feeling his feet touch solid ground again; Noah watched as his surroundings experienced terrible cracks at the arrival of the experts.

    Although they looked weak beside monsters like tier 4''s, tier 3 experts remained capable of dealing significant damage to their environment by simply moving about with their power on full disy.

    Rapidly sweeping his gaze on the six Individuals around him, Noah saw Ariana nod, and they all dashed towards the forest a few ten kilometers up ahead.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah quickly turned out to be the fastest, but he didn''t let himself stray away too much.

    He could probably take care of himself just fine, but since he currently was present in a group, he had to stick with them.

    Not even ten seconds after theirnding; roars and explosions rose from various positions around them.

    They weren''t totally out of the range of the worms but were far enough to not be caught in the explosion that urred at the sh of the overlyrge beasts.

    The ground resonated with the sheer amount of power those beasts were capable of unleashing, and Noah couldn''t help but marvel at that event.

    It seemed their buffed-up size allowed them more power even if their true strength was supposed to be in the middle-stage. The damage they dealt seemed to belong to a far higher realm of power.

    With a battle ongoing behind them, and one about to unfold before them, Noah and his group couldn''t help but get riled up.

    Their situation although dangerous, felt like a hunt or a game to be exact.

    Suddenly everyone wanted to outdo each other, so they immediately brought their best to the fight.

    Twirling his daggers in his fingers with expert proficiency, Noah utilized his dexterity to its maximum, as ideas on how to best utilize his daggers formed in his mind.

    A wave of surprise swept his mind at how powerful his mind had be after the transformation, and the results inevitably wowed both he and his group.

    Cutting down the wild beasts with such ease that it felt unfair, Noah barely utilized 30% of his full strength.

    The ideas his mind provided him felt like proper techniques on their own, as the main objective was to maintain an all-around defense while minimizing his movements.

    Flicking his wrists literally over fifty times in an Instant, Noah shed at a two-tailed lizard almost twice the size he fought earlier that day.

    Before the beast could swing its grotesque tail, Noah had dissected it into tens of fleshy chunks.

    Pain ravaged the beast''s mind but Noah wasn''t paying attention to its agony-filled roars. He rapidly flicked his lethal wrists, cleanly separating the beast''s head from the rest of its body.

    Performing a side-step sessfully dodging a teethed bite, Noah grabbed the head of the wolf-like beast before him, before proceeding to embed one of his two daggers in its bony jaw.

    The wolf died on the spot but there were already three other beasts about to converge on him.

    However, they all suddenly stopped moving after an azure light shed behind them, soon revealing their bisected mid-sections.

    Noah nced at Ariana swiftly moving across the battlefield, shing anything that wasn''t human.

    Her technique allowed her to control the pace of the battle going on around her while inflicting deadly wounds on the monsters.

    ''Will she ever drop that sword and utilize her martial arts,'' Noah wondered, stabbing a tailed falcon trying to tear his head off his neck.

    A screech escaped therge beast''s beaks, but the daggers effect turned it to dust almost instantly.

    The group continued to move towards the forest while killing the beasts that tried to stop them.

    Things looked bright from how easy that task had, even though some received multiple non-fatal Injuries.

    However, another event quickly sprang up to disrupt that smooth trend.

    The sky suddenly lit up with a blinding blue light. So intense, that Noah felt himself go partially blind instantly.

    With the blue light quickly came a wave of Mana. The immense amount of Mana swept thends of that realm startling every living creature.

    Noah felt shocked to find that the density of the Mana that swept thend was so off the charts that he could sense it!

    Before anyone could make a move, a series of magical circles lit up the sky once again, and everyone vanished from their spots.

    Everyone except Noah.

 Chapter 214 214. FAR HARDER

    Shock couldn''t be more evident on Noah''s face at that turn of events.

    His surroundings continued to be flooded by the intense wave of blue dense essence; which was mana at an unholy concentration.

    However, Noah felt astonished to feel his very being oppose the overwhelming energy around him.

    His figure lit up with a deep-yellow light almost golden, as speed essence rushed out of his core without his permission.

    Noah could sense and hear the energy that currently made him who he was, protest at the fact that mana wanted to take hold of him.

    ''It''s never done this. Why now?'' he wondered feeling scared of being left behind.

    Noah quickly found himself in what looked like a cocoon of speed essence.

    He felt able to hear themunication between those two energies. A strange and very unsettling experience it was.

    However, he couldn''t focus on that since he began to protest himself. Without the spell currently present around him, he would remain stuck there, and nothing would be able to get him out, since the speed essence wouldn''t allow it.

    ''I really can''t stay here. Just this once; allow it to take control of me,'' Noah thoughtmunicating with the speed forces'' energy around him.

    He really didn''t know what he was doing, but something within him saw that as one way to fix that situation.

    In the reality, outside of Noah''s calm mind, his body was trembling and rolling on the solid, nigh-golden cocoon around him.

    Noah looked possessed by some kind of spirit, and truly his situation wasn''t far from it.

    Hours seemed to go by in Noah''s mind even if only an instant had passed.

    His mind perceived things in what he considered the peak of his slow-motion abilities.

    Eventually, what felt like days went by, the battle between mana and speed essence raging forth, while Noah protested in the background.

    However, something suddenly clicked in his reasoning, and Noah felt his body return to calm, while the cocoon of speed essence suddenly saw arge crack spreading on its structure.

    That concentrated energy soon burst, but instead of dissipating, it flowed back into Noah''s core, allowing the spell still around him to function on his body.

    Needless to say, Noah immediately vanished when the sea of blue light washed over him.

    He had done one thing to acquire that result. But it felt like something he couldn''t properly harness yet. Something he would only be capable of doing when hisprehension of the speed force. Yet he did it anyway, and that incident vanished from his memories. A specialty of his new race.

    Finding himself in apletely different environment than he was before, Noah felt his figure get flung backward, but hended on fleshy cushions.

    Quickly picking himself up, Noah frantically swept his gaze on his surroundings.

    Finding that he was back inside the room where they had walked into a rift, he heaved a sigh of relief.

    However, something soon caught his eye.

    ''Why are they still soon many,'' Noah thoughtying eyes on a group of grunting humans no less than a thousand in number.

    Straightening his position, he ignored his current dirty look and proceeded to scan the room for familiar faces.

    Of course, he found a few but didn''t bother to walk towards them, after all,dy Edna''s voice rang out before he could do anything.

    "Wee back young aspirants," her captivating voice quickly gained the attention of many.

    "Once again I apologize for the great inconvenience. The realm had experienced a bit of trouble earlier, prompting your ejection," she performed a slight bow.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Bit of trouble?'' Noah thought, ''There was a hole in the sky!''

    "It seems you younglings are both unlucky and lucky," she giggled lightening the mood.

    "Due to the impromptu end of the first test, you''ll all be allowed to take a thirty-minute break before the second test for today starts," she quickly went straight to the point.

    "I''ll give a few short words on that after the break. For now, chill," she said immediately, vanishing.

    Shaking his head at that turn of events, Noah felt almost numb to the annoyance it brought.

    They had literally just exited a battle, only to have thirty minutes of rest before another trial.

    Almost everyone within that room followed her instructions, as they sat on the ground to recuperate.

    Some had been close to being disqualified before the timely teleportation, while some were safely hidden somewhere during the chaos the realm had experienced, but all needed rest, whether physically or mentally.

    A series of low lights shone inside that room, as almost every individual cultivated to refill their cores, or undergoing healing.

    Sitting on the ground with nothing to do since his condition remained perfect. Noah felt odd amongst the numbers of experts cultivating.

    A few gazesnded on his back during that period, as most wondered how he, a lower-stage cultivator remained totally fine.

    ''He must have hidden behind stronger experts,'' most thought when they saw Ariana suddenly sitting next to him, and her power felt higher.

    The duo said no word to each other since Ariana cultivated because her body featured Injuries, though most were superficial.

    However, it remained nice to have someone by his side.

    ''It seems the stage wasn''t as difficult as I thought it would be for others,'' Noah found himself thinking.

    The experts that remained were many, meaning the next stage would just be aspetitive as the first.

    ''Hopefully, I don''t mess things up again,'' heughed inwardly but silently felt bad.

    The thirty minutes soon psed and, Lady Edna returned with her ming fairy. A still weird sight.

    "The second test for today would see you all diving into a pool," she began seeing everyone ce their attention on her stunning figure.

    "Within this pool, you''ll have only one objective: to go as deep as you can, until you cannot withstand the pressure your environment throws at you."

    "In there you won''t have to fight anything but the pressure. However, you''ll have to go past the seventh depth stage," she paused to qualify.

    "But this pool features a twist that isn''t popr. Rather than the pressure crunching down on you, it''s pushing against you. In other words, It''ll be like trying to fly, except far harder."

    _______________________________________

    *Authors note*

    I apologize for my inconsistent scheduletely. A lot happened this week. I wrote an important exam, something happened that I had to go for an X-ray(Hopefully nothing important is broken) and I also came down with a cough.

    However, these are not excuses, just annoying distractions. Updates will begin normally thising week.

    A big thanks for all your support, they manage to revitalize me single every time. Thank you.

 Chapter 215 215. DISQUALIFIED

    Furrowed brows appeared on the faces of many experts within that room, Noah included.

    ''''Flying but harder,'''' Noah muttered failing to properly simte such an environment, even if it sounded easy.

    "I understand your confusion about the matter; even I felt astounded by the outrageousness of such an environment. But it''s actually been existing for a century or more at this point," Lady Edna exined.

    "However, it remains something that cannot easily be replicated due to the vast changes needed to be made, and the immense amount of energy required to aplish that goal."

    "I wish they hadn''t given you this as a test, but only the really high-ranking experts of our guild call the shots," she said, hinting at a probable political structure in the guild.

    However, those who managed to grab the hidden meaning behind her words felt themselves get submerged in confusion. "If she isn''t one of the really high-ranking experts, then who are?" They asked themselves in awe and perplexion.

    "Without further ado, let''s get going,"dy Edna''s voice rang out again, pulling those in deep thought out of their contemtion. Noah was also included.

    A series of green magical circles expanded beneath their feet, proceeding to replicate themselves to enclose the aspirants within their multiple bright rings.

    Noah watched that spectacr scene y out when his environment suddenly turned into a mess of green, ck and white lights.

    Space seemed to stretch around the experts, and an incredible pressure smashed into their soul realms. While some felt the need to empty their gut, through their mouths.

    Some individuals felt shocked to experience intense pain during those short moments, as surprisingly, cracks had spread on their inds, forcing them to pass out.

    Noah himself felt the entirety of his soul realm tremble before the might of his rapidly changing environment. However, his improved soul realm kept itself together, but a headache sprang up in return.

    The rapidly stretching and changing environment eventually came to a stop, and the tier 3 experts apanied by Lady Edna arrived at the edge of a still pond a few hundred kilometers in radius.

    The liquid water of the pond shimmered with both a blue and purplish glow, however, the water itself remained green in color. Making for a great contrast.

    That strange-looking pond was surrounded by a series of green hills tightly positioned beside each other in other not to allow any view of the world around. If there was any.

    The sky above them remained blue, but Noah felt something strange about that sight. Of course, he could only realize this after he had recovered from his headache.

    Upon arrival, the symptoms of the teleportation of sorts had shot through the roof, causing many to either puke or faint. Only a few remained standing.

    Only after a few minutes had passed did the experts recover and get to take in that weirdly magical sight of the pond before them.

    "This will be the site of the second test, as you all can see,"dy Edna''s voice suddenly rang out from above them.

    "You''ll all take turns in diving into it to begin. But do remember that it''ll take far more force to actually dive in," she exined slowly waving her hand.

    Her wave seemed to cause a reaction on the pond, since thatrge body of water, slowly began to spin, and soon a water vortex of sorts formed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However to the shock of the watching experts the green water of thatke rose in a swirling mass, instead of sinking.

    ''An opposite water vortex,'' Noah thought at that sight. It seemed gravity worked differently within the bounds of the pond since the linear vortex didn''t go past a certain height.

    Excitement couldn''t help but wash into Noah''s mind when they were given a go-ahead to dive in.

    "An addition. You''ll notice the change in scenery at every new depth, and each proceeding depth is far longer than the former," she exined while the experts slowly began their walk towards the grassy shore of the pond.

    "Although there isn''t any real need; going past the seventh depth stage will allow you to gain more recognition amongst the spectating higher-ups," she exined still casually floating. Most individuals didn''t have their full attention on her due to the sight before them, and she didn''t like it.

    "There''s also a prize at the bottom of the tenth stage," she spoke, her words sounding like an explosion in the ears of the various experts, sessfully halting almost everyone''s steps. As they raised their heads to gaze at her.

    "To allow us to see the best amongst you all, we have nted a special reward at the bottom of the second to thest stage. Five actually," she continued a boisterous smile on her face.

    "However, do note that this doesn''t guarantee your entry into our guild, only something extra to force the best out of you," she carefully exined.

    ''A reward from one of the three great guilds. It has to be something worth my time,'' Noah thought, getting serious.

    "The time within the pond has also been tweaked, but even the five days of sorts avable won''t be enough to cover the distance required. Meaning you''ll also have to be fast,"dy Edna exined.

    "Is there a limit to the mobility spells we are allowed to utilize!" A male expert amongst the more than a thousand five hundred Individuals voiced out. Utilizing the power he held to allow his voice to reach the insanely powerfuldy above them.

    "Fortunately there isn''t a limit. However, I''m sure you all understand how you''ll be unable to cultivate. Your reserves will be shared between keeping yourselves moving while also powering the suits you''ll be given upon entry," she exined.

    An eyebrow rose on Noah''s face at her words, and he couldn''t help but curiously nce at the roaring water behind theirrge numbers.

    "That''s all you''ll need to know. We expect you to figure out the rest by yourselves,"dy Edna spoke nodding her head at them.

    Some cultivators immediately drank Mana potions at that go-ahead, as stern expressions appeared on their faces.

    Soon each expert began jumping into theke. However, none actually sunk! The gravity-defying feature of the pond leaving them afloat.

    Instead, immediately their skins touched the pond, the armbands still present on their bodies shone with a golden radiance, and each expert found that a ck skin-tighttex garment featuring a transparent helmet appeared on their figures, before the pond''s weird vortex began to pull them towards its incredible mass.

    Struggle immediately appeared on the faces of the experts, who found it hard to go against that force both pulling them towards the vortex, while also threatening to spit them out of the pond.

    Some found themselves unlucky enough to get sucked into the vortex and were almost instantly flung out of the raging pond.

    "DISQUALIFIED!" A mechanical voice androgynous in nature boomed out from their environment, and fear immediately appeared Inside their minds. They hadn''t been told of such consequences.

 Chapter 216 216. PURGE

    Noah felt his focus on the world outside the pond vanish immediately over sixteen experts were disqualified after barely ten seconds inside the pond.

    Struggle appeared on his face, partially masked by the transparent helmet. But he didn''t bother to focus on the fact that he couldn''t even power the suit, rather he ced all his attention on trying to muster enough sheer force to dig through the surface of the pond.

    Sensing danger all around him as a result of his steady closeness to the now whirlpool of doom, Noah felt forced to activate Muliix''s weight maniption features when he had gotten dangerously close to the vortex.

    Increasing his weight to allow himself to sink, Noah felt both terrified and astonished to find himself approaching the vortex faster than before.

    Realization dawned on him at that point, and he immediately reduced Muliix''s weight to merely a few hundred grams.

    Although he slowly continued to move towards the vortex, he felt his waist for the first time in like a minute go below the Waters surface.

    He had simply been sliding on the surface of that pond, before then. While the ripples brought him closer to the upside-down whirlpool.

    Essence roiled out of Noah''s figure when he understood how to properly sink.

    cing his finger on the spinning water below him. Noah dug into the pond''s water, and he immediately felt himself get submerged.

    Of course, he had to burn essence to aplish this seemingly simple task.

    Merely 20SE points vanished when Noah shot below the pond''s surface. His entry caused violent ripples to spread through the water above him and below him.

    However, not only he had seeded in diving into the pond.

    The same mechanical sound boomed through the water every once in a while, but those within the pond didn''t have time to bother themselves about losers, since at their distance from the whirlpool thing''s weren''t safe yet.

    Arriving inside a brightly lit environment, Noah felt the pushing force of the water drastically reduce, however, the vortex''s power continued to ravage that area, forcing him to dive deeper.

    Hundreds of torpedo-like objects shot downwards, with no particr destination in mind, only wanting to escape the vortex.

    Noah wrapped speed-essence around his figure to allow his body to fend off the water''s push, while more essence slowly seeped into his lungs to allow him to breathe.

    Not until a few hundred meters had passed did the troubled water disappear.

    With danger out of the way, Noah began his journey toward the bottom of that pond.

    The lower he went the stronger the push of the water. But at this depth, he felt almost nothing. The real struggle had been at the pond''s surface.

    Ignoring the experts spread out around him, Noah focused on minimizing the amount of essence he utilized while trying his best to maintain a certain speed.

    Of course, this speed remained above the speed of sound.

    Noah''s brightly lit underwater environment zoomed past him, as he crossed shocking distances in short amounts of time.

    At this point, he had left the other experts in the streak of deep yellow electrical energy he shockingly still emitted.

    The liquid around him bubbled at his passage causing such areas to experience unstable and violent waves.

    For the first time in a while, Noah felt it unnecessary to hide his speed. He could term it a movement technique if he were ever questioned about that show of ability.

    A few minutes passed and his armband buzzed, signifying his arrival into another depth stage.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The push of the pond, suddenly experienced a drastic increment, as Noah almost halted his rapid movements in shock.

    He felt like he had smashed through a wall, meaning he had to burn more essence to remain at Mach 3.

    Thankfully his amazing 65k energy pool stood capable before that new requirement.

    ''This is easy,'' Noah thought streaking through the now red-lighted environment unlike the green one of the first depth stage.

    He had been swimming in that environment for more than ten minutes, but there seemed to be no end to it.

    At this point, the push of the pond had experienced arge hike and continued to increase, but his speed barely decreased.

    Studying the interiors of the underwater suit he had on, Noah found a space at the lower abdomen spot, where his core was.

    A series of minuscule inscriptions golden in color also rotated around that spot. Fromdy Edna''s words, he understood that; his energy was supposed to enter flow into it, fueling the suit''s oxygen-producing function.

    ? However, his different energy couldn''t power it. Heck, he risked damaging the suit with his liquid-like essence.

    Although that issue remained small currently, it would prove to be something bigger and more frustratingter on, since the devices of that world weren''t created to suit his different energy.

    ''I''ll have to learn to build my stuff, or at least how to make changes,'' Noah thought casually speeding through the pond, which tried its best to oppose his movement.

    ''It''ll probably take them hours or even a day to arrive at this point,'' Noah thought after shooting into a different colored environment. This one shining red.

    The water here activity tried to push him out, and Noah could feel the annoying amount of power in that push.

    The third depth stage felt like a different environment from the second or first. And it was. After all, Noah could sight whirlpools from his position. Tens of them. His surroundings had also expanded making for arger space around him than in the second depth stage.

    Not only that, but his Instincts could also sense something strange about the walls around him.

    They were heavily inscribed, and very bright, but something else. They felt dangerous.

    Curiosity forced Noah towards them, but he did so cautiously.

    With his consciousness unfolded around him, and his spells at the tip of his mind, Noah swam closer to the almost blinding walls of the pond.

    The dangerous sensation shot through the roof when he remained only a few meters from it. Then something happened.

    The whole pond abruptly began to tremble violently, and a deep rumble, almost like a roar, struck Noah''s ears.

    Something wasing, but he felt unable to sense what it was, even if he confirmed that whatever it was didn''t have life.

    A few seconds passed, and he felt shocked to suddenly find that the waters a few kilometers below him had turned cloudy.

    Then it arrived.

    A violent wave of rushing water suddenly barreled over Noah''s environment, purging it of all its whirlpool and pushing him backward.

    So much so that he arrived back inside the second depth stage, which was over a kilometer above him, and continued to ascend.

 Chapter 217 217. LIGHTHEADED

    Violent waves of water carrying Incredible force smashed into Noah''s figure multiple times every second.

    With each impact he got pushed higher into the pond, receding into already traversed territories.

    Thanks to his high defense stat, Noah''s body withstood the Incredible force of those waves. Though it did so with a bit of struggle.

    Crack''s soon appeared on the transparent helmet he had on, and his consciousness had to wrap around it to keep it rtively intact.

    It seemed powering the suit would have allowed a defensive function, even if minimal. Which itsck of; put Noah at a disadvantage.

    Creating a shield made with densely packed electrical currents, Noah felt he had experienced enough of those waves, and proceeded to make an effort to escape that situation.

    ''Where do I even go,'' Noah thought keeping his arms crossed on his chest, with his knees bent enough to touch his crossed arms.

    Essence roiled out of his skin after a few seconds, followed by crackling sparks of deep-yellow currents.

    Even with the constant roar around him, the crackling of the electricity pouring out of his figure generated an audible buzz apart from its crackle.

    The seemingly neverending waves of violent water continued to smash into his shield while he prepared to take off.

    Seconds had to pass before Noah felt ready to move.

    Taking a deep breath of speed essence, Noah disassembled his electrical shield.

    However, before the iing wave of rushing water could touch him, he repositioned himself to face his desired direction, before kicking the water above him to propel him.

    With a bang akin to the strike of multiple Lightning bolts. Noah turned into a deep-yellow streak traveling at over 17,000 meters per second, instantly.

    The ss helmet he had on almost vanished if not for Mullix''s Incredible ability to ce all things under its material.

    Noah almost immediately exited the second depth stage to arrive deep into the third stage.

    Moving at around Mach 50 underwater, he remained far faster than the effects his movements had on his environment.

    Catastrophic.

    Noah''s passage caused the water in the area to rush in his direction. And their passage proved deadly.

    Every whirlpool that had formed during his ascent vanished after he shot past them.

    Noah even tore through some whirlpools and instantly dispersed them. This was the type of power he could attain if he utilized his Incredible speed.

    Noah didn''t stop until exactly ten seconds had passed, and at this point, he had already arrived at the fourth depth stage.

    Having traveled around 100miles in that time frame, Noah felt the amount of essence burnt had been worth it.

    10,000 SE vanished from his stats disy, and he only had a bit over 10,000 left. However, multiple bottles filled with a yellow liquid appeared in his hands.

    During the multiple minutes of moving at Mach 3, Noah had been forced to utilize the speed potions he had, even if their effect had been greatly reduced.

    With each bottle, he could only regain around 2% of his essence, which stood at around 1,300SE.

    During his travel through the first and second depth stage, a few seconds of breaks had been required which had sessfully halved one hundred potions he formerly had.

    Of course, now that he had ess to rank 2 essence he could brew rank 2 potions, but each took one whole day to brew.

    He only had seven avable, and he didn''t dare use them since they were valuablemodities.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, thanks to the new rank, he could run far faster for longer periods.

    Having calcted it during his multiple journeys. Noah had found that running at Mach 1 with rank 1 speed-essence burnt 40SE per second, but now in rank 2; running at that speed cost only half of that unit.

    The costs of his spells had also been halved, meaning he had more for less.

    Something also told him that the effects of his real spells would also be different.

    A bit more than ten bottles appeared and disappeared, as Noah utilized every one of them.

    He understood the dangers of utilizing the low-quality potions, but he had no convenient choice. Fortunately, his core had gotten far sturdier than its rank 1 version even if it remained in the spherical stage.

    Exhaling deeply, Noah swept his gaze on his pink-lighted surroundings.

    The walls of the pond had gotten farther, leaving even more space for him.

    Noah could nce at the space below him and spot whirlpools miles from his position, but with the constant push of the pond now actually being able to slowly push him upwards, Noah didn''t have the leisure of essence to stay and watch.

    Pouring over 700 SE Into wrapping around his body, Noah couldn''t imagine the struggle the other experts would face when they arrived there.

    Unlike him, they utilized lower-grade energy, and probably had lesser amounts of it.

    Noah had to pour 300 more to keep himself from moving even with his costly protection.

    That was 1000SE points just to keep his body in one position. With that amount of energy, he could conveniently summon 12 of his ice golems.

    ''How do they expect anyone to get to the 10th stage,'' Noah thought swimming with the speed his un-enhanced body could attain.

    This time he remained dependent on his stamina to move while maintaining the constant barrier of speed-essence around his figure.

    His velocity remained quite impressive underwater, but it looked mediocrepared to how much distance he had covered before that situation.

    "This depth is going to take me a long while to cross," Noah muttered helplessly but didn''t feel too down about the matter.

    He had crossed more than half the required depth stage in barely an hour, he still had a lot of time on his hands.

    Traversing the waters of that stage remained almost like the first and second stage, only that he had to find his way around the multiple upside-down whirlpools.

    This could take him mere seconds to tens of minutes depending on their size, and the deeper he went therger they were. Even if their quantity remained rtively the same; which was around 15 every 4 miles.

    Noah dared not move closer to the walls since he didn''t want to waste hours of effort just because of his curiosity.

    With this slow but steady trend, Noah spent hours swimming non-stop. Eventually, a whole day passed, but there seemed to be no end to that stage.

    Noah continued to struggle while swimming, and for the first time since he could remember, he felt utterly exhausted.

    Thankfully, he had arrived in the fifth depth stage a few hours after a day had passed. But things didn''t look good even from its entrance.

    "Not good," Noah muttered with a cold and tired expression when his eyes fell on whirlpools.

    Not just any type but ones crackling with bolts of dangerous Lightning, and he soon realized that they easily surpassed hundred in quantity.

    Let''s not forget the Incredible pushing force of that environment; which managed to leave Noah lightheaded while causing blood to flow out of his nose and ears.

 Chapter 218 218. BRILLIANT

    Although Noah had long since sent Muliix back to wherever it came from in his body, since even his mental waves couldn''t find it.

    That event remained shocking nheless.

    He was an hybrid, even if partially, but he had a body able to withstand attacks at his stage and above, yet his internals shook at the might of the force opposing his movement.

    Speed-essence quickly flowed out of Noah''s core to activate his healing, but Noah understood that he would suffer more of such injuries along the line.

    Simply trying to move forward felt nigh-impossible, but he did it anyway, and struggle couldn''t be more evident, as even a short cry escaped his mouth.

    ''Should I rest here,'' Noah eventually thought, swallowing the blood that tried to escape his mouth.

    The Insides of his helmet had quickly be bloody due to the red liquid exiting his ears and nose to drip inside that enclosed space.

    ''What can I even do apart from taking potions,'' he sighed. Having spent over a day on his journey there, Noah had only around 3000SE remaining in his core. And this was after several utilization of his potions.

    At some point during the journey he had to limit the amount of essence that reinvigorated him, since the points that vanished for that simple task were in their thousands.

    ''Having a powerful bodyes with its disadvantages,'' Noah shook his head. He felt like eating something but couldn''t, since any food substance would get wet.

    Actually, Noah felt famished. His body, although still in a healthy state felt extremely weak. This was only the second test of the day and he had already began doubting his ability to seed in it.

    Staying at the very edge of the fourth stage, since only a thin transparent barrier separated them, Noah continued to think.

    Although the fourth depth stage constantly tried to push him up, his body had long since gotten used to its power.

    A few minutes had to pass before Noah came to a conclusion.

    ''There''s no time for rest,'' he thought.

    Seeing as a whole day had to pass to fully traverse the fourth stage, Noah could immediately guess that two or three days could pass to arrive at the end of the fifth stage. Not to talk of the sixth depth.

    ncing at the water-filled space above him, Noah wondered what the other aspirants were doing, and how they were faring.

    His mindnded on Ariana and he hoped she remained okay wherever she was. Something he found himself doing more often than he liked.

    Shifting his focus to the hundreds of twisting storms below him, Noah utilized the remainder of his rank 1 potions to bring the amount of essence he had to a total of 8200.

    He still had his seven potions avable, but it seemed that their creation followed the progression of time on the outside world.

    ''Hopefully I don''t need to utilize any of them,'' Noah thought, but his hope felt more like a pipe dream.

    Deep-yellow essence poured out of Noah''s body followed by dense tendrils of erratic electrical energy.

    Noah quickly became a yellow beacon in the brown-lighted environment, but didn''t care much.

    Pouring a total of 3000 points into keeping his body from moving, Noah allowed Muliix crawl up his skin, a style he felt was dramatic.

    Thankfully it emitted, and even amplified the yellow light his body shone with. Which hopefully, would be enough to hide its existence from the watching experts. Another pipe dream.

    Noah nned to act as he did earlier in the fourth stage, but doing so would require more power, since the upside down whirlpools were reallyrge in size and the pull they generated had to be Incredible.

    Noah''s figure continued to glow brighter until the light he produced attained a blinding level.

    Noah felt ready to move after a few seconds passed in that state. But as fate would have it, he would never get to utilize the energy he umted.

    A deep rumble capable of ripping whirpools apart; shook the waters above Noah, before travelling below him. Thus startling Noah who nced upward in utter shock.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The water continued to tremble wildly, as a foreboding feeling spread inside Noah''s mind.

    He could immediately dash forward, but his desire to see what caused that reaction made him hesitate.

    A blinding orange light suddenly shone far above him, further sending shockwaves down the whole ce.

    Although the whirlpools above Noah in the fourth depth stage, were ripped apart, the repelling power of the fifth stage managed to keep the shockwaves from going past a few meters inside it.

    Noah immediately confirmed that the rumble was as a result of the orange light, and his mind could Immediately decide on what produced it.

    But that answer felt unbelievable. He had been the fastest of the aspirants. How could they have ever managed to get there in the same time it took him.

    The answer to his bewilderment arrived in an orange serpent crackling with Lightning!

    However, that wasn''t all. Noah could immediately spot other colors such as a deeper shade of orange which signified fire, and multiple shades of blue.

    Therge serpent a few kilometers in length appeared to be an amalgamation of different elemental properties.

    From that simple inspection Noah immediately came to a calming but also astonishing conclusion.

    ''Team work,'' he thought, shaking his head in harsh realization.

    "They are working together," Noah giggled Inside his helmet. "There wasn''t any rule that we couldn''t," he muttered feeling the sudden urge to burst intoughter.

    ''Brilliant,'' he apuded them Inwardly; wondering whether to move or wait for their arrival.

    Working with them would allow him save his energy, which would give him a better chance of travelling further into the pond.

    He hadn''t decided on whether he would dive deeper to attain one of the five rewards ced there or not, since the requirements for only the fifth depth stage had already pushed him to his limits.

    Noah''s essence soon dispersed after those thoughts moved through his head.

    It felt dumb to continue to struggle when it seemed that environment was made soley for team work.

    As for what would happen if everyone decided to strive for the rewards, he would leave forter. For now he focused on making himself noticeable, since the pond was already several miles in radius, the fifth stage being even bigger.

    The illusory serpent which also looked solid, swam on a linear path, and its speed remained far from mediocre.

    Noah could Immediately confirm that its speed stood around mach five and it wasn''t decreasing.

    When the serpent was only around ten miles from his position, Noah felt a surge of multiple auras wash over him.

    The sheer density of those auras left him breathless, and a tinge of fear even appeared in his mind since the serpnt barreled towards his direction at maddening speeds.

    Although it wasn''t directly facing him, Noah understood that a structure asrge as that, moving at such speeds, would certainly pack a lot of force. Even the waters surrounding it were already cloudy.

    Lightning crackled in Noah''s palm as he prepared to signal whoever was steering it. If anyone actually was.

    A bolt of deep-yellow lightning exited his raised palm to shoot towards the serpents general direction at zing speeds even faster than the serpent itself.

    Thanks to the constant upwards force; the bolt of Incredible energy could travel faster.

    Although Noah''s attack didn''t touch the serpent as it dispersed its energy a few kilometers from him. Its short explosion remained bright enough to allow someone trace its general point of origination.

    Noah''s calction proved correct since the massive serpent soon changed course to face his position.

 Chapter 219 219. PRIDE

    A smile bloomed on Noah''s face when he saw that his beacon was noticed.

    Although he figured they couldn''t see him due to their environment, he still cursed when he noticed that they weren''t slowing down.

    ''Who the heck is steering that thing!'' he thought frantically sweeping his gaze on his surroundings.

    No matter how fast his natural speed was, he remained unable to see any real way out of that situation. Utilizing his speed would also defeat the purpose of saving energy since he would need to move faster than the serpent to escape.

    The giant serpent almost immediately arrived in front of Noah who could only trust Muillix to protect him now.

    With its incredible momentum, the around 1.5 to 2-kilometer-long serpent arrived before Noah curving its slender figure to almost immediately stop its movement.

    Needless to say, Noah got swept away by the intense wave of water and the force it was packing.

    Thankfully they hadn''t smashed into his figure; as that would have meant death. If they were even allowed to die inside that environment.

    Travelling an annoyingly long distance due to the wave of water pushing him. Noah had to create a low-cost barrier of electrical energy.

    This managed to stop the water from smashing into him, but he had to shoot forward after he had been swept around 700m from the serpent.

    A bit more than 40SE vanished to allow him to arrive in front of the serpent almost instantly.

    Being closer to the magical phenomenon allowed Noah to see in clearer detail what the serpent was made of.

    The slim body of the serpent looked to me made clearly from electrical energy, which hinted at the presence of lightning affinity wielders.

    However, the serpent''s six legs were made solely from blue-shining water. The liquid looked dense enough to not almost look solid.

    The serpent''s tail looked made of mes, also tightly packed to create something able to boil the water around it. Now that Noah thought about it, his surroundings felt warm.

    The detailed serpentine face of that magical wonder featured several whiskers of light and had solid earth fitted in ces like its forehead outer jaws, and mouth.

    Areas like its side belly had rocks fitted in, almost like armor except they looked like scales.

    The serpent''s back also featured scales made from mes. What exactly the mes did apart from giving it a dramatic look, remained unknown to Noah.

    He honestly felt the serpent''s design to be other-worldly since most snakes weren''t that way on Earth.

    Having spent barely a second inspecting the magical wonder, Noah spotted details that he simply kept at the back of his mind, since their importance was nigh-insignificant.

    ''Should I knock?'' Noah wondered staring at the serpent''s menacing face. It didn''t appear to breathe, but Noah could sense nothing less than a thousand consciousness oozing on his face. The situation felt ufortable, to say the least.

    "Is anyone in there!" Noah eventually yelled after a full minute had passed.

    Surely enough, a voice answered him, and it happened to be that of a male.

    "How did you get here?" The individual asked, rather surprised.

    "I''ll answer only after seeing who I''m talking to," Noah replied, not fearing the individual''s power which stood at a level higher than Ariana''s, even if only by a small margin.

    Silence followed Noah''s words, but the serpent''s mouth soon opened wide to reveal its insides.

    However, before Noah could move forward, a man d in thetex bodysuit which was what everyone wore, floated toward him. Of course, Noah had already sent Muillix back into his body.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A nce at the person''s helmet was all Noah needed to notice that the individual looked middle-aged; had brown hair and a stern-looking face.

    Maybe it was because of the ck scar that ran from the left side of his jaw to his nose bridge, or his experienced aura that caused that sternness, he didn''t know.

    Noah felt his curiosity get piqued by that sight. It had been a long time he''d seen anyone with a scar, not to talk of one as hideous as that. And more surprisingly at the man''s level of power.

    ''Wonders never end in this world,'' Noah shook his head inwardly, while his face remained expressionless.

    ''''I''m Nathaniel sixth son of the Uril noble family," the man started in a polite tone, immediately disgusting Noah. Who suddenly had the urge to fight him. However since the man hadn''t done anything provoking, he kept his cool.

    ''Who goes around announcing their title in a test to attain membership of a great guild,'' Noah thought, annoyed.

    "I''m Aiden," he replied nkly, trying to catch nces of the inside while taking note of the man''s lightning affinity since he experienced a sense of simrity being close to him.

    Nathaniel noticed Noah''sck of interest but decided not to put much thought into it, after all, he continued to wonder how the young man in front of him looked okay under the push the pond at that depth stage generated, and where his group was.

    ''''Do you wish to join us on our journey to the seventh depth stage,'''' Nathaniel asked after a few seconds of silence.

    ''''Definitely,'''' Noah quickly replied, properly focusing on the man before him.

    He felt unsurprised by the look of curiosity Nathaniel had. After all, he had done something the expert needed a bit over a thousand other experts to aplish.

    The duo immediately floated into the serpents crackling mouth, but the electrical strands touching their skin left them unaffected.

    Gaining full entry into that illusory beast which also didn''t let light pass through it, allowed Noah fully understand how thatrge group was able to get there so fast.

    ''''Damn," Noah mutteredying eyes on two long lines of humans numbering a bit over a thousand.

    He immediately guessed that the other over five hundred experts were either disqualified or had been left behind.

    The insides of the serpent unlike the outside were without water, which meant the serpent took the brunt of the pond''s upward pressure.

    Within the snake were two lines of standing experts who all had a series of shining lines designed in the shape of tubes attached to the hole in theirtex suits. Mana poured into the tubes fueling the design of that orange serpent.

    There were a few individuals who were outside of the rows. These experts appeared to float but were actually sitting on elemental tforms.

    The cultivators who numbered over fifty were in deep meditation. And it didn''t take much for Noah to understand that they were the ones holding the serpent''s form together, while the others fueled it.

    ''Efficient,'' Noah thought. ''With just that many people fueling the design they''d be able to do anything. I assume the only reason they arrived here after I was because of my initial take-off. The journey must have been smooth,'' Noah concluded.

    That short evaluation boosted his reason to stay. However a problem arose in his mind, one he''d rather not face.

    Having all eyes on his figure didn''t faze Noah, his looks had put him in the spotlight most of the time, but this time things were different.

    "How did you get here?" Nathaniel''s voice resounded behind Noah. "Sorry, let me rephrase my words. Where is your group? I''m certain you arrived here with one."

    A frown appeared on Noah''s face at those words. He hated the fact that the man already doubted his ability, but he still couldn''t me him. After all that feat should remain impossible for someone of his level.

    ''I arrived here all by myself, of course," Noah announced with an uncaring shrug. And the audible gasps the close listeners voiced, which were the over one thousand experts, made his head swell with Intense pride.

 Chapter 220 220. CRAZY MAN

    A few moments of silence passed before any words were spoken again.

    Noah casually swept his gaze on the insides of the serpent noticg details that couldn''t be spotted during any initial inspection, while he basked in the glory his words brought.

    "You arrived here by yourself," Nathaniel spoke, his voice oozing unfathomable astonishment.

    Noahs words sounded unbelievable, causing most to hiss in annoyance even there wasn''t anyone to disprove his words.

    However, those who dared to even consider the possibility of his words felt their gazes instinctivelynd on his figure.

    Noah clearly wasn''t in the middle-stage, but his real power felt confusing and shrouded anyway.

    Frowns appeared on the faces of those inspecting Noah, and frustration quickly set in when their trained senses remained unable to discern his real level of power.

    This of courseid down a tform of distrust as many weren''t ready to associate themselves with strange individuals.

    But the fact still remained that he was present there, even if how they didn''t believe hus words on how he arrived there.

    "I and probsbly many of us fail to find your words truthful. However since we aren''t here to argue on such meaningless topics we''ll allow you in" Nathaniel exined, gesturing at Noah to walk a bit further into the room of sorts.

    "If you im you got here by yourself, and we found you at the edge of this depth stage, why didn''t you go any further." Nathaniel suddely spoke.

    "Oh i did," Noah calmly replied, "I simply didn''t have enough confidence to get to the seventh depth stage with my strength alone."

    "So its only natural that i joined a group immediately i had the chance," he exined, partially telling the truth.

    "What would you have done if we hadn''t arrived at the nick of time?" Nathaniel questioned squinting his eyes.

    "I would have moved on of course," Noah furrowed his brows.

    "But you just said you didn''t feel confident enough to go further by yourself," Nathaniel replied shooting a re at Noah, who casually shrugged it.

    "I said i didn''t have enough confidence in getting to the seventh. I could and can stil easily cross the fifth stage," Noah exined with the most arrogant tone he could produce.

    He felt the need toy out his superiority, since he didn''t want to get disrespected.

    Nathaniel stayed silent at those words, he couldn''t help but feel annoyed by the young mans confident expression. But there wasn''t much he could do at that point.

    Noah would use them the same way he was using the over one thousand cultivators to arrive at his goal. The rewards.

    "I see...." Nathaniel muttered seeming falling into thought. He could sense the familiarity of being a lightning affinity holder in Noah, so he quickly found a task for him.

    "It would be appreciated if you helped out on this journey," Nathaniel said tinkering with a series of shining lines.

    "Really?" Noah raised an eyebrow.

    Multiple thoughts on how to avert that potentially annoying situation rose an fell in Noah''s mind.

    He didn''t want to have to exin why he had yellow energy and couldn''t power any devices made for Mana.

    A suitable idea eventual arose amid the ones that saw him killing everyone there, courtsey to his killer title, and he didn''t hesitate to y that card.

    "What do you mean by that?" Nathaniel said, furrowing his brows, while a series of shining lines shaped forming tubes appeared, to attach to his figure.

    "There are so many individuals here, and you''ve been doing fine without me," Noah started, but paused.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Actually i''m currently exhausted," he spoke lifing his helmet to breathe in the air within that ce.

    That feature remained the only use the air affinity wielders had inside that ce. But why the cultivators still had their helmets on slightly baffled Noah, even if he soon figured out the reason.

    ''I guess they fear the whole construct suddenly falling apart,'' he thought.

    "Then what do you n to add to the group?" Nathaniel asked feeling annoyed. The man named Aiden continued to waste his time.

    "I can help you in navigation" Noah stated spotting a particr somebody who was amongst the fify individuals keeping the construct together, and a smile tried to appear on his face at her sight, but he held it back.

    "Navigation? I dont think i need help in doing that," Nathaniel announced.

    "If you dont want to waste energy, then you do. The fifth stage is on a different levelpared to the fourth," Noah exined cing his full focus on Nathaniel.

    "Then lets get there first. I can only belive for myself when i see it," the cultivator replied, and the serpent suddenly jerked forward, forcing Noah into crouching.

    He clicked his tongue when he saw that the others were unaffected by the serpents movement. Probably because of the seat everyone had.

    Eventually deciding to sit on the ground. Noah gazed at the spot avable for those Inside to see the outside world.

    Actually there were many of such spots. The inside of the serpent was riddled with windows. But they werent noticeable from outdide it''s structure.

    Due to the fact they were literally at the edge of the fourth stage, they almost immediately arrived in front of the barrier and crossed it.

    The serpents structure experienced another powerful jerk at that event signaling the new level of the upward force.

    A few seconds into the fifth stage and Noah could already hear gasps. An air of seriousness soon fell on the cultivators, who could only swallow hard at the sight of crackling whirlpools numbering over hundred, and wererger than the ones they had experienced so far.

    However, rather than moving forward, Nathaniel limited himself to stare at the sight before him.

    A muffuled sigh soon escaped his helmet. But he didn''t nce at Noah, rather he opted to talk to the nervous cultivators.

    "Do you all think its possible for us to simlpy st our way through them?" Nathaniel asked, his question catching Noahs interest. And he immediately paired the word "st" to the explosion that allowed him notice them in the first ce. Which hinted at the exsistence of an offensive system.

    ''With that type of fire-power they should be able to do anything.'' Noah thought.

    ''But it''ll waste energy. Which they have to save for the lower stages,'' he added, sweeping his gaze on the weird sight of hundreds of people wearing helmets with ck suits.

    "We should be able tost for a while. But if the whole ce is filled with that many, then we''ll have topromise," a female suddenly spoke up, everyone including Noah nodding.

    "Exactly," Nathaniel stated, turning to face Noah. "Do not take this as an acknowledgement of your knowledege, but what would you do if you were the one steering this?" Nathaniel asked Noah.

    "I spent hours navigating between whirpools alone, I should be considered an expert," Noah joked, getting serious.

    "Due to thier size, the whirpools should have really powerful pulling force. So its either slowly swimming around them, but expending annoying amounts of energy in the process. Or directly shooting past them. Seeing the speed you arrived with, i believe only a bit more power would be needed to aplish your goal'' Noah exined.

    "So you are suggesting we zoom past them," Nathaniel spoke.

    "Precisely. However you''ll have to remain really careful to not steer into the whirpools since they would most likely rip this whole thing apart," Noah added.

    "You are a crazy man to not even consider reshaping the whole structure to fit our situation, but your idea can work," Nathaniel replied with a deepughter.

 Chapter 221 221. KING

    Noah furrowed his brows at the man''s words but limited himself to remain silent. His gaze continued tond on the scenery outside the serpent''s construct. But seeing as the whole thing could be reshaped he could only fall into wonder.

    "We can also do that," Noah replied the smiling man. It didn''t matter as long as they arrived at their destination.

    "We can, but your idea also works fine. However, we''ll need a form able to allow us to maximize our agility while also allowing us to retain our speed during maneuvers," Nathaniel exined, while the entire structure began to shake. Though not violently.

    "I believe something simr to a round object will allow us to aplish the goal," Nathaniel continued to ramble to himself.

    Unfolding their consciousness to witness the transformation, many experts could only retain expressionless faces during the process.

    Just like the man had said, he picked something super simple.

    The insides of the illusory object continued to change, but it didn''t disturb the sitting cultivators, who found that some began to rise higher towards the now corner-less roof. Multiple rows of seating people soon appeared in Noah''s sight.

    The structure quickly became a round hall of sorts featuring experts sitting on its walls, in upper and lower rows.

    Noah found that an illusory yet solid seattched onto him, before pushing him backward; away from Nathaniel, who stood at the center of the room. While everyone surrounded him.

    Noints were made about that seating formation since no one cared about it, only their goals. The full transformation took about a minute or so. Causing Noah to wonder if any mana had been utilized, and how much it cost.

    Assuming each one of them utilized a point system like Noah. If everyone poured 100mp into the construct. The amount of mana gathered would be a bit over 100,000. With that type of energy, their goal of reaching the seventh stage would be very possible. However, during his calctions, Noah had to consider how much it cost them to remain in one position.

    ''Probably a few ten thousand points would be required,'' Noah thought, approving of the construct''s new shape.

    Nathaniel continued to ramble to himself for a few minutes, but stopped immediately he felt all eyes fall on him, but their gazes weren''t of praise, only annoyance. The expert had a habit of talking to himself due to his level of skill as an inscriptions practitioner, who had been studying the art for decades now.

    His level of experience put him in an important position, and because of this; when he voiced the idea of working together, the weaker and less knowledgeable experts promptly agreed.

    "I apologize for my dy. I simply found this idea too interesting, as it isn''t something that can be easily aplished without high amounts of mana," the expert exined, his excitement clear in his voice.

    ''Why do I feel like they are being used as fuel for his projects,'' Noah thought slightly feeling pity for the others. Most were probably getting ready for the moment he would ask them to repay his kindness, even if he was already using them. And they too were using the other person.

    "I believe it''s time to move. The fifth depth stage could take us days topletely cross," Nathaniel announced immediately steering the orange ball forward. The experts responsible for keeping the construct together were still present only that they didn''t need to keep limbs in ce, only walls. This allowed them enough mental leisure to open their eyes.

    Ariana''s eyesnded on Noah''s figure immediately after she opened them, and she could only shake her head in wonder. She had heard a familiar voice but hadn''t expected it to be the white-haired man.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The urge to talk to him came but she pushed it to the back of her mind. ''Later,'' she thought.

    The orange sphere; unlike earthly underwater objects didn''t feature propellers, since the sheer power theirbined energies could generate would be more than enough to push it forward faster than the speed of sound.

    A buzzing sound soon began to rise inside the sphere, as the over one thousand experts poured slight amounts of their cores content into the construct. Their incredible numbers made up for the small amounts, bringing the amount of energy avable to an overflowing stage.

    The spherical construct continued to glow brighter and brighter until maddening amounts of electrical energy and the three other elements were surging around therge sphere.

    Noah confirmed that theirbined effort would be more than enough to obliterate hundreds of tier 3 beasts in the middle stage. And they poured all of it into simply moving forward!

    Needless to say, the ball turned into a deep orange streak immediately after Nathaniel steered it forward. Noah felt a mild wave of surprise hit him when he realized that they had almost immediately arrived in front of the tight array of crackling whirlpools.

    Being that dangerously close so fast made Noah nervous, but he decided to trust in the faith the over one thousand cultivators had in Nathaniel.

    ? Although the upside-down whirlpools were close to each other, there were narrow areas between theirrge figures able to allow anything small enough to swim through. Though that would only be possible if the object had enough power to remain on its course without getting pulled into any of the whirlpools.

    A quick inspection was all Noah needed to find the best suitable spot to swim through and thankfully Nathaniel thought the same.

    With heavy hearts, while also speeding up and crossing Mach 6, the experts watched Nathaniel steer towards a small space between three whirlpools of death. Even at that speed, Noah understood that a lighting bolt would be capable offortably reaching them, which left him worried.

    With the intent to jump out of that construct immediately he sighted any trouble, Noah watched in what felt like slow motion the sphere arrive between three crackling whirlpools capable of swallowing objects more than tens times the size of their sphere.

    Their environment got dark, as terrible rumbling and crackling sounds shook the hair on the bodies of the experts. The sheer sounding from the whirlpools felt like explosions able to end the world. At least in their world, and hopes to join a great guild.

    The focus and worries of every cultivator present within the sphere, reached their max when the light from the outside no longer reached them, apart from the asional sh of multi-colored currents and deep but extremely loud rumbling sounds, which were signs of lightning bolts.

    So when they found a few secondster that their passage had been without any disturbance since the light from the pond reached their eyes again, a shout of joy escaped their mouths, as everyone cheered in relief and excitement.

    If things continued that well their goal of reaching the 7th depth stage would be aplished.

    "Speed is king," Noah muttered, sighing in relief. Even if his worries weren''t gone.

 Chapter 222 222. DEVOID

    Taking a bite from the baguette-like piece of bread in his hand, Noah took a moment to savor its taste. Having bought it from a bakery in the Dragon ws city, it tasted exactly how he expected bread to taste in an advanced city. Though their cake remained bad.

    Apart from the asional murmurs in the room, the traveling experts were mostly silent. The journey had retained its nerve-racking effect on their minds, but asional conversations had lessened it.

    At some point during the journey, the experts had begun to use and share potions. From merely watching; Noah managed to learn a lot about mana potions brewed for tier 3''s. They existed in different grades based on the color of the core of the user. Those grades were further split into two, based on quality. Low quality and high quality.

    With most of the cultivators present sporting orange cores, with exceptions like Nathaniel, Ariana, and a few others featuring yellow cores. Just like he, the experts mostly utilized potions for red-cored cultivators, since the ones for their color remained valuable.

    Just like the others, Noah had to associate with the cultivators seated beside him. A particr cultivator named Veronica proved to be the most easygoing among the other two.

    Being a woman who was in the middle stage like most, and boasted an orange core in the octahedral stage. She sported deep green hair and looked to be in her mid-thirties, and she apparently was a mother of two. Both were girls.

    That detail about her personal life left Noah feeling ufortable, but he soon got used to it. She didn''t seem eager on trying to milk information from him, just chatty. At least for now she wasn''t.

    Veronica managed to tell him a bit more about potions, this was of course after Noah craftily constructed sentences that sneakily required those answers.

    He also conversed with a man named Brian, but the middle-aged experts preferred to stay silent most of the time. The others in the room were proper talkative and tried to gain information from Noah. Causing him to shut the friendly door he had decided to open to them.

    During his personally idle time, Noah continued to thank the gods; whoever they were for making Nathaniel constantly busy. The man was so focused on the steering job that he barely left one position. This of course was because of the constant array of crackling whirlpools in their way,id down in formations that forced him to remain cautious at all times.

    The environment was also riddled with whirlpools of different sizes, forcing the expert to give his job his undivided attention.

    As experts who had bodies capable ofsting weeks without rest, they didn''t struggle apart from having to regrly pour mana into that construct. This made them experience a sense of weakness.

    At some point down the now almost two days journey, many experts including Veronica had begun to feel that Noah simply didn''t want to waste his energy after all the braggadocious words he uttered.

    However, Veronica didn''t see it as anything much, since she found the young man intriguing. The same, however, couldn''t be said for the others, who had begun to get annoyed at the young man. But there wasn''t much they could do since the person capable of giving him a task was too busy trying to steer them away from danger.

    And so more hours passed in that state. asionally, lightning bolts would smash into the sphere, but the defenses which were also lightning-based managed to always protect them. There were defensive measures also based on other elemental affinities, but their use remained mostly non-existent.

    That rtively peaceful yet nerve-racking trend continued for what felt like years to Noah even if only two days had passed.

    At some point during the journey, everyone''s armband suddenly buzzed, and the experts were shocked to find that a countdown now existed below the "Give-up" function of that inscribed item.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Only a bit more than two days remain. She was on point with the time limit," Noah muttered gazing at the golden numbers grouped into days, hours, and minutes. The appearance of that countdown ced heavy pressure on the minds of the cultivators. who felt the need to move faster, even if they were already traveling fast.

    Due to the sheer amount of energy needed to keep the ball from sumbing to the upward force while moving faster, Nathaniel had to decrease their moving speed.

    He''d asionally speed the ball up when they arrived in front of whirlpools, but even at that, they had begun to need potions long before then. Yet they weren''t satisfied.

    During that period Noah had asked Veronica about how the group had been formed, and contrary to his earlier belief about the other around five hundred aspirants being out of the test; there had been other groups instead.

    Apparently, but not shockingly, there had been some who held sentiment against someone from a noble family leading them, and decided to form groups of their own. How they were faring no one knew nor did they care, since even with theirrge numbers they were beginning to struggle.

    Noah considered those sets of persons stupid.

    ''Anyone who''s remotely smart will leave their best potions forter. From the looks of things, we won''tst past the sixth stage,'' Noah thought getting ready for anything those experts threw at him out of anger. He hadn''t contributed anything since he arrived there, it wouldn''t be normal if some individuals didn''t pick offenses.

    Thankfully, the crackling whirlpools began to reduce in number which signaled that they had arrived at the end of that stage. Sighs of relief inevitably exited the mouths of many, but the ones who weren''t blinded by hope understood that that area could be their ending point. Or such a ce was already close.

    With heavy hearts and nervous thoughts about what the sixth stage held, the group of a bit over one thousand crossed the thin barrier that separated the different stages.

    To the horror and shock of everyone present, immediately after their transport arrived inside that silver-lighted environment, huge cracks abruptly opened on the sphere''s structure, causing those keeping the construct together to feel an incredible force try to rip that illusory yet solid object out of their mental control.

    Water poured into the sphere''s insides, as cracks continued to open on it. However, the sphere suddenly experienced a bright sh of deep orange light, and everything returned to normal.

    The cultivators had poured more mana into the construct at Nathaniel''smand.

    A sense of fatigue had begun to spread in the minds of many because they strained their cores by drinking potions while almost emptying them at the same time.

    Thankfully their efforts had been worth it, but they needed more energy to move, ab resource that had started to get scarce.

    "Let''s take a peek before resting," Nathaniel''s voice rang out, as even he looked tired.

    The gazes of many inside that construct fell on the massive space before them at their temporary leaders'' words, and to their pleasant surprises, it remained devoid of anything but clear water.

 Chapter 223 223. HOPE

    "That can''t be right," Noah muttered gazing at the clear waters below them. That sight inevitably tried to excite him, but he opted to inspect it first. Straining his instincts to the max, Noah tried his very best to notice anything odd, but nothing showed up.

    Excitement began to bubble inside him at that point, and he soon found himself feeling happy.

    "That''s generous of them," he muttered sitting back, a sigh of relief escaping his mouth.

    Anymore and that group would be done. Now they only had to worry about their use of energy. With that incredible boost in confidence, their hopes to clear that stage shot through the roof, and everyone felt the need to put in their best into arriving at the seventh stage on time.

    About the reward, they didn''t know how reaching it would even be possible.

    "Should we still rest?" Nathaniel''s voice rang out uncertain. Murmurs rose inside the sphere at those words, as everyone contemted out loud. But it wasn''t until someone stood and disagreed with the earlier mentioned idea did the murmurs die down.

    "So you all agree to continuing the journey now?" Nathaniel asked, sweeping his gaze on the ted experts. His gazended on Noah but he limited himself to narrowing his eyes at the young man.

    "Yes!" They said in unison.

    "Very well then," Nathaniel announced turning his gaze to the control port filled with around ten tubes casually floating around him. The shining tubestched onto his figure and the whole construct experienced a violent tremble.

    Hoping he had escaped doing anything, Noah felt his joy vanish when a shining red tube floated towards him. His gazended on the expert, but there wasn''t much he could do at that point. The eyes of many fell on him at the sight of the tube, making rejecting the object almost impossible.

    An excuse tried to exit Noah''s mouth, but his curiosity took over him before any such statements could be made. ''What if I''m actually able to fuel it,'' he mused feeling something within him tingle in excitement.

    ''Am I able to do that?'' Noah questioned the system.

    [[It depends on how the device was structured in terms of energy usage. Only highly knowledgeable cultivators should be capable of telling the difference. For now, you can only try. It might work]]

    ''That''s awfully vague,'' Noah replied, pulling the tube towards his core, using his consciousness of course.

    The tube; made out of shining lines attached to the space left out for energy in the suit. Taking a deep breath, Noah poured essence into the tube.

    Feeling a suction force apply itself to that energy, he watched his yellow energy flow into the tube to arrive at wherever it was meant to go.

    To his and the shock of others, the entire ball abruptly lit up with power as a mechanical buzzing sound deafening in intensity spread through the water.

    Surprisingly, all eyes fell on Noah and his expression almost went dark. His insecurity however vanished when Veronica turned to him to speak.

    "You possess a really high-tier core?!" She started. "No wonder I couldn''t see its color. You should be somewhere around green!" She said, mostly muttering in surprise. Soon her eyes widened at the mention of a green core. Even Noah felt astonished by those words. His rank 2 essence was already akin to a green-cored cultivator in the realm of tier 3!

    "Such talent should be the stuff of legends," she muttered gazing at Noah in a new light. Having spoken her words out loud, the others were able to listen in, and suddenly Noah''s lone arrival into the fourth depth stage didn''t seem impossible anymore. Even at that, the reality of a green-cored individual in that realm left them utterly stunned.

    ''Damn,'' Noah thought feeling his respect for his new race increase.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Gaining a vague level ofparison of his power to Creagars power made him feel proud, but also really cautious.

    No one spoke to him after Veronica''s evaluation, and even Nathaniel limited himself to propel the sphere forward. The sheer amount of power Noah''s addition of 500SE generated, allowed them to move at Mach 1 without Nathaniel''s permission.

    Thankfully the experts couldn''t see the different color of Noah''s energy, but even at that, he limited his addition to once every hour. At this point, the aspirants had begun to utilize their saved stash of mana potions to remain at a speed a little bit below Mach 1.

    The journey remained eventless, but no oneined about that peace. Compared to the asional darkness and terrible sounds they experienced in the fourth stage, that peace felt like a well-deserved reward.

    Conversations continued between the experts. But for some reason Veronica and the other experts close to Noah remained silent, Their reaction to the revtion of Noah''s power left him disappointed. Nheless, it didn''t seem due to ill intent, more of respect. Noah suddenly seemed to exist in a different realm. And he could only notice that change in mindset because of the struggle in Veronica''s expression.

    But Ariana came to his aid that moment, even if he really didn''t mind the silence.

    "A green core. Who exactly are you," a familiar female voice rang out inside Noah''s mind right after he felt Ariana''s consciousness interact with his.

    "You won''t believe how many times I''ve heard those words," Noah giggled inwardly.

    "Oh! But I think I can. Having such talent at our level shouldn''t even be possible. Your rareness is on par with dual affinity cultivators," she exined, causing Noah to gain a vague feeling that she shook her head in wonder, even if he couldn''t see her.

    ''If only she knew,'' he thought.

    "I doubt that," Noah replied to her. "I''m just slightly special," he added.

    "If you were "slightly" special you shouldn''t be capable of producing such wonders. Everyone knows that the best way to make up for power between stages is having a high tier core," she snorted.

    "I''m not that strong; really. I simply possess a series of tricks most don''t have," Noah sighed.

    "You''ve said those words multiple times. I feel inclined to believe you. That is; if you stop revealing depressing tricks," she chuckled, even if her words contained truth.

    Most cultivators present didn''t know how to feel about Noah''s power. Some were peak octahedral orange-cored cultivators, with only a few being yellow. The existence of a potentially green-cored cultivator who wasn''t even middle-stage left them downcast. Noah looked so young yet he had so much power avable to him.

    They were considered above-average experts to be able to even get a shot at bing a member of that guild. Seeing someone far above them in terms of talent surely brought down their ego. Most soon understood how their not-so-special mates felt when they left for the Divine Lightning guild membership test.

    Another day eventually passed, the tension of the time limit increasing with each passing hour.

    They were already moving at their best speed, yet it seemed like they would be unable to arrive at their destination on time.

    However, the nners of that event seemed to have left another surprise for them, since barely after a day had passed, a massive barrier separating that environment from the white one below it, unfolded in their sights.

    They had reached the end of the sixth stage and with a day left to spare! This of course; to the ambitious aspirants, tranted into the hope of actually getting the rewards at the tenth stage.

 Chapter 224 224. ELIMINATION

    Hope, the underlying belief that any particr situation could work out if given the right requirements. Man''s greatest strength and biggest weakness.

    ''''This isn''t good," Ariana''s voice sounded within Noah''s head, as their gazes locked.

    Of course, she remained happy about that turn of events but also understood that it was time to take decisions. Difficult ones.

    "I guess you''ll go for the reward," Ariana said. Immediately sighing when she saw Noah''s nod.

    "And I guess you won''t," Noah spoke without removing his gaze from the transparent barrier getting closer to them each second. He had decided on that action due to the extra time left.

    ''No point not trying. We have time to spare,'' Noah thought.

    "I''d love to, but it''s not worth the trouble. With people like you going, I almost have no chance. The good thing is that I managed to pass this phase of today''s stage," she exined shrugging inwardly.

    "I see...okay then. Though you should get prepared for entry into the seventh depth. It might prove troublesome," Noah warned.

    "Definitely," Ariana replied.

    Noah remained silent after her reply, and she didn''t talk to him either. There wasn''t any need to after all.

    The speeding sphere eventually arrived in front of the massive barrier that was the gateway into the 7th depth stage, and Nathaniel didn''t hesitate to try and cross it. And once again cracks opened on the sphere''s surface, and all that push managed to act on the bodies of the unsuspecting cultivators.

    Some were flung backward due to the incredible push, while some managed to remain in their seats but blood flowed out of their mouths as their internal organs suffered serious injuries.

    With no protection against the upward pressure some almost died, and to the shock of the aspirants, the same androgynous voice, mechanical boomed around, announcing the dreadful word "Disqualified".

    Those who suffered too serious of an injury found themselves being teleported out before fully arriving inside the 7th depth stage!

    Over two hundred aspirants disappeared before they arrived inside the seventh stage. Needless to say, their sadness reached an unfathomable state.

    Noah who had long since prepared to cast his armor spell, immediately did so, thereby surviving thest struggle into the seventh stage.

    An illusory yellow battle armor appeared on his figure after the prior appearance of a simrly colored magical circle. And its radiance managed to light up his immediate surroundings.

    Noah felt surprised to witness one of his spells in action for the first time since he advanced. The energy armor fully protected him, even giving him an illusory helmet.

    Mild cracks managed to appear on the armor, but that was all. At that instant, Noah found his new favorite skill. With it, he could reduce his usage of Muillix to only important situations.

    Groans escaped the mouths of many still present inside the sphere, some even found themselves approaching the cracks opening on the ball. This set of experts had to find something to hang onto, or simply used spells instead.

    Water gushed into the sphere''s inside and Nathaniel soon found himself submerged inside it. However, he held on, pouring all of his focus into sessfully crossing the barrier.

    This happened needless to say, but not without the entire construct crumbling into illusory yet solid pieces still filled with mana. Chunks of the construct managed to remain intact, but the pond''s push immediately sent them upwards into the sixth stage.

    Immediately after the experts arrived inside the 7th stage, a mechanical voice simr to the one that announced their disqualification, boomed all around them.

    "You have arrived at the required stage!" The voice announced to the still struggling experts.

    However, the white light surrounding them abruptly shed with blinding intensity, shockingly vanquishing the powerful push that depth stage had on them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Shock inevitably appeared on the faces and in the minds of the experts, as they found their bodies able tofortably float around.

    Casually floating about inside the pond, Noah immediately adjusted to the water''sck of an upward push. Another well-deserved reward.

    ''What now?'' Noah thought, sweeping his gaze on the ecstatic experts around him. Their numbers stood a bit over 800, and they huddled up together, to gain a sense of security.

    Feeling their armbands buzz, they all opened the menu to find one new option avable, and another countdown. The option titled "Finish Now" stood beside a countdown timing 2 minutes.

    This meant each aspirant had to decide before the countdown finished, or would have to suffer the 7th stage''s upward pressure.

    Many experts immediately began to vanish after a series of magical circles appeared around them. While those who wished to continue waited, preparing defenses for the journey ahead of them.

    Locking gazes with Ariana, Noah nodded at her just before she disappeared.

    ''I hope we can finish at any time we want,'' Noah thought leaving his gaze on the countdown.

    Having already nned skills for the journey, Noah utilized one of his potions; immediately replenishing half of his core contents.

    "That reward better be good," Noah muttered recasting his armor skill immediately after the countdown struck 30 seconds. He didn''t need new armor but desired his spell to remain at its peak state. Also, it only cost 100SE.

    Focusing his gaze on the experts remaining just before the countdown ended, Noah counted a bit more than 50 experts. He expected more, but he understood that the power of the 7th stage scared many into finishing already, After all, they could still be disqualified if they sustained too many injuries.

    Spotting Nathaniel amongst the remaining experts, Noah marked him as one of the experts to watch out for.

    The countdown ended and the white light of that incredibly wide environment shed again, and the pond''s push resumed.

    Having connected a trail of essence to his nose, Noah was already fully prepared. So when he felt an incredible force try to push him upwards, or crunch his bones at his resistances, He poured 1000SE into keeping himself in one position but also had to make it look like that ability was based on his lightning affinity, making for the tendrils of densely packed electrical energy materializing from his figure.

    Thanks to the armor, the essence he spent was just enough to keep him in one position.

    The mechanical voice boomed around Noah, as some experts were disqualified for suffering too many injuries, They had overestimated their abilities.

    Although no one was looking at the other person as they were fighting their own battles, Noah remained cautious.

    A bit over 40 experts remained after the first ten seconds, as lights of different colors shone in the area. Of course, Noah remained the most radiant due to therge tendrils of erratic energy casually floating around him.

    Sweeping his gaze on the serious experts before focusing his gaze on the space below him, Noah sighted whirlpools not toorge, but were more than enough of a challenge due to the incredible pressure around him.

    Just as the experts were about to take off on the journey to the rewards, the same mechanical voice boomed around them, but the contents of its words proved far different than they expected.

    "To make your work easier you have been given the chance to eliminate each other. Thest five shall automatically be given the five prizes at the bottom of the tenth stage!!" The mechanical voice androgynous in nature announced startling the experts; who took a few seconds to process the newly gained information.

    ''Weren''t we told that we wouldn''t have to battle anything,'' Noah thought, feeling his mood darken as his instincts warned him of danger.

    Sweeping his gaze on the experts around him, Noah saw that they all had their attention on him. They nned to eliminate him first, and his instincts considered them trouble.

 Chapter 225 225. CHAINS

    "Forty-seven against one. That''s in shameless!" Noah announced at the slowly swimming experts. However, his words didn''t manage to faze them. They were cultivators who had taken part in the unthinkable multiple times in their lives. Eliminating a young man, who could potentially be trouble was well within their moralpasses.

    Gritting his teeth at theirck of response, Noah red at each one of them straight into their eyes shielded by the ss helmet. Seeing that each one of them had stern faces, including stronger experts like Nathaniel, he heaved a sigh.

    His instincts informed him of how hard the task he hoped to aplish was. He was about to engage in battle with over forty middle-staged experts, an unimaginably hard task even for him. That was if he desired to keep his other assets hidden.

    ''Dammit!'' Noah eximed inwardly feeling fear creep up his heart. Lady Edna''s words about the higher-ups seeing their potential gained a clearer meaning in his mind.

    His daggers appeared in his hands as the electrical tendrils around him red with power stopping their ever so slow approach. Noah resembled a glowing octopus surrounded by humans about to hunt it down.

    Several ideas appeared and disappeared inside Noah''s mind, but none saw a way out without him utilizing his more powerful skills. Eventually deciding that he would reveal some of his more dangerous assets, Noah picked one of his lightning-based skills and didn''t hesitate to cast it.

    [Lightning Chains[Active]: When conjured, users'' fingers attain the ability to create chains made of Lightning. These chains can stretch as far as the user''s mental consciousness.

    Costs: 500SE, Duration 20 minutes, Cool-down: 1 hour]

    Noah''s hands immediately shone with a runic magical circle really small in size at the activation of that skill. Surprisingly loud crackling sounds exited his palms, alerting the individuals around him.

    Soon strands of dense electrical energy materialized out of the circle to wrap around his fingers, thereby clothing them in a glove of erratic energy.

    Knowledge on how best to utilize that skill trickled into his mind, as Noah felt like he had been born with that skill, knowing its ins and outs.

    Seeing that their opponent had prepared something that felt dangerous to them, the surrounding experts quickly moved against him. Mana poured out of their cores as they fueled whatever technique they nned to unleash on him.

    Multicolored lights quickly sprung up in the environment as multiple spells based on different elements barreled towards Noah''s radiant figure.

    The spells crossed the distance between their casters and Noah in mere instants, as the cultivators wished to end Noah in one go.

    Unfortunately for them, Noah wouldn''t stay still to let that happen.

    Kicking the water below him, Noah casually shot out of that area to arrive at a position a few hundred meters above his opponents. Immediately spotting a moment of weakness on all their sides Noah attacked when the spells collided into an explosion of incredible proportions. And Noah''s armors saw chunks of its material vanishing for being too close to the explosion.

    The space of five hundred meters sizzled as waves of erratic water fled away from that spot. A blinding blue light shone in the environment immediately after the spells collided, but Noah''s attack shot forward toward the fleeing experts.

    The pond seemed to quake at the power of literally more than thirty middle-staged experts.

    Amid that chaos, a shower of more than one hundred objects deep-yellow in color and every single shower in the intricate form of chains barreled downward from above the unsuspecting experts.

    Noah manipted the movements of the chains with his mind, and immediately after they arrived on someone''s solid figure, he tightened his grip.<novelnext></novelnext>

    In less than a second, Noah caught seventeen experts with his chains of doom. However, before the experts could do anything about their bondage, an intense surge of erratic electrical energy traveled down the chains to arrive on their bodies.

    The experts held by Noah''s spell seemed to explode into a bright deep-yellow light, as screams of agony escaped their mouths, but they were teleported out of the pond a secondter. The damage dealt by Noah''s chains had been too severe, leaving them in a state of near-death before even the ejection could take ce.

    Silence prevailed in that area for a second or two, as everyone still present struggled to understand what just happened, even Noah.

    "Fuck!!" Noah eximed in utter shock and excitement. The effects of the chain''s abilities had been outrageous even for him. Although the shy attack on the experts had cost him exactly 1300SE, Noah considered it more than worth it.

    ''I just took out multiple middle-staged cultivators at once,'' he affirmed locking his mental gaze on the remaining experts.

    Needless to say, the aspirants felt his presence and some tried to activate the "Finish'' function of their armbands, however deep-yellow chains of crackling energy wrapped around them in the blink of an eye, all 6 of them, and before they knew it they suffered the same barrage of immense amounts of electrical energy wielding blinding power.

    This was all Noah could do before the remaining experts activated their various armors. Another three individuals activated the "Finish" function before Noah could do attack again. And he felt furious about it.

    Somewhere within him, he had decided that no one would witness his power and escape.

    More than fifty balls of searing mes shot towards his now known position, closely followed by bolts of lightning, more than one hundred.

    Noah spotted the three lightning affinity holders in that water, but they were already swimming out of the range of his consciousness.

    ''As expected them. They''ve already figured out how I''m able to attack them so fast.,'' Noah thought, recalling the chains back to his figure.

    With his armor still on, he concluded that he wouldn''t be fast enough to escape the attacks unless he burntrge amounts of energy, which he wasn''t ready to do.

    Clenching his fists, Noah caused the Lightning Chains to wrap around his figure multiple times, creating multipleyers of crackling defenses.

    The fireballs and bolts of lightning almost immediately arrived on his blinding figure now covered with chains of electrical energy.

    The explosion from the collision of incredibly powerful spells able to wipe outrge towns was so big that the escaping experts suffered injuries, and they were already a few 9 kilometers from his position.

    But it was expected, they were experts approaching the realm of tier 4, where one serious attack could wipe out whole cities.

    The pond rumbled with terrifying power, and a blinding white light shone in the position the spells collided. The water in that area boiled and vanished so fast that a distance of 100 meters was left empty for a whole second. But to their astonishment, Noah''s presence was revealed after the effects of the attack died down.

    He was alive, but notplete.

 Chapter 226 226. COUNTRY BUMPKIN

    "That was inconvenient," Noah groaned, spitting blood out of the hole that had appeared on his ss helmet. Water tried to enter his helmet, but he sealed the space shut with a dense wall of air magic and ice.

    Sweeping his gaze on his body, he wondered how he hadn''t been teleported outside of the pond already. His figure missed a right leg, and a grotesque chunk of his shoulders was missing, having suffered intense burns.

    His chest had missing portions, and his internals could almost be seen from the outside. Waves of crimson red blood poured out of his injuries, only his shoulders trying to sizzle, but the water around him quenched the heat.

    ''Maybe the bands measure the amount of damage we can take before dying. Mine must be off the charts,'' Noah thought.

    Needless to say, blinding pain flooded Noah''s mind, as tears clouded his eyes as a result of the suffering. Noah felt like he would pass out, but he knew he wouldn''t since his body had already begun to heal itself.

    Essence flowed out of his almost shining ck core, and his condition saw a rapid rate of betterment. The experts around him watched in horror as a human regrew his limbs in mere seconds, as though it was nothing.

    ''Was it worth it,'' Noah thoughtparing the amount of essence he calcted would have been lost if he had run, to what it cost to heal his injuries?

    ''At least Mach 3 would have allowed me to escape, even if only barely,'' Noah thought. ''That means 60SE per second. I would have had to move at that speed for around ten seconds, which trantes into 600SE 0r 700,'' he continued vaguely noticing the injuries the experts received from the explosion. He did this by narrowing his eyes.

    ''I spent 490SE fixing my body. It was worth it,'' he concluded. Thinking all those thoughts in merely one second.

    Although he concluded from his calctions, that the risk had been worth it, Noah understood that the only reason it cost that little to fix his body was that, even if he had a body stronger than normal, it remained in the ss stage. Things would change when he advanced in power.

    "What are you?" Nathaniel''s voice rang out spreading multiple kilometers, pulling Noah out of his thoughts.

    Limiting himself to remain silent, Noah clenched his fists, and his hands shone with a deep-yellow radiance. The small magical circle on the back of his hands produced more chains, and he soon found, what resembled a small river of slithering chains floating below him.

    Exactly 21 experts remained around him, if 16 were to be eliminated, the requirements for five people to sessfully receive the rewards would be met, but greed shone in Noah''s eyes at the understanding of what his power could achieve.

    ''What if only I remain,'' Noah mused imagining receiving all five rewards for himself. He felt able to aplish that goal, after all his attacks were fast enough to injure the experts bad enough before the pond set instructions could take effect.

    The experts stayed a good distance from him, approximately 9 kilometers from his figure, and Noah understood that he couldn''t do anything to them at that distance.

    The experts seemed to sense his greed and quickly became weary of the monster in their midst. Noah''s power didn''t make sense to them, causing many amongst them to wonder if they were really battling a lower-stage tier 3 cultivator. If he was even in that tier at all.

    "I have an offer," one of the two yellow-cored individuals and also one of the three lightning affinity wielders in the pond announced, breaking the awkward silence.

    "What?" Noah asked staring at the man. He couldn''t see the man''s face from that distance, but such details didn''t matter to him.

    "I can join you in eliminating them, so we can both seize the rewards. You''ll take the biggest share of course," the man announced shamelessly.

    Furrowing his white brows in mild confusion, Noah opened his mouth to speak, while utilizing his power to allow his voice to reach his audience.

    "Do I look like I''m struggling?" He asked shaking his head in disappointment. "How is that a good bargain. I have nothing to gain," he added.

    "I have mana stones I can trade in return for you to ept my offer," the man quickly announced.

    "What''s to say that there aren''t mana stones in the rewards," Noah countered raising an eyebrow, ignoring the experts who continued to listen to their conversation.

    "I doubt they are as high tier as mine," the man announced without a shred of uncertainty.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That''s big of you to say; when the rewards are from one of the three great guilds," Noah replied feeling curious. The man''s words sounded outrageous. Causing that reaction.

    "We are not part of their guild yet. I doubt there would be anything too groundbreaking in them," the expert replied understanding that he had piqued Noah''s curiosity, and probably everyone listening.

    ''He has a point,'' Noah said inwardly. "If that''s the case why are you willing to give them to me, if the rewards won''t be as high tier as your assets?" Noah asked squinting his eyes at the expert and tilting his head to one side.

    A moment of silence followed his words, but the expert soon opened his mouth to talk. "That is because I wish to make acquaintance with you. For the future that is," the man spoke surprising everyone listening.

    ''Who''s this shameless creep,'' Noah thought, not sure whether to attack the man or consider his offer.

    He had to admit that the man''s words made sense even if the timing made him seem shameless and silently desperate. In mere seconds Noah had proven how incredible he was even if his experience in battle was clearlycking.

    "What is your name?" Noah questioned, alerting the other experts, who could already feel their chances of attaining the rewards go down the drain. That was if they didn''t get serious.

    "I am Eric, fourth son of the Randal noble family," the cultivator announced, his words having a shocking effect on the listening experts, even Nathaniel.

    "Nice to meet you Eric I am Aiden. Now can I see the mana stone or stones," Noah immediately moved to his area of interest?

    "You must give me your word that''ll you''ll ept my offer if what I reveal catches your eyes," Eric spoke before taking any action.

    "I promise to ept it if it catches my eyes," Noah assured rolling his eyes.

    Eric nodded at that point and proceeded to wave his right hand. A 4/3ft stone shaped like what one would expect a tall rock to be, appeared at the man''s wave. The stone shone with a light-yellow radiance, and motes of simrly colored lights floated out of the stone flowing with an abundance of mana.

    Gasps escaped the mouths of the less privileged cultivators, and greed quickly shone in their eyes, even if they didn''t dare move towards the rare treasure. Even Noah whistled at the sight of that magnificent stone, and his interest took a sharp hike.

    Although he didn''t need one due to his different energy. From Aiden''s now integrated memories, he understood that mana stones with colors higher than orange were really expensive and hard to find.

    Eric delighted in Noah''s reaction but limited himself to not say anything and let the man''s greed speak for him.

    "I''ll take it," Noah announced vaguely calcting the gold he could get from selling it. Excitement tried to appear on his face but he stopped it.

    "How am I sure you won''t turn your back on me immediately you store it," Eric voiced his worry, causing Noah to roll his eyes again.

    "You cane behind me," Noah announced. "I''m sure you understand what I mean," Noah added.

    "Yes I understand," Eric immediately replied, floating towards Noah. The others who felt unsure of what to do could only watch that scene y out.

    Eric floated towards Noah cautiously, he understood that the others could attack him to deter that trade of sorts. Arriving in front of Noah he watched the young man wave his hand to store that resource.

    "May I know of which noble family you hail from. I do not recall any noble family who has a descendant going by your name?" Eric requested immediately he got to a position behind Noah. "Maybe it''s my memory."

    "What do you mean noble family?! I''m just a country bumpkin," Noahughed heartily in response.

 Chapter 227 227. DISTRACTION

    "Excuse me?" Eric muttered, taken aback by Noah''s words.

    Noah didn''t even bother to nce at the stunned experts, since he felt he had wasted enough time.

    ''I could still get rid of him, but he could be useful,'' Noah thought sweeping his gaze on the experts around them. Truth be told after Eric''s words he had lost arge amount of the excitement he had for the rewards, but still wanted to see them nheless.

    "Now, where were we?" Noah announced focusing his gaze on his opponents. Tightening his grip on the chains of pure energy flowing down his hands. Noah caused them to shoot forward. All three hundred of them. That remained the highest he could create, and it cost him 2000SE.

    That area seemed to experience a powerful quake, as the rumbling sounds caused by the collision of the chains on each other, produced something terrifying.

    Due to the sheer amount of light those chains produced, the experts already running away from Noah could not see that he swam among his chains, rapidly moving towards them.

    Recasting his speed force armor, Noah swam among his chains of doom. He quickly arrived around a kilometer from the experts, and his mouth opened to give voice to taunts.

    "Are you going to continue running till you hit a dead-end!?" He spoke, but his exact position remained unknown.

    The running experts seemed to agree and shot towards different positions in the vast pond. The space within that pond felt able to fit a small city.

    Noah cursed at the sight of his targets splitting up. But knew they would have done the same even without his taunts. The one and major limit of the "Lightning chains" skill was the fact that its full power was limited to how far his consciousness covered on a linear path.

    In truth, he could cover every inch of the space his consciousness covered with the chains, but outside that space, they would simply vanish. It also didn''t matter that he could see the area outside that space.

    An explosion of light suddenly spread out as an orange figure shot through the water, towards some of the escaping aspirants.

    Eric resembled a bolt of lightning traveling toward them. Fast. From Noah''s point of view, it seemed all lightning affinity holders were capable of moving faster than the average cultivator.

    Finding that an expert had fallen into the space of his consciousness, Noah threw his left arm forward, and the chains connected to that hand barreled forward.

    His victim was a woman in the middle-stage, she had an orange core in the octahedral stage, and was of the fire element.

    His chains arrived at her position in no time, and Noah didn''t hesitate to allow them to surround her from all sides. ''I could kill her with this attack,'' Noah thought, feeling he should hold back, but didn''t anyway.

    Pouring essence into the 150 chains connected to his left hand, Noah watched what resembled a light show ur.

    The sound of high voltages going bizarre flew out in all directions, followed by an intense sh of deep-yellow light.

    Thedy tried to wrap herself in a series of fiery defenses and seeded. But Noah''s attack remained too overwhelming for her.

    Before a shout of pain could exit her mouth; her entire figure experienced violent burns as a result of the sheer amount of heat the lightning attack produced. Coupled with the flow of those erratic energies through her body.

    Needless to say, her hair, clothes, and skin instantly disappeared, but she got ejected before the attack could thoroughly fry her.

    In merely a few seconds another person had been eliminated. Noah immediately became terrifying in the eyes of the fleeing experts, and some who desired to ruin his n of taking everything activated the "Finish" function avable to them.

    Nine experts pushed the button so to say and vanished from the pond. Eric managed to eliminate one other person. Meaning, that apart from him and Noah, only eight experts remained.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''How do I eliminate all eight at once,'' Noah pondered, allowing his sea of chains to float below him.

    With the incredible push the 7th depth stage generated still acting on the environment, Noah''s chains tried to sink upwards, but the energy they contained made them sink instead, but their casters consciousness allowed them steadily float in ce instead.

    Honestly speaking, Noah understood how difficult of a task producing the chains would be if he did it himself.

    Actually, the remaining eight experts wondered how he had the reserves to produce such powerful attacks consistently. Even if he sported a green core, that disy for someone his level was totally outrageous.

    So with a silent agreement, they waited for the moment he ran out of energy.

    And Noah knew this was the reason they had yet to let go of their chances at getting the rewards.

    "You should really manage your reserves," Eric''s deep voice resounded behind Noah. "I don''t want you getting eliminated, all my efforts would have been for naught," the cultivator added, although rtively respectful tone.

    Simply frowning tat the man''s once again shameless words, Noah took the advice in them nheless. The aspirants had stopped moving at this point, but their figures resembled dots in the distance. Only the color of their defense''s to repel the upward push making them somewhat visible from that distance. Not even thepletely white environment could help.

    "What would you do if you were in my shoes?" Noah enquired of a casually floating Eric.

    A moment of silence followed Noah''s words, but Eric soon opened his mouth to speak.

    "Seeing as they are far away from us, i would; if I hand any of such spells. Cause a distraction," The man started putting on a pensive look. "We are only two, they are eight, we need something that can gather them up in one spot. But they wont have to know," he continued.

    "Tell me something I don''t know," Noah snorted, but browsed through his skills anyway. He had a few spells capable of causing a distraction, but the one based on his lightning affinity didn''t sound able to do what their situation required, except he spammed it.

    [Lightning Storm[Active]: Generate a tier 3 storm of Lightning within the radius of your mental consciousness, that strikes your enemies down. Costs: 800SE, Duration: 4 minutes, Cool-down: 20 minutes]

    ? A simple spell, but one that would and could only be properly effective if his opponents were close by, since it was also limited to the range of his consciousness.

    ''If i revealed my ice affinity, I would surely cause a big enough distraction,'' Noah mused, perceiving things in slow motion. ''But this isn''t worth revealing my ace. And others are watching,'' he thought raising his head to stare at the space above him.

    "Speed; if you were somehow able to arrive in their midst, you''d be able to eliminate them in one go. But I doubt even you possess the blink spell for the lightning element. Its simply too rare," Eric exined, but Noah understood the hidden meaning behind hisst sentence.

    ''I feel unsafe around this man,'' Noah thought in mild irritation. He couldn''t reveal too much or it could be used against him in the future. But the spell fascinated him.

    ''A spell able to allow people arrive at ces fast enough to be considered an ace,'' Noah thought. ''Could I term my speed that,'' he mused. ''But the trail of energy would give me away. I''d need to see the skill in action to know if i could hide under it,'' he thought focusing his gaze on Eric.

    "Whats the blink spell?" Noah asked, now using his identity as a country bumpkin to gain information.

    ''Oh its just a semi-dimensional spell able to allow its casters travel through space to arrive at different points. Though its very limited, since if you can''t clearly see the area you wish to go, it won''t work," the man exined a tad bit disappointed, but also d that Noah didn''t possess it.

    "For we lightning affinity users, we leave a trail of sparks between the point of entry and exit," Eric added. "But its the same for other elements. Fire and light being the most obvious. At least ording to what I''ve been told."

 Chapter 228 228. CHAIN REACTION

    "I guess there isn''t any need to do anything then," Noah shrugged but kept his river of chains casually floating below him. The presence of his chains was enough to keep the experts away.

    "What do you mean?" Eric asked furrowing his brows.

    Heaving a deep sigh Noah focused his gaze on Eric, his mouth opening to voice his thoughts.

    "There''s no need to keep fighting since we don''t have anything able to help us aplish our goal," Noah exined.

    "So are we going to settle for five instead of only the both of us?" Eric asked sweeping his gaze on the faraway experts, they looked to be having their conversation too. For some reason, they weren''t fighting each other.

    ''I''ve burnt too much essence there really isn''t any going back,'' Noah sighed watching Eric''s mouth move, but he didn''t manage to hear the word, even if they were arm''s length from each other.

    ''He should use his mental waves,'' Noah thought wondering what to do next. ncing at his stats he saw that only a bit over 10,000SE remained. Every second in that depth burnt essence and moving around further tasked his core.

    The same could be said for the others, though none had really burnt too much essence fighting, since they usually attacked in unison. Rather, the resistance against the ponds push tasked their cores more.

    "What''s the point of all this?" Noah suddenly yelled, startling everyone. Empowering his voice with a bit of speed-essence, he allowed his voice to travel through the waterfortably. Enough for the experts kilometers away to hear.

    "It would be far much easier if five of you were to simply leave this ce," Noah continued, his words putting a frown on Eric''s face.

    "However if you don''t, I''ll simply eliminate you. So please choose," he announced feeling nostalgic. Recalling bozolom''sst events almost made Noah''s mood drop, but he managed to keep himself upright.

    "What are you doing?" Eric sounded behind Noah. His voice couldn''t radiate his displeasure any better, as even his countenance had already fallen.

    "This isn''t what we agreed," Ericined right beside Noah''s ears, further aggravating his already bad mood.

    "What do you expect me to do?" Noah barked, the urge to kill the nobleman arose in his head, and he almost listened to it.

    "You don''t expect us to heed your words so easily do you," Nathaniel''s voice rang out before Noah could go back on his promise to Eric.

    "If you don''t, then we''ll simply have to kill each other until only five of us are left," Noah replied getting annoyed. Tightening his grip on both hands, Noah caused his chains to crackle loudly.

    "I liked you when we found you but it seems you are more trouble than you''re worth. You are a fool, Eric, for siding with him! Your decision will be your downfall!" Nathaniel dered loudly, immediately turning serious.

    An armor made purely out of electrical energy appeared on the man''s figure, and a sword possessing an obsidian ck handle appeared in his hands. A series of inscribed circles materialized around the expert, and he immediately entered a stance even if he continued to float.

    The other experts prepared to go all-out on the duo, and soon their offensives were revealed.

    Gazing coldly at the group of eight experts about to attack him, Noah grit his teeth at his low energy level. Lightning crackled behind him, as a livid Eric prepared to move forward,<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''He has so much confidence in my power,'' Noah thought shaking his head and feeling helpless. His armor zed with power with that thought, and he didn''t hesitate to shoot forward first.

    With his chains following closely behind him, Noah understood that his opponents would be cautious of them, so when Nathaniel dashed forward without any n of stopping, an alerting sight, Noah prepared himself for a real battle.

    Sending his chains forward, Noah opted to watch the man''s reaction to them. He heard Jon''s advice echo in his head at his decision.

    Seeing the river of chains obstruct his view of Noah''s figure. Nathaniel raised his sword while still swimming forward. His weapon lit up with red inscriptions, and he didn''t hesitate to perform a vertical sh, only that his one sh produced five, all carrying the same power.

    Five shes zing with middle-stage power brimming with mana quality of a spherical stage yellow core individual shot forward.

    The shes looked tinypared to Noah''s river of chains. But they cut through them anyway, and still retained enough power to fly a few hundred meters before dispersing.

    The battlefield seemed to go silent at that disy, as Noah and the others felt shocked to witness that scene. A smirk cracked on Nathaniel''s face at his victory and he immediately continued to swim forward.

    "Thank you for effectively reducing the crowd!" Nathaniel taunted entering the range of Noah''s consciousness.

    Noah couldn''t help but see that tant disy of courage as a hint that the man had something else up his sleeve, after all, he hadn''t utilized the inscribed circles still floating around him.

    Casually browsing through his skills, Noah continued to bombard Nathaniel with his chains. Although he could cut through them, they simply continued to regrow. At the expense of more energy of course. Though Noah could only create about 100 to reduce the amount of essence he burnt, and it took Nathaniel a few seconds to cut through them.

    ''I don''t have many skill,'' Noahined realizing that another of his unused skills would have to be revealed. ''A storm wouldn''t do much unless i conjure lots of them,'' Noah casually contemted. For some reason he remained unfazed by Nathaniel''s show of power. Rather it angered him.

    "Your spell isn''t much trouble as long as i see iting!" Nathaniel announced creating seven shes at the river of chains trying to wrap themselves around him. "Give me something else!" The expert yelled without losing the excited smile on his face.

    ''I guess lightning kes it is,'' Noah thought helping Eric fight against the other seven experts, who could only run about dodging spells. Their n to force the duo out of energy was so obvious it became annoying to Eric who could only chase them around, while also having to remain inside the range of Noah''s consciousness.

    [Lightning kes[Active]: Cover the radius of your mental consciousness with hundreds of floating kes made of highly condensed lightning. What ever thates in contact with these kes triggers their explosion, capable of tier 3 power. Costs: 1000SE, Duration: N/A, Cool-down: 30 minutes]

    Expanding his consciousness to its max, Noah stopped the urge to voice a shout due to the anger he kept beneath the surface. Rather, he activated his spell, and watched his opponents tremble.

    A magical circle deep-yellow in color expanded out from Noah''s figure covering the area within his consciousness. The loud sound of a bell ringing spread out with the appearance of that magical wonder followed by the materialization of bright yellow kes, no bigger than a tennis ball.

    Hundreds of such kes appeared to fill the space within Noah consciousness. Surprisingly the kes didn''t pulse with any energy, simply floating around quietly.

    Noah could immediately understand how destructive things were about to be. He tried to call Eric to his position, but before the man could respond, an explosion of intense power boomed out in all directions, immediately followed by a second and third one.

    Someone hade in contact with his kes, and their actions caused a chain reaction of powerful explosions fueled by that put even Noah in danger.

 Chapter 229 229. EVALUATION

    ''Crap crap crap crap!'' Noah screamed inwardly, trying to escape the blinding explosions happening below him by swimming upwards.

    ''Why do my spells have to hurt me,'' Noahined, feeling his feet experience heat. Even with the amount of speed, he swam at; although it wasn''t anything groundbreaking, he found himself losing against the velocity of the almost one hundred explosions happening below him.

    The "Lightning ke''s" spell proved to be something of a force to reckon with, and unlike his chains, he had no control over them, apart from being able to move them. But the kes could exist by themselves, even with his mental consciousness not overseeing their activities.

    Having retracted his consciousness due to the ache his head felt from the explosions, Noah understood why the tier 3 expert in the Holon family mansion, hadn''t been able to capture him. Explosions within the range of his mental waves forced them to crumble, sending waves of pain to his mind.

    The water around Noah had begun to boil at some point, and due to his low energy, he could only bear it. Thankfully, moving upwards wasn''t much of a hassle, since the ponds upwards push helped him.

    However, even at that, he couldn''t give total control to the pond''s power, since he would most likely suffer injuries, and find himself barreling towards the sixth stage. Noah felt positive that he would be disqualified if such happened.

    Beating the water with his feet, Noah continued to swim upwards, even if his paddling almost did not affect his moving speed.

    Not until a whole minute had passed did the explosions, capable of killing anything at Noah''s level, and injuring anyone in the middle-stage die down. A sigh escaped Noah''s mouth and he quickly turned around to look downwards. The pond''s push continued to m into his figure, but a wave of essence had quickly encased him in its power-filled glow.

    The water below and around him looked cloudy, as bubbles were abundant in almost every direction. It looked like a white disk had appeared inside that pond, and continued to expand. Noah had swum about four kilometers up, allowing him to witness that scene.

    "Damn," Noah couldn''t help but mutter.

    His surrounding still felt hot, but theck of explosions to refill the heat allowed the surrounding water to mix with the upward-flowing pond. Each major movement made by the experts forced them to battle the pond upward flowing water.

    Narrowing his eyes, Noah tried to search for any survivors and felt his heart begin to palpitate with excitement when he found no one, not even Eric.

    Unfortunately, his excitement vanished when heid eyes on an orange barrier of sorts at the edge of the now clearing foamy and slowly approaching disk. The barrier looked to have multipleyers, as the upper one looked like it would fall apart at any time. The otheryers were made from other elemental properties.

    Noah could tell that the perpetrator, had been none other than Nathaniel. And when the barriers dispersed to reveal a few experts, Noah''s hunch proved correct.

    Unfortunately, Eric wasn''t among the six experts down there. This of course didn''t sadden Noah, who felt d about that oue even. But seeing as his very dangerous spell had been survived by the very individuals he wanted gone, a deep sense of hopelessness arose in his heart.

    Although the experts hadn''t escaped unharmed, as all of them looked almostpletely naked, and their bare skin featured burnt patches, and missing fingers or toes, Noah didn''t feel satisfied.

    All of them looked exhausted, as only their helmet and a few patches of theirtex swimming suits remained. How they kept that ss material in one piece baffled Noah, but seeing as he too had his in one piece at least ignoring the various cracks, he could only give up on that topic.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The experts looked to scan their surroundings, and excitement seemed to appear on their faces at least from Noah''s point of view.

    Needless to say, they began to look upwards, and their expressions turned dark.

    Noah too had a dark expression but simply stared at their figures in the distance. None of them moved from their spots, not even Nathaniel, who already felt the desire to quickly end that struggle.

    In their minds, Noah had be un-kible, and pointlessly chasing after him would lead to their elimination. This of course caused them to look at the other person and ns to eliminate each other appeared In their heads.

    Noah could immediately understand what was going through the minds of the exhausted experts, and he could only watch them eat each other up while evaluating himself.

    ''I''m powerful,'' Noah started staring nkly at the water below him, while the lights of spells shed in his eyes, followed by muffled explosions.

    ''But Ick proper training,'' he continued. This evaluation was a more or less obvious situation. In total, Noah had spent only a bit over four months, maybe five in Creagar. This period for its denizens was too short to gain proper experience, and develop suitable battle techniques, or sense.

    In reality, Noah remained a newbie cultivator who simply had enough power to overwhelm experienced experts. If not for the special state of his existence, he would have long been dead.

    And from the looks of things even his power would soon begin to be useless in the face of both monstrous and experienced experts. ''I definitely won''t have to wait for gods to get into real trouble. And if I remain this way, I''ll die immediately I lose the protection of the bracelet,'' he thought.

    ''I need a real teacher or my learning would be too slow, even if I am supposed to learn things quickly,'' Noah concluded feeling his heartache weirdly. His situation felt dire since death didn''t look far away anymore. It was only a matter of time before he ran out of luck.

    The Lightning kes spell had been powerful, but he needed a proper understanding of its pros and cons to effectively utilize it in a battle with battle-experienced individuals. Not even the knowledge gained from the first time activation of skills could create effective battle ns. For that, he needed testing, which meant getting into fights frequently.

    The battle between the six experts ended, when a male expert among them who found that he would be the next to be eliminated after two experts had eliminated one person; activated the "Finish" function avable to him.

    This caused a respledent explosion of golden light to wash over them, but it didn''t carry any destructive power. A series of green magical circles and purple inscriptions immediately appeared before the experts irrespective of their positions.

    "CONGRATULATIONS!" The familiar mechanical voice boomed out, but they were all too tired to acknowledge it.

    A ring appeared to float out of the inscribed circles, tond on the outstretched palms of the cultivators.

    Immediately the ringsnded on their palms, the magical circles behind the inscriptions washed over their figures, and the five of them immediately vanished from the pond.

 Chapter 230 230. REWARDS

    Opening his eyes to a familiar environment, which of course was the roomdy Edna informed them about the events that would take ce in the different stages. Noah felt himself cringe at the sight of that environment.

    For some reason, he disliked the lighting in that room.

    The room was filled with experts, and to his and the surprise of the other five, they were teleported to a different spot in the room, an odd sight for the others who sat solemnly, waiting for that phase to end.

    ''Finally,'' Noah thought walking forward, away from his previous opponents. He felt unready for the awkwardness that was the fact that he literally tried to get rid of them merely a few seconds ago. He couldn''t just begin to talk to them after that.

    Feeling multiple gazesnd on his figure from almost all sides in the room, Noah felt unfazed by them. The gazes mostly came from experts that had witnessed his raw power, or the ones that had left before the battle began.

    Picking an empty spot in the room, Noah sat alone, before casually sweeping his nk gaze on his surrounding. Though he behaved like this mostly to disperse the tense feeling he didn''t know his mind harbored.

    Fortunately for him, no one walked closer to him, at least apart from Ariana.

    A sigh escaped Noah''s mouth when he saw the busty young-looking woman begin her walk toward him without a shred of emotion on her face.

    "I''d rather be alone for now," Noah spoke through his mental waves; almost immediately halting her steps. Their gazes locked for a moment and she quickly understood how serious he was about his words.

    Nodding her head, Ariana continued her steps, only this time towards a different spot in the room. Seemingly as though she too wanted to be alone.

    Experiencing a tinge of guilt, Noah vanquished that emotion as soon as it appeared. He needed his alone time, and there was nothing wrong with it.

    Sweeping his gaze on his figure, Noah got reminded of how bad he looked. Thetex suit had disappeared upon their teleportation, leaving only his ck garment. Which already barely hung on his figure without revealing some of his blemish-less skin.

    "I need to do something about my clothing situation," Noah muttered, heaving another helpless sigh.

    The room had many above 800 individuals, but Lady Edna and her fairy were nowhere to be seen. However, the aspirants understood the reason for her non-presence was that the time limit for the second trial had not ended.

    The battle between Noah and the over forty experts which eventually ended n the experts ganging up on themselves had taken about half an hour in total, and a whole day remained. There could be experts still on their way to the seventh depth stage, even if their chances of actually seeding would be next to zero.

    A miracle would be needed for such aspirants to reach the desired depth stage, and the rewards had already been imed too.

    Thinking about the rewards, Noah felt reluctant to check what the ck and golden colored ring contained. But he did so anyway.

    Sneakily wearing the ring on his finger, Noah sent his mental waves forth to inspect its contents. And an area space of about 700m radii appeared in his mental sight.

    ''Large,'' Noah thought raising an eyebrow. He could immediately tell that therge space of the ring was part of the reward. However, he couldn''t tell if that space was something groundbreaking since he hadn''t interacted with dimensional rings much.

    In the center of the brown space, were a few items. They were more than just "a few" items.

    Moving his consciousness to the center spot, Noah got able to see what the items were. He sighted an attire, mainly ck, a series of mostly red and orange glowing objects numbering more than fifty. Noah felt shocked to realize that he had been given mana cores. Not to talk of the orange mana stone, even though it stood at only 2ft in height and around 4ft in width.

    At the center of the heap of mana, cores were surprisingly a sword. A heavily inscribed one at that. Noah immediately zoomed in on the weapon, picking it up with his mental waves.

    The sword radiated power at the beginning of the middle-stage, nowhere near as strong as the sword Nathaniel wielded. It would be important to note that Nathaniel''s sword radiated a peak middle-stage aura. Which allowed for his show of skill. Noah had a bad habit of overlooking such details, during battle.

    The silver yet brown de shining with brown inscriptions, had a ck and golden handle shimmering with inscriptions etched into its material. At the mid-section of the swords, the handle was a light orange mana-stone, only around 2 inches in size.

    ''This is already a lot,'' Noah thought fascinated by the thought of gaining a new weapon. There was also a scroll beside the heap of tier 3 mana cores, and Noah immediately picked it up to see what it contained.

    To his surprise, Noah found a series of intricately webbed drawings, featuring a series of symbols, that he surprisingly understood. The scroll carried a vague meaning thatmunicated with Noah''s consciousness, informing him of the spell. Needless to say, a panel popped up in his eyes.

    [You havee in contact with a lightning-based spell]

    [Lightning golems]

    [Elemental Affinity: Lightning]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Tier: 3]

    [Current power output: Middle-stage]

    [Rank: D]

    [Do you wish to learn it]

    [Yes/No]

    Picking yes, Noah made sure to not have his hopes up. Honestly, he doubted the actuality of its functioning.

    [Commencing integration with User��]

    [Error!!��...]

    [Spell needs to be reworked to match Users unique energy]

    [Reworking Tier 3 lightning-based spell]

    [Error!!.....This function is currently locked]

    ''As expected,'' Noah thought, shaking his head at the system''s annoying method of starting things that it wouldn''t finish. ''Though I would have loved to read its description'' Noah thought heaving a sigh.

    His eyes fell on the rest of the panel, and he couldn''t help but get curious about the rank of spells, seeing as the system never showed him what rank his spells were.

    "Why do you always leave out such details," Noahined to the every listening system. "Firstly you never show me how much damage I take from every attack, unless I manually check, now this," Noah spoke, mentally ring at the system.

    [[Such details are unnecessary, and will prove bulky if they were all listed on your stats]]

    [[About the damage notification, from my calctions I realized you don''t need them due to your ability to regenerate]]

    "What about the ranks of spells? I only knew weapons and armor had grades, but not spells," Noahined.

    "Exin to me," he added.

    [[The ranks of spells are simply based on how intricate and powerful of an effect the spells will generate when conjured. All your spells are ranked at B, any higher and you would kill yourself upon activation]]

    [[Not only do higher-ranked spells have more spectacr activations, but they also cost more energy, and would need to be highly optimized to allow experts such as yourself cast them]]

    ''So in essence they are like the various colors of the mana core. Even if it was a higher tier spell;pared to the same spell but of a higher rank, the feats achieved by the higher-ranked spell would be greater," Noah pondered ignoring thest sentence the system made.

    [[Affirmative]]

    ''I guess that''s the real difference between me and the others,'' Noah thought momentarily exiting the ring to gaze at the resting cultivators.

    [[You can turn on the feature to see the ranks of spells aimed at you, and also activate the damage notification]]

    "Nah, I''d rather not. Though it would be useful if you notified me when a spell as high as a B rank isunched at me or anywhere around me. That might be the difference between life and death," Noah exined focusing his gaze on thest package in the ring;

    A small bag containing exactly 25 small gold coins.

    Noah almost ran mad at its sight.

 Chapter 231 231. LAST PHASE OF THE DAY

    "This is insane," Noah muttered trying to keep his joy under control. No one apart from the other four experts and the ones that quit had to know that he had won some of the rewards. After all the real n was to travel to the 10th depth stage, an incredibly long distance, the others that had left had such thoughts, even though the fact that five individuals were teleported back at the same time was weird.

    ''I''m as rich as a small noble family,'' Noah thought grinning inwardly. From the items he received, Noah figured that his efforts had been worth it.

    ncing at himself again, Noah wondered what to do about his ragged state. It didn''t bother him, since most experts there had simr looks, but he desired to do something about it anyway.

    Muillix''s ck and metallic material surfaced on the space below his legs, keeping his groins safe.

    Noah sat in his position for a bit over an hour but no other expert showed up during that time. And Noah knew the second test of the day had ended when Lady Edna returned to the small pulpit at the center of the room.

    Everyone arose at her arrival, and she didn''t hesitate to sweep her gaze on the youngsters.

    "I''m sure it''s been a long seven hours for you all," she started, allowing a smile to appear on her face. Unfortunately, the aspirants were too tired mentally to be fazed by her charming smile. Most just wanted it all to end, and the fact that they still had three days to go saddened them beyond reason.

    However, those who had participated in the battle for the rewards understood that things could change. Whether it would be for good or bad they didn''t know.

    Understanding their mental state, Lady Edna moved to dropforting words. "Thest test of the day would be the shortest and most likely the easiest," she started, and for some reason, they trusted her words.

    "It''s one of the tests we had during my time, so it won''t be too tasking. The nners figured that anyone that managed to seed in the first two tests had proved their ability to survive under harsh situations. Another difficult test would simply be overkill," she exined, putting sighs of relief in the mouths of many.

    ''For thest test of the day based on the body stage, you''ll be required to lift objects for the required time to seed in the stage," she announced. "It''s more of a physical strength test, but that aspect is also part of the body,'' she shrugged waving her hand to conjure a magical circle.

    Many shrunk in fear when the magical circle appeared to fall on their figures, but their soul cores felt no pain during the teleportation.

    A wide room appeared in their sights an instantter, and the first detail that caught their eyes was the tens of masked individuals, in tight-fitting clothing. The second was the metallic nature of the room.

    A series ofrge metallic objects filled the room''s space, and everyone could notice the inscriptions that shone on therge objects.

    The room was actually in the shape of a dome, but the sky couldn''t be seen, a feature Noah found slightly amusing.

    "Thanks to your small numbers this phase can easily be finished, but I''ll need your participation,"dy Edna started walking towards one of the over fiftyrge metallic balls.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "All you have to do is lift it until the required weight has been reached. It doesn''t matter that you used both your hands or one, as long as your strength isn''t aided by mana then you pass," she exined grabbing one of therge balls, around 5m in height and probably double that in width.

    In the blink of an eye, she lifted the ball of seemingly pure metal, and immediately, the masked individuals around her started working on illusory screens.

    A series of inscriptions; sky-blue in color, lit up at that action, and very soon a mechanical whirring sound could be heard.

    "You are required to lift this until you reach the fourth weight grade, which is only a bit heavier than what the average middle-staged cultivator can lift," she exined as the whirling sound continued to intensify. A few seconds passed and the inscriptions suddenly turned green. After which she ced it on the ground, with a heavy thud of course.

    ''That''s simple'' Noah thought at that demonstration. ''But what about lower-stage cultivators like me,'' he thought, wondering if there would be a twist in the rules again.

    "You''ll take turns of sixty individuals per batch. There are exactly 864 of you left and the test is supposed tost five minutes, that is if youst throughout the duration required to pass," she exined while the masked men sorted out the first sixty batches.

    "Don''t forget to yell stop, when the weight gets unbearable. Your life is in your hands, you can always join another guild as long you survive," she advised with genuine care.

    In less than a minute the first batch started their tests, with the others watching with disturbing attention. The first minute passed and no one yelled the required words to end it.

    The third minute eventually came, by this time the spectators were already rxed. However, when the time hit the fourth minute, meaning the fourth weight grade had begun, someone yelled stop, and that simple action ced everyone on edge.

    Before the now tense audience could remove their gazes from the downcast man who had begun to be escorted to an empty area in the room, the sound of a yelp, and the sickening sound of a muffled bursting, spread in the room.

    Blood flew everywhere and those who had been lined for the next batch got stained.

    In mere seconds that test had be akin to a death sentence.

    Most hoped that there would only be one death, but two loud bangs followed by the sound of bursting spread in the room before the fourth minute could beplete.

    A series of yells urred at that point, this time, real and bone-chilling fear set in the minds of many watching, because by the time the five minutes wereplete, 10 in total had been brutally crushed by the metallic balls, while 25 had quit. Less than half of the first batch had seeded! What hope did they have?

 Chapter 232 232. HEAVY

    The next batch for the test was sent forward, as a heavy mood dwelt in the room. Uncertainty had quickly be the order of the day, but those who felt determined didn''t let the deadliness of that situation get to them. The life of a cultivator was one filled with many near-death situations, and that test wasn''t any different.

    With that quick reset in mindset, the second batch ced their hands on the metal ball they were assigned to, and immediately lifted it when the masked men gave the go-ahead.

    No grunts or whimpers were made since the base weight of the balls were pretty light for middle-staged tier 3 experts. However, things changed when the sky-blue inscriptions on the ball lit up. A mild sense of added weight pressed itself on the hands of the cultivators, but the first minute was the least bit tough.

    Once again things changed when the inscriptions lit up on the ball again, this time signifying the weight change. The artificial weight of the ball was now double what the ball weighed in the first grade, but once again it didn''t matter to the bodies of the experts, which stood strong for the second minute of the test.

    The third minute arrived with another sh of the blue inscriptions, only in that grade did the experts begin to feel like they had an object on their palms. Soon struggle began to appear on the faces of some, while others casually passed it.

    Panic tried to appear in the minds of those struggling with the third grade, but most decided to wait and see what thest stage, which wouldst two minutes would hold.

    During this seemingly long period of them, the remaining about 700 experts continued to watch with pin-drop silence, some had friends they had made during the first two tests participating in that batch, it was normal that they hoped no evil befell them.

    Noah found his eyes falling on Veronica''s figure, she had survived everything so far, and he wondered if her luck would work for her again. In truth, he held no attachments whatsoever to the woman, but he hoped that she didn''t die anyway.

    Many of the faces he saw at the start of the test were nowhere to be found, he understood what had happened and wished the same did not happen to her.

    The fourth minute arrived and for the first ten seconds, nothing happened. However, even with that steady flow, no one had high hopes since there remained a long while before that test was done. And soon enough someone yelled for the test to be stopped for them.

    Another person did the same, and the panic of the remaining individuals shot through the roof, that metal had be heavy, so heavy that hard breaths had begun to exit the mouths of many. The fourth weight grade wasn''t slightly above average in terms of how much it weighed, it felt like something someone about to spill into the higher stage should be lifting! Outrageous.

    Just ording to expectations, the first person was crushed, and it happened to be a man. His arms had snapped, effectively giving way to the ball''s weight. The man''s figure burst under the weight of the metal ball, and many could still see his bloodied face due to how he fell to the ground.

    Shaking his head in a mixture of emotions, Noah felt his gazend on Lady Edna, who silently floated above them. Her fairy wasn''t with her but that wasn''t the reason for his action. He felt constantly lied to, but really couldn''t do much since hundreds of others were facing the same issue.

    Unfortunately for Noah, his gaze lingered for too long, and the extremely powerful woman felt it and nced at him straight into his eye. Her gaze was emotionless, yet not hostile. She didn''t have the condescending gaze Noah remembered elder Mchi to have. But he could tell that she was stronger, not to talk of her fairy.

    The two alone would be able to terrorize whole nations on Earth, but the existence of stronger experts wouldn''t allow that on Creagar.

    Their locked gazes lingered for a second or two, but Noah promptly performed a head bow in respect.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Her gaze softened at that sight and she nodded at him, before returning her attention to the struggling experts.

    The fifth minute arrived, but the majority remained. However, seven individuals had died and two more had quit. But from the looks of things, the second batch woulde out with arger number of sessors.

    The required time eventually ended, and 46 individuals remained. Noah could visibly see that they were shaken and felt pity for them. The third batch was called forward, but he wasn''t among. There would be around fourteen to fifteen batches in total, and due to his position in the room, he reckoned he would be in the sixth one, so he simply waited.

    The batches quickly started and ended, with more individuals seeding. it seemed the first-timers were the unlucky ones. Things were different in the fifth batch though, with only 20 individuals exiting it sessfully. Twenty-three individuals had died, and the remaining seventeen quit. It had been a massacre.

    The sixth batch came but Noah wasn''t part, instead, Ariana was. Those chosen for batches were picked at random, the closer you were to the front, the higher your chances of being chosen. Needless to say, aspirants began to stylishly move backward in fear of being chosen.

    At some point, Lady Edna had to disapprove of that act.

    Noah found himself being chosen for the tenth batch due to the trouble caused by the cowardly aspirants. He looked to be in a good mood since Ariana had seeded, same with veronica.

    Standing in front of his assigned metallic ball, Noah took a deep breath, he felt confident in his strength, but after almost one hundred people had died, it was normal to get nervous.

    The two masked individuals on his sides tinkered with an illusory screen each, and soon one of them raised their hands. Lady Edna floated towards the trio at that point, and the individual highlighted the issue.

    "He''s still in the lower stage," the masked individual now identified as a man spoke.

    Feeling the gazes of everyone presentnd on his figure, Noah kept a cold expression while listening to what the tier 4 expert would say.

    "I received information from the higher-ups that we should test him like everyone else," Lady Edna announced, allowing all in the room to hear.

    ''Giving a lower stage something that those already halfway into the middle stage would struggle at!'' many muttered, shocked. Even individuals like Nathaniel who had seeded and were waiting for his batch to be led to their rooms felt shocked.

    Noah had been terrific during the fight with middle-stage experts, but that battle had been mostly based on ranged spells. He simply had an abundant reserve of mana, and enough powerful spells to allow himself toe out mostly unscathed. Things would have been different if they were in closebat.

    Noah on the other hand felt his world stop immediately after Lady Edna''s words reached his ears. He very well knew his physical limits, and even his instincts spoke only uncertainty, which of course gave rise to more nervousness.

 Chapter 233 233. SLEEP

    A frown appeared on Noah''s face at the once again dangerous twist. He honestly had expected that the test to be tweaked to fit his seemingly low power, but once again the nners, or as Lady Edna put it, the higher-ups had moved to change things.

    "It seems they''ve taken a liking to you," Lady Edna said to Noah utilizing her mental waves. "I also saw your battle with your fellow aspirants, and I''m impressed," she added immediately floating upwards.

    An even deeper frown shone on Noah''s face, but he had alreadye to terms with his situation. He wasn''t allowed to empower his body with energy, but his healing wouldn''t be counted as empowerment.

    ''Fifty thousand points in strength. I hope it''s enough,'' he thought heaving a deep sigh before his face went expressionless. He could feel the gazes of the masked individuals beside him, as they had begun to consider him a dead man, as he was unlucky enough to fall into such a predicament.

    Noah consoled himself with an exciting thought though, ''The higher-ups already have interest in me,'' he mused, lifting the metallic ball when given the go-ahead.

    The ball of metal felt extremely light to his body, but there wasn''t any excitement since an added weight fell on his palms signifying the beginning of the first grade.

    Every individual present carried the ball in an overhead position since it remained the best way to keep their bnce.

    The second grade arrived and Noah felt only another slight press, nothing else. The watching experts were in shock, but it remained only those that hadn''t seen his monstrous prowess were fazed.

    The third grade came, and Noah had to get rtively serious, as the ball''s weight had tripled maybe more. The one-minute time felt like hours to Noah even if he wasn''t struggling, at least to his focused mind he wasn''t.

    Eventually, the fourth weight grade arrived, and someone yelled to be relieved of that weight. Noah however, felt his confidence rise. He could immediately confirm that he would seed in that test since even though the weight of the ball had increased drastically, he felt his joints lock in ce, and feltpelled to crouch his knees and slide his leg backward to properly distribute the weight of the ball. A good sign of his resilience.

    A few individuals had died during that period, but Noah couldn''t listen to them, only his pride and goal of surviving sounded in his ears. At some point during the two minutes his bones cracked and his joints quivered, his skin tore, and his palms bent unnaturally, but he healed almost as fast as the injuries appeared. This of course tasked his already almost empty core.

    The ball suddenly lost all its weight at some point, and Noah felt it get raised from his hands. His focus fell on his environment, and the first thing he noticed was the metallic smell of blood, but also theck of silence in the room.

    The room was filled with the sound of ppinging from over one hundred individuals. Needless to say, Noah felt surprised to find that he was being pped for, then again, he realized how he was on his knees and blood stains were all around him. The weight of the ball had caused him to kneel, and the experts watching had seen his struggle, but he seeded. A lower-stage had seeded in a test meant for middle-stages, this reality inevitably riled up the next batch, and for the next five batches, only 10 individuals in total failed.

    For the first time since he arrived in Creagar, Noah had a positive effect on his audience, and because of this; he gained his first genuine respect from powerful individuals that mattered in that nation and guild.

    *

    *

    *

    "You did great today," a young-looking man, who had the attire that spoke of his identity as a member of the Divine lightning guild, smiled at Noah just before shutting the door on his face.

    Heaving a light sigh, Noah turned to face the room. This of course was the room he and the others that had been rmended stayed, and to his non-surprise, it looked scanty.

    The eyes of his still existing roommates fell on him, but there wasn''t any happiness in them. He had sighted them inside the sphere, but their interactive situation wouldn''t allow them to talk to him.

    ''Only five of us,'' Noah thought in disappointment, walking deeper into the now seemingly really spacious room. Their eyes followed his movement, but no words were thrown at him.

    Arriving at his designated bed, Noah climbed onto its top, immediatelyying on it. They only had a bit more than six hours till the next day began. It wasn''t much but was still something.

    Seeing as it would be focused on their minds, Noah didn''t hesitate to sleep, but not after reviewing what had happened during the trial he had just ovee.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''I had to go on my knees to remain alive,'' he thought nkly staring at the ceiling. He almost had no recollection of how he had gotten on his knees since his mind had been focused on keeping his arms in ce and maintaining his bnce. In essence not dying.

    Having already evaluated his strength in the pond, Noah found it no surprise when he continued to realize how weak he was in the myriad of monsters dwelling in that world.

    However, even if he remained really strong, he felt unable to settle for being a local champion. The tiny portion of his mind that had stepped into the realm of the speedlings wouldn''t allow it. Nheless, he was grateful for the strength he had. Which caused an internal conflict of trying to find the bnce between his desire for more and appreciating what he had, since most did not have it.

    Noah found himself heaving sighs during his moment of reflection. ''I sigh a lot,'' he giggled, experiencing a strong sense of mncholy.

    In truth, he felt tired of hisck of knowledge, and the desire to change it had gotten immensely stronger during the second test of the day, or rather the over a week in total he spent in them.

    ''Hopefully, the next trials don''t have such time differences,'' Noah thought slowly drifting from the topic of his sad situation.

    ''How do they even achieve such wonders,'' he pondered, ''Is time an affinity,'' he continued, '' But no one ever mentioned it.''

    And so, Noah continued falling into topics that got him curious, but even the multiple thoughts and inner discussions merelysted a minute. His mind continued to move faster than normal, but he wouldn''t notice it.

    Noah eventually drifted into some well-deserved sleep, he hadn''t slept throughout his journey in the pond, nor did he sleep when in the different realm. In essence over a week had passed since hest slept.

    A knock on the door immediately pulled Noah out of his sleep, the ears of experts at his level had been fine-tuned enough for such ease.

    His eyes fell on Lady Sophie, and he immediately wondered why she and her team had disappeared after the first test.

    ''It''s time," she announced to the now twelve experts in the room. More of them had survived.

    Noah hadn''t spoken to them in a week and didn''t n to do so anytime soon.

    However, before Noah got off his bed, a series of clothes appeared on his bed at the wave of his hand, and he didn''t hesitate to wear them.

    The attire that had been inside the ring consisted of a tight-fitting ck body suit, featuring a turtle neck, and an overall jacket reaching his heels.

    The midnight ck jacket featured a series of golden-colored inscriptions, and Noah immediately understood that the material wasn''t just any type of fabric. ''Definitely from a magical beast,'' Noah thought admiring how great the material felt.

    On the heart side of the gold-embroidered jacket was an orange gem. Obviously a mana stone. And to Noah''s surprise immediately he wore the ck heel-high boots, the full attire caused a reaction to the system.

    [You have equipped attire: Crackling Oveers]

    [Set: Bodysuit, Jacket, Boots]

    [Stat: Def: 9,999]

    Immediately that panel appeared in his eyes, a golden glow shone on his figure before dying down.

    ''I''m ready,'' Noah grinned.

 Chapter 234 234. BELL

    Walking down the adorned hallway used on the first day, Noah stood at the forefront of his group again, and the lesser amount of aspirants couldn''t be more obvious. The hallway was silently traversed by the experts who could only think thoughts to themselves. For obvious reasons, thest trial had been the most nerve-racking trial, at least for the tier 3 category.

    They eventually arrived at the end of the hallway, and into the same massive room. However, this time around the veiled man wasn''t atop therge pulpit, only Lady Edna and two other individuals both men. Noah could immediately tell that they were far above tier 3 in terms of strength.

    Of course, he could only notice these details after getting in front of the pulpit. Thankfully, they had been allowed to run towards it, since walking would take them a whole hour.

    The three categories of present for the trials were eventually fully gathered, and all were neatly separated from themselves to save them the trouble of groupingter on.

    ? "Good day aspirants," one of the males present started. The man had short ck hair neatlybed in curly backward waves on his head. He looked to be in his mid-thirties and stood at around 5"6 in height. His clothes Looked just like the ones worn by the experts guiding them, only that they had a golden cape draping down his back, and an extra amount of zig-zagged stripes.

    The other male in the room looked to be in his early fifties and had a bald head. The man for some reason had a mean look on his face which ruined his likability. His gaze felt condescending and aloof, but no one really cared anyway, they had their focus on the other man talking.

    "I congratte you all for seeding on the first day, as it''s always the hardest. And for that I ask that you feel proud of yourselves; for over half of your fellow aspirants were disqualified yesterday.'' he paused, casually sweeping his gaze on their stern faces.

    "Today; as I''m sure you''ve been informed will be based on your minds or soul cores. And because of this, there''ll be only one trial required of you to pass."

    "This test would be something general, even if it would be split to fit your different categories of power," he continued.

    "The main goal is to keep your mental fortitude intact, as you''ll be taken into a chamber which has a special effect on the soul core. The effects are either illusions, mental pressure, or both. You''ll most likely experience your deepest fears, whatever they are. Or experience crushing mental pressures. However, the truth is that you remain in control of the oue."

    "Whether you choose to see through the illusions or you remain unfazed before the crushing pressure is up to you.

    "As I said earlier, all you have to do is keep your mental fortitude intact. We''ll know you''ve failed when we see you passed out or acting out. And yes, we will be watching over you," the expert exined, stopping.

    "Thankfully you won''t be allowed to die, but if your soul core suffers too much damage you''ll immediately be ejected," Lady Edna started immediately after her colleague ended.

    ''The trial willst for merely twelve hours, but they might feel like days of mere seconds depending on what you experience," she exined making sure they understood what they were stepping into.

    "I''m sure you all understand, so let us get to it,"dy Edna announced spreading her arms, but before she could conjure anything the expert that had addressed them first, raised his hand, halting her actions.

    Sweeping his gaze on the various experts, his eyes finally fell on the tier 3 category his target audience.

    "I''m well aware that many of you won''t be able to gain full entry into our guild," he stated, "But for those who would, I will owe you a personal conversation; where you can ask me about the fourth tier. As for my name, get into the guild first," the expert announced, and gasps almost immediately exited the mouth of everyone listening. Apart from his colleagues of course, and a few special individuals.

    It was clear his words had been directed to the tier 3 experts, which made the lower-tiered cultivators burn with envy.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Excited murmurs rose in the room as the experts looked ecstatic. Notwithstanding, Noah on the other hand failed to understand why that announcement was exciting to the ears of his fellow aspirants.

    A series of ideas welled up in his mind at his wonder and what felt like a suitable reason gained rity within him. ''I guess they''ll need such insights for their rise into the fourth tier,'' Noah concluded.

    Shaking her head with a big smile, Lady Edna nced at the bald man beside her, wondering if he too desired to talk. Unfortunately, he shook his head in objection.

    "With that done, let''s get on with this, For real this time,'' Lady Edna announced spreading her hands in front of the crowd numbering a bit over only five thousand!

    A crimson magical circle expanded below the experts and their white lighted environment twisted and turned before the scenery changed to something utterly different.

    Arge room lit with deep red lights unfolded in the sights of the experts, and before the aspirants noticed any other thing, they realized that they had been spaced from each other. Every person was a minimum of 5ft from the other person.

    Noah''s eyes fell on the ck mat below him, and he immediately understood that they were supposed to sit on it.

    Doing so immediately, Noah also noticed how hot that location was. There wererge red pirs adorned with golden rings spread out in all directions in the room, keeping the red-painted ceiling over 40m in height in ce.

    There was also a barrier that separated them from the weaker experts, even if they could see through its whitish-gray color.

    Further inspecting the room since none of the tier 4 experts could be seen, Noah noticed the gigantic bell at the end of the room. The golden bell shimmered with different colored lights and stood on a ck pulpit around 7ft in height.

    The redness of the praying room as it would seem, gave off a foreboding feeling, as the more experienced cultivators understood that it had an effect on their minds, and was more of a prelude before the real thing started.

    "You are all to close your eyes and meditate immediately I sound the bell. The bracelets on your hands will notify me if you do not follow suit and you will immediately be disqualified," Lady Edna exined, abruptly appearing on the pulpit, while the male experts floated above them.

    Only at her words did the aspirants notice the item on their left wrists. It looked transparent and felt weightless which caused theirte notice of it. At least for most of them.

    No one had time to inspect the bracelet, since before they could an incredibly loud ringing sound barreled out in all directions within the room.

    The aspirants immediately shut their eyes in fear of being disqualified, but immediately they did, they felt a wave of rxation sweep their very souls. And although the bell remained loud, every aspirant fell into meditation almost instantly.

    It didn''t matter that they were tier 1 or tier 3; none could disobey the soothing effect the bell generated. After all, it was a quasi-tier 4 item.

    With the sound of a bell, the second stage of the trials to gain entry into the Divine Lightning guild began. What a bone-chilling and memorable experience it was for them all.

 Chapter 235 235. CYCLE

    Noah felt his consciousness get whisked away by an irresistible power, causing his head to ache.

    His natural defenses tried to battle the power but brutally lost before even an instant could pass.

    The force felt akin to the might blow of a violent wind, or the unstoppable force of a freight train, and it seeded in doing whatever it wanted to Noah''s consciousness since Noah found himself standing in apletely dark environment.

    ''What the heck,'' he muttered feeling unable to blow up in the fury he desired to have. Sweeping his emotionless gaze on his surroundings, Noah felt unfazed when he noticed the water beneath his boots.

    To his confusion, he found that immediately after he noticed the water, a white light lit up on his figure.

    "What is even going on," he wondered, ''Where are my?"

    However before any more of his curiosity-based questions could continue, a deep rumble vaguely in the sound of a voice boomed in the entire ce, troubling the shallow water, beneath him, and in less than an instant, Noah found himself inside a raging ocean!

    Feeling all his emotions return with the force of a blizzard, Noah experienced fear in what felt like its rawest form.

    The deep sh of yellow lightning brightened up the night sky of that environment, quickly followed by what could be considered a catastrophic rumble of thunder.

    Noah continued to struggle in panic, deep down he knew he couldfortably ovee it, but the fear he felt blinded his reasoning, and he quickly began to sink.

    Noah felt the fear of death grip him so hard he lost his breath, coupled with the ever getting louder sound of the thunder seeming trying to rip the sky open.

    Noah soon found himself inside the water, helplessly struggling to swim up, but all his efforts proved naught. The water around him seemed to feature hands pulling him towards the bottom of that ocean.

    Feeling the stored oxygen inside his lungs get squeezed out, Noah felt petrified to notice something swim past his side vision, but before he could panic any longer, his environment turned into a mess of white and ck lines, and he appeared in a desert.

    Gasping for the newly avable air, Noah coughed multiple times, but nothing exited his mouth, only blood, ck one!

    He tried to stop it, but the blood simply poured out without much of his ability to do anything. Pain suddenly flooded Noah''s senses, but so did rity.

    Having his emotions back allowed Noah to wonder how what had happened so far was linked to his greatest fear. That simple question seemed to make the blood stop, but his environment quickly twisted again, and Noah found himself standing at the top of a building.

    ncing down its edge, he felt his heart contract in emotional pain. Right there he could see an individual gasping for breath as he hung halfway down a pole that had punctured his chest.

    Noah almost didn''t recognize the young man, since it had been a long while since he saw the face he had on Earth!

    Before he could do anything, his view of that also familiar environment changed, and Noah found the sun''s light smiting his face, followed by an intense burning sensation like he had never felt before.

    Blinding pain flooded his mind, as he tried to gasp for breath, but the metallic object sticking out of his chest stopped his diaphragm from contracting and expanding, effectively cutting his oxygen supply.

    Noah re-lived his death on earth with shocking uracy and lividness. However, he felt unfazed by that happening. He had more or less prepared for it after the tier 4 expert had mentioned illusions, so once again Noah saw his environment go dark, and he arrived in front of a green mountain in front of a forest.

    "What is this even supposed to mean," Noah muttered with dead coldness.

    What felt like a few seconds maybe hours passed, before anything happened. The mountain suddenly split in two, the sky turned dark, and the winds blew violently as trees were torn out of their roots. A bolt of lightning split the dark clouds suddenly crashing into Noah''s unfazed figure.

    Unimaginable pain flooded Noah''s mind as his figure turned to ash, but he felt himself continue to exist rather than vanish. Still feeling his existence in that location, Noah watched his ashes get scattered into the forest.

    Immediately after that event ended,rge trees sprang up, and the whole forest turned lush and magical, but after what felt like years passed the forest had dried up. Compared to what he remembered, Noah felt disgusted by what that ce had be.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Shockingly everything rewound, the forest reverted to its lushness, then all the trees began to return to their normal state. Noah saw all his ashes return and therge lightning bolt returned to the sky after un-striking him, and the mountain merged back together.

    "What is even going on," Noah tried to shout, but he found that his emotionless state had returned.

    A few minutes of wait happened, and to his non-shock, the mountain suddenly split in two, and the clouds turned dark. The winds blew violently, but he remained unmoved by those natural events, arge yellow bolt of lightning exited the dark clouds tond on Noah''s emotionless figure. Why he hadn''t moved remained unknown to him.

    Once again sting pain ravaged his mind as he was turned to ashes. Then the wind blew the ashes into the forest behind him, and everything turned fantastical in the scenery. That ce quickly became a scene one would only find in the most magical of environments.

    However, after a while, everything dried up and turned ugly just like the first time. Once again after a while, everything began to revert to how they were before, and before he knew it Noah found his body back to normal.

    Noah felt beyond stunned at what was happening for he had gotten his emotions back, needless to say, worry, fear, and confusion rose in his mind when the mountain before him split in two again.

    The same events as the first two times urred but ended with him back to normal. The cycle had to repeat itself twice again before understanding dawned on Noah.

    "Can''t I stop the bolt of lightning," he muttered ring at the rumbling cloud. A bright yellow sh brightened up the sky, and a bolt of lightning the size of small buildings fell from the sky directly towards his un-moving figure. However, before it could arrive on his body and end him for the sixth time, Noah exerted his control over the lightning element on that mass of incredible energy.

    Instead of smashing into his figure and incinerating him, Noah caused it to float above his head and manipted it to surround him with a protective barrier.

    The world trembled at that sight as the whole forest suddenly turned lush and beautiful. The ck clouds cleared and the split mountain turned into a sculpture. Of Noah.

    "What does this even mean," Noah muttered frowning deeply, none of the events that had urred were rted to his greatest fears, if he even had one. They felt like a message, but he couldn''tprehend it.

    Before he could sigh in helplessness, Noah felt the world around him experience another drastic change.

    Suddenly he found himself on what resembled a battlefield.

    Shock filled Noah''s mind when he saw craters so immense he felt one hundred percent sure that cities would fit inside each one of them. The world looked to be in turmoil, as smoke able to cover multiple cities rose to the red sky.

    Bodies littered the surrounding areas and he could only notice all this because of how high he was in the sky. ''What in the world is going on!'' Noah thought feeling his heartbeat rise in speed.

    As if listening to his words, Noah felt the world zoom in, and he arrived in front of two blurry individuals.

    Even with his closeness, Noah remained unable to tell what gender both were, but that didn''t matter, since for some reason he felt his gaze lock onto their glitchy figures, an unfathomable amount of fear, sadness, and helplessness welling up in his being.

    One of the two individuals was on their knees, with the other was standing above them. A burst of hystericalughter suddenly exited the standing individual, to resound throughout the entire continent, carrying waves of power that shattered the ground beneath Noah''s feet, even if he remained in position.

    Theughing individual looked to raise his sword and quickly brought it down with the force of a meteorite.

    The person kneeling split in two, dead. And for reasons unknown to him, Noah fell to his knees and wept profusely.

    ___________________________

    Authors note: I know this chapter iste but at least I made it. I really appreciate your concern Uncledemon and of course your support. And a big Thank You to the others who don''t say much but are supporting the story. Because of you all, I''m driven to write more.

    Honestly, I knowst month wasn''t the best, as the story didn''t progress well due to my inconsistent schedule. So I want to make it up to you all reading. From thising Sunday onward, there''ll be two chapters each day.

 Chapter 236 236. MASKED INDIVIDUAL

    Noah wept and wept, so hard that he seemed to run out of tears. For reasons still unknown to him, he felt heartbroken, and the cold grip of emptiness permeated his consciousness. The world seemed to have shattered around him as deep pain, an emotional one, flooded his mind.

    Noah began to tremble violently at some point, as fury and even more, pain burnt inside him, he began to act out on his environment but failed to see that every one of his attacks kicks, or punches at the air; caused incredible damage to his surrounding.

    After the death of the kneeling person; both glitchy figures had disappeared as though they never existed, to begin with. Yet Noah knew that the emotions he experienced were real, but why that scene had impacted him so much remained iprehensible to him.

    Eventually, Noah felt too weak to do anything, not even cry, and he felt uncaring about the constantly changing scenery around him. "I don''t want that again," Noah muttered gazing listlessly at the now blue sky above him.

    The sun''s radiance tried to hurt his eyes so he closed them, "Did I fail," Noah wondered recalling the trial they were to ovee after what felt like decades had passed, maybe minutes.

    Sitting up, he swept his gaze on his surroundings and found that he sat on a cliff. Nothing existed outside of the cliff only the blueness of the sky that seemed to encase him in a spherical structure.

    Noah stared at the blueness without so much as a flicker in his expression, he felt so devoid of everything, that he failed to generate any emotion at that wondrous and also terrifying scene.

    It seemed the world tried to express how he felt. Alone and empty.

    ''This is an illusion,'' Noah thought, "But why does it feel so real," he muttered holding the side of his chest, where his heart stood. Even that organ had lost its energy, limiting itself to beating slowly.

    A crack, however, appeared in the sky around him, and Noah found himself gazing into thick darkness. Something about that outrageously strange sight appealed to him, and he failed to realize it when he stretched his hand towards it, desiring to touch it.

    The cliff below him crumbled at that action, but Noah felt too empty to fret, he understood that he wouldn''t die from simply falling. Even the healing ability he had would fix all damages before they couldst longer.

    A suction force applied itself to Noah''s figure, and he found himself slowly drifting inside that darkness. Nothing existed inside it, not even time, so whether he had spent decades or mere seconds in there, Noah remained uncertain.

    At some point down the line, Noah heaved a sigh, "I''m tired of being empty," he muttered sweeping his gaze on the nothingness around him.

    At his words, a bright white light appeared in the distance, and he began his journey towards it. Eventually arriving in front of the blinding light, Noah felt himself hesitate to cross it.

    Cold fear gripped his mind as the images of the person''s death reyed in his mind. Reluctance based on fear and uncertainty appeared inside him, and he turned his back on the light.

    Slowly drifting away from the light Noah continued to drown in self-regret, unable to do anything but die inside. Notwithstanding, the thought of leaving that ce crossed his mind several times, but the person''s death reyed in his mind every time such thoughts appeared.

    At some point during his aimless floating, a voice rang out behind Noah. "You''ll have to leave at some point," the male voice said.

    Turning to face the individual without the slightest bit of fear, Noahy eyes on a man featuring a purple mask.

    "Who are you?" He asked nkly, "Go away," he concluded the conversation before it even started.

    "The darkness isn''t a ce for youngsters such as yourself," the man said in a tone exuding genuinepassion and care.

    "Who are you to decide that!" Noahshed out, experiencing a deep sense of familiarity with the individual.

    "I''m no one really," the individual replied adopting a cross-legged position, with his regal attire draping below him. The individual had his hair hidden inside the weird faceless mask, but the long garment he sported consisted of mostly fine linen, red and gold.

    "I''m just someone who''s been in the darkness long enough to know when someone shouldn''t be in it," the individual exined calmly.

    Noah remained silent at those words, but his desire to be alone forced him to speak again.

    "It''s none of your concern, you can leave," he said turning his back on the man. Something about the masked individual felt familiar, too familiar.

    "You are saying that because you want to be alone," the individual said tilting his head to one side. ''I understand because when I first got here I also did. But the darkness is uneventful. You''ll get bored at some point," the individual exined.

    "Then why haven''t you left then," Noah asked ncing at the blinding white light in the distance.

    "I simply can''t forgive myself enough to," the man sighed. "I''m sure you see me unworthy to advise you now," he added ncing at the light too.

    "No," Noah casually replied, "I don''t care. I just want you gone," he stated coldly. His first emotion in what felt like ages.

    "Then I''ll leave then," the individual responded straightening his position and immediately beginning to float away.

    Noah nkly watched the individual vanish in the thick darkness that clothed that endless ce.

    A sigh escaped his mouth, and he continued drifting in the darkness for decades or hours. But the passage of such long periods felt like seconds to him. He remained too engrossed in his dilemma to care about the passage of time.

    "Hello," a familiar voice pulled Noah out of the shing images of the individual''s death.

    "What?" Noah asked, his voice dripping with vileness. The urge to kill the man before him rose and went off the charts, but the individual''s next words quenched it.

    "You want to kill me? Me too," the man sighed, "Unfortunately you can''t. You''re too weak for that," he exined.

    At those words did Noah notice his inability to sense the man''s power.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What do you want?" Noah muttered feeling embarrassed.

    "You know what I want Noah," the man replied ncing at the white light that had be a dot due to how far they were from it.

    "How do you know my name," Noah asked both shocked and tired.

    "We both know how," the individual responded without removing his gaze from the whiteness.

    ''What the fuck is he talking about,'' Noah thought, massaging his eyebrows.

    "You should leave already. This isn''t the ce for you. Not after all I''ve done," the individual spoke focusing his gaze on Noah, who felt his gaze tear through all his barriers to gaze into his very soul.

    "You don''t know me but you do," the man continued gaining Noah''s full attention.

    ''Isn''t this supposed to be an illusion,'' Noah thought feeling the urge to escape the man.

    "It is......but also isn''t," the individual replied Noah''s thought freaking him out. A moment of silence passed before the individual spoke again.

    "You should leave. If that light escapes your sight then you''ll fail the trial," the individual exined looking at the far away light.

    Noah immediately frowned at those words. At this juncture, he felt utterly confused about what was going on. How did the individual know his name, how did he know about the trial, and that only the light was the way out.

    "If you don''t move then I''ll have to throw you out myself," the individual dered straightening his position.

    Noah frowned again, but also straightened his position. He understood how powerless he waspared to the individual.

    "Okay," Noah replied beginning his flight towards the light.

    "Can''t you go any faster," the individualined without leaving his spot.

    "I normally can, but my abilities aren''t here....." Noah''sints faded out immediately after sparks started to exit his body. Memories flowed into his mind at that point, and his reluctance to leave vanished at the thought of failing the trial.

    His figure turned into a streak of deep-yellow light, and he arrived in front of the light after a few seconds. And to his shock, the individual was already there.

    ''Not bad," the man nodded.

    "How?..." Noah muttered shocked.

    "I''m stronger than you of course," the individual seemed to smile.

    "But there isn''t any need for an exnation Leave, I want to have this ce to myself," he added.

    Narrowing his eyes in annoyance, Noah felt helpless. "I''m leaving," he said moving closer to the light.

    However, images of the individuals death shed in his eyes, and his gaze went cold. Hesitation rose in his mind but the masked man quickly spoke tofort him.

    "It''s not your fault, he said, "It was never your fault. So move. You don''t deserve this ce. You barely knew what happened."

    "I know it isn''t, but it hurts really bad for some reason," Noah replied downcast.

    "Then move. You should get used to deaths," the individual ordered.

    A sigh escaped Noah''s mouth at that point, and he stepped into the light. However shock filled his mind at the realization of the individuals words. Unfortunately before he could speak the man shook his head effectively stopping his question.

    "Find me out there. I''m somewhere dying of un-forgiveness. Find me and free me," the masked man suddenly spoke.

    "We''ve literally spoken on only two asions, and you are already asking for favors," Noah snorted, but the masked man made no response at his remark.

    "How will I even know you," Noah sighed feeling a powerful force grab hold of his consciousness.

    "You will; when it''s time that is," the individual responded somberly, and Noah''s environment changed before he couldin.

    Noah quickly found himself in his soul realm, sitting cross-legged beside his core. Everything looked and felt normal, a calming sign.

    A closer look at his core allowed Noah to spot something odd, but before he could dive deeper into his inspection, the sound of a bell woke him.

    "Wee back. You seeded!" Lady Edna''s boisterous voice rang out in the red room.

 Chapter 237 237. ISSUE

    Exhaling in relief, Noah remained seated while thinking back to what happened in the illusion. ''Was that even an illusion,'' Noah thought feeling his heart skip a beat at the memory of the death of the blurry figure. Nothing about that scene was familiar to him, yet it felt real enough to momentarily break him.

    In truth the whole event felt outrageous, how would the death of someone he didn''t even know hurt you bad enough to ce him in depression.

    ''It was supposed to show me my greatest fear and I was supposed to ovee it. But I didn''t ovee it alone. Neither did I know it for it to be my greatest fear,'' Noah thought, thoroughly confused. He had never felt so lost in his entire life.

    The death of the blurry figure felt familiar yet unknown at the same time. Not to begin with the first visions he saw before it, andstly the mysterious man within the darkness. They all felt real enough to force Noah in second-guessing his existence. Especially the man. Yet none of the events connected to give him any clues of what exactly was going on.

    ''Who was that even,'' Noah thought, The person looked to have a personality of their own, even power. Such didn''t seem possible to be generated by an illusion.

    ''He said I should look for him,'' Noah recalled unsure of what to do with that favor. ''Why didn''t hee out himself,'' he continued to ponder, but there were many questions but no answers.

    A sigh of deep helplessness exited Noah''s at his growing frustration. cing his focus on his red environment, Noah struggled to not feel safe at its sight. Years or even decades seemed to have passed in his illusions, an extremely long time, however, it was a situation he had begun to get familiar with.

    Many of the individuals in the tier 3 category were nowhere to be found, but Noah understood why. In honesty he felt his test; if it even was, had been easy. He did not experience any crushing pressure, and the real situation that could jeopardize his entry into that guild was vanquished by the masked man''s orders.

    ''My luck is incredible.'' Noah giggled inwardly while scanning the room for anyone with blonde hair. He found a few individuals that fit the hair color description of Ariana, but whether or not they were her, remained unknown to Noah.

    Lady Edna seemed to give them a minute to rest since she simply floated above them with the remaining two. They seemed to be in a discussion. A weird sight since Noah knew that show wasn''t necessary, their mental waves would be enough.

    "You can arise," Lady Edna eventually announced, "If you can," she added, her tone that of uncertainty.

    ''What does she mean by that....'' Noah thought getting up. However, his thoughts were cut short by the incredible wave of dizziness that mmed into his consciousness. Noah saw and felt his world spin on him, and thest thing he remembered was the sound of his body hitting the ground, then everything went dark.

    *

    *

    *

    Snapping his eyes open, Noah sat up, awake. Unfortunately, intense pain filled his mind at that simple action.

    Grabbing his head in pain, Noah felt his head ache so badly he thought it had been split in two. His environment turned blurry every once in a while, forcing the closing of his eyes while gritting his teeth.

    Quickly sending his consciousness into his soul realm to understand the issue, Noah found that he arrived inside a storm!

    Lightning bolts crackled everywhere, as a strange wind blew within that ce, and the environment looked to experience extreme cold.

    This of course were signs of his elemental affinities acting up, but he had never experienced anything like what he stepped into.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With his soul core at the center of the storm, Noah could immediately understand why he felt that much pain on the outside. Or so he thought,

    ''How do I get there,'' Noah wondered, but that simple thought process caused him pain, lots of it.

    Feeling his consciousness flicker dangerously, Noah had to keep his peace to retain his focus on that unique environment. Taking a step forward, he felt his ind try to fight against his will. However, Noah enforced his authority over it, momentarily calming the storm.

    This action, however, caused enough pain to allow him ck out.

    Slowly reopening his eyes, Noah felt his mind buzz upon his awakening, memories of what he experienced rushed into his eyes, and he couldn''t help but panic.

    Slowly sitting up, he scanned his environment and felt shocked to find only four other persons in that room. However, he pushed the matter to the back of his mind, since emotions currently hurt him.

    Returning to his soul realm. Noah found an even bigger storm. Notwithstanding, he remained calm, and took a step forward.

    His ind fought against his movement, but he remained calm. Surprisingly, he found that although the world as it would seem, tried to repel his movements, it literally couldn''t touch him.

    A few more steps forward while remaining calm, was all Noah needed to confirm his thoughts, after which he dashed forward, but cked out again.

    Groaning awake, Noah sat up again. No thoughts flowed in his mind due to how chaotic it was, so his face remained emotionless. Or he tried to.

    A frown appeared on his face at his situation, but he quickly returned to his soul realm.

    Immediately arriving inside his special environment, Noah found that his view of the world before him was blocked by the immense tornado ravaging his ind, yet leaving it unscathed.

    "So no running," he muttered experiencing pain at his words.

    Taking arge step forward, Noah began his slow walk towards his core. His instincts assured him that the solution to his problemy there.

    What felt like an hour or two passed, but Noah understood that lesser time than what he experienced had passed. His soul realm ran on his speed essence, allowing for a different flow of time.

    During his journey towards his soul core, Noah tried utilizing Speed Essence in fixing that issue, but rather than doing anything, the mass of liquid-like Energy simply hovered above his undamaged ind.

    With his only viable option to quickly fix that issue out the window, Noah had to settle for walking to his core.

    Eventually arriving in front of his ck core, Noah felt all the ideas he had painfully developed go down his mental drain.

    "What the actual fuck...." Noah muttered wide-eyed; when hey eyes on his soul core. Its spherical structure had been split into two perfect halves.

 Chapter 238 238. SHOCKING

    Noah''s eyes flickered multiple times in a second, as he took a step back in pure horror. His breathing seemed to get heavier, as the reality of the sight heid eyes on struggled to sink.

    His core floated in two halves, strings of multicolored lights holding both halves in ce. A detail Noah felt certain was the only reason he hadn''t died yet.

    Anger tried to rise in his mind at the nners of the events he currently participated in, It felt wrong to suffer that much damage simply because of a game to join the guild.

    However, knowing what would happen if he red up, he bottled up his anger and tried to think.

    A constant stream of pain entered Noah''s mind during his contemtion, and he immediately noticed his inability to think too many thoughts without almost fainting.

    Unfortunately, nothing within his range of knowledge felt able to cause that damage apart from the bell.

    A feeling of loss filled Noah''s consciousness at his inability to generate any solutions. Speed essence felt like his only solution, but it did absolutely nothing, simply floating above him. As if waiting for something.

    The only entity Noah thought he could gain answers from, was of course the System, But he feared that leaving that ce would cause him to restart his journey towards that area, so he opted to look at the sky above him.

    Gaining visuals of the immense ck box floating above his soul realm, Noah tried to call on it, but nothing worked. He willed his stat panel to be shown to him, and it appeared, but differently than he expected. A blue-ck floating screen featuring his stats appeared in front of Noah, and he felt able to touch it, which he did.

    Noah''s curiosity was piqued by that sight, but he had to return his focus to what he currently needed, help.

    "What am I experiencing?" Noah questioned the system, hoping that topic wouldn''t fall under the ssified banner.

    [[This is as a result of the events that urred within the trial of your mind]]

    [[Your mind, as a result of the conflict, has gained split ideals. On one side is your drive to grow stronger and live while enjoying life. On the other side is the darkness that is encroaching into your heart. Due to the amount of time you spent in that fake environment, your soul core failed to differentiate which experiences were real, causing the higher concentration of the darkness within you, thereby generating the sh]]

    Needless to say, Noah felt shocked by the system''s words and the fact that it gave such an in-depth exnation of his issue.

    "In essence; this is my fault," Noah sighed, feeling a pang of pain prick his senses.

    The floating screen or panel was left empty at Noah''s words, but he didn''t require the system to answer his words of realization.

    "How do I even fix it?" Noah asked.

    [[You''ll have to make both sides agree to coexist, or your death is at hand]]

    A cold expression appeared on Noah''s face at those words. He had guessed that the situation would be dangerous, but the possibility of death changed things.

    ''How do I do that?" Noah enquired of the system, feeling grateful for its already big help.

    [[You will lead yourself]]

    An exasperated sigh escaped Noah''s mouth, but no air came out. His eyesnded on the strings of multi-colored light and they gained deeper importance to him.

    Moving closer to his stationary core currently split in two, Noah feltpelled toy hands on it. And he immediately did so.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nothing happened upon contact with one of the halves, but immediately after he ced his left hand on the other half, a violent wave of power flowed through his limbs and nearly shattered his consciousness.

    His ind trembled violently, but the storms reduced in size since the violent power his core produced was being channeled into another medium.

    Blood poured out of Noah''s unconscious body, as he convulsed and shook violently. However, his body remained okay at the same time.

    Thankfully his roommates were fast asleep going through whatever bacsh the trial had brought upon them.

    Memories came and went, as intense emotions, ones that Noah had never thought he could produce ravaged his ethereal state.

    For the first time since he became a tire 3, Noah understood that although the soul core currently wasn''t always directly needed in a battle; with all the power stored up inside its structure, it would be potent enough to fatally damage his foes.

    Noah had to keep his consciousness intact to not return to square one. But after a minute of witnessing the battles between the two ideals and experiences, he started to doubt his ability to even do anything.

    The storms around him continued to reduce in size, which meant more power was flowing through his ethereal state of existence.

    Deep mental pain ravaged Noah''s deepest depths. But he very quickly became numb to it, while he tried to ce his focus on basically conversing with himself, seeing as his soul core was still him.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t do much apart from trying to keep his consciousness intact, an ever-increasingly difficult task.

    Noah had to let go at some point, and immediately after he did so, the storms exploded forth with full power, as they even felt more vigorous than before. A very nerve-racking detail.

    Noah knelt, as deep pain ravaged his existence, causing his consciousness to flicker dangerously. He threatened to lose consciousness as rends opened on his figure. Fortunately, he felt no pain from that event, only fatigue.

    What felt like half an hour had to pass before Noah could stabilize himself. His ethereal figure still featured tears, but he couldn''t do much about them, since only exiting his soul realm and returning could fix them. A refresh basically.

    Allowing his gaze to fall on his silently floating core, Noah shook his head at that deceiving sight.

    His soul core contained enough power to wipe him out if he didn''t y his cards well. And during that instant, Noah wondered if fuels termed "Soul energy" existed, but he pushed the topic to the back of his mind before he could get engrossed.

    He hadn''t achieved anything since he gained the idea of his problem, so he immediately started to listen intently to his instincts, and it of course rmended the use of Speed Essence in that situation.

    However, rather than forcing the mass of essence on his ind, which remained almost totally undamaged by the storm; he empowered himself with it.

    In less than an instant, Noah called upon the power of the minute portion of Essence floating above his ind.

    The mass of deep-yellow essence, liquid-like in nature, flowed down toward Noah, and a shocking transformation urred soon after.

    Immediately the Speed Essence came in contact with his ethereal figure, Noah felt an awesome wave of pure power fill his existence; pure ecstasy rushing through his senses. His formerly colorless figure, almost transparent, quickly turned deep-yellow.

    Not only that, but immediately the mass of energypletely merged with his figure, he ballooned up in size, and soon his figure became asrge as his over 5km radius ind.

 Chapter 239 239. COMPROMISE

    Surprise filled the insides of Noah''s mind, and to his even more pleasant surprise, he felt no pain from that emotion.

    Noah struggled to keep his figure on the ind and had to result to going on all fours to maintain his bnce. He didn''t feel ready to test the depths of his seemingly bottomless soul realm.

    With his soul core somewhere under his belly, Noah had to struggle to sit but eventually did.

    Soon, the sight of a shining yellow figure sitting cross-legged on an ind that looked too small for it unfolded. If only someone or something apart from the system could witness that scene.

    Noah retained his facial features, but his color remained deep-yellow. The sense of incredible power continued to rage within him, and he understood why his Speed-essence was so potent on his mind whenever he utilized it.

    With his soul-core right in the middle of his crossed legs, Noah could easily ess it. The storm tried to rebuild itself, but with Noah''s figure crunching down on a significant portion of the ind, they had to settle for the small space in front of him.

    Ignoring the raging storm smashing into his knees, Noah focused his gaze on the still stationary core. Its halves were still being linked with the multicolored strands; that Noah confirmed were raw power, even if they were neither Mana nor Speed-Essence.

    Noah''s general sitting height stood at about 700ft, making him a proper giant. But that detail wasn''t his focus.

    Stretching two fingers toward both halves of his corer, Noah felt confident in the temporary power he wielded.

    A wave of violent power rushed into Noah''s fingers upon contact, but due to the energy that now powered his ethereal structure, the waves of power found it almost impossible to meet each other.

    Almost.

    Multicolored mists radiating enough power to wipe out tier 3 cultivators, poured out of Noah''s fingers to turn into tendrils of power, stretching towards themselves to continue their battle.

    Unfortunately, Noah wouldn''t allow non-living masses of energy to outsmart him.

    All five of his fingers touched the halves of his soul core, effectively sucking all their power into his figure. It seemed being a part of Noah, caused the power in his soul-core to be attracted to his figure. With him now being able to withstand their might, the raw mass of energy had no choice but to bend to his will.

    Taking a deep breath, or what felt like it, Noah shut his eyes to converse with the different ideals causing an imbnce.

    Images flooded into his consciousness but didn''t manage to hurt him in the slightest. In less than a minute Noah experienced the two sides of his soul core.

    The system had been right. Different ideals and memories existed in the two halves, one was as the embodiment of the darkness that was his depression, anger, helplessness, regret, emptiness, blood lust, distrust, insecurity, and emotional pain.

    He had experienced them long enough for his soul core to get tainted by those emotions, coupled with the pain he suffered at the hands of the royals, and the death of the blurry person. Noah had to utilize all the mental power currently avable to him to not sumb to his darkness.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Heck if not for his timely ejection from those deep insights, his figure had already started to lose its yellow luster, a dark shade beginning to taint its light.

    The other half featured his good sides, his curiosity, drive for power, adventurous nature, friendliness, and growing emotional attachment.

    Both sides were equally matched which was why they needed his approval to overwhelm the other. But Noah knew he wouldn''t do such.

    Both parts made him who he was, and taking only one could prove dangerous in the future, The only reason that problem arose was that the darker side of his existence gained arger amount of experience enough to unsettle the bnce that his good nature brought.

    Noah felt to gaze at the depths of himself in ways he never thought possible. A deeper understanding of who he was, flowed into his mind, and he couldn''t help but remain at a loss of what to do.

    ''Should I let the brighter part of me regain control,'' Noah pondered but found the idea bad. He felt the same way about giving the darker side of his mind control since he didn''t want to end up like the masked man; unable to carry on with his life due to his emptiness. And he also didn''t want to remain a gullible expert just as he found his earlier life on Cregar. Dumb

    Noah understood how unstable he would be if either part of his mind took control, so he tried to settle for a coexistence, just as the system had said

    Needless to say, both sides raged at the idea. Unfortunately, all their power wasfortably withstood by Noah.

    "When you''re done, tell me," Noah dered apathetically. With theck of almost all his emotions, he was able to think straight without considering what both sides were feeling.

    This of course raised the idea of vanquishing his emotions. The idea even began to sound good at some point, but Noah cringed at the thought of being a cold machine-like entity, fully focused on his goal, and would be ready to do anything to achieve it.

    "Saying it that way makes it look like a better option," Noah muttered. "But I still disapprove of the idea," he concluded ncing at his now trembling core or cores, seeing as it was split in two.

    "You''ve reached apromise?" Noah asked his sides. And he couldn''t help but feel that their quick decision was based on the fact that he considered purging both sides.

    A few seconds of listening to their ideas was all Noah needed to like them. The two sides had agreed on coexisting, but could also be given the chance to take full control. This would of course be at Noah''s will.

    In essence, he would almost literally be able to flip a switch and change from friendly to outright murder machine in seconds. This would take some time to get used to, but he liked the idea every second he thought about it.

    "I''ll basically have two split personality who are still me, but simply different moods," Noah pondered. "It''ll have its own disadvantages since my opponents will almost be totally capable of seeing through me. But there''s no helping it, both sides are currently equally matched, this is the best I can do without losing the advantages both mindsets bring."

    Noah soon agreed to the idea, and the entirety of his soul realm trembled at that point. To Noah''s calm surprise, his split soul-core began to feed on the Speed Essence inside his structure. And in less than three seconds he had returned to his normal size.

    Both halves of his soul core buzzed madly, as the multicolored strands connecting them saw an ergement. Soon the strands gained enough power to begin pulling on both halves of his core. And immediately their surfaces touched; a blinding explosion of multicolored lights urred spreading across the entire ind. This event however, sessfully shattered Noah''s ethereal figure, sending him into a deep state of unconsciousness.

 Chapter 240 240. UPGRADE

    All the time Noah spent within his soul realm only numbered a few ten minutes, so when he woke up ten hourster feeling far better than he remembered, he could only sigh in relief.

    ''That was he dramatic,'' Noah thought marveling at the nigh emptiness of the room assigned to him. There were literally only four individuals in there. Five, plus him. Even at that remained an incredibly small number.

    The others still looked asleep, a detail Noah found normal. Feeling in a good mood, Noah figured that his brighter side was currently in control, and he didn''t hesitate to check his soul realm out.

    Feeling his consciousness get sucked into his body, Noah felt himself travel through a strange space to arrive inside a white environment.

    Right at the center of the bottomless white environment, was an ind.

    Arriving on his ind, Noah felt another wave of surprise sweep over him at the sight thaty before him.

    His yellow-tainted ind featured two sides; one heavily stormy, and the other calm and flourishing with the Speed Essence embedded into it. He immediately understood what was going on, but remained stunned anyway.

    Moreover, a thin border not more than 5m across existed, where nothing was present not evennd, only transparent ground. Noah could only wonder how such an environment was even generated but understood what it was.

    ''This is unexpected,'' Noah thought, staring at the small area that allowed him to be apathetic. It seemed to keep things in a bnced state.

    ncing at his soul core, Noah felt relieved to see that it had merged well enough. Unfortunately, a white line existed on it, perfectly separating it into two halves.

    ''Is that a scar,'' Noah wondered sliding his palm on the line. It felt just like the metallic material that made his core, but instead of ck, it remained white.

    Noah considered it to be the representation of the empty space on his ind, but he also saw it as a scar to show how out of the norm his mind had be.

    "Will it ever heal?" Noah asked the system, exiting his soul realm.

    [[You''ll need to undergo a significant advancement for that to happen]]

    "So basically tier 4," he sighed getting off his bed. Feeling at his peak, Noah couldn''t help but wonder how the change hadn''t affected the system in any way. No panel, no nothing.

    Ordering food from the tform. Noah ate to his heart''s content. Partially surprisingly, his roommates were all asleep. Noah had further confirmed this after ying around their figures loudly.

    "I wonder how long I was out," Noah thought, hoping the system would provide an answer for him.

    [[Approximately 10 hours]]

    "Oof!" he eximed wide-eyed. "We only have a bit more than an hour before the next stage begins. They better recover fast," he snorted.

    With over an hour of free time avable to him, Noah couldn''t help tinker around with his newly gained assets.

    "Is there anything I can do with a mana stone?" Noah enquired of the system, while ying with an orange mana core, and lying on his bed.

    [[You can convert it into something usable]]

    Feeling pleasantly surprised, Noah opened his mouth to speak, "Like what?" He asked now sitting up.

    [[Speed force stones]]

    Furrowing his brows at the words he read, Noah took a second or two to process it.

    "Speed force stones," he muttered. "If it''s anything like mana stones do you mean it''ll be able to allow me to cultivate outside?" Noah muttered, directing his words at the system.

    [[Affirmative]]

    "Then let''s do that!" He quickly responded.

    [[Be aware that it''ll be transformed into a rank 2-speed force stone. When you achieve rank 3 it would be useless]]

    Noah rxed at that point, soon falling into thought. The system''s words were more of advice than anything. Now that he became so close to joining a guild that would allow him to earn, the gap between tier 4 and now had shortened exponentially.

    Although it seemed he couldn''t raise hisprehension of the speed force energy with the system, it could pull out something that could helpter on. At least he hoped so.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''It''ll be useless in a while,'' Noah sighed but thought of how inconvenient it was to always have to return to his cultivation room to refill. Or use potions that damaged his core. And he figured he would need to do so soon since he currently had only a little over 2,000SE.

    "Let''s still do it," Noah eventually replied. "If worsees to worst; when I achieve rank 4 I''ll simply find another one," he shrugged.

    [Would you like to upgrade a Mana stone to a Speed force stone]

    [Yes/No]

    Raising an eyebrow at the upgrade word Noah chose the affirmative option.

    [Browsing through inventory for avable Mana stone.....]

    [High tier Mana stone found]

    [Are you sure you want to continue with Mana stone "Yellow"]

    [Yes/No]

    [Note that you will be unable to reverse the process if you proceed further]

    Hesitation couldn''t help but seep into Noah''s mind at thest panel. "Can''t I use the orange one?" he questioned.

    [[No. An orange mana stone is not sturdy enough to contain the power of the speed force, You''ll simply break it]]

    Clicking his tongue at the system''s words Noah continued with the process. Arge amount of willpower had to go into actually choosing yes, and he tried his best to not regret his action.

    [Teleporting mana stone to User''s cultivation room where the procedure will begin]

    [Estimating upgrade time....]

    [Estimationplete]

    [Upgrade will take 10 days]

    Surprisingly a sigh of relief exited Noah''s mouth rather than aint. He had honestly expected a far longer period than that and was d it wouldn''t take more than that.

    A weird feeling of nostalgia appeared inside Noah when the countdown for the whole process began. The excitement behind thepletion of the upgrade reminded him of online orders on Earth.

    A chuckle couldn''t help but escape his lips when that realization dawned on him. "I seriously need something to do with myself."

    A few trips to the food tform before they were summoned urred, and Noah could only shake his head when he found that the others showed no signs of waking up.

    "At least they weren''t disqualified," Noah muttered shoving a spoon full of what resembled dumplings; but weren''t, into his mouth. The taste of the brown-looking balls sauced with a red stew of sorts reminded him of a hamburger sided with sweet fried potatoes.

    How all that vor could exist inside something so small continued to baffle him.

    As expected, a knock on the door signified the end of their resting session. And immediately it opened to reveal the familiar faces ofdy Sophie and her team, he got off his bed.

    Seeing that he was the only one awake, the expressions of the trio flickered in surprise, and Noah noticed it.

    "Are you okay?" one of the males in that group asked him while the other went towards the remaining four, checking them out.

    "A bit," Noah lied seeing as the other individual was feeding his still unrecovered roommates something.

    His mind quickly fell on mind potions, a very valuable resource in the world of cultivation, more valuable than even mana potions.

    "Drink this to feel better," the young man said handing a bottle containing a leafy-green liquid content to Noah.

    However, before Noah could even receive the bottle, multiple groans and even a yelp rang out in the room. The others were awake, and they even looked energetic.

 Chapter 241 241. EXAMPLE

    "Get ready to move out!" Lady Sophie''s voice rang out towards all in the room, while Noah collected the potion to store it. This of course caught the attention of the three experts, but they didn''t say anything, after all, it was his choice to utilize it or not.

    The now small group of five lined up in front of the woman, ready to move out. Their eyes, although sharp still held some tiredness.

    The door opened and the eight of them exited the room to arrive inside the hallway that led to the massive hall. By this point no one marveled at the beauty of that ce, their minds were focused solely on the trials they were about to take part in.

    Once again being at the forefront of the group, Noah casually swept his gaze on the other groups around them. The hallway was more silent than ever, and surprisingly their group had the lowest amount of individuals still participating.

    ''Weren''t they supposed to be the really good experts,'' Noah thought in disdain, recalling the man that had tried to make a fool of him on their first day in the room.

    Now only one male apart from Noah remained, the others being females. The mind trial had been brutal to the others, as some almost died from the sheer amount of pressure they experienced. Or were outright traumatized by the scenes that portrayed their greatest fears.

    Some saw themselves die in the illusions, while some saw their loved ones brutally killed. In short, the things seen and experienced by the various experts were different and raised to a level of difficulty that surpassed what Noah experienced.

    Then again, Noah remained a very extraordinary expert, he had survived his soul core being split in two. An event that would trante as certain death to the others.

    They eventually arrived inside the massive hall, and they didn''t hesitate to run towards the pulpit in the distance.

    Once again Lady Edna stood atop the pulpit, smiling at the arriving groups. The tier 1 experts were thest to arrive and were also thergest group, numbering about two thousand.

    The tier 2''s were the secondrgest measuring at a bit over one-thousand-two-hundred. Of course, the tier 3''s were the smallest numbering a bit more than four hundred.

    "Good day young aspirants, I trust you all rested well," Lady Edna started, sweeping her gaze on the experts.

    "You have arrived at the third day of the trials. And I''m sure you all know today will be focused on your mana cores and pools," she continued.

    "The test will be simple, you are to cast as many spells as you can before running out of mana," she stated.

    "It not much of a trial since no one would be disqualified in this stage, rather it is simply for us to see how much you can manage your reserves," she continued, her words bringing unimaginable relief to the ears of her audience.

    Seeing their relieved expressions, Lady Edna exined further. "If any amongst you understands what mana cores or mana pools are you''ll realize that there''s really no trial able to test them that wouldn''t outright kill you.''

    "For tier 3''s, by seeing the color and shape of your mana core we can estimate how strong you are, but there isn''t any need to disqualify you on that basis. After all, you''ve survived the first two days."

    "And for you tier 2''s and 1''s, you''re still young, and finding a test that would be able to range how big of a mana pool you have is almost impossible. So we settled with just watching you cast low ranked spells," she exined,

    The experts listening to her couldn''t help but nod at her words when they processed them. Individuals were different, and so were things like their mana cores or even soul cores. Disqualifying them based on their cores or pools would be akin to disqualifying people because their fingers were shaped differently or too long or short.

    Details like that didn''t matter in the grand scheme of things.

    "The test will happen here and willst for twelve hours in total. You''ll have one-hour breaks between the three, three-hour sessions," she exined. This of course shocked the listening experts.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Yes three hours each," she affirmed. "The real test would be to minimize the amount of mana needed to cast a spell, while still making it potent. You all will be given a training dummy to attack, and it will feature a point-based system measuring how powerful the spell you threw at it was."

    "Although you won''t be disqualified for not meeting the base damage point, I assure you that not meeting it will be the reason for the downfall of some individuals tomorrow," she exined, dropping a hint for the race that would happen on thest day.

    Needless to say, theories on what that meant appeared and disappeared in the minds of many, as they wondered what would happen but couldn''t conclude since none knew how the race would be.

    "I shall proceed to show you an example," she announced pulling them out of their thoughts.

    Waving her hands, the aspirants watched in awe as arge brown dummy, towering over 30m in height and in the shape of a human emerged from a series of orange inscribed circles that appeared on the floor.

    "You might want to stand back," Lady Edna announced pointing her left hand at the stationary dummy.

    Needless to say, excitement bubbled in the minds of every single expert present there, not even the various group leaders managed to stay calm inwardly. A series of inscriptions lit up beneath the aspirants huddled up together in their various categories, and thin barriers whitish-gray in color emerged from the inscriptions preparing them for the event to ur.

    The dummy being more than five kilometers from the experts lit up with golden inscriptions, but nothing happened.

    "This is the weakest spell in my arsenal, and I believe even the others will consider it weak," Lady Edna said as she poured mana into the said spell.

    A magical circle expanded on her palm, and the aspirants watched as mes begin to spin in front of that blue circle.

    The small ball of mes started as orange and continued to condense until it turned yellow. By this point, the air around her had started to vanish from the sheer heat the spell produced.

    A whirling sound continued to spread out as the small ball of mes norger than a basketball continued to spin madly, eventually turning green. The floor boiled, but yellow inscriptions shone on them to defend their material from the heat.

    Noah felt mesmerized at the sight of green mes, while also feeling danger. An incredible amount. Actually, his instincts raged at the sight of that attack.

    With the ever getting louder whirling sound reaching a state that would be capable of rupturing the ears of even the tier 3''s if not for the barrier standing all around them, everything fell silent immediately the mes turned blue.

    At this point, Noah felt the darkness of death hang over him, he felt certain that nothing within his arsenal except the spell able to bring him to tier 4 would be able to help him. The transformation barelysted three seconds, but it felt like hours to the watching expert.

    The small ball of mes soon changed form and stood in the shape of an arrow no longer than 2m. At that sight, everyone quickly ced their focus on the dummy, knowing what was toe.

    A thin streak of blue light shot towards the dummy at speeds Noah couldn''t follow even after empowering his mind!

    Immediately the attack arrived on the dummy, the most terrifying explosion Noah had ever experienced up close urred, as the entire room went blinding white. This was all the weaker experts could see before the entire ce shook so violently that they had to crouch to keep their bnce.

    For the first time in a while, Noah didn''t just feel terror, he believed he would die at that moment.

 Chapter 242 242. DISPLAY

    The whiteness quickly vanished after a dense wave of blue mes spread out in all directions inside the room. The ground and the whole ce shook, but nothing was actually damaged. The tier 4 spell had been powerful, but the building''s structural integrityfortably withstood its power.

    The dense gray smoke the attack released eventually wore off, and a shocking, scene; one that most partially expected, but were shocked nheless unfolded in their eyes.

    The brown dummy stood perfectly still in the distance unmoved by the terrifying spell. The only sort of damage that could be seen on its figure was therge ck spot on its chest, but the golden inscriptions vanquished it, leaving it unchanged after the attack.

    However, the golden numbers casually floating above the training dummy caught everyone''s attention immediately after the quick inspection, and Lady Edna''s voice soon rang out.

    "One hundred and forty thousand! Not bad for my weakest spell," she chuckled slightly but found that her audience looked to be in shock.

    ''Fuck,'' Noah thought staring at those numbers. If those points were even slightly close to how the system calcted damage, then he could understand how overwhelming the attack was. Noah even struggled to ept that scene. He knew tier 4''s were untouchable by tier 3, but that was too much.

    "In short; this is what you are going to do for the next three hours straight before your one-hour break arrives," Lady Edna announced to the mesmerized experts, before waving her right arm.

    A series of barriers appeared in the room''s expanse at her wave, and dummies rose from inscribed circles to fill them up.

    "Tier ones are to take the area on the far left, tier three''s the right and tier two''s in the middle," Lady Edna dered gesturing at the different enclosed areas carefully nted and having enough space between them.

    "Your group leaders will give you the rest of the information. You all have twenty minutes to be ready, after which you are to start," she exined waving her hand in a way that her audience tranted as a go-ahead.

    In less than ten minutes the various categories were inside the enclosed spaces apportioned for their level of power. Focusing on the tier 3 category, Noah found himself staring at a dummy identical to the one Lady Edna attacked, except that it stood only at 6ft in height.

    "The base point for you all is 7000 per minute. You are to maintain this number for the entirety of the three hours given to you. The bracelets are connected to the dummies and at the end of the day will show how many times you failed to meet that requirement," A man who felt no less strong thandy Sophie exined. "You are allowed to cast as many spells or as little as you like, so long as they reach the 7000 points per minute mark. Note that if you exceed this number in one minute, there will be no transfers of any sort."

    The expert taking was a man that looked to be in histe forties, he had short brown hair, ck eyes, and a cold air surrounding him.

    Noah stared at his dummy intently while thinking about his next action. ''I''m low on Essence,'' he thought heaving a sigh. The only option avable to him of course was his potions, and he could do nothing but utilize one of them. Thankfully two more had been added to his stash allowing him to utilize onefortably.

    Their short five minutes of preparation soon ended and a countdown appeared high above the experts signifying that they had started.

    Essence bubbled within Noah''s ck and constantly rotating core. Browsing through his skill, he looked for the cheapest spell he had, since he felt sure that all his skills would meet the minimum requirement.<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Lightning Bolts: Create bolts of lightning, Cost 100SE. Duration N/A, Cool-down N/A]

    Noah felt less than five seconds go by before he activated his spell. He understood that he could create lightning bolts from his control over lightning, but it wouldn''t be anything as cheap as the one the system provided. At least for now, from his calctions, he estimated that he would need to utilize his potions three times before the whole trial ended.

    ''I might be overdoing it with this,'' Noah thought but activated the skill anyway.

    A yellow magical circle quickly expanded on Noah''s outstretched right palm. Having gained an understanding of how magical circles worked, at least by a bit, Noah understood that the more circles within a magical circle the higher its tier of power.

    Meaning the magical circle that expanded on his palm contained three different circles, each holding its own set of runic symbols.

    An intense crackling sound boomed out in Noah''s surroundings, followed by the appearance of a bolt of yellow lightning more than twice the size of an average fully grown man.

    The crackling mass of destructive energy shot out of the magical circle to travel the exactly 20m path between Noah and the dummy. They were allowed that distance to either move closer or farther away from the dummy. And Noah had chosen farther.

    The lightning bolt''s passage brightened up the environment, effectively catching the eye of everyone in the tier 3 category.

    Its arrival on the dummy caused an incredible explosion to spread out. However, inscriptions lit up on the linear path allowed only to Noah; to block the effects of the explosion.

    Needless to say, many nced at him in bewilderment, his show of power defied the very reason for that trial, to learn effective management of their mana reserves.

    The cloud of smoke eventually dispersed to reveal a shocking scene. Above Noah''s dummy was a golden set of numbers, and its sight caused those who had not witnessed his disy in the pond to see him in a new light.

    ''I definitely overdid it,'' Noah chuckled inwardly when his eyes fell on the numbers above his dummy. "Twelve thousand points. Almost double the required number," he muttered.

    Unknown to Noah, his disy was being watched by the important individuals of that guild, who had already gained a deep interest in the white-haired man dominating every test thrown at him.

    It quickly becamemon sense that such a young monster had to join their guild or thepetition would snatch him. Thankfully it seemed he would seed in the tests without needing them to break their fairness.

 Chapter 243 243. CALCULATIONS

    Noah continued to cast lightning bolts, but they weren''t the ones provided by the system. He created bolts of lightning from his control over that element, opting to pour nothing more than 60SE into each discharge.

    This shockingly also met the requirements of the 7000 per minute, even passing it by a bit. Which meant he only need to cast once every minute.

    Needless to say, he quickly became bored. The limit of 7000 per minute allowed him to cast only one spell, but unlike the normal cultivators, he couldn''t cultivate or at least refill his core during those long 50 seconds, which meant for him his ease in that test didn''t bring any advantages The amount of essence he calcted would be utilized by the end of the first session remained the same.

    At some point down the line, Noah began to search for familiar faces since they were lined up in two rows, both rows containing around 200 experts each, and were both backing each other.

    Fortunately, due to the spacing between each of their figures, Noah got able to spot some faces, Nathaniel being part of them, and to his subliminal joy; Ariana.

    The young blondedy of the water element looked fine, but Noah could spot fatigue in her movements since she was on the opposite row, but wasn''t too far from him.

    Her hair looked disheveled, but such details didn''t matter. If it weren''t for the attire provided in the rewards, Noah would look worse.

    Her spells mostly featured watery weapons, and she needed only two casts to meet the requirements. The others around him were the same, with some needing more casts to meet the requirement.

    The lights of spells of different elements being unleashed around him shed in Noah''s eyes, but it didn''t matter to him, more than half of his attention was focused on the countdown above them.

    ''Three...two...one!'' Noah numbered inwardly, his excitement peaking when the initial countdown reached zero, then another featuring one-hour appearing.

    The golden inscriptions on the dummies disappeared immediately after the countdown for the three-hour session ended, as any spellsunched after that event wouldn''t be counted.

    Noah''s excitement soon died down; his gaze falling on the experts around him. Every single one of them, except him, sat on the floor; tired. And he quickly imitated them, but not for the same reason.

    Seeing that no one left their spot to interact, Noah could only heave a deep sigh. In theory, the break was just a slightly better event than the actual test sessions. During the break, he didn''t have to cast spells, but also couldn''t talk to anyone since they were all busy resting.

    ''It''s such a hassle being extraordinary,'' Noah sighed gazing nkly at the red numbers that were the countdown.

    His mind instinctively found itself on the topic of thest stage. In honesty, Noah felt a tad bit nervous. Not because he feared thest stage. It would be a race. If races in Cregar were anything like they were on earth, then he already had it in the bag.

    He felt nervous because of the reality that he would soon be a member of a great guild in that nation. That organization already felt immense due to the number of powerful cultivators it contained, and only a small number had even been revealed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    That change of location and status felt like a totally different phase in his life. One that even his instincts knew would lead to greater heights. Speaking of location, Noah found it weird that the location of the guild had not been revealed to them yet.

    They had flown across the skies to get there but never managed to see what the environments outside the trial areas looked like.

    ''I bet it won''t be disappointing,'' Noah concluded understanding that it was probably a location that the guild only wanted its members to be familiar with.

    ''I might actually be a tier 4 soon,'' Noah mused, but the sheer amount of work he vaguely understood he would need to achieve it scared him.

    In reality, he remained a weak lower-stage tier 3 cultivator a bit above its bottom. Thankfully, the rank 2 essence allowed him to achieve far more power. Noah understood that had he not achieved rank 2 Speed Essence, all the feats he had performed would not have been possible. He also would have most likely been eliminated by now.

    "Speaking of which," Noah muttered at the system. "I''ve been wondering, how do people not know that I''m not powered by mana? Not even tier fours," he asked the system.

    [[A lot of the credit goes to the bracelet you received]]

    [[The world remains unable to notice your existence currently, which means its children will be unable to perceive your difference, as the necessary parameters do have not been met. Your identity as someone who runs on Speed Essence and not mana provided by the world will be revealed when the bracelet is gone]]

    "So I''m like a stranger in a home filled with over one thousand inhabitants. The inhabitants don''t know I''m different because they can''t know everyone living there. Coupled with the fact that the owner of the house hasn''t spotted me yet. Immediately Cregar identifies me as a stranger, every other person will know," Noah pondered feeling worried, but only slightly.

    ''If I can at least reach tier four before then; I''ll be able to properly protect myself, at least for a bit. The problem is; do I have that much time?'' Noah pondered as a series of calctions appeared in his mind.

    Possible oues were constructed and dis-constructed multiple times, but he could only reach a state of in-conclusion since he remained in the dark on how the guild did things.

    His chances of achieving his desired level of power and not; were equally matched. This of course tried to make him worry deeply about the future, but he stopped such thoughts from surfacing and focused on the countdown, it was about to end.

    Everyone prepared themselves for the second session of that trial, as they stood up with expressions filled with determination. Lady Edna''s threat stuck to their minds like a tongue on ice. They each had a vague understanding of how dangerous things could be, and the recollection of the weight lifting stage strengthened their fear, but also boosted their determination.

    The countdown quickly ended, and the lights of hundreds to thousands of spells filled thatrge room. This was how things went on the third day of the trials to join the Divine Lightning guild.

 Chapter 244 244. DARK SIDE

    Crashing onto the ground without any care for his lower body; Noah sat on the ground, his mouth releasing hot breaths. Sweat dripped down his forehead and face, but none of that perspiration affected his attire. The magical attire seemed to have dirt-repelling abilities.

    Sweeping his gaze on the experts around him, Noah saw that they were in simr states, maybe even worse. In truth, his body wasn''t exactly tired, but the fatigue that came with an empty core ced even him in a deep desire to rest.

    Not an ounce of Speed Essence existed in Noah''s core, and for the second time in his life on Cregar, he understood what being drained of energy felt like.

    Heavy breaths continued to raise his chest, but thankfully they were done with the test.

    ''Nine hours in total of practically non-stop casting,'' Noah thought bringing out a potion, and immediately chugging it down his throat.

    This being his fourth bottle that day, Noah could only close his eyes to utilize it; convincing himself that it was for the best. At some point during the test, he had to cut costs by further reducing the amount of essence poured into each electrical discharge.

    A cool yet strangely warm feeling flowed down Noah''s throat to arrive on his spherical core. The liquid which was the potion; seeped into his core and a reaction immediately urred.

    Settling at the bottom of his ck core, Noah watched as liquid-like essence began to bubble up until his core reached a half-filled state.

    A tinge of that essence seeped out of his core to wash over his insides, vanquishing the fatigue he experienced.

    In less than three seconds, Noah felt at his peak, but the same couldn''t be said for his mind.

    Mentally he couldn''t say he felt drained, but not at his peak. Due to this, Noah gained a better understanding of why the sturdiness of one''s soul ind mattered in battles. Thankfully, it had been sturdy enough to allow him to manipte the Speed Essence efficiently enough to generate the adequate amount of power needed to meet the points requirement, and not have a mental breakdown.

    "You all did wonderfully well," Lady Edna announced while the dummies and barriers slowly vanished. "Before I let you go to rest, I want to wish you luck on tomorrow''s trial, as I will not be your coordinator," she smiled before suddenly vanishing.

    ''Why does she do that,'' Noah thought shaking his head in wonder. The various group leaders immediately began gathering the experts under their leadership.

    This of course meant Noah had to walk towardsdy Sophie, but he searched for Ariana anyway. They had not spoken since the first day, and although he didn''t find it necessary, he desired to talk.

    Unfortunately, by the time he could spot her, she had gathered in front of her now group of nine experts. However, their gazes managed to lock, and she smiled at him even if her face radiated exhaustion. Moreover, she even looked pale.

    A slight smile shone on Noah''s face toward her, and he quickly turned to walk towarddy Sophie. That had been all he needed. Noah could feel the change happening inside him, but he decided to not ce too much focus on it.

    The groups immediately began their journey toward the hallway entrances in the distance. That trial had been the only one that they could directly walk towards their rooms without having to go through teleports or spacial doors of sorts.

    Most groups had to jog towards the entrances as a result of the exhaustion the experts experienced, and this was true for Noah''s group, who looked on the verge of fainting.

    Eventually arriving inside their room, no one bothered to chat or partake in any social activity, as each person walked towards his or her bed to immediately begin their resting.

    Noah on the other hand, branched toward the food ordering tform to get food.

    ''That was unfavorable,'' Noah grimacedying on his bed to sleep. There hadn''t been much he could do after eating than rest, so he had decided to try the soul core potion an action he now found stupid for taking.

    The bitter substances flowed down his throat but didn''t get to his belly, rather they spread through his body to move toward his head.

    Upon arriving there, Noah felt it try to force itself on his brain, and this resulted in pain. A panel even popped up informing him of the ipatibility between the potion and his mind.

    His Speed Essence instinctively flowed through his body to get rid of the substance, which it did effectively.

    This of course leaves us to the scene of Noah casuallyying on his bed with the intense desire to sleep, a side effect that his energy didn''t seem able to fix.

    With no thoughts on what the next day would hold, Noah closed his eyes to immerse himself in his desire to sleep, and in mere seconds he was sound asleep.<novelnext></novelnext>

    *

    *

    *

    Opening his eyes after what felt like the best sleep of his three lives, Noah sat up to find that his five roommates were busy cultivating, and before he could react properly a knock sounded on the door, anddy Sophie and her two group members followed.

    "I see you all had a good night''s rest," shemented walking into the room. However, the eyes of her audience were on her different attire. All three of them wore something different than what they had on before.

    Lady Sophie featured a darker-than-ck satin gown, fitted so much that it emphasized her curves that had been non-existent when she wore long garments.

    At the lower portion of the streamlined gown was a thigh-high slit revealing her legs up to the beginning of her thighs.

    On her chest were golden embroidery patterns intricately sewn to converge in the shape of what resembled a lying beast with multiple tails made out of erratic lightning bolts. The beast resembled a fox, at least from Noah''s inspection.

    From that short inspection of her attire, Noah felt a meaning within the strange crest, and to his shock, he found that his view of her figure changed. Lady Sophie had a dense barrier of sparks so thin that they were invisible to the naked eyes only his senses could feel them. However the same didn''t exist for her group members, who were dressed in fitted suit-like attires ck and also featuring a simr crest.

    ''So higher ranked members get some sort of powerful outfit,'' Noah wondered, ''Or is that a barrier made by her,'' confusion tried to seep into his mind.

    Lady Sophie felt his inspecting gaze and her mouth opened to speak. "It''s a barrier created by the attire. Made by the best inscription masters we have in our guild. It''ll allow us to be ready for any battle-like event," she exined waving her smooth and straight brown hair in ways that beautified that scene.

    Her hands featured long thin gloves, totally ck, but they radiated a sturdy aura. It seemed even elegant-looking attires were made for battle.

    ''What a weird world,'' Noah thought ncing at his attire and the crest, all that remained for him was to gain the crest and he would officially be crowned a member.

    "It''s time to go," Lady Sophie announced, when a ck cape featuring the same crest, suddenly materialized behind her. Just before she turned toward the door, Noah managed to realize how she had gradually stopped being cold to them, and a smile couldn''t help but crack on his face.

    The group walked out of the room only to suddenly arrive in a totally different environment!

    The sound of cheers immediately found its way into Noah''s ears, and he felt his heart tighten in emotional pain. In less than an instant; a part of him turned his dark side on, and Noah let it happen.

    They had arrived inside an enclosed field surrounded by rising walls of seats filled with humans.

    Nostalgia mixed with anger regret and pain, coursed through Noah''s now raging mind. This, of course, caused the space around him to react to his emotions. Yellow sparks began to appear around him, and the wind tried to pick up, even that space experienced a steady drop in temperature.

    However his rationality pierced the raging storm that was his emotions, and he soon began to worry about being seen. This thought process allowed him to turn calm for a bit, enough time to switch sides again and Noah felt his mind be devoid of emotions after the switch.

    Noah''s icy blue eyes seemed to glow in that bright environment. All three categories were gathered in that area and a beam of white light stood above them illuminating them, but obstructing their total view of the world outside of the light.

    Noah however, didn''t seem to care about the light shining from above, Speed Essence flowed into his eyes and he felt able to see everything in that environment.

    There was arge curved illusory screen portraying the confusion of the aspirants who had walked out of their various rooms to suddenly arrive there.

    The cheers continued to echo in Noah''s ears, but he felt no emotion towards it. Although that scene reminded him of bozolom, his eyes remained calm, merely inspecting everything with an intense desire for details.

    Before much could be done, a loud voice boomed around them.

    "Good day aspirants, wee to thest stage of your trials!" the male voice announced pulling everyone''s attention to the sky.

 Chapter 245 245. LESS SUCCESSFUL

    A man seeming no older than thirty floated above the collesuem, his figure draped in a golden robe akin to that of a king. The young-looking man had long silver hair that he allowed to fall on his shoulders and even below it. His voice sounded firm but soft, old yet young, and his gaze seemed able to pierce their souls to uncover their secrets.

    His figure shimmered within the light above them as his regal figure cast a shadow on their faces, but nobody could deny the incredible power he held even if they didn''t like his sudden appearance.

    The young-looking man''s figure palpitated with so much power that from that over 200m distance the audience could see wisps of shockingly different elements flow freely out of his figure. Noah sense''s felt unable to gain a vague idea of the man''s power, and even the systems inspection proved futile.

    However, Noah felt certain about one thing, that existence held far more power than any expert he had ever seen in his life on Cregar.

    "Ah, it seems they are shocked," the man mused in a tone so eloquent and lively that Noah''s emotionless mind almost shattered in outrage.

    The individuals on the ground and even the ones in the various seats continued to stare at the breathtaking existence in utter awe and silence, as in the mere instants of his arrival the whole ce had gone silent.

    "If you would calm your excitement and bottle up your aura maybe they''ll be able to react," a female voice rang out of nowhere, startling the entirety of the crowd.

    Noah felt his eyes constrict to figure out where the person that talked was, and his eyes quicklynded on a figure equally as regal as the young man, only that her attire was white, filled with bluish spots that radiated coldness even from that distance!

    For the first time in Cregar, Noahid eyes on a white-haired maiden and felt blown away. Her long white hair reached her waist, perfectly matching her attire, her hair seemed to produce a glow of its own, further emphasized by the white light above them.

    She looked young, younger than even the man, and her alluring curves were revealed to the world. Noah immediately considered her a top-ss beauty, one that that seemed even prettier than Isabe.

    ''Maybe it''s her power,'' Noah''s emotionless mind pondered, seeing that she felt on par with the man. The world truly was filled with monsters.

    "I apologize, I feel d that our great guild is about to admit new members; ones that have managed to seed in even theplex tasks we set," the young man started, while thedy simply floated beside him, her expression unbothered.

    Waving his hand in the air, the young man''s action caused the light shining above them to disperse, and multicolored lights shone from the ceiling of that stadium-like location.

    An "Ooh" escaped the mouths of the audience, but Noah felt unfazed. His eyesnded on a spot high in that collesuem, and a series of figures unfolded in his eyes. Every one of them looked exquisitely dressed, and Noah''s mind quickly began to ponder about their potential identities since their attires gave a hint.

    He quickly came to a conclusion that seemed suitable. ''They are from other guilds,'' he thought before focusing his gaze on the duo above them.

    "I am Adonis, you may refer to me as Elder Adonis," the expert started. "For today I shall be the one exining yourst task to gain entry into this great guild of mine."

    "Do note that other important guild representatives are here, and will be willing to take you in if you show potential but do not seed," he focused his attention on the regally dressed experts in the corner, his words confirming Noah''s thoughts.

    "This person beside me, is a very important individual from the Frozen prism guild, another of the great guild in our nation," Elder Adonis gestured at thedy beside him, and she limited herself to a slight smile.

    "Now onto the topic of today. As your various coordinators have informed you, today''s trial will be a race, but the details I ordered them to leave out was what would happen during the race," he paused sweeping his calm gaze on the whole area before eventually arriving on the various experts aspiring to be guild members.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Suddenly waving his hand at thin air, the massive illusory screen stopped disying the aspirants but depicted three white mountains.

    "That is where the race will happen and your goal is to reach its top,'' Elder Adonis continued.

    "However my eager aspirants, you will not just be racing to the top to beat the time limit, you will also be tasked to gather 70 inscribed stones a minimum of 50."

    "I''m well aware of your unfamiliarity with the term, and it''s not a real resource, just stones inscribed by our inscription masters specifically for this event," he continued.

    "In this stage unlike the rest, you''ll be allowed to use your various abilities to take from your fellow aspirants. However, instead of eliminating them, all you are allowed to do is overwhelm them and force them to give their stones to you. No killing is allowed. Anyone who does kill someone will be immediately disqualified and will face other consequences," the expert exined.

    "Also you all will be given exit stones, all you''ll need to do is crush them to quit if you find the tasks too arduous," he continued.

    "The second to thest detail is the existence of magical beasts attuned to fit the average of your cultivation levels. Note that these beasts will and are ready to kill you, it''s either you kill them, or escape," he exined.

    "There is no sort of reward for killing beasts but do remember to showcase your power to give the representatives a suitable understanding of your worth, in case you end up failing," he nodded.

    "In summary, you are to gather seventy inscribed stones and make it to the top in the time given to you. Failing to gather the minimum of fifty but reaching the top will mean disqualification, and gathering seventy but not reaching the top will also result in disqualification."

    "The reward for finishing with all seventy stones and reaching the top will be gaining top priority in our guild. More on that will be exined when you seed," he paused, allowing the information he had released to sink in properly.

    "Thest but not least detail for this trial, is based on the test you partook in yesterday," the expert started, and Noah immediately heard individuals close to him hold their breaths in nervousness,"

    "Those who failed to meet their required points 70 percent of the total time will be held back for a whole day. Note that only four days will be allowed in total," Elder Adonis exined, dropping a crucial detail.

    Noah watched the countenance of many individuals around him fall. It seemed the test had been less sessful for many than he initially thought.

    ___________________

    *Authors note*

    I know it''s prettyte. I had to stare at a nk page for a long while to produce something. I hope you enjoyed it.

    Updates will continue normally tomorrow.

 Chapter 246 246. SNOWY

    Noah felt able to smell the worry in the environment. The man''s words managed to bring people to their mental knees, but once again he felt unbothered by the event, he had met the requirements without missing it once.

    Their race would happen on a mountain, a snowy one at that. And they were tasked to gather stones that could be anywhere, a task that would be hard even if all of them were asked to start at once.

    The one-day head-start that he and whoever managed to meet the requirements would allow them to empty the starting portions of the mountains of its stones, forcing the others to have to climb further before any hope of gathering stones could exist.

    "You will all be teleported to the location together, only that does who failed to meet the requirement will have to sit back and wait until the barrier set, is open," Elder Adonis continued, his face revealing a slight but excited smile.

    Waving his hand at them, the aspirants and audience on the seats watched as the grassy ground beneath the aspirants lit up with radiant inscriptions of golden colors. After which bracelets and rings appeared in front of each person signified as an aspirant.

    Noah''s emotionless mind watched as a ck bracelet and a red ring appeared before him, slowly grabbing it, he nced at Lady Sophie''s figure. She noticed his gaze and turned to look at him.

    Nodding her head at the sight of the items, Noah immediately wore them and felt a series of information flow into his mind.

    An illusory leaderboard of sorts appeared on the bracelet at Noah''s, and he felt unfazed to find that his name and face were at the top of the list. He had an outstanding one-hundred percent on the sess rate in hitting the required damage points.

    The second on that list was a female whose name was hidden. Actually, the names of the other aspirants were hidden apart from his, but their faces were revealed. Thedy raked an astonishing ny-five percent, while the percent of the third plunged to eighty-four. The fourth eighty-one.

    They all could recognize each other, and soon their gazes locked. Ariana being the eight had seventy-four, a very close call. While many others had the same scores above the mark of 70 or on 70 itself.

    Checking the ring, Noah found his consciousness within a room no less 3sq meters, and in it was a crystal-like stone, shimmering with different colored inscriptions and even a tiny magical circle.

    He could immediately identify it as the exit stone, an object he felt sure he wouldn''t be needing.

    Elder Adonis gave them a few moments to check the items and make peace with their fate, and after what he considered the adequate moment had passed, he opened his mouth to draw their attention back to him.

    "That is all there is to say, the rest will be up to you," he dered, when three portals shining with incredibly dense mana abruptly opened on the grassy field, a few hundred meters in front of the aspirants, and spaced out from the other.

    "Tier one aspirants are to take the portal on the right, tier two''s on the middle, and the tier three''s are to take the portal on the left," Elder Adonis exined.

    "Note that all who passed the seventy percent mark are to immediately begin," he exined while the three categories immediately started to enter the portals after forming single files.

    The process was quick as in less than a minute more than half of the required aspirants had walked through the portal.

    Noah found himself about to enter the portal but suddenly sensed someone''s gazend on him. His head rose to find that both floating experts actually had their eyes on him, but no one would notice their actions due to the process happening on the ground.

    "He''s also an ice affinity wielder," thedy conveyed to Elder Adonis through her consciousness, and he couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow at that information.

    Of course, being an important identity in the Divine lightning guild, he had been amongst the higher-ups who found interest in Noah or rather the man named Aiden.

    "Who exactly is he to hold two rare affinities," thedy conveyed, her eyes never leaving Noah''s figure.

    "His identity remains unknown even to us, but even if it wasn''t; I carry an oath to never release the identities of my our members unless it''s very important or required of me," Elder Adonis replied momentarily ncing at her expressionless face.

    "But he''s not a member of your guild yet. And besides, we both know that the oath isn''t capable of stopping you," thedy said returning his gaze. Needless to say, Elder Adonis''s eyes sharpened at those words.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He had known her long enough to understand the meaning behind her words.

    "He''s not likely to fail. He''s the best amongst them after all," he replied to her, keeping a smirk off his face.

    "Notwithstanding, if, by some unfortunate happening, he does fail; I want him for my guild," thedy calmly dered, watching Noah step into the portal and disappear.

    She, being a wielder of the ice affinity understood that the environment the aspirants were sent to, would be nothing of a bother to the young man. She could sense his above-averageprehension even if he worked so hard to hide it.

    They had chosen that environment due to how rare an ice affinity holder was, but his existence remained unfair nheless. But she cared not about that detail. Both of them didn''t.

    "He has a third affinity," Elder Adonis eventually conveyed after a few moments of silence.

    "I know," thedy calmly replied and the duo immediately fell into deep thought.

    *

    *

    *

    A weird pressure applied itself to Noah''s consciousness immediately after he stepped into the portal. Soon enough he felt his environment change.

    A cold breeze mmed into his figure, but he casually shrugged it. That environment would be unable to bother him even if it wanted to.

    Noah had already figured out why a cold environment was the site for the trial. Not many had an affinity for ice since if they did, they wouldn''t be aspiring the join the Divine Lightning guild.

    A series of red lights shone on Noah''s face and the faces of the others that had already arrived there.

    Taking a moment to inspect the mountain, Noah''s calm mind could vaguely calcte how difficult the task ahead of him would be.

    The mountain was as immense and majestic as one would expect a whitendmass of such grandeur to be.

    Because they were teleported to its base, the aspirants couldn''t see its peak from that height, but everyone could see how thick the snow was; moving around it would be a hassle.

    From his position, Noah could notice thick formations of trees and jagged edges. However, the silent nature of that environment contradicted the reality that magical beasts were present in it.

    The environment for miles around the mountain proved to also be snowy and Noah couldn''t help but wonder where they were. However, he quickly pushed that topic to the back of his mind since there was a barrier blocking their passage to the outside regions.

    Those who were unable to meet the requirements found that they could not walk past the red barrier where everyone was initially teleported into. So when Noah''s white-haired figure burst forward with crackling waves of power, sadness and helplessness quickly set in.

    The trial had started, but they would be unable to partake in it for one whole day, and with monsters like Noah already in, their chances of seeding took a deep dive.

 Chapter 247 247. JAWED SPIDERS

    Merely after a few minutes, Noah had arrived inside the lower forest of the mountain. Unfolding his consciousness to its max, he immediately picked up more than 20 individuals in a radius of about 3 kilometers. Most were also running, and they could sense his consciousness, however, they let him be.

    Uncertainty of what the inscribed stones would be like, forced Noah into searching the trees around him. Thanks to the still low altitude there was still a visibility area of more than 10m, and the winds around him were still in a state of normality.

    His consciousness picked up something interesting and he didn''t hesitate to dash towards the over 400m distance to arrive in front of tworge trees covered by a thickyer of snow, but he could still spot their green leaves.

    A shining stone no more than 2inches in sizey on the soft white ground that was snow. Immediately picking it up, Noah felt his consciousness spot another one less than 100m from his position, he sprinted towards the position without empowering his body, and almost immediately arrived in front of it.

    However, instead of one stone, Noahid eyes on three stones shimmering with multiple shining lines. That sess rate made him scour the radius of one whole kilometer around that area.

    At the end of the tens minutes mark, he sessfully gathered six more, an incredible finding. He had almost run into other aspirants, but his expert agility in moving at that speed allowed him to avoid anyone that could pose trouble.

    In total, Noah had gathered ten stones in less than twenty minutes of beginning the stage, so he immediately moved towards ces that had not been touched by anyone yet.

    Noah didn''t stop until a whole portion of the lower forest had been traversed by him, and at the end of the two-hour-long mission, he had gathered ten more!

    This caused him to look towards the higher locations of the mountain and run towards it. There was no countdown of any sort, at least not yet, which meant the aspirants had to be careful of time.

    Noah had to sprint for entire kilometers to exit the lower forest and burst out into a white in.

    Uncountable footsteps diverging in all directions appeared in front of him, as even his consciousness failed to pick up anyone in his area.

    The others seemed to have traveled higher, and something told Noah that things would get harder from that point since the mountain path experienced a giant upward slope.

    Taking a deep breath and reveling in the strength he experienced, Noah immersed himself in the coldness of that environment, for it strengthened him. A few seconds had to go by before he continued his journey.

    At some point, he had to take a hard decision between scouring the area or continuing on the mountain path since the distance to the peak remained immense. It felt as though he hadn''t even left its base yet. This was after traveling tens of kilometers to that location.

    Noah''s steps continued to remain rapid, as even the gradually increasing density of the snow couldn''t make him stop.

    Trees appeared in his sight again, followed closely byrge rocks covered in white snow. That new elevation featured a heavy atmosphere, and very soon Noah''s instincts warned him of the danger surrounding him.

    Barely a minute into that treed environment, the sounds of different battles urring reached his ears, but he felt unbothered. Noah continued to run on paths previously traversed by his fellow aspirants since the path featured no signs ofbat.

    To make their way to the top, the aspirants had to circle the mountain to reach higher elevations, but those paths were more than just a few kilometers in width and were capable of holding small forests spanning more than half their width and length.

    The sounds of shes quickly got louder. And Noah had to unfold his consciousness while he searched the areas rtively close to him for inscribed stones. Disappointment tried to reach his mind when he found nothing even after an hour of searching.<novelnext></novelnext>

    By this point, most battles had died down, and the ones that were still on were distant.

    Notwithstanding, this seeming safe reality didn''t stop the ground beneath him from bursting forth withrge spikes made out of the earth.

    Of course, Noah simply sprinted away from his previous spot, while his unfolded consciousness spotted his attacker.

    Noah soonid eyes on his attacker, but instead of attacking back, he simply focused his gaze on a different location and ran toward it. The magical beast that had attacked him was arge brown bear, featuring multiple white patches of fur. The beast opened its jaws to voice a roar when it saw that Noah ran away.

    Unfortunately for it, its targets figure quickly became unnoticeable in the whiteness of that environment.

    Noah''s decision had been based on the fact that he found it unnecessary to waste time and energy on something that wouldn''t produce any benefit. Although its body would be stored and its orange mana core retrieved; he found it useless anyway. He would only begin to kill beasts when he had gathered more than fifty stones or was required to.

    Gradually the wind began to pick up and it started to snow. The area of visibility plummeted to less than 5m, as it seemed like a white wall had appeared before his eyes.

    Noah however, saw it as nothing. And although the day looked close to ending he had, gathered only four more stones, a result that would normally be depressing, but because he currently utilized the emotionless portion of his mind, he remained unfazed, merely running calctions on what moves to make next.

    The darkness of the night eventually arrived, but Noah continued to run. His stamina proved once again how monstrous it was. Moreover, the coldness of that environment didn''t deter him.

    ''I have to find a ce to stay for the night,'' Noah thought seeing as it had started to snow heavily, and it didn''t look like that situation would change anytime soon.

    Only a mentally sick person would be seen journeying in that environment, but because of the advantage his affinity granted him, he could do sofortably.

    The only issue remained the beasts that he could sense all around him. The mountain had stopped being silent hours ago, and things changed when tens of wild aura''s sprung up in different directions. The mountain hade alive at night, a situation he felt unready to face.

    With the visibility being around 2m Noah had to almostpletely rely on his consciousness and instincts, so when both led him to arrive in front of a white cave, he could only nod in satisfaction.

    However, to im that natural spot as a resting ce, he had to deal with the auras within it.

    ''Seven peak stage tier 2 beasts, and one middle stage,'' Noah thought standing at the entrance of the dark cave.

    His cold eyes fell on a series of crimson red lights in the cave, they felt like eyeballs since he could feel dangerous gazes from them. More so from therger one at the far end of the cave. They all gazed at his cold and valiant figure.

    Loud cking sounds soon began to exit the cave. The creatures were trying to scare him away, but Noah limited himself to retrieving his daggers while inspecting the eyes that were in groups of eight each.

    [Snowy mountain Jawed spiders:[8]]

 Chapter 248 248. WEAK

    The mountain''s wind continued to howl behind Noah as he stood in front of the cave waiting for his targets to make a move. Snow continued tond on his back signaling the raging snowstorm on the outside. Only after getting under the cave''s roof, did he fully understand the type of environmental mess he had been running in.

    The cking sounds of the spiders continued to resound in the cave, butpared to the sound of howls and roars happening in the forest all around them, that was nothing.

    Eventually getting bored of the wait, Noah acted to illuminate the cave, since he had not fullyid eyes on the spiders.

    Holding his second dagger with his left hand, Noah stretched his right palm towards the dark cave and a bolt of lightning shot out of his palm tond on a random spot in the cave.

    The deep-yellow radiance of the attack lit up the cave and he quickly gained clear visuals of the spiders.

    The spiders regardless of their power level were all naturally ck, but a thickyer of white fur covered that ck exoskeleton. A feature Noah guessed was for being stealthy in the white environment since spiders are normally cold-blooded.

    Therge red eyes of the spiders weren''t glowing now that there was a light source, but Noah barely had his focus on that detail. In the span of an instant that it took the lightning bolt to strike, heid eyes on the feature that made those spiders special.

    On the portion of their bodies where their chelicerae were supposed to be, was a mammal-like jaw,rge; as it was almost half their size, featuring a series of jagged teeth. In essence, they resembled the Brazilian wandering spider, only with white fur and powerful-looking jaws, plus their trauma-inducing size.

    Louder cking sounds escaped therge jaws of the spiders immediately after the bolt of lightning hit.

    An explosion resounded at the collusion of the spells and the wall, immediately killing three of the magical beasts or insects. However that bolt of lightning felt weak, and it was.

    To notpromise the structural integrity of the cave, Noah had heavily reduced the amount of Essence he poured into the discharge. Even at that, three of the spiders turned into charred carcasses.

    The middle-stage spider at the far end of the cave snapped its teeth multiple times at that sight, causing a powerful sound wave to spread out in the cave. Seemingly ordering the spiders to attack, the beast felt infuriated when it saw that its weaker specimen struggled to crawl forward. Then again it could vaguely understand their hesitation.

    Noah''s figure, although aura-less radiated terrifying power. His figure casually stood at the entrance not moving forward, but also not scared.

    The biggest beast in the cave moved at that point.

    Feeling his instincts tingle at the reality of an iing attack, Noah''s calm mind moved to carry out his reason for being there. Having concluded that he would kill the beasts as quickly as possible to reduce the noise that got to the outside, he took a step forward and instantly arrived in front of the tier 3 specimen.

    The spider featured eight spiky legs, and its bulky frame stood at a height of 10ft. The tier 2 specimens measuring about 4ft.

    A series of thin spikes forming multiple x-like shapes, barreled out of the cave''s entrance, effectively sealing it up. But that had not been the reason for the attack.

    Shock seemed to flow inside the spider''s mind at Noah''s disappearance, an even greater shock befalling it when he found that he stood in front of it.

    The snapped its jaws open to try and crunch down on Noah''s tiny figure. But before it couldplete that quick action, a force of incredible proportions mmed into its head from beneath its jaw shutting it.

    The force managed to raise it by a few feet, but it crashed into the 13ft high ceiling at that point, as it almost did a flip.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah on the other hand calmly nced at the Dagger in his hand, his eyebrows raised at it. He had attacked the spider with more than half his full strength, but the dagger hand barely pierced it, only its tip digging into its surprisingly hard exoskeleton.

    Flicking his wrists at the spiders trying to attack him from behind, Noah bisected their figures in the blink of an eye. One tier 2 specimen remained, and it snapped its teeth in fear, trying to escape. However, it suddenly crunched into a gory ball of hard outsides and tender insides, blue blood pouring from its squished insides.

    Noah had quickly disposed of the tier 2 beasts, a normal scene, but theck of proper damage to the middle-stage specimen caused him to re-evaluate the dangerousness of the dagger. Regaining its bnce the spider tried to crunch down on him again.

    A powerful snapping sound resounded in the cave as the spider bit air. Noah however appeared at a father spot in the cave, close to its now sealed entrance.

    ''I can''t one-shot middle-stage entities except I utilize spells or empower my body, but I can injure them. It''s still a big step from before,'' Noah concluded feeling his figure crackle with erratic energy.

    The daggers were sharp enough to normally cut through tier 3 beats, but the thrust he executed wouldn''t work well on the beast''s Exoskeleton unless he inputted enough sheer force. He needed more, and that''s what he got.

    Noah shot forward with maddening power, as his figure turned into a yellow streak inside that enclosed and short space. Needless to say, immediately after his daggers arrived on the spider''s jaws, it shattered it, going on to plunge into its insides.

    Noah almost traveled the full length of the giant spider in that attack, his right arm being fully embedded inside it.

    Blood spurted everywhere, as a nasty smell reached Noah''s nostrils. However, the ck attire he had on shone with a deep golden radiance, vanquishing any stain that tried to stick to him.

    The beast''s long legs crashed on itself since there wasn''t any consciousness managing its function.

    Removing his arm from the beast''s insides, Noah was met with the weird sight of his daggers dripping with blue blood, but his arm was dry and free of any sort of stains.

    A red core soon shot out of the beast, and he waved his hand to store it. Soon enough the spider''s figure disappeared.

    "It was weak, Its only strength was its incredible natural defense," Noah muttered. Ever since he gained that new strength merely around a week ago, he hadn''t gained the chance to test himself against a proper tier 3 beast in the middle stage.

    ''Maybe the bear would have been better,'' he mused while ice spread from beneath his feet to freeze every drop of blood and even the carcasses of the tier 2 spiders. mming his feet on the thinyer of ice and chunks, Noah shattered them but caused those shards to converge in front of him.

    A frozen spherical object soon appeared in front of him, and for some reason he stored it.

    Quickly settling in, Noah sat cross-legged in the cave''s darkness, limiting himself to eating the food supplies he had in his inventory.

    A new day quickly broke, and Noah set out just as fast. Things would be different that day, there would be more people and he would need to travel a reasonable distance closer to the mountain peak.

    In actuality, he nned to travel the highest before fully beginning his hunt for inscribed stones; in an environment untouched by others.

 Chapter 249 249. THICK FORMATION

    Sending a bolt of lightning toward a rapidly moving shadow moving from tree to tree and even the ground, Noah''s eyes darted in multiple directions, those organs zing with the speed force''s empowerment. The ck shadow disappeared, effectively dodging the bolt; even if Noah had never nned to hit it, before appearing amongst the whiteness of its environment, and a series of spikes quickly burst out of the ground to shoot towards Noah''s position.

    Trees shattered and snapped at the power in the attack, but Noah simply took a few steps forward to directly burst out of the area of the attack. Seemingly picking a random direction, Noah lunged forward with his bare hands and caught hold of a solid figure.

    Before the stunned entity could react, his figure turned to a yellow streak and he moved to bash the dark figure into every single tree within a radius of 50m. Needless to say, chaos spread out as explosions capable of seriously injuring lower stage tier 3 urred in the area.

    Eventually halting his incredibly rapid movement, Noah hurled the bloodied ck figure towards a sturdy-looking tree only a few hundred meters from his position. The figure crashed into the tree and snapped it. But it didn''t stand up from its position.

    Noah managed toy eyes on the magical beast attacking him, and he felt his curiosity get piqued at its sight. It resembled an ape, a really lean ape, and it stood at around 8ft in height and was incredibly light on its feet all four of them.

    Its fur being darker-than-ck caused its shadowy figure whenever it moved.

    [Snowy mountain: Evolved ape]

    [Tier: 3[middle-stage]]

    [Affinity: Earth]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    It looked alive, but Noah felt no fear towards it. Their fight had barelysted a minute. And from his short inspection, he confirmed that the beastcked in the field of physical strength, merely possessing speed and agility. An attribute Noah had in abundance.

    ''It would be an issue for slower cultivators,'' Noah thought while one of his daggers appeared in his hand. He remained unafraid of the ape didn''t mean lowering his guard. It had an above-average cognitive level.

    And just as he predicted, it tried to escape him. The ground beneath Noah turned loose, almost tripping him, unfortunately for the beast, Noah turned into a blur to arrive right behind it. His dagger shed and he separated its rtively small head from its shoulders.

    A red octahedral core shot out of the ape''s body, and Noah quickly stored it. Merely a few seconds passed before its slender figure disappeared.

    Noah had spent half of the day traveling towards the higher regions of the mountain, and in his rapid journey, he had managed to spot seven more stones. He understood that waiting to search would have allowed him to gather more, but seeing how far he remained from even seeing the top since a cloud shielded it from his eyes, he could only choose the wise decision of journeying farther.

    During his hike of sorts, nine magical beasts had been unfortunate enough to encounter him, as what followed were short battles that ended in his victory.

    Noah could only guess that the beasts of that mountain had been groomed to remain weak since none of the beasts he had encountered featured an orange core apart from the bear, which was over a kilometer below him.

    Sweeping his emotionless gaze on his wrecked surroundings, Noah could only feel that his decision to remain without emotions had been a good idea. Notwithstanding he had begun to experience a headache. A bacsh for utilizing that portion of his mind for too long.

    Focusing his gaze on the path ahead, Noah took the moment to wonder if Ariana was okay down there. In truth, he felt unsure whether or not other aspirants had traversed his current position on the mountain, but he recalled leaving many in the cloud of snow his rapid movement created.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Turning into a blur, Noah sprinted with the sheer power his body could muster, and the result was a white cloud zooming left and right between the trees.

    The level of snow in that region had crossed the halfway mark to his knee, a few more inches and he would be knee-deep. Thankfully his rapid movement allowed him to run on the soft snow.

    Noah continued his lone journey to the top for many hours, only thoughts of what his future in the guild would be crossing his mind. asionally, he would encounter roaming magical beasts but had limited himself to killing a few. Choosing to stop when he had hunted and killed twenty in total.

    This brought the amount of beast he had stored for the dungeon to a bit over 50. Noah felt tempted to go hunting for more beasts, but each fight started taking longer, and he had to limit his movement due to the now steep regions he had arrived on.

    Noah risked falling multiple times, and he couldn''t imagine having to recross his already traversed areas because he fell.

    Notwithstanding, he made sure to kill any beast that tried to attack him. However, such encounters had started getting rarer with each passing hour.

    The night of the second day eventually arrived but he had only gathered a total of 42 stones. Noah figured the next day would be for finding stones since from his position, the peak of the mountain looked vaguely visible. A good sign.

    Luckily for him, he didn''t have to kill another set of beasts to find an empty cave, only that the cave he encountered was small.

    The night was cold and an even bigger snowstorm urred, bringing the thickness of the snow to around 28inches.

    However, none of those conditions affected Noah apart from the fact that when the day broke he had to dig through the wall of snow that formed at the cave''s entrance.

    A pure white nket seemed to cover everything in his line of sight, and even the trees had stopped featuring green leaves only pure white ones.

    The cold in that ce felt immense, enough for him to feel it, though only by a bit. The air density in that ce had plunged, but such details didn''t matter to him due to his uniqueness.

    Unfolding his consciousness while white mist exited his mouth with each breath he took, Noah began the hunt for inscribed stones while also traveling higher. Though he focused mainly on finding the stones and didn''t go higher than a few ten meters until he met the fifty inscribed stones mark and even exceeded it by a little bit.

    Unfortunately, this took him more than half the entire day, and by the time the sun began to set, Noah had gone over 700m higher and had crossed the seventy mark of inscribed stones. Having in the red ring seventy-nine.

    With only a bit more than one day left before the trial ending, Noah remained unfazed when powerful explosions began to resound from lower elevations of the mountain. His fellow aspirants were working their butt off to cross good distances, and even he had decided that there would be no rest for that night.

    It would be full speed towards the still rtively distant peak.

    It was with this thought that Noah ran higher into the mountain. And when he remained only a few hundred meters from his goal, he arrived in front of a thick formation of white trees spanning for few kilometers in length, and a strong presencey inside it.

    Noah felt his eyes grow cold when he realized that the aura within the forest belonged to something in the higher-stage.

 Chapter 250 250. PATH

    A deep yellow radiance shone on Noah''s environment as he immediately cast "speed armor". An illusory battle armor featuring a helmet appeared on his figure, while thoughts and calctions on his next move appeared in his mind.

    Noah had every intention to arrive at his destination and do it alone. Although the time remaining for the stage to end actually exceeded ten hours, Noah felt it unreasonable and a total waste of time to wait for them. Even if it sounded like a good idea.

    ''What if they arrive here toote, or none has the confidence to move forward.'' he thought asionally crouching to nce at the lower regions. No one could be seen from that height and there wasn''t anyone there, meaning he had been right about being the first to arrive at that elevation.

    An internal battle quickly spread out in Noah''s mind. The idea of waiting for others sounded good, since he felt no confidence in facing whatever was inside that environment, and even his instincts told him that only death awaited him if he dared it. In truth Noah had never been in a real fight with peak middle-stage experts, only his spells filling the space with the multiple experts he fought.

    Now the chance of facing a higher stage felt exciting to his body, but rationality beat his wishful thinking.

    The other idea was to of course move forward without waiting for external help, but he didn''t n on stopping, only zooming straight ahead even if he could feel his knees begin to tremble.

    Fear tried to break into his emotionless state, but only his body remained affected by that sensation, his mind only grew colder and more focused.

    Noah trusted the speed at which he could move with minimum empowerment from the speed force, and he nned on utilizing it to its best, at least to what his mind and body were currently capable of.

    ''No stopping. If I do I might actually die,'' Noah concluded, but his eyes flickered not, nor did his calm expression crumble. After what felt like an eternity, he finally understood what weaker cultivators went through encountering monstrous cultivators on their path to power.

    Sparks soon began to exit his body; heavier and more power-filled ones illuminating his surroundings even more. Noah felt and saw his surroundings begin to move far slower than they normally were. His perception became so quick that mere instants felt as long as hours maybe days.

    He felt confident in the action he was about to take, being faster than his opponents put him in a safe spot one that would remain untouchable until he found someone able to outrun him or directly overpower him.

    Dense currents continued to run on Noah''s figure, if ever asked what that ability was; he would simply term it a movement technique, after all the truth wasn''t far from it. He even crouched in a weird stance while making some random gestures with his hands to make that scene more believable.

    Feeling ready to move, Noah ignored the fact that he produced enough heat to cause the little snow around him to start melting.

    Taking a step forward, the extremely white and windy environment around him turned into a blur of whiteness. Noah immediately arrived inside the tight formation of trees to begin his mad Mach 4 dash towards its end; where the bright light of golden inscriptions could be seen signifying the area in which they were to enter to seed. At least he believed so.

    However before he could even spend a second in those trees, a thought he had not considered seeped into his mind, and he found himself turning to return to his former position outside the trees.

    A frown appeared on Noah''s face immediately after returning, but that reaction wasn''t a result of an emotion so to speak, it was based on how tricky that situation had been since answers flowed into his mind at his doubts. And he didn''t hesitate to open his mouth to voice his conclusion.

    "We were never told to find our way into any different location. The instruction was to reach the peak of the mountain!'' Noah''s nk but power-filled voice resounded in that environment. Even the winds couldn''t overshadow it.

    In truth, that action remained weird, but Noah knew that his words had been heard, after all, he had noticed on multiple asions floating orbs of sorts trailing him in his tracks. Which meant he was being watched.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah had been careful to not utilize any sensitive abilities like his ice affinity whenever he was out in the forest. Only moments like when he fought the jawed spiders. And he had only utilized it due to the closed entrance. For some reason, the orbs never followed him into the caves he slept in.

    Just ording to his hunch, his answer came, but not in words.

    The rtively t peak of the mountain suddenly began to tremble, but not violently. At least not too violently.

    In the span of a few seconds Noah watched the thick formation of trees before him; begin to part ways, and in the blink of an eye, a linear path opened before him.

    Two barriersy on each side of the now wall of trees, and he didn''t hesitate to begin his walk towards the same inscriptions-filled area on the other side of the mountain''s peak.

    A slow but steady walk began towards the end of the path since Noah still had his guard up. His armor was still on and he felt ready to run at any time.

    Halfway through the path, Noah got able to see what emitted that higher-stage aura, but his expression went cold at the sight thaty before him.

    ''Five,'' Noah thought. Five beasts Noah''s instincts sensed had power in the higher stage were present in the forest. They had been expertly separated from each other to not give a hint, and to his even bigger amusement, the beasts themselves didn''t radiate any aura. Or at least it seemed they didn''t.

    A bangle of sorts shimmering with the light of multiple inscriptionsy around the legs of the beast; all bears. The inscribed item ording to Noah''s understanding bottled up their aura. A terrifying reality. While an orb shimmering with blue lights sitting on a golden stool radiated the singr aura he felt, and that everyone who got up there would feel!

    "This is madness," Noah felt forced to mutter feeling a spike in his headache when he switched to his calm side.

    Clearer understanding dawned on him when Elder Adonis''s words, "The rest will be up to you" reyed in his mind. He had begun to gain respect for those processes as they forced the cultivators into using their minds.

    Noah felt pity and even worry for Ariana and the other experts who would be unfortunate enough to think they would be enough to cross the trees. The bears wererge towering 25m in height and their bulky frame. A hit from something like that would turn them into meat pastes.

    Thatst challenge was more of a mind game than anything. With an obstruction on their path and the aura of a powerful entity, the situation in front of the dense formation of trees would automatically trante into a challenge. One that the experts would feel had to ovee to seed. But if they obeyed the instructions there would be no need for any such struggle. Maybe if they sat around instead of moving into the forest themselves, the path would be opened for them.

    Noah felt sure that any individual that walked into that environment would be immediately wiped out. That oue would be certain since the bears made no auras, and their white furs coupled with their gentle movements allowed them blend in wit their environment. There could even be traps set for experts.

    ''I would have scaled through only because of my speed,'' Noah thought. ''But if there had been any traps able to stop me...'' His thoughts faded since he had arrived at the ending of the path, to walk past the golden inscriptions; which he immediately confirmed produced a barrier.

    "Congrattions!" A group of four individuals donned in beautiful attires featuring the crest of the guild cheerfully weed Noah, and he felt un-surprised when he saw that he was the first to arrive there.

 Chapter 251 251. MONSTERS

    Noah had to keep a straight face in front of that wee, but within him was relief and excitement. Mental fatigue tried to wear him down immediately he felt relieved, and the tension that had been pent up inside him, but couldn''t express itself due to his emotionless state, hit him with full force.

    However, everything quickly subsided, and he didn''t hesitate to perform bows at the four individuals, two men, and two women.

    "You did incredibly well. And even figured out thest challenge," the brown-haired female amongst the two spoke tedly.

    The four of them gathered around him, but he had to deactivate his spell first. Noah could feel that none of the experts were lightning affinity wielders, but he couldn''t deny their incredible power.

    All four individuals radiated power at the very peak of the middle-stage threatening to spill into thest stage before tier 4.

    ''Peak grade 2 bodies and all yellow cored in the spherical stage,'' Noah thought, feeling shocked at that talent. The only difference between the four was their affinities and of course the slight differences in power.

    Nevertheless, the four of them radiated strong confidence even if they looked ted at his sess.

    "It''s wonderful gaining such an incredibly strong member. It''s felt like years since we had any neers," the ck-haired male in the group spoke in a dramatic tone.

    "Because it''s been years!" the brown-haireddy countered yfully hitting his back. "But he''s right, it''s been ages since a test for new members was held," thedy said focusing on Noah.

    "I thought it was every two or four years," Noah asked trying to recall what the man that had registered him said.

    "Normally it would, but the higher-ups changed their minds, and it been ten whole years since thest one," the other female in the group replied before the brown-haireddy could, and she revealed a pouting expression.

    "You already want to try your so-called unique charm on him," the second male in the group who had remained silent teased with a smug grin, quickly taking multiple steps from the seconddy.

    "You!---" she eximed embarrassed, and Noah lost them afterward.

    The scene of four really talented experts bickering and teasing each other felt so wholesome that Noah could only smile when they remembered his presence, before bickering again.

    The group would take turns in asking him questions, but they never went into anything that could even be slightly considered personal, only questions like how he got so beautiful and other lighthearted questions.

    Noah felt forced to loosen up at their friendly nature, as he soon began to enjoy theirpany. From the time he spent with them, he could tell that they shared a bond, a tight one.

    "I was the first to volunteer to wee you neers, but these knuckleheads joined in," the brown-haireddy pouted as they sat down cross-legged on the snow.

    Her name being Rena, she was a woman who looked to be in herte twenties, had an oval face and fair skin, and featured long brown and straight hair that had soft bends. On her face were long eyebrows wavy in shape. She sported an upturned nose that Noah considered was the right size andstly, her eyes were hazel in color. In short, she looked incredible.

    Still, even among these details, she held a cheerful and weing vibe. Noah could also sense a level of maturity deep within her current cheerful outlook.

    The names of the other were as followed, Tiana, being the seconddy, Rio being the ck-haired guy and finally Seth.

    Tiana looked no older than Rena but had long reddish-blonde hairy wavy in nature. This already gave her a unique look that even Noah found sultry. She had an oval face with a small straight nose, greenish eyes that seemed to glisten every once in a while, and the bodycon gown she had on couldn''t emphasize her hourss shape even more. Noah found her alluring, and she had already established her interest in him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Rio was as mentioned; the ck-haired man. He looked to be in his early thirties and had a round face that featured no beard. His hair was short but wavy. There wasn''t much to say due to his average looks but Noah liked his jokes.

    Seth, on the other hand, was a man who looked in his mid-twenties orte twenties, he had a square face with a defined chin and jawline. Featuring straight reddish-brown hair, he looked rted to Tiana and actually was.

    Apparently, both were born to the same father, but different mothers, and were of the same age. Seth was tall standing at around 6ft2 he had the same height as Noah. But Noah surpassed him in looks.

    The young man mostly ignored Noah. A behavior Noah could guess was envy. He seemed to share a tight connection with his step-sister. One that bordered romance, but only on his side. In essence, he had a crush on his step-sister, but she didn''t feel the same.

    All four of them asked him to refer to them by their names, but Noah felt ufortable and settled for adding "Senior". He appreciated their niceness, but getting too close was something he steered away from.

    "You''re pretty popr amongst the guild members," Tiana said at some point.

    "Yeah. We were allowed to watch some of the aspirants in action and yours managed to remain the most entertaining," Rio added shaking his head.

    "We ran wild seeing you lift the metal balls, and even the more recent ones of you casually ughtering middle-stage magical beasts," Rio continued in an amused tone.

    "It truly was entertaining," Rioughed, "All that you require now is good training and you''ll be considered a true monster," the expert added, with the others nodding.

    Needless to say, this left Noah surprised, and he could only voice his confusion mixed with excitement.

    "Am I not strong enough o be considered a monster?" Noah asked. His question sounding awkward to his ears after he heard himself speak.

    "You have the potential. But you need just a bit more," Tiana responded grazing her palms on Noah''s right arm. An action that wasn''t necessary, but he understood the gesture. She even sat close to him.

    "What is that I need to improve on," Noah asked knowing the answer to his question.

    The group fell silent at that point before Seth opened his mouth to talk.

    "Mostly your fighting style. Youck finesse, and proper training," the expert started. "It pretty clear in your moves how untrained you are and how without a real technique you are. You simply have the raw talent that can only be maximized through proper and intense training," he said.

    ''In truth you really are strong, but your battle sense is extremelycking. Andpared to the monsters we''ve witnessed all you have is raw power. Against such individuals you''d lose in literally two exchanges," Rena chipped in, and the rest nodded in agreement.

    Noah could only nod inwardly at their words, it seemed his issue could be spotted by anyone rtively knowledgeable.

    Needless to say, the topic of monsters piqued his interest, but he couldn''t dive deeper into the topic since the trees behind them parted ways.

    After three hours of waiting the second person or rather group of persons arrived.

 Chapter 252 252. SADNESS

    ''It''s taken them a while,'' Noah thought, inspecting the group of six that arrived from the path. Most of the individuals were females, and every single one of them featured an injury. Whether or not they had been as a result of a sh with the higher stage beast or not Noah didn''t know.

    But he figured if such had happened they would all be dead unless other aspirants had been sacrificed.

    None of the faces that arrived were familiar, so Noah could only stay silent at their arrival while the four cultivators went to wee them.

    His figure of course caught the gazes of the six individuals, but no one walked toward him. Limiting themselves to begin their recovery. However seeing as they had basically be guild members, it felt pointless to continue that seeming hostile behavior towards the white-haired man.

    Noah had established his power and worth. and would probably be the most valued expert in the new batch of members. Moreover, the way the four powerful cultivators interacted with him already showed how stronger individuals found him useful.

    ''Why do they stay away from you?" Tiana asked Noah at some point. By this period more individuals had arrived inside that ce. The now over fifty aspirants would once in a while hear explosions and the screams of individuals as they faced the undefeatable terror of five higher-stage beasts.

    Needless to say, horror and pity appeared in the minds of the listening cultivators. Only pity rose in Noah''s mind at instances like that. Once; a cultivator mmed into the golden barrier, but it seemed only walking through the path would allow them in.

    A dark expression appeared on Noah''s face at that realization. If he had continued on his run, he would be dead.

    "I guess they don''t want to associate with someone weaker. At least that was the case at the beginning of the trials," Noah replied shrugging. His eyesnded on Tiana''s expression and he saw it flicker.

    "I doubt really," Tiana replied sweeping her gaze on the over fifty cultivators that had arrived in the span of an hour since the first group.

    "I believe they find you unapproachable," she exined focusing on his breathtaking features. A strange heat rose in her chest at his calm gaze and her attraction towards him rose. She desired to uncover the secrets hidden by his icy blue eyes while knowing him better.

    "Unapproachable how?" Noah muttered loud enough to be heard by her; even if he understood what she meant. Notwithstanding he wanted to hear her words.

    "Have you seen yourself in the mirror!" she eximed. "Let''s not even begin with that, but the main issues. First your aura-less state."

    "I currently remain unable to tell exactly how strong your base cultivation level is even if you are in the lower stage. Your mana core also remains hidden to me and the others, and you keep to yourself a lot. In short, your existence is shady," she exined nodding her head.

    "Maybe at the beginning, they discriminated against you due to your power but now I believe they feel you are unapproachable," she ended.

    ''It''s their problem, weren''t they told not to discriminate against others when they were young,'' Noah coldly snorted inwardly. In truth he didn''t care about mingling much, he had problems most of them don''t even know were possible, and he needed solutions fast.

    "I hope things changeter on," Noah shrugged faking a smile.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The hours continued to pass. Apparently, the four were pretty busy recording how many had returned, while also receiving orders on what to do.

    Noah saw the inscriptions surrounding that half of the mountain top changing multiple times, and he soon focused on that environment.

    The mountain''s top remained t. t enough to allow people to sitfortably. It was divided by the dense formation of trees. And the presence of the inscriptions allowed the environment there to be calm, but that was all.

    No sort of furniture''s existed there only the barrier created by the inscriptions making it rtively special.

    The number of experts eventually crossed a hundred but Ariana wasn''t amongst them. Worry eventually appeared in Noah''s mind when a countdown depicting thest three hours before the end of the stage appeared on the bracelet''s illusory screen.

    Many aspirants who found themselves running through the forest either quit before they could die, but apparently the bears were only allowed to injure the aspirants that managed to fall prey to them, and they would be teleported out, disqualified.

    The number of aspirants eventually crossed 150. It seemed many had formed groups to help themselves climb faster, and that approach worked incredibly well. But their numbers would never hit 200 at that pace.

    Noah spent most of his time alone after the aspirants began to enter in big groups. Once in a while the four members of the divine lightning would have a chat with him before returning to work.

    ''It seems she won''t arrive,'' Noah sighed seeing the time hit thirty minutes. The chances of her arrival looked slim, and it saddened him. Even Nathaniel had long since arrived with a group.

    The sounds of murmurs filled the camp for experts who were now half-step members of the divine lightning guild. Noah believed no one who had not fulfilled the requirements would even show up there since it would be pointless.

    The time limit eventually arrived at 5 minutes, and Noah could only conclude that Ariana wouldn''t be joining that guild with him.

    Needless to say, sadness arrived and permeated his mind as his countenance fell. He remembered her words of surviving and joining in the guild, he could only chuckle in mncholy while hoping she didn''t wound up dead and that simply hadn''t been fast enough to get there or had never been able to gather enough stones.

    Noah sat cross-legged while waiting for the countdown to ended. From the voices of the others he could tell how excited they were, and he was too, but that event had spoilt his mood.

    However, just as the countdown hit one minute twenty-seven seconds; the rumble that everyone associated with the separating of the trees resounded in everyone''s ears, and a group pf three experts could be seen sprinting down the path.

    And to Noah''s shock and delight Ariana was one of them.

 Chapter 253 253. FIFTH PLACE

    Shock and excitement couldn''t be more evident on Noah''s face at thatst-minute turn of events. Tiana happened to nce his way immediately after that event urred and frowned when she saw his bright smile; the first she had ever seen on his face, even if it vanished a momentter.

    Noah felt a battle immediately spread out in his mind. The issue remained whether or not he should react happily to her arrival or not. He felt weird showing emotions since he usually hid them behind the mask of a cold expression.

    It seemed Ariana had made some other friends since a few experts; all females, ran toward her in excitement no less than Noah''s.

    She had arrived with two men and they looked to have been through a lot. Ariana looked haggard, whole chunks of her seemed to have nested birds, as dirt and snow filled it. Blood stains of different colors existed on her rag-like attire and face, making some of her blonde and messy hair stick to her skin.

    An expression filled with relief and excitement filled her face, and she even sat on the ground while the four experts went to wee her and her group.

    Having stood up in shock at her arrival, Noah sat down with a rxed thud even if his expression had returned to being uncaring.

    A few seconds had to pass before Noah noticed her sweep her gaze on the camp filled with more than 180 individuals.

    Her eyes eventuallynded on Noah''s neat figure, and their gazes immediately locked. A deeper sense of relief shone on her face while she beamed a smile at him. Shrugging and returning the smile, their silent interaction urred without the notice of others, apart from Senior Tiana.

    Ariana held back in walking towards Noah since the threedies that had run to her threw a barrage of questions at her, ones she looked d to answer.

    The countdown ended in no time and the camp of exactly 187 experts excluding the four cultivators in charge of weing them, felt the mountain beneath their feet tremble violently,

    The shaking continued for whole minutes until the golden inscriptions creating the barrier around them shone with blinding intensity. A series of runic symbols and even a golden magical circle appeared beneath their feet followed by the light of a far-distance teleportation.

    The white mountain saw a golden radiance shine on its peak even going on to pierce the thick formation of trees to reveal its radiance to the world. However, the light suddenly disappeared. Silence immediately descended on the snowy mountain at that point.

    Shutting his eyes tight to protect them from the golden light surrounding him, Noah felt the air and the ambient temperature change. A more weing atmosphere falling on his senses.

    It took a few seconds for his senses to calm down, after which he opened his eyes. Seemingly being connected to his eyes, only at that point did his ears be able to the cheers booming from their surroundings.

    Noah furrowed his brows at that event but remained okay. He didn''t like the sheer amount of sounding from the multiple seats surrounding them. Butpared to the annoyance he felt from the spotlight above them while their figures stood upon a metallic tform raised 10 meters from the grassy field below them, that was nothing.

    The darkness of the night illuminated by the natural satellite of that stood above them while cheers filled his environment.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ncing at the area that held the representatives, Noah could see that all of them stood up in a standing ovation.

    "What an incredible show that had been," Elder Adonis''s excited voice rang out from above the sessful experts. Not even half of their former number had seeded in the stage, a frightening oue.

    "What a pity it could onlyst three days or a day to us on the outside," The expert spoke casually descending from thepartment meant for the important individuals. He had changed his clothes; going for a skin-tight ck attire featuring a silver coat shimmering with many golden inscriptions.

    He stopped descending at a particr height and quickly continued with the event at hand.

    "It''s time to see how many of you met the requirements," The elder announced waving his hand, and the aspirants saw their rings and bracelets light up with inscriptions of different colors.

    The inscriptions running on their rings stretched out to meet the ones stretching out of their bracelets. Both converged on each other to form a beam of light depicting numbers. Immediately after that event, the illusory screens portraying the figures of the aspirants changed to reveal a leaderboard of sorts featuring the name''s faces and amount of inscribed stones present in their various rings.

    Noah found his face with the number 79 beside it. But to his surprise, someone had gathered more than he. Heck on the leaderboard he upied the fifth ce, with the first person gathering an incredible ny-nine.

    The individual being someone he recognized too well, Noah could only smile.

    ? While shaking his head. "Show off," he muttered gazing at Nathaniel''s face.

    Noah had avoided overpowering experts to steal their stones, and no one had even dared doing such to him. But he understood that the same couldn''t be said for the others.

    ''He probably stole from a lot of individuals,'' Noah thought shaking his head, but the matter didn''t bother him.

    Noah felt both surprised and pleased to find that no one gathered stones lesser than fifty, which meant that the sessful aspirants numbering 187 would all be joining the guild.

    A cold expression remained on Noah''s face while he stared at the massive illusory screen. Very soon he felt someone''s gazend on him. His eyes darted upwards to find that Elder Adonis had his gaze directly on him, but no one could notice their interaction.

    The duo felt to be the only ones in the world. And Noah, even if he couldn''t see the man''s eyes, knew their gazes had met.

    Needless to say, worry built up in Noah''s mind. He understood that he had been noticed by the higher-ups of that guild but he didn''t like that situation anyway.

 Chapter 254 254. CONFESSION

    ''What does he want,'' Noah thought ignoring the cheers still happening around him. Elder Adonis remained focused on his figure but said nothing, this of course made ideas run through Noah''s mind and doubts started to fill his mind.

    ''Is he able to see my core,'' Noah thought feeling his heart skip a beat. He remembered the system''s exnation on that matter, but the thought couldn''t leave his mind. In a world filled with thousands of experts all advancing on different paths, there had to be exceptions.

    ''Or can he notice my affinity,'' Noah wondered again. He clearly recalled the waves of different elements that flowed out of the elder''s figure the day they met him, and he understood that individuals of like elemental affinities could sense each other.

    Although he couldn''t tell if the man had an affinity he possessed, maybe even two, the same couldn''t be said for the elder. Being someone of such high caliber and immense cultivation level he had to possess a far superior sense.

    That thought rang in Noah''s head for what felt like hours but were mere instants. He eventually decided to lower his gaze, but even that failed to stop the elder from gazing at him.

    Worry and a deep sense of unsafety permeated Noah''s mind. What could he do against an expert who he identified as the strongest he had ever seen in Cregar. Noah felt certain that if the expert wanted to get him, even his speed would be unable to save him.

    Thankfully the man''s heavy gaze eventually left his shoulders, and Noah could only thank the white-haired maiden for that. The duo once seemed to converse, but their expressions remained mostly shadowy due to the light shining on their backs and the height they floated at.

    "I believe this is it," Elder Adonis''s voice rang out in that stadium shutting the mouths of all and drawing attention to himself.

    "This will be this year''s sessful aspirants, and I''m d to see that there are many extraordinary experts amongst them. The heights of the Divine Lightning guild can only increase as a result of this," the expert exined while pin-drop silence existed around him.

    "The trials are done. I congratte you all on your sess. Wee to the Divine Lightning guild," elder Adonis announced smiling, and the whole ce went wild.

    The lights of many inscriptions shone on the tform the 187 experts stood upon, and once again the light of a teleportation wrapped around their bodies and they quickly disappeared from that loud ce.

    *

    *

    *

    Opening his eyes in a different location, Noah felt mildly surprised to find that he had arrived inside the room allocated to the aspirants for sleeping. Only this time it remained almost empty.

    ncing at his only room partner, Noah inspected the young-looking woman and she did the same. Their gazes locked for a few seconds, and to his surprise, she beamed a gentle smile at him, before walking toward her bed.

    "You all have been given a day to rest. You are now guild members, but there are still a few processes to be done. However celebrate yourselves for you have aplished something only a tiny portion of the nation''s citizens has," a man''s voice boomed in the rooms of the experts, riling up their excitement.

    "After the day isplete you all shall be given a tour of our guild''s environment; one that I believe you will never forget. For now, enjoy. And also you are allowed to move between rooms to meet each other. Goodbye," the man exined before his voice was cut off from the transmission.

    Needless to say, excitement bubbled in the minds of the sessors, when they saw that the doors had opened partially, meaning they had unhindered ess to the other rooms. Many immediately left their rooms to go look for the friends they had made during the trials that had seeded.

    Noah quickly found himself alone in his room, but he showed no excitement at the announcement. The issue of Elder Adonis still weighed on his mind, and it felt too early to rx.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Laying atop his bed with one of his legs dangling off one edge of the bed, Noah ignored the sounds of the chattering experts moving down and forth the passageway.

    His mind kept pondering the matter, but he felt unappeased and annoyed by theck of certainty about the issue. This back-and-forth thinking eventually led to frustration which eventually gave rise to more worry.

    The sliding open of the door brought Noah out of his thoughts and he immediately nced at the entrance to find Ariana there.

    Her face revealed a charming smile, forcing Noah to notice the changes in her appearance from what he remembered.

    She looked neater than ever, heck she seemed to have just exited a bath. The youngdy let her wet-looking hair fall on her shoulders. She currently had a yellow; ck horizontally striped gown on, and the attire failed to touch her smooth knees.

    "What are you doing brooding," her voice rang out as she walked into the room closing the door behind her. Picking a random bed adjacent to Noah''s she sat on the lower bunk to stare at him on his higher bunk.

    "You wouldn''t understand," Noah replied sitting up.

    "That''s understandable," Ariana revealed a wide smile causing Noah to shake his head.

    "In honesty, I had expected a scene like this to y out in your room, but the emptiness of this ce remains shocking nheless," she shook her head walking about the ce. Noah''s eyes followed her every movement.

    "Then I guess the situation is different in yours," Noah replied.

    "Far different. I had to escape that ce before any of my admirers came knocking," she exined staring at the food tform.

    Silence fell in their midst at that point, and itsted for what felt like hours to Noah even if only a few seconds passed.

    "What do you want?" Noah eventually asked heaving a slight sigh. "I''m certain you didn''t search each room for me only toe and chat."

    Ariana remained silent at those words, and she even stopped inspecting the room to have her back turned on Noah. And she even stood close to the entrance.

    "You''re right, I didn''t simplye here to chat," she eventually began, her back still turned on Noah.

    "But you are also wrong. I indeed came here to talk," she said, confusing Noah; who limited himself to furrow his brow.

    "I like you Aiden," Ariana suddenly announced before silently, half hastily walking out of the room. Sessfully avoiding eye contact.

    Needless to say, Noah remained stunned beyond reason. ''Was that a confession!'' he screamed inwardly

 Chapter 255 255. FLOATING CITY

    Noah stared at the closed door for whole minutes before blinking his eyes to snap out of his daze.

    "What just happened," Noah mutteredying on his bed.

    Ariana had left, but herst words rang in his ears like a church bell. Her confession had caught him unawares and he soon found himself thinking about the young woman. Her hasty escape had left Noah with no chance to respond, but he felt that her n had always been that approach.

    The situation felt surreal, strange even, but Noah could only settle for its abruptness.

    An hour seemed to pass and it did, but Noah remained immersed in his thoughts about the youngdy. His roommate eventually returned to the room and she immediately walked towards a bed to lie on. There wasn''t any need to stick to one bed since only she and Noah were in the room.

    The youngdy seemed to immediately go to sleep, and Noah felt that the time for rest had arrived. A few tens minutes had to pass before the darkness of sleep enveloped Noah''s consciousness.

    Noah woke up to a once again empty room, but he really didn''t care about that detail. Walking towards the food tform, he ordered a series of dishes which he didn''t hesitate to dig into.

    Unfortunately for him, Ariana''s words continued to ring in his mind, and he felt unable to stop them. He still felt unsure of what next to do.

    Noah spent most of his time alone, but at some point down the line, his roommate had a conversation with him.

    He feltpelled to engage in such activities since people were an important detail in a man''s life, she could prove useful sometimester

    Noah learned a few things about her such as her name. And during the hours they conversed he managed to understand a bit of her personality.

    Phelia was a woman who looked to be in her early thirties, she had an oblong-shaped face, had long andpletely straight ck hair whichplemented her look. She had ck eyes that seemed to have seen and been through a lot. Her soft facial features were enhanced by her smiling face, even if most of such smiles were forced. Phelia had an affinity for fire.

    From their interaction, it was clear that she desired to be closer to him for future gains, but the same could be said for Noah, so he didn''t mind.

    Sweeping his gaze on his once again empty room, Noah heaved a sigh when he understood that Ariana wouldn''t being there. In truth, a part of him felt d about her confession, but another side saw it as something of a distraction.

    In honesty, he could already feel himself developing feelings for her, but those emotions were still in their early stage. He barely knew the young woman even if he approved of her character and they were capable of flowing in conversations.

    Another sigh escaped Noah''s mouth at some point, he had a lot to do now that he had joined a great guild. Making time for other things apart from his advancement in power would be difficult. At that thought, Noah''s mind fell on his clone skill.

    He had never tried to cast it since he became a tier 3 around a month ago. Taking a moment to dwell on his quick advancement in power. It felt surreal thinking about the fact that he had achieved such power in such a short period, and he could tell that any friends he made now would be eventually left behind by him.

    The clone skill sounded cool but he would only activate it when he had settled into the guild since there would be bacsh for using it. Meaning a period of rest would be required.

    Hours went by with Noah doing nothing butying on his bed. He took the man''s words of resting to heart, whoever the person was. Needless to say, another period of sleep happened before the doors of the rooms were flung open.

    "On a single file please all of you!" A feminine voice boomed into the rooms of the already prepared aspirants, and soon they began to peep out of their various rooms to see who the person was.

    Noah being one of such individuals, found himself staring at a middle-aged woman who had long

    red hair falling on her shoulders. The woman radiated an aura that belonged to someone in the higher stage.

    This was all he needed to listen to her words and exit his room.

    A few experts had already lined up by this point and Noah promptly joined them. Thedy waited only a few minutes for the experts to be done, and her mouth opened to release words.

    "I am Lady Yevette. I congratte you all on seeding in the trials to join my great guild," she started. "For today I shall be your tour guide amongst other things, after which the way we do things will be exined to you. And after that your first missions will be given to you," thedy exined, her voice traveling through the passageway to reach those at the far end of the line.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah felt excitement begin to seep into his mind, but he didn''t stop it. He had finally be a member of the Divine Lightning guild, he let himself revel in his excitement.

    "As guild members, there are a few basic things you should know," Lady Yevette continued, waving her hand at the aspirants and a series of nes appeared out of her space ring to float towards the aspirants.

    Noah saw an obsidian ck ne falling on his palms. and immediately inspected it. To his shock, he found that the ne was a tier 4 item.

    It pulsed with a purple light and even featured lines of the same color inscribed into its very material. The tier 4 ne featured a tiny purple gem embedded inside the metallic material of the ne.

    ''Is this a purple mana stone,'' Noah wondered wide-eyed, further gazing at the intricate details that made it appealing to the eyes.

    "You are to always wear it at all times if you don''t want to wind up with a broken soul core or even dead," she announced scaring the experts who immediately ced it on their necks.

    Wearing the ne Noah saw a panel pop up in his eyes.

    [You have equipped special item: Niaar]

    [Grade: A]

    [Tier: 4[???]]

    [Effects: Fends off external pressure too powerful for wearer]

    [Cool-down: N/A. Duration: N/A. Cost: N/A]

    ''What pressure are we going to be facing,'' Noah thought in surprise. It felt shocking that such a powerful item''s function was to only fend off pressure. Though the description didn''t specify which type of pressure, mental or physical. ''Maybe both,'' Noah thought.

    "Good," Lady Yevette eximed seeing that they had all worn the ne. "Before we do any heavy touring; you all will have to take the oath for joining our guild. This won''t take too much time since everything has been prepared. But before then I''ll show you the environment of our guild," she exined.

    "I''m sure many of you have been wondering what exactly the outside of this trial environment looks like, well wonder no further," she announced when a mage staff appeared in her right hand and she waved it.

    Her abrupt action caused a series of lights to spin around the lined-up experts before a magical circle expanded beneath their feet.

    They each felt the red light of the magical circle caress their skin before their environment experienced a drastic change.

    Noah saw and felt his environment go dark, but not totally, while an odd pressurended on his figure but the ne glowed to fend it off.

    Before he and the rest of his guild members could notice anything else, they realized how high up into the sky they were, and to their astonishment, a bright cityy below them.

    However, everyone noticed something; something too outrageous that they failed to put into words. Why is this city high in the sky, many thought? But Lady Yevette''s voice rang out behind them before they could wonder too much.

    "Wee to the only floating city in the entirety of the Cusk nation. And yes this is the Divine lightning guild. Or should I say city."

    ______________________

    Authors note:

    I believe this is a good ce to end volume 3. See you tomorrow.

 Chapter 256 256. RUNIC SYMBOLS

    Gazing nkly at the tiled floor beneath his feet, Noah ignored the bit of noise going on around him, while he tried his best to imprint the image of the floating city and its surroundings.

    Around the floating city was a mass of dark clouds perfectly surrounding it like a wall. The dark clouds crackled with lightning bolts of different sizes and they seemed to release a pressure of their own, but the ne fended it off.

    The sheer soundsing from the bolts of erratic energy were loud enough at times to drown the voice of Lady Yevette while she exined a bit about that ce to them.

    Apparently, the origin of the floatingndmass was confidential information that even she didn''t know, though there were others that did. But what she knew was that the ce was ancient ording to what they were allowed to know. Literally multiple thousand years old.

    The city was demarcated into three major regions by three massive walls, and the regions were upied by members depending on their power level or rank of importance.

    The outer regions being for experts holding power from tier 1 to the peak of tier 2. The inner region being home to individuals holding power from the lower stage of tier 3 to the lower stage of tier 4. However that region was separated into two smaller ones, the portion closer to the walls leading to the center region housing experts in tier 4.

    The center region was the smallest, but apparently, all the monsters of the guild whether they were tier 1 to tier 4 lived there. As long as the expert was considered very important they would be sent there. Rumors also had it that even tier 5 experts had homes there.

    Needless to say, this excited the experts but also informed them of how much importance they had to garner to be valued.

    Although the city was separated into three regions, the buildings in all of them looked just as high tier as the best cities that could exist in that nation. The only difference being that there might be more powerful structures in the inner and center ones.

    Noah felt able to sense barriers high above them, as even the light from the sun almost couldn''t pierce the dark clouds, meaning the environment there would be constantly gloomy. Notwithstanding, that detail didn''t manage to faze Noah, who only cared about gaining enough importance, and of course power.

    The various lightsing from the city reminded him of the settlement citizens of Earth termed "The city that never sleeps".

    "Aiden!" A male voice pulled Noah out of his thoughts. Getting up from his seat, Noah noticed that everyone had eyes on him. His eyes fell on the round room they were currently in, and at the end of the room was arge ck sphere featuring runic symbols running on its surface. The sphere being lifted by two sculpted ck arms buzzed whenever the hundreds of runic symbols made aplete revolution.

    Beside the object radiating a level of power that his mind couldn''t grasp were three individuals, one of them being Lady Yevette, and the other being the tier 4 bald man they had seen during the trials.

    Just likedy Yevette had said; before any heavy touring would be done they would need to take the oath to fully be identified as a member of the guild. For now, it seemed only the tier 3 experts were present. But Noah couldn''t care less about the weaker cultivators.

    His walk towards the pulpit where the three individuals stood, began. Noah could feel and sense the culmination of his efforts to join that guild being summed up in the action he was about to take.

    The eyes of the other 186 experts followed his movements. Noah had aplished feats that could be considered stories that would be told in legends. Many could tell fromdy Yevette''s exnation that the breathtaking white-haired man would be one of those important fellows as he had power avable to him. Unfair power.

    Noah arrived before the sphere and took the three steps needed to get on the pulpit. The eyes of the bald man and even that of thedy beside him; who he didn''t recognize fell on him.

    "Are you ready for the oath?" The man asked almost coldly.

    Noah limited himself to nod his head in response not minding the expert''s tone.

    "Good. ce your hands on the sphere and read the oath," the man ordered.

    Doing as he was told, Noah felt a wave of information flow into his mind and his soul-core quickly began to crackle with an intense energy while it broke down the non-written oath.

    ''This is a bit, but it''s reasonable,'' Noah thought feeling his environment slow down. However, he didn''t have his focus on that detail since his eyes were closed.

    The oath stated that; he couldn''t indiscriminately hurt his guild mates unless it was necessary, or they were in an agreed duel. He couldn''t reveal information that was given to him by the guild and was considered confidential unless required to.

    He was allowed to travel wherever he wanted but needed to inform the senior in charge of him. And if he were ever summoned during his travels, he would be required to return to the guild to take orders. He could only be exempted from this if returning would be impossible or would take too long than what was required.

    It stated that; he wasn''t allowed to take actions that could cause damage to the guild in ways that surpassed physical damage, and he was required to protect the guild in whatever way he could depending on the situation. Andstly, he wasn''t allowed to join any other guild as long as that oath had not been abolished.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The reward for breaking any of the rules would be to have his body blown apart and his soul-core destroyed.

    [Do you wish to take Oath of the Divine Lightning Guild?]

    [Tier: 4[Peak]]

    [Note this Oath will inscribe itself on your skin and soul core. Only when oath-taker has exceeded the power level of the oath can they be free of it]

    [Do you still wish to continue?]

    [Yes/No]

    Noah heaved an inward sigh before choosing yes. There wasn''t any going back, to begin with. Immediately he took that action the runic symbols on the sphere shone with greater radiance before flowing towards his palm; where they began their journey up his arms.

    Noah felt pain seep into his mind at that event, but he didn''t flinch. His mental waves unfolded on his body to inspect the process.

    The multicolored symbols found their way to his chest where they converged, and the crest of the fox with lightning bolts for tails dug into his chest.

    Intense pain gushed into his mind at that point but he remained unfazed. Immediately the symbols had dug into his skin, a few of them separated from the still shining crest on his chest to snake up his neck.

    Noah saw the symbols seep into his incredible skin leaving injuries in their wake, but the injuries healed as fast as they appeared. The symbols however left no injuries when they got past his skull and soon Noah switched focus to his mind.

    Rather than small shining symbols; within his mind the runic symbols had erged in size, being far greater than even his ind.

    His mind on a normal day would fight against that process, but since he had epted it and saw it as no danger, nothing happened.

    The shining symbols arrived on his ck soul core to bathe it in their light, but the light also went on to spread across his ind like a multicolored river.

    Noah''s entire soul realm trembled at the power contained within the symbols, but he felt no pain from that process.

    The shining symbols and words soon shrunk into a very dense crest, which of course was the multiple-tailed fox. The condensed symbols radiating intense power shot into his core. Deep pain ravaged Noah''s senses at that point and he felt forced to hold his head in pain.

    The oath settled at the very center of his core and stopped. In the span of an instant, the shape of the crest dug itself on his ind. Noah couldn''t care less about that detail since he felt he had passed out multiple times while still standing.

    Immediately the oaths had found their home in his soul''s core, and the still shining crest on his chest died down to reveal a bloodied chest. However, his healing kicked into action clearing the injury.

    Noah opened his eyes at that point, but he could still feel pain in his head.

    "You can go," the bald man announced, and he did just that.

    Further inspecting his body, although the injury left no scar, Noah could tell that something dwelt under the surface of his chest, and he quickly moved to test it.

    Sitting where those that had received the oath sat, Noah, switched to his dark side, basing that switch on violence. Soon violent thoughts on how he could tear the person sitting next to him apart flowed into his mind, however, his chest shone with a golden light depicting the beastly crest of the guild.

    ''I feel pain,'' Noah thought holding his head in pain while feeling his chest throb with nigh-intense pain that spread throughout his body; almost sending him into a state of shock.

    "I''m really a member of the Divine Lightning guild now," he muttered, feeling both mental and physical pain vanish immediately after he stopped the thoughts.

 Chapter 257 257. GUILD HALL

    The process of taking the oath quickly passed by, and Noah found himself standing among over 150 individuals who he now identified as guildmates. Excitement was in the air after that procedure had ended and the bald man didn''t waste time in allowing them to continue on their tour.

    Noah for one felt eager to see the city up close. Though it wasn''t exactly thergest city he had been to, it held things that his eyes managed to spot from the height they had been taken to, and those things piqued his interest madly.

    A smile shone on Lady Yevette''s face as she took the moment to bask in the excitement of the new members. Although they had a lot to learn some even disheartening, that didn''t change the fact that great things were soon to happen.

    Even she had heard information of the outstanding experts, and their auras; even if expertly bottled up met the hype.

    "There isn''t much to say than it''s time for exploring," Lady Yevette dered waving her staff at the gathered experts. The same phenomenon of spinning lights and a magical circle urred and the experts began their touring of that environment

    Lady Yevette limited herself to taking the experts through the inner regions, iming that the outer ones were being toured by the weaker cultivators.

    Tall buildings shimmering with different lights filled the streets of that region, and to the surprise of the new members, different activities were going on in the city than just guild activities.

    There were marketces, sports arenas, shops of various services, and many other things that one would find in any city.

    "The Divine lightning guild has allowed a few individuals whom we consider trustworthy enough to bring goods from outside the ind into it. Nevertheless, the inspection process of such individuals and their products is still very thorough. As we cannot allow dangerous items or lifeforms into the ind," Lady Yevette exined while they walked in a single file down a street bustling with activities, but the experts on the road never bumped into them.

    "An outbreak featuring a peak tier 3 life-form that almostpletely destroyed the outer regions urred around sixty years ago. It had gotten to such potent stages because a few individuals kept its existence secret, and in the span of a few minutes after it went into a frenzied state it had killed many. I was only a peak tier 2 expert at that time, and I watched many of myrades die that day. However no such has happened since then,'' she casually talked, clearly over the incident.

    Another detail Noah noticed about the city was its flying beasts. The only city he recalled that had that many beasts was in Keriee, and his interest was piqued. Unfortunately, Lady Yevette didn''t exin the reason for it.

    During the tour, the experts were led to only areas and locations that were essential for every guild member to know. Like the regional library, a few important training halls, and finally the guild hall.

    ording to their tour guide, each region had its guild hall, which featured missions that fit the average power level of the experts.

    A grand tower around 500 meters in height and seemingly constructed only with ss appeared in Noah''s view. The tower was painted a golden color from its peak to its bottom. And it shone proudly with the light it produced, lighting up the streets surrounding it with its golden radiance. Due to the constantly dark environment of that city, the golden light could be spotted from every position in that region.

    ''Damn,'' Noah thought raising an eyebrow. ording to Lady Yevette, that tower was positioned at the center of the region. And from being there himself, Noah could immediately notice how the formation of the buildings and streets began from that point to spread out in all directions. Forming a hexagon.

    Lady Yevette strode towards the towers massive metallic doors shimmering with lights of inscriptions.

    "Without the crest on your bodies, the doors of such facilities will never open to you. Your guild mark is your key to the important buildings," the expert exined cing her palms on therge handle.

    A light shot out of the door to scan her figure in less than an instant and she immediately got able to push it open.

    Noah however had failed to notice that event since his focus had been on the sight around the tower.

    Laying eyes on the multiple feathered beasts parked around that building, Noah fell into marvel. Some of the beasts held power at the peak of tier 3 and featured powerful cores, let''s not even forget theirrge sizes.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Many of the beasts parked around the building were surprisingly donned in armors. A feature Noah had nevere across before. In short, the scene looked and felt magical to him.

    Lady Yevette led them into the building, and an even more wondrous scene unfolded in their bewildered gazes. Rows upon rows of golden staircases filled Noah''s sight. Each level of the tower featured its halls, but Noah limited himself to focus on the one before him.

    The sight of tens of experts moving about the length and breadth of the room, either chatting or being busy with something; filled the eyes of the experts. The chattering noise also exined how many were there to rx and have fun. A pleasant scene.

    Very quickly, just like on the streets, their figures caught the eyes of the others, and Noah felt d to see that smiles filled their faces, some even cheered for them

    On the other side of the room was a reception bar where their missions would be verified, and right beside the golden bar was arge brown board riddled with different papers of different colors, and they even seemed to be graded.

    Lady Yevette led them towards the bar exining its basic function while instructing them to figure out the rest themselves.

    The hall didn''t only feature the reception, it had a portion of its space filled with chairs and tables in a way that reminded Noah of a tavern. Many experts sat while indulging themselves in the cups of nicely smelling beer.

    Part of the reception bar''s duty was to serve refreshments to the members, for a price of course.

    At that point, they reached the reception, anddy Yevette immediately began a conversation with one of the five females sitting across the table.

    Thedy radiated power in the middle stage, but only at its beginning. Heck, she seemed to have recently advanced into that level.

    ''That reminds me. Why am I the only lower-stage cultivator in the tier 3 rank,'' Noah wondered casually sweeping his gaze on the beautiful environment. He had started getting used to the golden colors the guild seemed obsessed with.

    The matter had only been at the back of his mind since the man that registered him told him of his weaknesspared to the others, yet it remained baffling.

    ''Were the others scared of joining? How did they even get picked? Last I remembered I was only a tier 1 when I was given the box, Were there requirements to also register,'' Noah continued to wonder, butdy Yevette''s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

    "This will be the end of the tour. You''ll be given a few books to read and be apanied to your dorms," she announced.

    "As new members, you do not have the requirements to individually own buildings, so you''ll all be staying in one building but different rooms. These will normally be your permanent ces but when you rake up enough, you can get your own buildings. For now, this will do," she exined beginning her walk past them.

    "When important information arrives, you''ll all be notified with themunication items you see in your allocated rooms. She''ll exin the rest to you," she added not even turning to look back at them.

    "Please follow me," a female voice rang behind the experts who were too busy watching their guide leave.

    However, to the shock of the experts, their eyesnded on a girl who looked no older than 11.

 Chapter 258 258. ROOMS

    ck-haired, adorable-faced, not more than 4ft3 in height, Noah felt amazed toy eyes on that childish stature. The only thing that felt mature was her tone. Even her voice sounded childlike.

    The individual looked like a child in all features, and her oversized attire didn''t help. Maybe because of her height. Notwithstanding, the experts couldn''t deny the peak middle-stage power brimming from her body.

    "Grade three-body!'' Many muttered in shock, but her yellow spherical core belonged to something in the middle-stage since the quality of its mana hadn''t reached a new overall density. This feature about the power system of that world was the only thing that managed to confuse Noah.

    Normally the estimated power of an individual would be calcted by the quality of the person''s body and mana core. But it seemed a hidden detail was part. Experts were able to differentiate between a core belonging to the middle-stage or not which was the density of the mana core. Unfortunately, Noah remained unable to sense such differences.

    ''Probably because of my change in energy,'' Noah thought pondering about that matter.

    The child-likedy before them had a body that would surpass that of a middle-stage but her strength didn''t feel totally out of reach for him. Even if he understood that he would struggle immensely to pierce her body.

    ''If only our minds radiated some sort of aura. For now, the power scaling system of this world is too messy for me,'' Noah thought. There were too many unstated rules and only a few stated ones. Things were better in tier 2 and tier 1. He hoped tier 4 would be less messy.

    "I''ll be the one leading you to your rooms," the girl announced, but her words didn''t manage to sound as serious as she desired to the experts.

    ''Is she really a child,'' Noah wondered gazing intently at thedy donned in a ck attire that covered her entire body apart from her hands.

    The youngdy as Noah would term her in his mind, furrowed her brows when she saw that her audience continued to stare at her without acknowledging her words. A sigh that suggested that she had been through a simr situation escaped her lips, but her aura soon red up.

    "Let me rephrase my words. You are to follow me, now move!" She ordered causing the experts around her to flinch in fear. Many even jumped backward at the feeling of danger.

    With her left hand pointed at the exit, the experts quickly began their walk towards the door, while she continued to stare at them.

    ''She''s the one doing the following,'' Noah sighed shaking off the bits of fear that had managed to jump into his mind. He felt the need to switch to his emotionless side to avoid cloudy emotions, but the drawback that came with that ability forced him to keep it forter.

    The line of experts soon found themselves on the streets of that region with the child-like woman behind them. Once in a while, she would yell at them, telling them which streets to turn to. Needless to say, their situation quickly became embarrassing.

    A few minutes had to pass before the experts arrived at an L-shaped building four stories in height. Before actually getting into the building, they had to cross a gate that scanned their bodies to allow them in.

    The experts had to do this one at a time, since after each person was scanned a small box floated towards them. Which ording to their guide; whom Noah had since confirmed was a fully grown woman, contained their room numbers and keys.

    However, unlike traditional keys he was used to, Noahid eyes on a 6/2 inch rectangr object shining with multiple red-colored inscriptions.

    After the gate, the group of 187 experts began their walk into the building. Multiple experts exited and entered the grassypound in which the building was situated. And all of them bowed at thedy.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A cobble walk path branching towards every major entrance of the building appeared in their sight. The walk paths all converged at the center of thepound, where a fountain stood.

    The fountain featured a stone sculpted version of the crest of the guild, and it glowed with a golden light. Illuminating the small fountain pool.

    ording to the woman, their group upied the top floor, but with minor separations due to the other experts staying there.

    "From today on you should address me as either House-master Uriel or Lady Uriel," the youngdy''s voice rang out before the experts.

    They each stood still in front of different doors limiting themselves to following thedy''s back-and-forth movement with their eyes. Due to the tense mood, she had set, most weren''t able to properly appreciate the brightly lit hallway adorned with a brown and gold rug that featured many statues.

    ''So that''s why she received so much respect from the experts we encountered,'' Noah thought following her movements with his eyes.

    "I know you are new here, but let me inform you of the two rules I have. No loitering. I hate it. If you desire to meet each other do it inside your rooms, or outside of the halls," she exined. "Secondly I dislike more than loitering; people who don''t know when to stop staring," she dered shooting a re at the man she stood in front of. Needless to say, the cultivator quickly averted his gaze.

    "You can enter your rooms. Asdy Yevette said, there are items already prepared for you inside your them. Make sure to understand their functions.," she said waving her hand dismissively.

    Noah immediately turned to the red door in front of him, he noticed a hole that fit the shape of the item in the box and quickly inserted it. A clicking sound escaped the door after the rectangr object rotated anti-clockwise.

    Noah applied a soft push on the door, and its 4-inch thick frame silently opened to reveal a finely decorated but also simple room.

    Shutting the door behind him, Noah heard two clicking sounds before he was allowed to remove the rectangr object.

    With his eyes fixed on the room''s features, Noah could only nod his head in approval. The room was painted dark purple featuring a golden rug that ran across its length and breadth. Close to the 5/3ft big window was a big bedid with white sheets. But the items ced on the sheets mostly filled its surface.

    Directly across the bed was another door which Noah felt sure led to the bathroom, and finally on the left-hand side of the entrance was a ck reading cab table and chair featuring a yellowmp.

    The room featured small ck boxes attached to its walls that made that cooled the room, but that temperature barely registered in Noah''s mind.

    There was a mirror close to the table and chair, but Noah cared less about it. All in all the room looked decent and also spacious at about 600sqft. A mildly surprising detail considering the fact that the space inside it hadn''t been tampered with since he would have felt a distortion in space upon entry.

    Noah moved towards the bed; silently admiring the golden curtain featuring ck stripes. He immediatelyid eyes on the items disyed on the bed''s surface to begin their study.

    "What do we have here?" He mutteredying hold of a ck book amongst the other items.

 Chapter 259 259. RANKS

    The ck book being only about 150 pages in volume contained essential information about the guild and its way of doing things. It was more like a handbook to give the experts a tad bit above average exnation about the ce, as even descriptions of ces, items, and facilities were present.

    Noah for one found the dueling description in that book quite interesting. ording to the book, to engage in a duel, one would have to call out his name and the name of the person they wished to duel with. If the person they wished to duel with epted, their crests would both glow a deep red shade forming a sort of a pact.

    Later on, the duel''s rules could be added, like no weapons, no empowerment, no spells, or the first to tap out and anything they wanted. This way if both individuals damaged themselves fatally there would be no repercussions.

    That method wasn''t only meant for duels. Guildmates could make agreements with it, especially if there were potential gains, and no one wanted to be cheated.

    A few things Lady Yevette told them were also described in the book, like the use of the arena which was for big-time events or duels between really powerful experts. Training areas were mostly used as a location for duels that didn''t require intense battles. But to even utilize an arena for a battle, you would need to be a Rank C guild member.

    At that point in the book, Noah got able to understand the various levels of importance a person could attain in the guild. There were nine existing ranks; ranks F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, and Ex. The ranks were majorly based on how important they were in the guild or powerful, while it allowed them to take missions that were graded into those ranks.

    The ranks attainable were grouped ording to the tiers of power to not give too much to weaker experts. Tier 1''s could only attain rank E as their highest. Tier 2''s could go as further as rank C. While tier 3''s were allowed to attain up rank B. Tier 4''s on the other hand could climb as far as rank SS. Any rank above tier 4 could attain rank EX. But apparently, missions at that level were rare; almost nonexistent even. And experts at such levels were rarer.

    To advance through ranks; one would have toplete the minimum amount of missions given to them. One would need toplete 5 rank F missions to be promoted to E. Then 10 rank E missions to D rank. 20 rank D missions to be promoted to rank C. However to go from C to B one would need to be sessful in 50 rank C missions for rank B.

    From B to A, one would need to have seeded in 100 Rank B missions. However getting into the realm of S rank, all a person needed to do was be sessful in one to be ssified as someone at that level. Apparently, missions at that level could be dangerous enough to wipe out whole cities and were also really scarce. So being sessful in such would mean the individual was capable.

    Rank SS and Ex followed the same approach.

    After reading all of that; Noah got to the portion of the topic that featured new members, and it didn''t matter what level you were, all new members would start from rank F. It then depended on the individual how fast they would achieve higher ranks, since the higher the rank of the missions the better the pay.

    This managed to sadden Noah a bit, but he quickly got over it since he understood the Guild''s reason for doing so. He nned to advance as fast as he could, but only because he needed to buy beasts for the Dungeon creation function. Speaking of that, Noah recalled spotting an establishment that sold the bodies of magical beasts. Thankfully the guild utilized the same currency system as its nation. He could only hope that he found things at a cheaper price.

    Noah read many other basic information new members had to know. A few of them had already been exined by Lady Yevette, while many others were things like moving around the city using its transportation system, one would need money. And to apply for jobs you''ll need to inform the individuals behind the guild hall''s bar and stuff simr to that.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, thest information in the book that managed to pique his interest was how they were supposed to leave the ind. It was either you possessed or rented a flying beast, or you simply jumped down.

    Needless to say, that exnation shocked the hell out of him. However, when he read further he understood why jumping down wouldn''t lead to their deaths.

    ording to the book, the city, although it was floating never actually moved around, simply hovering over one spot, and the area beneath its location was a wastnd. That detail eventually became important the further he read.

    Surrounding the city''s edges and underside were thousands of inscriptions created by the best inscription master their guild had. Individuals apparently centuries in age. An information Noah wondered why was important.

    The inscriptions were meant to defy thews of gravity, creating a space thousands of feet in length and as wide as the city; where the experts could simply float downwards, towards the surface.

    The book even gave a detailed diagram. And Noah found himself inspecting the image of an illusory cylindrical construct emerging from beneath the ind''s structure, stretching towards the surface far below them.

    This reality raised doubt in Noah''s mind, which was the safety of the ind from the outside world. But the book solved that doubt. ording to it, only those bearing the mark of the Guild could utilize it no one else. And a member could use it to return to the ind, but their moving speed would determine how fast they returned.

    The only downside was the fact that after every sessful mission one would need to travel back to that spot to begin their ascension.

    But when he read about how even those traversing the skies with flying beasts could not directly fly through the; ording to the book; river of clouds. But had to return beneath the city where a runway was. He could onlye to terms with his situation.

    Another item on the bed was a map of their region, even though some things could be outdated, but important facilities and buildings never changed position. And even if they did, everyone would be notified.

    Noah eventually focused on his bed, and his eyes fell on two sets of high quality attires, a featureless white mask, a goldenmunication amulet and a ck orb. He immediately began to look into those items, but his eyes caught sight of something beneath the orb.

    Noah found an envelop ck in color, and he didn''t hesitate to open it.

 Chapter 260 260. FACELESS DEMON

    Sitting on the ck table illuminated by the yellowmp beside him, Noah stared quizically at a golden sheet of paper featuring a map that led towards a particr area in the city. Thanks to the map provided by the guild, Noah was able to understand that the position of the ce on the paper was a spot outside of his region.

    Beneath the diagram was a letter addressing him in amanding tone, for he was required to answer the call of the individual speaking. And even his guild mark tingled at the sight of the red stamp at the bottom. The stamp being the crest of the guild forced Noah to acknowledge the authenticity of the letter. The ck book had spoken about the official stamp of the guild, and what hey on the paper was it.

    ''I barely know my way around this region and I''m already required to visit the central one,'' Noah thought staring at the golden paper.

    ording to the words in the body of the letter, he didn''t have to worry about the issue of crossing regions. Simply showing the stamp to the guards at the gate would be enough to get him in. What he was to do afterward would be told to him when he arrived there.

    There was even a time limit. He had to answer the call within a minimum of six days from that moment.

    A sigh could only exit his mouth at some point. He could only me that sudden event on his growing fame in the guild. Many already knew of his feats. The stares and waves on the streets of that city proved it.

    "Six days," Noah muttered. He nned to begin his journey to that ce four days from then, there were too many things he needed to take care of first. In truth, Noah felt honestly excited about going there. A ce where only the monsters of the guild stayed, no one in that guild wouldn''t be excited.

    After settling the matter of the letter, Noah inspected the clothes he was given. The first was a long darker-than-ck garment like the one he usually saw the experts of his guild wear, but this one featured a golden crest on its back and chest portion.

    The second attire was a set of two pieces, almost like the one he wore only higher quality, had golden zig-zagged stripes on its shoulder portion, and featured the guild''s crest.

    ''I''ll stick to this,'' Noah thought storing the two clothes in his inventory. He preferred waiting till the attire he had on was damaged beyond repair before wearing any of his new ones. And knowing himself, he knew that such an event was too close.

    His eyes fell on themunication amulet, but he simply stored it inside his inventory after linking his mind to it. The orb was a special case. He had seen its description inside the ck book but using it was a different ball game. Fortunately, he was a quick learner.

    The orbs function was more like a projector from Earth, only of higher technological value. ording to the book, wielders of the orb would only find its use when on missions or travel. Its function resembled that of amunication amulet, only that it allowed him to see the person he was talking to.

    The orb was also capable of scanning an area of 2 kilometers radius to create a holographic map. It would be used to help them whenever they found themselves in unknown environments and needed to find their location.

    The orb also acted as apass linked directly to the ind, to give the members of the guild the general direction of the guild from where ever they were in their nation. How such a thing even worked continued to leave Noah baffled, but he could only shrug his shoulders at some point.

    He understood the principle of a transmitter and receiver from his Earthly knowledge, but he also understood that unless there existed a satellite circumnavigating Cregar from outer space; generating such a powerful signal able to be recognized by the orb from anywhere in the Cusk nation, as massive as it was, should be impossible.

    Then again, they had mana and experts centuries in age avable to them. Two resources Earthcked.

    Thest item on the bed was of course the featureless mask. Unlike the orb it didn''t have a description in the book, so Noah could only guess that its function was simply to hide their faces.

    ''Probably to keep our identity hidden when going on missions,'' Noah thought appreciating the item. It was something he wished he possessed when he first arrived on Cregar.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It looks and feels sturdy," he muttered inspecting the wooden-like item. "It shouldfortably withstand explosions," he added cing it on his face.

    To his surprise immediately he ced the mask on his face, he felt the mark on his chest buzz and the mask light up with golden lines, before revealing the crest of the Divine Lightning guild after which its white color turned ck.

    Noah felt the mask merge with his face unable to fall off. Rather than just an ordinary mask, the maskpletely took the texture of his skin allowing him to open his mouth and close it or blink however he wanted.

    ncing at the mirror across the room, Noah felt horrified by how he looked. Faceless.

    He had his nose and eyes intact, but no eyebrows, or eyshes. Even the real shape of his face vanished underneath that oval-shaped mask.

    [You have equipped a Special item: Mask: Faceless demon]

    [Grade: C]

    [Tier: 3]

    [Effects: Covers user''s face]

    [Cool-down: N/A. Duration: N/A. Cost: N/A]

    "They give us this much. I guess it''s no wonder thirty percent of our ie goes to the guild," Noah muttered shaking his head. "Giving this much to hundreds of people would cost a bit."

    Noah took a while testing the mask, before eventually deciding that it worked fine. cing his hand on the mask''s surface, Noah applied a little tug, and it instantly disconnected from his face to return to its wooden nature. It also returned to its white color.

    Noah stored the mask in his inventory and proceeded to enter the bathroom. With the inspection of the itemsplete, he figured he would take his first bath in a bit more than two weeks. Even if he had been underwater for almost half that time.

    The bathroom featured a water closet, only that its shape was cubical. Unfortunately, he didn''t have the use for it. It seemed the more his body evolved the better its digestive traits. He had never felt pressed in his time on Cregar.

    Staring at the city from his window, Noah could only marvel at the sight thaty before him. He had to admit that the city''s constantly dark environment was still weird, but the hundreds of lights shining from every spot in the city made up for the darkness; creating an environment that ironically never truly went dark.

    Exhaling deeply, Noah prepared to move out. He had finally arrived inside the guild, he nned to utilize the opportunities avable there to their fullest. Which in essence meant no cking off.

 Chapter 261 261. BLAZING ROSES

    "So what do you say?" A brown-haired man no older than 25 said to pensive Noah, and he could only furrow his brows as he fell into thought.

    Just as he nned, he had arrived at the establishment that dealt in the buying and selling of dead magical beasts, but an obstacle existed in his way. ''I have to be higher than a rank F to patronize him,'' Noah sighed inwardly. However, the young-looking man, who by nature wasn''t exactly part of the guild but bore an oath by the guild, decided to make apromise.

    For the chance to patronize him, both would duel, and if Noah came out victorious the young man would have to allow him to buy whatever he wanted with a 5% discount.

    A quick inspection of the man''s power was all Noah needed to understand that the young-looking individual stood at the peak of the middle-stage.

    Noah honestly considered it, but when the man stated the rules of no spells or empowerment, only their weapons, and possible martial arts, he could only back off. After all, the reward for Noah losing was that he would have to tell the man his secret to his extraordinary power.

    "No thank you," Noah voiced his thoughts, resolve in his tone, but also a bit of sadness.

    "Too bad, but there''s no pressure. When you advance to Rank E you cane back, my five percent discount offer is still on," the man reassured.

    A smile beamed on Noah''s face at that point, and he quickly turned to leave. The shop was mostly dark but featuredrge ss windows allowing the lighting from the city to further illuminate its dimly lit insides.

    Noah had arrived inside the reception and found it empty. But it looked able to fit around thirty people, as seats were strategically positioned to maximize the rtively small space.

    Pushing the ss door, Noah ignored the bell hung at its top to exit that ce. The city''s soft breeze caressed his face at that point, and he found himself nkly staring at the raging thunderclouds in the distance. No sounds reached the city but the shes of the lightning bolts within the wall of thick dark clouds could be seen from anywhere.

    The sight felt both magical and dark at the same time. Noah felt curious about what the true purpose of the clouds was.

    A pinhole of sunlight broke through from the small space at the peak of the conical-shaped formation of clouds. That sight allowed the experts measure what time of the day it was, but only if you nced at it would you be able to spot the light. That''s how tiny it was.

    The clouds visibly spun around the ind, but never went past a certain point.

    "What do I do now?" Noah muttered walking down the illuminated streets of the city. The situation had quickly changed; making advancing in the Guilds'' rank necessary.

    With the invitation to the central region still at the back of his mind, Noah had to be careful of time, and seeing as missions took them out of the city he didn''t want to risk getting stuck outside for days, unable to answer the call.

    The dark-clothed figures of his guild mates passed by him, some spotting him, but only raising their eyebrows. While others tried tomunicate with him. Noah feigned ignorance. He wasn''t in the mood.

    Honestly, he wondered how many members the guild had, seeing as their region was more than 6sqmi. The book gave an estimate of the total number of experts the guild housed and it stood somewhere around Seventy-thousand!

    ''No wonder they are one of the more influential guilds,'' Noah thought recalling the incredible figure. That wasn''t even all. The guild also had non-guild members who lived in the city. Like the man whom Noah just departed from.

    "I forgot to get his name," he muttered taking a left into a street almostpletely identical to the one he traversed, only that at the end of the street stood the grand tower that was their guild hall.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Its structure remained breathtaking, most especially due to the golden lights it beamed into the environment.

    With the obstruction of getting his desiredmodities being his rank, Noah nned to quickly eradicate the issue. However, he would stop if he found that he would be unable to answer the call in time. Since such a scenario meant courting death.

    cing his hand on the metallic handle of the guild hall''s massive door, Noah found that a light scanned his body faster than he could react, and the formerly unmovable door gave way to his push.

    The familiar sight of many experts moving up and down the hall appeared in front of Noah, but he directly discarded that scene to walk towards the bar. Having only left about two hours ago, Noah''s presence surprised the experts that had sighted him then.

    "Hello," Noah started, directing his greeting to thedy that had spoken with Lady Yevette.

    An eyebrow rose on thedy''s face, but she quickly got rid of that reaction to reply to him.

    "How may I help you?" she asked.

    "I am Aiden, and I''d like to take a job," Noah announced, and his words inevitably brought surprise to thedy''s face, and even those eavesdropping. However, she got rid of it as brisk as it appeared.

    "As a new member you are to start from the bottom rank which is rank F," she exined. Although he knew the information, Noah let her exin in case there were bits of information the book left out.

    "I believe you n to advance to E rank. For that you''ll need to be sessful in 5 F rank missions," she continued.

    "Yes," Noah replied allowing his gaze to fall on therge board beside the bar.

    Thedy immediately noticed his gaze and quickly opened her mouth to speak.

    "New members aren''t allowed to choose from the board until they seed in the first one made avable to them by the guild," she exined.

    "First one?" Noah asked raising an eyebrow.

    "Yes, The first F rank mission is provided by the guild," she affirmed, searching the desk before her to reveal a brown sheet of paper.

    Handing it over to a curious Noah. She calmly watched him sweep his gaze on the brown paper. She found herself wondering how a man could attain such looks.

    "Gather 100 zing roses in the central garden," Noah read in a mutter. "Reward 10 small silvers."

 Chapter 262 262. WONDROUS SCENE

    Noah furrowed his brows at that read but said nothing. He continued inspecting the format of the job request and couldn''t help but find it a bit too simple. No shiny words or anything, just ck ink.

    At the bottom of the paper was a small map pinpointing the area the quest was to be carried out.

    Noah quickly brought out the map given to him by the guild to find the location.

    "When you are done bring the required amount of roses here for submission and we''ll give you the second stamp which signifies that youpleted the mission," thedy exined seeing arge map float in front of Noah while he inspected it.

    Hearing her words and recalling the exnation the book gave on that matter, Noah returned the paper to thedy nodding his head. She immediately ced a yellow stamp on it signifying that the quest was being carried out by him.

    Noah immediately turned to walk towards the exit at that point. His actions managed to spark respect and astonishment in the minds of many that were present and had seen the process. Unlike him; on their first week in the guild, many had simply cked. But he had barely spent seven hours and was already working.

    Exiting the guildhall, Noah quickly began his journey to the central garden. However, it wasn''t located anywhere near the center of their region and was situated in the Eastern portion of the region.

    The journey there would take a while since he nned to go on foot, however, he recalled that there was a well-organized transportation system.

    From the book''s description, and Lady Yevette''s exnation, Noah could spot structures meant for boarding carriages. And he soon arrived at one.

    He soon found a carriage going to the central-garden district, and quickly boarded it. The journey would cost him 1 small silver; a normally extravagant price, but he barely felt it.

    Besides the carriage''s exquisite insides and the quick beast that pulled it, allowed the pay to be worth it.

    There were nine other individuals within the bus-like carriage, but Noah kept to himself, opting to enjoy the night-like scenery of the city. He had to once again admit that the environment looked beautiful. Heck, he even felt a mild sense of nostalgia gazing at the changing scenery.

    The city had a great traffic system almostpletely identical to the one used on Earth. However, that reality didn''t manage to surprise him. The method of changing lights to pass across a message was genius. The only difference between them was that the city utilized different colors.

    In less than thirty minutes Noah arrived at his destination. Only he had stopped in front of the garden, and he felt d about it.

    "This is it," Noah muttered ncing at his map and back at the building before him.

    His icy blue eyes fell on a dome-shaped structure that was made of transparent ss. The wideness of that ce, however, caused him to shake his head.

    The building felt almost slightly bigger than a stadium capable of fitting 60,000 individuals. Noah soon gained a vague idea of why the mission wouldn''t be as easy as he thought.

    "Gather hundred," he muttered;ining. Two guards stood at the entrance of the building, the only material that wasn''t transparent. Though it was wide open.

    "What do you want!?" One of the two called out to an approaching Noah.

    ''Are there even trespassers in this city, who''d even dare?'' Noah wondered sensing that the two men were also guild mates, but their power stood at the peak of the lower-stage, and both had orange cores at the octahedral stage.

    "I''m here for a quest," Noah replied raising the stamped paper. Thankfully the lightsing from the street illuminated the sheet of paper; allowing the experts to read its contents.

    "Ah okay, senior," one of the two answered, weirding Noah out. Nevertheless, he couldn''t me them for the mistake. His power was vague even to middle-staged cultivators. Lower-staged cultivators would mistake him for someone of higher cultivation level.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It''s okay," Noah replied walking past them and the already opened gate, into the garden. At his passage confusion crept into the minds of the experts.

    "I''ve never seen him around here before," One of them conveyed to the other using his mental waves.

    "Me too," the other replied momentarily ncing at Noah''s figure in the distance, he had already crossed the two gates to arrive inside the garden.

    "I believe I''ll recognize someone with that kind of face," the first spoke, furrowing his ck brows.

    "Don''t tell me he''s one of the new members," the same person spoke snapping his head at the insides of the garden, but Noah had already vanished inside the multiple tall bushes. The garden was more of a small forest than not.

    "Nah I doubt. ording to the schedule they just arrived today, no one would immediately begin quests on the first day," the other reassured.

    "So how do we exin how he came to be?" the first asked, arching one of his eyebrows.

    "I don''t know!" the other shrugged. "Maybe he''s from the central regions...." his words faded out when he heard how unreasonable he sounded. To normal members of the guild, the central region was a ce of legends. They were rarely allowed to go in there. It was the spot where the real important activities of the guild went on.

    The two could only settle for the white-haired man being a new member, which led to an awkward realization. Although Noah had more power, ording to the hierarchal system in the guild, they were his seniors, both standing at D rank. The real reason the realization got awkward was the fact that Noah hadn''t objected to their salutation. Surely he noticed the three stars on their left chest.

    "This is such a hassle," Noahined finding himself in a series of tall thick bushes. "Garden? More like a fucking forest," he cursed, violently waving his hands at the leaves that tried to find their way into his mouth or eyes.

    ording to the quest paper, the zing roses were fiery orange in color, and he would be able to spot them quickly.

    The process of walking through the bushes almost aimlessly, ended when Noah arrived inside a clearing of sorts. However, the multiple kilometers worth of space before him wasn''t void of vegetation. Quite the opposite, in Noah''s time on Cregar he had never been to a ce filled with that many magical nts.

    The formerly dim environment changed inside that ce. Not only did the ceiling of the dome above them feature yellow lights shining only on that expanse, the hundreds to definitely thousands of nts shining with their own lights further illuminated the area, creating a wondrous scene like none Noah had everid his eyes on,

    A minute had to pass before he snapped out of his daze, sessfully capturing that scene and etching it into the walls of his mind.

    All sorts of colors appeared in Noahs sight, but he focused on the ones me-like in nature, and quickly spotted nts that fit the description on the quest sheet.

    Walking towards one of such nts, Noah bent down to admire the magical wonder thaty before him.

    The zing roses were more like real mes orange in color, but in the shape of roses! However only the flower part were me-like, the stem wasn''t, but was in a vibrant shade of yellow.

    Stretching his hand forward to pluck the rose, Noah sessfullypleted the action, but a violent wave of orange mes filled his vision barely an instantter.

    ______________________

    Authors note: I know its superte, but its here. The second for today should be out in less that one hour

 Chapter 263 263. SUBMISSION

    Noah found himself barreling backward in an instant, while his body experienced multiple flips in a second. His figure crashed into a tree, but a magical barrier repelled his figure forcing him into the thick bushes he had formerly exited.

    His passage parted and damaged many of the vibrant green bushes, but new bushes sprung up to fill up the space left by their predecessors.

    Shock and wonder couldn''t be more evident on Noah''s face after the event. Hey on the ground for a few ten seconds before snapping out of his daze.

    ''What the heck just happened?'' he questioned himself, even if he knew what happened. The rose had exploded in his face after he plucked it.

    ''Why did that happen?'' Noah questioned himself, spitting the bits of dirt that hand entered his mouth, and dusting his hair since his clothes repelled the dirt.

    Returning to the spot he had been sent flying from, Noah felt another wave of shock fill his mind when he found that the environment looked the same. However, the real astonishment was finding that the rose was still there, even if he clearly recalled plucking it.

    ''It''s not the same one,'' he eventually concluded, ''Another one simply grew from its stem.''

    "How do I pluck them if they blow up immediately they are disconnected from their roots," Noah pondered understanding that the quest wouldn''t be as easy as he thought, even if it was a mere rank F mission.

    ''That explosion would have killed a peak tier 1 or even beginner tier 2,'' Noah thought. "Is this the real difficulty of Rank F missions," Noah couldn''t help but doubt? The death rate of tier 1 and 2 experts would be incredible if that reality was the case.

    "No, it isn''t. At least not necessarily," he quickly corrected himself. "The guild provided this mission to we tier 3''s. I believe this mission is some sort of ast test. They consider it the weakest type of quest for we tier 3''s," he considered, feeling his thoughts hit the spot.

    "If it isn''t some test, then we''d be allowed to pick F-rank quests from the board," he muttered focusing his gaze on the nt.

    He hardly ever did this, but after a while of being close to above-average magical nts, Noah realized that he could inspect magical nts the way he did beasts and people. However, that ability had only been unlocked when he reached tier 3. It was more like an expansion of the normal inspection.

    [zing roses]

    [Grade: Low]

    [Tier: 2[mid]

    [Origin: The roses are made out of the coboration of mana and nature. They detonate when violently removed from their stems or roots]

    "I see," Noah muttered at the panel''s information. ''This is still going to take a while,'' he inwardly sighed walking closer to the nt.

    Crouching before it, Noah dispersed the nervousness that tried to make a home in his mind. Stretching his hand forward he grabbed the thorn-less stem from the point where it connected to the ground and applied a gentle pull.

    The rose separated from its roots immediately, unfortunately, Noah found himself inside another fiery explosion.

    With the speed force''s empowerment, he would be capable of seeing the explosioning, but since it didn''t scratch him, and not even his clothes were affected, he didn''t bother to waste speed essence

    Noah had to endure another twenty explosions before he could sessfully pluck one rose.

    Noah stared at a rose made purely out of mes but didn''t flicker or move like real mes. The nt didn''t even possess any heat. He had never been so gentle in his entire life, but thankfully his around half an hour''s worth of effort had paid off.

    The trick had been to gently cut the rose nt from the spot closest to its flower, this caused him to have the my flowers on his palms rather than its entire branch.

    Surprisingly, a new flower didn''t immediately grow back, but Noah could already see something slowly emerging out of the stem.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Storing the nt in his inventory where time wouldn''t affect it, Noah swept his gaze on the rest of the garden searching for more zing roses.

    However, his expression darkened at the sight thaty before him. ''How did I not notice,'' he thought when his eyes fell on bushes featuring multiple zing roses. Only a few ones were odd enough to grow directly out of the ground.

    The bushes were spread apart from each other, literally in random positions. And the minimum he could sight from one shrub was around twenty.

    ''This is going to take a long while,'' Noah sighed diving into the project that was gathering 99 more flowers.

    *

    *

    *

    Sitting on a grassy surface, surrounded by the fantastical and wondrous nts within that garden, Noah gazed nkly at the sky above the transparent ceiling. His eyes fell on the ever-revolving clouds, but he didn''t mind that sight.

    His appearance had changed during the six hours he had spent in that garden. He had traveled less than five hundred meters from the beginning of the clearing but had sessfully gathered the required amount of zing roses, only that the reward for that feat was his ck face.

    The amount of failed pluckings crossed fifty, and things had been even more dangerous with roses growing from shrubs; as if one detonated the others would follow suit; illuminating that area with the light of multiple orange explosions.

    Thankfully he never received an injury, but his face had gotten covered by ayer of char anyway.

    His attire had also never gotten damaged since at some point he started getting used to the timing of the explosions. Needless to say, he got caught up in some too. Many even.

    "I need to refill my core," Noah muttered getting up and wiping the char off his face. He had gathered exactly 100 zing flowers because his guild mark wouldn''t let him gather more without sending pain to his mind.

    Because he came there for a quest he couldn''t take more than the quest stated, a reality that made him hiss in annoyance. Maybe it was because the roses belonged to the guild.

    Crossing the series of bushes to arrive at the first of the three gates, Noah strode forward, crossing the gate where the two guards were still present.

    One of the duo tried to call out to him, but Noah resembled an unapproachable person with his back turned at them. The stunned duo could only watch the breathtakingly handsome man vanish when he took a left into a different street.

    Noah almost felt tempted to run in that environment. Although he barely had 4k worth of Speed Essence he didn''t need that much to arrive at his destination. However, he settled for another carriage ride. That was his first day in the city, he needed to learn about unwritten rules since there definitely were topics like that.

    Due to the never-changing environment of the city, Noah felt like he experienced the longest night he had ever experienced in his three lives.

    Around twenty minutes had to pass before he arrived at the carriages stop; from which he walked towards the guild hall. Its magnificent structure unfolded in his sight, and he once again admired it, though only at the back of his mind.

    The guild hall remained as crowded as hest remembered. ''Do they never rest,'' he thought, mildly irritated.

    His eyesnded on the counter and he immediately began his walk toward it. Surprisingly the samedy was present, and his appearance surprised her.

    "I''m here to submit the flowers," Noah immediately went to the point, and for some reason, thedy almost choked on the cup of liquid she held in her hand.

 Chapter 264 264. F-RANK

    "You''re here to submit the flowers," thedy blurted out, astonished. Noah furrowed his brows but nodded. He failed to understand why thedy felt surprised by that feat. He had spent six hours doing it, surely that couldn''t be the quickest someone hadpleted it.

    "You should be given an award for your aplishment," she suddenly said, requesting for the paper. "No one has everpleted this quest this fast, and most times they were asked to gather fifty," she continued.

    "I spent almost seven hours," Noah arched an eyebrow while she led him behind the bar, where surprisingly a staircase that led below the guild hall''s surface existed.

    "You think seven hours is that much. Many spend days gathering the required amount," she countered.

    Noah could only fall silent at that point, opting to watch how they descended into a bright room. The staircase spiraled down for a bit more than ten meters, before directly arriving inside a ck-painted room filled with all sorts of things.

    Noah could spot mana stones, nts, beast cores, coins, and things he had neverid eyes on before in different heaps.

    Thedy saw Noah''s curiosity and immediately exined to him.

    "This is where the recoveries from missions stay before they are sent out to their respective owners. Anyone can ce a job request, but it''s our duty to gauge where it stands. As even with the different ranks there are more dangerous missions," she exined gesturing at a small space on the inscribed ck floor.

    Noah understood what that gesture meant, and didn''t hesitate to wave his hand to remove the nts from his inventory. In truth he wasn''t required to perform that gesture to get anything out of his inventory, all he needed was to stretch forth his hand, or even do nothing and the items he wished for wouldnd on the ground or appear in his grip.

    No sooner than hepleted his gesture, did the space around them light up with an orange radiance.

    Thedy held her breath at the sight. He had truly gathered the required amount.

    "I almost can''t believe it," she muttered crouching to grab one of the roses. "I have to tell you to keep up the pace and you''ll be amongst the bests in the guild," she encouraged.

    Although she had only recently stepped into the middle-stage, Noah felt certain that she was older, so he didn''t mind the advice. Besides, the three stars on her right chest signified that she held a higher rank than he.

    "That''s all. We can go," she announced walking out of the chamber to arrive directly on the stairs. The only ce that featured a door was the door that shut the passageway, other than that everything was open. After all the Oath wouldn''t allow anyone steal from the guild unless they desired death.

    Noah quickly found himself in front of the bar.

    "Since you''ve seeded in your first mission you are now a full rank F member. You are allowed to take jobs from the board. You also get your first star," she exined after cing a green stamp depicting his name on the quest paper.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Is it necessary to carry the star around?" Noah asked.

    "If by carrying you mean keeping it on; then no. But it''s essential that you have it with you at all times, so your rank can be identified. The ranking system is the same as all other guilds, and missions featuring other guilds happen. You need to always be prepared," she exined, making a star no bigger than one inch inscribed with a really small version of the guild''s crest to give it its authenticity.

    Nodding his head while receiving the golden star, Noah calmly waited for his pay. She had gone inside the door behind the bar, but he only had to wait for about a minute before she reappeared.

    A wrapped bundle of seven silver coins stacked on each other floated towards Noah who quickly stored it in his inventory. Performing a bow to each other, after speaking with her for a bit, Noah before departed from the bar to walk towards the board.

    Standing before the brown board,rge in size, Noah slid his palms on the board''s metallic four-corner edges which were golden brown, however, he didn''t care about its appearance only the papers that riddled its figure.

    The lowest bunch belonged to F-ranked individuals, but he couldn''t stop himself from gazing at the upper ranks.

    Each row had a written tag, so when he gazed at the ones belonging to B rank which were at the peak of the board, he felt his knees tremble. Just like thedy; who''s name was Leah, had said, even amongst the various ranks there were dangerous missions, and one could figure them out by the color of the quest paper.

    Brown meant the mission wouldn''t be anything too dangerous, blue meant the mission would require battles, and finally red. Death was a potential oue of such missions. These were quests that caused shivers to run down Noah''s spine when he read what they entailed.

    In that instant, he recalled how weak he actually was, since, from the warnings that were written on the quests, he understood that he would have no chance of really doing much.

    Eventually returning to the realm of rank F, Noah browsed through the brown ones since they were easy, and were missions that the average tier 1 couldplete. ording to Leah, Rank F missions onlyst seven days on their region''s board before returning to the outer region where proper tier 1''s couldplete it. However, there were exceptions, like the one the guild gave them.

    So if no one picked the missions in seven days then they would be shipped out.

    Reading the description of the quest, Noah settled for it before returning to the counter to get it stamped. Immediately after the process was done he departed from the guild to fulfill it.

    The mission was almost like the first only that it would require him to travel to the outer region to collect nts mainly used to soothe physical pain.

    With this, Noah properly began his rise to importance in that guild. But there were already other more important things nned for him. Things and events that would make him even better amongst his mates; whoever they were.

 Chapter 265 265. OUTRAGEOUS

    ying around with the two golden stars in his palms, Noah walked out of the guild hall feeling gangsta.

    His exit out of the guild hall caught the eyes of nothing less than forty experts, but the reason behind their respectful gazes was none other than because he had advanced into a rank E member.

    ''In merely two days,'' Noah thought, storing the stars in his inventory while walking towards the ce he could buy beasts. During the past two days, he had worked himself; going across the length of the entire region and even the outer one. In merely two days he already understood theyout of their region, at least most of it.

    His feat, needless to say, amazed Leah and whoever had seen his constant return and leaving from the guild hall. ording to Leah, there was a chart mapping how productive the new members were, and Noah stood at its top, even breaking a record of achieving rank E on the first three days of joining the guild.

    It wasn''t that he had been the fastest to achieve that rank in the guild, it was simply when he started that made the difference. His fame spread like wildfire and soon Noah could notice more eyes on him.

    ''Why can''t they just keep our aplishments a secret,'' Noah pouted inwardly, taking a right into a street. He of course knew the answer to his question, which was none other than because the guild desired apetitive environment.

    Only a few minutes had to pass before he arrived at his destination, and to his surprise there stood a queue. Thankfully it wasn''t very long.

    Noah stood at the end of the queues, and his presence seemed to alert the others who although behaved normally conversed about the new member that attained rank E on his first three days of joining the guild.

    Noah on the other hand really didn''t care. In honesty, he felt safe in that environment; the safest he had ever felt in Cregar. No one would suddenly attack him or try to, and even if such happened they would most likely die afterward. He wouldn''t need to move a muscle.

    During his time traveling the city, he gained a deeper understanding of why cultivators desired to join organizations that could have their back.

    Noah eventually entered the building toy eyes on filled seats. But he remained on the queue to have his desires tended to fast since he really didn''t need much, merely 44 tier 3 beasts remained till filling in the remaining.

    Noah felt certain that he wouldn''t have enough funds to fill up thatrge reminder, but he felt content to at least cut it in half. The rest would be taken care of as he took more missions.

    Unfortunately, he still had a long way to go. Missions containing tier 3 beasts were for C and B ranks. In truth, he felt excited that he would one day reach that level and be considered a top-tier member, but he needed more power.

    Thankfully the guild allowed them to travel, so he could go on expeditions aimed at findingrge packs of tier 3 beasts, favorably in the lower stage, since tens of middle stage beasts hinted at the existence of a higher stage one, and he knew death only awaited a sh with such beasts. That was of course if he didn''t go all out and utilize his strongest skill.

    "That was fast," the man Noah had met the other time spoke. Behind him were three others, all females, and they attended to the needs of the other customers.

    "Your news is spreading at an incredible pace, and it seems it''s true," the young man added stretching a hand towards Noah.

    "I''m Elias Grey, a mere merchant''s son who was lucky enough to have someone refer me to a great guild in our nation," he said smiling when he saw that Noah shook his hand.

    "I''m Aiden, a practical nobody who found himself in the forests of a backwater town, but had enough talent to grow beyond it," Noah replied smiling in return.<novelnext></novelnext>

    An amused smile shone on Elias''s face at the weird introduction, his mouth opening to release words. "They say we should never forget our roots no matter how bad they were. Where is this backwater town you speak of?"

    "Oh just Mariwa," Noah replied not minding that he spoke most of the truth. No one would find his parents or something like that there.

    "Hmmm... that really isn''t a great town. Thest I was there was twenty years ago, and the town''s lord ruled it to poverty. Unfortunately, no one would do anything since he had strong backers," Elias exined cing his hand on his beardless chin.

    "Due to the poverty my parents died as a result of searching for a good life," Noah lied, almost faking a sad emotion. "Thankfully my talent was recognized and I was nurtured by a certain someone. But I don''t like talking about that," Noah exined shocking himself.

    ''There''s no need to," Elias replied quickly changing the subject. "So how may I help you?" he asked.

    "What I requested for the other time," Noah replied.

    "Lower-stage tier 3 beasts. Preferably ones with most of their bodies intact but are not high quality," Elias listed, and Noah nodded his head in affirmation.

    "Well now that you are an E rank you are eligible to patronize me," Elias announced. "The prices for the average bottom level tier 3 beast is four-hundred-and-fifty small silvers. But plus the five percent discount I''ll be giving them to you for four-hundred-and-twenty-seven small silvers."

    "However it depends on how many you are buying, I can only hold up that discount for five of them," Elias exined showing a helpless smile.

    Noah on the other hand didn''t care, heck he felt d. Not because of theck of discounts but becausepared to his purse the price for the beasts was usible.

    "That should cost about twenty-thousand small silvers," Noah muttered. That sum of money of course was startling. Such a huge amount would be enough to sustain many individuals in towns such as Mariwa for years. Yet here he was reasoning spending that much in one go.

    Thanks to the sum of 25 small gold coins and the coins he got from the mercenary group, Noah could albeit notfortably, meet that unholy price tag. In total his purse contained about 28,000 worth of small silvers, meaning he''d have around 8k left for his spending.

    It felt almost dumb to spend that much in one go, butpared to the thought of finally being able to level up after about a month of stagnancy, his desire to horde could only crumble.

    "I''ll be needing forty-four of such beasts," Noah announced after barely a second had passed since Elias stopped talking.

    Needless to say, the young merchant listening intently to his request almost got blown off his feet from the wave of surprise that mmed into his mind.

    "By the gods! What the fuck do you need that many for?! Necromancy?!" Elias sted. Feeling the urge to cough blood at Noah''s outrageous demand.

 Chapter 266 266. AUTHORITY

    In the span of a second Elias'' calm demeanor had crumbled, and Noah got able to see his true color. Or something like that.

    Elias paced about the ce after having startled everyone in the room including Noah, who could only take a few steps back in slight shock. Honestly, he had expected a surprised reaction, but the man had a loud voice, a really loud one. On truly worthy of a merchant.

    "Dude..." Noah muttered cing his pinky in his right ear to see if anything would drip out.

    A bit more than half a minute had to pass before Elias regained his calm, and embarrassment couldn''t be more evident on a grown man''s face.

    "I''m really sorry," Elias bowed, speaking in a low tone that almost made Noah burst intoughter.

    "No need for that. I understand that my request is a bit out of the ordinary," Noah exined, and he could swear he saw a vein almost pop on the man''s bowed neck.

    "I''m d you understand," Elias replied raising his head to reveal a smile that managed to creep Noah out.

    ''I don''t feel safe,'' Noah thought, staring at the man''s attempt to fake a smile. ''He seems ready to strangle me,'' heughed inwardly but expressed only a slight smile on the outside.

    "So will you be able to meet my request, or do I have to look for someone else?" Noah immediately asked not missing the faltering of Elias''s smile.

    "Fortunately I can. But you''ll need to wait a bit over two days," the man exined slowly nodding his head.

    "Do I have to pay upfront?" Noah asked already nning his next move.

    "Nah, I already nned a shipment from my source. It''ll be arriving two days from now," Elias exined.

    ''Then what was all the fuss about,'' Noahined inwardly, not daring to speak such words out loud.

    "Okay then," Noah replied. "How much will it cost in total?" he requested.

    "I''ll be giving you a discount for the first five capped at two-thousand-one-hundred-and-thirty-five small silver coins, then the remaining thirty-nine will be sold at the normal price of four-fifty small silvers. You''ll be paying a total of neen-thousand-six-hundred-and-eighty-five small silvers," he exined writing something on a brown sheet of paper.

    "Okay then," Noah nodded. "I''ll be back two days from now to receive them," he said getting ready to leave.

    "Before you go, I''ll need you to write your name here. To have evidence that you''ll being to get them," Elias exined cing the paper he had been writing on in front of Noah and giving him an inscribed ink pen.

    Instead of collecting the pen immediately, Noah paused. It had been a while since he held a pen, and felt nostalgic for grabbing it to write down his fake name after reading what was on the paper.

    Exiting Elias''s shop, Noah began his journey to his abode. He hadn''t been back there since he began his quest to rank up, and his almostpletely emptied core was evidence of that reality.

    He nned to refill his core after which he would begin his journey to the central region to answer the call of the letter.

    ''I hope they let me go quickly,'' Noah thought walking through the gate into the L-shaped building featuring a big veranda.

    cing the rectangr key into its hole, Noah took a moment to nce at Ariana''s door. They had not spoken since her confession. And although there had been many chances to, she had kept her distance, and so had he.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The state of their rtionship now felt hazy and unclear. Coupled with her intentional avoidance of him.

    Shaking his head, Noah walked into his room, locking it behind him. He would then spend the next five hours within his cultivation room where he not only refilled his core but also witnessed the still ongoing creation of his first Speed-force stone.

    A bit over two days remained till it was done, and Noah allowed his excitement to rage within his mind. He felt d about the things happening in his life. His long-awaited leveling up was around the corner, and so was his stone.

    Noah also spent a bit of time meditating, and he soon found his mind dwelling on Elias''s mention of necromancy. Of course, he knew what it meant thanks to Aiden''s little knowledge about that topic, and Elias''s mention of it meant that it existed.

    ''So there are individuals who are capable of bringing dead things back to life but only partially,'' Noah thought at some point and that was the summary of what Aiden''s memory could provide him.

    He nned to visit the Guilds library to stock up on knowledge that the normal civilians of the Cusk nation wouldn''t be able to get. But he could tell that his limit would be his rank.

    Exiting his cultivation room feeling refreshed, Noah''s body brimmed with incredible power; which he quickly bottled up. He felt it was time to begin his journey to the central region.

    Exiting his room, Noah felt startled to find Ariana also exiting her room. The two locked gazes, but she quickly averted hers to walk back into her room and m the door.

    Noah could only watch that scene y out with an indifferent expression; wondering why she behaved that way. Promptly locking his door to walk towards the flight of stairs, he began his descent.

    The darkness of the ind illuminated by the city''s lights shone on his face, but he didn''t mind that sight and began his walk towards a carriage stop.

    The center region was towards the northern portion of the city where the huge ck wall blocking all view into that environment stood.

    Noah had to pay a sum of 4 small silver coins to get a carriage that went towards that side of the region.

    An hour had to pass before he arrived in front of the huge wall. There were two lines filled with different types of carriages, and he quickly moved to stand on one.

    The constant grunts of the various beasts pulling the carriages quickly got annoying to Noah who found himselfmunicating with them. The conversation of sorts with the beasts was messy due to his little understanding of how to use his innate ability and the low intelligence of the beasts.

    Fortunately, he managed tomunicate his intentions to them, even if stronger beasts ignored him.

    "What do you want?" One of the five silver armored guards coldly enquired of Noah. His tone suggested that he had been in situations like that many times. Some random person wanted to see how the center region looked. And he also expected a bogus reply from the astonishingly good-looking man.

    "I was asked toe here," Noah replied giving up on inspecting the individual''s power. The silver armor he wore repelled any mental waves.

    "Oh... by who''s authority?" the man asked half mocking him, but also intrigued. The same could be said for the others who listened in on their conversation.

    "Well by this letters''," Noah nkly replied showing them the stamped letter.

    The man''s demeanor instantly changed at that point, as he abruptly went on his right knee with his head bowed, and so did all the guards that were present.

 Chapter 267 267. UNIQUE

    A grin tried to crack on Noah''s face after his astonishment subsided, but he retained his nk expression. The guard that had been speaking to him stood up slowly, and silently led Noah toward the massive gate dripping with heavy inscriptions.

    Only after Noah had crossed the gate did the others raise their heads, a series of surprise-filled conversations being conveyed through their mental waves.

    "I have a map of where I want to go," Noah announced to the armored guard while they crossed the passageway that led into the different region.

    "I have been ordered to escort you to your destination when you show up," the man replied in a tone that dripped with respect.

    ''Then why was I even provided a map,'' Noah wondered fixing his eyes on the wide exit a few meters in front of them.

    Getting closer allowed Noah to notice the barrier on the opened exit, and when he crossed it, he felt his skin tingle, then the central region unfolded in his astonished eyes.

    Magical; was the only word Noah could describe the scene thaty before him. Tall ck buildings, almost simr to the ones that were in the inner regions, only that their light was only golden and their color was mostly ck.

    The golden color mixed with the darkness all around them created a scene so magnificent that it took his breath away. Everything sparkled, and for the second time since he became unable to sense mana, Noah could almost taste it.

    The mana density and purity there was simply too outrageous for his unique nature to ignore, and very soon, the sight of flying humans entered his eyes.

    The streets of the central region were almostpletely empty if not for the carriages delivering stuff to various abodes, and the guards patrolling the streets.

    Most of the individuals he saw shot up and down the city, another scene that managed to generate a feeling inside Noah, and that emotion was of course excitement.

    Sonic booms resounded above them from time to time as the guard led Noah into an uphill street where a resplendent golden-lit mansion stood grandly at its peak.

    "I believe this is your first time here," the armored man said ncing at Noah who followed the movement of a flying lion-like beast radiating shocking power within tier 4.

    "Yes," Noah replied not managing to remove his gaze from the sky. That was where he desired to be.

    "I believe you''ll get used to it very soon. Nothing much ever happens within the regions. Only when the elders go on missions," the man exined gazing at the center point of the region. However, rather than a tower-like in the inner region, arge skyscraper-like building boldly stood there.

    Th almostpletely ss building featured a metallic ring structure surrounding it closer to its peak. The ring was the only thing on that fascinating building that didn''t feature any light. Making for a dark zone of sorts.

    "What is it used for?" Noah asked also keeping his bright gaze on the structure.

    "The higher-ups of our guild live there. They hardlye out, and when they do, they usually leave the ind and don''t return after nothing less than a decade has passed. One time, one of them left for half a century and returned with a higher cultivation level," the man exined.

    "Much isn''t said about them, and only a handful have ever been in their presence. But those that have; gave testimony of their incredible power," the armored man said, inevitably falling into wonder.

    "Is Elder Adonis one of them?" Noah asked.

    "Yes. But he''s not one of the strongest apparently," the armored expert stated, sending Noah into a state of shock.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Nevertheless we mustn''t dismiss his position. After all, he''s the one in charge of us," the expert announced suddenlying to a stop.

    "What does that mean-" Noah tried to query, but was cut short by the guard''s words.

    "We have arrived," he said gesturing at the ck gate before them. The gate not being that big led into a wide area filled with multiple cobble-stone walk paths that led into different positions in therge mansion before them. But there was a main one that stretched towards the big door directly across the gate.

    ''It''s big,'' Noah thought cing his palm on the gate, and it scanned him to let him enter.

    "What am I to do now?" Noah asked seeing that no one was standing guard or anything.

    "Well you''ll have to wait," the man answered sounding nervous as he didn''t even take a step into thepound.

    "The person you''vee to meet is... um....a bit unique-" The expert''s words were interrupted since the cream-colored mansion before them suddenly experienced a violent tremble.

    Before both individuals could react fast enough, the main door into the mansion burst open, and a fuming ck-clothed figure followed that event almost crashing into Noah who dodged in time.

    The figure flew through the open gate tond and roll on the downhill street.

    ''What the hell-'' Noah eximed inwardly, turning towards the direction of the figure. However, his thoughts were cut short since a strong presence silently and suddenly arrived behind him.

    Noah turned to jump backward, but the individual caught hold of his wrist before he couldplete his action.

    "Good reflexes," a female voice rang out in front of Noah as heid eyes on the person holding him down with incredible physical strength. "He''s a pretty one too," she muttered inspecting Noah. And he did the same.

    Thedy looked to be in her mid-thirties a gorgeous one at that. She sported long purple hair that shone softly, creating an eye-catching appearance. She had azure-colored eyes that sparkled with a red light, one that managed to grab and pull Noah in due to their intensity. Noah felt lost inside the woman''s wizened eyes that he forgot to stop staring.

    "Please give me another chance!" A voice rang out behind Noah puling him out of his daze. Turning to see the face of the person that had been sent flying, Noah felt a wave of surprise wash over him when heid eyes on a battered and bruised Nathaniel.

    Before the noble-man could react to Noah''s figure; a dense bolt of bright-yellow lightning burst out of thedy''s outstretched hand to smash into a stunned Nathaniel, sending his figure flying.

    Noah''s instinct screamed at the power within the bolt, the urge to escape rising in his mind, but the woman''s strong grip surprisingly kept him in ce.

    "Go. Take care of him. If he dies its on you," a cold voice exited thedy''s lips to arrive in the ears of the armored guard, who grabbed an almost dead Nathaniel and shot towards a seemingly random direction.

    In less than five seconds Noah had be alone with the certainly higher-stage woman.

    "You''re next," thedy suddenly said; pulling Noah out of his shock and into growing fear.

 Chapter 268 268. OVERWHELMED

    Crossing the brown door to arrive inside a nice-looking room featuring luxurious furniture, Noah ignored all that detail to keep his eyes on the 5ft4dy clothed in the guild''s ck garment; leading him towards a door directly parallel to the entrance door.

    "Walk in," she ordered at the open door, and Noah did ording to her words.

    A wide cream-painted room around 200m in radius unfolded in Noah''s still nervous sight. The ce was empty of anything but featured different colored inscriptions running along its corner-less wall.

    Stopping after a few steps into the room; Noah turned to face thedy, but a kick tried to smash into his face. Fortunately, his body reacted instinctively by crossing its arms in front of his face and jumping backward.

    Unfortunately, a bit of the kick''s force managed to touch Noah''s arms, and he felt shocked beyond reason to find that the bones in the arm caved in and snapped, causing internal bleeding. However, his healing kicked in.

    Landing a few meters from her with a slide, Noah kept his arms crossed while he remained slightly crouched. But his eyes were wide open.

    The woman lowered her raised leg to gaze at him with a raised eyebrow.

    "Young man do you know why you are here?" Her voice rang out towards an already recovered Noah.

    Shaking his head in response he furrowed his brows ready to speak. However, she spoke before his thoughts could be revealed as words.

    "Think of this as an audition. The guild has seen your potential and has decided that it wants to nurse you into something greater. However you have to pass the test first," she exined calmly.

    "You are the second tost person on the list as only four of you were chosen. The others have I deemed unworthy of being trained by me," she continued raising an eyebrow on Noah''s face.

    "Yes; if you do pass you will be under my mentorship. But if you fail; I''ll make sure to leave you in a worse state than your colleague," her tone took a dangerous dive, and fear ravaged Noah''s mind, but he quickly shut down his emotions since thedy vanished before his eyes.

    Speed essence rushed into Noah''s mind to empower it, but thedy arrived behind him before that ability could be able to fully follow her movement.

    Nevertheless, Noah took a step forward when he felt his back tingle, and he directly crossed a distance of 20m in that instant.

    An explosion of force urred when the attack prepared by thedy failed tond its hit, and a shock wave containing power in the higher stage ravaged the space within that room to send Noah flying.

    Noah felt his insides tremble violently when the shock hit him, and blood quickly poured out of his nose, ears, and mouth during that event. The urge to submit to the feeling of fatigue rising in his head hit Noah like a ton of bricks, but his healing kicked in before he could go unconscious.

    Thankfully, thedy had remained in her position after the attack.

    ''She''s too strong,'' Noah concluded inwardly. A mere physical attack had been enough to almost render him unconscious.

    "They did say you were stronger than normal, but nothing about your rapid healing ability," thedy started. "You should have a hole in your back. But you are quick. Quicker than most. Let''s see if you can handle five percent of me," she announced, then her aura red dangerously.

    Noah stood up with an expressionless face, for the first time in those few seconds he got able to understand where she stood in the third tier, and he could vaguely sense that she was at its very peak.

    ncing at his wrist, Noah saw how his attire in that spot featured long tears, causing him to shake his head.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A deep-yellow magical circle expanded beneath his feet at that action, and an illusory battle armor quickly encased his figure in its light.

    Thedy moved immediately after he had finished; the whole room trembled violently afterward. Pushing his mind to its max, Noah saw that she also moved in slow motion, at least enough for him to take multiple backward steps in one direction before she arrived there.

    ''She''s fast, far faster than anything I''ve ever faced,'' Noah thought, seeing that she had changed direction to follow him. ''But I''m still faster,'' he concluded.

    Due to his incredible movement speed, thedy seemed unable to catch him, and Noah almost escaped getting hurt.

    Almost.

    A powerful sensation of danger ravaged Noah''s emotionless mind when he arrived at a certain point in the room. The ground beneath him lit up with a series of blue magical circles, and shockingly, Noah found himself unable to move.

    As if waiting for that moment, thedy abruptly sped up, and Noah confirmed that she was almost as fast as him!

    Her shorter figure arrived in front of his paralyzed figure, and instead of a punch or something lethal, she pushed her index finger forward towards his stomach.

    Noah watched with cold eyes, his armor shatter into shards of light immediately her finger touched it, and very quickly it touched him.

    The world around Noah twisted and spun, as his figure literally spun vertically to smash into the wall in the distance.

    However, inscriptions lit up on the wall and it received not any damage. Unfortunately the same couldn''t be said for Noah.

    Feeling all the air in his being get sucked out, Noah watched helplessly as his mouth spurted blood heavily, staining his dead attire and the floor around him. Shockingly no injuries were on the outside, however, he felt a force, unlike anything he had ever felt ravaging his insides, causing most of his organs to fail due to the heavy damage they had sustained.

    During that instant, waves of essence gushed out of Noah''s core to rebuild his vital organs. Needless to say, this event cost him a lot. 10,000SE vanished in an instant, as his mind threatened to sumb to the blinding pain ravaging it.

    Unfortunately, thedy wasn''t done with him yet.

    Before Noah''s helpless figure could bounce off the wall, her figure flickered in front of him. In that slow-mo perception, the only thing Noah could move was his eyes, and he followed the movements of her arms.

    This time she threw punches at him, allowing Noah to confirm that she utilized a martial art since, although her attacks were punches, her fists barely contained a quarter of the power that her mere finger had unleashed.

    ''Ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty...'' Noah counted the barrage of fists thatnded on his torso during that instant, but when they reached seventy, his mind gave up on him and everything went dark.

    For the first time in his life on Cregar, Noah had been overwhelmed, by one person at that.

    "Is that all," thedy hissed when she saw that her victim had passed out, and stopped the punches. "I consider that middle stage power," she added, furrowing her brows at the rate at which his body recovered.

    "I like him," she grinned seeing that he had started to regain his consciousness only after a minute had gone by.

 Chapter 269 269. TRAINING DUMMY

    ''It seems my reign of terror has ended,'' Noah thought resting his back on the walls of the expansive cream-painted room. His mouth opened to reveal an excited grin, but the door leading into the room opened to allow thedye in.

    "You''re already fully healed," she eximed with a smile that Noah found not pleasurable. "I guess they sent you knowing you''ll be able to withstand my attacks, at least for a bit. You''re still too weak to be considered among the best. Nevertheless, you are capable of getting there," she exined sitting cross-legged on the floor.

    Limiting himself to remain silent, Noah fixed his gaze on her, before a question entered his mind, one he didn''t hesitate to voice.

    "What was that spell or technique?" He inquired of her.

    "You mean Thunder-p halt. Oh, that''s just a simple spell that forces anyone and anything within its range into a state of un-movement. It''s pretty weak and only works on the dumbest of opponents," she shrugged.

    "The fact that you stepped into it shows how untrained you are, It even disgusts me. Anyone should have seen that I nted a trap, but not you," she spoke as her face twisted to show her irritation.

    Noah could only keep a nk face at that point, he knew what she meant by those words, he had already concluded on them after all. Nevertheless hearing someone say it in such a rude manner managed to hurt him, even if only by a bit.

    He felt insulted but couldn''t do anything about it, she would probably kill him. Also seeing the fact that hurting him hadn''t invoked the oath meant she bore something different, something that was probably special.

    "I fully understand why someone with so much potential wasn''t directly brought to the central regions. Now I''m supposed to train morons like you," she snorted.

    "Why did you ept if you didn''t like it," Noah quickly spoke.

    "Cause I''d gain something of course," she replied mming those words into Noah''s face.

    "Well I never signed up for this," Noah announced, getting up. Of course, he only joked, but he felt the urge to annoy the expert before him, her words struck ces he didn''t know he could feel pain in.

    ''I''m likely to get hurt. But I won''t die,'' Noah evaluated, and soon enough his words caused a reaction.

    "I''ll let you go if you can reach the door before I do," she announced also getting up.

    "That''s not fair, you''re already closer to it," Noahined.

    "It doesn''t matter. Cultivators are supposed to aplish the impossible until it''s not," she waved her hand in dismissal.

    Furrowing his brows, Noah returned to a sitting position. He didn''t want to risk winning, he needed her tutorship.

    "So that''s how it is," she arched an eyebrow taking a step forward.

    Her figure silently flickered in front of Noah, and she grabbed him by the cor lifting him without the slightest struggle.

    Noah however struggled not. Instead, he simply stared into her intense azure eyes, and she stared back at his icy-blue ones.

    Their gaze locked for a few seconds, then a punch shattered Noah''s ribs sending him into reeling shock and pain.

    "From today on, you are not allowed to stare back at me until I deem you worthy," she said after letting him go.

    ''She''s fucking crazy,'' Noah grimaced through a mouthful of blood. His healing had kicked in, and thankfully this time, it didn''t take much to heal.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I''ve decided to take you as a disciple. I''ve never taught anyone but how hard can it be," she began, grinning. "After the first three months, I expect to see lots of improvements. If I don''t I''ll kill you," she casually exined.

    "There''s still one of you left, and only after she arrives and I test her do we begin. For now, you''ll be my training dummy," she smiled.

    "Am I not allowed to leave," Noahined recalling he had goods to collect. Important ones.

    "You''ll leave when I say you''ll leave," she replied, and Noah felt the mark on his chest glow. Needless to say, his expression turned dark, then his illusory armor reappeared on his figure.

    Thedy saw this and grinned, preparing herself.

    "Before we begin, may I know your name?" Noah asked.

    "I am Lady or Elder Sarah, but you are not worthy of addressing me by those, neither are you allowed to call me master," she snorted. "Use whatever you like, but if I ever hear you call me by anything close to any of those I''ll kill you," she announced.

    Shaking his head in wonder while trying not to regret his situation, Noah sent a bolt of lightning her way.

    The room lit up with the deep-yellow radiance of the lightning bolt, and an explosion barreled out immediately after itnded on her figure.

    Noah sent two more in quick session to the first. He did this while moving around a bit.

    "This is nice, but I''m afraid you''ll need more to hurt me," Sarah''s voice boomed out within the room, unhindered by the explosions of the three more bolts Noah had sent.

    The crackling storm in the distance seemed to get sucked into something, and Lady Sarah''s figure was revealed. And although Noah expected a simr scene, it pained him that none of his attacks had managed to even ruffle her clothes.

    Raising her left arm, Noah felt his instincts rage in fear at the power about to be unleashed.

    "This is what a real lightning bolt looks like," she dered as her raised arm turned into a mess of dense yellow electrical currents.

    The appearance of that bolt caused the entire room to fall into chaos as strands of energy left the crackling mass on her arm to shoot anywhere. Noah confirmed that one of the strands was enough to put him in a pitiful state.

    "You''ll kill me!" Noah screamed unable to find a proper ce to hide and he didn''t want to resort to Muillix.

    "No, it won''t. This is something at the peak of the middle stage, you''ll survive it," she dered. Her voice was almost inaudible amid the loud erratic sounds therge lightning bolt released.

    Noah felt his head buzz at that point. Her words put shock in his mind, but his senses confirmed it. The power contained within the bolt didn''t go past the middle stage.

    ''So that''s the real middle stage,'' Noah thought while his environment slowed down. ''I truly am not that strong.''

    He quickly understood why no one believed he could survive a cultivator considered a monster in the middle stage.

    Pointing her arm at Noah''s still figure, Elder Sarah, unleashed the crackling mass of energy. The whole ce turned blinding yellow, but no explosion urred.

 Chapter 270 270. TRICKS

    Shock and excitement filled Noah''s mind at the turn of events, but also pain. His palms had gotten charred, but in their grip were his daggers.

    The ck daggers buzzed and palpated with power, giving rise to the ck and purple mist that always exited their structure.

    ''I actually pulled it off,'' Noah praised himself while trying to keep the daggers in his grip. Both weapons felt heavy after absorbing the peak of the middle stage. It had started to be evident to Noah that his limit didn''t go past that stage.

    Having plunged the daggers into the bolt of lightning on a whim, Noah had ced all his bet on that instinctive action, and it had seeded. However, his arms were barely holding up.

    More than half his sleeves had disappeared and they revealed ck skin. His armor had shattered upon impact. The smell of burnt meat flowed into Noah''s nostrils and he felt both grossed out and amused to find that the aroma was enticing. But the pain he felt removed that detail.

    "That was unexpected," Lady Sarah eximed, amused. "How much can that weapon of yours take," she wondered out loud, raising her arm again as it began to crackle.

    Needless to say, Noah''s expression turned grim. He would never be able to handle another one. His daggers could, but he felt certain his arms would turn to ash if such happened.

    Notwithstanding, he had a n.

    His healing had kicked in, but due to the intensity of the damage going past his muscles, it would take a while. Thankfully Noah could move his arms to some point by the time sheunched another bolt.

    The entire room fell into pure chaos as the inscriptions on the walls flickered to no end. The mass of dense electrical energy more than ten times the size of a grown man; barreled towards Noah at frightening speeds that normally would be un-followable for the average tier 3 experts. But Noah wasn''t average.

    ''I would dodge if the power of the attack wasn''t this much,'' Noah thought. He feared dodging would cause an explosion, one that could render him useless for a few seconds. Enough time for Lady Sarah to strike.

    Due to her movement speed being almost on par with his, Noah understood that moving around would only put him at a disadvantage, she could even cast two of those spells, but she didn''t. At least not yet.

    Feeling his already half-burnt hair begin to catch fire as a result of the heat the bolt was capable of, Noah crossed his daggers beneath his arms and executed two horizontal shes that converged to form an X.

    Two shes containing just as much power as the bolt coupled with their withering ability ate through the mass of dense energy, and when they reached its core it destabilized and detonated.

    A wave of individual sparks washed over Noah, but his new illusory armor protected him from most of their destructiveness.

    A few seconds had to pass before the explosion died down, and Elder Sarah didn''t hesitate to speak when she saw Noah in one piece.

    "I told you you''d survive," she announced raising her arm.

    Experiencing pain in all areas of his body, Noah struggled to keep his daggers up, and he soon lowered them. Most of his hair had been burnt off, but he still had whole sections in one piece.

    His hands had gotten better but his face featured burns, he had no eyebrows, and his formerly plum lips had holes in them and bled. In essence, he looked bad. On the verge of copsing.

    Fortunately, his healing had kicked in, but after healing so many times, his stamina had begun to wane.

    "Don''t tell me you are going to pass out after merely two attacks?" Sarah''s face twisted reminding Noah of Rena''s words about him losing in two exchanges.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A smile broke on his face at that point, but he knew he wasn''t done yet, and his rapidly getting better state proved it.

    Lady Sarah allowed Noah to heal fully. She was reckless, but she didn''t want to kill the interesting man before her.

    "He''ll be the best if gets better," she thought allowing sparks to crackle on her still raised arm.

    "You should move," her words resounded in the room. "You''re fast enough to reach me before my attack, but you''re scared of what I''ll unleash if such happens, and you should, but you''ll die if you don''t move," she advised unleashing two lightning bolts at once. Proof that Noah truly had no chance against her if she decided to go all-out.

    The sight of the bolts put Noah in a tough spot, one that forced him to take her advice.

    Empowering his body with the speed force, Noah turned into a yellow streak as he curved to totally dodge the bolts.

    Seeing Elder Sarah''s figure in sight, he decided he would try his storm spell against her. He knew she wouldn''t take damage, but he had to keep things fun. Coupled with the small hope he had of hurting her.

    A magical circle expanded beneath her feet, and in the span of an instant, a river-like mass made purely out of erratic electrical energy exploded forth in the room covering a radius of 50m.

    This small range was of course Noah''s doing, he didn''t want to get caught up in his spell.

    Notwithstanding, lightning bolts flew out of the incredibly loud and dense storm before him. And he had to reconsider his decision of utilizing that spell.

    "That tickled," Sarah''s voice rang out behind a shocked Noah, and her fist smashed into his side crushing the bones rtively close to that position and damaging his kidney.

    Blood tried to flow through Noah''s mouth but he crashed into his storm before such urred. Thankfully, his empowerment allowed him to remain mostly unhurt.

    Dispersing the storm after piercing it from side to side, Noah smashed into the wall and it once again remained undamaged, which meant more pain.

    Coughing blood, Noah tried to get back on his feet, but a ck sole filled his field of vision.

    A sickening crunching sound escaped Noah''s face as Lady Sarah crushed his nose, front teeth and cracked a bit of his forehead digging a few millimeters into his face.

    Blood flowed out of that injury as Noahy limp and unmoving.

    ''Is he dead,'' she wondered carefully removing her feet from his bloodied face. However, Noah''s figure exploded into a crackling mess before she couldplete her action.

    The explosion managed to push Elder Sarah away. And out of the storm of lightning bolts camerge spears made out of densely packed air. They numbered thirty.

    "Oh! you''re a dual affinity holder. I guess that forces me to show you some of my tricks too!" she announced, her gorgeous face featuring an excited grin.

    Spreading her arms horizontally beside herself; her limbs suddenly caught fire, and spears made of orange mes formed out of her ming arms to shoot toward Noah''s iing spears. The entire mansion shook from the blinding power released after the collision.

 Chapter 271 271. SCOLDING

    "That was weak," Elder Sarah muttered dispersing the mes on her arms. She barely moved from her position after the explosion, as not even her high-grade clothes were fluttered. Her mes had naturally destroyed Noah''s spears, but the spears had done enough to damage the mes causing them to detonate.

    ncing at the barely standing Noah, she marveled at his rapidly healing face.

    Feeling the blood that dripped out of his facee to a stop, Noah frowned deeply, he had honestly thought he''d die. Thankfully his body worked overdrive to not allow such an oue.

    "This is abuse," Noahined. "You are far stronger than me, to begin with. How do you expect me to win," Noah added expressing his annoyance.

    "Oh but isn''t this how you dominate the others. You shouldn''tin about an act you utilize on others," she exined coldly.

    "Young man, I have seen you in action and can''t help but pity the poor humans that encountered you," added entering a stance.

    "This is me humbling you. Only after that isplete can you bow to be trained," she dered vanishing from her spot to arrive next to an already dodging Noah.

    Feeling surprised about her words, Noah could only sigh inwardly. He didn''t like how quickly she had evaluated him, and he even felt the faint desire to rebel.

    Unfortunately, he hadn''t the time to think those thoughts since a foreign force struck his chest and his left knees.

    His knee shattered disabling him, and his chest caved in sending great pain into his mind. He recalled dodging, but her elbow attack had reached him anyway.

    ''Her technique doesn''t make sense,'' Noah thought getting hurled away, as he puked blood for the nth time that hour.

    His back smashed into the inscription-filled walls but it didn''t get damaged.

    Luckily for his body; Elder Sarah slowly walked towards his convulsing figure.

    "Are you surprised? Well, you should be. You''re fast Aiden, but you''re too slow," she announced flickering from her position. However, rather than attacking him, her figure seemed to split into five shaking figures.

    "Can you tell where I am," her voice resounded from all five flickering figures.

    Needless to say, Noah stared in pure shock, nheless, he quickly focused on the issue at hand. His mental waves shot forward to inspect the flickering figures, but he couldn''t tell the difference between the five figures.

    "You''re in all five of them.." he muttered straining his mind.

    "Correct," She replied as all five figures merged to be one.

    "In theory, you should be able to do the same, but you''re too untrained and utilize your speed brutishly," she snorted appearing before his now standing figure.

    "In truth, you had been fast enough to dodge my first attacks, but you didn''t focus on my extra movement to cover the distance fast enough to reach you and pull back," she exined as Noah felt a force smash into his right arm, left knee, and left shoulder in the blink of an eye.

    Shock filled Noah at the realization of her words. He had never used his rapid movements that way before. Simply running around whenever he wanted.

    Speed essence flowed into his crushed bones to fix them, but he had started to run low on energy.

    "You''re so annoying I want to teach you something already," Elder Sarah clicked her tongue walking backward around twenty feet from his figure.

    "I want you to block at least one of my attacks. Completely dodging them is good too," she announced entering a stance, her right leg stood around 2 feet in front of her slightly crouched figure, while her left leg bent into an almost kneeling position.

    "If you think this is some sort of stance for the execution of my martial art, you''re wrong," she snorted vanishing from her position.

    Noah focused his gaze on the room at that point, he understood that he couldn''t dream of following her movement without empowerment, so he utilized it, and he could somewhat see her movements, and what his eyes fell on left him taken aback.

    The gorgeous-looking woman surprisingly jumped back and forth on the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room. Her movements were so quick that she almost appeared invisible to the naked eyes, thankfully her ck attire gave away her position.

    Nevertheless, Noah could only slump his shoulders in defeat. He was a cheat, without the speed force he would never be able to do anything against her. She stood on a different level than normal cultivators. Terming her monstrous wouldn''t be enough.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Raising his arms in front of his face in a protective stance, Noah waited for her to begin her movement towards his position. And she eventually did, but not in a way that he expected.

    Noahid eyes on an iing shower of tiny needles made from mes. Each one of them carried enough power to hurt a middle-stage cultivator and shot toward him from all areas.

    The rain of orange needles blocked his view of the monstrous expert, and he feared what would happen if he focused on them.

    Unfortunately, he had to make a decision, and he chose the deadly needles. His illusory armor encased his figure in its light and Noah created a wall of wind, even if he knew just like the spears they would be overpowered.

    Creating an all-around shield out of his control on the lightning element, Noah braced himself for impact, unfortunately, nothing happened.

    However, in the blink of an eye, a ck shadow crashed through his defense to deliver several punches that Noah failed to count.

    "You''re stupid. An actual dummy. Do I have to repeat myself about you not staying in one position," her irritated voice rang in Noah''s half-unconscious ears.

    Her anger caused her to deliver more blows, and they quickly surpassed a hundred. However, Noah remained conscious. His body had started adapting to that healing speed.

    "I''m sorry," he apologized coughing blood as he curled up into a ball.

    She delivered a kick on his side, sending him flying. Thankfully she didn''t make any other moves.

    "I can''t deal with this!" she eximed walking towards the door. "How have you even lived long enough to achieve that level of power," she turned towards his figure, marvel evident on her face.

    "I guess you''ve never met someone able to match your strength. Well, there are a lot of individuals who wield far more experience than you."

    "Power is nice, but real experience maximizes power. The important cultivators in this guild have both, you''d be dead in less than five exchanges if not for your healing," she yelled at him.

    Noah could only sit on the ground while listening to her scolding. He felt bad beyond reason. His pride crashed before his face as words he knew were true were hurled at me, and this led to pain.

    "I know," Noah muttered, his countenance having already fallen.

    "What was that?" Elder Sarah asked sharpening her eyes.

    "I know how inexperienced I am, that''s why I''m here," Noah spoke, feeling the urge to yell at her, but the fear of death wouldn''t allow him.

    "Then why haven''t you changed that in all the years you''ve spent grooming your power," she snorted.

    ''Because I''ve barely spent six months yes,'' Noah replied to her in his mind but remained silent outside.

    "I thought so. I''ve met brutes who only focused on their cultivation level, neglecting their battle experience. Yes, they won many battles but encounters with individuals equally as strong, who possessed expertly understanding of their power; techniques, and battle tactics honed after decades of pure work. They fell. Fast," she exined.

    "On the ying field of monsters, you also need proper techniques and skill to win."

    "You can leave. When you''re ready to listen to instructions return, I''ll train you." she ended, walking out of the room.

    Disappointment reigned in his mind after that event, and he soon left her mansion to begin his journey back to the outer region.

    However, he returned to request for something that would allow him back into the central region since he had utilized the letter already. Lady Sarah handed him a purple ring at that point, and Noah found that it could disy the crest of the guild, only that her name stood beside it.

    ________________________

    Authors note: This was supposed to be for yesterday, but I''ve decided to change the release schedule to two every weekday, then one each for Saturdays and Sundays, since exhausting activities go on during them. I know it goes against my promise of two every day, but this is the best I can do to maintain a steady release schedule. A big Thank you for your understanding.

 Chapter 272 272. ASHAMED

    The journey back to the inner region was rtively quick. Noah spent most of his time in deep thoughts, and it wasn''t until he arrived in front of the building that featured his room did he manage to ce his series of thoughts on hold.

    He strode up the stairs without minding the others traversing it themselves. He would eventually get into his room to return to his cultivation room since he needed to refill.

    His feelings had long since calmed down, but the internal turmoil remained fresh even after an hour had passed meditating within his cultivation room.

    ''Am I that much of a bad listener?'' Noah wondered still sitting cross-legged with the whiteness of his cultivation room.

    Due to the words Elder Sarah had used, Noah recalled Jon from the Enil vige giving him simr advice. If the man encountered him now he would puke blood at Noah''s incredible strength. That thought managed to lighten his mood but only by a bit.

    Having long since finished refilling his core, Noah had to leave at some point, and he soon found himself staring at the ceiling of his room, a state he had found himself in many times.

    "In the yground of monsters, I''ll need great skill. Not just spells and brutish utilization of my power, but proper understanding of my power," Noah muttered. In truth, he had alreadye to such a conclusion, even if only inwardly, but now he had confirmed it from someone who held great power.

    ''She''s strong. Too strong for me,'' Noah thought. He found himself wondering about the identity of his soon-to-be master. He understood that higher-stage cultivators were strong, but she felt far different. Her speed also continued to leave him astonished.

    It felt absurd that a human could achieve such without the same energy that powered him. His feeling of specialness had vanished after her masterful disy of power and control over her power.

    Nevertheless, Noah believed he would eventually reach that level of proficiency as time went on. If not for his urgent need for power, he would take things slow. In essence, hisck of proper techniques wasn''t exactly his fault, his situation wouldn''t allow him spend decades honing a set of skills.

    Thanks to her show of skill, Noah inevitably gained a mild level of understanding and a few ideas on how to best utilize his speed. This, needless to say, led to curiosity and the willingness to try his ideas out. And in merely two hours of returning to his room, Noah had set out to go look for a training area.

    The map at hand provided him with directions to the closest training facility, and he soon found himself standing before a perfectly rectangr-shaped building. The building resembled a big blue box ced on the right side of the busy street, and its entrance didn''t fail to show how often it was used by the members of the guild.

    Walking into the spiral door, Noah found himself inside a wide grayish hallway filled with many people traversing its length. Quickly beginning his walk towards the end of the hallway, Noah took a right into another hallway, and at its end, he took a left into yet another hallway.

    A the end of this hallway, Noah burst into a wide grassy field illuminated with many standing manamps. The field resembled a football field, only about twice as bigger, and featuring ss walls standing at over 50m in height.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He had arrived at the training field itself. The hallways he had traversed were riddled with many doors leading into cultivation rooms, although mid-tier.

    Since the training area was free to use by the members; its equipment wasn''t the best the guild could offer. Facilities like that were a tad bit costly.

    "That would do," Noah thought picking a spot at the far right end of the field. He immediately began his dash towards the area, ignoring the few people that were around on the field.

    Eventually arriving there, Noah set up the 50m wide circr barrier by stomping his foot on the ground three times. A light shed on his figure and immediately kick-started the series of activities required to erect the 20m tall barrier.

    With that done, Noah took off his mostly-torn coat to remain in the turtle-necked long sleeve and trousers. It pained him that he had barely spent a week with the attire and Elder Sarah had destroyed its mana stone.

    His thoughts soon focused on the main reason he hade there.

    He nned to mimic the trick of seemingly splitting into five figures, that Elder Sarah had done. Sparks crackled on his skin as he prepared himself to do what she did. He had a vague idea of what to do, but the rest were confusing since they didn''t make sense.

    "Am I supposed to jump back and forth on a linear path," Noah wondered pushing his limit to around half his achievable speed.

    Crouching a bit, Noah jumped to a spot a few feet from his position and jumped back to his former spot. He then slowly began to increase the rate at which he did this, and his figure eventually turned into a blur dashing back and forth on a linear path.

    However, Noah found the process unpolished. The ground beneath him had started to feature foot-shaped holes since he was moving at Mach 40 jumping back and forth. Unfortunately, he wasn''t able to achieve the same seamlessness Lady Sarah had portrayed, mainly due to the yellow streak he left on his path.

    Eventuallying to a stop, Noah found that a bit over 5000SE in the less than a minute time he had used.

    That realityid out an issue that he tried to ignore but couldn''t. Unlike Lady Sarah who looked able to move at her incredible speed without any sort of empowerment, Noah could only run at that pace only by burning Speed Essence.

    This showed how powerful thedy''s body was. She was more of a Speedling than Noah was, and he felt slightly ashamed to agree with that realization.

 Chapter 273 273. DUEL

    Noah continued a series of actions that he eventually determined were mainly based on agility and flexibility. The type that he didn''t possess. Or that his body hadn''t gotten used to.

    ''It''s pointless, I''ll need to train my body rigorously to do what she did,'' Noah evaluated inwardly. He had already given up after about half an hour.

    "Three months," he muttered. "I don''t have that type of time to only hone my skills. I need to level up."

    "Maybe I can strike a deal with her or something," he considered sweeping his gaze on the dark environment filled with many lights. "I''ll probably get beaten a bit for that," he chuckled.

    Elder Sarah surely was a character, he understood what the armored man had meant by her being unique after experiencing it firsthand. She was violent and cared not about the well-being of others at least to a certain level.

    Her character even contrasted with her appearance. No one would imagine that she was capable of such brutality if they didn''t experience it themselves.

    Getting up at some point, Noah decided to take his leave. He had spent close to an hour there, and the main reason he came there wasn''t something that could be achieved in an hour.

    His walk back to the entrance into the field was however interrupted by a group of three individuals. Two of them had power in the peak of the lower stage, while the strongest held power past the bottom point of the middle stage.

    "How may I help you?" Noah began politely. It didn''t seem necessary to act cold towards them, they were guildmates who could not hurt each other until certain requirements were made. They didn''t even seem hostile or disrespectful.

    "I''m Jace," The strongest said stretching his hand forward for a handshake. "I''m creating a party that would go on missions together, and I''d like to have you as one of its members," the young-looking man exined immediately after Noah took his hand.

    At those words, Noah recalled an exnation of such in the ck book. Guildmates; so as to advance quickly through ranks were able to create groups with the lowest number of individuals being three. These groups of individuals could then take jobs and share their pay.

    An even better way of earning more was if the leader of the group was of higher rank and the others were lower-ranked. They could take jobs ranked at the leaders level and it would be considered that they had done a job at that rank, even if they wouldn''t be immediately promoted.

    The idea was mostly good, but Noah found it unfavorable, especially for someone like him who had too many secrets.

    Thanks to the guild, he could mostly disguise his speed as a technique, but he understood that he would face some issues at some point.

    "Sorry but no," Noah calmly replied, and the man''s countenance visibly fell.

    "I''ll be sure to cut our earnings in favor of you," Jace promptly announced, looking desperate.

    "Are they okay with that?" Noah asked raising an eyebrow.

    "Yes, they are," Jace replied ncing at the two males. "Are you not?" he asked them and they nodded with smiles that Noah felt were fake.

    "If they are, I''m not. Such partial treatment will eventually lead to issues that are too annoying to deal with. And besides, I''m a new member, you''re a D rank. You will order me around and I''ll be unable to do anything as a result of the oath," Noah exined nkly, performing a shrug.

    Jace could only fall silent at that point. His mouth opened a few times, but no words exited them.

    "I''ll take my leave then," Noah announced ready to take a step forward.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Would you at least duel me? I know who you are; everyone knows, that''s why I approached you. Thankfully I was the first. There will be more offers, probably better than mine, so I enjoin you to do at least this for me," Jace exined, and Noah couldn''t help but be taken aback.

    ''Is everyone in this ce a battle junkie,'' he shook his head inwardly while considering the man''s plea. He didn''t find it surprising that he had be popr and that people wanted him, after all, he had been facing such since he arrived in Cregar.

    "What do I get for dueling you?" Noah eventually voiced his thoughts.

    Jace fell into thought at that point, and Noah couldn''t help but nce at the two lower-stage cultivators patiently waiting behind the young man. He had caught both individuals stealing nces at him, and began to wonder whether his torn clothes stood out.

    "Unfortunately I can only pay you in coins since there isn''t much one me," Jace exined.

    ''Says the man donned in a peak middle-stage light armor,'' snorted Noah inwardly when he checked out the equipment the young man before him had on.

    "How much are you willing to let go?" Noah replied with a bored expression.

    "50rge silver coins," Jace promptly replied forcing an eyebrow to rise on Noah''s face.

    ''5000 worth of small silvers,'' Noah thought, amused that someone would throw away that kind of money for a mere duel.

    "What are the rules of the duel?" Noah asked fully interested at that point, it felt like a waste to not indulge the man in a duel that he considered he had already won. Jace was only a man with an Octahedral orange core. Only yellow-cored individuals proved to be somewhat threatening.

    "If you win; you take the coins, but when I win you have to join my groups for at least five missions," Jace exined without the slightest bit of hesitation.

    ''When?'' Noah grinned inwardly. ''I like his confidence, but it couldn''t be more wrongly ced'' Noah shook his head inwardly.

    "I agree," Noah announced, and Jace immediately began the process of a duel.

    "Do you Aiden agree to participate in a duel. If you win you receive 50rge silver coins, and if I win you join my party for five missions? The loser is the first to beg for their life!" Jace announced feeling his chest tingle as a result of the glowing guild mark.

    "I agree!" Noah dered loudly.

    Immediately after his reply ended, a golden light shot out of both their chests, unhindered by their attires. The lights converged in front of both individuals to form the guild''s crest before vanishing.

    Noah immediately felt a connection with the young-looking man before him, but he didn''t care much about that detail since he had to jump backward to dodge the balls of orange mes flying toward him from an expanded magical circle.

    "He didn''t even wait for me to get prepared," Noah clicked his tongue casting his armor spell. A deep-yellow magical circle expanded beneath his figure, and the light of a battle armor illusory in nature emanated from his figure.

    Noah retrieved his daggers from his inventory, and for the first time he gained that ability he switched to his dark side.

    The world around him lost its color and luster, as only ndness and darkness remained before his rage-filled eyes. Violent thoughts and imaginations caused his soul realm to experience a low tremble. Thankfully he managed to stop his mind from falling into depression and quickly shot forward to carry out a brutal set of actions.

 Chapter 274 274. HURRY

    A bloody sceney in front of Noah after he had switched back to his calmer side. Jacey a few feet from him, both his legs had been severed up to his knees and blood gushed out of them. Many of his fingers didn''t lookplete but like his legs, their missing parts were nowhere to be found. His daggers had probably absorbed their energy.

    Jace visibly shook in terror while he tried his best to keep himself from screaming as a result of the blinding pain that ravaged his mind. His eyes were cloudy with tears and his breaths felt heavy as a boulder. Due to his state, his, group came running to feed him potions. Unfortunately, potions able to instantly heal a middle-stage body were expensive. Nevertheless, there were many lower-stage potions avable.

    The individuals that had spectated their short battle nced at Noah with a light of horror in their eyes, he had taken things to another level; directly bursting through spells to arrive at his opponent''s position like a rabid dog.

    Jace had managed to escape him a few times, and he did this by casting spells non-stop. Unfortunately, his luck had run out at some point, allowing a savage Aiden to deal that much damage, unhindered by the light armor he wore beneath the guild''s ck garment.

    ''It''ll take him a few weeks maybe a month to healpletely,'' Noah thought taking a few steps forward. But the bleeding man held his hand up to stop his movement. A small brown bag appeared in front of Noah at that point, and he didn''t hesitate to pick it up and take his leave.

    He understood that the young man didn''t want him around him, and honestly he didn''t care, he had gotten his reward after all. Reviewing his memories of the fight, Noah found that they carried the same ndness that his dark side experienced, he felt as though he looked at life from a different lens, and in this case his memories.

    His return to the dark environment of the city was quick, and he could only wonder where to go at some point. His room although solitary was boring to stay in for long periods, he preferred going out for missions, and thankfully he had advanced to E rank. Even if it wasn''t much he could get a bit from them.

    With that thought he returned to the grand guildhall to apply for a rank E mission, Fortunately, it was one that still happened within the multiple regions of the ind.

    The quest saw him delivering a series of packages to and fro to different locations within the inner region. The pay would be 100 small silvers, a reasonable one.

    The quest took him a bit more than two hours toplete, but he barely felt tired, this caused him to take another mission, this time he would need to gatherrge rocks from the outer region and would be paid 120 small silver since it would require time and effort.

    Noah had to gather many rocks more than twice the size of the average fully grown man.

    The quest took him a bit more than four hours and had managed to get him slightly tired. It pained him that such an amount of work would only amount to that much, butpared to the outside world he was being paid well. Many would kill to get that kind of money, especially in poor towns where bronze coins were the highest denominations a person could attain.

    He soon returned to his room after he had submitted the mission in the guild hall. He desired to eat but wasn''t exactly hungry, so he remained within his abode.

    He had gone two steps into the E rank. All that he required were eight more and he would be promoted to D rank where the real jobs were. Most of the D-ranked jobs required them to leave the ind, which was probably why many tier 3''s were in D rank.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was easier to attain E and D, but the rise to C and then B could take years.

    Laying on thefy bed provided by the guild, Noah got lost in his thoughts before eventually falling into a deep sleep.

    Finding himself within a hazy-looking environment, he managed to determine that he stood in a room, one that would be considered luxurious due to the many colors inside it.

    Before him was a figure who had their backs turned on him, however, thanks to their long hazy hair, he could understand that they were female.

    Thedy seemed to stand before a mirror, but he was too far back to see her reflection. Notwithstanding she was about to reveal her face unto him when everything suddenly went pitch ck. Noah felt himself plunge into the darkness around him and very quickly a voice rang out.

    "Hurry!" the female voice boomed from the very darkness, causing a sense of urgency to befall his confused mind. However, his eyes snapped open before he could do anything.

    Heavy breaths escaped Noah''s mouth at his abrupt awakening, as the sense of urgency continued to dwell in his mind, but he soon calmed himself.

    Noah recalled having such a dream before, only that the otherscked the ability to make him feel anything that wasn''t wonder.

    Needless to say, he felt more perplexed than ever. At this point he had concluded that it wasn''t normal, but what the dream meant remained unfathomable to him since he didn''t even know where to start.

    Seeing that he had a body drenched with sweat, Noah could only wonder how that was even possible. He had a body mostly resistant to heat, and his room was constantly cool, yet he perspired heavily enough to feel grossed out.

    A quick shower was all he required to return to his freshness. And he quickly set out to find a tavern in the area where he could have a few drinks and listen to the conversation people were having since information was more likely to be spilled by people who were half or fully drunk.

    Notwithstanding, even after listening to the weird and funny stories of drunk experts, Noah remained unable to shake the foreboding feeling that hung over his head. Something wasing and he had to hurry.

 Chapter 275 275. PILLIARS

    "What do you want?" Elder Sarah asked harshly.

    "I want to begin our training," Noah replied remaining in his know-towing posture. Both individuals were within the luxurious room that featured the door into the training room of sorts.

    The mansion looked far bigger than what he had experienced, and Noah understood that only until she knew him better would she show him around.

    "It''s only been a day, I doubt my words have properly sunk in," Elder Sarah replied keeping her legs crossed while she sat on the one-sitter couch.

    Her figure featured a straight purple gown adorned with golden embroideries sewn in seemingly random patterns. However, only someone who had proper knowledge would understand that the embroidered patterns were a formation to deploy a set of inscriptions if she willed them.

    "They did immediately you had spoken," Noah replied without moving an inch. In truth, he had onlye there that early due to the nightmare, but his actions felt valid nheless. He didn''t even lie about her words reaching his insides.

    Lady Sarah remained silent for about a minute after his words, and her lips eventually curved into a smile, words quickly followed that event.

    "I''ll ask you that question again after I take you somewhere," she announced arising from her seat to walk towards the entrance.

    "Are you going to stay there or will you open the door," she said standing before the door.

    ''Why can''t you do it yourself,'' Noah said inwardly but rushed towards the door to push them open for her passage.

    She strode past the opened gate to walk down the street. Noah followed closely behind as she led him into multiple streets, his 3D map adding them to its catalog even if the space around it was nk.

    The duo eventually arrived before a metallic dome-shaped building featuring golden lights at its top.

    The building featured not apound or any such; simply standing on its own, a few hundred meters from the other structures beside it.

    Their figures caught a bit of attention, but only the riders of carriages. Nevertheless, Noah sighted a few members moving down the street behind them. His eyes sharpened to keep their facial features in his mind.

    "This is where every monster in this guild meets," Elder Sarah suddenly said, ignoring the bows the people walking behind them threw at her.

    "I''d take you in there when I see that you''ve improved. For now, settle with gazing at one of the most important buildings in the guild," she exined leaving Noah weirded out, but excited nheless.

    He gazed silently at therge building. His mind bubbling with a bit of excitement, it felt absurd that in less than a week he had already begun to know important stuff.

    ''I want to see its insides,'' Noah thought helplessly.

    "This isn''t where I wanted to take you, it''s simply a stopover," Elder Sarah suddenly revealed, ncing at the right end of the street.

    She immediately led him towards the end of the street and a big gate attached to a long wooden wall unfolded in their eyes. Nobody guarded the gate, so the duo simply walked past it.

    A grassy ground unfolded beneath Noah''s feet, but he didn''t mind that detail, after all his eyes were on the shining blue pool in the distance.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Lady Sarah slowly led him towards it, and he could soon witness that magical wonder in all its glory. The pool spanned a distance of about 200m in radius. It was more of a pond, but Noah couldn''t tell its depths due to its bright glow.

    "What is it for?" he asked in wonder. Thankfully Elder Sarah seemed to be in a state of slight nostalgia and she didn''tsh out.

    "This is the pool of truth," she replied calmly, "Whoever bathes in its waters ispelled to tell the truth. However, it has limits, but does far more than that and can put the human mind in its humblest state. I''m certain you can already feel it," she exined.

    Noah could only nod at that point. He could feel it, by merely being in the water''s presence he felt a weird calmness befall him. Even the storms within his mind reduced in size.

    "I need you to enter it," she announced after about a minute of silence.

    Uncertainty appeared in Noah''s mind at that point, his paranoia kicked in and he immediately began to doubt the expert beside him. He feared her asking him a question that would be too personal.

    "Do not fear I''ll refrain from asking questions that are too personal," she assured hitting the nail on the head.

    Even at that Noah stayed still, he didn''t fear being rough-handled, and to his surprise, she revealed a piece of information that left him taken aback.

    "Look young Aiden, I lied about never taking someone under my tutorship. There was one person, but things didn''t go well and I had to end her life with my own hands," she exined. "Unfortunately this led to my big trust issues," she said raising her head to stare at the dark sky above them.

    Noah could tell she experienced sadness, and the sight was more thanpelling since her state mirrored what he experienced within the illusions of the guild''s trials.

    "I''ll be asking only three questions," she added focusing her gaze on his tall figure. In less than a minute the air had turned emotionally down as sadness permeated their immediate surrounding.

    Noah could only sigh at that point before taking off his boots and rolling up his trousers to step into the pool cautiously. Surprisingly his feet touched solid ground barely two feet into the pool.

    A strange aura wrapped around his figure at his full entry and surprisingly the system reacted to the aura.

    [Presence of a spirit detected]

    [Niphilia]

    [Spirit of truth[Extremely weakened]]

    Noah felt shocked for a moment and to even more astonishment, he witnessed a ripple seeming to spread through the very fabric of reality, and the pool changed.

    The presence that he confirmed was the presence of a spirit; grew stronger yet weaker. Feeling the urge to turn, Noah felt his eyes widen at the scene thaty before him.

    At the center point of the pool was the figure of a woman, fair inplexion, and blonde-haired. Her pristine figure floated, draped in a white silk cloth that fell towards the now green but still shining water. She looked passed out since she floated with her arms spread and her legs closed, suggesting a state of unconsciousness.

    The more shocking details were the ck chains attached to her wrists, feet, neck. The chains were then attached to seven ck and golden pirs surrounding the pool.

 Chapter 276 276. HANGING

    The scenery seemed tost for whole minutes even if barely two seconds passed before everything returned to how they were. However, Noah found that nothing had changed, to begin with. That hidden environment had simply been revealed to him for a moment.

    His astonishment was evident on his face, and Elder Sarah seemingly understanding his reason for such perplexion, opened her mouth to ask a question.

    "Did you see her?" she revealed shocking Noah even the more, but he nodded in response.

    "That tells how incredible your body has improved and the purity of mana you contain," she exined managing to pull Noah''s undivided attention.

    "You''ve just looked into a world only Tier 4''s can," she added, and Noah felt he forgot how to breathe. Whether to be shocked or excited he knew not, but he soon settled for a mixture of both.

    "That''s all I can tell you about that level. But only those with great potential can nce into that world before getting to tier four," she exined moving in a back-and-forth motion around the edge of the now eerie pool.

    "Do you know why she''s there, or who put her there?" Noah inquired turning to nce at the center point of the pool. During the trance, he had been unable to see past the pool since everything had been dark.

    "That''s ssified information, you''ll have to be rank A to know that," Lady Sarah revealed putting another wave of shock in Noah''s mind.

    "Isn''t rank A for tier 4''s," Noah muttered.

    "That''s for the average guild member, for individuals like myself the rules change. I''m a rank A. I''ve been one for a while now. The rank above that on the other hand is something only an advancement can bring," she exined.

    "So you are allowed to take part in rank A missions despite only being a higher stage tier 3," Noah asked taken aback by what he heard.

    "You''re wrong somewhere, but also right. That''s a subject for another day, however," she replied, ending that topic.

    Noah felt uncertain about the information he had received. It seemed the guild had made gray spots for cultivators they considered monsters.

    "What you''ve seen and heard mustn''t be told to anyone who isn''t within the central regions, since all of them have probably been here so it''s not a secret, but this isn''t the same for those on the inner and outer regions," Elder Sarah warned, and Noah felt his chest tingle at themand.

    "Now onto the main reason for ouring here," she announced focusing her gaze on his breathtakingly handsome face.

    She had to admit that he fancied someone as good-looking as he was around her, even if she felt no physical attraction towards him whatsoever.

    "Why do you want to learn from me?" She suddenly asked.

    "Well I initially didn''t know about you, but after seeing your prowess I find you worthy of training me," Noah replied, shocked that his true feelings had been revealed.

    Elder Sarah looked taken aback, but she soon shook her head in wonder before opening her mouth to speak.

    "Do you n on ever using the things I teach you against me?" She asked.

    "Not in a way that is hostile, I simply n to repay all the beating and suffering you''ve put me through," Noah replied, dying on the inside.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Oh really, then it wouldn''t be wrong if I suffer you to my heart''s content. After all, you''ll get strong and repay me at some point," a smug smile cracked on her gorgeous face, and Noah felt fear at that sight. He med the spirit for putting him into that situation.

    "Last question, what do you n to use the knowledge I''ll pass onto you for-'' her words were cut short by the sudden appearance of a foreign presence.

    "What do we have here?" a male voice descended from the sky washing over them.

    "Oh, it''s just you guys," Elder Sarah remarked almost hissing.

    "Is this some sort of initiation," another voice, this time a female''s, sounded.

    "You can call it that," Elder Sarah shrugged as a genuine smile shone on her face. Immediately after her reply, the figure of two individuals appeared; illuminated by the light of the pool.

    A red-haired man and a ck-haired woman were revealed. Both looked to be just as old as Elder Sarah even if their power stood past the realm of tier 3.

    "Is this the young man you spoke of? He''s more good-looking than I imagined," thedy said slowly floating towards Noah before hovering around his figure.

    "Yes, this it''s him. You would have understood if you had bothered to watch him in action," Elder Sarah exined clicking her tongue.

    "You know I really don''t have an interest In activities like that, my forging takes most of my time," thedy exined dramatically floating around a stiff Noah.

    "I have to admit that he looks far more in person and the vagueness of his power. I''m shocked that he''s ssified as a lower stage. Even if he is," the man said holding his beardless chin.

    "He feels like a deviant," Elder Sarah joined on that topic. "I''ll have to ask the other if they find him familiar in any way," she added focusing her gaze on a silent Noah.

    The appearance of two-tier 4 cultivators had made the air awkward, at least for him. Elder Sarah seemed to know them well.

    "Aiden these are my two best friends, you''ll be seeing them a lot so you should get used to it," she exined waving her hand dismissively.

    Noah could only bow at that point, he honestly didn''t know what to say or how to react.

    "You don''t have to fret young man, we are all guild mates; simply stronger ones. I understand that in the outside world people with our type of power are rare, but in this city... not so much," the male exined, floating towards Noah to stretch forth his hand.

    Noah felt his world slow down at that sight. ''The hand of a tier 4 cultivator,'' he thought in excitement. There had to be an award for his incredible feats somewhere.

    Raising his hand to grab the mans'', Noah felt his mind go nk when the cultivator suddenly raised his hand to slide it down his hair-filled head. He did this in a way that suggested he had done it on purpose.

    ''Was I just left hanging by a tier 4 expert,'' Noah reasoned, nk eyed. The sound ofughter soon reached his ears, and he confirmed it. He had been tricked.

 Chapter 277 277. FUN AND REST

    "I''m Dan, many people call me Dan," the expert said, stretching his hand forward again. "Don''t worry it''s for real this time," he assured, and Noah immediately took his hand in a handshake.

    "I''m Aiden," he said for curtsy''s sake.

    "We know. I''m certain you''re well aware of your poprity. You''ve managed to gain the respect of people who are in far higher positions than you, but they can''t show it, at least not yet. So get strong," Dan exined.

    Noah could only nod in response, but his mouth opened to speak. "How do I address you?" Noah asked feeling it awkward to call him by his name.

    "Just call me Dan, I don''t find enforced honoraries interesting," the expert shrugged floating towards Elder Sarah.

    "I''m Anna by the way. You can also call me by my name. Someone with such a face is allowed to not use honoraries. Right, Sarah!" She giggled mischievously at Elder Sarah; who put on her poker face.

    Noah on the other hand found their interaction warming. However, he soon snapped back to the reason they were there.

    "Did he see the spirit," Dan conveyed through his mental waves, he had to be careful with how much he said.

    ? "Yes he saw the spirit," Elder Sarah said out loud startling her friends.

    "He''s a true genius then," Anna muttered in surprise, cing her hand on her opened mouth.

    "Tell me he''s the one you''re taking in as your sessor!" Anna eximed before sping her hand on her mouth, however, Elder Sarah had already appeared above her floating figure to deliver a downward kick on her haired head.

    The expert didn''t move an inch after the blow but held her head in a pouting expression. Sarah''s figure flickered on the ground and she marched towards the exit of the ce. On her way out, however, she called Anna a dummy multiple times.

    Needless to say, Noah felt stunned. It seemed there was more to that situation than he expected. ''A sessor,'' Noah thought wondering if that word meant something different in Cregar.

    Quickly exiting the water seeing as Anna had rushed towards Elder Sarah''s figure.

    Dan nced at Noah as he hastily tried to put on his boots to catch up with his soon-to-be master.

    "I hope you won''t hurt her," Dan suddenly spoke causing Noah to freeze on his spot.

    "I don''t understand," Noah responded even if he gained a vague idea of what the man meant.

    A sigh escaped the expert''s mouth but he said nothing and simply flew towards his departingpanions.

    ''What sort of emotional mess have I gotten myself into?'' Noah wondered feeling slightly stressed.

    He eventually caught up with them, but he limited himself to walking behind them. As Dan and Anna hovered beside Elder Sarah, they seemed to converse but only through their mind.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah started to think thoughts at that point, and they were mostly because of the spirit. He recalled hearing of that race twice, and that was from the entity that gave him the bracelet and Muillix''s description.

    ''The library is my next target, surely there has to be information I''ve not heard about in there,'' Noah thought determined to know more. The next day would also be the day he would collect the bodies of the beasts, and his Speed force stone which he had decided to name Energy stone would be ready in about ten hours.

    So many things were going on in his life that Noah found it hard to keep up. He would need a proper schedule to keep his life in order.

    "What are you doing over there," Elder Sarah eventually called out, pulling Noah out of his deep thoughts.

    Performing a short jog toward their position, Noah walked on the samene and at the same pace with them, but nobody said anything to themselves for a while.

    "You have to return to your quarters in the inner regions, I have important work to do,'' Elder Sarah eventually said. "However I expect you back at my mansion three days from now, after which you might not return for months," she exined not even focusing her gaze on him.

    Noah continued to nod his head in response even if he didn''t like the schedule. It seemed he would need to do whatever he needed in that short period.

    "Why don''t you make it a week, we both know how tasking it is working with you, let him have his fun and rest before you take it all away," Dan pleaded on behalf of Noah.

    "Bullshit! Five days at most. Any more and he should go find someone else to train him," she snorted.

    Needless to say, Noah rejoiced at that addition. Five days would be more than enough to do all that he needed. He nned to get stronger within that period.

    Noah departed from the trio at some point, but not before watching them shoot into the sky, going who knew where.

    He desired to explore that region but he feared what Elder Sarah would do if she somehow found out about it. There were armored guards everywhere after all.

    Crossing the gate wasn''t an issue thanks to the ring. Even if no one bowed to him anymore, they still showed him respect. No person had visited Elder Sarah that often without leaving wounded.

    She was notorious for herck of care toward people, but Noah had seen another side of her personality. The side of her had human emotions.

    Noah eventually arrived inside his room. He had encountered Ariana, but she had avoided him again. At this point, he had already stopped caring, at least partially. There was too much going on to while away time chasing a person who wouldn''t even talk to him.

    Noah exited his room to visit a ce he could eat, and once again the cuisine of the city managed to wow his taste buds. From there he visited the same tavern he had been to the other time. His time there was made worth it by the fun conversations held by the experts in there.

    He eventually returned to his room to rest for the night. But since the city was constantly dark it didn''t matter what time of the day it was.

    Noah woke up to a shining blue panel that carried exciting words.

    [Mana stone[Yellow] has been sessfully upgraded]

 Chapter 278 278. FIVE-STAR

    Quickly returning to his cultivation room, Noah opened his eyes to its white environment, and the first detail he noticed was the abundance of speed essence in the room. However, the walls weren''t releasing any energy. That wonder was a result of the shining, deep-yellow, almost golden stone nothing more than 6inches in size floating in the air.

    It slowly swirled and essence poured out of it into the room filling it up. His skin rejoiced at the wave of energy bouncing off its fabric, and Noah didn''t hesitate to walk over to it and slowly took it into his palms.

    The sheer amount of essence it released, all poured into his palms, and Noah saw his skin harden, but he didn''t put too much focus on that detail. His eyes were on the panel that contained the stone''s stats.

    [Speed force stone]

    [Purity rank: 2]

    [Grade: Mid]

    [Durability: 10/10]

    [Capacity: 800,000]

    [Reserve: 780,230/800,000]

    [Emission/Absorbtion speed: 100SE/Sec]

    [Note: interact with the stone to turn it on and off]

    A whistle escaped Noah''s mouth at the panel''s information, mostly due to the capacity the small object was capable of. It could feed him a bit over 12 times. That detail was probably the most outstanding one. But it also meant he would need to charge it regrly, butpared to having to disappear to fill himself up, that was better.

    Nevertheless, he would have to hide to utilize the stone since mana shouldn''t even be seeable, and speed essence was dense enough for light to bounce off its mass.

    ''I''m entering a level where hiding my assets is bing very difficult,'' Noah thought ying a bit with the small stone. He had willed it to stop wasting its essence and refill its reserves. This caused waves of essence that rushed toward it.

    ''Hopefully, I can cross the gap between lower stage and higher stage with the dungeon,'' he mused walking away from the floating stone to sit in a cross-legged posture. He didn''t cultivate or anything, only sitting to meditate a bit.

    In a few hours, he would go over to Elias''s ce to receive his package, after which he would immediately begin the process of the dungeon, at least the system would.

    Eventually exiting his cultivation room, Noah left his room to begin his journey toward Elias'' establishment. The constant darkness of the city with its shining lights had started to be something of a norm, even if he still admired its beauty.

    The sounds of people chatters, the growls and heavy movements of carriages, the loud advertisement made by newly brought in merchants, and the sonic booms left by flying beasts above him, all resounded in Noah''s ears, rather than feeling annoyed he felt at peace, knowing that nine f those things woulde to hurt him.

    Like any other busy day, Elias''s shop featured a queue at its entrance, and Noah had to stand about twenty minutes before he could be allowed inside.

    Elias spotted him on the line, but only performed a head bow, with Noah doing the same. Another five minutes had to pass before Noah could stand before the counter, but he didn''t have to say anything since Elias passed a silentmand to one of the two girls, and he gestured at Noah to walk into the open section past the reception.

    Elias took him past the ck door behind the reception into an empty but well-lit room.

    "We don''t want people seeing the sheer amount of coins you are about to exchange, that could lead to trouble," Elias remarked standing at the center of the room.

    "What can they even do? Steal?" Noah asked jokingly while he inspected the room''s emptiness.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Yes," Elias stated shocking Noah.

    "How? But the oath," Noah muttered uncertainly.

    "I don''t know the full details of the oath you real members have, but it doesn''t activate when you steal from us," Elias exined.

    "When I was just starting out in this city, I had friends that would be robbed by groups of masked members, I almost got robbed, but I had someone strong with me at that time," he continued.

    "Do you give a share of your ie to the guild," Noah asked falling into wonder.

    "Well it''s more of a small cut that is due every thirty days," Elias replied. "The guild is really nice and understanding in its doings, which is probably why there are so many people aspiring to sell here,"

    "It not only increases our status in the lowernds, but we also gain a lot since you all earn a lot. Jobs sent to the great guilds are scrutinized and must be above a certain pay grade," Elias exined.

    "Nevertheless people steal from us. Thankfully such incidents have reduced exponentially," he stopped.

    ''Isn''t stealing from merchants that give to the guild also considered hurting it,'' Noah wondered, the exnation didn''t feel clear, which meant something was left out. But he wouldn''t probe.

    "So where is my order," Noah asked finding that nothing was truly within the room.

    "It''s within this ring, you can ce the money on the floor and I''ll reveal them unto you," Elias said with a shrug.

    Noah did as he was told, and a bag of the already split money appeared on the ck floor of the room.

    Elias took a few steps backward and waved his hand at that point. In the span of an instant, a heap of carcasses appeared inside the room. The smelling from the dead beats however wasn''t rotten, probably due to the high-tier ring utilized to store them.

    Noah took a moment to admire the sight of giant beast more than three to four times the size of an average human all piled up on each other.

    Sending his consciousness forth to count them, Noah nodded when he found that they numbered 44. He quickly waved his hand to store them inside his inventory and turned towards Elias to give him a hand shake.

    "It was nice patronizing you, I''ll leave a five star review," he joked, almost bursting intoughter at Elias''s confused expression.

    "What''s a five star review, do you mean rank B members?" Elias asked genuinely curious.

    "Its nothing," Noah replied unable to keep the smile on his face away.

    "Seriously tell me" Elias replied "What does five stars have to do with a review?" he pleaded. ''How do you even give a five star review!?"

    "Nah don''t worry," Noah continued to smile while walking towards the exit.

    He spent a few minutes conversing with the man before exiting the ce bottling up his excitement, Noah returned to his room to begin the preparation.

 Chapter 279 279. LIBRARY

    [Dungeon creation: 100/100 Tier 3 Beasts]

    A shining red panel containing those words appeared in Noah''s eyes after he had given the beasts to the system.

    "What next?" Noah asked the system, his eyes not shy of the excitement he felt.

    [[I will begin the creation of the dungeon after which you will then be allowed into it]]

    [[Note that each dungeon has a one-time use]]

    [Creation of Monster dungeonmencing]

    [First-time creation will take 10 hours. Preceding creations will take 2 days]

    [Time tillpletion: 9:59:55]

    A frown appeared on Noah''s face at that point, but he could only settle for the reality. "What do I even do now," he thought, falling t on his bed. The panel continued to blink in his eyes, so he closed it for another time.

    A few ideas popped into his mind, but most of them sounded boring. He still felt an intense desire to gain knowledge, so he decided to visit the library.

    Arriving before a big brown building sitting on a tnd of around 30 acres. Its overall shape resembled a cube featuring two spherical objects on its right and left rooftop. A tube-like channel connected the two spherical buildings, and it was also used to cross between both unique buildings.

    The building was probably one of the most unique architectural wonders he had seen in that city since its true purpose couldn''t be understood at a nce.

    Walking past the unguarded door into the library, Noah found a wide hall expanding in his sight. On both sides of the big room were four different balconies featuring rows of shelves filled with books. The space before him featured chairs and a series of randomly ced bookshelves, small in size.

    There were stairs if he directly looked at both his sides leading to the four different floors in that building, however, things changed when he nced upward.

    A whole world seemed to exist on its own above him since many people moved up and down the different angled stairs.

    The stairs that led to the upper chambers which were the spherical buildings he saw on the outside, stretched from the hall he stood within.

    At the far end of the room was a Z-shaped stairs case that led to two elevators on two different sides. The elevators then traveled upwards into the space cut out for their passage into the spherical buildings.

    His view of that part of the building ended at that point, as even the stairs high above him intersected and led into the different areas cut out for them into the spherical structures.

    In essence, the ce was massive, and the white lights and white tiled floors, walls, and ceilings made that detail even more obvious.

    Noah would have whistled if not for theck of sounds in the human-filled hall. He felt more or less astonished to find that many people were inside the library. Then again when he recalled that the guild allowed excursions from the outside world into its multiple unique facilities he could onlye to terms with it.

    He soon walked towards the small table on his left featuring a standing sign that told him it was the reception.

    "Good day, how may I help you," the male sitting behind the desk greeted immediately Noah''s figure moved closer to him.

    "I''vee to read books of course," Noah replied sweeping his gaze on the man''s features.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The expert looked past his early thirties; had really short brown hair that was too short for anything more than a low cut. He however featured a nicely groomed beard. It seemed nature had endowed him in the aspects of facial hair, and it looked good on him.

    The man sported a ck robe with the crest of the guild in red, a strange sight. But Noah didn''t feel ready to ask questions.

    "Are you a guild member or not?" the man asked initially.

    "I''m a guild member," Noah promptly replied while his eyes asionally darted to the man''s big beard, it truly was a once-in-a-blue-moon type of sight since it seemed most individuals in Cregar hated facial hair.

    "Ah okay, what rank are you, as I''ve never seen you around. If I have I would surely remember," the peak middle-stage expert exined.

    "I''m currently an E rank as I''m new to the guild," Noah exined hoping the addition of his membership status would bring some sort of gains, like a discount or something simr.

    "Take this then. These are the rules for those below D rank," the man said handing a brown scroll over to Noah, it seemed he had that resource in abundance.

    Noah opened the scroll to immediately read its contents, and a frown couldn''t help but set on his face, even if it remained light.

    The guild had a really strict set of rules for their informationpared to other things. Those below D rank could only go as far as the four floors in that building, they were not allowed to take up scrolls twenty meters from its shelf, which was why there were tables and chairs far closer to the shelves than the stated distance.

    However, they could only take scrolls farther than 20m if one of the staff had approved of that action. But taking scrolls out of the building would mean hurting the guild which would lead to the activation of the oath. In essence death.

    They were not allowed to make copies of the information, simply reading and going was enough. However, if there were ever any need for such an action, they would need to have someone higher than rank C giving them the go-ahead, and since the oath was connected to the mind, a negative motive would immediately invoke the wrath of the Oath.

    Those lower than D rank would need to pay a fee each time they wanted to ascend floors. The fee would be a constant 7 silvers. But thankfully itsted 24 hours, after which a new few would need to be paid.

    In total, one would need 28 small silvers to gain undisturbed ess to all four floors of both sides for a whole day. It also didn''t matter if they left the library during that period, they were allowed to go ande as they wanted during that time.

    "So what would you like?" the expert asked Noah.

    "I''d like to pay for all four floors please," Noah replied bringing out the required sum.

    "I''ll begin the process then," the man said as a series of lines appeared before him, shing their red light on Noah''s figure to scan him.

    Noah nced at the space above him at that point. In truth he had never hoped to actually be allowed ess there, but it remained a bummer nheless.

    "Take this. It houses the required passes for all four floors. However itsst''s only twenty-four hours. You are allowed a five minute span to exit all floors after the twenty-four hours have ended. If you do not however, you will be sanctioned by the guild itself." the man exined handing over a thick ck wooden card featuring exactly seven golden lines on its back and front.

    Needless to say Noah understood not what the lines were meant for, but he also didn''t care much.

    Receiving the card, Noah prepared to move, when a question only the man before him could answer popped in his mind.

    "Where can I find books about the other continents of Cregar and the different creatures?" he asked.

    "Over there is where books based on simr topics are," the expert answered pointing at the top floor at the right side of the building. Noah immediately departed from him at that point.

 Chapter 280 280. BLESSED CHILDREN

    Noah spent a bit of time ncing around the first floor since it had books that interested him. He did the same for the second and third, before eventually arriving at the fourth andst floor, where the books were.

    He immediately began looking for books about the history of the different continents and the different races or maybe species, and very quickly he found himself sitting in front of multiple books housing different information and side views of the history of the world. Needless to say, he started with the view of the Cusk nation.

    There were five continents on Cregar, and the books mostly listed them in an order of how powerful the continents were. With the Dragon continent of Lagederon being at the top, followed closely by the Giants continent of Blizarun, then the Dark continent, the Elvian continent, and finally the Human continent of Lidrath.

    Noah felt taken aback seeing humans at the bottom of the list butpared to what he learned about the other continents he couldn''t help but find the humans nd.

    ording to recent research and past findings, the human continent consisting of three nations the Papine nation, The Cusk nation, and The Nevaldine empire, was the least magical ce on Cregar!

    The mana density in therge continent had suffered a great deal as a result of abnormal activities caused by a particr individual. The books though, never mentioned who the individual was.

    Due to the abnormal activities, the entire continent suffered a significant decrease in its mana density, and shockingly the world never refilled it, opting to leave it as it was.

    This led to the downfall of the human Millenials earlier and was the reason for their slow rise in powerpared to the other continents. This apparently was why only magical beasts mostly existed within the borders of the Lidrath continent.

    Monsters such as goblins, kobolds, gorgons, and many other creatures were not avable simply due to the low density of mana.

    Topic on the Dragon continent of Lagederon was soon his main focus, and he found that a lot was avable about the continent.

    ording to the books, the dragons were a mostly primal civilization. Although they featured intelligent ones, the majority were wild beasts almost simr to the magical beasts of the human continent, only their incredible power being the difference, and their ability to quickly gain sentience.

    There were dragons of different elemental natures, such as fire, wind, earth, and water. And just like the elemental affinities avable to man, there were metal dragons, ice dragons, lightning dragons, light dragons, and darkness dragons.

    The hierarchy of the dragons was based mostly on bloodline, which would tell whether a dragon would be considered noble or not. The dragon''s continent, had one ruling family as they were the ones with the purest dragon blood which surprisingly meant more power and bloodline authority over the rest.

    Unfortunately, the name of the family wasn''t mentioned. But ording to the books they had terrifying power avable to them and would have wiped Lidrath out if not for the particr person that had caused the drop in mana density. A weird turn of events.

    Noah moved on to the giant''s continent, and as he expected, Giants based their power on how big and strong they were. Those creatures would be oversized humans if not for theirck of elemental affinities.

    However, Giants had a deep connection with the earth, and were able to manipte earth with mana as their fuel, even if they don''t feature mana cores like humans. And their connection wasn''t also considered an affinity, but a genuine connection with Cregar''snds.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ording to the books; the strongest giants were able to directly transform vastndforms into rocky spectacles or proper wastnd in the blink of an eye. Because of that incredibly potent power; they stood in second ce.

    The Giant''s only weakness was the dumbness that befell them from birth only until they reached a stronger level of connection with Cregar''snd could they escape their natural weaknesses.

    The books went on to further exin that the giants considered their connection to thend to be how powerful they were, and the stages were simple. For obvious reasons.

    There were six stages of power known to the giants. The names had to be tranted to fit thenguage Cuskians spoke. The first stage was the Dust stage, the second was the Mud stage, the third was the teau stage, the fourth was the Hill stage, the fifth was the Valley stage, and the sixth was the Mountain stage.

    There were no exnations given on how to understand the different stages, but theirs was betterpared to the dragons who had no information on their levels of power in any of those books.

    Noah arrived at the Dark continent, and to his utter shock, very little was spoken about it, and only details about the dark continent being shrouded in thick darkness. Apparently, it was a magical reaction, but none of the writers knew what the cause of that wonder had been.

    However, ording to the little avable about that ce, it was written that creatures attuned to the dark lived there and the encounters with them had left scars in the minds of many.

    The Elvian continent soon became his focus and it took him more than an hour to find books containing basic information about that species.

    Thanks to the descriptions avable in the books Noah found that the mysterious man he encountered on the edge of the snake''s valley had been an Elf.

    Elves had a bad rtionship with humans but were one of the more spectacr species. ording to the books, the elven continent was home to the lushest of environments, since apparently the entire continent in all its grandeur was just a massive lush and magical forest.

    The elven continent was ruled by one royal family. Unfortunately, nothing was said about them, only that they were the longest-living individuals in the entirety of Cregar. Many authors even termed them the blessed children of Cregar due to the strong connection they shared with mana and nature.

    Unfortunately, many wars had happened between the Elvian continent and the human one, with no clear victors, only growing hostility. The reason for the fighting was never mentioned, but Noah could guess that it would be something he considered stupid.

    He read other articles about the different continents and its unique creatures that managed to send waves of excitement and shivers in his mind.

    From the books Noah could also find out that there were ces in the world properly untouched by civilization, since ording to small details, it was belived that creatures far powerful than all the races lived there.

 Chapter 281 281. FIRST DIVE

    Noah eventually branched to more topics and couldn''t help but marvel at the vast variety of topics that the library held. He could jump back and forth between both sides since he had paid for them. He felt he got his money''s worth since before he knew it the card in his pocket buzzed, signifying that he had spent a day there already.

    Noah had never been more shocked in his life. ''That''s probably an exaggeration,'' he thought. He had been so engrossed in his study that a day had gone by too quickly, and there was still a lot he had not read yet. Even the book he had in his grasp contained a topic he found very intriguing as it spoke of the anatomy of the magical beasts, and the various characteristics associated with specific magical beasts.

    He had read nothing less than seven books on that topic, but there was something about that author that gripped him. The individual had written a few other books, ones he had been fortunate enough toe by, and the style of description and exnation was so smooth Noah read many sentences multiple times just to fall into wonder.

    However, the individuals'' writing style wasn''t the only thing that appealed greatly to him, but their profound wisdom. The individual managed to exin things that many other authors found difficult to exin. Their name thankfully was written on the book, and it stated "Eldrov Franiost".

    ''I have to leave,'' Noah said contemting whether to get another card or not. But when he recalled the shining prompt informing him of the dungeon''s creation, he could only postpone learning to another day. Nevertheless, he had gained a whole lot from his time there.

    Noah returned the card and exited the library to walk toward the building containing his room. His mind bubbled with newly gained information as things began to gain a deeper rity than before.

    Noah understood how ill-knowledged he had been for the past five or so months in Cregar. Too many things he had not even known were possible about Cregar and its people.

    The Papine nation was termed the country of Saints, as its rulers and citizens were mainly religious individuals who worshiped the gods. Few books spoke of the more powerful individuals there being those termed the Blessed.

    They were apparently people who had received power from high above and trampled over every other. Details on that topic were nonexistent on the four floors, so he had to settle with the little he was allowed, which was already a lot. The Papine nation wasn''t onpletely good terms with the Cusk nation.

    Noah honestly felt excited to do some adventuring. The thought of far stronger people out there forced him to ept that he had to be more if he nned to survive.

    The Nevaldine empire on the other hand was the friendliest nation even if its military force was feared by both nations. Much wasn''t said about them only that they were cultivators who had a simr power ranking to the Cusk nation.

    He also read a bit about deviants, but they weren''t different from what the mercenaries had told him, even if there were more examples of deviants.

    All in all, Noah found the of Cregar rich with different civilizations and magical wonders. The library couldn''t provide all he needed, but from the little he had read, he felt the world open up in his eyes.

    He eventually arrived in front of his room, and quickly entered it.

    Sitting on his bed, Noah opened the panel that featured his desired information.

    [Dungeon creation Completed]

    [Dungeon of the Dishonored Serpent]

    ''That''s a cool name,'' Noah thought arching an eyebrow.

    [Do wish to begin dungeon dive]

    [Yes/No]

    Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself for what he was about to do. Needless to say, he also felt his excitement peak at that moment.

    Picking yes, Noah felt his environment fall into an unsettling silence, then a series of blinding red magical circles, featuring more than five inner circles flickered into existence. Noah felt the world around him stretch as he left his bed to instantly arrive inside a nk white cylindrical room.

    "Okay?" Noah muttered looking around, the feeling he felt in that room, was something he had never experienced. He felt alienated but also had a sense of belonging. Both sensations, however, never overwhelmed the other creating the profound weirdness he felt.

    [Briefing of the dungeon will begin]

    A red screen appeared before his astonished eyes, but before he could reply the floating panel, another one appeared.

    [Dungeon of the Dishonored Serpent]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Grade: C]

    [Difficulty level: High]

    [Floors: 5]

    [Bosses: 3]

    [Rewards forpletion: ??? ??? ???]

    Followed by the screen was a sh of blue light that injected information into Noah''s mind. He quickly gained an understanding of how dungeons worked, and how that one would work.

    The beasts he had given to the system for the dungeons'' creation would not be used in the dungeon itself. They were more or less the currency for the creation of dungeons. Which meant he would be meeting different types of creatures in different types of dungeons.

    "I''m ready," Noah announced, and a mechanical swirling noise began to sound around him. The sound reached a peak point and another series of high-tier magical circles this time blue in color expanded above and beneath his figure, to wrap him in a gentle light of teleportation.

    Noah opened his eyes in a dimly lit environment. Before him was a massive wall featuring a red door that had a serpent''s head inscribed on its dimly glowing structure.

    The world around him was closed off with smooth stone walls that gave off the vibe of an underground cave.

    "This seems to be the entrance," Noah muttered walking towards the door purely on instinct. Sweeping his gaze on the 9m tall and 5m wide door, Noah searched for anything that resembled a key or something that would allow him to push it open since his strength had done nothing.

    He very quickly found a spot on the door shaped like a palm. The palm happened to be situated in the opened mouth of the inscribed serpent, and immediately he ced his palm on it, he felt something prick him, but that arm suddenly be unmovable forcing him to bear the constant pain.

    Shockingly, essence although minute in quantity poured out of his core to flow into his arm and through his palm into the hole.

    A spectacle urred at that point.

    The serpent''s head suddenly came to life as a bright red glow filled its eye sockets. The serpent suddenly turned its head to him, its menacing eyes staring directly into his as if looking for something. Something Noah had.

    Noah felt the force holding on to his hand let go, and saw what resembled fangs receding into the palm-shaped hole.

    A blinding crimson light shed on the door at that point, and it quickly began to move open. The sound of a heavy object resounded in the caves and back into Noah''s ears, but his focus was already on the world before him.

    Taking multiple steps past the doorways, Noah felt it shut behind him, and he turned to nce at it for a moment before focusing on the dungeon path before him.

    Danger flowed into his mind immediately he focused, and he didn''t hesitate to retrieve his daggers and call upon Muillix, or so he thought. To his bone-shaking shock, a prompt containing outrageous information appeared in his eyes.

    [Inventory has been disabled along with other spacial items]

    [Muillix has been disabled]

    [Healing speed has reduced to 20%]

    [Potions have been disabled]

    This was Noah''s first dive into a dungeon, and it would prove to be a hard one.

 Chapter 282 282. UNPRECEDENTED

    "Why?!" Noah eximed immediately questioning the system, unfortunately, it had gone silent on him. The system had disabled his reach to his more useful asset, now he had to settle for his bare hands and spells. His rings had be useless due to themand, and he could only sigh when the system still didn''t answer him.

    ''Maybe I can call on Cudgel,'' Noah thought raising his hand, but a panel appeared to shatter his already tiny hope.

    [You are too far away]

    ''How far?'' Noah thought forcing himself to focus on the task ahead.

    Down the curved tunnel he could see lights, and also shadows, but no sound. He had to be honest, hecked confidence. He would have to tear monsters apart or cast spells at them. Unfortunately, he couldn''t reach his potions which meant he had to conserve what he had.

    From the basicyout given to him by the system, after the first floor, at the end of the second floor he would have to kill a boss to move on. The same for the fourth floor. Then finally the fifth floor would be a one-on-one battle with the boss.

    He expected the difficulty to be high, but now that he had more than half his assets locked from him it seemed to have be harder.

    Casting his armor spell, Noah watched the light of a battle armor encase him in its deep-yellow light, and he began his slow march down the surprisingly wide tunnel.

    Arriving at the edge that burst into an opening more than a kilometer in radius.

    Noah felt himself gasp at the sight thaty before him, and even more of his confidence dwindled.

    Legitimately more than 40 serpents silently roamed the wide and clear rocky expanse. The dungeon room was wide featuring a ceiling that was more than 500m in height. One could nt a small estate in that ce.

    The serpents were mainly green in color, but rather than slithering on the ground, their reptilian figures featured four legs that allowed theirrge and bulky figures crawl.

    One of the serpents couldfortably swallow Noah in one gulp, and a meal of him wouldn''t be enough to fill its stomach.

    The snakes were silent, as even their march was graceful, but that sight couldn''t hide the danger that they posed.

    Noah for one felt his instincts tingle madly at the weirdly beautiful sight. But he had no choice but to face them head-on. And from the information he gained, unless he cleared the first floor he would not be able to advance.

    [Grand serpent of mes]

    [Level: 65]

    [Affinity: Fire]

    [Title: Protector of the Dishonored Serpent]

    [Danger level: N/A]

    The addition of their level stats but not their tiers left Noah taken aback. Unfortunately, he couldn''t dwell on that topic.

    ''I need a n,'' Noah thought asionally ncing at the peaceful-looking beasts, even if their faces were trauma-inducing.<novelnext></novelnext>

    After inspecting the beasts for over ten minutes, Noah realized that they all never moved past a certain point. It seemed they had posts, one that they dared not cross.

    ''I can use that,'' Noah thought after studying their behavior for another while. He wondered, however, if things would change if they noticed an intruder. Needless to say, the only way he could find out was of course by revealing himself.

    His figure casually strode into the expanse, and all the serpents stopped their movements in unison, to focus their reptilian gazes on his tiny figure. The sight freaked Noah out due to its perfect timing.

    Something seemed to pop inside Noah''s mind at that instant. His instincts had screamed so hard it lost their voice in his mind.

    Not even two seconds had passed before the sound of wild and raged shrieking and hissing noises spread within the cave. The powerful sound waves bounced on the walls of the expanse to travel anywhere they liked.

    The serpents surprisingly; all at once, began their raged march towards him.

    Noah''s figure crackled with power as he prepared for their eventual collision. He took Elder Sarah''s advice and sped towards a different spot in the cave.

    This needless to say caught the serpents unprepared, allowing Noah the chance to take down one of them. Or so he thought.

    His right fist mmed into the side of one of the serpents, immediately sending it flying, but he had only been able to break a few of its rock-like scales.

    The world seemed to lose all its color before Noah''s eyes as his expression turned cold at what had happened. Quickly mming his foot on the ground, Noah caused ice to explode from beneath him, spread in every direction.

    A whitish-blueyer of ice around two inches in thickness spread out inside the expanse, but the bodies of the serpents shattered the ice before it could trap them.

    That event surprised him since he knew that such was only possible if the serpents had resistance to cold that matched his.

    One of the monsters cracked its tail at his moving figure, fortunately, he saw iting and evaded it, before grabbing the serpent by its tail and beginning to spin on a spot.

    The serpent mmed into many of its subordinates, and it surprisingly did more damage than Noah''s punch had.

    Unfortunately, Noah had to let go of the serpent since it had suddenly caught fire. At that point, explosions of orange mes lit up the underground expanse, and Noah soon found an army of ming serpents spitting balls of mes at his figure.

    "Fuck!" he eximed mming his palms on the ground to raise a cylindrical wall of ice featuring many thickyers. However he didn''t end there, he allowed a pir of solid ice to shoot towards the ceiling of the expanse; multiple jagged edges appeared on it after it attached to the mana-stone-filled ceiling.

    A rain of icy spikes urred at that point dropping the temperature to a level below zero degrees.

    The rain of spikes continued for whole minutes. but Noah received no notification, which meant he hadn''t killed anything. To add to his inner turmoil, the room had turned silent apart from the explosions of uneven spikes that urred immediately after his spikesnded on something.

    Promptly creating a series of cubical shapes in the walls after unfolding his consciousness but they fell prey to a strange power, Noah gained a 360 view of the dungeon, and the color in his face drained at the sight.

    ''When did monsters have defensive spells,'' he grimaced at the sight of more than forty spherical barriers of pure mes standing on different positions in the expanse. Noah never stopped raining frozen spikes which allowed him to see how his attacks had no effect on the ming barriers.

    However, there remained a detail that managed to exin the beast''s unprecedented power, and it was due to the presence of the speed essence he senseding from the spells.

 Chapter 283 283. BEAM

    "I guess I''ll have to overwhelm them," Noah sighed uncertain of his next actions, even if his figure began to ze with the empowerment of the speed force. In mere seconds he transformed into a glowing figure within the cold chambers of his icy protection.

    Noah could see himself going all-out, but also conserving as much energy as he could in the battle toe.

    Crouching within the cylindrical walls of his icy encasement, Noah felt his eyes grow cold as he switched to the emotionless portion of his mind. Taking a deep breath before letting it out, he took a big step forward.

    An explosion akin to the sound of shattering ss disquieted the expanse''s silence, as a deep-yellow streak burst forth from within the chaos of flying shards of sharp ice.

    Noah crashed into his first target and delivered as many punches as his arms could muster in the span of a second. Needless to say, his rapid offensive left the ming barrier of his target almost non-existent.

    With eyes determined to make his first kill, Noah allowed dense electrical energy gather on his right arm and he executed a powerful lunge with the sharp energy that it had be.

    His energy de met resistance, but it prevailed after what felt like days to Noah. Red blood spurted everywhere as his arms dug into the shocked beasts to reach a point in its figure that it had to give up its ghost.

    [You have killed Level 65 Grand serpent of mes]

    The panel immediately appeared in his eyes, but instead of an immediate exp gained message, Noah watched the lifeless body of the serpent transform into a glowing yellow mass that shattered into individual dust-like particles and floated directly into his figure at speeds that even his empowered mind was unable to follow.

    [You have gained Exp]

    [You have leveled up twice]

    [You have gained 2000 stat points]

    [You have gained a 10% increase to all stats]

    [You are now Level 63]

    A feeling like never before flowed into Noah''s consciousness as he felt forced to halt his rapid movements to bask in the ecstasy his whole being experienced. The stress his body had built up as a result of cultivating, dispersed, allowing for a vacuum that desired to be filled with more power toe into existence.

    The ten percent increase in overall power made Noah feel like he could ce the world under his feet. Unfortunately, the multiple loud hisses broke through his enjoyment to remind him of his situation.

    Noah''s eyes suddenly turned hungry at the sight of exactly 49 Grand serpents. They had stopped bing beasts and were now masses of exp waiting to be harvested.

    Noah raised his head to voice what felt like a roar but was something more. The beasts within the whole expanse immediately trembled at the roar. Their minds seemed to experience fear, but Noah remained too busy taking down his next target to notice such insignificant details.

    Having already understood how to kill them, Noah found himself keeping a steady flow of energy on the manifestation of his energy des. An offensive he had long since shelved but seemed the best way to preserve his energy.

    The amount of speed essence needed to properly wound one of the serpents stood at about 400 points. And it would be a one-time use.

    Crackling unto his second kill target; it looked isted from the rest. Noah understood that his movements were the most important offensive he had on that battlefield. He had to remain on his toes constantly to gain a winning chance. He also had to admit to himself that he could only kill one of the beasts at a time.

    Anymore, and he would find himself mindlessly wasting essence, without making any real improvements.

    Plunging his right arm into the neck of therge serpentine beast, Noah paid no attention to finesse or tactic and brutally ripped its long neck from the rest of its scaled figure.

    A sense of fatigue hit him at that action. since he had literally poured all his strength into that seemingly simple action.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thankfully, the prompt containing the news of his level up showed up to shatter the fatigue. Unfortunately, he had only leveled up once, which meant his requirement had increased. However, he worried not.

    Taking a rapid side step to suddenly appear about seventy meters from his former position. Noah dodged the barrage of fireballs thatnded on that spot.

    Due to their constitution being based on the speed forces energy, the serpents were able to follow Noah''s movements with their reptilian eyes, even if their bodies weren''t able to handle the movement speed his was capable of.

    This, however, coupled with their above-average intelligence meant they could time attacks. In simply three or so exchanges, the beasts had already adapted to his power.

    ''Creepy,'' Noah thought as a blue magical circle expanded beneath his feet. The circle, however, suddenly shone brighter to multiply itself into precisely ten ces.

    The figures of two golems ring with cold mists manifested from each circle, and they immediately shot forward to distract as many beasts as they could ording to their master''s will.

    A fierce battle exploded forth at that point. The casting time of that small army had been in less than a second, but the serpents already had their attacks prepared for the army''sing.

    Noah had to consciously dodge explosions since they could hurt him. His golems lost by andslide due to the constitution of their opponents, but he never expected them to kill any beasts.

    If even he couldn''t; until he empowered himself before creating a weapon, then they had no chance.

    Noah estimated that by the ended of the battle he would have burnt about 20k SE points, but thankfully his pool continued to increase by 5% with each level up. It also seemed the beasts were all at level 65, which meant the cost would have to reduce at some point since he got stronger.

    Spotting a serpent that had managed to shatter two golems by itself, but was still in the process of getting rid of the spreading ice, Noah took that moment of weakness to shoot toward it.

    A bright sh shone amongst the many explosions, but it could barely be noticed due to the other events urring in the background.

    Arriving directly in front of the beast, Noah delivered nothing less than 30 powerful punches on its head. His offensive needless to say, crushed a side of its serpentine head in that instant, as soft tissues even began to appear under the fallen scales.

    Unfortunately, that offensive had not been enough to kill it. The serpent had even sent its tail towards him in a deep desire to sever his body in two.

    Unfortunately for it, Noah wouldn''t let that happen. His figure turned into a bright streak of deep-yellow light to arrive on its left side in an instant.

    The sound of hard materials cracking and shattering spread out in that instant as Noah embedded his left arm into the beast''s side.

    Gritting his teeth and dragging his arm down, Noah sessfully tore through the beast''s belly, but a series of magical circles appeared on the beast''s green scales, and Noah felt his instincts scream in fear. But it had been toote.

    The bulky serpent before him exploded into a fiery mass that fed on its flesh to gain more destructive power, before Noah could fully kill it. And he had been caught in the explosion.

    Cough mouthful of blood whilst trying to remove his figure from the crater his figure had dug in the wall and been embedded in, Noah tried to ignore the pain he felt, but a series of fiery attacksnded on his figure before he could do much, spreading more wounds on his figure.

    He could only endure the heat while he re summoned his armor spell, even if it immediately shattered under the fiery offensive.

    However, before the beasts could continue their relentless attacks, arge whitish-blue beam exited the spot that contained Noah''s figure, to travel towards the other end of the expanse in the most violent explosion that underground structure had experienced since the start of the battle.

    The attack, however, after it dispersed revealed the frozen spectacle it had created, as nothing less than ten serpents had been caught up in it. All which had turned into frozen sculptures.

 Chapter 284 284. CLEARED

    Silence filled the entirety of the expanse, as the other serpents seemed to stall in utter shock. Around ten of their subordinates had turned into frozen sculptures after being engulfed in the beam of what they considered pure frozen power.

    A cough however disquieted the cave, as Noah emerged out of the dense cold mist that had formed after the attack dispersed.

    Before the beasts could react to his figure, he turned into a deep-yellow streak of crackling energy as he smashed into the frozen figures of the serpents.

    Noah looked desperate since he didn''t care what he did as long as he managed to crumble whole chunks of the beasts.

    He had not received any prompt containing the news of leveling up which meant the serpents were still alive even if they were frozen. To not risk their thawing and causing problems, Noah made sure to shatter good chunks of their figure.

    Only at that point did he receive level-up notifications. And from killing exactly 12 beasts, Noah gained seven levels, cing him at level 70.

    This, needless to say, brought a wave of power that managed to almostpletely heal his damaged body. However, he still featured a few.

    His chest and some other parts of his upper body still had burnt patches of skin that were already healing up, only at a far slower rate. A rate that Noah had never experienced before.

    For the first time since he arrived on Cregar, Noah understood what normal cultivators experienced. The need to always wait for a long period before your injuries healed was something he had forgotten.

    Spitting bloodied saliva from his mouth, Noah felt his broken teeth regrow. That had to be the weirdest he had ever been to.

    The hisses and shrieks soon began, but Noah barely cared about the noise his opponents made. He had to find a way to kill them. The easy way. The icicle beam had been enough to keep them in ce, and he nned to utilize it again.

    However, before that, a series of evasive maneuvers urred as he moved to dodge the multiple fiery attacks thrown at him. The attacks were mostly in the basic shape of a sphere shooting toward him.

    The attacks contained enough power to hurt him even if by stats the serpents were lower-stage beasts. They didn''t even possess mana cores.

    A wild explosion that shook the entire expanse barreled out in all directions, as shock waves spread cracks on the ground and walls of the underground expanse.

    Noah for one felt a dense wave of power wash over him, but no injuries appeared on his armored figure.

    Reducing the amount of essence going into his empowerment, Noah called upon the power of the Icicle beam.

    [Icicle Beam[Active]: When activated, a beam of highly condensed ice particles getsunched at your target.

    Costs: 450SE, Duration: 3 seconds, Cool-down: 0.6 Seconds]

    A magical circle appeared in front of his figure and arge whitish-blue beam shot out of the circle in an ear-rending explosion, The beam of cold essence arrived at the other end of the expanse in an instant; immediately turning a huge chunk of its wall into pure ice.

    Although he ignored it, Noah had turned that expanse into an icy terrain for most parts. Only due to the fiery explosions had the ce not turned into apletely frozen environment, and the attack he had unleashed further caused the temperature to drop.

    A series of frozen figures appeared in the wake of the beam, and Noah didn''t hesitate to shoot forward. He noticed the multiple fiery barriers that had been erected by the surviving serpents, but he focused only on turning the 15 frozen figures into uneven chunks of ice and still fresh flesh.

    Deep-yellow particles rushed into his figure in waves, ad he felt his entire being increase in power. Unfortunately, the levels he gained were only three, putting his level at 73.

    Scanning his environment for any clustered serpents, Noah unleashed icicle beams on such groups, and soon the serpents stopped banding together in an attempt to adapt to his offensive.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Only after the numbers of the serpents had dropped to 12 did the beasts stop forming clusters. And tried to spread out to attack a never stationed Noah.

    Noah utilized his speed to its best while casually going around ending the beasts with his energy des. Killing all twelve beasts only managed to increase his level once, bringing him to level 75.

    At this point, Noah figured killing one of the serpents would not bring him anything. Even ten of them would not increase his strength.

    In one hour, Noah was done with the first floor. However, he didn''t have to worry about time since apparently, a day within the dungeon would only be two hours on the outside world.

    [You have sessfully cleared the first floor]

    [You may move to the next floor]

    Noah read, watching a door simrly looking to the one that led into the first-floor open.

    Sweeping his gaze on the expanse before him, he shook his head at the multiple craters littering the ce. Shifting his gaze to the high ceiling, Noah wondered if he could snag a few mana stones for himself.

    However, a second look at them allowed him notice a difference in the stonespared to mana stones. And he didn''t hesitate to run along the walls to arrive on the ceiling and inspect them up close.

    A hiss escaped Noah''s mouth when he saw that the stones were simply producing light, but they didn''t contain any energy whatsoever. The dungeon itself powered them, without it they would simply be transparent rocks.

    Before beginning his move to the second floor, Noah spent an hour resting and allowing his body fully heal. Thanks to the constant leveling up that healed a bit of his injuries every time, he could spend only a short while recuperating.

    Crossing the massive door and watching it shut behind him, Noah focused his eyes on the spiral stairway leading deeper into that environment. The walls of the stairway featured stone bricks. A truly weird sight.

    Simr rocks powered by the dungeon illuminated the normally dark stairway, and Noah had to go down more than seventy meters before he could finally arrive at a smooth surface.

    Walking past the round space opened in the cave-like structure before him, Noahid eyes on an expanse no less bigger than the first floor, only that it featured a lesser amount of serpents standing at around twenty in number.

    However, the real detail that caught his sight apart from the level 65 serpents, was the clearlyrger one sitting at the exit of the expanse.

    [Grand serpent of mes]

    [Level: 75]

    [Affinity: Fire]

    [Title: Mini-boss of the Dishonored Serpent]

    [Danger level: N/A]

    [You have arrived at the second floor]

 Chapter 285 285. STUNNED

    ''We are equally strong. This shouldn''t be hard,'' Noah thought sweeping his gaze on the other serpents.

    Something felt odd about the way they were each positioned in that expanse and he quickly focused his gaze to find out. They didn''t even move to attack him like the serpents of the first floor did. They were simply keeping their reptilian gazes on his tiny figure.

    In terms of size, the serpents were around 15m in length. And their bulky, slightly curved arms raised them to a height of about 3m. This was the general size of the level 65 serpents, but the ones at the back considered the mini-boss, wererger, stretching for about 23m in length, and stood at a height of 4m.

    Its reptilian head overlooked the entire expanse as it was the tallest creature within it. Noah still found it a mystery whether size also meant more power to magical beasts, but when he recalled that multiple articles disproved that, saying that it simply depended on the beast''s species.

    There were many tier 4 beasts out there, shorter than even humans. And many that stood at collossal heights, but were averagely strong for their realm.

    Back to the weirdness of the scene thaty before him, Noah eventually realized that the serpents stood in a formation. After reading a bit about wars and the battle tactic utilized within them, he could understand the sight thaty before him.

    Notwithstanding, Noah understood not what to do with that realization. The beasts hadn''t made any move so he couldn''t totally determine what they would do with the formation.

    The two sides started at each other for a long time, until Noah decided to expand his consciousness and move forward.

    Capping his speed at about Mach 3 since there wasn''t any need to waste essence, Noah turned into a bright yellow streak of crackling energy before unleashing his icicle beam and the first line of the formation featuring five serpents.

    His practically instantaneous spell barreled forward with a force that proved lethal on its own. Three of the serpents on the first line were caught up in the icicle beam, but to Noahs shock, his attack didn''t go past the fist line of the formation, as a ming barrier had appeared on its path and the two forces raged to gain dominance.

    The other serpents erected their personal barriers at that point, keeping them alive for the time being.

    An explosion of shocking power burst out in all directions when both energies found that they couldn''t overwhelm the other.

    Noah had to m his hands on the ground immediately erecting ten walls of solid ice. The walls shattered one after the other, but when the force hit him, it didn''t even ripple his clothes.

    Nevertheless, Noah felt shocked about that oue. He felt a shiver travel down his spine when he imagined if he had faced the explosion head-on. Thankfully his body had acted on impulse led by his superior instincts.

    The cloud of cold and hot particles soon cleared to reveal a sight that forced to him into uttering a few curses.

    Every one of the serpents was okay apart from the three that the icicle beam had touched, they had even shattered upon the explosion, but Noah didn''t get exp for their deaths.

    Therge barrier that encased the other serpents in the room, was the main reason the others had survived. Although it looked barely standing as Noah knew that a single punch would shatter it; he couldn''t deny the fact that it had been able to withstand the event.

    He could only trace that type of power to the level 75 serpent casually coiled at the end of the expanse.

    The barrier soon crumbled, but a new one reced it, and in that instant, Noah understood why the serpents were in a formation.

    Holes opened on the barrier, even if it remained in top shape. However from the opened spaces came balls of mes, numbering more than fifty.

    The attacks came from all sides of the expanse, since the beasts were that spread out. Another curse exited Noah''s mouth while he erected as many as 17 barriers in front of him, to block the offensive.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Moving father back into the room, Noah gazed at the wall of ice that spanned for half the height of the expanse and stretched across both walls.

    That defensive had cost him 2000SE, and it proved worth it since nothing reached him.

    ''They n to wear me out while I''m unable to properly get rid of them,'' Noah thought tapping his right foot to allow a magical circle expand beneath his feet before casting the said skill an extra twelve times.

    His frozen golems emerged from the twelve magical circles, and he soon featured a number of golems numbering twenty-four.

    ''I''ll have to keep them distracted, while I find a way to shatter the barrier and wipe the minions out before going for the boss,'' Noah thought sweeping his gaze on his prepared army. Each of the golems were capable of tier 3 power past the bottom of the lower stage, since he too had went past the bottom of the lower stage.

    He hoped they wouldst longer this time around, but with the offensive of his opponents he couldn''t help but doubt. All the attacks of the serpents were powered with the speed essence, even if only by a little. He couldn''t imagine them having the prowess he had.

    ''That would be difficult,'' Noah eventually evaluated. ''I''ll have to keep a series of distractions constantly ready. Or I''ll be forced to fall back like I did,'' he sighed wishing he had his toys back

    Explosions never stopped ringing out as the beasts continued to rain spells on the walls erected by their target.

    ''Do they never run out of fuel,'' Noah wondered seeing as his walls only remained four. However he wasn''t going to wait till they crashed all his defenses before he would move.

    Closing his eyes to gain full concentration. Noah caught hold of the ice that therge walls were made of, and pored essence into turning them into and offensive.

    The outermost wall exploded into a dense shower of icy particles, creating a thick mist before the serpents, that sessfully blocked their view of the events happening past it.

    Before any attacks could disperse the mist, Noah opened his eyes and unleashed the attack he had prepared. All three of the remaining walls crumbled to take the form ofrge spears numbering a stunning number of around 300.

    For the first time since he became a tier 3, Noah understood what holding too much with his mind felt like. A headache struck him as he tried to keep all spears in his control. Needless to say, he unleashed them before they could cause damage to his soul core.

    The sounds of roaring objects crossed the rtively short distance before him and the barrier. An explosion Noah had anticipated, but remained stunned by its power shook the entire expanse as massive thick clouds of pure coldness burst out in all directions, filling the entirety of the expanse. More than half his prepared golems shattered as a result of the explosion.

    Shockingly, from within the mist, and into theyers of crackling protection Noah erected around his figure came waves of deep-yellow particles that gushed into his body.

    Twenty-two messages informing him of gained exp popped up madly in front of his eyes, but only thest four felt important to him.

    [You have leveled up once]

    [You have gained 1000 stat points]

    [Your stats have increased by 5%]

    [You are now level 76]

 Chapter 286 286. SWAMPY FOREST

    It took the cold mists Noah''s intervention with his air affinity to clear. He didn''t feel ready to wait to see the oue of his attack.

    Fortunately, the scene thaty before him pleased him greatly.

    He had managed to clear the numbers of the weaker serpents, but the mini-boss remained. However, its figure now featured injuries, even if they were only superficial ones.

    Noah had suffered significant losses on his side too. Only five of his frozen golems remained, but he didn''t hesitate to cast the spell three extra times to bring that number to 14.

    Ignoring the huge crater that existed between him and the serpent and the icy chunks embedded into the walls of the expanse, the duo seemed to participate in a stare-off, and the beast soon raised its long neck to voice a powerful shriek. One that sent ripples through the air, even if they never managed to reach Noah''s valiant figure.

    Magical circles expanded beneath the green serpent, and to Noah''s mild surprise a fiery battle armor encased it in its orange light.

    That show was closely followed by its spitting of fireballs. But Noah had alreadye to realize that the fireballs were not an innate ability, but were spells of sorts.

    Nevertheless, he could only shoot forward to begin his battle with the armored serpent.

    Noah''s figure turned into a yellow streak of crackling energy as he directly crossed the 4m deep crater and more than 200m wide, to arrive in front of the serpent.

    A kick with his now empowered bodynded on the beast''s right front leg, shattering the armor on it. However, before his right leg could steer clear of that limb, the beasts crumbling armor exploded in a wave of dense orange mes.

    The mes pushed Noah back and even spread cracks on his illusory armor, but his golems arrived at that point, preventing it fromunching any other attacks, at least in the meantime.

    Noah was now stronger than the boss even if by one level, and his golems expressed that reality. A violent battle quickly unfolded in his eyes.

    His golems surrounded the beast in one swift movement, and some sacrificed their frozen limbs to grab hold of its legs and some of its tails.

    A trashing began at that instant, but the golems weren''t going to let go that easily, Noah had to move back to be able to safely watch them since the serpent cracked its tail uncaring of the damage it was doing to itself and its surrounding.

    Three golems were caught in the beast cracking tail, immediately being destroyed, but the others soon began to unleash physical violence on it.

    Noah watched his golems die out to get rid of its armor and even inflict a series of deep wounds on the serpent, even if they weren''t able to kill it.

    He didn''t hesitate to utilize the weakness his golems had created to stab the beast with his energy de.

    A shriek of agony burst out of the serpent''s teethed mouth at that event, and it quickly began to trash itself around that area. Noah had not been able to properly remove his arms before it began its trashing, so he was caught up in that desperate disy to keep its life.

    Red blood never stopped flying everywhere, and the area soon started to see pools of blood forming.

    Having enough of its annoying actions. Noah cast a lightning bolt inside the beast, and he found himself barreling back into the air as a result of the explosion that followed the event.

    Crashing and rolling inside the crater, Noah quickly jumped up to sprint towards the beast, but what heid eyes on, forced him to rx.

    His spell had opened arge hole on the other side of the beast, where Noah could clearly see its insides. However, for some absurd reason probably its innate resilience, the beast had not died yet. Even if it was close to doing so.

    Sighting Noah''s lightly injured figure, the serpent seemed about to do something, when its opponent suddenly disappeared from his position then everything went ck for it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Steering clear of the fountain of blood that spurted out of the serpent''s severed head. Noah watched its body turn into a yellow glowing mass, before shattering into innumerable particles flowing towards and into his figure.

    Noah leveled up once bringing his level to 77. A relieved sigh escaped his mouth while he walked towards a spot free of blood to sit and rest.

    The second floor had been easier to clear than the first one, mainly due to his increased level and the low number of weaker serpents. Had they numbered up to fifty, he would have needed more time and energy to sessfully clear the floor.

    [You have sessfully cleared the second floor]

    [You can now proceed]

    The sound of the heavy-looking door behind him opening disquieted the whole expanse after the panel appeared In his eyes.

    Noah spent a bit more than half an hour resting before he considered himself fit enough to begin his journey to thest floor. Thankfully he still contained around 50k points of SE in his core.

    That reality proved shocking, and when he nced at his SE stats, he felt his heart palpitate in excitement. It had more than doubled from thest time.

    However, when he looked at the fact that each level he gained increased his stats based on percentage and not points, that reality felt less shocking.

    His core had grown exponentially as he neared the limits of the spherical stage.

    In truth, Noah had started to feel like a profound expert with his strength. All his stats had more than doubled from when he came there which meant he could most likely one-shot middle-staged experts if he so desired.

    Unfortunately, things were different within the bounds of the dungeon. The beasts there made him seem like a normal expert battling creatures his level. He felt sure that no expert his level on the outside world could face what he faced unless they stood at the peak of the lower stage or higher stage.

    ''She''s in for a surprise,'' Noah giggled walking past the door and finding a stairway that led far down than before. The distance from the second floor to the third floor was more than 200m. 200m of hard ground separated them

    Noah found himself walking into a clear environment as the path thaty before him was that of a cliff.

    A vastnd area expanded before his astonished eyes as they fell on the immense mountain-chain-like wall before him. The mass of earth obstructed his view as a wall, but the area before and below him wasrge enough for seeing. Spanning a few ten kilometers in radius. The ce however was dark, but a strange dim light lit that environment up.

    ncing at the space beneath him, Noah felt another wave of surprise when heid eyes on a forest. The only issue was that it stood more than 600m below him. A light purplish fog also existed above the mass of trees and water.

    [You have arrived on the third floor]

    [Swampy forest]

    [Get to the door at the end of the forest to proceed to the next floor]

    [Hidden mission found: Survive the swampy forest]

    [Prize: Grade C weapon]

    [Note: You only have two chances at failing to survive; after which you truly die]

 Chapter 287 287. DEATH

    Noah stood atop a cliff several hundred meters from the surface beneath him. His eyes looked lost in thoughts but that wouldn''t be too far from the truth, but it also wasn''t close to it.

    His eyes being fixed on the floating set of words directly in his eyes, continued to gaze at the panels'' words trying his best to figure out what they truly meant.

    Of course, he understood that it meant he had two chances at making things right in that situation. But why such was even necessary now continued to baffle him.

    Why hadn''t the system told him that during his fight with the serpents? Surely he could have died there. Would he have truly faced death in such an oue or would something else have happened? For the system tomunicate that he could die and be revived meant it could do that for him anytime within the dungeon.

    ''What surprises are waiting for me down there,'' Noah thought eventually focusing his gaze on the world below him. Truth be told he remained in a wondrous state at that sight. A forest inside a dungeon, he had thought.

    The environment he hade out of resembled a mountain, only that something wouldn''t allow him to see its top. He could only ssify it as the system''s way of blocking him.

    Each time he nced up there, he would feel his eyesight get blurry. So blurry that everything simply became a mixture of colors. The first time he tried it, fear had gripped his mind into thinking he had actually gone blind. But lowering his gaze to the swampy forest below him disproved that suggestion.

    "How do I even get down there," Noah muttered. His question being more of aint than literal. Of course, he could create a tform of dense wind that would allow him to float down there. He could also create a structure made out of ice that could allow him slide down. Either was okay.

    Seeing as no means whatsoever would be provided by the system, Noah could only go for one of his avable options.

    Choosing to go for the easiest which was of course utilizing his control over the air to create something durable enough to endure his weight.

    Noah slowly lowered the tform of air, and he soon found himself nearing the purplish fog of sorts, and his instincts tingled at it, causing him to disperse it with a powerful gush of wind.

    He ced his feet on a mushy ground surface and cringed in disgust. The wet sound the surface made at his arrival seemed to resound in his mind, but he quickly got over it.

    Sweeping his gaze on the ce he was supposed to survive, Noah found that it looked like nothing more than a forest abundant with water. in.

    A sigh escaped his mouth at that point. He didn''t for once doubt that something capable of killing him existed within that in-looking environment but only found it troublesome that he would need to watch out for something he didn''t know.

    The heavy environment, however, was a sign to his mind that the forest was far from normal.

    ''How do I find the exit,'' Noah wondered seeing as he was not provided with any map. The ce didn''t look that immense, but it was wide enough to allow him to wander aimlessly for days.

    "If I were an exit in a swampy forest, where would I be," Noah spoke under his breath; slowly scanning the environment. His consciousness even went forth to begin its search, but the ce was more than ten times wider than his consciousness could epass.

    Noah felt tempted to simply run around searching, after all, he would be able to cover more ground with that. Unfortunately, the threat of something unknown, and his constantly tingling instincts would not allow him to move about carelessly.

    His instincts continued to tingle mildly, which remained part of the reason he understood that the forest was dangerous. However seeing as his instincts reacted to everywhere around him, he could only give up on obtaining any clues.

    Needless to say, Noah had to begin his journey at some point, and he felt the urge to check out the immense wall in the distance.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The night-like environment couldn''t be more annoying, but a small ball made out of generated static electrical energy solved the light issue with its radiance.

    If one looked at the forest from above, one would notice the bright deep-yellow light slowly traveling towards the mountain on the other side.

    Keeping his spells at the edge of his mind in case something randomly jumped at him, Noah had to spend a bit over an hour before his instincts picked up in intensity.

    Furrowing his brows while he stopped walking, Noah left his consciousness unfolded. Then it began.

    The ground beneath him began to rumble, and seeing as the entire forest hadrge ponds or small ones, like the one he currently stood in, Noah could only find that event troubling.

    Suddenly everything went silent, and so did the tingling of his instincts. Needless to say, that event shocked the hell out of him, but he didn''t have much time of peace, since he noticed that a purplish gas suddenly burst out of the ground all around him.

    His instincts went mad at that point, but Noah barely had the chance to react when the trees around him seemed to gain sentience.

    Something huge and strong smashed into his back in an instant after the events began, sending him barreling forward, but shockingly the trees parted ways for his passage, until a thick vine of sorts riddled with razor sharp splinters caught hold of his leg.

    Noah felt pain flood his mind as something deep and dangerous bypassed his skin to ravage his muscles and begin to spread.

    [You have been infected with a strange poison]

    [You body is struggling to battle it]

    [It is advised that you amputate the infected body part to prevent more spreading and death]

    This panels washed into his eyes further raising the bar of how scary his situation had be.

    The vine of sorts began to randomly swing him up and down, making sure to bash him into the ground or into trees. This event left Noah breathless while he felt blinding pain gush into his mind almost making him pass out.

    Ice burst forth from his figure at the split second the vine seemed to have halted, but the vine swung him away before it could get hurt.

    Noah found him self being flung away and rapidly approaching the ground again. His figure crashed into the wetnds of that forest sending dirt and even wet soil flying everywhere. Noah received no damage upon impact, but the pain he felt made him wish something would distract him from it.

    Deep groans of pain followed his tries to move. Sitting up, he nced at his left leg and slowly pulled up its sleeve, jolts of pain reaching his mind at the slight contact his hands had with that limb.

    His heart skipped multiple beats at the sight heid eyes on.

    His left leg; up to halfway to his knee had turned an incredibly deep shade of purple, almost ck. Not only that, but pus-filled boils riddled his leg causing him skin crawling pain.

 Chapter 288 288. APOLOGIZE

    Noah recoiled in both disgust and horror at the sight thaty before him. He tried to switch to his emotionless side but the sheer amount of pain he felt didn''t allow him enough focus to do that.

    The infection continued to spread at an rming rate, as he estimated that in less than a minute his whole leg would be in that state!

    Needless to say, he considered doing as the system had suggested, but he recoiled once again at the thought of severing one of his body parts. Nevertheless, he understood that he had to do something before things went worse.

    Taking a deep breath as sweat broke on his forehead and many parts of his body. Noah raised his left hand over his left leg. Closing his eyes; he poured essence into freezing that body part.

    He, however, grimaced when he found that he couldn''t freeze his leg. He quickly understood why, as it had to do with hisprehension. He had an affinity for ice that his body could withstand even in that state.

    Noah did not doubt that his body could heal him, but that would have been if his healing capabilities had not been reduced by 80%.

    He had toe to the grim decision of amputating his leg. Unfortunately for him, the forest wouldn''t allow him. Or at least it seemed to time its attacks at such fragile moments.

    A dense wave of purple gas suddenly washed over his immediate environment, and Noah quickly found himself breathing that substance down his throat.

    [You have inhaled poisonous gas]

    [Your health is deteriorating rapidly]

    [It is advised that you leave the environment filled with this substance]

    Noah watched those panels flood into his now hazy eyes. The urge to sneeze befell him and he sumbed to it. But only blood came out of his nose.

    Noah watched his health stats drop by 500points each second, and the fear of death applied its cold grip on him.

    He was caught up with two decisions, to either leave that ce as fast as he could or sever his leg and risk not being able to leave fast.

    Noah chose to escape first, and each time he tried to stand, he felt a sharp pain shoot up his knee and then back to his legs.

    In the span of a few seconds, he felt a heaviness befall his entire body, as it took tremendous effort to even be able to kneel properly.

    ''I have to get out of here,'' Noah thought slowly. His breathing had gotten slower and his eyes had started falling.

    Calling upon the speed forces empowerment, he felt a wave of power rush into his mind, keeping his mind in good shape. At least for that moment.

    Noah soon stopped breathing air to start breathing his speed essence, but his symptoms persisted.

    Eventually managing to stand on his right leg, Noah tried to; although painfully ce his left leg in a standing position. Pure pain wrecked his mind forcing tears out, but he grit his teeth although weakly, and managed to rise.

    Due to the speed forces empowerment, Noah managed to withstand the incredible pain he was experiencing, but the more than ten boils on his leg began to burst when he sessfully stood, sending intense jolts of pain to his mind.

    His infected leg exploded in a gory mess a few seconds after that event began.

    A scream of numbing agony escaped Noah''s mouth as he stumbled and began to shiver madly. His eyes fell on his left knee and confirmed that nothing existed past his knee point. This needless to say caused even more pain, as blood spurt out of that incredible injury.

    His leg had cleanly exploded, but the infection or poison continued to spread anyway.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With no seeming way out of his situation, Noah called upon his golems. Heavy movements soon spread around him, as two icy monsters manifested from a magical circle.

    One of the golems carried and ced Noah on its shoulders after he had given it themand to take him far away from that ce. The second would be the one guarding both of them.

    The golems began their journey to a safer spot in the swampy forest, but the rumbling began again, then it stopped.

    Just like the first time the trees around them seemed toe to life and started to attack Noah''s golems.

    The battle was fierce and very soon the one meant to protect them found itself being wrapped by many vines able to crush it, followed by the one carrying its master. Shockingly, the vines left him untouched.

    Noah being half awake and had his entire left thigh now in a deep-purple color and filled with painful pus-filled boils; decided to unleash everything he had on the environment before he died. At least most of what he had.

    Chaos fell on the environment at that point, as he cast three of his known AOE spells.

    [Frozen Touch[Active]: When activated your hands gain the unique attribute "Frost", and are capable of freezing anything they touch as long as it doesn''t have cold resistance higher than the users.

    Cost: 10SE, Duration: 1 minute, Cool-down: 15 seconds]

    [Lightning Storm[Active]: Generate a tier 3 storm of Lightning within the radius of your mental consciousness, that strikes your enemies down.

    Costs: 400SE, Duration: 4 minutes, Cool-down: 20 minutes]

    [Air Storm[Active]: Generate a turbulent windy storm within the range of your mental consciousness.

    Costs: 350SE, Duration: 5 minutes, Cool-down: 20 minutes]

    cing his hands o the floor while lying down helplessly, Noah caused everything in the area of 500m to turn into ice. Nothing was excluded, not even his clothes.

    A frozen spectacle unfolded in his eyes at that point, but a storm of lightning soon burst from his lying figure to expand into a radius of multiple kilometers. Destruction reigned supreme in that environment, followed by the activation of his wind storm.

    The environment of more than a 3km radius saw what resembled a proper cmity befall it. Trees turned to ash many were blown away as both lightning storms and air storms tried to gain dominance.

    The forest had lit up with a deep-yellow light due to the presence of Noah''s storms, but the surface of that ce could not be seen because of the same reason. It looked like a glowing nkety in that area. A spectacr scene.

    Noah managed to get a moment of peace, even if lightning bolts crashed on him, but weren''t able to hurt him. How he knew what wasing. The infection had already started spreading up his stomach pain he never even knew was possible had started to fill his mind.

    His healing wasn''t fast enough to battle the infection, coupled with his missing and still bleeding leg. A situation had never been so hopeless in his life. Thankfully he knew he would be revived. It had happened before after all.

    ''I should be given an award for the most deaths without fully dying,'' Noahughed inwardly. But the truth remained that his current situation seemed unavoidable. Which was probably why he had been given a second chance. If only he had his healing at full capacity, he wouldn''t fall into such a mess.

    ''So this is how he felt.'' Noah mused, recalling the guy who''s leg he had severed during a duel. ''What was his name again. I need to apologize for the pain I put him through,'' He concluded before tensing up, after which everything went ck for him.

    Immediately Noah stopped breathing; his spells also vanished, revealing the massive hole they had etched into that forest. It continued to burn for hours.

 Chapter 289 289. DESTRUCTION

    Groaning as he slowly parted his eyelids to open his eyes. Noah felt his gaze fall on the scene thaty right before the cliff dame into sight.

    A moment of nkness existed in his mind before his memories started to flood in, and that event was closely followed by a prompt.

    [You have returned to checkpoint]

    [Note that you have used up your chance at dying]

    A frown flickered onto Noah''s face at the return of his memories, it felt surreal returning to life, almost as if he had never died.

    He recalled walking down the stairs and even standing in that posture the first time, so it felt normal for him to feel weird.

    The system had power, incredible power even, able to revive him multiple times in his lifetime.

    Noah walked into the space cut out in the cave that allowed him to gain visuals of the world below him.

    Everything in the forest looked exactly as he remembered seeing it the first time. Which begged the question, had he been really revived, or had his memories been sent back in time.

    Comparing the sight before him to the one he recalled seeing, Noah confirmed that everything looked the same, but he had simply gotten a better understanding of what that ce could do, most especially about the purple fog that existed above the forest.

    Needless to say, Noah felt fear at the thought of returning to the forest, he pretty much understood that he could die again, but this time his death would be true.

    This led to the thought of giving up, and to his mild but understanding surprise, a panel popped up.

    [Do you wish to quit no?]

    [Yes/No]

    [Note that you will forfeit the rewards if you do so]

    Noah found himself falling into thoughts at that point. With every fiber of his being, he desired to leave that ce and not have to face the terror that was the forest, but he hesitated.

    Assessing himself, Noah searched for anything in his assets that could allow him escape the poison, but the only option that appeared in his mind was to not get injured by the trees, to begin with.

    Thankfully he could still run about at his full speed, and he would dare not mince it. However another thought appeared in his mind, one that seemed to be the best he could think of, but it had a slight drawback even if it was probably the best option. And that option was to of course clear arge portion of the forest. If not everything.

    The idea felt brilliant since it would save him the trouble of having to dodge the poisonous trees, as there would be no trees to do him any damage. The only downside to the n was how much essence he would consume in executing such.

    The reality of still having a bit more than 50k SE within his core further proved that he had simply been sent back in time, at least his consciousness had, along with his memories.

    ''It''s a great idea,'' Noah thought feeling his mind draw back from any other suggestions. Sure the forest wasrge and his consciousness couldn''t cover it all, but he could also move from different locations to unleash destruction upon them. His feet didn''t even have to touch the ground.

    ''I have a boss waiting for me on the next floor,'' he furrowed his brows feeling his lips curve into a wry smile. ''I''m already excited,'' he thought as calctions began in his mind. Noah had already made a decision. And if it didn''t work; he''d simply quit. Better to live than die, he had already harvested more levels than he expected, there was always the next batch.

    A series of contemtion and estimation rose and fell in Noah''s head, as his mind worked to bring the best optimization of his essence while causing enough destruction, thankfully he had a skill that fit that description.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His golems.

    Thanks to their low energy cost and number, Noah could spam them, and still have a lot of energy retained.

    [Frozen Golem''s[Active]: When activated you create 2 Golem''s capable of tier 3 power.

    Cost: 150SE, Duration: Until they are destroyed, Cool-down: N/A]

    Taking a step on the tform of air he had built, Noah floated downwards, until he reached a height he felt sure his golems would survive if they fell from.

    Stretching his right hand forward, while he ced his left arm on his back, Noah activated his frozen golem skill ten times.

    A magical circle expanded on his palm, and ten other circles simr in color butrger flew out of the main magical circle to take a position in the air while being spread out across that area.

    Two golems a bit over 12ft in height emerged from each magical circle and began their descent. Noah gave them a very basic order. ''Destroy everything that isn''t one of you.''

    Immediately he saw that all of them had arrived o the ground sessfully, Noah searched for a spot he knew they wouldn''t be able to cover still within that area and shot downwards. This action remained very risky and went against what he initially nned, but it felt necessary.

    A magical circle expanded beneath his feet to epass the area that his fully extended consciousness covered, and a storm of erratic electrical currents exploded forth from it.

    Destruction spread out at that point, but Noah had already shot back into the sky to make his movements towards the next area after giving his golems amand to not near the destructive storm.

    He had divided the entire forest into five different areas, each a bit over 10 kilometers in terms of radius.

    Arriving at the next area, Noah cast his golem again, and unleashed a huge lightning storm far from their position, though not too far.

    On his third time, Noah struck the wet ground like a descending meteor and proceeded to cast his lightning storm spell. When suddenly the ground began to rumble, the forest was ready to take action on him.

    Unfortunately for it, Noah had already returned to the sky before the rumbling could even end, and in his departure was a lightning storm a bit over three kilometers in radius.

    ''The forest is already retaliating,'' Noah thought sprinting towards the next area. He hoped to finish fast to give his golems a proper fighting chance since they were likely to get destroyed when overwhelmed by the vines.

    The environment of that forest had already lit up with mulriple deep yellow lightsing from different points that were expanding rapidly. Thanks to the heat of the storms Noah understood that it was only a matter of time till the storms set everything on fire while also expanding themselves, after all, water was present mostly in the area.

    Explosions rang out in their tens, reaching Noah''s ears but he barely cared about that, he moved rapidly to unleash as much as he could so that he could return to assist his golems who were already under attack.

    Noah reached the fourth area and quickly did as he pleased, once again, the forest had begun to rumble, but his empowered mind allowed him work at speeds the forest couldn''t dream ofprehending.

    Very soon, Noah stood high in the sky, his icy blue eyes reflecting the massive storms mostly deep-yellow in color. There was fire everywhere, and a cloud of thick smoke rose to the skies of that environment, even if he wasn''t allowed to see the sky.

    He only spent a few seconds admiring the level of destruction only he was capable of. The sight almost assured him that he was close to transcending the levels of mortality. If only he knew how far such a goal truly was.

 Chapter 290 290. FOURTH FLOOR

    Shooting across the now burning battlefield with the goal of finding anything that resembled arge door, Noah made sure to assist his golems in whatever way he could. If they needed more of their kind, then he did that, though still under his budget of 15k SE points.

    In total so far, he had spent less than ten thousand SE. Casting five lightning storms each one costing 400SE. Then ten casts of his golems, with each batch costing 1500SE.

    Noah wondered at some point if unleashing as many as twenty storms without his golems would have been better, but he dismissed that idea. His golems due to their numbers were able to deal great damage to the forest.

    They even expressed abilities he didn''t know they had, which was the ability to freeze their environment. Though it remained very limited. To only about a radius of 10m.

    ''I should get a stat panel for all my skills,'' Noah mused sending an icicle beam towards a spot that had fewer golems in it. His attack crashed into the ground and spread like mist, only far faster. In less than three seconds an area of more than 200m in radius turned into solid ice, including the trees.

    Noah took the liberty ofnding on that now safe spot and unleashing another storm. Mad crackling sounds erupted in his environment, but he was already on his way to the sky and didn''t hesitate to create tforms of dense wind on his path.

    Thanks to his constantly expanded consciousness, Noah could create tforms for his movements long before he even arrived there. In the area his consciousness epassed, he was omnipresent.

    ''Should I just wait till everything dies down,'' Noah thought seeing as he couldn''t spot anything mostly due to the light of his storms.

    He eventually returned to the cliff and watched the destruction he birthed spread. Noah had to be honest that he felt delighted watching that scene. There was something about it that made him relish the sight.

    Was it his anger toward the forest for reducing him to so pitiful a state that death was the only way out, or was it something else; Noah felt uncertain. But he couldn''t deny the refreshing feeling he experienced, knowing the death of the forest would be his doing.

    Noah had to wait a bit more than an hour, before everything, or rather most of the activities died down. His storms had long since expended their duration period, and he had even gone out to unleash a bit more, but he had to wait for the sheer fire they had caused to due down.

    After the storms died off, the whole forest seemed toe to life again, as mes literally existed in every area Noah nced at. The immense amount of smoke had contained the poison of the forest, forcing him into the cave, where he spent most of his time.

    After the fire had died down to a hospitable point, Noah gazed at the same scene he looked at now.

    ckness. Piles of thick ck ashy in heaps as far as he could see, but nothing moved again. He had seeded in burning everything to the ground. And due to that, Noah managed to sight the thing he had been looking for.

    In a totally random and even unexpected spoty a tall thin pole. It was situated on the west side of the forest where he had not even thought to look.

    Arriving next to the pole while still standing on a tform of air, Noah slid his hands on the ashyered metallic surface, and it immediately lit up with many magical circles.

    The pole suddenly burst into a wave of bright light, that only managed to make Noah flinch, then a metallic snake-headed door simr to the one outside the first floor appeared.

    "How was I even supposed to find this," Noah clicked his tongue in annoyance. The door before him was anything but normal. It was what he considered a spacial door since its insides led to a ce that wasn''t in front of him.

    [You have sessfullypleted both missions of the third floor. Your rewards will be revealed after thepletion of thest floor]

    Noah read this panel and closed it to quickly step through the door, with the delight of course. He arrived inside another underground system, and like before, a stairwayy before his eyes.

    This time the stairway featured vegetation. Vines existed on the walls around him, and even on the spiral stairs. He found that nts grew out of the very stairs illuminating the flight of stairs with their weird light.

    Noah legitimately spent half an hour simply walking. The silence of that ce eventually became deafening forcing him into making random sounds that echoed up and down the strange environment around him.

    His eyes eventually fell on the opening of a cave-like environment, and he rushed to nce into the spot that would be for his next battle.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah peeked into the wide space within the opening, taking note of the vegetation-filled floor and walls. His eyes fell on an expanse a bit smaller than the one he had fought the boss in, and to his mild astonishment, the insides of the ce were riddled with all sorts of vegetation.

    Vines numbering hundreds filled the walls of the expanse covering them with their green color. His eyes traced the vines to their origin and Noah felt his gaze constrict when theynded on a big mass of vegetation.

    It the mass stood unmoving, resembling a heap of thickly bundled vines, and needless to say, the sight confused him greatly.

    He sensed nothing from that room apart from the serpents numbering even less than twenty. Twelve to be exact.

    [You have arrived on the fourth floor]

    [Clear it to proceed]

    "Okay��" Noah muttered wondering where the boss was. His eyes however continued to fall on that aura-less mass of vegetation, and he tried to inspect it, but nothing showed up.

    Needless to say, Noah found that event suspicious, and he felt something within him tingle when he termed the mass of nts the boss, even if he didn''t know what type of beast it was.

    Nevertheless, a few ideas rose in his mind. He had read a few articles concerning beasts with the umon nt elemental affinity.

    ''There''s no use for all this consideration,'' Noah shook his head, sighing heavily before stepping into the expanse. The whole ce seemed toe alive.

    A bright blue light shone all around him, before dying down. However, the vines on the walls started to wriggle a momentter. A weird sight.

    A low but powerful growl shook the entire expanse followed the wriggling of the vines, and Noah watched the mass of nts at the far end of the room begin to increase in height and started gain shape.

    In merely a few seconds Noahid eyes on the figure of a three-legged and two-armed monster made solely out of wriggling vines. The creature''s face featured a tree bark that had the features of being hardly ever seen. Trauma inducing.

    Its face or rather jaws were akin to three ws, featuring a series of razor-sharp teeth within them. That was the closest thing it had to a proper face. Disgusting.

    A deep dense aura exploded forth as the creature revealed itself. Noah felt his instincts ring at that event. He felt danger. One that surpassed the danger he felt from all the level 68 serpents.

    [Flurry]

    [Level: 80]

    [Affinity: nt]

    [Title: Mini-boss of the Dishonored Serpent]

    [Danger level: N/A]

    "I don''t like this," Noah grimaced noticing the swirling yellow core at its center.

 Chapter 291 291. INTERESTING

    The serpents in the room dashed towards Noah''s figure, but in a more thought-out pattern. Two beasts would be sacrificed to test out the waters, while the others would gauge the entity''s strength, mostly based on how their survival instincts reacted to him.

    Noah realized that tworge beasts, resembling over-sized lizards were barreling towards his figure rapidly, but speed essence flowed to his mind to empower it, and a burst of sheer might exploded from his figure since his essence didn''t stop at only his mind, going on wash over his entire body with its power.

    Taking but a few steps forward still wary of the wriggling tentacles around him, Noah allowed spears made out of densely packed air to manifest around his figure and shoot toward his iing opponents.

    His twenty spears shot forward but divided themselves into equal halves of ten to curve towards one of the serpents each.

    What followed was an explosion that sent powerful bursts of heavy wind flying everywhere. A series of deep-yellow particles flowed towards Noah, and the systems announcements of receiving exp shed in his eyes but he didn''t give it any attention.

    He had directly killed both beasts without spending up to 300SE. This oue was of course to be expected, Noah stood almost ten levels from the level 68 beasts, is spells seemed to have naturally increased in attack power. A detail he made a mental note to ask the system about. There were unspoken rules about the rise to power and he felt sure that it was one of them.

    After the attack ended and their subordinates proved to be incapable of doing anything, the remaining ten beasts ran wild, and immediately began to send fire-based attacks. But they were all offensive techniques he had seen on the first and second floor.

    Calling upon the power of his illusory battle armor, Noah turned into a bright yellow streak emitting tendrils of crackling energy. With his energy des formed on both his arms, Noah shed in a zig-zagged pattern between all ten serpents before his figure reappeared.

    Before the ten serpents could react, their bodies fell into dissected portions, and they soon transformed into waves of yellow particles flowing into his body. But even after killing all ten, Noah didn''t gain one level. Nevertheless, he barely cared about that detail, since he had to turn into a streak to escape the vines that had tried to get to him.

    Appearing at the entrance of the expanse, Noah felt his instincts ring constantly, and a deep growl simr to the first one shook the whole expanse. Noah watched the vines on the walls shoot towards the Flurry creating a wall that obstructed his view of the things going on in the background.

    Noah who expected some sort of a transformation, felt his an explosion of danger reach his mind, the ground beneath him gave way to razor-sharp vines.

    With widened eyes, Noah pushed his mind and body to their best, to explode into a streak of heavily crackling lightning, his figure crashed into the wall of wriggling vines, and dug through it, from which Noah unleashed his lightning storm.

    The world itself seemed to pale at the activation of the skill in such a small area, but Noah didn''t care, he let chaos run unhindered in the entire expanse.

    A screech-like scream reached his ears from within the river-like mass of wild lightning bolts. Noah''s lightning bolts from within his storm, crashed on his figure, sending him flying, but never managing to break through his armor. Nevertheless, the events still disoriented him.

    The vines on the walls burnt at the power contained within the bolts, but many of them also vanished, and Noah felt certain that the Flurry had gone underground.

    ''I won''t kill it by keeping it in its hiding ce,'' Noah thought while keeping the erratic bolts from his figure. He did this by enforcing his authority over that element, but it proved difficult nheless.

    Canceling out the skill, Noah nced at the hole in the ground and confirmed his earlier hunch. The beast had retreated underground, and it had left a big hole for its passage.

    Kneeling before the hole, Noah nned to either kill the creature inside the underground system it had built or force it out.

    But before he did so, he considered calling upon the power of his lightning kes but decided against it. Unlike his storm spell, the ke''s skill couldn''t be canceled out. He could get himself killed by trying to withstand the explosion.<novelnext></novelnext>

    cing his palms on the edge of the hole, Noah caused ice to spread into the hole and continued to pour essence until cold mist erupted out of the opening. Reaching a particr point Noah felt something obstruct the movement of his ice, and dint hesitate to unleash ice-based attacks on it.

    His spreading ice turned into spiked that stabbed into whatever it was, as many of the frozen grounds shattered to shoot towards the thing.

    The ground more than 100m from Noah exploded at that point, and a screech burst out of it followed by the appearance of a mass of wriggling vines.

    The mass of vines soon revealed the grotesque shape of the Flurry as it sent its vines towards him. Its aura being that of fury.

    Nah needless to say, dodged the attack, but even if he clearly put the creature in a hard spot, his mind continued to ring with danger, after all, it had not utilized any spells.

    What followed during the next minute was Noah dodging the creatures vine based attacks, while sending a bit of his own. His attacks always hit the target, shaving whole chunks of the monster''s vines, but they always grew back, which annoyed Noah.

    The creature could regrow its lost vine-like they were nothing and continued to unleash a relentless wave of sharp vines at him.

    The intensity of the Flurry''s attacks continued to drop until itpletely stopped. Noah also stopped since he considered it a waste of energy to continue to attack it. He nned to kill it in one go but wanted to see what the creature could do.

    However, after around one hour''s worth of fighting and really simple attacks, Noah began to doubt that his instincts even knew what it was sensing.]

    Maybe it was simply its core, not its battle prowess. Noah would eventually consider. This led to the current scene. Both man and monster stared at each other. At least that was what Noah thought. The Flurry didn''t have any real facial features or even a proper face. It didn''t seem to have eyes making for Noah''s confusion.

    A magical circle appeared on Noah''s hands, and a series of bright deep-yellow chains crackling with intense power and might appeared to manifest from the small circles on his hands.

    Noah''s show seemed to force out the reaction he had been looking for the creature since its swirling core began to shine brighter and brighter until it covered most of the creature''s figure in its light. Noah had to wait a few seconds before it died down and before his eyes could fall on the astonishing scene before him, a panel pooped up carrying interesting information.

    [Flurry<Empowered>(Temporary)]

    [Level: 80>>85]

    [Affinity: nt]

    [Title: Mini-boss of the Dishonored Serpent]

    [Danger level: N/A]

 Chapter 292 292. SCISSORS

    The flurry monster had changed almost drastically. Its vines now featured whole portions that had stopped being green and were now bright yellow. Not only that, but its size had increased, and its vines were now longer and seemingly more versatile.

    Noah could tell from his position that shaving off portions of its vines would now be harder. After all the monster had be a proper middle-stage creature even if only at its bottom. Coupled with t being powered by a tinge of the speed forces power.

    ''It''s almost ten whole levels higher than me,'' Noah thought trying his best to shut the rms that rang in his head at the monster''s empowerment. He had to be honest, the empowerment more or less resembled his.

    Taking multiple steps back while causing his chains to float around him in a defensive formation, Noah prepared himself for whatever the Flurry was about to throw at him.

    Thankfully he didn''t have to wait too long, since the creature suddenly burst into a wave of roots and deadly vines.

    Noah''s chains shot forwards at that point, but he felt mildly shocked to find that the vines far outnumbered his offenses. Nevertheless, he unleashed what he could on the vines he managed to grab with the chains while trying his best to dodge the ones he could. The unavoidable ones smashed into his figure, instantly digging through his armor and into his skin.

    An explosion of dense erratic energy urred less than a second after that event, and a cry of pain from the Flurry resounded in the expanse after it.

    Noah withdrew himself while severing the vines that had dug into his skin, with surprising difficulty. Blood poured out of his injuries, but his new armor covered them with its light, and his body started to work on them.

    ''It''s as strong as I expected,'' Noah grimaced when he felt a significant portion of his Hp get shaved off after the exchange, leaving him slightly pale.

    The light from the explosion quickly died down, and the scene before him disheartened him even more. The Flurry still looked in top shape, but he had managed to destroy a bit of the vine which had already begun to regrow of course.

    Doubts began to gush into Noah''s mind at that point. The oue of the exchange had quickly proved to him how bad his situation could be.

    He still paid attention to the amount of SE he had avable; knowing that the real boss was still a floor away.

    Contemtion on whether or not to quit rose in his head, but he had to hold it back since the Flurryunched another attack, or rather attacks.

    A brown magical circle expanded beneath the figure of the monster, then a rtively significant portion of the creature''s vines suddenly separated from the Flurry to morph into what looked like smaller versions of itself.

    With their number standing at 12, Noah had to take them seriously since they too could stretch their vines.

    Noah however, turned into a deep-yellow streak of crackling energy to directly bypass the Flurry''s line of defense and arrive behind it. He did this after retracting his chains.

    Heprehended how dangerous that action was, but he desired to know where he stood in that battle since only through that could he know what decision he would take.

    Noah''s arrival didn''t go unnoticed, but the Flurry didn''t have the same limitation as the serpent due to its unique flexible body, so it could immediately send many of its vines forward to impale Noah, while still creating a series of defenses around its core.

    Noah noticed the desire to protect its core and gained an idea, but he had to escape the vines first, which he easily did.

    His bright figure appeared right in front of the Flurry, and his right leg suddenly saw crackling energy forming on its figure, to create a sharp de in the span of an instant.

    Noah raised his now-armed leg to perform a horizontal kick towards the Flurry''s head. Unfortunately, the energy de shattered as a result of the creature''s hard vines, but Noah wasn''t done yet.

    Turning into a streak before the Flurry could attack, Noah arrived at the far end of the expanse as another idea formed in his mind, one that felt able to directly destroy his opponent in one go, but he first took care of the tiny versions that were scrambling around trying to catch his rapidly moving figure.

    A whitish-blue magical circle expanded beneath him, before suddenly multiplying into five other ones. Two icy golems each emerged from one magical circle, and Noah didn''t hesitate to allow them to shoot forward.

    Before he made his n a reality, Noah raised his right hand, and a series of ice spikes manifested high above him. Their number surpassed fifty and their size was exactly 3ft. He lowered his hand and they rained down upon the Flurry.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A cloud of coldness quickly rose after that attack, but a whitish-blue beam of erratic cold particles raged forward with the sound of many waters and burst through the cold mist. Unfortunately, a figure seemed to deflect most of its properties.

    Seeing as his attack hadn''t been enough to kill the beast, Noah shrugged since he had only decided to try.

    However, even if his cold beam had been unable to kill the creature, a big portion of its vines had been frozen. Especially at its lower portions. Noah understood that because of this it would be unable to move, thereby almost guaranteeing the sess of his next attack.

    Seeing as his golems were handling the small Flurry''s quite easily, Noah allowed his chains to manifest themselves again.

    The sound of thunder rose inside the expanse drowning all other sounds with its intensity. Noah exerted his control over his crackling chains to force them into attaching to each other.

    In the span of a few seconds, he was done, and the attack he prepared was revealed to the world, and they looked almost like his energy des. Only stronger and longer. Far longer.

    A weight none like anything he expected from the chains applied itself on his arms. After forcing the chains to entangle themselves in a fashion that almost resembled a de. Noah had further reinforced their edges with dense electrical energies, ones that he allowed to be thin and sharp.

    The length of the chains reached the other side of the room even passing the still busy Flurry, who had begun to act frantically.

    ''I have be a massive pair of scissors,'' Noahughed inwardly. His expression soon turned serious and he focused his gaze on the Flurry, who seemed to notice the cold gaze.

    Noah had poured 6k SE into allowing his chains to be proper des, he bet everything on that move. If he didn''t seed in killing it, then nothing in his arsenal would be able to. In essence, he would be quitting afterward.

    Taking a deep breath and exhaling sharply, Noah moved his consciousness to relieve the weight of the chains on his arms, even if most of them remained; which were due to the reinforcements that weren''t part of the chains.

    Raising his arms, Noah watched the surreal scene of both massive des probably 6ft in width and more than 800m in length, rise. The Flurry immediately sent waves of vines to wrap around his des, but its vines were either burnt or directly severed when they touched the sharp erratic energy.

    A grin broke on Noah''s face at that sight, and he didn''t hesitate to swing his towards each other.

    The whole expanse seemed to turn silent, and to Noah''s astonishment, he found that his des struggled to directly reach the creature''s mid section.

    A loud cry escaped his mouth at that point, as he poured all the strength his arms could muster into trying to allow both his des to meet.

    Feeling his arms suddenly meet no obstruction, Noah watched his des slide through the Flurry''s literal tens of defenses to arrive on its core.

    A small shattering sound followed by a reverberating boom so powerful that it sent him flying even from that distance; right after bursting his ear drums.

    The whole expanse shook violently,rge cracks beginning to expand on its walls after an erratic wave of dense electrical energy washed over them.

    [You have gained Exp]

    [You leveled up Three times]

    [You have received 3000 stat points]

    [Your stats have been increased by 15%]

    Noah received these messages after a river-like wave of deep-yellow particles entered his body from the blinding yellow light the explosion generated. Unfortunately he could barely rejoice due to therge rock that almost crushed him. The underground expanse had suffered a great deal of damage and it was falling apart as a result.

 Chapter 293 293. GRAND SERPENT

    Huge cracks continued to spread on the walls of the expanse, and rocks began to break off it to slide down. Proving that the structural integrity of that ce had beenpromised.

    This oue pained Noah since he desired to stay and rest a bit, but he had to ignore the prompt informing him of his sessful clearing of that floor; to turn into a deep-yellow streak and arrive at the now opened snake-inscribed door.

    His figure crossed the door to arrive inside a long hallway. The door behind him shut, but he paid no attention to that event, all his focus being on the scene before him.

    The smooth-walled hallway featured many lights that illuminated it with their multicolored radiance. The sight managed to leave Noah breathless for a second, after which he snapped out of his daze.

    ''I can rest here,'' Noah sighed sitting on the equally smooth ground.

    Two hours had to pass before he could feel at his peak shape. He had already noticed how long it took him to heal the higher his level was, and the issue managed to leave him worried. Albeit only slightly.

    His ragged figure eventually arrived before the simrly snaked-headed door, only that this one featured many shades of purple. Part of its metal even seemed to be naturally purple.

    The door surprisingly exuded an aura that felt dangerous, but Noah had stopped fearing things like that. After multiple asions where his opponent forced danger rms to ring but he ended up almost easily defeating them, he had learned to maintain his cool.

    Therge door began to move open at his arrival, and Noah saw a stairway unfold in his eyes. Only that it went up this time.

    Arching an eyebrow in mild amusement, he began his ascension to whatever environment awaited him.

    During his ascension, he assessed himself again. His core currently contained 27k worth of energy. His mind felt in top shape, at least most of it. And his body waspletely healed.

    The ascension took him a whole hour toplete, and he felt another mild wave of surprise sweep over him when heid eyes on another door, only this time it didn''t feature a snake''s head. Actually, the door looked like a normal door, only that it was one befitting of a mansion.

    Pushing the door open Noah gazed at its insides.

    A wide room unfolded in his sight at that point, however, the weird smell contained within the expanse was the first detail to smash into his nostrils.

    Noah felt a tinge of disgust and repulsion well up in his being at the odor, but he had to shake it off; even if its intensity remained stunning.

    Sweeping his gaze on the expanse, Noah noticed the many huge holes in the ground. Only a little walking space being avable.

    The dimly lit condition of therge room didn''t help the danger he was feeling, and when he gazed at the end of the room, heid eyes on arge pole featuring branches. Coiled around the scarlet pole was the figure of a purple snake farrger than the serpents he had fought.

    The snake wouldfortably measure around 30m in length and around 4m in width. Whether the beast had legs or not, remained unnoticeable to Noah, but he could tell that the creture before him was strong.

    [You have arrived at the Last floor]

    [Defeat the boss to seed]

    These panels shed in his eyes, but he remained too busy staring at the serpent''s stats.

    [Grand serpent]

    [Level: 90]

    [Affinity: Poison, Fire, nt]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Title: Dishonored serpent]

    [Danger level: N/A]

    "Okay whoa��" Noah swallowed hard. The beast was already ten levels above him. Already into the middle stage if he grouped the levels.

    Taking a step into the room, Noah felt a powerful gazend on his figure, sending waves of fear through his mind. Unfortunately for his emotions, Noah turned them off, and the world soon became nd before his eyes. His only goal was to kill the beast, but even in that state he doubted his ability.

    A surprisingly loud slithering sound echoed in that room, as the serpent slowly moved towards the base of the pole, and its figure revealed six powerful looking arms.

    The serpents reptilian eyes fixed its gaze on Noah''s figure leaving his body agitated. It seemed to study him with a level of intelligence that felt unsettling.

    Noah knew he couldn''t rush ahead recklessly. Unlike the opponents he had faced so far, the beast showed a proper level of awareness.

    "What is your name human?" A deep voice dripping with all sorts of vileness and able to inflict fear boomed out in the room with amanding tone; forcing Noah''s mind out of its emotionless state and into one of pure shock.

    ''Am I fucking hearing things,'' Noah inquired of himself, literally doubting his ears.

    "What is your name human?" The serpents teethed mouth opened to release words understandable to Noah, and he froze in bewilderment.

    "Aiden," he eventually replied, after breaking out of his mind-reeling astonishment of course.

    A moment of deafening silence urred at that point, but the serpents mesmerizing yet menacing voice spread out again.

    "Do you know why you are here human Aiden?" the serpent asked, mildly confusing Noah.

    ''Is this some sort of test,'' he wondered opening his mouth to reply the beast. His mind still trembled from the experience however.

    "To kill you," Noah tantly replied.

    "I know. But you are only here because the great dungeon ced you in this realm," the serpent replied. Most of its length still remained on the pole, with only its first two arms touching the ground.

    "The great dungeon?" Noah muttered, but the serpent heard him despite of their distance.

    "I see�� you are from a different world," the beast seemed to sigh.

    "What is the great dungeon? And aren''t you just a randomly generated monster," Noah asked not mincing his words.

    The serpent flinched at thest part of his two questions as fury began to burn in its red reptilian eyes.

    "How dare you refer to me as a mere monster, human! I am Gurmund. Progenitor of the Grand serpent race. What you see of me is but a mere fragment of my true power."

    _____________________________

    Author''s note: A series of events caught up with me and I could not even touch my PC to publish. However, I''m back now.

 Chapter 294 294. ARROGANCE

    Noah stood before the entrance of arge underground expanse, a bit less than a kilometer in radius, his expression remained that of perplexion, yet that of mild mockery.

    Nevertheless, he felt unable to properly react to the serpent''s words, after all, they were so filled with arrogance that they almost sounded true.

    ''What the heck is he saying,'' Noah thought casually cing his hand on his head and scratching the portion that itched him. His face had gone nk after a while but deep down he suppressed the urge to burst intoughter.

    "What is it human? Do you not believe me?" the serpent or rather Gurmundmanded with a voice dripping with anger.

    "Well yes I do not," Noah replied. "However I don''t think such a situation is impossible," he exined, allowing himself return to a state of seriousness.

    The serpent remained silent at his words, as its eyes continued to scan the tiny human before him. It had seen many powerful individuals since the day he got captured by the great dungeon, but none like the man before him.

    He had only been allowed to keep a portion of his memories since he arrived there, and he found simrities between the man before him and some others that had ventured into that ce.

    "You are the progenitor of the grand serpent''s race?" Noah said to the beast, his expression deadpan.

    "What tier were you formerly at that this level of strength is only a fragment of your power," Noah inquired of him; looking to gain information about the upper tiers. But mostly to mock the beast.

    Gurmund stared at Noah for what felt like hours before opening his mouth to vomit words that oozed arrogance.

    "I stood at the mighty level of an Arcane lord. The path before transcendence; tier seven," the beast announced raising its head to gaze at whatever sky that existed there.

    Needless to say, Noah felt his eyes widen and his heart palpitate with a level of excitement that managed to leave him stunned. In truth, he had gained vague ideas that tier 6 wouldn''t be thest, but the beast confirmed it, at least he disagreed with the thought of such words being lies.

    Followed closely by the astonishment was a barrage of questions.

    "What can Tier sevens do?" Noah blurted out feeling it weird to call the title. Something about that title carried power, one that his mouth seemed unable to utter.

    ''I have said too much already," Gurmund stated his aura growing cold for reasons Noah didn''t understand. "I can feel the dungeon moving to eradicate this replicated version of me," Gurmund exined, and a series of panels shed before Noah''s eyes.

    [Inventory has been re-enabled along with other spacial items]

    [Muillix has been re-enabled]

    [Healing speed has returned to 100%]

    [Potions have been re-enabled]

    A burst of power as a result of the return of his healing filled Noah''s whole being. His aura exploded forth due to that event, and he quickly found that his figure had started to glow as a result of the unrestricted ess his essence had regained to his body.

    Muillix appeared on his figure, his daggers appeared in his grip, a potion appeared in front of him and he didn''t hesitate to crush it in his mouth. The essence within his nowrge core, about to undergo a breakthrough bubbled with essence, until it reached the state of being half-full. The amount it could now contain made his potions 35k addition look small.

    Due to his leveling up and the increase in his speed cores volume, the potions Noah had avable were only able to restore half the amount of his formerly 65krge core. But now that his speed core could contain more than 100k, the new batch would need to be tweaked to fit that requirement.

    "Just as I mentioned; I have spoken too much, now you have a good chance of killing me," Gurmund dered, his tone almost that ofughter, but also deep frustration. "Nevertheless it was bound to happen."

    "So you truly are the progenitor of the grand serpent race," Noah furrowed his brows, trying his best not to drown in the ecstasy he experienced. He felt anew,<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I am, and will continue to," Gurmund replied, suddenly falling silent. "The great dungeon is a powerful ce many who held power stronger than mine fell to it. Be careful human Aiden," he suddenly exined falling into another silence. However the second silence carried something dangerous, and Noah sensed it.

    The red eyes of the serpent turned bright yellow after its words ended, and it raised its head to give voice to a deafening roar.

    The sheer amount of power within that roar stunned Noah since the whole expanse trembled violently at it. Noah had gained the urge to cough blood after the erratic sound waves washed over him, but his healing had already fixed him before he could react that way.

    Something had changed about the Grand serpent, and Noah could tell that it was its calmness, and probably intelligence. Both were gone, a wild beast recing the smart serpent.

    Many thoughts ran within Noah''s mind at that instant, but the serpent unwrapped itself from the pole and jumped head-first into one of the huge holes closer to it.

    Danger boomed inside Noah''s mind at that point, but he had all his assets avable to him.

    Deafening silence reigned in the whole expanse after that event, and Noah unfolded his consciousness and allowed it to float right above the close to one-hundred holes capable offortably fitting the serpent''srge figure and still feature extra space.

    The serpent stayed underground for whole minutes putting Noah on edge. Nevertheless, he had full control over his mind and emotions. He decided not to switch to his apathetic side.

    Needless to say, something eventually happened. The holes nothing less than seven feet from him, burst with a dense wave of purplish gas. Closely followed by that event was the appearance of many vines and roots.

    The ground crumbled beneath Noah''s feet giving way for his figure and the serpent appeared beneath the caving-in space, but Noah had already run across the falling bits of stones to arrive 400m from his former position.

    ''Why do they always do that,'' Noah thought; silently clicking his tongue.

    The serpent appeared from themotion in the distance and scanned its environment searching for its opponent, and finding him.

    Roots vines and even whole trees appeared from the ground and curved towards Noah in a wave-like manner. Noah held in breath in marvel at that massive mass of vegetation barreling towards him at crazy speeds, even if everything soon began to move in slow motion to him.

    His arms crossed with his daggers in his hands, and he didn''t hesitate to unleash two ethereal shes both more than 4m in length. His daggers ran out of energy at that point, but he never attacked in hopes of immediately destroying the mass of thick vegetation.

    The horizontal shes smashed into the mass of moving vines and managed to decimate a portion, but it remained smallpared to what continued to barrel towards him.

    Noah browsed through his skills at that point, but none looked capable of destroying them in one go. However, he recalled a move he had executed more than a month ago during his fight with the vige head of Enil; Jon.

    The move had been the execution of his "Arms of Asura", but its main detail was that it had utilized his raw Speed Essence as the attack. The results had been wonderful.

    ''Can I pour essence into the de?'' Noah contemted while also asking the system, but no reply came. It seemed the system really was unreachable in that ce.

    Performing a shrug, Noah simply tried his idea. ''There were no mentioned limits to what type of energy it could absorb, but I''ve never charged it with essence before,'' he conversed inwardly.

    His essence moved into the des of the dagger by directly flowing out of his figure in small masses andnding on the tips of his des.

    His daggers immediately burst with a blinding yellow light after that event.

    _______________________

    Author''s note: You guys deserve a mass release for the long dy of chapters. But I don''t want to burn myself out. Nevertheless, a mass release of a minimum of five chapters ising.

 Chapter 295 295. CONTROL

    Noah felt his daggers gain weight, as his essence was absorbed by the des. The daggers quickly began to thrum and vibrate, making holding them a chore.

    [You willpromise the structural integrity of the dagger]

    Reading the panel with half his mind on it, Noah felt unsurprised by the oue.

    The daggers buzzed with a deep-yellow light, as its dark purple fumes struggled to reveal themselves in the intensity of the light.

    In less than an instant, the light died down and Noah got able to see his still approaching targets.

    He raised his arms above his head and performed a vertical deep-yellow sh that traveled the distance between him and the wall of vines in an instant, to directly sever them into three different portions.

    A smile shone on Noah''s face at that point and he didn''t hesitate to turn into a yellow streak; dashing through the space left by the falling apart wall of vines, roots, and trees.

    His figure arrived behind everything and he couldn''t help but marvel at the sight of the formerly severed portion merging again to shoot forward, unfortunately, their target had left.

    Noah sighted therge serpent that was now his opponent but didn''t understand how he could fully kill it. Of course, he knew that his daggers were capable of draining the beast of all its energy, but he had to get past the defenses the serpent had prepared, even if he hadn''t seen their manifestation yet.

    His figure once more turned into a streak of yellow light, as he ran to directly arrive behind the serpent. However, he didn''t stop his movement and opted for running around him. Surprisingly, Noah found that his actions caused a whirlwind to be generated around the infuriated serpent.

    The howling of the now rapid whirlwind reverberated throughout the whole expanse, but Noah never stopped. Not even after whole trees were thrown out of the whirlwind by the serpent or the rotating mass of air got contaminated by the serpent''s discharge of poisonous gas.

    Unfortunately, he had to sprint away from the serpent since the whirlwind exploded with a dense wave of scorching mes.

    Fireballs followed that event, and they rained everywhere, leaving no ce in the expanse safe. A powerful and loud hiss, akin to a roar shook the cave again, and Noah watched the serpent gain a fiery battle armor.

    Not only that, but ming serpents materialized from the seven magical circles that appeared around it, and shockingly the ming serpents were just asrge as the purple serpent.

    Intense heat unfolded in the expanse at that point, and Noah could only cast his armor to protect himself from the heat. Unfortunately for him, the serpent wasn''t done casting.

    Another seven magical circles appeared around the purple serpent, and what closely resembled the flurry from the fourth floor appeared before Noah. Shockingly, they were just as strong as the other flurry!

    Another seven magical circles appeared above the serpent andrge purple spheres radiating an aura that put Noah on edge materialized. They resembled a semi-solid mass of gas. Only their constantly shifting state told that they were merely dense gas.

    ''Seven me serpents, seven flurries, and spheres of poisonous gas. He''s going all out,'' Noah thought with a wry smile. By all means, he understood that he needed more to defeat that line of defense. This realization caused ten whitish-blue magical circles to appear behind Noah.

    Two golems each emerged from one circle. And soon a small force of twenty frozen golems unfolded in the serpent''s sight. Noah, however, wasn''t done yet.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He browsed through his skills and found his old skills. Two of the more powerful ones he had not utilized since he became a tier 3 expert gaining his attention.

    [Lightning domain(Tier 3)]

    [Air Domain(Tier3)]

    [Lightning Domain[Active]: Create a special environment just for yourself as it ispletely under your control. It spans as far as your mental consciousness. In this domain, all lightning-based skills get a 100% boost to their power, and a 20% reduced SE cost for their activation.

    Costs: 30% of full SE pool, Duration: 30 minutes, Cool-down: 10 hours]

    [Air Domain[Active]: Create a special environment just for yourself as it ispletely under your control. It spans as far as your mental consciousness. In this domain, all wind-based elemental skills get a 100% boost to their power, and a 20% reduced SE cost for their activation.

    Costs: 30% of full SE pool, Duration: 30 minutes, Cool-down: 10 hours]

    Noah understood that he could only cast one of those skills, and he immediately went for the most destructive one.

    A yellow magical circle featuring shining white runic symbols expanded high above Noah, and he didn''t hesitate to expand his consciousness till it covered the entirety of the expanse.

    A pure white veil fell from the constantly expanding magical circle until the entire expanse was covered with its thin white light.

    Noah''s face grew pale after the cost for the activation vanished from his core. He now barely had 10k essence left in his core. But it didn''t matter since he felt sure that his next series of attacks would be able to destroy his opponent.

    A deep sense of control befell Noah''s mind after the activation of his domain skill. The many sparks that littered the air feltpletely under his control, and the seventeen lightning bolts that materialized to shoot towards the serpents and flurry''s in the blink of an eye proved it.

    A colorful and blinding explosion urred at that event, but none of the power contained in the explosion got to Noah. It seemed within that space not even the sheer power of his spells was out of his control.

    ''How is this even possible,'' Noah marveled, seeing as he could force the shock waves carrying dense electrical currents to stop right in front of his figure. His mind however bore the weight of that normally impossible event, and he quickly felt an intense headache begin to rise from the depths of his head.

    The light of the barrage of lightning bolts soon died down, but Noah sent his golems forward before rxing to witness the destruction he had caused.

    A huge chunk of the ground had disappeared, and the existence of only two flurries and three serpents managed to leave him satisfied not even the spheres of poisonous gas had survived. However, Gurmund was nowhere in sight

    Danger exploded inside Noah''s head as his instincts screamed at him to watch out for the iing attack, but the event had been too abrupt.

    A hole suddenly opened behind Noah then arge tail featuring a de-like tip burst out form it to crack its sharp features at Noah''s weirdly pale figure, cleanly and effortlessly severing his body in two equal halves.

 Chapter 296 296. RESULT

    The eyes of the serpent shone with a dangerous and contented light after it revealed its head from the hole. But to its shock the battle between its opponent''s golems and his summons continued, even increasing in intensity.

    Before the serpent could do anything it saw the served portions of Noah''s figure crumble, revealing that he had somehow turned to ice.

    The beast tried to react to the danger that now appeared in its mind during that realization, but a bright deep-yellow streak appeared behind itsrge figure, and a burst of intense pain traveled from its mid-section to its brain.

    Noah delivered nothing less than thirty stabs on the serpent''s back, knowing that he couldn''t wait for his daggers to steal all its energy.

    His attacks managed to leave arge 3ft wide and 2ft long wound on the serpent''s body, but he had to immediately sprint away from its figure afterward. Poisonous vines numbering more than one hundred in number shot out of the ground to try and pierce Noah''s body, but he had already escaped.

    A deep hiss filled with agony and fury escaped the serpent''s mouth, then its armor which it had formerly dispersed to allow its movements have no effect on its surroundings; returned, followed by seven more ming serpents and a flurry appeared.

    Unfortunately for them, another barrage of lightning bolts this time containing more power; crashed on their numerous figures obliterating them and even some of Noah''s golems in the process.

    Noah watched the ground for more than 120m in radius vanish to turn into a deep 5m deep charred crater.

    A sigh escaped his mouth when he saw that the serpent had suffered even more injuries from the attack even if they weren''t enough to actually kill it.

    He had almost died less than a minute ago, and if it hadn''t been for the timely activation of the frozen movements skill and his intuition to create a frozen figure in his departure; he would have truly been severed in two halves. Heck, the tail had managed to touch him, leaving a deep gash on his left side. That had only happened since he had only been able to move with his natural speed. Thankfully his healing fixed the damage quickly.

    However, Noah''s energy reserves plummeted to below 5k.

    His healing had now gotten costly. The mere regeneration of the deep gash had almost removed a full 5k worth of SE. Regenerating limbs would cost him tens of thousands.

    Another barrage of lightning bolts shot towards his now lonely opponent, but it receded into one of its holes to escape the attacks.

    Noah had to give the serpent praise for its incredible resilience. Normal magical beasts would have already died after the second barrage of lightning bolts touched them, but the beast still had its body in rtively good shape.

    Vines shot out of the ground beneath Noah, but only a frozen figure was left, he had long since arrived at the spot in the expanse where the serpentunched its attacks from.

    A barrage of punches rained on the spot hosting the serpent, and in the span of an instant, an explosion carrying incredible power shook the ground for more than 400m.

    Noah''s punches created a crater that was by no means small, as it stretched for as far as a 40m radius, forcing even him out of that area.

    The serpent had been touched by his 90 punches, but its hard scales had managed to withstand most of them. Nevertheless, its backside now featured uneven portions. Whole portions had been caused to cave in like beaten metal, and the serpent''s squishy insides suffered due to them. Blood even started to seep out of its mouth.

    Pain flooded into the wild mind of the progenitor of the Grand serpents race; Gurmund, but currently he remained only a wild beast under the rage enforced by the apparently; Great dungeon.

    ''His movements have gotten slow.'' Noah drank a potion while slowly walking in an arc with his eyes focused on Gurmund. His figure zed with power and his sickly paleness vanished into a rich and healthy condition. The potion he consumed had refilled his core by 35k points, which felt more than enough to destroy the serpent.

    Noah felt a bit of his headache vanish. Only a bit. The relief had been barely noticeable since every once in a while it increased in intensity. This, however, was due to Noah''s actions of constantly spamming his lightning bolt skill on Gurmund. Even if he didn''ty eyes on his wild opponent most times.

    Noah didn''t stop casting until the expanse had be littered with tens of craters no less than 50m in size. At this point, the serpent had no ce to hide and had to begin to dig, but it had gotten sluggish due to the many injuries that now filled its purple figure.

    ''Why isn''t he casting more of its flurry and serpents,'' Noah wondered, gazing at his opponent''s desperately digging figure.

    Gurmund''s body now featured profusely bleeding holes twelve in number. His head had be deformed and he barely had any teeth left. One of his eyes had been badly damaged during the many collisions with the lightning bolts, but the other remained in perfect condition. He had also lost one arm.

    Noah nced at the countdown for his domain skill and saw that he still had two minutes left. An amount of time in which he nned to do as much as he could.

    His figure turned into a streak and he went toward the serpent. Gurmund was currently digging in the eastern parts of the expanse. The many craters there created a more or less good cover for the beast. If it managed to dig deep enough, that was. Unfortunately, Noah arrived behind it and delivered a powerful kick to its belly.

    The kick raised the beast by a bit; before turning it over. However, it quickly got up on its now three arms to try and bite its opponent. It bit a pir of ice, as Noah stabbed both his daggers deep into its head after arriving on it. A fatal blow.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Shockingly, rather than writhe after it let out a cry of agony, the beast seemed to regain its mind, and Gurmund opened his mouth to speak. This time his voice was weak.

    "You run around too much," he announced mockingly. "I wish to meet you again. In perfect state of mind, that is. If that ever happens," Gurmund added then the light of life left its remaining eye, after which his figure fell heavily on the ground. Dead.

    Gurmunds figure turned into a shining mass, surprisingly crimson, before turning into particles that flowed into Noah''s figure.

    [You have gained Exp]

    [You leveled up five times]

    [You have received 5000 stat points]

    [Your stats have been increased by 25%]

    [You are now level 85]

    [You have sessfully cleared thest floor]

    [You will now be taken to the waiting room where your points will be calcted, and your results will be revealed]

    A series of crimson-colored magical circles expanded beneath Noah''s figure and he soon found himself inside the familiar white but nk environment he had been to before entering the dungeon.

    Noah frowned when he saw that his rewards would have to be calcted, but he didn''t let that matter bother him much.

    [The results of clearing each floor are as followed]

    [1st floor: A grade]

    [2nd floor: B grade]

    [3rd floor: C grade]

    [4thfloor: B grade]

    [5th floor: B grade]

    [Overall grade for the whole dungeon: B+]

    [You will now receive the rewards for finishing with a B+ grade]

    [You have acquired two skill books]

    [You have acquired one new weapon]

    [You have acquired two special items]

    [You have gained a 10,000 addition to your skill points]

    [User will now be teleported out of the waiting room]

    A light-green magical circle expanded above Noah''s figure before a white light wrapped itself around him. His figure vanished from that nk environment afterward.

 Chapter 297 197. PASSION

    Noah slowly opened his eyes inside his room. His eyes scanned the interiors of his abode, and he found that nothing had changed within it. The same could be said for the outsides of the room.

    A sense of tension he didn''t know he had been carrying dispersed from his mind and relief filled the vacancy. However, before Noah could soak himself in his relief, another powerful sensation filled his mind.

    Power.

    A feeling of power like never before permeated Noah''s consciousness as it dawned on him that he had advanced into the middle stage of tier 3. A sharp pain followed that realization, and Noah quickly felt his environment be blurry.

    [You have reached the limits of the lower stage]

    [Entity <Noah> will now undergo proper advancement into the middle stage of tier 3]

    [Your existence is evolving]

    [Advancement will take 28 hours tillpletion]

    Before he could properly react to the panels'' information, Noah felt a wave of fatigue and drowsiness fall upon him, and thest thing he heard before his ckout was the sound of his body hitting the ground. And weirdly; a knock on his door.

    *

    *

    *

    Ariana walked down the dark but shiny streets of the floating city owned by the Divine Lightning guild. Her passage left no significant mark since everyone went about their business and she wasn''t as popr as a familiar white-haired man.

    Her facial expression clearly showed that she swam in the depths of her thoughts which was probably why she didn''t notice the myriads of individuals stealing nces at her.

    Ever since she arrived at the beautiful city of the Divine lightning guild, most of her time had been wandering and learning new things, unfortunately once in a while, the thoughts of certain someone would pop up, keeping her mind in emotional turmoil.

    Ariana had long since started to regret her confession to Aiden, as she doubted her supposed feeling for the breathtakingly handsome man.

    Whether it was admiration, respect, or true desire to know him better, she hadn''t fully figured out. But one thing she found clear was that she stood no chance at getting him either way.

    Arriving before a small blue-painted building one story in size, she didn''t hesitate to push on the gray door, allowing herself into the building.

    "I''m back!" she announced into the brightly lit room a bit more than 4sq-meters in size. The green door at the left side of the lightly furniture room flung open a few secondster and the figure of ady who looked to be in her mid-forties unfolded in her eyes.

    "You''re back early Ariana!," the brown-haireddy uttered, genuinely surprised.

    "Getting the things you asked of weren''t that difficult," Ariana shrugged making herselffortable by sitting on one of the three blue one-sitter couches.

    Thedy walked toward her and sat on the couch ced directly across Ariana''s position.

    Her aged green eyes seemed to scan the individual before her, and with a warm smile, she opened her mouth to speak.

    "You seem to have a lot on your mindtely," thedy said crossing her legs ignoring the short disy she made.

    Eyes blinking multiple times; Ariana wiped the downcast expression to wear one that suggested she felt embarrassed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It''s nothing that you need to worry about Miss Talia," she tried to dismiss the iing questions but failed.

    "Is it about the young man you spoke of?" Miss Talia inquired.

    "It''s truly nothing ma''am," Ariana replied waving both her hands weakly.

    "Hmmm�� I don''t think it isn''t. You''re usually in high spirits unless the young man enters your mind," Miss Talia exined. "You told me so yourself."

    Ariana tried to speak but no words escaped her mouth after thedy''sst words. She eventually sighed and shrugged, as her mind moved to change the topic. She usually felt on edge whenever thedy questioned her since they were carefully picked and direct; to not allow her escape them.

    "You don''t have to worry about that. More importantly; the items you asked me to get," Ariana exined waving her hand to allow a bunch of items appear mid-air. The items were mostly nt-based.

    Miss Talia calmly searched Ariana''s face for something and sighed silently when she found the resolve glowing on the young woman''s face.

    "Thank you. I''llmunicate with the guild that youpleted the quest, and your payment will be given to you," Talia stood after waving her hands to store the items and walking towards the green door she had just exited.

    "I was close to making a breakthrough when you arrived," the middle-aged woman revealed, going past the door with Ariana following closely behind her.

    "Oh!" Ariana eximed an expression filled with genuine excitement appearing on her fair face.

    "Yes," Talia gave a wide grin walking into the messy room. The ce remained as brightly lit as the room on the outside but featured a big wide grey table littered with bottles and vials of different shapes and sizes.

    Not only that but substances of different colors and states of matter were scattered around the table and even the yellow tiled floor.

    A unique smell that would be associated with nts and medicine filled the entire room with its almost choking aroma, but neither of thedies seemed to care about that detail. Or their nosespletely disregarded them.

    "I discovered that dipping a Mesdion and Rectulli in liquid highly saturated with mana would allow the Agdalio potion to increase the healing speed of a body by three times. The only issue is that it''s not stable and turns into a poison that attacks the mana core, sapping its vitality," Talia exined cing her left hand on her chin. "The best the mixture can give is a few seconds until it bes a disease rather than healing."

    "I need something more to stabilize the final product and remove the Rectulli''s poisonous effects, while still keeping its important properties. Unfortunately, I don''t even know what I''m looking for."

    "I thought you said you were close to a breakthrough," Ariana said after a moment of processing the information passed across to her. She also understood them, even if she felt eager to see them herself.

    A grin brightened the tired face of the middle-aged woman. "You didn''t let me finish," Miss Talia snorted, clearly excited.

    "During the many hours of testing and performing experiments on the magical beasts in my hold, I found that adding a generous amount of the Urguania would lower the spreading speed of the Rectulli''s effects. But it wouldn''t stop it."

    "You arrived when I was about to begin adding anything with the same effects as the Urguania," she exined walking towards one of the ten shelves of bottles filled with different types of powders and liquids.

    "I first had the thought of pouring the Corobos, but it has a dangerous attribute of weakening the immune system of the human and even magical beast body if not mixed with something able to properlybat it," Talia said ying around with the bottle in her hand. The bottle featured an orange liquid that bubbled each time she shook it.

    "How about adding the Gwantip. It has been proved to battle poison well especially when allowed to soak well. It is also used in the many healing potions based for certain types of poisons and their effects I believe the Rectulli''s effects should be part," Ariana suggested thoughtfully.

    "It has but don''t forget that when used in overdose, no matter how many substances you mix with it, it explodes the arteries of the user. I''m trying to create something that is able to help tier 2 and 3 experts."

    "Only peak tier 3''s or tier 4''s can withstand damage done to their arteries, especially since I''ll be mixing them with highly concentrated mana water. There will be enough fuel able to generate enough power to rip a tier 3 apart if we''re not careful," Talia exined, and Ariana nodded in agreement.

    Both individuals continued to pass on suggestions for hours as their passion for alchemy expressed itself fully. A detail that allowed the two quickly bond after their initial encounter.

 Chapter 298 298. CONFIDENCE

    Ariana had mostly been alone during the initial days of her arrival to the great guild. Although she still had a few individuals whom she could associate with, her focus had been drawn toward the guild and its various activities.

    Ariana had begun her quest seeking on the second day of her arrival, and the first mission she had chosen afterpleting the initial one picked by the guild, had taken her to the abodes of miss Talia.

    Talia looked in her mid-forties and sported short and wavy brown hair. She had green eyes, and her face featured no wrinkles, after all, she stood at the higher stage of tier 3, even if only at its initial stages.

    Miss Talia, unlike many, was the most down-to-earth individual she had seen in the guild. At least so far. Upon their meeting, thedy had been so engrossed in her studies that Ariana had not been able to get her into properly listening until she herself gave a suggestion.

    That simple action had spiraled into a sequence of suggestions and evaluations of those suggestions. Although she made no progress that day, Talia immediately took a liking to Ariana.

    What followed was a series of visits, and shockingly Ariana found herself opening up to Talia, and the woman surprisingly had good advice to give in return.

    Needless to say, the pieces of information she let out weren''t personal ones, just things that had recently started to bother her, and could not be used against her even if miss Talia wanted to.

    The duo quickly became close, and Ariana soon learned to ept the messy nature of the expert. After all, she was such a talented alchemist, and she too had a passion for that study.

    Lady Talia had what Ariana would call a rtive downside. She loved to speak of her achievements. Fortunately, she did so in ways that wouldn''te out as being pompous. Nevertheless, there was pride in her words. But after listening to thedy''s achievements Ariana felt she deserved it.

    ording to the expert, she had brewed two of the physical empowerment and one of the healing potions seen in the establishments owned by the guild itself. And many of them were even shipped out of the guild to be sold in the nation.

    Apparently, she had sold the recipes to the guild in return for high-tier materials, even a bit of them being in the fourth tier. Her potions had immediately been considered high quality since they were capable of helping tier 3''s even up to the bottom of the higher stage. And she had done all of those while only being in the initial parts of the middle stage.

    However, those achievements had forced Ariana into uttering a question. Why had she not gone to the central regions since she had been offered? Unfortunately, Miss Talia had decided to leave the question unanswered. Ariana couldn''t probe since it seemed personal to the expert.

    "I should get going," Ariana muttered stretching her back. Miss Talia however, looked too deep in her thoughts to hear her, but she didn''t mind it and began her walk towards the exit.

    "You''re leaving already?" Talia suddenly eximed her tone that of slight disappointment.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Yes. I still have to return to the guild hall. And I''m feeling a bit creative after our session," Ariana exined performing a light shrug.

    "Hmm... I see. See youter then," miss Talia replied half into her series of thoughts already. Ariana felt sure the expert wouldn''t see sleep for the next few days as a result of the fire that burnt in her eyes to find something valuable for her experiments.

    Nodding, she turned to leave. "You should talk to that young man you spoke of. Sort things out. Guildmates truly gain their importance in times of need. Trust me you don''t want to be caught in an awkward situation if you ever find yourself in need of his help." Miss Talia stopped to look at the red-eyeddy that shared the same interest she had for Alchemy. Something about her felt unique, but even her almost one century of experience couldn''t discern it.

    Ariana nodded again and walked out of theb into the small room and then out of the small room. She immediately found herself in a bustling street. The atmosphere of the city seemed to never change, even if it did at times.

    Unfortunately, Ariana was already too deep into her thoughts to care about the world around her. She needed to get to her apartment and it stood far from her location. Although miss Talia had refused to go into the central region, she had been given a nice building very close to the grand walls separating the central region from the inner region.

    Carriage rides were the best way to find her way back home, and Ariana didn''t hesitate to get on a few of them.

    The journey had taken her a bit over an hour, but she eventually arrived at the building that held her room. Her eyesnded on Noah''s door when she arrived before hers, and she heard Miss Talia''s words rey in her head.

    With a sigh of helplessness, she ced the rectangr object into her door''s keyhole and moved to enter her room, when a sudden powerful fluctuation in the mana around her urred, making her body tremble.

    Her mind raged in surprise and she found herself ncing at different positions in the hallway, searching for the source of the spike in energy. Her eyesnded on Noah''s door at some point. "What is he doing," she said under her breath, walking closer to his door.

    She waited a few seconds before knocking on the door. Unsure whether or not her knock could be heard, she continued for whole minutes before giving up. Maybe he isn''t in there, she had thought, even if she had felt the spike of energying from his area.

    Needless to say, however, she began to doubt whether it actually came from his room, or it was simply her subconscious trying to get her into a conversation with him.

    She eventually settled for asking him about the matter when she saw him. Of course, that was if she had gained a suitable amount of confidence to do so.

    Ariana took what she needed from her room and set out to return to the guild hall where more missions and her reward for the recent quest shepleted were waiting. She nned to reach rank D before long and the same was for the others who had heard about the achievements of a certain white-haired man.

 Chapter 299 299. GLORIOUS

    Noah felt his eyes snap open and he quickly sat up. His nostrils pulled in the air around him, and the amount of air within his room seemed to decrease drastically, as his action even pulled the curtains up.

    He blinked his eyes and quickly felt his memories wash into his eyes.

    The process of advancing had been strange. His consciousness had been unfolded, but unlike normal sleep where he remained able to still notice the events around him; everything had been ck.

    He had experienced the most dreamless state he could ever imagine and the event continued to feel weird to him.

    Noah soon focused on his body and immediately noticed the changes. He felt an incredible amount of power flowing through his body as he felt certain that his might had increased drastically. His skin looked and felt denser than before, and the light in the room allowed it to glisten.

    The changes on his skin were mostly qualitative as one would expect. Its quality stood well into the middle stage. The amount of speed essence his body could withstand had increased, and due to that, he could understand that his reckless fighting style would have to be reduced.

    He soon shifted the focus to his speedcore, and this time he noticed significant changes. His core had shrunk. Even so that it looked nothing like he remembered. It measured no more than 2 inches in size, but the quality of essence within it had clearly changed.

    The essence within it was still in rank 2, but its quality had increased, and it had also gotten denser. Due to this reality, his core was almost empty. His speed core had also be triangr and its color had stopped being ck, as it was now a healthy gray color. ''I''ll be doing tests on thatter,'' Noah concluded moving to his mind.

    Feeling his consciousness get sucked into his head. Noah felt himself arrive in a different environment. He stood high above his soul ind and gazed at it with a tinge of joy.

    His ind had gotten wider. Spanning a bit over 9kilomters in radius. It was a proper ind. It had also gotten denser and far sturdier than before, as the same high-quality rank 2 Speed Essence coursed through the now numerous rivers, streams, and even ponds.

    Not much had changed apart from its size and quality. Not even his soul core looked different. Nothing new was avable to him after all. Notwithstanding, he felt d about the advancement, after all, it brought him closer to a level of strength that not many held in their nation, even if it could be different in other ones.

    Noah returned to his body and called upon his Energy stone. He soon adopted a cross-legged position and allowed the stone release as much energy as it could.

    Noah understood that his cultivation could now begin, which meant he could undergo another major increase in power if he wanted. However, for now, he chose to simply enjoy the simple exercise of cultivating, to refill his core.

    ''I should be able to stand a chance with her now,'' Noah thought thinking about his master, elder Sarah. She was powerful, but his increase had to have drawn him closer to her level. After all, she was only a higher-stage tier 3. The sheer amount of power his body now contained shouldfortably threaten even higher staged experts. After all his stats had experienced a ten percent increase from what they were after he exited the dungeon.

    Noah spent the next hour simply cultivating, and when he had refilled his core, he opened his stats to gaze at their glorious numbers.

    [Name: Noah]

    [Race: Speedling Hybrid>Iplete<[evolution criteria yet to be met]]

    [ss: Heir of the god of speed(???)]

    [Titles: Monster killer. Killer]

    [Level: 85/150] [Tier: 3[Middle]]

    [Speed essence rank: 2]

    [Speed force: Yellow]

    [Affinities: Lightning, Air, Ice]

    >Vessels of Power<

    [Body>Stone stage<]

    [HP: 165,670]

    [Strength: 138,055(+34,514)]

    [Stamina: 51,772(+12,943)]

    [Defense: 101,817(+25,454)]

    [Vitality: Tier 3[Middle]

    [Mach: 80]

    [Soul core]

    [Intelligence: 65,228(+16,307)]

    [Dexterity: 36,240(+9,060)]

    [Energy core>Triangr<]

    [Speed Essence: 224,350/224,350]

    [Undistributed stat points: 36,020]

    >Skills<

    >Lightning Affinity<

    [Advanced Lightning Elemental mastery(Tier 3)]

    [Lightning domain(Tier 3)]

    [Lightning bolt(Tier 3)]

    [Lightning kes[Active]

    [Lightning chains[Active]

    [Lightning Storm[Active]<novelnext></novelnext>

    >Air Affinity<

    [Advanced Wind Elemental mastery(Tier3)

    [Air Domain(Tier3)]

    [Air Spears[Active

    [Air Storm[Active]

    [Zero air[Active]

    [Upliftment[Active]

    >Ice Affinity<

    [Advanced Ice elemental mastery(Tier3)[Passive]

    [Frozen prison(Tier 3)[Active]

    [Frozen Golem''s[Active]

    [Frozen touch[Active]

    [Icicle beam[Active]

    [Frozen Movement[Active]

    >Elemental<

    [Elemental aura[Passive]

    [Elemental charge[Active]

    >Speed force<

    [Advanced slow motion perception[Passive]

    [Speedling Hybrid regeneration [Passive]

    [Speed clones [Active]

    [Energy bomb[Active]

    [Speed force armour[Active]

    >Unique<

    [Unique Berserker(Active)[Tier 3]]

    [MARTIAL ART: THE MONKEY KING]

    [GRADE: HEAVEN]

    [MASTERY:28.00]

    [MOVE(S): RUSHING ROD: Execution percentage: 100/100

    [DANCING MONKEY: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [SIDE STEP: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [A THOUSAND PUNCHES: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [MOUNTAIN STOMP: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [WAVE: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [SIX ARMS OF ASURA: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [Soul bounds]: Cudgel, Muliix]

    [Inventory:((Tap to disy items))]

    Truly they were glorious. He had gained a bit more than times 2 his former stats, and the result was a level of strength that would most likely rival the Higher-stage. With a slight sigh of relief, Noah swept his almost glowing blue eyes on his room.

    The liquid-like essence which was the speed forces energy permeated its length and breadth. His eyes could almost not see the door, and his energy stone continued to hover a few meters from his figure and continued to release energy in waves.

    Noah took a deep breath, breathing in speed essence as he relished the feeling of the empowerment his insides experienced. Unfortunately, he had to gather all the energy above his right palm to allow his stone to begin to reabsorb it.

    During those short minutes, Noah wondered why he couldn''t properly utilize speed essence that didn''te from his core. He could manipte it, but couldn''t cast spells, or do anything really.

    ''It''s probably due to my lowprehension and connection to the speed force. What is even the speed force,'' Noah began to wonder at some point. A thought he surprisingly hadn''t birthed since he gained knowledge of his uniqueness.

    ''Is it just like a core. Then wouldn''t its energy reserves eventually be depleted.'' Noah removed the ragged clothes he had on, and put on the guilds attire.

    ''Does it contain all the ranks of purity or are there different cores holding the different purities, and I only gain ess to them each time my body can''t be purified further,'' he contemted, beginning to assume that the speed force remained only a mere core holding immense amounts of energy. He couldn''t be more wrong about anything in his life.

 Chapter 300 300. SPECIAL ITEMS

    Bottling up his now dense aura, Noah exited his room to go for a walk. It felt like forever since he walked along the ck but well-lit streets of his guild''s city. He had yet to receive any message from the guild likedy Yevette had said, but that reality didn''t bother him.

    However, the issue of having to bear the secret stares from those on the street bothered him a bit. Noah''s skin had almost started to shine, as it had begun to glisten in the lights of the city. His facial features apart from his eyes had not undergone any changes. Even his icy blue eyes seemed to slightly glow. Very slightly. But was something that could be noticed, at least to those who had not seen him before.

    His passage caused the heads of many to turn, especially the women. Thankfully, he could eventually push them to the back of his mind, while the urge to simply take in fresh air continued to blossom within him.

    The urge to find something to eat struck Noah at some point and he didn''t shy away from it, immediately walking toward one of the many ces that sold food. A te lined with delicacies; ones that actually cost a lot, but were worth it, stood before Noah, and he didn''t hesitate to dig in.

    A ss of wine; surprisingly, topped up the satisfying meal. The drink held alcohol, but like he hade to ept, his body immediately detoxified the golden brown drink of its negative substance. For some reason wines that did not feature mana were far more expensive than those that featured the world''s natural energy.

    Noah left the establishment after a while and returned to his room. He would return to the abodes ofdy Sarah in about two days, after which he would be stuck with her for whole months until she found his improvements adequate.

    Truth be told, he hated the fact that he would be constrained under her roof, doing nothing but training for months, but he had to ept it. His first dungeon dive had brought him more levels than he expected, he would need to settle for that annoying reality, at least for now.

    [You have acquired two skill books]

    [You have acquired one new weapon]

    [You have acquired two special items]

    [You have gained a 10,000 addition to your skill points]

    Noah reopened the panel containing those words and checked his inventory for the said items.

    Two normal-looking books, one earth-brown, and the other deep-purple appeared mid-air before Noah and he quickly ced them on his bed with his mental waves.

    Followed by the two books was an object ck in color. It looked like a rope that had been rolled and featured a long metallic end. However, he didn''t focus too much on it since two more items were remaining.

    Two orbs glowing deep-orange in color appeared before Noah, signifying thest of his rewards. Needless to say, the sight of the glowing orbs only the size of a man''s fist intrigued him, and he immediately decided to check what they were first.

    Noah held one of the two orbs in his right hand and felt unsure of his next action. A panel, however, appeared in front of his eyes a few seconds after he touched it, and it held the information he needed.

    [Spacial orbs]

    [Color: Orange]

    [Grade: Special]

    [Content: Unknown]

    [Crush the orb to reveal its contents]

    Noah immediately did as the prompt said, and the orbs structure quickly gave way to his incredible strength even if he only applied a little force.

    An orange light, nigh-blinding in intensity shone in front of Noah''s face immediately after the ss-like structure of the orb crumbled.

    A pair of in-looking ck gloves appeared on the floor after the light died down.

    An eyebrow rose on his face at that unexpected sight, and he immediately picked the supposed special items up.

    However, Noah noticed their stunning weight. Each pair weighed a bit more than 40 kilograms!<novelnext></novelnext>

    The reality made Noah pause for a second, even if their weight was easily forgotten by his mind. He felt he couldfortably lift an object more than ten times the weight of both gloves, and that was without his empowerment.

    [You have gained a special item: wed gloves]

    [wed Gloves]

    [Origin: Dungeon of the dishonored serpent]

    [Grade: B]

    [Tier: 3]

    [Ability: ws, Mark of the serpent, Infect]

    [ws: When activated the gloves reveal their true form, featuring five ws able to tear through even the toughest materials in the third tier]

    [Mark of the serpent: ce a mark on anything you desire and it will fall under your control. This ability can only be used twice a day and on entities who possess a weaker soul corepared to you. This ability depletes 2% of your energy reserves and 4% of your intelligence stats upon activation. Sub abilities of this skill are as followed:

    Mind maniption, Mind destruction]

    [Mind maniption: You can manipte the mind of whatever that bears the mark. This ability depletes 1% of your energy reserves every minute]

    [Mind destruction: You can attack and shatter a portion if not all of the marked soul ind. The amount of damage able to be dealt depends on how weak the soul core of the said target is to yours. Duration: N/A, Cost: 20% of all soul core stats, Cool-down: 3 days]

    [Infect: When activated, the gloves, through their de-like ws are capable of infecting the touched entity with a venom gotten from the nds of the Grand serpent himself. However, this ability requires 1% of your energy reserves per activation, and is limited to the higher stage of tier 3]

    [The gloves can be upgraded to tier 4]

    [Upgrade requirements: ??????]

    Noah read through the lengthy description of the item or rather what was clearly a weapon. Its abilities sounded good even if a bit of it could only be understood until he tested them out.

    Noah wore both gloves and felt the materials merge with his hands. A minute portion of his essence flowed from his core into both gloves and the normal-looking ck gloves transformed in front of his inspecting gaze.

    The ck, seeming fabric-like build of the gloves turned metallic, as big scales of deep purple appeared on the backhand portions of the gloves. The deep-purple scales pulsed with energy as a red gem emerged from the center of both gloves.

    The red gem didn''t look like a mana stone and didn''t even contain mana. One of its functions was to make a connection with Noah''s mind and core, to allow its various abilities to work.

    Speed Essence continued to flow out of his core until the gems began to pulse with a crimson light. Runic symbols appeared within the red crystals. The yellow symbols swirled within the gems and caused his gloves to begin to release a faint humming sound, which eventually died down.

    The palms of the gloves were obsidian-ck and featured randomly inscribed purple lines pulsing with power. Noah felt himself get mesmerized by the beauty of the gloves, but he soon had to snap out of it.

    With a simplemand from his mind. Noah activated the ws of the gloves and in an instant, the metallic scales of the gloves reformed to give way to the emergence of de-like ws exactly 7inches in length and slightly curved at their tips.

    The silvery build of the ws featured red and purple lines running across them. The lines seemed to carry power into the ws for whatever purpose he desired. That feature wasn''t even mentioned in the description. He found that he could charge the ws with more power, and he did.

    A few secondster, Noah found himself staring at the thrumming ws of the gloves. He dared not perform any attack since his instincts informed him that he would regret such an action.

 Chapter 301 301. WHIP

    ''I''ll try it more during battles,'' Noah thought allowing the energy within the ws to disperse. He didn''t like that wastage of essence, but considering that the amount he had inputted barely moved his overall reserves, he left the matter.

    ''It''ll be hard to run out of essence now,'' Noah mused focusing on the rolled rope after removing the gloves and storing them in his inventory.

    He picked it up rather than the second orb and as he expected, a panel popped up revealing the information about the weapon.

    [You have gained a special weapon: Corroded Riata]

    [Corroded Riata]

    [Origin: Dungeon pf the dishonored serpent]

    [Grade: B]

    [Tier: 3]

    [Ability: Corrode, Whip of fury, Domain of the dancing whip]

    [Corrode: When activated the whip produces a magical substance that corrodes whatever it''s gained hold of. This ability only affects materials and bodies at the higher stage. The power of corrosion depends on how much energy is poured into the whip]

    [Whip of fury: Perform three consecutive attacks on a target and enter a fury mode where all attacks gain a 70% addition to attacking uracy. Note this can only be used on two targets at a time. Cost: N/A, Duration 30 seconds, Cool-down: 3 minutes]

    [Domain of the dancing whip: When activated you gain a radius of 100m, whereby anything within this range finds itself falling within the direction of your attacks. Within this domain, all casual moves of the whip are guaranteed to make a hit no matter how useless they seem. Cost: 4% SE, Duration: 10 minutes, Cool-down: 10 hours]

    [Riata can be upgraded to tier 4]

    [Upgrade requirement: Scales of a tier 4 serpent. Tier 4 metal imbued with the darkness element. Tier 4 Darkness essence]

    The not-so-lengthy description of the whip managed to leave Noah startled. All its abilities were actually crazy, with thest one being the most mind-blowing one.

    "All moves. And anything within the range," Noah muttered wondering how such would even be possible unless the whip could multiply itself or something.

    He pushed the matter to the back of his mind and relived the whip of the buckle holding it together. The material of the whip fell to the floor at that point, and Noah held the metallic handle that almost resembled that of a swords if not for its inness.

    Sending speed essence to his palm, Noah watched the whip''s handle absorb the avable energy and it transformed before his eyes.

    The normally in and ck material of the whip including its handle, seemed to fall off as a beautiful purple color was revealed to him.

    A red gem emerged from the handle and Noah watched what resembled multiple teeth exit the whip itself, riddling it with their sharp features. Noah quickly understood them to be serpent teeth. The whip''s tip gained a pointed purple de featuring jagged edges.

    The red gem close to the very tip of the now scaled handle shone with yellow runes swirling within it. Closely followed by that event was the appearance of crimson runic symbols on the whip''s almost metallic material. That signified the end of its transformation, and Noah loved the view.

    Moving it around, Noah sighed knowing he would hardly ever utilize the weapon. Whips would be difficult to implement in battles without proper training. And he had not thetter. Nevertheless, he appreciated it and stored it in his inventory before focusing on the second orb.

    Picking the orb, he crushed it before a panel could appear.

    [You have gained a special item: Bell of dishonor]

    [Bell of dishonor]

    [Origin: Dungeon of the dishonored serpent<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Grade: Special]

    [Tier: 3]

    [Ability: Sound of dishonor]

    [Sound of dishonor: When rung you gain the boost of dishonor, whereby your overall might increases to disrespect and shame those of your enemies by sapping a significant portion of theirs. Note the abilities of the bell can only bring you to the very peak of the higher stage of tier 3. Cost: 10% of SE, Duration: 10 minutes, Cool-down: 2 day]

    [The bell of dishonor can be upgraded to tier 4]

    [Upgrade requirement: ?????]

    A crimson-colored bell appeared in front of Noah after the yellow light died down. He had already read the one ability the bell of dishonor had, and it needless to say left him taken aback. It reminded him of the skill that could push his power to tier 4, but this time it held no bacsh.

    "I''ve gotten another really useful ability," Noah grinned inspecting the bell.

    The crimson bell stood at a height of around 7 inches. Its surface featured an innumerable amount of yellow runic symbols, and after pushing essence into it, Noah watched the runic symbols glow brighter, and a connection was made between him and it. All he needed to do was ring the bell, and its ability would be activated.

    Storing the glowing bell within his inventory, Noah''s eyes fell on the books ced on his bed. ording to the system, they were skill books. He understood it needless to say.

    Picking the purple book, Noah opened it and watched it light up with magical circles of different colors.

    [You havee in contact with a summoning spell]

    [Poisonous spheres[Unique]]

    [Origin: Dungeon of the dishonored serpent]

    [Tier: 3]

    [Current power output: Middle-stage]

    [Rank: B]

    [Do you wish to learn it]

    [Yes/No]

    Noah naturally yes skeptical that the spell would even work, but to his surprise, he watched the nk pages of the skill book light up with beautiful purple light as the illusory figure of a serpent''s head appeared on it, after which the book caught purple mes, the weirdly un-burnt particles merged to form a magical circle one that Noah feltpelled to stare at.

    Staring at the magical circle caused a reaction in Noah''s mind as the same magical circle appeared in his soul realm and shot into his soul core.

    The bookpletely vanished at that point, and Noah soon felt information trickle into his mind. The skills in''s and out''s were avable to him in that instant.

    The process had taken less than three seconds toplete, but it had almost felt like minutes to him.

    [You have gained new skill: Poisonous spheres[Unique]]

    [Poisonous spheres[Unique][Active]: Call upon giant mass made out of gaseous poison. The spheres can either detonate to contaminate the battlefield with deadly poison or can be made to take the form of precise attacks. Note the power of the spheres is capped at the peak of the middle stage of tier 3. Cost: 7000SE, Duration: N/A, Cool-down: 1 day]

 Chapter 302 302. ENGROSSED

    "Am I even allowed to cast such a spell," Noah wondered out loud. There wasn''t much he could do apart from epting that the system had found a way to allow him to utilize skill books gotten from dungeons, even if they didn''t match his elemental affinity. Unfortunately, he still couldn''t utilize the one he had gotten as a reward during the guild''s trials.

    His eyes fell on the brown book as he felt eager to finish those tasks and move on to the next one. Picking up the also normal-looking skill-book. Noah opened it and saw a panel pop up.

    [You havee in contact with a mind-based spell]

    [Hum of fear[Unique]]

    [Origin: Dungeon of the dishonored serpent]

    [Tier: 3]

    [Current power output: N/A]

    [Rank: B]

    [Do you wish to learn it]

    [Yes/No]

    Noah immediately picked yes and watched the pages light up with a deep-brown light, and rather than the illusory head of a serpent, a deep low hum exited the pages of the book, after which the book began to silently shatter.

    The now millions of pieces the book had turned into merged to form a magical circle, and Noah feltpelled to stare at it again. This once again caused a reaction in his mind as the exact magical circle appeared in his soul realm and shot into his soul core.

    The book vanished at that point, and information began to flow into Noah''s consciousness. Understanding the weird skill fell on him and he quickly found how useful it would be.

    [You have gained a new skill: Hum of fear]

    [Hum of fear[Unique][Active]: Fear is a powerful thing; capable of bringing the strongest to their mental knees before a battle even begins. When activated, a low deep hum un-perceivable to the ears of man is released from your body. Those within the range of your mental consciousness and the hum will experience deep fear at your presence. Note, however, that this ability only works well on beings weaker than you, and requires more willpower to work well on those stronger than the user. Cost: 1000SE, Duration: 30 seconds, Cool-down: N/A]

    ''The weaker an individual is, the more fear they will feel,'' Noah thought inwardly. Although his words weren''t in the skills information hisprehension had reached that level after mere seconds of studying the information avable to him.

    Noah closed the panel and shut his eyes to assimte all that he had received. His assets had increased, and they weren''t just any type, but far above average ones. However, things had changed now that he was in a guild. He wouldn''t hide most of them now.

    A few seconds had to pass before Noah reopened his eyes, and he wondered what next to do, even if he already had one particr n in mind.

    During his time checking out his skills and understanding that he would soon be locked up somewhere, Noah recalled his clone skill.<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Speed Clones[Active]: Create a clone physically identical to you and has 50% of your full power and speed. You can summon 2 of these clones(0/2)

    Costs: 70% of SE Pool and 50% soul core fragment per Clone, Duration: N/A, Cool-down, N/A]

    He had not touched it since he became a tier 3, but now that he would be away for months he felt it was the right time to utilize it. After all, no one apart from the higher-ups of the guild knew he would be staying within the central region.

    Although Nathaniel had seen hime for the audition of sorts, no one outside of the higher-ups knew about Lady Sarah epting him.

    ''There are still risks, but it should work well,'' Noah evaluated. He desired to continue his rise in the guilds ranking system since his overall power would not increase during those months of training.

    Noah felt hesitant about the whole ordeal, but he also feltpelled to test the skill. The requirement of fifty percent of his soul core fragment scared him since a cultivation session would be required after it, but he also wanted to understand what it meant.

    ''This might not be the smartest thing, but worsees to worst I''ll send it into the cultivation room, or destroy it,'' Noah shrugged.

    However, a series of deeper thoughts urred within his mind and he spotted issues that wouldn''t allow his n to function in the city.

    The major one being that his clone wouldn''t feature the guilds mark, disabling it from utilizing the guilds structures. Even if he somehow managed to bypass the first hindrance, he recalled how the guild''s higher-ups received information about the new member''s achievement everytime.

    He couldn''t escape the second one, which effectively put an end to his n. A sad but necessary ending. Pulling such a feat would have been easy if he had been in the cities of the Cusk nation, but on the floating city run by individuals far more knowledgeble and powerful than he, he could only hold it back.

    ''Maybe on my first real mission out of the city,'' Noah encouraged himself.

    With nothing else to do than wait for time to pass, Noah simplyy on his bed. He could go on missions, but he didn''t want to. He nned to move around less until he returned to the central region, where his new level of power would be drowned by the myriads of tier 4''s.

    Surely questions would be asked, but he really didn''t care, the guild would have to take him as he was or send him out. He remained promising expert after all, and he felt certain that there were other guilds willing to take him in.

    ''I''m like gold to this hungry guilds,'' he mused voicing a soft giggle. He spent the next few hours talking a nap, after which he cultivated his mind.

    This time around however, he didn''t ckout during the ten hour session which had only felt like a few minutes to his engrossed mind.

    For the first time since his cultivating journey, Noah understood what it felt like to bepletely lost and deep in his meditation. Cultivating his body or core never brought him to the same state of mind, and due to his former mental weakness he hadn''t been able to experience it. There had only been one time he had been close to such a state, and that had been way back during his time in Vonol.

    Noah would have continued staring at the page filled with white words, had a knock not reached his now really sensitive ears.

    The event had felt like a dream, but Noah confirmed that he had a visitor, and even more shock ran through his mind when he found Nathaniel at his door.

 Chapter 303 303. FANCY

    Silence filled the room, as Noah continued to stare at the standing figure of a slightly bandaged Nathaniel. The young master had refused to sit on his chair.

    "How may I help you?" Noah eventually broke the silence. And he watched Nathaniel''s expression flicker with uncertainty but conviction reced it.

    "I''vee to apologize for my wrong actions toward you," Nathaniel announced going on one knee. An outrightly shocking turn of events.

    However, Noah allowed no emotions on his face, for the time being, opting to nod his head in response. He wouldn''t behave like the man hadn''t done anything wrong, but they''re also wasn''t much his apology could do anyway. He decided to take the peaceful route.

    "There''s no need for that. Notwithstanding, I ept your apology. We are cultivators trying our bests to reach heights that normally wouldn''t be allowed, it''s normal that we try to get rid of obstacles," he started. "I understand that I may have been an obstacle at some point during our encounter, but all that is behind us now, we''re guild mates," Noah smiled gazing at the bowed head of Nathaniel.

    "Although I too acted out of hand, we both know it was as a result of your hostile actions and the opportunity left open by the guild itself. So let''s leave all embarrassing events in the past," Noah ended.

    Nathaniel had raised his head to nce at Noah''s face after those inspiring words, and he saw that a soft smiley on it. In truth, he had onlye there since he desired to make acquaintance with the incredibly powerful individual. Whom even the guild acknowledged. And he also felt without a doubt that Noah understood that. Yet the smile on his face forced him into genuine guilt and apology.

    Noah waved his hand dismissively at some point, and Nathaniel the son of a noble family rose at his actions.

    "Don''t get me wrong, I still do not fully trust you, but I''ll put trust in the mark that you bear of the guild. Maybe sometimeter real trust might develop." Noah shrugged, d he had made himself clear. Nathaniel nodded at his words. "I understand," he replied, then his eyes suddenly narrowed, before widening.

    Noah watched astonishment grow on Nathaniel''s face and smiled inwardly. He had just noticed a detail about Noah that made his mouth drop in perplexion.

    "Is... this the middle stage I sense?" Nathaniel muttered shocked. His eyes darted to Noah''s wide grin and a tinge of fear erupted in his mind corrupting it rapidly. Fortunately, he regained hisposure and vanquished a significant portion of his fear.

    "Who exactly are you?" Nathaniel''s head shook as he fell into a broken daze, realizing to his dismay that Noah had already be stronger than him.

    A shrug followed his question, but Noah never wiped the grin on his face. He had to admit that he relished such moments in his life as one would relish delicacies of the highest quality.

    The duo conversed for a bit, but even if Nathaniel had regained hisposure, his mind never stopped falling into a daze at the quality of power his mind managed to pick up. Noah managed to bottle up practically everything of his power, and even his trained senses only managed to pick up whiffs, but they were enough testimony to the monstrous strength the astonishingly handsome man held.

    Nathaniel eventually left Noah''s room and went to the guild hall for quests, he desired something to clear his mind of what he had found out. Unfortunately, Noah''s power never managed to leave his head throughout the missions.

    The day of returning to Elder Sarah''s abode quickly arrived, and Noah, wanting to get there early set out far earlier than normal, even if the environment of the city never actually changed.

    He kept the ring given to him by the expert in his inventory and only wore it when he arrived at the gate into the central regions.<novelnext></novelnext>

    By this point, the guards of the gate knew him well, and each of them sensed his new power, even if his full might remained vague. Nevertheless, they all could sense that he now stood in the middle stage, and his power threatened their higher-stage might!

    Noah eventually arrived beforedy Sarah''s mansion and it looked as beautiful as it always had. Unfortunately, the sadistic and troublesome entity dwelling within the range of the mansion''s walls sucked dry all initial joy generated upon arriving at the mansion.

    Like always the gates into the mansion''spound were open, and Noah strode in, ignoring the wonderful-looking nts ced all around him. He hadn''t explored the wide court thedy owned, and he also felt certain that there were things behind the mansion itself.

    A knock on the big doors into the mansion was all Noah needed, and the doors spread before him, revealing the interiors of the ground floor of the building. A ce he would call a sitting room.

    Shockingly but fortunately, the room was empty of his master allowing him to inspect the details of that ce.

    To his front was of course the door into the training room where he had spared with the elder, but he already knew that.

    Upon entering that fancy mansion if one looked to their right their gaze would be met with a spiral staircase that led to the balcony. The balcony spread across the horizontal length of thatrge room leading to rooms and most definitely the back of the mansion.

    The balcony stood at a height of around 6m and stretched across the length of that wide room.

    To his left were two doors; one ck and the other purple. The one to the far left which was ck led to a hallway, one that stretched into the length of the mansion revealing ces Noah had never been to. While the one on the right, the purple door, housed a teleportation room, Noah knew not two of these things, so he wondered what stood behind both doors.

    Beneath the staircase, almost hidden away from public eyes, was a ck door, and once again he could only wonder what it led to.

    The cream, almost yellow walls of the room featured paintings depictingndscapes that looked so real Noah felt they were portals into the real thing. Maybe because of mana, he had thought. The different colored mana bulbs and even the three grand chandeliers above him gave the room a fancy and luxurious vibe, one that made the room given to him look humble.

    Noah felt slightly anxious about sitting on the eight different couches of different lengths avable in the wide room, but he sat on one anyway. And he had to admit how great andfortable it felt to sit on it. Soon, out of curiosity he tried the others before returning to the one he sat on first.

    ''Should I announce my arrival,'' Noah wondered after spending half an hour waiting.

    Thankfully he didn''t need to wait for a full hour before Lady Sarah''s voice rang out from the balcony above him.

    "Who told you you could sit on my couch!" she yelled rushing down the stairs.

    ''Here we go again,'' Noah rolled his eyes, but quickly stood to face the raging woman.

 Chapter 304 304. POSTPONE

    Elder Sarah came to a sharp stop in front of Noah, as the annoyance on her face vanished to allow her eyes to sharpen, after which surprise appeared on her gorgeous face.

    "You are now in the middle stage," she said. Her eyes darted to Noah''s deadpan expression, and questions couldn''t help but rise in her mind. The reality felt stupendous, less than a week ago he held power within the lower stage even if his prowess crossed into the middle stage.

    She had considered him special since then, but how was she to react to the quick rise in cultivation base. She still couldn''t sense what color his core was, even if hers was already green.

    A few seconds of silence passed before she spoke again, this time her words oozed the sheer amount of curiosity and shock she felt.

    "What sort of monstrosity are you?" shemanded, walking around Noah while he followed her with his eyes.

    "What do you mean," Noah replied in the most down-to-earth tone he could produce.

    Lady Sarah''s eyes sharpened at his words, but he beat her to saying anything.

    "Oh, you mean my cultivation level. It''s just the middle stage nothing much," he shrugged and the whole mansion seemed to fall silent at those grand words.

    Lady Sarah sensing the arrogance within his tone shuddered silently, and surprisingly, she calmed down. His cocky deration threatened to make her explode in rage, but there was also calmness.

    ''Who crosses into the middle stage in five days after only being at the bottom of the lower stage, and calls it nothing,'' she wondered. If only she knew it had taken him far lesser than that to advance.

    A bad attempt at a calm smile appeared on Lady Sarah''s face and the event troubled Noah. ''It seems our guild has taken in something more than a monster,'' she thought opening her mouth to speak.

    "Come with me," she announced walking towards the sparring room. Noah knew what she desired to do, and even he felt eager to test his power against her. Notwithstanding, he voiced an objection before she could go too far.

    "Can we not do that at least not this moment," Noah spoke shaking his head while still wearing his deadpan expression. His words managed to shock Lady Sarah and she even got annoyed, yet she regained herposure. She had been prepared to take an action that was based on slight jealousy and even eagerness to wipe out his cocky behavior.

    A sigh escaped her mouth before she turned to nce at Noah. Her eyes had regained their calmness. Sure the young man had aplished something that had taken her years to achieve, but that didn''t change his position on the scale of power, she remained far more powerful than he could currentlyprehend. If that wasn''t the case she wouldn''t be titled the demi-tier 4 expert across the guilds. The strongest expert within the third tier in the entirety of the guild.

    "I''ll take you to your room first," she announced walking past him towards the flight of stairs. Noah immediately nodded and followed her.

    The air between the duo had turned silent, but neither expert really cared. Although he had managed to postpone his beating, that was all he had done, postpone it.

    A series of doors numbering exactly eleven in number appeared before Noah, and he realized that the balcony was far wider than he had thought.

    "This will be your room," Elder Sarah announced pointing at the fourth door down that walkway. Noah nodded and proceeded to enter it.

    However, Elder Sarah''s hand appeared in his way, as both their gazes met.

    "Who said you could enter it now," she narrowed her eyes confusing and surprising Noah at the same time. "I only said I''d show you. We are returning to the sparring room now," she ordered leaving no room forints.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah could only furrow his brows at that point, her words made no sense at all. ''Who shows their guest only the door to their room,'' Noah raged inwardly, he had to admit that thedy before him stood at an astonishing level of annoyance.

    She began her walk toward the sparring room, and Noah could only exhale deeply to disperse his annoyance.

    Soon both experts were facing themselves within the bounds of the corner-less sparring room. The air was tense, and Noah still felt unsure of his current situation.

    "Has the training started?" Noah felt forced to ask.

    "You can say that, but currently I want to test your power before we move on to the main things," Elder Sarah responded.

    "No spells no empowerment, only pure strength, speed, resilience, and defense; is a rule we''ll be following for most parts of our training. The use of our spells tends to force us intoziness, but this is a martial arts training session, your body at its normality is what is required." Lady Sarah began to pace but not in any way suggesting worry.

    "Following this rule will allow me to gauge the true peak of your body and how we can push it beyond that limit to achieve a level of physical superiority that many don''t have," she stopped pacing to stare at him.

    "Are weapons allowed?" Noah asked understanding clearly what she meant.

    "Good question. For the initial stages of my tutorship, you''ll not be utilizing weapons, my martial arts allows a person to utilize their body as their main weapon, but things change along the way. Anyway for now all you need to know is that no weapons are allowed until I say so," she exined crouching a bit.

    Noah understood that the time for action hade so he prepared himself.

    "Give me everything you can muster, young Aiden," Elder Sarah announced, her face growing cold as an aura of intense focus seeped out of her figure.

    Struggle appeared on Noah''s face at those words, he didn''t want to seriously injure his master only during a spar.

    Lady Sarah noticed his struggle and snorted. "Don''t underestimate me Aiden, there''s a whole lot you''ve not seen me do, so trust me and do as I say," she exined but with a tinge of annoyance in her tone.

    Noah sensed her anger and removed all doubts before sprinting forward, shockingly she had stood still even if her eyes confirmed that she couldfortably follow his movements.

    Noah threw a punch at her abdomen, but her left hand caught his fist without the slightest hitch. That reality shocked him since although that had not been his all, it stood somewhere at half his full strength.

    "Is that what you call a punch. I said everything you''ve got," Elder Sarah muttered slowly as her grip on Noah''s fist got tighter, so tight that Noah started to feel his bones creak, resulting in pain.

    "This is what you call a punch," she announced as her right hand flickered.

    Noah saw the world around him spin when an unfathomable amount of powernded on his abdomen. His figure flew across the room, smashed into the wall, and dug into it.

 Chapter 305 305. BRIEF HISTORY

    A curse exited Elder Sarah''s mouth at that event. ''I forgot to turn on the protections,'' she muttered exiting the room to go do what she said.

    Noah on the other hand remained too busy dealing with the incredible pain he felt, to notice that she had left. His mouth continued to cough blood as he felt his insides twist and turn in pain. The punch had been devastating, his healing had kicked in but he had to wait a bit before all could be well.

    A few seconds passed before Noah could regain proper focus and work his way out of the hole his body had dug. Getting out allowed him to realize that his master had left, but his mind was now experiencing shock.

    A series of dry coughs escaped his lips before he could properly stand. That action revealed his notpletely healed state. His eyes needed a few more seconds to stabilize, and he never stopped feeling astonishment.

    "She''s strong. Too strong," Noah''s face twisted as what he considered thest of his healing phase passed. The process of healing had ended up eating up 9k worth of SE. He didn''t like it but he also couldn''t do much. Nevertheless, he wouldn''t hold back anymore.

    "Are you ready to give me your all," Lady Sarah entered after the whole room lit up with different colored inscription. The hole Noah had dug soon began to repair itself, but the process didn''t even register to him.

    Noah crouched and shot forward after a few seconds of staring, his figure shed beside a casually smiling Sarah, but before she could move, he suddenly reappeared behind her. His leg shot forward to deliver a kick on her side, but her figure flickered to reappear behind him!

    With all his focus on trying to move, Noah swore he had already begun his sprint but the blow that reached his shoulder sent him flying faster than he could escape that position.

    "Sorry I won''t attack again. I got a bit excited," Lady Sarah smiled wryly at a healing Noah.

    His right shoulder had turned into a mess, even if no injuries appeared on his skin. Noah felt speed essence vanish from his core to deal with that injury. That attack had allowed him into realizing that her casual blows could damage his insides. There didn''t seem to be any need for more tests, her power had already humbled him.

    Nevertheless, he understood how she didn''t give him her best in return, even if she was already faster and stronger than him. The reality angered him beyond reason, but he only allowed his facial expression and a few words to be the window to those thoughts.

    "You''ll die if I give you my best," Elder Sarah exined shrugging. "You''re already doing amazing. Your body requires me to utilize twenty percent of my strength. Many higher stage cultivators would need about thirty, you''re already pretty close to them for someone only at the beginning of the middle stage."

    Her words hit the spot, managing to quench his anger even if he still didn''t like that reality.

    Noah exhaled sharply after a few seconds, it was a shame he couldn''t empower himself, but she was right, he needed to train his body.

    Noah swept his gaze on the surrounding areas for a n to strategically hit her, however, he felt a sense of loss since n matter what he did, he wouldnd a hit, and she wasn''t going to move.

    Noah''s figure soon flickered from his figure to appear right in front ofdy Sarah, his right foot rose to deliver a powerful kick, which it did, on her side.

    The ground beneath the duo quaked as all that force traveled down Sarah''s body to rush into the ground, however, she herself had not moved an inch, and her face didn''t show the slightest struggle.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah gave up at that scene. The kick had contained literally all his body could muster, he felt certain that a peak middle-stage expert would snap in two if it hit them.

    His figure flickered again and he appeared a bit more than 10m from Elder Sarah.

    "Is that enough for you," Noah inquired feeling a bit down.

    "Nah... give me two more," she replied with a light smile.

    Noah flickered beside her immediately after she finished her words and another kick smashed into her side, only managing to ruffle her clothes. He then appeared before her to punch her in the gut. He felt like he had punched a metal wall.

    "So what do you think," Noah asked sitting on the ground near depressed.

    "Well, I have to admit that you are incredibly strong. This level of strength belongs to the higher stage, even if it falls short the deeper we go into it. The point is your body probably doesn''t need tempering, it''s already at its best, seeing as you didn''t break any bones attacking me."

    "There''s still a bit I can do in that aspect of your prowess, but you already surpass the majority of middle-stage cultivators. This means the only teaching you require of me is a fighting style," she exined cing her hand on her chin.

    "You really are something else," she eximed at some point, "If you continue like this, you might actually be the most monstrous expert avable in the entirety of our nation." her head shook shuddering a bit.

    "So what will I be learning?" Noah asked feeling his mood lighten.

    "Well I''ll be forcing you into creating a proper battle style, and also passing my martial art unto you," Elder Sarah replied getting serious.

    "Why?" Noah asked recalling the words of the tier 4dy in the pool.

    "I''ll be telling you my reason when I see some improvement in you," she snorted in response. "For now, I''ll give you a brief history of my martial art, after which we''ll begin our real training tomorrow."

    Noah nodded in response and limited himself to remaining silent.

    "The martial art I utilize was created a few centuries ago and has had only four practitioners if you exempt the person I had to kill. ording to my master, it is abination of more than one martial arts making it reallyplicated, but the main focus is as you''ve seen, speed." she began.

 Chapter 306 306. ROILING THUNDER

    Noah sat on the ground of the sparring room, attentively listening tody Sarah talk.

    "There are three martial arts styles in this style, and the first one incorporated into it was called Jorak," she continued. "Jorak is a mostly offensive martial art that focuses on decimating your opponent by disorienting them through quick movements and disruptive attacks. The primary focus lies on both open hand techniques and quick movements and it often relies on the endurance and speed of the attacker."

    "The biggest strength of Jorak is incredible close-range power and agility. By taking advantage of the quick movements of both fighters your opponent can be driven into a position you want them to be, allowing you to be an overwhelming force."

    "However the biggest weakness of Jorak at the time was itsck of very crucial applicable skills. So if you''re in a real fight it''s really difficult to gain the upper hand. Things changed as you can see." Elder Sarah had started pacing again.

    "The second martial art was named Cershim. Cershim is a strictly offensive martial art that focuses on overthrowing your opponent through quick strikes and utilizing different centers of gravity. The primary focus lies on both throws and punches and it often relies on the quick thinking and endurance of yourself primarily, but also of your opponent."

    "The biggest strength of Cershim is physical flexibility, allowing you to move and take punishments in ways others can''t. By taking advantage of the pressure points of yourself your opponent oftencks the knowledge to respond well enough, making them easy to overmaster."

    "On the other hand, the biggest weakness of Cershim is that it requires you to react incredibly fast. So until you''ve trained your reflexes you could quickly end up overpowered."

    "This is where I find you wanting. You''re fast but you react too slowly many times, allowing for shorings that could have been avoided if you had thought of your next move beforehand. In short, you hesitate too much. But we''re going to deal with it," she exined.

    Noah furrowed his brows at her words but understood they were right, yet he felt forced to ask a question.

    "Aren''t both of the martial arts simr, at least in the majority of their focus?" he questioned, beginning to wonder himself.

    "Well mainly, yes, actually all three are almost simr, but both pretty muchplement each other. Consider Jorak a beginner stage martial, while Cershim takes you deeper into that world,'' she gave him insights before continuing.

    "Thest martial art is called Lin-do, it is a defensive and offensive martial art that focuses on overthrowing your opponent through swift dodges, quick movements, and even faster attacks. The primary focus lies on agility and headbutts and it often relies on your opponent''s agility and endurance, orck thereof."

    "The biggest strength of Lin-do is an incredibly strong sense of bnce, making you almost immovable. By utilizing the speed of both fighters your opponent tends to tire out pretty quickly, further giving your strengths the upper hand."

    "On the other hand, the biggest weakness of Lin-do is that it often requires the opponent to make the first move. If you''re facing an opponent that doesn''t all you can do is try to force your opponent into a position you can dominate from."

    "All this polished andbined into one creates the martial art I''m about to teach you. Its focus is on sheer explosive speed, quick reflexes, agility, flexibility, witty but devastating blows, maintaining bnce, and finally an addition of mine; keeping energy usage to its minimum, at least for most techniques."

    "My martial art is called the Roiling thunder technique," She stopped talking, raising her hand, as an air of pride quickly became evident. Noah however, simply continued to stare, while processing the information he had gotten.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Is that even supposed to be possible? As far as I know, that''s what every martial art needs. It''splete," Noah frowned deeply.

    "It''s notplete. This technique is mainly focused on the quote "offense in the best defense", you''ll have to learn to defend yourself through other means if you find yourself losing ground. This is where body temperinges in. After all, taking blows many can''t be required most of the time, especially with individuals equally as strong or experienced as you," She exined almost immediately.

    Seeing his struggle topletelyprehend her words Elder Sarah opened her mouth to speak.

    "You may not understand now, but when you partake in the vigorous training required, you''ll pretty much not need anyone telling you that your goal is possible, only unorthodox in nature," she insisted.

    "Couldn''t you have left that detail out? What if I get scared and leave," Noah joked, even if he meant his words. Unfortunately, his words weren''t taken lightly.

    "I''d have to kill you if you decided to do that," Sarah replied with such intensity that Noah feared for his life.

    "Seriously, what have I gotten into" Noah would have normally said inwardly, yet he only found himself wondering who she really was, to be able to do such to him if required. In truth he barely knew anything about Elder Sarah, a lot concerning her past and identity in the guild were still in a deep cloud of mystery, and the hints at what she was capable of within the guild managed to keep him on edge.

    A few moments of silence passed before any other words were spoken, and they belonged to Noah.

    "Is there any manual I can utilize before the actual sessions begin," he inquired already epting his fate.

    "Unfortunately there isn''t, my technique is too important and dangerous for books, which is why its passed down. I am the only person able to currently teach anyone." She exined shattering his hopes of speed reading, but also gave him another hint at how important the whole ordeal was. And truth be told, Noah felt excited and honored to even be allowed to learn it. He could already tell that it would be powerful.

    "Why did you decide to ept me," Noah found himself asking. His eyes stared nkly at the cream-colored floor, as he recalled himself asking a simr question to the blinding man in his trance of sorts in Mariwa. He still didn''t know in detail why he had been chosen by the system.

    "We''ve not even started and you''re already feeling important," Elder Sarah snorted throwing Noah off, nevertheless her answer came a few secondster.

    "It''s pretty simple, your astonishing movement speed is a quality required for learning the technique. Just that alone has reduces my work load by more than half, since its focused on speed in all aspects which leads to power and with enough experience, precision The three important key aspects of martial arts."

    "In short you are the best possible individual that can hope to receive this technique without dying half way through the training." After those surprisingly inspiring words, Lady Sarah sent Noah to his room, their training was to begin the next day, but he already felt prepared.

 Chapter 307 307. MODERATELY

    Noah sat quietly on a purple-sheet bed, his gaze looked fixed on the purple foot-mat before him, but the reality remained that he had fallen into deep thought.

    His surrounding which was the room given to him by Elder Sarah was painted a vibrant shade of cream, almost yellow. Theyout of the room remained super simple, a bed at the end of the room, a table and chair right in front of the bed, and a bathroom on the left side of the room, close to the bed. And finally a small space to position whatever he wanted within the room.

    The white-lighted room featured an equally cream-colored rug covering the entire room''s floor.

    Despite all this, Noah clearly did not give them any thought. His icy-blue eyes were nk but also shone with thoughts.

    Blinking a few times, eventually. Noah ced his focus on his environment again and scanned everything within his visual range.

    "How do I get Cudgel down here without alerting the city," Noah muttered raking his hand into his hair and holding his head in his palms.

    That simple question had brought about a series of troubled thoughts and was the reason for his nk stares. The matter surprisingly disturbed him greatly since his divine weapon was something that could turn the tides of a battle. After all, it was also his level.

    He honestly depended on many of its abilities since they continued to remain useful. ''I guess I''ll have to wait until I leave the city,'' Noah grimaced feeling the need for his weapon more than ever.

    However, a sigh eventually escaped his mouth, he didn''t feel ready to risk alerting potential tier 5 cultivators. Their knowledge would be vast and deep. The probability that simply sighting such an item as Cudgel would rouse ideas that would be close to the answer was too high.

    They could even have their consciousness around the city and he simply couldn''t sense it due to his low cultivation base.

    The conclusion brought about a wave of peace, even if most of his mind had still not settled.

    Noah pulled off his clothes and walked into the bathroom to give himself a shower. He had to admit how great that ce felt. It had everything a bathroom could ever need.

    Exiting the bathroom with all his worries washed away, Noah redressed and fell on the soft andfortable bed to do whatever he wanted.

    His mind wandered into memories while in that weak state. Noah found himself smiling at events that he now considered funny while others made his hatred for the royal family bloom with intense ferocity.

    Noah recalled his reason for even striving to join a guild, which was to of course umte power, enough to trample the royal family whenever he felt it ready.

    He needed to achieve tier 4 first, which wasn''t far anymore, but still was close. He still had about seven months till the bracelet crumbled, he believed he could achieve tier 4 way before then.

    Sleep eventually came and didn''t hesitate to wrap Noah''s consciousness in its powerful grip. Hours passed until a loud bang reached his ears awakening him to the sound of an impatient master threatening to break down his door.<novelnext></novelnext>

    *

    *

    *

    "Before we begin anything, I want you to tell me what you are good at in terms of physical battle prowess," Elder Sarah dered after they had arrived within the sparring room. It seemed many of their sessions would be within that ce.

    A thoughtful look appeared on Noah''s face at that point, even if he only did that for show. Notwithstanding, he soon replied.

    "Well, I really am just quick on my foot. I''ve never met any opponent that could directly challenge me in terms of speed so many of my battles have been one-sided." He exined with a smile mixed with a myriad of emotions.

    "You never developed any proper battle skills or have anyone taught you before now?" Sarah questioned surprised that such a person would even exist in their nation.

    "No, not really. I''ve been alone most of the time, only focusing on my cultivation level," he stated shaking his head. Of course, he had the martial arts book gotten from the system, but he he preferred to learn from a living breathing being.

    ? "So what do you do in battles. Let me guess simply cast spells and run around unable to be properly captured, even if you hesitate many times," Elder Sarah asked, her voice half mocking him and half serious.

    "Well yeah. My spells are overwhelming. I have an abundance of mana and I''m stronger and faster than individuals at my level. Every battle with humans till I met you has been won fairly easily," Noah added not minding her tone or tones.

    "So in summary, you''ve been so strong all your life you''ve never needed to develop proper skills since many individuals your level were never able topare," Elder Sarah dered after a few seconds of silence.

    "Well it''s good you''vee to this guild. I have to admit that your prowess truly is incredible, but like I''ve said many times there are individuals your level who have a crazy amount of strength. They may not be capable of immediately decimating you, but I believe in a real fight you''ll find them quite threatening." A soft smile shone on her face and she didn''t hesitate to cast off the ck garment she wore revealing the tight purple crop-top and ck skin-tight shorts beneath. She soon began to pack her hair in a ponytail.

    Noah held his breath at that sight and swallowed the lump that had grown in his throat. The garments she had been wearing all the while he had known her hid all the alluring curves thedy had.

    Her almost pale yet healthy looking skin glistened in the light of the room, and Noah felt an uncontroble urge to steal nces at her her exposed thighs and clearly defined boobs.

    In less than a minute she had be distracting, coupled with the packed hair, he had to admit that she was stunning.

    "I can feel your gaze boring into my flesh. If you don''t want to have your eyes gouged out you better learn how to look moderately," Sarah''s voice shattered Noah''s daze reminding him of the monster that lived within that desirable body. A curse also exited his lips when he found that a certain body part had begun to rise; rapidly, about to reveal all its glory through his clothes.

 Chapter 308 308. COMPLIMENT

    Panic spread within Noah''s mind at that event, he felt heat rise to his face at the understanding of what he felt. But what he experienced was mostly embarrassment. For some reason, he didn''t find her not alluring even after her words, only that he knew he could never approach her with the intent his body desired.

    Realizing that his machine was about to be revealed through his garment, Noah instinctively hunched forward, an event that caught the attention of Lady Sarah who tinkered with a few items in her ring.

    "What''s wrong with you," her voice came like a blow startling and causing even more panic and heat to rise in his face. To make things clear, he only felt embarrassed about his middle-legs reaction.

    "Nothing," Noah replied squatting. "Just trying to stretch a bit seeing as you look ready to begin our training," he exined trying to fake a cold expression even if his heart had begun to beat extra faster.

    "Why would you even need to do that," Elder Sarah asked arching an eyebrow. "If I find your flexibilitycking I''ll simply break a few bones multiple times until your body learns it," her words drained the blood in his face and managed to scare his love stick enough that it began to reduce in length.

    Lady Sarah shook her head when she saw that Noah''s continued to perform squats, after which a few secondster he stood.

    A sigh of relief escaped Noah''s mouth knowing the danger had passed. The situation had been closed. Had she asked him to get up immediately, his life would have ended for the nth time in that world. He couldn''t face the harsh even worse, teasing words of that woman. They would sink deep into his mushy heart.

    "Take this," Elder Sarah said at some point. She had been busy with her ring for a while and a small bottle floated towards Noah''s figure after her words.

    "What am I to do with it," Noah asked inspecting the vial filled with green pills.

    "They are pills to slow regeneration speed by fifty percent and increase pain sensitivity by twenty," Sarah exined. Noah''s expression flickered at those words, but he kept his cool.

    ? "I need your body to experience pain or you won''t learn. Do not worry they onlyst about nine hours. Those pills are higher-stage pills. Your body is too outrageous for middle-stage ones," she exined ushering Noah to take one or two if required.

    With evident reluctance, Noah ced one of the many green pills in his mouth and felt it dissolve almost immediately when his saliva touched it. A sweet taste spread in his mouth as it went down his throat.

    [You have ingested a substance]

    [Scanning its effects��]

    [Scanplete]

    [The substance attacks your healing capabilities]

    [Your body is battling it]

    [Your body has managed to neutralize 60% of its effects]

    [You will now experience a 20% decrease in healing speed and a 10% increase in pain sensitivity for 4 hours]

    Noah shook his head at the system''s information before cing a second pill in his mouth. This brought his healing speed down by another 30 percent, cing his healing speed at half its real capabilities, and his pain sensitivity experienced a 30% increase in total.

    A false sense of weakness permeated Noah''s body after that event, and it took a while to get his vision from being blurry.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nodding her head after he used the pills Lady Sarah walked closer to him until she stood only about a foot from his tall figure. She even had to raise her head by a significant amount to talk straight to his face.

    "We are going to begin with leg stretches. Since you''ll be tasking your lower body the most, we''ll begin with exercise meant to make them flexible. This may seem mundane for cultivators about to reach levels of power that aren''t normal, but for someone like you who''s never had a trainer, it''s the first set of things we have to do," she exined taking a few steps back before sitting and spreading her two legs in a perfect split.

    After that, she bent at her waist and stretched forward, keeping her toes pointed at the ceiling, and her thighs t on the floor.

    "This is called the straddle stretch, and it''s a very important one. Literally, all I need from you is to execute it without any difficulty and we can move on to the others," she exined still in that painful-looking position.

    Noah immediately knew he couldn''t do the same. Nevertheless, he sat on the floor and tried it, but pain reached his mind as he stretched tendons that had never been put in that posture. This caused his legs to barely form a V, and his thighs didn''t even touch the ground. He wasn''t flexible in the slightest.

    ncing helplessly at Elder Sarah who shook her head in disappointment, Noah watched her stand and crouch before him.

    Her expression was nk making Noah unable to know what she was thinking, even if he had an idea.

    In the blink of an eye, she grabbed both his legs, and with a sickening tearing sound, she spread them apart forcefully.

    Noah went from momentary shock to dying on the inside.

    A scream of deep agony exited Noah''s lips as the tendons and muscles in his legs tore at their forceful stretch. Even his pelvic joint suffered an injury. Noah immediately passed out from pain, but Elder Sarah woke him by pping him hard across the face.

    Noah suffered severe internal bleeding and the pain that coursed through his mind made him weep and groan like a child. Unfortunately, Elder Sarah''s mental waves held him in ce meaning he couldn''t writhe all he wanted. He felt trapped.

    He openly cursed Elder Sarah at that moment as all his hatred poured out. Unfortunately, it would take a while for his body to heal from the injury, so he had to sit in the extended position and wait for his legs to repair. Thankfully there was s steady flow of essence avable.

    Noah continued to re at Elder Sarah for the ten minutes it took for his legs to heal, but she never paid attention to him, and even went out of the room to get a few things done. But her consciousness never left Noah alone.

    Anger really burnt in Noah''s mind after that incredibly painful and traumatic experience, but all those erratic emotions vanished when he found that staying in that position didn''t hurt anymore.

    "You can feel it right? Your body has already adapted to that position since it healed like that. It''s an unorthodox method, but it''s pretty effective, especially for someone with such a healing speed such as yourself." Sarah grinned seeing the shocked expression on Noah''s face.

    "Why didn''t you tell me that before you almost tore me in two?" Noah spoke, his tone containing all the vileness it could muster. He really wished he could punish her for what she did.

    "If I had told you, I doubt you would have stayed still. And besides, it was satisfying to watch someone with such a handsome face cry like a child," she shrugged, as she didn''t even try to hide the satisfaction in her voice and expression.

    "I hate you," Noah spat those words like a curse. Hecked fear at that moment. And he also knew she wouldn''t do anything to hurt him. At least for the time being.

    "You''re not the first to say that. At this point it''s practically apliment," Sarah giggled. A giggle that soon turned intoughter. Annoyingughter.

 Chapter 309 309. FORMS

    Noah spent a bit over a week with Elder Sarah and the only thing they had done during that period was train him in flexibility.

    The woman had been thorough, so much so that Noah learned over 50 different types of stretches, and they weren''t only based on his legs but his entire body, including his neck. How she had managed to get such stretching techniques even for fragile body parts like the neck left him baffled, but also grateful.

    He learned to use his body in ways he never thought were possible. Not to get things wrong, the whole process had been grueling. So grueling that Noahpared her methods to the torture he experienced with Vincent in the dungeon, and saw that his methods paled inparison to what he experienced with Elder Sarah.

    Nevertheless, her unorthodox method was effective. Too effective.

    Although Noah saw that she enjoyed his suffering, he eventually learned to understand that all she did had been necessary. Not one excruciating exercise had been just to see him broken and in great pain, but to gear him for the next one she would subject him to.

    That realization had made it hard for his anger to rise at her. Her azure-colored eyes sparkling with a mysterious red light many at times were sadistic, but deep within Noah could sense her growing respect and her deep knowledge of that subject.

    An even greater realization of her good motives hade when she had given him a potion apparently meant to calm the mind and help the soul core. After all the mentally exhausting exercises she had made him execute, he very well deserved it.

    At some point during those days, Noah realized that her methods were killing three birds with one stone. With her ridiculously brutal method of getting him flexible and agile, she not only got his body flexible but also trained his mind to understand pain and the best ways to reduce its intensity, which lead to stronger willpower.

    Noah felt something within him grow each time he was subjected to great pain, and his body and mind worked together to deal with the pain. Thanks to his innate ability to learn and adapt to things and situations quickly, Noah found his fear of pain reduced exponentially. His mind adapted too quickly and so did his body.

    A few snapped fingers barely registered, and even whole limbs bent into unnatural positions only throbbed slightly. Torn muscle ligaments and tendons were the only things that sent real pain to his mind and even at that, they could only make him flinch a bit, after which the pain was sent to the back of his mind.

    To tell how incredulous and brutal the training had been and how much his body had grown used to pain, the system awarded him a title.

    [Pain resistor: Your body had be almostpletely numb to the mundane-ness of pain and has evolved past the normal bounds. This title grants you the hidden stat: Pain resistance]

    At some point down the line, he wondered what was different between the suffering that helped his body and the one he experienced when injuries piled up in battles. The only difference that could be found was the fact that his healing capabilities weren''t at their peak and his pain sensitivity had also increased. After all, he never stopped using the pills given to him by his master. He soon understood why she termed him the only one capable of bearing the weight of the training to learn her martial art.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Lady Sarah had refused to tell him anything about the Roiling thunder technique saying that he needed to get his body and mind prepared for it first, or else his potential would be wasted.

    This leads us to the current moment, where Elder Sarah and Noah stood directly facing each other but stood around five feet from each other.

    Noah sported a purple robe shimmering with the light of many inscriptions. His other attires had long since gotten useless, and she had given that to him only three days prior. Surprisingly it had not suffered that much damage during those days, only a few blood stains. But they were not visible unless being searched for.

    "So what are we to do today?... Ma''am," Noah''s voice rang out, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in his voice. He watched her flinch at his words and shoot a re at him, one that he casually shrugged. For some reason, the decades, to maybe century-old woman hated being called with honorifics. And Noah relished watching her suffer internally.

    A few silent curses exited Sarah''s mouth at that moment, had it not been for her promise to not hurt him unnecessarily, she could already think of twenty-five different ways to wish he never conceived the thought of that word. s, Sarah held her self-image in really high regard, and wouldn''t go back on her words since the man before her clearly deserved the somewhat nice treatment.

    She would call him god-sent, if such title wouldn''t be embarrassing for her. But how could she not feel that way. He was extraordinary in many aspects of being a student. He not only absorbed information monstrously, but had a body that could withstand her methods and adapt just as fast as his mind adapted.

    She felt certain that she was nursing the strongest monster in the entire guild, and almost pitied her colleagues that held their students in high regard. Aiden would crush them with the feats he had achieved.

    All in all, the future was bright for this still mysterious student of hers, and she could finally do as her teacher had done. Pass down the Roiling thunder technique.

    "Well since you''ve exhausted me of my stretching exercises without dying, I guess I have no choice than to move on to the martial art itself." She started, clearing her throat and generating an aura of seriousness, one that got even Noah into a serious mood.

    "I''ll begin with the forms avable within the Roiling thunder technique, after which we''ll begin the preparations that would enable you learn all thirteen of them," she paused for a few seconds checking to see if her audience had his attention on her, and saw that he did, creepily so.

    "There are ten forms of the Roiling thunder technique, and three secret arts. After teaching you all of them, you will have nothing to learn from me, and my job will be done."

 Chapter 310 310. DEMONSTRATION

    "There are ten forms which I''ll be teaching you, and the next will be increasingly harder than thest."

    "With the journey to mastering those forms,es the discipline that was forged with the addition of the three martial arts. In short, you won''t only be learning the Forms, but the basics as well. And note that it will be a long journey." she paused and continued when Noah nodded.

    Elder Sarah went on to tell him the names of the forms, and she began by telling him how it wasn''tpulsory to memorize the names of the forms since they''ll be revising them. Noah didn''t care less and stored them in his head nheless.

    The first form was called, "Static surge". The second form; "Thunder and sh". The third; "Thunder p". The fourth; "Static Torrent". The fifth; "sh". The sixth; "Bolts of raining palm". The seventh; "Unholy sh". The eight; "Thunder and Lightning". The ninth; "Thunder void strike". And finally the tenth form; "Domain of the Roiling thunder".

    Surely Noah expected the secret arts next, but she denied him their names, saying he only needed to know the first ten since only after leaning them would he be capable ofprehending thest three.

    The reality left him slightly disappointed, but when she told him she would give him a demonstration of the first three, his disappointment naturally evaporated.

    Ushering him backwards with the wave of her hand, Noah jumped backwards and performed a back-flip. He had begun to do stunts also. His body was simply too loose to not try them out.

    Not minding his show of skill one bit, Lady Sarah opened her mouth to speak.

    "The first form, is called Static Surge, its name should very well exin its description," She started, spreading hergs a bit, before bending her knees slightly. "I''m doing this slowly because I''m demonstrating. In real life I should already have started," she spoke as her aura continued to rise in intensity.

    "This form can be used with either punches or simple palm strikes for beginners," she exined, but before Noah knew it. Her aura got so dense that it began to choke him and with a resounding boom she let out her first punch.

    Shock waves spread in all direction at that point, as Noah could clearly feel that the punch belonged to the very peak of the middle stage.

    Less than an instantter she let out four more punches, each preceding one more powerful than thest. The result was densepression''s of wind energy flying at incredible speeds, faster than his eyes couldfortably follow!

    What followed was a barrage of punches far faster than thest and stronger. Everything within the room got so chaotic that Noah found himself crossing his arms in front of his face. Not to talk of the shock waves that ravaged the room with their violent power.

    Merely a few seconds since the start of her demonstration, Noah had to cast his armor spell to protect himself from their power. However, not even that stopped sheer force from reaching his insides as the power within her barrage of punches continued to climb.

    "The form forces me to stay in one position as I unleash these attacks, but with enough mastery you should be able to do this-" her voice rang out amid the sonic booms the sheer power contained in her fists produced.

    Immediately her words ended, Noah saw that she changed direction and aimed her punches towards the left side of the room. She continued to rotate until she did a 360 turn. But at some point he had to focus on keeping his life.

    Muliix formed a breast te while also being under the constantly crumbling speed force armor. The power in her attacks had long since crossed the higher stage, and had started to injure him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Less than a minute after she began she suddenly stopped, relieving Noah of his need for protection. Everything also dies down with her halt.

    "That is the first form of the martial art, Static, its the less interesting form and probably the weakest, but it requires an insane level of breathing control anyway, since don''t forget, I want to exhaust as little energy as I can when I attack," she exined baffling a listening Noah.

    ''She''s incredible,'' Noah shuddered inwardly, he recalled her fists being so fast that they seemed to be in many ces at the same time, eventually he couldn''t even follow her arms movement since they had be too fast.

    "The first and really important discipline I''ll be teaching you is breathing control, since that is the only way you can pour out your body''s full power without draining your stamina in mere seconds." Her tone had be like that of someone teaching a person but also enjoying it.

    Noah nodded at her words, but continued to rey the scene of her sudden burst in power and force. He noted that her aura had been the first detail before the actual attacks were released. It had gotten so dense that when it exploded his senses were startled for a few seconds. Such an event would leave an opening in his opponents defense. At least that was what he believed.

    "The second form Thunder and sh," she announced not moving from her position. But Noah continued to move backwards, there was something about those words that sounded threatening now that they came from her mouth and she was ready to demonstrate them.

    "Thunder!" she proimed stumping her left leg on the ground then her right leg. The event astonishingly caused the entire room to tremble, then the world seemed to go silent.

    A dense aura overflowing with incredible prowess and experience exploded in the room barely a secondter, and Noah could almost touch the aura! Her focus soon reached its peak and he watched her take a deep breath, before letting it out slowly.

    "And sh," she muttered before exploding forth and reappearing in ten different ces at the exact same time.

    An even heavier explosion of her unfolded aura urred at that point, as instinctive fear based on his survival instincts seeped into his mind.

    All ten of her figures flickered into one at some point, revealing that Lady Sarah had never left her position. Before he could react however, Noah watched thin tendrils of green electrical currents begin to exit her body.

    Her hair had begun to rise up from her head and her eyes had started to ze like a torch. Even more erratic sparks began to build up from thin air all around her, lighting her surrounding with a deep shade of green. A spectacr scene to say the least.

    "I''m sorry... I''ve gotten so proficient with this form that my lightning affinity can''t help but act out without even my permission. This is why only lightning affinity wielders can learn this technique. It brings us closer to our affinity until we can''t tell the difference between both." Her voice sounded like it had been charged, almost mechanic, as it dripped with deep electrical currents capable of killing him in one go.

    Heck, she sounded like what he expected a goddess would sound like. Terrifying and powerful. Her aura had be so dense, it made the entire room emit a buzzing sound!

    "This is the level of mastery I desire you to reach," she announced turning into a streak of blinding green light. Her figure shed and appeared all around Noah until he couldn''t even tell where she was. This was the second form of the Roiling thunder technique at its peak mastery.

 Chapter 311 311. FAULT

    "With this form you can reach your opponent or opponents in no time, allowing you to deliver devastating attacks as quickly as possible. Best with a weapon," Elder Sarah''s charged voice rang out all around Noah, and it managed to overshadow the sound of the erratic lightning bolts her figure released. Some thin tendrils reached his figure, burning through his clothes immediately. It didn''t matter that they were inscribed, the mere tendrils were enough to reach him.

    "This form is one step above the first form. It utilizes Surge but in a more refined way. With enough mastery, you should be capable of doing all this. But it draws a lot of stamina and requires a lot of control," her charged voice boomed all around him before she suddenly came to a stop right in front of Noah''s figure.

    His eyes were wide open at that level of speed. Her movement had been silent and quick, so quick he hadn''t seen her arrive except after she did.

    Her eyes zing with whitish-green light stared into his, and some of the currents running on her bodynded on his body, once again burning through his clothes, but only creating ck spots on his skin.

    "Think of this like a charged state, but not even my mana is in y, this is merely the expression of my affinity. This is the path to tier 4." She ended. Canceling the form, effectively brought her back to normal. After which she let out a soft breath.

    Herst words piqued Noah''s interest, but he felt certain she wouldn''t tell him anything else than she had let out. She had this belief that not everything had to be given to a person since doing so would ruin their potential as a cultivator striving to reach immense heights. The individual had to discover things on their own.

    "The second form requires a deep knowledge of your body and its physical capabilities mainly based on how fast you think your body can go before falling apart, and how agile and flexible you are, don''t forget stamina. Staying in that state for too long is going to cost a devastating amount of stamina," she exined, never looking away from Noah''s eyes. Noah felt awkward about it.

    "Thunder p, the third Form is pretty simple, I''ll show you," she announced after a few seconds of silence.

    Her figure flickered and reappeared a few ten meters from Noah''s figure. "You might want to protect yourself for what is toe," she advised, and Noah didn''t hesitate to cast his speed armor and hide Muliix underneath his attire.

    Sarah nodded in approval and her battle-honed aura exploded from her again. This time it felt more choking than before, and Noah didn''t even understand how such was possible. It seemed she had never revealed herplete power.

    Tendrils of electrical currents began to exit her figure as she crouched and bent forward, before taking a slow breath, which was actually three strong breaths.

    She spread her arms as one would if they prepared to p, but Noah saw her muscles bulge from beneath the fallen long sleeves.

    Electrical currents continued to gather around her until she pped.

    The p had seemed to move in slow motion, but that was as a result of how fast all fifteen of them had been.

    An earth-shaking boom followed by shock waves far more powerful than the execution of the first form shook the entire room spreading cracks on the walls, even if inscriptions were protecting them. They failed.

    The power within the ps sent Noah flying. His armor didn''t evenst an instant before the power of the shock waves, and his internals suffered since he had not been fast enough to react. His instincts seemed to have shut down just before the devastating p resounded in the room like an explosion of tens of dynamite.

    Elder Sarah became obscured by the outpouring shock waves, which were so dense that they had turned to white mist tinged with a green hue.<novelnext></novelnext>

    In an instant, she had be a storm in her own right, since even the entire mansion shook, and cracks spread on its mighty walls.

    The effects of the p or ps had barely three seconds, but great damage had been done to the entire mansion.

    "My mansion!... Crap! I went overboard!" Elder Sarah''s voice rang out as she dashed out of the room to witness the damage that she had dealt to her abode.

    Noah on the other hand found himself nursing myriads of injuries. Thanks to his intuition to keep Muliix on his chest, his heart was okay, but the entirety of his internals was in shambles.

    Blood poured out of his nose and mouth, thankfully his healing had kicked in to not allow him go unconscious, not from the pain; it only registered like what a severed limb would feel like, but from the shock, his body had experienced.

    Noah felt his vision blur greatly, and he tried his best to remain awake. However, he noticed that his arms were in shambles on the inside, and his legscked any energy to even move about.

    Noah could see death close to him, but the reality of what had just urred still shook him. His eyes began to get heavy and an incredible urge to close them befell him. His healing wasn''t fast enough to fix him in one go, so he had a greater chance of dying.

    It didn''t matter that his energy reserves had only halved during the past 12 days, as he had waited to see how long his reserves couldst. The results were amazing.

    Noah could feel his breathing begin to get heavier and slower, as deep darkness began to encroach his vision from the edges of his eyes even if he still had them wide open, at least for now.

    No thoughts managed to rush into his darkening consciousness in that period, but one eventually appeared when it seemed he would really end there.

    ''What about my revenge.'' Those words seemed to spark life into his eyes, but were as a result of the sudden surge of energy he experienced. Which was closely followed by the appearance of a blue panel.

    [Effects of the Dragnai pill has psed]

    [Healing speed will return to normal and pain sensitivity ill return to normal]

    Noah took a deep air-hungry breath at that point as he felt his body begin to burn essence and fix his body rapidly. Elder Sarah returned to the room at that point and her first remark almost caused a vein to pop in his head.

    "Look what you''ve made do! This Is all your fault!" her obnoxious voice rang out loudly.

 Chapter 312 312. TRAINING AREA

    Noah took a few minutes to rest while Elder Sarah ranted about how damaged her home was. Needless to say, the whole thing never registered in his mind, he didn''t care enough. Rather he continued to marvel at her power.

    She could easily bring down the whole mansion if she wanted and probably more. He also found the forms within the technique quite powerful. Maybe too powerful. She should be capable of doing anything with the second form and although the third form could easily be avoided by putting up protections, it would serve as a momentary distraction for her opponents.

    Thedy eventually stopped talking after noticing that Noah wasn''t paying attention. However, she didn''t do anything and soon they started to stare at each other.

    "You managed to take the power of the third form," Elder Sarah voiced her mild surprise.

    "It wasn''t easy," Noah replied honestly.

    "That''s still good, it shows you can withstand heavy attacks ande out okay. Maybe I shouldn''t give you the credit but your body''s incredible healing speed," she mused sweeping her gaze on the many cracks that filled the walls of the sparring room.

    "Either way it''s still me," a smile broke on Noah''s face while imitating her.

    "What are you going to do about them?" Noah asked, setting his eyes on her gorgeous face and noticing the flicker in her expression.

    A sigh escaped Elder Sarah''s mouth at that point, and she opened her mouth to voice her thoughts.

    "This room is unfit for our training. I thought we''d be able to use it for a while but it seems I was wrong." Another sigh escaped her mouth and she began her walk towards the exit of the room.

    Waving Noah over, she exited the room with Noah following closely behind her, and truth be told he felt mildly excited about the new ce they would be staying.

    She led him toward the door right under the staircase and ced her hand on the knob to push it open.

    A dark narrow environment expanded in their sights but a series of magical torches producing real mes lit the ce up to reveal that it featured a flight of stairs proceeding downwards beneath the mansion.

    The spiral stairs held an air of mystery that didn''t fail to incite Noah''s curiosity, but he didn''t speak during the whole event and limited himself to simply following Sarah''s lead.

    Shockingly, during their journey, Noah found that there were many doors leading to who knew where. ''There''s a whole underground travel system here. I won''t be surprised if important meetings are held within any of them,'' Noah thought still quietly inspecting the ck, but smooth walls of the underground system. He would love to see what stood behind the walls, but his consciousness couldn''t g past the various doors.

    A bit over five minutes passed before they reached the bottom of the stairs which lead to a big purple door. Theyout of the ce reminded him of the dungeon he had been in only about two weeks prior.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Elder Sarah silently walked towards the door and ced her palm on a seemingly random spot. A series of red inscribed circles shone on the door at that point and the door quickly began to part ways for their entry.

    "Wee to my personal training area. A ce built to withstand even the power of tier 4''s. There''s nothing we can throw at it that would cause it to break down," Elder Sarah announced spreading her arms as she walked deeper into the room.

    With eyes sucking in every detail, Noah walked into the room and his eyes brows rose at the sight thaty before him.

    The room wasrge, massive even. It wouldn''t even be considered a room, but more of an underground field.

    It looked to be made solely from metal, as it featured smooth walls and was corner-less. The ceiling of the training area featured hundreds of multicolored mana bulbs that lit the whole ce with their bright lights.

    The most eye-catching detail within that ce was the court right at the center of the room. It stood at an area of around 600sq-meters. Its tall metallic fence shone with the light of inscriptions capable of doing who knew what.

    Apart from that were things that Noah had seen in other ces, but was still surprised to see there. Things like humanoid training dummies, weights, mana stones that stood at the height of the average man, and many of them were yellow!

    "This training area contains equipment that would help better in our training, but also many other things like a self-defense array, a series of intelligent simtions that help control and ess the various functions of the whole area easier. It can even act as a shelter."

    "At full capabilities, this thing should be capable of detaching itself from the ind and flying wherever I want it," Elder Sarah exined clearly proud of her training area.

    "There are still many things that are hidden within the walls and the surface of the area, but they are forter," she said, walking towards a training dummy made entirely out of a ck metal radiating a strange aura.

    "This dummy is of the darkness element, so if you ever need to know how fighting someone with such an affinity would be, you can try it out. Just don''t forget to tune its strength down. There are other dummies based on the different affinities. The guild spared no expense for training areas such as this one," she announced overflowing with pride.

    "This is why you need to get stronger and be important so that expensive stuff can be given to you for free!" she giggled with a mischievous grin.

    Noah continued to inspect the training area while Elder Sarah continued to brag about its functions. She truly became less of an adult and more of a child the more he got to know her.

    Strange symbols were carved into the silver walls of the training area. He wondered what they were used for but only made a mental note to ask, when his master was finished with her bragging. All in all, the ce was worthy of its praise, and Noah felt it an achievement knowing he would be training there for a while.

 Chapter 313 313. CRUMBLED

    The days started to go by quickly as Elder Sarah began her training with Noah. In mere days she had spotted the many ws that rid and hindered his fighting prowess and moved quickly and brutally to cut them down.

    Their training began with leg movements and breathing exercises. Although she had forced his body into flexibility it only remained a premise to the real techniques.

    Precise leg movements that followed each other to create something smooth, almost akin to dance choreography. During such sessions she had Noah hold his breath, and punishments would be dispensed if she found that he had failed to do as she said.

    The trainingsted weeks since there were constant additions whenever Noah mastered what she had given him. The result was a smooth dance-like series of movements that allowed Noah to switch between moves halfway.

    The dance helped him put his newfound flexibility to use, while the minimum intake of oxygen helped him learn energy conservation. Even if he believed he didn''t need it.

    Soon after that was power practice. Noah was required to perform those moves while also adding power to them. The idea was easier said than done.

    He had to master the moves while also adding power and force to them, This would be easy if not for how intricate the moves were themselves, and the fact that they required different energy outputs.

    Noah spent days in the underground training area performing experiments with each move, testing how much power was required to allow him to transition into the next move without breaking his form.

    With each sessful execution, he was required to increase his speed until he could perform the intricate dance containing exactly 88 different body movements in under thirty seconds.

    Bones had broken many times. He would also find himself unable to keep the intake of air low, while Elder Sarah showed that she could perform it all with one soft breath.

    The hardest thing to master was eventually his breathing control, and only after a month of practicing did he manage to execute the dance without requiring more than four breaths.

    With mastery came more speed and precision. Until Noah felt he could do it without much thought.

    His sess had brought him great joy, but unfortunately, ording to Elder Sarah, he had just begun.

    The duo moved on to closebat practice, where Lady Sarah taught him the various basics of hand-to-handbat. He learned how to read moves to an above-average state of mastery, he learned what it meant to control the pace of a battle and how best to utilize his body in brutal and destructive ways to his opponent.

    The training had been slow and long. Many at times Noah pondered giving up due to the sheer amount of things he has been required to learn. Lady Sarah wasn''t giving him many breaks. And since she understood that his body could take much of what she threw, she pushed him to his limits.

    Noah broke one particr session and threatened to fight her even if he knew full well how such an event would go down. Unfortunately for his anger, Lady Sarah had been calm and shockingly apologetic.

    The matter had ended peacefully, and for about a week she had allowed him to take things slowly. Even if a week after his break she returned with full force, this time without a shred of pity in her.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah suffered physically and mentally, but he found his body continuing to adapt to her methods. A grim reality for his fury.

    Soon he could hold his own in hand-to-handbat, even if it featured kicks, grapples, head butts, agile evasive maneuvers that even had them running on walls, as it was incredibly fast-paced. All the while such battles ended in his defeat, but he continued to learn nheless.

    Noah found his attacks beginning to get faster with more power, while he retained arge amount of his stamina during them. Surprisingly elder Sarah could still outdo him in a battle, but this would only be after they had fought for days!

    His confidence increased as he acquired more knowledge about the world of martial arts, a world he would soon dominate.

    It had taken him two months and a half to get to that level, which felt slow to him, but ording to Lady Sarah was incredible. She even called him a profound genius.

    They had never started learning the various moves, but at some point, she deemed him ready to begin their mastery.

    The more time Noah spent with her the more anxious he got. He had somewhat expected the training tost that long, but the closing danger still managed to weigh on his mind even more. His mates were out there gaining ranks while he had been stuck with her getting trained, but not exactly increasing in power, only technique. Notwithstanding he continued.

    The first form; Static surge, had been the easiest to learn, even if it had taken him a whole week of literally non-stop practicing.

    It consisted of all the training he had been through and was mostly based on his breathing control since it required him to move his fists at speeds that even managed to cause internal injuries.

    He attained an above-average level of mastery only a few dayster, and by this point, Lady Sarah''s respect could be seen in her shining eyes. After that aplishment, she permitted him to call her Master or her name. Needless to say, he opted for the former. However, he also asionally teased her by calling her old. She hated it.

    Noah practiced the first form until he could go from zero output to maximum output in mere seconds, and he had to admit how powerful it was. It wasn''t the shiest, but he could imagine how perplexed his opponent would be if he abruptly started sending abnormally quick punches their way. Each preceding one stronger than thest.

    He had never trained with weapons since Elder Sarah continued to postpone it, emphasizing that he had to make his body his first weapon. But even without any training, Noah could generate simtion on how a weapon would y with the technique.

    He never tried them in front of her and opted to do so only when she had gone for missions.

    The results were astonishing, especially with his daggers. He even tried the silver sword that had been given to him but found that its structural integrity couldn''t handle the speed of his technique, that it eventually crumbled like dust.

    It didn''t matter that it was an inscribed weapon, it couldn''t withstand the power required by the Roiling thunder technique. Nevertheless, he would find a use for its orange mana stone.

 Chapter 314 314. WEEKS

    "The second form, like I said, utilizes surge at its core, but that''s not all. You also require all that you know and are capable of doing, to execute it well," Lady Sarah exined to a cross-legged Noah sitting on the floor of the barricaded court.

    She sat in the same posture but was moving more due to her exnation. She had finally decided that they moved on to the second form of the Roiling thunder technique. This, of course, was after he had executed the first form many times in front of her.

    "It''s one of the most tasking forms, and I''m sure even you would approve of that.'' She continued. "The key goal of the second form is mainly to overpower your opponent, through the sheer amount of speed you have achieved while also remaining in total control of your movements. I believe you can already see how difficult such would be," her eyebrows rose while she nodded slowly, giving action to her words.

    Noah on the other hand understood all she was saying. He had to admit that he didn''t even feel sure he would be capable of executing the second form. Unlike Lady Sarah, he didn''t work his butt off to gain the level of speed he was capable of. Only with the speed forces empowerment could he do anything spectacr. Remove that and he would be worse than even the average cultivator.

    "Your breathing control should be at its max, at least for your level. You should keep eye on how much your body can handle, andstly, you have to prepare a lot of explosive force inside your entire body, whereas the First form only requires all that explosive force to go into your arms, this time your entire body must explode forth together. You will also have to learn how to maintain that form for more than a few seconds," she continued to talk, almost putting a frown on Noah''s face.

    "It had taken even I a bit more than seven months of grueling training to properly execute it, but during those periods I had crippled myself many times, extending the training time to around a year." Elder Sarah reminisced.

    "I was also a mere middle-stage tier 2 when I began, most of my body couldn''t handle it, so even more suffering was inflicted on me by my teacher until my body could,'' a smile shone on her face at those memories, even if they sent shivers down Noah''s spine.

    "That''s all for now. Let''s begin the process required to properly execute it. Be certain that you won''t be able to execute it today, but I''ll leave you to your practicing after." She announced standing up.

    Noah nodded in agreement and proceeded to do as she said.

    Shockingly the second form didn''t contain as many moves as he expected, only that it required him to utilize what he learned in surge on his whole body. Not even his insides were spared.

    The session with Elder Sarahsted about four hours after which she left him to return to the mansion above.

    His personal practice began at that point.

    Pain never continued to spread within Noah''s mind after that point, and he had to take many breaks to allow his body to recover from the sheer amount of injury his internals suffered, and even his skin.

    The first and probably only issue that came with executing the second form was allowing his body to maintain the sheer amount of power required to properly enter the mode that was like Thunder and sh.

    He couldn''t even go past the first execution since the power contained in the stomp should be the same as the one used to move around.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The hurdle more or less continued to astonish Noah, who found his body reaching its structural limits every time he tried to gather the required amount of energy required.

    Things changed as he continued to practice however, he realized that it wasn''t that his body couldn''t handle the amount of power required, it was simply that he had no control over the amount of strength poured into his body, that it started to break down.

    One would find it surprising that he couldn''t gauge the amount of power needed to execute the form without going overboard, after all, he had spent almost a month learning the dance-like moves that forced him into taking into ount how much power each moves required. Even Noah was surprised.

    But the difference between the two was the fact that the dance-like moves required him to only focus on specific parts at every point in time. Coupled with his innate ability to process information at an astonishing rate, it eventually became easy. But for the execution of the second form, he had to pay attention to his entire body, which was easier said than done.

    Noah had an incredibly quick thinking speed, but even he remained bound by the human weakness of being unable to multitask. He could switch between different tasks really quickly, but that itself wasn''t multitasking.

    He had to keep record of every muscle ever organ every simple tendon at the same time while pouring an equal amount of power into them. An astronomical task. But he knew he could ovee it.

    Thankfully Elder Sarah told him not to try and imitate her demonstration which took her to levels of stunning speeds. He was only required to be able to move between two points really quickly and it would be considered that he had executed it correctly.

    Going further and faster could only be achieved by more practice, but he felt d that her standards weren''t his. He also had to admit that her skill was incredible to be able to properly execute the second form while still being in tier 2.

    Noah continued to practice for days, with Elder Sarah only visiting him once in a while. She continued to give him helpful tips on how to reach the level of mastery over his body required to execute the form, but he had reached the stage where only more practice and experience could help him. And that''s what he did.

    It took Noah 5 weeks before he could execute the second form properly for the first time.

    ____________________________

    Author''s note:

    A big shutout to Bagelly fo the inspiration capsules and massage chairs!! I appreciate them!!

 Chapter 315 315. MYSTERY

    315. MYSTERY

    Noah took a deep breath as his eyes beamed with the light ofplete focus. Beads of sweat dripped down his face, and his clothes stuck to his skin due to the intense amount of perspiration his body underwent.

    His target looked to be a 6ft tall dummy that looked in, even if it was made of an alloy that his attacks couldn''t prate. Lady Sarah remained outside of the court, but her full attention fell on the spectacr and incredibly handsome man before her. He was about to do something so outrageous she struggled to wrap her big brain around it.

    Letting out his breath slowly, Noah muttered a word, which was closely followed by the sound of his foot stumping the ground and causing a mighty bang. "Thunder," Noah had uttered as his whole existence seemed to go silent.

    His entire being seemed to go stiff, but it was only his body.

    "Thunder..." Noah uttered after a second had passed, then his figure flickered out of sight, before suddenly appearing in two positions. However, his two figures were merely four feet from each other.

    Despite theckluster disy of a familiar second form, Elder Sarah burst into apuse, and her face shone with the bright light of her charming smile.

    Never in her life had she met someone as talented as the man before her, and she struggled to think there would be another like him born. The world couldn''t handle two of such monsters.

    Noah spent exactly seven seconds in that state beforeing to a stop and appearing in one position

    His state had changed afterward.

    Even more, sweat dripped down his face and body, and his face seemed to have even gone pale. "I barely conserved enough energy," Noah muttered chastising himself. "I need to work more on my breathing control and find an amount of power that wouldn''t chip into my full stamina quickly," he concluded while he experienced a rapid recovery.

    It wasn''t that he was tired, only that during the weeks of practicing, he had learned an incredible skill of bottling up arge amount of his body''s stamina while only letting a small portion out.

    The second form was draining and he couldn''t jeopardize his fighting prowess for a simple execution, even if it would help him against an opponent.

    "That was a wonderful disy!" Elder Sarah eximed walking into the court through the metallic door.

    "Master! I''d forgotten you were here," Noah said startled. He had not heard her pping until she talked to him.

    Ignoring his words Elder Sarah continued. "You clearlyck proper control over the amount of energy expended, you still did marvelously. A far cleaner execution than I had expected when you told me you had finally gotten it." She continued to circle him while assessing his execution.

    "My master would die of shock and jealousy if he saw the apprentice I was raising," she gave a cheeky smile, that managed to speak volumes about the myriads of emotions swirling within her sadistic, but also experienced mind.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah gave a casual shrug at her words before moving on to lift the metallic dummy and take it outside the court. He had only used it as a mental target, nothing else.

    Lady Sarah continued to speak about his execution while he continued to think about a better way to execute the second form.

    At some point during the five weeks, Noah realized that where the main work of the executiony, was the initial take-off. If he got the right amount of stamina burnt there, he would be capable of maintaining it and slowly begin to increase it, which meant more speed.

    It felt shocking that what the mere empowerment of the speed force could achieve in an instant, took him that much time to learn. Unfortunately due to his abilities being a secret, he couldn''t utilize the effects of his essence on his body to execute the form. At least not currently.

    Noah could immediately tell that performing the second form with his Speed Essence in y would allow him to do it with ease, and even make him more powerful.

    He had to admit that although he hadn''t gained any groundbreaking new level of strength, his understanding of his abilities and what he could now do continued to skyrocket.

    He could already see himself dominating the various forms with his base form alone, he couldn''t begin to envision what doing the same with speed essence would achieve. The mere thought sent waves of excitement down his spine.

    At some point during his thoughts, Noah realized that Elder Sarah had stopped talking, and looked back to see her staring at him, but in thoughts.

    "I never thought you''d achieve the second form this quickly, not to talk of in time for an important event amid the higher echelons of the guild." Her words sparked a deep curiosity within Noah. He had literally not left the underground training area for months now, and even his facial features had changed.

    His constantly pristine-looking white hair, had grown longer, and now neared his waist, and it was of course shabby and unkempt. Noah almost resembled a homeless entity if not for his shining blue eyes, stunning facial features, and toned body. He had removed the upper part of the attire given to him by his master. He couldn''t even begin to count the number of clothes he had gone through in thest almost four months.

    His chin had started to feature white hair. A detail that had surprised him when Elder Sarah mentioned it to him. Why now? He had thought, but could only me that event on the natural process of men''s growth after he found no answers.

    "What do you mean by that?" Noah asked mopping his body of sweat using a green piece of ragged attire. He recalled wearing it a bit over three weeks ago.

    A sigh escaped Elder Sarah''s mouth at that point, and her eyes clearly scanned his devilishly attractive body.

    "You look like crap. Come up and freshen up, then we''ll talk," She replied shaking her head in faked disgust.

    A wide knowing smile took form on Noah''s face at that point. He took no offense in her words, he had known her a bit deeper to understand that she made statements like that when he achieved something that left her shocked and feeling respect for him.

    With the mystery of her words still ringing in his ears, Noah followed her up for the first time in about two months.

 Chapter 316 316. OVERKILL

    Noah and Elder Sarah sat in the sitting room of her mansion. She had long since gotten it repaired, and the walls even featured more decorations and on top of the cream, almost yellow paint were purple stripes creating patterns that were geometrical in nature, but Noah didn''t know their use. He had been within the bounds of the underground training area during the time of their repair.

    Elder Sarah mostly left him a lot in there, meaning he could cultivate within it. At times she left him for days giving him full ess to the many functions of that ce. During those months Noah learned all that there was about its functions. At least the ones she let him know. He suspected that there were still many things hidden away from him.

    "So what were you saying that time," Noah broke the silence that had befallen them after he returned from his barely used room. A cup of fine non-magical winey in both their grasp. He had to admit that the taste of the drink was soothing and made his taste buds tremble in joy.

    ? He had often eaten only nd stuff during those months, except when elder Sarah brought down food for both of them.

    Not until she finished sipping the wine in her brown cup did Elder Sarah open her mouth to speak.

    "Ah yes," she started oddly. "You know how you haven''t been rising in ranks for a while now, well it''s about that," she stated sipping more wine.

    Raising an eyebrow at her words, Noah soon furrowed them to try and speak, but she beat him to it.

    "I know that you''ve been worried about the fact that you''ve not gained any new rank in the guild. Any sensible person would. We all want to be found important and an individual such as yourself wouldn''t like to remain beneath lesser talented people just to gain battle experience. At least I know I wouldn''t." She nodded and shrugged shutting Noah up.

    "I''ll let you in on a little secret," she continued. "There are two ways to gain ranks in all guilds. The first one is by taking andpleting tasks. Which is what the mass does it. A boring and annoying method if you ask me."

    "Then there''s partaking in social events that grant an increase in rank as one of its winning rewards." She paused silently gazing at Noah''s expression and watched it flicker. A good sign that he was listening and getting interested.

    "This social event I''m talking aboute in many forms and themes, but the particr one only two weeks from now is the main target. Its main focus is on young martial art practitioners," she paused watching Noah''s eyes light up with realization.

    "It''s something only the concerned targets are privy to, which is one of the reasons the guild keeps tabs on its new members, so I don''t expect you to announce it to other guild-mates when you begin to associate with them again," she warned. Noah nodded in understanding, but his expression spoke of his willingness to know more about the event she spoke of.

    Intending to keep him waiting, Lady Sarah took a series of sips from her cup before continuing. Aiden looked pissed already, but he couldn''t do anything to offend her since she held valuable information.

    "The martial arts tournament like I said earlier is aimed at uing martial arts practitioners who have amazing talent and are within the third tier. It would have young experts like yourselfing from different guilds, but they would only number one hundred, and the total winners will be ten in number."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "The hundred are one of the finest since they are pitted against artificial opponents before the real tournament, and the best will be chosen to fight."

    "I had initially counted you out and aimed for the next tournament since I never thought you''d be able to achieve the second form so quickly, but it seems you will be able to participate. Although the registrations should be closed by now, I can still pull some strings to get you into it. It would be a good way to expose you to different opponents while probably bagging a prize for yourself," she exined. She too getting excited.

    "It starts two weeks from now right?" Noah asked, and she nodded in response. "Would I need to be tested too," he asked.

    "Yes I believe so," Elder Sarah replied. "I know how amazing you are but the guild still needs visual assurance. After all, you have barely been training for four months. The individuals you''ll be put against have been at it for years, but are still considered young," she continued to sip her wine.

    "And I''ll have to be among the top ten individuals to be granted the reward..." Noah spoke before his words soon faded.

    "What are the rewards?" Noah asked, and watched Elder Sarah''s face light up with a wide grin.

    "That''s the best part," she said over a mouthful of wine.

    "There are three prizes given to all ten winners, and there are special prizes given to the top three." She began, suddenly getting serious.

    "The top ten all gain an emblem, by which they are allowed to visit any of the participated guilds, and they would be treated with high respect. The second prize is a weapon forged just for them which is of their liking. The third prize is being moved to the peak of rank C since most individuals are never in that rank within the third tier," she exined.

    "The prize given to the top three is that they will be given the chance to tour the continent, and even the giant continent, and they will be treated with high respect," she announced making Noah hold in breath while his eyes widened in utter shock.

    "Even if he had barely spent a year in that world, he already understood a few basic rules and sad realities. One of them was that most of the masses barely had any information about the other continents and many would never see them till they die as a result of how low their cultivation base was and the standard of living.

    "Not even some tier 4''s get that privilege, and thus have to go through underhand methods to reach those far ces. The top three will be taken there fully funded by the guilds that participated." Elder Sarah added, making Noah''s excitement reach high levels that it began to permeate the room.

    He had already been bought over by the rewards of the top ten. The rewards for the top three were overkill.

 Chapter 317 317. PAGODA

    The duo continued to talk about the tournament, which was named "The tournament of champions". At some point down the line, however, Noah began to doubt his ability to hold his ground in such apetition.

    One of the major rules was that no sort of spells or magical empowerment were allowed. Only the prowess of their body was to be disyed throughout. Even a whiff of mana spotted was enough to get them disqualified and even penalties from their various guild would be dispensed on the offender.

    Noah understood that his strength was incredible, after all that training, he had long since gotten used to his incredible prowess. But when he could be pitted against legit peak middle-stage cultivators who had gotten used to their various abilities and had long since gained proper understanding, he couldn''t help but rethink.

    Nevertheless, he never doubted his ability to reach the top ten, but the top three started to look like a pipe dream.

    In the tournament, the highest cultivation stage that could enter was the peak of the middle stage, while the lowest that could enter was the peak of the lower stage.

    Either of the two stages could be pitted against each other, and it was even guaranteed that as long as an individual continued to move forward in the tournament, they would eventually battle a weaker or stronger expert.

    Thankfully, however, only true technique and battle experience woulde out victorious. So the possibility of a peak middle stage cultivator falling to a lower stage cultivator was as high as the opposite scenario. At least pm paper it sounded that way.

    A bit over an hour passed before their conversation ended, after which Elder Sarah rushed out to get a spot for Noah. While thetter announced he would return to training.

    He nned to cultivate for about a week, before training to get used to the new level of strength he would achieve. Unfortunately, he had held off from cultivating since his power continued to remain relevant throughout the months.

    The issue with his body cultivation and core cultivation was the fact he needed to be in the presence of dense speed essence, and he feared that utilizing his stone would make it too hard for him to clean up his tracks, so he usually teleported out of the underground training room. But even that couldn''t stop his paranoia.

    There wasn''t any way he could know whether or not Elder Sarah had returned, so he found himself returning every few hours to check.

    This time around, however, he informed her not toe into his room since he desired to enter a short seclusion, where he would strengthen his body while also continuing to practice his skills.

    Elder Sarah had been happy about his decision but told him that if things went well on the third day he would be required toe and take the test. In short, he had to expect her in about three days, which waspletely fine by Noah. He only wanted to keep his tracks clean.

    Arriving inside the room Elder Sarah gave to him made him raise his eyebrows in mild amusement. She had redecorated the room, by adding ayer of purple paint including simr patterns as the one in the sitting room.

    Bringing out his soul cultivation manual, Noah began to stare at its shining unreadable words. And in what felt like seconds he snapped back to reality, knowing fully well that he had spent hours staring at it.

    His soul ind proved it by the tiny addition to its overall size. The gains of only a few hours were not much but it was something. In truth, he had stayed there so in case Lady Sarah returned to tell or ask him something he would not be found missing.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But it seemed she honored his words and didn''t approach his door.

    With that Noah got able to return to his cultivation room and begin to cultivate his body and core.

    The two days went by quickly, but the gains to any of his assets were not groundbreaking in the least even if they were still something. He wished there was a way to increase his cultivation speed drastically. But he also recalled that even when he had been utilizing rank 1-speed essence it had taken him weeks to increase in strength exponentially. Rank 2 had to be different.

    Returning to his room before what he considered the third day could arrive, Noah began to practice his martial art. He would first execute the dance-like moves more than ten times, with each round experiencing an increase in strength and speed until all his power was being poured into them.

    After that, he would practice only breathing control since it helped him in ways that he had stopped underestimating. After a few hours, he would begin to stretch, and when he was done he would restart the whole process.

    It had be a routine at this point and he usually unknowingly did them, since his mind was usually lost in his thoughts. He desired to practice the second form more, but he couldn''t risk the room falling apart if he messed up.

    A knock eventually sounded on his door, pulling him out of his thoughts. Without the least bit of hesitation he opened the door and as he expected, Elder Sarah stood outside, a wide smile on her gorgeous face.

    Sometimes he struggled to believe that he lived with someone that good-looking, and the same could be said for Elder Sarah, who had seen many men in her long life, but none like Aiden.

    "From you smile I presume you managed to get me a spot," Noah calmly asked walking out of his room in a new attire.

    "Yes of course, I told you I have my ways," Elder Sarah replied as the walked down the stairs. She could sense Aiden''s excitement even if he tried to bottle it up.

    The tournament wasn''t just for the rewards it was a showcasing of the various disciples every martial arts teacher had. And Sarah desired that the world saw the man she held under her roof

    A man who couldprehend things that had taken decades of practice in mere weeks and begin to explore more on it after a month. From what she had witnessed from him she held no doubt that he would be capable of holding his own in a fight. She almost couldn''t see him losing to anyone his level.

    Elder Sarah took Noah out of the mansion and he couldn''t help but bathe in the constant night-like environment of the city. Nothing much had changed in the central region. At least the ces she took him through looked the same way he remembered.

    The duo arrived before a red pagoda with four floors, and even before they walked into it, Noah could already sense the tier 4''s within it and they seemed agitated about something.

 Chapter 318 318. GRELLA

    The duo walked right into a verbal battle between two tier 4 cultivators who unknowingly began to re up with their auras.

    "If you think so why didn''t you go ahead and do it? There''s no need to trample on my pride for such silly matters!" A man who looked no older than thirty-five and sported short red hair yelled at another man.

    "Well, you started the whole matter without giving it any thought. And you call yourself a tier 4 existence," the second person who was also a man countered with a snort. The expert had in ck hair, only that it fell to his shoulders. He also looked to be in his mid-thirties but seemed slightly younger than the red-haired man.

    "Oi oi...you guys should stop your bickering, you''re disturbing the area with your stupid auras," thest person in the group said. The individual was a woman. She floated in the air while she had a big curved pipe which she used for smoking.

    Noah and Elder Sarah took a few seconds to inspect the situation. The trio didn''t seem to raise their voices, but each word they spoke reverberated through the entire building nheless. Their aura''s was the reason for that event, but thankfully the ne given to him by the guild fended those powerful pressures off. Creating an environment where tier 3''s and 4''s could hang out.

    Clearing her throat with the intention of being heard, Elder Sarah looked to have had enough of their argument.

    The trio turned their attention to them at that point and their eyes immediately fell on Noah''s figure. Making him ufortable. Even if their consciousness had long since begun to inspect him.

    Immediately after they arrived, Noah immediately checked out the spectacr details of the pagoda, but he still couldn''t get enough of it.

    The entire ce was lit with bright golden lights allowing every detail to be visible to him. Right upon entry, the insides of the pagoda expanded in his eyes.

    A few ten meters directly in front of the entry wererge stairs that led to the four floors. The stairs were colored red and their handles were golden. The different floors of the pagoda could not be clearly seen from his position so he focused on the ground floor.

    Noah could immediately spot numerous red doors lined up around him. The doors shimmered with the light of inscriptions as they generated an air of mystery. Noah desired to know where they led to.

    The smooth cream-colored tiles that stood beneath him glimmered in the room''s bright light and he could almost see his reflection.

    "Is that the young man you spoke of," the red-haired man directed his words at Elder Sarah, seemingly forgetting about the verbal battle he had been in merely a few seconds ago.

    Elder Sarah nodded as her eyes followed the man''s movement towards Noah.

    "I can sense something fundamentally special about him, but for some reason, I''m unable to go further," the red-haired man continued, hovering around Noah like an interesting test subject.

    "The same for me..." the second man and the woman said In unison before ncing at each other. A silent interaction happened between the duo and Noah couldn''t help but think they were in a rtionship.

    "Young man what is your name?" the red-haired man asked at some point.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Aiden. I am Aiden," Noah replied without the slightest hitch.

    "Well, it''s a pleasure to meet you. Sarah has told us a lot about you, but we all struggle to believe it. You''ll have to wow us to be allowed to register for the tournament of champions thiste," the man went straight to the point and was even a bit hostile about it.

    Noah nced at Elder Sarah, and his eyes fell on her smile.

    "He''s good-looking. That I have to give him," thedy said from her position. Her words caused Noah to recall his looks. He and Elder Sarah had spoken about wielding a mask so as to not catch too much attention, but he would only have used it when the tournament started.

    ''I guess that''s why he seems mad at me,'' Noah thought following Sarah''s lead into the room.

    It seemed the whole ordeal would be quickly taken care of, but he understood that he would have to do things spectacrly to get into it. Lady Sarah had done all she could by getting them to even ept the offer, it was now left to him to take care of the rest.

    The red-haired man brought them to the second floor where an even far numerous amount of ed doorsy. He took them towards a particr one and behind the door was a wide green walled room. Noah confirmed that the three cultivators were the only individuals inside the Pagoda.

    The room would be totally empty if not for the humanoid figure standing at its very end.

    The white floors of the room gave it a pristine look, but all Noah had eyes on was the silver humanoid figure.

    The dummy shone with the light of inscriptions and even symbols or different colors.

    In merely a few seconds upon their entry, Noah saw transparent walls emerge from the ground to create a box at one edge of the room, where the four experts went into, leaving him alone with the dummy.

    "That is Gre. A training dummy. But not any type of training dummy. She''s one with an intelligent simtion gotten from theption of different martial arts. She evolves in a fight depending on what level I set her to. And to pass the test you have to beat her at level 5," the red-haired man exined from within the box.

    His words caused the silver dummy in the distance to emit a mechanical whirl after which a vibrant humming sound emanated from its figure. The event that followed would be considered its awakening since all its inscriptions zed brightly before dying down. The dummy began to move afterward, and Noah felt shocked to see that it had begun to do light arm and leg stretches.

    Noah shot a questioning gaze at Elder Sarah at that scene but she shrugged with a wider smile.

    "However, since you are registeringte and your master has never stopped talking about you, ill be pushing your requirement one level higher than the standard," the red-haired man announced, and Noah could almost hear his joy.

    Noah furrowed his brows after the man''s words, he didn''t understand how strong those levels were but seeing Lady Sarah''s smile grow wider and more confident at the announcement, and it served as a reassurance to him that he would still be capable of defeating it.

 Chapter 319 319. EASILY

    With eyes trying to pierce their gaze into the dummy, or rather Gre, Noah entered a seemingly form-based stance, but from what he had learned from elder Sarah, the Roiling thunder wasn''t limited to stances since it desired the user to remain flexible at all point. Only the various forms featured stances, any other thing was a hoax.

    Gre entered a stance too, but it had a form behind it. Its inscription-zing eyes seemed to scan his figure before deciding on what its next move would be. Tension seemingly began to build in the room, but Noah remained at his calmest. He wasn''t in his emotionless state, but his training had naturally forced his mind into a state of regr calmness. He couldn''t act irrationally since something important was based on the turnout of the battle.

    Gre eventually moved and Noah watched it cross the distance between them in barely a second. That speed remained shocking for something made out of metal, but Noah recovered as quickly as his astonishment appeared.

    His eyes followed the dummy''s swift movement, and he could immediately tell it tried to attack his left shoulder with its lunge.

    Noah''s fist appeared on the path of the arm then both limbs collided.

    The result was a ground-shaking explosion of sheer force.

    An eyebrow appeared on Noah''s face at that oue as both figures refused to move. He had naturally not exerted his full strength but that punch had aimed at ending the fight quickly, but the dummy''s material could withstand his punch even if its arm now featured a small portion that had caved in.

    "How do I win against it? Destroy it?!" Noah shouted performing a quick side step as Gre''s feet shot past his expressionless face.

    His hand moved to grab hold of the leg and it did, but the dummy jumped to try and kick him with its other leg. Noah crouched, effectively dodging the smashing kick, before hurling the oversized piece of metal away.

    Its moves had been too predictable, but he couldn''t let his guard down since it learned apparently. Its predictable moves could be a n to get him to underestimate it.

    "Do whatever you want with her, just make sure to remove her head and you win," the red-haired man who''s name Noah still didn''t know, replied.

    Noah responded with a nod and shot forward towards an already recovered Gre. His figure shed before its figure and his eyes shed with resolve. Noah''s arms seemed to move in slow motion even If they remained too fast for the dummy to follow.

    An explosion of his aura urred as he executed the First form at point nk. An even more spectacr explosion urred at that point and the ground never stopped shaking.

    A dense mist formed as a result of Noah''s attack and Gre''s figure could soon be seen flying out of it, and it looked to be barely holding up.

    Noah wasn''t ready to allow the dummy learn his moves so his figure followed it with frightening velocity, The sheer explosive speed his body could muster had increased during his training and the current battle showed a bit of the result.

    Noah would barely be visible to anyone at his level, as even his clothes appeared to be vague blurs.

    His figure arrived before the still mid-air Gre and his right arm shot forward to rip the dummy''s head off. But his goal wouldn''t go as nned since a kick appeared in his peripheral vision.

    He couldfortably dodge the speeding foot, but his expression flickered when he saw Gre ce both her hands on the floor and proceeded to perform a roundhouse kick on him. However, instead of running, Noah stayed and endured the powerful kick. He clicked his tongue in annoyance when he felt pain reach his mind. The attack had broken his skin.

    In turn, however, his arms reached the dummy''s midsection and punched arge hole in it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah then waved his hand topletely rip off the right side of Gre''s torso.

    The kick sent Noah flying and his attack sent Gre barreling sideways like a rag doll. While her material flew everywhere.

    Noahnded on his feet and slid for a few feet beforeing to a stop.

    His right side featured a bruise that had already begun to heal and before he shot forward had already beenpletely repaired. His healing remained his strongest asset in a battle.

    His figure appeared in front of Gre and he didn''t hesitate to perform a kick on her recovering figure. His kick smashed into her head and sent her flying again, but he wouldn''t stop there.

    Noah went ahead to follow her barreling figure and he immediately grabbed her by the arm. Smashing her into the white floor, Noah ced his left leg on her back before proceeding to rip her right arm off.

    Gre tried to react, but Noah had entered his full focus mode. His arms turned into a blur as he executed the first form again.

    This time around the whole room reverberated with the sheer amount of force his punches were capable of mustering.

    Gre turned into a mass of metal that had most of its surface uneven andrge portions of its full structure missing. Holes riddled the quality dummy, but Noah couldn''t care less.

    Its head was barely recognizable as a head, but it continued to move. But once again, Noah was already on top of the matter.

    Lunging both arms at her head, he grabbed it and endured the punch Gre''sst arm threw at his stomach.

    Enforcing his strength on it, Noah began topress it. Gre''s attempts at freeing herself became frantic. It seemed she could feel terror. Or maybe she was programmed to.

    The sound of metal crunching resounded in the whole room until Noah turned Gre''s head into a thin mass of metal. After which he tore it off.

    A sense of joy and relish appeared in Noah''s mind after that point. The fight hadn''t been hard one bit. Heck, the had won it practically leisurely. But he understood that his sharpened skills were simply in y now.

    Silence spread in the room after the defeat of Gre, but a p soon resounded shattering the silence.

    Noah turned to see the woman pping; a wide smile on her face. Soon the ck haired man followed. Elder Sarah limited herself to maintain her confident smile.

    The red-haired man on the other hand, had an expressionless face, but he had already approved of the man''s incredible strength.

    "You pass!" The red haired man announced. "It seems you did so fairly easily. If you can''t get into the tournament then no one is eligible," he gave a shortugh while the box returned into the ground.

 Chapter 320 320. CAUGHT

    Exiting the room with the four experts, Noah remained silent as they discussed something with Elder Sarah. At least the red haired man and the ck haired man did. This gave thedy in their midst chance to engage him in a conversation.

    "So Aiden, what do you do with your spare time?" thedy suddenly asked right after getting close to him.

    Noah''s expression barely made any change, even if he felt slightly troubled on the inside. "I mostly train ma''am," he replied making sure to remind her about their different statuses.

    "Ah I see. That normal for a martial artist. I myself have a bit of knowledge about martial arts but I have given up on it to face a new path when I achieved tier 4," she exined making his ears perk up.

    The topic about the path to tier 4 was surprisingly secretive amongst higher existences, so information on it made him curious. Who knew when he would need it.

    "I see," Noah replied keeping his cool. "But are subjects like martial arts useful in higher realms?" he inquired after carefully crafting his question.

    Thedy burst intoughter at that point startling him even if his expression still made no change.

    "You have a smart student Sarah!" she called out to Lady Sarah whileughing. Her words clearly told Noah that he had been caught in his trick to gain information, but he had always expected her to find out.

    "It''s only natural that he is Loria. You know how much I hate dumb people," Elder Sarah replied with a grin and a nod of her head, before her eyes shortly met Noah''s. There was something strange going on in her mind, but he couldn''t even begin to guess what caused her strange behavior. She had been acting normal only an hour ago.

    "Well young man you won''t be getting any core information about the fourth tier. But since I''ve taken a liking to you I''ll say this. The path to tier 4 is one very personal. External influences will only deter you," she exined making sure the other heard her words even if they had been listening since she started her conversation with him.

    "Thank you for the insight," Noah bowed in honesty. Although her words were extremely vague. They also weren''t.

    Thedy or Elder Loria continued to engage Noah in a few light talks, but she never asked anything that would require him to lie. Surprisingly.

    Noah had long since noticed that unique detail about the guild members of the Divine lightning guild, but he had to apud them for it. Not even the more stronger experts intruded on his personal space.

    Noah had to wait a few minutes before the conversation with Elder Sarah moved to him. The red haired man gave him a scroll and a badge.

    The scroll would feature his information and his origin. Apparently he wasn''t the only one participating from the Divine lightning guild.

    The badge would be an identification that he was participating in the event. He could wear whatever he wanted, but it was advised he allowed the guild to be recognized through him.

    He was given the date he would return to the pagoda to be transported to the ce of the event. And that was all he was required of.

    Noah and Elder Sarah left at that point, but not after the red haired manplimented him more. Their walk to her mansion had been mostly silent, but Elder Sarah spoke at some point.

    "You did good back there." She said to him before suddenly increasing her walking speed. A big smile broke out on Noah''s face at that point and he proceeded to tease her. "Was that a realpliment!?" Noah called out jogging towards her.

    "If you speak I swear I''ll rip your throat out!" Sarah snapped back increasing her walking speed. Needless to say Noah didn''t give up there and continued to tease, but at a safe distance of course. He only stopped when the mansion unfolded In their vision. He couldn''t risk getting into trouble where he couldn''t necessary escape.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The duo eventually settled down in the sitting room, and Elder Sarah enjoined Noah into drinking wine with her.

    During those moments they spoke about the tournament and the things he had to do to properly get prepared.

    Apparently she had witnessed one of the tournaments so she understood how strong many of the applicants would be. She spoke of his ability to rival many of them.

    However, she regretted that he had not learned at least up to the fifth form since that would allow him be more grounded in his technique

    This caused Noah to consider dropping out of that year''s, event but when she told him that the tournament was only held once every seven years. That consideration could only go out his mental window.

    Their conversation went on to how he could better sharpen his skills, but Elder Sarah told him not t worry There wasn''t much he could do in two weeks so all he had to do was simply practice more.

    Deep down Noah didn''t agree with her. With enough money he could enter the higher stage after one round of the dungeon. A whole week could get him to tier 4. At least that was what he thought.

    The duo continued to drink wine for hours, but Noah never got drunk, obviously. Neither did Elder Sarah. She didn''t seem to have ulterior motives so Noah simply continued.

    He gained a lot of information from her. Valuable information. And that helped his speeding mindprehend the difficulty of the tournaments.

    The whole thing more or less reminded him of bozolom, but this time around the main events would be showcasing themselves before a small crowd while aiming at overpowering your opponent.

    The event would onlyst three days, and those three day would feature the battles between one hundred individuals. The first day would have the longest battles since they would be halving the entire poption for the next day.

    The second day would be the same, all fifty would be halved to twenty-five, then thest day would almost be the same, but apparently there was usually a twist only the higher ups of the guilds set. So the event of the third day was always different.

    The battles wouldst ten minutes each, so one person had to be down on or before that time period wasplete. Provision was made for a draw however. There would be an elimination game that guranteed that only on person would being out the winner.

    The duo continued to talk until Elder Sarah suddenly dropped a question that managed to startle him.

    "So Aiden, how do you usually vanish from the entire city?" she asked, leisurely sipping wine, before locking her gaze on him.

    Noah''s brows threatened to flicker when her words reached his ears, and the only thought that coulde to him was his asional visit to his cultivation room. Myriads of thoughts ran through his mind at that instant. Had he been found out? He had been extremely careful, there had to be no way she could have found out. Or was he misunderstanding things? Noah continued to ponder on the matter while he kept a curious expression on the outside,

    Suddenly, Elder Sarah''s aura burst out with full force stunning him. Before he could react he found himselfying below her with a spectacr looking sword stretched towards him; ced on his neck.

    His master radiated the coldest aura he had ever witnessed her emit, and that proved that his fears were on point. He had been caught.

 Chapter 321 321. HELPLESS

    A deep but barely audible sigh escaped Noah''s lips during that moment. His now cold icy blue eyes gazed into the azure-colored eyes of Elder Sarah; sparkling with more than just a hint of red light. Her anger seemed to make the red within her eyes shine more, almost overshadowing the Azure color.

    Noah made no effort to move from his pinned-down position. Surely with his speed, he could manage, but he didn''t want to take chances.

    He had never seen Sarah wield a weapon before and during those moments he understood that she could easily end him. Now that she held a sword ready to strike anytime, the mortal danger she posed had suddenly shot through the roof in his mind.

    Moreover, she looked ready to go all-out on him if necessary, and he sure didn''t want to see her do that.

    Another sigh escaped Noah''s mouth while his eyes fell on the slightly curved one-edged sword ced on his neck. It didn''t even press into him, but his skin had continued to open during those seconds and that wasn''t even the sharp edge! Needless to say, his body continued to repair the injury.

    The sword looked to be made out of a strangely ck metal. Noah had never seen anything like it. It featured white runes inscribed into its ck material, and those white runes continued to release mist-like properties everywhere. The sharp edge was golden in color.

    The handle of the sword was also as ck as the de but featured golden horizontal stripes that seemed to have a purpose too since they shone with a soft light.

    Taking his eyes off the sword after inspecting it for less than a second, Noah gazed back at Elder Sarah.

    "Master-."

    "Don''t not... call me that," Elder Sarah red at him, as her aura red dangerously with her words.

    Noah furrowed his brows at that point, but his mind quickly brought him a solution.

    "I apologize. But I''ve been addressing you like that for a while I don''t know what else to call you," Noah exined feeling a shiver run down his spine.

    "Answer my question: how do you asionally vanish without a trace from the whole city?" she frowned but maintained her re.

    "I can''t answer that," Noah replied with a slight frown.

    "Then I guess I''ll have to end you here then," she replied with such blood-lust and resolve in her tone, that sparks umted around Noah''s body then he turned into a blinding deep-yellow streak.

    Appearing only a few meters from her, Noah ced his hand on his neck and felt as blood gushed out. Her move had been incredibly quick, but he had been able to dodge her sh, even if it was from point nk.

    For an instant there, Noah could swear he felt his head being detached from his body. However, Essence flowed to deal with the cut, and he waspletely healed in no time.

    "That''s new. What other secrets do you have," Elder Sarah''s cold voice literally reverberated throughout the whole building, then she disappeared from her position. But not after the entire mansion shook and cracks began to form on the walls. In merely an instant, she had jeopardized the structural integrity of her mansion.

    Noah''s pushed his body to its limits in that instant and what followed was an explosion of his aura and the empowerment of the speed force.

    His figure immediately began to ze with pure power as streams of electrical energy poured out of his body. Unfortunately, he didn''t stay in one position.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah had sensed it, Elder Sarah was out to kill him, and he could only survive if he went all-out. At least to try and escape her He could kill her since that would mean his death.

    Due to the empowerment of his mind, Noah managed to follow Lady Sarah''s movements, even if they were still rapid. Heck, he could swear they were moving at the same velocity.

    With the fear of being caught by tier 4 existences if he went outside; present, Noah could only begin to run in a circle within the room, and Elder Sarah chased after him. And he confirmed it; they were moving at equal speeds!

    How such was even possible baffled Noah, but he couldn''t remain shocked, since she began to wave her sword, but while utilizing the first form!

    An incredible explosion urred at that point, and her mansion saw a huge portion of its mass abruptly vanish. Blown away.

    She had missed Noah even if by a few centimeters, and the mansion took the hit; suffering great damage.

    Noah swallowed the lump that grew in his throat at that disy of power, and he knew that wasn''t all she could do. He would be torn to pieces if her move touched him. His instincts confirmed it, but he didn''t panic.

    ''She''s gone mad,'' Noah cursed finding that he could only leave the perimeters of the mansion after her attack hadpletely destroyed the entrance and even shaved off a significant portion of hernd area.

    "Please don''t do this!" Noah begged,ing to a stop a bit more than 20m from her figure since she stopped when she saw the yellow streak his movements produced converged in one spot.

    "Answer my question or face death. It doesn''t have to be by my hands. The area is crawling with tier 4 cultivators who are undoubtedly on their way here already," she gave a cold smile. "You''ll have to choose Aiden, and your time is running short already."

    A deep frown appeared on Noah''s face at her words. He knew they were true, and he knew that he would find himself in the same situation as he did when the royals took him, prisoner if any tier 4''s arrived. But this time he would have no way out.

    There could be potential tier 5''s on the ind, and from the looks of things they valued her far more than they currently did him. He had no chance of escaping apart from returning to his cultivation room.

    But he had to consider the Oath being activated, he wasn''t certain if being in a different space would stop it from killing him, and he couldn''t take such chances, not when he was so close to achieving his goals.

    Noah heaved a deep sigh mixed with helplessness and fatigue, he truly had no way out of that situation apart from calming her, and the only way was to of course agree to tell her a small portion of his many secrets.

    "I''ll exin it to you, just please don''t let me get into trouble," Noah announced still in a pleading tone.

    "Do you give your word for it? I can still turn the entire guild against you if you fail to do as promised," she threatened.

    "I promise," Noah responded in a hurried tone. He could feel it; someone was on their way there.

    "Okay then," she agreed then her aura, sword, and the slight manifestation of her power vanished. After which her usual smile appeared on her face.

    Noah did the same and barely a secondter five individuals palpating with power well into the fourth tier appeared with a sonic boom, and their eyes didn''t hesitate to scan the battle scene.

 Chapter 322 322. INTRUSION

    "Is everything alright Sarah?" One of the five asked curiously inspecting the scene of destruction before him.

    "Yes Gideon, I was only sparring with my student. I simply went overboard," she shrugged with a wry smile.

    The expert named Gideon shook his head at her reply, it seemed that wasn''t the first time she had done something like that,

    "Okay then. I guess we should have expected this." Another amongst the five chuckled slightly as his eyes fell on Noah.

    "He even managed to survive it, at his level," the same person eximed with light amusement. "There are only a few individuals in the third tier that can even hope to do such. He''s good," the man exined shaking his head.

    "He was already special before I met him and I''m even getting to know new things about him," She threw a dangerous shade at Noah, but he only smiled with faked nervousness.

    "Oh what may that be?" another in the group of five, this time a woman asked, genuinely curious, but her words had a hidden meaning that suddenly made the air turn silent.

    The eyes of the five cultivators jumped between the devilishly handsome young man and Sarah. They did so with such intensity, that Elder Sarah''s eyes widened in realization at what thoughts ran through their minds.

    "It''s not that!" She screamed, seeing that Noah had begun to smile too. "Fool don''t make their thoughts even more believable!" Her words flew towards him, but he casually shrugged them.

    "For tier four experts you guys surely have rotten minds," Lady Sarah snorted.

    Making a shortugh the man named Gideon opened his mouth to speak. "We''re humans, and we have needs, Sarah. It''s only natural that even you take interest in such a fine man," he spread his arms.

    "I know I would..." thedy in the group quickly chipped in, making Noah take a sharp breath. He could feel her eyes boring into his flesh.

    Elder Sarah''s eyes widened with even more disbelief, and for an instant there Noah could swear that he saw her face go red.

    Another person cleared their throat, bringing their minds to the main matter.

    "Thank you," Gideon said. "Well I''ll inform the guild of the matter, and that your mansion would need repair. But do understand that the costs will be on you," Gideon gave a smile, even if it couldn''t be properly seen from the spot he stood in the sky. The five experts had nevernded.

    Shock.

    "Uhh! Are you mad? You''ll make me go broke. Don''t you dare say that to them," Elder Sarah''s eyes shone with a tinge of fear.

    A chuckle escaped Gideon''s mouth. "Stop me," he said and shot away from that area.

    "Hey!" Elder Sarah shouted at a leaving Gideon, and sparks began to crackle around her figure. "I''ll be back," she said then her figure turned into a zing green streak.

    Before Noah knew it the other began to leave, but not after taking another look at him. They still found his power strange.

    Soon he was left alone with the tier 4dy, and panic filled his mind when he saw that she descended to meet him.

    His eyes fell on her features at that point, and he got able to inspect them now that she had stepped into the lighting from the now opened insides of the mansion.

    She looked to be in her mid-thirties and had vibrant green eyes, and long wavy brown hair. Unfortunately, the ck robe she had on hid her alluring shape. She wasn''t nearly as gorgeous as Elder Sarah but was above average in terms of looks.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I''d love to spend a night with you," She announced bottling up her aura, even if they didn''t hurt him thanks to the ne.

    "I''m ttered," Noah replied not showing any particrly negative reaction to her tant offer. He had to be honest, they were tempting. Very.

    "You don''t have to be. Any woman in her right senses would be honored to have a man such as you in the same bed as she. I might have stepped into the fourth tier, but I''m still a woman... with desires," she exined getting closer and closer until she stood barely a feet from him.

    Her 5ft5 height paled to his more than 6ft, but he could still feel her hot breath reach his face anyway.

    She fell silent at that point and soon raised her hands to graze his cheek, even grabbing hold of his white hair, and admiring it silk-like texture.

    Staring into his eyes with open lust, Noah did the same, but with most of his feeling hidden. Nevertheless, he could feel a heat begin to rise within him while he continued to stare.

    Their starested for a while, with the intensity of both their feelings increasing with each passing second.

    Noah had to swallow many times to stop himself from sumbing to the raging emotions deep within him. At some point, his breathing had grown heavy and carried the heat welling up in his being.

    She was openly asking him to have her, how could he not consider it. Yet he wouldn''t make the first move, in fear of eventual repercussions.

    Suddenly however, Noah felt her lips press against his, and the emotions that raged within him poured out with full intensity.

    Slowly but surely, he began to explore her lips and mouth as the heat within him never stopped rising. Herplete submission, made the monster within him reveal itself, and before he knew it, she had her legs around his waist, and their make-out continued to increase in intensity.

    Noah didn''t care that they were doing that outside. At least he didn''t give the issue thought at the moment, his mind remained to busy engrossed in his current activity.

    However, thedy whose name he still didn''t know had long since set up a barrier with her tier 4 consciousness.

    A soft moan soon reached Noah''s ears when he felt his hand slide into her robe and make contact with her bare skin. The event startled him, but seeing as she never pulled away from his kiss, but even got hungrier for him, he gained confidence.

    He slowly slid his right hand up her chest, while his other arm held her up on his waist, not forgetting to get the feel of her backside.

    She never stopped moaning during those long seconds and her hot breath continued to caress his face. Finally he arrived at the goal, but before he could get a feel of her, the world seemed to tremble violently.

    Noah snapped back into awareness, pulling back from their kiss. The tier 4dy did the same then both individuals nced at one area. Elder Sarah could be seen banging on what resembled a thin barrier.

    Thedy hissed at that sight, before focusing on Noah again. Her green eyes still shone with her desire, but it was time to leave.

    However, her lips made contact with Noah''s onest time before a ring appeared in front of Noah.

    "I''m Delh, You can find me with this," she said unwrapping her legs from his waist and beginning to float.

    "Its a shame, but I have to go. I hope you visit sometimes soon," she winked before shooting out of the area, and with her departure the barrier she set up vanished.

    "Did I just make out with a tier four existence?" Noah muttered calming himself down; when Elder Sarah appeared in front of him, and she didn''t look happy.

 Chapter 323 323. IGNORANCE

    "What was that Aiden?" Elder Sarah''s fuming voice reached Noah''s ears, while he stored the ring. A sense of annoyance reached his mind at her words. Had it not been for her intrusion he would have scored a win with Lady Delh.

    ''Annoying bitch,'' he cursed inwardly, but kept a calm face on the outside.

    He proceeded to shake his head and begin his walk into the mansion while ignoring her.

    "Don''t you want to hear how I vanish from the entire city again? Or do you want me to exin what making out means," Noah bit back at her, but said those words as calmly as he could get.

    Elder Sarah''s anger evaporated at that point, and she remained in one position. Stunned. A sigh escaped her mouth. In truth, she had no right to question him about his actions, when the other person involved was probably the reason for it.

    Nevertheless. "Who the heck do you think you are walking away from me!" She eximed delivering a smashing kick on his side,unching him into the mansion.

    Noah''s figure spread cracks on the already weak wall, and he spat blood after standing up, but his healing had already kicked in. He had long expected the attack and had allowed her to make the hit since he desired to appease her anger. She was still his master after all.

    A few minutes had to pass before the duo could be seated while facing each other like before. However, this time around, there was a bit of tension in the air. But the duo sipped wine to calm their nerves.

    Noah was still mad about the intrusion, and Elder Sarah was angry that her rash actions aimed at him would cost her huge amounts of money.

    "So?�� Speak. Or are you going to keep me waiting forever?" Elder Sarah eventually broke the silence.

    "I''m sorting out my thoughts," Noah responded taking another sip of the fine wine in the broken cup. The room was still in a mess as a result of the short conflict, but neither individual paid attention to it.

    "This is my first time telling anybody," Noah started, and Elder Sarah threatened to give a sarcasticment, but held herself back seeing as he had gotten serious.

    "The only reason I can�� honestly I don''t know anything, I literally do not know how the god-damn thing works." Noah continued, realizing that his words were true. Surprisingly.

    "Anyways, it helps me cultivate," he exined confusing the heck out of his audience.

    "What helps you cultivate?" she asked furrowing her brows and getting annoyed by the vagueness of his words.

    Noah considered telling her that he had an item that helped him cultivate. But he believed ces like different dimensions were difficult to achieve. He would need to tell more of his secrets to allow the lie to be believable.

    Nevertheless, he considered telling her the whole truth. But he still didn''t trust her enough.

    "Can we make a pact?" Noah suggested searching for a way to keep his secret safe while still sharing it.

    "What? The deal was I wouldn''t kill you if you tell me how you managed to leave the city without any trace," she repeated in a tone that radiated her displease about the suggestion.

    A realization dawned on Noah at that point. He would tell her exactly what she asked for.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "In that case, I don''t exactly know how I vanish from of the whole city without a trace," he shrugged sipping more of his wine.

    "What do you even mean by that?" she frowned deeply.

    "I mean exactly what I said. The process is instant and there''s no clear exnation. At least not any that I can give. I would have to possess knowledge about teleportation to even exin, but I don''t know jack about that subject," Noah exined. He was telling the tant truth without having to tell other secrets.

    "Teleportation?" Elder Sarah asked getting even more confused.

    "Yes teleportation," Noah replied when a bright multicolored light enveloped his figure after which he disappeared from his seat. Elder Sarah abruptly stood; alerted. However, only a few seconds passed them she heard the sound of door locks clicking and Noah appeared to walk out of his assigned room to stare at her from the balcony.

    "Teleportation," Noah repeated jumping down, before taking his seat and chugging down the remaining wine in his cup.

    "Take your seat master. It''s not that spectacr," Noah said to a still wary Sarah. Shaking his head when he saw her reluctance to sit, he took the bottle of wine on the table before them and poured himself a bit.

    ''Bread would do with this wine,'' he thought checking his inventory for any bread. Finding some, he broke it and dipped it inside the wine before cing it in his mouth and chewing.

    The delicious vor of the wine mixed with the bread''s taste created something surprisingly sweet In his mouth.

    "That''s that." Noah eventually broke the silence. "I''ve told you what you asked of me."

    Elder Sarah heaved a deep sigh at that point, before ring at him as he poured himself more wine. She liked the drink herself, and although she had crates of it within her ring, she didn''t like to waste them.

    A smile broke on Noah''s face when he saw her sit and pour wine for herself.

    "There has to be more information. Is it an ability or something that you gained from an item, and how does it let you cultivate?" She poured out her thoughts, but Noah shook his head.

    "That wasn''t part of the agreement. You told me to tell you how I vanish, and my answer is I don''t know. I only have some control over when it happens." He rejected her questions.

    Comints tried to escape Elder Sarah''s lips, but she stopped them. He was right. Annoyingly. She had not been specific enough about her question, and truth be told she had never expected that he would not know anything about an ability he utilized very often. That question was supposed to be foolproof. Unfortunately, it failed in front of ignorance.

    ''Ignorance truly is bliss,'' she sighed inwardly.

    Moreover, she knew a little about his character, and from the looks of things he wasn''t lying. He had kept his side of the deal, even if it wasn''t satisfactory enough for her needs.

    With a nervous smile, Elder Sarah opened her mouth to speak after a few seconds of thoughtful silence. "So�� about the pact, are you still up for it?"

 Chapter 324 324. PROGRESS

    "Absolutely not," Noah replied as quickly as she asked the question. He wasn''t ready to begin to share all the more vital information about himself. Why did he even tell the truth about his teleportation and even demonstrate it? Well, why shouldn''t he have?

    There was evidence that she knew he could disappear, heck she might even have a video record of it, so lying when he truly didn''t know anything was not needed. He would just oveplicate things if he lied and cooked up a half-baked story.

    Elder Sarah''s brows creased at his quick reply, as all her nervousness quickly vanished and was reced by mild annoyance.

    "You do know I still have your life in my hands? I am still capable of turning the guild''s powers against you?" she threatened, but only to see his reaction.

    A cold smile appeared on Noah''s face at that point, he really hated threats especially when they came from someone he could ultimately kill.

    "No worries then. But that would be a bit catastrophic since I won''t be going down without a fight," he stated basically meaning he would kill her if it came to it.

    An eyebrow rose on Elder Sarah''s face at those words, she understood them loud and clear, and couldn''t help but think the young man possessed something that could potentially threaten her life.

    The reality sounded impossible, but was truly impossible in their world? He had already done stuff that would naturally be considered impossible.

    "You''re a strange man," she eventually sighed sipping more of her wine. "How are you sure I won''t sell you out to the guild?" she asked.

    "Well, you aren''t that type of person. I''ve never seen you go against a deal," Noah simply stated with a light and confident shrug.

    A smile threatened to crack on Lady Sarah''s face at those words, but she managed to retain herposure. She liked him more by the minute.

    "You can''t be so sure. You haven''t even known me for a year. I could be all sorts of vileness," she smiled sardonically.

    "What are you even driving at, master? With all these threats you''re reducing your chances of gaining even more info from me." Noah revealed a confused expression before sighing.

    Silence followed his query, at least for a few seconds. Lady Sarah eventually talked. "I apologize. I got a bit excited there," she stated.

    ''Who the heck gets excited and begins to threaten someone,'' Noah shook his head inwardly. Thedy indeed was a character.

    "But are you still up for the pact?" She asked again, even if she knew that he would refuse.

    "Maybe another time master. I need to focus on getting myself prepared for the tournament," Noah exined getting up and performing a deep bow, after which he took his leave to the underground training area.

    Elder Sarah was left alone in a matter of seconds but she didn''t stop him from leaving, he was still her student after all. That issue had only been a side mission since she needed that knowledge. Unfortunately, it was all for naught.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah on the other hand felt a big weight lifted from his shoulders. Now he could leave the training area to cultivate without worrying about hiding. He at some point felt tempted to abuse his newfound freedom. But he wouldn''t.

    Noah spent the next week training nonstop. He went from cultivating his body, soul, and core to executing the two forms he had learned, while also engaging in spars with the various dummies within the training area.

    He even moved to battling three different dummies at the same time, all of which were programmed to a certain level of difficulty. One that managed to challenge him.

    The week wasn''t long, but he still had a few days remaining before he would be required to return to the Pagoda, from which he would be transported to the tournament''s site.

    Elder Sarah visited him on the ninth day of his lone training and informed him of her n to teach him the third form; Thunder p.

    Apparently, it was the more easy form toprehend, even if it still had a few connections to surge.

    The main target of the third form was to create sound waves so dense and powerful that they would stun one''s opponent or opponents. Thereby allowing one to take charge in a battle.

    The form relied mostly on pure physical strength, but alsoplete control over the amount of power poured. A skill he had ultimately learned to properly execute the second form.

    Thunder p saw its executor jamming their palms with such force; they would be capable of making their surroundings tremble. However, it also utilized an element of the first form, since the executor wasn''t meant to p once, but many times, each preceding p must contain more power than the former, and all of them must be done quickly. Favorably in the blink of an eye.

    It now depended on how much power a person''s body; mainly their arms, could take.

    Elder Sarah exined that she could p a maximum of 35 times in one execution. Her body couldn''t produce any more power than what she would achieve at the thirty-fifth p. She had once tried to push past her limit, but her arms had turned to a bloody mess, one that required many months to properly heal.

    The thirty-fifth p contained the peak amount of power that the structural integrity of her arms could withstand. Now he had to find his. And only by practice could he discover that limit.

    Noah began at that point, he had about five days till he returned to the pagoda, it wasn''t much but he believed he could make progress no matter how small it was.

    He didn''t ce all his time and attention on mastering it since his time was short, but only desired to gain entry-level mastery if it was possible.

    Thanks to his mastery of the second Form, most of what he needed to do in the third form was already doable. Sure he still had a long way to go, but it wasn''t nearly as lengthy as mastering the second form was.

    The days continued to pass and Noah focused solely on training and making progress in all Elder Sarah had taught him In thest months. The schedule was tight and honestly stressful, but he made it.

    Needless to say, the day for his departure eventually arrived, and Noah felt confident about the uing events and challenges he would face.

 Chapter 325 325. FUN

    Noah stood before a mirror within his assigned room in Elder Sarah''s mansion. She had long since begun the reconstruction of her mansion, and ording to her words there would be an upgrade in the materials utilized, so they won''t fall apart at every little disy of her power.

    ncing at Elder Sarah who stood behind him through the mirror, he saw that she more or less had an excited smile on her face.

    "How do I look," Noah teased twirling in front of the mirror and cringing at his action.

    "You look disgustingly good. Seriously kid, who are your parents and how did you inherit such good looks from them," she replied, in a tone that suggested that she truly felt irritated.

    "Your student is about to participate in a tournament that if he wins would bring you glory and here you are hating on his looks," Noah said in the most dramatic tone he could produce.

    "Who cares! If you lose I''ll deny I ever knew you," Elder Sarah responded with a cruel smile.

    A nk expression flickered onto Noah''s face at that point and he turned to stare at thedy, before shaking his head in defeat. ''At times I wonder if she even knows that her jokes can be depressing,'' Noah sighed inwardly, before taking a moment to inspect himself one more time.

    He had a purple robe featuring golden stripes and the guilds crest on its back and front. However, beneath therge robe was a full bodysuit that was actually armor, as it felt as hard as metal but as light as feathers and was flexible.

    The robe would be to appear regal while the bodysuit would be for battles since it would allow him to move around as he desired.

    His white hair was packed in a long ponytail and his brows brushed to smoothness. Noah already had a face mask ready, and it also served as a sort of armor since it wouldtch unto his face while still allowing him to breathe. There really wasn''t anything mana couldn''t achieve.

    "I''m ready," Noah said after making sure all his things were within his space ring, which was only for show.

    "I''ll drop you off at the Pagoda," Elder Sarah announced rushing out of the room. A weird sight.

    Now that he thought of it, Noah had never seen Elder Sarah go out on a mission and what mode of transportation she went by. Thankfully when he arrived at the mansion''spound the answer was revealed.

    Arge four-legged beasty at the entrance into the mansion, and after a few seconds, Noah confirmed that the beast was a jaguar, but with wings.

    The jaguar stood at a height of about 10m and around 17m in length excluding its tail.

    The jaguar unlike the one seen on earth had ck fur with yellow spots that shone like mes. Its folded wings which were the same color as its body but with glowing feathers looked capable of spanning twice its width and they also had mes dancing atop them.

    From its appearance, Noah could tell that the beast was naturally a me beast.

    It featured a short-walled saddle that would be capable offortably fitting about seven to ten people.

    Needless to say, the beast radiated power in the higher stage. Probably its peak.

    "Come on Aiden!" Elder Sarah beckoned from atop the beast, letting down a ropedder. Noah moved closer to the beast and climbed it to take his ce beside Elder Sarah.

    "I''m sure you''ve ridden a flying beast, but not like this," Elder Sarah grinned tapping the beast''s side from the edge of the saddle. "You should probably hold on to something."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "But there''s nothing to hold on to..." Noah muttered but held his breath when the jaguar unfolded its wings causing a small explosion of wind force that almost tore off the gate.

    The beast then crouched and pped its wings once.

    The world around Noah wheezed past him as their mount took flight right after shattering the sound barrier.

    In the span of a second, they were high in the sky, and for the first time, he experienced fully what it meant to be atop a flying beast.

    The sound of the wind rushing past them, the coldness of the sky''s breeze, the feeling of the wind upon his face, and the sounds of the activities going on below him and even the outer region. Noah took it all in, even the fear of falling off.

    He felt reborn in that experience and immediately understood that the sky was where he wanted to be.

    Elder Sarah made her flying Jaguar circle the central region before diving towards the Pagoda. Every single second felt like a new experience, one that she allowed him to silently enjoy.

    Immediately the beast dived however, Noah was pulled back to reality since he found himself slipping. Fortunately, a series of inscriptions shone on the material of the saddle and belts flowed out to wrap around his waist, arms and shoulders.

    The belts were tight but were also capable of stretching if he decided to move around. They would continue to remain at the perfect tightness to not allow him fall off the beast.

    "Why didn''t you activate this earlier?" Noah asked Elder Sarah recalling how he had to keep track of the beast''s movements so that he didn''t fall. All that effort had been for naught since there was something better.

    "It was fun to see the fear of falling off in your eyes," Elder Sarah responded with a sadistic grin.

    ''What did I even expect?'' Noah shook his head inwardly before proceeding to ignore her and focus on the Pagoda in the distance.

    Gaining a bird''s eye view of the central region allowed Noah to see things that those on the ground normally won''t, and one of those things was thending spot at the top of the building.

    The wide tform shone with different lights for better visuals, and Lady Sarah led her beast towards it.

    Suddenly, however, the beast increased in speed and panic exploded in Noah''s mind. He shot a quizzical nce at Elder Sarah and was shocked to see that she shrugged in response.

    "He likes to have fun, and I let him," She simply stated while her mount performed a dangerous nose dive towards thending tform while keeping its wings folded.

    Noah braced himself for impact, but nothing happened.

    Barely four meters from crashing into the tform the Jaguar quickly unfolded and pped its wings before re-positioning itself tond on the tform safe and perfect. A shocking but spectacr turn of events.

    A sigh of relief escaped Noah''s mouth at that point, he would have jumped off the beast if not for the fact that he didn''t know how to deactivate the belts. Thankfully everything went well. And he had to admit that he had silently enjoyed it.

    "Wee,dy Sarah, sir Aiden. You arrived just in time for the departure." A young-looking man weed the duo immediately they got off their mount.

 Chapter 326 326. PACK

    The young-looking man led the duo down a flight of stairs that led into a red and white room. Within the room stood the red-haired man in a nice-looking red robe and six individuals stood around him. Three of which were individuals within the 4th tier.

    Upon their arrival, the six individuals nced at them and Noah got able to see their faces.

    ''I guess these are the other experts going for the tournament,'' he thought moving closer to take a position beside them, while Elder Sarah stood behind him like the three tier-4 cultivators.

    "Good, you arrived just in time," The red-haired manmented as his attention remained on a series of green symbols casually swirling around his wrists. An eyebrow rose on his face at the face mask Noah had on, but he made noments about it.

    During their walk there, Noah had ced his mask on, and that sight created an air of mystery around him, one that his fellow guild-mates found hard to pierce.

    There were two males and a female in the group, he identified them as the other registrants due to their weak cultivation levelpared to their masters.

    All three of them looked a bit in theirte twenties or early thirties. The males were quite average in terms of looks but their peak middle-stage power was something he had to watch out for.

    Thedy on the other hand was quite pretty. She had long straight pink hair, and a pair of beautiful silver eyes and her facial features were alluring even if her expression was icy cold. She had only nced at him once, but her expression never flickered even if she too felt curious about the white-haired man.

    Noah would differentiate the two men with their hair color. One had long blonde hair, while the other had short green hair.

    After the red-haired man weed Noah and Elder Sarah, silence fell in the room, as everyone waited for what he was so focused on doing. The glowing symbols continued to increase in number even after a few minutes had passed, and soon the experts werepelled to talk to each other.

    The first to break the silence was one of the three tier-4 existences, and his words were directed to Elder Sarah.

    "It''s good to see that you have a student Sarah," the manmented with a shortugh. "However, he''s weaker than I imagined," he cast a disdainful gaze on Noah''s figure for just an instant. But Noah felt it.

    Shooting a short nce at Elder Sarah, Noahmunicated his feelings even if his cold expression never wavered. They had spent too much time together not to understand a bit of their feelings even if no words were spoken.

    Elder Sarah replied by shaking her head and shooting a re at the speaking expert.

    "I bet he''s stronger than your student," she dered with a tone dripping with mockery. It felt quite quizzical watching a tier 3 expert practically insult a tier 4 without the least bit of fear in her eyes.

    "I bet he''s stronger than all your students put together," she added sweeping her gaze on everyone present. Her words inevitably gained everybody''s attention, and Noah felt all their piercing gazes fall on him.

    ''This woman!'' He yelled inwardly while a muscle jerked on his forehead. Notwithstanding, he remained calm on the outside. After all her words were true.

    "That''s arrogant of you to say," The second male spoke. He stood behind the green-haired man, so Noah knew he was his teacher.

    "William here has proven time and time again amongst his peers that he''s one of the elites. I don''t even know who your student is," the man continued with anger burning in his voice.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thedy who stood behind the beautiful girl kept to herself, but her expression showed her displeasure concerning the matter.

    Tension soon began to build among the four experts. Three belonged to the realm of tier 4 and one at the very peak of tier 3. However, the students themselves barely made any reaction. Heck, they behaved as though their masters weren''t about to explode into a battle that they would certainly be caught in.

    The sound of energy crackling broke the silence and brought everyone''s attention back to the red-haired man. And then Noah noticed that the young-looking man had vanished.

    "The portal is ready before any of you start a fight," the red-haired man announced shooting an annoyed nce at all the masters. And surprisingly they all shrunk back, except Elder Sarah of course.

    That woman really seemed to be made of steel.

    "Step forward youngsters," the man announced gesturing at them. "The rest of you can leave, we don''t need you here, we never did," the red-haired man waved dismissively at them and the three tier 4 cultivators immediately left, but not after shooting res at Noah.

    "Sarah, are we going to do this here?" the red-haired man sighed. She was mentally draining. He had already begun to wonder how Aiden managed with her.

    She clicked her tongue at his words then something suddenly appeared in her grip which she threw at Noah.

    Catching the long object, Noah immediately saw that it was a sword, and he didn''t hesitate to unsheath it a bit.

    "You might need it. I know you''ve been practicing with different weapons, but swords fit our style, daggers also do, but they are limited," she exined before approaching the exit.

    "I see we''re all done," the red-haired man announced shortly making eye contact with them.

    Waving his hand at the crackling mass of energy, they watched its multicolored but mostly blue glow intensify until it transformed it a rectangr mass, after which it stabilized.

    "You''ll take turns in entering it, and are to wait for me on the other side," hemanded gesturing at the pink-haireddy, who immediately walked towards the portal and stepped through it, vanishing inside its light.

    The rest did the same, but when it got to Noah''s turn, the red-haired man ced his hand on his shoulder.

    "They currently do not see you as a worthy ally because they haven''t seen you in action, but I have. I expected this from them, so I''m taking a little side mission. The tournament itself starts in four days and that''s all you need to know. See you in two days young Aiden," the expert exined before hurling him into the portal.

    The environment changed around Noah at that point and the bright light of the sun soon shone high above him, and the figures of tall trees spread out in all directions.

    Noah rolled on the ground before uttering a few curses in annoyance. However, before he could settle down, his instincts trembled and he found himself rolling sideways led by his instincts.

    Arge figure crashed on his former spot and Noah felt mildly surprised to find a dead beast there. Then it dawned on him. His group hadnded right at the center of a magical beast pack. A rtivelyrge one at that.

 Chapter 327 327. DISPLAY

    ''What the heck is going on,'' Noah wondered casually dodging the strikes of therge grey and white wolf before him. His group seemed to be in the same confusion as he was, but he didn''t care.

    They all looked capable of handling whatever was thrown at them, and that capability was needed since there were exactly twenty wolves before them. Apart from the three that had died before he got there.

    Noah jumped backward; once again dodging the w strike of the now annoyed wind wolf. Each of its strikes caused shes made out of wind to fly towards him, but they never managed to strike him.

    In his seconds of thoughts, Noah had found many openings he could utilize against the enraged beast, but he held back. At least then he did. Now that he sighted four more wolfs rushing towards his position to take care of him, he focused.

    Crouching a bit, his nostrils drew arge amount of air, then his figure vanished from his position.

    The event caught the eyes of the others who felt their hearts skip a beat when they realized that his movement speed was at a pace their trained eyes couldn''t follow.

    His figure appeared sight beside the first wolf standing at a height of about 6m. Raising his right leg while hopping a bit, Noah delivered a kick to the wolf''s head.

    Flesh and brain matter flew everywhere as he directly one-shotted the beast.

    Shock ran through the mind of his group since he had casually killed a beast more than halfway into the middle stage!

    Actually, all the beasts there were at that level, but everyone including Noah knew there had to be a leader somewhere.

    Lowering his leg barely an instant after the first wolf died, Noah disappeared from his position again, but this time rather than waiting to stop, his figure seemed to flicker between two of the wolfs onto him, and before they knew it their heads exploded into gory masses of bone flesh and brain matter.

    Noah didn''t seem to be holding back, but he actually was.

    Flicking his leg of the blood that had tried to stain his ck boots, his eyes fell on thest wolf that had tried to attack him. He could clearly sense its fear. Weirdly. Unfortunately for it, there was no mercy, it would kill him if it had the chance.

    With whimpers of fear the beast tried to escape his figure, but before it could take three steps, Noah appeared beside it and delivered a smashing punch on its side belly,

    His casual attack directly opened a huge hole in the beast before sending it flying into one of the tall trees and almost bringing it down.

    That scene reminded him of his first kill in that world and a smile threatened to crack on his face, but he remained expressionless.

    Noah''s astonishing disy of pure prowess ultimately made the others especially the two men want to show their skills.

    The three of them were stronger than the wolves, but they had to be careful anyway.

    Noah soon found himself watching his guild-mates fight.

    ''Why are they desperately trying to impress the other person,'' he wondered, unfolding his consciousness in search of the leader of the pack. The tall trees didn''t allow sunlight topletely get to the surface, causing a few visual dark spots in the area. Only his consciousness could find anything.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Picking up an aura that resembled what he expected a leader would be, Noah felt taken aback to sense that the beast power was actually within the higher stage.

    The matter worried him a bit since he still had reservations concerning higher-stage beasts. But seeing as the middle-stage wolves were pretty weak, he didn''t expect much.

    Notwithstanding, he waited a bit to watch them before breaking the news.

    Noah''s eyesnded on the pink-haired beauty and couldn''t help but admire her graceful fighting style. They even reminded him of Ariana. Except that the pink-haireddy had far more skill under her belt.

    Her rapier was rapid. But also contained an incredible amount of force. Each of her casually thrusts either dug deep into the body of the wolves or directly blew off their limbs.

    In a matter of seconds, all the wolves fighting her were without limbs, and she moved to remove their heads, ending them.

    Noah had stopped the system from making the beasts disappear by itself, so he moved to wave his hand over the ones he had killed making the scene look natural.

    His focus went to the green-haired man and his pair of heavy-looking silver axes. They looked heavy, but he swung them like they weighed nothing.

    The wolves could only die when his axes touched them. He was even more destructive than Noah, and every single one of his shes had a form behind it. One that allowed him to remain flexible even if his weapons were chunky masses of metal. He didn''t even empower the axes yet they tore through flesh like a hot knife on butter.

    Last but definitely not least; the blonde-haired guy. The expert wielded a regal-looking spear, making Noah miss Cudgel. He had not touched his divine weapon in months now, and he hoped to integrate it with the Roiling Thunder technique if possible.

    There were still a lot of moves he needed to learn from the monkey king manual, but he wondered if it wouldn''t sh with his mastering of the Roiling Thunder Technique. He soon moved that issue to the back of his mind, however.

    The blonde-haired man was spectacr in his movements. Graceful even.

    His movements resembled a dance but were incredibly lethal.

    Noah honestly didn''t know how he would face the young man. Actually, he knew what had to be done, but it sure would be difficult. That was one of the advantages of long-range weapons,pared to someone who was mostly focused on closebat.

    With each spin the young man performed, blood sprayed everywhere. The wolves tried their best to escape the spinning killing machine, but he never let them leave the range of his attacks. Until they were all dead, that was.

    All of them were spectacr individuals, and even Noah knew he would need to get serious to properly win. He more or less began to understand why only experience and skill could win in a battle with people like them. At least in terms of martial arts.

    The three were done in less than two minutes, and they met Noah staring at them, but with his cold expression back on.

    "We have a problem," Noah announced alerting them, and just as he was about to speak a howl containing pure fury shook the grounds of that area.

    "Higher stage!" the green-haired man eximed and their expressions turned cold, except Noah''s of course.

 Chapter 328 328. REVERENCE

    Silence fell among them as each of them contemted their next actions.

    "We should leave," the blonde hair guy suggested.

    "But Elder Von ordered us to stay put." The green-haired man also named Williams countered with a frown.

    "You don''t suggest we take it on, do you? It''s a higher stage beast," the blonde-haired guy red back.

    "We really don''t have time for this," Noah butt in with his eyes focused on a particr direction. "It''s here already," he announced and a pair of mysterious-looking daggers appeared in his hands.

    The eyes of Williams and the blonde-haired guy widened in shock at that gesture. No one ever pulled out their weapons unless they were prepared to engage something inbat.

    "Have you gone mad?!" Williams spoke first, but he too readied his axes.

    ''This Is why I hate groups,'' Noah snorted inwardly then the beast revealed itself.

    "Fast!" Noahmented disappearing from his position, to sh with the beast heading for them.

    An incredible amount of forcended on his crossed daggers and flung him away. The wolf had head-butted him out of its way, but he had managed to stop its astonishingly rapid movements to allow the others gain clear visuals of it.

    However, rather than test their strength against a higher-stage beast, the three experts raised their hands to utter words of different spells.

    The area lit up with the light of magical circles and a deep rumble shook thend for hundreds of meters in radius.

    The ground opened to spit out huge spherical rocks, courtesy of Williams. His spell uprooted many trees plunging the area into utter chaos.

    Followed closely by that incredible spell was jets of mes courtesy of the blonde-haired man. Andst but not least masses of liquid water in the shapes of bears emerged out of a blue magical circle to barrel toward the stunned wolf.

    A spectacr explosion urred immediately after the spells reached the beast''s figure and Noah had to activate his armor to not allow his clothes to get damaged.

    The ground opened as a result of the explosion, but everything suddenly vanished revealing the wolf, it only had a few superficial injuries. However, its mouth was already opened and energy from its orange core poured into its throat creating a spinning mass that made its surroundings fall into even more chaos.

    Noah saw that the three were stunned by the seemingck of effect of their spells on the beast, but he had no time to stand by. The wolf was about to release something big, something probably capable of wiping that area out. At least ording to his instincts.

    Notwithstanding, Noah didn''t feel any fear, heck his mind buzzed with excitement.

    Although he had spent many months focused on his martial arts training he had never forgotten to get used to the power his spells could handle, so when strands of erratic energy began to umte on his palms, he knew exactly what he was doing.

    The activation of his lightning affinity caused a great sound, one that rivaled the sound of the wolf''s preparing attack.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You guys should probably find cover," Noah''s calm voice boomed in the surroundings when the wind suddenly picked up.

    Less than two seconds after his words passed, a blinding deep-yellow radiance lit up the forest followed by the loud discharge of a mass of finely condensed electricity.

    The survival instincts of both the wolf and the experts went wild as a lightning bolt in the shape of a sword shot forward with zing speed.

    The attack reached the wolf in an instant then everything went yellow.

    The ground for more than 400m radii disappeared, and the trees found more than half their structure directly turning to ash as a result of the sheer amount of heat the attacks detonation could produce.

    Noah had to escape his attack to not get himself seriously wounded and thankfully his group had moved when he had spoken.

    The effects of the lightning bolt eventually died down but fire was everywhere. A thick mass of ck smoke rose to the sky as the searing heat in the area continued to remain long after the lightning bolt hadpleted its objective.

    Cold expressions appeared on the faces of the now spread-out group when their eyes fell on the body of the wolf.

    Still.

    Apletely ck sculpture stood at the center of the chaos. The attack had fried the wolf entirely as even its mouth was still open. It hadunched its attack but the power contained within the lightning bolt had been overwhelming for it. After all, it was only at the beginning stages of the higher stage.

    "What sort of man is he," Williams and even the other two found themselves muttering. Then they sighted his figure moving closer to the around 11m tall figure of the dead wolf. Untouched by the chaos his environment experienced.

    There and then, they saw him in a new light. Mighty, regal, and monstrous, were what they used to ssify his unholy power. He was an expert that shouldn''t exist, and they quickly realized that Elder Sarah''s words had been too true. All of them put together couldn''t dream of standing at his level.

    Sure they were strong in their own right. Heck, they had met individuals who call them monstrous. But their power paled greatly inparison to the white-haired man. He deserved that title. For the first time since they joined the guild, they witnessed the type of power those termed monsters held. What a sight it was.

    Noah kept a thin cold barrier around him, he had learned to do new stuff with his elements and one of them was giving shape to his attacks, making them more deadly and precise.

    ''Only at empowerment can my body match the power of higher stage beasts, for now, I can only block their physical blows a bit,'' he evaluated, recalling how strong of a force the wolf had been capable of.

    Waving his hand at the charred and still smoking figure of the dead wolf, he stored it in his inventory in hopes of retrieving its mana core. The body would be useless as a result of its state. Only a little breeze was required to make it disperse in the wind.

    The wolf''s figure vanished at the wave of his hands after which he turned to leave. Then, however, was when he noticed his group, but most especially their expressions. Not even the pink-haireddy was excluded.

    They all looked at him; a bottom-level middle-stage cultivator, with reverence.

 Chapter 329 329. INTRODUCTION

    Sitting around a big campfire, Noah kept to himself like the others currently did. Chunks of sticked wolf meat hung above the crackling mes to roast them, but at that point, no one felt like eating anymore. They had eaten a lot already.

    The eyes of the experts continued to dart his way many times, but it didn''t bother him. They didn''t harbor any negative feelings from the looks of things so he left things as they were.

    After the death of the wolf, the group immediately moved to clear the area of any threats, but they had only found a few beasts around. The other three had been surprisingly resourceful. They created a wall around the clearing they had made themselves, while also cing protection since mere wood and rocks wouldn''t be enough to stop middle-stage beasts.

    So in less than four hours, they were settled in an area close to the spot the portal had dropped them. Unfortunately, no one knew where exactly they were. Coupled with the difficulty the tall trees posed in scouting, they could only do as the elder had said and waited.

    "Why isn''t elder Von here?" The blonde-haired guy eventually broke the silence causing a frown to appear on Williams''s face.

    "I thought the tournament was to begin today or was there an issue with the portal?" the blondie continued in a troubled tone.

    "Look, we don''t know anything. I''m as lost as you," William replied trying to make sense of the situation when an idea popped up. His eyes fell on Noah''s calm figure and he opened his mouth to talk, but with respect in his voice.

    "You were thest to go through the portal did he tell you anything?" William asked, but his words met silence. At least for a few seconds.

    "He did tell me something," Noah replied and all attention fell on him more attentively.

    "He said the tournament itself will be beginning four days from now, and he''d meet us here in about two days," Noah exined calmly. His words caused a sense of relief to befall the three since a few moments of since followed his words.

    "Did he tell you why he would only be meeting us in two days?" the blonde-haired man spoke. "Anything that we can use to better assess our situation?"

    ''Yes, he wanted me to gain your respect, and it seems it worked,'' Noah replied inwardly, but shook his head in response.

    "Oh I see," the blonde-haired expert replied more or less downcast. He threatened to ask why only he had been told of that n, but he couldn''t or wouldn''t.

    Another long silence followed, and soon the air began to get awkward. However, Noah was already deep in his thoughts assessing the sh with the higher-stage wolf.

    Although he had one-shotted it, the amount of essence that had been required to do so had been a bit high. More than 6k worth of essence had been poured into that singr discharge, and he understood the reason for it.

    He wasn''t the system that was able to optimize the cost of spells while allowing them to retain their power. All he had done was pour fuel into the construct in his mind and shaped it. He had also feared that adding less would make the attack incapable of killing the beast, so he more or less kept pouring until his instincts begged him to stop.

    The result had been the sword-shaped mass of electrical currents more than five times the length of the average man.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thankfully everything had worked out. Although the forest had been on fire for while, a bit of water affinity was all that was needed to quench it. The pink-haireddy had shown her incredible worth there, by conjuring arge mass of water high above the burning area before detonating it and showering the area with water.

    The scene had been nothing short of spectacr. Glowing blue water falling from the sky like rain. It made him feel nostalgic. Now that he thought of it, Noah had never witnessed rain in Cregar. Hopefully, that would change.

    However, when he considered the fact that he had never stayed in one region for too long, he could only believe he had missed those seasons.

    All in all, the event that had urred when they arrived in the forest had been great. It had been months since Noah fought magical beasts, so the experience had been refreshing even if his opponents had been weak.

    It made him hold high hopes for theing tournament, since if all those participating were as spectacr as the individuals around him, then the event would prove to be a serious challenge. It excited him greatly.

    Unfortunately, he would have to wait around three days before everything began.

    ''Why were we asked to depart this early if the tournament is still around half a week away? Does it have to do with us being part of a great guild?'' Noah wondered, and he couldn''t help but feel he had arrived at the answer.

    "We should get to know each other''s names since we''re guild-mates," Williams suddenly broke the silence pulling Noah out of his thoughts.

    "You all know my name, but I''ll reintroduce myself." He stood. "I am Williams Ramio, fourth son of the noble house of Ramio. Unfortunately, my mother was never married into the family and I was an unwanted child. Due to this I was never really epted and had to run away at some point," he exined giving them a short view into his life''s history. His introduction had caught them off guard since he didn''t wait for anyone to agree with him.

    Taking his seat he nced at the blonde-haired man, who sighed a stood.

    "I am Liam, second son of amoner. My parents and two sisters were killed when arge pack of magical beasts raided our town. I and my elder brother survived, but he became a mercenary and I a member of a great guild," Liam exined, his eyes flickering with a deep sense of pain even if itsted only a second, after which he sat down.

    Eyes fell on Noah and the pink-haireddy. The duo gazed at each other for a few short seconds before The pink-haireddy stood.

    "I am Illiana, I knew met my parents and was maltreated by the many families that took me in. This continued until I was found by Elder Gina. I proved my worth to the guild and they let me in," she exined in a quiet tone before sitting down.

    All eyes fell on Noah''s figure at that point, and he had no choice but to stand.

    ''Why do they have such tragic backstories!'' he screamed inwardly.

    "I am Aiden. I was the son of a single father. I never knew my mother, but I once had a brother. However, they are all gone now." He gave them an honest exnation. His story wasn''t any less tragic than theirs.

 Chapter 330 330. BANDITS

    The group of four spent the next hours engaging in a few light talks, nothing too serious, only to pass the time, after which they all slept. Noah remained mostly to himself even in that casual situation. It wasn''t that he wasn''t in the mood, he simply didn''t fancy those talks too much.

    Unsurprisingly, there wasn''t any need for a watch, since they all could keep their consciousness unfolded in the environment. And there were also magical protections on the short wall they built that became a dome-shaped barrier.

    The night needless to say went by fast, with no disturbances during the night. They picked up a few wild auras but those auras never went past a certain point. It seemed the destruction they had caused in the afternoon still kept those beasts on edge.

    Noah woke up first and went deeper into the forest to train. It had be a habit to train each time he rose from sleep.

    His group members soon rose one by one, but there wasn''t much to do that they had not already done. So each of them could only eat from the supplies they had brought with them, while they waited for hours to pass. No one interrupted the others as they just did their own things while remaining within the range of the walls.

    This was without a doubt incredibly boring for those experts, but they really had no choice but to wait for their tier 4 elder.

    Noah returned to the group at some point and his arrival caught their attention. However, none of them questioned him.

    "I found a few packs of magical beasts not too far from here. They all have power within the middle stage, and not even their leaders are higher stage," Noah announced in a suggestive tone. His words piqued the interest of the others who had been bored out of their minds staying there.

    However, Williams raised an objection.

    "We should stay back. I know we haven''t had anything interesting to do in a while, but we have to follow orders and stay." He shook his head sweeping his gaze on them.

    "Besides those packs aren''t hurting us in any way, there''s no need to kill them," he added putting a smile on his face. Unfortunately, no one seemed to agree with him, at least based on their nk stares.

    "Well you can stay back I''ll go wipe them out," Noah announced turning to approach the exit. His words caused a frown to appear on Williams'' face.

    "Look Aiden, I know you''re strong and all, but that doesn''t mean you can do just whatever you want," he called out expressing his displease.

    "Who''s gonna stop me?" Noah frowned ring at the young-looking man.

    "Look, I''m not willing to fight you. I hate to admit it but you''re in a league of your own, but we should band together. Anything could happen in this woods," Williams exined, his words stunning Noah and even the others.

    A sigh escaped Noah''s lips at that point, he prepared to speak words, when his eyes suddenly sharpened.

    With reflexes that the others were barely able to follow, Noah turned and caught sight of a speeding object.

    ''An arrow?'' he wondered in confusion when multiple auras suddenly took life around them. The others were already on alert, as they didn''t hesitate to draw their weapons.

    Noah unfolded his consciousness, but something smashed into it and pain reached his mind when his mental waves crumbled. An astonishing event.

    The sound of shouting men reached his ears at that point followed by their figures.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We found him, sir!" A group of five men all clothed in garments that blended with the foresty environment entered the visual range of the group. "He has a group!" one of them yelled and more than ten figures appeared to encircle their camp.

    At this point, Noah had already drawn his daggers, while a rain of arrows dived towards their position. But the barrier stopped their advance.

    "Bandits," he whispered, more stunned than not. Their group was under the attack of bandits.

    In less than half a minute, more than fifteen figures had surrounded the walls of the camp, unable to advance.

    The group of four banded together at that point since the cultivation base of all of them stood within the range of tier 3.

    A standoff urred at that point, both parties waiting for the others to attack, or in their case, Noah waited for them to attack again. The rain of arrows had been easily taken care of. But they were capable of spells.

    "A strong group I see," A deep voice rang out, shattering the silence that had enveloped both parties.

    A cold expression appeared on the faces of all of them when they caught sight of three individuals casually walking toward them.

    Two of the masked figures held power within the higher stage, while the person that had spoken radiated absolutely no aura to them. No matter how hard they tried they couldn''t sense the man''s power.

    "Tier 4," Liam whispered the obvious to the group. Noah clenched his teeth under his mask. How were they even supposed to deal with that powerful force?

    "What is a group with such fine experts doing out here in the depths of the Crossgrove forest?" The masked expert sounded amused as ced his leg on the short wall of stone and wood.

    His hand reached out to cross the open space on the other side of the wall, but a series of red lines and a transparent blue wall appeared on his palm''s path.

    "This isn''t a barrier made by an amateur. This is top levels shit," he announced while a wide smile bloomed on his face beneath his mask. However, he suddenly dug his fingers into the barrier before closing them into a fist. Cracks appeared on the dome-shaped barrier before everything shattered into motes of blue and red light.

    "Gang it seems we''ve stumbled upon high-level goods here," augh escaped his mouth while he advanced.

    Noah and the three were silent in front of that disy. He already had ways that could lead him to escape, but they would only work if he was alone.

    "What is it that you desire?!" Williams panicked seeing as the man proceeded to cross the wall.

    His words met silence while the man continued to advance.

    "We are from the great guild Divine Lightning. Surely there''s something that you want that we can see to. No one has to get hurt," Noah suddenly spoke pulling all attention to himself.

    The man halted his footsteps at that point and an eyebrow rose on his face.

 Chapter 331 331. EFFICIENT

    ''I hope I don''t regret this,'' Noah grimaced inside. He honestly wasn''t sure if giving their identity away had been a good idea, but sooner orter they need to spill it out. The others understood that which was why they remained calm.

    If truly there was something that could be given, then it would do good. They might even have to wait, which would even be better since elder Von would arrive in about a day.

    "The great guild... I knew there was something fishy about youds. Well, it doesn''t matter what guild you''re from. We aren''t your average type of group. We want something more than money," the man exined.

    "Who said anything about money," Noah responded winging it. "We''re a great guild, we possess many resources. Even able to aid someone at your level," Noah sweet-talked him, fully aware that he had ced a higher price tag on their heads. Hopefully, however, it would stop him from directly killing them. Just name what you want," he pushed.

    "That sure is tempting, young man. But I know fully well what you''re trying to do. It won''t help you. I''d rather not get involved with a powerful organization such as the Divine Lightning guild. I prefer my head on my neck," he giggled, which In turn caused a frown to appear on Noah''s face.

    "What do you n on doing with us then?" Noah asked cursing the universe for cing them in such a tight situation.

    "It doesn''t matter. All you have to know is you''ll never return to your guild," he chuckled heavily.

    "So that''s how it is," Noah muttered as a n formed in his head. He didn''t like it, but it seemed to only way out of that situation without revealing too much. The man had already made his intentions clear. Only death awaited them if they were captured. Which called for desperate measures.

    "Round them up!" the man announced turning to leave. Noah''s words had gotten to him, but he carried an oath that wouldn''t allow him to make any reckless decision.

    "At least let us see your face!" Noah shouted, while his metal waves moved tomunicate a simple n with his teammates.

    His words once again halted the steps of the tier 4 cultivator. However the man''s figure suddenly appeared in front of Noah, his movement caused the wind to blow strongly and had been faster than Noah could react, at least without empowerment.

    "It seems youck respect." His eyes gazed into Noah''s, and although Noah hid it expertly, his mind was in chaos. He threatened to activate the strongest skill in his arsenal.

    "But since only you dared to speak to me so calmly, and you''re practically dead, I''ll honor your word," the man''s breath washed over Noah''s face due to how close they were.

    "I don''t know what ugly scars you hide under that mask, but gaze at my wlessness," the expert announced lifting his ck mask to reveal his face, and Noah felt taken aback by the man''s beauty.

    He looked to be in histe thirties or early forties but had smooth skin, ck eyes that seemed to shine and a sharp rectangr jawline, and a youthful vibe.

    It certainly didn''t rival his, but he had to admit that he was stunning. However, Noah didn''t forget to imprint the man''s features in his mind.

    "We''ll find out what hides under that mask when you''re dead," the expert muttered cing his mask on and flickering away from that position to appear outside the wall, where he spoke with one of the higher-stage experts. His exit allowed the group of about twenty begin to draw closer to them at the order of the second higher stage expert. Cautiously of course.

    Noah closed his eyes for a few short seconds before suddenly opening them. "Now!" he cried with a loud voice and the three bolted toward the opposite direction of the already leaving tier 4 expert.

    The mere lower-stage cultivators trying to gather them up attacked, but their opponents were peak middle-stage cultivators, only death awaited a direct sh.

    This called for the intervention of the higher stage cultivators, who uttered curses before shooting forward.

    However, two lightning bolts came out of Noah''s already dashing figure tond on them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The two activated their defensive techniques in that instant, they had experience with such situations. Only tier 4''s could catch them off-guard. Unfortunately, the power contained within the bolts remained shocking, as it decimated their shields.

    Their bodies had to take the rest of the hit. Noah had more or less calcted the amount of power required for them. They were far weaker than elder Sarah after all.

    Notwithstanding, he knew the tier 4 cultivator could still reach them even if he watched their seemingly pointless struggle with an amused smile. So when Noah saw that none of his guild-mates were watching, as they were too busy making a run for it, while getting rid of the various spells, he uttered one word.

    "Cudgel..."

    An object sparkled In the sunlight high above, but then the sky went dark. With sky-shaking might; Cudgel''s immense figure revealed itself as it rapidly approached the surface, alerting the survival instincts of the tier 4 cultivator, who cursed and immediately tried to leave the area.

    The arrival of that massive object didn''t go unnoticed, but when his guild mates tried to look back, Noah turned into a blinding streak that washed over their figures, to sprint as far as he could. He had grabbed all three of them.

    However, moving a few kilometers from Cudgel didn''t seem enough, since when his staff smashed into the surface the ground shook for miles as huge cracks opened in the terrain almost swallowing the entire forest.

    The world seemed about to end since after the incredible impact, an immense wall of dust and debris rose to wash over the surrounding forest, at least what remained of it.

    Noah stopped at some point, but hurled his group members to different positions in the forest, they were now at its very edge. He did this to distract them long enough to send Cudgel back to the sky. They had never even been able to react since he had directly elerated to full speed.

    All they had felt was a powerful force that pushed them forward, after which they found themselves alone in the forest. Not even the sound of the explosion had reached their ears since Noah had been running far faster than sound could catch up to them.

    Cudgel''s sudden disappearance caused the wind to blow erratically, forcing more dust and debris into the sky.

    Stopping by a tree after making sure he had separated them a bit, Noah immediately sat down to marvel at the works of his hand.

    Cudgel had once again been very efficient.

    His n had been dangerous but it had worked. Somehow.

    After making his group promise they would do exactly as he said, he simply told them to run when he gave the go-ahead. All three had tried to look back anyway, which was why he had randomly separated them.

    At least a few hours would pass before they could all be reunited, and he would make sure to ignore every one of their queries.

    The idea of leaving them and escaping had crossed his mind, but he wasn''t ready to make up a story when there were means that could get into his memory. Even worse he could be ordered to tell the truth which meant lying would be pointless as a result of the oath.

    Heaving a sigh of relief, Noah raised his right hand, and Cudgel shot into his grip. He immediately shrunk it and ced it in his inventory.

    "Time to find them," he muttered taking note of the magical beasts already trying to sneak up on him.

 Chapter 332 332. FAST

    "Annoying pricks," Williams cursed freeing his right axe of a dead beast. A monkey with stone-like fur.

    The 4m tall beast slid off his axe tond on the ground lifeless. Its figure disappeared after Williams waved his hand. Williams spat at that point and noticed that he had actually bled.

    The monkey had been a beast at the very peak of the middle-stage closer to crossing into the higher stage than he was. The fight had been grueling especially since he had needed to keep his focus split on two other monkeys only halfway into the middle stage, but were as troublesome as the strongest.

    The fight hadsted about two hours, but he had imed victory. However, his figure featured a series of injuries. Not too deep, but were significant enough to require resting. At least only for an hour or so, even after two bottles of healing potion.

    Williams ced his back on a tree before closing his eyes to think thoughts. He had long since unfolded his consciousness to keep himself at alert, so he couldfortably try and recall the events that happened before he suddenly found himself in the forest breaking a tree after smashing into it.

    "Nothing," he cursed, realizing that his focus had been on running to witness how he had arrived far from their former position, and how he had been separated from the rest.

    His mind went on to Aiden''s words, and he couldn''t help but believe the young man had in his possession a spell that could allow such, maybe a special item. But such a reality made him ponder on how unfair a man''s prowess could be.

    "I''ll ask him when we meet," Williams grunted rising to his feet. He didn''t know exactly where he was, but hopefully, his group wasn''t too far. However, he also had to watch out for roaming magical beasts. Higher stage could be anywhere lurking in those woods.

    He began his walk at that point, even if it featured asional sprints, mostly when escaping the multiple packs of magical beasts.

    Due to the power his body was capable of mustering, he traveled a few miles in the short span of about half an hour. It would seem running at incredible speeds had ruined Noah''s ability to calcte distances.

    Williams arrived at a clearing in the forest and he could only describe the scene as a battlefield. A big one at that. The ground was charred in many areas, and even trees looked to have been burnt down. Bloodstained whole portions of the terrain and even a pool of the crimson liquid formed.

    However, from the looks of things it seemed over an hour had passed, and he could only trace that level of destruction to his guild-mates, either Liam or Aiden. His guess was Aiden.

    More than 400sq-m worth ofnd had been touched by man''s destructiveness. He seemed to have wiped out entire packs of magical beasts on his own. And from his previous disy, that normally absurd level of power looked believable.

    ? Williams continued to shake his head as he walked past that area, feeling pity for the beasts that had encountered Aiden. After a few minutes, however, he noticed a trail that led towards the edge of the forest since he could see it on the horizon, Of course, this was after he had climbed the tallest tree in the area.

    The bodies of middle-stage cultivators were on their path to performing great wonders, so climbing a huge tree of about 20m in height could be done casually.

    Williams followed this trail at full speed after he confirmed that it was one. Whoever had left the trail; most likely Aiden had severed trees in half on one linear path. A path that stretched for whole kilometers.

    After spending about twenty minutes sprinting at full speed, Williams found himself exiting the forest to arrive at a cliff that featured a river at its base.

    Fortunately, there was the individual he had expected to find; Aiden, casually sitting crossed-legged, staring at a book.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You finally arrived," Noah''s voice rang out as he raised his head to stare at Williams''s standing figure.

    "You''re to first to arrive here with the trail., hopefully, the others are here before sun-down," Noah continued, storing his soul cultivation manual before Williams could get a proper look at it.

    He had long since sensed the young man enter the range of his consciousness and had been d. But he also cursed his inability to properly calcte the distance between the various positions he hurled them at. This unfortunately reminded him of how bad he had been at math.

    "Are you sure they''ll find the trail," Williams asked walking closer to him and seating next to him.

    "I left plenty of trails and intersections of those trails, across a significant distance. Only extreme bad luck would make the two of them miss it," Noah exined already keeping his words away from the topic of how they got there.

    "I see," Williams muttered. "Though how did we escape the tier 4 threat?" he asked immediately he had the chance to.

    Noah who already expected that question and had cooked up a whole story for it opened his mouth to speak.

    "Well, I''m notpletely sure. There was an explosion, but I had carried you guys with my movements technique before the explosion knocked me unconscious and sent each of us in different directions," he exined with a thoughtful expression. "Or did you see anything?" He added.

    "No," Williams replied with furrowed brows. "All I recall is that I was running then suddenly a force as I have never felt pushed me and sent me crashing into a tree. I believe it''s the explosion you speak of, even if I never heard a sound... Everything happened so-"

    "Fast" Noahpleted his sentence and gave a light smile, even if Williams couldn''t see it as a result of the mask.

    "Hopefully the others saw something that can make sense of our situation," Noah sighed raising his head to gaze at the sky. He did all those acting just to clear Williams of all his doubts. Unfortunately, the young man still had some.

    "I wonder what you were expecting when you told us to run." His words threw shade at Noah''s n. He had asked them to run when he gave a go-ahead, and suddenly something happened that both of them had no exnation for.

    "You don''t believe me," Noah stated going straight to the point, startling Williams who could only remain silent at his usation.

    "All I remember was that I had turned to attack the two higher stage cultivators before dashing to catch up to you guys, that was when everything went south and here we are," Noah exined with an expression that radiated seriousness.

    Seeing that Williams still struggled to believe him, he yed hisst card. "Look. What do I even gain from lying to you? All that matters is that we are alive, somehow. We can go back to the area when the others arrive, maybe the cause of the explosion might still be there," he exined, and Williams could only nod at that point.

    The duo could only wait for Liam and Illiana to return, and that had taken a bit more than five hours of waiting. By this point, the sun had gone down and the river below them seemed toe alive, illuminating the area with its blue glow.

 Chapter 333 333. LONG STORY

    Noah stood atop a portion of uneven ground a bit more than 2m in height. Surely such a difference in ground smoothness was great, but whaty before he and the other three made that rock''s height pale inparison.

    "What the fuck even happened here," Noah muttered even if he knew. His eyes gazed at an immense pit nothing less than a few kilometers in radius, and surely about 50m in depth!

    The surroundings of the abnormal pit clearly looked to have undergone the worst shaking of their existence as whole portions of the ground rose and fell in wave-like patterns, each of those folds spanning more than 5 meters in width and numbering hundreds.

    Cudgel had created a series of inconsistent hills that caused the trees in the area to vanish after the force uprooted them from their positions. Before getting to that point, the four had witnessed whole chunks of the terrain featuring cracks and fissures sorge they were akin to chasms with unknown depths.

    Crossing them had not been difficult, but such views had given them a preview of what their eyes gazed at, unable to believe that they had escaped such destruction.

    Noah at some point during their journey to the site had hoped the effects of Cudgel''snding would be easily hidden, but now that he had eyes on it, that idea had gone out the window.

    It would take decades before such damage could be repaired, and that scenario might never happen. The forest would simply adapt and begin to regrow from the depths of the immense pit.

    Noah made eye contact with the others, the disbelief in his eyes just as much as the ones his guild-mates experienced. How could something do so much damage that its effects stretched for miles, yet they had escaped it!

    The surrounding areas of Cudgels pit featured no standing trees, meaning they were basically in the open. However, the wave-like pattern of the terrain would deter any ambushes, since some of the folds of earth were as high as 5m, with some being twice as tall.

    ''This is true destruction,'' Noah marveled inwardly storing that scenery in his mind. He had never got to witness the Cudgels effect the first time because he had been in a near-death situation, but looking at things now, he struggled to believe he possessed something that could unearth such destruction.

    Cudgel had turned the surrounding kilometers and miles into wastnds.

    "How did we even escape the cause of this? Are you that quick in your steps?" Williams''s voice rang out behind Noah as his eyes never left the pit before them even while he spoke with Aiden.

    "I honestly am wondering the same," Noah replied honestly.

    A few seconds of silence passed while Liam and Illiana gathered around them.

    "What are we going to tell Elder Von when he arrives," Illiana voiced at some point. But no one seemed surprised at the fact that she spoke. They were all still trying topletely process the grandness of the scene before them.

    "What can we even tell him," Noah mused. "He''ll assess the situation with his own eyes when he arrives," Noah stated and they nodded.

    "However the main question is; were the bandits wiped out?" Liam pointed out, crouching near the edge of the rtively smooth ground right before the pit to gaze at its insides.

    It wouldfortably fit a small city, heck he could already see how such a n would be made to optimize that space. The surroundings could feature many defensive formations and walls for different purposes.

    ''The city would be nigh imprable if things are done right,'' Liam took a detour in his thoughts.

    "You can go down and check," Noah replied sarcastically, but no one responded, heck it seemed they didn''t even hear the sarcasm in his tone.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Only the tier four has chances of living," Illiana stated, getting nods from the others.

    Another few moments of silence passed before any other words were spoken, and they came from Williams.

    "There''s no way to tell, but from the looks of things they were probably all wiped out." He stated the apparently obvious, but Noah disagreed with him. Tier 4''s weren''t that easy to kill, at least he didn''t think even that could have ended the man.

    Sure the expert could be injured, but death seemed too far-fetched. Even he with a series of utilities would be capable of surviving it. How much more an expert that had stepped on the path of demigods.

    "I don''t know," Noah voiced his thoughts. "He probably escaped or is somewhere beneath all this rubble."

    An air of pensiveness fell on the group at that point. "We should stay a safe distance from the pit. I believe this spot is good enough," Noah exined, unfolding his consciousness.

    "Well we pretty much have no choice. I believe Elder Von should arrive anytime soon, and we can get away from this hell hole. I feel unsafe," Liam exined with an ugly expression. He seemed the only person that had a deep desire to leave that ce.

    The group created camp at that point, and surprisingly they surrounded Noah as he sat on the rock overlooking the grand scene. They had already began to see him as an important individual. He was the strongest after all.

    Their journey there had spoken volumes on that topic, since they gave him the role of the leader, even if he didn''t exactly find it favorable.

    Their journey had been a long sprint of about an hour, they had rose immediately the sun rose and set out. Noah had disyed his superiority in terms of sheer movement speed, but it only further raised their respect for him.

    Noah represented the image of monsters, at least the ones that were spoken of by their various masters. A sense of pride rose in their hearts realizing that their guild featured individuals as monstrous as he was.

    A guild with that many extraordinary experts had to be one of the bests.

    Besides, they had never really seen any of those monstrous experts in battle, so he was the closest thing they could hold on to.

    They group only had to wait about an hour or two before a spot in the sky flickered with a crackling mass of incredibly dense energy, one that managed to bathe the area in its intense deep blue light.

    A door-shaped portal opened at that point, and the calm figure of Elder Von exited the blue light. And even if he stood high in the sky, the group could almost tell that he had a perplexed expression on him.

    Noah felt Elder Von''s consciousnessnd on him and the others and his voice reached their ears even from that distance.

    "By the gods, what happened here?" His vice boomed in the area empowered by his incredible power.

    "Its a long story!" The four replied in unison causing surprised expressions to appear on their faces, followed by smiles. A rare sight from Illiana.

 Chapter 334 334. REJOICE

    "I see" Elder Von sighed gazing at the pit before him. The figures of Illiana, Wiliams, Noah, and Liam floated beside him, but their gazes were on him instead.

    They had each just finished exining the events that led to the sight before them, but like all of them imed, they didn''t know exactly what urred to cause that destruction.

    "So what do we do elder?" Liam asked.

    "You do nothing while I report this to the guild," Von replied. "There''s also the issue about the tier 4 cultivator. But that can be dealt with," he exined.

    "Some individuals will have toe check this out so that it can be reported to this area''s master, even if a settlement is far from here," he continued.

    "Are you going to return to the guild for that?" Noah''s voiced a few of his worries.

    "Not necessarily," Elder Von replied. "But I might be required to do so. But since I''ll be taking you to the region that would hold the tournament, I will most likely be exempted from that task," he exined while his consciousness kept them afloat.

    "Would you give me a minute tomunicate this to the guild," Elder Von announced, sending the to the ground, where they stood previously.

    The four fell silent at that point while they kept their eyes on the red-haired man in the sky dealing with a few inscriptions.

    Truth be told, Noah felt safe with the expert around, his slight fear of the tier 4 cultivator popping up and attacking them had been quenched by Elder Von''s arrival, now he almost prayed the tier 4 bandit showed up. He desired to witness another battle in the fourth tier.

    A few minutes had to pass before Elder Von finished whatever he was doing, and those minutes had seen him fly across the entire pit kilometers in radius; scanning it until a holographic disy was created.

    Truly mana was capable of aplishing wonders.

    "I have good news," Elder Von announced descending to meet them. "I wasn''t asked to return to the guild so we can immediately begin our journey to the tournament''s location." A wide smile shone on the expert''s face while his ck and red robe fluttered in the wind.

    Relief appeared on the faces of the three experts, but Noah had never really been worried, to begin with.

    "I have to say though, the guild thanks you for making sure you all turned out safe, even though most of the details aren''t clear," Elder Von focused on Noah''s figure, surprising him.

    "Thanks to the detailed description you gave of the tier 4 bandit, we can say if he ever shows his face again, he''ll end up dying,'' Elder Von added slowly nodding his head.

    "It was nothing. I''m d we''re all safe," Noah lied through his teeth and Elder Von seemed no notice his hidden reaction.

    "Don''t worry, the guild never forgets to reward excellently performing members," Von chuckled seeing Aiden''s expression flicker with curiosity.

    "We shall set out now," Elder Von announced after a few seconds and the four soon felt his mental waves begin to wrap itself around their figures.

    ''I guess we won''t need to do much,'' Noah thought feeling the expert''s powerful consciousness begin to raise him and the others while the Elder Von himself began to float.

    "You might want to hold on to your guts," Elder Von joked before shooting towards a particr direction, opposite of where the river had been.

    The man''s eleration directly shattered the sound barrier as Noah confirmed that his velocity crossed Mach 15.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The scenery below them changed rapidly until everything became a bunch of blurs. Not even Noah could properly make out the details of the environment they flew past. He would require empowerment to achieve that.

    Thanks to the expert''s consciousness shielding them from the force of their movement, the weaker experts were physically fine if one removed their issue of wanting to puke.

    Unlike Noah, the three had never moved at speeds that quick that long, and soon their stomachs began to protest. Violently.

    ''They don''t look too good,'' Noah chucked inwardly; sweeping his gaze across the three of them. Not even Illiana could properly hide her difort.

    The scenery continued to change until they were out of the forestpletely. A vast green prairie unfolded in their sights at that point. The others could see it because Elder Von suddenly slowed down, until he came to a stop a bit higher into the sky, but also close to the surface.

    Their figures overlooked the incredibly beautiful scenery of the prairie. And area stretching out for miles before them; grew with an abundance of vibrant green grass that swayed graciously in the soft winds that blew across the surface.

    With the sun high above them and the various soft hills filling their sights, the view was nothing short of stunning. But unfortunately, they had only given that beautiful scene a short nce before focusing on the issue at hand.

    "We have a follower," Elder Von''s voice rang out in their ears as he turned to face the direction they had just arrived from.

    "There''s no need to hide, I''ve noticed you ever since I arrived in the forest," the elder''s voice boomed out in all directions, but towards an individual the four couldn''t sense pr see.

    A snort resounded at that point, and a spot high in the sky flickered to reveal a ck sphere.

    Even with his eyes on the sphere Noah still couldn''t sense it, meaning it belonged to a realm his senses couldn''t make out.

    "Annoying great guild elders," a familiar voice rang out, followed by the appearance of the tier 4 bandit.

    "I have business with one of those younglings, it would be great if you just handed him over," the expert dered pointing at Noah''s figure while he drew closer.

    "And why do you think I would do that?" An eyebrow rose on Elder Von''s face, more curious about the matter than annoyed about the experts words.

    "Because if you don''t, I''ll kill you and take him," the expert announced allowing his blood-lust pour out on the environment tainting the area with a dark hue.

    ''Darkness element!'' Noah screamed inwardly as the other concluded on the same thing.

    Thankfully, Elder Von''s consciousness protected them form the pressure contained within that aura, even if he knew they had the ne already doing that, he did it anyway.

    "I''m afraid that won''t happen," Elder Von announced casually shaking his head, even if his aura began to unfold in the area and an oppressive air fell on the prairie, a sh of colors began at that juncture.

    "I believe he''s the tier 4 expert?" Elder Von turned to the four, seeing them nod in affirmation he returned his focus to the now motionless expert.

    "Rejoice young experts! You''re about to witness a battle between tier four experts. Watch closely!" The elder announced when his power exploded forth from his figure and a third of the prairie''s greenery disappeared, reced by the color of vibrant blue mes.

 Chapter 335 335. CHAOS

    Elder Von lowered the five to the ground as pirs of vibrant blue mes rose up around them, followed by beasts manifesting out of the pirs.

    Noah immediately understood that the me beasts were in tier 4. In short, they could wipe the entire group out but were for their protection. Heck, the incredible heat they released didn''t hurt the four experts.

    Noah felt and watched the world around him seeminglye to a stop after those protections, both visible and invisible were ced around them.

    The darkness element expert responded to that by creating spheres of rapidly rotating darkness. The mere preparation of his attacks caused the ground beneath him to corrode rapidly and soonrge chunks of the prairie found holes opening in its structure.

    Although both individuals fought for control over the environment, the effects of their attacks spread without the least bit of hindrance, only their aura''s not mixing.

    Seven of such spheres floated around the expert but that wasn''t their final form, since the spheres began to shrink until their forms changed to that of featureless humanoid figures.

    "Hmm... interesting," Elder Von''s voice pierced their auras to reach everyone''s ears.

    "I do not understand what path you''ve stepped on, but those puppets will not be enough for my attack," Elder Von exined waving his left hand at the space between him and the bandit.

    Vibrant blue mes erupted out of thin air to trace arge magical circle. The sky trembled and the ground shattered until a massive chunk of the prairie had disappeared.

    Out of the magical circle, came forth a bow of immensely dense mes that had be solid due to their density.

    The ground melted when that normal-sized object revealed itself to the world, as even the pirs surrounding the four experts trembled greatly as a result of the searing heat.

    Noah and the others knew for sure that the area had be inhabitable for experts lower than tier 4. Only death awaited them if they stepped out of the protection.

    The bow although reaching insane levels of heatnded on Elder Von''s palms without the slightest hitch and the expert didn''t hesitate to point that weapon at the darkness expert in the distance.

    "This is merely a spell," Elder Von announced entering a stance that suggested he was about to attack. cing his hand on the bows ming strings, he drew at it and an arrow manifested in it.

    "I n to end this battle in one go since we have somewhere to go. However, if you survive this, I''ll fight you properly," Elder Von dered raising his bow to face the sky. Then he released the arrow.

    The world went silent as a blue streak flew high into the sky until it passed the clouds breaking them, before vanishing in the sky. However, a great rumbling began, followed by the appearance of hundreds of ming streaks descending towards that region at incredible speeds.

    They would arrive in less than a second, but the darkness expert seemed calm, while his puppets remained in their position.

    Noah feared for his life at that moment, since even Elder Von moved closer to them before carrying them high into the sky away from the site of the attacks.

    The streaks eventually arrived on the ground and the world went blue before the eyes of Noah and the others.

    Explosions of immense scales spread out in the environment followed by mighty sts of searing heat.

    Just when Noah thought the darkness expert had to be dead since even the shockwavesing from the explosions made the ming beasts lose portions of their structure, a ck line erupted out of the blinding blue light to sever it in half! Tainting that radiance.

    The light vanished at that point, and Noah watched the explosions cease. Shock.

    ''He cut light!'' Noah shuddered at that thought, but even after reying the scene a few times, he still came to the same conclusion. ''But that should be impossible,'' he wondered in great confusion but focused on the scene since things had started to calm down.

    Liam, Illiana, Williams, and Noah held their breaths at the destruction thaty before them.

    Pure chaos.

    The ground beneath them had disappeared, rid of craters of incredible sizes. More than half of the prairie had turned into a burning wastnd, and even the forest in the distance suffered greatly.

    A significant portion of the ground had been shaved off and was riddled with pools of burning soil and molten rocks. No sign of greenery existed on the horizon and Noah had to swallow hard when he managed to gauge the power within that attack more or less.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Tier 4''s were practically gods. It felt unimaginable that there were experts far more stronger than them, even stronger than tier 6! Tier 7.

    ''Those guys should be capable ofary destruction,'' Noah thought swallowing hard. He truly was an antpared to the powers that existed in the world.

    Shifting his gaze from the burning scenery to the darkness expert, Noah trembled again seeing that the expert looked fine, except that his humanoid figures had disappeared, and he had a de in his grip.

    "Impressive," Elder Vonmented nodding his head as if he expected that oue.

    "Darkness affinity wielders won''t be so rare if they weren''t powerful," the elder gave a shortugh. "Now you''ve earned the right to fight me properly," Elder Von announced as a crimson red battle armor appeared on his figure followed by a battle sword.

    "I''d rather not," the darkness expert replied spitting a mouthful of blood. To the outside world, he hadfortably handled the power within the spell, but the truth was he had shielded himself with his puppets at thest moment while conjuring a series of barriers more than ten in number. Yet they had still crumbled when the attacks converged on his figure.

    The elder''s strength was monstrous. And he didn''t even look drained from unleashing something so powerful. Now he understood why those of the Great guilds were considered the best of the bests.

    Waving his right hand after he announced his opinion about the matter, the five experts of the great guild watched twenty balls ofpressed darkness manifest from a ck magical circle to shoot towards their figures, while he made a break for it.

    Elder Von moved at that sight. He immediately understood the intentions of the bandit and dodged the balls to shoot toward his escaping figure.

    Elder Von sent his four juniors to the sky still protected by the beasts and an invisible barrier.

    "I''ll be back!" His voice reached their ears even if he had left their visual range.

    ''How are we supposed to watch your battle now,'' Noah pouted, even if he turned his focus to the effects of the ck spheres.

    Upon contact with the already destroyed ground, those masses of darkness exploded into expanding rivers of ckness that corroded everything they touched.

    The potency of the corrosion was even greater than Elder Von''s mes, but that didn''t change anything much since after about a minute, another significant portion of the terrain had been shaved off, and looked toxic since a grey smoke rose to the sky, but they were protected by the barrier surrounding them.

    Off in the distance signs of explosions continued to rage on, and shes of blue light were the most prevalent.

    Shock waves of their ongoing battle reached the position of the four, but their might had been reduced to a mere breeze.

    The group had to wait about thirty minutes before Elder Von returned, and the unconscious figure of the darkness experty on his shoulder. The man was naked. All his clothes burnt. Plus his figure looked bloodied, and he was missing a right arm and a head full of hair.

    Trees burnt on the horizon sending a massive wall of smoke into the sky, but the elder didn''t seem to care that he had madend areas of miles in size turn into burningndscapes.

    Without even speaking, the expert waved his hand and a rectangr portal appeared in the sky.

    The tform they stood on floated towards the portal at that point and the ming beasts dispersed under the shocked eyes of the experts.

    "Walk into it and you''ll arrive at your destination," Elder Von stated with a wide smile.

    However, before the four could open their mouths in protest, he spoke.

    "I had wanted to lure him out first that''s why. Moreover, his hidden presence had made sense after you exined that there had been a tier four expert leading the bandits." The elder exined patting the experts bareback.

    "The guild will find out what he was hunting humans for," he stated, allowing a bridge of harmless mes manifest before the experts.

    "I''ll meet with you when I drop him off. Do not worry the people on the other side will treat you well."

    "Rest well, the tournament will begin in two days." Hemented before watching them enter the portal, after which he opened another one and stepped through it.

 Chapter 336 336. NOT MY PROBLEM

    Noah felt the world around him stretch, then he found his environment drastically changed from the burningndscape the formerly beautiful prairie had be. A location he still didn''t know.

    He and the other three found themselves in a gray hallway leading to a room in the distance. Exchanging gazes at that sight, the group of four began their slow walk down the in path, and soon a room unfolded in their sights.

    A small room actually, but it featured five individuals who weed them with wide smiles.

    "I am Drecus Nimiog. You must be the group from the great guild; Divine lightning, sir Von told us of your arrival." A man who looked to be in histe forties bowed deeply. He had deep yellow hair that hebed behind his ears and had a pair of reading googles on.

    The expert who stood at the realm of the higher stage of tier 3 had a silver-colored garment on, lined with golden stripes. His attire looked identical to the other four individuals.

    The four exchanged nces at that point and proceeded to introduce themselves.

    "I am Williams, a member of the Divine Lightning guild, it is a pleasure to meet you, sir Drecus. I hope you handle us with care," William''s bowed utilizing the most polite tone Noah had heard him produce.

    "I am Liam." Liam bowed.

    "I am Illiana," she bowed also.

    "I am Aiden," Noah bowed.

    "It a pleasure to meet you all," Drecus smiled. "Come, we have your rooms prepared," the expert ushered them to follow him, while the four individuals walked behind them.

    The door at the right end of the room opened even before Drecus could touch it, and the four of them walked behind him, on a single file.

    They entered another hallway, but this one featured the two colors evident on the clothes of Drecus and his group and many doors.

    Silver walls, golden ceiling. Those two colors stretched as far as the eye could see, but no one ced too much focus on those details. Noah almost didn''t notice the golden ceiling, he had seen too much gold in his months of staying at the Divine Lightning guild, that the color had stopped bing spectacr.

    He had even gazed at structures far stunning and resplendant than that hallway.

    The man brought them to a spot far from the room they had exited and four doors featuring their names and were face each other in pairs of two.

    Noah immediately knew his room and saw that Illiana''s stood directly facing his.

    "This will be your rooms, and these are the keys. You will all be teleported back here as long as you have this key on you. This is for when the tournaments start," Sir Drecus exined while four identical keys floated andnded on their outstretched palms.

    The ck cylindrical objects only about two inches in length featured their names written with golden lights.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah found the hole for the key and didn''t hesitate to push it in, even if the Drecus man was still there.

    "You will all receive announcements five minutes before you''re asked to step out of your rooms, so please prepare. But for now rest. I heard an incident urred on your journey here," Drecus exined saying thest sentence as if he truly cared.

    Noah expected someone to spill information for the seemingly caring man, but surprisingly no one replied his hidden question, Williams who had experience about such situations simply gave more thanks forcing the expert to say his goodbyes and leave them to their businesses.

    "There will be a knock on your door to deliver food," the man said as he left with his silent group of four.

    A sigh exited the mouths of all four experts at that point.

    "He tried to milk us of information right there," Williams shook his head and spoke in a whispering voice.

    "We can''t trust too many people since a tier 4 cultivator was involved. It might be something of dire consequences," he exined cing his key into the hole and opened the door.

    "Its been a long couple of days, we should get rest. A challenge probably more greater than what we just experienced awaits us in two days. We have to make our guild proud," Williams dered walking past the door and shutting it.

    The others quietly did the same and soon Noah found himself alone in a simple looking room. A bed bathroom, table and chair filled the insides of the silver painted room with a golden ceiling.

    Laying on the white bed, he fell into a series of thoughts while rxation and a sense of safety spiraled into his consciousness.

    The event with the tier 4 cultivator and the fact that they were hunting down humans had forced him to recall his time in the Dragon''s w city.

    He recalled what the mercenary leader Brenard had said about a ritual, but failed to see its connection to what had happened to them. After all those times were months ago, surely they had done whatever diabolical thing they wanted to do.

    Nevertheless he couldn''t rule it out of the options. Notwithstanding, he found a safe spot in the whole charade. With existences in tier 4 participating, he wouldn''t be needed to do anything.

    ''It''s not my problem,'' Noah concluded immediately switching the subject to what he would do now.

    Fortunately a knock rang on his door and he immediately knew it was the person who was to deliver his meal.

    A tray of fine delicacies soon found itself on the table within the room, and he didn''t hesitate to indulge himself in it. After the satisfying meal Noah visited the bathroom and took a long rxing shower.

    Returning to his bed, Noah took out his soul cultivation manual and began to stare at it until his eyes couldn''t take anymore of it. The rewards of those short training sessions weren''t much but they helped anyway.

    He would need to undergo another dungeon dive or enter a long seclusion before he could see exponential benefits, but he didn''t care. At least currently.

 Chapter 337 337. COUNTDOWN

    The hours quickly passed and then turned into days. Noah had spent most of that time simply cultivating while returning to his cultivation room to practice a bit.

    Elder Von had arrived the next day but didn''t speak of the incident he had taken care of only about a day prior.

    Their relief had inevitably taken a step forward because of his presence, but nervousness couldn''t help but ruin it.

    As the hours till the beginning of the tournament drew near, so their nervousness rose. Not even Noah could escape that feeling. Of course, he had a vague idea of his power and capabilities, and they would put him at the best of the bests; but so as not to get conceited he assumed there were many stronger than him.

    At some point, a male voice rang out in his room,manding him and the others to step out of their rooms, the games were about to begin.

    Noah prepared all he thought he would need, and stepped outside of his room. Then did hey eyes on the multitude of humans within the many rooms.

    His eyes fell on Illiana, Williams, and Liam, all four of them exchanging nods. They had their guilds crest on their chests and back, so the others inspecting with curious eyes couldn''t miss that detail.

    Noah wore a cold face while his mask covered a significant portion of his face. All most could see were the upper part of his nose bridge and his eyes. Which wasn''t much.

    About a minuteter, the sounds of doors closing had stopped ringing in the hallway, and Noah immediately assumed that was all.

    As if listening to his thoughts, the key in his and the hands of all the others suddenly began to glow a sliver light, then magical circles appeared beneath every individual figure, and before Noah knew it; his environment changed and he opened his eyes in an auditorium.

    His eyes scanned the room as people continued to appear inside it. The ce had huge pirs, nine in total, and they stood at grand heights disying their magnificence.

    The pirs were lined up circrly, as the room was circr.

    From his position, Noah could spot two doors far apart from each other and soon he found that there was a line, one that demarcated the room in two, and individuals continued to appear on either side. It seemed random, at least to him.

    Two guards stood before the opened doors, unfortunately, Noah couldn''t see past the bright lighting from a ce he now deemed outside.

    The armored knights held power at the peak of tier 3, meaning no one in the room could virtually defeat them in a fight, even Noah thought twice about such a sh.

    The strongest among the participants of the tournaments were middle-stage cultivators, the gap was too wide. And besides, no one would dare act out of line, after all, tier 4 existences were probably outside.

    Murmurs from curious chats filled the room, but Noah had no one he could talk to and wasn''t ready to search for his guild-mates.

    Something eventually happened after a few minutes, arge illusory screen suddenly appeared high above the contestants, then a female voice rang out from its nk whiteness.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Good day contestants, wee to the tournaments of champions, a martial arts-based event. We the council of the guilds greet you a great day." The person started.

    "We''ll move to the main deal of today, as many of you have heard, this will be an elimination game where you''ll battle each other in pairs of two until your numbers have been reduced to half of what it was before."

    "You''ll be paired randomly against each other and the winners of the battle will move on to tomorrow''s match. You''ll have a period of ten minutes to defeat your opponent, and if that doesn''t happen an even harsher elimination game willmence deciding the winner," she exined.

    "There are two ways to win a battle, one of which is to beat your opponent till they can''t stand, or have them tap out, in short quit, by way of oral confirmation."

    "When you see your name on the screen you are to walk out of the passage before you. That is all you need to know. The matches will begin in two minutes. Good luck," she ended and silence fell on the entire auditorium.

    The rules were pretty simple; maybe too simple, so no had any issues with it, apart from the random pairing part.

    ''I could be paired with a peak middle-stage expert or a lower-stage expert,'' Noah thought with a light smile, one that couldn''t be seen due to his mask. He already knew of that reality and hoped thetter of the scenarios wouldn''t ur.

    The two minutes felt like hours before the tense minds of many of the contestants, but like Noah, they all had confidence in their strengths. Every one of them would fight with their all in y.

    The matching began immediately after the timer on the screen ended, and two names and guild crests appeared on two sides of the screen demarcated like the room.

    The two individuals quickly began their walk to the exit, Noahid eyes on the individual from his side of the room.

    A young-looking woman with power past the halfway point of the middle stage.

    She had the crest of a guild he didn''t know, so he simply gave her a simple inspection.

    She wore a perfectly cold expression while she left the room. She would either win or lose, but he didn''t care much, only that he felt he could win in a battle with her.

    During that moment, however, Noah realized something. There was a chance he would wait hours before his turn, and that thought put a frown on his face.

    Immediately the two vanished from the sight of the remaining contestants, the screen changed scenery to disy the stage wherein the battle would take ce, before erging until it became a massive screen disying the outside in such rity and quality, Noah felt he stood right in front of them.

    "Do not forget no mana is allowed. No sort of empowerment, nothing. Failure toply will result in immediate disqualification," the female''s voice rang out again, but everyone''s eyes was already focused on the two while the ten seconds countdown began then ended.

 Chapter 338 338. DIVIDING MOUNTAIN TECHNIQUE

    The stage was a tform of stone raised at a height of about 3ft, and was about 300sq-m in size. Its color was grey, but it featured golden markings on its surface and smooth sides.

    Immediately the countdown ended both individuals didn''t immediately attack each other and proceeded to simply stare at themselves. The stare-off or sosted for about five seconds before anybody made a move.

    The male who was thedy''s opponent drew his sword before shooting forward, and he crossed the distance between them in barely three seconds.

    Thedy having since seen that moveing prepared herself for a sh as she raised her sword above her.

    The man smashed into her figure barely an instantter and the slight shock in his eyes couldn''t be more evident when he saw that thedy had parried his attack as if she had read his moves.

    Nevertheless, he entered a sharp stance and thrust his sword at her gut, but she parried it again, but this time with a second sword!

    A frown appeared on the man''s face, and he tried to escape that position, but a smashing kick struck his gut sending him high above the stage.

    Blood flew out of the expert''s mouth as shock filled his face, he hadn''t seen the attacking even if he had been close to her legs.

    His figure returned to the stage with the grace of a rock, but thedy wouldn''t let him recover yet. Although she had been able to stop his strikes, each one of them contained incredible power.

    She crouched a bit before sprinting towards his position. Her figure appeared above his stillying figure then she raised her swords above her and prepared tounch her own shes. She had been a tad bit too slow however since a sword appeared on the path of her des.

    For the first time in the fight thedy frowned, but her arms never stopped moving to try and destroy his surprisingly sturdy defense. His de never failed to stop her swords.

    She would cut through his sword if she had to, but unfortunately, he wouldn''t allow such an oue.

    With a bit of panic filling his mind, he continued to move his de to parry every one of her barrage of attacks, but her blows had started to be overwhelming.

    He hadn''t even disyed his martial art well and she already had him pinned.

    "Secret art it is," he muttered grimly, loud enough for her to hear, even amid the loud shing of their weapons.

    The man took a deep breath and thedy''s eyes widened. His aura exploded forth and in the blink of an eye, she watched his de flicker upward aiming for her face. He didn''t care that he would get hurt since he understood thatnding such a hit would most likely disable her. Probably kill her even.

    Thedy withdrew her swords to ce them vertically before the horizontal strike.

    Shock filled her eyes when the de struck hers and her arms were unable to withstand the sheer power contained in the blow, sending her flying toward the edge of the stage.

    However, a thin silver barrier flickered into existence before she could fly out off the stage.

    Coughing a mouthful of blood as pains filled her arms and back, she quickly stood and felt mildly surprised that the man had not attacked even if he was already on his feet.

    "I am Zar member of the Crumbling sky guild. Witness the power of my Dividing mountain technique!" The expert announced as everyone took note of the changes that had filled his body.

    His veins bulged grotesquely all over his figure including his face. He looked sick even if his figure radiated vitality like never before. His aura had gotten heavier and radiated his anger and blood-lust.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thedy remained silent at his deration and crouched to enter a stance. She could tell that the battle would be harder now.

    A sigh escaped Zar''s mouth when he suddenly waved his sword in a horizontal sh.

    Surprise filled the faces of the viewers when they saw that his sh generated a powerful gust of wind that morphed into a flying sh more than a few meters in length. It felt sharp even from the screen.

    Thedy sprinted away sessfully dodging the sh and she too moved tounch her own attacks. Performing a series of steps, her lips moved in silent words then she delivered a horizontal then a vertical sh, that created a cross-shaped attack.

    Her moves caused the stage to tremble as the brute force within her attacks covered the distance between the two individuals.

    Unfortunately Zar''s de moved tounch another sh at her almost invisible attacks. Both attacks shed mid-air and the ground immediately saw cracks spreading in its structure.

    Zar moved without words, and danger entered thedy''s mind when she realized she couldn''t follow his movements.

    "Its a shame you had to force me into activating one of my strongest forms barely at the beginning of our fight. Zar appeared beside her, his de already stretched towards her, she would be unable to stop it and the power contained in that move felt able to sever her in two halves.

    The world seemed to slow down before thedy''s eyes as she considered her two options, trying to stop the de which she already knew would fail, or giving up.

    Zar suddenly made another move however, his sword tilted to stop the de from reaching her, but its pommel reached her instead.

    It struck her hip and sent her figure crashing into the barrier an instantter. Devastating. Fast.

    Blood flowed out of thedy''s nose and mouth and her shocked never left her now bloodied face. She thought she had died when the blow hit her and now she wasn''t far from it.

    Her insides were a mess, he had shattered her hip and crushed a few organs on that side of her body. Her vision continued to blur and shake, she knelt about to pass out and she knew there wasn''t much she could do, yet she fought that sensation.

    But Zar moved to make an overwhelming show.

    His figure arrived in front of her then he grabbed her by her attire and proceeded to m her on the ground.

    Silence filled the entire ce as he continued to m her into the ground tainting the stage with blood. He broke an unknown number of bones in the process and threatened to crack her skull.

    A smile appeared on his face after some point, she looked awake, but barely. He clearly enjoyed his actions and that couldn''t help but send disgust spiraling into the minds of many.

    He had obviously won the fight even if thedy continued to try. Making her suffering long.

    Zar delivered a final kick on her chest sending her towards the edge of the stage, however, the barrier didn''t appear, allowing her figure fly outside the stage where a series of masked individuals came and took her away.

    "The winner of the first battle, Zar!" The females voice sounded, but the said man fell unconscious after her words. Blood poured out of his eyes, nose, mouth and ears. Utilizing his secret art had damaged him, leaving him in a no better state than thedy he had brutalized.

    He was immediately carried out of the stage while it repaired itself and the next pair were selected, but Noah wasn''t part.

 Chapter 339 339. ANOMALY

    The battles continued to rage on for whole hours, some shorter than the others while many were lengthy. Noah gained a proper view of the individuals he would be fighting the next day, and many of them were far more spectacr than the man named Zar in the first fight.

    Some fights were so one-sided he felt sad for the losers.

    There were a few individuals he took note of due to how shocking their techniques had been seeing as they could rival his. At least because of the low level of proficiency he had attained.

    But most of the said individuals were shockingly females, while a handful of them were men.

    Soon his guild-mates were paired with others and as he expected experts of their caliber to perform, they won. However, it begged the question of what would ur if they were paired against each other.

    They bore an oath that stopped them from hurting each other. He wondered how an oue would y.

    All in all, With each fight he watched, Noah gained confidence in his power and might. They would be enough to carry him far into thepetition.

    After watching the twentieth battle he got bored. Not because the battles were bad, but because he had longed for his turn so much that after hours of waiting, his excitement had drained him.

    The number of individuals continued to dwindle and soon none of his guild-mates were within the auditorium.

    Soon the thirtieth battle happened and by this point, he had begun to wonder whether the pairing was based on how early a person had registered. A grim expression appeared on his face at that thought knowing that if those considered for the matches were individuals that had filled in their names long before, then he would be part of thest batch.

    However, if that wasn''t so, then he could only continue to wait.

    ''What are the odds,'' Noah asked in frustration watching the fortieth battlemence. Only about twenty individuals remained within the auditorium and all of them were already sitting, clearly as frustrated as he was.

    The fight had been between two women, and the energy they poured into it was shocking, to say the least. At some point during their ten minutes battle, they turned the stage into a literal pile of rubble.

    One was a hammer wielder, an oversized one. While the other utilized her bare fists, and surprisingly they were equally matched. But the bare-fisted fighter came out on top shockingly.

    Her valiant figure stood bloodied as she continued to take heavy breaths, her chest rising and falling, stirring up desire in the hearts of some. She barely had any clothes on, as one of her boobs hung out;pletely exposed to the eyes of all spectators, but she didn''t seem to care enough and simply put on a cloak when she was done.

    The female experts were no doubt the stars of the show. Not only in the amount of talent they disyed but howmitted they were to winning, They reminded Noah of Elder Sarah. So he feared them.

    A five-minute break had to be exercised to allow the staged repair itself after which the next pair were revealed on the screen. Noah still wasn''t part.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Shock and wonder continued to fill his mind as he watched more and more battlesmence, but he wasn''t among them. It seemed the system that picked individuals had forgotten him, but he could only ept his fate.

    That waiting was bound to happen to some people, he was only unfortunate to be part of them.

    At that point, he had waited for a bit over eight hours and only two matches remained, but he noticed something strange.

    "Why are there five of us," He frowned, and a bad feeling began to creep up his mind. Would he be that unlucky that day of all days?

    The 48th battle ended and the next pair were picked, and Noah still wasn''t part.

    ''Is there some kind of mix-up,'' Noah wondered as his eyes fell on the other two. They too were as confused as he was. Weren''t there supposed to be 100 people? A third person for the 50th pair would mean they were 101.

    Then it dawned on Noah.

    Lady Sarah had spoken about how the registration for the tournament would have ended the time they went to sign up, but she had gotten him a spot, but that had caused a problem. The number of individuals present wouldn''t be even due to his addition.

    Noah immediately feared he would be exempted and asked to leave, after all his presence caused everything. He was the anomaly not them.

    A pensive expression quickly appeared on his face as the battle between the two men continued to draw closer to its finish. Their battle was mostly lighthearted and didn''t feature too much violence even if both were still out to kill each other, weirdly.

    One of the individuals was a lower-stage cultivator but he stood equally matched with the middle-stage man before him, at least in technique he was. The battle ended with the lower stage cultivatoring out victorious, but the young man had doubt on his face already.

    He had seen the talent disyed by the 48 individuals that won before him, and although there were lower stage cultivators like him among, he couldn''t help but doubt his prowess, and the struggle was all over his face as he was lead out of the stage to who knew where.

    Noah suspected that they were being teleported, but outside of the screens range.

    Thest pairing began and Noah''s anxiety shot through the roof. But the screen suddenly wet nk.

    "I apologize to you all but there is an extra person amongst you, so the rules for thest battle would be different." Thedy''s voice sounded as the screen soon changed to disy three names and three guild crests.

    "You three will battle it out, but unfortunately we can only take one winner." She exined, and the expressions of all three individuals fell. Noah for the nth time that day, cursed his bad luck.

 Chapter 340 340. FIGHT

    Noah stood atop the grey stage with a colder-than-cold expression. His eyes swept the environment outside the room and found that it was mostly in apart from the ss screen up in the walls which probably featured the tier 4 cultivators.

    Returning his focus to the stage, his cold gaze fell on the two individuals spread out before him, and he cursed again. Although he disliked that situation he preferred it to being disqualified.

    The countdown this time around had been raised to thirty seconds, and the time for the battle had been increased to eighteen minutes, but neither of the three individuals cared so much about those details.

    Each expert had begun to prepare a n seeing as they would be required to split their focus between two opponents.

    Noah ording to his base cultivation was weaker than the two of them, who had power very close to the peak of the middle stage.

    One wielded a giant sword and was a bit bulky. While the other held in his grip a long sword. Both individuals radiated an aura that told him they had been with those weapons too long.

    The countdown ended and all three figures vanished from their positions.

    Noah shed with the bulky man mid-air, and he didn''t hesitate to perform a back flip dodging the thrusting blow of the other man.

    The attacknded on the giant sword of the bulky expert and managed to push him back a few steps, but the ground experienced cracks in the process.

    Noahnded on a position a bit distant from the two figures, then the sword Elder Sarah had given him appeared in his hand. He would need it to deal with both men.

    "I am Aiden of the Divine Lightning guild, I''m sorry but I''ll be winning this battle," he announced unsheathing the sword and entering a seeming battle stance with it.

    His figure disappeared at that point catching both individuals off guard. He ran at a speed their eyes couldn''t follow and he did so casually.

    Noah appeared behind the giant-sworded expert, but the man sensed him and swung his de towards him in panic. Unfortunately, Noah moved and a knee smashed into his face mid-swing.

    Shockingly, however, the expert refused to drop his sword as he bnced himself and moved to perform a sword technique after the first one had been interrupted.

    He delivered an ascending sh towards Noah''s figure, but to his dismay, he had disappeared from his position.

    Noah appeared behind the bulky man, his peripherals already on the second man who was dashing toward him.

    Sending a kick behind the man''s right knee, Noah shattered the bones within it, disabling his next move.

    His focus moved to the second man at that point, and all he had to say was "First form"

    The fear of death reached the expert''s mind in that instant. Noah executed the first form at point nk. He had never expected such rapid attacks from such a small figure.

    An explosion of sheer force resounded in the whole ce at that juncture as the bloodied figure of the second man flew out of the st radius and crashed into the white barrier.

    Noah without caring about the fact that he had almost killed someone, turned to face the bulky man.

    The expert had returned to his feet, but Noah ced his sword between his teeth and proceed to execute the first form on the said man. But unlike the first time, he utilized only his fists.

    Another explosion, this time more spectacr than the first urred, and a dense mist formed as a result of his execution.

    Noah spotted the bulky man flying out of the mist barely conscious, but pain suddenly exploded on a spot closer to his hips.

    With shock filling his mind he stared at his back and saw a sword had pierced him, almost side to side.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Blood flowed out of his mouth and a frown appeared on his eyebrows. His eyes fell on the long-sworded expert he had sent flying the first time.

    His hand was raised meaning he had thrown the de at him, but there was something more. His figure had started to bleed badly then it dawned on Noah, that he was dying. The execution of the first form with his sword had dealt serious wounds to him.

    Shooting his gaze towards the ss screen in the distance, he desired to say something, but the bulky man began to approach him.

    The expert tried to m hisrge sword on Noah''s figure, but astonishment filled his mind when he saw that Noah bent into an unnatural position effectively dodging the mming swing.

    Noah''s figure sprung back up an instantter, but he didn''t immediately attack. He stood a bit; worried about the bleeding man. He feared the possibility of a punishment if he ended up dying.

    Thankfully, however, a series of masked men rushed to the scene.

    Noah could focus at that point, but he got rid of the sword inside him before throwing it toward one of the masked men. A bit over 4k worth of speed essence vanished to repair the injury.

    "There''s no reason to continue," Noah''s voice sounded. "I''m stronger than you."

    "I''ll rather die than quit. I havee here to test my strength against the experts of the other guilds, fight me," the man responded keeping track of the damage Noah''s extraordinary attacks had caused him. His years of training turned into nothing before one execution of the man''s martial art.

    Noah kept quiet at that point and nodded. He understood what the expert meant so his aura red. "I''ll show you a bit more then. Just don''t die," he announced, slowly setting his sword before him. The bulky man did the same.

    Noah moved at that point, and their spar began. It seemed being in pain allowed the man to focus his movements on dodging and attacking at the same time.

    Noah''s movements were radical and absolutely random, but he began to time them and sessfully began to parry his strikes.

    Noah of course held back by a lot, but he began to have fun fighting the man anyway. His figure continued to disappear and appear to no end, he even started to attack mid-air.

    Their swords shing continued to increase in intensity and soon heavy sparks flew about madly. It felt shocking to Noah that such a small sword could withstand that level of power. He went wild after confirming that his weapon wouldn''t randomly crumble and drowned himself in the pleasure of participating in a battle where one wrong step could mean his death.

    Noah eventually had to end it, however. "I had fun," he announced to the barely standing expert.

    "While I''ve had my eyes opened to the monsters out there," the bulky man responded, even if his eyes were mostly closed due to the level of fatigue he had fallen into. Noah praised his resilience, however. They would rival him if the man had ess to better energy.

    "Then let''s end this," Noah smiled crouching. His nostrils drew in an incredible amount of air.

    "Second form," he muttered then he stomped the ground causing huge cracks to spread on the stage, after which his figure vanished to appear behind the barely standing expert. His figure had shed in two ces, but it had been brief.

    A loud nging sound reached Noah''s ears as the man fell in pain. A long cut stretching from his chest to his waist appeared on his figure, and it made him desire unconsciousness.

    Storing his sword, Noah watched as masked men rushed to move the expert away. He had won the battle.

    "At least show me your face." the man said halting the masked men.

    ''How can he even still talk,'' a wide smile grew on Noah''s face as he uncovered his face and watched an astonished expression appear on the expert''s face.

    "I''m Sirius, by the way. I hope we meet another time. I''ll be rooting for you," Sirius exined while the men carried him away, his words leaving Noah with a wider smile.

    "Me too," he replied with a wave.

 Chapter 341 341. C RANK

    Watching Sirius get carried away through a door he didn''t know led to, Noah eventually focused his gaze on the ss screen in the distance before turning his focus to the two men that walked towards the stage.

    Knowing what they wanted to do, he got off the stage and followed their lead, bringing him to another of the six doors that filled that ce. They led him down a tunnel and to his shock he found the 49 individuals that had won the previous battles, and before them a massive screen that now disyed whiteness.

    He didn''t need to guess what their gazes meant since he understood that they had watched his battle and surely they had seen his dangerousness.

    Noah caught sight of his guild-mates and he managed to exchange gazes with Williams. The expert shook his head with a light smile.

    ''Why did I think they had all been teleported out of the ce,'' Noah sighed inwardly, knowing that the powerful experts in the ce had taken note of him. There would probably be strategies for fighting him, after all his main quality was speed.

    ''Let''s see how that goes,'' he gave a light chuckle, finding a cool spot in the rtively small room to stay.

    The two men left at that point and a voice soon exited the screen.

    "Good performance today young experts. It seems this year''spetition will be tougher than we expected. That''s a lot considering that no one mediocre has ever participated in these games." Thedy started.

    "You will all be taken to your rooms to allow you rest and assimte all you''ve seen. Tomorrow will be another elimination game, your numbers will be halved and only the bests will move on to thest stage," she exined immediately ending.

    A magical circle lit up the entire room and Noah watched the key now in his grip begin to glow, then a blinding light washed over them.

    An instantter, Noah found himself before his door and didn''t hesitate to ce the key into its hole and enter.

    He proceeded to take a shower and rest, after which a knock on his door brought him out of his habit of re-visiting his memories. They were still as good as ever. He opened his door and to his pleasant surprise found his guild-mates waiting outside.

    "What do I owe this visit," he smiled having removed his mask. He watched their eyes shine, even more, not even Illiana managing to hide her reaction.

    "You have it all," Williams chuckled walking into the room as Noah had already epted their presence.

    "Didn''t you see me on the screen?" An eyebrow rose on Noah''s face amazed by the man''s ttering words.

    "We did. We all did. But it''s still shocking in person. I see why you had a mask on. I''d want you to wear one before my woman," Williams replied with another chuckle even if Noah understood that he meant those words.

    "But really, what''s the asion foring?" Noah asked sitting on the ground as they did before sweeping his gaze on all three of them.

    The three exchanged nces at that point and a sigh abruptly escaped Illiana''s lips.

    "Seeing as you have been outstanding in the battle, and you''ll probably remain outstanding, we''vee here to more or less celebrate our win since we might not move on to the next stage," She exined in a slow quiet tone. Her voice really was sweet to the ears.

    ''This is the second time she''s spoken this long.'' Noah mused realizing that their worries were valid, at least to some point.

    "Ah, I see." He muttered unable to produce any words that spoke hope. The individuals that entered the second stage were great. They were too, but there had to be room for the possibility of losing.

    They weren''t implying that they wouldn''t move on to the next stage, only that if they didn''t there wouldn''t be the chance to meet like that.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A long silence fell on the group at that point, and Noah felt forced to talk after it dragged on for a long time.

    "If by some chance we do not move on to the third stage let''s go on a guild mission as a group," his words managed to intrigue them, and soon smiles shone on their slightly worried faces.

    "By the way, when did you join the guild? Someone with your looks and power should be pretty popr amongst our ranks," Liam pointed out.

    "Ah I joined only recently, about four or three months ago," Noah replied truthfully. His words however brought shocked silence.

    "You mean you''re part of the new members?!" Williams stood at the sheer incredulousness of those words.

    "That''s what I''m implying. Weren''t my words clear," Noah replied getting rid of an itch on his head.

    "Fuck," Liam muttered. "What have I been doing during my almost twenty years of being here." His tone suggested he meant those words, and even his downcast expression emphasized the sincerity of his feelings.

    Illiana kept quiet but Noah understood that she felt as shocked as they were.

    "What rank are you?" Illiana eventually asked as Liam and Williams had really fallen into deep thought.

    A wry smile appeared on Noah''s face at that point, "I''m only rank F," he replied. "That''s why thispetition is significant to me," he exined.

    Ignoring the burning gazes of Liam and Williams Noah kept his eyes on Illiana and even she shook her head before lowering them for a while.

    "What rank are you guys?" Noah asked.

    "C rank." They replied in unison.

    This time it was Noah''s turn to be shocked, but his didn''tst long, since winning the tournament would mean being promoted to the top of C rank, where he would be unable to progress due to his low cultivation level. Unless he was given a pass like elder Sarah.

    "Well no worries," Noah eventually remarked. "Then I guess you didn''t join thepetition for the rank reward, then for the weapons, and the tour of the other nations," hemented.

    "But from the looks of things, it''ll be impossible," Liam gave a wistfulugh.

    "For one, you''ll most likely be part of the top three, there''s no room for us," Williams said his words producing nods.

    "I''m not that spectacr. If you had seen me months ago you''d understand." Noah said, waving his hand dismissively.

    He thought back to how weak he had been. If he had not undergone the dungeon dive he would be unfit for the tournament.

    They would have been wiped out during the magical beast pack since he wouldn''t have been capable of hurting higher-stage beasts not to talk of killing one.

    "Well we can only see what tomorrow brings," Noah shrugged, and the others could only nod in agreement.

 Chapter 342 342. ALMOST

    The night quickly passed and the others returned to their rooms, the next day might not be that hard, but it wasn''t going to be easy either.

    Noah awoke from his one-hour nap when an announcement reached his ears. He had stared at his soul cultivation manual for most of the night. He quickly took a few minutes to tidy himself and exited his room.

    His eyes fell on the other 49 individuals and couldn''t help but admire their reduced numbers. Only half of them would be returning to their roomster that day.

    Like the other day, magical circles lit up beneath their feet and soon they found themselves in a room, but one different from the one of the other day.

    The hall looked a bit smaller than the other one, but the details that stood out were thepletely silver pirs that were seemingly made from metal, at least due to the way they reflected light.

    Everyone''s focus, however, switched to the illusory screen that appeared in the room and disyed a nk blue screen, from which a familiar feminine voice rang out.

    "Good morning young men and women. Wee to today''s edition of the tournament of champions, just like yesterday you will fight in pairs of two, but rather than the pairs being random, we over here; after careful consideration have paired all of you for today''s match. These are how the matches will happen, any number on the list you find yourself, is when your turn willmence." After her words, the blue screen expanded before disying a list of names and their guild crests.

    Noah saw the name of his opponent and managed to recall the person''s face. His eyes searched the crowd until he found the expert. Both individuals locked gazes and he couldn''t help but furrow his brows afterward.

    He had done so for two reasons. One because their names appeared on the 25th position of the list. He couldn''t help but feel the elder had done that on purpose, after all his opponent was also one of the more spectacr persons and had been overwhelming in their battle.

    And two; because of what the expert could do.

    "You will be given ten minutes to defeat your opponent, and if a clear winner doesn''t appear during that period an elimination game willmence and one person will scale through, victorious." Thedy continued after giving them about a minute to find themselves.

    "The first battle will begin after the two-minute countdown ends," she ended and the list was reced by a countdown.

    Murmurs immediately began to fill the room at that point. Unlike the first day, there was only one door, but two individuals with higher stage power stood before it.

    ''I''m going to be waiting for four hours till my match,'' Noah sighed in defeat. Unfortunately, he could only ept his fate as being in thest match.

    However, rather than continuing to whine andin inwardly about the annoying treatment, he tuned in to his memories to recall the performance of his opponent.

    Derek ording to his name on the screen looked a bit older than his mid-thirties, he stood at a height of about 5''8. Had long azure hair and a pair of deep yellow eyes. In terms of looks, he was about average, but his power was incredible.

    Having a cultivation base at the peak of the middle stage, he was one of the strongest experts there, but his martial arts made him even more annoying to Noah.

    He could, however, determine all this simply because of one thing; Derek had taken his seat beside Noah.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How may I help you?" Noah asked after about two minutes of annoying silence had passed.

    "Who do you think will win between those pairs?" Derek''s surprisingly deep voice reached Noah''s ears while his eyes remained on the screen now disying the events of the two individuals on the stage.

    His question forced Noah into focusing his gaze on the screen, while he recalled the performance of both individuals.

    "Both are pretty strong but one has the advantage, at least should have the advantage," Derek added shortly focusing on Noah''s masked face.

    "Well the green-haired dude has the advantage of his two-ded staff, but the brown-haired man practices a martial art that focuses on dodging and grappling. In normal terms, the guy with the staff should win. But we''re not normal." Noah paused locking gazes with the expert before returning his focus to the screen, they had started.

    "If I were the brown-haired guy I''d get rid of the staff and I''ll win easy peasy," Noah ended shrugging.

    "Great answer. The issue is how would he get rid of the staff?" Derek asked.

    "Long-ranged weapons have a limit whereby they are unable to function properly. Simply getting close will be enough to disable our green-haired man, but that wouldn''t be easy too. I believe the green-haired dude won''t let that happen easily, so I guess only skill and luck can make the brown-haired guy win. Notwithstanding, it''s hard to keep someone away when they are determined to close the space between you." Noah exined. "The battle should be almost equally matched, at least for most parts."

    "In short we can only wait and see who luck favors," Derek asked and burst intoughter when he saw Noah nod with another shrug. "Brilliant!" He eximed while still in hisughter.

    Limiting himself to remain silent, Noah focused on the battle and it looked as though the duo had heard him. Nevertheless, he could see that it would drag on for a while.

    "It was nice talking to you. As you already know, I''m Derek, from the Frozen prism guild." He introduced focusing fully on Noah''s reaction.

    "Well, I am Aiden from the Divine Lightning guild," Noah stated never removing his gaze from the screen.

    "Well, it''s nice to meet you Aiden," Derekmented standing to leave. "Let the best of us emerge victorious in our battle," he added returning to his former position in the room.

    Noah took a second to gaze at his leaving figure before falling into thought. He immediately began to recall all of the expert''s martial art and it seemed to be focused on defending andunching surprisingly precise attacks when he saw fit, but also with a deep mastery level of trickery.

    His style almostpletely matched Noah''s speed and power-based form.

    Almost.

    Noah had no doubt that he had enough power to win, after all, it didn''t matter how cunning a person was, overwhelming power would always win, and even Derek knew it.

 Chapter 343 343. ANNOUNCEMENT

    The first battle surprisingly ended with a draw, but both figures were bloodied. Each one of them had severed a few chinks of skin from their opponent and cuts of different severity filled their bodies.

    The brown-haired guy had managed to close in on his green-haired opponent many times which had resulted in deep gashes along the chest and legs of the green-haired man.

    The green-haired expert had in turn managed to inflict significant damage on the arms and torso of his opponent, his attacks had produced long cuts and holes that bled badly.

    In short, both experts were dying every second, but their eyes still burnt with vigor. Unfortunately, only one person had to seed in the match. Which called for the elimination game.

    Rather than aplex event Noah and the others expected, both individuals were simply asked to hold their breaths until one person couldn''t anymore.

    It was grim to see that their fates hung on such mediocre matters.

    Then and there everyone decided that they would finish their matches before the countdown. No one wanted to leave based on not being able to hold their breath long enough. Luckily, however, Noah felt confident in besting anyone in such apetition.

    Or maybe he had gotten cocky.

    At the end of the day the green-haired man lost. Truly, luck wasn''t on his side. A grim ending.

    The next individuals walked to the stage and with pensive expressions and determination to wipe the floor with their opponent. They began immediately the countdown.

    In five minutes one of them looked like he would be the winner, but things changed when he made a wrong move. His win went down the drain and thedy decimated him. At the end of the match, she embedded his head into the stage while he continued to bleed to his death.

    Fortunately, masked men rushed to the scene and administered potions to him, before taking him out of her angry sight.

    ''Feisty,'' Noah couldn''t help butment watching her being escorted down the stage and into another waiting room probably.

    The third pair then the fourth the fifthmenced and ended. The sixth came and Illiana was to feature in it.

    With her face as cold as ever, she climbed the stage only to have her opponent; another female, begin to talk to her.

    Immediately the countdown ended, however, her rapier appeared in her grip and she made the first move.

    Each of her thrusting blows sent bullets of sheer air-force barreling everywhere, and soon her opponent had to get serious.

    Thedy wielded a spiked mace capable of extending with the chains stuffed into it. However, she kept the spiked weapon in its normal state, since Illiana''s speed made it difficult to swing things about.

    For the first time since he watched her, Noah noticed how Illiana had stopped focusing on being graceful, even if she remained in her form. She instead went for the kill with every one of her attacks.

    Her martial arts was on full disy but thedy wouldn''t let her get too close, meaning she had to improvise.

    The battle dragged on for close to eight minutes. By this point, both individuals were frustrated about theck of a clear winner.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Illiana however, saw that situation as a chance and moved on to make thedy even more frustrated. Her mace attacks began to get more brutish, and soon openings in her formerly tight defense began to appear.

    Just to tell how powerful Illiana was, all she had to do was take advantage of one opening with one thrust, and her attack directly blew off a portion of her opponent''s left side.

    Blood flew everywhere at that point, as a scream of agony filled the ears of all that were watching. The winner was already evident since thedy couldn''t focus with such a serious wound draining her life force.

    In mere seconds she turned pale and the masked men had to rush to the scene before thedy even gave up. There seemed to be a secret rule to not allow anyone die since thedy announced Illiana as the winner even before the arrival of the medics just to prevent death.

    Needless to say, Noah felt d for her and even felt relieved. He could only hope that the others would win their battles.

    The seventh, eighth ninth tenth and eleventh battles went on before it was Williams''s turn.

    The young man had been stunning in his battle with his opponent. His mastery of his axes were truly incredible. Noah pitied his opponent after a particr point.

    His axes against the persons long sword. Williams''s shes made the person doubt their strength and at times he went for the head.

    In mere seconds an overwhelming disy uncaring of being injured made his opponent begin to focus on keeping his head on his neck.

    At some point the youngd had to call it quits. Williams had been dangerously close to hacking his neck off if not for the timely evasive maneuver that had still left a slightly deep gash on his shoulder.

    Even if the expert had managed to open a big cut on Williams stomach he quit since bloodthirsty fury burnt in his opponents eyes.

    He could swear he had offended the great guild expert in his past life, or the man had serious anger issues, as his blood lust could almost be tasted.

    The twelfth battlemenced then the thirteenth, and it wasn''t until the neenth pair did Liam step on the stage, and his opponent had been the bare-fisteddy. A weird pair since Liam obliterated her with his spear.

    Noah couldn''t help but wonder what the elders had been thinking. Had they overestimated her power. Even Noah would think twice before the experts mastery of his spear. Not to talk of a person who wielded no weapon.

    Although she had managed to get close a few times, her reckless actions had caused nasty wounds to appear on her figure. Liam had seen her disy the other day and knew not to pity her.

    Notwithstanding, he felt bad for the bad pair. She never had any chances to begin with.

    The matches continued to pass and eventually thest match came. Noah''s turn.

    Wielding the sword given to him by Elder Sarah Noah felt his focus reach its peak while he waited for the countdown to end. His eyes never left the calm expression of his opponent. And it put him on edge, at least a bit.

    Needless to say, the two-minutes long wait psed, and Noah prepared to move when Derek suddenly raised his hand.

    "I quit!" He casually announced.

 Chapter 344 344. SUPERIOR SPEED

    Shock filled Noah''s face and the faces of all that were watching when Derek announced his desire to leave the battle before it even started, and Noah wasn''t having that.

    With a frown of displeasure on his face, Noah prepared to move when the voice of thedy reached his ears.

    "Contestant Aiden, attacking him will result in immediate disqualification," she announced before proceeding to name him the winner.

    "Why?" Noah couldn''t help but ask. He had been looking forward to that battle, but everything had gone down the drain with just two words.

    "It''s pretty simple, Aiden. I found no way of winning a battle with you," Derek stated. "Your agility and speed are annoying traits to deal with in a fight. Especially one that''s close-ranged. Maybe if spells were in y I could win, but not on martial arts. You simply have the superior speed."

    "You could have at least tried to fight me, don''t you think it''s shameful to quit a battle before it even begins," Noah spoke releasing a few taunts, and Derek heard them loud and clear. Unfortunately, taunts had little to no effect if they came from an extremely powerful person.

    "I for one never came here for any of the rewards, I simply came to check our nation''s bests, and I''ve not been disappointed. However, you bring things to a whole new level. Everything about you seems special, and I''m sure everyone watching would think twice after witnessing your battle yesterday." Derek shrugged.

    "Besides it''s not shameful to run from a battle you can''t win," the expert added before following the lead of the two men that had arrived behind him.

    They led him towards a hallway and he soon disappeared in it. Noah didn''t even give importance to the beauty of the stage and simply followed another pair of individuals into another passageway.

    A room simr to the one they had waited in before unfolded in his sight, but his mood had plummeted after Derek''s words.

    Although he felt d about the fact that he would probably enter the top ten, maybe even top three even if there were still really strong experts around, he couldn''t help but feel moody.

    It seemed people would begin to run from a fight with him, and it put him in a bad mood.

    ''When did I be a battle junkie,'' Noah giggled inwardly as a certain individual entered his mind. ''She''s a bad influence. Her habits are already rubbing off on me,'' he sighed focusing on the nk screen in the distance.

    His eyes, however, fell on an approaching trio, and they were of course his guild-mates.

    "You did great out there," Williams started and his words inevitably put a sarcastic smile on Noah''s face.

    "I literally did nothing," Noah replied swiftly scanning the expert. "Your wounds are healed," he changed the subject.

    "Yes. The potions avable here are of high quality. More than I expected," Williams gave a momentarily stunned expression. The matter still left him surprised.

    "Well that''s great," Noah replied wondering if there would be any potion capable of healing him, then he recalled that there wouldn''t.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Today was filled with great performances, and the entire councilmends you for it," thedy suddenly started, pulling everyone''s attention to the nk screen. Her voice contained a significant amount of excitement.

    "As you all know, tomorrow would be thest day in which only ten of you will emerge victorious. Normally we would tell you what is to ur tomorrow, but there''ll be a new addition of events this year to make the winners worthy of their positions." She continued.

    "So for now you all should rest. Tomorrow will not be as easy as today was," she ended and the screen disappeared.

    Not a moment further, magical circles lit up the entire room and everyone found themselves facing their room''s door. The hallway was now really scanty, but no one ced any importance on it.

    Noah for one didn''t need to rest, he had done nothing that day and only needed a rest from the slight frustration he had experienced knowing his almost five hours of wait would amount to no action.

    Fortunately, his guild-mates came around again and a few hours of surprisingly fun chats urred before they returned to their rooms. Their behavior had forced him to a conclusion. They weren''t necessarily bad people, and he could trust them a bit, even if he hoped to never have to rely on them.

    Their departure allowed him to return to his training, but this time around he vanished from his room to the cultivation room, he did this after cing his room''s key on his bed, he had confirmed that it was a tracking device of sorts.

    Stacks of bottles existed within the white room. Noah had long since maxed out the number of potions he could create, and he had made sure to finish the old ones, and now only the new ones existed.

    They could add a proper 50% to his core and he had 100 of them. He would never be able to run out of essence unless it was a really long fight, one that was taxing on his core.

    His body cultivation manual appeared in his palm and he couldn''t help but fall into marvel when he gazed at the many nk pages. The fourth tier wasn''t that far anymore and he hoped to achieve that level of power before his year run out.

    He still had about four to five months remaining, and had to admit that he had grown a lot in the months of training and he wasn''t nearly done with the various forms of the Roiling thunder technique.

    Storing the object in his inventory, he sat down to begin a body cultivating session. The gains weren''t much, but he mostly did it for the peace of mind he gained.

    Leveling up was abrupt, but cultivating was slow and peaceful.

    He normally felt inclined towards battling it out, but meditation helped him calm the raging storm within his mind. He usually refrained from switching sides in his mental state due to the bacsh of that strange ability, and also because Elder Sarah''s training had helped him put his mind a state of almost constant calmness.

    ? Noah had the system wake him with a prompt when about five hours had passed and he didn''t hesitate to return to his room. His body and mind refreshed from the session, even if there was only a miniscule increase in power.

    Noah slept and didn''t wake until an announcement reached his ears.

 Chapter 345 345. DESTRUCTION

    Stepping out of his door with his mask on. He had started to like that additional piece of clothing after wearing it for days.

    His eyes swept the hallway and met the serious expressions of the other 24 individuals. Thedy''s words had really gotten to them and a sense of nervousness couldn''t help but fill their minds.

    Only a bit of waiting was required before the usual magical circle expanded beneath their feet and their surroundings changed.

    Noah opened his eyes in the same room they had waited in yesterday, and it wasn''t until about a minute had passed did a blue illusory screen appear, followed by the voice of the female, whom no one knew.

    "Good morning youngsters, wee to thest day of the tournament of champions. Today is going to feature events far different than yesterday or the day before," she started drawing everyone''s attention to her voice.

    "There will be two major events, the first will be an obstacle course and the second a free for all. The obstacle course is like many of you know. You are ced before a series of obstacles and you are to cross them sessfully, except that this one has a time limit and if you''re not done by the time required, you''ll be immediately disqualified."

    "The second will take ce in a remote town designed for this tournament and will see you all hunting each other down until only ten individuals remain," she paused for a second.

    "Both events are targeted at eliminating participants, but for the sake of the top three there''ll be points attached to both of them." She continued when a magical circle suddenly expanded above them and simr items numbering 25 fell from it.

    The curious cultivators didn''t hesitate to catch them after which thedy continued.

    "These objects are to be worn and will take your vitals and also hold your scores." she started/

    "The first score-rted issue will be on the time required to finish the obstacle course."

    "The time limit itself is an hour thirty minutes, but with every five minutes remaining till the end of the time limit; ten points are awarded to you. For example; if you finish the obstacle course twenty minutes before the end of the time limit you receive 40 points. If you finish ten minutes till the time required runs out you receive 40 points," she exined.

    "Your finish time must be in multiples of five minutes to receive an extra ten points, so for instance, if your finish time is twenty-four minutes till the countdown ended you will only gain forty points and not fifty. If you however finish exactly when the time runs out you will receive nothing."

    "The bracelets are trackers featuring the time limit. However, when you reach the finish line it stops counting and that will be your finish time." she continued.

    "Now for the second andst event. Assuming you survived the first one and get to the city where the battles will begin, you are to spread out in all directions and wait for the countdown required till its starts ends."

    "Immediately the game ends you are to eliminate each other until a buzzer sounds signifying that only ten individuals remain. The bracelets will feature a scan of your vitals and if it''s too low you will be teleported, and thest person to attack you will be rewarded a point for eliminating you,"

    "Note that no spells are allowed. Even a whiff of mana will be enough to disqualify you," She warned even if everyone knew.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We at the council are aware of the fact that some of you are guild-mates and hold an oath to not hurt each other. Well, as long as you remain within the bounds of the town the negative effects of your oaths will be repelled allowing you to eliminate each other."

    Her words immediately brought murmurs. Noah for one understood what she meant, and he recalled his time with Augustus. Oaths could only be repelled or broken by a stronger power. In their case tier 5.

    His eyes scanned the area and fell on the others. They exchanged uncertain gazes, but no one moved from their position.

    "Each person you eliminate will bring you 40 points which will be added to the points gained during the obstacle course. Those with the top three highest points will be the top three." Her exnation ended and she allowed the experts to take in all she had said.

    ''Those lower than top three do not have any particr requirement, just be around when only ten individuals remain and you''re set,'' Noah concluded after a while. Of course, that rule didn''t apply to him since he aimed for the top three.

    Noah inspected the bracelet more and realized that it could develop a holographic screen. His "Vital" was "Excellent" but "Points" and "Finish time" were null.

    A few minutes had to pass before thedy''s voice returned from the screen.

    "Are you ready? Immediately the countdown ends you''ll be teleported to the obstacle course site," she announced when a ten seconds countdown appeared on the nk screen.

    The whole room went dead silent at that point, Noah felt his nervousness skyrocket, but his mind was still in its calmness, His expression was normal, heck it radiated peace and confidence, after all those were qualities he truly had.

    A silver magical circle expanded within the room and the blinding light of teleportation wrapped around the twenty-five participants then they vanished from the room. That time would be thest some would return to those walls.

    Noah opened his eyes to a different environment and the first of the many details he noticed was the whiteness that filled his surrounding. And yes the incredibly strong winds that troubled the area.

    A second inspection informed him of his location. A mountain. A snowy mountain at that.

    The cold barely reached his mind, but he had to worry about the wind, he could swear it was out to blow him off.

    The sights of transparent silver walls filled his vision, but it didn''t stop him from gazing at the area below the mountain''s peak. Then his eyes fell on some of the obstacles.

    A surprised gasp escaped his mouth at the sight of destruction that unfolded in his sight. The peak of the mountains stood snowy, but the areas beneath it zed with the light of orange mes.

    Shock twisted Noah''s face when he realized that the entire mountain was on fire!

 Chapter 346 346. BLAZING BOULDERS

    A big countdown floated before the 25 cultivators while they gazed at the zing light below them.

    They had been teleported to the peak of the mountain but were facing a path that led downwards.

    Two ck pirs shining with many red lines looked to be the starting line and if they crossed it their time would start.

    Noah took a deep breath while he waited for the two minutes countdown to end. It was practically a race at this point, only that many challenges filled the path to the mountains foot.

    Noah felt confident in his ability, but he couldn''t determine how fast he would finish until heid eyes on the obstacles. He had a hint that there would be more down there than fire.

    More than halfway through the countdown everyone already had their minds in a calm and focused state. Their eyes set on the starting line before them while many of them wielded their weapons. Noah wasn''t one of them, but he was always prepared.

    The countdown felt tost hours, but it eventually ended. A loud buzzer sounded signaling the beginning of the event.

    Noah took a deep breath sucking a huge portion of air before storing it in his lungs. His knees bent a bit while the others had already begun their dash. However, when his figure moved, he created a powerful gust of wind that lifted some from their feet sending them flying and raising a cloud of snow.

    The world around Noah turned into a series of white blurs with vague figures, but he didn''t care about them, that event had be personal.

    His figure blurred down the spiraling path that led to the first burning area of the mountain.

    Noah sighted fire in the distance, but he didn''t stop. Heck, he increased his movement speed to zoom into the burningnd area.

    Not more than three seconds down his linear path, the first obstacle appeared before him.

    A huge portion of the mountain path looked to have been shaved off leaving a gap in the road.

    Noah had toe to an abrupt halt to stop himself from plunging downwards to what could be his death.

    The heat in the environment was intense enough for him to feel warm, and he knew it would increase the more he stood there.

    Holding his breath due to the sheer heat the air in the surroundings carried, Noah wondered how such an environment could even be created.

    Unfortunately, he pushed that topic to the back of his mind and took a few steps backward.

    Scanning the area with difficulty, he had to ce his arm in front of his eyes to even see anything past a few meters from his figure, but even that was adequate.

    Everything was burning, except the ground beneath him, but even that had turned charred.

    ''I guess this is what hell would look like,'' Noah thought concluding that he couldn''t take footing on the mountain''s wall due to the mes that danced on it.

    Only jumping could help him, but the gap between the two paths was about 20m in length. It was a long jump, but he saw no way out.

    Crouching a bit, he shot forward without further thought. At the edge of the path, hepressed the force in his knees and leaped forward with a mighty bang.

    ''Am I gonna make it!'' he screamed inwardly while his figure formed an arc in the air. The heat of the environment struck his figure but he remained too focused on not missing hisnding.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''I''m not gonna make it!'' he cursed as panic filled his mind, but he suddenly changed his mind mid-way.

    His feetnded on the tip of the broken path and he had to crouch and roll away since it showed signs of breaking off. And it did.

    ''I did it!'' he gave a sigh of relief inwardly, however his expression flickered when he saw that his actions had caused a portion of the opposite path to break off creating an even wider gap.

    In that instant, Noah saw someone burst out of the mes that clouded the mountains path. Unfortunately, the individual had noticed the gap toote and plunged downwards with a scream.

    ''Sorry,'' Noah apologized before sprinting again. The man''s scream had alerted the others and they had time to stop before the broken path, but Noah was nowhere to be seen.

    Needless to say many of them thought it had been him, and that put his guild-mates in a grim mood.

    Noah continued on his sprint but this time he remained more careful than the first. He crossed a few more broken paths in less than a minute, and began to doubt that they were natural.

    Things soon changed a bit after three minutes into the countdown. Noah had reached a lower elevation and new obstacles appeared in his sight.

    Burning boulders were lined up in front of him and released searing heat, so much so that Noah felt his attire begin to heat up and the tips of his sleeves caught fire.

    Taking a few step back as the heat had started to make him sweat, Noah let out a soft breath. Thanks to his breathing control he could maintain the same breath he had taken on the peak of the mountain.

    However, there was still a limit to how much he could conserve in that heat. Lack of oxygen would most likely lower their health before even the obstacles eliminated them.

    His vitals were still excellent on the holographic screen, but that was only because he had spent most of his time there holding his breath and running about. He believed the others would be having difficulties.

    Closing his eyes for a bit, Noah prepared to unleash his best on the zing rocks before him. They created a perfect blockade, and he considered jumping them, but he feared there could be broken paths on his way.

    His figure shot forward distorting the mes in the environment due to the sheer velocity he was capable of.

    Noah unleashed the first form on the boulder before him, and a spectacr explosion that sent ming bits of rocks and a serious heat st flying everywhere urred, but his movements were quick enough to bypass most of the rocks.

    Only most.

    Bits of rocks smashed into Noah''s figure, but they made no effect on him, but the same couldn''t be said for the heat st.

    Most of his sleeves turned to ash when the st washed over him with no way for him to dodge.

    Thankfully he was mostly fine. But he understood that if things continued like that he would be naked in minutes. Fortunately he had a series of attires prepared for such a situation.

    Noah''s attacks didn''t stop as he simply continued to move forward and explosions continued to shake the environment. The boulders were big and sturdy, but his fists turned them intro piles of rubble.

    Noah had be an unstoppable force packing shocking power, one that didn''t hesitate to turn the obstacles before him into dust.

 Chapter 347 347. SPECTACULAR

    The area never stopped trembling during the time Noah used to clear the path before him. He however felt shocked to find that with every boulder he destroyed and moved forward, magical circles expanded to rece them.

    ''I guess it makes it fair,'' Noah thought wiping the sweat off his face. He honestly wondered how sweat could evenst in that temperature. Maybe his sweat had evolved.

    A soft sigh escaped his mouth when he saw the clear path before him. Although everything remained on fire, the mountain path was clear for many meters.

    He took a moment to take a breather, before sprinting forward. Although he had destroyed every boulder, it seemed he had done nothing since they had all been reced. That scene further caused the others who would get there to believe he had never reached there.

    Noah continued to sprint until he reached a lower elevation. He had barely spent up to five minutes so far, and he strived to move even faster. Unfortunately, the obstacle thaty before him could prove difficult to face.

    Before him, stood many humanoid figures. They were clearly dummies and were made of a silver alloy that stood strong against the heat of the environment.

    Noah counted nothing less than twenty of those dummies and felt certain that more rid that area.

    Notwithstanding, in the face of such threats he never stopped running. Heck, he increased his sprinting speed until he hit his max. Which was already faster than the speed of sound.

    His mind had been quick to provide a solution to the dummies, and that was to of course not fight them. Instead, he would simply run past them.

    Noah would have caused a mighty gust of wind with his movements, but the bracelet wouldn''t allow that. He could still kick dust or snow with his movements, but there weren''t any there.

    Nevertheless, when his figure streaked past the many dummies, most of them found their figures knocked off of the mountain''s path and into the air. Plunging to their demise.

    His figure turned into a messy streak zooming down the spiral path of the mountain.

    In less than five seconds Noah found himself reaching a lower elevation.

    By this point, he could almost see the foot of the mountain, even if a jump from that height would normally be able to kill him.

    Unfortunately, he had to return his focus to the dummies before him and had to halt his movements due to the gap in the path.

    His figure appeared amid the mes after themotion died down, and the dummies seemed toe alive since their eyes zed with deep orange light.

    On both sides of the path were dummies preparing to attack him.

    Noah clicked his tongue before taking a few steps back and elerating to his top speed, sessfully crossing the gap and even knocking down some dummies.

    However, immediately he stopped moving, he had to retrieve and raise his sword to parry the silver fisting his way.

    The de bounced off the dummies arm but also managed to shift its trajectory, allowing Noah sessfully dodge the crunching attack.

    Furrowing his brows, he performed a powerful upward sh that struck the dummy''s chin, before sessfully dividing its head into two halves.

    Noah rejoiced at that victory but danger exploded in his mind as he watched the dummy begin to glow dangerously an instantter.

    The heat it also emitted skyrocketed and Noah had to leap forward, but the explosion that followed had been a tad too quick.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With a shaking boom, the dummy detonated, sending a dense wave of mes flying everywhere. Within the waves were chucks of its figure. This caused that area to begin to experience cracks and soon began to break off.

    Noah who had only been able to move a few three meters from the dummy, but had been caught in the wave of mes.

    His clothes disappeared, but his skin was left okay. Nevertheless, he found himself almost being knocked off the path as he flew to its edge but managed to hold onto something.

    Panic, however, spread in his mind when he noticed the massive cracks that had opened on the path causing it gradually break off.

    The dummy''s detonation had taken out more than half its kind in a distance of about 15m.

    The sound of huge rocks experiencing dividing cracks reached Noah''s ears as he pulled himself to his feet.

    The ground beneath him gave way before he could move, however, and he found himself falling. Thankfully he managed to retrieve his daggers quick enough to stab them into the burning terrain even if it was beginning to crumble.

    Noah grunted as panic tried to take control of his mind. Rocks never stopped falling and he had to narrow his eyelids to reduce the amount of debris that reached his eyes. His legs were hanging in the air and he couldn''t help but experience a bit of despair when he realized that he would fall if he didn''t act soon.

    With a burst of determination, he unearthed his dagger and stabbed it higher, but more cracks appeared; almost rendering his action useless.

    Almost.

    Noah took a deep breath before pulling himself up then rxed to suddenly leap upwards.

    His figure shot upwards and he managed to get another spot to stab his daggers into. He had found a solution to his problem, but it required him to jump with his arms, a surprisingly difficult task, one that was even more difficult considering the fact that the mountain was still on fire, and his chest and belly were exposed.

    Performing the same actions twice in less than four seconds, Noah arrived on top of the path again, but he had to move quickly.

    d about his oveing, he was about to take a big step forward, when everything crashed, and he plunged downwards.

    Intense panic filled his mind in that instant, but his consciousness looked to find a solution if there was any. And there was.

    Noah found that although he was falling he was still close to the mountain itself, meaning another path existed below him, he would only need to not miss it.

    Looking downwards for signs of a path, he saw that he and the huge chunks of burning rocks drew nearer to it, but they were also gliding farther from the mountain.

    Noah''s focus reached its peak in those moments as he raised his dagger before him ready to stab them into the burning mountain when the time was ready.

    ''Now!'' Noah screamed inwardly as he pushed all his force into his dagger and felt them pierce the mountain''s rocky material, but gravity wouldn''t let go easily. Unfortunately for the natural force, he had just as much determination.

    His figure slid down the mountain while his daggers remained embedded in it, holding him up. He had seeded in remaining on the mountain, but he had to choose between hiking downwards to the path below or reaching for the path above him.

    Noah went for thetter option, and after a few leaps he was on stable ground, but this time golem-like dummies roamed the area, and there weren''t just fire types, ice types were present also! Causing a spectacr scene of mes burning on solid ice without melting it.

 Chapter 348 348. CACOPHONY

    ''Interesting,'' Noah thought casually dodging the punches of one of the fire golem-like dummies. They were made of the same silver alloy the humanoid dummies were made of, meaning he could directly destroy them with his weapon.

    Unfortunately, after what he had to go through killing one of the dummies, he didn''t want to make the same mistake.

    He continued to dodge the slow strikes of the fire dummy. It wasn''t exactly slow and would be able to catch even some tier 3''s, off guard. But to someone like him, the punches were almost moving in slow motion, and he wasn''t empowering himself.

    Noah swept his gaze on the other golems and immediately understood why that ce was supposed to be a challenge.

    The golems were programmed in a way that they barely reacted to each other, but their strikes would be capable of shattering the bones of tier 3 cultivators. So in essence the field was bnced. The golems were stronger and sturdier than the humanoid dummies, but for that sake they were dumb.

    His eyes fell on the unbelievable scene of fire burning on ice. He desired to study it, but since he was short on time he couldn''t.

    His figure crouched when the golem threw another punch and he moved to its back. Before the chunk of alloy could turn to face him, he performed a kick on its back and sent it flying, until it crashed into another of its kind, and shockingly they began to fight.

    Noah saw that the others noticed themotion and began to move toward them, so he sprinted past them.

    To the golem''s perception, he was less than a blur.

    He crossedrge distances to arrive at a position on the path that didn''t feature any golem.

    A purple attire appeared on his hand at that point and he didn''t hesitate to put it on, and also another face mask, but this one was ck.

    ''This might be stupid,'' Noah thought, ncing at the fire that still surrounded him. At this point, the fieryndscape had begun to blend into the background.

    His focus was more on reaching the foot of the mountain. The thought of simply jumping till he reached another path crossed his mind, but he hesitated.

    He couldn''t bet on his luck since it gave up on him many times. The idea sounded good but was highly risky, so he sprinted to continue thinking.

    The obstacles weren''t exactly difficult for someone like him as he simply continued to wave through the numbers of the golems. With each lower elevation, the distance to the next one increased since the mountain was getting wider as they went downward.

    However, all that didn''t matter in front of his top speed. Moving at the speed of sound made even the numerous gaps on the path look small.

    With a small tap on the ground, he would find himself jetting through the air, faster than even the air could catch him.

    If things continued that way, Noah figured he wouldn''t need to take a short cut which was jumping.

    He spent only a few seconds till he reached a new elevation. By this point golems and humanoid dummies rid the ce and from his point of view, it would be hard speeding through them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A sigh escaped his lips as he prepared to unleash the best he could with the first form. The environment never stopped trembling while he made sure to knock the many golems and dummies off the mountain while he continued to move,

    The task proved a bit annoying since he had to continue punching even till he reached the end of the elevation.

    Thanks to the environment''s coolness, he could take a breather, but he had begun to feel slight fatigue at that point.

    The heat of the environment was still much as chipped away at his energy every second he spent there.

    But even with all that, Noah was still in top shape.

    Sprinting forward again, he directly elerated to the top speed his body could muster and it crossed Mach 1.

    To his shock, however, the path before him was clear. No boulders no golems or humanoid dummies, no gaps, nothing. But the path remained way longer that the others since it spanned many kilometers just to reach the next one.

    He would consider it a sort of break for them, but the fire was still as hot as ever which meant it wasn''t a break. The others would need to choose between sitting around in the hot mes and if they did they would be shocked to find how long the path was. He suspected the space in that mountain had been tampered with.

    It was only a breather for someone simply running about with incredible agility like Noah.

    The new elevation allowed him to see the mountain''s foot clearly and that was like three paths down. The distance was still incredible to each one, but Noah felt it would take him only a few minutes at best, and he had barely used ten minutes since the start!

    ''I''m too much,'' Noah sighed. Beginning his sprint and the first obstacle was a wide gap, but he still easily crossed it.

    His next obstacles were what he had seen already, except that this time around the ice in the environment had increased, allowing for a level of coolness.

    The density of the golems and boulder and humanoid dummies had also been stretched out across the full length of the path.

    His feet never stopped moving and once again he reached a new elevation only this time everything was ice. Not even the ground escaped that weirdness and for the first time in a few elevations, Noah saw obstacles that weren''t old.

    Walls of ice stood before him but the sounds that originated from behind the walls were the real details. So he went ahead and smashed the walls before him to icy pieces. He barely had to do much to obtain that result. Staying within the bounds of a cold environment refreshed him greatly.

    An eyebrow rose on his face at what stood before him, however. ''Are those real magical beasts,'' he thought seeing as the beasts numbered hundreds from his point of view.

    The white bear only a few meters before him noticed his presence and an ear-shaking roar reached his ears, alerting the others. A cacophony of roars erupted at that point, and something within Noah threatened to snap.

    And it did. since he found himself hunching his head forward to release a scream, one so loud it caused the ground around him to experience cracks.

 Chapter 349 349. FIFTY-FIVE MINUTES

    Astonishment reached Noah''s eyes before he knew what was going on. Something within him continued to buzz madly and he was forced to recall his partially hybrid state.

    It felt like anger mixed with pride mixed with a deep sense of superiority. The situation confused him even if he had felt like that a few times, though such events only urred a handful of times.

    His scream seemed to have startled the beasts before him since they all went silent and continued to stare at him. Noah however, noticed something deep in the air.

    Fear.

    Sure their instincts might have reacted to his level of power and scream, but their fear felt tangible. It felt sentient and intelligent as if he had awakened something within their dark and wild minds.

    A frown appeared on Noah''s eyebrows while his eyes remained on the stiff beasts before him. Their power was subpar, to say the least. Many of them were lower stage, and none crossed its peak.

    There were even peak tier 2''s In the mix, but one thing was certain, all of them felt the same fear. The weaker beasts probably felt it more intensely.

    After the scream his figure had stopped being human to their beastly gazes. He stood somewhere their survival instincts struggled to gauge, which caused fear. Coupled with his power. The scream had made his aura re, revealing to them the weight his existence carried.

    Most cultivators could achieve the same effect his aura achieved, but could not achieve what his scream attained.

    The area was dead silent as the beast considered their options. By strength alone, Noah dwarfed them. But the innate fear their minds spoke to them of, was more intense.

    ''What am I even supposed to do now,'' Noah thought never removing his eyes from the still beasts, they had not moved a muscle even after one minute passed. The scene was creepy to say the least.

    Thankfully however, one of the many beasts before him groaned and began its dash towards him.

    Noah swore he could smell its fear, but he moved anyway. One of them had decided to attack, it was only a matter of time before the others joined in.

    His figure knocked off the white bear off the mountain path as he reached the white fox trying to attack him.

    A right-handed pnded on the beastsrge face, and his almost casual action dug the shape of his palm into the beasts head bursting its eyes and crushing that side of its skull.

    The fox died before much could be done, since Noah''s left fist smashed into its face and shattered its skull as its head receded into its figure unnaturally.

    However, rather than focus on the beast beginning to lose their shortly gained intelligence, Noah frowned at the issue of the icy floor.

    A curse exited his lips when he found that he was about to trip and fall.

    Fortunately he managed to grab hold of an apes arm to hold himself up, before proceeding to begin to spin it, knocking off or directly killing many of the beasts it touched.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah let go of the white furred ape at some point and began to run down the path. Unfortunately the slippery ice proved a really serious issue. The sole of his boots couldn''t do much in that case.

    Noah had to adapt and began to skating by propelling himself forward with one foot, while bending his knees to maintain his bnce. Unfortunately the various beasts rushing towards him proved how annoying it would be till his next elevation.

    Noah''s daggers appeared in his grip at that juncture.

    While mastering the art of skating with his shoes, he began to sh nonstop making sure his strikes hit as many beasts as possible.

    In no time, Noah began to leave a trail of dead beasts who''s furs were mostly white. Unfortunately he couldn''t allow the system store them, since the beasts vanished immediately they died.

    He continued to skate with his shoes even if his movement speed was subpar, he feared sliding off the mountains path since it featured quite a few sharp curves.

    Noah moved at a steady pace, but his fingers and arms continued to flicker up and down as his shes never stopped killing or disabling beasts.

    At some point however, he stopped his deadly activity, since the frequency of the beasts had reduced.

    He had to spend quite a bit before he reached the next elevation and itsyout was filled with beast like the one he had just crossed.

    A sigh escaped his mouth at the sight before him, but he still still dashed forward nheless, and immediately began to do the same thing as he had been doing for thest few minutes.

    Noah felt genuinely tired at that point, since the beasts began to get relentless, and some began to throw themselves at him to allow the others find a good attacking spot.

    He had found himself on the cold ground many times during such instances, and had needed to be extremely violent in his mode of escaping the barrage of bodies that would find themselves on his figure.

    ? w attacks had reached him many times; tearing his clothes after their frequency reached a certain point.

    At some point Noah began to utilize the first form more frequently, and even executed the second form to get out of really bad positions. He eventually felt confident enough and increased his movement speed, which allowed him to escape many of the reckless actions the beast tried to take on him.

    The culmination of his efforts through all three of the remaining paths had resulted in the sight before him.

    He found himself having to hop a few times to arrive on level ground, and before him was visible barrier acting as wall that started from the two pirs that stood at what resembled the entrance of a settlement, arge one at that.

    A sigh of relief escaped his mouth at that sight and he didn''t hesitate to cross the pirs and watched his bracelet begin to beep.

    Noah ended up spending exactly thirty five minutes to arrive there in total, leaving a whooping 55 minutes left. His points bar was immediately credited with 110 points, and he moved on with his life.

 Chapter 350 350. WHITE-HAIRED BASTARD

    Having already crossed the barrier, Noah immediately began to explore the ce. Upon entry into the town, he had noticed many dummies and squashed bodies of magical beastsying around, and it had made him d he didn''t end up that way.

    He focused on the details of the city, and it surely didn''t look special in any way. Everything looked like what a ssic abandoned settlement would look like.

    Many of the buildings were short in size and many had whole chunks of their roofs or walls crushed, exposed to his inspecting eyes.

    Some of them hadpounds but such spaces had degraded, and the supposing grass within some gardens was nowhere to be found.

    Noah stopped trying to look for anything interesting at some point, and just admired the view of the mountain close to the city and how silent his environment was.

    The mountain stood grandly before the town and acted as a sort of wall between it and whatever was on the other side.

    It felt surreal that he had just been up there since the mass of earth looked grand and far mightier than it was from the top.

    Not to talk of its constant state of burning. Its light lit up the cloudy skies above the town as its top stood above those clouds. How the clouds could withstand its fire was iprehensible to Noah.

    Truly thendforms of that world wererger than the ones of Earth, but he also had to consider the fact that the citizens of that nation had learned how to stretch space to their fitting. He still didn''t know how that was possible, but it sure was.

    Noah unfolded his consciousness at some point in the city. Thankfully they were allowed to do that, but most of them refrained from doing so to not disturb each other.

    Arge portion of the town became subject to his consciousness at that point, and he could see every nook and cranny of that covered space.

    He immediately expected it to appear in his 3d map, which still had whole portions of its space nk. However, the covered area didn''t.

    Nothing changed in his mental map, since for some reason, the skill was unable to pick up ad record theyout of that environment.

    Needless to say, that event couldn''t be more interesting to investigate, and after a series of inner conversations and many considerations, he could onlye to two possible conclusions.

    ''Somehow the city was made to not be recorded by mental maps, or the mental map has reached its limits.''

    He suspected the barrier erected around the whole ce either stopped all mental map skills from functioning, or the barrier affected the map due to its quality. Noah considered the possibility of an avable upgrade option.

    The thought that his map could need upgrading had never crossed his mind since he had never been in such a situation.

    "It''s a tier 5 barrier after all," Noah muttered in marvel. His strongest skill wouldn''t be capable of helping him seed in breaking something as strong as that. This caused Noah to desire power even more.

    He soon wished the whole event would be over and done with so he could finally get a chance at his dungeon.

    Noah spent many minutes casually strolling the streets of that ce and didn''t stop until he was about to reach its end.

    The time limit ended at some point, but he had been too carried away with the various structures contained within the town. He had started to think that ce had really been a settlement featuring people and was not simply made for the tournament.

    A short fifteen minutes after the time limit ended, a buzzer sounded reaching every area of the town, and Noah immediately understood that thest event for the tournament had begun.

    Excitement flooded his mind, but he ced it under his control.

    The sense of the curtains finally drawing on those events ced him in pure joy, but he didn''t forget to wield his de and sprint around the town.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was hunting time, and his prey would be the ones who luck had forsaken.

    Since there was no time limit till the end of the event and it was simply how quickly the cultivators eliminated each other, Noah figured he would move about rather than wait for individuals to stumble upon him.

    And soon he stumbled upon a cultivator.

    A man who looked in his early forties sported a bald head and no facial hair. The cultivator held power at the peak of the middle stage and had a nice-looking saber as his weapon.

    The expert barely saw Noahing, he didn''t want him to after all. So before the middle-aged expert could react properly to the approaching blur, Noah delivered a sharp kick on the man''s chest and sent him cleanly crashing through a series of buildings.

    The event left Noah stunned since he had never had the privilege of testing his strength on individuals in such open space; wielding the type of power he had.

    The buildings the expert crashed through lost the rest of their structural integrity and began to crumble.

    However, an aura exploded forth in a few seconds followed by a scream of utter rage. The expert radiated really strong blood lust, but Noah shrugged it disdainfully.

    An explosion urred soon after as chunks of walls were blown into the air and the expert''s state was revealed.

    The man looked bad and Noah believed his vitals would have plummeted, but he didn''t care about his opponent.

    "Screw you boy! Screw you." The expert yelled, his pain evident in the way his words were forced out of his throat.

    He began his slow walk towards a casually watching Noah, before turning in into a sprint that allowed him to cross the distance between him and the white-haired bastard.

    His figure arrived before Noah''s and he immediately tried to swing his saber in a powerful blow. Unfortunately, Noah was already parrying.

    Both their des collided and released a high-pitched sound capable of rupturing the ears of a normal human.

    The bloodstained teeth of the expert appeared in Noah''s sight as the man grit his teeth in shock at how strong Noah felt.

    He tried to pull back with surprising reflexes, but Noah wasn''t ready to witness the battle style of a trained expert and moved to put the expert down as quickly as possible.

    His de shed while he spun on a spot to send it crashing into the expert''s side in the twinkle of an eye.

    Regardless of the sharp power his de was capable of, most of that force went into sending the expert shooting sideways, and into another building, which crumbled on him.

    "I''ll kill you, you fucking bastard," the man sounded after blowing away the walls that had fallen on his figure, but Noah could immediately tell that he had won the fight.

    The expert tried to move, but blood poured out of his opened right side, and he tensed up before copsing.

    Flood flowed out of the expert''s deep wound as death neared with each passing second. Fortunately, the bracelet recorded his low health and teleported him out of that ce, after which Noah''s bracelet rang signifying he had won and his points rose to a satisfying 150.

    He immediately left that area in search for others.

 Chapter 351 351. RAPID

    Noah spent the next hour scouring the town in search of individuals to eliminate. He encountered battles at some point and opted to excuse them in search of others. He had even managed to stumble upon his guild-mates, surprisingly they had all reached the town. And each of them had been shocked by his presence.

    However Noah had been biased and let them be, he felt bad just thinking of eliminating them.

    Nevertheless, he had to rack up enough points to guarantee his spot in the top three, and during that hour he had eliminated three individuals. Allowing his points to reach a beautiful 270.

    He didn''t know what other so he moved on to search the city even more.

    At some point he found someone, but they were a duo, and they looked to be working together even if they were spread about two locations close to each other.

    "I might have stepped into an ambush," Noah muttered while he slowly walked down a certain street.

    Of course, he already knew where the two women were, but they were too far apart to take care of them quickly. One would have to go down first.

    ''Rooftops. I hate rooftops,'' Noah grumbled drawing his sword. He had already fallen for that weapon and couldn''t wait to ask what type of alloy it had been made of.

    "Are we going to wait all day or are we going to fight already!" Noah announced, but his words met silence, after which a wheezing sound reached his ears and he caught the projectile flying straight for his head.

    ''Going directly for a head shot are we?'' Noah thought coldly, dropping all intentions to talk and directly disappearing from his position.

    Less than a secondter an explosion rang out followed by a cry of pain. Noah''s figure appeared mid-air in front of the building which looked like it had been blown away by a powerful wind.

    The truth was he had simply kicked it. Sending the expert hiding there, flying.

    An arrow tried to reach him while in that vulnerable state, and it did, but its tip barely went past his skin. Notwithstanding, Noah felt something try to seep past his skin when pain reached his mind.

    Focusing on thedy that was flying away as a result of the building''s destruction. Noahnded on a piece of rock mid-air. Utilizing his agility and speed in that instant he didn''t hesitate to project himself forward by leaping off the rock towards the panickingdy.

    His figure struck into hers as he had calcted his movement and had been precise.

    The duo crashed into the ground and created arge crater, but Noah had been the one on top and hisdy opponent had suffered the power of theirnding.

    Two arrows struck Noah''s back a moment after theynded, and he couldn''t help but furrow his brows in annoyance, but his hands never left the neck of the ck-haireddy before him.

    Blood flowed from the expert''s head staining her hair and blooding the ground. She looked unconscious but the grunts that escaped her lips showed how close she was to reawakening. Noah wouldn''t allow that.

    He raised his right arm and tried to deliver a blow to thedy, he didn''t want to make her suffer much. Unfortunately, her partner wasn''t going to let him have it.

    Mild astonishment mixed with deep pain reached Noah''s mind as he watched his hand be unable to descend in the punch he intended.

    A ck rope riddled with long curved des wrapped around his wrist embedding its des into him. Even more, shock filled his mind when thedy applied a powerful tug on it and directly tore his hand away.

    Blood spurted everywhere and intense pain ravaged his mind threatening to make his eyes water. However, the pain he experienced was quickly suppressed, and his healing kicked in without his permission, and thedy watched in utter astonishment as his hand begin to regrow.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Fortunately, it would take a few seconds toplete growth, but she was too shocked to move. Noah on the other hand wasn''t stunned and only felt his annoyance reach another level.

    He grabbed the still unconsciousdy and bolted, baiting her partner into a chase. One that would end in her defeat.

    His figure turned into a blur that managed to leave blood stains, even if they stopped a few instantster as his hand had grown halfway.

    ''What do I even do now,'' Noah wondered stopping behind a building about a kilometer from his former position. At that point, his hand had regained its muscles and was being covered with a newyer of skin, a process that would be done in a short while.

    The ck-haireddy was still on his shoulder, she barely had any weight to him, but he feared her reawakening. He couldn''t kill her but he needed awake to properly eliminate her.

    Or rather there was an issue with the thought of injuring her while she remained unconscious. His being didn''t go with that n. So he would use that situation to his advantage.

    In a few short minutes Noah watched the otherdy storm into the area with her dangerous whip, and he quickly moved to make good of his n.

    "White-haired bastard! Where are you!" She called out in a tone that dripped with ill will and fury. Noah however, remained silent while he moved soundlessly around the area to reposition himself in a spot he deemed good for his n.

    After seeing how potent her whip had been on his skin even if it was far sturdier than that of many peak middle-stage cultivators, Noah hade to one conclusion. The weapon was made for higher stage.

    And he couldn''t help but wonder about her identity to wield something so strong.

    Suddenly he walked out from behind a building and his appearance put thedy on edge, who at this point had her bow drawn, but she clearly doubted the potency of that weapon.

    After removing the arrows from his back, Noah noticed the poison they held, thankfully his body was capable of fighting it.

    "Get your dirty hands off her, you bastard!" Thedy yelled releasing an arrow he casually dodged.

    A muscle jerked on Noah''s head at her insult but his demeanor remained calm. Even if a portion of him had immediately thrown his caring n to the side.

    "You want her? Then catch," he announced coldly, grabbing thedy on his shoulder by her legs and hurling her towards a building with what he would consider half his full strength. Which would be adequate tounch her far away from that area.

    The archerdy''s eyes widened at the sight of her partner being tossed about like a rag-doll, and she instinctively moved to rescue her. A bad move.

    Noah coldly drew his daggers when he saw that moment of weakness. He bent his knees forward a bit before propelling himself forward with all the strength his knees could handle.

    Thedy''s instinct went wild at that point, but Noah crossed her figure before she could react properly.

    Blood spurted out of her mouth as the shock of the incredibly rapid attack showed on her face. Her chest featured an X shaped sh that had begun to wither; draining her life force rapidly.

    Her figure ended up disappearing before she even hit the ground.

 Chapter 352 352. HAVOC

    Noah stored his daggers before exhaling, he might have just killed someone. But her insult had been annoying. There hadn''t been any reason to start throwing any and he had been polite throughout their meeting, but she had to begin hurling insults at him.

    He couldn''t or wouldn''t take it, especially when she was weakpared to him.

    Noah began his search for the ck-haireddy at that point, but she found him instead, and her eyes zed with fury.

    Unfortunately, the event with her partner had put him in a bad mood, and he wasn''t in the mood for any action.

    He prepared to take her out since her aura red with ferocity and she revealed a simr whip. But Noah wasn''t having it.

    His figure shot forward with his sword at hand while she began to rapidly crack her whip at random spots around her, and before Noah could reach her, he felt his skin suffer injuries, even if her whip had not touched him.

    The event left him surprised, but he wasn''t afraid of pain, so he pushed forward to try and reach her after changing his course.

    A powerful force, however, smashed into his face merely inches from her figure and he was sent barreling backward crashing into a building and bringing it down.

    ? ''What the actual fuck,'' Noah cursed inwardly as pain gushed into his awareness, deep one. But his healing had kicked in.

    He slowly lifted the walls that had copsed on him, and grit his teeth in annoyance when he saw that he would need more than that to escape the building debris.

    After a series of tries the light from the sky managed to reach his eyes, but so did a ck line, which sent him and the crumbled building flying backward.

    Several cuts opened on Noah''s face at that point and another curse escaped his mouth when he saw that his attire was barely standing.

    His figure was exposed to thedy''s sight and she quickly moved forward to crack her whip towards his back,nding a powerful blow that caused Noah to yelp.

    The spikes or des on the whip tore through his skin with such ease he began to reevaluate the power of that weapon.

    ''Surely halfway into the higher stage,'' Noah thought as blood flowed from his mouth even if his healing had kicked in and the injuries began to see their repair.

    Noah quickly stood at that point and his eyes caught sight of her quick whip and he moved to grab it, which he did. Even if he wounded his hand in the process.

    A surprised expression reached the expert''s face at that event, but it didn''t stop her from pulling her whip while it was still in his grip ripping a few fingers from his palm.

    Noah was livid.

    He had simply been running around with almost none of his technique in y, but she had forced his hand.

    With his sword nowhere to be found since he had been caught off guard, he bent his knees a bit before raising his arms to execute the first form.

    Although she stood a bit distant from him, her figure was still blown away by the sheer power contained in that execution.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The ground around Noah experienced big cracks or found a portion of their structure directly shaved off.

    Noah stopped a couple of secondster to dash forward, but thedy was nowhere to be found.

    Nevertheless, he didn''t stop and proceeded to smash into a building, before executing the first form. Ultimately bringing the whole structure down.

    "You''re good!" Thedy''s voice reached his ears at that moment and he caught sight of her escaping the building''s top, to another one.

    A frown appeared on his face at that point, and he quickly understood that he would be unable to touch her unless he found a way to close the gap.

    He had to admit that her disy had been shocking, to say the least. She had been capable of leaving him unable to touch her even with his skill.

    But that oue came from the fact that she specialized in long-rangedbat and her weapon wasn''t even in her level of power.

    A whip was surprisingly effective on his style, but her martial arts was even more interesting. Her seemingly random attacks; after many reys In his mind now revealed to Noah that she had set up that barrier of sorts with it.

    But rather than a magical barrier, her martial arts seemed capable of storing the force of her whips in space, and when they came in contact with bodies, their power would be unleashed.

    Honestly, Noah felt at a loss of what to do since the style seemed even more overpowered than his. However, he believed there had to be a weakness in her martial art. His time with Elder Sarah had made him realize that.

    If it was so easy why hadn''t the otherdy done the same?

    Even with all those questions and spections, Noah still couldn''t conclude and could only hope the loophole in the style would be evident to him.

    ''I can only do that through testing,'' he sighed seeing as his speed wouldn''t help him much unless he found a way to bypass her defenses.

    Noah considered all this in the time it took the building to begin to fall apart and he quickly escaped it too, to appear in the open.

    His figure looked tattered and his attire featured heavy blood stains from wounds that had already healed.

    "I have to admit your style has left me with no real options," Noah started, focusing his gaze on the top of a certain building.

    He couldn''t see anyone, but he could sense the expert there.

    An arrow wheezed through the air towards him, but he caught it and snapped it in half. An unknowingly bad move since immediately he did that, the arrow went up in mes, unfolding into a powerful explosion that spread in the area.

    The st from the explosion sent Noah flying through the buildings of that area to the next, while the explosion itself wreaked havoc around him.

    In a matter of seconds, that area wreaked of destruction and a big ck smoke rose to the cloudy sky of the town and almost everyone left in the town could see it.

 Chapter 353 353. HER

    A figure exited the ck smoke created by the explosion and proceeded to smash through many buildings in the area. The force carrying the figure on a linear path even after crossing the width of more than 10 buildings.

    This figure was obviously Noah, and only one word could exin how he felt on the inside.

    Defeated.

    His opponent was witty, that explosive trap proved that she had more experience in battle than he did. But it also proved that she had items that could aid her in battle.

    He eventually arrived at a building that was strong enough to stop his movements, but it was a dome-shaped structure and his violent entry caused arge portion of its ss build to crumble.

    Noah found himself in a court but didn''t even spare it a nce, since five arrows most likelyced with poison or were explosives shot towards him, surprising Noah at how fast thedy had covered the distance he crossed.

    Quickly standing from his sitting position, Noah dashed leftward, escaping the arrows, but found more flying towards him.

    He dodged the next wave but found more heading for him, so he sprinted out of the court. And it was a good thing he did since the building went up in mes a moment after.

    Noah cursed at that sight, and although he was already on the move, he squinted his eyes in hopes of finding thedy, and he did. But running towards her would leave him in the open, and she had already shown how versatile she was with a bow.

    ''She''s a monster,'' Noah thought realizing that he would need toy low, or would be hunted down by her.

    His figure sped past many streets, but he never left the general area of her position. She was the first person his level to leave him in a battle that long. He hoped to finish it, ande out victorious. But was also excited.

    "Damn," Noah exhaled finding safety in a one-story building. The walls of the ce barely looked like they were holding up, but he was okay with them. He would only be staying there for a short time after all.

    He only needed to clear his head and think of his next ns.

    "She''s amazing," Noah admitted recalling her disy of sheer prowess. Probably better than even his guild-mates.

    She had even achieved something no expert his level had achieved. She had not only forced the fight to drag on that long, she had practically dominated him.

    Unfortunately, he had to be unable to utilize the fullness of his power for that to ur. But it was impressive nheless.

    Her identity had gained more importance now that he could see her technique in disy, but also her mastery of the bow.

    ''So this is what she meant,'' Noah thought recalling Elder Sarah''s speech about experience and power. Even with his power, Noah found himself unable to touch her since she knew her limits and also her strengths too well, and she was using the terrain to her advantage.

    Such prowess could only be gained after many battles, not even his speed learning could bypass that requirement.

    "Can I even win," Noah wondered, his situation feeling surreal. A person his level was making him consider his chances of winning.

    That realization made him wonder if every expert he had fought were capable of unleashing such on him, only that he had never given them the time to study him enough.

    Something sided with that consideration, and his respect for cultivators increased even more.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''I never knew a bow could be so useful,'' Noah thought carefully scanning the street outside for any signs of her figure. He didn''t want to be caught off guard again.

    ''I have nothing that can directly bring me victory without breaking the no mana rule or drawing unwanted attention to myself.'' he concluded.

    Her offensive and defensive were well bnced.

    As long as she could see himing she would always be able to stop him, and even the environment of their battle didn''t help.

    And If by some chance he managed to get past her firing range, he still didn''t fully understand how her martial art worked. He didn''t want to find himself struggling against her offensive.

    The existence of explosives put Noah in a tough spot. He wasn''t the least bit scared of the explosions, but the fact that he would need to heal each time.

    So far he had spent a few 30k worth of SE healing all the injuries he had sustained. If things continued he would run out of SE faster than he thought.

    "Do I really have no way of winning?" A sigh of disappointment escaped his lips, even if he knew the answer to that.

    He would need to get reckless to even reach her and even then he wasn''t sure how things would y out.

    Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Noah burst out of the building, and less than five second out of his hiding spot, he felt his bodye in contact with a mental wave, and instantly knew who it was, or who they were.

    A n started to form in his mind at that point even if he didn''t like it, he figured he could need the help of his guild-mates.

    "What are the odds that we''d meet again," William''s voice reached his ears before the others, and a smile couldn''t help but shine on his face.

    "I hope you aren''t here to eliminate us," Williams added while the figures of the trio appeared in Noah''s sight.

    "Not at all," Noah replied halting his rapid steps a few meters from the trio.

    ? "We''ve barely found anyone, I guess this ce is big enough to hide all of us. I think some took that order too seriously," Williams joked seeing that Noahcked hostility. But all three took note of how bad he looked.

    "It is what it is. I see you''re searching for prey. I might have something of interest for you," Noah exined removing his mask to speak to them.

    "What do you even mean about that," Liam chipped in; when his eyes suddenly sharpened, and he raised his right hand to grab hold of a speeding projectile aimed at the right side of his head.

    Confusion appeared on the experts face when he found that he had caught an arrow.

    "I meant her," Noah announced performing a side step to dodge three speeding arrows. He narrowed his eyes to gain visuals of thedy, and he could swear their gazes locked for a moment, before her evident fury broke free of it and she sent more arrows at them.

    Fortunately this time all four of them knew exactly where she was, and were already prepared.

 Chapter 354 354. MADISON

    ''Why should someone be this skilled!'' Noah thought as his figure sped past a number of about ten arrows, his guild-mates dodged the arrows and when they struck the ground their materials unfolded into powerful explosions.

    ''She''s getting serious,'' Noahmented directly running through a building, with the others following closely behind him.

    He nned to cause a distraction that would force the ck-haireddy into confusion. It seemed she still wasn''t capable of following his movement, only those of his guild-mates.

    They had the potential of being of help, but for now, they were basically markers of his general position. Noah however moved to deal with that issue.

    His figure burst forward till his knees were unable to move any faster, and his environment turned into a blur as even his guild-mates lost sight of him.

    Noah already knew thedy''s position, but he made a quick curve into another street before running for the building that held her figure.

    His feetnded on the walls of the building and he didn''t hesitate to sprint until he reached its top.

    Unfortunately, thedy had her consciousness already unfolded and she had been capable of noticing the unclear figure speeding into her range, and immediately knew who it was.

    Noah met a barrage of seven explosive arrows flying towards him, and to his shock, they detonated before they even crossed half the distance to reach his figure.

    Everything within the range of his sight turned into orange mes at that point and the building''s roof found its structure being invaded by the power contained in the explosives.

    Noah realized that he had nothing to stand on, but that didn''t matter since he was already being pushed away by the explosion''s power.

    His figure crashed into a building''s roof and he directly smashed through it until he reached the ground and dug a few feet into it too.

    A curse escaped his mouth at that point, but rather than care about his practically naked state, he stood and shot out of the building, bringing it down with his violent exit. The explosion had left him unhurt.

    Noah''s world became a blur, but he remained able to map his movement properly.

    Fury burnt in his eyes, but he turned into resolve, he had to win that fight. It had be personal.

    A series of explosions reached Noah''s ears, and he immediately knew where they wereing from.

    His figure sped towards the area and a street unfolded in his sight. However, a thick ck smoke stood in its middle and he caught sight of his guild-mates flying out of it. Fortunately, he was perceiving things in slow motion.

    He ignored them when he saw that no one was fatally hurt, and didn''t think twice to burst into the thick smoke. Noah had his consciousness unfolded so he could immediately tell where his target was.

    Her injured figure appeared in his sight and both individuals seemed to stare at each other, but Noah was moving faster.

    She had her whip out, and he had his arms raised.

    Cuts suddenly began to appear on Noah''s skin, but he stopped caring. He executed the first form when he saw fit, and in less than an instant, the ck smoke cleared as a result of that execution.

    A powerful explosion of sheer force enhanced as a result of the barrier of force thedy had set up; spread out in the environment with a ground-shattering bang.

    A shock wave carrying the fullness of Noah''s physical strength swept the environment and the buildings on his side found their lower portions being blown in. And some of them began to crumble.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The scenery changed to reveal that Noah had stayed in one position, but thedy that had been in front of him was nowhere to be seen.

    The ground before him also featured a linear portion that had been shaved off about 2ft deep and spanned for more than 10m before him.

    Noah coughed a mouthful of blood, however, but his arms never left their position.

    "You''re incredible," a feminine voice found its way to Noah''s ears, and he nced to his right and found a bloodied ck-haireddy leaning on the walls of a certain building.

    Her figure featured even more wounds than before and she barely had her eyes open.

    Noah could immediately tell that most of his executions power had been deflected, but the little that had touched her was enough to leave her in a significantly worse state than before.

    She slumped to the ground in evident weakness and her breathing was loud and irregr.

    "After all that and not even a sign of fatigue. You''re impossible." She gave a softugh without looking at him. He had won, even if she wasn''t out of the field yet.

    She had utilized the rest of her stamina to create that barrier but it had only been enough to keep her alive.

    Noah lowered his arms and heaved a soft sigh. He noticed his approaching guild-mates but focused on her instead.

    "Get rid of me already. I''m too embarrassed to find that I have been out bested," thedy announced as her breathing began to stabilize.

    Noah raised his arms at that point, ready to utilize the first form on her again. He would probably end up killing her if the teleportation wasn''t quick enough.

    The thought of borrowing a weapon crossed his mind, but all their weapons were too lethal. ''Except his spear,'' Noah thought ncing at Liam.

    "Can you lend me your spear, or does anyone have a knife here?" Noah called out, finding a knife more suitable. All three nodded. But Illiana was the first to react, and Noah caught the de she threw at him.

    Arriving in front of the clearly exhausteddy, he swept his gaze on her figure. "You were troublesome," he clicked his tongue, kneeling before her.

    "What''s your name. In case I meet you out there?" Noah asked, taking note of her facial features. Ignoring her bloodied state, he managed to see how pretty she was.

    A smile shone on her face at his words, for she silently admired his face. "I''m Madison." she replied and Noah nodded, before his expression turned cold.

    With a set of rapid hand and wrist movements, Noah embedded the knife in her gut at the same time a loud buzzer reached his ear.

    Needless to say, he expected her figure to disappear, but she didn''t and she even looked in deep pain.

    "Well done you are the winners of the Tournament of champions!" A loud masculine voice reached the ears of all that were still in the town, but Noah felt confused.

    "It seems I''m part of the winners," Madison grunted before passing out, then a magical circle expanded beneath her and his feet, and beneath the other eight survivors. After which they vanished from that abandoned settlement.

 Chapter 355 355. SPECIAL REWARD

    Noah opened his eyes in the waiting room, and a wave of surprise washed over his mind, followed by curiosity.

    Sweeping his gaze on his surrounding, he found eight others just as shocked as he, but Madison was missing. Probably due to her injury.

    His gaze locked with his guild-mates and he could tell from their gazes that excitement filled their minds.

    He let them be for now since a big blue screen appeared and disyed a chart filled with names and numbers.

    They immediately all knew what it was for, and soon disappointed expressions reached the faces of some but Noah wasn''t one of them.

    His name stood at the top of the list with 310 points, and shockingly the next was Madison with 200 points. The gap was already much, and many of them couldn''t help but nce at his figure in shock.

    The third on the list was neither of Noah''s guild-mates, however, their names were immediately after the third.

    Noah stopped caring about their positions since they made it, and that was all that mattered.

    A sigh escaped his lips at that juncture, and he went to a secluded spot to put on a new robe, before removing the one underneath. He couldn''t strip in front of them.

    "What a performance that was! I congratte you all for oveing and bing champions. You will be returned to your rooms, after which the prizes will be distributed." A male voice announced with a voice radiating true excitement.

    No sooner than the man ended, did magical circles expand beneath the figures of the experts, and Noah found himself in front of his room.

    He immediately ced his key into the hole and pushed his door open. The time for rest hade he couldn''t tell when they would be taken all about the nation.

    Honestly the fact that they would soon be going on a long trip to another nation felt surreal. Noah almost couldn''t believe it, yet that would be his reality very soon.

    Immediately going for the shower, he took a long bath. His time in thest stage had felt like days, even if they were only mere hours.

    He couldn''t stop himself from thinking about his battle with Madison and wonder where she had been taken to, even if he had an idea where.

    Exiting the bathroom andying on the bed, Noah found himself within his series of thoughts but this time it was the scream that appeared in his mind.

    Recalling how he had felt sent shivers down his spine since it was the proudest he had felt. Something was growing within him, but he didn''t know what.

    ''What exactly are speedlings,'' Noah couldn''t help but ask. The sheer amount of mystery around that subject almost made him want to pull his hair out. He needed answers, but couldn''t find any, hopefully when he reached tier 4 he would get some, but he doubted.

    The darkness of sleep eventually enveloped his consciousness, and Noah slept soundly.

    A bell-like ringing brought Noah out of his sleep, but he felt unsure of what it was meant for.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nevertheless, he took another bath and put on a new attire to prepare of an announcement.

    "Good morning champions, today is the day of your celebration. You will be ministered to by our people who will prepare you for your departure," A male voice exined with a tone that dripped with life and excitement.

    Noah could only wait at that point, and he only had to do so for a few minutes, before a knock sounded on his door, and he unlocked it to see who was outside.

    Noah found a group of five humans; all women, standing outside the door, and in the palms four were different items, each one being carried by them on silver tes.

    "May wee in," the female at the center of the group; the only person without a te, spoke politely, and Noah nodded before leaving the way.

    All five individuals walked into his room and lined up after each other, a genuinely awkward moment for Noah.

    "These are the base items rendered unto you by the guilds, and this is the badge of for first ce, the badge that signifies your status as a champion allowing you full ess to the ten guilds that participated in contributing to the event," She quickly started, gesturing at two women who had small objects on their te.

    Noah walked towards the women that had stepped forward and didn''t hesitate to pick up the badge that signified his position as first ce, then the badge signifying his state as a champion.

    Both items looked luxurious as they were made from gold, but featured different symbols engraved into them and even a few runes, allowing them glow in his palms.

    Noah stored them in his inventory after inspecting them, and focused on thedy again.

    "This is the scroll of acknowledgment, issued by the council of the guilds in order to raise your rank to the peak of C. Take this to your guild hall, and the rest will be done," she exined gesturing at anotherdy, who immediately stepped forward and Noah moved walked closer to pick his prized possession.

    A feeling of dness filled his mind when he stored the sealed scroll featuring many shining lines.

    "This on the other hand is a special type of paper. The description of a weapon you desire and its features, even a diagram would be epted."

    "When you''re done describing the weapon you desire, you are to pour mana into it and the rest will be taken care of." she exined gesturing at a woman, who stepped forward to disy a big piece of folded paper.

    Noah took it and immediately stored it in his inventory. Seeing as he had exhausted the women carrying tes, he could only wonder what next.

    "Now thest reward." thedy announced suddenly falling to her knee, and so did the others.

    "I have been tasked to be your caretaker. As you may know. One of the rewards for bing top three is being taken on a long tour throughout the nations, but there was one thing that no one knows, and it is the special reward for he whoes first in the games." Thedy began to exin, and Noah couldn''t help but feel his attention hit the peak.

    A special reward.

 Chapter 356 356. ABRUPTLY

    "Firstly you have to promise me and the council through an oath that you will not speak of this to the rest of the world until the reward has been received and the next tournament of champions ismenced," thedy continued gazing at Noah with such ferocity it made him feel serious.

    Noah considered the promise, it wasn''t exactly anything that went against what he did all the time. His nickname would be the house of secrets if people knew just how much he hid.

    "I Aiden ept the terms of learning about the special reward," Noah announced, his chest up and his shoulder straight.

    A series of silver runes lit up the room at that point and in a matter of a few seconds, the room became a spectacle in its own right.

    A burning sensation reached Noah''s mind, then he stared at the back of his right hand. The symbol of a staff surrounded by what resembled ming torches appeared on his skin, before vanishing.

    [You have epted tier 5 oath]

    "That is all that is required of you. Breaking this oath would result in a portion of your cultivation base being destroyed." Thedy announced almost causing a frown to appear on his face.

    "Luckily this special reward adds to your cultivation base, so it''s only natural," She said giving a hint at what the reward would be.

    "Can I hear about the reward now?" Noah asked trying to get his mood up. Even if it saw a steady increase.

    "Yes sir Aiden," she replied returning to her feet and sitting on his bed. A surprising action. She gestured at him to do the same, and he did.

    "Before we continue, I am Miranda. A former peasant who was fortunate enough to be saved by the council many years ago, and I''ve served them ever since." she introduced herself with a soft smile.

    Miranda was a woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties. She had long ck wavy hair that looked to have a lot of volumes. She sported deep ck eyes and sharp eyebrows that gave her a mysterious look.

    In terms of facial features, she was above average, but the most important detail was that Noah couldn''t sense her power. Somehow he had forgotten to check that when she arrived, and that caused a feeling of surprise.

    "I am a deviant." She suddenly announced. "My special ability makes me almost unnoticeable. The fact that a mind such as yours could notice something odd this quickly tells that, truly you deserve your position," Mirandamented, leaving Noah even more surprised. But this time he kept his feelings inwardly.

    At least he tried to.

    That was the first time he would meet a deviant and have a taste of their ability.

    "It''s pretty subparpared to deviants with the ability to break into someone''s mind and erase their presence," Miranda remarked, putting even more astonishment in Noah''s mind.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It''s spectacr nheless," Noah eventually spoke after bncing his surprise, while also noting that she was stronger than him.

    "I appreciate your words." She smiled. "Now onto the main topic of our meeting sir Aiden. The special reward," she quickly moved on.

    "As I said earlier, it adds power to an individual''s cultivation level. And seeing as you are in the middle stage. I believe this reward can push you into the higher stage."

    "The issue is it depends on an individual''s ability to refine the said reward. I''ve witnessed some experience meager increases while some directly shoot to the next rank. It''s very personal. I''ve also seen many die in the process of trying to handle it," she exined, her ck eyes never leaving Noah''s blues.

    She seemed to stare deep into his soul, but Noah knew that wasn''t the case. She was probably looking for signs of struggle since many would shrink in the face of death. Or at least death that wouldn''t be for any noble cause.

    "I see," Noah muttered, but his eyes never flickered with fear or worry. Death had stopped being a big deal. He had died too many times for one person. Notwithstanding, that didn''t mean it still wasn''t scary. Especially when the system wouldn''t be involved. At least he thought so.

    "Yes," Miranda replied. "The truth is the reward doesn''t have a particr level. Some items could be considered tier 3, some tier 4. But this reward, a fruit to be specific, doesn''t have such. It only pushes an individual''s cultivation speed to overdrive which allows them to cultivate faster and receive gains exponentially."

    "It''s a one time use thing and each one is incredibly hard to cultivate, as one fruit could take ten to twenty years to fully mature depending on how strong and effective the nter wants it to be," she exined leaving Noah gasping in wonder.

    "Yes sir Aiden," she nodded slowly. "You may then be wondering why the council would hand such over to you. Well because you''re one of us. And because the fruit doesn''t work for those beyond the middle stage of tier 4. So to the higher ups, its not exactly expensive. But to individuals below those ranks, its the best they can get." Her words continued to flow, astonishing Noah with every revtion.

    "You''re telling me all this so I can know the risks and the benefits aren''t you?" Noah spoke up after a few moments of silence. Seeing her nod in affirmation, he sighed.

    "I''m already interested, so lets get on with it," Noah announced, and his words surprisingly put a smile on her face.

    "Great choice sir Aiden. The Divine Lightning guild will be sure to hear of your bravery," she said waving at the other four women who had been silent and motion less through out their conversation.

    "Leave us please," Miranda ordered, and they did so orderly, and in a matter of seconds only the two of them were left in the room.

    Miranda stood at that point, seemingly to check or lock the door and she did, but Noah found himself falling into deep thought, and he didn''t hesitate to voice his query.

    "So does it increase the cultivation speed of all or only one aspect of a-" His words were abruptly cut short by the sight of Miranda''s cloth-less figure.

 Chapter 357 357. BELLY OF THE BEAST

    "What the-" Noah tried to speak but was once again cut short, but this time by her words.

    "Do not fear sir Aiden. This is what is required for you to receive the reward," She exined taking steps forward, and Noah couldn''t lift his eyes off her surprisingly well-endowed chest.

    She walked close to him until she stood right above him, and he couldn''t help but admire her scent. It smelt sweet, and with the sight before him; began to be intoxicating.

    She continued to gaze into his eyes while he did the same, but more in confusion than not. Without his permission, she ced her hand on his, as he had bent backward with both his arms supporting his posture.

    Lifting his hand after making sure he wouldn''t fall, she ce them on the right side of her belly and then did Noah notice the tattoo that stood there.

    A ck tattoo disying a ck heart was where she ced his hand, and Noah felt certain he felt something within it.

    "What is that?" He muttered out loud as he allowed his curiosity to take the front seat in his mind, in hopes of battling the arousal he experienced.

    "It''s a storage space, sir Aiden," Miranda responded following his gaze that hadnded on her tattoo.

    "As I said earlier, these fruits are very valuable and special, but they cannot be stored in the average dimensional ring, so something was created to sustain them. They are called the belly of the beast." She exined.

    "These special areas can only be created in a body that had crossed into the fourth tier since only such powerful and pure bodies possess the structural integrity capable of holding these fruits, as they are powerful in their own right. But also very sensitive."

    "There are many individuals who carry these pockets of space within them since not only do they preserve items better, they are also safer than space rings," she continued suddenly sitting on hisp, her legs going on to wrap around his waist while she found afortable posture, and continued her words.

    "These pockets can only be opened when the carrier desires it, and if dead, a long and grueling ritual would be required to reveal the space within it." She stopped making slow eye contact with an already fully aroused Noah.

    "So how would you open it?" Noah asked swallowing a hard lump in his throat, he felt breathless even if all he had done was sit. She barely had any weight on him, but his body couldn''t deny the fact that there was a naked woman with a surprisingly stunning body on him.

    She didn''t immediately reply and limited herself to staring into his eyes and Noah noticed desire in them, but he wouldn''t move, he still had that much control over his body and senses.

    "It''s simple sir Aiden��" she muttered leaning on him until he could feel her breasts on his chest and sense her breath slide down his face. Her scent invaded his nostrils even more and his arousal reached a new level. How ever that was possible.

    Their gazes remained in that locked state for what felt like hours, even if only a second passed. Noah felt like he would explode at some point, the heat of the moment was weighing on his mind, and he could feel his string of rationality begin to stretch thin, he feared what would happen if it broke.

    Miranda however, suddenly unwrapped her legs around him and got off hisp. Noah took that moment to nce at her body in whole, and he had to swallow another hard lump that had formed in his throat.

    She took a few steps backward, before silently cing her right hand on the tattoo. Astonishment filled Noah''s mind when her hand suddenly entered her skin. A moment passed before she removed it, but this time she revealed an object in her grip.

    ''Beautiful,'' Was the first word to reach Noah''s mind at that moment. His eyes fell on the small spherical fruit in her grip. But rather than something with one color, it had three different ones, orange, yellow, and purple, but not only that, the fruit literally produced a light of its own. Although it was rather low.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah feltpelled to stand in front of that scene, since before he knew it a weird sensation like he had never felt before emanated from the fruit and it awoken a hunger he never knew he had.

    "It''s very appealing to the senses of both man and beast, so even the best of us require a strong control over our senses to resist its pull," Miranda exined taking a step closer to him.

    "So what do I do now?" Noah asked, wondering why the system hadn''t disyed a stat of the fruit.

    "You take it�� and eat it," she announced. But that didn''t sit well with Noah, and he furrowed his brows as a result.

    "Here, now?" he asked. And couldn''t help but frown when she nodded in response.

    "But what if I''m not ready," Noah spoke tilting his head to the side a bit.

    A soft smile appeared on Miranda''s face at that point and she parted her pink and sumptuous lips to reply. "Well, I''m your caretaker sir Aiden, from now till the tour of the nations, ends. I''ll be with you through out that time, I''ll keep it till you''re ready," She exined with a light shrug.

    ''So that''s what she meant,'' Noah sighed inwardly and fell into quick thought. She required him to eat it and cultivate in front of her, but he knew he couldn''t since he utilized speed essence. And he couldn''t say he could store it, not after all she had told him about where the fruit could only be stored.

    He wanted to avoid questions, especially when she was stronger than he was, and an even more powerful force was at y. It wasn''t like the case of Elder Sarah. She had proved that she could be trusted and wasn''t a particrly bad person, so he could show her a bit.

    Miranda was obviously different. Not only had they just met, but she served the council, and had been doing so for years.

    "Then I will require that you store it for now then," Noah eventually announced, and her smile widened.

    "As you wish, sir Aiden," She responded in a sultry manner, before cing her hand on her tattoo, then she pushed it into it and removed her hand revealing an empty grip.

    "So I guess that''s all," Noah spoke unsure of what next.

    However, Miranda walked closer to him her desire now obvious in her eyes. "You''re a fine man, Sir Aiden. And I was asked to serve you," She said cing her hands on hisps, and leaning forward until she took his lips in hers. After which she sat on hisp again.

    The duo shared a long kiss, and at this point, Noah had his arms around her bare waist.

    "Before we continue," Noah pulled out at some point and noticed her displeasure. "Does the fruit affect all the vessels of power?" Noah asked, and saw that a frown appeared on her face.

    "We''ll talk about that��ter," she replied pressing her lips against is while her hips began to move on him.

    ''Noted,'' Noah replied inwardly and felt his string of rationality finally snap when her right hand led his fingers to a certain sensitive area between her legs.

 Chapter 358 358. TERRIFIED

    Gazing at the blue sky, Noah seemed to stare at something in particr, but that wouldn''t be the case.

    He was too lost in thoughts and memories topletely regard the individuals around him, who held different conversations.

    It was time to go, but he couldn''t stop reying the events that urred between him and Miranda.

    ''I just gotid by a tier 4 expert,'' he chuckled outwardly, before lowering his eyes to focus on the series of figures around him.

    He could sight elder Von in a quality-looking ck and golden robe. The expert and his red hair seemed to light up the ce as he spoke with the other individuals who were in charge of taking care of the contestants.

    It would seem not one of the contestants who failed had been returned to their various guilds. And although only the groups attached to the various individuals in the top ten were present, that was enough to arrive at that conclusion.

    From his point of view, they were high in the sky; on a building''s roof. He desired to see what was below them, and maybe get an understanding of that area''s location, but they had already been informed not to do such.

    "You should at least talk to her before we leave," Williams''s voice suddenly sounded behind him and he couldn''t help but nce in the direction of his gaze.

    Noah''s eyes fell on Madison at that point and an eyebrow rose on his face when he got sight of her looks without the stains of a battlefield.

    Her ck hair was tied in a ponytail which allowed for an almostplete view of her face, and its features were far above average. She would be considered pretty in any world.

    She only had two others beside her, and one of them was thedy he had decimated. It was a good thing they found a quick solution to her withering state. The other person was a male who had been eliminated on the second day.

    Madison looked meek in her position, she asionally raised her head to gaze at the sky while the individual in charge of her conversed with Elder Von.

    She spoke with no one, and the other two did the same.

    "Second ce," Noah muttered recalling Miranda''s words about the fruit and most especially the tour which would be happening in two months to allow for proper preparation.

    Sure, he didn''t like the long wait, but he understood the reasons. Apparently for them to even be allowed out of the country the higher-ups of their destination had to know their names and their connections with the guilds and the nation.

    ording to Miranda, they would even be required toe before the face of the royal family. Needless to say, that had made him tremble, both in anger and fear.

    To those of the nation, that appointment would be a dreame true, but to him, he could only hope nothing wrong would ur.

    They would tour the Papine nation the Nevaldine empire and move on to the giant continent. ording to Miranda that would take no less than a year or more. A truth that had been shocking, to say the least.

    But it made him worry greatly. It reminded him of his time limit, and that had almost put him in a bad mood. But rather than fret and begin to panic, Noah began to make ns.

    He nned to undergo another dungeon drive to increase his power, but he didn''t want to worry about the issue of his sudden increase in power drawing attention. His life came first.

    He would need to make money first to purchase the 100 beasts required for the process, but that would be an incredible sum. He hadn''t checked prices in almost four months, surely things had to have gone up.

    Noah didn''t want to worry about the issue of his time limit since it was inevitable and the only thing that could help him was gaining more power.

    That had always been his priority, but other events had to ur if he wanted to gain importance.

    His n was pretty basic. Take on rank C missions, make a lot of money and go for a dungeon dive.

    Returning his focus to Madison, Noah found himself suddenly walking towards her, and his actions caught the attention of everyone there, but they simply did their own thing while keeping an eye on him.

    Madison noticed his approach and an eyebrow rose on her expressionless face.

    "White-haired man," she spoke before he could, and followed by her words was a bright smile.

    "ck-haireddy," Noah replied shaking his head in mild amusement.

    "You look good," shemented taking a full scan of his figure, but he remained silent and limited himself to stare back.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Which guild?" Noah spoke again, ignoring herpliment, and she went along.

    "We would be considered the number 4 guild in our nation, The falling ocean guild," She replied with a slight smile.

    "I see." he rubbed his chin with his fist. "Well it was nice meeting you even if our meeting was filled with annoyance," he remarked shooting a light nce at the other girl whose name he still didn''t know and he didn''t care. All he cared about was she looked older than Miranda, had brown hair, and a feisty pair of eyes.

    Noah caught a nce of the male in the group and performed a slight head bow, after which the young-looking expert did the same.

    "Well, this is goodbye for now," Noah spoke. "See youter for the whole tour thing," hemented, about to turn and leave, when Madison''s voice reached his ears, and her words stopped him in his track.

    "Don''t you wanna know how my martial art works?" She said with a knowing smug smile, and Noah couldn''t help but click his tongue inwardly. But she wasn''t lying. He wanted to know how it worked.

    He turned and nodded in response, catching sight of the widened eyes of both her guild-mates.

    A cheesy smile shone on her face at that point and she parted her lips to talk. "Unfortunately I can''t. You''ll have to beat me properly before I even give you a hint," she announced and felt pleasure watching his mostly calm expression almost falter.

    But he was good at his facial expressions. Too good.

    "Hmm... okay. By properly you mean at your peak?" Noah responded quite calmly.

    Madison nodded her head in affirmation and watched him walk away with a slight wave. However, she could almost taste his annoyance.

    "Why did you have to make that promise? His martial art is superior to yours," the male in the group spoke with a tinge of worry in his voice.

    "I know. But that''s the best part. I''ll have to step up my game until the next time we meet, or else it won''t even be a battle."

    He''s a monster after all." She exined keeping her eyes on Noah''s charming figure while excitement bubbled in her mind.

    Like most of those that participated in the tournament, she had not onlye to gain the best rewards but also witness the power of the individuals in the different guilds. And Noah fit her description. The young man although still at the beginning of the middle stage could defeat her who had peak middle-stage power.

    "What if you cross over into the higher stage before the next time you meet?" Thedy behind her spoke.

    "I doubt even that would be able to guarantee me victory. You need to experience what I felt when he attacked me. His strength is none like I''ve seen. He shouldn''t even exist."

    "If I had been subjected to the full power of his technique I would have died without feeling pain," she exined as a shiver went down her spine at the thought.

    Although it may have seemed as though she had been levelheaded during their battle. The truth was that she had been terrified all through.

    The various elders of the guilds eventually focused on their junior members, and after a bit of chatting with Elder Von, the expert opened a rectangrly shaped portal. Miranda would arrive at the guild for him when the time for the tour had arrived.

    "You will arrive at your different abodes in the city, so this is goodbye for now," Elder Von exined after making them hold blue orbs.

    "It was nice knowing you all. Don''t forget about our promise of going on a mission together," Williams spoke in a cheerful tone "I''lle visit sometime," he added focusing on Noah, before stepping through the portal and disappearing in its blue light.

    "Bye. I hope we get a drink sometime," Liam said stepping through the portal and disappearing.

    With only Illiana and Noah left, he expected her to simply leave silently, but a wave of surprise shook his mind when she suddenly embraced him.

    Before he could return her hug though, she let go of him and walked through the portal. Leaving Noah fundamentally shocked and confused.

    He caught sight of elder Von''s sly grin and couldn''t help but click his tongue.

    "We thank you for your time" Noah spoke in a t before proceeding to walk through the portal.

    Space twisted and stretched then he opened his eyes in front of Elder Sarah''s gate. The blue orb disappeared, but he didn''t focus on that detail, since, to his surprise, she sat outside. Legs crossed in front of a fancy-looking table that featured another chair.

 Chapter 359 359. SPECTACULAR

    A smile appeared on his face at that point. But he took in a moment to take in the air and feel of the city. He had only been away for about a week, but only then did he realize that he had missed it.

    "I have to be honest the world outside of the city is too bright," Noah''s voice rang out as he pushed the gate open and walked into thepound.

    "Well, maybe one day we''ll blot out the light and bathe the world in true darkness." Elder Sarah''s voice reached his ears as she sipped wine.

    Noah chuckled in slight amusement and went on to sit on the chair avable for him.

    He took the bottle of wine and poured himself some before a long silence followed.

    "I heard you became the first," Elder Sarah eventually spoke, and Noah nodded in affirmation.

    "Were they all that weak?" She said with a faked snort.

    "Yeah. I expected more, but someone did manage to put me on my toes. It was probably the first battle with someone my level thatsted that long and was that one-sided," Noah exined recalling Madison in action.

    "Oh! Who was this person?" Elder Sarah''s amused voice spread out in the court.

    "Her name was Madison, from the Falling ocean guild," Noah replied sipping wine from the cup.

    "Hmm the supposed fourth-best guild," Elder Sarah spoke with a mocking grin. "I had a spar with one of their tier 3 elders. Fucking weak. I wiped the floor with him before the fight clocked one minute," Elder Sarahughed reminiscing.

    "Uh... I see," Noah replied unsure of what to say or do next. His awkwardness reached Elder Sarah and she shook her head and stood.

    "Aiden, you did good," She said walking toward him to stand behind his chair.

    Noah furrowed his brows at that point, but he limited himself to saying nothing.

    "Nevertheless, I''m disappointed that you had someone that could even match you," Elder Sarah spoke with a voice dripping with her seeming displeasure about the whole ordeal.

    "Can you me me, I barely know like three of the thirteen techniques," Noah snorted trying to stand when she suddenly ced her hands on his shoulders forcing him down.

    "I should sever your legs from your knees, but I don''t want to see blood," She snorted squeezing his shoulders.

    "Your student just got back from a tournament that he aced, and this is the best you can give him," he joked clicking his tongue while suppressing the pain that had begun to reach his mind.

    "I''d rather make that student suffer than praise him. But like I said since you came back with first I''ll let you go with only this much." she snorted eventually letting him go, but not after squeezing his shoulders until they were mushy.

    Noah flinched after that point and flexed his shoulders while standing up He clicked his tongue and followed her movements with his eyes.

    She began to walk inside and he followed her wondering what she was nning.

    "You can go rest, I believe you have a lot to do." She announced walking up the balcony with him.

    Noah nodded even if she didn''t turn to look at him. Although he found her sudden silent behavior strange, he pushed the matter to the back of his mind.

    Arriving inside his room, he jumped on his bed and closed his eyes to remain in a state of nkness. No thoughts, nothing.

    He had returned to a ce he would consider home, so he didn''t want to worry too much.

    However, although Elder Sarah had told him to rest he knew he couldn''t. There was too much he needed to do.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Getting up from the bed he exited his room and began his way downstairs. He nned to give the letter of acknowledgment to those at the guild hall. He could even decide to go on a mission already.

    "No rest for he who wants power," he sighed walking down the stairs and out of thepound.

    Noah dashed towards the gate into the inner region, and he arrived there in no time. It had been months he had been there, but the same guards were at the post and they looked d to see him.

    He held a short conversation with them and began on his way. However, rather than run there he took a carriage ride and was there in about an hour''s worth of time.

    Standing outside of the incredibly beautiful guild hall made Noah feel nostalgic. I didn''t feel like yesterday that he was therest, but thanks to his memory he could still gain that feeling.

    Walking into the hall he ignored the sh of light that reached his body far faster than he could react and proceeded to stride toward the counter.

    His figure caught many gazes as some of them were part of his set, and It had been months since they saw himst.

    "How may I help you? Aiden. It''s been an awfully long time since I saw youst," one of thedies that asionally stood behind the counter spoke garnering the attention of some others.

    "Well a lot has happened Lina," Noah shrugged dropping his cold demeanor.

    "I''m d that you look as good as ever. Though you haven''t updated your rank. I''m afraid all your mates have surpassed you," she said leaning against the bar and inching closer to him. She had always acted friendly to him, even if he had only been around there for less than three weeks in total.

    "Oh... who has the highest rank?" Noah asked genuinely curious.

    "It''s ady named Ariana. She''s shot past almost all of them and his already six missions into D rank." Lina exined in a whispering tone.

    Needless to say, her mention of Ariana made him recall her and he couldn''t help but fall into a bit of wonder.

    "I''m guessing you know her," Lina spoke at some point and could only nod slowly when he nodded.

    "Unfortunately for her, I''ll be the one with the highest rank in our set," Noah announced with such pride in his words he caused Lina tough.

    "That would take even you a few months. You''re still in rank E might I remind you," Lina giggled as though he told the funniest joke she had heard.

    With silent pride burning within him, Noah brought out the scroll of acknowledgment and ced it on the counter.

    The sight of the shiny scroll caused her to stop herughter, and when she saw the seal she seemed to know what it was meant for.

    Bending below the counter to bring something, Noah waited a few seconds before she returned with a small cylindrical object that she ced on the circr seal causing its inscriptions to ze with brighter intensity.

    The scroll suddenly unfolded by itself and began to float. By this point, the multitude of humans in the room already had their attention on the event.

    The scroll continued to glow until a silver light began to emanate from its golden brown material.

    Suddenly a deep voice carrying authority and radiating power erupted out of the floating scroll.

    "Guild member of the Divine Lightning guild; Aiden, by the power vested in we the council; is hereby promoted to the peak of the C rank, as a reward for seeding in the tournament of champions!" The male voice caused the ears of many to tremble, while a holographic disy of Noah''s face and his name with the crest of a staff surrounded by ming torches were projected from the scroll, lighting up the ce.

    ''They just had to do this!'' An ugly expression appeared on Noah''s face at that spectacr announcement.

 Chapter 360 360. CIRCUS

    All eyes were on Noah, or at least the man named Aiden, and they couldn''t but wonder how he had even gotten into the tournament of champions.

    It was without a doubt that they all knew what the tournament of champions was, but how to participate was the detail none of them knew. Elder Sarah had said it was something between the higher-ups after all.

    ''Why would they even announce that it was from winning the tournament,'' Noah sighed shaking his head while relishing the shock on Lina''s face. By the gods, they felt good.

    The astonishment of that event had been the densest feeling in the room, but no one coulde to ask him how he achieved that feat. They weren''t close enough to him for that.

    "I... I''ll get right to it," Lina stuttered rushing towards the inner side of the counter now shielded by a door, to get something. In less than a minute, she returned with a badge and a card, and two more stars.

    Noah immediately understood what the stars were for and immediately stored them when she handed them over to him.

    "So what is the card for?" Noah asked curiously while inspecting the small object featuring only his name the guild''s crest. Its material felt metallic and was coated with a silver color.

    "This is what allows you to reach the upper floor for even intense and bountiful missions. There are many issues in our nation and the missions here do not portray them in the slightest," Lina exined. Still recovering from her shock. "I was only able to give you this because you''ve been promoted to the peak of rank C about to step into B."

    "I see," Noah muttered raising his head to nce at the stairs.

    "Due to your cultivation level I''ll be restricting you from increasing your rank to B," she said, suddenly more polite. But it didn''t bother him.

    "You can do that?" Noah asked surprised.

    "Yes, I can as long. As long as I deem it necessary," She stated without batting an eye.

    "Ah, I understand. Thanks for your time," Noah spoke, already leaving for the upper floor.

    "I advise that you at least take rank D jobs since they are lighter than rank C," Lina called out with worry in her tone.

    An idea reached Noah''s mind at her words and out of curiosity, he spoke up. "What is the death rate of rank C missions?" He questioned calmly gazing at her youthful features.

    She fell silent at his words but soon spoke. "For those taking the most dangerous of the rank C missions even those in the lower stage, the death rate is fifty, fifty," her words were meek and silent, filled with pain. Noah could immediately understand that she had lost close individuals to such jobs.

    ''But damn,'' He couldn''t help but exim inwardly. That percentage was amazing, to say the least. About half of those that went for C rank missions died in the process. It was frightening that even the tier 3''s could die in the highest of rank C missions meant for peak tier 2.

    "No worries then, I''ll see what I can find here," Noah assured, meaning his words. His eyes fell on the board in the distance and immediately began to move closer to it.

    He stood before the board while ignoring the nces of the people around him. He had literally be one of the highest-ranked tier 3''s in an instant.

    Gazing at the missions board, he immediately set his eyes on the rank D missions, and even went for the ones with red sheets.

    He read a few of them and soon found one that sounded interesting enough for him to try out.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The mission saw him going outside the city to a town somewhere on the map of the Cusk nation and getting rid of a pack of beasts troubling it.

    The pack contained mostly peak tier 2 beasts but made its dangerous-ness shoot up when a tier 3 beast was confirmed. Five apparently.

    Sure Noah had wondered why such a mission would be ssified as D rank since tier 3 threats were present, but the fact that it was even there made him understand that the mission was meant for only tier 3''s to see,

    He got the mission bill stamped and got a map directing him to the town''s exact location.

    ording to Lina, the mission had only arrived newly so it was better he quickly took care of it.

    Of course, the payment was also fairly enough, 3000 small silvers. It was something to add to his purse, as he nned on buying more beasts.

    After exiting the guild hall, Noah was met with an issue. ''How do I even get to the town,'' he thought grimly. Returning to ask Lina about the issue she gave him directions to an establishment that rented out flying beast.

    Noah walked on the path she directed to him and eventually arrived at the said ce. Arge two-story building with the signature of a beast with wings at its front unfolded in his sight and he didn''t hesitate to walk past its gate and into itspound.

    Many individuals stood about the grassypound of the building, but hepletely disregarded them to face the guard before the big red door.

    "What rank?" The individual spoke tly.

    "C," Noah replied coldly.

    An eyebrow rose on the expert''s face and he immediately searched Noah''s figure for the right amount of stars and found it.

    Lina had informed him about that detail. Apparently, the building was an establishment almostpletely owned by the guild, so he had to wear his stars to be allowed entry.

    The individual''s demeanor changed and a smile suddenly shone on his face while he opened the door.

    "Have a nice time, sir," the middle-aged man spoke.

    Noah could tell he wasn''t a guild member, meaning who ever owned the building had to have brought him from outside the city.

    He stepped through the door and an empty orange hall expanded in his eyes. He had felt the slight distortion in space and could tell that that ce had been expanded.

    However, there were were eight brown doors in the circr room, and each had a tag he could read.

    One carried a tag for baby beast, one for toddler beast one for adult beasts. While one had the taming tag. He scanned the doors until he found the one he needed. Which had the "For rent" sign on it.

    Noah pushed the said door and stepped into an even more expanded environment, since what resembled the gathering of a circus; unfolded in his sight, and the many growls and roars told him he had arrived at his destination.

 Chapter 361 361. PRIDE

    Noah walked into the wide area and immediately fell into marvel. Rows upon rows of big cages filled his eyes and they created two walls on either side leaving a path to the center of the ce.

    The sight before him felt magical and fantastical that it made him recount the different things he had seen in Cregar. It definitely had a spot on the list of marvelous things.

    The beasts in the cage were of various sizes and species, but they all had one thing inmon.

    Wings.

    Big wings farrger than the average human stood on the backs of these creatures more than twice the size of an average human.

    Most of them growled or purred, but none did so in hostility. Heck, it seemed they were inmunication with each other. A wondrous thing since amongst wild beasts such was rare. Especially since they were of different species.

    The cages were about five rows up and more than fifteen horizontally creating a great wall-like scenery ofrge beasts inrge inscribed cages. But considering the fact that there were lots of members rushing out of the city almost every time, that incredible number of beasts was manageable.

    Noah soon reached a queue, a long one at that. He could swear he counted about 60 individuals before him and all of them were facing a table at the central part of the room.

    It was even more shocking to find that there were other walls of beasts. The ce felt like a library featuring many shelves, massive ones, but instead of books beasts filled their insides.

    There were about five individuals attending to the line at the same time, so the line could reduce quickly.

    But even at that he still had to spend about thirty minutes before his turn reached.

    "How may I help you?" The orange-haireddy he found himself in front of asked, her face expressionless, and she had a pair of what resembled reading sses on.

    The white light shining high above created a sing beam where that area had the most light and the entirety of the room only featured little light.

    It looked like a spotlight, so he could see thedy''s face clearly, and couldn''t help but admire her pale white smooth skin.

    "I need a beast to go here," Noah responded showing thedy the map as Lina had instructed him.

    "That''s quite far. It would cost you 700 small silvers," she replied in a t tone after inspecting the said area.

    Noah didn''t like that price, but he couldn''t do much about it, he was new to the system.

    His purse appeared in his hand. And he counted the set amount required.

    Thedy received the payment. "Are you new to how we do things," She said suddenly making her portion of the table shift to the side and she ushered him in.

    "Yes I am," Nosh replied following her into the dimly lit portions of the room filled with rows and rows of living beasts.

    Something he had not noticed on the other side of the room; were the few humans that patrolled the area and the manydders filling the rows.

    "I give you a short intro on how we do things." She announced.

    "Like you saw the other time, your pay is determined by how far you''re going from the city. We choose beasts based on their capacity and we guarantee their quality. Nevertheless, since they would be with you throughout your journey they may or may not get tired, depending on how you use them," she exined.

    "The beasts are mostly docile and a device has been constructed to allow control over them."

    "It''s called a Half-bond. Since it allows partial connection between the user and the beast."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You don''t have ess to its mana core and any of its powers, but you canmand them into fighting. But if any of the beasts end up dead a fine will be required from you, ad they may be as high as nine-thousand small silver coins." She paused stopping to look at him.

    "You look like someone new around here, yet you''re rank C. That''s surprising."Shemented continuing on her path.

    Noah remained silent at her words and limited himself to taking in the grandness of that ce.

    "We have arrived here," She eventually spoke halting her steps before a seemingly random spot in the wide room.

    "There are three beasts to choose from, each with their own capabilities." She spoke when a beam of light suddenly shone on the said beasts and they cringed at the sudden brightness.

    "The first one," She said ncing at a bird beast. It stood at about 4 meters in height and waspletely grey, but featured an abnormally long and pointy blood-red beak.

    "It''s pretty fast like the others, it features a big orange core and is of the fire affinity. Believe it or not, it''s pretty violent and its mes are surprisingly hot for its middle-stage level. The only issue is its eyesight."

    "Its longsightedness makes its attacks pretty flimsy in close-range battles. Notwithstanding from the sky, its attacks are impable, but since you''ll be mostly on the ground after your initial flight, don''t expect that much precision." She exined with the first emotion Noah had seen on her face.

    "She''s been through a lot and I can guarantee her ability," A soft smile appeared on her face.

    "The second on the other hand has pretty much basic attack power, but it''s fast, like the others. But its attacks are nothing short of mediocre," she exined focusing on a blue armless-serpent with wingsrge wings.

    Noah could understand why its attacks could be mediocre. Its arm-less state would be a real disadvantage.

    "The third is actually capable of far more than the two of them. But she has an issue with anger and pride," she exined gazing at a red fox about 3m In height and almost double that in length.

    Its wings were the color of its fur; orangish-red on the outside and featuring white fur beneath. They looked perfect for something its size since it could easily fold them.

    The beast looked appeasing to the eyes especially since it simplyy and did its own thing, but thedy stared at it with her head shaking.

    "She''s the fastest and strongest beast between the three. It features an orange core slightly smaller than the bird, but its fire abilities surpass hers," she exined.

    "It doesn''t seem aggressive," Noahmented already making his choice.

    "Well, she is. Very even. Don''t be fooled by her cuteness. We''ve had rentersin about her disobeying instruction and lighting everything aze during fights, thereby hurting the renter before they could force her under control with the half-bond," she exined.

    "Hmm. So stubbornness" Noah muttered.

    "Exactly. She still holds her pride as one of the fastest beasts out there, and after some tests against other beasts and even humans she''s amounted decades of pride."

    "Even with all this, she gets the job done, but a person might have issues especially when their level might be a bit lower than hers."

    "I personally advise that you don''t choose her since she''s already halfway into the middle stage," shemented ncing at him, but he already had a smile on his breathtaking face.

    "Nah I''ll go with her," Noah replied, she would be the subject of his test. "Does she have a name though? You seem close to the beast," Noah added.

    With a defeated sigh thedy opened her mouth to speak. "She''s been officially given the name Cory. But many prefer to call her, Pride."

 Chapter 362 362. CENTER

    In a very short amount of time, A group of five individuals gathered around Pride''s cage, since her cage stood on of the serpents.

    A bridge was created and she was walked out of the cage.

    Her figure remained more beautiful than ever, and her gentle looks made Noah shake his head at the fact that she was supposedly disobedient.

    A man among the five, spoke with Noah at that point allowing the red-haireddy to return with her post.

    The man gave him a ring that apparently was connected to the cor that they wore around Pride''s neck.

    Noah could link it with his consciousness and have a connection with her.

    The group saddled her and led him to the top of the building.

    Of course, he had an issue when he was required to allow her to take off. He didn''t exactly know how to fly a beast.

    Notwithstanding, he got on her and prepared to utilize his memories of flying with elder Sarah.

    ''Okay now you''re gonna be cool and obey me,'' Noah said in his mind intending for his words to reach the beast. And it did, since she unfurled her wings, ready for hismand.

    ''Go!'' He ordered inwardly and Pride raised her wings and pped them once to lift off.

    She continued to p her wings, gradually elevating until they arrived at a particr height.

    Noah was ecstatic, to say the least, but he quickly brought out a map of the city and found the location of the exit.

    Leaning forward on Pride''s saddle, Noahmanded her forward and watched the world around him turn into a blur.

    The wind continued to wheeze past him but he remained too busy trying to keep his bnce to mind the sheer beauty of the scenery below him.

    Pride was quick, he had to be honest since she arrived at the location of the exit in less than a minute.

    A wide pit surrounded by six individuals, unfolded in Noah''s eyes as Pride circled the spot tond on the line before them.

    Individuals took turns with their various beasts to enter the pit. More flying beasts continued to arrive behind Noah as he couldn''t help but understand that his ride knew more than him about that event.

    She had actuallynded without hismand, but it was what was required.

    ''This might truly be troublesome,'' Noah sighed inwardly. Dealing with intelligent entities was never easy.

    It didn''t take long till it was his turn, and one of the individuals around the pit stopped him.

    "Your name and rank," The man spoke.

    "Aiden. Rank C," Noah replied normally. His eyes were on Pride as she continued to open and close her mouth. Seemingly yawning.

    "Where to? We need this in case you don''t return," The man spoke writing something down.

    "The town named Yerri. For a mission," Noah replied seeing as the man had a map at hand and ticked it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We haven''t had anyone go there in a while," the manmented, but Noah could only remain silent.

    "You can go, Thank you for your time," The official waved at Pride and she immediately began her walk toward therge steps into the pit.

    The insides of the pit from above were mostly dark, and its wideness also didn''t help the ting of nervousness building inside Noah.

    The thing was big enough for six different beasts and still feature room for a bit of movement.

    When Pride reached the edge of the pit, Noah gasped as he held onto her saddle. The darn thing looked bottomless, but beasts were entering it every now and then.

    Although Noah asked her to wait, Pride dived in anyway, and Noah found himself yelping in shock.

    Both their figures plunged into the darkness of the pit, and Noah couldn''t help but hold on to his ride even tighter.

    He could barely see his hand in the darkness, but Pride seemed to know exactly what she was doing since she suddenly folded her wings when a tinge of light reached them.

    Noah yelled in astonishment at that event, but that feeling vanished when a sudden force abruptly slowed down their figure and the darkness surrounding the city began to wash past them.

    The sky appeared in Noah''s eyes and he gasped in shock.

    Tens of beasts unfolded in his gaze. Their wings unfolded as they glided slowly towards the distant surface of Cregar. Pride unfolded her wings at some point and began to glide downwards in an arc.

    Noah on the other hand was busy taking in the beauty of the world below him. Miles upon miles ofnd surface unfolded in his eyes as the brightness of the day illuminated everything.

    It felt as though he had returned from outer space and was returning to the ground, only this time he was returning from a city in the sky.

    The speed of their descent began to increase at some point, but it was red doing the work.

    A nd and emptynd surface stretching for miles unfolded in his eyes at some point and Noah immediately knew what it was. The wastnd below the city, but he didn''t expect it to be that bad.

    The crusty brownness of apletely dried-outnd surface filled his eyes as Pride continued to fly downwards.

    Followed by that sight was heat. The sun stood high above them and its intensity was starting to say the least. Although it didn''t bother him much due to the coldyer his body featured, Noah had to admit that the intensity of the sun in that region was a tad bit over the top.

    Red arrived at the surface at some point but she didn''t set her paws on the ground.

    The beast was boiling at this point, but Noah didn''t care. He made her shoot toward a particr direction, and she did so fully.

    She was so quick the heat couldn''t reach them, and in no time they were out of the wastnds area of dominance, and a region lower than the wastnds unfolded in their gazes.

    Greenery appeared all around him and soon a series of hills followed by ins.

    Their travel took about an hour before Noah eventually arrived at his destination.

    A town appeared in his sight and he couldn''t help but wonder why it was situated at the center of a forest.

 Chapter 363 363. STRANGE

    Noah and pride circled that weirdly ced town in the center of a thick forest for whole minutes until he felt he had gotten enough of that view.

    ''I''d like you to get down now,'' Noah spoke inwardly, happy that Pride had been listening to hismands without much effort. He even had eyes on anding spot, a hill-like elevatednd surface very close to the town.

    There were clearings avable, but he didn''t want tond inside the magical beast territory, at least not until he had informed the town of his arrival.

    However, Pride refused to listen and simply continued to circle the area with any evidence of willingness to dive down towards the hill.

    Noah furrowed his brows and repeated his inner words. But she wouldn''t listen, heck she began to fly away from the hill and even out of the town''s range, and Noah couldn''t help but get alerted.

    "Hey!" He screamed at the four-legged beast, but she only barked in response. High-pitched barks almost like squeals.

    The sound of her displeasure was so loud, that it stunned Noah. But even that didn''t deter him. He tried to move towards her fur, but she began to perform flips that made him hold on to her while still on the saddle.

    ''Son of a-'' Noah couldn''tplete his thoughts since she suddenly folded her wings before unfolding them again, causing her figure to jerk. An annoying event to Noah.

    Noah spouted more inward curses but had to call upon the power of the Half-bond.

    "Land on the hill," Hemanded, and immediately, although, with a squeal of pain, she turned to the hill and began to fly towards it.

    pping her wings while shended stably, Noah clicked his tongue at the annoyance of her sudden disobedience. But it also put him on alert. Had there been something she had sensed that he had not?

    He couldn''t be sure, but he would remain careful anyways.

    Noah began his journey down the hill, and onto a clear carriage path that looked like it had not been utilized in a while.

    At some point, he began to have issues with Pride.

    She had begun to bark loudly and showed every intention to not go further. And the town was only a few hundred meters from their position.

    Noah out of understanding allowed her to stay put but made sure he had her close enough to call. Hermunication with him didn''te in clear words, but emotion-like experiences.

    She was afraid and didn''t want to move closer to the town.

    Noah began to wonder if there were stronger beasts that weren''t mentioned in the mission. So he put on the faceless mask, allowed Muliix to appear on his figure, and wielded his daggers for faster attacks.

    He also had different spells at the tip of his mind, all that due to the growing worry and paranoia he experienced.

    At some point Noah made Muliix recede into his skin and allowed his guild attire to be seen.

    His figure eventually arrived before a big stone wall featuring a metallic gate. From that alone, he could tell the town was big.

    "Who goes there?!" A male voice reached his ears,ing from the wall, and Noah caught sight of a light-armored individual who had an arrow pointed at him.

    From his experience with Madison, bows were really annoying, to say the least, but he soon realized that the arrow would be unable to do anything to him since the man only had a cultivation base at the peak of tier 2.

    To be honest it had been a while since he gazed at a human expert that weak, and a smile couldn''t help but crack on his face when he recalled how far he hade.

    "I am from the divine lightning guild. I havee to deal with the beasts," Noah spoke softly, but he allowed his tier 3 aura carry his voice, expressing his power more subtly.

    The expert felt the incredible aura and trembled in fear.

    The expert moved from his position, however, and a series of murmurs that Noah could hear due to his powerful ears reached him.

    In no time the sound of heavy metal moving disrupted the deadly silence the forest around them had, and three figures exited the gate followed by four peak 2 experts.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Good day young master," One of the three individuals who were all men in their fifties bowed, while the others bowed too.

    "You may rise," Noahmanded ying into the role. He was from the prestigious great guild, his tone and demeanor had to express that, especially before such weak experts. Noah could wipe them out if he sneezed too hard, and he wasn''t even exaggerating.

    "I havee from my guild the divine lightning guild to deal with the beasts that trouble you. May I see the town''s head?" Noah spoke ording to how Lina had exined to him. Before he had left she had exined to him the steps he had to make.

    One of the more important ones was meeting the head of a settlement since they probably knew about the mission and would be the ones their payment woulde from.

    Unexpectedly though, the three men all dressed in fine-looking garments showed confused expressions.

    "Young master, which beasts do you speak of?" The man at the forefront asked in a perplexed tone while he nced at the other ins shared confusion.

    Noah furrowed his brows, but due to the mask, no expressions were made. In truth, he looked creepy with the mask.

    "This bill states that you need assistance with a pack of magical beasts, I havee to solve that issue," Noah showed them the stamped paper. He was just as perplexed as they were.

    "This must have been something from a few years ago young master," The man at the forefront spoke reading through the paper. "Our town has no issues whatsoever with magical beasts. We have been enjoying peace for quite a long time now," the individual added confusing Noah even more.

    He recalled Lina telling him when the paper had arrived, and she definitely couldn''t have been wrong. She had even asked him to take care of it quickly so as not to have it removed.

    Noah''s tall figure remained silent for a while as he seemed to fall into deep thought, but the faceless mask continued to weird them out.

    "Young master if you do not believe, why don''t you see for yourself," the man on the left sidemented, gesturing at the slightly opened gate.

    Noah nodded in affirmation and they quickly brought him closer to the town until he even peeked inside.

    His eyes fell on a bustlingmunity at that point, everything was loud, surprising him how he had not heard anything from outside the gate.

    The people looked good and cheerful, not how he expected a town filled with weak existences threatened by a pack of tier 3 beasts should behave.

    "I am left with a hard choice at that point," he sighed. "It would seem there have been some mistakes," Noah remarked turning to go find Pride and be on his way. Though he still wondered why she had been so scared, she didn''t want to get closer.

    "Young master you''vee all this way, we can''t let you return without even a proper wee. It would be an honor to host a member of the great guild divine lightning," The man who had been at the forefront spoke again--his tone pleading.

    "You don''t have to worry. Though I would still like to speak with the vige head," Noah made known his intentions, and the individuals epted, but he had to spend at least a night with them.

    Apparently, it was to prepare gifts for his departure. Noah could only wonder if all his guild-mates were always treated like that.

    At some point, Noah gave in to their pleading and promised to spend a night in the town.

    Of course, he still had lots of reservations as a result of Pride''s strange reaction, but a part of him couldn''t help but drop most of his worry when he got to enter the town and witness how weak the humans inside it werepared to him.

    His journey throughout thends of the Cusk nation and the floating city had made him forget the condition of the world outside the guild.

    The town didn''t look poor in any way. It had a few high-end facilities for s town with such weak individuals but that didn''t change the fact that he could single-handedly level the whole ce.

    He didn''t find one expert that entered tier 3,m and most of the mas had power within tier 2, some even held might inside tier 1.

    For him, such experts were lesser than ants. He could one-shot higher stage beings at his peak, tier ones and two''s were beyond weak.

    His passage with the three individuals who he wouldter recognize as the elders of the town since the people called them that; was filled with stares.

    Noah stood tall and powerful amid that escort and he soon arrived before a normal building isted from the rest of the town. It had no details that would make him look twice, but there was something strange nheless, but he couldn''ty his finger on it,

 Chapter 364 364. STREAM

    "So there isn''t any trouble," Noah spoke, sitting before a man who looked to be in his fifties. His eyes were weary, his skin wrinkled, his voice rasp, and his hair mostly grey.

    The man held a subpar cultivation base at the peak of tier 2, he seemed unable to go further. Yet he continued to feel strange to Noah.

    "I apologize for the inconvenience young master, but we have no issues with magical beasts. But we thank you for your worry," The old man exined standing to bow his head while Noah simply looked at him.

    ''Worry? I only came here because I would make money,'' Noah shook his head inwardly. Nevertheless, he didn''t like that situation and began to wonder how that bill had arrived at the guild''s board.

    He didn''t know exactly how calls for help were brought to the guild, but he felt maybe there had been a mix-up or something.

    But even with that thought, nothing added up. The elders said there hadn''t been any troubles with beasts for years. So howe the paper had found its way to a great guild for that matter?

    He valued Lina''s words over theirs since he knew her a bit, and she wasn''t even allowed to hurt him.

    "It''s okay then," Noah spoke at some point. "I''ll simply report this to my guild and have this checked out."

    "That''s great, young master," The town''s head bowed again. "Now let them show you to your room. I believe your journey has been far."

    "I heard the members of your prestigious guild make use of flying magical beasts." The man whose name was Benal suddenly spoke. "Why have you refrained from doing so?"

    "Well, we do at times. But I decided not to this time around," Noah lied. He didn''t trust those people and he couldn''t give proof of his ride.

    "Ah, I see. I hope you enjoy your stay then," Benal bowed.

    Noah only nodded and stood to exit that building.

    The light of the sun shone on his face when he pushed the door open and walked out of it, and the elders were waiting outside.

    "I have confirmed that nothing was wrong," Noah spoke before any of them could, and they nced at themselves before one of them spoke.

    "Please let us lead you to your room," The man spoke. And Noah simply followed their lead.

    They passed the town again, and staresnded on him again. He still had his mask on, but none of them hadined about it.

    Noah found himself gazing into the eyes of many of them and felt on edge since some; especially the children looked on edge.

    The elders took him to another almost remote area in the town where a small housey. Its interior only featured a room and a restroom, but Noah wasn''t nning on using them much.

    The room itself wasn''t thatrge. Barely 3sq-m. It featured a small but low bed and a green nket.

    "Thank you," Noah head-bowed, admiring the windows of the building.

    The windows were nice and big, but one was so big he couldfortably fit through it, and it was slideable. Good for sneaking out.

    A stream ran about 10m from the building, and he felt interested in it since it wasn''t sparkling blue.

    "It''s our pleasure, young master," the elder at the forefront bowed, and so did the others.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We will take our leave now," the old man spoke and they turned to leave. Noah watched them until they werepletely out of his sight before he sat to think.

    He still found the entire town strange and he felt certain that something was going on, even if he wasn''t in the mood to actually investigate anything.

    None of them could touch him even if they wanted. He was far stronger than those his level not to talk of them.

    Noah sat inside the room for a while to not rouse any suspicion. He still had his mask on his face and he wasn''t going to remove it any time soon.

    At some point, he began to wonder why he felt worried about a bunch of tier 2 cultivators. But even if logically there wasn''t anything dangerous, he remained paranoid, so he decided to blow off some steam by checking out the flowing stream.

    ''Nice... and cool too,'' Noahmented, dipping his hand in the clear and shallow water.

    It didn''t seem to feature that much mana which was the reason for its less sparkly nature. Mana had stopped being important and avable to him, which was why he couldn''t tell its ambient density.

    But from the looks of things, it wasn''t much. Feeling adventurous, Noah scooped a bit of the clear water and poured it into his mouth.

    He had learned long ago that his hold on mana had vanished after he broke the oath of the royals, but he had never actually tested what would happen drinking water filled with mana.

    Apparently, it was dangerous to the body of humans. And only beasts could consume it in its raw state. But he wasn''t human, at least not fully.

    The cool liquid slid down his throat and eventually reached his belly, but nothing happened, at least for a while.

    His gut began to protest violently, barely after a minute had passed, and Noah felt nausea for the first time in a while.

    He ended up puking, but only water. Shockingly.

    Now that he tried it, the water tasted bad and it smelt repulsive.

    "Why?" Noah asked the system. An action he had stopped doing for a while now.

    [[Your body is unable to take it as a result of how lower its quality is]]

    [[By normal standards ingesting the water should have amounted to nothing since your body should have refined it to nothing. But your body is currently unable to take anything that features something that has mana. Or any other power source]]

    The system exined relieving him of his confusion.

    "Then that means one day I might be able to ingest mana," Noah said, still trying to get rid of the taste of the water.

    [[By calctions, yes. But when? I am unable to tell as a result of your difference]]

    "I see," he muttered wondering what would have happened to him if he had drank those waters sparkling as a result of the high density of mana they contained.

    The hours passed and Noah opted to cultivate his mind to pass time. He, however, stopped when the moon rose. He didn''t because he wanted to, but because he had noticed a figure standing right across the stream staring straight at him through the wide widow.

 Chapter 365 365. HUMANOID

    The silver moon shone high above the town and illuminated its entirety. The stream before Noah wasn''t an exception. Yet the entity across the stream surrounded by an open space refused to be clearly seen. At least its upper portion.

    It seemed like darkness enshrouded the figure even if that obviously wasn''t so.

    Noah could see that the figure had a red garment on. One that flowed graciously in the soft wind of the night.

    The silvery light around the being could not be more magical but he wasn''t looking at the beauty, since all sorts of rms went up in his head.

    Danger, fear, realization, and even confusion ran rampant in Noah''s mind, leaving him agitated, but mostly anxious.

    He couldn''t sense the figure''s power. Heck, the figure felt devoid of any ounce of strength. Yet Noah''s instincts told him an incredible amounty behind that stillness.

    Noah had not noticed the beings arrival, which was shocking since there were no hiding spots for at least a kilometer. Only scantly ced buildings and clear ground.

    The two seemed to stare at each other since Noah had already confirmed that he was the focus of the entity.

    Every inch of his body wanted him to run, but he sat unmovingly. Simply gazing back at the figure, as though doing so would fend off that strangeness.

    The figure eventually moved, but not in the way Noah and his instincts expected it. The thing took soft steps forward, as it even crossed the stream without much effort.

    The slow steps left no sounds in the night, and with each one, Noah felt his body''s desire to move, increase in intensity.

    The figure was halfway through the space between the stream and the building when Noah''s mind gave up on holding in his erratic emotions, and he bolted through the door.

    However, he didn''t hold back and directly exploded with the speed force''s empowerment.

    He could tell that the figure was stronger than he was, and it also held hostile intentions, since his instincts wouldn''t react negatively if that wasn''t the case.

    Noah turned into a deep yellow streak that directly left the town before even a second could count.

    His figure stopped before a lying Pride and his shy arrival startled her enough for a squeal, but she calmed down immediately. Noah jumped on her figure and she took off as quickly as she could.

    Noah could now confirm what had been the issue with her, as she had moved without his order.

    Noah knew how strong beings above tier 3 were and knew that the figure could reach them in no time, but he couldn''t leave her.

    And just like he thought, barely two seconds after Pride took off in a hurry, the ground now far beneath them burst open withrge curved spikes made from earth.

    Evasive maneuvers began at that point.

    The spikes were huge, but their tips were thin and would impale Pride if she wasn''t quick enough.

    Tens of such spikes shot out of the ground to curve towards Pride''s maneuvering figure. The silence of the night was immediately shattered as a result of the explosions those magical wonders caused.

    Pride continued to bark as she spun and stopped and dived and looped, each one of her actions managing to escape the seemingly living spikes.

    But Noah knew she wouldn''tst. The spikes were as fast as they were and originated from even the forest in the distance, giving birth to a blockade of spikes barreling towards them.

    Noah took a deep breath when he saw a number of about ten huge spikes flying towards them and released his breath.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Mist followed his breath as a barrier of ice surrounded by a barrier of electrical currents and even a dense cocoon of wind originated from his figure.

    Even at that, he felt his defenses get ripped open when the huge mass of pointy earth touched them.

    Pride barked in fear and surprise, but Noah''s expression went cold. He knew his defenses would be unable to do much for him, so he had toe to a quick conclusion.

    Mere instants before the spikes could reach him and Pride, a golden object abruptly appeared to float above the duo, before expanding in size.

    Cudgel pushed Pride downwards, and they smashed into the ground painfully.

    Nothing much happened to him, but pride was different. One of her legs had been broken as a result of the impact and she obviously didn''t like it.

    Apart from that, however, she remained fine so he could get on her and she could take off again.

    Cudgel''s massive figure stood grandly in the night sky having fended off the multiple spikes.

    Noah and Pride soon appeared beside it, and as they flew he made sure his divine weapon was with him.

    Chaos spread in the forest at that point, and more huge structures; mainly spiky in nature were birthed from the ground, uprooting many trees in the process. All Noah had to do, however, was cause Cudgel to appear on the paths of those attacks, and they would be fended off.

    Pride looked and sounded scared, but she continued to fly on the course Noah set for her, while he did all the work.

    Something eventually changed, however. The huge spikes didn''t stop but a figure appeared high in the sky and terror seemed to feel Pride''s mind.

    Noah frowned wondering how the figure had gotten ahead of them, but there wasn''t time to do much thinking since he made Pride shoot towards another area.

    But this time things were different. With a bark-like roar, Pride changed direction, but mes erupted out of her wings in that instant.

    Noah''s environment turned into a blur when his ride took off in the set direction. Her speed remained shocking since they had already broken the sound barrier.

    The only downside about that ability was the streak of orange mes it created.

    Their direction could be mapped at that point, but Noah made Cudgel shoot toward the figure to distract them.

    The world seemed to tremble as its golden figure erged, so much so that its movement shaved the portion of the forest it flew above.

    Noah and Pride continued to shoot toward the set direction while Cudgel arrived at the figure''s position.

    Unfortunately, things didn''t go as nned.

    Cudgel didn''t manage to hit anything since the figure flew away from its position to almost immediately arrive a few meters before Noah and Pride.

    Noah caught sight of the entity''s face at that point, and he felt his heart skip a beat when he realized that they weren''t dealing with a human.

    The humanoid figure, donned in a red attire raised its pale arm; ready to strike their speeding figures, but it hit air when it eventually lowered its arm.

    Noah and Pride vanished from its sight even if they would have normally been unable to dodge.

 Chapter 366 366. EXALTED IMP

    Pride''s ming figure appeared in a white room and crashed into a series of bottles arranged in stacks. She didn''t stop moving until she crashed into the wall of the strange room.

    A loud high-pitched bark escaped her frightened figure, but Noah was there to calm her down.

    "Easy girl. Easy!" He yelled in a reassuring tone as she tried toprehend their location, her eyes radiating the fear she felt. Noah of course knew where they were.

    In ast-second resort to save their lives, he had brought them both into his cultivation room. He honestly hadn''t known whether he could bring another body apart from his, but it worked. Maybe because the system knew his intentions.

    It took Noah a few seconds to realize that his breathing had gotten fast and he had to calm himself down.

    Death had been so close merely seconds before. His reaction was normal.

    ''What was that thing?'' Noah wondered, sitting on the ground with an exhale. Pride still looked shaken from the event, but she was beginning to calm down since he did too.

    Noah recalled the features of the thing and felt himself shudder in terror. He had never seen anything like it.

    Its skin was deathly pale, the palest he had ever seen. Its mouth was only a straight slit, but it had revealed rows of sharp teeth. However, even that hadn''t been the most terrifying detail.

    Its ck eyes had been. All four of them.

    They featured a crimson red iris featuring a yellow ring inside it. Gazing into it had felt like gazing at the devil himself, he couldn''t exin the type of fear he felt.

    They said the eyes were the windows to one''s soul. The thing''s soul had to be the very embodiment of evil.

    The creature had revealed an amused gaze and its strange mouth had curved into a smile. By every means it would have killed them. But Noah wasn''t normal.

    A few deep breaths allowed Noah back into his right mind, and he could resume thinking straight. Thanks to his cultivation''s room ability to take him to ces he had been before, he had the idea of returning to the wastnd before returning to the city.

    He had to report his sightings to the guild, and also report the town. They had harbored that monstrosity. And it had probably terrorized them.

    Noah only had one regret about the situation, and that had been not utilizing his inspection ability on the thing to know what it was.

    He would need to rely solely on his description, but that was already more than enough. Hopefully, the guild would have records about the entity since he wanted to know what it was too.

    ? Noah spent a bit over half an hour simply sitting and reying his memories. By this point, even Pride had stopped being afraid, and she had even begun to explore that strange ce.

    Noah stored all his potions in his inventory to keep that ce safe. He didn''t want to know what would happen if she ingested one of his potions.

    ''Come,'' Noah ordered Pride and she did as he said. Her left front leg was still broken and she had to limp about, but she didn''t seem in pain anymore.

    Getting on her back, Noah asked the system to teleport them with a picture of his desired destination in mind.

    His environment changed after the light of teleportation wrapped around them, and Noah found himself and Pride falling toward the dried-up surface of Cregar.

    He had never touched the ground of the environment, so the system could only take him to the sky.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was still night time and the moon still shone high above them.

    Pride quickly found her bnce and began to p her wings while Noah held on to her.

    She soon began to fly straight up when a strange force suddenly picked the both of them. Noah felt as if he could fly In the range of that force., but he opted to stay on Pride since she was faster.

    With zing wings, pride propelled herself higher with one powerful p of her wings, and the surface of Cregar began to draw farther and farther until miles upon miles ofnd surface opened up in the range of their sights.

    Things changed when they entered a darkness, however. A golden light blinked in the whole area and Noah felt his crest buzz before an even stronger force took hold of them and slung them upward.

    Pride and Noah flew out of a pit where gravity returned to normal, and she spread her wings to glide downwards.

    Shockingly they arrived through the same pit as there were about three or so in the inner region.

    Noah had been gone for hours but the man that had taken his name was still around the pit.

    "So you returned," the official spoke penning something down.

    "Yes," Noah replied, permitting Pride to shoot forward.

    They arrived at the guild hall in no time, and Noah stormed into it, unable to keep himself from holding on to his findings anymore.

    "Hey Lina," Noah greeted, resting his arms on the countertop.

    "Aiden! How was your mission? I believe it was sessful seeing you''ve returned." Lina spoke while she sorted out a series of brown sheets.

    "I wouldn''t call it sessful. But I discovered something," Noah announced and he immediately grabbed her attention.

    Instantly he went on to exin the events that happened in the town and eventually it came to the description of the being he saw.

    Lina looked shaken after he finished as she immediately began rushing around to make a few calls. Before she left, however, she told him the name of the thing he had seen, and it even sent more shivers down Noah''s spine.

    The four-eyed being of monstrous strength had been an Exalted Imp. But from his description, it was hungry since they never left their hiding ce except when hungry or traveling.

    In mere minutes she had informed the higher-ups about the situation, and Noah was soon required to lead them to the location of the said town.

    Standing outside the guild hall, Noah stood waiting for the elders that would follow him to the site.

    Soon five individuals three men and two women arrived above the guild hall. Noah wanted to ride Pride, but a consciousness wrapped around him and pulled him to the sky.

    "We don''t want her winding dead," Delh''s voice reached his consciousness when he arrived beside her in the dark sky.

    "It''s been a while Aiden," she spoke revealing a soft smile.

 Chapter 367 367. FEED

    "You''re sure it was beyond tier 3," One of the five experts flying with Noah asked him. The man was an existence in tier 4, he looked to be in his middle ages and featured long brown hair. The expert was donned in a yellow attire featuring green stripes, but the cloth featured the guild''s crest on his back and chest.

    "Son, how are you even alive," the second female apart from Delh spoke. "Exalted Imps are known for their bloodthirsty state, even if only a few know about their existence." Thedy added shaking her head while she flew with the group.

    "I tried my best, and was mostly lucky," Noah replied ndly while sweeping his gaze on the terrain below them.

    The group of now six cultivators were on their way to the town, but they weren''t flying too fast, at least mostly.

    He was being held up by Delh and she looked d about that moment since she held his hand while they crossed the skies at high speeds.

    There was silence for about a minute when the man at the brown-haired expert suddenly gasped out loud.

    "By the gods," The expert eximed and soon the other four shared his surprise. Noah couldn''t even begin to know what they were talking about but from the looks of things they had all seen something.

    "You can''t see it because it''s too far for your consciousness. So let me show you," Delh spoke making his guess right. But before he could react, he felt her consciousness interact with his and a clear image appeared in his mind.

    One that caused him to gasp.

    There, far more kilometers than his mind could reach was the town, at least what remained of it.

    Huge curved manifestations of earth filled the town and its surroundings. The scene resembled what a ribcage would look like if revealed. Only farrger.

    The five experts sped forward at that point and they arrived there in no time.

    The night was still fresh and the moon still stood high above them, but the scene before Noah was far different than he remembered.

    The exalted imp seemed to have moved to clean its tracks and it had taken more than half the forest around the town to do that.

    Noah could even sight blood from his position. At least about two thousand humans had lived in the town, but everything had been destroyed. There had been no chance of escape. The strong had prevailed against them and carnage was all that was left

    Noah felt fundamentally bad for that oue, but there wasn''t much he could have done.

    "Spread out, search for the imp," the brown-haired man spoke, his anger clear in his voice, all of them were annoyed by that scene, even Delh.

    "Leave him with me," the brown-haired manmanded Delh. "I have something to say to him."

    Delh nodded and Noah felt the man''s consciousness grab hold of him.

    The expert began to move about at that point. But he didn''t say anything to Noah.

    "Do you know what you''ve gotten yourself into young man?" The expert eventually spoke, but with his consciousness.

    Noah shook his head in response.

    "You''ve seen a being you shouldn''t have. From now on you''ll be pulled into the inner parts of our nation''s guild system. Your name will be mentioned when this is reported to the royals, so get ready for a ride."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It''s going to be one full of challenges. But I believe you''ll be able to survive them since you managed to escape something far more powerful than you," the expert spoke stopping to look into Noah''s eyes for a while before falling silent for a few minutes.

    "You''re Sarah''s student right?" He spoke again.

    "Yes sir," Noah replied digesting the words he''d heard.

    "Good. Get as much as you can from her, before stepping on your path, a lot will begin to be demanded from you, so get prepared. Cultivate and show yourself approve to the guild and even our nation."

    "It might take a while, but when you get there you''ll see things far differently."

    "Why are you telling me all this?" Noah asked at some point.

    "Because it''s what it is toe. Destiny has chosen you to survive such a grotesque encounter. You''re built for more." The expert exined flying up and down the scene while the others did the same.

    "You believe in destiny sir," Noah spoke a bit shocked.

    "Yes, young man. We may try to escape its reach but it still governs our life. Its the fundamental for our future. Every man is born with a destiny, but some are more special than others."

    "I think there is a reason for your escape," the expert admitted.

    "Are imps that dangerous?" Noah spoke, now curious. Sure he had witnessed a bit of the creature''s power, but he had even considered it a human before seeing its face.

    "Yes. Exalted imps are imps that have transcended their natural-born weakness. Which mostly deals with their intelligence."

    "An exalted imp would have the type of power avable to tier 4''s merely after evolving. Give them a few years and their power be dangerous."

    "But nature gives everything bnce. Exalted imps are rare, but the exalted imp itself isn''t the main issue They can be dealt with by a sizeable group of tier fours."

    "It''s the group it leads that poses a problem. They are wild and even worse than goblins. They possess mainly fire powers which makes them even more destructive, and they are selfless."

    "If given the order; they would die for an exalted imp," the expert exined.

    "How many do they usuallye in," Noah asked gaining a rough idea of the danger those creatures posed.

    "I''ve only managed to see one exalted imps army, and they numbered thousands," the expert exined. "That was about ny years ago."

    Noah couldn''t help but shudder at that revtion.

    "It''s, even more worse if there''s another imp close to evolving." The expert spoke.

    "How do imps be intelligent?" Noah asked, missing thatst detail.

    "They of course feed. But on the brains of high leveled experts." He gave a grim expression.

 Chapter 368 368. RAMPANT IMP

    The search continued for a while, but the group had to stop since they found nothing of use. The destruction of the area had caused potential foot marks to be unnoticeable.

    After a bit of exining from the elder still carrying him around, Noah finally gained understanding about a bit of the Imp''s features.

    They advanced like magical beasts, eating materials that featured enough energy. But to reach a state of exaltation; they needed to consume the brains of humans since it had the soul realm embedded in it.

    Which was why the imp had probably left the entire town mostly untouched. It needed beings from tier 3 up, since only they had soul realms. For weaker imps, just any brain would do.

    Imps were mostly fire creatures, but evolving made them transcend their natural capabilities, allowing them to gain an extra element. Meaning an exalted imp usually had two affinities.

    Truth be told Noah had feared a sh with the creature since he still couldn''t sense it nor did his mind feelfortable around it.

    "We''ll have to report a rampant Exalted imp to the royals and the surrounding regions. The missions on the board will also need a skimming process. We don''t want our cultivators being lured into their deaths," The brown-haired Elder who had announced his name as Dion, spoke.

    The others nodded their heads at that point, but no one moved for a short period.

    Noah wondered what was going on, but he could only remain lost when elder Dion eventually shot forward, with the others following behind him.

    The five tier 4 experts flew at high speeds to the city and rather than waiting for the city''s pull, they simply shot upwards to cross the strange darkness and reach the city''s insides.

    "Thank you for your time, young man. I''ll remember to put in a good word for you when speaking to the masters," Elder Dion announced dropping Noah off at the guild hall.

    "I''m still waiting for your visit," Delh threw a wink his way, but he shrugged.

    The gazes of the other three experts locked with his, and he only gave a bow, causing them to nod their heads in affirmation.

    The five flew away at that point and their departure couldn''t have been louder, but it dealt no damage to the streets.

    Nevertheless, Noah became the center of attraction for passerby''s, who were also guild-mates. Unfortunately, they could only stare at him in shock and wonder. Many of them remembered him from the events, but he had gained a new level of importance in their minds.

    Noah looked for Pride but saw that she was nowhere to be found. He could only believe she had been returned to her ce.

    Deciding to leave for his home in the central region, Noah wondered why he had not asked them to drop him off.

    He searched for a carriage ride and found one, but his mind remained filled with thoughts during the almost one-hour ride.

    He eventually arrived at the gate and didn''t hesitate to show his ring and be let in. He sprinted towards Elder Sarah''s mansion at that point and arrived there in no time.

    Pushing the gate open he walked into her quarters with troubled thoughts.

    Elder Dion''s words had really gotten to him, which had forced him to begin to recheck his priorities.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He still had his training with elder Sarah ongoing, but he needed more power. It was obvious he wouldn''t be able to keep up; he didn''t have an adequate amount of strength. Yet he felt confused about the entire thing.

    He also had to look out for the touring in about two months. He would have no chance to disappear during that period, so he had to do what he could before then.

    Unfortunately, that would mean going against elder Sarah''s wishes even if he wasn''t exactly scared such an oue. But he still desired to train and master the other forms.

    Heaving a deep sigh at how annoying time management was, Noah knew he only had one real choice if he cared about his life.

    "Another dungeon dive. I need it," he mutteredying on his bed with his feet still touching the floor.

    ''I don''t have money,'' he furrowed his brows. ''There should be a way to borrow,'' he thought trying to reassure himself. But who would even borrow him the immense amount of money he required to do it?

    He would need at least 50 gold coins tofortably buy all he needed. Though he had exactly 23 beasts in already. Thanks to staying in the forest for a while.

    He still required a lot toplete the requirement, however.

    ''Maybe I should leave the city for a while and hunt beasts like old times,'' he chuckled inwardly recalling his time in Vonol.

    The idea always sounded good, since he was in environments with a higher mana density, there would be natural habitations crawling with tier 3 beasts.

    Before deciding on that, however, he felt he would ask Elder Sarah for money. He didn''t like the idea of borrowing money since he had items he could sell, but he had to try all his avable options before deciding to hunt magical beasts for days maybe even weeks.

    He also had to consider the danger of the rampant Imp. But he had a n if it ever came to that.

    Noah left for Elder Sarah''s room at that point. He had been gone for almost a day, so he wasn''t exactly sure if she was around.

    He knocked on her door, and to his surprise, she immediately responded.

    "Come in," she announced, allowing Noah grab hold of the doors handle and push it open.

    Her room unfolded in his eyes, he had been inside it only a few times during his stay, but he couldn''t help but cringe at the colorfulness.

    She had good skill at interior design, but he simply didn''t like purple too much, even if it still made the room look good.

    Her figure appeared in his eyes also. She remained in her attire but sat in a cross-legged posture and was surrounded by strands of dancing electrical currents, while small balls of mes, almost mote-like, rid her surroundings. Noahid eyes on four different stones; all yellow and they continued to release mana.

    She sat in the middle of the mana stones and their mana converged on her, creating that magical wonder.

    "What do you want?" She raised her head to focus her attention on him, and Noah saw her azure eyes visibly glow before their strange light died down.

 Chapter 369 369. ONE MONTH

    Elder Sarah''s aura had been intense upon stepping into the room. It didn''t hurt him, but he could feel its density, and he couldn''t help but know she was nearing the next tier. He only didn''t know how long it would take.

    "I have something to ask you," Noah replied taking note of the electrical currents running even along her attire, and her hair. The room felt hot. However, thanks to her control; it wasn''t anything unbearable.

    "Then make it fast dammit!" she barked at him ruining the serenity of that scene.

    Noah''s eyes turned nk at that point and he went on to exin himself to her.

    He left out the details that contained him buying beasts, and only spoke about how he would need some time to increase his power.

    Shockingly she didn''t object to that idea and even revealed that she would have ordered him to do so anyway. Her reason was mostly based on the fact that he would be leaving the guild for who knew how long.

    He had to uphold his state as a monster worthy of time and resources. He couldn''t disappoint her and the guild.

    The part about burrowing money, however, had not been exactly easy. She had remained mostly curious about why he would require 50 gold coins. But she did mention that it wasn''t much of a request to her.

    Noah barely spent ten minutes asking and she had already epted his offer. She chased him out of her room at that point.

    With the first option basically done, he couldn''t help but find himself at a loss for what to do.

    Leaving the city now sounded good again, he would need training subjects that could feel pains, so the beasts were more or less necessary.

    ''How will I pay back though,'' Noah chuckled, now back in his room. His answer was obvious which was to either sell stuff or go on missions. But after advancing he would prefer going on missions since they would allow him to stretch a bit.

    Noah estimated about a month to get everything over with.

    He would take rank C missions and move into rank B since he would be able to handle such jobs.

    "A month''s worth of fun," he giggled. Looking into his inventory for seble items. He found many.

    He had amassed an interesting amount of mana cores, and he still had the Nindium nt avable with him.

    He had a few mana stones that looked valuable, but he would keep them. Yet the mana cores were the most.

    Noah counted almost two hundred of them. Surely they would sell for a reasonable price.

    He knew a few ces in the city that epted mana cores, but they were in the inner region. Noah felt unwilling to leave his position so he opted to return to his cultivation room to cultivate his body and pass the time until elder Sarah was avable.

    He asionally returned to check her out and had to wait two good days before she exited her room.

    She had cultivated for two days straight, and Noah had been forced to do the same.

    The benefit of that exercise had been quite noticeable, but he didn''t focus on them too much since he knew leveling up would bring far more.

    "You waited? I thought you would have found someone else to help you," Elder Sarah teased walking down the stairs with a body radiating vitality.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Who would I even ask? I barely know anyone. Thanks to you of course," Noah snorted.

    "Well if you had learned the forms faster that wouldn''t be an issue," she replied arriving in the sitting room and taking her seat.

    Noah remained silent at her usation and waited for her to bring out a jug and two cups.

    "Don''t worry you''ll make a lot of friends during your tour. It won''t only be you winners after all," She revealed sipping wine, but Noah didn''t miss her smugness.

    "We won''t be the only one?" Noah asked pouring a drink for himself.

    "Mhm... Many nobles find it as a reason to leave the nation. Away from the tension building amongst them. Thankfully that isn''t our concern. At least it mostly isn''t." She exined after a moment of silence.

    "During my travels, I heard that there might be a war or something," Noahmented sipping more of the tasty wine.

    "If there is, we the guilds are by obligation; on the side of the royals. So the nobles will need strong connections to properly rival them. I believe some guilds are on their side. Maybe even a great guild," Elder Sarah hinted.

    Noah fell into thought at that point. He didn''t know much about politics but it didn''t take an expert to see that their nation had some issues.

    "Enough about politics and the weaklings that might hitch a ride with you guys. Now, the money," Elder Sarah announced at some point, and she wave her hand to make a small bag appear on the table.

    "There are exactly fifty-five gold coins inside of it." She began. "I know we agreed on fifty, but you don''t have to pay me back. I have a feeling you want to further your strange strength since you''ve been avoiding my questions concerning that topic. And I want to have a hand in it." She continued before he could protest.

    "I honestly have no clue what you want to do, but you better make my investment worthwhile," She sipped more wine, ending her exnation.

    "I don''t know what to say. But thank you," Noah stood and bowed. His gratitude being genuine.

    "No worries. Fifty-five gold coins aren''t much for me. I spend thousands simply on wine," shemented making Noah choke on his drink.

    "Get stronger and advance to higher ranks. You''ll make lots of money." Sheughed boisterously at Noah''s shocked expression.

    Noah could only shake his head at some point. She truly was an entric individual.

    A few moments of silence passed before any other words were spoken.

    "I''m leaving the city for at least a month, master," Noah revealed.

    "I knew something like this would happen, so I''m allowing you," Elder Sarah responded.

    "This would normally be outrageous, but I give you one month to get far stronger than your current self," she announced confidently.

    "I won''t fail you," Noah replied with a soft smile and they went to share drinks for whole hours. Noah decided to stay back for a day before leaving to get things done.

    He had one month. One month to return with outrageous power.

 Chapter 370 370. RUNNING

    "So you need another batch?" Elias spoke from across a counter while focusing on Noah''s figure.

    "Yes, and I will like it pretty much now," Noah replied without sounding excited or anything, he still had calctions going on in his head.

    "But I don''t have up to seventy-seven," Elias revealed with an apologetic expression. "I currently only possess sixty. But if you can wait a few days I can get everything prepared." He added trying to find a solution.

    "Nah, don''t worry. I''ll take the sixty as they are, as I''m in a rush," Noah exined with a shrug. He had not seen Elias in almost five months, and the expert had barely changed during that period, but the merchant had immediately noticed the changes Noah had undergone, and the most evident one was his power.

    Noah now felt stronger to the expert''s senses.

    "If you say so," Elias replied and allowed Noah to walk past the counter.

    "How did you get so strong in such little time," Elias found himself starting a conversation. But how couldn''t he? It was known that it took years to properly advance through the third tier and achieve the fourth one.

    But the young man before him had shot to the next stage and was already feeling dominating in mere months.

    "Tell me your secret," Elias added with a chuckle, even if he meant it.

    "I kill beasts," Noah replied with his own chuckle. It feltical to him that truly that was all he did to achieve the power he had.

    Needless to say, however, Elias burst intoughter a moment after. He didn''t know why heughed as hard as he did, but he did.

    "You''re a funny man," the merchantmented arriving at therge room.

    "If you say so," Noah shrugged focusing on the space before him.

    Elias waved his hand a big heap of animal carcasses, still looking fresh unfolded in both their eyes.

    "They are the same price asst time, so you don''t have to worry," Elias exined, and Noah did the needful.

    A small brown bag appeared on his palm at some point and he passed it to Elias. The young expert opened the bag and felt a wave of satisfaction hit him.

    "What have you been doing the past few months?" Elias couldn''t but ask beginning to see the man named Aiden in a new light.

    "Nothing much really," Noah chuckled lightly before waving his hand and storing the beast in his inventory. He had paid the sum of 27 gold coins for all sixty beasts.

    Noah quickly left Elias''s establishment and was faced with a new challenge. How would he leave the guild without a flying beast?

    He had the idea of jumping down but wasn''t sure he was ready for such. He could hitch a ride with any of the individuals flying out of the city, but he didn''t want to owe anyone. And also wanted to avoid questions based on where he was going.

    Beforeing to Elias'', he had branched at the guild hall and had a chat with Lina. Surprisingly she was always there.

    He had asked for directions to a region with many magical beasts. And she had given him a map. The map carried information based on the mana density of those regions and what type of beasts were to be expected.

    He had four locations in total; not too far from the guild''s position even if they were hundreds of miles away.

    All four of them were different as only one was even a forest.

    ''I guess jumping it is,'' Noah concluded. He had all the skills to help himself reach the ground safely. He would just teleport when he jumped.

    With his decision made Noah began his walk towards the pit, he had not been to before. There were four of them in the inner region.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He arrived there and stood in the queue featuring magical beasts and his figure caught the sight of many.

    "Where to please?" The man in charge of his line spoke, and Noah showed the individuals his first destination and the expert feltpelled to raise his head in surprise.

    "You have no flying beast," the manmented still in surprise.

    "Yes," Noah replied. "I find no need for one," He added as confident as he could.

    Clearing his throat, the man opened his mouth to speak. He had seen many confident individuals like the white-haired man voice those exact words, and he had learned toe to terms with it.

    "You''re journeying to a dangerous environment, it would be foolish not to have any beasts on your side. Nevertheless, I won''t stop you. I only hope you return In one piece," the higher-stage expert exined.

    "I will," Noah reassured, his tone exuding an astonishing amount of confidence.

    "What is your name, young man?" The man asked.

    "It''s Aiden," Noah immediately replied.

    "Well, I hope to see you alive again. Aiden," the expertmented and allowed Noah walk straight into the pit.

    Taking a deep breath, Noah let himself go and plunged into the darkness of the pit.

    Pitch ckness surrounded him for who knew how far. But he didn''t care.

    The light of teleportation enveloped him and he found himself falling into his cultivation room, from its top. However, rather than allow himselfnd, he teleported again, but this timend surface expanded around him for miles. He had blinked to that spot in the sky without stopping.

    Noah continued to roll mid-air while he plunged to the ground still at least a kilometer below him. However, he felt no fear at that scene. It was the opposite even.

    A smile shone on Noah''s face as freedom followed his mind again. He would be undisturbed by anyone for a while now, and he had forgotten how it felt.

    At some point, he felt the city''s force wrap around him and begin to slow down his movement, but it eventually let go of him when falling from that height wouldn''t kill him.

    A dense tform of wind condensed beneath his foot immediately Noah sensed gravity''s pull intensify.

    He created a spiral staircase for his descent at that point. Perks of having better understanding of his control over the elements.

    cing the sole of his ck boots on the dried-up ground of that region, Noah had long since created a barrier of coldness around his body tobat the heat that ce gave off.

    He unfolded his consciousness at some point taking a moment to admire the crusty brownnd that surrounded him for miles. The ce was a proper wastnd. He doubted anything could grow under that heat.

    His gaze eventuallynded in a direction, and yellow strands of electrical currents didn''t hesitate to run along his clothes as he prepared for a sprint.

    Noah kept his empowerment to the minimum, but even at that; a vast amount of power coursing through his veins. He felt on fire, but cool at the same time.

    Noah took a step forward with the intention of running, and that single step turned into hundreds more in an instant.

    Due to the color of that region being brown, the yellow streak he created with his movements could barely be seen.

 Chapter 371 371. FOREST OF EQUANIMITY

    Noah zed through thends of the dried-up regions with incredible speed. In mere seconds that environment was out of his sight and a valley of golden grass unfolded in his eyes before green grass appeared miles after.

    His destination wasn''t too far at that point, and soon a thick wall of trees stretching for kilometers unfolded in his eyes right after the valley ended.

    Two mountain''s stood grandly on both sides of the forest creating a wall of sorts that nothing could get past.

    His target was the forest, but he had to move further before he could find that which he was looking for.

    Noah slowed down upon entering the forest, he had journeyed literally over a hundred miles to arrive there, there wasn''t any need to rush.

    Unfolding his consciousness to get a preview of the environment before him, he surveyed the tall and thin trees that the forest consisted of.

    A few rivers were running through it. Three in total, and they shone with a blue light even if it was still day.

    The rivers met at a certain point to form a wide pool of glowing blue water literally at the center of thatrge forest.

    Noah came to a halt at some point and simply stood still, enjoying the tranquility of that environment. Thanks to the tall trees and their expansive branches filled with green leaves, the intensity of the sun barely reached him.

    Only the coolness of shade acted on his figure, coupled with the soft winds that blew from every corner of that forest. Noah felt like he could enter a meditative state by just focusing on those beautiful details.

    He could hear rushing water, which was of course the river''s journey down its set path. He could hear the fluttering of leaves in the wind. He could even hear the casual growls and purrs of the many beasts that filled the ce.

    They weren''t making noise, however. There was something about that ce that permeated with serenity. And Noah could immediately understand why that forest was named that way.

    "The forest of equanimity," he muttered recalling the history of therge forest.

    Apparently, it had once been part of the valley. But a battle had urred there many decades before his existence. The blood of tier 4 cultivators had been shed on that battlefield which created a wonderful spectacle.

    There was no perfect exnation for why that ce suddenly became peaceful, but some said they had seen things in the forest apart from magical beasts.

    Recalling thest part of the story forced Noah to admit that there would be danger in that ce.

    After all, tier 4 beasts ruled the central regions of the fantastical environment.

    He''d have to hunt at the edge of the forest, and from the looks of things doing only that would be enough to fill up the requirement of 17 beasts.

    "I just have to be quiet," he muttered already doubting his ability to seed in that.

    Thankfully the magical beasts were not in conflict with themselves, even if there were three different species of magical beasts in the forest.

    Bears, deer, and apes. All of which had evolved to only possess either the wind or water element.

    Noah''s daggers appeared in his hand at some point, he had misced elder Sarah''s sword during the tournament, but he had refrained from telling her.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The daggers would soon be reaching their limit, but he wasn''t even close to fulfilling the requirements for their advancement. But that didn''t matter much to him at that point.

    ''Maybe I can try some of my new equipment,'' Noah considered, casually strolling down the grassy path before him.

    He could already count seven beasts within the range of his consciousness. Three of them were bears and the other four were apes doing their own thing.

    He took a few minutes to simply take in the fresh air that filled the forest. He would definitely be returning there sometimeter.

    Noah took in a deep breath before holding it. He bent his knees a bit, before dashing towards his first target.

    His breathing technique allowed him minimize the amount of stamina he was burning, while also letting him achieve a considerable amount of speed.

    Noah arrived in the ape''s position in no time, and he didn''t even halt his movements before running up itsrge left arm and delivering a powerful kick on its furry cheeks.

    His kick almost caused the beast to break the sound barrier as he sent its head smashing into the ground and causing cracks to spread for hundreds of meters.

    Noah pulled back before his legs could get stained by blood, but he almost didn''t need to make a second move since he had put the ape on death''s list already.

    The silvery-ck ape couldn''t even whimper. It tried to lift its 4m tall frame of fur and thick flesh, but it couldn''t. Noah had crushed its skull and damaged its brain.

    It was only the incredible resilience magical beasts naturally possessed that had kept it alive. Even if barely.

    It didn''t matter that it featured a splendid orange core or that it was in the middle stage. The kick had disabled it.

    Small arrows made out of condensed air manifested around Noah, numbering only a few tens, before shooting toward the ape and ending its life.

    The orange core shot out of the beast at that point, and Noah immediately stored it while the ape''srge figure vanished from the bloodied scene.

    Noah sprinted forward again, and this time he had a sleeping bear to kill. The beast was a mixture of ck and grey fur, but he didn''t pay attention to that detail.

    He arrived before the beast''srge back and performed the first form barely a secondter.

    His daggers were still in his grip, so immediately they touched its skin; holes spanning its entire width appeared in the poor thing, and it died while sleeping.

    Fortunately, Noah''s attack had been muffled by the beast''s thick skin, even if the ground beneath his feet had experienced cracks anyway.

    Blood and chunks of flesh flew everywhere. Noah had turned that spot into what a gore fest would resemble. Organs of the bear were stuck to trees, and blood had sprayed the low grass tainting their green color, red.

    In a simr fashion, smooth and silent, Noah went on to eradicate the seven beasts he had spotted before moving on to other ones.

 Chapter 372 372. TREND

    Flicking his boots of blood, Noah watched an orange core shoot out of the body of a ck deer, after which it disappeared.

    He had severed its horns since its power was contained in it. From the trend of things, Noah believed horned beasts had most of their abilities contained in their horns, as they could look spectacr.

    Noah nced at the dungeon creation panel and saw that he already had 100 beasts in. He immediately permitted the system to begin the creation of the dungeon.

    [Creation of Monster dungeonmencing]

    [This is not your first dungeon creation. For that, the dungeon''s creation will take 2 days]

    [Time tillpletion: 47:59:57]

    Noah didn''t like that reality, but he knew that was meant to happen so he didn''t fuss about it.

    With the dungeon requirements done, he decided to explore the forest a little more. He wouldn''t need to kill magical beasts that stumbled upon him since they were mostly peaceful to him; an outsider, even if he had left them before they could properly react. However, he couldn''t be too sure about stronger beasts.

    He began at that point and felt it would be okay to go deeper into the forest seeing as the beasts at its edge barely held any danger to him.

    He moved slowly rather than directly running about. He wasn''t the strongest in the ce after all.

    He encountered other beasts during his exploration, but more interestingly he found nts. Special nts that contained unique traits.

    [Blossoming night nt]

    [Tier: 2(Peak)

    [Element: Water]

    [Blossoming night nt: A flower that awakens at the sign of the night and provides refreshment to the area around it by spraying water highly concentrated with mana]

    Noah saw that panel open up in his eyes when his gaze fell on a lone silvery-blue flower. It directly grew from the ground even if that position was only a few hundred meters from one of the flowing rivers.

    Its function was intriguing, to say the least. A nt who''s sole purpose was to wet its surroundings with mana-concentrated water.

    It would be considered useless if not for its ability to help the vegetation around it grow.

    Although Noah found no use of the nt, he uprooted it anyway and proceeded to store it in his inventory, but to his shock, the ground trembled immediately he tore the nt from the ground.

    ''What the?'' Noah eximed inwardly taking a few steps backward. His eyes swept his surroundings and his consciousness confirmed that there were no beasts in his area.

    He felt lost at that point, but also nervous. He knew very well that there were tier 4 beasts within that forest, at least ording to the description of that ce, so he couldn''t be sure if something in that realm was on the move or if it had some connection to the terrain of that area.

    After all, the river was only a few hundred meters from his position, the beasts of the area probably came there to take drinks asionally.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah calmed himself down and analyzed his memory of the event. Upon uprooting the nt, the ground had trembled as though it had felt pain or something simr to that. But it wasmon knowledge that the ground wasn''t a living thing.

    "At least in most parts of Cregar it isn''t," Noah muttered deciding to leave that area. He still didn''t believe the ground was alive since if it was and it trembled every time he did something, he would have already figured that out during his battles with the beasts.

    Noah left the area closer to the river and began to journey in an arc, gradually moving to the left portion of the forest. He hoped to circle it in the time he had before his dungeon wasplete.

    As he continued to leave the edge of the forest, the quality of beasts began to increase, and soon huge beasts in the higher stage began to roam his surroundings.

    Their casual roars of growls were enough to make the ground surrounding them shake and many of them were stronger than the wolf he had killed.

    They were beasts that had moved a reasonable distance into the higher stage, and their auras spoke of that reality.

    Noah had to keep his aura under wraps while he continued to trek, stopping to inspect anything that managed to catch his interest.

    He found other magical nts, but most of them were ones he had seen before, the few that seemed special were usually surrounded by groups of magical beasts, featuring higher-stage beasts as the leader.

    That trend began to interest Noah after he had seen it more than ten times, and he felt the need to investigate.

    He even spent a few hours watching a particr pack consisting of 5 bears, 3 deer, and 6 apes. The higher stage beast was azy-looking bear; huge in size, as it simplyy and did nothing.

    The beasts in the group hardly moved a meter from their position around the shining red nt, and Noah had returned to that ce more than three times in two hours.

    The nts were usually closer to the higher stage beast, as even they never left its side.

    "How do they even feed," Noah wondered at some point while sitting atop the branches of one of the many tall trees in the area and gazing at the unlikely bunch of beasts.

    In the outside world, they would rip each other apart for anything that had a whiff of mana.

    Noah couldn''t tell how strong the manaing from the nt was, but he believed it was on the higher side since the vegetation around it seemed to have taken a step up in lushness.

    The scene was so astonishing that Noah decided he would take the risk of approaching them and seeing what would happen. At this point, he believed the beasts were acting ording to the will of the tier 4 beasts, but he wanted to figure it out and he didn''t care that he could incur the wrath of such beasts.

    Noah jumped off the tree and began his slow but steady walk toward the beasts.

    The higher-stage beast had a healthy-looking yellow core, meaning it could put on a proper fight if it wanted, but from what he had seen so far, he doubted it would do anything to him.

    All the beasts he had taken out, he had done so without them knowing much about his presence so he couldn''t be too sure if they would have attacked had they been given the chance.

    "This proves that they would,'' Noah concluded inwardly, seeing as the beasts stood and began to dash towards him a few seconds after his figure appeared in the opening that was their territory.

 Chapter 373 373. SURPRISES

    Noah unfolded his aura as the beast''s; except the higher stage one, dashed towards him with roars escaping their teethed jaws.

    His figure remained calm as he took light steps forward. His eyes darted between the multiple middle-staged beasts as he mapped out his movements.

    The fastest one, a deer arrived at a range Noah considered close enough, then his figure vanished from his spot.

    His rapid steps caused dust to rise, and his blurry outline moved in a zig-zagged fashion, his agility and speeding to y in that rapid attack.

    Noah''s figure appeared behind the first five beasts, but he moved forwards towards the bears and apes before him, not bothering to watch the five beasts he had left behind fall apart, having been severed in half.

    Noah arrived before the big bear before him and jumped to deliver a shattering kick to its beastly jaw.

    With a deep groan, the bear found its bulky mass flip backward, beforending on the ground with a heavy thud. Blood flowed out of its lower mouth. Noah had turned that body part into mushy flesh and its suffered intense pain as a result.

    The event had urred so quickly that the other seven beasts could barely react before his figure arrived in front of them.

    Noah beheaded three apes and drained the life force of the remaining two bears with his daggers before finishing off the injured bear.

    Two apes remained and they looked terrified at his figure, but before they could do much, the higher-stage bear that had only been spectating raised its mouth to voice a ground-shaking roar.

    Its roar wasn''t one of dominance since the red flower beside it suddenly zed in intensity, bathing its surrounding for many hundreds of meters with its radiance.

    Noah felt an aggression-inducing force try to take control of him at that point, but his mental defenses acted at that point and fended off the strange feeling, and soon Noah could think clearly.

    He felt stunned about the event, needless to say, but what brought him even more astonishment was the fact that the eyes of the apes now shone with a deep crimson light.

    Their auras had gotten wilder, and they suddenly felt stronger to Noah''s senses, enough for him to understand that he would need to get a bit serious to exterminate them.

    An ear-rupturing roar reached his ears, pulling his attention to an even greater threat. Noah''s gazended on the higher-stage bear and watched it begin to convulse aggressively. Blood never stopped pouring out of its mouth during that event.

    The air suddenly felt heavier and the danger seemed to parade the area. The metallic scent of blood swept past Noah''s nostrils and made him recoil in repulsion.

    The sound of bones cracking and shifting reached his ears, followed by the groans of agony the higher-stage bear experienced. Whatever process it was undergoing seemed like it would take a while, but the apes before Noah shot towards him before he could attack their leader.

    ''Increased speed,'' Noah noted watching as the apes dashed forwards with speeds they shouldn''t have been capable of achieving.

    Taking multiple steps to his side, Noah dodged the downward smash one of the apes executed and watched the ground beneath its joined fists give way like shattering ss.

    ''Increased strength," Noah noted dodging the punch the second ape performed toward his figure. His left arm grabbed hold of its arm, and in the next instant, Noah curled himself around the beast''s arm before proceeding to twist it unnaturally, sending blood flying everywhere.

    Rather than a cry of pain, the ape tried to punch at him, but he let go of its limb and jumped off its figure.

    Noah watched its arm twist to its normal position and the wounds it had sustained healed at a rate visible to the naked eye.

    ''Increased healing,'' Noah eximed inwardly vanishing from his position and reaching a distant spot from both beasts.

    He was still faster than them, but that event had gained the entirety of his focus. The light seemed to have sent them into a frenzied state, buffing up all aspects of their power apart from defense since he could still injure them easily, only that they healed just as quickly.

    [Wind ape[Empowered]]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Tier: 3[Middle]]

    [Affinity: Wind[Currently unavable]]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    The panel held the basic information he expected, but the affinity portion felt surprising. He had never seen such a state before.

    ''What does it mean?'' Noah asked the system while dodging the strikes of the apes, they had gained power but lost their ability to adapt, so their attacks soon became predictable.

    [[They are unable to utilize their affinities as it is beyond their reach in their empowered state]]

    ''No wonder,'' Noah replied noticing how they had done nothing to him with their affinity.

    His daggers shed at some point as he executed the first form at point-nk before one of the apes, cleanly shaving off its torso.

    But the most unimanginable thing urred at that point.

    Noah watched with the deepest shock he had ever felt; the ape begin to regrow its upper body.

    The process would take a while, but it was happening anyway.

    Noah took out the second ape with the first form, but the same thing began to happen, as the red light in the area began to get deeper and deeper.

    The blood that flowed out of the apes normally fatal wounds disappeared strangely, leaving him fundamentally confused.

    Ice spread from beneath his feet at that point and directly turned the area for hundreds of meters, into an icy spectacle.

    It didn''t matter that the trees were tall, the entirety of their figures turned into solid ice, the same went for the regrowing bodies of the apes.

    Noah smashed them by stepping them with his boots, and two orange cores floated towards him and he stored them.

    "I have to eradicate thempletely," Noah concluded focusing on the bear in the distance.

    "Its getting stronger exponentially," Noah muttered opening his mouth to take in air.

    His slow but warm exhale was visible in that cold environment.

    Deep yellow strands of electricity began to appear around his figure and he shot forward a secondter. He didn''t want the bear to stabilize its condition since it would be difficult to kill it.

    However, that forest still had surprises in stall for him since merely a meter from reaching the bear, Noah saw crimson red vines traveling faster than his figure, erupt out of the ground to wrap themselves around him,

    Pain reached his mind the next moment and Noah felt his blood literally begin to get sucked out of his figure. Then it dawned on him.

    [You''re under the effect of the Crimson Herb of madness]

 Chapter 374 374. DIGGING

    ''It works with blood,'' Noah thoughtmanding Muliix out of his figure and on his skin. In the span of an instant he had stopped being the white haired man and was now donned in the ck material that made Muilix.

    It was fortunate he did so since the bear suddenly regained stability and rammed its head into him, sessfully damaging the red vines and sensing Noah flying.

    The sound of tens of trees having their lower portions destroyed echoed in the forest as Noah''s figure traveled faster than the speed of sound smashing through trees until the power in the headbutt ran out.

    A hard groan exited Noah lips from behind Muliix''s helmet and he couldn''t help but close his eyes before reopening them to get rid of the slight dizziness he had experienced during the violent ride.

    "It''s gotten stronger... I think," Noah muttered, his eyes on the cloud of dust and debris rushing towards his position from the distance.

    Getting on his feet, he figured he would run for the red flower just before the bear touched him. But this time he would push his speed far beyond the mach 2 he had utilized earlier.

    The peaceful aura of the forest had now gone down the drain, but Noah didn''t care much. He never did to begin with, he simply wanted to uncover what that nt actually was.

    The bear eventually arrived in Noah''s visual range and he felt stunned at what heid eyes on.

    The darn thing had undergone a huge transformation.

    Now it stood on both its leg which had transformed to allow that type of posture.

    Its ws had gotten longer and glowed with a red light, emitting a foreboding aura even from that distance.

    The bears fur hadpletely gone red and had increased in volume. The beast resembled a puff fish if not for the fact that its puffy hair felt dangerous.

    And finally the beasts mouth and face. It would look mostly the same if not for the red glow in its eyes and the bucket load of saliva that dripped down from its mouth and the sharp teeth that could not be hidden by its mouth.

    Noah could tell that a direct fight with the beast would be hard, and even the system confirmed that.

    [Savage Bear]

    [Tier: 3[???]

    [Affinity: Wind[Unavable]]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    The maddened beast sighted his figure and increased its legs speed, aiming to reach Noah in barely 2 second. Unfortunately for it, right before its got there, Noah turned into a blinding yellow streak that directly appeared in front of the red flower.

    However, Noah left a surprise for his blood hungry friend as it saw exactly twenty icy-blue magical circles expanded around the stunned beast to give birth to forty ice golems not nearly as tall as the 6m tall figure of the maddened bear.

    An explosion reached Noah''s ears from the more than a kilometer worth of distance as his small army of golems held the bear down.

    Focusing his gaze on the nt Noah watched red vines sprout for the ground, but they soon began to move in slow motion to him.

    Noah walked towards the nt while everything moved in slow motion to him. He crouched before the nt and his dagger appeared in his right hand.

    He wasn''t going to touch it, but he believed nothing would go wrong with a weapon.

    shing at the red flower nt, The sound of metal striking metal tried to reach Noah''s ears, as he felt shocked to find that his dagger broke upon contact.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Ice spread from beneath his feet to create an encircled wall of thick ice around he and the nt, away from the vines.

    Noah furrowed his brows while ncing at his broken dagger. He felt sad about that oue and he threatened to unleash his anger on the nt, but he calmed himself while allowing his mind move at extreme super speeds.

    Cudgel appeared on his palm as a pin, but he made his staff erge until it resembled a proper staff in his hand.

    Activating its elemental charge, Noah turned it into a mass of deep yellow current, but made its edges give birth to a de of condensed energy, after which he swiped his staff at the nts base and watched the de disperse upon contact.

    Noah cursed at that point. Cudgel was his level, and that oue meant he didn''t have the power to cut that nt.

    Many ideas began to run in and out his mind at that point, and after searching his items he had toe to a conclusion.

    He had nothing that could deal enough damage to the nt.

    That conclusion felt obvious since the nt was capable of empowering a higher stage beast until it felt way stronger than before.

    It had to be somewhere closer to tier 4, already tier 4, but the system couldn''t show anything apart from its name.

    [Crimson Herb of madness]

    He had never been in such a situation, so he didn''t know what was wrong.

    But even if he had nothing that could directly cut the nt, he figured he wouldn''t give up until he was out of options. He had already lost too much to the nt.

    With his environment still moving in slow motion to him, Noah crouched and started to dig with his bare hands.

    Moving passively at that speed continued to burn Speed Essence, but it didn''t matter as long as he could find a way to get that nt in his inventory.

    Noah began to dig around the nt and his action caused the environment to begin to shake as a thick cloud of dust appeared around him.

    A person digging with their bare hands would normally not advance quickly in such a project, but Noah was different. He had the power in his fingers and the speed in his actions to make bare-handed digging look easy.

    In mere seconds he had gone more than 3 meters below the surface, but the nts root continued to stretch downwards mightily.

    The vines however, did not attack him even after they had destroyed his wall of ice. However, Noah didn''t mind that since he continued to separate himself from the surface with walls of ice.

    He continued to dig until something changed.

    Suddenly Noah felt the formerly difficult terrain give way beneath his figure when he tried to dig, and an open space unfolded in his vision while he fell through the hole that he had dug.

    Noah plunged to the depths of the dimly lit environment until hended on solid but slightly moist ground.

    ''What the fuck,'' he cursed getting rid of the literal heap of soil that had buried him.

    Scanning the environment afterwards, however, made his heart skip a beat.

    And the reason for that reaction would be none other than the rivers of blood that filled his sight. And of course the tier 4 aura that permeated the environment.

 Chapter 375 375. SHADOWS

    The dimly lit underground system featured many tunnels each featuring a river of blood flowing into the as they spread in different directions.

    What resembled hundreds of roots rose from the hard surface of that underground system to who knew where in the forest.

    The blood rushing down the different paths glowed a bit creating a scene that would be forever etched into Noah''s mind.

    Of course, the most striking detail in that ce was the tier 4 aura, even if he couldn''t see anything that radiated the aura.

    Something big was going on in that forest and he wasn''t even sure what, but he wanted to leave anyway. Or he thought so.

    He would return when he could handle the power of the beings in that ce.

    Hearing the sound of a roar, Noah nced up and found that the beast gazed at him with its red eyes. The hole he had dug had been too small for it, so it could only fit its head inside it.

    Noah gazed at the monstrosity for a while, before raising his hand and causing a st of cold mist to shoot upwards and seal the hole. It was now a no-go area.

    Focusing his gaze on the underground system again, he took a deep breath or at least tried to. The scent of blood permeated that ce deeply and he could literally taste blood in the air.

    Deciding to explore that ce for an exit, Noah began his slow and nervous walk down the solid ground before him.

    The environment had a strange light that even his sense couldn''t figure out its source, but it was blue in radiance.

    Walking down the path forced Noah into a tunnel featuring even more of the blue light, and he continued to walk on that path for what felt like hours.

    He couldn''t exactly tell how much time had passed since nothing changed even after hundreds of meters.

    Noah continued down the rtively dark tunnel but always considered going back. The only reason he hadn''t was because of the nagging feeling his instincts gave him.

    Truth be told he could directly exit that environment, but his curiosity had made him endure the darkness and danger of that ce to continue down the path filled with a rtively wide river of blood, flowing in a direction that felt interesting.

    The sight of blood had long since caused him to recall the story of the tier 4 experts that had died there many years ago.

    He however still didn''t know the cause of the rivers, since he doubted that only a few experts could have produced that amount of blood.

    ''Maybe there were armies of weaker experts with them,'' Noah considered at some point, seeing that idea fitting for the sight before him.

    But the entire thing even felt more confusing considering the fact that no one had mentioned sighting rivers of blood.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Surely there would have been expeditions to uncover the reason for the sudden peace of the forest. Surely they had found the underground system, even if it was a bit distant from the surface. More than 15m. Or maybe not.

    That realization made Noah begin to doubt that anyone had dug that deep.

    After all, the description of that ce did mention that there were tier 4 beasts within the forest, which meant cultivators had reached the center of the forest.

    Noah fell into deeper thought at that point and soon different considerations began to appear in his mind.

    He began to think that maybe the strange gatherings of the beasts were seasonal since beasts worked that way. Maybe the nts also had a certain time that they sprouted, and no one had ever been there to witness it.

    ''What are the odds,'' Noah shook his head watching the river of blood beside him continue to flow.

    It sounded absurd that only he had witnessed that scene, but that conclusion felt the best since it was the only one that could properly exin why that phenomenon had been left untouched.

    He also considered the weird things that some of the past adventurers had seen in the forest. Although what they saw had not been specifically mentioned, it definitely wasn''t the rivers of blood branching into many tunnels.

    That conclusion made him believe that there were other things than the rivers of blood and the red nts. Maybe they were generated by the rivers of blood or not, he had no way of knowing.

    Something eventually changed in the tunnel, however. Noah watched the tunnel begin to expand and expand until he found himself in a wide area illuminated by a strong blue light. The ce stretched for nothing less than a kilometer in radius.

    The river of blood at this point had started to merge with other rivers of blood and to Noah''s shock, he found that he had arrived at the source of the rivers of blood and there did the tier 4 aura peak.

    He had long since noticed that detail but now he understood why the river flowed in an opposite direction to his motion. That would be none other than because of the floating sphere of what looked like a shifting mass of red liquid from which a smooth waterfall of blood emerged; flowing into the different pools after creating arge pond.

    Therge mass of blood emitted a crimson light that tried to battle the blue light of the area, and it also floated by itself, as raw energy flowed out of it. Noah knew that whatever had created that thing wasn''t just at the beginning of tier 4.

    But that wasn''t even all the surprises that the environment had for him.

    Upon arrival, he had been focused on therge sphere of blood, but when he nced up and saw that shining blue water stood above him. His astonishment reached a whole new level.

    "How are these even possible?" Noah muttered gazing at the sparkling water above him that made the ceiling of that ce. His wonder had peaked as a result of the two magical spectacles.

    There was no sign of water for a bit more than 20 meters above him, but after that point, the pool of water stood. He figured that was where the rivers in the forest met and flowed out from.

    And to add to the moment, Noah felt his heart sink when four massive crocodile-like beasts radiating tier 4 auras, circled the pool; casting their huge shadows on him. Noah confirmed that they had noticed him since they dived towards his figure a few secondster.

 Chapter 376 376. THUNDER

    Noah gazed at the diving beasts with a tinge of nervousness and curiosity, if theynded there, there would be enough space to fit all four of them, so he would be screwed if he was cornered.

    However he knew he wouldn''t, so he waited and watched. His closest moment to a fight with tier 4 beasts.

    The four of them would arrive at the same time, and they were quiterge. Noah was only able to scan them that much because he had started moving. His environment had begun to function in slow motion to him.

    Noah had a crazy idea that saw him leaping upward with the help of his empowerment. But he didn''t want to try it out since his instincts told him to escape. Actually, they were screaming at him.

    He waited, however, and continued to etch that scene into his memory.

    Their pointed mouths soon poked out of the water, but Noah vanished with a white light.

    The beastsnded on the solid ground beside the pool of blood, and their sheer size could be revealed properly.

    The crocodiles werepletely blue and they were so tall that their spiked backs were still meters inside the water even while on all fours.

    Deep growls reverberated through the lower portion of the pool, making everything shake as a result.

    The beasts scanned the area with their bloodthirsty eyes, searching for the figure they had seen within their domain.

    Finding no one, each one of them took heavy steps towards the flowing pool of blood and began to drink of it.

    The scene changed at that point. Their eyes began to glow a red light as their power rose.

    Their blue scales transformed gradually until there were more red scales than blue ones.

    The crocs saw huge spikes shooting out of their backs as their masses experienced a slight increase.

    At some point, all four of them raised their heads to voice a terrifying roar. One filled with violence and anger.

    Theirbined roars made the pool of water begin to tremble as although they were tens of meters below the surface, the ground surrounding the pool still shook violently.

    The beasts in the surrounding area knew what it meant, however. They were being summoned. And their leaders didn''t sound happy. The true horror of the forest of Equanimity was yet to be revealed.

    Noah swiftly moved past the forest''s trees immediately he teleported to his desired position.

    He had heard the roars and felt a chill shoot down his spine.

    Soon enough the result of the roars began to manifest, and potential chaos was whaty in front of him.

    The scene before Noah reminded him of the hordes he had experienced during his journey to Crilion.

    Tens of beasts all multiple times the size of a grown man dashed towards a spot in the forest that was behind him. The center.

    They weren''t exactly aiming at him, but that could as well be the case, since if he did nothing he would be stepped to death.

    Crouching a bit, Noah took in a sharp breath and applied all the force he could muster in his knees.

    The result was a powerful leap that sent him many meters into the air while also crossing the stampede. But his work wasn''t done just yet, since suddenly, a figure crashed into him and sent him into the heart of the horde.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah knew exactly who or what it had been since he had noticed it, but it had been toote by then.

    ''How did this fucker find me,'' Noah cursed inwardly as the 6m frame of the savage bear loomed over his figure.

    The running beasts parted to amodate the bear''s presence, but Noah didn''t focus much on that detail.

    The bear hunched forward and voiced a deafening roar at his sitting figure, but before it couldplete it, a kicknded on its left cheek and caused its head to snap towards the other direction.

    "Loud," Noah hissed noting how his kick had dealt no damage.

    The raging sounds of tens to probably hundreds of magical beasts rushing past him reached Noah''s ears, and drowned any sound he could make, but he didn''t care.

    The beasts continued to part ways at the sight of the bear and Noah understood why too well, but how neatly they did it still baffled him.

    Some of the beasts were rushing at speeds that would send even an expert in the middle stage recoiling in pain, but they always managed to leave the bear untouched. It spoke of their control and fear. Since beasts only knew fear.

    The bear stared at Noah after the kick, and it even ced its wed paw on the spot of the kick hinting at a heightened intelligence.

    His only dagger appeared in his right hand as he prepared to take it down, if he could. Noah could leave that forest any time he wanted. But he wouldn''t back out from a fight. Not when there was a chance of winning.

    The bear bore its trauma inducing teeth a secondter and pounced at him. But Noah had already reacted.

    Four golems emerged from a magical circle that had appeared around him and dashed forward to stop the bear in its movement, even if two ended up crumbling upon impact.

    Noah moved forward at that point.

    His figure shot into the air till he was just as high as the beast, and he directly executed the first form on the bears face.

    A resounding explosion filled the entire ce and the effect of sheer force colliding with a sturdy material caused shock waves to spread abroad.

    Noahnded, and a cold smile appeared on his face when his move seemed to have only angered the beast more. Nothing more.

    shing at Noah''s figure with its long ws, the bears sent blood red shes towards his figure, and Noah''s instincts erupted with a deep feeling of danger at that sight.

    Noah turned into a deep yellow streak to properly dodge the attack and he watched the four shes tear through more than five beasts in one go.

    "Damn," He muttered beginning to take the bear seriously. "Empowerment it is."

    A spectacr explosion of power erupted forth at that point. Bolts of yellow lightning literally flew everywhere as a heavy aura unfolded in the area.

    Noah''s mere preparation had taken out nothing less than ten beasts that had been unlucky enough to be in his range.

    In the span of an instant he turned into a figure overflowing with raw power as streams of yellow currents flowed out of his figure, charring the ground, but not going any further.

    Noah had never felt so powerful In his entire life. His mere inhtion and exhtion caused sparks to fly everywhere.

    "Lets do this," he tried to whisper, but his words came out with the intensity of thunder anyway.

 Chapter 377 377. PATHETIC

    Noah''s heavy aura caused the beasts around them to fan out even more until a reasonable amount of space was left for him and his opponent.

    Even with his spectacr transformation, the bear didn''t flinch when it dashed toward him.

    ''I hope this is enough,'' Noah thought taking two light steps forward, but directly appeared in front of the running beast.

    Five consecutive punches left his arms at that point, and the ground saw cracks ridding its structure as Noah raised the bear about a meter into the air with his blows.

    He ended thebos with an uppercut, by jumping and delivering the fierce punch on his opponent''s jaw.

    The connection between his fist and the bear''s jaw forced a shock wave to spread while he sent the mass of flesh flying a few meters from his figure.

    The bear crashed with a heavy thud, killing some deer that had been too close.

    It voiced a grunt as it stood, revealing that Noah''s attacks had failed to draw blood. Another roar escaped its beastly mouth, and it shed at his figure twice, sending eight of the blood-red shesing his way.

    Noah dodged the attack with a few steps to the side, but he didn''t like that oue anyway.

    His figure appeared before the bear again, and this time, he executed the first form at what he would consider his peak.

    Chaos unfolded at that point.

    A storm of lightning bolts seemed to erupt out of thin air as their surroundings suffered the sh.

    Noah''s arms never stopped moving even if he had long since turned the bear into a shooting figure speeding through tens of trees.

    The space before Noah''s still spectacr figure turned into a mess of cracks and missing portions.

    His punches carried enough power to shave significant portions of the ground and even killed beasts that were too slow to listen to their instincts.

    Noah stopped at some point, and he sprinted forward to go find his opponent, in hopes that he had at least disabled it.

    But the result proved disappointing.

    He had only managed to draw blood from the cuts his fists had opened surprisingly, but even that healed mere secondster.

    The bear however looked confused, and Noah couldn''t say he didn''t know why. He had sent the beast far away from its former position.

    But even that didn''t stop him from executing the first form again and causing trees to burst into mes or be violently ripped apart.

    His attacks were proper explosions and Noah continued to unleash the entirety of his strength on the beast without giving it a break.

    He had confirmed that only that approach could give him a win since he had no weapons that could directly deal with it.

    Soon he began tounch lightning bolts in the mix of his already terrifying flurries of attacks.

    By this point all the beasts had run past them, allowing for the explosions he caused to ring out properly, disquieting those areas.

    "Why won''t this thing die!" Noah eximed amid his punches. His voice almost overshadowed the explosions his fists caused. Almost.

    The bear continued to receive significant damage, but it continued to heal also. Leaving Noah frustrated after going on for more than 20 minutes straight.

    The beast couldn''t even defend itself, but it didn''t die anyway. Noah couldn''t amass enough damage to render it disabled even for a few seconds, since its regenerative abilities were basically on par with his.

    The battle, although one-sided proved how frustrating one could be if they could heal quickly enough to render attacks useless. Noah experienced what his opponents felt during battles with him. And he had to admit that it wasn''t a nice experience.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The fact that the seemingly unlimited amount of energy the bear possessed hade from utilizing the red nt made Noah re-evaluate the sheer importance and value of the nt.

    He didn''t want to even begin to think about how hard it would be fighting a tier 4 empowered by the same nt.

    That forest was even more dangerous than he thought now that he saw what it could do.

    The resource it had could put it on the list one of the most dangerous ces he had ever been to, and he even feared the possibility of all the beasts being capable of that might.

    ''Is this what fighting an iplete tier four beast feels like,'' Noah thought now fed up of the entire thing.

    It wasn''t that the beast couldn''t die. The middle-staged ape''s had proved that even that empowerment didn''t stop death.

    The only issue was his weakness.

    Noah felt like he could goon for hours, but he doubted he had that amount of time just to kill the beast. He was also at his best possible peak, meaning if he couldn''t defeat it in that state, he would need to be stronger to.

    Ast punch arrived on the bears belly and caused the environment to experience a powerful wind flow as the beast directly disappeared from Noah''s presence to crash over a kilometer from his figure.

    Anger zed in Noah''s eyes, but also realization.

    There was no doubt that he was probably the strongest middle-staged expert, but he too had clear limits. Limits that only more power could break.

    A sigh escaped Noah''s mouth as he flicked off the blood that had appeared on his fist. He had enough power to wound the bear, but injuring it was as much as he could settle for, as of now.

    Deactivating his empowered state he felt his power fall, but not anything painful.

    Noah found that he had utilized a bit more than 40k worth of Speed Essence within the thirty minutes he had used fighting.

    That was an incredible amount considering the fact that he could generate a literal army of frozen golems with that much. But he didn''t mind.

    Even with that usage he still had more than half his core''s content avable.

    "I would have decimated whole toons of middle staged cultivators with that power," he muttered sweeping his gaze on the destroyed environment. "But that darn bear will be leaving unhurt."

    The bear eventually reappeared in Noah''s sight, and his hunch was right. It looked just as fine as before even if it was now slower; seemingly tired.

    The beast sighted his figure and voiced a powerful roar, but it left Noah unfazed. He wasn''t exactly in the mood anymore.

    "Don''t you get tired," a frown appeared on Noah''s face, but he was prepared to move.

    Something changed however. The bear suddenly groaned in deep pain, before stumbling and falling to crash right next to Noah''s feet. Needless to say, he was stunned.

    The event had been nothing short of pathetic.

    The bear suddenly began to release a whole lot of steam as the sound of bones cracking and reshaping echoed in the silently burning forest.

    Noah cleared the steam by merelymanding the wind to do so, and the scene thaty before him made him want to burst intoughter.

    There the beary, in its normal form. It lookedpletely exhausted, as it struggled to lift even its head.

    "So that state does have a limit," Noah giggled heartily. "Good old time limit."

 Chapter 378 378. TOWER

    "What are we going to do to you," Noah mutteredzily, sitting on the bear''s head without so much as a flinch. It was clear how exhausted the beast was. It''s breathing although normally like a ming dump truck of diseased rats, had gotten rougher.

    It couldn''t lift its head or any of its lips, so Noah could sit on its head without much effort.

    "You made me realize something today," Noah stared at the sky, talking to the bear; ignoring its hostility.

    "So I won''t kill you just yet. Maybe when I''m done with the dungeon dive."

    Getting off the beast before kicking it in the face, and barely moving it, Noah wondered what he could do to mark the beast.

    Unfortunately, he had nothing that could exclusively do that, so he would need to depend on his memory. The only issue was the many other beasts that could potentially look like it.

    But he also depended on it to remember his face when next they met.

    "So it''s settled then!" Noah suddenly eximed. "When next we meet you have to tell me that it''s you. But even if you don''t, I''ll just wipe out all the higher-stage bears I find," he shrugged.

    "Take care of yourself bastard. Don''t die before I return," he waved while sparks began to crackle around his figure. The bear grunted at his leaving figure but it couldn''t move.

    Noah''s eyes soon began to glow a yellow shade, and he eventually took a step forward transforming into a silently moving streak that quickly left the bounds of the forest.

    The sun was beginning to set, meaning he had spent a while there already, but considering the fact that he had spent more than an hour about two to reach the center of the forest with the tunnel of blood, it didn''t surprise him.

    Noah reached the valley at some point. It didn''t feature a river, allowing him move freely across itsnds.

    He had to cross the valley for his next destination. And it stood very far from the forest of equanimity.

    Noah continued to run until the valley ended and he could run in the desired direction. His moving speed allowed him ze through tens of miles in mere seconds.

    Noah didn''t bother trying to take in the changing scenery, nothing mattered apart from his destination. A piece ofnd situated in a strange ce. It was also small.

    The ind stood on arge pool of water surrounded by a massive in. Even that simple detail baffled Noah since apparently there were no signs of water for many miles.

    Noah had to run for mere minutes because he wasn''t at his peak, but when he arrived at his destination he couldn''t help but fall into more wonder.

    The backstory of that ce apparently was not known. It had always been like that ever since people could remember. And it was as beautiful as the description.

    Merely arriving at the beginning of the in and moving a bit further into it, was all Noah needed to understand whaty before him.

    The sheer greenness of the low grass surrounding him felt able to melt his eyes. That was how breathtaking they were. Clear londs spread as far as the eyes could see and the winds ran freely in those miles of purend. He could barely see any trees even if they existed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Unmissable after a bit more running, was the said ind. It was situated at a random spot in the in, but to his surprise, there was a singr structure on it.

    A ck tower so tall Noah could see it from his position.

    Curiosity hit him like a ton of bricks and he found himself transforming into a deep yellow streak that moved across the londs to arrive at an area close to the tower.

    At this point the sparkling nature of the massive pool of water became evident. But Noah had already seen many of such before so he didn''t bother too much.

    The ind was a bit big, merely about 5 sq-miles. It featured trees, however, but they were very scanty.

    The pool on the other hand was quite big. About 15 sq-miles. He would call it a pond since it hadnd around it.

    "Do I have to run to get there," Noah wondered sweeping his gaze on the rxing view all around him. The sun was about to set creating an orange spectacle that shone on the entire in.

    He couldn''t help but stare at the clear blue sky tainted with a bit of orange and take in the rxing sensation that permeated his surrounding.

    ''I''ll wait for night-time,'' Noah concluded following his instincts. ''Even if I might have been noticed. It''s pretty hard to miss a moving streak after all.''

    Noah basically created camp around that area, even if there wasn''t anything to cover him. He built a fire, however. At this point, he didn''t care that he could have been noticed. Whoever was or were in that tower had not attacked him yet.

    Nevertheless, he was vignt as always. He didn''t know who that structure belonged to and they could be dangerous.

    Sitting before his campfire Noah started at the sky gazing at the myriads of stars that it featured.

    The sky remained really clear there and very soon he fell into his sea of memories. He had stopped regretting the events that urred on Earth, he didn''t even feel attached anymore, but he felt curious about the possibility of crossings.

    There had not been any such topics since he arrived in Cregar. But he believed it was possible since even the powerless humans that had been on Earth had built vehicles that allowed them to traverse space.

    How much more a that had the power of mana in its hands? Indeed there had to have been experiments to do such.

    Now that he thought about it, he had never seen any spectacr-looking transportation device even if there was teleportation.

    The world had advanced in many things but their ways weren''t exactly modern he knew, and he could only wonder if it would ever be modern.

    Noah''s thoughts were cut short by the sudden sh of a blue lighting from the grand tower. He was immediately alerted. Soon, a figure slowly began to descend from the tall structure. Their direction was his position.

    From that signature ability that only beings that had crossed tier 3 could utilize, Noah immediately knew that whoever that person was, they were not a direct match for him.

 Chapter 379 379. PALE

    Noah stood at that point, his entire being ready to burst forth and escape if such was necessary. He couldn''t clearly see the person from his position, so he waited a bit. Notwithstanding he had quickly worn his mask in that period.

    Noah waited until the person was within perfect visual range before making any decisions, and he felt mildly surprised to find a gorgeous woman nearing him.

    In the span of a second Noah took in her features. She looked mostly young, featuring a face in its early thirties. Her head featured long blonde hair and her eyes were sky-blue in color.

    Noah could see that they shone even from his position but he quickly left her face to see her attire.

    She remained donned in a long regal yellow dress that was quite fitted on her. It featured a thigh-high slit that shimmered with the lights of inscriptions.

    In short, she looked majestic while she neared him.

    "From where do you hail?" Her voice suddenly rang out in amanding tone. She remained about 20m from his figure but he could hear her as though she stood right in front of him.

    Noah however, kept silent, he still didn''t know who she was as her dress didn''t feature any crest he was familiar with. It didn''t feature any crest at all actually.

    "Are you deaf, young man?" Shemanded and Noah felt tempted to nod.

    "How do you expect me to tell you who I am when I don''t know who you are," Noah voiced his words.

    "Whatever do you mean by that?" Thedy spoke even if her tonecked any surprise.

    "You''re stronger than me. And you have a tower that stands grandly in the middle of practically nowhere," he began.

    "Cusk has enemies and I cannot tell you who I am until I know you''re not a threat."

    "I see," she muttered, surprising Noah had she had not objected. "Your words are valid, but even still. You should learn to speak respectfully to your elders," she furrowed her brows.

    Noah limited himself to remaining silent at her words, but she knew he wouldn''t speak until she confirmed herself to be at peace with their nation.

    "Very well. I am Riveta Telsimon. A citizen of the Cusk nation. That''s all you need to know," she announced never removing her gaze from Noah''s figure.

    "Now can you remove your mask? I have seen you ever since you arrived here," she added waving her hand dismissively.

    Noah clenched his teeth at her revtion, but thanks to his mask he didn''t seem to have made any reaction to her words.

    "Do so now or you will face consequences," she threatened coldly, and Noah was forced to do so.

    "I am Aiden of the Divine Lightning guild," Noah bowed taking off his mask ad storing it.

    "Hmm... It''s a pleasure to meet you Aiden," She revealed gazing at his face. Had she ever seen any man that beautiful before? She wondered to herself.

    A silence fell on the duo for a few short moments, before Riveta spoke.

    "What are doing all the way out here, Aiden?" She asked, genuinely curious. She had been there a while now and no one had ever visited the in. It waspletely void of human activity. And even beasts. Apart from the ones capable of flying.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Exploring," Noah replied.

    "That''s pretty in. No one crosses hundreds to almost thousands of miles of distance away from civilization simply for exploring. At least not in this current time," Riveta tilted her head to the side, revealing her neck, and Nah could swear that they glowed.

    "That is true. But I truly came here exploring. I recently had the freedom to do so, so I did. Even if I still have tasks at the back of my head," Noah exined sitting on the ground.

    Riveta silently watched him sit before focusing his gaze on her figure, but she had disappeared from the sky.

    "It''s been a long while since anyone forced me out of my tower. Truly it''s nice to meet you," Riveta sounded from beside Noah.

    He had not seen her movement since he hadn''t been focusing on her, but how silent she had been still made him marvel.

    She stood next to him, but it felt as though she didn''t exist. She radiated no power whatsoever, leaving his instincts struggling.

    Truth be told, Noah had been startled, but he kept his cool.

    "Say, how exactly do tier 4''s fly?" Noah suddenly voiced out his curiosity while gazing at the sky filled with memories.

    His question forced an eyebrow to rise on Riveta''s face but she replied anyway. But it wasn''t what he wanted, even if he expected something like that.

    "Don''t you want to wait to find out why when you step into that realm?" She responded beginning to float, catching Noah''s attention in the process.

    "I find it Interesting that you did not immediately fret at my presence. You seem chill. If I were to say so myself." She changed the subject.

    "What position do you hold in the Divine lightning guild? You certainly are not the average member," she voiced her curiosity floating higher than a few feet.

    "Well the reason I seem unafraid is because I have ways to escape you if needed," Noah revealed wondering why he had said that, but found out immediately.

    "And as for my position in the guild well, I definitely am not the average member," he shrugged.

    She held no hostility towards him. Her interactions had said so. He had not even spoken about the ways he mentioned, but he had revealed his ability to do so, so she would be cautious about doing anything fishy.

    The idea was a two-edged sword. On one side he could keep himself from danger since he had not revealed his said ways and would not. While on the other side he could have a tier 4 cultivator pestering him about his said ways.

    Things could lead to another she had seen his face and clearly knew of the great guild. Her tower even spoke of her possibly high status in the Cusk nation. In short, things could go south quickly.

    "Oh my," she eximed arcing an eyebrow, cing her right hand on her mouth.

    "This has to be the first time I''ve heard that a tier three cultivator had ways of escaping a tier five existence," she revealed and watched the blood in Noah''s face rapidly drain. Turning him ghostly pale.

    Noah jumped on his feet a secondter and performed many flips backward; away from her figure. Riveta couldn''t help but burst intoughter at that point.

 Chapter 380 380. TEA

    Noah gazed at Riveta''s hovering figure, and his eyes and expression told of the utter stupefaction he experienced at her revtion.

    "How do you even hope to escape me, young man? If I desire it, I can ce this entire in under my control," Riveta shook her head chuckling.

    "The youngsters of nowadays don''t seem to know much," she sighed floating higher into the sky.

    "Rest Aiden. I have note to harm you."

    "Though I am curious about the method in which you utilized to get here. I recall your speed. It was nothing like I have seen from a person your level," she went back to expressing her curiosity.

    Noah furrowed his brows in uncertainty. "Tier five," he muttered, and she nodded her head in response, her smile never leaving her face.

    "That''s a lot of power," Noah added putting her question on hold.

    "It''s not much in the grand scheme of things," She revealed raising her head to gaze at the star-filled night sky. "If you reach this level you''ll understand that there are many things out there, and even this power cannot do anything against them."

    "As cultivators, we strive for higher heights, but this is not enough," She ended, allowing her eyes to return to Noah.

    Surprisingly her words had hit more than he thought. It felt shocking and yet expected for a being in tier 5 to desire more power.

    "If I respond to your question it would be a lie. So I''d rather not say much. However, it''s something very personal," Noah exined, gaining a sense of trust.

    She had nothing to gain by killing him, and he had no amount of power on him to kill her.

    "Hmm. I see. It cannot be helped then," she eximed seemingly falling into thought.

    "It''s been a while, but I invite you to at least spend the night in my tower," she announced gesturing at the building on the ind. "You''re the first proper visitor I''ve had in years."

    "Absolutely not," Noah replied without giving it any thought.

    "Why?" She furrowed her brows even if she knew his reason.

    "I don''t trust you one bit," Noah announced without the slightest hitch. "You might have something in mind and your power is troublesome."

    "I thought you had ways to escape me," She teased.

    "Well, I do. But that''s your house, surely there are things that are capable of killing me in one go. How would I escape if I''m too busy being dead," Noah exined as tant as he could get.

    "You''re pretty blunt, and it''s more amusing since you know my level," She shook her head with interest in her eyes.

    "Well, there''s no need for me to shy away from my true worries. My life is on the line here," Noah rolled his eyes.

    "You truly are something else," Rivetamented while thoughts flowed through her mind, only a few being dedicated to her interaction with Aiden.

    "You know many cultivators even those in tier 5 will be as polite as possible when conversing with me. Yet here you are, a mere tier three cultivator, and your eyesck the reverence that I''m used to," she revealed, not the least bit annoyed about the reality of their interaction.

    Noah kept silent at her words, and she continued.

    "It''s refreshing, to say the least. But let''s see if you can keep it up," She remarked when Noah felt her consciousness grab hold of him. But it did so gently.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah panicked at that event but tried to remain cool. Even if his tries failed.

    "I said no," he frowned, sparks beginning to exit his body. He would vanish from that ce if he had to.

    "Don''t worry young man. I promise not to hurt you," She waved her hands while she floated towards the tower.

    "Let me go," Noah pressed. "I like it out here," he added while his figure began to get brighter and brighter. A tier 5 being had him in her grip.

    "How do I prove to you that I won''t hurt you?" She asked seeing how much he truly meant his words. She also stopped moving as a result, coupled with the hrious fact that he looked ready to blow up if necessary even his power wouldn''t achieve much with her.

    "I have nothing in mind. Maybe a pact or something," Noah suggested really annoyed at that point.

    If she hadn''t been that strong he swore he would have dealt with her already. But she wouldn''t have tried any such thing if they were close in terms of level.

    "That''s too significant for just a visit to my house. And as the oath maker, I have power over the oath. It would even put you at a disadvantage," she added arcing an eyebrow.

    Noah shrugged at her words, he truly had no idea of what she could do to prove her intentions.

    Truth be told, Noah felt no danger at her figure. His instincts did not react negatively to her, nor did he feel even the slightest amount of fear. He simply didn''t want to trust her just yet.

    "How about tea," she suggested, generating confusion in Noah''s mind.

    "What does tea have to do with our situation?" Noah voiced his curiosity.

    "Well..." she muttered when a rectangr table and two chairs appeared in front of her.

    On the table were a cream colored cup and a golden jug that released steam. Noah felt a hunger within him rise, when the scent of the jugs contents reached his nose.

    Mere inhaling it caused his soul realm to tremble. But in a good way. Realization dawned on him at that event and his stupefied expression said it all.

    "You''re pretty quick at picking things up," Rivetamented drawing Noah closer to her.

    "What is it?" Noah inquired, his eyes never leaving the golden jug.

    "It''s tea like I said. But not like anything you''ve tasted," a smile appeared on her face.

    "I believe your body and mind can feel it. It''s something capable of helping even tier 4''s after all," She revealed causing a chill to run down Noah''s spine.

    "Is this bribe?" He remarked trying his best to relieve the jug of his gaze. But his focus wouldn''t shift.

    "You can call it that. Or you can call it a treat; for being so entertaining to this ancient and lonelydy."

    "Anyone you want," her smile turned into an inviting grin.

    "What does it do?" Noah ignored her tempting offer.

    "Well as you can probably feel. It expands the soul realm But more than that. It brings people to enlightenment."

 Chapter 381 381. ENLIGHTENMENT

    "Well, it onlysts for short while. At least for tier 4 cultivators. I believe it would do a whole lot for someone your level," she revealed shaking her head at the hunger Noah''s eyes radiated.

    "I see," Noah managed to snap out of his daze momentarily.

    "Mhm..." Her eyes moved as he nodded.

    "So why are you giving me something so valuable?" Noah''s paranoia managed to pull him even further out of his daze.

    With an amused smile growing wider on her face, Riveta opened her mouth to speak. "Well it''s not valuable to me since it only works for beings in tier four and below," she exined.

    "And it only brings people to enlightenment for short periods, what ever they do with that chance is up to them. So it''s more of a gamble. You might even wish I never showed this to you since it can cause the highest of aches if not utilized properly."

    "That makes me not want to drink it now. You just confirmed that it could be potentially dangerous," Noah spoke as his daze finally shattered. His mind had managed to get used to it pretty much quickly.

    "Would you have preferred if I had not told you?" She questioned, leaving Noah no choice but to believe that she truly did not have any bad intentions.

    "It''s your choice to drink it or not. I only offered you for the sake of goodwill," she stated.

    A difficult expression tried to break out on Noah''s face at that point, but he kept it in; while he consulted the system about the issue.

    "Will it work for me?" Noah asked.

    [[The soul realm could be called a neutral ground. It doesn''t necessarily require external energy to perform but they do help it]]

    [[For your case, however, things take a turn. You are notpletely human, but you''re also notpletely speedling]]

    [[In short, it should work]]

    Noah could only re-focus his gaze on the jug at that confirmation. His eyes darted between Riveta, the jug, and the tower. In honesty, he wanted to see the insides of a ce a tier 5 being could call home.

    A helpless sigh escaped his mouth at some point and, Riveta''s face brightened up, and Noah managed to catch a glimpse of it. She truly was gorgeous.

    "Why would a tier five existence be so excited," Noah clicked his tongue.

    "Well, I''m still human. And I''m still a woman. I believe if I had faced you with a condescending demeanor you wouldn''t be here."

    "Beggar''s can''t be choosers. No one everes my way. And if they do I usually end up killing them or something," she giggled watching Noah frown; already at alert

    "I have enemies too, and they''ve been tracking me which is why I decided to move about the continents," she revealed.

    "Do you want the tea?" She asked, and made the jug rise and fill the cup before him when he nodded.

    Before he drank the tea, Noah thought he would ask a few questions concerning what she had revealed.

    "So in short a tier five cultivator could arrive here and start a battle with you?" Noah spoke swirling thepletely ck liquid that was the tea.

    "If you put it like that then the answer is yes," she scratched her right cheek with a wry smile.

    Noah shook his head and quickly downed the tea at that point.

    "It''s surprisingly sweet," hemented trying to savor its taste when he felt his head almost explode.

    Noah directly slumped on the table, but not in pain. His body began to shake violently, then a loud cry escaped his lips.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah''s blue eyes literally generated a light of their own, as they were wide open.

    Thoughts that felt heavy as they coursed through his mind were generated. He found himself deciphering things he never gave a second nce.

    His soul core began to churn madly as its size started to increase, and so did his soul ind. Noah was experiencing a boon he didn''t think he would experience before his dungeon dive.

    A deeper understanding of his elements befell him and as a result, the wind began to spin madly.

    Bolts of electricity started to be generated from kilometers around him as he had subconsciously unfolded his consciousness.

    Noah saw his area of influence spread until it reached 10km in radius.

    Chaos threatened to spill forth at that point.

    Literal storms of his three elementsbined were given birth to, and a significant portion of the surrounding areas saw ice spreading on its surface.

    Noah unknowingly turned areas into icy terrains, but that sight didn''t bring surprise to Riveta''s face, who simply watched as the events yed out.

    "I can see them!" Noah eximed and his voice reverberated throughout the areas his consciousness was capable of covering.

    "I can see the elements. Why are these arrays and why are they so tight?" Noah found himself asking, as something stopped him from generating more results with his affinities.

    "That is the limits of those who are still within the world''s care," Riveta suddenly spoke.

    "You can see those arrays only because of this temporary empowerment. You will need to cross over into tier four to be capable of achieving effects that you never thought were possible."

    "This is why the road to tier four is very personal. Since not even the world would be able to stop you. Meaning your destructive abilities will shoot through the roof."

    "Your imaginative abilities will be your limit," She exined calmly even if her voice managed to overshadow every single event that was urring in the surrounding kilometers."

    It didn''t matter that storms were going on, her voice buried the sounds of everything as even the ne couldn''t help Noah withstand the pressureing from her voice. But he didn''t pass out, he didn''t even seem to notice that he had begun to bleed from his nose.

    "I need to break off of the world''s control to be able to achieve more power," Noah muttered gazing at the tight arrays of weird rope-like structures that filled the world around him. He couldn''t find their beginning or their ending. But there were also thousands of those ropes connected to him.

    To aplish greater power all he had to do was sever those lines from himself. But he couldn''t do that no matter how much he tried.

    [Unable toplete task due to unmet requirements]

    [Unable toplete task due to unmet requirements]

    [Unable toplete task due to unmet requirements]

    [Unable toplete task due to unmet requirements]

    As many times as Noah tried; that panel appeared in his zing eyes until the effects of the tea began to wear off. He had spent about twenty minutes in that state and had been seated throughout.

    Immediately the tea''s effects ended, a splitting headache be-fell him so much so that he immediately passed out.

    "In the end you still entered my house," a warm smile appeared on Riveta''s face. He had surpassed her imagination, and had gazed at a world only tier 4''s could. Meaning his very existence saw it fit that he stepped into the next realm already. Even if he was still in the middle-stage of tier 3.

    "Who are you, Aiden?" She ran her fingers against his cold cheeks before she teleported in a blue light. The table, chair and jug followed her depature, including Noah.

 Chapter 382 382. FLOORS

    A grunt escaped Noah''s mouth as he slowly regained consciousness. He parted his eyelids with a bit of difficulty and when they managed to open properly he felt an ache smash into his senses like a freight train, and he recoiled in pain.

    ? Noticing the bright light illuminating his environment, Noah continued to groan while his focus switched to his soul realm.

    A sight no less shocking than beautiful unfolded in his eyes and he immediately fell into marvel.

    His soul ind had expanded, so much so that from standing in the center he couldn''t see its edges. His soul core had also be bigger and the multicolored lights that swirled around it had grown more numerous and brighter.

    In a normal situation, Noah would have been d about the sudden buff, but currently, he wasn''t. And why was that?

    Well because his ind had expanded, but it had paid the price in sturdiness.

    He swore if he stumped his foot too hard he would bring everything crashing, and that reality angered him.

    He wanted to me Riveta, but he couldn''t. He had been too focused on the part of the tea''s enlightenment that he had not seen past the rapid expansion of his ind and the difficulties it would bring.

    He now had a fragile mental state. Literally.

    Returning his focus to the room, Noah swept his gaze on his surroundings and took in the luxurious details.

    Firstly the king-sized bed he sat on stood beside a nice big window, allowing clear visuals of the in below, and Noah had to say it took his breath away.

    The in looked even more beautiful from that sky-scraper height, but he managed to pull his gaze off the greenery that surrounded that building to keep his eyes on the room.

    Painted white and shades of gray, it featured pretty much basic things, only with luxurious aesthetics

    Like the mirror before a table had its edges made out of gold. The chair looked to be made out of an alloy that had yellow lines inscribed in its material.

    The rug on the ground looked and felt expensive, and of course, the room smelt heavenly.

    Painfully getting up from the bed Noah found his way toward the ck door.

    Fortunately, it was open, so he could arrive in a passageway. Another series of expensive-looking items, even magical ones unfolded in his eyes.

    The blue ceiling of the passageway was adorned with mana stones, and all of which were yellow. From the mana stones came green shining lines. Inscriptions.

    The inscriptions seemed to run into the very walls all around him since Noah could sense that he wasn''t strong enough to actually break anything his eyes fell on. He even felt stunned to see green mana stones.

    The highest quality he had ever gazed at, and it was simply attached to the walls!

    Noah soon arrived before a spiral flight of stairs featuring a golden handle and didn''t hesitate to walk down the inscribed stairs.

    Another long and curved passageway featuring many doors that led into different ces unfolded in his eyes, and he didn''t even know where to start.

    From what he had seen from the outside, the tower would be around ny stories. He honestly didn''t understand why someone would need something thatrge, But he couldn''t judge since she was a tier 5 existence.<novelnext></novelnext>

    There were definitely things that were big and capable of killing him there.

    A sigh escaped his mouth as he began to wander; lost. He dared not enter any of the many rooms since his instincts continued to ring whenever he tried to.

    A particr portion of the tower was so dangerous that Noah sped past it. He could sense the power of the things behind the doors and none of them were tier 3.

    Noah walked down his fifteenth flight of stairs and a wide hall unfold in his eyes. Within the room were fourrge spheres filled with liquid, each containing a different color.

    The balls of liquids stood floating at the center of the hall, and below them was a long table and the figure of a certain person stood working.

    "You finally arrived. I thought it would take you months," Riveta''s voice reached Noah''s mind as she floated around the room. There were other materials within it, and he had seen none of them before.

    "So you let me wander lost," Noah furrowed his brows while still having his eyes on the room, he had begun to walk deeper into the room.

    "You shouldn''t cross that line," she suddenly warned and Noah nced at his feet and noticed a red line about 3 inches in width and circled the room.

    Blue inscriptions ran along the line and they intrigued Noah, but he didn''t dare cross the line.

    "What does it do?" He asked, curious.

    "Well these materials are really unstable, only I can survive them as they exploded every few times. You don''t want to be caught up in it," She exined finally turning to nce at him.

    "You can circle the room however, I left that much space for you," She pointed out, and Noah had no choice but to settle for that much.

    His head still hurt, but it remained bearable.

    He watched Riveta work in silence, and like she had said the transparent spheres were capable of exploding.

    The explosions were usually violent, but Noah couldn''t tell how powerful they were since the barrier that existed because of the line kept everything contained.

    The ground didn''t even shake when the explosion urred, so he couldn''t be too sure.

    The sound, however, shattered his eardrums every time.

    But he had the idea that most of its power was being locked up by the barrier.

    Each time an explosion unfolded, Riveta would have to remake the spheres and their contents.

    At some point, he got tired of watching her since he didn''t understand anything and decided to explore a bit, coupled with the sounds of the explosions making his headache worse.

    He informed her and she allowed it. She even looked d about his decision.

    Noah arrived at a library on the twentieth floor and didn''t hesitate to dive into the knowledge they held. Or at least he thought so.

 Chapter 383 283. WONDER

    An extensive library,rge and filled with many shelves filled with books was avable to Noah, and he immediately went and begin to search for his area of interest.

    He still had lots of questions about the speedlings and wanted to know if they still existed in the world. Maybe he could get help from them or just visit them.

    However, rather than happiness, all that could be evident on Noah''s handsome face was a frown. A deep one at that.

    ''What the fuck is this restriction?'' he thought, noting the fact that he couldn''t even touch any of the books without a barrier appearing on them and burning the fingers that were unlucky enough to graze the barrier of heat.

    As if listening to his thoughts, a blue light suddenly shed inside the wide room. Its radiance was bright enough to reach Noah''s eyes from his position.

    "You wonder why my books have protection?" Riveta''s powerful consciousness interacted with Noah''s conveying her thoughts to him.

    "Well yes," Noah replied leaving the shelve in hopes of finding her position. Fortunately, he wouldn''t need to go far since she floated towards him andnded beside him.

    "That would be none other than the fact that knowledge is power."

    "I''m sure you''re smart enough to understand that?" She stated, grabbing a random book from the shelve. Of course, the barrier didn''t react to her.

    "It''s my turn not to trust you. And I''m going to give you a hard time just like you gave me a hard time," she announced with a cheeky smile, but Noah dared not respond with sarcasm. He could see she was prepared to deal with such a response if it ever happened.

    With that thought in mind, he decided he wouldn''t give her the pleasure of watching him beg.

    "Okay then," Noah stated, scanning the area for the exit. "I''ll just find something else to do in your abnormallyrge tower," he exined already approaching the door.

    Rather than the disappointment Noah expected, her smile grew wider.

    "That''s a pretty good reaction. Never give people the pleasure they want especially when it would do you bad," she spoke running up to walk closer to him.

    Riveta''s stature was pretty much small. At leastpared to him. She barely stood at a height of 5''5, and her slim nature put her on the small side. She, however, featured soft curves that the pink dress she currently had on revealed to the world.

    Noah loomed over her in terms of height, which was probably why she usually flew around him, just like she did after some point.

    Both individuals moved silently, Noah was more or less annoyed about her rejecting his desire to read books. And she on the other hand casually studied the individual that had entered her domain.

    Noah figured he would wait until his dungeon wasplete before he left, and that was still his n, but there was still a lot of time left before then. About a whole day to be exact.

    "Why are you following me? It''s creepy," Noah''s voice rang out at some point.

    "Uh... this is my tower don''t forget, I should be asking you why you''re wandering about in someone else''s home," she snorted yfully.

    "Are all tier five''s like this?" Noah felt forced to ask. He had never imagined that an existence probably strong enough to be considered gods in Cregar would be so yful.

    "Well not all of us are like this. Some are more entric than the others. Some like to prove serious, which I find boring, so I killed a few of them," she exined with such honesty, Noah felt a shiver travel down his spine.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How strong do you consider yourself?" He asked while they walked down the hallway that would eventually lead to the floor below. A series of windows existed that shockingly allowed visuals of the outside, and Noah found himself staring into the in''s beauty.

    "I''m probably one of the strongest in the world," she responded calmly and confidently, forcing Noah''s steps to a halt.

    A series of questions appeared in his mind at her confident promation, but he chose only one.

    "You''ve traveled the different continents?" He arced an eyebrow, resuming his steps.

    "Didn''t I tell you that?" She asked furrowing her brows.

    "Oh yes you did, but I just assumed maybe our continent alone, not the entire world," Noah exined cing his gaze on the in.

    "Well yes I have then. I''ve traveled all the continents and have been privileged to fight some of the best experts in them. The dragons are exceptional," she exined.

    His interest being piqued, Noah snapped his head towards her figure and saw her smug, but didn''t care.

    "You''ve been to the dragons continent. I thought we don''t know much about them?" Noah uttered, unsure.

    A shortughed escaped Riveta''s mouth and she quickly regained herposure to respond.

    "Those are the old books you''ve read. There are even many interactions with that continent and our continent, only that its very fragile. The dragons have issues. Big ones," she exined.

    "I see," Noah muttered, feeling a bit excited.

    "I''ve already given you information most don''t know. You should be grateful," Riveta rolled her eyes at some point.

    "Thank you," Noah immediately replied. Honesty dripping from his voice.

    His sudden seriousness caught Riveta by surprise, and she cleared her throat.

    "No worries, young man," she stated cing her gaze somewhere else. Even for her, a serious Aiden was a lot to handle. The man''s looks were strong enough for that.

    "As someone who would soon be going on a journey to the different nations and even outside the continent, what do you advise that I posses the most?" Noah decided to clear a small doubt of his, and she had proved how she wasn''t going to lie to him.

    "That should be one of the most obvious things in the entire world. Power of course," she sped her palms.

    "The entities of the other nations and continents are verypetitive. I believe you''ll find yourself in manypetitions as I found myself."

    "If you don''t have the power to show yourself approved, then you''ll be aughing stock." She exined, her eyes drawing colder and colder as she spoke. It seemed that topic reminded her of events that she hated.

    Noah couldn''t help but begin to wonder who that woman was, and what she had been through.

 Chapter 384 384. REGAL

    "I thought the elven continent was in a bit of strife with us?" Noah asked at some point in their conversation.

    "Well they still do, but a series of events had led to my being there. Which is why I value nature more. There are nice people amongst them, but like the trend in the world, There are fewer good than bad people," Riveta cleared out.

    The two fell into silence at that point, Noah was mostly taking in all he had heard from her. He had to admit that hearing the stories from her mouth was more entertaining than reading since he got a chance to learn more about her as a person.

    She on the other hand found herself lost in the seas of memories she had obtained after the passing of centuries. Her conversation with Noah refreshed her since she truly had not entertained a proper visitor in a long while.

    ''It''s been about ny years,'' she spoke to herself stealing a nce at Aiden''s face.

    "Less about me. It''s time to know a bit about you, young man Aiden!" She eximed at some point.

    "Howe you have three affinities?" she pointed out first, and her words caused a vein to almost pop in Noah''s head.

    "It''s a long story," Noah stated not making eye contact.

    "Oh? A story longer than mine? I''m pretty certain I''m far older than you, young man," she tilted her head in sarcastic wonder.

    Noah kept silent at her questions, and she narrowed her eyes, determined to crack him.

    "It''s even more surprising that two rare affinities are in your set of abilities."

    "Your existence can start a war if the situation isn''t properly handled. Especially when you''re part of a great guild. I''m pretty sure they know about your state," shemented causing Noah to focus his gaze on her.

    "What do you mean by that?" He inquired.

    "Well, I''ve met a few of the higher-ups of the guild. A really crazy bunch of entric experts if you ask me."

    "I''m pretty sure all they needed to know about your uniqueness was nce at you. Just like all I needed to do was sight your figure," she exined floating around him.

    Noah couldn''t help but furrow his eyebrows at her revtion.

    "You needn''t worry about much. They won''t harm you especially when they practically own you," Riveta reassured, chuckling at his worried expression.

    Noah smiled at her and tried to hide his remaining fear. Riveta saw through his act, however. She had lived too long to be fooled by acting.

    "There''s no need to worry about danger. It''s not like you could hide it. There''s no reason to fuss over something you can''t stop or change. Simply get stronger. Enough that you can protect yourself. That''s all that matters," she exined quite somberly.

    A struggling expression appeared on Noah''s face at that point, and she burst into moreughter, before flying forward, leaving him to his thoughts.

    The most difficult detail Noah struggled to cope with, was the fact that his so-called secrets were actually evident to a group of people. Although only a few, they were some of the strongest persons.

    He suddenly felt naked and wished he never encountered tier 5 cultivators until he was strong enough to defend himself from them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A sigh eventually escaped Noah''s lips and he focused on Riveta''s figure and found that she was nowhere to be seen.

    He didn''t fret, however, but rather decided to focus on the in while he walked down that long hallway.

    He continued his long walk until something changed, however.

    Arriving abruptly and powerfully, the entire tower experienced a powerful shaking, one that managed to knock Noah off his feet.

    Panic and fear reached his mind at that point, as he recalled Riveta''s words about her enemies.

    ''Are we under attack?'' he asked himself, his bewilderment evident on his face. He couldn''t survive tier 4 battles, not to talk of tier 5. He would be dead before he knew it!

    Dashing towards the nearest window, Noah slid it open to gaze at the outside, but before he could do much, he noted the that shadow loomed over the tower.

    ''Big!'' Noah screamed inwardly as he raised his head to nce at what cast that huge shadow on the tower, and what he saw caused his heart to skip one of its rapid beats.

    A gasp escaped his mouth as red feathers; as he had never seen before unfolded in his marveling eyes.

    The figure of a huge feathered beast sitting at the very top of the tower made Noah want to take a closer look, but he didn''t dare leave the tower.

    The incrediblyrge beast, farrger than any beast he had everid his two eyes on, radiated a sharp aura that caused his nose to bleed and his fragile mind to begin to experience cracks.

    Even from that distance, he would die, but he couldn''t lift his gaze anyways.

    The thing had wings, but from his point of view they were still folded, however, it unfolded it and cast a shadow for like a kilometer around it!

    Then it pped its feathered wings.

    That mere action caused chaos to befall the silent in, as the wind picked up, raising a wide cloud of dust. The ground shook, then huge cracks opened on its structure.

    The mere pping of the tier 5 beast caused huge gaps, almost akin to chasms to fill the space around the tower, as even the building Noah stood in shook violently from that event.

    Noah continued to bleed through his nose and even his ears. The edges of his lips also began to reveal blood, but he seemed in a daze, one capable of burying the intense pain he was experiencing.

    He waited for the huge creature to circle the tower before picking a spot tond on the in, allowing its nature to be revealed to the world.

    Noah held his breath at the magnificent creature.

    He had seen it in the books concerning the great beast, But seeing a phoenix live was a totally different thing than seeing its pictures.

    The books didn''t do justice to how regal the creature looked.

 Chapter 385 385. CONDESCENDING

    Noah thought he would die since he found his consciousness slipping as his soul ind continued to experiencerge cracks.

    He gazed at the beauty of the phoenix and felt his heart palpitate with excitement.

    Its feathers had to be the most fiery-looking color he had witnessed in the entirety of Cregar. They glistened in the sunlight expressing their beauty to the world, a beauty Noah couldn''t get enough of.

    The beast had an almost golden-red beak, and its sheer size looked capable of swallowing buildings whole.

    The beast itself towered a staggering height of about 300m!

    If one added its wing span to the mix, the beast would be capable of unearthing towns by merely pping its wings.

    The phoenix looked yful since it simplyy on the grounds of the in and seemingly stared at the sky.

    "Isn''t she beautiful?" Riveta''s voice reached Noah''s fading consciousness, but her mental waves suddenly wrapped themselves on his figure fending off the pressure the beast released.

    Noah regained rity at that point, but his eyes couldn''t leave the beast.

    "You didn''t tell me you had such a wonder living in your tower," Noah muttered.

    "You never asked," Riveta giggled keeping her gaze on her pet.

    "There''s a reason I choose such wide environments, it''s so she and the others don''t get bored," Riveta exined putting shock on Noah''s face, even if he couldn''t reply sharply due to the pain he felt. It felt searing.

    "How is it even possible to keep such huge beasts in this tower? She''s literally taller than this building," Noah gasped at the sheer inbeliveability of that reality. "And you''re telling me there''s more of them."

    "That''s exactly what I''m saying. And besides all I require is expanded spaces, I can fit whole towns inside most of my storage rings," she exined when something floated towards Noah.

    It was a literal shining green pill.

    Its mere scent caused him to experience relief from the pain he felt, and before he knew it, he bit the pill and felt its effects reach his soul realm.

    A wave of energy filled his mind at that point, and his soul ind saw its cracks disappearing, and there was still a lot of remnant energy.

    The pill''s effects washed over his soul ind many times, and Noah even saw it regaining some of its sturdiness.

    His speed force kicked in at that point and stole the spotlight since his ind suddenly lit up with the deep yellow radiance, and even more strength reached his mind.

    "Thank you," Noah managed to squeeze out after escaping from the ecstasy the pill brought him. He was so d that the soul realm unlike his body and core could allow external help. Even the pill wasn''t exactly mana based. It was something refined just for the soul cores.

    "You''re wee, young man. Ac it''s my fault. I knew this would happen so I prepared the pill," Riveta exined keeping her eyes on Noah.

    Noah had closed his eyes to allow the effects to sink in enough. Soon enough he reopened them and both experts gazed at the phoenix.

    "What''s her name?" Noah found himself asking.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Ste," Riveta replied, a warm smile appearing on her face.

    "Ste, huh," Noah muttered still gazing at the beautiful beast. He soon found himself smiling at her silly actions.

    Her huge figure moved quite agilely across the in, and each of her movements caused destruction to befall the area. The strong winds caused by her wing''s movement reached even the tower, but it stood strong.

    "Come," Riveta gestured at Noah at some point. She had floated out of the window and had her hand stretched toward Noah.

    Hesitation appeared on Noah''s face at the event, but he nced at the phoenix and her hand, before heaving a sigh of helplessness. Like any other person in the world, he wanted a ride on the beast.

    A giggle exited Riveta''s lips when Noah took her hand, and he had to admit that the scene stunned him.

    ''Cute,'' he couldn''t help but say to himself when Riveta sped towards her pet, and in barely one second they reached her huge figure in the sky.

    Ste voiced a cry of excitement at Riveta''s appearance, and she immediately began to pat the phoenix''s head as it had bent towards her.

    Noah on the other hand had felt all the hair on his body stand at the cry. It had been loud. A powerful explosion in its own right, since even the ground below them, found arge portion of its structure disappearing.

    "Touch her," Riveta''s words brought Noah out of his daze, and the Phoenix''s golden eyesnded on him.

    Noah could almost feel the pressure in its gaze, as the beast''s eyes radiated curiosity at the extremely weak person before it.

    Cautiously, Noah moved closer to the beast and tried toy his hand on her beak.

    "You shouldn''t do that unless you want to get it bitten off," Rivetamented.

    Noah retracted his hand faster than his shock could take ce.

    A nervous smile appeared on his face, and he chose a portion below its beak to ce his hand on.

    His gaze locked with the Phoenix''s and they seemed to share a simr feeling. Pride.

    Noah could feel the beast''s feathers thrum with power, even if it hadn''t done anything spectacr yet.

    He felt no heat from its figure, but his instincts informed him that it could explode into mes before he knew it. However, he wasn''t worried about such an event since Riveta stood close behind him.

    "She''s beautiful," Noah muttered at some point. The intelligence in the beast''s eyes ced him in a daze. He could feel her breathing from the position he ced his palm, and it was so soft he felt he would fall into a meditative state on that spot.

    "Yeah... you should stop now," Rivetamented at some point. "She''s ready to explode on you," she pointed out, perplexing Noah since what he felt waspletely distant to anger.

    Noah blinked at that point, and he immediately realized what Riveta meant.

    For some reason, Ste''s eyes held hostility now that he looked at it again. Her gaze was so condescending that Noah knew it was only because Riveta was behind him that she hadn''t gobbled him up.

 Chapter 386 386. FOOD

    "Why?" Noah asked taking a few steps back until he was close to Riveta again. He could now clearly feel Ste''s hostility, and it was a bit worrying, to say the least.

    "Don''t take her current hostility to heart, she''s like that to anyone new."

    "On the flip side, she''s surprisingly calmer to you," Riveta exined floating forward, and Noah felt the beast''s focus leave him. Even if only partially.

    "Oh?" An eyebrow rose on his face.

    "Mhm. She wouldn''t even allow most people touch her," Riveta continued to pat the phoenix''s head.

    "That''s actually why I brought her out, to test you. Now I''ve confirmed that there''s something more to you than the eyes can see. Not even my senses can properly pick it up, but she seemed to be able to do so," Riveta exined shooting a cold nce at Noah''s figure.

    Noah however, limited himself to a calm expression. He didn''t exactly feel surprised about her words. After all the bracelet was only a tier 6 object, and she was already close to that level.

    Things would change when it crumbled. The whole world would know of his existence. He hade to terms with that inevitable event, so he didn''t react much.

    "You''re right. But isn''t there something special about everyone," Noah tilted his head to the side.

    "I doubt that. But your type of difference is something else. It''spletely beyond what the norm is. But I can''t ce my finger on it."

    "In short I''m quite stunned that your being could be this hidden from my senses. I can''t even see your core''s color," she admitted moving closer to him.

    Noah simply shrugged at that point. "I guess when it''s time it would be revealed," he stated with such confidence and calmness that Riveta was forced to change the topic since she knew probing wouldn''t get her anywhere. And she wasn''t one to probe. Especially when the said person was her first real guest in decades.

    "Do you want a ride or not?" She sighed at some point.

    "I never said I didn''t," a smile shone on Noah''s face at her words and he didn''t hesitate to draw nearer to her.

    Shaking her head in wonder at who her guest really was, Riveta raised the two of them on her beast and pat Ste''s back signaling that she was ready to move.

    Ste took off at that point, and Noah watched the world around him be a proper blur.

    Ste broke the sound barrier upon eleration, and her velocity directly shot upwards until Noah understood that she had crossed Mach 50 in one go!

    They barely had time to scan the world below them since Ste shot through miles ofnd area in seconds.

    Soon, however, she began to rise higher and higher until she reached a certain point that she maintained. Noah wondered why she didn''t go higher, but he didn''t ask, he was too busy enjoying the event.

    It felt mildly surprising that something so huge could travel that fast, but he had seen it being done by weaker beasts that he didn''t think too much about it.

    Ste circled a vast region before curving to return to the in, and it took them only a few seconds, but they were one of the best few seconds in Noah''s life. All three.

    Their movement had been barely noticeable, but Noah didn''t care about that, he just wanted a flying beast more now.

    "That was awesome!" Noah eximed getting off the beast with Riveta''s help.

    "How did you even survive that speed?" Riveta marveled openly at this point. There had to be a limit to how much unique a person had to be.

    This was beginning to get too much even for her.

    Noah shrugged at her question with a cheeky smile.

    "Young man I wonder what you''ll be at my level," Riveta shook her head trembling at the thought.

    "I''ll be the strongest," Noah proimed, and Riveta burst into shortughter.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We''ll see about that. Get to tier four first," she waved dismissively approaching the tower while pulling him closer to her with her consciousness.

    "I''ll do that then," Noah replied nodding his head. His was already close to that level after all.

    The dungeon was still cooking, but he hoped to reach a decent level by the time he was done with the dive.

    "Come let''s eat," Riveta pulled Noah out of his thoughts, then a blue light shone from her figure, wrapping its light around him, and they vanished to appear inside a certain room within the tower.

    Noah opened his eyes before a long golden-brown table. A really long one. Empty silver tes sat before him and although only he and Riveta were on the table, the tes filled the table as they numbered sixty, excluding therge ones on the center of the table.

    Shooting a quizzical gaze at Riveta, he watched her shrug with a smile.

    Before he could speak, however, the sound of marching reached his ears, and he felt stupefied toy eyes on a series of humanoid dummies in clothes. Situated on their palms were golden tes filled with different delicacies that reminded Noah of his hunger.

    He had never seen humanoid dummies utilized that way, and it was even more astonishing when he sensed that their material was in the fourth tier. They weren''t even at its beginning.

    Noah shot another gaze at Riveta, and she opened her mouth to speak.

    "I forge in my spare time. I''ve had too much spare time," she stated.

    "How are they able to do this?" Noah asked even if he more or less knew the answer to that.

    "Well I''ve ced a simtion inside of them, but they have a core of sorts even if Imand them," she gave a short exnation before picking up the eating utensils beside her and decided to have a go at the food so abundant before her.

    The different aromas of freshly cooked food substances permeated the wide and very empty room.

    The room was wide enough to fit a minimum of two rtivelyrge buildings, but it only featured that table and the chairs.

    Noah and Riveta ate in the presence of the humanoid maids numbering exactly a hundred. Some of them had not brought anything with them, and Noah couldn''t help but feel intimidated before that might.

    There was enough power inside that room to probably wipe out a continent, even if Riveta was excluded.

    He got reminded for the nth time how weak he was. Noah couldn''t gauge theirplete level, however, so only Riveta knew that none of the Dummies were below the peak of tier 4. Andpared to how many she had, one hundred of them was quite small.

    It showed how wide the gap between tiers was. A peak tier 4 would find it difficult, practically impossible to kill a tier 5. There was simply too much difference in the quality of their energy, body, and mind.

    Noah enjoyed the meal and ate to his heart''s content while the dummies stood silent.

    Soon he was done. He had eaten more than Riveta had, but even at that, the table remained filled.

    "What are you going to do with the rest?" Noah asked, finding it sad to see such good-tasting food be wasted.

    "Store them forter, even if I might eventually end up throwing them away," she revealed wiping her mouth with a piece of white cloth set beside her te.

    Noah unknowingly frowned at her words, which prompted her to speak again.

    "But you can keep them if you want, I hardly eat," she added standing up from her chair and gesturing that Noah store the food.

    Noah could only nod and do as she said, before following her toward where she was going.

    She took him on a sort of tour around her tower while Ste continued to do as she pleased outside.

 Chapter 387 387. THE HUNTED MAZE

    [Dungeon creationpleted]

    [The Hunted Maze]

    These two panels appeared before Noah immediately after he reopened his eyes from his sleep. It was morning already. He had expected this oue ording to the countdown, but his excitement peaked anyway.

    Quickly getting off the bed, Noah paced, unsure of his next move. Sure he could just start the dungeon dive immediately, but he wasn''t alone.

    ''I have to inform her of my departure,'' Noah thought at some point, he recalled the other day''s events and couldn''t help but admit that he had enjoyed them.

    She had taken him on a long tour around the tour which hadsted hours. After that, they had taken a bath. Noah still marveled at the sheer size of her hot bath. It would be a proper pond of boiling water.

    During that period he was also enlightened on the fact that tier 5 beings didn''t exactly care about their nakedness. Still, Riveta had been decent. Even if she had taken every chance to tease Noah.

    Noah felt embarrassed merely recalling the event.

    ''It was fun, but it can''tst long. Maybe I can return sometimes,'' he said to himself, exiting the room in search of the master of that ce.

    Noah eventually found her on the twentieth floor performing the same weird experiment she had been doing the other day.

    "I see it''s time for you to leave," her words reached him before he could speak.

    Noah stood outside of the circle, and his face expressed his surprise at the situation, but he soon let it go and limited himself to nod.

    "Well you don''t have to be so worried about telling me, I won''t try to kill you or anything," she turned to face him, a knowing smile on her face.

    "I never said I was worried," Noah countered.

    "I saw your expression immediately after you left your room. It was all nervous," she teased floating towards him.

    "Do you spy on me at night?" Noah acted dramatic. She kinda reminded him of elder Sarah, except less violent. There was an attribute that made them interact easily.

    "What are you gonna do if you find out that I actually do. Kill me?" She reveled a grin, and Noah snorted in return.

    "When I reach your level, I''ll make sure to prove my dominance," he rolled his eyes. Both of them fell intoughter at that point, after which a silence fell on them.

    "I''ll visit you some timeter. Your tower is better than the crowded state of my guild," Noah admitted, shrugging.

    "I''ll be expecting you then. That is if I don''t require moving out of here," she exined.

    "Yeah, hopefully no one tries to kill you," Noah spoke turning to face the exit of that room.

    "I''ll get going then," he announced after another moment of silence.

    "Let me help," Riveta spoke allowing Noah suddenly disappear from the room.

    Noah opened his eyes outside of the tower, and its tall structure stood before him.

    "Don''t die out there, young man Aiden," Riveta''s voice boomed outside of the tower through the tower.

    The event felt astonishing, but he soon got over that feeling. Performing a proper bow in front of the tower, Noah heard a chuckle seep out of the tower''s structure, and everything fell silent.

    Turning to face a random direction, Noah faced the region he had run from, and shot towards that ce.

    His figure turned into a deep yellow streak that crossed miles in mere seconds. He had reached the level where he could hide under a technique as the reason for his speed, but he also did it because understood that he couldn''t hide in front of such power individuals, and that reality seemed to relive him of the weight of his secrets.

    [Do you wish to begin dungeon dive]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Yes/No]

    Noah opened that panel while still running, and when he chose yes, he felt his environment slow down, and it wasn''t because of his movement since his rapid figure appeared slow to himself.

    In the blink of an eyes, a series of purple-green magical circles unfolded beneath his still moving figure and Noah felt the world around him stretch as his figure vanished from the in cutting the streak short.

    Opening his eyes in a nk white cylindrical environment, Noah quickly came to a halt, before inspecting everything around him.

    But there was nothing to begin with so he focused on the major thing. He still experienced that feeling of being alienated, but also a sense of belonging within that environment. It felt mind bending that both sensations never overwhelmed the other.

    [Briefing of the dungeon will begin]

    A purple-green panel; how that was even possible, appeared before his eyes, and in the next instant another panel containing information unfolded before him.

    [The Hunted Maze]

    [Grade: B]

    [Difficulty: Very high]

    [Floors: 5]

    [Bosses: 4[mini-bosses] 1[Main-boss]

    [Rewards forpletion: ??? ??? ???]

    A sh of blue light followed the appearance of the panel, and Noah felt a stream of information flow into his mind.

    He gained understanding of how the dungeon would work, at least only a bit. He understood that there were still surprises in the real thing so he didn''t base too much on the stream of information he received.

    Nevertheless, the rules were different in this one, and it was mostly the time difference. Apparently every five hours was equivalent to two hours on the outside world.

    He wondered why he would even need that much time, but from the name of the dungeon, he had ideas. But he figured he would just run around.

    "I''m ready," Noah spoke after drinking a potion to refill his core, and soon enough a mechanical swirling sound filled his environment until it was deafening.

    The sound reached a peak of sorts, and a series of high-level blue magical circles expanded above and beneath his figure, after which they wrapped his body in a soft light of teleportation.

    Noah opened his eyes in apletely dark environment. At least that environment would bepletely ck if not for the green light that stood before him.

    Shockingly he had solid, but smooth ground beneath him, but it was also pitch ck.

    Noah walked towards the gate standing in that dark environment illuminating it with its light.

    cing his palm on the door since no particr shape was left for his hand, he felt essence directly leave his core to enter the door, after which it began to thrum.

    The green gate featuring many vines began to open gradually, and Noah soon got able to step into the swirling white and green light before him.

    Stepping through it confirmed that it was a portal, and soon he opened his eyes before a smooth wide path surrounded by huge green walls.

    [ess to soul bond items has been temporarily restricted]

    [Your speed has been disabled]

    "That''s the first," Noah muttered in surprise as he felt an ability he had always been capable of utilizing stray away from his being.

 Chapter 388 388. FEAR STAT

    A sense of emptiness filled Noah''s very being. He felt light like never before. His speed carried a lot of weight in his growing existence; not having it avable to him, made him feel void. Even if the remainder of his power was still avable to him.

    He tried to run with the speed forces empowerment, but nothing happened.

    Noah took a few minutes toe to terms with that reality, he swore he felt like jumping would take him to the sky, and that made him focus on his environment.

    The sky of that ce was ck and starless. It was the most empty looking sky he had ever gazed at, but arge object, seemingly the moon stood; illuminating the area with its silver light.

    It felt like night time, except different. A strange quietness ensnared the environment, creating a vibe that wasn''t nice at all.

    The very environment tried to get into his mind, to inflict fear, but Noah was stronger than that. Nevertheless he was already on guard.

    He still didn''t know what type of creatures existed in that dungeon, so he had to be careful.

    Sweeping his gaze on his surrounding, Noah took note of the huge mountains surrounding the ce.

    Heck he stood backing one. Thankfully the matter didn''t weigh on his mind. He knew he couldn''t get out since that was part of the information given to him.

    [Reach the center of the maze to travel to the next floor]

    A panel appeared in his eyes, and his gazended on the green walls before him.

    Walking closer to the one closet to him, Noah felt stunned to find that it was actually made of leaves.

    "They are very strong," he muttered realizing that he couldn''t actually cut the tight bunch of grass.

    The path before him was dark, and it branched out into only two other paths.

    Noah tried to unfold his consciousness at that point. But something immensely heavy caused it to only reach a few feet from his figure.

    ''This is the real deal,'' he thought, getting serious already.

    If he couldn''t map out the maze, he would have to do so manually, which could take hours if not day''s.

    From the looks of things the maze was huge, probably a few kilometers in size. The walls made out of grass reached heights of about 100m. So they were very tall, which was mainly why he had mistaken them for stone walls.

    Ideas began to appear inside Noah''s mind, and one that could really help him appeared in his mind.

    The idea saw him climbing the walls to scout the area, and it was very doable. Although he didn''t have ess to the speed that came with empowerment, he was naturally quick on his foot.

    Noah dashed forward, arriving before one of the walls of grass, he ced his foot on it, and rapidly ced his second foot.

    His figure sprinted up the wall faster than gravity could catch up with him. Noah felt ecstatic about that event, but his joy was incredibly short lived, barely a second.

    Arriving at about half the distance of the wall, Noah felt an immense pressure suddenly flicker into existence, literally more than twenty times stronger than gravity.

    The pressure was so strong that when hended on the ground he dug it for a few feet.

    Noahy inside the crater he had formed; his eyes open with disbelief.

    The event had been so fast he had been unable to blink. It felt like he had instantly arrived on the ground with a powerful bang.

    "No way," he muttered to himself before getting on his feet and dashing towards then up the wall.<novelnext></novelnext>

    In the same manner as before Noah found himself on the ground, and he didn''t stop trying until the fifth time.

    A downcast expression stood on Noah''s face at that juncture, his former excitement about managing to pass the dungeon quickly had been brutally snuffed out by the limitation applied to running up a wall.

    Noah guessed he couldn''t even jump past a certain height at that point.

    Heaving a sigh of helplessness, and shattered hope, Noah figured he had no choice but to walk down the many paths until he finally arrived at the center.

    "This ce truly is cursed," he hissed walking down the path. The night-like state of his environment coupled with the heavy silence almost made his skin crawl.

    He walked for minutes, constantly moving his gaze. He didn''t encounter anything during that period however.

    Soon he arrived at a cross-point. There were two paths on either of his sides, and he had to pick one that he would explore.

    Noah had no help from his instincts since it didn''t have any clue about that environment. Notwithstanding he had to choose at some point.

    He had every certainty that those paths would branch up into tens if not hundreds more, and making a mistake could cost him hours. He would also need to retrace his steps if such an event urred, but that would be hard since the walls of grass all looked the same.

    Nothing ever change in the scenery, not even the smoothness of the ground was different. Everything was consistent enough to make his environment identical.

    With a sense of deep uncertainty and nervousness permeating his mind, Noah chose the left path, and began his journey down it.

    However, rather than allow himself get lost, Noah caused spikes of ice-stakes to stab into the ground every 30m he covered, and just like he expected, the path began to reveal other paths and this time he chose a certain path that bent towards the right side of the maze which should be where the maze was.

    Upon walking a few hundred meters into the said path however, Noah felt a strange presence fall upon him and his vision directly went blurry.

    [You are under fear stat]

    [You have sessfully canceled it]

    [You are under fear stat]

    [You have sessfully canceled it]

    [You are under fear stat]

    Noah fought a battle within his mind, but eventually sumbed to the influence of the said stat.

    A bone chilling fear tried to seep into his very existence, but he managed to reduce its intensity, and gained a certain level of rity in the process.

    His eyes fell on a series of unclear silver figures barely 2m in height. They numbered about ten in number and their power was undeniable.

    "Practically higher stage," Noah muttered feeling his hands tremble, even if his dagger appeared in his grip.

    [Hollow beast]

    [Level: 100]

    [Affinity: [Unavable]]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

 Chapter 389 389. SURPRISES

    Noah stood before the group of ten silver figures, whose outlines were not exactly the clearest. He felt unable to properly see them.

    The appearance of the creatures made the very environment reach a level of silence that threatened to burst his ears drums.

    "Hollow beasts," Noah muttered noting how the creatures didn''t feature legs but had arms. The fact that they were called hollowed beasts felt surprising to Noah since their presence filled the very air before him.

    They were none like anything he had ever faced, and the fact that the system allowed his potions and all of his remaining power except Muilix and Cudgel and his speed; was more frightening.

    The creatures were all different from each other. Not even their features were the same. But that had one thing inmon.

    Deformity.

    There was no symmetry between most of their body parts, and the scene was creepy, to say the least.

    Silence filled Noah''s surrounding. The creatures had red glowing eyes, which he knew were fixated on him.

    He wondered who would make the first move, and knew it had to be him, but his feet refused to move, at least until he called upon his empowerment and sprinted forward.

    Noah''s figure didn''t create a long streak, only a blur. It would seem as long as there was no outpouring of the speed forces energy, he would not be capable of traveling at his usually incredible speed.

    Noah had his daggers in his hand, so he had something capable of attacking even if it would require him toe close range.

    Noah arrived before the first hollow and thrust his dagger forward with the entirety of his strength. He would not hold back since they felt truly dangerous.

    His dagger struck the silver figure of the creature before him, and Noah felt bewilderment reach his mind when he saw his arm going through the creature.

    With eyes wide open, Noah felt ready to pull back, when something struck him and directly tore through him.

    The pain reached Noah''s mind as he caught visuals of the things that had hurt him so easily.

    ''What the heck!'' he screamed inwardly gazing at the many arms that now existed around the creature he had tried to stab.

    The creature raised him; its arm still inside him, and it went on to utilize all nine of its arms.

    Punches containing power that made even Noah''s body unable to properly handle the pain reached his figure and sent him flying.

    Noah crashed into the wall of grass, then on the ground. Blood poured out of his figure horrifically, as hey there; still. Only for a few seconds, however.

    A gasp eventually signified that he remained alive, but a cry of pain followed his regained consciousness.

    The creature had beaten him to a stupor. Noah felt numb from his neck down. Bones had been bashed and broken, he was in his worst possible state.

    It would take him a while topletely heal, and the creatures approached him, even if their movement was prolonged.

    Noah felt his breathing increase as he lost his cool at the might of the creature. It had rendered him to that pitiful state while he had been in his empowered state!<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Why the fuck are they so slow moving,'' Noah thought, trying to leave the pain at the back of his mind.

    The creatures had barely moved a meter since he hadnded on the ground, and he was more than 60 from them.

    About a minute had to pass before Noah could return to his feet. However, he wasn''tpletely healed and had seen his core''s content reduce by 90k.

    "They are pretty slow. Very, actually," Noah muttered seeing as they had not even crossed half the distance between he had them.

    Noah saw that weakness as a good thing since he would be dead if not for it.

    ''They are unable to utilize long-ranged attacks, as they don''t have affinities.'' He thought feeling his body return to its peak, and he downed a potion.

    ''I can either run past them, or try and at least kill one,'' Noah considered but the issue remained that he didn''t exactly know how to hurt them, or at least he wasn''t sure which of his offensives could.

    Sparks began to crackle around his figure and he pointed his arm to conjure a bolt of lightning.

    A blinding light unfolded in the environment at that point, as the sound of a dense mass of electrical energy shattered the silence in the area and reached the hollow Noah had attacked before since it stood at the forefront of the group.

    An explosion urred at that point, but it cleared in the next instant.

    The creatures unfolded in Noah''s eyes soon after, and a frown appeared on his eyebrows as ideas began to appear and disappear due to the sight before him.

    The creatures were all in one piece, but they had changed.

    Rather than the silverness of their figure, Noah could now see limbs donned in a yellow hue that caused those body parts to shift until they stopped being vague.

    It took him a while, but it eventually dawned on Noah what he would need to do.

    The term hollow meant they featured nothing within them. They were capable of utilizing physical attacks but nothing else. Their figures featured no energy of sorts but Noah did.

    He couldn''t deliver physical blows on them but he could fill them up until he could, at least that was what he theorized.

    Even is his fear of them had increased due to him being under their influence, Noah could stay a safe distance until he was able to do something.

    With that thought, a barrage of lightning bolts started to leave his figure. It would take a while before he could properly fill them up, so he targeted the one at the fore front.

    After 10k worth of essence burnt the hollow at the forefront had stopped being silver. Its entire figure now glowed a deep yellow color as Noah''s energy filled its insides.

    ''I should be capable of doing something now,'' Noah thought taking a deep breath as he prepared to move.

    However, the beasts was not done with their surprises, since a bolt of lightning suddenly arrived in front of Noah and he had to dodge it to remain safe.

 Chapter 390 390. EFFICIENCY

    ''This isn''t good,'' Noah thought dodging a series of lightning bolts that shot out of the hollow''s stretched arm.

    "I might have given this thing more power," he muttered evading the electrical discharges while drawing nearer. He had to be sure that his n would allow him to attack the thing, so when he arrived before the hollow''s now glowing yellow figure, he executed the first form before it could send another bolt of electricity.

    Joy reached Noah''s mind when he felt his fist and dagger hit something, enough for him to send it flying.

    Noah had to jump backward however since many silver arms shot towards him ready to kill him.

    Creating distance between them allowed him gain clear visuals of how much damage he had dealt on the hollow.

    A wide smile appeared on Noah''s face at the scene heid eyes on, and he got a morale boost that allowed him to shoot forward again while creating a small army of fifty frozen golems.

    His attacks had removed the monster''s arms and shaved off a chunk of its lower body.

    The thing couldn''t move now, and ity on the ground disabled. Containing energy had now made it prone to the weakness that not having proper legs could cause.

    Noah shot forward after making his golems cause a big enough distraction for him to jump through the ranks of the creatures and reach his first target.

    His figure sped past the creatures unhindered, his golems were more than five times their number, so hopefully, they would hold them down a bit.

    Noah arrived before the hollow and executed the first form on it again.

    The ground shook, the wind picked up, and the cry of pain for the first time since their encounter erupted out of the mouth-shaped crack that had opened on the creature''s deformed face.

    Noah felt his fists and dagger dig into the creature as its skin was surprisingly dense and sturdy.

    His fists began to increase in speed and the power he poured out spiked, in a few seconds he would achieve his goal, but he had to take note of the other hollows around him.

    Thanks to his golems being of elemental properties, most of them had been absorbed and now the hollow''s featured icy capabilities.

    The temperature of Noah''s immediate environment plummeted, and ice spread beneath his feet before multiple spikes sprung up rapidly.

    Noah had to leap upwards, run along the wall of grass around him before returning to the ground a momentter.

    Although not all of them hadpletely transformed, he didn''t want to rely on his spells since they would only give them more power. This was mostly because all of them had a significant portion already transformed with most featuring no silver spots.

    Right before he arrived on the ground, Noah quipped one of his other weapons, since his dagger didn''t seem efficient against them.

    A deep-purple object appeared in ce of his bare hands as he revealed the wed gloves. He had never used that weapon in a battle, but he figured it would be useful in his fight against the hollows.

    Danger spiked in Noah''s mind immediately after his feet touched the frozen ground. All nine hollows had gained the ice affinity, and they let their new abilities run rampant in the environment.

    A dense wave of cold mist erupted out of their united front and swept thend area between them and Noah.

    Everything turned to ice at that point. Not even the lower portions of the walls of grass were excluded.

    Noah already had a solution for that offensive, needless to say, and walls of ice appeared between him and the attack. Fortunately, with his control over ice being superior, he managed to remain safe from the freezing breeze.

    His figure shot forward immediately after the danger passed, and a red light could be clearly distinguished amid the whiteness of the cold mist sill present in that area.

    Noah activated the first skill of the wed gloves immediately he was close enough to one of the hollows.

    [ws: When activated the gloves reveal their true form; five ws able to tear through even the toughest materials in the third tier]

    The fingers of the glove morphed to reveal 7inch silver de-like ws. Red and purple lines ran across the ws giving them a boost in strength as a connection was already made between Noah and the red gem.

    His blurry figure; far faster than the beast could move, arrived before one of them and he didn''t hesitate to perform wed attacks at it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah felt speed essence leave his core when the ws reached the now-empowered hollow. His ws, however, tore through its material with such ease that he ended up cutting the thing in half.

    A cry of pain unfolded in the environment at that point, but Noah was already on his next target.

    Another hollow empowered by his ice affinity suffered fatal cuts as his attacks tore it to literal shreds.

    Noah managed to deal damage to a second, third, fourth, and fifth hollow before the other four were able to react by giving birth to ice spikes and sending them flying his way.

    Noah dodged them with ease, but a momentter and his attention was caught by another event.

    The hollows he had killed began to emit a purple-green color before exploding into moving masses of tiny particles that floated and entered Noah''s figure.

    [You have killed Hollow beast lvl 100]

    [You have killed Hollow beast lvl 100]

    [You have killed Hollow beast lvl 100]

    [You have killed Hollow beast lvl 100]

    [You have killed Hollow beast lvl 100]

    [You have gained Exp]

    [You leveled up Three times]

    [You have received 3000 stat points]

    [Your stats have been increased by 15%]

    [You are now level 88]

    A barrage of panels appeared in his eyes after the mass of particles buried his figure in their light.

    A refreshing feeling like he hadn''t felt in months filled Noah''s very being at that event. His strength increased, the density of his skin took a few steps forward, and the sturdiness of his soul realm also began to return.

    Noah was reminded of addictive an experience leveling up was, and he immediately stopped feeling the fear that had been present in the air.

    Setting his eyes on the remaining five beasts, since the one filled with lightning was disabled, Noah bent his knees a bit, took a deep breath, and shot forward with his technique ying in his head.

    He had already mapped out a series of steps to maximize his killing efficiency, and that was all he did.

    Noah''s figure remained barely visible to the creatures as one by one his blurry outline appeared and left them, revealing how he had turned them into shreds afterward.

    In merely a few seconds only one of the creatures was left, and Noah had gone up by two levels bringing his level to 90.

    He had already noticed how the exp required to level up had shot up but he didn''t care, he still had a long way to go before he would reach the end of that ce.

    His now monstrous figure loomed above the disabled hollow. The thing continued to voice cries of pain which were weird since they sounded like erratic bolts of energy bouncing off each other.

    Now that he thought to it they made no sound until he had filled them with energy.

    "What a weird species of monsters," Noah muttered rapidly performing a w attack to deliver a series of blows that ended the beast''s life instantly.

    He didn''t level up this time but that detail had stopped mattering since he had already begun his sprint down that path. He had a maze to finish.

 Chapter 391 391. GIANT

    A curse exited Noah''s lips as his figure stood before a huge wall of grass with no paths beside it.

    "Another dead end," he hissed heaving a tired sigh.

    This was one of the fifteen dead ends he had arrived at in thest four hours, and by this point he was frustrated. Highly even.

    Thankfully he had left a trail of icy spikes and he could return down the path to find another one that he hoped would allow him to advance.

    Thanks to the ck pir that he had started to see at some point, Noah could gauge how close he hade to the center, and it saddened him to realize that he still wasn''t close enough.

    His luck had stopped working at some point and it left him with mistakes left and right.

    At times Noah had to retrace his steps down many paths just to find the major path he had picked to traverse another one since the other only led him farther away from the pir.

    Hours continued to pass as the challenge proved even more hardous than he had initially thought.

    He legitimately thought he would never leave that ce due to how endless it seemed, but he suddenly struck a lucky choice that began to lead him down better paths but also contained the hollow beasts.

    The more than 17 hours Noah had spent within the maze had not been lonely. He had encountered groups of hollows and had taken it upon himself to wipe them out.

    When he reached level 95 the exp he gained from killing them had plunged and the distance between each level increased.

    Even killing five of the beasts stopped granting him levels and he had only managed to reach level 99 in those hours.

    ording to his calctions, he was now about halfway into the middle stage, he would need to advance about 18 times to finally reach the higher stage, but things weren''t looking so smooth again.

    Wiping out entire groups of ten hollows multiple times didn''t grant him levels, and he calcted that he would need to kill a lot of them to finally reach 100, but at some point, he began to value reaching the center more than killing the beasts.

    He had gotten mentally tired and even physically; fighting the beasts since he would initially need to go through a round of filling them up with his spells before attacking. But he considered it a waste of energy and time.

    The closer he got to the center the more a feeling of danger increased. He could sense that something big existed at the center and he was both eager and cautious to get there.

    Noah had to spend a day and about ten hours before a wide area unfolded in his eyes.

    The walls of grass began to draw farther and farther from him as he walked deeper into that in field, a sense of joy overwhelmed him, but his moment didn''tst long, since a strong presence flickered into existence immediately after a panel appeared in his eyes.

    [Defeat the boss and touch the stone to advance to the next floor]

    The purple-green panel had been specific and the appearance of a green octahedral stone floating at the center of the grassy field proved that. The stone had reced the ck pir in the blink of an eye.

    Noah stopped in his tracks when his instincts ran wild as a result of the danger they signaled to his consciousness.

    Noah''s survival instincts took charge when he failed to react adequately and he found himself sprinting towards the edge of the field, with the strong feeling of death looming over him.

    No sooner than he took off the ground split open and a huge silver object with a vague outline erupt out of the splitting ground.

    Noah didn''t even have time to move since the ground beneath his feet gave way as the sight of five silver objects tried to reach him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    In the blink of an eye, he executed the second form with all his might intending to go up, and he managed to appear high in the sky!

    The event remained shocking, to say the least, but Noah had to create a tform of air beneath his feet to stop himself from falling.

    Thankfully the height restriction didn''t apply there, at least at that height it didn''t.

    From that height, Noah was able to watch the event going on the more easily, and a curse exited his mouth when everything had finished.

    "How am I even supposed to beat this," he muttered staring awe-filled into the red eyes that loomed over him even from that height.

    A hollow beast, thergest Noah had ever seen had emerged from the ground, and its height towered 90m.

    [Hollow beast]

    [Level: 120]

    [Affinity: [Unavable]]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    The thing had already crossed into the higher stage, and the oppressive air it released spoke loudly of that reality.

    The gloves appeared on Noah''s hand as he prepared himself to battle the darn thing. He didn''t even know how to begin.

    ''I guess we should dodge first,'' Noah thought watching the hollow raise its arm above him to bring it down in a descending strike.

    The air wheezed and the ground experienced more cracks, but Noah had long since sprinted out of that ce.

    Due to the fact that he was unable to unfold his consciousness he had to rely on his eyesight to create tforms far from his figure, allowing him sprint in the air.

    The hollow missed its strike and calmly watched its targets figure escape it.

    Noah found that event odd, but what happened next exined it to him.

    A crack suddenly opened on the silver face of the hollow. A momentter it raised its deformed head, and the crack widened, suggesting that it had voiced something.

    Although Noah heard nothing, a sudden fear far stronger than what the level 100 hollows could inflict smashed into his mind, and distracted him from creating another tform, hence causing him to plunge towards the messed up ground.

    Noah lost consciousness due to the intensity of the skill the hollow had unleashed. His mind could not even dream of repelling the innate ability, and Noahy amongst the rubble of shattered rocks. It had been lights out for him when the beast had screamed.

    Thankfully the same weakness that the weaker hollow''s suffered was present too.

    The giant hollow could barely move, but with the five minutes its target would require to regain consciousness, it could gain significant distance.

 Chapter 392 392. NOISE-CANCELLATION

    The silver hollow began its slow march towards Noah''s figure, its movement was abnormally slow and almost as though it existed in a different time zone that the rest of the world.

    It could move its hands up and about, but for some reason, it wouldn''t attack him from that distance. There seemed to be a fundamental limit to its abilities, one that even its power couldn''t bypass.

    However, unlike its level 100 versions all it needed was to get closer to its opponent''s figure to be capable of attacking him.

    Its movement was silent as usual, but also event-less. The minutes began to pass, and Noah remained unconscious, his soul ind struggling to get rid of the effects of the unleashed skill.

    The third minute stuck, and Noah grunted, his eyes lids parting to reveal his icy blue eyes. Confusion remained evident on Noah''s, and it took him a few seconds to recall the events that had urred before his unconsciousness.

    His memories flowed back, and he abruptly exploded with power before sprinting toward the edge of the field.

    Noah arrived at his destination and noticed the transparent barrier that now existed between that ce and the rest of the maze.

    The hollow had noticed his figure, and if it could experience surprise, it would have gasped in shock.

    Rather than that, it raised its head again, and Noah felt a dense sensation hit him like a ton of bricks.

    The chilling sensation of fear, almost terror, filled his very being and the density caused his eyes to draw closer and closer until he lost consciousness for the second time.

    With its target now at the edge of the field, the hollow had to begin its march towards that distant ce to be able to get a hold of Noah.

    The third minute after its scream saw Noah''s reawakening, but this time he recalled what had happened immediately after he woke up.

    He quickly closed his ears with his palms and watched the hollow raise its head again.

    The thing was too quick at noticing him.

    With hopes that his action would stop the inaudible sound from reaching his ears, Noah sat still, but to his shock, he passed out the next second.

    Gasping for breath the third time, Noah jumped up and saw that the hollow was still quite far from his figure, but that didn''t manage to make him happy.

    He didn''t know how to stop its skill and was sitting ducks. He was at the farthest point on the field, he had nowhere else to run.

    The hollow raised its head for the fourth time, and Noah felt everything go dark once again.

    ''This has to stop or I might not get any fighting chance!'' Noah thought to himself waking up for the seventh time. By all means, he felt helpless, but he decided it was time to visit his gained knowledge about the hollows on the big guy.

    Before the thing could raise its head, Noahunched a barrage of lightning bolts numbering a staggering hundred.

    The massive discharge caused the entire field to tremble while his bolts roared forward with threatening speed.

    Shockingly, that event didn''t stop the hollow from raising its head and utilizing its skill, so Noah had to fall unconscious and reawaken another three minutes after to see what he had achieved.

    A small sense of joy appeared on his face when he saw that he had turned a bit of its lower portion yellow, but he remained disappointed at the same time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The attack could have wiped out whole groups of hollows due to how much energy was avable in it, but he had only managed to taint a small portion of its huge figure.

    The thing continued its movements, and soon raised its head when it noticed that its target had recovered.

    Noah wasn''t going to have it this time around. A series of ideas were generated in that instant, and he came to a quick conclusion, one that he had to try out first to be sure that it was right.

    Right before the beast raised its head, Noah touched the ground and caused a thick ball of ice to manifest around him, followed by many barriers made of electrical energy expertly woven together by him.

    Being unable to see the beast, Noah wasn''t sure if it had roared, but the event that happened immediately after his defenses were set up; confirmed it to him.

    In mere instants, Noah felt his mind lose connection with seventeen of the twenty barriers of electricity he had created. What he felt before their disconnection was akin to a strong wind capable of blowing them away.

    Not only that, after his barriers were magically destroyed, he felt a strange force seep through his remaining three barriers and even bypass his ball of ice to reach him.

    But the force revealed itself as a low-frequency sound, one that had enough power to rupture his eardrums and shatter his remaining defenses.

    Noah barely recoiled at the pain that reached his mind, but the realization had dawned on him.

    Just like how the lvl 100 Hollows had required energy for him to kill, he would his magical elements to serve as a filter of sorts, stopping that skill''s effects from reaching his mind.

    ''It''s pretty simple. Why didn''t I think of this before,'' Noah thought finding himself out in the open again. However, he had lost his worry. Or at least most of it.

    Noah activated his speed force armor, and a yellow battle armor appeared on his figure, with even a helmet.

    He didn''t know if the spell would be enough to stop the giant''s skill, so he conjured a series of condensed pads of his different elements, or at least he tried to.

    Before he could seed in his project, the hollow raised its head, and everything went ck again. He had been in the middle of a thought process that saw him doing something new, but that event had been cut short.

    "That''s it!" Noah eximed immediately after he recovered from the ninth wave of the skill, but his eyes already shone with understanding and also excitement.

    Right before he passed out, he had been close tonding on a good idea, but the idea; nowplete revealed itself to be based on something he had used during his time on Earth.

    Noah''s thought process hit its max, as literally tens of considerations happened in the span of instants, and he eventually came to a rather quick conclusion.

    ''Rather than use spells, why can I just utilize my energy,'' he thought to himself immediately moving to do as he had concluded.

    Noah opened his hand and allowed speed essence flow out of his palms, he couldn''t exactly force it into doing something outrageous, but he could shape it into anything he wanted, and that shape revealed itself to be a headphone.

    Noah ced the semi-solid object on his head, allowing his earsfortably sit inside the space allowed for them.

    ''My personal noise-cancetion headphones,'' Noah giggled, and his giggle turned into a burst of ecstaticughter when he saw the hollow raise its head, but nothing happened to him even after it lowered its head.

 Chapter 393 393. EXPLOSION

    Loud bangs resounded in the wide field, and these loud bangs were a result of the yellow shes colliding with a huge figure emitting two different radiance, one being yellow and the other being icy blue.

    Noah had filled the hollow up with two of his rare affinities, and now he could properly attack the beast.

    The process of filling it up had been tedious, however. He had emptied his core before relying fully on his potions. The result had been worth it, fortunately.

    Noah''s fists crackled with yellow strands of erratic electrical energy and he dashed about the monster''s base delivering resounding punches, ones that filled the field with their sound.

    The hollow responded by allowing masses of its gained energy to shoot toward Noah, mostly in bolt-like forms.

    He always dodged them, however, but even with his powerful attacks beginning to shave off portions of the thing''s body, Noah remained unsatisfied with the results.

    It would take him hours if not whole days to eventually kill the beast, and he still had four floors to go.

    Noah clicked his tongue as he watched seventeen bolts of lightning exit the beast''s belly to curve toward his rapidly moving figure.

    He cursed at the scene of bullets of cold air capable of freezing most things shoot towards him while the bolts were still on his tail.

    A series of tier 3 magical circles expanded around his figure and his golems revealed their icy figures. He couldn''t allow them to attack the hollow, but he could use them as cannon fodder.

    cing four golems on all his sides Noah crouched then leaped upwards, right before the two attacks collided.

    The result was a mighty explosion. One that threatened to reach him at the height he had achieved, but that never happened.

    The wind wheezed past his figure as thoughts on his situation began to fill his mind.

    He had been limited to his physical attacks charged a bit with his elements, but they weren''t enough.

    He needed something that could significantly shave off the beast''s health, but he couldn''t utilize affinity-based spells.

    Or at least he thought so.

    An idea appeared in his mind, and it had been birthed from his curiosity about how much the hollow could take. Surely it had a structural limit. What would happen if he made it touch that structural limit?

    ''This will take a while,'' Noah sighed seeing the hollow discharge attacks from the spots in its body based on the ice affinity.

    Having created a tform of wind in the air, Noah could decide to move anytime he wanted.

    The idea of filling his opponent with energy until it couldn''t take it remained brilliant, but he would need to empty his core to make it happen.

    Filling it up slowly was an idea, but seeing as it poured out energy almost every ten seconds, Noah figured the rate at which he filled it up would match its discharge. Thereby negating his efforts.

    An annoyed sigh left Noah''s lips then he turned into a blur. A series of cold bullets collided in his former position, spreading ice everywhere.

    Thankfully whenever hollows were filled with energy, they stopped delivering physical attacks. After killing tens of them he remained sure about that detail.

    "Maybe one massive attack will do," Noah muttered reaching the ground and continuing his sprint. While taking note of the projectiles that tried to reach him but crashed into the ground, damaging it even more.

    Noah reached the edge of the field in no time and his figure began to palpitate with energy.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Opening his palm after drinking two potions, Noah watched sparks begin to gather above it.

    He directly moved 100k worth of SE into that growing mass, but it would take a while to get everything in. The process would take a significant portion of his focus, and he had to watch out for the hollow''s speeding attacks.

    Noah opened his left palm and watched a whitish-blue mist beginning to gather above it.

    The wind picked up around his figure as his gathering caused the ground to tremble and shatter. Noah called upon his golems again and ten of them emerged from the magical circles that expanded before him.

    They were charged with protecting him, but even they were affected by the power their creator gathered.

    Noah closed his eyes at that point. His golems were durable enough to withstand a few of the attacks thrown at them since the attacks were on his level.

    Stabilizing andpressing the small spheres of ice and electricity gathering above his palms was tasking. Their weight increased every second, and his soul realm took the full brunt of that process.

    A crazy pressure began to affect his soul ind when he started to add another 50k to each of them and used the rest to create golems.

    Noah began to breathe faster and a frown expressing his difort could be seen on his face.

    Soon the two of them were done, and each contained 100k worth of SE. Noah marveled at how his energy core could withstand that weight, his ind could barely stand before the pressure, any more and a crack spanning its entire length would appear.

    Opening his eyes with difficulty, his gaze fell on his golems taking a hit, but he soon nced at the huge hollow in the distance, it was releasing its energy so fast that some portions had started to return to their silver state.

    "Go," he whispered feeling sweat drip down his forehead, heck his entire body had started to perspire as a result of that event. However, when the balls of elements that had increased to the size of a man''s head left, a massive wave of relief filled his body, but his eyes quickly focused on the hollow in the distance.

    The balls although incredibly heavy, turned into two beams of light due to how quickly they moved. In an instant, they reached the hollow, and a blinding, light unfolded at the event bathing the entire field with its overwhelming radiance.

    Noah could barely see anything, and he didn''t try to, since in the next instant a powerful roar shook the ground beneath him and the light seemed to be pulled into something.

    Noahid eyes on the hollow at that point, but it had changed.

    Its huge figure shone with a mixture of yellow and whitish-blue but rather than stability, Noah could see a spinning mass at its very center.

    It resembled a gxy within it, but the beast suffered since groans capable of making the ground shatter exited the crack that appeared on its deformed face.

    Bolts of electricity ran over its surface making it untouchable. Noah felt sure that attacking it in that state would only end up in his death, but he knew he didn''t do anything more, after all the spinning mass in its belly began to spin faster and faster, and soon a deep humming sound spread out in all directions.

    "I should probably take cover," Noah muttered drinking a potion and feeling energy return to his bones.

    His energy armor appeared on his figure after a magical circle expanded beneath his feet and he created a series of ball-like defenses around him.

    His instincts warned him of the danger he would be in if he managed to get touched by the iing event.

    The hollow began to panic and in a bid to save its life it tried to discharge as much it could, but the damage had already been done.

    A blinding white crack expanded from its belly up to its head, then the energy stored within it rushed out.

    But rather than a steady flow of energy; a violent explosion that made the ground disappear unfolded.

 Chapter 394 394. RAPID

    Noah broke out of his ball of ice toy eyes on the carnage all around him. The explosion had been powerful. So much so that he feared he would have died.

    Luckily he had been quick enough to create more defenses as his shields continued to be destroyed. He had needed to renew all his defenses; even the ball of ice, exactly sixteen times just to stop the explosion from killing him.

    And even at that he still had patches of burnt skin, but his healing kicked in at that point.

    Coming out of the ball of ice allowed him to see the river-like wave of green shining particles making their way towards him.

    The scene felt scary, but Noah knew only good things waiting on the other side.

    The long stream eventually reached his position in the destroyed field. The explosion had created a crater spanning the entire field. One that was about 4m deep at the center and 2m and the edges.

    Noah felt the particles rush into his body, and for a while, his figure couldn''t be seen in that smoking environment. Until it could.

    [You have killed Hollow beast LVL 120]

    [You have gained exp]

    [You leveled up seven times]

    [You have received 7000 stat points]

    [Your stats have been increased by 35%]

    [You are now level 106]

    Noah felt a huge increase in his power at the sight of the panels. He even closed his eyes to once again drown in the experience, he felt like he could take down anything after that victory.

    He had, to be honest, his idea had been far more than brilliant. It was so effective that he struggled to believe he had that type of power simply dwelling within him, untouched.

    Noah quickly sprinted towards the center of the field, where the green octahedral stone stilly; untouched by the destruction around it.

    [Touch it to move on to the next floor]

    ''Not now,'' Noah thought when the prompt appeared. He barely had any essence within his core, so he decided he would relieve his core of the stress of his potions and cultivate using his energy stones.

    Noah spent about an hour resting, his core size had increased meaning more essence to fill up, and his body and bones had gotten stronger meaning more essence to improve them.

    A relieved sigh escaped Noah''s lips after he was done with his resting session. He felt new again as power flowed through his body. He would be considered closer to the peak of the middle stage now that he was at level 106.

    Only a bit more than ten levels to go and he would reach the higher stage.

    "Here goes nothing," Noah muttered cing both his hand on the green stone.

    The stone began to shine upon contact and soon a green light; blinding in intensity filled Noah''s vision until he was forced to close his eyes. Only then did the teleportation take ce.

    Noah felt his surroundings vanish under that power of the light and space seemed to twist and turn until everything stabilized and he could reopen his eyes.

    Sunlight fell on his eyes and a bit of shock followed at that event.

    Noah had arrived in a ce filled with sunlight. At least what represented sunlight. The sky was blue and cloudless. Everything was stale and even looked stale.

    The day sky resembled a painting due to how stiff it looked from that distance.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Therge green walls of grass that stood before him looked identical to the first floor.

    Heck, everything looked identical to the first floor, except for the different period.

    [You have arrived on the second floor]

    [Defeat 70 hollow beasts straight without taking a hit to reveal the boss]

    [Note that taking a hit would require that you begin all over again]

    [A counter has been provided]

    [Hollow''s killed: 0/70]

    Prompts containing surprising words filled Noah''s eyes, he had thought he would require a journey to the center to like the first floor, but it seemed there were more surprises in that dungeon for him.

    Soon Noah focused on the task at hand. It sounded easy, but he couldn''t be too sure about that detail. The hollows were slow moving and mostly relied on physical attacks in their normal state.

    They were capable of manifesting arms that aided their deadlybos of powerful punches.

    Only when energy filled them would they be capable of being hurt, and from what Noah had learned from the giant hollow, he could make them explode by overcharging them.

    "Seventy straight, huh," He muttered beginning his search for the hollows in the maze.

    They usuallyy far from the edges of the maze so he had to walk a bit until he had any hope of finding any.

    A strange sensation eventually reached Noah''s mind when he neared a particr path, a few thirty minutes after walking through the ufortably silent maze.

    He could tell what caused that reaction, but what he saw was totally different from what he expected.

    "What they heck is that," Noah muttered taking a step back as heid eyes on a ck figure.

    It was mostly slim, but also had bulky features. It had a hunched back and it stood at a height of about 2.5m.

    It had been a while since Noah had gazed at such a ck color, and his brain struggled to process that color.

    Noah swore it would be unnoticeable in a dark environment if not for its presence.

    The thing looked asleep since it stood and rested its back on the wall.

    Noah decided he would be a quiet as possible, and wouldn''t move closer to it, but that wasn''t how things went.

    Suddenly a pair of dark eyeballs allowed their gaze to fall on his figure, and Noah watched the thing straighten its figure before turning to face him.

    He didn''t know when his dagger reached his right hand, and when his body moved on its own; raising his dagger above his head, after which a forcended on it causing the ground beneath him to tremble and shatter.

    Noah felt his eyes widen when the ck figure suddenly appeared in front of his eyes; its arm on his dagger''s de. It had tried to attack him, and had been incredibly quick about it.

    Noah felt all his gained knowledge about the hollows be useless in front of that rapid figure, and he quickly understood why that floor would be harder than he thought.

 Chapter 395 395. TELEPORTATION

    [Hollow beast:[Daytime Variant]]

    [Level: 105]

    [Affinity: [Unavable]]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    Noah took a second to inspect the figure and truly it was a hollow, only the daytime variant.

    It had two distinct differences from its silver mates, which was its color and its incredible movement speed. Noah felt certain that it was roughly as quick as him, maybe even quicker.

    It seemed to have the opposite of the silver hollow, but it remained a hollow at its core. An empty vessel.

    Noah pushed back on the beast and jumped backward, never taking his eyes off the thing.

    The blow had been strong, but it had been bearable. Heck Noah felt certain he was stronger than the beast. But only in terms of strength did he have the upper hand.

    ''I mustn''t get hit,'' Noah reminded himself cursing the dungeon for how difficult of a task it had given him. Yet that pointed out another difference between it and the silver one hollows.

    Itsck of a proper group.

    Noah knew that fighting more than two at a time would make it impossible not to get hit. But only one at a time made it possible.

    In mere seconds he had noted the outstanding bnce the dungeon had in its system: faster hollows but lesser strength and even lone movement.

    He had a chance at winning, only if he didn''t mess things up.

    "It would take a while toplete this though," Noah muttered activating his empowerment and feeling his physical strength take a jump.

    He could empower his mind to allow it to process information faster, but since he couldn''t move at his usual speed, he would be unable to move his body as quickly.

    Thanks to his increased agility and flexibility, however, he still had lots of control over his body and limbs, he only had to find the right bnce between how quickly his body could react and how fast he wanted his mind to move.

    However, Noah realized that he wouldn''t need to find that bnce since he felt his mind was unable to go past a certain speed. And that speed perfectly matched the one his body could react in.

    It would seem taking away his speed, meant everything quicker than the norm, except his healing.

    Noah poured essence into his dagger and released a sh that flew rapidly toward the hollow, but it dodged it and shot towards his figure.

    Noah frowned at that turn of events, but he didn''t let it get to him much, since he allowed a wall of ice just as wide as that path to spring forth, and the sound of the hollow smashing into it remained muffled due to how thick Noah had created the wall.

    His golems came out of the six magical circles that had expanded around him, and their now slightly taller figures were revealed.

    Noah felt his wall of ice continue to receive damage by the second, truth be told he had almost expected the hollow to absorb the wall of ice since that was one of their abilities, but seeing as it prioritized destroying it, he made sure to create as much as he could so that they would be capable of holding it down until he could kill it.

    More than thirty golems came into existence after the first six, and Noah ced their number at exactly fifty, they would escort him throughout his journey in that lonely ce.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A huge crack eventually revealed itself on Noah''s side of the wall, and he could tell that only one hit would bring the thing crashing down, so he disassembled the wall to reshape it in a flurry of sharp attacks that converged on the hollow''s figure.

    The attack had caught it unawares, so it had been unable to stop its absorption, tainting its chest with that icy blue color.

    Noah''s element was more effective on it due to his higher level, so he could quickly deal with it.

    "Go," he muttered and ten of his golems rushed forward, but rather than directly attack it, Noah made them detonate right before reaching it, and once again, it was unable to dodge.

    Its body created a pull that made the energy-powered ice converge on its body, but this time it wasn''t only his chest that got tainted.

    Noah saw its head down till its knees now had an icy-blue color filling its insides.

    Before he couldn''t properly make out its edges due to how ck it had been, but now things had changed.

    Noah moved forward at that point. The hollow tried to voice a shout, but its opponent''s leg smashed into its face, sending it flying into the wall.

    Noah wouldn''t give it a break this time around. His golems followed his lead and began to deliver a flurry of punches on the thing''s body.

    He didn''t let themst too long, however, to prevent an absorption, and when he reced them, he directly executed the first form on the still stunned beast. Energy had made it slower.

    His attacks crushed its head and directly punched holes in its torso.

    The hollow soon turned into green particles that flowed towards and into Noah''s figure, he didn''t advance in level, however, only gaining Exp.

    A sigh of relief exited his mouth at that sight and he swept his gaze on the shattered ground around him, then his remaining golems.

    "Let''s go," Noah ordered creating more until he had exactly 120 golems a bit more than 12ft in height.

    That force made Noah feel confident, as he had positioned himself in their middle leading them ording to his will.

    Thanks to how much he had improved having that many golems under his control only registered a bit in terms of pressure.

    His soul ind had long since regained its former sturdiness and even improved, so he could withstand far more pressure than before.

    His force swept through the many paths of that maze. Since he didn''t need to find the center, all he was required to do was find as many hollows as he could and make sure he didn''t get touched by them.

    Soon killing the hollows wasn''t a difficult thing. Finding them was. Only after three days did Noah manage to rack up the number of wins required.

    [Hollow''s killed: 70/70]

    [You have reached the required amount of kills]

    [You will now be teleported to the boss room]

    A green light washed over the area after those panels appeared in Noah''s eyes and he couldn''t help but shut his eyes to allow the teleportation take ce.

 Chapter 396 396. MISTAKE

    Noah and his golems appeared in a wide field resembling that on the first floor, only that the yellow ball that represented the sun stood high in the sky illuminating everything in that ce.

    Throughout the three days, he had been there, the sun had never gone down, and due to this, he had barely been able to keep track of time. But he did. Somehow.

    The grassy field looked stunning as a soft wind blew across it, allowing the grass to flow graciously, but Noah wasn''t concerned about beauty.

    The pitch-ck figure that stood right at the center of the field had gained the entirety of his attention.

    [Kill the boss to move on to the next floor]

    "That looks dangerous," Noah muttered allowing more magical circles that revealed 12ft tall golems to expand around him.

    Throughout the three days, he had spent within the maze his forces had dwindled and he had needed to recreate them.

    The numbers of his golems reached two hundred now that he added to them.

    The hollow before him was only level 125, but he had learned enough about the daytime Hollows to not underestimate it.

    He almost felt certain that his army of golems would be unable to hold it down if it charged forward, that was how much he knew.

    Noah soon felt a gazend on his figure, and he knew immediately that he had been noticed. But seeing as he stood in the center of his golems, it felt weird that its sight could bypass their figures.

    His dagger which was already in his hand saw essence start to flow into its structure. Noah knew that he couldpromise the structural integrity of the dagger if he did it too much, which was why he only used that ability when he felt it necessary, and that situation surely fit his standards.

    The duo seemed to go into a stare-off, but it ended when the pitch ck figure standing at about 5m in height disappeared from its position.

    The hollow was well into the higher stage, so it could achieve speeds that its middle-stage types could not have.

    Noah felt his mind lose connection to about twelve golems at the outermost edge of the formation he had created.

    Since he wanted an all-round defense, he had created four walls of golems numbering fifty each. He had made sure that their closeness was consistent throughout each of the rows, but that hollow was tearing through them with ease.

    Noah clicked his tongue and searched for a skill that he could utilize to stop its rampage.

    Another 10 golems found their figures destroyed in the next second, but the hollow suddenly changed positions to his front.

    ''It''s quicker than I thought,'' Noah contemted calmly as a skill he had not used in a long while came into existence around him.

    [Lightning kes[Active]: Cover the radius of your mental consciousness with hundreds of floating kes made of highly condensed lightning. Whatever thates in contact with these kes triggers their explosion, capable of tier 3 power]

    However, only after he cast it did he realize a fundamental issue. Since he couldn''t unfold his consciousness, he couldn''t force the spell to spread out, meaning he would be in the middle of the spell, and seeing as literally hundreds of the kes were exiting the magical circle beneath him, his eyes could only grow cold.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Fuck!" Noah cursed trying to sprint out of that ce, but he remained too slow for the ke''s explosion.

    Due to how muddled the kes were and their nature of detonating even if they touched each other, an explosion that wiped out all of Noah''s golems and spread for hundreds of meters in all directions unfolded, even catching the hollow in its explosives power.

    Noah felt the searing heat of his spells wash over him. His clothes disappeared and every ounce of hair on his body disappeared.

    His back experienced deep burns, and his bald head turned charred. Noah was badly burnt on the backside of his body and his front side remained bad, but not as worse as his back-side.

    Blinding pain reached Noah''s mind and he wished he could turn off his pain receptors since he felt his consciousness grow blurry.

    He feared passing out since there remained a hollow on the loose, even if he didn''t know what had happened to it.

    His healing had kicked in, but it would take a long while and most of his cores contents before he couldpletely heal, and he was going to pass out, which he did, but right before doing so he ced his hand on the ground and summoned a number of 300 golems to protect him.

    Darkness filled Noah''s consciousness at that point and he fell unconscious.

    With a gasp, he returned to being, and he immediately sat up to sweep his gaze on his surroundings.

    Noah didn''t even inspect his body as his eyes first fell on the many golems he had created. But there didn''t seem to be anything wrong.

    He had managed to position himself at their center, so he didn''t know exactly what was going on on the edges of the formation.

    Noah stood at that point; not minding his naked state. A potion appeared in his hand and he drank it, before casting his speed armor.

    Walking towards the edge of the golems, Noah watched as they made way for his figure.

    He eventually left the golems and the field expanded in his eyes.

    There was apletely charred portion spanning about a kilometer in radius, but the hollow was nowhere to be found.

    Noah didn''t know how long he had been out, but that scene caused him to fall into mild confusion. He searched the other parts, and eventually found a yellow figure.

    "It''s still alive," Noah muttered moving closer to the figure but remaining a good distance. It had its legs removed and due to this couldn''t move.

    "That was easy," Noah chuckled a bit. His mistake had been powerful enough to take out the legs of the hollow.

    He went with the theory that the energy contained within the explosion had filled its legs with too much energy and in the process ended up blowing up.

 Chapter 397 397. WISH

    Noah''s dagger appeared in his hand, he could tell from his position that the hollow still had the will to fight. And although he didn''t know how such would even be possible, he had to put it into consideration.

    The hollow released a low hum and red at Noah''s approaching figure. Seeing as its opponent wouldn''t stop nearing it, it began to move about.

    Noah watched the hollow raise itself up with its arms.

    ''How will that even work?'' he wondered stopping. His golems were following his lead so he could simply send the forward. Which he did.

    The hollow discharged the energy within its figure at that point, and Noah watched tens of his golems explode when a wave of violent yellow energy washed over them like a small stream.

    In an instant, the hollow emptied its figure of the stored energy, but there were still many golems around it ready to attack, but Noah made them explode instead.

    He knew he couldn''t hurt the hollow with that power, but he would need it to have energy within it to be able to hit it.

    Arge shower of icy particles filled the environment at that point, but a pulling force filled the area and everything vanished inside the hollow.

    Noah felt ready to move, but the event that urred right after the absorption stunned him.

    The hollow still had its torso on its arms, but the energy-filled icy particles it had stored; flowed to the lower portions of its torso and began to rebuild its legs. Only this time they were icy-blue in color.

    The new legs of the beast resembled its old ones, and because they were made out of about twenty golems, their sturdiness was incredible. Even Noah would struggle to punch through them in one go.

    ''Interesting,'' Noah ced his hand on his chin. He had never seen the day variants heal themselves. Then again, he had never given them the chance to.

    With a makeshift leg now present the hollow could move about almost normally.

    ''What should I do now,'' Noah thought, in front of that scene. Seeing as the hollow was intelligent enough to rebuild its body, he couldn''t help but wonder if giving it more power would do any good.

    ''It''s the only way I know I can beat it,'' He heaved a sigh before sending thirty golems forward, and all they were to do was explode.

    The sheer sound of that event remained spectacr, but Noah inspected the scene with cold eyes.

    Soon a pulling force acted on the particles and the hollow''s figure appeared again. But this time it had its torso and head now filled with energy.

    "Let''s do this," Noah muttered dashing forward.

    His valiant but naked figure crossed the distance between him and the hollow, and the two of them collided, mid-dash.

    Noah felt his strength fail him, but ice spread beneath his feet to assist him, and he ended up not losing against the hollow.

    Sending a punch toward the hollow''s face, after raising himself with a tall tform of ice, Noah made sure to charge his fists with just the right amount of electricity, one that would run out immediately his fist connected with the hollow''s face.

    Thunder seemed to strike in that area, but it was only because his fists contained that much power.

    His attack managed to make the hollow take a few steps back, but that was all it could achieve.

    However, he wasn''t disappointed by that oue, since it was never meant to kill it, to begin with.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah let go of the beast''s arm before executing the first form at point nk. A tactic that he had confirmed to be very effective.

    The ground trembled and shattered at that event, but Noah did not stop until a wave of icy mist exploded in his face, signaling that the hollow had gotten tired of it.

    The power in the mist was almost strong enough to make ice appear on Noah''s skin after destroying his armor, but since that power had been gotten from him, to begin with, he could simply shrug it off.

    Bolts of electricity manifested around Noah at that point, he was ready to end the hollow if he could, and he sent bolts of lightning forward to pave the way for his next attack.

    The crackling projectilesnded on the hollow''s figure and it tried to absorb it, but its figure was filled with ice, so it could only let their power run over its skin, damaging it in the process.

    Due to the fact that the hollow still has a sense of being, it could tell when it couldn''t take any more of something, and that scene proved it.

    Right after the bolts destroyed rtively small chunks of its body, the hollow saw a beam of ice-cold particles travel towards its figure, and hit it squarely on its head bathing it in its power.

    The cold energy within the attack had been overwhelming and had ended up converging in its head so much that it felt heavy. Too heavy for its body to handle.

    It tried to move that mass of energy to the rest of its body, but unfortunately, Noah wouldn''t let that happen.

    His figure appeared before the hollow in a mere second and he unleashed the full force of his first form, pouring as much power as he could inside the execution, and the result was the broken head of the hollow, which immediately led to its death.

    A sense of weakness filled Noah''s body after that event and he sat on the ground to allow the wave of green particles enter his body and give him the levels he so desired.

    [You have killed Hollow beast[Day-time Variant] Lvl 125]

    [You have gained Exp]

    [You have leveled up five times]

    [You have received 5000 stat points]

    [Your stats have been increased by 40%]

    [You are no level 115]

    He had leveled up four times during his three days journey killing 70 of the hollows. He was now properly at the peak of the middle stage.

    Only because of this had he been able to manage the hollow, and also because of its size. Unlike the massive hollow on the first floor which he couldn''t fill up quickly. The day-time variant didn''t have that problem.

    ''Or maybe because I have improved, and my essence carried more weight and could fill more of its insides,'' Noah contemted taking a deep breath.

    [You have sessfully defeated the boss]

    [You will now be teleported to the third floor]

    He grunted at that panel, however. He wished he had time to rest, but the shining green light that overwhelmed his eyes confirmed that he couldn''t

 Chapter 398 398. THOUGHTS

    Noah''s arrival on the third floor had been abrupt, but he found himself in the same environment as on the first floor and immediately knew what he was to do. Even the system confirmed it with its prompt.

    He was required to get to the center of the maze and battle the boss. The only difference between that ce and the first floor was that the hollows were level 110.

    Being a level 115 and containing far more power than them made killing the slow-moving night-time hollows easy. Noah even began to leave their figures to search for the center of that ce.

    Eradicating them began soon be a chore due to how long he knew he could spend within that ce.

    Upon his arrival, on the third floor, he had spent over four days so far within the dungeon, and he still had a fourth and fifth floor to get to.

    Noah would ssify the gains he had gotten so far as a lot, but he still wanted to reach the higher stage at least, which was why he didn''tpletely stop killing the hollows even if killing tens of them didn''t grant him a level.

    In return killing them had gotten far easier than when he first arrived.

    At some point during his boring exploration, Noah confirmed that the third floor held a bigger maze than the first floor. It was annoying to spend days in that ce, but he eventually arrived at the center of the maze when two days had passed.

    "A grueling forty-eight hours," Noah had muttered when a very familiar field had unfolded in his eyes.

    A giant silver structure revealed itself soon after, and Noah immediately utilized all that he had learned from the first floor of the oversized monster.

    The battle had been short. Noah spared no method in trying to kill it, as he utilized the same method as the first floor.

    Although gathering had been far more annoying since the hollow could now stretch its arms forward even from the distance it stood from Noah.

    Unfortunately, all its effort had been for naught. It had ended up bloated with energy and had exploded into a violent wave of energy. One that left even Noah injured.

    Thankfully he had time to recover and that had taken no less than two hours in total.

    Noah touched the green stone and teleported to the fourth floor. His hunch was right when a daytime area appeared in his mind, but the mission of the fourth floor wasn''t the same as the second floor.

    Or rather it was the same but had a twist.

    Noah had been required to kill a number of 100 hollows, but he could either kill 100 of the hollows or search for the boss and end its life.

    He guessed the floor had been based on his ability to choose wisely, but he didn''tpletely put off killing 100 hollows. Rather, while still on his search for the boss, he killed all the hollows that crossed his path.

    Luckily Noah had already crossed over into the higher stage or thest thirty levels of the third tier.

    He had notpletely experienced his breakthrough, but he still had a lot of power avable to him.

    He had ended up killing 100 of those level 115 hollows and saw his levels rise.

    A green light filled his eyes and he found himself appearing in a weird-looking environment.

    Noah opened his eyes in a strange ce.

    The sky shockingly had two equal sides, one being dark as night featuring the silver moon, and the other being as bright as day, holding the yellow ball that would be ssified as the sun in the dungeon.

    "This is new," he muttered approaching the wide grassy field with caution.

    By all means that was thergest of the fields he had been to since he had arrived in the dungeon. And it also featured randomly ced trees, adding to its detail.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah stood on the day portion of the wide field and looked into the dark portion.

    The field remained the same only that its time zone was properly separated.

    "How is this possible when they are so close to each other." Noah marveled. It wouldn''t be a lie if he said he was both under the sun and moon.

    [You have arrived on the fifth floor]

    [Congrattions. Your exp gain will be increased by 30%]

    [Kill the boss to clear the floor]

    "That''s out of the blue," an eyebrow rose on Noah''s face when the prom[pt appeared.

    That was the first time the system was doing that. Before then, he didn''t even know and think such was possible.

    His wonder was cut short by the sudden appearance of a heavy aura, followed by a figure that seemed to just appear out of thin air. But the way the wind blew at its arrival, Noah understood that it had simply run there.

    ''I am already unable to follow its movements,'' heughed inwardly, even if his gaze grew cold with each passing second of its arrival.

    By far it was the shortest humanoid Hollow he hadid eyes on since he started the dungeon. About 1.8m. Even Noah was taller than it.

    But that wasn''t all. The figure had a weird-looking body different to that of the normal hollows. Its skin was pitch ck but also featured an evident silvery halo.

    Patches of silver skin also existed on its pitch-ck figure making Noah wonder what was up with it.

    All of its features were backed up by its incredible power, and also its shocking name.

    [The cursed]

    [Level: 150]

    [Affinity: [Unavable]]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    Noah felt the level of strangeness within that ce, rise when heid his eyes on its description.

    It stood at the peak of the third tier also. One more level and it would reach the fourth tier.

    Noah on the other hand was only a level 126; still at the beginning portions of the higher stage.

    "Human. Are you going to continue thinking? It''s gotten me bored," A voice; none like anything Noah had heard in his life rang out. Or it didn''t.

    His ear drums didn''t particrly interpret anything since no sound reached his ears, but at the same time did.

    All in all, a chill swept over Noah and the hair on his neck and arms stood when the male voice revealed its thoughts about him.

 Chapter 399 399. ONSLAUGHT

    Noah felt unable to answer the hollow. This being his second time in a dungeon he had started to find it normal for the bosses to be capable of speech. But it felt unnerving nheless.

    "You''re a strange one, are you?" The hollows fear but also curiosity-inducing voice bellowed forth, but Noah remained silent. For the time being, at least.

    "Let''s fight if you have no words to say to me. I''ll kill you and be done with this," The hollow threatened, bending its knees to suggest that it had a series of techniques avable to it.

    "What exactly are you?" Noah found his lips parting to voice his thoughts.

    "You''re called hollows, but how did thate to be?"

    Noah''s question seemed to annoy the figure, but it straightened its knees to gaze at him.

    A few moments of silence had to go by at that juncture in their interaction, but the Hollow wouldn''t leave Noah''s question unanswered.

    "I believe the dungeon has already informed you of my cursed state. Heck, it even went ahead to name me that." It started.

    Its strange voice rang out when Noah nodded in affirmation.

    "I am a being who once stood at a height that would be considered terrifying. And truly I was."

    "Believe it or not I used to be human. But a certain period came where my pride led to my fall," It or he, seemed to sigh.

    "I have been informed by the dungeon that going into details about the said event would initiate a punishment. So I''ll be as vague as possible," Its tone grew cold even if there was no tone, to begin with.

    "I crossed path with a really powerful entity and they emptied me of myself, before giving the great dungeon my custody and all that I owned," It exined before falling silent.

    Noah could put two and two together to conclude that the time for words had ended. Nevertheless, its words were still on his mind.

    Allowing his golems to emerge from the many magical circles that expanded around him, Noah had no doubt that they would be unable to do much to the Cursed, but he called them forth anyway.

    The Hollow watched his golems appear in limelight and their numbers crossed 300. Noah wasn''t about to spare any expense on fighting it, and it respected him for that since those who had, never exited that ce alive.

    Tension built between the two forces. Noah had long since called upon his speed armor and his dagger, but he knew far too well that only after the initial sh could he properly gauge how much of a task killing it would be.

    Noah silently watched the still Hollow from his spot within the ranks of his golems. It seemed to wait for him, and only after about a minute had passed did it make its move.

    Noah watched the ck figure disappear from its position and the ground shattered as a result of its eleration.

    Nothing he had at that moment could help him follow the Hollow''s unholy movement speed.

    And the seventy golems that directly vanished from Noah''s control further increased the pent-up tension in his mind.

    Danger exploded forth within the bounds of Noah''s mind, and he felt his body move on its own taking to big steps to the right.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As if predicting the event toe, Noah watched a huge portion of the ground merely a few feet from him vanish, and a significant portion of his golems vanished with that strange urrence. The hollow had sped through his golems and the ground suffered as a result.

    Noah caught his breath in shock and awe. Had he not moved his fate would have been no less brutal than his golems.

    ''Do I even have a chance?'' Noah felt beads of sweat break on his forehead, before sprinting away from his golems, into the open field.

    He felt a pair of eyes exert their gaze on his rapidly moving figure, and the world seemed to slow down for the arrival of the Hollow.

    Noah watched with the fear of death; its ck leg coated with a silvery hue approach his chest with fatal speed.

    Pushing his hands forward in an attempt to stop the speeding limb, Noah had the thought to unleash as much ice as he could to protect himself.

    The result of his actions was a series of walls that sprung Into existence between his figure and the Hollows leg.

    Doom appeared In Noah''s mind, however, when he saw that the speeding feet smashed through his walls with rtive ease, but it missed his chest andnded on his left shoulder.

    Noah''s armor crumbled at the mere grazing of the leg and his figure was sent flying a momentter.

    The kick had turned him into a blurry projectile, one that crossed the incredible space between the daytime portion of the field to reach the night-time portion.

    His rapidly spinning body touched the ground and bounced forward. Each time he made contact with the ground craters formed.

    Noah eventually came to a stop, but the pain that filled his mind pulled him in for a bit.

    He hissed in pain and the sight of hispletely crushed shoulder managed to make him frown.

    The injury ran deep. As deep as his entire left arm. He could swear that his arm would be blown away if the wind blew too strong.

    Noah regained focus at some point and he had to stand and leap upwards, finding that his former position turned into a huge crater since the Hollow had performed a downward smash with the back of its feet.

    "I swear it''s on Elder Sarah''s level," Noah cursed, silently marveling at the size of the crater. "Probably stronger."

    His feet eventually touched the ground and the Hollows gaze fell on him again.

    The two red at each other and Noah soon realized that his arm was healed.

    "Time to get serious," he muttered understanding that death was a possible oue. The Hollow was not like the others. He felt certain that it had other abilities.

    Sparks crackled around his fingers and even his figure.

    He had long since worn a robe during his days within the dungeon, but he felt certain the attire woulde out of the battle in shambles. That was of course if he survived the Hollows onught.

 Chapter 400 400. TYRANNICAL

    An intense battle unfolded at that point. The field; it didn''t matter which portion, saw huge chunks of its ground shattered and destroyed as both figures; barely visible to the naked eyes battled it out.

    Noah could barely keep up. He had been close to dying many times during their fight, but by some miracle, he always ended up alive. Even if nasty injuries were sustained.

    The hollow wasn''t ying around, and Noah knew it, yet he began to suspect that it had not utilized all of its abilities, even if it was already overwhelming him.

    To Noah''s dismay, he had never managed to get the hollow to absorb his energy. It was quick and incredibly agile. So it always evaded them.

    Noah didn''t need to guess that if things continued In that trend he would die. He found himself utilizing the second form more and more just to escape its deadly moves.

    But slowly his luck began to dwindle.

    Noah began to more often, find himself in situations that forced him into sacrificing body parts.

    One time he had to let his palms get crushed by its punch to get a chance to escape.

    Real worry started to form In Noah''s head at that point.

    Something changed after the battle had crossed one hour. By this point, the Hollow seemed frustrated with its opponent always managing to evade its attacks, so it moved to finish things faster by bringing its A-game to the field.

    Noah felt his heart sink and his mood plummet when the silvery halo on the Hollow''s pitch-ck body intensified.

    The patches on its body featuring a silver color found their surfaces being filled with more and more of the silver coating.

    Shock grew on Noah''s face when he saw silver armsing to life from those silver spots and they reminded him clearly of the silver Hollows.

    The arms were huge andpletely defied logic due to howrge they were. One of them would be three times as long as the Hollow''s whole body itself and it featured nine of said arms.

    Noah also feared that they could stretch forward since the silver Hollows had that ability.

    His fears were on point.

    The battle that unfolded afterward barely saw the hollow moving since its arms could reach Noah''s figure even if he was already hundreds of meters from it.

    It had to move at some point, however, and it showed how the arms didn''t deter its speed in the slightest.

    On the flip side, it seemed to have gotten faster!

    Noah had to watch out for his life more. He waspletely cornered.

    He wasn''t quick enough to reach the Hollow and inflict damage because of its oversized arms. In short, he was sitting docks and had to continue dodging.

    Noah searched his mind for a way out, but he could barely find anything of use.

    He was still incapable of utilizing his mental waves to Its peak so the spells based on itsplete expansion were basically useless.

    There was only one skill that could remotely remove him from that situation. And it was the one that pushed him one tier up.

    Noah felt reluctant to utilize his strongest skill, so he began to spam hisunchable skills.

    Tens of lightning bolts shot out of his figure, followed by bullets of cold mist capable of leaving trails of ice on their path.

    Noah even joined his offensives with wind spears numbering hundreds. He directly spent thousands of speed essence in those seconds, but it didn''t phase him.

    He was going to do all he could to avoid utilizing a skill that would put him at his weakest as a bacsh.

    Noah''s barrage of elemental attacks met their end in front of the silver arms that shockingly absorbed them. Almost instantly.

    Noah would normally feel happy at such an event, but his eyes grew cold before the scene, as his mind warned him of the danger toe.

    The silver arms were huge, more than twice as long as the hollow, and were bulky, but that wasn''t the main issue.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Only two of the arms had appeared in the way of his offensives, and their structures had almost seen their entire insides being filled with the energy within Noah''s elemental attacks.

    Almost

    Noah watched the hollow make both of said arms sp their palms together and he saw the energy within their structure flow out, into a gathering attack.

    An oppressive aura exploded forth at that event. The wind picked up madly and chunks of the ground found themselves pulled towards the mass of energy gathering between the two palms.

    Even from his position, Noah had to raise his arm to protect his eyes, while he watched the events unfold.

    Three colored energies gathered together and Noah felt mildly surprised that the Hollow was capable ofpressing the energy while keeping the stable. At least rtively.

    Strands of electricity burst out of the swirling mass and the sound they created threatened to burst Noah''s eardrums.

    He watched his own energy about to be used against him and had no clear way of stopping it.

    The winds grew stronger until they turned into a proper tornado with the hollow and itsrge arms in its eye.

    Even if the gathering urred about 300m above the surface, the ground still suffered from it. And therge swirling mass of wind didn''t help the matter.

    Soon Noah''s instincts ran wild and the sudden disappearance of the whirlwind signified that the gathering had ended.

    Noahid eyes on arge mass of energy that still bore the different colors of the different elements.

    This spoke of the Hollow''s inability to properly merge the energies, but Noah knew that wasnever the goal, to begin with.

    "You have such incredible power within you," the hollow remarked. Its strange voice contained q tone that spoke of how surprised it felt about that reality.

    "I must admit that your potential is terrifying. This would be capable of killing me if utilized properly."

    "That speaks of how much of a monster you truly are," it added. Its voice was clear as ever, even if the sounding from the swirling mass in its palms sounded like raging thunder.

    Noah remained silent before its praise. He could already see himself escaping the attack, but then what next?

    "Die knowing you were a worthy opponent," The Cursed''s voice reached his ears again, but to his shock, it suddenly sprinted forward and appeared dangerously close to him.

    "You''re as quick as ever. I''m beginning to suspect that my speed was given to you," Noah''s voice rang out calmly even if death loomed above him in the form of an incredible mass of energy containing nothing less than 30k worth of high-quality speed essence.

    It would wipe him out without a trace.

    Noah''s sudden calmness piqued the Hollow''s interest, but it didn''t care. It lowered the ball of borrowed energy in an attempt to let it go. And it did.

    However, things wouldn''t be going as nned for it.

    The world seemed to slow down before the eyes of both Noah and the hollow.

    The former on the other hand knew the reason for this. And when his power skyrocketed until it reached the peak of the third tier and broke into the fourth tier, he knew his prized skill had worked.

    [Elemental Charge[Active]: Be the embodiment of your unlocked elements, as your power is pushed one tier up. When activated you gain a 700% boost to the attack power of all elemental skills, which have also been pushed up a whole tier]

    Costs: 99% of users SE pool, Duration: 30 minutes, Cooldown: 30 days.

    Bacsh: -90% to all stats. Duration: 2 weeks]

    An aura like no other unfolded in the blink of an eye.

    The sheer pressure it released could only be ssified as something overwhelming. Or simply put, tyrannical.

 Chapter 401 401. REASON

    Noah felt theprehension of his elements shoot through the roof, as a world he had been unable to see before was revealed.

    The sudden increase inprehension was followed by an exponential explosion In power.

    [You have undergone temporary advancement into the fourth tier]

    [Note that this is only simted and does not reflect what a real advancement would be like]

    Noah''s aura shattered the limits of the third tier to grow inside the fourth tier and it didn''t stop until it reached the higher stage of that realm.

    He had never felt anything like that In his life.

    The ball of energy thrown at himnded on his body and engulfed his figure In its violent energy capable of making the ground disappear, but Noah quite literally shrugged that event.

    Cracks opened in the expanding mass of energy, and Noah''s figure slowly emerged from it.

    He revealed his new state at that point.

    Magnificent.

    Due to the skill''s name being elemental charge one could expect that his figure would be covered in his elements. And their hunch would not be wrong.

    Noah''s figure shone with an overwhelming light.

    Literal streams of liquid-like blue electricity flowed out of his figure like a cape.

    They touched the ground and everything went up in mes as a result of the Intense heat.

    His hair featured three distinct colors. Deep blue, icy blue, and emerald.

    Around his head were nine floating masses of his three elements. They werepletely stable and rotated around his head. But one nce and one would understand that the power within them was shocking.

    Noah''s figure managed to release a cold mist that seamlessly bypassed the cape of burning electricity to turn chunks of the sky Into ice.

    The very air froze.

    His two legs featured spinning masses of wind that kept him afloat, and the great pressure they applied on the ground made it tremble constantly.

    Noah resembled an ancient being that had been asleep too long as even his eyes were closed.

    The entire field, both its dark and bright portions suffered under the massive pressure he emitted.

    Noah felt like he could turn everything around him Into rubble if he moved too much. He even had to keep his eyes shut due to it.

    The power he was overflowing with remained immense and he didn''t know how to fully take control of it.

    ''So this is power,'' he marveled legitimately feeling like a god. His insides, skin, bones, and muscles, bubbled with staggering power.

    He wished his current state wouldst forever, but he knew it wouldn''t. He only had 29 minutes left.

    Noah took a deep breath and felt the air inside the whole field disappear. He tried to unfold his consciousness and felt d to find that the force that restricted him shattered when he exerted a little bit of his power.

    The image of the field appeared in his closed eyes at that point. It was incredibly smallpared to what he felt capable of taking.

    "There you are," Noah muttered but his voice caused chaos to unfold.

    The entire field saw lightning storms being birthed in random spots, and the events managed to shave the entire field of its grassyyer.

    Noah sighed inwardly but ignored the effects of his mere voice. His consciousness grabbed hold of the terrified hollow and he wondered what to do now.

    Activating the skill now felt like overkill. But since he had been on the verge of dying merely a minute before then, he didn''tin much.

    Instead, he utilized the massive thoughts that came with his broadened understanding of the elements.

    ''Incredible,'' Noahmented inwardly. ''I can''t believe tier fours are privy to this type of power.'' His multicolored eyshes twitched in deep revtion.

    He had already stopped seeing the hollow as a threat.

    He now had power in the higher stage of tier 4. He had more than enough to kill the darn thing.

    "This is incredible," he muttered and the entire field fell Into another round of chaos.

    Gales came to life, and storms made solely out of lightning bolts erupted forth ravaging the weak area with their power. The ground continued to burn and disappear, already hundreds of meters deeper than before.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah even began to wonder how deep that dimension was.

    "I can maximize this state," Noah remarked as a beautiful n came to be. Or so he had thought.

    A tiny portion of his cape of electricity separated from it and floated into the hollow.

    The hollow instantly exploded before the minute portion could evenpletely flow into it.

    [You have killed The cursed LVL 150]

    [You have gained exp]

    [You have leveled up nine times]

    [You have received 9000 stat points]

    [All your stats have increased by 45%]

    [You are now LVL 135]

    [You have killed the final boss]

    [Congrattions you have cleared the dungeon]

    [You will now be teleported out of the dungeon where your result would be calcted]

    Noah smiled when the destroyed field disappeared and the nk space appeared in the range of his consciousness instead.

    Shockingly, the effects of his temporary power were nullified and he could finally bask in his empowered state without worry.

    Noah lifted his eyelids featuring multicolored eyshes and his shining pair of eyes were revealed.

    His eyes had stopped being blue and were now a mixture of the three colors that existed on his hair.

    "Can I skip this and leave?" Noah asked the system, and his voice reverberated on itself. He sounded mystic.

    A weird silence urred at that point, and he was dto see the next panels.

    [Results will be calcted passively and rewards will be sent straight to your inventory]

    [You will now be teleported to yourst location]

    Noah smiled at the appearance of magical circles and soon he opened his eyes to the in in which Riveta''s tower was situated.

    But no sooner than he arrived did his figure vanish in a white light.

    He nned to utilize his temporary power to gain non-temporary power.

    Noah appeared In his cultivation room, but disappeared a momentter to appear before a certain forest that had two mountains on both of its sides, and featured a valley right before its entrance.

    Noah''s exalted gazended on the forest of equanimity. It was nighttime but he didn''t care.

    He let his aura unfold in the area and an oppressive air covered the surrounding miles.

    Noah expanded his mental waves and saw the entire forest and even the valley appear in his mind.

    His consciousness was capable of covering that great distance.

    Right before Noah could move, he felt his speed return to him and gasped for breath. His existence was being refilled and the experience was exhrating.

    It took him a few moments to calm down as bolts of lightning erupted out of his figure to turn arge portion of the forest into a burningndscape.

    "I didn''t notice you before," Noah''s voice spread out in the area and reached his intended target.

    "Are you the things that people said they saw?" He spoke again shooting Into the forest after allowing himself afloat with the spinning masses of wind around his legs.

    Noah''s figure directly appeared above the pool of water at the center of the forest.

    His gazended on the now agitated beasts swimming within it. They were his reason foring, but he had to split his attention to the approaching figures numbering 25, and none of them had power below the fourth tier.

 Chapter 402 402. THE FOREST THAT BLED

    Noah turned with curiosity filling his mind. He had never noticed those unique presences in the forest of equanimity. Then again, he didn''t spend too much time there, to begin with.

    The 25 figures were tall, very tall. The tallest amongst them towered 10m in height. Their bodies were also ck and they had skinny arms and legs but broad, almost rectangr-like torsos.

    ''What peculiar beings,'' Noah thought, not feeling an ounce of fear. The strongest ording to him was also a higher stage, but he felt stronger.

    All twenty-five figures eventually arrived a few meters before him, and they didn''t hesitate to circle his tiny figure.

    The tallest among them which was also the strongest stepped forward and stayed silent for a while.

    "I don''t have much time," Noah remarked at some point, already annoyed by their appearance. Now that they had gotten far closer than before, he could now experience their presence to its fullest.

    Their auras were diabolical. He would argue that they were worse than the Exalted imp. Their eyeballs beingpletely red held ck intelligent eyes.

    He couldn''t tell much of the difference between them since their weirdly shaped almost square heads all looked rtively the same, with minor qualities that could be used to differentiate them.

    Thest detail that he noticed about them was the red patterns that filled their body. If not for the moonlight illuminating the area he would not have seen it. Which was a surprising detail.

    "We greet you, human of the Cusk nation." A deep voice, capable of instilling fear into the hearts of many, bellowed out rather calmly, and the thing even bowed. The others doing the same.

    "We had noticed your presence a couple of days ago and had wanted to speak with you since then. But could not."

    "I am Gorno, the strongest of we the Guardians," the thing announced. "We wee you to not the forest of equanimity, but the forest that bled."

    There was silence for a few seconds after that announcement, but Noah had pulled up the inspection panel after its words.

    [Gorno]

    [Race: Unidentified]

    [Title: Head guardian of The Forest that Bled]

    [Tier: 4[Higher]]

    [Affinity: [Unavable]]

    [Level of danger: Unknown]

    An eyebrow rose on Noah''s face at the sight of the inspection panel, but he didn''t show any more emotion than that.

    "I am Aiden," Noah announced unsure whether his real name would pose any trouble forter.

    "We are d to see that you returned. But your explosion in power has left us stupefied. Is there an exnation for this," Gorno pointed out, even if his voicecked the tone of surprise a normal human would have.

    "Are you the things people said they saw?" Noah ignored the question and pressed on with his.

    "Affirmative," Gorno replied. "We have revealed ourselves to only a few humans in hopes that none ever return. But more of you continue to. And the ones that look promising, we offer a chance of transformation."

    "That''s just in stupid. Who scares people from powerful forces away, expecting that no one everes back," Noah shook his head in awe. ''Are they dumber than I thought,'' he wondered inwardly.

    "We already have an agreement with the stronger humans, and our forest is not to be disturbed by them. But it seems that information has not been passed down to the lower ranks," Gorno revealed, seemingly unmoved by Noah''s words. "It''s okay as long as they don''t cause too many problems."

    Needless to say, the revtion left Noah partially stunned. The pieces of the puzzle soon began to fit, and he quickly understood why the story of that ce did not seem much. The rest was probably highly ssified.

    "What did you say about transformation?" Noah changed the topic. Hecked any regard for the beings around him. Even Gorno. He would kill them if he had to.

    At that train of thoughts, did Noah realize that hising there had been for a wrong and outdated chance.

    He hade there in hopes of killing the beasts in the pool and leveling up, but he hade to that conclusion while inside the dungeon. Being outside the dungeon did not give him that chance.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''How did I make such a mistake!'' Noah grimaced inwardly. ''Too much excitement?'' he considered feeling his excitement drain rapidly. After that state ended he would need to return to looking for beasts to kill and fill his dungeon with.

    ''How many months will that take,'' he sighed seeing that Gorno was about to talk. His series of thoughts had barelysted a second.

    "Yes the transformation," Gorno started. "We havee to offer you the chance of bing one of us in this glorious state," Gorno announced spreading his thin arms and causing Noah to eye them suspiciously.

    "Why do you think I would do that?" Noah frowned now finding that interaction a waste of time since his true goal would be unable to be achieved.

    "Because we have noticed in your battle with the bear, that you are a man who values power. And you can achieve even more if you surrender to the one who bled," Gorno exined making Noah''s eyes turn cold.

    He was already ready for a battle. If he wouldn''t be able to get levels, at least he wanted to experience; firsthand, a battle in the fourth tier.

    "There''s a price isn''t there?" Noah spoke after a few seconds of silence. "And that''s yourck of affinities." He arced an eyebrow.

    "You are once again correct. However, you gain more. No need for a path that limits many, no need for cultivation, all you have to do is drink the blood of the powerful, and your power increases."

    "I don''t want that," Noah quickly cut in. "But I do want one of those beasts down there," he added ncing at the blue crocodiles. His gaze was heavy and applied a weird pressure on the water. So much so that itpressed visibly!

    "We would like you to stop that," Gornomented, his voice containing a hint of hostility for the first time.

    "What are you gonna do?" Noah teased, still down for a fight.

    "The master does not like it," Gorno spoke and Noah felt even more astonished.

    "The master?" He asked losing himself to his curiosity and also gaining caution.

    "Yes, the master," Gorno replied seeing that Noah had done as he said.

    ''There''s someone stronger here,'' Noah thought sweeping his consciousness on the area but found nothing. He gave up on that task when he recalled that he had been unable to sense them when he initially came there.

    "Are you certain about your decision not to join our ranks?" Gorno asked, not appealingpletely to Noah''s curiosity.

    "I don''t want anything to do with you," Noah replied rather calmly, but his aura red making sure they understood that he meant his words.

    The middle stage tier 4 and lower stage tier 4 beings almost lost their consciousness at the pressure he was capable of releasing, and that event made Gorno annoyed.

    "Then I will ask you to leave this forest at once. Your presence has already caused too much destruction which is already against the promise we were made by the stronger humans," Gorno dered ncing at the burning region in the forest. Noah had done a good measure of damage there.

    Noah frowned at the hostility, but was understanding. Yet he wouldn''t leave so easily.

    "I''d like one of the beasts first, but I''m not leaving until I get one of them," he announced with a cold smile.

    The truth was that the forest or even Gorno posed no real threat, he could always escape them.

    "Then I will have to take forceful actions," Gorno announced, as an aura so dense that it bathed the entire forest in its red light.

    Noah watched himself get pushed back by the aura. But enforced his a momentter.

    The other tier 4''s unfolded their dense aura''s and a cacophony of roars reached their ears. The weaker beasts below them were getting agitated.

    The Crocs also crawled out of the pool ready to attack him, and their emergence caught his eyes.

    "You have onest chance," Gorno announced, his voice now threatening, as the red patterns on its body had intensified in their blood-red light.

    "I refuse," Noah dered with a wide grin, as a spectacr-looking battle armor made from all three of his elements came to life on his body, and his figure exploded forth with a destructive aura.

 Chapter 403 403. GRATEFUL

    Gorno moved forward with his group of 24 behind him. He was the only one capable of withstanding Noah''s aurafortably, so he shielded his juniors with his own aura, which was the reason for the crimson light that filled the entire forest.

    Noah watched his opponents fly towards him in slow motion. They were quick with their flight, but he was faster. His speed had not gone past Mach 80, but even tier 4''s could not attain that velocity.

    His figure turned into a blue streak that directly shot higher into the sky after which the sky trembled and the wind blew violently.

    His core''s content had been momentarily increased and had crossed two million speed essence allowing for the liberty of sorts to how wasteful he could be.

    Noah made sure he would check out how strong he was in that state. Surely being close to tier 5 had to be very spectacr, and it was since all he needed to do was send one lightning bolt containing a huge amount of energy to bathe the surrounding miles in an oppressive blue light.

    "I have to admit human. Your strength is incredible," Gorno''s voice pierced the sky-shaking sound that filled the environment, and Noah watched with light amusement a red light take control of his attack before snuffing it out.

    "But you''ll need more to win this battle." The being announced somberly, even if he had won the first sh.

    A wide smile grew on Noah''s face when he saw that the forest below him now had the top of its trees on fire. Lighting the night sky with the orange light.

    However, one of the lower-stage tier 4''s separated from the group with the Crocs and started to clear out the surrounding mes bymanding the beasts to shoot huge balls of water from their mouths.

    Noah didn''t mind that scene since he never aimed to destroy the forest, but seeing his targets out in the open made him even more daring.

    "I''m afraid you all will be unable to partake in this battle. He''s stronger than I anticipated," Gorno spoke to his group and they all nodded before their figures disappeared in red lights. Noah was unable to stop the process even if his mental waves could reach them quickly.

    "It would seem I''m not that strong," Noah shook his head. "Seeing as you could stop the attack with little to no effort."

    "Lies. It took almost everything I had to stop it. You''re the strongest tier 4 cultivator I''vee across. I''ll be d to drink your blood," Gorno replied not the least daunted by the fact that it hadplimented his opponent.

    Noah went silent at that point, as the idea he had in mind came to be. Possessing the great knowledge about his elements had many perks, and his now empowered mind could process thoughts he had never conceived before.

    All three of his elements revealed themselves t the world at that point, and words could not exin how the environment reacted to that event.

    A gathering process began, but not one that ended in just a sphere. No, Noah moved to merge all three of his elements into one, and he needed to find a bnce to achieve that.

    The process was rather rapid, but it ended in a failure, one that would be capable of removing that region if the explosion touched it.

    Noah clicked his tongue and sent the unstable mass of elements towards Gorno, and as he expected, the weird being blocked the attack, but some spilled on the forest, and astonishing destruction unfolded.

    The portions that saw the mass of green, icy-blue and blue mass fell on them saw their trees andnds directly disintegrating due to how much power those droplets contained.

    Noah saw the river of blood open up below him and marveled, but his second try also ended in failure and he sent it forward again.

    "This is unfair," Gorno''s voice reached Noah''s ears after his attacks created a blinding light when it met the strange red barrier set up by his opponent.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Huge cracks opened on the barrier and those portions saw droplets of the mass of energy falling on them, and this time explosions containing power in the forth tier spread out, and they almost wiped out the forest.

    "Unfair?" Noah''s mocking tone made everything tremble. "You said you were going to drink my blood only a few moments ago. If I can''t kill you I''ll take the forest out."

    "I wasn''t talking to you, human," Gorno''s sharp and murder-filled reply took Noah aback.

    "He''s too strong for me to handle with my attention split. I beg you to release me of my restrictions," Gorno''s voice reverberated through out the destroyed forest.

    "He''s destroying the forest you spent so long to nt. My anger has been kindled upon him," the beings voice had gone deeper and deeper until it sent chills down even Noah''s spine.

    A weird silence overflowed after Gorno''s words, but it didn''tst long since the surrounding miles experienced a violent rumble and Noah saw cracks open in the valley beside the forest.

    The mountains shook too. Everything did, even the air.

    Noah felt a foreign force grab hold of his forming mass of energy that had appeared before him, and watched it disperse without his will.

    ''Definitely tier five,'' Noah thought, already cautious. The master''s next move would depend on what happened next.

    The blood flowing beneath the mostly wiped-out forest began to move, and soon Noah saw huge pirs of blood shooting into the sky but they didn''t target him.

    A strong force suddenly pushed he and Gorno higher into the sky while the pirs exploded into a shower of blood.

    But rather than fall to the ground, Noah watched with astonishment, a huge barrier capable of covering the entire forest in its almost solid-like state, unfold.

    The sight was weird to say the least. A shining red dome-shaped cover stood above the forest blocking the duo from reaching it. Noah found that not even his mental waves could cross it. They simply crumbled upon contact.

    "I am grateful for your understanding," Gorno performed a bow in the sky before turning to face Noah with its intense blood-lust freely unfolding in the environment.

    "Was that your master?" Noah asked shaking off the blood lust Gorno emitted.

    "You have no rights to any answer, as dead men do not need to know about certain things," Gorno responded, and Noah watched its figure begin to bleed. Or rather, pour blood.

    Literal rivers of crimson-red blood appeared around the monster, blocking Noah''s view of Gorno.

    "This is the power you missed out on, human Aiden," Gorno''s deep v[ice bellowed forth as the river of blood morphed into an army of different creatures. But that wasn''t all.

    An armor of blood now covered Gorno''s body, and the monster''s aura continued to spike. Noah soon found him as a threat, but the primal roar Gorno released stunned him for a second, which was enough time to rain his attacks on Noah.

 Chapter 404 404. WINNER

    The sky twisted and turned as the army of attacks rained down upon Noah''s spectacrly armored figure.

    Noah clicked his tongue when he returned to being and saw a massive attack about to crash into his figure.

    That event clearly showed how ill-prepared for fights at that level he was. Notwithstanding, he had ways of escaping. He only didn''t know how well it would turn out.

    His figure vanished in a white light since he knew he would die if he got hit. Noah waited a few seconds before returning to the battlefield, but merely an instant after and a wave of blood attacks crashed on his figure and dug into his armor.

    Noah remained stunned as the impact sent him far away from the forest and he smashed into one of the mountains creating a deep crater.

    Noah coughed a second after the impact, but he didn''t have time to rest, since his instincts spiked in fear, after which he turned into a blue streak that shot towards the ground, only to find himself about to touch the red barrier.

    Gorno''s tall figure appeared in front of Noah''s former position with a bang, and the punch he delivered upon impact caused everything to shake. So much so that the mountain found huge cracks opening in its grand structure!

    ''Just one punch.'' Noah shook his head in wonder before flying away from that ce and way into the valley.

    Noah furrowed his brows when his eyesnded on the destroyed portion of his armor. His left side featured a scratch. Even if it wasn''t bleeding or anything it hinted at the fact that he had to be careful.

    Gorno had long since sighted the direction of his movements and had immediately shot toward him, his eyes zing with fury.

    Noah noticed his opponent''s arrival, but rather than move away or anything, he shot toward Gorno, and the two of them shed mid-air.

    Their fists connected in a resounding bang, and the sheer sound of the impact traveled for miles in all directions.

    Noah felt almost get pushed back by his opponent''s strength, but didn''t. His expression was serious and his gaze calctive. He desired to test his strength and not only his elemental versatility.

    Seeing that the human named Aiden was capable of withstanding a direct blow from him, Gorno felt his anger grow and a flurry of punches followed that event.

    Shockingly, however, Noah was capable of following and blocking his fists with punches just as powerful.

    The human was surprising him with how skilled he was, but he was only beginning.

    Noah felt his instincts buzz madly and he was forced to shoot away from his position. An explosion containing blood unfolded at that point, and Noah watched Gorno undergo a transformation of sorts.

    Gorno''s size decreased as the red patterns on his body intensified with their light. They became so bright that it seemed like a red star appeared in the middle of the valley, illuminating everything with its ominous light.

    The light disappeared as quickly as it arrived, and Noah''s expression grew cold when his eyes fell on Gorno''s changed figure.

    He had reduced greatly in size, only about 2.5m. His form was only a smaller version, but his aura was heavier than ever.

    The patterns on his body had stopped being patterns and now existed around his body like the shining lines of inscriptions.

    A red robe made out of flowing blood stood on his figure surprising Noah.

    "You have forced this out. I can only give you my deepest apologies," Gorno''s voice carried real pressure, which sent Noah heading for the ground. The impact was nothing short of spectacr.

    Panic rose in Noah''s mind however, he had lost sight of the creature for a second, and he knew how dangerous things could go.

    Trying to stand ended up futile, since a red leg appeared on Noah''s chest, and with wide eyes, he watched and felt an immense pressure send him deeper into the very terrain.

    The valley suffered from that incredible blow, and huge cracks opened. Fissures that were capable of swallowing whole settlements sprung into existence. It seemed like a meteor had hit that area and created a huge crater that had chasms spreading from its edges.

    Noah felt pain ravage his mind. It was intense. Enough for tears to cloud his eyes.

    Gorno''s feet had been etched into his chest and had almost punched a hole in him!<novelnext></novelnext>

    The power in the kick eventually ended, but Noah found himself unable to move afterward.

    "Do you feel it?" Gorno''s voice reached a panicking Noah.

    "It''s a special skill I call the curse of bleeding."

    "As long as I cane in contact with your blood you will remain paralyzed. Not only does it stop your body from functioning. I crafted it in a way to affect even the very soul cores of humans," he exined slowly floating into the huge crater he had created by simplynding on Noah''s chest.

    He sounded proud and confident about his skill, but Noah was full of surprises.

    Gornonded lightly on Noah''s chest, but he failed to notice Noah''s perfectly healthy state, since he never expected much to happen on the outside anyway.

    But his grin vanished and his ck eyes widened when his survival instincts raged.

    "Boom," Noah whispered with a wide smile as sparks crackled around his figure, then everything fell into destruction.

    A massive explosion barreled out in all directions in the shape of a sphere. It looked as if a nuclear bomb had gone off and the ground disappeared at Noah''s discharge of power.

    The sound of the explosion would be capable of killing even tier 4''s and the heat burnt the air. Words could barely describe the effects of the explosion due to how grand and surprisingly magnificent it was.

    A few minutes had to pass before the light died down and the result of the explosion was revealed. Even Noah gasped in shock.

    The surface for nothing less than twenty miles in radius now had a massive boiling crater in it. The glow of the melting ground that burnt deep orange filled the environment, and a great smoke rose to the sky.

    Noah had sessfully destroyed the valley and other things.

    Coughing a mouthful of blood as his bad state was revealed high in the sky, Noah drank potions to refill his core, as he was seriously injured and his body needed more to heal.

    He had spent 1 million points In that simple discharge and the results had been stunning, to say the least.

    Heck, he began to regret his actions since he felt sure that the explosion would have been felt far away from that ce.

    "This battle should have happened high in the sky," Noah muttered when his blood calmed down and he began to think straight.

    He truly could have wiped out a city with that power. And he wasn''t even tired, only wounded due to being at the eye of the explosion. He had shot away before much of his body could be burnt away.

    Heaving a sigh while searching for his opponent with his eyes, Noah already wanted to leave. He had achieved enough with the power still bubbling in his body.

    His eyes found a red halo somewhere amid the boiling earth and he shot toward Gorno with the intent to kill him.

    Noah''s figurended like a meteor and when his gazended on Gorno, he shook his head.

    His attack had left Gorno a living chest, but he was still alive even if he was submerged in a literal pool of blood. The heating from the ground wasn''t able to affect the blood.

    "How?" Gorno managed to force out, but Noah remained silent, at least for a few moments. His body was unharmed by the events happening around him.

    "This is why affinities are better," Noah replied, simply deciding how he would make the killing blow. Before he could raise his arms a force he couldn''t fight against, caught hold of him, but it wasn''t in a violent method.

    Only then did Noah notice the fact that the red barrier far in the distance had vanished, revealing that the forest had been unaffected by the carnage both of them caused.

    Not only that, Noah noticed the sphere of blood high above them.

    "The winner is decided, there''s no real need for killing," A soft male voice, dripping with power and age; ancient even, rang out, and Noah felt stunned to find that everything cooled down. Literally.

 Chapter 405 405. SIMULATING

    The voice felt oppressive and enlightening at the same time, and it caused a strange breeze to blow upon the boiling crater and everything dried up instantly.

    The event felt unbelievable, but it happened, and Noah was there to witness it. His body could not move as a result of the being''s power, but even if he could, he would have stayed still.

    "Can I have a word with you young man?" The voice rang out, less oppressive this time around, and it didn''t do anything to him.

    "It''s just a simple chat," the pristine voiceing from the sphere rified.

    Noah felt his body regain its ability to move and he turned to manifest the small pirs of wind around his leg and float up to the sphere.

    Every fiber in his being told him to run, but he had to shut them off. He still could escape if anything fishy urred.

    ''I hope this isn''t stupid,'' Noah thought, even if he knew it was. A battle went on in his split mind which was between his curiosity andmon sense.

    "It seems you had a good time with old Gorno," the voice sounded, seemingly amused even if it didn''t manage to get any less dangerous to Noah.

    "Yes. I want to kill him, or it," Noah replied tantly, and his cold expression didn''t waver one bit.

    "I understand your displeasure. You can kill him when we are done with our chat," the sphere revealed, surprising Noah.

    "Are you being serious?" Noah felt forced to ask.

    "No," The voice replied suddenly growing cold. "He''s my underling, and oldest friend since I became like this, so I take responsibility for him."

    ''I see," Noah furrowed his eyebrows calmly, even if his mind raged with bottled-up fear. The thing before him, although merely a sphere of blood, was a monster. Not just because it had crossed the fourth tier, but for reasons Noah couldn''t even tell.

    "For your curiosity about his gender. He''s male. He was once a human after all. They all were. Even me," the sphere exined as a portion of itsrge mass separated to begin to condense into a certain shape.

    "Why are you even telling me this," Noah asked, his focus switching between the sphere and the condensing mass.

    "Oh because not many people know this, and I find you an interesting man," the voice stoppeding from therge sphere and instead came from the blood that had condensed into a humanoid shape.

    Noah''s eyes fell on a humanoid figure exactly 6ft in height. It had an athletic build and what resembled long hair, but since its entire body was blood-red Noah couldn''t exactly distinguish it.

    "I believe this will be easier to talk to," the man-shaped figure spoke moving its hands as if getting used to that form.

    "I doubt," Noah replied. "But thank you for your consideration," he remarked.

    "It''s been a few centuries since Ist talked with a human, so I hope I don''t weird you out much."

    "I managed to keep a lot of the human mode of conversation. But I guess gaining the minds of multiple experts leads to this. And also thanks to the new additions. They teach me a lot," The figure exined ncing at the forest in the distance.

    Noah limited himself to remaining silent before its obvious reminiscing.

    The air turned serious after a few seconds of silence urred between the duo.

    "Truly you have angered me, young man. The cost of battles at your level is the environment. You should be more considerate," it started.

    "I had initially thought of killing you after you damaged my forest, but something came up and now I have something else in mind."

    Noah frowned but still didn''t talk.

    "I desire to make friendly rtionships with you," it revealed, and an eyebrow couldn''t help but rise on Noah''s face.

    "Why?" he asked already ready to leave. His time in that form was approaching its end.

    "For many reasons that I believe you know. But I''ll tell you one."

    "Cregar Is in trouble," it revealed, and watched Noah''s expression flicker, then it seemed to fall into surprise too.

    "You don''t know?" It said more or less astonished.

    "I could swear you had a connection to this event, but you clearly don''t," it ced its hand on its chin.

    Noah truly felt astonished by its words. Cregar in trouble?

    "What do you mean by that?" Noah expressed his confusion and his curiosity.

    "I''ll leave it to the future to reveal that to you. But know that this world of ours barely has any time left. At least ording to a few things I''ve noticed and been told."

    "You can tell from the agitation urring in her system," it exined speaking in a topic Noah knew nothing about.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Can you borate?" Noah asked suddenly troubled. Its words reminded him of his dreams and he wondered if they had something to do with what it said.

    "As I said earlier, I''ll leave time to reveal things to you," it dered.

    "But you said she didn''t have much time left," Noah pleaded.

    "She doesn''t but you''ll need to find out for yourself to truly understand the direness of her situation. For now, I''ll only keep friendly rtions with you. You cane here some other time and know that we won''t try to attack you."

    "I believe you won''t destroy things also," it added eyeing him.

    Noah felt unable to probe further at that point, but there wasn''t much he could do, to begin with.

    "As a token to show that my words are true. I''ll allow you to take her," it suddenly revealed and one of the blue Crocs appeared out of thin air.

    Noah eyed the scared beast and returned his focus to the humanoid figure.

    "I''m being serious this time around. I don''t know what you desire with her seeing as you''re stronger," it shrugged, waving its hand and Noah watched Gorno''s figure float towards and into its sphere.

    "You''ll be back to new in a few days," It mattered even if Noah heard.

    Taking hold of the Crocodile with his mind, Noah floated towards it until he could feel its ragged breathing.

    It was only a beast near the middle stage, probably the peak of the lower stage, but that was just as much as he required.

    ''Isn''t there a way to gain levels from killing this thing,'' he sighed cing his hand on its head while the red figure spoke with Gorno.

    [[Yes, but note that there will be a punishment. And I''m only capable of sharing this detail because of your empowered state]]

    Noah''s eyes widened at the system''s words, and his world began to move slower to him.

    "Do it, I don''t even care!" he replied to the system.

    A thrumming sound unfolded in the outside world after a few seconds of silence.

    [Simting special environment of a dungeon, for entity <Noah>]

    The event caught the attention of the sphere and it felt shocked to find that it couldn''t affect it.

    Seven pirs of pure blue light sprung to life around Noah and he felt like he had entered a dungeon, but he found his core being emptied immediately. While a solid purple magical circle expanded beneath his feet.

    [Kill LVL 245 Evolved water Croc to clear the floor]

    Noah felt shocked to see the level of the beast, but he felt excited nheless.

    Even with his core empty, his strength was far beyond the Crocodile, so when he punch with all his strength it directly exploded into a shower of blood and flesh.

    However, those dispersing particles turned into a river of azure particles that floated toward, and into Noah.

    [You have killed lvl 245 Evolved water Croc]

    [You have gained exp]

    [You leveled up seventy times]

    [You have received 15,000 stats points, the rest will be allocated when your advancement isplete]

    [Your stats have been increased by 75%. The rest will be allocated when your advancement isplete]

    [You are now lvl 150. The remaining 55 levels will be allocated when your advancement isplete]

    [You have reached the peak of the third tier, and you have met the basic requirements to advance. However, as a cost for utilizing the system''s hidden function as a result of your empowered state, you will be put in a state of "Pending"]

    [You will be unable to increase or decrease in strength during this period. Your advancement will also be postponed till then]

    [Pending state will end in 60days]

    [Time left: 59days: 23hrs: 59minutes]

 Chapter 406 406. END

    Noah closed his eyes to savor the feeling of his gained levels. Although he hated the fact that he was in the weird pending state, he couldn''t ask for anymore. He was satisfied knowing that his advancement wasn''t too far away from him.

    The pirs of light and the magical circle beneath him shattered into motes of white light before disappearing into nothingness and he was able to open his eyes and focus on his surroundings again.

    His eyes fell on the stunned figure of the sphere''s humanoid portion.

    "How did you do that?" Its voice rang out, and Noah could tell that it felt shocked.

    "That was high-tier magic. The highest I''ve gazed at In my long life," it remarked, floating closer to Noah, who raised his hand with renewed confidence.

    "I''ll leave it to time to reveal it unto you," Noah dered keeping hisughter under wraps, but it seemed his joke didn''t get across to the non-human.

    "I see," it replied. "I hope the timees soon." The sphere and the humanoid figure began to recede slowly from Noah''s figure.

    "I also noticed what you did with your words. I have chosen to not give you the privilege of seeing myughter," it replied nodding its head before turning into a shapeless mass and returning to the sphere.

    Noah watched them depart slowly and wondered why it hadn''t just teleported away. A reason appeared in his mind and couldn''t help but shake his head at how much characters that mass of blood contained.

    "What do I call you? I don''t know your name," Noah called out, and he swore he could sense excitement for an instant before the sphere turned; even if it had no need for that.

    It stayed silent for a while as if willing to build tension before its pristine voice rang out.

    "I am known by all my underlings as He who bled. But you can call me Lord Louis. Or just Louis," He exined, and Noah nodded in affirmation.

    "I hope to see you again Aiden. If that truly is your real name," Louismented before his spherical mass disappeared in a blinding red light.

    Needless to say, Louis''s words caused a wave of surprise to wash over Noah, and a smile couldn''t help but appear on his breathtakingly handsome face.

    Noah swept his gaze on the scene of the destruction below him and took in a deep breath. That region suffered from his simple action, as gales came to life just because of it.

    The countdown of his empowered state now had about 2 minutes left. The battle with Gorno hadn''t taken too much time.

    "Where should I go now?" He muttered noting the new items that had entered his inventory. He only had two minutes before he fell into his weakest state, and he had to decide where to go, to spend the next two weeks.

    He considered the guild, but simply pushed it to the side. He had been given a month to spend outside of the guild and he intended to do just that.

    ''Riveta,'' Noah sighed.

    Although in the outside world only about two or three days had passed since he left, he had spent about 12 days in total within the dungeon.

    "Power is nice," Noah muttered turning into a blue streak that made no sound whatsoever. Thanks to the bracelet still on he could move about unnoticed. But it reminded him to check the amount of time left.

    "How fast a year flies," he shook his head streaking across the darknds in search of a particr in.

    He only had roughly two months and a half till the bracelet crumbled and it didn''t manage to get him sad. He would already be tier 4 before then.

    The wide in eventually unfolded in Noah''s consciousness. He slowed down a bit while he approached Riveta''s tower in the distance. He did that as a way to sort of rethink his decision.

    She had proven to not be a bad person, even helping him when he was going to die, but he still didn''t know whether or not she had done it because he said he could escape.

    ''I''m overthinking this,'' Noah sighed. Truth was, he knew she wouldn''t do anything to him. She had nothing to gain from such, so he was most definitely safe. It had only be a habit to let his fears rule his mind before taking such decisions.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Should I show her my empowered state?" Noah muttered with a slight giggle. He considered waiting till everything died down but his instincts told him he would be unable to do much.

    A sigh exited his mouth and he allowed his consciousness to spread out while his aura red. She would be unable to sense him due to the bracelet, but if he caused a bit ofmotion she would undoubtedly see him.

    A bolt of lightning the size of whole buildings burst out of Noah''s figure to shoot high into the sky, lighting up the night sky with its regal blue radiance and shattering the silence that the in possessed in abundance.

    Not even a second passed and Noah felt a consciousness far beyond him grab hold of his body.

    "Oh my!" Riveta''s voice seeped into Noah''s ears as her figure directly appeared in front of him; moving far faster than his eyes could follow. The event had been soundless, but Noah knew she had sprinted towards him.

    It was incredible, to say the least.

    A smile remained on Noah''s face as she scanned his body with evident surprise.

    "The higher stage of tier four," she muttered shooting a shocked nce at Noah. "I can feel theprehension of your elements overflowing from you. You''ve taken hold of a level of power that is astonishing."

    "In such a short period at that," her tone was fairly quiet and it expressed her disbelief.

    "I will need to stay in your tower for about two weeks," Noah announced, disregarding her question for a moment. Her frown made him answer her quickly, however.

    "It''s just temporary," Noah admitted, not finding any reason to hide that truth. He almost felt certain that him bing a tier 4 in two months'' time would be more astonishing to her, and everyone that knew him.

    Riveta''s eyes widened in bewilderment, and she even took a step back.

    "I''ve heard and seen secret arts capable of giving experts more power, but none as grand as this. You crossed a whole tier, Aiden," she eximed, but soon regained herposure.

    "Yes I did," Noah nodded finding another burden lifted off his shoulders. With the destruction of the bracelet drawing nigh, he found it nice and reassuring to reveal some of his spectacr skills.

    People would be more stunned when they find out that he didn''t even use mana and he wasn''t fully human. A time woulde when it would stop being a secret. And that time was already upon him.

    He had to make good use of his encounter with an expert like Riveta. But he would still be careful.

    "You sound as if it''s just a normal urrence. Having such a skill would be considered a trump card. An outrageous one at that." Riveta folded her arms and furrowed her brows.

    "I can only use it once in a few years," Noah lied. He needed her to underestimate that ability.

    "Even so, it''s an immense addition to a person''s skill set," Shemented strangely excited. "Besides years are like days to experts at my level."

    "Yeah, yeah," Noah waved off her excitement when he saw his timer hit twenty seconds.

    "Can we go in now?" he asked in a pleading tone trying to hide his impatience, even if he failed. At least his poor acting couldn''t fool someone like Riveta.

    ? Riveta furrowed her brows and her incredible mind connected the dots and came to a quick conclusion.

    "Your time in this state is about to end isn''t it?" She shook her head, but Noah remained silent.

    His reaction was weird, but when the power he radiated suddenly plummeted, and his face lost all its healthy luster; she confirmed her thoughts.

    Noah lost consciousness too.

 Chapter 407 407. FATE

    Noah opened his eyes with a deep grunt, almost a growl. He tried to raise his body by supporting it with his right arm but sank back.

    A curse exited his mouth as his state dawned on him, and even more, curses did he utter.

    Noah felt weak. By every standard one could be considered weak; he felt weak. His very bonescked their fundamental strength and everything felt heavy. Even breathing.

    His thoughts felt slow and his mind fragile. He was suffering the effects of his skill, and now he hated it with all his being. He even began to regret his decision.

    Noahy on the bed within Riveta''s tower and continued to sigh for more than half an hour.

    He couldn''t support his weight or felt too tired to. Even if his body waspletely fine.

    He was suffering a 90% decrease in all stats, he was probably as strong as a baby in that form.

    "Am I going to spend the next two weeks in this state," Noah grimaced, and his regret peaked. He honestly would prefer death to what he experienced.

    Tears were on the verge of clouding his eyes, but he drew them back in shock. He had literally been on the verge of crying.

    Noah stayed in his position for about another half-hour before the ck door flung open and Riveta walked in.

    "Look who''s awake!" she teased arms raised and eyes widened,ing to stand above him.

    "If you''vee here to make fun of me, know that it won''t get any reaction out of me. I''m too tired," Noah exined. His sentence was slow and withdrawn, but his audience was patient.

    "How would I do that? I have a fine young man helpless within my tower, I''ll treat him nice," she ced her hand on her mouth acting shocked by his usation.

    Noah tried to snort, but somewhere down the paths of the neurons that filled his brain, he was unable to act out his thoughts and ended up staring at her. His eyes were half closed from fatigue.

    "You''ve been asleep for four days so I came to check up on you," Rivetamented taking her seat beside him.

    Noah took note of her the fragrance present on her, while his eyes widened in shock at her revtion, but he quickly regained his calm.

    "Yes-yes," Riveta remarked. "I even tried giving you potions, but you convulsed and vomited violently, for hours on end."

    Noah''s expression froze at that point and he couldn''t help but feel certain that had she not done that, he would have at least had the strength to move around.

    Then again, he couldn''t me her. She had simply been considerate. Even if her actions had put him in a state worse than it initially should have been.

    "I feel better," Noah lied through his teeth, but Riveta wasn''t having any of that.

    "Lies," she gave a tone radiating slight disdain. "Your life force is far lower than it initially was when we met. So I know you''re lying," She exined waving his words off.

    "Honestly, I''m shocked you''re still alive. Then again, I''ve found you to be full of surprises," She remarked suddenly bending closer to him until her blonde hair got in his face, and Noah took in more of her scent.

    Her breathing was soft and they seemed to caress his face. Noah knew he would normally be aroused by such an event in normal times, but he was weak as heck. Not even his lower mind had the energy to act.

    He had such a gorgeous woman close up, but he couldn''t act.

    ''Am I in hell already,'' he wept inwardly.

    "Your hair is getting in my nose," Noahmented even if he had the urge to grab and sniff them. He couldn''t exactly describe the fragrance she had, but it smelled nice.

    Riveta maintained her posture for a few more seconds before silently rising and leaving the room in the same manner.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah felt taken aback, but he also felt too tired to worry about the actions of that expert. She had already proven to be a nut-job.

    Riveta on the other hand heaved a light sigh when she got outside.

    Resting her back on the door, she ced her right hand on her left eye and it started to glow bright crimson color, different from the sky blue of her other eye.

    "Who is he?" She muttered, her chest rising and falling in a deep sigh.

    Riveta although a powerful existence in the fifth tier, wasn''t only just strong, but also had an ability that differed from normalcy. A deviant.

    She had a special ability which she had learned to name Fate. When activated she could peek into a person''s future as long as she remained within a certain range of them.

    Her eye color changed depending on what she saw. After centuries of harnessing the ability, she had learned to tell what each color meant.

    In Noah''s case; red meant an event that would be considered dangerous existed. But unlike all the persons she had ever used that ability on, she had only gazed at darkness. Darkness tinted with all sorts of colors.

    No event had appeared in her mind; only that vision. And for some reason, it sent chills down her spine.

    There were only two possibilities for that oue. One was that his future existed in a ne that her ability wasn''t allowed to touch, or he was stronger than her. In that case; far stronger than she was.

    The truth was she still didn''t know how her ability worked, or why it even existed, but he was the first person; far much weaker than her, whose future she couldn''t gaze at.

    She was however certain that whatever was to happen to the young man, had a danger level that could even threaten her own life.

    Riveta spent a few seconds silently resting her back on the door to Aiden''s room.

    The ability drained her stamina and very life essence. She would need to cultivate to replenish it.

    "You finally returned," Noah remarked seeing Riveta''s figure clothed in a green gown return into his room.

    The air she brought in, however, felt different than what she usually had, and Noah knew to keep quiet.

    "I will be leaving the tower for a few days," She announced. Noah noticed her formal tone. "In the meantime, they will cater for you as they have for thest four days."

    Noah remained silent at her words while he watched four humanoid dummies or intelligent dummies dressed in nice-looking attires walk in.

    He eyed the 7ft figures of the dummies, however. Riveta saw this and opened her mouth to reassure him.

    "Do not worry young man, Aiden. They are my bests. They won''t try to harm you."

    "They each will see you as their master while I''m out," She exined far more distant than she had been when Noah arrived there.

    The event ced Noah in confusion but he could only nod in agreement. She was allowed to do whatever she wanted.

    "Great," she eximed immediately leaving the room, before suddenly peeking into the room.

    "You''re allowed to move about my tower, but there are certain rooms that feature dummies at their entrances."

    "Trying to forcefully gain entry into any of them would mean disobeying me and you''ll be immediately kicked out of my tower," she exined with a slight giggle, then she left.

    Noah didn''t see her even after a week passed.

 Chapter 408 408. SOMETHING

    Noah stood before a certain window overlooking the lush in that spanned many miles around Riveta''s tower.

    The sun stood high in the sky bathing everything with its radiance. While a soft breeze carrying a certain rxing scent swept the tnds graciously moving the striking green grass that filled the regions.

    Noah took in a deep breath seemingly trying to calm his nerves. And he was.

    He had not seen Riveta for about twelve days, and he had already recovered from the drawbacks of his elemental charge skill, but the expert had not returned to her tower and he waited more or less guarding it.

    Turning and leaving the window, Noah ignored the thuds that followed him closely while he walked down that hallway.

    The four dummies she had appointed to him almost two weeks prior had stayed by his side during that period.

    He had to be honest that they had been incredibly helpful. They understood his words and acted ordingly, he only couldn''t have conversations with them.

    After a bit of exploring, Noah realized that he had the whole ce to himself and decided to have fun when he recoveredpletely.

    He had sparred with the dummies and since they held tier 4 power he had onlymanded them to block, and they did so with ease.

    The sheer difference between his prowess and theirs became clear before his eyes at some point. But he enjoyed utilizing all his strength on them and knowing they would never break down.

    The usage of what he learned from Elder Sarah became more advanced since he tried his best to manage and create a dent on the said dummy.

    If only he knew that the dummies were in the middle stage of tier 4 he would have never hoped for such an oue.

    The whole ordeal eventually became boring, and although Noah knew he had reached a state of rest due to the pending state he couldn''t help but feel bored.

    Now that he had reached the peak of tier 3 and needed time to reach the fourth tier he wanted to go on an adventure even if the time for the tour was still a while away.

    There was nothing else he could do to help himself. He had tried cultivating but nothing happened. The system was powerful.

    Powerful enough to make something that should be natural, unable to ur.

    ? Noah spent most of his time exploring the various rooms within the tower. They were too many, however, so he gave up at some point.

    He then switched to simply strolling about the in. Having the four servants gave him a sense of reassurance.

    The in was mostly empty, however, and although flying beasts usually flew past, they were too weak for Noah to consider a threat or a worthy opponent.

    He even began to wonder how he would do against elder Sarah.

    "When is she going to return," Noah sighed sitting on a chair carried by one of the tier 4 dummies while it flew across the in; the other three following closely behind him.

    His gaze was dull and his slouched posture spoke of how fed up he felt.

    At this point, it had been 16 days since Riveta disappeared, and he had begun to consider leaving the tower.

    He doubted it would fall under any danger since there were already many defenses ced within it.

    An army of tier 4''s would struggle to bring it down.

    Unfortunately, his conscience wouldn''t let him do such. He owed her for even allowing him stay within her tower.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Honestly, he felt shocked by how easily she trusted him with her things. Or maybe it was because he didn''t have the type of power to threaten it.

    He dismissed that idea, however. She had seen him in his empowered state and the type of power he was capable of wielding.

    "I thought she said she had people chasing her," Noah pouted.

    The dummy flew rtively slowly across the surrounding areas of the tower.

    Noah raised his hand at some point, and it immediately stopped.

    Straightening his position on the ck chair, Noah stepped forward, and a dense tform of wind formed to stop him from falling.

    Noah unfolded his consciousness and let himself fall.

    His flight toward the ground served to rx his impatient mind. However, before his figure could reach the ground a certain familiar consciousness caught hold of him and allowed his figure tond softly on the ground.

    A wide smile had long since appeared on Noah''s face and his mouth opened a momentter.

    "I thought you would never return. I already had ns to inherit your tower," he joked, while a giggle unfolded in the area, and a certain figurended softly beside him.

    "You couldn''t even if you wanted to," Riveta''s voice rang out with a small chuckle.

    "I had honestly thought you''d have left. It''s good you didn''t since I''d been very disappointed if you did," she nodded with a wide smile on her face also.

    "You even made yourselffortable." She eyed the dummies while a light chuckle left her mouth.

    Noah clicked his tongue before suddenly falling serious.

    "How did you spend years alone there?" He asked ncing at the tower''s peak in the distance.

    "I don''t know," she shrugged beginning to float and pulling Noah with her.

    "My travel was very sessful. I might have caused a bit ofmotion, but I got what I wanted in the end." She exined as they flew towards the tower quite slowly.

    "That''s great I guess," Noah replied never removing his gaze from her figure.

    Riveta had a nice outfit that featured darker-than-ck trousers that emphasized her soft curves, and a yellow loose long-sleeved shirt that featured a ck belt right below her bust.

    Her blonde hair had been tied in a ponytail with a band that had a shining blue gem radiating a strange aura.

    Her feet featured ck heeled boots that had blue soles and they released a sparkly white light as she moved about.

    Noah found himself lost in his inspection and thoughts about her moody departure, that he forgot that he had kept his eyes open on her figure.

    "Oh my!" Riveta eximed with a teasing tone, catching Noah''s attention, but his reaction made her turn serious again.

    "I have something for you before you leave," she announced but before her only audience could respond she elerated, turning into a powerful streak that left a white trail.

 Chapter 409 409. UPGRADED

    "So what did you say you had for me?" Noah''s voice rang out, his words directed at a sitting Riveta who had a wide smile on her gorgeous face.

    She giggled mischievously before resting her back on the one-sitter couch she sat on. Both of them were within a rtivelyrge room, that only had twovender-colored chairs and a small ss table featuring many inscriptions.

    The room was painted white and had grey-colored tiles. Apart from that, there wasn''t anything that could be considered eye-catching in the whole room.

    Truth be told, Noah had considered it a waste of space when Riveta had led him to that ce on the thirtieth floor.

    "So this what it feels like to have someone literally at the edge of their seats," Riveta chuckled and Noah almost blushed when he realized that he had leaned forward sitting on the edge of his chair.

    He heaved a deep sigh while cing his hand on his forehead. Riveta burst intoughter at that point, but she quickly cleared her throat and suddenly went serious.

    ''Her ability to switch moods makes me want to flip a table,'' Noah thought, more annoyed than d that she had decided to take him seriously.

    She stared at him for a few seconds, weirding him out, before her mouth eventually opened to voice words.

    "I don''t know if you''re worth this, but my conscience won''t let me leave you as you are," she started, shaking her head at herself.

    Noah once again felt confused, but when an orb suddenly appeared in her right palm it caught the entirety of his attention.

    At the immediate appearance of the object, an aura Noah had never experienced unfolded to fill the entire room.

    "Tier 4?" Noah muttered ncing at the silver object and back at Riveta, who also had her gaze on him.

    "I''m giving this to you," She announced and it immediately floated toward an utterly perplexed Noah.

    "Why!... why?" Noah eximed, partially startled by the event. The shining silver orbnded softly on his palm, and he immediately tried to inspect it.

    [Skill orb]

    [Grade: Special]

    "I''ve already told you the reason, you''lle to understand when the time is right," Riveta exined crossing her legs.

    "It''s an orb that contains a very wonderful spell or skill. Whichever you like. Even I would want it, but my tower and its assets make it almost useless," she continued, gaining most of Noah''s attention.

    "It''s called the Three Musketeers. When you shatter the orb you summon three beings within the fourth tier and their presencests for a whole hour."

    "These beings are called the three musketeers. The spell can only be cast once at a time, but when the hour has psed, or by some weird event they are killed, the orb re-forms and begins to siphon mana from the world around it until the required amount has been stored for a recast."

    "It''s a skill that''s known for its uniqueness due to its ability to be cast without tasking the caster. The orb usually travels deep into the ground to refill. But in the case where the caster is capable of refilling it, it returns to the owner." She exined never removing her gaze from Noah''s figure.

    "So all I need to do is crush it," Noahmented.

    "Well yes, but you''ll need to create a bond with it. And all you need to do is make your blood touch it," Riveta exined lightly.

    "Only when the bond of the skill dies does the orbpletely shatter. Until then you can use it for as many times as you can." She shrugged with a proud smile.

    "I see," Noah muttered before falling silent.

    "Is it really okay that ept something this grand?" Noah asked still hesitant about the whole thing.

    "Where is the confident young man I''m used to?" Riveta teased but nodded when Noah''s serious expression refused to waver.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah nodded also and his ck dagger appeared in his hand. Unfortunately, that was the only thing that was portable enough to cut him, and it even still required force.

    He had already reached a level where the items in the third tier were beginning to be useless.

    Riveta caught sight of his strange dagger releasing a powerful aura. Although Noah simply used the dagger to cut himself, it still had the capability of killing him since it could absorb energy within the third tier.

    Quickly squeezing his thumb after allowing a portion of it to wither, Noah clenched his teeth at the sharp pain that registered in his mind. However, he watched his thumb return to its peak merely seconds after it had bled.

    ''Only one drop,'' he shook his head inwardly while the silver orb started to float on its own. Its aura intensified and began to morph until it mimicked Noah''s aura.

    [You have gained a new skill: Three Musketeers]

    [Grade: Special]

    [Tier: 4]

    [Current power output: Middle-stage[Upgrade-able]]

    [Rank: S]

    [Tree Musketeers[Special]: A unique skill that allows you to summon a group of three entities titled the "Musketeers" to fight your enemies. The skill does not require energy from the caster, and only needs to be in the presence of energy to refill its cost]

    [Cost: Independent, Duration: 60 minutes, Cool-down: Until reserves have been replenished]

    Immediately that panel appeared in Noah''s eyes, the orbs silver light grew blinding, then it shot into his chest, but caused no pain.

    A weird feeling unfolded in Noah''s mind at that point, and he saw silver runes appearing all over his body after which a strange heat rose up from deep within him.

    Noah began to feel light-headed and had to hold on to the chair to keep himself from falling.

    His breathing quickened and his heartbeat became rapid and loud. So much so that it was audible and didn''t require even him to feel it.

    Noah''s face grew red as though he blushed excessively, then he finally lost it by passing out.

    Gasping for air, Noah returned to being, but found himself on a bed.

    "Again," he grunted getting up without the slightest hitch. He felt normal now, and the shining silver panel that told him the process of gaining the skill had been sessful reassured him.

    All he had to do was think about the skill and an orb simr to the one that entered his body would appear in his grip then he would need to crush it to fully activate it.

    "Pretty simple," Noah remarked approaching the exit, only for the door to burst open and reveal Riveta, this time in a new outfit.

    "You were asleep for two days," she announced before he could say anything, and he froze in surprise, before heaving a sigh. What had he expected? Only a few hours?

    "I know this is out of myne, but I couldn''t help it," Riveta began, startling Noah a bit since he didn''t expect any other words until a certain period had passed.

    "What do you mean?" He inquired, and Riveta replied to him by making a white nket appear on her joined palm and she unwrapped the white fabric to reveal a pair of spectacrly looking daggers.

    "I might have upgraded your dagger," she revealed in an apologetic tone.

 Chapter 410 410. DEMONSTRATION

    Noah felt stunned beyond reason when her words eventually sank in. His eyes finally understood what he was looking at.

    "How are these my daggers?" Noah asked inspecting the objects thaty on Riveta''s palms, they were nothingpared to what his daggers or dagger looked like before. How did she even make two? He wondered

    The daggers still had dark des, but their hilt now featured deep-orange metallic attachments that had been carved in certain ways. The simr carvings that made the handles looked like they would help him grip the daggers better.

    Not only that, the ck curved des had many deep-orange shining lines embedded into their very material, and they not only felt hot from merely looking at them, but they still radiated the withering power he had grown used to.

    Now that he focused more on the different details, he could see that at the tips, and non-jagged edges of the daggers were purple and orange lines that radiated intense sharpness.

    He swore they could cut him if he stared too much. And they actually did.

    Noah found his chest and arms suddenly turning into a bloody mess when Riveta moved the daggers too much.

    His figure shrunk back in deep pain and it took him a few seconds to heal, but his clothes had be rags pretty quickly.

    "I apologize," Riveta pleaded, storing the items and moving closer to Noah to help him up since he had fallen.

    "I ended up upgrading them until their power touched the peak of the middle stage." She revealed, and Noah almost choked on the blood that he had tried to swallow.

    "I swear I only meant to check out its making," she exined sounding truly sorry. Not what Noah expected from a tier 5 individual.

    "Can you de-upgrade it?" Noah asked still shocked by the new power of the daggers.

    "I''m afraid not. If I touch it I might identally send them to the peak of the fourth tier. At that point, you''d die if you touched it."

    A deep sigh that contained shock and marvel exited Noah''s lips. He felt like blowing up in anger, but he was reminded of the person he was talking to.

    He should even be grateful she apologized.

    "No worries," Noah announced looking at the bright side of the situation.

    "At least now I have a tier four weapon... even if it can kill me by just being in its presence," his expression sank at the dark turn, but another sigh washed away his negative feelings.

    Riveta remained silent at his words, but his next words made her talk.

    "What can they do now?" Noah asked finding it useless to brood over the event. But there truly were bright sides.

    That situation honestly worked well for him since he would soon be tier 4, and having a tier 4 weapon would be awesome.

    "I managed to add a new ability to its withering ability, and that is of course heat," Riveta''s expression lit up when she began her exnation.

    "I embedded green mana stones into the dagger since surprisingly, it could take different types of energy, even soul energy-" She paused realizing that she had said something she shouldn''t have.

    "Soul energy?" Noah asked already ready to probe if she let him, but then she narrowed her eyes and he immediately knew what she meant.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "As I was saying, now your daggers; which I had made two by breaking the first one, have gained the ability; Combustion. Not only do they siphon the energy within bodies, they now force the body''s energy to manifest into fire and destroy it quickly. But no energy is lost. Everything is reabsorbed into the daggers."

    "You can also make them burst into mes to make attacks more effective." She exined.

    "There are a few more things but those are the basics. It''s only sad that you won''t be capable of using them for a long while," she shook her head in pity. If only she knew Noah had long since decided he would take them.

    "I can show you a demonstration, however!" she announced, and Noah watched a blue light wrap around their figures and they disappeared from the room.

    Noah opened his eyes in a wide circr room, featuring three presences and they were all within the fourth tier.

    His eyes fell on beasts within cages made out of inscriptions. The very room seemed to be made for that function. But it was spectacr nheless.

    "I feel like you''ve nned for this," Noah revealed his thoughts after losing interest in the in room.

    Riveta ignored him, however, and one of the daggers appeared in her hand.

    Noah''s felt his instincts rage forth in fear at that event, and he took many steps backward, even if cuts still appeared on his legs and arms. Thankfully they were shallow as Riveta had held back most of the dagger''s power and had done the same in the room.

    Noah saw the huge ck and grey rats in the cages be agitated at the appearance of the dagger.

    A weird heat unfolded in the entire room and Noah found that theyer of coldness his body usually had could not defend him from it.

    "This is the power I added to them," Riveta announced softly, pointing the dagger at one of the rats, and throwing it at it.

    The de traveled the distance between her and the said target in an instant and struck the huge rat on its left arm.

    The terrified beast voiced a high-pitched screech at the event, but Riveta protected Noah from its power.

    A foreboding feeling appeared in Noah''s mind at the sight of the thrashing animal, but things changed when a deep orange light suddenly shed, then the beast''s whole figure caught deep-orange mes an instantter.

    It had happened only a few seconds after the rat had been struck, and had been so instantaneous that Noah''s figure literally jolted in shock. Deep chills ran down his spine at the terror-inducing screams of unimaginable agony the creature experienced.

    Its suffering didn''t go past five seconds and it simply became a pile of ashes that quickly degraded into literal nothingness. The dagger had left no trace of the tier 4 beast!

    Thebination of withering and burning was a match that continued to send shills down Noah''s spine. But not only from fear and reverence, but also excitement.

    "Fuck," Noah muttered switching his gaze between Riveta, the empty cage, and finally, the dagger which she had brought back to her hands.

    "My potential assets might have just be overpowered," he muttered, still keeping a safe distance from her. The screams from the rat still rang in his head.

    His body wouldn''t even allow him to move closer to her, now that he had seen what the daggers were capable of.

    "That was one heck of a demonstration!" Noah remarked pulling Riveta''s attention to himself.

 Chapter 411 411. DIGITS

    "So what do you think?" Riveta''s asked her tone that of deep satisfaction.

    "That was amazing!"

    "Short but amazing," Noah responded walking closer to her now that she had stored the daggers.

    "I''m d you liked it. This is the least I can do for creating something that could kill you. After all, they''ll be in my protection from now on," Ruveta revealed, and Noah suddenly chuckled out loud.

    "I want my daggers," he quickly revealed. Needless to say, his words made Riveta tilt her head in confusion.

    "What do you mean?" She felt forced to ask.

    "I said I wasn''t my daggers. Give them to me like that," Noah stated with a light snort.

    "How do you expect to carry them around? They can kill you don''t forget," she tried to find a reason he couldn''t have them. And in a normal situation, her words would have been valid.

    But dealing with Noah made Normal take a back seat.

    In a normal instance, a tier 3 cultivator would not have a spatial device capable of storing a tier 4 item, but Noah had the inventory, which could even store tier 5 objects.

    "I''ll deal with that by myself," Noah responded. At this point, he understood what the expert was trying to do.

    Riveta narrowed her eyes at his words.

    "Are you telling me you have something capable of storing tier 4 objects?" She asked, more daringly than a normal inquiry.

    "That is exactly what I''m telling you," Noah responded with a nk expression, but he watched Riveta''s twist in surprise and shock.

    "What do you mean by that?" Her bewilderment showed in her tone.

    "I meant exactly what I said," Noah responded waving his hand dismissively as if expecting her to be used to his surprises.

    "Can I have the daggers now?" Noah spoke in an almostin-like tone, and Riveta responded by allowing the daggers appear mid-air, from which Noah immediately waved his hand ceremoniously and stored the daggers in his inventory.

    Riveta ced her hand on her forehead, then her chest rose and fell in a deep sigh.

    "I should have expected this," She muttered even if her words sounded outrageous to her own ears.

    "I don''t know about that, but thank you for the daggers," Noah bowed while his face healed of the cuts that had appeared on it.

    Another sigh, this time light, exited Riveta''s mouth and she waved dismissively at him.

    "No thank you of letting me touch such fine work. I''d love to know who forged them," she revealed.

    "I don''t know the person," Noah quickly cleared out, but his words didn''t seem to spoil her mood since she nodded at him and their figures vanished In a bright blue light.

    Noah opened his eyes in the sitting room they had been in before he lost consciousness apparently two days prior.

    Both individuals took their seats, and apanionable silence befell them.

    "I''ll be leaving soon," Noah revealed after a few minutes had passed, but Riveta didn''t immediately give him a response.

    "I know, that''s why I got that skill for you," she exined, now serious.

    "I sincerely thank you for your help. They were unwarranted since I''ve not done anything spectacr for you. But you did these anyway. And for that I am highly grateful," Noah continued now on his feet and in a bowing position.

    Riveta didn''t wave at him this time around. Her gaze, although light; radiated pride, and Noah couldn''t me her.

    "You may rise," she spoke at some point and Noah took his seat.

    "Will you be leaving immediately?'' She asked, her tone suddenly somber.

    "No. I''m nning on staying a couple of days maybe two, then I''ll get going," Noah exined calcting the time left before he was mostly required to return to the guild.

    He already had a destination in mind. A town, and he nned to visit it.

    He had decided to give himself two weeks extra. Whether or not he would use that amount of time depended on what would happen during his travel.

    "I see. Then you are weed to stay until you leave," Riveta dered standing up from her chair.

    "It''s been a fun ride getting to know you, Aiden,"she revealed with a light smile, and Noah couldn''t help but feel a tinge of guilt.

    He felt she deserved to know his real name, but he knew he wouldn''t make the move of telling her.

    "Thank you," Noah replied and she waved her hand causing a blue light to wash over him after which he appeared in his assigned room.

    Noah pulled up his stats at that point, just to gaze at their incredible numbers.

    [Name: Noah]

    [Race: Speedling Hybrid>Iplete<[Evolution criteria yet to be met]]

    [ss: Heir of the god of speed(???)]

    [Titles: Monster killer. Killer]

    [Level: 150/150] [Tier: 3[Peak]]

    [Status: Pending]]

    [Speed essence rank: 2]

    [Speed force: Yellow]

    [Affinities: Lightning, Air, Ice]

    >Vessels of Power<

    [Body>Metal stage<]

    [HP: 904,097]

    [Strength: 675,508 (+168,877)]

    [Stamina: 320,031(+80,007)]

    [Defense: 532,722(+133,180)]

    [Vitality: Tier 3[Peak]

    [Mach: 80]

    [Soul core]

    [Intelligence: 577,291(+144,322)]

    [Dexterity: 199,020(+49,755)]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Energy core>Octahedral<]

    [Speed Essence: 1,053,487/1,053,487]

    [Undistributed stat points: 101,020]

    >Skills<

    >Lightning Affinity<

    [Advanced Lightning Elemental mastery(Tier 3)]

    [Lightning domain(Tier 3)]

    [Lightning bolt(Tier 3)]

    [Lightning kes[Active]

    [Lightning chains[Active]

    [Lightning Storm[Active]

    >Air Affinity<

    [Advanced Wind Elemental mastery(Tier3)

    [Air Domain(Tier3)]

    [Air Spears[Active

    [Air Storm[Active]

    [Zero air[Active]

    [Upliftment[Active]

    >Ice Affinity<

    [Advanced Ice elemental mastery(Tier3)[Passive]

    [Frozen prison(Tier 3)[Active]

    [Frozen Golem''s[Active]

    [Frozen touch[Active]

    [Icicle beam[Active]

    [Frozen Movement[Active]

    >Elemental<

    [Elemental aura[Passive]

    [Elemental charge[Active]

    >Speed force<

    [Advanced slow motion perception[Passive]

    [Speedling Hybrid regeneration [Passive]

    [Speed clones [Active]

    [Energy bomb[Active]

    [Speed force armor[Active]

    >Unique<

    [Unique Berserker(Active)[Tier 3]]

    [Poisonous spheres[Active]]

    [Extendable hollow arms(Active)[Tier 3]]

    [Three Musketeers]

    [MARTIAL ART: THE MONKEY KING]

    [GRADE: HEAVEN]

    [MASTERY:28.00]

    [MOVE(S): RUSHING ROD: Execution percentage: 100/100

    [DANCING MONKEY: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [SIDE STEP: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [A THOUSAND PUNCHES: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [MOUNTAIN STOMP: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [WAVE: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [SIX ARMS OF ASURA: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [Soul bounds]: Cudgel, Muliix]

    [Inventory:((Tap to disy items))]

    Shockingly, staring at those digits didn''t bring him joy or excitement. Something about reaching the peak of the third tier and not being able to even cultivate to increase his strength made that scene almost useless.

    Or maybe it was because he had tasted what true power felt like, and his existence now desired a new level of might.

    However way, Noah didn''t move at the sight of his stats. He recalled the items and of course the skill he had gotten from the Hunted maze dungeon.

    They weren''t many, numbering only three, but they had the potential to be of great use.

    [Extendable hollow arms(Active)[Tier3]: When activated you generate nine arms with the same abilities of the Hollow beasts. These arms are immune to physical attacks, but can be deterred by magical attacks]

    [Cost: 20% SE Reserves, Duration: 20-minutes, Cool-down: 10-minutes]

    Noah liked the skill, and couldn''t wait to use it fully in battle. It would prove to be very difficult to beat since the arms would be untouchable by physical things.

 Chapter 412 412. LILUA

    His results in the hunted maze had been an A, and so his rewards had been given to him based on that grade.

    Noah had checked these details during his bedridden time due to boredom, and the items which were all based on the abilities of the hollows were actually utility items.

    [Hollow Armor[Tier 3]: Pieces 3/3]

    [Hollow helmet, Empty Breastte, Hollow boots]

    [Hollow Armor: When equipped at any time, you be immune to all physical attacks within the third tier, and gain a 150% increase in physical damage dealt]

    [When equipped during day-time, you gain a 175% increase in movement speed as a result of the equipped boots]

    [During night-time your movement speed returns to normal, but your physical attacks gain another 50% increase in damage dealt. Making your physical attacks max at 200% increase in output]

    [Do note that elemental attacks wear down the armor''s durability]

    [Upgrade requirements: ????]

    Noah found the armor favorable in all ways even if it would almost not be needed. He wondered what he would achieve if he equipped the armor on Muliix.

    Noah had never actuallyid eyes on the armor due to his location, but he imagined it would be very in.

    With that dealt with, hey on his bed and fell into myriads of thoughts, after which he fell asleep for hours.

    "How are you capable of sleeping so much?" Riveta''s voice sounded almost mocking but mostly contained wonder.

    "I don''t know. It just happens," Noah shrugged sitting in front of the dining table while dummies came to serve them.

    He remembered how it felt eating the meal she had allowed him to take the other time, and how they had really helped him lighten his mood in the seemingly endless maze.

    The duo ate mostly silently, but times came when they exchanged words. Noah feltfortable with her after all she had done. It would be impossible not to.

    He had long since begun to think high-level cultivators were very easy to associate with, but he also had to be careful of extreme, vile personalities.

    His time with Riveta was filled with banters and jokes and teases. She clearly enjoyed hispany. and he did hers.

    He got to find out that she was of the fire element, and had a deep love for forging.

    Apparently, it had taken her two centuries of hard work to finallyplete her tower and it was her greatest work. Noah agreed even if he had not seen most of its abilities.

    "I believe it''s high time I left," Noah said at some point after spending another three days with her.

    "Yes. I''ve had my friendly-people-meter full. I need to spend another century or two alone; adventuring. Even with my power there are still ces I can''t touch due to how strong the beings and creatures there are."

    "I see," Noah smiled. "Then I hope we meet when you need people around, and hopefully I''d have gotten far stronger," he dered.

    "I''m sure I''ll hear of your feats wherever I am," she shook her head with an even bigger smile.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "If you say so," Noah chuckled a bit before falling silent for a while.

    "It was nice meeting you. This is my second departure, hopefully itsts long so we can have a nice reunion." he added finding his words a bit weird even to himself.

    "Get going before you start saying weird stuff," Riveta giggled and both of them fell into apanionableughter after which Riveta waved her hand and his figure disappeared in a blue light.

    Noah opened his eyes in the in, and turned into a deep-yellow streak that shot towards a seemingly random spot in the in.

    Riveta caught sight of that event and wondered to herself who that man really was, but she simply shrugged and moved on to other things, next time they met he would probably tell her.

    Noah zed across thends with rtive ease. His surroundings had turned into a blur moving past his already determined mind.

    Noah had an idea of where he was going. Or a set destination.

    A town named Lilua. It was a town that wasn''t exactly popr, after all ording to the guild, it didn''t have much trouble so no one ever needed to go there for any reason.

    Noah only liked and felt curious about it due to its position.

    The town was rtively big, and apparently had a poption of about 12 thousand, but that wasn''t its most interesting details.

    The fact that the town was built on the remains of a mountain was.

    Due to its unique location, it was elevated a few hundred meters above the ground level. But even at that no one really visited them.

    ording to the map he had on him, it was south-east of the in, and was pretty close to the edge of the borders of their nation.

    Then again, terms for distances was different in Cregar. Pretty-close would still mean hundreds of miles away.

    Noah ran at about mach 30 constantly for a bit over one minute. He traveled about 380 miles in his chosen direction even if he had sometimes required taking normal paths or simply running across streams or rivers.

    Moving at that speed made any sort of distance or obstacle pointless. Noah could quite literally run though walls, or in that case, run through thick formations of trees, or randomly ced boulders.

    His journey was short and barely did anything to him. His essence reserves was crazy. He could run hours maybe days if he aimed at emptying his core while running.

    But he doubted he would ever need to run that long.

    After sprinting past a series of valleys and a very dense regions of vegetation filled with dangerous beasts that even had power in the Fourth tier, Noah''s gaze eventually fell on a cubical wall set on what looked like a mountain that had been cut in half, creating a t portion capable of hosting habitation.

    He had only journeyed through those dangerous regions since they were the shortest path. If he had taken the normal carriage path seeing as such a roads even featured dangerous stops, he would have spent longer.

    The vegetation soon began to recede, and quickly he found himself in a wide clearing surrounding the elevated town.

    He had toe to a halt at that point.

 Chapter 413 413. ISSUE

    Lilua only had one path into its town walls, and it was pretty deserted from what Noah looked at. However, he felt certain that few carriages had gone up that path.

    "Weird," Noah muttered casually walking up the clear path. It was filled with ups and downs and they made the journey to the top a bit more interesting.

    Noah spent about ten minutes simply walking, and before he arrived in front of the gate, he wore a ck face mask revealing only the upper portions of his face. Then he tied his long silky hair in a ponytail.

    His figure donned in a sky-blue robe that spoke of quality arrived before the gate and his gaze fell on two men wielding spears.

    Noah saw that they noticed him, and already nned all that he would say. He was not going to reveal his status as a member of a great guild. He was only a traveling cultivator.

    "Who are you, and what is your business here?" One of the two individuals voiced loudly while both of them now had their spears pointed at him.

    Noah felt disrespected by their actions, however. They were mere middle-staged cultivators. At lower stage, he could already wipe the floor with middle-staged cultivators. What sort of pride or feats did they think they had achieved by being guards to a town?

    Noah shot a cold re at both cultivators and didn''t hesitate to reveal his intent to fight if it came to it.

    It had been long since humans truly fell prey to his power.

    The one who had addressed Noah cleared his throat and lowered his weapon at that event. His colleague doing the same.

    "It''s a rule that everyone, it didn''t matter who they were had to give an ount of themselves, as we don''t ask for official identification since they can be falsified," the middle-aged man exined in a softer, more polite tone.

    Both experts had felt Noah''s anger from his re, and truth be told fear had gripped them. Only they were experienced enough to hide it under a calmposure.

    ''Definitely higher stage,'' the man speaking to Noah confirmed. ''At such a young age too,'' he shuddered inwardly, both in awe and envy.

    "You should have said it like this, to begin with. Your hostile actions might get you killed," Noah revealed intentionally adding that threat to his words.

    A shiver went down the spine of his audience, but they kept it under wraps and remained silent.

    ''I am Sir George," Noah announced. "But you can refer to me simply as George."

    The guards nodded at his words and the one speaking to him opened his mouth to speak again.

    "What will you be doing here, sir George? Not manye here, at least not on days like this," the man asked. The end of his sentence remaining a mystery to Noah.

    "I''ve onlye visiting," Noah announced. "I don''t n on doing anything grand. Or am I not allowed toe just for visiting?" An eyebrow rose on his face in a questioning gaze.

    "Oh no, sir George! We only need a payment of 6 medium silver coins," The man exined.

    "Town rules," he added to clear any misunderstandings that could arise.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I see. Okay," Noah replied moving closer and handing over the required amount to the man.

    "Wee to Lilua!" Both of the guards bowed as they pushed the gate open for him.

    Noah nodded and focused his gaze on the town he was stepping into.

    A wave of surprise filled his mind at whaty before him, and he couldn''t help but pause a bit.

    He truly never expected that beauty in a town that people barely knew.

    The streets wereid beautifully and there was hardly any carriage plying them. Mostly humans moving about their businesses.

    The buildings were mostly short, but were all made in cubical shapes. In short, that ce reminded him of an estate with it almostpletely simr buildings.

    His eyes took in his environment, and he didn''t forget to note the stares his figure got. Obviously they were mostly from women, and he couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow at how good thedies there looked.

    They were low leveled individuals, with the strongest being at the peak of tier 2, but most had looks that he would have no problem indulging in.

    ''This is almost too good to be true,'' Noah thought, simply taking a long stroll around that area. His figure never stopped receiving stares, but he didn''t care, He had long since gotten used to it, and he didn''t even have his full face revealed.

    ''Or is it something else?'' he wondered searching for a ce he could have something to eat or rink. He was already interested in getting to know more about that ce.

    ''Maybe my power? I''m far stronger than anyone I''ve encountered since I got here. But my presence shouldn''t be disturbing. Its not like they can sense my level or anything,'' he considered still searching.

    Noah eventually found an establishment and he didn''t hesitate to get into it and spend his money n what they offered.

    ''I''ll need money soon,'' he sighed inwardly, not missing the curious gazes the men within the bar threw at him. It was already around sundown. He had intentionally left Riveta''s ce close to that period.

    "Do you need anything more?" The barkeeper asked him while he leaned on the bar sitting the stool avable for him.

    "No, thank you." Noah responded. "But I do want to know a bit about Lilua seeing as I''m new here," he revealed, not scared one bit about his safety. He had the type of power that could kill everyone in the bar by just thinking of it.

    "Hmm," the bald man at the peak of the second tier voiced.

    "There''s not much to know. We''re a small town that hardly gets new people, so most of us know each other, We''re basically a big family," the man exined wiping a mug with a clean brown cloth.

    "Nevertheless, there are bad things, and one of them would be the fact that we have an issue with an annoying lot of criminals, and they have held the towns head''s daughter hostage," the man revealed and Noah''s eyebrow rose in silent curiosity.

 Chapter 414 414. TODAY

    "I see," Noah muttered almostpletely unfazed by the man''s words. It felt quite intriguing, however, that a town''s head would have his daughter in the hands of bandits.

    "Why hasn''t there been any report to the royals or something?" Noah asked realizing how ignorant he was about the procedures to report a crime.

    He had never required such since he had always had sufficient power to deal with people. Moreover, he had hardly been around the public or delved deep into the matters of politics and society.

    "Unfortunately the bandit''s head had informed the public that such actions would lead to the death of her and the other hostages," the barman exined shaking his head in pity.

    "There are others?" Noah asked, a bit taken aback by that revtion.

    "Yes. A bit more than fifty people actually. Some were taken as a result of the bandit''s price not being met. They ask for a monthly tribute and each time the people have to gather money to pay them, buttely, the price for the lives of the hostages has increased."

    "We are bing unable to meet up to their demands, and fear is beginning to spread. But most people have rtions with the hostages. Like I said we almost all know each other," the man continued heaving a sigh before dropping the cup and picking another one to begin cleaning.

    ''This is almost hrious,'' Noahmented inwardly. ''They are constantly being stolen from and there seems to be nothing they could do,'' he shook his head inwardly. There was still much he didn''t understand.

    "How strong are these bandits?" Noah asked, he believed the issue had to stem from the power level, and the man''s answer proved him right.

    "Apparently the leader of the bandits is at the peak of the third tier, and he has two others in the higher stages and tens in the middle stage."

    "It is rumored that there isn''t a single tier 2 in their midst, making them a force to reckon with for a town such as us," the man exined and Noah could only nod in understanding.

    The power level of that town was severelycking to deal with a threat such as the bandits. But still, Noah wondered what deal had been made between the bandits and the town head.

    At least the hostages should have been released, not retained. It''s obvious that there would be no end to the requests if their precious people were still in the hands of the criminals.

    "Is there a time frame in which the hostages will be released? I''m certain you understand that the request will continue if they keep the hostages within their hold," Noah voiced his thoughts and confusion about the matter.

    The barkeeper furrowed his brows but nodded. "Yes, apparently one year was agreed. The bandits promised that no harm woulde to our people during that time frame, and at its ending, our people will be released."

    "It''s been six months since they started."

    "Theye every two weeks disying apparently most of the hostages, but they don''t announce what time of the day they woulde."

    "So far they''ve kept their word but the increase in demands has begun to worry most of the people. I know because they usually spill their worries over these tables," the man swept his gaze on the tavern filled with chatter andughter.

    "They seem happy but great sadness dwells within most of them. There''s not much they can do with their low power and being surrounded bynds filled with dangerous things."

    "It truly is a sad situation," Noahmented meaning his words.

    The bartender remained silent at Noah''s words before bringing forth a small cup and filling it with beer. Beer that Noah would consider low quality. But it had a low concentration of mana so he could bear with it for a while before feeling the urge to puke.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What is a fine man like you with power far above the average level looking for in a town like this?" The bald man asked more optimistic than before.

    "Just traveling. I saw this ce on the map and felt curious about its location," Noah revealed, rather genuinely, while sipping the beer and cringing. He had only tasted their food and it was above average. The beer wasn''t. At least to him.

    ''It seems luxury life has made me soft,'' Noah grimaced inwardly, but kept a soft smile on the outside, he had required removing his face mask to drink and had seen that moveing long before.

    The barman seemed to be stunned by his appearance as he stood in shock for a few seconds before regaining hisposure. Noah''s face had also been seen by a few others and they almost couldn''t stop staring.

    "Now I understand why you have that on," the manmented, clearing his throat, still in a daze.

    "Yes," Noah responded sipping a bit more from the cup while giving the outlook that he was satisfied with it.

    "I honestly thought you had an ugly scar there or something," the bartender revealed with a slightly embarrassed smile.

    "I can imagine," Noah nodded his head slightly, the both of them falling into silence.

    "I am Diro, owner of this humble establishment," the bartender announced spreading his arms and catching the attention of those who had been focused on Noah''s tall and nicely dressed figure.

    "I am George, a traveler looking for interesting things," Noah announced with a soft smile and both of them fell into another long conversation, but to Noah''s slight annoyance Diro introduced others to Noah.

    He got their names and bits of their personalities in the hours of talks they engaged in. He even managed to learn certain rumors about the bandits since they seemed unable to stop talking about them.

    All in all he managed to enjoy himself there even if he didn''t like the crowd.

    Noah eventually leftte in the night, he had found a lodge at some point during his short tour of sorts in the town.

    Although the ce was run down it was sufficient for him.

    Noah got settled on the bed ready to rest for the night when the sound ofmotion could suddenly be heard.

    In the span of minutes, the whole town seemed to be awake, and he was forced to check it out. He had heard loud voicesing from the entrance of the town, filled by an aura well into the third tier.

    Noah had thought it was as a result of the guards, but stepping out of his lodge immediately brought the answer to him.

    "Oh," he muttered sitting on top of a building and gazing at the entrance of the town which had a people gathered around there, and there were individuals dressed in odd uniforms.

    "Today is the day they show up with the hostages," he muttered recalling Diro''s words and the words of the guards at the gate earlier that day.

    They were announcing something, and the people didn''t seem to like it.

 Chapter 415 415. SPEAK

    "This is only the asional checkups that we allow you! However, our leader has no wish to reduce his demands. You either pay up or watch your people die!" A man who had his face covered with a red cloth, and had a baggy red and ck robe on, announced.

    His voice sounded a bit cracked, and the upper portion of his face from his nose up had lines of stress that Noah could notice even from his position on the roof.

    The individuals whose words Noah had no interest in, had power within the peak of the middle stage, and the five others that came with him with the twelve hostages had simr levels.

    He had to be honest that he felt quite surprised by their power. Each one of them had an orange core that looked on the verge of bursting into the yellow stage. And although it wasn''t exactly spectacr, in a ce with such low levels, they were practically gods.

    Murmurs ofint filled that portion of the town. No one liked what the man was saying, but none of them had the power to do anything.

    That scene further confirmed to Noah that in that world only power mattered.

    "I wonder what will happen next," he giggled a bit watching those low leveled bandits y lords in front of the people.

    He had never considered helping them in any way, and that was still his take on the matter. He had onlye there out of curiosity. It didn''t matter if people were being dismembered, he wouldn''t act unless someone acted against him.

    The murmurs grew loud at some point, but a sudden orange sh followed by an explosion high in the sky disrupted that noise, and Noah watched with light amusement, a group of individuals make their way toward the bandits.

    The person at the forefront of the group of four had also been the catalyst of that firework, and he also had power in the higher stage.

    In a matter of seconds, there was pin-drop silence, and that group walked gracefully toward the bandits.

    ''I am aware of your annoyance towards this matter, but we must all maintainposure. There may be audiences who just arrived here watching. We don''t want to make a bad first impression," the middle-aged man, who still had youthful features exined, and Noah saw him nce in his direction even if he was rtively far away, and no other person had noticed him.

    A wide smile appeared on his face when the man continued his words as though he had not just hinted at the presence of a very powerful individual.

    "Who cares about manners in such a situation," Noahmented in a disappointed tone, changing positions.

    The man whom Noah now knew to be the town''s head, had a small conversation with the crowd and the bandits before the group left with the hostages.

    Noah had barely listened in on the conversation since he had been too busy changing spots in the town and having the town''s head find him.

    It was the closest Noah had gotten to hide-and-seek in a long while. He had fun messing with the man.

    Immediately after the bandits left, the man addressed the gathered crowd and gave them a speech aimed at refilling their spirits and motivation.

    ''He''s pretty good," Noah found himselfmenting while standing atop the peak of a certain roof, allowing the cool evening wind y with his face, clothes, and hair.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A few minutes after, the crowd began to disperse, until only the town head and his group of three lower stage tier 3''s were left.

    The four of them began their path toward where Noah was, and he couldn''t help but wonder if he would ever be spoken to. Honestly, he wished the man hadn''t approached him.

    Because after all four individuals disappeared from his line of sight, Noah caught a foreign presence traveling towards his position at high speed and he found himself turning to face the said man.

    "Good evening," Noah greeted still amused inwardly but his face held no emotion.

    "Good evening," the man responded. "I apologize that you had to see that. I''ve never seen you around here. Especially someone with your power,'' the expert performed a head bow.

    "Oh that. I managed to get a bit of detail about the situation. I''m not worried by it or anything," Noah exined dismissively.

    "I see," The town''s head muttered. "That means you must know that my daughter is in the hands of these bandits." A soft sigh left the man''s mouth when he saw Noah nod his head.

    "May I invite you to my abode? I desire to speak with you, Sir George," the town''s head revealed and a smile couldn''t help but appear on Noah''s face. It was small, however.

    "Sure. Lead the way," Noah announced even if he didn''t want to go. He simply did so to know where all this would end. His mind had begun to generate ideas.

    The town''s head being within the higher stage had no issue directly jumping off the building and sprinting towards his destination, with Noah following casually behind him.

    ''How is he so confident with a peak stage expert behind him,'' Noah wondered as they took many turns and went down a few streets. Their figures were untraceable by any of the citizens still on the streets.

    They eventually arrived in an area that was a bit elevated than the rest of the town, and on that plot ofnd was a nice-looking building. Not exactly extravagant, but definitely above the average of the town.

    It didn''t faze Noah however, even when they passed the gate surrounding the plot ofnd to walk into its wide court of lush grass, stone paths and two fountains pouring shining blue water.

    The town''s head who''s name Noah already knew from checking out his stats, led him past the ground floor up the stairs and into the top one.

    They walked past many doors and eventually the man led him into one.

    A nice orange office unfolded in Noah''s gaze and his eyes fell on the basic ck table directly liner to the door.

    "Please sit," the towns head gave the go-ahead, and Noah did just that. A weird silence unfolded between the duo at that juncture, but Noah wasn''t going to let awkwardness ruin his day.

 Chapter 416 416. LOUD

    "You have a nice house," Noahmented trying his best not to sound dry. And he seeded.

    "Please, don''t with the pleasantries. I''m certain you''ve seen better-looking houses," the town''s head waved his hand dismissing his words.

    "Will you like to have anything? I have wine," the man offered, looking for a way to get the expert before him on his good side.

    "No need. I just wasn''t to know what you wanted to speak to me about that you had toe to say it personally," Noah exined already understanding where their conversation would go. What else was troubling the man that he would need someone of Noah''s power?

    "Straight to the point, I see," the expert remarked. "Before I go on. I am Kius. Head to the town of Lilua." He stood to perform an official bow which Noah nodded at.

    "I am George. A normal traveler who got curious about this ce and decided to visit," Noah announced remaining seated.

    "I had heard of you from my guards and immediately thought to speak with you. I didn''t expect my personal guards to sight your figure on a rooftop." Kius exined returning to his seat.

    ''Oh so that''s what happened,'' Noah basically "Oh''d".

    "Now, onto the main topic," Kius paused for a few seconds before parting his lips to speak.

    "My daughter," Kius revealed, and his words confirmed Noah''s thoughts.

    "I am well aware that this is very sudden, but I ask for your help in raiding--" Kius couldn''tplete his words since Noah raised his palms to interrupt him.

    "No," Noah announced tantly.

    "I''m not interested in dealing with bandits that have been terrorizing your town. I only came here for one thing, and that Is to have a good time."

    "Fighting and killing them is useless to me as I don''t want it," he exined ready to leave.

    "I can pay you for your assistance," Kius chipped in, but Noah shook his head nkly.

    "It''s rumored that the leader of the bandit has the ability to disappear without casting a teleportation spell, especially at tier three. It''ll be too troublesome. Even If I can probably still kill him," Noah exined, keeping thest part of his sentence in his mind of course.

    Truth be told he could join in on the whole thing, but he simply didn''t want. At least as of then he didn''t

    "I can see that you''re not going to change your mind," Kius sighed, falling back on his chair as he had leaned forward to make his offer.

    "Yes," Noah responded rising.

    "I know I''m in no ce to advise someone who has the weight of a whole town on his shoulders. But you should have sought help or something at the earlier stages of this issue. Surely there would have been something done," Noah exined already approaching the door.

    Kius remained silent as if taking in his words.

    "Good night Town head. It was nice meeting you. I wish you a quick solution to your problem," Noah said exiting the office and finding his way out of that building.

    Noah moved. His sprint back to his lodge had been a short run, and when he arrived there, he simply went in through the window.

    Noahy on his bed and reviewed what just happened. The night had been a long one, and he needed closure. Heck, he had already begun considering leaving that ce.

    He couldn''t have the town''s head on his neck because of an issue his power was unable to deal with.

    "It seems he''s tried to pacify his people and the bandits," Noah muttered before shaking off any thought of actually helping. He would only do so out of curiosity, but his stance remained.

    He didn''t feel like helping.

    Noah eventually felt the darkness of sleep envelop his consciousness. He had a dreamless night, but a sound one.

    He awoke a few hours after sunrise and left his room to do more exploring.

    The town was actually big and its buildings weren''t muddled together meaning more structures across a wide area ofnd.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With his face half covered, he could move about with as much confidence as he could generate. Noah stopped at different establishments along the way stretching the amount of time he utilized in exploring.

    He eventually arrived at a particr portion of the town, however. And could only consider it the slums since it was cut off from the rest of the town by a great crack in the very terrain, and a bridge had to be built to get there.

    The people that lived there looked dirty most of the time, and their buildings looked subparpared to the ones in the nice portion of the town.

    Noah''s clean and tall figure received myriads of stares from both men and women, and of course children.

    Noah felt a bit of pity for the children in that area. Most looked underfed and were not tier 1''s.

    He couldn''t help but wonder how it felt being even below tier 1.

    From what he recalled reading in the library of his guild. A vast number of the poption, both adults and children never began a cultivation journey.

    And most of those who began never went past tier 3; assuming they had the right resources avable. Then most people never went past the peak of tier 2. So that level of power would be considered the average of the nation.

    The number of those that went past tier 3 and crossed into tier 4 further shrunk, and although the statistics of tier 5''s weren''t avable, he knew that it further plummeted.

    So it was more of a privilege being able to advance so fast. Many would do anything for what he had

    Being able to enter the fourth tier in just a year!

    The scene of low-leveled humans humbled Noah, and he found himself mesmerized in his exploration of that ce.

    Surprisingly, the state of that portion of the town wasn''tpletely bad, only that they were below the standard set by the well-to-do portion.

    There were bars scattered around the ce, and he visited some. Their beer tasted far from what Noah was used to, so he mostly had to puke them out of his system. Only In a non-violent way.

    Sundown had to arrive before anything unusual happened to Noah.

    A hooded individual about 5''4ft intentionally bumped into him. And how did he know it was intentional? Well, he had tried to steer off the person but they still made contact with him in the end. It was quite forced.

    "Watch where you''re going!" A female voice reached Noah''s ears, and he felt taken aback by the usation.

    "You bumped into me��" Noah countered, trailing off due to how weird that situation was.

    The girl removed her hood, allowing Noah to see her features.

    She was young. Noah believed she was no older than 16. Her hair was literally red, but also featured tinges of deep orange at its edge.

    She had an oval face, a pointed nose, and big round eyes sporting a pair of orange irises.

    She had tiny spots that stemmed from cheekbone to cheekbone, crossing her nose bridge.

    Despite her seeming maturity, she sounded younger than he believed she was, but that wasn''t the issue.

    "No, you did!" She eximed making sure her voice was as loud as possible.

    Noah took a step back as his eyes widened. People were staring, but no one was doing anything. Yet.

    "Keep your voice down," Noah spoke in a hushed tone, but her next words were even louder.

    "But it''s true!" She had intentionally yelled.

    ''No it''s not,'' Noah replied inwardly, and before she could make any more noise, their figures vanished from that area, and people scrambled in fear.

    Noah had simply grabbed her and ran. He had done so instinctively.

 Chapter 417 417. EROLIA

    Noah''s figure flickered into an alley, situated between two big buildings.

    He let go of the youngdy and watched her stagger backward, but ended up not falling.

    A sigh escaped his mouth as what he had done dawned on him. Had he been on Earth, he could be charged with a serious crime.

    ''Thank goodness I won''t have to face that,'' he rubbed his temples while casually watching the girl pull out a knife she had tucked away into her belt hidden by the ck cloak she had on.

    "What are you going to do with that?" Noah asked, his eyebrow raised slightly. He took note of her middle-stage tier 1 prowess, but it was nothingpared to him.

    He also took note of her stance. It wasn''t random, meaning she had some sort of training inbat. Then again, how wouldn''t she?

    She lived in a ce like that, not havingbat knowledge would be a big disadvantage.

    Her expression however made him want tough. It remained clear that she didn''t know what face to make in front of him. She probably hadn''t expected that turn of events.

    Noah watched her rush toward him with her knife aiming for his stomach, a rtively loud battle cry leaving her mouth as she drew near.

    He let hernd her attack, even if the knife crumbled upon impact with the fabric of his attire. He had long since stopped wearing normal clothing.

    To her level, even his attire was like steel.

    Noah shook his head and grabbed her wrist quite easily. In truth, her movements were sluggish to him even if she was moving as quickly as an athlete would on Earth.

    "Let go of me!" she grunted utilizing her left hand to deliver a punch that made her wince in pain.

    "You bumped into me first," Noah stated dryly, bringing her face to his level by raising her with the arm he grabbed.

    She kicked the air in an attempt to free herself of his vice-like grip. Noah made sure not to hurt her, however. He only felt amused by the turn of events.

    Shaking his head as he watched her struggle, Noah tapped his feet with just enough force to make the ground shatter upon contact.

    The sound of shattering earth echoed in that alleyway, and she immediately calmed after voicing a gasp. Her fear was now evident on her face.

    Noah sighed again. "I''m not going to hurt you," he stated letting go of her and watching her take a few steps backward.

    Her stance was defensive, but they meant nothing to his might.

    "Why did you bump into me, youngdy?" Noah voiced, cringing on the inside as he understood why higher leveled experts called him young.

    She remained silent, and Noah inspected her with the system.

    "Erolia?" He stated, and she widened her eyes in shock.

    "How do you know my name? Did you read my mind? I heard those above tiers one and two could do that," she stated frantically, her fearful expression now mixed with confusion and curiosity.

    Noah couldn''t begin to fathom how someone could hold that many emotions on their face, but he needed to address an issue in her words.

    "Who told you those higher than tier two could read minds?'' He asked taken aback by the statement. He was tier 3 and he definitely couldn''t do that.

    She remained quiet staring intently at him, causing him to furrow his brows in wonder.

    "It seems we''ve been lied to. This is a great discovery," she suddenly muttered out loud. Her countenance was that of disappointment. "Then how did you know my name?"

    It was Noah''s turn to remain silent, but he only did so for a few seconds before returning to the main subject.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "If you''re not going to tell me why you bumped into me I''ll be going now. Sorry for bringing you all the way here," Noah stated coldly turning to leave that ce.

    His words however alerted Erolia and she immediately spoke.

    "Please don''t go! And where is here?" She called out moving closer to him even if her eyes still held hesitation and fear.

    She was braver than most people Noah had met, however, so he more or less warmed up to her, mostly because she remained a child.

    "I brought you to the other side of the town. Can''t you tell from the buildings around you?" Noah pointed out and watched her mouth fall open.

    "What!" she screamed, making Noah frown in real annoyance.

    "I said you should keep your voice down," his tone spoke of his growing annoyance, and she covered her mouth with both her hands.

    Noah shook his head and turned to leave again when her figure dashed towards him to hold onto his robe.

    An eyebrow rose on his face as her figure stood an arm''s length from him, but her right hand held a pinch-full of his attire.

    She was shortpared to him. Noah was almost a full foot taller, and he was even far stronger.

    "Please," her voice had stopped being loud and it was almost a whisper, but he heard her plea clearly.

    Noah furrowed his brows. "How may I help you?" He asked unable to even begin to wonder what it was she wanted that he could give her.

    "I''ll only talk if you take me back to the other side. I''m ufortable here," She eyed their surroundings and her words contained a tone that spoke of hurt and even fear.

    Noah could only begin to wonder what had happened to make that portion of the town scary for her.

    ''Maybe discrimination,'' he thought suddenly experiencing a burst of anger. Which he calmed, before it could turn into something capable of killing her.

    Before she knew it, he pulled her close, leaped unto the roof of the building next to them and directly sprinted towards the slums of the town of Lilua.

    In mere seconds Noah stopped moving, and his figure appeared in another alley way, only this time the buildings were short, and looked subpar even from their paint and cracks.

    Noah let go of Erolia. She stumbled and fell in a sitting position, hissing in pain.

    "H... How do you do that," she stammered seemingly dizzy.

    "What do you want from me?" Noahmanded, ignoring her query.

    The girl stood up, dusted her clothes and turned serious.

    "I saw that you were new to this town, and also noticed that you have no aura," she began, unable to look him in the eyes, but he was okay with it.

    "Then I thought you would be useful for my n and I approached you."

    "Go straight to the point," Noah sighed.

    "Well... the thing Is," she suddenly went on her knees and ced her head on the ground in a know-towing posture.

    "I need you to help me rescue my brother and maybe other people from the bandits!" She announced quite loudly, her words managing to catch Noah by surprise.

 Chapter 418 418. CANES

    ''What the fuck is this?'' Noah grimaced inwardly, his figure taking two steps back at Erolia''s announcement.

    "It''s this same shit," he muttered making sure the youngdy didn''t hear him, or he would have shattered something within her. Not that he cared much. At least he didn''t at that point.

    "Look, kid," Noah tried to speak, but she cut him off. Annoying, but he let it.

    "I promise to serve you forever. I''ll be your personal servant if you want," she announced trying to make her offer enticing, but her strategy failed, even if they were sincere.

    "I don''t need a servant. There''s nothing I can possibly need from you," Noah exined nk-faced, waving off her offer.

    "Th�� then�� I''ll serve you how a woman does a man," she stammered even if her tone contained the exact amount of determination she began with.

    "I don''t need sex," Noah dismissed tantly.

    "Not from you. There are thousands of women who are to my liking. And they would do the same and more without asking anything of me in return." He exined, surprised that he could make that sentence without batting an eye.

    His words openly caused Erolia to fall into confusion as she didn''t know what to say anymore.

    "I�� I-" Her potential words were cut short by Noah''s.

    "Look, Erolia. I don''t want anything to do with the bandits. I''m sorry that your brother was taken by them, and truly I am. But I simply do not feel the need to get involved."

    "Your town''s head seems to have everything under control��"

    "No!" She yelled. "He doesn''t. He''s the one that sent him there. He''s the one who picked us as a scapegoat," she exined, her voice shaky and he could even hear an iing sob.

    Erolia raised her head, and Noah gazed at her teary eyes. A deep sigh exited his mouth at that point. The more she spoke the more inclined he was at considering getting involved.

    "I don''t understand any of what you said. But my decision still stands," Noah exined in a tone that sounded unsure, but also firm.

    He himself was a tad bit confused about his reluctance to the matter. He would have jumped into helping them only a few months ago.

    ''I guess I just want a bit of peace and quiet for a short while before returning to the guild,'' he concluded inwardly.

    "Please," she begged, tears now streaming down her face adorned with features that even Noah admitted were adorable. For someone her age she looked far above average in terms of cuteness, but her slightly underfed body could eventually be more evident and swallow up her features.

    Noah shook his head in both pity and firmness, after which he disappeared from her line of sight. Returning to his lodge in the main town.

    Noah paid for another night and reclined in the room. His hours of thought were about Erolia and her words.

    The part that the town''s head had used them as scapegoats really got his attention. He had now begun to doubt the beauty and friendliness of that town. All because of one girl''s words.

    Noah heaved a deep sigh at some point and returned to the tavern he had been to the other day.

    Diro had been d to see him. The other individuals he had spoken to were d also. Funny how they were already there even if it was only In the afternoon.

    He lost himself in the conversations they started, even if he mostly listened. The low leveled men were d to share their different stories with him.

    Apparently, there had been a time in the town, when situations were lighter than they were. No bandits had them in their grasp and they were free to do whatever they wanted as a town.

    Most of the stories were about adventures some of them had embarked on, and the types of women they had encountered also.

    Thetter topic had been the most discussed; unsurprisingly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah listened to their stories of fantasies fulfilled, and couldn''t help but shake his head at how vain they were. But he wondered if there were any differences between them and him.

    Noah had to bring the topic to something he was truly interested in, and that was of course the other side of the town.

    The air around the group of talking men suddenly went dark, leaving him wondering.

    They had been reluctant to say anything about that subject, but Noah persuaded them, and his view of the town underwent another change.

    The group talked of that part of Lilua like a curse. Everyone within it were unwanted based on their tone, but none of them said anything concerning the reason for that hatred.

    They all expertly steered away from the topic, and Noah knew better than to probe. So he didn''t.

    Their talks eventually returned to light and mundane topics, which Noah waspletely uninterested in, so he excused himself and left the establishment.

    Taking a light stroll of the area he tried to get a breath of fresh air. Which he did, but Kius appeared before him when he casually sat on a rooftop staring at the gradually darkening sky.

    "What?" Noah askedpletely annoyed by the intrusion, and his tone didn''t fail to possess the required intensity to inform the expert that he wasn''t weed there.

    "I have onlye to see how you are doing, sir George. Nothing else," Kius revealed simply standing on a tform of condensed mes.

    "There''s nothing that can hurt me here," Noah proimed confidently not even straightening his position to face the town''s head properly.

    "I''m totally fine."

    "I can see that. And I hope that doesn''t change," Kius bowed immediately taking his leave.

    Noah hissed at the leaving man swearing that if not for his position he would have injured the man.

    Noah spent a bit more time there, but Kius'' visit had ruined his mood since he knew what the man''s goal was.

    He returned to his lodge and fell on his bed to dive into a light sleep. That town was bing more and more interesting each day, and the next day would prove to hold simr surprises.

    Noah woke up to bangs on his door, and he cursed before answering the person.

    He had been informed that a group of youngsters requested that they saw him. He immediately, without doubt, knew who it was. But felt surprised that she woulde all the way there, and with a group at that!

    Noah had been reluctant to go, but when the man had mentioned that they were in trouble he had been forced to check it out.

    As they went down the three-story, Noah quite clearly began to hear the sound of people, and it sounded like a bigmotion.

    He arrived at the front of the lodge, and what he saw made him want to bring the whole building down in fury.

    Noahid eyes on group of four individuals. One girl and three boys.

    Their figuresy, bowing before the building''s entrance; as it had a transparent one, with their heads touching the ground.

    But that had not been the most shocking detail.

    "Why are they being flogged by a group of fully grown people?" Noah muttered seeing nothing less than twenty men and women raining down merciless strokes of thin wooden canes on the backs of the bowing children. But they refused to yield to that treatment.

 Chapter 419 419. WORST WAYS TO DIE

    A burst of anger so intense, that he thought he would explode filled Noah''s very existence. His anger threatened to overflow before that cruel scene of maltreatment, but he controlled it.

    Nevertheless, sparks appeared around his figure alerting the men and womenmitting that atrocity.

    Even the person that had led him there tried to flee, but Noah wasn''t having any of that.

    His consciousness unfolded in an instant and before any of them knew it, their figures crashed into the ground unwillingly.

    Noah''s eyes were cold, but he knew he couldn''t kill any of them just yet. Nevertheless, he exerted enough force to make sure that their faces caused cracks to spread on the street.

    Blood flowed out of the faces of his victims as he shattered their noses, but he had left the children untouched by his anger.

    "What is the meaning of this?!" His voice boomed forth causing the temperature to rise as sparks continued to umte around his figure even spreading to areas beyond the building.

    The town''s people were alerted, but those under the effects of his presence felt death hang over them.

    None of the was at the peak of tier 2, and even tier 3''s would find themselves unable to help themselves before him. They were more hopeless than ants.

    Noah''s pressure got more intense and muffled whimpers began to exit their figures a little more and their heads would explode into a shower of brain matter and blood.

    He could paint that street red if he so desired. And desired he did. But he couldn''t take such action due to the higher authority present. At least he wouldn''t until he was provoked to.

    Not that the town''s head was stronger than him, only that things could get troublesome for him now that he had seen his face.

    The four teenagers raised their heads at some point and the scene that surrounded them sent shivers down their spines.

    Noah caught sight of bleeding from all four of them and for reasons unknown to him he felt a heat rise within him that made his blood boil.

    He wanted someone to pay for what had happened so he voiced a simple question.

    Relieving them of his pressure he spoke before they could move.

    "If any of you so much as raises your head, I promise that would be thest action you take in this life." His voice was stone cold and dripped with his fury. It even contained a daring tone, one that spoke of how willing he was to carry out his words.

    No one moved even if they were in pain. Their bodies wouldn''t even listen to them. Noah''s presence overwhelmed their survival instincts. But he had told them a way not to end up dead. They would take it.

    "Who started this?'' Noah asked, his voice t but his tone containing untold anger. "You have seven seconds to answer or you all die," he added, creating an air of panic and tension.

    "The one responsible is to stand up slowly, or you all can point at the said person."

    "Six," he announced.

    No one moved. Not even a sound was made. Those watching from the edges of the street made sure to keep a safe distance. Some began to thank their stars that they had refrained from partaking in that activity, as it was already considered normal amongst them.

    "Five."

    "Four."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Three."

    Panic and fear merged to create the cake called horror. Its density was so great that it could be cut with a knife if one was avable.

    ''Do they think I''m bluffing,'' Noah considered inwardly as his mood plummeted. If only they how truly ruthless he could be. Especially in a ce where he was the greater power.

    "Two."

    Immediately Noah''s count reached that point, all hands except one pointed at a figure ironically at the center of the crowd. A woman. It had been so timely that it was as if they all agreed on when to reveal the person.

    His eyes were cold from anger.

    "Why didn''t you stand on time," Noah spoke and his voice caused chills to run down everyone''s spine, including the kids who had remained kneeling, watching the events y out.

    "I.. I.. I..." Thedy tried to speak but fear made her unable to express her thoughts. All her senses buzzed with danger. They were drunk in the feeling of terror.

    She had long since begun to regret her actions, but they were normal there. What was wrong? She had to punish a bunch of filth for stepping foot in their regions.

    "Give me a reason why I shouldn''t do something rash?" He asked eager to show that his threats were not empty.

    His words made thedy''s eyes widen in fear and she suddenly regained her confidence, and with that event came a barrage of words that Noah only considered as disgusting.

    "Why should they havee? It was their fault that they disobeyed the one silent rule held in this ce! I should be thanked for suggesting their punishment! Filth like them shouldn''t be allowed in our midst! They should go back to wherever hell-hole they crawled out from!..."

    Thedy razed like a mad woman. And truly she had be one. Even her eyes shone with a light of madness that seemed to run deep into her very soul.

    Her frantic words continued to de-silence the streets as no one else was speaking except her. Her voice reached the ends of the street and everyone became somber.

    Noah had enough of her however, when she asked a simple question. But in a defying, even mocking tone.

    "What are you going to do about it? Not even our town''s-" Noah did not let her finish her words, since five spears made of densely condensed air materialized around him before proceeding to impale the woman. Violently shutting her up.

    The event made everyone watching jerk in fear and horror as though they had been the ones struck by the spells.

    Before anyone knew it, a ball of yellow sparks containing Noah''s full might at the peak of tier 3 floated towards thedy. Immediately it touched her, she burnt rapidly.

    Noah contained the event in a thick ball of wind however, as she did not even have the chance to scream. Soon, her figure became less than ash which he blew away with his control over the wind.

    In mere seconds a silence that seemed to fill the whole world unfolded before the stunned eyes of the onlookers.

    Noah had literally wiped her out of existence without batting an eye. He had not even minded the fact that the teenagers were there. He had killed her in what could be considered one of the worst ways to die.

    Terror filled the town from that moment onward, and Noah received his guests, but decided to take them back to the other area within the town seeing as they remained ufortable.

 Chapter 420 420. AALD

    "Why did youe all the way over to the other side when you knew you''d be beaten?" Noah asked the group of four teenagers sitting before him.

    There were three boys and Erolia. They had led him to that house in the slums and he couldn''t help but think of how bad their living condition was.

    Erolia chose to speak, but her voice had still been shaky since memories of what Noah had done filled her mind.

    "It was my idea and my fault," she tried to take the me, but one of the boys spoke up.

    "We all knew what we were stepping into, but we followed anyway," the young man stared at Noah with fierceness in his eyes, before switching his focus to Erolia.

    "You can''t take the me, we followed of our own ord," he stated exchanging nces with the two boys and they nodded.

    "But I''m the one who-" Noah wouldn''t let Erolia continue, since he knew where it would end. The young man whose name was Aald had said all he needed to know.

    Aald was a tall young man who looked about the same age as Erolia, the same could be said for the other two boys.

    He was skinny and tall, but Noah could tell that he had far more than the eyes could see.

    He also had a peak tier-1 prowess, which was incredible for someone at his age. He had deep brown hair and was tanned due to extensive periods under the sun.

    The young man had big dark eyes that spoke of intelligence and also pain. He was calctive and could be considered the brain of the group, and probably also its power since he was the strongest.

    In terms of looks, he was certainly above average. His deep voice further emphasized his masculinity, and he seemed to have a thing for Erolia.

    The other two boys weren''t far behind too. Both were skinny, with one being less taller than all three of them.

    The short one went by the name Jor, he had short ck hair and was mostly silent.

    The other boy had a height close to Aald''s. Featured long ck hair and also held a prowess at the middle stage of tier 1. Same with Jor and Erolia, his name was Roy.

    They all looked like close friends and for that Noah couldn''t begin to chastise them. They clearly had each other''s backs.

    "Is it about yesterday?" Noah asked. "Is that why you came?" He spoke even if he knew the answer too.

    Erolia nodded slowly, and Noah heaved a deep sigh.

    "You could have gotten yourself more beaten than you were. Or even worse, killed," he gasped at the mere thought of it. Had that happened, he would have done things he wouldter regret.

    "I know. That''s why I asked them not toe... I''m willing to bear any type of punishment as long as you end up helping us," she bowed before him, and the other did the same thing. "We even have a n already."

    Noah furrowed his brows deeply. Her words had reached him. He even began to feel bad. Surely he had the type of power to raid and destroy the bandits, not even a tier 4 could properly threaten him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He was about to give a response when the door into that ce flew open and an old man burst into the room, eyes teary and worry-filled.

    "Kids!" He had yelled when heid eyes on all four of them, but seeing that they were bowed he nced in Noah''s direction and froze.

    The man pulled out a knife and Noah almostughed, but Erolia and the rest rushed forward yelling how he wasn''t the bad guy.

    They had seen how cold-blooded he could be. They wouldn''t let the man fall into the same circumstance.

    "Are you the guardian of these children?" Noah asked standing up and seeing fear flicker across the man''s bearded face. All his hair had gone gray and Noah couldn''t help but wonder how old he was since he held power at the top of the lower stage of tier 2.

    "Yes," the man responded, his knife still out. Noah on the other hand wasn''t offended by it, he would do the same if he were in the man''s position.

    "You should watch their movements. They almost got themselves killed," he spoke in a hiss-like tone. He was that annoyed about the situation.

    "Where are you going!" Erolia cried out seeing as Noah wanted to approach the exit. Her eyes were frantic and teary, and her voice shaky.

    "Don''t worry," Noah waved her worry off. He wasn''t going to allow their efforts result to nothing. He wasn''t that bad They were probably more courageous than he had been at simr levels of strength.

    "I''ll be back here tomorrow, for now, rest," He exined. "Also get that n of yours in good shape since we''ll be needing it," Noah added looming over here before sweeping his gaze on the others.

    "Make sure they don''t do anything that would get them killed," Noah spoke to the old man, but his eyes also darted to Aald and both individuals nodded.

    "Does that mean you''ve agreed to help us?" Erolia pointed out, her voice shaky from the tears she tried to keep from spilling.

    Noah heaved a deep sigh, feeling the urge to ce his hand on her head, and he did. "Yes," he stated in a tone that managed to reassure everyone present.

    "There are a few matters I have to take care of first," He announced exiting the building and vanishing from their sight.

    The children slept well that night, knowing that an extraordinary expert had promised to help them carry out their ns. There was even excitement.

    Noah on the other hand had once again been visited by the town''s head, and the although the man had kept his anger in wraps, Noah could still feel it during their conversation.

    Their exchange of words had mostly been Noah expressing his displeasure about the event, while Kius spoke about how many issues Noah''s actions had caused.

    He did so in a very polite manner, however. Noah was still incredibly stronger than him, His instincts told him that only death awaited him if they ever fought.

    "Your town is under the rule of bandits, basically. Some person dying shouldn''t be your main concern," Noah hadmented at some point, but he had done so in an honest tone. Kius couldn''t pick any offense at that point and left.

    Noah sensed the man''s anger was great, but he had not apologized since his next actions would benefit him too. Or so he had thought.

 Chapter 421 421. VILE BASTARD

    "First of all, how did you even get all this information," Noah found himself eximing as the kids exined their n, and there were even notes of their sighting and a small map avable.

    The kids went on to tell him about their weeks f nning and how close they had been to getting caught multiple times.

    Noah had to admit that their n was solid, only that they needed the right person to help them carry it on.

    Noah had all the information he could need, the only info their ncked was details about the inside of the base of the bandits.

    Apart from that everything was avable, even the shifts of those guarding the entrance to the hideout and what hours they usually went in and out.

    Apparently, the hideout of the bandits was an underground cave, in which they had built adder to allow entry and exit.

    It was somewhere within the forest that surrounded the town, but they had an urate map to get there and even perimeters around it.

    They provided the type of information anyone could require, and they achieved this at their young ages.

    As far as Noah was concerned they were geniuses in terms of remaining unknown, even if their targets were those in the third tier.

    "How did you even remain unnoticed by them?" Noah asked the teens sitting around the table before him at some point, and Aald chose to exin.

    "I believe they weren''t expecting anyone out level. And even if they were, we had kept a safe distance of about 500m away from them hidden in covers of leaves.

    "An object that allowed us to watch from far away was also avable so it was pretty easy. We did shifts for whole weeks to map out their behavior. And for tier 3''s they are prettyckluster," the young man exined throwing a shade of disdain as he recalled the experts.

    "Impressive," Noah muttered. "But incredibly dangerous. Tier 3''s can keep their focus on kilometers around them, you could have been killed," Noah furrowed his brows ncing at the old man in the corner of the house listening to them with a dark expression.

    "It''s shocking that you were never caught," Noah remarked unable to believe that tier 3''s could be that bad at their jobs.

    The room went silent at his words, however, and Aald''s voice rang out to correct Noah''s words.

    "We never said we were never caught... It was only once tho, and that was thest time we''ve had the chance to return there," Aald exined, his expression as downcast as the others.

    "We were found out on our way back home and had been unable to escape them," Erolia''s voice rang out this time around.

    ? "That''s how we lost my brother. The vige head offered him to the bandits, but it was only a way to silence those in this area. I know it because he had a smile on his face." Her face twisted in pain and anger.

    Noah remained silent before her words and the others did too.

    Before he knew it tears streamed down her face, and she ran out of the room, Aald following closely beside her.

    An awkward air filled the room as the expression on the faces of Jor and Roy. They soon stood and left the room, leaving the old man and Noah.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A sigh exited Noah''s mouth at that point, he honestly didn''t know how to rte to their pain, so he remained silent.

    "Aren''t they a bunch of uniqueness," The old man said at some point pulling Noah''s attention to himself.

    Noah remained silent before the man''s words, he seemed to be in deep thought as he said those words.

    "I don''t know you sir Geroge, but I thank you for showing them kindness. In this town it''s hard to find especially due to our background," the man spoke, deep gratitude in his voice.

    "Why are those across the bridge treated differently?" Noah asked deeply interested in that topic.

    The old man sighed before leaving the window toe sit before Noah.

    "I''ve been in this town for a bit over seventy years, more time than even the town''s head has ruled this ce. But I wasn''t an indigen of this ce and had been a refugee from an event that happened around that time."

    "The town head of that time had been kind enough to give the empty area which we had utilized to our bests."

    "Fast forward exactly a decadeter and the people on the other side of the crack began to envy us for our productivity. We were only a bit more than two thousand, but in that time we had managed to add huge value to the town Unfortunately man will always be man," the man shook his head as his eyes flickered with buried memories.

    "A fight broke out during an exchange of products as we had mostly dealt with crop products. It escted into something that imed the lives of hundreds of those from the other side, but we lost a smaller amount."

    "The towns head of that time had intervened but had been injured fatally since he had been a peak stage tier 2. He died and his death made us fall into guilt."

    "Hatred festered among the hearts of those from the town and we had to spend the next thirty years without a clear leader until the royals appointed someone to function as one. Kius."

    "The bastard has caused nastier problems for us, like encouraging the discrimination, and some of us have been killed as a result but no punishments hade to the perpatrators," The man sighed.

    "More and more of these atrocities were allowed and it soon deterioated into what you witnessed."

    "Actually the only reason I believe she had thought to approach you was because you crossed the bridge and came here."

    "No one from the other sidees and simply explores. We even have a path that allows us out of the town," the man chuckled a bit.

    Noah took in all he had said with a furrowed brow, he still had a few questions about the story.

    "Why don''t you just leave? Nothing is exactly stopping you," Noah pointed out.

    The old man chuckled a bit at Noah''s words before turning serious again.

    "He''s had us trapped. We even have tags on us. We can''t leave this ce without him knowing. The vile bastard wants us to all die in here," the man revealed and the air around them turned hot, and it was only as a result of the man''s fire affinitying to y.

 Chapter 422 422. DEFIANCE

    "This is oppression," Even Noah felt forced to speak. Things had gone out of hand just because of an event more than half a century prior.

    "Unfortunately there''s nothing we can do. He brought individuals with tier 3 power, and we have no way of doing anything against him."

    "He cut off all types of cultivation manuals and any martial arts, or magic items. We were searched many times until truly no one could hide any of it," The man sighed.

    "There are many individuals like me. We were unable to increase in strength but we try to teach the youngsters anything we can still grasp. It''s hard, but it''s worth it. These children don''t know life outside here. I desperately want to do that." The man paused.

    ''But you don''t have the power to," Nahpleted his words heaving his won sigh.

    Things were different now that he had gotten all that information. He had stopped thinking the town''s head was as decent as Jon had.

    "I''ll help rescue her brother, after that maybe I can do something about you guys leaving," Noah spoke unsure of his ns.

    "Without the bandits, he would be able to take any legal action he wants. That would be dangerous waters," Noah muttered out loud.

    ''I might have to sneak them out,'' Noah thought not finding that oue as a bad one.

    "What about their parents," Noah asked even if he expected a sad story.

    "The bandits imed their lives when they first raided the town," The old man stated shaking his head in pity.

    "It''s only been a few months, but since I had known them since they were babies I could easily bring them into my care, but all obviously isn''t well.

    "I go hunting tier 2 beasts, but my ie is cut due to rules from the town''s head."

    "We are only allowed to sell to the merchants within the town who then travel about to sell it. There''s still a lot of trade that happens here, but we get the short end of the stick."

    "I''ve considered running away during the past few months but I can''t leave them alone. I won''t die In peace if I did such," the old man chuckled with a light of sadness in his brown eyes.

    Noah remained silent at that point, and before they could continue their words, the kids entered, and Erolia looked better, She even had a smile on her face.

    Noah immediately switched his tone to something less depressing.

    "Who wants to eat?" He asked waving his hand to bring out the table he had gotten from Riveta. He had asked for one since he had taken lots of her food.

    Noah watched their eyes begin to shine when he waved his hand and filled the table with all sorts of mouth-watering delicacies.

    None of them moved however, they simply switched gazes between him and the table full of food.

    "You can have your fill. You don''t want to know the amount of food I have stored," he smiled, meaning thest part of his words.

    Riveta had made him eat twice in a day during the days he had stayed with her before finally leaving. The dummies had also prepared banquets for him every time he asked for food. And he had done so every day.

    It seemed they had been set to cook that much every time.

    Noah knew he could spend a whole month eating to his fill and he still wouldn''t finish his stored food.

    The four of them and the old man, whose name was Herald dug into the food, and so did Noah, but he mostly enjoyed them east while having fun.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Something about that scene reminded him of something he had once longed for.

    He found himself taking a liking to the kids more and more.

    Noah had shocked to find that they ended up clearing the table. He didn''t mind, however, and set out after about an hourter.

    He had actually gone to check out the area in which the bandits stayed. He made sure to remain a safe distance so that he was not seen, since he knew they couldn''t feel his presence due to the bracelet.

    The map provided by the kids had been urate. And what they had described when they werest there was still all he saw from his position.

    He returned to his lodge at some point, but his presence caused fear to remain evident on the face of the owner of that own the building, so much so that he asked him not to pay, even if he insisted.

    He didn''t want to owe any of them. They had stopped being the friendly people he once thought they were and now felt corrupted.

    The night went by pretty quickly, and Noah returned to Erolia and the others to finalize the n.

    He would not act however until the next day, and he had chosen only her to follow him into the den of the bandits so she could reunite with her brother. Noah had only agreed to hering because he didn''t know her brother looked since there were other children too.

    Noah began to get stares every time he walked the streets of the good portion of the town.

    The stares were mostly out of fear. But he felt hostility amongst some.

    They couldn''t touch him of course, and even if he had his mask on, his expression remained mocking since he could spot such individuals, and shatter their confidence by ring at them.

    Noah visited Diro''s tavern. The man had not been distant like the others, but he kept advising Noah to stay away from the kids.

    Noah left the tavern early because of that. And in his way doing his own thing. A group of three individuals had rushed towards him. Eyes filled with defiance.

    One of them being a man who had tried to attack, but his fist had smashed into Noah''s mental consciousness. It felt like a literal wall.

    From the man''s words which hade in screams, he had apparently been in a rtionship with the woman Noah ended.

    The twodies were apparently her sisters, and their cries were genuine, but Noah felt nothing before them.

    After all, any of them would join in the act of the cruelness. They weren''t innocent. And although he wasn''t in the position to judge, he had the power to do whatever he wanted. But even he didn''t go about oppressing people.

    After living with a tier 5 for a while such actions felt meaningless. Heck they were childish to him now that he thought of it.

    Noah had shoved them to the side with his consciousness.

    "Come back when you can really do something," his voice had been cold and his tone mocking, but silently furious.

    The insults they hurled at him met a cold heart, and he had simply walked away.

    The next day eventually arrived, and Noah returned to the slums to pick Erolia up while going over his instructions again. They would infiltrate the hideout at midnight.

 Chapter 423 423. ENTRANCE

    "What is this?" Noah''s voice sounded skeptical. His eyes scanned Erolia''s figure from top to bottom and he swallowed hard.

    "It''s the closest to a magical armor that I know. Gramps had someone secretly make it."

    "What don''t you like it?" Erolia furrowed her brows inspecting the body armor she had on.

    "It''s not that," Noah replied furrowing his brows.

    "You are well aware that we''ll be amid tier 3''s. Your armor is useless. One attack is all they need to end you. Only armor on that level can help you," he exined and saw fear flicker over her face.

    He wouldn''t hold back on reminding her how dangerous it was to follow him.

    "Nevertheless you have me on your side. What we are about to do would be incredibly hard for someone other than me except they were past tier 3," he announced calmly even if his words carried pride.

    "Ah... I see," Erolia muttered seeing the other enter the room. Their faces were somber and they soon came to surround her.

    "I advise taking it off since it might weigh you down," Noahmented taking note of the metallic chest piece.

    The armor looked nice, as it was mostly made of leather. However, the fact that it featured metal parts, made it disadvantageous to wear in battle.

    Erolia furrowed her brows at his words, and so did the others, but she nodded and went in to change.

    She soon returned with her normal attire, but she looked downcast about it.

    "Don''t forget we''re going to rescue your brother I won''t even take you with m if I knew him," Noah pointed out as Herald entered looking a bit worried.

    They had a short conversation before Noah eventually considered it the right time to leave.

    It waste into the night, and the stillness of silence filled the entire town as everyone had gone to sleep. That scene made Noah wonder what was going on in the Divine lightning city. It had been a while since he had been therest.

    He figured when he left that town he would immediately return to the guild.

    "Wish me luck," Erolia waved in a hushed tone while she went to meet Noah who already stood outside of their building.

    The others peeked through the window, while only Herald came outside.

    "What do we do now?" Erolia asked, lightly holding on to her cloak. It was a much shorter one thanst time, which would allow her to move without worrying about it being caught in something.

    She had her hood on, to hide her face.

    "You just try not to puke. I''ll do the rest," Noah muttered pulling her figure closer after which both of them vanished from the sight of the teens and the old man.

    The event had startled them, but it only made gasps of astonishment exit their mouths.

    Noah being the higher-stage cultivator that he was could bypass the sense of the guards just like he had done the other day.

    He held Erolia close to his body with his right arm while making sure his mental wave protected her weak body from whatever damage it could receive from moving that quickly.

    His and her figure eventually arrived in a spot southwest of the town.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Trees surround them as they had returned to thick vegetation, but a path of sorts existed before them this time around.

    Noah could see the torches the two guards of the underground hideout hung to get clear visuals of their environment. They were pretty rxed, however.

    His figure crouched and although it took Erolia a few seconds to regain her bnce she immediately crouched when she did.

    "You''ll do as I told you," Noah spoke in a hushed tone, and Erolia nodded with conviction in her eyes, but also excitement. She was bout to witness the might of Sir George.

    Noah focused his gaze on the ming torches in the distance, and couldn''t help but notice that a barrier had been set around the close perimeters of the hideout.

    He had noticed it the other day and had thought of ways to deal with it. Unfortunately, only one n coulde to mind even if it went against his desire to go in as silent as he could.

    Due to hisck of expertise in other skills, only brute force could get him what he wanted, and since the barrier was only at the peak of the third stage, he could destroy it.

    Noah took a deep breath before letting it out in one go. His surroundings instantly slowed down before his gaze.

    Sparks tried to umte around his body, but Noah knew he wouldn''t run so he suppressed them to not give away their position.

    ncing back at Erolia''s still figure, whose gaze was still on the entrance in the distance, he shook his head and began to walk forward.

    Having already gotten sued to his peak tier 3 power, thanks to the spars with the tier 4 dummies, Noah could simply stroll towards the hideout without suddenly running.

    It took a lot of focus to not burst forth and only move at a seemingly normal pace. Not only did it exhaust his ficus, but it also tasked his core. However thanks to its expansive content, it was nothing.

    Noah arrived at a certain point towards the entrance, and his instincts flickered.

    Immediately halting his steps, Noah raised his palm, and watched a blue barrier flicker into existence.

    It felt like a wall, one that would pose trouble to anyone who wasn''t at his level.

    "Here goes nothing," He muttered turning serious.

    Noah raised his retracted his right arm as deep yellow parks began to flicker slowly around that limb. He was empowering it for the move toe.

    When it felt like his empowerment had reached its peak, Noah unleashed the full might that arm could muster.

    Immediately his fist connected with the blue wall of transparent light, he watched as crack spread forth, as they were quick even to his mind.

    A wide smile shone on his face at that point. His attack had made no sound to hims since he was traveling faster than round could.

    Noah moved forward. The guards had not even began to react to the crumbling barrier, so he had time to bash both their heads with cudgel, return to Erolia, pick her up and jump down the stabilized hole leading underground.

    Everything had happened almost instantly. So much so that it wasn''t until Noah had gotten inside the hideout that the leader was alerted of the destroyed barrier.

    The next series of events would prove to hold even more shock of the man.

 Chapter 424 424. CURRENT

    "Wow this ce is big," Noah felt forced to admit walking down a well-lit underground tunnel.

    Its surface was solid stone, and there were ming torches hung on both sides of the tunnel making it well-lit.

    Erolia walked closer to him, and her eyes could not hold any more fear than she revealed. When she suddenly blinked to find herself within the underground hideout, a scream had almost left her mouth.

    However, being the smart and proactive person she was, she had covered her mouth immediately after she saw Noah''s face.

    However, she didn''t seem to have the same confidence she had in his presence before, even if they had not encountered any of the bandits just yet. Sooner orter they would.

    And soon the sound of men yelling orders and hard soles connecting with the ground reached their ears.

    Panic spread on Erolia''s face, but a wide smile appeared on Noah''s instead. The girl saw this and moved closer to him.

    Noah continued to walk as if nothing less than seven men in the middle stage weren''t heading for them since that tunnel led to the open area that featured the hole anddder out of that ce.

    Someone finally burst into the tunnel.

    The man''s eyes widened as he tried to alert his colleagues, but his world went dark, but literally, since Noah had snuffed out the light of the torches, and figuratively since his head had been bashed before he could speak.

    The individual died on the spot. All he had seen was a golden sh before his death.

    In quick session to the first person, Noah moved forward to bash the heads of the second third fourth fifth, sixth and seventh person.

    He had unfolded his consciousness, so their figures were as clear as day even in the darkness.

    The sickening thud of metal crashing into the bone beneath walls of thick flesh resounded in the tunnels close to that one, and the faces of thoseing went cold.

    Noah finished off the seven and stored both their cores and bodies before creating light with a ball of condensed sparks.

    Erolia had been left in her position and she took a few steps back when all she could see was the yellow ball of energy. It got brighter and Noah''s face appeared calming her down.

    "Come on," Noah called out in a hushed tone. "Our presence has already been noticed by them. We''re moving to the next phase of the n," Noah exined as she ran toward him, then tier figures disappeared.

    Noah was quick. Far quicker than those bandits could follow so what should have been a fight turned into a massacre.

    Middle-staged cultivators in the third tier were being killed like ants, and they never even saw the person who killed them.

    Noah carried Erolia in one arm while the other left a trail of dead bodies which further left rails of orange light as the cores of the cultivators shot Toward Noah and he stored them.

    Cultivators stopped appearing when Noah ad killed about twenty in number. Most had been middle-staged individuals while some had been lower-stage.

    "I expected more," Noah muttereding to a halt due to the higher leveled threat he had sensed.

    It would seem they had reached their target which was at the end of the tunnel they traversed.

    Noah could see a series of bars and sight movement from within them.

    However, he could also sense the presence of someone within the higher stage of the third tier, but at its peak.

    The person felt ready to burst into the next stage of power. But something was holding them back.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Who are you?" A male voice echoed in the tunnel causing Erolia to flinch ad hide behind him.

    Why have youe and killed most of my underlings," the person sounded furious about that event, but he could only talk from a spot in the tunnel.

    Noah remained silent while his consciousness worked overtime to find the person.

    The entire hideout appeared in his mind at that point, but other than the cluster of individuals In the bars before him and the series of experts hiding at different locations within the other four tunnels but weren''t at the level he sensed, there was nothing.

    "Why are you hiding? Come out and ask me that question," Noah replied allowing his mental waves to carry his voice to every part that they reached.

    Noah watched closely for any movement, but only the bandits within the lower stage now existed, so he could simply cause bolts of lighting to strike them.

    And he did. Noah killed exactly eleven experts in the lower stage, and had their cores shot toward him from the different positions of the bodies.

    He could only manage that disy of power due to his higherprehension level, and also thanks to far wider mind.

    His action seemed to have spark incredible anger from the leader of the bandits. After all he had effectively wiped out all of his underlings, at record timing.

    "You bastard," the voice sounded closer than before.

    Noah''s eyes sharpened as he finally found out he position of the expert.

    ''Slimy bastard,'' Noah eximed inwardly turning to pull Erolia closer to him, after whi8ch he raised his hand and the rest of the tunnel fell into chaos.

    Noah had unleashed nothing less than fifty bolts of lightning containing higher stage prowess. The very walls and ceiling couldn''t help but cave-in as a result.

    Right before he had poured energy into his attacks, Noah had caught sight of a figure just about to reach Erolia''s figure when blinding yellow light followed by the roaring of mighty thunder shook everything.

    Noah dashed backwards with Erolia in his hold.

    He saw that the tunnels ceiling would copse on them no matter what, so he was forced to crouch and take the full brunt of the event, even if it did nothing more than annoy him.

    Thankfully the event hadn''t reached the caged people or else he would have killed them.

    Noah felt his instincts tingle when he shrugged the heap of charred debris that had tried to bury the both of them.

    He threw Erolia towards the safe areas the raise his hand to grab hold the spikes that had aimed for his head.

    He felt pain trickle into his mind however, when he realized that seven other spikes that embedded themselves in his body. Or at least they had tried to.

    Their pointy structures had only gone past his skin, leaving superficial injuries.

    Noah clicked his tongue and shrugged the spikes, but a fist appeared from the cloud of dust.

    He caught it, and with a series of quick movements shattered the mans entire arm, before allowing erratic sparks travel down that limb.

    An explosion of sorts happened at that point, but Noah felt the man''s arm slip out of his grip.

    "You fucking bastard!" A voice dripping with murderous intent exploded in front to Noah, and the event was quickly followed by a river of water which buried Noah in its moving current.

 Chapter 425 425. BEAUTIFUL

    Noah nted his feet on the ground, trying to maintain his position, but the ground also became loose forcing him to be pushed back.

    Noah uttered a curse when he realized that Erolia and the caged individuals would be affected by the water.

    To his shock, however, he found that the water did not go past a certain point, rather, he felt it begin to spin and he immediately knew what was toe.

    Destruction unfolded forth at that point as the water became a swirling mass capable of shaving the walls of that ce.

    Thend surface above them saw huge cracks opening in its structure and soon it came crashing down into the spinning mass.

    Noah swore when that event reached his mind since the earth around the spinning mass transformed into pointy objects that dived into the water, targeting his vulnerable figure.

    They never touched Noah however, but rather an explosion of power erupted from the twirling mass sending it flying everywhere. It was the same for the pointy rocks.

    Noah''s figure appeared before the man who stood no less than ten meters from where the water had been. The man looked on the verge of dying as his entire body was ck from electrocution. His left arm was only bones and strands of charred flesh.

    His head barely had any skin on it. It was surprising that he was even alive, but it was also clear that it wouldn''t remain like that for a long time.

    "That was pretty annoying," Noah''s cold and distant voice reached the man, but also reached the end of the tunnel.

    Fear spread in the expert''s mind as he gave up on defeating the monster before him to suddenly vanish from his spot, which in turn was the same time Noah unleashed the first form and caused an earthquake to shake the entirety of the undergroundir.

    The power in his execution made the unaffected portions of the hideout experience cracks, meaning that Erolia and the hostages were now in danger.

    Noah moved, however, and found that the girl had been trying to open the cage, but it was reinforced with mana she couldn''t break.

    "Move back," Noahmanded the people behind the bare frantic to escape, and they did so with immediate effects.

    He kicked the bars and it directly turned to dusk. A shocking turn of events, but they had no time to marvel at the power that had been in the kick.

    Noah quickly opened the two bars and caught sight of a youngdy who unlike the rest looked healthy and well-fed.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t focus on her too much, since that ce wasing down on them.

    Noah unfolded his consciousness and forcefully gathered them together.

    ''I guess that''s her brother,'' Noah noted seeing Erolia grab hold of a young boy, her eyes already red from tears.

    Creating a barrier of wind above them which effectively diverted any falling rocks small in size, Noah wondered how he would get everyone out of there, and he quickly got it.

    There were exactly sixty individuals resent under his mental waves, including Erolia.

    None of them had power in the third tier, so he could quite easily lift their figures with his consciousness. And he did just that.

    Applying that force without prior announcement caused them to fear, but they had more to worry about since Noah directly sent their figures towards areas outside of the ruins that his mental waves touched.

    In mere seconds he was left alone and directly leaped out of that ce then everything caved in revealing the sheer space that had existed beneath the visible surface.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah reached them in no time as he had kept their figures floating.

    ''I didn''t n for this, but I guess it was t be expected. She did talk about rescuing others,'' Noah thought letting them down carefully.

    They were now out of the danger he could let them walk to the vige.

    Immediately he set them down Erolia rushed towards him but before she reached him she fell on the floor and pushed her face into the ground.

    "Thank you!" she screamed as the ground muffled her voice and the tears that had made her throat shaky.

    Her brother who looked no older than 8 did the same while the others simply watched.

    Very soon they all began to murmur their thanks, tears filling their eyes, not even the men that were there escaped the tears.

    Noah felt taken aback by that scene, they looked like worshipers praising their god, and for that moment he was the only thing close to a savior for them.

    "You can all stop," Noah announced at some point, taking note of the well-fed and even-dresseddy. He already guessed she was the town''s head''s daughter as she had a resemnce to Kius, but he honestly hadn''t expected that state as she looked better off than the others.

    They all immediately went silent at his words and he nodded his head.

    "I''m sure you all know the path forward. As we will be making our way to the town," Noah exined and they listened attentively.

    His gaze swept the group surrounded by trees, but the silver light of the moon remained strong enough to piece those branches to get there.

    Unknown to Noah he stood below a spot that featured a clear stream on silver light washing over him and making his white hair sparkle.

    As he spoke the people including even Erolia could not help but get mesmerized by the scene, it was nothing short of magical. The man before them seemed to be acknowledged by even his surrounding.

    It was beautiful. If only they knew what was toe.

    After speaking ot them Noah made them begin their journey to the town, while he stayed at the back of the group his consciousness surrounding them.

    He called thedy whom he thought to be the town''s heads daughter and held a light conversation with her.

    She was a beautiful youngdy with ck wavy hair that reached her back. Here eyes were deep brown, her face oval but have a slightly pointy chin, her nose slim and her eyebrows holding a bit of volume but remaining thin at its edges.

    She had a reserved look, but he could see energy boiling in her eyes. To crown it all up she was at the peak of the second tier.

    Reminding Noah that there were many people whom he had met that were still in that level. And it would take them years, decades even, to reach his level.

    Their conversation end when the gate to the town was within the visual ranges of those there.

    Noah sent her forward, then grabbed both Erolia and her brother to immediately vanish from that position.

 Chapter 426 426. INVITATION

    "You should not leave your house for a few days. Lay low," Noah suggested immediately after his figure appeared before the building Erolia lived in.

    Their presence startled those on the inside as shock filled their minds due to how quickly the duo now a trio, had returned.

    If only they knew that the real battles had ended in less than thirty minutes of them reaching the bandit''s hideout. The hour extra had only been as a result of the walking tired people.

    Erolia and her younger brother nodded frantically, while Herald rushed outside with an expression that expressed his joy.

    The others rushed outside too, but Noah ushered them in. He still feared that the head of the bandits was alive.

    "I doubt that," he muttered arriving inside the bedroom he had lodged in. It was still the same one he had been using for the past couple of days.

    "He looked dead already. Only alive by sheer willpower," he added to his reasoning. Nevertheless, he couldn''t be certain unless he was. He would need to wait a bit before arriving at that state of mind.

    The sound ofmotion soon got to the gate those closer to the town''s entrance were awakened.

    Astonishment was the first emotion to fill the air, followed by even more astonishment, as no one in their wildest dreams had expected them to return. Free.

    The event spread like wildfire but most stayed skeptical. After an hour passed, however, their fears went out the window.

    "What had happened?" People began to ask the returners, and they were not hesitant to exin it to them, however, when they discovered that the man they described had disappeared most could only wonder what had happened.

    Noah furrowed his brows wondering if not letting the hideout bury them had been a good idea. He had nothing to fear of the town, so it didn''t matter much to him.

    The night passed quickly, it had already been thirty days since he had entered the pending state. That day would be the thirty-first.

    He felt d knowing that he would soon be out of tier 3 and into the whole new realm of tier 4.

    Noah made sure to keep a low profile, by simply sprinting faster than anyone could follow him.

    The town now had nothing to offer him, but he wanted to make sure the bandits head did not return for some sort of revenge.

    From his point of view, Noah could see that the town now had a new liveliness to it. Not that it mattered to him or anything. He visited the kids silently and stayed with them for hours on end. They had be a lively bunch now that their n had seeded.

    Noah knew that at some point he would meet the town''s head, but to his shock, the man did note that day, neither did hee the second, nor the third.

    He had decided with Erolia that he would stay four days before confirming that the bandits head had died, after which he would leave.

    The announcement saddened them, but that was his decision.

    He honestly had considered taking them away from the town as it wouldn''t be anything hard, but their safety would most likely bepromised.

    Nevertheless, he would give them several mana cores to cultivate. He believed the kids would reach tier 2 in no time and maybe even cross it until they reached the third tier.

    He didn''t know how long such would take, but he had a space ring containing about 30 cores. That number didn''t bother him since he never needed it, nor ever think to sell it.

    Noah hoped exposing them to such qualities early on would help their cultivation base be far more robust than the norm. It was the best gift he could give individuals at their level. Maybe even overkill.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Hopefully, their bodies don''t explode,'' he had thought being serious about his hope.

    He himself didn''t know what would happen to him if he absorbed something at the fifth tier. He would probably die. Instantly at that.

    The morning of the fourth day came and Noah announced his gift to them, making sure to give them clear instructions on how to use it.

    He had utilized his mental waves to stop most of their scream-like gasps from reaching the outside.

    They were ecstatic, even Herald couldn''t force his excitement into his agedposure.

    Before he left, he made all four of them share one core to confirm that they wouldn''t immediately die.

    To his surprise, Aald directly crossed into the second tier and his power continued to climb after merely half an hour. The other kids weren''t far behind as they too reached the second tier.

    Herald advanced at the same pace as them. Havingced the required resources to increase in strength their bodies drenched themselves in the high-quality mana avable to them.

    Noah began to reconsider the amount he wanted to give them but shook the idea out of his mind.

    After only three hours of cultivating, Aald revealed a power at the peak of the lower stage of tier 2. Erolia, Jor, and Roy following closely, within the second tier also! They continued to cultivate.

    Herald revealed how he had been able to reach the peak of the second stage only a few steps forward and he would reach the higher stage, but the core ran out of mana.

    The orange color of the core dissipated into strands of light marking its total exhaustion.

    All three of them opened their eyes as they had cultivated for four hours straight and when they did, Noah watched their eyes widen in wonder and shock before they passed out.

    Noah believed the session had been tasking. Their bodies had needed to break down the mana at the third tier and although they had handled it far better than normal, they would require rest to properly absorb the gains.

    Noah left them after a while, making sure to lock their door and even sealing it with a bit of ice.

    Only a bit of force from the inside and they would open it.

    At that point it was already afternoon, and not having anything to do with the kids he decided he would stay in his room, away from the heat of the sun.

    Noah did just that, but a bit after an hour, he received a knock on his door.

    Noah felt surprised to find that the town''s head had sent a group of three individuals to deliver an invitation.

    Kius had invited him to his house to give him personal thanks for his actions for his town. He would be going there that evening, after which he would leave the town.

    ''So nice of him to invite me to his house,'' Noah had said inwardly confirming to the three men that he would go. All he had to do was wait for time to pass.

    If only he knew the things that were about to ur, he would not have epted the invitation.

 Chapter 427 427. DEAD-MAN SITTING

    Noah arose from his bed, standing to nce outside the window of the building he had been utilizing as a lodge for the past week.

    It was night outside and the silver light of the full moon unfolded in the night sky.

    Thanks to the lights that filled the streets of the town everything wasn''tpletely dark. That would leave a weird vibe for whoever was traversing the streets.

    Noah directly jumped out the window andnded lightly on the street below him. After which he vanished from sight.

    He sprinted toward the town''s head''s house even if he could have just teleported.

    Noah arrived before the said building and an eyebrow rose on his face due to the extra amount of lights he could now see.

    Walking past the open gate, he crossed the stone pathway to arrive before the closed door into the building.

    A knock on it was enough to get the reaction he desired, and in less than a minute the door flung open and the town''s head daughter unfolded in his eyes.

    "Wee sir George," the youngdy curtsied, her orange gown slightly touching the ground as a result.

    Noah nodded his head, taking a moment to sweep his calm gaze over her features.

    She was beautiful.

    "Please,e this way," she gestured, letting her hand out for Noah''s arm.

    He almost furrowed his brows on the outside, but he didn''t and held his arm out for her to grab.

    ''Isn''t this just like a normal visit,'' Noah wondered inwardly, strangely confused by the event.

    "I never got your name," Noah''s voice rang out as she led him up the stairs, slowly.

    "And I never got to see your face," She replied, eyeing the yellow mask he had on. It perfectly matched his yellow robe.

    Noah gave a shortugh at her direct words. He had worn a mask throughout the mission to save Erolia''s young brother, Savy. So that was to be expected.

    Speaking of him, Herald had sent the boy to stay with one of their close friends at the edge of the area. Hopefully, that had been a good idea.

    The only thing that could lead people to recognize Noah was his white hair. It stood out like a sore thumb.

    "Tell me your name. And I''ll show you my face," Noah offered even if he already knew it. It had be a hassle knowing people''s names when they had not told it him. He would require some way to get it.

    The youngdy was being hard.

    She nodded at his offer opening her mouth to speak. "I am Tilda," she announced narrowing her eyes slightly at sir George''s face.

    Noah almost gave a chuckle, but he simply pulled down his mask with his right hand, and watched her expression flicker, before her eyes widened without much of her consent.

    Noah smiled and wore the thing back allowing her to regain focus.

    She cleared her throat, startled and slightly embarrassed. Now that she had seen his face, her attitude towards him couldn''t help but change. She fell silent and resumed their walk.

    They did not speak after that point. Much to Noah''s pleasure.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Tilda led Noah to a nicely decorated dining room.

    On the far end of the slightly long table was Kius and the man eagerly stood to wee them.

    "Sir George!" the expert eximed seemingly excited while rushing toward his daughter and his guest.

    "It''s been a while, towns head," Noah replied with a fake smile of delight allowing Kius to take his had in a frantic handshake. During which Tilda let go of his arm, her sudden silent behavior left Noah wondering.

    "I hope you''re not offended by my sudden in-absence. I had wanted to visit you the day of their return, but young Tilda had advised that I did something better than a simple visit."

    "And although it was impromptu, we managed to make good use of our resources," Kius gestured at the tableden with different tes filled with different delicacies. They smelled nice, Noah had to admit inwardly.

    ncing at the chair Tilda had pulled out and nodded at him, Noah went ahead and sat while Kius went and sat on the other side, but they could still converse.

    Tilda sat rather close to Noah, making him wonder if it was something she had nned with her father or an action she had decided to take by herself.

    "Please have your fill. There are things we must discuss." Kius smiled taking a bit of the food before him.

    "I honestly want to know how you did it," Kius had admitted starting the conversation.

    "Did what?" Noah asked slightly unsure of what the man meant.

    "Laid waste to a hideout featuring tens of tier 3 cultivators," Kius exined genuinely intrigued.

    "Even more. Battling an individual even I feared, but for obvious reasons," he added ncing at his daughter. She reminded him of his dead wife.

    Noah raised an eyebrow, having already pulled down his mask to eat.

    He immediately recalled the nature of the man before him, and felt a wave of disgust sweep over him.

    Everything the man had been doing till that point looked and felt false, but Noah didn''t allow his sudden contempt ruin his carefully thought reply.

    "I''m just that strong," he responded with a shrug and the entire room seemed to fall dead silent.

    "I see," Kius muttered unsure of what next. George''s answer had been incredibly vague, and it seemed he had done it on purpose.

    ''Just that strong. Who exactly are you?'' Kius sighed inwardly before moving to carry out the next phase of his n. He did so by immersing Noah in different conversations, acting as host-like as possible. But the expert before him was impossible to crack.

    Every try to milk information had been carefully dodged. It seemed he had rehearsed their dialogue before then, or he had the ability to read minds.

    Kius subconsciously became careful at the thought of being able to read minds. Sure it was impossible for the average cultivator, but there were deviants out there who could influence the thoughts of those around them either negatively or positively.

    There were even deviants who were cable of subjecting magical beasts to their will by simply utilizing their ability on the wildest of monsters. Kius became meticulous, yet he moved on with his tasks.

    After all, if truly sir George could read minds, he would have known than to eat of the food on his side of the table. As they contained a substance that rendered even peak tier 3''s at their weakest state.

    If only Kius knew that Noah simply did not care about the poison. His body continued topletely detoxify it, and the system continued to inform him about it.

    To Noah, Kius was a dead man sitting. He only wanted to see where the whole thing would lead to.

 Chapter 428 428. BINGO

    Noah finished the meal without suffering any repercussions from it. It felt funny honestly as he could almost feel Kuis''s surprise emanating from his brown eyes.

    "It was a nice meal," Noah announced pushing the te before him forward; having cleared it. He took a deep breath to bask in the delight of the good meal.

    The duo had been talking for over an hour, but Noah knew it was probably only to get his mind off whatever side effects of the substance.

    It would have worked on someone who wasn''t Noah.

    "I''m d you liked it," Kius smiled suddenly standing up.

    "Before you leave, as I can see you are ready to. I''d like to give you a little something," Kius announced walking past the table and outside of the room.

    Noah wanted to unfold his consciousness, but he refrained from it. He didn''t want the man to feel he had suspected something. His instincts were against any rash actions until the totality of the man''s vile nature was revealed.

    The dining room remained silent, as Tilda continued to eat, silently.

    Noah left the youngdy alone since he still wasn''t certain what part of the n she was in on.

    Kius returned a momentter with a brown bag in his hand.

    "I know you said you didn''t want money, but this is all I feel I can give for saving my town from destruction," Kius dropped the bag on the ground when Noah''s instincts picked something up.

    "Tell me, Kius. Why didn''t you search for help?" Noah asked waving his hand and storing the bag of gold coins. He was now ready to act.

    "What do you mean?" Kius asked, even if his mood plummeted and his eyes almost went cold. That was the first time George had said his name.

    "From what I found out, or saw. It would have been easy for someone your level to travel out of thisnd and get help from somewhere," Noah exined keeping his head facing the table.

    Kius fell defensive and slightly startled. "The bandit head usually held calls with me and demanded I showed him my environment. Or else he would kill the hostages," Kius exined calming down at his believable idea.

    "I was trapped as it happened at unpredictable times."

    An eyebrow rose on Noah''s face and Kius''s instincts jumped in fear at the sight.

    "You could have sent someone," Noah countered.

    Kius faked a nervous and embarrassed expression, giving an excuse that Noah considered bull-crap.

    "It crossed my mind as I didn''t know who I would trust," the man had replied, cringing at his reply. He had single-handedly created a stupid scenario.

    "I see," Noah muttered as though he had bought it.

    "But you were ready to pay me; an outsider, to do something simr," his words managed to send chills down the man''s spine, even his daughter''s face had gone dark.

    "It''s not what you think," Kius tried to find a way out.

    "I believe it is, Kius," Noah pushed, he wanted the man to reveal all his cards so he could know what to do.

    "It''s as if you found your town''s state convenient," Noah paused, a smile threatening to appear on his face when he saw Kius''s expression begin to turn cold.

    "As if you were under an agreement with them, so you let them do whatever they wanted," Noahpleted his words, and by this point, Kius had a re on him.

    He had been found out.

    "Bingo!" Noah eximed making Tilda and her father jerk in fear. But his eyes flickered dangerously when three dark figures appeared out of thin air and converged on his figure.

    He let them.

    Noah found a series of glowing chains wrapped around his neck, arms waist, and legs.

    The items were strong. So much so that even if he had not utilized all his power, they were enough to bring him to his knees without his consent.

    He let shock appear on his face as he seemingly struggled to free himself of his binds.

    Three auras at the peak of the third tier made him give up in his tries to free himself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The turn of events had been truly shocking.

    A fourth figure appeared beside Kius, and the man now had a sardonic smile on his face, twisting his features and bathing the room in its cynical vibe.

    Noah almost felt chills when his eyesnded on the man''s expression.

    The masked figure whispered something into Kius'' ear and the town''s head burst intoughter while his daughter rushed to his side. Her face held an expression no less horrible than his.

    "For a second there, I thought you would pounce on me like a rabid beast," Kius seemed to release a breath of relief.

    Noah red at him, truly angered. But he pretended to struggle to loose himself since whatever those chains were meant to do, they did not affect him. He felt perfectly fine.

    "Ah. Those chains render your mana useless. And you have three individuals at your level. There is probably no greater trouble for you," Kius chucked walking forward, even if he still had caution in his eyes.

    "So all I said was true," Noah spoke through his teeth, even if he continued to shake his head at the dead man before him.

    "Yes, oh wise one," Kius mocked now rxed when Noah hadn''t jumped on him.

    "You aren''t the first nor the second. Not even the sixth person to find that out, so it''s not exactly shocking that you did."

    "Heck, it''s more surprising that it took you this long," he walked forward, standing directly over Noah.

    "You aren''t the first to find out but you''re the one who gave me the most trouble," Kius frowned deeply before suddenly hitting Noah across the face. He shrunk back in pain.

    Noah had remained still.

    Kius uttered a curse as he hissed in pain, before shooting a re at Noah''s figure.

    "You''re the only one to wipe out the bandits, however, and seemingly very easy at that," Kius continued walking toward the fourth man and asking for a weapon. The man gave him a knife.

    "This same knife killed the others. But for the trouble, you''ve caused me. I''ll give it to youter," Kius exined before suddenly swiping the de at Noah''s face.

    To the shock of everyone In the room, the knife which had beenced with strong poison broke when it went it hit Noah''s face. And the broken portion remained embedded in his face.

    Noah frowned at that event but held a strong expression even if the poison had started to seep into his skin causing sharp pain.

    Thankfully his body could detoxify 97% of its effects. The remaining three barely did anything to him.

    "What the fuck are you made of!" Kius felt forced to ask, as he exchanged nces with the masked men in ck attires.

    "I''m beginning to understand why Jude had a hard time with you. So much so that he died," Kius hissed still in shock.

    Noah could immediately guess who the Jude person was, but he still asked.

    "Was that the weak bandit''s head," Noah gave a smug grin, one that made the room fall cold.

    "Yes," Kius answered rather inly. "He''s the person one of the noble families in on this rmended. They wanted to see your face before you died. You killed one of their precious members."

    "Actually all of them you killed belonged to a noble family," Kius exined and his revtion sent Noah''s mind reeling in shock.

    His revtion put off the masked men, but he waved their worries away.

    "He''s about to die. There''s no need to feel worried," Kius nced at the masked man farther from him before turning to face Noah with a cruel grin.

    "Just like those cursed children he worked with," he revealed and watched with delight, Noah''s expression froze before going cold.

    "What did you just say," Noah''s voice had turned murderous and even held anxiety, even if most of it was hidden by the sudden fury that overwhelmed his existence.

    Kius remained ready to reply when his survival instincts suddenly screamed in terror.

    Much to the shock and horror of all those watching, Noah''s figure exploded into a dense white mist capable of coldness that felt startling.

    He ended up turning the entire building into solid ice when he allowed the full power of his passive aura skill, run rampant.

 Chapter 429 429. CURSED TOWN

    The crunching sound of ice being crushed under the weight of someone''s foot echoed in the room all seven of the experts were in. But something had changed.

    A crimson liquid had now begun to taint the pristine bluish-whiteness of the ice in the room, and as the mist cleared, it revealed Noah''s unbound figure and the impaled bodies of the masked men.

    Large stakes of 7ft tall ice had punctured each of their chests, they would be dead in a short while. Their profuse bleeding caused puddles of blood to form, but the cold worked on it.

    Kius and his daughter, however, found half of their legspletely frozen, and they feared that rash movements would shatter their frozen limbs. They stayed in ce and watched Noah''s tall figure emerge from the cloud of mist that had formed from his body.

    His figure palpitated with power as deep-yellow sparks ran unhindered across his body. His eyes shone with a sharp blue light, but they had almost turned green due to the yellow light that now existed within them.

    "You better pray nothing has happened to them," Noah''s voice caused huge cracks to spread in the frozen building as a thick cloud raging with erratic sparks started to form above the mansion.

    Noah had instinctively unfolded his consciousness, his influence could spread to ces far away from him.

    Kius felt tempted to voice a mocking reply since his situation already looked grim. He had even tried to utilize his mes on the ice, but nothing worked. He had already begun to ept his fate, but he didn''t want to lose. Hence the temptation.

    Yet his words were choked in his throat as a result of what he felt. Crippling fear.

    However, even if he had wanted to reply, he would have been unable to, since Noah had grabbed Tilda and him, ripping their upper bodies from the halfway-frozen portion of their legs.

    Pain shot up Kius'' mind, but he feared what would happen to his daughter most.

    In the span of an instant, a white light unfolded and wrapped around them, after which Tilda and Kius found themselves in a strange white room. Totally empty, and it even felt distant.

    Noah had brought them to his cultivation room immediately after reaching them. And before the duo could protest, he left them there, teleporting to the outside world, only this time he had a specific location.

    Noah opened his eyes before the building Erolia and the others stayed.

    Upon arrival, he immediately caught the sound of voices, and an aura in the third tier reached his senses. They seemed to be speaking about a ring.

    Noah had never felt so nervous and suddenly anxious in his entire life.

    His breathing got uneven as ice spread beneath him with every step he took forward.

    "There''s someone outside!" A male voice eximed, alerted. Noah recognized it.

    "Who goes there?" The person within the third tier tried to scare him away, but the expert''s survival instincts were suddenly alerted.

    Unfortunately, it was already toote.

    The wall before the man turned to ice and shattered, after which a yellow blur shot through the chaos to grab his neck.

    Noah''s nose tingled upon entry. A familiar scent, simr to rusting metal reached his nostrils and he managed to understand the density of whaty around him.

    He had stepped inside blood.

    Noah''s eyes went cold and before the expert in his grip could do anything, he applied pressure to his grip and a sickening crunch reverberated in the room. A heavy thud followed. Noah stored the man''s core after.

    Streams of silver light entered the room, and Noah got clear visuals of the three men who stood, frozen by terror.

    They didn''t try to attack. Or rather, they couldn''t. Noah''s consciousness already had them in its influence.

    Noah swept his gaze on the room and he instinctively drew his breath.

    His eyes lost their luster and his countenance turned dark.

    An emotion he had not experienced in a long while welled up in his being, and for what felt like an eternity Noah remained unable to lift his gaze from the bloodied scene before him.

    Six figuresy in different positions within the room, but they all had one thing inmon.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Lifelessness.

    Noah counted the very faces he had rushed to check up on,ying on the ground. A pool of blood-soaked their still figures.

    Multiple stab wounds could be noticed. Their cause of death being multiple stabs.

    The world seemed to fall deadly silent.

    Noah felt even his mind grow sluggish before that scene. For a few moments, he felt nothing. Emptiness.

    The type he had not experienced since he died on Earth.

    A single weak gasp abruptly filled the room, then a weak soft voice rang out, sending chills down everyone''s spine. Including Noah.

    "Si... Sir... Ge...George," Erolia''s voice had sent raw pain flying through Noah''s mind, he almost winced visibly. "I... kn...knew you''d c...c..e."

    Noah clenched his teeth and walked forward. Each step he took created a wet sound for he stepped in blood.

    He knelt before her badly wounded body, uncaring of the blood that soiled his attire.

    "My real name is Noah." He ced her head on hisp, speaking in a soft tone as the softness ofpassion appeared in his eyes.

    "Now keep quiet, youngdy. You should not drain your energy on words. You''ve suffered enough," he smiled, deep pain unfolding inside him. Noah felt like his chest had been impaled by something real.

    His mind couldn''t bear that scene.

    At his words, her orange eyes finally lost their light, and she let herst breath go. Finally ending the immense pain she must have been experiencing.

    Noah himself took a deep breath at that event, he didn''t mind the nose-full of rust-like scent he took in. Since now his mind was set on only one thing.

    "Why?" his emotionless voice rang out in the room and he felt the three men tremble.

    "Why did you do this?" he repeated after a moment of silence, even of he knew why. He simply hadn''t expected the people before him to do it.

    The bartender, Diro and two other recognizable who had joined him in conversations.

    They remained silent yet still. However, when Noah was about to speak again, Diro''s voice rang out.

    "They deserved it! They all do. Yes lord Kius had order their deaths, but I did them dly." The man said those words in a tone that dripped with sincerity and troubling dness.

    Noah closed his eyes at that vile reply. His anger red.

    "Are you all so sick and horrid in nature?!" His voice was loud and his tone carried power. "You just killed a bunch of children simply striving," his words faded at the ending.

    No response returned to him. But he didn''t need one. He also knew the answer to that question. And he knew what to do to quench the dense amount of blood lust he felt.

    He didn''t just want to just kill Kius and his daughter or the men before him. No, he wanted more. He wanted that cursed town wiped out. And he would do just that.

    Ice spread in front of Noah''s figure and turned the dead bodies into frozen sculptures almost instantly. That was his own form of burying them.

    Straightening his position, eyes dark, he approached the exit bringing the three men with him.

    "What are you going to do now!?" Diro yelled, startled by the fact that they weren''t dead yet.

    Noah''s reply was cold and distant. It made the worlds of all three men spin in growing fear.

    "I''ll make you watch," He had replied.

 Chapter 430 430. BURY

    "Do you understand me?" Noah voiced loudly, standing before a group of no less than a hundred persons.

    He could feel their fear. And how would they not be scared? He had three men floating beside him and the ground beneath him featured ayer of ice. Not only that, he had a few hundred ice golems slightly above 12ft in height behind him.

    They nodded at his question and when he waved his hand dismissively he watched them disperse quickly, murmurs filling that area by the reason of his singr announcement.

    Two hours

    Noah had given them two hours to evacuate the town and its surrounding areas, or they would be caught up in the horror that was about to unfold.

    He had only done that as a result of their connections to Erolia and the others. Apparently, when the men had tried to take Savy, her brother, from the man whom he had been left in care with, about seven males had stood in the way.

    They had all died.

    That led to the reason for the 300 hundred golems behind him. The people of the slums of Lilua were severelycking in power, they would need protection to carefully traverse the regions and get somewhere safe.

    He would task them to protect the people until they found somewhere safe to stay. He didn''t care where, nor did he care if any town or city would ept them, all he wanted was to exempt them from the death that would happen that night.

    To Noah''s shock, they were all back in less than twenty minutes.

    ''Only a bit over one thousand,'' Noah noted inwardly, wondering if that amount of golems would be enough.

    He wanted to equip them with enough, and besides the costs of the golems were tiny.

    Noah provided an additional 200 golems. Maxing their numbers to 500. That was arge force. Even he had to admit it.

    Thankfully the golems were pretty capable of managing themselves as long as he gave them precise orders.

    "You''re to encamp around them night and day. Kill anything that poses danger to them, and do not hesitate to jeopardize your body to protect them if needed," He ordered coldly, but his golems made no reaction. They weren''t supposed to, yet he knew they had understood and heard. As long as he had an image of what he wanted, they could fulfill it.

    "Gather In their center. They shall be your walls till they are all destroyed. Who can I trust as a leader here?" he questioned, sweeping his gaze on the crowd. They went silent.

    Someone walked forward, however. A youngdy no older than Erolia.

    She had long blue hair and Noah could feel a sense of familiarity with her.

    "I''m of the ice affinity," the girl muttered ncing back at two adults whom Noah identified as her parents.

    "Great then. What is your name?" Noah asked, his voice rather nk.

    "Nadia," she replied head high.

    Noah nodded and turned to hisrge group of golems.

    "You are to listen to her from now on. Wherever she says go, you go," Noah announced and his words caused the crowd to want to protest.

    "Whoever tries to harm her, gets killed, instantly. Three of you are to be by her side at all times," he gave a ruthlessmand that shut the crowd up. Especially when three of those tall golems walked forward and stood around her. She was only a peak tier 1.

    Noah wasn''t in the mood to entertain theirints.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Follow me," hemanded coldly while walking towards the bridge into the main town.

    The golems parted for his passage as Nadia remained directly behind him, her assigned golems following close to her also.

    The crowd followed with their little things packed and the golems spread abroad from all sides. Their missions had begun.

    They got to the main town and themotion caused the town to awaken. Their eyes shone with surprise and fear at the same time. Most caught sight of Diro and wondered what was going on, even if they all had a solid idea what.

    Due to theirrge numbers, the crowd and golems had to traverse different streets, but they all had one destination. The exit of the town.

    "Kill anyone who appears before you and isn''t among the crowd," Noah unfolded his consciousness and gave that order to his golems.

    Although he already nned to bury that town, thatmand wasn''t the main idea. He only wanted them to feel terror first.

    Their vige head had put them in that situation and that day would be the end of them. He simply needed some people to set the mood.

    Soon enough individuals or groups; out of their blind and dumb hatred, left their homes to either watch the event or hurl insults at the passing crowd.

    A cruel smile appeared on Noah''s face at such individuals, since such people found the 12ft golems departing to arrive before them.

    Blood spilled at that point, as tens of people were killed to set the mood of terror. The others stayed within their homes.

    Most of them were dumb teenagers with a few adults. Noah could only wonder how deep that corruption had gone.

    The journey to the exit of the town was mostly silent, or at least silent of words. The heavy steps the golems took spread out in all directions as it sounded like an army marched through the town.

    They eventually reached the gate, but Noah ced his hand on the wall and turned it to ice before shattering it to allow the crowd pass through.

    "You should consult her as she holds themand to my golems from now on," Noah exined in a t tone. His mood remained bad and his anger always threatened to spill. All of them, including Nadia, were scared of him.

    Nadia nodded when his luster-less gaze reached her. He had a mask on, but she could recognize that he had a lot going on in his mind.

    "Good, now go," Noah ordered, and the crowd began to leave. "You should pick up the pace. If you get caught in what is to happen you will not escape with your life," Noah exined while theypletely exited the town. Joy filled their hearts at the events, not his words.

    Most continued to wonder what it was that he could do that would endanger their lives even if they had already left the town.

    Noah turned when they left his sight, and his eyes fell on the multiple people that had summoned the courage toe closer to him.

    He tilted his head, removing his mask to reveal the cold smile that had unfolded on his face when he saw how their trembling gazes asionally darted toward the three men under his influence.

    "We-" The old man at the forefront tried to speak, but Noah raised his hand to stop the man.

    "I''ve made my decision. Say your prayers, as they will be yourst. I will bury your vile town under her." Noah pointed at the sky, and in the span of an instant, Cudgels'' immense and shiny structure unfolded high in the sky, silently floating above the town waiting for Noah''smand.

    Words could not describe the dread that unfolded in the town at that point. Even the leaving crowd picked up their pace when they caught sight of it.

 Chapter 431 431. SPECTACULAR

    "You can''t do this!" Diro shouted while Noah sat atop Cudgel''s surface. They were all on it as he wanted them to feel the same terror their people did.

    Noah kept all three men within his influence, so they couldn''t move about, only stare at his figure in silence. His anger continued to emanate from his body, but the ice couldn''t affect the metallic nature of his strange and terrifying weapon.

    Nevertheless, snow fell from a rumbling cloud high above them. Which was the reason for theyer of white that existed all around them. It was strangely beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

    Noah remained silent, deciding not to answer the man. The bartender had been shouting sentences simr to what he just said, and rather than make him rethink his idea, it just got him angrier.

    He wanted to shout, to rip someone''s head from their neck, but he would wait for the judgment he would pass through the falling of Cudgel.

    The only reason the town existed below him was due to his waiting for the time limit he gave the escaping crowd.

    "Only ten minutes to go," Noah muttered standing up. He walked over to Cudgel''s edge and tried to see if he could get clear visuals of the world below, but just as he expected, they were a tad bit too high.

    Nevertheless, he could sight the expanding whiteness that surrounded a small area from his point of view, while far away from the small area were also portions of whiteness that continued to move in a particr direction.

    The passage of his golems and therge group was turning whole chunks of the forest around them into ice. While he had created 150 golems to surround the town in case anyone wished to escape. Their deaths won''t be fast, however.

    Noah had given the order to simply freeze the lower portions of such individuals, they would watch the world crash around them without being able to move.

    True terror.

    "Please," Diro''s words managed to pull Noah out of his vengeful but exciting thoughts.

    The man felt startled when he turned to face them and hoped his plea had gotten somewhere. However, his hope crumbled when heid eyes on the cold smile that existed on Noah''s face.

    "Oh, so now you beg?" Noah mocked, walking closer to them.

    "Did those kids beg you when you stabbed them multiple times, didn''t their plea show in their eyes? Weren''t you aware of their pain? But you said you enjoyed it. And now you beg," A chuckle escaped his lips before his expression turned emotionless.

    "Your begging makes me angry. One more, and I''ll look for a more painful and slow way to end them." He stated, meaning every word he spoke.

    A chill swept all three men, and Diro lowered his head, unable to withstand the raw anger that existed in the man''s eyes. He suddenly felt a wave of regret. But not for his evil actions against the children, but for the fact, the Sir George, or rather Noah, existed.

    "You should never have been born," Diro cursed through his teeth, his head still facing Cudgel''s shiny surface,

    Noah suddenly burst into coldughter, truly finding those words funny.

    "I never was," he replied with a tone that suggested mocking honesty before walking away from them. His words brought unfathomable confusion to his audience, but they would never find out what he truly meant by it.

    "Times up," Noah announced at some point, and nervousness filled his audience. The three men.

    Creating a tform of wind below his feet, Noah sprinted away from Cudgel''s figure, bringing the men with him, only that they had to suffer the fear of falling.

    He arrived at a position northwest of the town, he wanted the three men to gain a clear view of the event about to ur.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah raised his hand and Cudgel moved. Slightly.

    That event troubled the sky as its figure was weighty.

    Rather than just sending Cudgel down like a speeding asteroid, Noah had another idea. A more terrifying and efficient idea. One that would leave a different result than what he was used to.

    Searching the different abilities of his weapon, he arrived at a skill he had not utilized in a long long time.

    [Elemental charge: When activated, Cudgel can take on the Elemental properties of whatever element the owner chooses, as long as they have it avable to them:[Air, Lightning Ice][Locked: Water, Earth, Fire, Gravity, Space, Time, Light, Darkness]]

    [Lightning charge: +500% to both physical, Elemental, and soul Damage]

    [Cost: (General]50,000SE Upon initial activation, and 5,000 per minute. 75,0000SE to switch Elements]

    Noah noted the addition of new elements in what Cudgel could turn to, even if they were locked due to the reality that he had not attained them.

    The cost of the skill honestly shocked him now that he checked it, but he had to recall that Cudgel being a soul bond advanced with him. So it was natural that its requirements spiked when his level did.

    Nevertheless, it only hinted at how powerful its effects would be.

    Noah chose the ability and watched Cudgel undergo a spectacr transformation.

    First of all, its figure began to emit a yellow light, then sparks started to appear as well.

    A churning sound unfolded in the area surrounding that immense object and soon even Noah had to close his ears to withstand the sound.

    The sky trembled, the regions below Cudgel experienced powerful gusts of wind, and the sound got so intense and powerful that it directly made buildings crumble and trees were crushed.

    Noah watched and felt the intensity of the churning; now crackling sound, increase fierceness until it began to give him a headache.

    Some directly passed out or had their eardrums rupturing from the event, while some suffered severe damages to their brains. Leaving them in a state no less tragic than death.

    However, the sounds suddenly ended all together, sending a wave of relief over everyone watching, but their rest was short lived since a spectacr explosion of light that sent huge lightning bolts flying everywhere, unfolded.

    Noah felt a bolt of lightning hit his chest and the world around him spun.

    His figure zed towards the ground, but pain didn''t spread in his mind. Only the force of the bolt had affected him.

    His soul bound couldn''t hurt him. If it could, Noah knew he would be in a pitiful state.

    "Damn!" he was forced to exim leaping into the air to grab the falling men. Having his focus shattered had let them into a free fall.

    Noah managed to get Diro and one other person. The third however, had immediately turned to ash when a bolt had struck him.

 Chapter 432 432. NOBLE FAMILIES

    Maintaining a safe distance from his weapon, Noah marveled.

    It looked like a pir of mind-bending energy ready to be unleashed.

    Cudgel''s blinding yellow; almost-golden light, reached regions far away from the town as even the escaping crowd bore witness to it.

    A few bolts had stuck areas rtively close to them, lighting everything aze.

    It was incredible. They picked up their pace, as the understanding of the white-haired expert''s words became clear. Death wasn''t that far now that its instrument was revealed.

    The wind blew like gales during the initial moments of Cudgel''s full transformation, but gradually it began to stabilize and that brought about a new reign of peace.

    At least sort of.

    The crackling of Cudgel''srge body continued to bathe the surroundings in its oppressive sound.

    "Isn''t she beautiful?" Noah asked a horrified Diro. The mere transformation had buried hundreds of people beneath their homes. Some died

    His words met no response, his audiences were too terrified to. The death of the third person still reyed in their minds.

    Noah quickly regained hisposure. For some reason, Cudgel released no heat whatsoever, only light and sparks.

    It had be a lightning bolt. A still one.

    Noah raised his hand in mild satisfaction, and Cudgel''s figure shot into the sky with zing speed creating a grand streak.

    Its departure had been rather silent and soon a new level of peace unfolded in the environment.

    "I believe you''ve spectated enough," Noah announced taking the space ring Diro had stolen from Herald. The one he had given them. He already hated the fact that he had to keep the two of the afloat with his mental waves. Their presence felt tainting.

    His words alerted the duo who began to voice cries of plea, but Noah simply sprinted forward and dropped them directly above the town, he began to create ascending tforms, however, aiming at a significant distance from the area, lest he got caught up in the events to unfold.

    He eventually reached a height and distance he considered enough, and with a silent streak, Cudgel''s figure crossed the night and starry sky to m into Lilua with a world-shaking bang.

    A sh of deep yellow light unfolded in the area, then an explosion so great that Noah felt its force from his position, erupted.

    A dome-shaped outline of yellow light originated from the point of contact, and Noah could see it expand while the town and remnants of the mountain saw rivers of yellow yellow-lightning bolts expand into the area frying and turning everything to ash.

    Shock waves spread abroad the surrounding kilometers, while Cudgel electrified the very surface of that area, decimating the vegetation. Noah could see incredibly long yellow lines spreading in all directions, lighting up the surrounding areas.

    mes spread rapidly, and a huge portion of thends and forest surrounding the town directly turned to ash. Overwhelmed by the rivers of lightning bolts.

    The sight sent shivers down Noah''s spine. Yet he could only nod in affirmation.

    Crackling bolts flew everywhere disquieting the region with their thunderous sound. But they never reached his figure; falling on the trees and generating more fire.

    Soon themotion of Cudgel''s impact died down while its aftermath continued to rage forth.

    The incredible sight of a crackling pir-like mass of erratic energy embedded in the charred earth; expressed itself to the world.

    Unfortunately, that mass soon disappeared and the world was left with only the great destruction it had caused.

    Noah had set vegetation miles in all directions on fire and made significant portions of the ground turn ck and disappear. The event lit the night sky up, and a great smoke rose to create the illusion of a ck wall.

    Noah felt the initial excitement of his actions wane and eventuallypletely disappear.

    His eyes returned to their coldness, and he felt it was time to address the main issue. He wanted to know the reason why all that had been done.

    A white light wrapped around his body and he opened his icy-blue eyes in his cultivation room.

    Noah swept his gaze on the room and his eyes fell on a kneeling Kius, but he was in a state he honestly hadn''t expected.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The man noticed his figure and flinched, but he didn''t move.

    Noah walked closer peeking over the expert''s back and sighting a pool of blood, but also a lifeless Tilda.

    The sight took him a short while to process, and he wondered why the man had not administered any potions to her to prevent her death.

    Kius held onto his dead daughter, head bowed while her heady on hisp.

    He looked pale too and Noah could only consider the fact that the man had no potions with him.

    "Have youe to finish what you started?" Kius spoke holding back tears.

    Noah remained silent for a few short seconds before opening his mouth to speak.

    "Who are the noble families involved in this scheme?" He spoke in amanding tone, uncaring of the man''s hurt.

    Kius almost burst into anger, but his senses were too dull and overwhelmed by grief to give thought to his anger. He simply remained silent.

    Noah''s eyes remained emotionless at that event, they even held disdain. But he knew the man wouldn''t answer without a proper coercive.

    "Just kill me already," Kius spoke, fatigue in his tone. He was still bleeding, but for an expert like him, he couldn''t simply die from a wound like that.

    It would take him days before his stamina ran out, but by that point his healing would have kicked in, stopping him from dying.

    He wanted to die. There was nothing worth living for anymore.

    "I won''t do that unless I hear answers," Noah revealed.

    "What do I have to gain from telling you anything," Kius snorted in response lifting his head to shoot a re at Sir George.

    "You gain a quick painless death," Noah responded with an even deadlier re.

    The duo fell silent at that point. Both men dealing with their own thoughts.

    Kius sighed, sliding the back of his hand over the cold and pale face of his daughter. Such beauty had gone to waste, all because of those nobles.

    "I never wanted to do it. They threatened me with my daughter. But she''s dead, I guess there''s no reason to hold onto any information," Kius began turning to nce at Noah, his eyes soft from fatherly pain.

    "There are five noble families in on this. All arerge in size and very influential in status. I had been managing this region as a towns head for decades when they brought their offer,"

    "Due to the growing fear of a civil war, and they wanting one, they moved to make the people as troubled as possible."

    "They siphoned money from them storing up for the future. You''ll be surprised how much a town of low leveled individuals can generate if they are desperate enough," hemented.

    "Their n worked, apparently it''s been running for over half a century, but with their power, no one dared to go against them. Lilua was simply a victim."

    "Anyways skipping to the main question, the names of the noble families are as followed, I won''t say this twice."

    "The Yuri family, the Nomi family, the Rendo family, the Earl noble family, and finally the Cr family."

    "All have multiple members in the fourth tier and together are a powerful force. Whatever you wish to do with that information remember that," Kius exined lowering his gaze back to his daughter.

    Noah nodded at that point.

    "Thank you," he voiced genuinely, but Kius made no reaction, he simply closed his eyes and when he felt a touch on his back a burst of coldness filled him, but he stopped feeling anything.

    Noah shattered thepletely frozen figures of Kius and Tilda and watched the ice vanish into nothingness, even if a yellow core appeared before him and he stored it.

 Chapter 433 433. DEATH LORD

    Noah exited the cultivation room and returned to the outside world. His mind had calmed down a bit, but he still held sadness within him.

    The event still left a hit on his mood, but he would have to deal with it. Alone. As usual.

    The destruction that continued to spread abroad unfolded in his cold gaze. It soon dawned on him that he had just ended more people than he had ever killed in that one night.

    A shining red panel appeared in his eyes at that point.

    [Your intentional actions have led to the death of 10,874 humans]

    [You have met all requirements to upgrade your Killer title]

    [Killer >>> Intermediate Killer]

    [Intermediate �� Advanced Kill 1,000 humans]

    [Requirement met]

    [Intermediate killer >>> Advanced Killer]

    [Advanced �� Expert, Kill 3,000 humans]

    [Requirement met]

    [Advanced Killer >>> Expert Killer]

    [Expert �� Monster, Kill 5,000 Humans]

    [Requirement met]

    [Expert Killer >>> Monster]

    [Monster�� Death Lord[Unique], Kill 10,000+ Special requirement[Kill these amount in one go]

    [Requirement met]

    [Monster >>> Death Lord[Unique]]

    [You have gained a Unique Title: Death Lord]

    [Death Lord: A being with the blood of many thousands on his hand. The human life holds no real value before such being]

    [Abilities under Death Lord Title]

    [Stench of Death

    [Tyrannical Presence]

    [Blood-lust of the abyss]

    [Stone heart]

    [Pool of the abyss]

    [Eye of the Death Lord]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Stench of death[Passive]: Your very presence carries the stench of the thousands whose lives have been lost in your hands. Whether for a just reason or not. This stench can only be perceived by humans who have highly trained senses, but can be perceived by all magical beasts]

    [Tyrannical presence[Passive]: Immediately your anger is kindled, an aura that inflicts a type of fear only those who carry simr titles can withstand, unfolds. When activated, your presence creates illusions of terrifying beings from the abyss. Those properly affected by the ability, regardless of their power level; including beasts, experience a 20% decrease in all aspects of their power. This number continues to climb the more terrified they are of you]

    [Blood lust of the abyss[Passive]: A mighty being with the goal of killing. Your blood lust is multiplied by 300% of its actual value, which is further enhanced by the fear-inducing illusions of the ethereal beings. Those properly affected by this ability regardless of their power, experience a 30% decrease in movement speed. This number continues to increase the more terrified they are of you]

    [Stone heart[Passive]: As a Death Lord, your very existence now wields a coldness that is nigh unbreakable. Your heart holds almost no value for the lives of living beings. Your emotions are almostpletely removed and your thoughts are cold, distant and calctive. This is further improved by the current state of your mind]

    [Pool of the abyss[Passive]: As a Death Lord you gain ess to a limitless pool of dark power. Depending on how bloodthirsty you are, and how willing you are to defeat your opponent, you experience a percentile boost in all areas of your power. The base increase however is a 30% increase]

    [Warning: When the power drawn has crossed a total of 80% increase, your mind begins to near the abyss itself. And your are prone to the unique state [Madness] depending on how sturdy you soul core is]

    [Eye of the Death Lord[Active]: An ability only those with the grand Title of Death Lords can possess. When activated your eyes gain the ability to see the re of Death, which measures; urately, the chances a person has to die in a battle with you, the bigger the re seen the smaller the chances, the smaller the re the higher the chances. This ability also lets you see if a person has the same title as a Death lord]

    [Cost: 10% of reserves every five seconds. 10% of overall stamina every second]

    [Duration: N/A, Cool-down: N/A]

    [Due to your "Pending" state all manifestations of your Death Lord abilities will be postponed to after your term has ended]

    [Time left: 25days: 19hrs: 37minutes]

    Noah furrowed his brows at the lengthy descriptions, but he was quickly done with them, and he had to admit how incredulous that new title was. Especially the abilities. They would not be part of his stats, since they were attached to the title.

    Unfortunately he felt nothing from the appearance of the title. All its manifestations had been locked till when he was able to increase in power again.

    Still, he didn''t feel remotely d. That title had onlye due to the death of the children. He almost felt guilty for their deaths. Had he not gotten involved they would still be alive. At least they would live longer.

    A deep sigh escaped Noah''s lips and he closed the panel in front of his eyes. He once again decided to look at the level of destruction his actions had caused but he was ready to move on from that point.

    Due to the sheer heat of the area below him he had to remain in the sky, utilizing tforms of his elements to stay up there.

    Noah unfolded his consciousness and sprinted toward the direction he hade from. He still knew it.

    His initial movement speed was without the addition of his empowerment. However he decided to travel faster by a bit.

    Noah still felt the need to air out his feelings before returning to the guild, that was why he had not just teleported.

    The areas filled with mes began to draw farther and farther from him, and soon he could only see untouched vegetation.

    The night sky still stood above him but only about 3 hours was left till the sun rose.

    He hoped to have at least regained his normal mood back by then.

    Noah stopped at a certain location. It was a point that had a cliff, which had a river below it.

    He sat on the cliff and stared into the shining blue water below him, reviewing all Kius had said. It was now evident that something big would happen in the Cusk nation, and it would possibly lead to the deaths of many.

    "A war," Noah muttered now staring at the starry sky. The issue really didn''t bother him since is power would be increasing very soon. Heck, even the crumbling of the bracelet didn''t affect him anymore.

    There was nothing much he could do that he hadn''t done. His achievement would even be record-shattering. Most individuals spent a century just to reach the fourth tier. He had basically done so in a year. Unless, of course, he somehow died before that time came.

 Chapter 434 434. CREGARS AVATAR

    Noah spent a few hours on the cliff and it took him a while to eventually decided to leave. By that time the sun had risen already.

    He ran most of the way but eventually decided to cut his journey short.

    Noah''s figure zed through a wide array of trees, but the streak he generated was cut short when a white light wrapped around him and his figure left that area.

    Noah appeared in his cultivation room, but he didn''t spend too much time within it, and soon he disappeared from within that space.

    The next time he opened his eyes, they fell on a vast crusty-brown region. The wind blew wildly over that ce and the intense heat that existed there spoke loudly of why thatnd area had turned out tock any vegetative life.

    Noah narrowed his eyes to stop the dirt in the air from getting into his eyes, but his instincts buzzed madly and he didn''t know when his figure sprinted away from his position.

    Shock and confusion filled his mind when he saw that a massive green-blue lightning bolt mmed on that spot with an earth-shaking bang, and everything turned charred, revealing a crater.

    His streak stopped kilometers from that point and he felt his heart skip a beat when he understood that the power within that sudden attack had been within the fourth tier.

    In the twinkle of an eye, a whole new world seemed to unfold in Noah''s eyes when he gained an understanding of the danger around him.

    Only at that point did the incredibly troubled wind register to him.

    He looked at the horizon and took in a sharp breath.

    A huge fire twister existed far in front of him and it crackled with huge bolts of the same color and power that had made and area of kilometers be a crater.

    He couldn''t hear much probably due to his distance. But that changed when the ground beneath him suddenly trembled.

    His ear drums ruptured, and a wave of dizziness filled his mind.

    Noah felt shocked to realize that he would pass out from whatever had washed over him. However, a force held onto him and fended off the power within the roar he had failed to hear due to how quickly it had destroyed his ears.

    "By the gods. What are you doing here!" A masculine voice Noah recognized far too well reached his ears, but he was too busy trying to deal with the shaking of his soul realm.

    Noah felt his body float without his consent, but he felt safe within it.

    Elder Von''s figure appeared in front of him, and he immediately noticed the burnt marks on his attire. Holes riddled his robe.

    Noah wanted to reply when a green-blue light suddenly overshadowed the sun''s radiance around that area. The event was followed by the roaring of the massive bolt heading for them.

    Elder Von voiced a curse, and Noah saw his world spin he had to close his eyes to stop himself from falling unconscious.

    An explosion reached his ears, however, and he felt his spine tingle at how powerful he imagined that event had been.

    "She''s gotten stronger!" Elder Von eximed, Noah not failing to recognize the shock in his voice.

    "You can open your eyes now, young man," the elder assured, and Noah did so.

    He found that they had appeared high in the sky allowing them to get a great vantage point of the event urring.

    Realizing that the fire twister was farrger than he thought, Noah wanted to keep his eyes on it, but a figure caught his entire attention.

    "What the fuck is that?" he voiced his thoughts unknowingly, while the hair on his body stood.

    A huge figure made out of the same crusty brownness of thend surrounding them unfolded in his eyes as he took in its features.

    The thing looked humanoid and was just asrge as the fire twister. Its arms were huge, Noah confirming that multiple mansions could fit on just one of them. And it possessed four.

    Although its body was mainly crusty brown, Noah could sight hundreds of rainbow-colored markings etched into its material and they continued to increase in number, size, and radiance.

    On the monsters featureless head was a regal crown of blue mes and green bolts of lightning. The sheer heat and sound that simple construct emitted burnt all traces of air around it.

    Its power, however, was very confusing to Noah. It seemed to waver between the third tier and the fourth tier.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That''s Cregar''s avatar," Elder Von responded, causing a wave of surprise to fill Noah''s mind.

    He turned his head to nce at the expert, but a blue radiance suddenly unfolded in the environment. followed by a thunderous roar, and an intense st of heat.

    Noah''s focus was once again pulled to the spinning twister of orange-blue mes and green-blue sparks.

    His expression widened when he saw that a massive ball of mes emerged out of it. The event felt even more shocking since not only was the ball of mes farrger than the fire twister itself, but its power far outweighed it, touching the fourth tier clearly.

    Noah could now properly tell that the twister itself wasn''t in the fourth tier since the ball of mes felt purer and immensely powerful.

    The ground around the twister had long since turned charred, but things changed when that powerful ball of raging mes revealed itself. The ground for whole kilometers was quite literally turned to ash and the area affected by that heat continued to expand.

    "That''s a big one!" Elder Von eximed, making Noah wonder why he had not rushed forward to do anything. But then four figures flew towards them rapidly.

    Till that event, Noah had not noticed the four other tier 4''s in the area.

    "Who is- ... wow!" A man Noah recognized far too well appeared beside Elder Von.

    Noah furrowed his brows when his gazended on Dan, one of Elder Sarah''s best friends. His confusion even reached its limits when, Anna, her second best friend appeared beside elder Von, and she too shared Dan''s surprise. (See cha 276)

    "Aiden? What are you doing here?" Delh''s voice reached Noah''s ears pulling him out of his confusion.

    That simple question seemed to be shared by all the elders but his thoughts were too messy to reply, and also, the ball of mes made an impact with the huge humanoid monster.

    Everything shook.

    Noah and the others watched the four-armed monster raise its huge arm to grab hold of the attackrger than even its body.

    It looked like a man trying to stop the descent of a zing blue star.

    A deep explosion resounded in the area, and its power touched them in the sky.

    It was incredible.

    Noah watched everything turn blinding white for him, but the elders seemed able to properly see everything going on.

    He had to cover his eyes and wait for the event to die down.

    Thankfully he didn''t have to wait long for that event. And when he opened his eyes, the destruction that had urred became vaguely clear.

    A massive crater had unfolded in the area and its insides werepletely on fire, and it continued to burn the earth.

    Chaos was too heavily involved that Noah almost couldn''t process the events in front of him.

    It wasn''t that he hadn''t witnessed destruction on that scale. He had been the cause of one evenrger after all.

    But it was something deeper. His existence considered itself unfit to witness battles in that realm. The difference between now and when he fought Gorno, was that he had been in the fourth tier. Now he was back to the pathetic third tier.

    The great smoke that filled the sky was quickly dispersed by the experts, and the reality that the four-armed monster had only lost three of its arms appeared in their eyes.

    The event caused Noah to frown, and so did the others. At least that was until Dan suddenly shattered the sound barrier, shooting towards the spinning mass of mes mixed with crackling masses of electricity.

    "Sarah! Your student, Aiden is here. Are you going to continue thisckluster disy!" Dan''s voice swept the region, and Noah felt taken aback, but wide smiles appeared on the faces of the elders.

    Silence suddenly spread out in the very world itself. As even the humanoid monster seemed taken aback.

    However that event didn''tst long since a powerful tremor ran through the fabric of the mes, then its power red, touching the very limits of the third tier, before shattering it, and advancing into the fourth tier.

    "Give me a minute. I''ll be done with this fucker," Elder Sarah''s voice made the air disappear as a result of the heat it was capable of.

 Chapter 435 435. PRIZE

    The giant raised the stumps of its destroyed arms, and chunks of the terrain shattered to converge on them, rebuilding its limbs at a rapid pace.

    Noah having finally understood that the person battling the giant was his master; Sarah, couldn''t help but feel d about the event. Yet he watched closely. Although he struggled.

    The event generated by the giant minster caused chaos to unfold for kilometers. As an incredible amount of power was required to properly rebuild its arms.

    An intense tornado formed as a result. But it mostly contained chunks of the ground.

    Having gained a new drive, Elder Sarah''s fire twister abruptly began to shrink.

    The heat that filled the environment zed at that event, as the giant found some of the earth under its control turning to ash.

    The crackling of sparks grew in intensity, and it quickly became a deafening sound.

    Noah and the experts watched the mes and sparks shrink in size until only a small figure could be seen within the grand destruction that happened all around it.

    ''An armor,'' Noahmented when his eyes fell on the result of the shrinking.

    A blue battle armor overflowing with sparks that crashed on the terrain around it unfolded in their eyes.

    The heat the construct emitted was so intense that whenever the wind blew closer to her, it simply vanished into nothingness.

    In her grip was a sword madepletely out of mes, but also featured green-blue sparks running along its fabric.

    The giant noticed the transformation and moved to act quickly. Unfortunately, only two of its destroyed arms wereplete. Notwithstanding it stopped the rebuilding process to start its dash toward her.

    Elder Sarah saw her iing opponent and snorted at how slow it moved. Its size affected it in that battle.

    Taking a deep breath, she raised her elemental weapon, before lowering it in a descending strike.

    A moment of silence unfolded at that action, then a blinding blue light filled the world when a huge curved sh flew out of her sword to immediately arrive on the giant''s chest.

    The ground shook as the massive sh; almost asrge as the giant''s chest brought it to its knees.

    Huge cracks opened in the terrain. The weight of the attack being too much for the giant.

    Only a moment after the sh connected with the giant did it explode into a wave of shining blue mes and intense sparks, that bathe the giant in its power.

    A raging river washed over thends surrounding the giant. Destroying anything unable to withstand its power.

    Themotion soon died down, however, and the giant revealed that its chest now featured a deep ck gash. One that ran from its chest down to its waist.

    The elders eximed at that sight, leaving Noah wondering if that event had been truly extraordinary or not.

    Elder Sarah unleashed another sh at that sight. The curved attack arrived at the same spot as the first one. After which it unfolded into a terrifying explosion capable of wiping out evenrge towns.

    She shot forward after the attack, and her movement created a bright blue streak in the sky.

    Her audience watched her tiny figure m into the giant''s chest with a bang. Bringing it bulky figure down with an immensely heavy thud.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The ground shattered and opened for the event, and a huge crater formed when the giant''s back touched the ground.

    Huge clouds of brown dust unfolded into the environment at that point. But soon shes of blue light could be made out by the experts, even if they remained visually blocked from witnessing what was happening.

    The sounds of attacks crashing on a solid surface continued to bathe the surrounding kilometers in its power.

    The cloud of brown dust never stopped rising, and soon it resembled a huge brown pir erected at a random position in the wastnd.

    Due to the obstruction, Noah was able to take his eyes off the battle, sweeping his gaze over the environment and finding that far away from their position were other craters and huge charred surfaces.

    "How long has this been going on?" Noah felt forced to ask, seeing the incredible damage that had been done to the wastnd.

    Perhaps it wasn''t the sun''s heat that had destroyed thend. Maybe it was events like that, that did.

    "She''s been undergoing the breakthrough for eight days now," Dan exined before anyone else could, and Noah grew intrigued.

    "You shouldn''t even be here, But I see that you''ve reached the peak of the third tier," Dan pointed out, and all eyes converged on him. Then gasps.

    Noah had already seen that oue, but even if he had pre-thought it, there still wasn''t any solution to it. He would have to make something up.

    "You were only a lower stage a few months ago," Anna eximed floating closer to him.

    Elder Von shot an astonished nce at Noah. He had only known him when he reached the middle stage.

    "What sort of cultivation speed is that." Even Delh felt astonished.

    Noah noticed that they wanted some sort of an answer from him, and he gave them one.

    "It''s always been like this. I''ve always had a fast cultivation speed," he revealed and watched their expressions recoil in silent surprise.

    The elders seemed unable to provide a proper query to his record-breaking im.

    "You''ve reached a level In the third tier where I believe you would have confidently taken her in battle," Elder Von pointed out.

    "It would have been interesting to see that happen," Dan revealed, his gaze never leaving Noah''s figure. His best friend''s student was always strange.

    Noah had no idea what to do at that point in the conversation. He could tell that he had brought them; mighty experts to a state of confusion.

    Fortunately, their attention was pulled away from him when an explosion far louder than the others reached them in the sky. Their eyes fell on blue mes for the first time in a while.

    Shockingly, a huge figure was seen shooting out of the cloud of dust, and they were all taken aback to find that Elder Sarah had severed its torso from its legs, revealing the swirling mass of pure energy within it.

    An aura even Noah could sense unfolded in the world when that mana-core-like object was revealed within the giant.

    "That''s her prize. The energy to shatter the world''s hold on her, and finally begin on her path," Elder Von revealed, causing Noah''s eyes to widen in understanding.

 Chapter 436 436. CLOUD

    The path to the fourth tier was a long one. Those who hadn''t begun the journey of themselves would never attain that level.

    But even with that, there was still a factor that was outside the full control of cultivators.

    Cregar.

    The world yed a powerful and important role in the lives of humans ascending the various tiers of power.

    Attaining the fourth tier meant breaking off of the world''s control and starting on a path that wouldn''t be controlled by the world. It was the next best thing to godhood but were simply termed demi-gods.

    But just like all students of a school must seed in an exam and be given a certificate, all cultivators must seed in a trial to move on to the next realm.

    Arge crack opened on the featureless head of the giant, and a roar so powerful it resembled an explosion erupted forth pushing Elder Sarah''s approaching figure.

    A snort exited her mouth as cracks opened on her armor. Her sword had disappeared, but a new one appeared in her grip, but it made her armor reduce in power and density.

    Tens of shes manifested as she swung frantically, and even more chaos unfolded.

    The ground shook, cracked, shattered. It turned charred, crumbled. The power within her attacks rose as her confidence skyrocketed.

    The heat she remained capable of emitting made the ground burn and boil.

    The results of her attacks eventually died down and the giant''s even more pitiful state was made known to the world.

    The runic symbols thatexisted on its surface not began to release a swirling sound.

    The wind stopped blowing. Damage stopped being dealt to the environment, and an incrediblyrge magical circle expanded below the giant''s upper body.

    "This is a crucial stage, we should create distance," Elder Von announced shooting backward with Noah being carried by his consciousness.

    The event surprised Noah who thought they were quite far already. After all, even the Giant looked small from that distance.

    His belief crumbled, however, when immense blue pirs emerged out of the magical circle to ascend into the clouds with frightening speed.

    A great rumbling unfolded at that point and Noah felt shocked to find that the giant crumbled and the energy within it exploded but never left the range of the pirs.

    Elder Sarah sprinted forward, crossing the thin barrier of light created by the circle and standing within the raging energies.

    Mana of incredible quality was generated at that point, but then the sky turned deadly dark.

    A cracking cloud that spread cold winds over the wastnd materialized at that point, and even from their distance, Noah''s instincts spiked in terror.

    The scent he associated with rain, existed strongly in the environment.

    Elder Sarah sat cross-legged within the chaos and began cultivating.

    The cloud crackled with intense energy and before they knew it a blue light shed, overshadowing every other light for miles in all directions.

    The roaring of a single bolt of lightning made the sky shake.

    Fear for the life of his master appeared momentarily in Noah''s mind. But his worries crumbled when an orange sh pierced the blue light to crash into the crackling cloud.

    The sharp sound of metal striking metal barreled forth in the world at that event, but nothing significant happened.

    The attack made no dent on the cloud, as it began to rumble signifying the arrival of another bolt.

    It arrived quickly, bathing the environment in a blinding blue light, but again a sh pierced its light to crash on the cloud, generating the same high-pitched bang.

    This time its color had turned green and its power felt astonishing.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Still, it resulted in only a small mark at the center of the spiral cloud.

    The winds blew fiercely and the cloud rumbled even louder, a third blue light shed again, and a lightning bolt crashed on Elder Sarah''s body.

    Nevertheless, seven blue shes appeared out of thin air l to immediately arrive on the cloud and this time they directly cut it from side to side.

    Still, the cloud wasn''t done.

    It began to shrink while continuing to rumble.

    Its power spiked and even Elder Sarah opened her eyes in shock.

    It would kill her if she was unable to properly manage it.

    The rumbling continued and she straightened her position.

    Her level had long since entered the fourth tier, but it seemed the world wanted more from her.

    Tens of blue shes made from both her mes and lightning bolts appeared around her. But she made them umte around her.

    At this point, the energy that had been swirling around her had disappeared.

    The rumbling grew louder and louder, and Noah started to believe it would never discharge its energy.

    But it did

    A bolt far bigger and louder than the others had been, flew out of the cloud to Instantly arrive in front of elder Sarah, but she had acted quick enough to allow her shes to connect with the bolt first.

    Even at that, when it eventually arrived on her figure, her armor and clothes disappeared.

    A cry of agony filled the world as the Intense energy within that bolt caused her skin, muscles, and even chunks of her bones to burn and disappear multiple times.

    But the excruciating process of refinement didn''tst too long.

    New skin, muscle fiber, and bones reced her old ones and they had a sturdiness far above the bottom of the fourth tier. And a quality that shocked the tier 4 elders.

    Blue sparks started to umte around her as the sky cleared.

    Elder Sarah had lost consciousness. Her very mind underwent the same excruciating process her body did, but her breakthrough continued.

    The sparks began to umte around her, expanding to areas far from her figure, however, they detonated,pletely destroying themselves. And shocking the resultant energy converged on Elder Sarah, and soon they disappeared.

    A few moments of silence unfolded in the world at that point, as a singr figure floated, suspended by a blue halo that slowly changed color.

    A purple light began to slowly reveal itself around Elder Sarah''s body and soon it became blinding, so much so that her figure became unnoticeable.

    The event brought about a crackling sound and with astonished gazes the elders watched a small purple bolt of lightning leave her figure to crash on the ground.

    The resultant explosion was so spectacr that a crater capable of swallowing more than half the floating ind, opened on the surface of the wastnd.

    Purple mes also erupted from it and intense heat, nothing like her blue mes were capable of,expanded.

    Noah couldn''t feel it thanks to the protection of Elder Von, but the rate at which the ground disappeared made shivers run down his spine.

    In less than a minute the purple mes had burnt as deep and as 1000m below the general surface of the wastnd. The crater had now be a huge dark hole.

 Chapter 437 437. RETURN

    The experts waited a few minutes to let everything calm down. It wasn''t until Elder Sarah''s figure plunged to the ground did they shoot forward to help her.

    Unfortunately, they were too far, so she crashed into the ground and her impact caused a rtively small crater to form.

    Noah had to look away in respect since she remained naked, but her friends covered it up quickly and soon they were on their way to the city.

    No words were spoken for a long period. Noah felt certain everyone had their minds on both his matter and Elder Sarah''s matter.

    He didn''t speak too and watched as the darkness that existed below the city covered them before they ascended, through a pit and arrived in the city.

    A sense of nostalgia smashed into Noah''s mind, as a scent he associated with the city filled his nostrils The vibrant colors that clothed the dark habitation felt like a new sight in a long while.

    The various sounds of chatter and booms of beasts shattering the sound barrier rushed into his ears.

    He took in all those details and felt delighted about his return, even if his face revealed no emotion.

    The experts flew across the city to arrive at the center region, where they dispersed. Or at least Delh left to take care of stuff. While Elder Von, Dan, and Anna, flew toward Elder Sarah''s mansion.

    To Noah''s shock, the building had undergone a significant change.

    The first detail one would notice would be the overall height of the building. No extra floor was added, but it had been buffed up for reasons Noah still didn''t know.

    The second detail would be the barrier that now existed around the ce. Noah could sense that it had gone past the third tier. Meaning they had anticipated her breakthrough and had created a habitation capable of housing her.

    Thanks to the ne, whatever pressure the barrier and the building as a whole released was incapable of affecting him.

    The five figuresnded on the grassy court and immediately moved into the building, where Noah felt a tremor in the fabric of space.

    A wide room appeared in his eyes at that point, and he couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow at the event.

    The room waspletely cream-colored and empty. It didn''t even possess a chair, which was why when Dan who had been carrying Elder Sarah led them towards a door right across the room, he didn''t hesitate to walk past it.

    An orange room unfolded in their various gazes at that point, and the chairs Noah expected to see were present.

    "We''ll take her to her room. You can make yourselffortable," Dan said, directing his words at Noah and Elder Von, who nodded and did just that.

    The red-haired expert grunted when he took his seat on a yellow couch even if he didn''t sound tired.

    An awkward silence fell upon the duo at that point, and Noah felt reluctant to break it.

    Silence had always been his best friend in times like that.

    "How was your time outside of the guild?" Elder Von soon initiated a conversation. Noah could only follow suit.

    "It was fine. Productive," he stated nodding slightly.

    "I can see," Elder Vonmented sweeping his gaze over the breathtaking beauty that was the man before him. He still found it surprising.

    Noah faced a fake smile before allowing it vanish a momentter. Another silence swept their figures.

    Thankfully it didn''tst long since the figures of Dan and Anna made Von speak.

    "When do you think she''ll be awake?" Elder Von asked, directing his question at both friends, but Anna replied first.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Maybe a month, or two," the expert replied taking a seat too.

    "That''s incredible considering the fact that most breakthrough''s take as long as ten years toplete. But she''s never been normal. And now that, that scary mana runs through her body, I believe she''ll even be more extraordinary," Anna exined closing her eyes to take in the scene she had witnessed.

    "She''s been stuck at the peak of the third tier for thirty years after all. Her existence probably doesn''t desire a break" Danmented, and the room went silent.

    Noah felt his mind buzz at the revtion. His mouth suddenly felt dry and his eyebrows struggled to remain in their normal positions.

    He could swear that he would have eximed had he not gained such marvelous control over his body.

    ''Thirty years,'' Noah swallowed hard. That number of years stuck in the third tier would have made him run mad.

    Yet rather than her potential degrade and her chances of ascending decrease, she eventually did it, and gained something that looked like the strongest mes Noah had gazed at.

    "Now, why don''t we focus on him," Dan remarked with a slight grin, his gaze locking with Noah''s.

    "Come on tell us your secret. How did you do it?" Dan asked in a voice suggesting that he joked with his words. But Noah knew he was serious.

    "As I said earlier, I have always had an above-average cultivation speed," Noah stated again, even believing his own words.

    "That''s pig crap," Dan remarked. "It''s not possible to have that type of speed. I''ve met many who possessed astonishing cultivation speed, but never as monstrous as what you im," his words had lost their cool. Yet he didn''t seem angry.

    Noah remained silent at that point, most of his mind remained on the remark the expert made.

    ''Who says pig crap?'' he wondered; genuinely taken aback. That was the first time he heard such a curse. Odd.

    Dan frowned at Noah''s silence, but Anna gave him an eye and he was forced to calm down. He recalled Sarah''s warning about trying to influence her student with his authority.

    Now that she had gained tier 4 power, her threat then; now sounded legit and potentially deadly.

    The expert sighed facepalming himself inwardly.

    Aiden had no obligation to respond to his questions If he didn''t want to. It wasn''t anything rted to work.

    "What this agitated dummy was trying to say, was that whatever way you achieved your quick cultivation speed would be helpful to us. Even Sarah would have benefited from it." Anna treaded the diplomatic path.

    "I believe he''s more inclined to the Sarah part. It hasn''t been nice watching her stay stagnant in a level she had reached before us," Anna added, and Noah felt her words touch a spot in his heart.

    "But my words still stand. I simply have a cultivation speed far from normal. If I could share it I would have," he exined, unsure of hisst sentence.

    "Thank you for your honesty," Anna nodded, shooting a re at Dan, who furrowed his brows a bit.

    Standing up with a bit of force, he walked across the room to where Noah was and was about to speak when his instincts red in danger.

    Not only his but everyone in the room.

    "Are you picking on my student just because I passed out." Elder Sarah''s voice made the building tremble. Then she silently flickered in front of Dan.

    The expert jumped back with a yelp, and so did the others. Except for Noah, who had been unable to leave his seat.

 Chapter 438 438. AURA

    "What the fu- You shouldn''t be awake!" Dan eximed jumping backward. His aura almost red, but he managed to keep it under his control.

    "Why did you think I would not be awake?" Elder Sarah asked now staring at her palms. Incredible energy coursed through the very fabric of her flesh.

    "Uh... ording to my calctions you shouldn''t. Most individuals sleep for years," Anna exineding forward.

    "I see..." Elder Sarah clenched and unclenched her palms as if to get used to them.

    "How do you feel?" Anna asked after exchanging uncertain nces with Dan and Von.

    "I feel... amazing," Elder Sarah replied, raising her head to gaze at her friend. "I feel like I can squash this entire city if I wanted," she added.

    "Please don''t," Elder Vonmented, rubbing his temples.

    "I''ll try," Elder Sarah replied with genuine honesty, but her words put more worry in the minds of the experts.

    "So this is what you''ve been experiencing for the past few decades. I feel-" Elder Sarah''s words were cut short by Anna.

    "You feel free," Annapleted her sentence and watched a wide smile appear on her friend''s face.

    A series of conversations urred at that point. They were mostly questions to Elder Sarah about what she experienced. And after a lot of them, they eventually concluded that her breakthrough had been sessful. More than sessful, even.

    Noah recalled Danmenting that he felt like she could kill him even if she had just entered the lower stage. But her actual level was already halfway into the lower stage.

    Thest bolt of lightning had been the world''s gift to her, granting her energy that was far purer than she had initially anticipated.

    "It seems you put my money to good use," Elder Sarahmented at some point. Her words were directed at Noah.

    He shrugged in response, not failing to notice the questioning gazes Dan and Anna shot toward him.

    "Still, I''m surprised. How did you get to this level so quickly," she remarked, her question more of a wondering thought than a question.

    "Don''t answer that," She continued before Noah could speak. "I know it''ll be something vague like; I have a fast cultivation speed," she waved her hand dismissively, shocking Noah at how urate she had been.

    "I knew you would return with something outrageous like you always do. But as you can see. I have advanced too," She spread her arms, beginning to float.

    She allowed her mana to work, and a purple halo began to shine forth, matching her hair''s color. She looked almost divine.

    "Show off," Noahmented and the others were taken aback by it.

    "I''m certain you returned intending to show off too. It''s not bad that mine is so spectacr," she snorted, and Noah''s expression flickered. She had been urate once again.

    The desire to show off had been there but now that he had been found out, he lost the drive.

    Anna floated forward. Noah had begun to believe tier 4''s hated walking.

    "We''ll still need to make you undergo a few tests. But before that; we have to officially report this to the guild," Anna exined cing her hand on Elder Sarah''s shoulder. She clicked her tongue but didn''t object.

    "Yes," Elder Von joined in. "I believe they will be quite delighted about the turn of events. Two of their members have highly promising futures," the manmented moving his focus to a still sitting Aiden.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Shocked, Noah opened his mouth to speak. "Am I supposed to go to?" he asked unsure of his desires. Suddenly the chill of nervousness swept him and he grimaced inwardly.

    "They already know about you. You''re the winner of the tournament after all. You''re also a student to the infamous Sarah, you might as well have met them before," the red-hared expert gave a soft chuckle.

    "Oh..." Noah muttered still uncertain. That opportunity would be a great chance to meet the higher-ups of the guild, but he feared what they could find out from simply being in their presence.

    He, however, gave up on that worry when he recalled how easily Riveta had seen through him. In reality, he had no way of hiding anything from them. The bracelet was his only saving grace.

    "Of course. If you decide not to go I''ll understand. My first time felt overwhelming too. But they aren''t bad. Just..." His words trailed off and died, the entire room turned silent at that event.

    Noah didn''t like that. He tried to make eye contact with them, but they each avoided his gaze. Even Elder Sarah. Suddenly the little confidence Elder Von''s words had instilled, vanished.

    Clearing his throat in quite an awkward manner, Elder Von opened his mouth to speak again. "So do you want to go or not?" His question made their attention fall on him. Noah could almost literally feel pressure from their gazes.

    "Yes..." Noah sighed in response.

    Elder Von, Dan, Anna, and Elder Sarah nodded at that positive answer.

    "We can get going now," Anna announced.

    Noah felt his anxiety peak. Questions began to appear in his mind. Was he dressed well? Was his hair neatly done, how would he present his greetings? They were existences that he knew nothing of. He couldn''t be asfortable with them as he was with Elder Sarah and the rest.

    A wave of calmness swept him, however, when he once again recalled his time with Riveta. Suddenly high-level existences didn''t seem all serious and high in his mind. Even Riveta had said they were entric characters.

    Still, he would be on guard.

    "We''ll have to make a quick drop by my pagoda first. But after that we can approach the headquarters," Elder Von revealed, and they all nodded.

    "I''ll carry you," Elder Sarah announced, but Anna objected.

    "You literally just became a tier four existence, try to keep your power in control first," she snorted.

    Slightly offended, Elder Sarah tried to counter her words. "But I''m already doing a good job," she said.

    "No," Dan chipped in.

    "He would be dead if not for the ne. A significant bit of your aura is out. He''s unable to sense it because of his level, and the ne. He would have told you you were choking him," Dan exined, shaking his head, while his expression looked nonchnt.

    Elder Sarah threw a nce at Elder Von, who nodded in agreement. Switching her gaze to Noah she saw that he shrugged in slight confusion. Truly he had not sensed anything.

    She clicked her tongue with a pouting expression before her expression turned serious.

    "That''s better," Anna eximed, patting her back.

    "Let''s go," Elder Von announced at some point.

 Chapter 439 439. HUMANITY

    After stopping by the Pagoda, The group of five experts headed towards the huge and tall building in the center of the center region.

    The journey there had been silent, and also quick. They arrived there in a few seconds.

    Noah felt his body being pulled around by Elder Von, and when they reached the lower portions of the almostpletely ss building, they floated towards a seemingly random spot.

    "This is the entrance," Elder Sarah informed Noah, as their legs touched the ground.

    Elder Von shook his head and walked forward, going forth to ce his hand on the reflective surface of the building. A bright light shed and the cut-out of a rectangr door revealed itself before an actual golden door appeared.

    During those few seconds, Noah managed to marvel at the sheer size of the building. But not only that but also at the ring that surrounded it close to its peak.

    The shadow the construct cast on the environment felt magical to some point. But he simply felt curious about its function. Itspletely ck nature continued to remain odd from all points of view. Being under it gave a different feel.

    Noah had to ce his attention on the events around him when a bright golden light reached his eyes after the door opened.

    Elder Von ushered them in at that point, and Noah felt excitement trickle into his mind when he stepped past the entrance and into the hallway,

    "Completely made of gold," Noah almost choked on his words, and the others chuckled.

    The hallway had to be the most expensive thing he had gazed at in a building. The ceiling, the floor, the walls, and even the lights werepletely g0olden in color.

    The very ground he stepped on felt metallic and Noah knew it was gold. The walls were the same and the lights produced a golden radiance.

    ''It''s overwhelming,'' hemented inwardly. His eyes quickly got used to that sight as the hallway was a bit long.

    At the end of the hallway, a round room unfolded in their eyes felt his expression struggle to remain calm.

    Huge.

    The room or reception was huge, and its ceiling stretched as high as the building. At least ording to his point of view, it did.

    Tens of experts in the fourth tier walked about the width of the hall and of course the gold-and-cream stairs that stretched as tall as the building itself, revealing the many floors.

    It felt like he had entered a grand hotel since everything felt and looked exquisite.

    "This is where we tier four''s of the divine lightning guilde to report events. We each have personal rooms within it, but most prefer it outside," Elder Von exined as they walked towards therge round table at the very center of the beautiful hall.

    From his point of view, Noah saw that many tunnels had experts walking in and out of them.

    The truth was that any point outside the building could serve as a tunnel. One just had to possess the right key.

    The chatters of literally hundreds of experts within the fourth tier felt blissful for some reason.

    Only at that moment; being in the same room as those many powerful experts, did Noah understand what it meant to be a great guild.

    "This is where we get out missions. Many times we are given personalized tasks. That''s what it means to be above B rank," Anna exined as they arrived before the round golden table featuring about twenty different experts sitting behind.

    Elder Von walked forward to speak with the middle-staged expert in the fourth tier, but only Noah didn''t know.

    Suddenly the rather young-lookingdy stood up, drawing attention to herself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Sarah finally had her breakthrough!" Her voice was loud and empowered by her power. It reached every spot in the hall, both high and low.

    Noah never expected what happened next.

    As if they had practiced it, every single expert in the room, both in the upper areas of the building converged towards their position, chatter and cheers booming in the building.

    In mere seconds Noah found himself pushed back; staring at the backs of nothing less than 150 who had been quick enough to reach Elder Sarah.

    The scene managed to put a smile on his face. From the looks of things, they were one big family who cared about each other.

    They all sounded genuinely happy about the oue, and even Elder Sarah could only bask in their excitement.

    "Do you still think tier four experts are distant from their humanity?" A voice sounded from behind Noah. It was Dan. How he had reached there he didn''t know.

    "Well no..." Noah replied. "They seem even closer to humanity than away," he muttered finding that revtion rather weird and enlightening.

    "Seeing as you''re so close to the fourth tier, I guess it''s not detrimental to tell you a bit," Danmented, a smile still on his face. Noah could feel his joy.

    Noah nodded with his own smile.

    "The path beyond the third tier is one about the discovery of yourself. That makes us ironically more human than those in lower levels."

    "I am unsure if it''s the same for other races, but for humans, this is how things should be. The more you know yourself, the stronger you be," Dan exined walking forward.

    "Hey! Go, go. You''re ruining my fun!" Dan abruptly called out in a fake annoying tone.

    "Isn''t it the golden boy himself! Weren''t you the most excited for this," a male voice from the multitude teased. More teases erupted at that point, and Dan disappeared into the crowd.

    That event enhanced the warm sensation Noah experienced.

    Noah suddenly furrowed his eyebrows at some point, raising his head towards a seemingly random position on the many stairs, his gaze locked with a stunning ck-haired man.

    The expert who held power within the fourth tier looked just as young as Noah himself. His attire looked different from the normal guild attire, but Noah knew nothing about it.

    The strange expert had a nk expression, but his eyes held an intensity Noah had not seen in a while.

    ''Did I offend him or something?'' Noah wondered inwardly, before performing a slight head bow. The man''s gaze didn''t end, however, leaving him further confused.

    Anna suddenly walked closer to Noah however, and someone simrly dressed as the expert also came to speak to him, before he disappeared from his sight.

    Anna had noticed them.

    "Who was that?" Noah asked feeling weirded out.

    "He''s Apollo, the only expert that had been considered on Sarah''s level when his power still existed within the third tier. He''s of the darkness element. Tread carefully with him," her voice was casual as usual but Noah knew not to take them for granted.

    Apollo remained in Noah''s mind throughout the day.

 Chapter 440 440. FLOATING CASTLE

    "That was hectic," Elder Sarah remarked as the group went up a flight of stairs. She said that even if a smile remained on her face.

    Themotion about her breakthrough hadsted about 20 minutes. During that time, not only Elder Sarah got attention. Noah also did.

    He had been shocked to find that many, if not all of them knew of his identity. Most knew him from the trials to enter the guild. And their shock had also been there when they sensed his new level.

    Noah also got attention because of his looks. Even men marveled, wondering how good of a gene his parents had.

    Eventually, the crowd let them go, ushering them to go inform the higher-ups of the guild. Which was what they were on their way to do.

    Noah felt surprised when they started to climb the stairs. He had honestly expected that they simply flew upward since that seemed to be where the higher-ups were.

    That idea crumbed, however, when they branched deeper into a certain floor and went down a beautiful hallway.

    They arrived at what he could only term an elevator since it did just what its Earthen counterpart did.

    Except faster.

    Noah felt an incredible pressurend on his shoulders as the elevator sped upward. The pressure wasn''t from the speed of the machine but from something else. Something he couldn''t exin.

    "Is the building this high?" Noah felt forced to ask when he felt his knees begin to shake and were about to give in to the weight on his shoulders.

    "No. It''s just that the quarters of the masters are above the city itself," Elder Von revealed with a knowing smile.

    As if responding to his words. The golden insides of the elevator suddenly lit up with innumerable amount of inscriptions. Then everything went ck for Noah.

    Noah opened his eyes with a groan. He had passed out without a warning. It wasn''t a nice experience.

    "Wee back." Anna giggled crouching before him with her hand stretched forward. He held it and she immediately pulled him up. Much to his displeasure.

    "What happened?" Noah asked trying to battle the splitting headache that had befallen him.

    "We''ve arrived," Dan announced, and only then did he have the presence of mind to look outside of the box which was the elevator.

    It wasn''t transparent before. But now it was.

    Noahid eyes on about twenty floating buildings; mansion-sized. Connected to each of them was a tube of sorts that acted as a tunnel into their gates.

    The tubes stretched out from the wide ss box that the five experts stood in.

    Hundreds of inscriptions and symbols existed on the tubes to keep them stable, but soon Noah''s attention was drawn to another detail in that environment.

    That of course would be none other than the grand building right above them.

    From the looks of things, the twenty buildings surrounded that golden structure in a perfect circle.

    Only flying could get them up there since no other means were avable.

    It looked like a small town had been erected somewhere above the city.

    Noah also noticed that a powerful barrier kept the dark and crackling clouds away from that environment, and the lights that the buildings emanated illuminated its insides.

    Exchanging nces with the experts beside him, Noah saw that they all had light smiles on their faces.

    "Up we go now," Elder Von announced and they began to fly upwards.

    The cylindrical construct connecting the grand building and the box was big enough to allow the passage of about ten individuals.

    Noah felt Elder Von''s consciousness pull him with the expert, but his eyes were on the thousands of shining lines and symbols running up and down the transparent construct.

    An eerie silence drenched that highly magical environment, putting Noah on edge.<novelnext></novelnext>

    They arrived inside the building, but inside a small room that featured a flight of stairs that went up.

    The room was bare but was painted an eye-catching shade of gold and ck.

    The elders immediately led Noah up the flight of stairs, and a beautiful hallway unfolded in his eyes.

    Everything Noahid eyes on, from the paintings to the very carpet and statues held a quality that he couldn''t hope to damage.

    Noah confirmed that the building was a castle due to how big and spacious it was.

    A floating castle high in the sky, surrounded by thick clouds.

    The elders led him down many other passages and eventually, a grand door appeared in their gazes.

    The mostly golden nature of the walls converged on the obsidian ck door, and sparkly inscriptions ran on its surface.

    "This is the throne room in this castle. We informed the masters of our arrival, so prepare your greetings," Elder Von exined, directing his words at Noah.

    "Or you can just follow our lead," Elder Sarah walked forward, closer to him. Noah heaved a sigh inwardly. He felt somewhat safe and assured by her closeness.

    Before they even reached the door it began to part open, and it did so silently, even if its weight would be incredible if measured.

    Noah felt his nervousness peak for the nth time that day when the multicolored lights within the room flowed into the passageway. Soon they stepped past the door and a spectacr throne room unfolded in their eyes.

    Noah''s mouth quite literally fell open when the details of that throne room became evident.

    The throne room was a wide tall space, far too big for only one room. At its entrance, a golden carpet stretched forth. Ending at the other side of the room.

    Noah swept his gaze quickly on his surroundings and his gaze fell on the huge armed statues all donned in golden armor, and wielding spears as tall as buildings.

    The statues were on both sides of the room and although their armors were mainly golden in color multicolored runes existed on them illuminating the entire room with their magical radiance.

    Noah could swear that those things were capable of moving since his instincts buzzed at their presence. And although he couldn''t be certain, they were above the fourth tier.

    At the far end of the room opposite to the entrance was a series of grand-looking thrones, numbering exactly twenty.

    They formed an arc around one taller and more spectacr one, but it was empty, and so were twelve of them.

    On the seven thrones that weren''t empty, were exquisitely robed individuals, whose presence felt devoid of power. They had long since noticed the approaching figures, but they remained silent.

    Being at the very end of the group with Elder Sarah, Noah felt intimidated. The more than 50m tall armored statues were very very oppressive, even if their material released no pressure.

    Elder Von suddenly stopped before heaving a light sigh.

    "We greet the masters," He bowed and the others chanted after him. But for some reason unknown to Noah, they couldn''t stop wide smiles from appearing on their faces.

    "What the fuck are they doing?" A male voice boomed forth in the entire room.

    "I think they''re trying to get a reaction from us," One of the three females present, replied.

    "Maybe they want us to act formally due to the new person," Another male responded. His tone was that of amusement.

    "Who gives a fuck," Another of the four men snorted calmly, even if his voice almost caused the room to shake.

    Someone cleared their throat. Noah recognized the voice, but his mind remained too busy trying to deal with the interactions he had just been privileged of listening to.

    ''Don''t they know we can hear them?!'' his head spun as almost all his bottled-up nervousness vanished.

 Chapter 441 441. WARMTH

    "You can all rise," Elder Adonis'' voice reached the bowing duo, distracting Noah from the words of the others.

    They immediately rose to face the masters, and Noah first felt all their gazes converge on his figure for a moment even if he stood behind the others.

    They had immediately gotten the information about his trio affinity status but kept quiet.

    "What do we have here? You''ve sessfully crossed over into the fourth tier, Sarah," One of the females there spoke and the others immediatelymented on it, even if they were all interested in the young man more.

    A cheeky smile appeared on Elder Sarah''s face.

    "As you can see," she replied suddenly beginning to float while a purple halo slowly seeped out of her very skin, and her eyes began to ze with both a red and blue light, creating a strange scene.

    She allowed her aura to flow freely from her body and it quickly filled the entire room. A strange heat suddenly flickered into existence after that, but elder Adonis raised his hand to stop that process, and it immediately vanished.

    She returned to the ground with a brighter smile.

    "Very impressive," A middle-aged-looking man featuring short brown hair, a pair of bright yellow eyes, and a voice that sounded agedmented. He sat closest to the center throne amongst the seven that were present.

    "True," the man who had spoken rashly earlier, alsomented. He was a man who looked far well into his forties. His head was full of unkempt brown hair. His expression was wild and his voice was intimidating.

    Everyone stayed quiet as Elder Sarah went forward unting her new power, while the mastersmented on the fact that they had expected a few years of slumber before she got to that point.

    Noah made minimal movement while that scene yed out, but he made sure to memorize the features of the present masters.

    Apart from the two men he had mentioned, and the stunning Elder Adonis, there was a bald man who had a chin full of ck hair. His eyes were ck, but they visibly swirled with a light of their own, even if it was low.

    There were three women present. All looked about the same age, only that the Cyan-haireddy reminded him of a certain someone he hadn''t seen in close to a year.

    Thedy had eyes that scared Noah. Or rather her eyes in particr seemed to hold knowledge the others didn''t have since he felt his muscles tense every time. Her blue eyes felt intense even if they were just simple nces.

    The second woman was rather reserved throughout the whole thing. It would seem that she really wanted to uphold the face of the seriousness of the guild. If only Noah knew she had fallen asleep with her eyes open multiple times during the conversations.

    The third andst woman in the group was a ck-haireddy, who looked well into her forties like the rest of the women, Noah didn''t need anyone to tell him that she was centuries old. She was quite chatty, however.

    "What do you have there, Young man," the cyan-haireddy called out pulling all attention to Noah''s figure.

    She rose from her throne before moving towards him.

    "You have someone with you in here. Someone who shouldn''t be here," she hovered slowly around him, her ck and golden robe falling to the ground due to how long it was. It was almost ridiculous.

    However, Noah recalled that they would mostly be in the sky outside of confined spaces like the castle.

    Noah fell into ultimate confusion at her usation even if her tone was calm and collected.

    "What does she mean, Aiden?" Elder Sarah had begun to frown, Noah struggled not to let his mood plummet.

    "Are you suggesting he brought someone who shouldn''t be here in," Dan voiced his confusion.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That''s exactly what I''m saying," Her eyes never left Noah''s figure. Her words had made the four cultivators gasp in shock, even Noah. But his was lighter.

    "What do you mean? Master," Noah spoke for the second time since he arrived there.

    "I had started to wonder if you could say any more words than the greetings you bore a few minutes ago," her eyes darted to his face, and Noah felt his heart jump to his throat.

    There was something about that simple gesture that held a lot of meaning. Meaning, he could notprehend.

    "If he truly brought an intruder then howe the oath didn''t activate?" Elder Von asked, silently concerned about Aiden. He hoped the young man had not done anything stupid.

    "When did I mention an intruder," she giggled at Von''s words, genuinely surprised.

    "Oh that," the bald man pointed out with a nod of his head. "I had noticed that immediately he entered here, but I couldn''t be too sure since it''s not my area of expertise," the man exined while the others including the dozing woman and Adonis nodded. Stunning the others.

    "A spirit is attached to you. It would seem they have decided not to leave you," Thedy exined allowing her legs touch the ground then she ced her hands on his back.

    Noah tensed up, still unsure of what she was talking about.

    "Have any deaths happened around youtely?" She asked, tilting her head as though she wanted to get a good view of his expression.

    Noah''s head spun at that question, but he nodded. If only they knew the amount he had wiped out.

    "Was it someone close?" She voiced another question, and he immediately understood.

    Noah recalled the children and his mood steadily began to decline. It was still only yesterday that all those events urred.

    He had momentarily forgotten about them due to themotion about Elder Sarah''s breakthrough.

    "Somewhat," Noah replied bringing questioning nces his way.

    He avoided them all.

    Thedy nodded at his positive answer.

    "Should I remove it?" She asked. "It''s far lower in level than I. I should be able to-" Noah cut her short. But not disrespectfully.

    "Thank you. But no," he announced and the room went dead silent.

    "It may cause you some trouble. Spirits at this level but are sentient are rare. Any fourth-tier expert or higher dabbling in the spirit arts would be able to notice it and go after you," she exined genuinely concerned.

    "I''ll try my best to get as strong as I can then," Noah replied, silently d about her genuine worry. For some reason, she exuded the feelings that a real mother would. Warmth.

    She sighed but didn''t push further. She returned to her throne afterward.

    "So um," Anna''s voice rang out. "Should we test her prowess or not?" She brought their attention to one of the main reasons they came there.

 Chapter 442 442. DIED

    Somewhere within the floating castle where all the masters usually converged, was arge area that would be termed a training area.

    The area was painted a light yellow shade and featured a gigantic mana bulb at its very center, and it emitted a yellow light that illuminated the entire ce.

    At one side of the area, far above the ground was a transparent booth by which one could sit or stand and watch the events urring in the training area.

    And that was all Noah did.

    As of present, the masters were performing tests with Elder Sarah, and they made her unleash as much as she could on the environment, even if none of her attacks made a dent.

    She got tired quickly after unleashing a few rounds of purple mes and crackling discharges. The tier 4 elders, Dan, Von, and Anna, stayed a safe distance from her to not get injured or anything.

    They had her test her strength on tier 4 dummies too.

    She did her best but due to her only recently crossing over, she couldn''t properly utilize her martial arts.

    A lot of training would be required to get her techniques under control in the fourth tier.

    Even with all of those, Elder Sarah still made a spectacr show.

    Her attacks were potent. So much so that she could burn through dummies with single attacks. Though apparently, their material stood at the very bottom of the fourth tier.

    Noah could barely see anything, honestly. The explosions were constantly blinding and it felt annoying to notpletely witness all that urred.

    So anytime things became heated and too bright, Noah found himself thinking about what the cyan-haireddy had said. Apparently, her name was Ezra.

    He could either call her Grand elder Ezra, or Master Ezra. Or simply master.

    The idea that a spirit followed him felt stunning, which made him curious about who would even do that.

    Whether or not it was from hate, he wasn''t certain. But he would keep them anyway. Still, he believed it was one of those children.

    He had guesses.

    About three hours had to pass before the Grand elders stopped the tests, but they made another announcement.

    Apparently, Elder Sarah would be staying with them for a while. They would push her to her limits, however, but she was okay with it.

    Noah wondered what would happen to his training at that point, but he remembered that he had other things to worry about. like the uing tour.

    Nevertheless, Elder Sarah assured him that she would return as quickly as possible, all he had to do was continue to practice what he knew.

    During his many days outside of the guild and mostly during the time Riveta had left her tower he had practiced like hell.

    The first form had practically be second nature to him.

    The second form wasn''t too far back. He could utilize the entirety of his body''s prowess to aplish wonders with it.

    The third form was simply based on how much he could m his palms and how quickly. He still didn''t know his limits. He had gone over a hundred, one time.

    In truth, there wasn''t much he could do now that he was in the pending state.

    Thankfully only a bit over three weeks were left. He could only wonder what he would do when he advanced. The matter slightly bothered him because at that point he would most likely be famous. Too famous for his liking.

    Noah bid his farewell to the grand masters and was led outside of the castle with elder Von, Dan, and Anna.

    Their return to the outside world was silent and Noah liked it.

    He was eventually returned to Elder Sarah''s mansion, where Dan and Anna departed. Elder Von spoke with him a bit before leaving.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah was once again left alone, to do whatever he wished.

    He decided to leave the center region and approach his room in the inner region.

    His passage through the gate had been met with shock. Lots of it.

    The guards there now found that he had be far stronger than they were. Still, he simply waved their queries when they asked.

    After no activity for more than a month, most people had let him fade into the backs of their minds.

    Some even thought he had died since it wasn''t exactly a rare urrence in the world.

    Needless to say, When Noah showed up in the area closest to the building that housed his room, rumors spread quickly

    The a-famed white-haired man had returned with even more power than before.

    Noah''s level was unsuitable for that area, he would need to be moved closer to the walls, but he didn''t care. He wouldn''t be staying there much, to begin with.

    As long as he had not been told to move, he would stay there.

    Unlocking the door to his room made nostalgia hit him. It felt nice to walk into a ce he hadn''t been in, in over a month.

    Heck, it felt like over two months or more to him since he had spent a lot of time in the dungeon.

    Standing before the window and gazing at the beautiful city, he recalled his first time getting there.

    "How long has it been," he giggled. "It feels like ages."

    Noahy on his bed feeling bored. A lot had already happened that day. But he was beginning to get used to them. Or at least events on such scales were bing rtively normal.

    His mind fell on the spirit issue again, but he pushed it to the side.

    He felt like getting into something. He considered approaching the guild hall. But he didn''t want to.

    Noah felt confused about what steps to take next now. He hadn''t felt this without purpose in a long while.

    Muttering a curse he left his room for the guild hall. He had no real friends in the guild. He suddenly wished he did.

    He arrived at the guild hall, and his presence caused the air within the room to go stale.

    Noah approached the bar table and saw a new face there.

    He asked about Lina, thedy who had attended to him thest time he took a mission and stumbled upon the Exalted imp.

    "Lina?" The young man who attended to him asked, an eyebrow arced at Noah''s odd question.

    "Yes," Noah replied. "Long ck hair, small face, and a weing demeanor. She''s also nice," Noah tried to give details, even if they ended up sounding vague.

    Thankfully the man understood, but his expression went dark. Noah fell a bit anxious.

    "You really don''t know what happened to her?" the man asked, his eyes now holding sadness.

    Noah nodded in a positive answer. ''If I knew I wouldn''t be asking!'' he ranted inwardly. Even if his worry spread like wide fire.

    The expert heaved a sigh at his response. "She died during a group mission, a few weeks ago," the expert exined shaking his head in sadness.

    "It was an incident that was even announced," the man continued, but Noah had already stopped listening.

 Chapter 443 443. DISAPPEARED

    Noah felt his mood experience another shaking. But this time around he could deal with it. A bit at least.

    At the announcement, he lost his drive to take any mission, and only wanted to roam about a bit. But to what end? he thought.

    He didn''t immediately leave the guild hall, however, since after the man behind the counter stopped talking his mood suddenly went serious.

    "Are you Aiden?" The expert suddenly asked. Pulling Noah out of his thoughts.

    Noah furrowed his brows but nodded in response.

    "It would seem I have a letter for you," the man revealed and immediately moved back to look for the said thing.

    Stunned and curious, Noah''s furrowed brows turned into a frown as his mind worked extra time to find who would have sent him a letter.

    He had no individual person who could do that, leaving him confused.

    He had to wait a few minutes before the man returned with a silver scroll. Noah instantly knew who it was, or who they were, and he couldn''t help but get nervous.

    Taking hold of the scroll, Noah nced at it for a second before focusing on the man.

    "How long has it been here?" He asked putting all the calctions together.

    "About three weeks to probably five weeks. Lina had been the one to receive it. She described your features before she left for missions," he exined feeling a bit of nostalgia. It was clear that even he didn''t feel d or indifferent about her death.

    "I see..." Noah muttered heaving a deep sigh.

    "What is your name?" Noah asked the man. His question brought a bit of a shock to him.

    "I''m Kell, sir," the man bowed. Although he looked older than Noah, his power fell short of the man before him.

    He only held middle-stage power. Though at its peak.

    "Well, thank you, Kell, for rying this message," Noah nodded and proceeded to leave the guild hall.

    He reached his room in a somber mood but when he opened the silver.

    He read its contents and felt both excitement and worry.

    The tour was beginning, and from what he saw on the magical paper there was a time limit, and it counted only a few hours before the emissaries of the council came to pick him up!

    They would arrive before the royal family for two days after which they would immediately begin.

    Apparently, it would be a grand event, but he needn''t worry because each of the persons assigned to them would be present.

    They were not needed to pack anything but were still allowed to. Noah for one would always be prepared.

    Thankfully he had whole bundles of attires within his inventory. Elder Sarah had made sure he didn''t wind up naked since their training usually ended in ripped clothes.

    Noah immediately felt on edge. He would be appearing before the royal family in about a day. Normally, he should have expected it but due to his circumstances, he felt unprepared.

    He had returned just in time for the tour. They were a bit early on the schedule. He wondered why.

    Immediately Noah opened the magical scroll a series of shining words parted from its fabric to and on his hand and vanish inside it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The letter had exined what that was meant for, and apparently, it was to keep track of his location for when the emissaries arrived.

    He had three hours in total.

    ''What do I do now?'' He fell on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

    He could think of nothing he could do to prepare himself. He was already at his best. The highest he could do was maybe refill his core with potions.

    Speaking of which, When Noah advanced to the higher stage, his core''s color and shape stayed the same. Only that it got bigger, and the essence within it had increased in quality.

    Noah had never thought of it, but he wondered how he would breach the gap between the second third, and fourth speed essence rank.

    The higher he went the more power he was going to get since its purity was increasing and advancing.

    He pushed the matter to the side since he couldn''t even begin to try it because of his state.

    "I just arrived and I''m already leaving," he chuckled at the irony.

    Noah had a long bath before putting on a new robe and a new pair of boots. Hebed his hair and tied it into a simple ponytail.

    He knew other styles he could tie it in, but he felt a ponytail was enough. His looks did the rest.

    Noah inspected his face and admired how whatever wounds he had received on it had vanished. His healing was truly something else.

    Noah waited around for the time to go, but before that time arrived a knock sounded on his door.

    A strange urrence. Noah went forward to open the door, and to his surprise, his eyes fell on the stunning Ariana.

    Noah''s eyebrows threatened to crease, but he had more control over his expression than most.

    She had a delighted smile on her face, even if it quickly began to fade.

    "Have we gotten to the point where we greet each other as guild-mates," she tried to joke, but seeing as Noah simply remained silent she drew back her smile. Only by a bit, however.

    "I heard you returned. And it would seem the rumors were true," Her eyes scanned him from his head down to his feet. He was incredible. So much so that she held on to her breathing to not give away her nervousness.

    Her eyes suddenly shed, however. She had noticed his power and felt stunned herself.

    "How?" she found herself muttering, and Noah understood what she meant.

    Ariana herself had improved since thest time he saw her. She now stood at the very peak of the middle stage. He suspected that only a few days or weeks were left and she would cross over into the higher stage.

    He remained unmoved by her words and expression, but she quickly regained herposure.

    "You disappeared for months on end, I wanted to talk. Please would you let me in?" She announced, and a tinge of anger rose inside Noah.

    After all those months, even if it was due to his training, her cold reaction then left a negative impression.

    "Whatever you want to say, say it out here," his icy blue eyes were chilling but his voicecked any intensity. Emotionless. Even with his anger, Noah could still keep his cool.

 Chapter 444 444. ANGEL

    Within the L-shaped building somewhere on its floor, Ariana stood before a certain room, her figure being dwarfed by that of a white-haired man.

    The air was tense and it seemed to trouble the entire building. Although some were within their rooms, many of them peeked with their consciousness.

    "Do you really want that? There are people eavesdropping," Ariana pointed out, sending res at seemingly random positions.

    Noah made no response, but simply unfolded his consciousness. And due to him being stronger, he could create a safe spot where no mental waves weaker than his could enter.

    They would have to reveal themselves to hear whatever was going on.

    Needless to say, the event startled the listening experts who found a spot where their mental waves couldn''t touch. It directly crumbled, leaving a ck spot when they unfolded it in its entirety.

    Everyone was interested in the return of the white-haired man, Aiden. Who had been spectacr in his doings.

    "There. They will have toe out to hear whatever you say," Noah revealed. Although he didn''t want to entertain her, he would still respect her privacy.

    Ariana confirmed and was a bit surprised, but her expression turned serious and she opened her mouth to speak.

    "I came to apologize for my behavior after my confession. It was childish of me," she started; her eyes unable to stare at his.

    "I thought about it and even had someone speak to me about it and truly I shouldn''t have suddenly distanced myself. And for that I''m sorry."

    "I had long since made the resolve to tell you this, but you stopped showing up to the guild hall or our rooms. I even thought you had died. But your asional appearance proved that idea wrong. It''s only today I managed to get a hold of you," she exined, finally raising her head to see Noah''s expression.

    It was nk, as though he had not heard her words. She expected that.

    "I''ve alsoe to say my feelings for you still exist. But I understand if you don''t feel the same," she nodded with a sad smile.

    Noah remained silent. At least he only did so so he could properly articte his thoughts. Herst sentence hade as a mild surprise. He expected that her feelings for him would have ended. They barely saw each other after all.

    Truth be told, Noah felt tempted to respond with harsh words. But she had not necessarily done anything wrong to him. At least at some point, he became indifferent. Had he cared deep enough, then maybe he would have been hurt, but he had not been.

    In short, Noahcked any evidence to act as a drive for harshness. He didn''t want to pretend since he didn''t think such mattered.

    "Okay," he replied.

    "If that''s all, then you can leave," his tone was emotionless and his words distant. They cut Ariana deep, but she retained her strong expression. Nodding at him.

    "Thanks for hearing me out," she forced a smile biting her tongue after she voiced her words.

    Noah nodded and shut the door on her.

    Ariana returned to her room, and for the first time in a long while. Wept.

    Noah carried on with his life. Although he felt his words quite cold even to himself, he considered it a requirement.

    He had lost whatever spark of emotions their interaction had produced months earlier. He didn''t want to deal with the trouble of making her think she had a chance with him, because she didn''t.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah could almost feel sadness in the air, but he pushed it away, his time to leave was near, he didn''t know how it would happen, but he believed it would be quick.

    He silently sat in his room waiting for the countdown to end.

    And it did.

    Noah watched the silver scroll light up with a glorious silver radiance, before breaking into different masses of runes and shining lines.

    He watched his room get bathed with the silver radiance and felt pain reach his mind. Noah watched the back of his palm light up with the rune that had entered it when he first opened the scroll. He saw that the different symbols and inscriptions were creating a magical circle.

    The rune in his hand bore witness to his presence so when the tier 5 magical circle waspleted it washed over him and he disappeared from the room.

    He would not return there for a long, long time.

    The fabric of space seemed to bend and twist, Noah found himself in a well of multicolored lights, but it was only an illusion.

    Things stabilized and he opened his eyes in a carriage.

    His arrival brought about a bright sh of light and so did the others.

    Noah felt a headache try to rise in his head due to the illusion of speeding lights, but his healing resolved it and he was quickly okay.

    His gaze fell on Madison and the other individual who had won, but they were both unconscious.

    He noticed that Madison had reached the higher stage, but unlike him who stood at its peak, she had been affected by the teleportation and would probably remain unconscious for a while.

    Noah stood with a grunt, ignoring the luxurious nature of the carriage to open the door and step out.

    He had been drawn out as a result of the loud sounds that existed on the outside, and what his eyes fell on truly fit the sound.

    His gaze fell on a wide green prairie and tens of carriages existed around his. The emissary wasrge, and the carriages were all attached to tier-4 beasts.

    He could see from that height, that many individuals donned in silvery-white attires were running about following orders.

    They were getting ready for take-off.

    The silver carriages on the many beasts shone with beautiful lights. Noah thought he was in heaven since he had always imagined its color to be like that.

    The bird-like beast his carriage sat on moved when he stepped out. Adder existed before him to allow him to go down, but he wouldn''t.

    "What a surprise. One of you actually managed to withstand the teleportation!" A man''s voice reached Noah''s ears, and he raised his head to nce at the person.

    The man''s figure was blinding due to the sun''s intense light bouncing off his silvery robe. In truth, he looked like an angel.

 Chapter 445 445. BOUNCED

    "You must be Aiden. The first-ce winner," The expert spoke; floating downwards, pulling Noah out of his mesmerized state.

    Noah nodded watching the man''s figure settle in front of him before he allowed his feet to touch the beast''s back.

    "You should return into the carriage. We are about to take off. You don''t want to wind up outside the carriage, or even worse, dead," the manmented ushering Noah into the carriage.

    Noah nodded doing as he was told.

    "I am Sir Olio, I would be considered a knight of the council like those of the royal family, but I''m at the level ofmander. In all of this, I am the second themand. The first is Sir Glee," Olio exined with a light smile.

    Noah arced an eyebrow as he swept his gaze over the man''s attire He had the council''s crest on him; A staff surrounded by ming torches.

    "I am Aiden, a C-rank member of the Divine lightning guild," Noah bowed, having long since noticed the man''s power.

    "Rise," Sir Olio beckoned. "Due to your special position, I am to be at yourmand before your caretakers arrive," the expert admitted.

    Noah felt stunned but he simply nodded. He had not the galls to order a tier 4 expert around.

    "I''ll keep that in mind," Noah spoke, sitting.

    Silence fell on them at that point, but Sir Olio broke it.

    "I have to be honest seeing you from a screen is different from real life," the expert scanned Noah''s features, marveling at how good-looking the man was.

    Sir Olio himself was a man that looked to be in his middle ages. He had nice ck short hairbed in an oily series of waves on his head.

    A pair of intense and aged ck eyes and blemish-less skin. He was above the average for looks, but Noah killed it when it came to looks. Probably the most beautiful man Olio had seen.

    "Your words are too kind," Noah smiled with a tinge of acting. He had decided to take the polite route since it would be easier to not say certain things if they maintained a significant distance in terms of a rtionship.

    "No need for that. It''s the truth," The expert saw through Noah''s n but he knew he wouldn''t be able to close whatever gap existed between them.

    Noah shrugged with a smile, then the beast carriage suddenly jerked.

    Sir Olio''s gaze sharpened.

    "It would see I am needed. We are about to begin our trip. It would take about a day, so please befortable. Someone else will check up on youter," Sir Olio bowed, immediately exiting the carriage.

    As soon as the carriage door closed, a grunt pulled Noah''s attention from the exit, and his gaze fell on a gradually awakening Madison.

    He stayed quiet wondering if she would actually wake up, but she didn''t.

    A sigh escaped his lips at that point and his eyes fell on the third person. A man.

    The expert looked even older than Olio, he featured long grey hair which he allowedplete freedom on his head and shoulders.

    The expert had power at the very peak of the middle stage.

    The man''s features were basic, and Noah didn''t care about him.

    The silence within the carriage felt deafening even if loads of sounds reached his ears from outside. He felt a level of loneliness that startled him.

    He hated thoughts concerning that topic but he couldn''t avoid it there. He felt isted from all the events urring outside there.

    Noah waited many minutes before Madison finally woke up.

    She noticed him and drew her breath. Noah wasn''t sure whether she did it because of pain, or because of his new power.

    "How?" She questioned him immediately she could speak. Her simple question confirmed to Noah that his power had caused that reaction.

    "It''s been a while, Madison," Noah smiled inspecting her alluring features. He took a moment to wonder why Sir Olio had notmented on his greatly increased power. He was only middle stage during the tournament after all.

    She remained silent, narrowing her eyes at him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I see you''ve gotten stronger," Noah added with a soft smile. He had to be honest, her expression gave him joy.

    "You too," she muttered unable to quickly process what was before her.

    Noah nced at her ck attire and saw how it clung to her skin. Although she sat down, he could notice the soft features in certain ces. She would need to stand to allow him to see the rest.

    She looked as pretty as he remembered and of course her higher stage power.

    "How have you been," Noah asked. His tone was a bit off, he wasn''t used to such talks.

    She noticed his struggle and decided to ept that he had reached the peak of the third during the time they had been away from each other.

    "I have been good," she replied. "As you can see, also been busy."

    Noah nodded unsure of what to say next.

    "Where are we now?" she changed the topic, getting up to approach the carriage door.

    "We are in a prairie. I don''t know where it''s located, but ording to one of the officials we''ll be leaving soon," he exined following her movement.

    "So we don''t get to check the ce out," she clicked her tongue pushing the door open. But then the entire carriage jerked as a result of the beast''s movements and she fell backward

    Noah acted quickly, managing to catch her on time.

    "This is why we were asked not to move about too much. You don''t want to wind up dead." He exined with a nk expression.

    "Sure sure," Madison nodded, silently blushing.

    Noah himself found their position awkward so he pulled her up. But then the carriage shook again.

    The door mmed shut waking the sleeping man, and the duo stumbled and fell.

    Noah found the young-lookingdyying on his chest and he furrowed his brows.

    She tried to push herself up frantically, but the beast spread its wings. Further troubling the carriage.

    Noah panicked, if they didn''t situate themselves on their seats then they just might fly outside of that room.

    Trying her best to stabilize her movement, Madison felt heat rush to her face. She could feel his chest since shey on top of him.

    The beast gently pped its wings to prepare for take-off.

    Noah clenched his teeth, muttering a curse. Madison still tried to get off of him but his instincts told him such would end up badly, so he wrapped his right arm around her.

    She twitched in shock at the event.

    Applying pressure on her waist Noah made sure they wouldn''t separate from each other.

    She might not have experienced a beast taking off, but he had.

    Wanting to protest, Madison tried to push her body from Noah''s but found her strength unable to affect his grip.

    She was ready to speak when the beast finally pped its wings with the intent of flying.

    The world spun as Noah and Madison felt their figures crash into the carriage''s ceiling, then back on the floor. They quite literally bounced from one spot to another.

    Noah utilized his control over the wind to keep them from reaching the door.

    The beast directly elerated and it took a while for it to regain stability and allow them to sit.

    The duo remained silent after what had happened. Hours passed before the silence was broken.

 Chapter 446 446. BARCULOS REGION

    The night time came quickly, and shockingly all the time before that point had been spent in total silence.

    Noah had sat close to the windows on the carriage and gazed at the gradually passingndscapes. That scenery reminded him of the train rides on Earth. Only this one was far more beautiful and from a higher perspective.

    At some point after those hours, a knock arrived on the carriage''s door, startling the trio. After all the beast was still flying.

    Noah wasn''t worried however, Sir Olio had informed him of someone''s arrival. That had to be the person.

    A moment after the knock, the carriage''s door parted open to allow the entry of a tall figure clothed in a silver garment featuring the crest of the guilds council.

    Noah inspected the individual''s features and saw that he looked young.

    "I trust you''ve had a good time since the journey began," the man''s polite and soft voice reached their ears, and they nodded.

    "I am sir Dere. I will be your temporary caretaker," the expert announced sweeping his gaze over them.

    Noah nodded even if he didn''t see the need for a temporary caretaker.

    "We are about to arrive at our first destination. A small city in the Barculos region. Our stop would be right outside the city as we are too big of a group," Dere exined.

    Noah saw that Madison and the second man felt taken aback by the announcement.

    Dere saw Noah''s confusion and opened his mouth to speak.

    "The Barculos region is known for its incredible mana density which has given birth to many powerful beasts. I myself have bore witness of tens of tier four beasts roaming the region in packs," Dere exined.

    "The city is set on an elevated portion of the region which is far from its center, but beasts still roam it."

    "I have onlye to inform you that a battle may unfold. But you have nothing to worry about. The council has ensured that no harm woulde to you," Dere exined nodding his head, even if his words still worried his audience.

    "The stop will onlyst about an hour before we can resume our journey. Your carriage is set in the center of the others so there are a lot of defenses on ground, you need not worry," Dere assured.

    Noah didn''t like the situation, but there was really nothing he could do about it. So he simply nodded in response to all the tier 4 expert had said.

    The Barculos region was a mid-sized region on the map of the Cusk nation, situated in the north-western region of the nation.

    Their path would be directly from the north-western region of the nation to its central point where the royal pce was situated.

    Sir Dere spoke to them for a while, before leaving. His departure left a dense silence amongst the trio.

    "I heard that others would apany us on the tour," Noah revealed, breaking the silence. He for one was already tired of it.

    "Apparently they will be from noble families," he added and saw the expressions on both his listeners flicker with a bit of anger.

    ''Good,'' Noahmented inwardly. The noble families had made a dark impression on him, he still had ns for the noble families Kius had spoken about.<novelnext></novelnext>

    If they had the same dislike for nobles then they could get along a bit.

    Another silence unfolded at that point and Noah heaved a light sigh. If no one would talk then he wouldn''t.

    "I''m Bon, from the Illusory de guild," the third expert announced breaking the silence.

    Madison introduced herself next, and Noah did so too, setting the mood for a level of friendship. They would be together for a long while after all.

    A series of small talks unfolded after that point. Noah was all too well interested in them. He had experienced enough of his lone self. He figured a bit of outward-ness wouldn''t kill him.

    Their chats turned into full-blown conversations. Soon they reached the topic of cultivation. Noah said as little as he could, but learned a lot from Madison and Bon.

    The hours continued to pass, and for some reason, the beasts weren''t exactly flying too fast. Maybe so they wouldn''t miss their stop point.

    The carriage suddenly jerked at some point, putting an end to the conversations.

    shes of light reached the experts and they each looked outside.

    Noah spotted balls of orange mes from different points around them.

    Many auras reached his senses, but they were nonlethal, at least Noah thought they weren''t since Madison and Bon didn''t directly pass out. He had the ne for protection, they didn''t seem to possess any such thing.

    Noah heard orders being thrown about, while the party of exactly 115 flying beasts in the fourth tier descended towards a certain point they had seen.

    The wind blew fiercely as the many beasts descended. A huge cloud of dust rose to the night sky, but nothing reached the insides of the carriages.

    Noah had a pensive expression, but he stopped himself from getting too serious.

    The beasts eventuallynded and the lights from the city reached them.

    Noah had not been capable of getting a clear view of the city, but now that the cloud of dust had cleared he could see the light the habitation produced.

    Whatever they were doing he didn''t know, but he could see that three beasts had taken off a minute after theynded.

    Silence unfolded at that point. It would seem they listened for the existence of tier 4 beasts or more.

    The minutes began to pass and soon Noah lost the tension he had felt upon theirnding. He honestly doubted that any beast in its right mind would attack theirrge force.

    Unless of course, it was something like a tier 5 beast. At that point, they would most likely die. He on the other hand would be able to escape quickly.

    The hour eventually ended and the party of three that had departed, returned.

    Nothing went wrong and they could peacefully resume their journey. Onward to the central city.

 Chapter 447 447. UNAVAILABLE

    The world continued to speed by below Noah''s carriage. The sun stood high up in the sky bathing the world of Cregar with its light.

    Noah had begun to wonder what existed in the other continents. Those thoughts and imaginations had brought about bountiful excitement, even if he kept it hidden from the world around him.

    Hours had passed since they took off from the Barculos region, and different conversations had unfolded, but eventually, everyone went back to their own thing.

    Noah''s heady on the window closest to him and he stared at the world below. Rivers passed, hills passed, mountains passed, expansive forests passed, and gradually, settlements began to unfold.

    Incredible.

    Although he had long since stopped counting, Noah could be certain that they had flown over more than half a thousand towns or viges or even small cities.

    Thend area that belonged to the Cusk nation was immense. It was even more shocking considering the fact that they were practically flying on a straight path, with minor curves.

    ''Just how many people are in the world,'' Noah thought in wonder, surely their poption would be on par with that of earth.

    The event made him wonder just how little the number of humans who had stepped on the cultivation journey was.

    He had not been privileged enough to explore most of thend area of that nation due to his tight schedule, but he figured one day he would.

    At some point, the group of 115 carriages suddenly sped up, covering more distance in a shorter amount of time.

    Noah and the others still wondered why they had not allowed the beasts travel at their peak speed.

    The sudden eleration brought with it a foreboding feeling, and when a knock arrived on their door everyone knew something was up.

    Dere entered again, his youthful features more visible in the daylight.

    "I hope you had a peaceful night," the expert tried to ease the growing tension his presence brought, but he failed.

    "What is it?" Noah had been the first to ask. But he did so as gently and respectfully as he could.

    Dere remained silent for a short while, before nodding.

    "We are anticipating a battle in the minutes toe," the expert started and his words brought a wave of surprise, even Noah didn''t expect anything close to that.

    "But do not worry you will be kept safe." He assured.

    "Why?" Madison voiced her thoughts, a frown evident on her face. She didn''t like that situation but the calm expression on Noah''s face made her calm down significantly.

    "In a normal situation that information should be left untold to you, but things are different. You all are currently my superiors, and I was given the go-ahead by Commander Glee," Sir Dere exined, making sure they understood.

    All three experts nodded in understanding and he opened his mouth to continue.

    "With the help of the guilds, the royal family has ga8ined information of the base of a group of high-tier bandits wreaking havoc in the regions closest to them."

    "They have been shifty for a few years now and have managed to escape the royals every time they made a move on them. But the royal council concluded that someone from the inside always gave away their ns, assisting the criminals," he paused.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How does that change anything this time," Bon furrowed his brows. "The royals asked for our help wouldn''t the traitor still know?"

    "In normal situations, yes, but ns were made to not give away our intentions."

    "We are only the group meant for the tour, but a trustworthy person going by the name of Elder Mchi has ryed the message to us." The mention of the familiar name made Noah clench his teeth.

    "There''s a fake group who were to arrive the day after tomorrow. We believe the bandits will be preparing to move before then. A weak moment for them," Dere exined.

    Silence reigned in the carriage at that point. The n looked sound.

    "Is that why we made a stop?" Madison asked trying to piece all the information together.

    "Yes. Sir Mchi and his group were received," Dere revealed, and Noah felt his stomach twist in shock.

    His eyes widened for an instant before he regained hisposure. All of his shock and even fear were sent into his mind.

    Noah''s strange reaction had been noticed by the others but no one addressed it.

    "For the sake of your peace of mind, have Ie to tell you all this. But once again we have everything under control," Dere assured again.

    The three experts nodded, but Noah had lost his cool. Anger burnt within him, but also fear. He thought he had ovee it, but for some reason, he felt fear at the mention of the man''s presence.

    Maybe it was due to his circumstance. He didn''t want to be found out, even if he could actually escape it.

    Noah took silent deep breaths to calm himself down. He had faced stronger foes than the expert. The only issue was that things were different now.

    He had checked and found to his dismay that he couldn''t utilize the elemental charge skill.

    [Elemental Charge[Active][Unavable]: Be the embodiment of your unlocked elements, as your power is pushed one tier up. When activated you gain a 700% boost to the attack power of all elemental skills, which have also been pushed up a whole tier]

    Costs: N/A, Duration: N/A, Cool-down: N/A.

    Bacsh: N/A. Duration: N/A]

    The issue meant he was like every other tier 3 cultivator. All means to increase his power exponentially for a short period had been blocked.

    His only way out of death was to run, or simply return to his cultivation level. In short, he truly had to be careful since his trump card was inessible to him.

    "How long till we reach the said location of the bandit group?" Madison asked getting the full picture now. But she was still too worried.

    Dere''s eyebrows flickered and his expression turned slightly cold.

    "We''re here already," he announced, and immediately after hepleted his words the carriage came to a sharp halt.

 Chapter 448 448. LOSING BATTLE

    Noah pressed his face against the window of the carriage immediately after Dere left. His eyes scanned the world below them and he got an understanding of where they were.

    A brown mountain surrounded by thick vegetation and arge river running past it unfolded in his eyes.''

    The ce looked normal. What he''d expect from any mountain surrounded by a forest. But it would seem the bandits utilized that mountain itself as their hideout.

    Still, Noah couldn''t gain sight of any signs of digging or holes that led into it. Leaving him wondering how they had got there.

    The mountain had two jagged peaks and a bit of vegetation growing on it.

    The party quickly began to spread out surrounding the region with about 50 different beasts, while the others stayed with their carriage. A bit distant from the mountain.

    There was silence in the world for a few minutes as tension exploded in the air. It would seem even the experts of the council were a bit careful even if their numbers were great.

    After a few minutes passed, four individuals, three clothed in different attires and one like the experts of the guild council floated forward towards the peak of the mountain.

    Noah''s carriage could get a good view of the events about to ur due to their position.

    He recognized elder Mchi and his head spun. His fury was great and his blood-lust bubbling. He wanted the man dead, but he had not the power to carry out that task.

    Noah averted his gaze before his blood lust could be too great so much so that it alerted the expert. He had to remain un-special.

    ? He wore a mask.

    The sudden action took his two fellow winners by surprise, but they still didn''t say anything since the words of Elder Mchi pulled their attention.

    "Wee in the name of the council. Reveal yourself!" His words were cool, but carried power.

    The mountain trembled as the beasts far below them felt the anger in his voice and fled. The truth was if a battle unfolded there the surrounding forest would suffer it.

    Silence reigned afterward. No movements whatsoever urred, and the spectators could only wonder what would happen next.

    "We have note to negotiate with you, so your reply does nothing in the end," Elder Mchi''s voice had gone cold and dark, he nodded at the other three as mes erupted out of his skin.

    "We''ll obliterate this mountain if that is what it takes to get you," the expert announced as the blue mesing out of his body gave birth to an armor.

    Heat zed in the environment, but they didn''t affect the other tier 4''s much. Who also had their aura''s unfolded.

    Noah watched as a sword appeared in the ming expert''s hand and he swung his de in a descending sh.

    The attack had been quick andpletely unexpected. Even the others did not expect it.

    A blue sh birthed out of pure mes, manifested after he swung his weapon, to Immediately crash on the mountain.

    Or at least that was what was meant to happen.

    The sh disappeared immediately it touched the mountain, leaving it unharmed!

    Danger spread in Noah''s mind immediately after, and a blinding blue light originating from the mountain unfolded in the world.

    The ambient temperature skyrocketed, as one blue sh far bigger than what had been initially unleashed, flew out of the mountain; its power amplified.

    A cacophony of high-pitched screeches rung out as the sh mmed into a few tier 4 beasts injuring them, before exploding into a spectacr wave of orange mes.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah watched a portion of the sky close to the mountain get bathed in that violent power as the roar-like sound emanating from the mes made his ears shake.

    That simple attack had revealed that the mountain had something to it, but there wasn''t any time to check it out, so Elder Mchi and the rest of the tier 4 experts instantly rained down spells on the elevatedndform.

    Normally that action would have been considered stupid, but it seemed all of them hade to one conclusion. Overwhelm it.

    Unknown to Noah and the tier 3 cultivators, the spell utilized for the counter wasmon. So much so that there were inscribed versions that produced better results.

    All that was needed was a surface that would feature the patterns for the inscriptions, and of course a power source.

    As long as the inscriptions weren''t overwhelmed they could virtually counter any magical attack. But it had a limit, which was countering more than three attacks at once. In rare cases four, but against a barrage of over 50 attacks, it could only crumble.

    And that was what happened.

    Noah watched tens of colorful attacks converge on the brown mountain and a blinding white light that almost made him pass out due to its intensity, unfolded.

    Their flying beast moved away from the area since the explosion that followed was nothing short of spectacr.

    The surrounding kilometers shook violently as the explosion washed over thends destroying everything it touched. The light even managed to suppress the sunlight reaching the area.

    The mixture of different elements caused the explosion itself to turn white. So the scenery of a white sea unfolding in the green forest caught Noah''s undivided attention.

    A few seconds passed before themotion cleared. And to the expectations of everyone the mountain had disappeared, but In its spot was arge green barrier and one person sitting on it.

    Noah could notice huge cracks in the barrier, but the person lookedpletely okay.

    A foreboding feeling unfolded in the area at that point.

    A group of about ten individuals in the fourth tier floated out of the green barrier with dark expressions on their faces. They all knew only death awaited them. Still, they would follow the lead of their master.

    "Middle-stage," Mchi snorted even if he remained in his position.

    "It seems we havepany boys," a deep male voice boomed into the environment. His words were mocking but his tone was dark.

    "I never knew such a powerful person would simply be the leader of a bandits group," Elder Mchi shook his head.

    Although he himself wasn''t up to that power level, their numbers were enough to put an end to him. He was only at the beginning portions after all.

    The ck-haired man remained silent, his head lowered as he casually sat on the dome-shaped barrier protecting the tier 3 cultivators below him.

    Buildings could be seen on the remaining piece of the mountain. That scenery reminded him of Lilua.

    "We havee to end you," Elder Mchi announced, and a snort reached everyone''s ears.

    "Don''t get confident just yet," the man straightened his position before bending his knees.

    The sound barrier and even chucks of the green barrier crumbled when the expert leaped forward. But tens of magical attacks had already arrived on his body before he could reach Elder Mchi. The experts from the council were terrifyingly in-sync.

    A losing battle for the bandits unfolded at that point. The middle-staged expert waspletely overwhelmed. He could only watch his gathered group which he had nurtured for decades die off one by one.

    The environment bore the cost of the grand event, as whole kilometers to miles worth ofnd areas were decimated. Decades would pass before they could fully recover.

 Chapter 449 449. REFUSE

    The ground continued to tremble violently as the one-sided battle between the two forces raged on. The over 200 tier 3 experts beneath the barrier had died after the second wave of attacks. The lower stage tier 4''s dying right after.

    Noah and the others were left with the scene of a barelyplete man floating in the sky. His gaze dark and deathly.

    He had lost his legs and left arm. A chunk of his torso was also gone. He would be dead if not for his tier 4 body.

    The world around the group had turned into a ck mess. Huge chunks of the terrain had been shaved off. A huge crater-like mess now existed in the ce of a once vibrant forest.

    The middle-staged expert had managed to survive the first four waves. It seemed his path had to do with great defense as he had managed to remain as intact as he was.

    Still, his state was pitiful and his aura was diminishing. He would die in no time.

    "Give up," Elder Mchi''s voice was loud, his gaze condescending. He stood from a high and lofty ce backed up by tens of incredible experts. He had never felt so confident in his long life.

    The middle-staged expert tried to chuckle, but he simply coughed and vomited blood. His breath was ragged and it was enforced by his now unstable power. Allowing it to reach ces it normally shouldn''t.

    Elder Mchi scoffed before raising his hand. He wanted to assume leadership of the group but themander wasn''t having that.

    Elder Mchi lowered his arm expecting a wave of attacks to rain down upon the expert; finishing him, but nothing happened. Not even his group moved.

    The event startled him and he furrowed his brows to sweep his gaze on the casually floating experts around him.

    Everything was silent. He shot an annoyed gaze at Commander Glee, the man gave no reaction, simply floating forward.

    "I am theirmander," the brown-haired expert muttered as he passed by the elder. He seemed to hold a grudge against the man.

    "ording to our information, there is something within your possession that needs to be retrieved," The expert''s voice unfolded, calm. The event made Elder Mchi furious.

    "What is the meaning of this?" His voice spoke well of his anger. He wanted to move forward when thedy in his group grabbed his arm. He furrowed his brows and she let go.

    ''With all due respect, Elder. We are simply following orders." Sir Glee announced, his voice holding a little bit of annoyance. He was stronger than the said elder.

    "I was never informed of this," Elder Mchi frowned, losing his cool. Noah suspected the expert was simply good at acting.

    "Well the sealed letter you delivered to us contained the information about an item within his possession,

    "You mean this?" Suddenly, the bandit''s head rasped, pulling all attention to himself again.

    Noah snapped his gaze toward the expert''s right hand and saw that a small ck orby on it. It felt dangerous.

    Commander Glee raised his hand as he went on guard. ording to the words of the elders of the council, the ck orb was one of the three that if put together would summon a sealed-up being who had been within the sixth tier.

    It was an ancient object that even the ruler of the Cusk nation knew about.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I was never told what this thing was. But you seem scared," The middle-staged expert revealed, staring at the ck orb with curiosity and back at his opponents.

    "I''d prefer to pick it out of your ashes, but the royals have need of you," Sir Glee exined, still wary of the thing.

    "What do you mean?" Elder Mchi asked,pletely lost. It would seem important details had been kept from him.

    "It''s a hassle to exin to you. But all you need to know is that they want to know who hired him," Sir Glee exined.

    "Did you hear that," themander threw his gaze back at the almost-dead man. "The royals are willing to receive you if youe silently."

    "And then they''ll kill me when my usefulness is over," the middle-stage expert snorted, but he now began to wonder what the thing was.

    "They promise not to carry out such actions," Sir Glee revealed and Noah snorted for the bandit''s head, even if the man himself remained silent.

    "Words are useless. The real representative of the royals is not even aware of this. Your words are more than weightless," the expert stated after a few seconds of silence.

    "I understand, but if you do act unyielding we''d have no choice but to end it here," sir Glee raised his hand again, the auras of his group red at that point. They wouldunch their spells as soon as he gave the go-ahead.

    Silence filled the world at that point when the middle-staged expert suddenly began to cough violently. His life was ending, he only had a few minutes left.

    "You don''t have much time. Make a choice already," Sir Glee stated coldly. He wanted to get over that event. He had a bad feeling.

    "A tight corner," the bandit''s head cursed, but he stayed in position.

    "Make a choice," Sir Glee insisted, his hand still raised.

    "Sheesh! Then I refuse," the expert revealed, his aura ring as a bright green light flowed out of his skin.

    Danger spread in the world. Although the middle-staged expert had been overwhelmed, he remained a middle staged cultivator at his core. He had simply not been given the chance to properly express his power.

    Notwithstanding, now that he had decided to detonate his core, he could well take Elder Mchi his group, and some others, given the chance.

    Sir glee instantly knew what he nned to do. His expression went dark as he shot backward lowering his arm.

    The sheer intensity of the spells that flew forward after that gesture suppressed the sunlight. No one wanted to die.

    Both waves of attacks reached each other and a world-shaking explosion unfolded. Bathing the sky for miles around in a blinding white light featuring a tinge of different colors. One that contained enough power to force the group even further backward.

    Unknown to the group a ck figure flew out of the sky to pierce the wave of erratic energy. Their body withstanding the dense power of the explosion.

    The entity created a spiderweb of cracks on the very fabric of the white and multicolored energy when they shot out of it. Leaving with the ck orb.

 Chapter 450 450. ELIDRA

    After the explosion within the attack eventually died off there was great silence. Everyone had seen the ck figure leave and the effects it had resulted in. But after Sir Glee, Elder Mchi and his group searched and did not find the orb they concluded that the worse had happened.

    Someone had sessfully stolen the item from under their noses. And their power was clearly above theirs.

    Even Noah gauged that the power of the thing or individual would have at least needed to be in the higher stage to leave that type of effect on the mass of unfolding energy.

    Things were getting more serious than he thought.

    If the person returned, they could wipe out the entire group. And would do it easily. He wasn''t in for that type of trouble.

    Elder Mchi and Sir Glee came to the same conclusion and quickly resumed their journey.

    Needless to say, real tension and danger fell on the group after the event. The fear of suddenly being attacked by a higher-stage cultivator hung upon them as they sped forward.

    It took a while for them to fly out of the range of the destroyed region. Noah really began to wonder if higher-level experts were that careless and uncaring of the environment.

    Hundreds of miles after, settlement began to appear and soon a grand city unfolded in Noah''s incredulous gaze.

    Unlike the cities he had been to, the central city didn''t feature that many tall buildings, but one, in particr, stood out.

    It was gigantic, at least a few hundred kilometers in sheer size.

    The ss-like pce stretching towards the sky would be the first thing anyone would notice when they arrived at the city. The three-peaked building itself was tall and massive, but the huge walls that divided it from the rest of the city were even more expansive. Itspound was also its grandest attribute.

    The walls of the city were round and made of huge silvery crystalline material that was denser and sturdier than some metals. It circled the whole city which was many miles in radius

    The same crystal created arcs that connected the immense pce in the distance with the walls.

    There were ten of them and they held a purpose Noah knew nothing off.

    The city had an aura of its own and it was nothing like he had ever experienced. Most especially the pce. It quickly felt incredulous. He couldn''t tell but it was actually beyond the fifth tier.

    The party of 115 flying beasts curved downwards before Noah could get aplete view.

    They had dived towards the ground even if they were still a few kilometers from reaching the city''s gate.

    The event startled him, but he could only bear it.

    "I''ve only been here once," Madison broke the silence, pulling their attention towards her. "It''s still as beautiful as I remember," she added gazing intently at the immense pce gradually bing taller as they descended.

    Tall trees appeared around them at that point, as the huge beastsnded on the path that led to the city.

    The road was tard and wide enough to amodate three of the huge beasts.

    A march towards the city began at that point. Many other paths spread out around them but they stayed on that one.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah even caught sight of bridges telling how advanced that ce was.

    In less than twenty minutes the crystalline wall closed up on them, and only then did Noah understand how tall it was.

    From his point of view, the pce waspletely blocked. He could only begin to wonder how high they had been in the sky.

    The tier 4 guards at the gate weed the party. Commander Glee and Elder Mchi seemed to be popr even among those guards so they were let in quickly.

    There were pressing matters to tend to.

    Noah felt his excitement peak when they crossed the silver gate to arrive inside the city''s walls.

    A different air rushed into his nostrils. He felt its quality and was surprised at how unique air could be. It felt fresher within the walls of the city, and that was probably due to the barrier even he couldn''t sense.

    The view of the pce from that distance and point of view was nothing short of stunning. That thing was the grandest structure he hadid eyes on since he got to Cregar.

    The chattering of people filled his ears as their party traveled down the street. He was shocked to realize that the scene left no impression on the people. They simply gave them one ce and seemed to forget about them.

    Sure their numbers were a bit, but tier 4 beasts were not exactly rare.

    The road led to a huge bridge that crossed over; closer to the pce. Noah could tell that that was their destination.

    Apart from the beauty of the city and the high power level, Noah could only anticipate the pce more.

    His eyes barely left the ss structure.

    It glimmered and reflected multicolored light from the sun. Noah already wanted to get a nighttime view of the structure.

    Soon the sight of brown armored men unfolded in their eyes after they had spent a bit over an hour marching down the bridge. He wondered why they didn''t just fly.

    He asked Madison and ording to her, the beasts were unable to fly within the city. Not because of a rule, but because of the pressure that existed in the city. It was a result of a high-tier spell that left even tier 5 beasts unable to take flight.

    The revtion had been stunning. All experts under the sixth tier were reduced to normal humans. Having to walk. He gained an idea why experts who had been there would want to fly all they could in the outside world.

    A wide ss-like wall eventually unfolded in their sights, and Noah sighted individuals in crimson red armors.

    They arrived before the gate and Elder Mchi got off his carriage as he was at the forefront of the group.

    His mood was bad and the armored individuals sensed it.

    Barely two hours in the central city of Elidra, Noah was already allowed passage into its wondrous castle.

 Chapter 451 451. SHERIA

    A blurry figure shot across the sky creating a streak of sorts as it crossed many kilometers in a matter of seconds.

    A random portion of the forest below it saw its descent, and immediately it reached the ground huge cracks spread in the terrain.

    A muffled curse exited the cloaked figure, revealing that it was a woman.

    The forest around her trembled as she strode forward. Trees curved and moved backward as if bowing to her, the very earth shifted to allow that path possible.

    More mutters left the ck cloak but thedy soon pulled off her hood.

    "These things need to be more flexible," her tone remained annoyed, and her ent andnguage were foreign to that of the Cusk Nation.

    Long green hair, pale skin pointy ears. An elf.

    She stopped at a particr spot on the opening path.

    A wide circle containing strange symbols and words unfolded in her grey eyes. She stumped her foot when she reached its center and the circle lit up with a soft green light, after which she vanished.

    The trees returned to their previous positions when her presence left the forest.

    The elvendy regained awareness In an underground area lit with bright green and yellow lights.

    She crossed the passage made out of smoothly carved earth to arrive at a wide area filled with busy individuals possessing the same foreign features as her.

    Her presence brought about bowing heads as she clearly held a high position amongst them.

    She nodded as she walked past them, to arrive on a staircase that led deeper into the ground.

    The elf''s name was Sheria, a high-level elf who stood as one of the top members of a secret elven faction that went against the wishes of the elven royal family itself.

    They were one of the seven factions that were responsible for the bad rtionship between the humans and the elves. The royal family themselves who stood as the representatives of the whole continent were not responsible for them.

    Being an expert that had deviated from being amander of the elven army, her power was well sought out.

    She disappeared about two centuries before current events. Rumors about her death had been widespread and eventually were believed.

    Sheria was about 5ft6 in height her features spoke of youthfulness but her power spoke of old age.

    She would be considered a person within the fifth tier was she human. Which was the reason for her profound influence over the world around her.

    Rumors had it that she had been responsible for the destruction of a significant portion of the elven continent. Even to this day, the remains of thend area was still healing. After over two centuries!

    For one to understand how significant that feat was, one would need to know that the elven continent was titled Cregar''s garden. The most significant of damages usuallysted a few years at most, none hadsted as long as a century, not to talk of two.

    The event that led to that destruction had seen her reaching depths that most people never decided to go to when influencing the world around them.

    With all her amazing feats stretching as far back as over half a thousand years prior she was now living amongst the shadows.

    The mere thought made her clench her teeth. Lately, she had been wondering if her decision back then, faking her death had been a good idea. She had done it to keep her love after all.

    Nevertheless, the goal her faction had been aiming for all this time was close. They were going to purge the world of the Human continent; Lidrath, and begin a new civilization, one ruled by the power of the seven factions.

    They only needed a few more things before their ns would beplete, and one of them was the orb in her hand.

    Capable of summoning an ancient monster that had been within the sixth tier. She had heard that the ruler of the Cusk nation had done it many Millenials ago, but with their presence now gettingxer many gears could take motion.

    Truth be told the major threat was the ruler of Cusk. She had never seen them in action, but apparently, they had single-handledly forced all the powers of the other continents into a cease-fire.

    The elven nation still bore injuries from the event. She was old enough to also know that all the other continents bore wounds millennia in age.

    Sheria found it amazing that they had settled for a small region on the human continent. With that type of power, they could almost rule the world. The issue confused her.

    It was public knowledge that Humans became more of themselves to be stronger, making each person unique and quite difficult to understand.

    She herself not being very far from being a genuine powerhouse, found such existences hard to understand. Elf got stronger the more of the world theyprehended.

    The higher theirprehension the stronger their spirit got which tranted into generally more power.

    Unlike humans, Elves don''t have three vessels of power. Only one. Which was their spirit-being.

    Elves however have one thing inmon, which was cultivation. They spent long periods bathing in the mana of the world trying to gain more from Her. As their understanding grew, their spirit grew.

    Naturally, they are only attuned to mana, and as they grew stronger they gained far more power. The more attuned an elf was to the world, the more elements they could utilize. This was different from their base affinity which was their control over nts.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Sheria herself was capable of manipting all four of the basic elements but was known for her special affinity which was gained from her deep understanding of the world. Gravity.

    The affinity spoke for itself. She could manipte gravity and deal with gravity magic. She only utilized it however when necessary.

    In battle, she was known for her great prowess as a spell caster rather than a weapons user. She remained skilled with the sword nheless.

    Sheria strode down the dark stairways with an annoyed expression. Her heist had been sessful but she had never expected that a whole group of the nation''s cultivators would be present.

    The n had been to retrieve the orb from the bandit''s group in exchange for a few things, just as they had agreed.

    But when the man contacted her with the amulet she designated for emergencies, she had been forced to reveal her presence in the end.

    Spections would grow about a secret group. Trouble.

    She could have helped wipe out the group but she''d seen the opportunity of gaining the orb for free. She needed them to do the job.

    Even if her decision would most likely put the nation''s security on edge. Their faction desiredplete anonymity. Her actions might have gained the powerful orb for no cost to the faction, but might have caused other troubles.

    She only had the saving grace that no one had seen her face.

    She had considered wiping the group out but decided against it. She felt a tinge of regret.

    Sheria reached her destination. The bottom of their temporary underground base.

    They had many such ces in different parts of the nation.

    Another passageway unfolded in her gaze, illuminated by green lights, but she ignored them to cross it.

    Tapping lightly on therge wooden door before her, she waited for a moment before pushing it open. A nicely decorated chamber unfolding in her eyes.

    The door closed on its own and she walked forward to nt herself on one of the green couches. They had acquired some from the underground trades of the Cusk nation.

    Those merchants would sell anything as long as they were offered the right price.

    The chamber was filled with a few couches simr to that one, an official table and chair, and a door that led deeper into that ce.

    A minute after she arrived the brown door flung open to reveal a tall elven man. His features were almost divine. His presence felt pristine.

    "What was the issue?" An androgynous voice unfolded from the individual''s lips, he had a series of scrolls in his right arm. He was the real leader of that branch. Sheria was his partner. Both officially and emotionally.

    Sheria furrowed her brows, repositioning herself on the couch.

    "The human bandits were attacked and wiped out by a group. They seemed to have nned it," she stated. "I arrived there when too much damage had been done."

    The man gasped in surprise, his blonde eyebrows creasing with worry. He ced the scrolls on the ck table moving forward to a couch.

    "I managed to retrieve the orb, however," she added and he stopped in his tracks, sending a surprised nce her way.

    His eyes swirled with thoughts and his lips revealed them. "What about their attackers?"

    "I let them go," She announced with a cold expression.

    "I see. But you got the orb, and I hope you weren''t seen," the elven man walked toward her, her eyes following his movement even if she still had a frown on.

    "Yes to both," she muttered sitting up straight when his figure loomed over her.

    "Then do not worry," he knelt before her leaning to take her lips in a kiss.

    Their kisssted for a few seconds before she pulled away.

    "Wouldn''t it cause trouble in the future?" her voice was shaky from desire, she knew what was to happen soon, but wanted to get all her worries off her mind.

    "We can just find who the groups were and silently eliminate them," the man dismissed her worries. He leaned in again, but she pulled back.

    "Illius, they were over one hundred and had silver-clothed humans simr to what the guild council wore. Are they not very dangerous?" she asked.

    "From your words, I believe none of them was at your level?" Sheria nodded at his question.

    "Then we can look into what they were doing and decide from there. We can even send him if you''re worried about your identity. He''s a human like them and is looking to earn our trust," he exined and Sheria had no words tobat his.

    He kissed her again, after which they drowned themselves in their sexual desires.

 Chapter 452 452. THIRD RANK

    Noah stepped out of the carriage to climb down thedder. Quickly after he was Bon, Madison had been the first to get down.

    Surrounding them were yellow-armored individuals, who ording to the ranking system of the royal city were Knights. But Noah didn''t know that.

    About seven of them gathered before them as they got down, each of them holding power within the fourth tier.

    Their eyes were fixated on the figures of all three of them. It would seem even they knew about the winners of the tournament of champions and knew the rewards. Who wouldn''t want a tour of a different nation and even another continent.

    Sweeping his gaze on the small garden behind him, Noah nodded inwardly at how lush things looked inside that ce.

    Even he could feel the mana in that environment. It wasn''t a matter of his changed status, the higher the mana quality was, the more evident it was for a body as weak as his.

    "You will be taken to your assigned rooms. Due to the earlier issue, your appointment with the royals will be shifted from tomorrow. Hopefully the day after," Sir Dere exined, walking before them.

    Even he silently marveled at the small garden by the pathway into the grand castle in the distance.

    All three of the winners nodded at his words, then he turned and bowed at the seven knights.

    "We will leave them in your care," He stated and the clicking of metal sounded as they nodded at his words.

    "Follow us," One of themmanded when he stepped forward.

    Noah saw Dere return to his carriage before the emissary began to travel farther and farther into the massivepound of the castle.

    The group of seven led them away at that point. A tunnel connected to a different segment of the humongous castle unfolded in their eyes, and Noah took in its features.

    The tunnel itself was made out of the same material the castle was, a clear ss-like build, but still, it wasn''t as spectacr as the rest of the castle, only reflective. On the inside however it was painted a nice silver shade

    The tunnel was long and wouldn''t allow them to see outside, so all three of them were stuck in the middle of the seven knights. A bit nervous to speak.

    "You''re the one bearing Aiden, Isn''t it?" One of them from the side moved closer to Noah, his action had caught the attention of the others, but they said nothing.

    Noah had to be honest, the identical armors really made it hard to identify who was who, they were even all the same height.

    "Yes," Noah responded, and the knight nodded.

    "You must be Madison, and Bon," he pointed at the other and they nodded in affirmation.

    "We saw your battles, and I have to say we were impressed," the expert continued, moving a bit from Noah''s figure. Even with his armor, Noah was taller.

    "We find it ttering that you would say that," Madison was the next to speak, her tone was soft and respectful. Her ck dress which clung to her skin but also had an overflowing piece at the sides connected to the arms, made her walking look graceful.

    And it was.

    "It''s the truth," the person on Bon''s side chipped in. Madison walked in the middle of the two males.

    "I didn''t know prowess like that was possible In the third tier," The man on Bon''s side continued.

    ''You haven''t met Sarah then,'' Noah said inwardly simply nodding his head at the man''sment.

    "Thest set was less spectacr than you were," The expert on Noah''s side added and they chuckled.

    Then fell silent.

    "Why do you like masks so much? I saw you wore them a whole lot during the tournament," One of the three yellow-armored men in front of the group asked.

    Noah furrowed his brows.

    "They make me feel safe," he admitted. "And besides they look good." His second reason sounded mundane, but most of their attention was on the first one. Safety. They could understand what he meant.

    Another wave of silence swept over them as they continued their walk towards who knew where. Only the knights knew where they were going.

    They all remained in silence until the knights led them down a branch tunnel where eventually a silver-painted hallway filled with a series of doors unfolded in their eyes.

    The ce was huge, Noah expected a big room, but what he saw took himpletely by surprise.

    A wide silver and gold room expanded in Noah''s bamboozled gaze.

    "What the fuck," he felt forced to mutter.

    The room was big. Too big. The biggest sleeping room he had seen in his life on Cregar especially since it only had one king-sized bed which had a couch at its edge.

    To put it inparison, the room was a tad bitrger than a football field, and its ceiling was high, adorned with about sevenrge chandeliers powered by mana stones.

    The king-sized bed stood at the very center of the room. It felt isted in thatrge space.

    Noah felt it a bit odd, but there was nothing he could do.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The knights left informing them that they had been asked to take them on a small tour of the allowed portions of the castle.

    It was weird to see tier 4 experts act as mere patrollers of the castle''spound.

    Noah didn''t feel hungry and didn''t feel the need for a shower. Some of the things within the bathroom were new to him.

    He would require testing which he wasn''t ready for.

    Apart from that, his stay in the room was eventless. Nevertheless, he got himself busy by pondering the issue of the ck figure that had appeared and stolen the orb.

    At first, he honestly didn''t care about the orb thingy, but now that an existence as strong as that could actually be involved, he knew for sure that things were far more serious.

    He wondered what the orb was for. It felt dangerous, maybe like the one Riveta gave him.

    His hunch was correct, but he didn''t know it was, so he simply kept himself busy with the thought.

    Needless to say, he started to feel anxious about the entire ordeal. He didn''t want to experience a tier 5 attack on the receiving end.

    Noah continued to bathe himself in his thoughts and quickly he moved to the most pressing issue.

    The fact that he was even in the royal castle.

    His hatred for those people burnt like never before, but he couldn''t show it. Heck, it would even be better to gain their closeness since he would need it at the end of the day.

    It was far easier to bring down an opponent which you knew about.

    The force of the royal family already looked incredible and scary. After all, they could utilize tier 4 experts as mere patrolling officers.

    There was even a magical spell that forced even tier 5 cultivators into walking. The reality was he waspletely outpowered.

    Nothing he knew he could do could help him win a battle with them. He would need to be at least tier 6 for that.

    The peak of known power on Cregar. He on the other hand had already confirmed the existence of a higher power level.

    "The seventh tier," Noah muttered, shaking his head at the thought. What type of power would such individuals be capable of?

    The urge to advance increased in him at that point, but he knew he was already at his best.

    "Hopefully the path to tier 5 doesn''t take too much time," he muttered satisfied by the feel of the bed. Truly it was worthy of a ce like the royal castle.

    A knock sounded on Noah''s door and he immediately knew who it was. Or were.

    It had been about two hours since the knights left them, their tour was to begin

    He was right.

    He saw that three yellow armored men waited outside with Madison and Bon.

    He didn''t know what the colors of the armors meant as of current, and he didn''t hesitate to ask.

    The knight gave a great exnation.

    There were 7 main ranks and one sub-rank of the royal castle''s forces. The different ranks were identified by the color of their armor.

    The first and lowest rank was the No-armor rank.

    The name spoke for itself. They were essentially individuals at the farthest end of the spectrum. They were usually new recruits and individuals in the third tier.

    Most were allowed to join because they showed above-average talent.

    The amount of no-armor soldiers the royals had under them numbered about twenty thousand.

    They were normal soldiers identified by the multicolored vests they wore; featuring the crest of the family. They were sent to all parts of the Cusk nation

    Noah had not seen it earlier because the experts could make it disappear, but the crest of the royal family was an hourss possessing four beast-like heads.

    It was situated on their chest piece, helmet, and of course, back.

    The second rank which was one step above the no-armor rank was the Brown armor level. They were mostly patrollers of the city itself but were rather low leveled, as the majority of them were still tier-three cultivators.

    Apparently, the royal family had about sixteen thousand of them. They were experts close to the peak of the third tier, and could also be sent out on different tasks rather than patrolling the city.

    The third rank was the red-armored individuals. They mostly guarded the castle gates as Noah had seen, but many times they were deployed out of the city''s gates. All of them, however, were in the fourth tier.

    The real amount of red-armored individuals were kept away from the public since those assets were important, being in the fourth tier. Notwithstanding, the Yellow armored man told him that they were certainly over a thousand!

 Chapter 453 453. THE FIVE HOUSES

    The fourth rank was the Yellow armor. Only then was Noah told that those given the yellow armor were officially termed, Knights.

    They were individuals who had proven both their power and loyalty to the royal family and had been given the chance to be knights.

    They were by default given the tasks of patrolling the castle''spound, but could also be deployed as personal knights to whoever they were assigned to.

    Knights were hardly seen outside the city walls, but they went out a lot. Many things were urring that the weaker levels couldn''t handle.

    There were different roles within knightship, but the expert limited himself to telling them only the basic things.

    Knights were a whole lot less than the red-armored men, but the man said they were over a hundred. A very vague ounting, but it was okay.

    The fifth rank was the Imperial Knights. It was a rank all knights wished to achieve in their lifetime. Imperial knights were one of the closest individuals to the royal family. Their ranks were identified by their Turquoise blue armor

    They had gone beyond normal knights and were highly sought out individuals who had incredible power.

    ording to the knight exining all these things to Noah, although all the Imperial knights were close or already were In the peak of the fourth tier or more, all were termed monsters even amongst their outside mates.

    The numbers of imperial knights were small. And although he had not seen them gather together before. Still, they were above twenty. Rumors had it they were only 50 in number.

    Noah stored all this information, managing to gauge just how out-powered he was against the royal family.

    The sixth and highest rank was the White Knights.

    These were immensely powerful experts who had power well into the fifth tier. They were the closest to the royal family and were in charge of their army as a whole.

    Little information existed about those individuals, but apparently, each one of them did their own thing and was hardly ever in the city or the nation as a whole.

    There were only 10 White knights who were considered some of the most valuable assets to the entire nation.

    Noahpletely understood why. If tier 4 existences were already spectacr he failed to see how tier 5 existences wouldn''t be terrifying.

    ording to the knight, however, there was sub ss for white knights. And since mostly all white knights werepletely loyal to the royal family only their power was the difference. The royals made provision for lower leveled experts.

    The silver knights were in this ss. All of which were within the fourth rank. Only three silver Knights were ever chosen making their presence rare.

    They were of the same authority as the white knights, only of lower power. Which was why the nation worked to push their prowess forward.

    After all those, Noah could see why taking revenge would seem like a suicide mission. There was simply too much in y there.

    "What about the seventh rank?" Noah asked. Counting only six ranks and one sub-ss.

    "The seventh rank isn''t exactly a rank amongst the royal army. They are not considered part of us due to their low level."

    "Still, these individuals are those scouted from different portions of our Kingdom. But most time they were either tier one or tier two."

    "The royal family spends resources on them till they hit the third tier. But it''s incredibly easy. Takes less than two years with the right amount," the expert exined catching Noah off guard.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "A bit of their potential might be affected. But it doesn''t matter. They''d have the next century to prove their worth." He added.

    "I see," Noah muttered recalling the resource he had won during Bozolom. If they were capable of sparing individuals tier 4 resources, pushing the mass into tier 3 wouldn''t take that much.

    Now he understood why most people would desire to join the army. It was an escape into a better world. They would face hardship, but in turn, would be armed with more power than the mass.

    "Tell us about the royal family," Madison asked. She had been attentive during the exnation of the various ranks of the royal army. It was her turn to ask and the man was able to tell them something.

    Noah gained a whole lot during the tour, not only did the different various structures of the royal castle appeal visually to him but the stories and exnations of certain things by the Knights were highly entertaining.

    They were escorted to their room a few hourster where each one of them was served dinner.

    Noah sat before the table in his assigned room, his eyes nk as his thoughts wandered inside the things he had learned that day. He still shook.

    There were five houses of the Monderi Royal family. These families were of course birthed by and named after the five children the real rulers of their kingdom.

    Apparently, not even the knight knew who the King or queen was. They were isted within one of the many rooms of the castle, only seen by their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the royal council, the imperial knights, and the white and silver knights.

    Noah had understood why the lower leveled mass barely knew anything about the royals. If even officials working within the city had not seen them, how much more people who lived thousands of miles away?

    Information about the king and queen was confidential. Only the imperial knights and the white and silver knights were privy to their presence.

    This was one of the main reasons all knights strived to be recognized and seen as someone worthy of bing imperial knights.

    Still, the five houses under the Monderi family were named ording to descending order from first born tost born.

    The Khan Monderi house, the Flora Monderi house, the Faust Monderi family, the Lot Monderi house, and finally thest-born Riveta Monderi.

    Yes, Riveta.

    Apparently, she had no children but was considered a house on her own since she was a child of the king and queen.

    The revtion had been nothing short of mind-wrecking.

    Apparently, Princess Riveta was feared by the White knights for her amazing prowess and forging. She trained all ten of them apparently. As she herself held prowess far into the fifth tier.

    However, unlike her brothers and sister, she disliked the activities of royalling and left the castle many decades prior.

    Noah had been skeptical at first, but when the knight mentions that she had left with her personally-built tower he had no choice but to fall to the realization that he had met with one of the children of the royals. And was a royal herself.

    ording to the knight, she had abruptly returned to the castle about a month prior for the first time in years. She stayed for over two weeks before leaving again.

    Noah could barely eat anymore.

 Chapter 454 454. LORIA

    At a set time someone came and cleared the table that had been brought into Noah''s room. The individual being a maid at the peak of the third tier had found his table half cleared.

    He had stored most of it and left the remaining to be taken away. His mind needed a bit to clear from the conflicting emotions he experienced.

    The maid had been beautiful, but he barely cared about that. Her cold expression almost ruined her beauty, she even carried a heavy aura about her.

    These were details he couldn''t miss. Nevertheless, he simply watched her clear his tes.

    "Do you find it unfair?" Noah''s question flew toward the young-looking woman. She felt startled since real surprise appeared on her face.

    "Huh?" she gasped.

    Noah ced his legs on the ground, sitting on his bed.

    "Do you find our different positions unfair?" He asked again. His expression was regr and his eyes were attentive.

    She noticed those details and felt on edge.

    "No sir," she replied shaking her head with a bow.

    Noah remained silent for a few seconds. He didn''t know what he was doing. But he followed his instincts anyway.

    "I don''t believe you," he responded watching her brown eyebrows flicker.

    "Sir I will be needed soon," she tried to find a way out.

    "You''re attending to guests of the royals themselves, I believe they''ve asked you to obey us. No?" He tilted his head.

    She was unable to respond. His words had hit the spot. She lowered her head in seeming submission.

    "What is your name?" Noah asked.

    "Loria, sir," she quickly replied.

    "Well Loria, I am Aiden."

    "We''re obviously of the same power level, but I have an edge over you. I''d be jealous if I was in your position too," he admitted.

    Loria remained silent.

    "Only luck differentiates us. Or maybe fate. Or destiny. Whatever you want to call it."

    "I''m also far stronger than you are," he added and finally got a reaction from her.

    Loria was prideful by nature. Her power amongst her fellow maids stood out. Her breakthrough into the fourth tier would mean she could be a head maid and serve the royals directly. She had been promised so. This was the reason she had been even allowed to serve him.

    "I''m pretty sure your re would get you in trouble," Noah smiled a bit. Things were getting interesting.

    She lowered her head again trying her best to refrain from doing or saying anything that could get her in trouble.

    "Your aura is choking me," Noah teased. She clenched her teeth.

    "If you have nothing to say, sir, I''ll be taking my leave," She raised her head. Her expression was cold.

    She was truly beautiful.

    "You''re of the lightning element aren''t you?" Noah asked even if he could already feel the strange familiarity.

    Loria furrowed her brows in confusion. She had sensed the beautiful man''s affinity but knew not what he wanted.

    "Can you do this?" He raised his right hand and allowed yellow sparks to begin to crackle on his fingers.

    A de formed from the dense sparks and he held unto it.

    She silently snorted.

    "No offense sir, but that''s child''s y," She stated feeling smug inwardly.

    Noah made his lips round. "Oh. Then show me what you can do," he smiled daringly.

    "If you say so," she bowed.

    Raising her head, Noah saw the smile on her face and felt danger trickle into his mind while greenish-yellow sparks appeared around her.

    She raised her hand and swords formed on it and around her.

    They numbered exactly fifty.

    "Impressive," Noah nodded genuinely.

    "This is the least I can do," she even further spoke.

    "Me too," Noah responded. She wanted to boast. Suddenly he wanted to, too.

    Her expression turned annoyed and she waved her hand making the elemental swords disperse.

    "Can I take my leave now?" She asked not scared to show her annoyance.

    Aiden had shown he could handle her annoyance.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You''re such a bad maid," he giggled further annoying her.

    "You''re probably troublesome."

    Loria had a cold expression as she watched himugh at a situation he had created.

    "Still, I like it." he stoppedughing altogether. His words caught her off-guard.

    "You can go now, thank you," he waved his hand with a mysterious smile.

    Loria remained speechless at the suddenness of his actions. He had left a positive impression on her.

    She brown-haired maid nodded and approached the exit.

    The gust of wind suddenly filled the room, however, blowing her attire dangerously high.

    Loria panicked and quickly held her dress down before it could reveal her beneath.

    Laughter filled the room however and she red at Aiden seeing the ball of spinning wind floating before him.

    ''A dual affinity wielder!'' she eximed inwardly.

    Noah knew not what came upon him to do that. But she was too tease-able.

    Heat rushed to her face and she stormed out of his room. Noahughed to his heart''s content.

    Her exit brought a wave of unfathomable silence.

    Noahy on his bed, his leg on the floor and his arms spread out on the soft surface.

    He heaved a deep sigh, the next day would probably be eventless. He was already restless.

    "Damn," he eximed. "I have nothing to do."

    Sitting up he raked his fingers through his white hair.

    Untying it, he allowed their silky naturey on his shoulders.

    "How many times will I have to go through this? The wait is getting unbearable," Noah spoke to the system.

    He hadn''t done so in a while.

    [[You can address the issue at hand for the mean time]]

    Its response felt more human.

    "Which issue," Noah asked, confused.

    [[The issue of the spirit attached to your body]]

    "Oh, that."

    "Is there anything I can do?" he asked.

    [[No. It''s what I can do]]

    Noah rolled his eyes.

    "What can you do then?"

    [[I can seal it up in an object]]

    "Which object?" His expression was that of amusement.

    [[Any one you provide]]

    "Uh," Noah searched through his inventory. There were a few items he felt he had no pressing need for.

    [[I rmend a mana stone]]

    The system''s words surprised him, but he didn''t object and simply did as suggested.

    An orange mana stone appeared on his palm at that point.

    [Commencing the process of sealing up entity<Spirit>...]

    [Will you like to store Spirit<Erolia> Within the mana stone<Orange>?]

    [Yes/No]

    Noah picked the positive option. And watched a spherical multicolored mass suddenly fly out of his chest and into the already floating orange mana stone.

    [Processplete]

    [Spirit being<Erolia> has been sessfully sealed]

    Noah watched the orange mana stone begin to shine and shine until its color changed from orange to a magical purple color. The stone had also gotten bigger.

 Chapter 455 455. RELEVANT

    "Okay?" Noah sat on the bed in his assigned room. In his palms was a shining stone the size of a man''s fist.

    It shimmered with energy and resembled a rare item.

    "What do I do with it now?" He asked the system while inspecting the object that now contained Erolia''s soul or spirit.

    [[You can simply store it for use in the future. The spirit of beings will find its use as you advance higher in the tiers of power. They are rare to properly obtain after all]]

    Noah read the panel containing the systems reply. His mind fell into a moment of wonder. What exactly could he need with a spirit?

    His mouth curved into a smile a few seconds after. He honestly had no ideas but his instincts told him it would be fun.

    Noah stored the stone and felt the aura it had once bathed the room in, disappear. It felt magical, as it was.

    He fell on his bed again before diving into a series of conversations with the system. Its reply truly felt more human. The only thing missing was a voice.

    The night of the first day in the city of Elidra passed quickly. The next day would prove to be more eventful than Noah had initially thought.

    A knock on the door pulled Noah out of his slumber. He was forced to recall just how many times that scenario had happened. It had to be a curse or something.

    A voice reached him from behind the door. He answered with a loud voice even if his eyes still wanted to close in sleep.

    Sleep was bliss.

    Loria entered with Madison. The second-ce winner peeked at his lying figure. Noah noticed her presence, cursed inwardly, and sat up.

    His face looked like he had always been awake, unable to be affected by the grogginess of sleep.

    "Hey," Noah waved allowing sleep vanish from his eyes.

    "Hey..." Madison blushed a bit. Loria inspected that rtionship and wondered.

    "You know that ce we saw yesterday? I and Bon decided to spar there. You know just to test how much we''ve improved," Madison exined.

    An eyebrow rose on Noah''s face at her words. He recalled the open court which was avable to them for sparring.

    "Okay?" He asked.

    "I can''t spar with you. You might die," he pointed out quite genuinely. Still, his words sounded like bragging to Loria. She held her peace.

    Madison felt taken aback, but she was daring by nature.

    "I see. I still wanna test my strength on you, however. But in the meantime, I''ll spar a bit with Bon. Come watch us," she ushered even if she still stood at the entrance point.

    Noah clicked his tongue silently, but he got off his bed anyway.

    ''Isn''t Bon still in the middle stage,'' he wondered when his gaze finally focused on Loria.

    "What is she doing here?" He asked, approaching them.

    "I have been tasked to escort you wherever," Loria bowed.

    "Interesting. I''d love to see your spectacr power," Noah pointed out. Loria remained silent raising her head.

    "That would be interesting," Madison chipped in as they left his room and began their journey to the said court under the sky itself.

    "But seriously, are you allowed to spar with us," Noah''s gaze swept the court before momentarily finding its focus on Loria''s figure. Her maid attire seemed to have been sewn just for her. And it was.

    "If it''s a request, I am able to fulfill it," she nodded. She seemed to have lost her expressive attitude. Maybe because of the added people.

    "Then it''s a request," Noah stopped focusing on her to once again look at the court. Madison and Bon were already facing each other from two opposite points on its surface.

    The court wasid out with fine stone painted a vibrant red color and its edges were painted back.

    The court being about the size of a football field but circr In color, had inscriptionsid on its edges to create a ring where those inside it would not have the fear of flying outside.

    Loria had activated that function by stumping on the ground outside of the field, but very close to it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The rings of light were also red giving the surrounding a weird vibe.

    Both figures on the court''s surface had their weapons in their grip, but since it was only a spar they would try their best to reduce their attack power.

    Nevertheless, with Bon only at the peak of the middle stage, he was somewhat given the chance to fight with all his might.

    Madison on the other hand would need to tone down the expression of her power to prevent the death of her mate.

    ''What is the point of a spar if the other person can''t already win,'' Noah shook his head catching the attention of an attentively watching Loria.

    She would make no hesitation to step in if Bon was in danger. Noah too.

    "Are you ready?" Madison asked cracking her whip. It felt dangerous to Bon.

    "Yes," the sword wielder responded and both individuals felt their attention peaked.

    Madison wanted to disy her power to Noah since he had been the biggest challenge. While Bon wanted to prove he was still relevant.

    They would not use spells, only a bit of empowerment. At least for Bon.

    Silence swept the court and a tense atmosphere formed. Noah silently apuded them. That level of concentration right off the bat was impressive. Even if he could do it too.

    They eventually moved.

    The wind blew and the sound barrier trembled as both figures sped forward creating streaks of their different attire.

    Noah could follow their movements perfectly fine, but he had to admit that they were quick.

    Their weapons shed and Bon already found himself in trouble.

    The long-ranged ability of a whip waspletely disadvantageous to him who wielded a fairly long sword.

    Madison had a light smile on her face as she tugged at the metallic weapon caught in her whips spiked grip.

    Bon clenched his teeth, he stumped his foot on the ground entering a stance that would not allow his weapon to be taken away.

    If his sword managed to leave his grip the battle was as good as won. He still had a lot to show off.

    Madison got serious. Even with her pull, she couldn''t yank the man''s weapon away from him. They were in a standoff. But not for too long.

    Madison abruptly let go of Bon''s silver de in hopes of destabilizing him. She achieved her aim, but only for a moment.

    Her survival instincts trembled as Bon swung his sword in an array of attacks. His movement was telegraphed and practiced, so she instantly knew it was a technique. How would it affect me? she thought while creating enough distance.

    Nothing happened.

    "What was that?" she asked a randomly moving Bon when realization dawned on her. He had yed her into getting defensive.

    She was right, Bon dashed forward ready to unleash his real martial arts on her.

    "Sixth form; Arms of the seventh spider," Bon muttered. His aura exploded and the wind around him grew troubled. He wasn''t of the wind affinity but his attention was able to stir it up until it even turned foggy and mist-like.

    Madison felt her instincts rage. He was going for the kill straight away.

    Bon came to a sharp halt and he swung his sword at a defenseless Madison. Or so he thought.

    Pain reached his mind and a burning sensation exploded on his waist. His arm tilted to the side as a result and a huge sh unfolding in the shape of a spider with seven arms flew forward; its shape mapped out by the thick wind around it.

    The wind blew violently at its advance. Even Noah felt it could hurt him.

    Bon felt his body being flung sideways, while Madison managed to dodge most of the sh but still had three of the spider arms hit her. Cuts opened on her chest and she slid backward for a few meters.

    The rest of the spidery attack now missing three arms mmed on the barrier, instantly disappearing. It was something ced in the fourth tier. They could never hope to affect it.

    Silence unfolded as the misty wind cleared. But a p broke it.

 Chapter 456 456. MONSTER IN HUMAN CLOTHING

    Noah pped for a few seconds allowing the fog that had been stirred as a result of their disy clear up.

    Loria looked worried and she was even ready to move when Noah shook his head. He had seen everything happen clearly.

    Madison had set her traps before, and Bon had simply been caught in them. Still, his attack had been able to inflict injuries, although superficial on his opponent.

    Madison was stationary, but she raised her head, clicking her tongue.

    "That actually hurt," She admitted facing a recovering Bon. He bled from his right side, but apart from that, he was okay.

    "What the fuck was that. It was fun!" The man eximed holding in the pain he felt.

    A potion appeared in his hand and he immediately chugged it down.

    Madison would do no such thing however, her healing would deal with the three gashes that existed on the left side of her upper chest to her left arm.

    "Your technique is strange, I didn''t notice it until it had hit. What is it?" Bon admitted walking forward, they held no grudges against the other for the wounds they sustained, only curiosity.

    "And your technique is unfairly strong. What the heck!" Madison sounded excited washing away Loria''s worries.

    "We should try that again, but with our affinities in y," Bon suggested feeling his wound heal. Madison had pulled back on that strike, her full power would have been able to cut him in half. But he only received a gash.

    Now that Bon mentioned it, Noah recalled that he had never seen Madison in y with her water affinity. The tournament had only allowed their martial arts.

    Even with that significant limit she had been incredible in her disy.

    "I''m pretty sure you''d die mistakenly," Madison admitted sending chills down Bon''s spine. She had said those words in a matter-of-fact tone.

    "How about with our escort here?" Noah butt in, gesturing at Loria and she almost choked on her breath.

    "That would be nice if she agrees," Madison responded gazing at Loria.

    "What do you say?" A smile shone on Noah''s face. He really felt interested in thedy.

    Loria struggled. "I fear I might inflict too much of an injury," she bowed.

    "Are you saying at your level you''re unable to keep track of your attack power?" Noah arced an eyebrow.

    She raised her head and nodded, even if reluctantly.

    "I have this on me to keep my aura from flowing about. I have not had steady control over my power in a long long while," she exined raising her left hand to reveal a ck bracelet fearing a green stone. Noah had noticed it but dismissed it as a cosmetic item.

    "But you had fine control yesterday," Noah pointed out.

    "That was because I limited myself and because we were not in a battle. Were we fighting I might have gone overboard," she exined. Her eyes shone with the light of real regret.

    "I''ll have to see you in action topletely believe that such is possible," Noah admitted, stepping forward.

    "We can fight. I can guarantee you I won''t die from your attacks," he exined with a light shrug.

    Loria felt speechless. But she nodded anyway. Madison''s eyes radiated her excitement and she ushered Bon out of the court while both peak stage tier 3''s entered it.

    "So your problem is that you get drowned in the feeling of a good battle and you lose yourself," Noah wanted to get things right.

    "Basically yes. But it spreads out more than that. Ick the basic ability to ce my explosive power under control. My bracelet isn''t the only item. This very attire was made for that purpose," She exined quite level-headed.

    "This is getting a bit confusing," Noah frowned.

    "Are you naturally a battle-driven person who forgets yourself in their fights? Or is it just that youck control? How ever that is possible."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Yes for the first and second one," She nodded. She mainly had issues with her emotions which stemmed from the wound in her soul realm. But she wouldn''t tell him that.

    Before about a decade ago she had been fine, but the events that led to that condition had been life-changing. She anticipated the breakthrough into the fourth tier. Her masters told her only then would her healinge.

    "Are you going to start fighting or not!" Madison yelled from her spot. She was increasingly getting more outward than Noah recalled. Maybe because they had been opponents back then.

    Noah ignored her, focusing on Loria, he knew something in her exnation was missing, but he had not the right to probe.

    "Let''s fight then," he announced entering a random stance.

    Loria nodded and brought out a sword.

    She had been trained by the royal family to be a battle maid. She only specialized in fighting apart from serving duty. And she did it with all her might.

    Her pride had also taken a hit from Noah''s light words the other night, she was going to prove him wrong,

    Noah watched Loria''s figure remain lightly positioned. His eyes were calm, and so were hers.

    "You can use spells-" He was cut short by the explosion of power that erupted forth.

    Noah watched small yellowish-green sparks flood the world around him and saw the zig-zagged motion Loria utilized to reach him.

    Her movements were dead quick and explosive, but he wasn''t worried.

    She arrived before him with her sword raised and her eyes zed with murderous intent. Even if it was unintentional.

    Loria had set up the sparks as a distraction, she would now proceed to unleash her full might on him. He said he could handle it after all.

    All the sparks in the environment rushed towards her de, as the world moved in bullet time to her.

    She swung her de in a downward sh even before her magical weapon could absorb all the sparksid out around them.

    Noah remained in position, but she didn''t know when he raised his hand to catch the tip of her sword.

    "Boom," Noah muttered with an amused smile then he unleashed the first form with his right arm.

    An explosion barreled forth in all directions at that point. The shock waves were nullified by the barrier, but the event had caused the air to turn thick and cloudy as it washed over the court in violent waves. Madison and Bon were stunned.

    The ground shook at the sheer might unleashed in that attack. Noah had only utilized one arm but it was already enough to cause a bigmotion.

    A powerful gust of wind originated from an unknown point In the court, clearing the thick and cloudy wind.

    Madison and Bon felt their gazes tremble when the sight of the court unfolded.

    Noah still had Loria''s shining sword in his grip and she still stood before him even if her ck eyes now carried deep fear.

    Noah''s left arm which he had executed the first form with was stretched out a few feet from her face. He had intentionally not made his attack hit.

    "I told you I could kill you rather easily." His tone was light and he let go of her sword. The high-pitched sound of metal hitting the floor unfolded in the environment.

    Loria dropped to the ground visibly shaking. Her life had shed before her eyes in the moments of the attack.

    She instantly knew she could never defeat the man before her. He had even stopped being a man and was now a monster in human clothing.

    Terrifying.

 Chapter 457 457. BATTLE GENIUSES

    ''Damn that hurt like hell,'' Noah grimaced inwardly, silently experiencing pain. Utilizing one arm to unleash the first form proved a difficult and painful experience. He had done it in a bit of a rush and desire to look good, but it hurt. Badly.

    The insides of his right arm had seen all its bones snapping, but thanks to his healing he could act normal even if it still hurt.

    Noah slowly lowered his right arm while staring into Loria''s eyes. She was still shaking, he had no remedy for that.

    He even felt bad a bit. Only a bit. The rest of him was normal.

    Madison and Bon walked into the court, silent.

    "What should we do?'' Madison inquired, even though she herself felt a bit shaken. Her eyes fell on a trembling Loria and felt a tinge of pity for her.

    "I don''t know," he furrowed his brows sweeping his gaze on their environment.

    Truth be told he had not expected that reaction from her. She seemed to be sick in some way. Or traumatized.

    A peak stage tier 3. Noah shook his head before crouching before her. Loria held her knees to her chest unable to move. Stricken by fear.

    "Are you okay?" Noah asked frowning. He really had no idea what to do.

    Loria nodded albeit still shaky.

    "Then stand," hemanded. She made no response.

    "What exactly is wrong?" He asked.

    She shook her head casting her gaze on the ground. Noah felt certain there was more to that matter. But he had not the right tools to help since he first of all didn''t know what was happening.

    "You could get in trouble for cking, you know. What if a knight shows up," he arched an eyebrow and her focus returned to his face.

    She furrowed her brows and started to straighten her position.

    "I''m sorry for the inconvenience, but I''ll have to take my leave now," she bowed. They could still see her shivering.

    Loria ran off after that point. Startling them. But they made no move to catch up to her.

    That event naturally spoiled the mood. But they could do nothing much about it, apart from moving on.

    Noah remained too strong to properly spar with any of them. Still, he could y a bit with both of them and that''s what he did.

    "Are you sure you want me to do this?" Madison''s voice was loud and it featured excitement. She had her crimson bow in her grip with her spiked whip coiled at her side.

    Noah stood on the other side of the court, but his consciousness carried his voice far enough to reach the other side.

    "Yes. I want you to utilize all that you have on me. I want to test my strength on battle geniuses," he didn''t hesitate topliment her.

    Bon shook his head at those words, he suddenly was more inclined to believe Aiden after watching him in action again. If he could term Madison a battle geniuses, then she definitely was.

    "You too Bon. Go all-out on me. I can take it," Noah nodded feeling smug. Power felt sweet.

    Both experts nodded and went silent. Unknown to all three of them a few knights were passing by and stopped to watch from a hidden spot.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah turned serious, he had asked them toe at him, but even he knew he would need to be careful.

    A chill swept the court, when Madison shot forward, Bon stayed back but began to prepare spells. They hadmunicated utilizing their mental waves, whatever they nned, Noah had no idea. Notwithstanding, he could gain a vague idea when he saw their actions.

    Madison dashed forward shattering the sound barrier with her eleration. The court wasn''t big enough to allow full movement at that speed, but that was never the n.

    Noah bent his knees at her movement, his instincts tingled and his body moved on its own when he caught sight of sparkly objects.

    Seven arrows wheezed past his figure. They had been too easy to dodge, so Noah braced himself for impact.

    A ground-shaking explosion unfolded at that point. Noah felt his body withstand the st''s power, only managing to move him forward two steps. But his environment had be ck.

    He muttered a curse when six objects crashed on his skin, but they simply bounced off, unable to prate his metal-like skin.

    Annoyingly, they unfolded in a fiery explosion. This time Noah felt the power in the explosion lift him off his feet to send him flying toward an area he did not know.

    He waspletely unhurt, but couldn''t see anything.

    Madison had learned from their first battle. She would try her best to keep him busy so he wouldn''t move.

    Three arrows wheezed past the smoke to almost hit Noah''s face, but he caught them all. Amazement was on his expression when they suddenly exploded again.

    He could never get used to it. But was mostly astonished by the fact that Madison could still find him even in that thick ck smoke.

    Noah grit his teeth and finally called upon his power over the wind.

    A powerful tornado formed at that point, and the ck smoke almost instantly cleared. Being sucked in by the tornado.

    Madison had been ready for that oue since Bon finallyunched his attacks. Being of the fire element he could deal quite a bit of damage to the average higher-stage cultivator.

    Noah watched balls of mes ze toward him at frightening speeds, but he snorted and shot forward.

    Unfortunately, his instincts tingled and a force from thin air suddenly mmed into his face disorienting him for a second. Enough time to allow all nine of the highly condensed fireballs hit.

    The court remained too small for the power within those balls of mes since a river of searing mes barreled out in all directions, forcing even its caster into a defensive position.

    Madison created a small sphere of blue water tobat the orange mes around her. She felt ready to resume her offensive when a deep-yellow light suddenly overshadowed the orange color in the environment.

    Time seemed to move in slow motion when a huge crackling mass erupted out of the explosion''s eye; bringing with it an ear-rupturing roar, before spreading its terrifying power abroad the court.

    Its might failed against the barrier, but the two cultivators felt the fear of death choke them.

    Madison allowed her strongest defensive spell out in that instant. An azure magical circle unfolded beneath her, and her figure turned into a huge ball of spinning water containing tens ofyers.

    Nevertheless, when a thin strand of electrical energy struck her powerful defensive. It instantly tore through all itsyers, before proceeding to open a big hole in it.

    In mere seconds Madison was no safer than she was before she activated her spell.

 Chapter 458 458. HURT

    "He''s strong," A yellow-armored individualmented watching the chaos unfold on the court.

    "He''s at the peak of the third stage. They''re far weaker," Another knightmented. His tone suggested that he expected that oue to be obvious.

    Noah was at the peak of the higher stage, if he weren''t far stronger than them that would mess up the ranking system.

    "How many of us had that type of power in the third tier?" The same person asked his three colleagues.

    "I can''t remember. It''s hard to gauge how strong you were during your weaker levels. The third tier is so much weaker than the fourth," another one of the four knightsmented.

    Silence unfolded at that point. They watched the ck-haireddy in the mix recreate her defensive spell, while the fire mage took refuge under her protection.

    Noah''s figure quickly became evident and hispletely okay state was revealed to the world. He had a slightly annoyed expression, while his sparks took control of the area.

    He could kill both his opponents if he wanted.

    Noah watched a jet of water depart from the spinning ball of liquid to arrive in front of him. He threw a punch topletely destroy it, starting a slow approach toward the huge defensive.

    More jets of water shot toward him but he destroyed them easily. His punches were more than enough.

    His figure eventually arrived before the spinning wall of liquid. The roaring sound of water beating upon itself was overwhelming but he didn''t care.

    Noah watched arms manifest from the spinning mass to grab unto his figure. He snorted and allowed sparks to rush into the arms. They exploded from an overload of power.

    Noah was unstoppable.

    cing his hand on the spinning wall, he felt its force almost pull him into it, but he stepped back before such could happen.

    ''This will be a good time to test out the third form,'' he suddenly gained an interesting idea and took in a deep breath.

    His actions were weird, but danger unfolded in the world at that point. Madison panicked and balls of water containing mes within them shot out of her defense to arrive on a barrier of sparks.

    The mes within them poured out on Noah''s figure, but he didn''t move.

    His eyes were closed and his focus was at its peak.

    His makeshift barriers continued to withstand the power within the mes, but even his attire began to suffer after they had experienced more than 50 of those offensives in mere seconds.

    Noah eventually opened his eyes and the wind blew at that simple action.

    Spreading his arms wide, Noah was ready to unleash the third form. And he did.

    Afterimages of his arms appeared at that point as his palms seemed to slowly draw nearer and nearer until they struck.

    A moment of silence unfolded in the world, then a sound wave closely followed by a powerful shock wave manifested with great power.

    Noah felt his world spin as the execution sent him shooting backward.

    The power within his 200 ps had been enough to shatter both his arms, but as a result, the wave of power had been enough to halt the spinning motion of the ball of water spreading huge cracks in the manyyers of defenses.

    The ball of water fell apart simply turning into a wave of water that washed over the court.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Dead silence filled the world as Madison felt stunned beyond words.

    The spark that had destroyed her first spell had not been too shocking. But the mere execution of a martial art containing that type of power was ridiculous.

    That spell had been able to keep most higher stages in her guild a run for their money, but Noah had destroyed them twice. And quite easily at that.

    Noah grit his teeth as hey inside knee-length water. Being submerged didn''t bother him one bit. He was too busy dealing with pain after all.

    Exceeding the structural integrity of his body gave birth to a different type of pain. It felt like his very bodyined. His agony felt deep, and it was. He had messed up his arms after all. The effects even spread past that damage.

    His healing had kicked in however but a minute or two would need to pass before he couldpletely heal.

    Weirdly he felt a sense of achievement from that event. Being able to injure himself real bad in a fight was something he thought would never happen during his wait for the end of the pending state.

    "Are you okay?" Madison''s voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he felt her arms raise him from the water.

    She saw his arms healing at a speed visible to the naked eye and yelped, letting go of him.

    ''Ow,'' Noahmented inwardly. He couldn''t use his arms and for some reason, his waist and even back felt extremely weak. But they were getting better.

    "Sorry, sorry!" Madison apologized lifting him again.

    "If you knew you''d hurt yourself this bad why did you do it?'' She asked in a slightly worried tone even if her eyes never left his healing arms. The sight made her skin crawl.

    Noah simply chuckled noting Bon''s approaching figure.

    "It''s just a spar," she furrowed her brows shifting her gaze to his face. He was beautiful. Too much for a man.

    "I know. I simply felt curious," Noah exined genuinely.

    "You remind me of someone. She was very destructive in her actions. She mostly ended up destroying her body in battle. Maybe you both have something inmon," Madison exined smiling at the ironess while she cherished those moments.

    She checked holding onto a beautiful man from her to-do list.

    "What''s wrong," Bon asked gazing at Noah as he was held up by Madison.

    "Nothing muc-" Noah was cut short by the appearance of a shiny figure.

    The sudden darting of his gaze put the two on alert and they snapped their gazes toward the direction of his eyes.

    Four yellow armored figures approached the court. Their figures looked valiant in the sun''s light.

    The one at the forefront walked faster than the others scaring them a bit. Had they done something wrong, they wondered.

    "I want you to test your strength on me," the knight announced after walking through the water-filled court to reach them. The water was slowly disappearing due to its mana-derived nature.

    His words were directed at an almostpletely healed Noah, but they put surprise on the faces of all three of them.

    ''What the fuck!''

 Chapter 459 459. BIG GUNS

    "Um..." Noah muttered, uncertain of that situation. Was he supposed to take the expert seriously? It was a general understanding that tier 3''s could never really hurt tier 4''s.

    Even Noah with how spectacr he was required a breakthrough to actually touch such existences.

    "Yes, young man. I want you to test your strength on me. I desire to gauge your power," the knight reassured.

    Madison and Bon faced Noah at that point. His arms were now usable he simply liked that position.

    Grunting as he straightened his position to sit in that water, Noah went serious for a second while considering the man''s words.

    "As a knight, I ask you of this. Please allow it. I''ll be indebted to you," The knight bowed before them. His armor clinked as he made that gesture.

    Noah was left with a hard decision. Still, he saw no reason to refuse the expert. He couldn''t hurt him, to begin with. It was even a plus to him.

    "We saw your battle with them and had an argument concerning the power you possess. I imed that none of us had that type of strength," Another of the knights stepped forward. Unashamed by the admission of Noah''s power.

    A smile bloomed on Aiden''s face at that point.

    ''Well if that''s what they want then I''ll give it,'' a smug expression threatened to appear on his face. But he stopped it.

    Noah gestured at Madison and she let him stand.

    "Okay. Let''s do this," He smiled.

    Noah stood once again at one side of the court. His gaze was light but his attention was unwavering.

    His eyes were set on the shiny armored individual standing right at the center of the court.

    Noah''s instincts were sharp. But even before that man who potentially had great power, he could not sense an ounce of an aura.

    Tier 4s were on a level his senses could not reach if they didn''t allow it.

    "Ready when you are," The knight''s voice swept the court and reached the individuals on the outside.

    Madison had never felt so excited since she arrived there. Even she instantly knew that the full prowess Aiden was capable of would be on full disy. It was a sight she would never want to miss.

    Bon was silent he simply felt curious as to what the oue of the event would be. Everyone knew tier 3''s could never hurt a tier 4.

    Noah furrowed his brows as he bent his knees slightly. He knew he couldn''t beat the man. Still, he would give it his best. He would attack him with the intention of bringing him down.

    Taking in a deep breath, the wind around him rushed towards his figure bringing all attention to him.

    Noah felt air rush through his body, he would, first of all, try attacking with only the base power of his body.

    He had already chosen not to execute any techniques. At least for the initial part of the test.

    He wanted to simply rely on the general abilities training under the Roiling thunder technique had made avable.

    He eventually moved.

    Having mapped out a series of movements, Noah made sure to follow them as closely as he could.

    His figure disappeared from his position. Madison and Bon instantly lost the ability to follow his movements.

    The tier 4''s however found surprise appear on their faces hidden by their helmets. His movements were weird but also rapid. Too rapid for someone his level.

    Noah''s figure had left the sound barrier intact due to the bracelet,but his eleration made him invisible to the weaker eyes.

    Thanks to the solidness of the barrier around the court, he could quite literally use it as a wall.<novelnext></novelnext>

    And that''s what he did.

    Noah ran, flipped, jumped, and did all sorts of things to bounce back and forth from one side of the court to the other.

    Madison and Bon still couldn''t see him, at least that was until his figure flickered before the shiny figure like a ghost, and his fist connected with the man''s chest piece.

    The sound of metal crashing against metal erupted forth at that point,as the wind barreled out in all directions due to the might he had unleashed in that instant.

    ''Damn,'' Noah voiced inwardly feeling pain rushing to his mind. The man felt like a steel wall. Unmoveable.

    His fist had suffered from the attack but he understood that he had unleashed more power than most spells.

    The average peak stage tier 3 would either be dead or not too far from it.

    ? Even Madison agreed that he had truly thrown a punch.

    Nevertheless, the long-term stood, unmoved by the entire ordeal

    The experts stayed silent for the few seconds Noah left his fist on his chest.

    Noah even pulled back, but with more determination burning in his being.

    "That was impressive. More than I expected. Your strength truly is something else," The expert admitted. But Noah had already stopped listening.

    He jumped backward a few times before settling for a random spot on the court.

    A buzzing sound unfolded in the world at that point. Deep yellow sparks began to materialize soon after.

    Noah was going to use a portion of his empowerment, but in a way, he had not done it in a long long while. He was going to push his skin and bones to their very limits.

    Noah took another breath in. This time his actions brought about more sparks.

    His target watched with an amused gaze. Noah looked like he was pulling out the big guns. And he was.

    Heat unfolded in the world as he bent his knees for the second time that session.

    At this point, his surroundings were drenched with sparks. He wished he had a normal weapon he could reveal. But it would most likely crumble.

    Time seemed to stop flowing before Noah''s eyes as he finally took a step forward.

    The sound barrier remained intact as arge portion of his eleration''s effects were nullified by the bracelet.

    Noah''s sprint generated a long streak that silently crossed the court to arrive before the shiny knight.

    A high-pitched explosion rang. Far more powerful than the first. Noah had struck the expert''s chest with his fist again, but only this time with both.

    His attacks caused the air to grow dense and turn misty before washing over the court due to the force he released.

    Noah watched three long and glowing cracks open on the very fabric of both his arms.

    Unimaginable pain.

    Nevertheless, his sacrifice had not been for naught. He had managed to push the expert back by one step.

    Astonishment was in the air.

 Chapter 460 460. LADY LIYA

    Silence reigned in the court when Noah''s body hit the ground and refused to stand.

    His arms weren''t bleeding. He had also stopped the empowerment process, meaning there wouldn''t be cracks anymore. Still, Noah instantly regretted taking that action.

    His mind was In turmoil but his body failed to reveal the immense amount of pain he was undergoing. He wished he had died.

    Noah simplyy on the ground and soon passed out.

    The others were firstly stunned by what they had witnessed. Even the knight who had been pushed back was still in shock.

    Nevertheless, when Noah''s body didn''t move for an awfully long few seconds, he rushed forward to crouch before the man.

    His eyes instantly fell on the cracks within the very fabric of his arms. He had never seen an injury like that. But to his fear, he realized that Noah''s breaths were getting slower and slower.

    At this point, the others were also worried and rushed forward. The knight had already carried Noah in his arms, however.

    "What happened? Bon had been the first to ask, then his eyes fell on Aiden''s fair hands. He was appalled by the strange sight and took a step back.

    Madison saw it too and felt her heart skip a beat. Still, she managed to hold in her horrific surprise at the beyond-strange wound to nce at the armored expert, who was already being questioned by his colleague.

    "I''ll go bear this case to Lady Liya," The knight who still had Noah in his arms announced startling the other knights.

    "She''ll be furious!" One of the other knights eximed as though that decision was the stupidest one he had heard in his life.

    "There''s no other choice," the expert stated in a tone dripping with resolve. He bent his knees alerting the others, who grabbed Bon and Madison.

    The knight took off shattering the sound barrier in the process. They were unable to use their flight powers, but leaping at their full might waspletely possible.

    His action had caused the entire court to tremble. Even the barriers flickered a bit. Thankfully nothing more happened.

    The other Knights muttered curses and grabbed Madison and Bon before leaping toward their friend.

    Tier 4''s were capable of leaping through kilometers of distance in mere seconds. The castle was immense and itspound even spread for miles.

    The knight holding Noah arrived on arge pond, but he stepped forward, leaping again. His departure had caused an explosion of sorts. Spreading water on the grass around the pond.

    His destination wasn''t too far anymore.

    Lady Liya. A tier higher stage 4 expert who would be considered an Imperial knight due to her power and loyalty to the royal family. Still, rather than her battle prowess, she was known for one thing. Her status as a Deviant.

    Deviants being rare even amongst the ranks of the royal, she was known for her useful ability to heal.

    Her ability made her presence vital amongst the ranks of the imperials and went on missions with them. Her ability had been confirmed to heal all diseases that could afflict cultivators.

    Those within the third tier and above hardly had any diseases that could affect them, but there were cases where even tier 4''s died from something their body simply couldn''tbat.

    Nevertheless, mostly wounds and lost limbs were ever needed to be healed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A silver tower somewhere northeast of the grand castle appeared in the knight''s eyes and he swallowed hard when he saw it but would not turn back.

    A wide garden befitting of a person her status unfolded in the knight''s eyes and hended on the cobble path right before the front gate.

    Immediately passing the gate he strode down the cobbled pathway to reach the tower. Her garden was incredible. Even Noah would admit that.

    He reached the front door and knocked on it. Coincidentally he had recently been there. Nevertheless, his aura was tense.

    The simple-looking bronze-colored door trembled a few moments after he knocked. He could already feel her presence on his body.

    "I need you to check this young man out. He seemed to have injured himself and they are one of the guests of the council.

    Silence.

    Loud bangs reached The knight''s ears and he turned to find that his colleagues had arrived already. They didn''t sound happy.

    Before they could reach him, however, the door flung open and a force pulled him from its insides

    The expert found the world spinning around him, but he was calm. Lady Liya''s tower was known for its weird mechanics. No one, even tier 5''s could directly find out her position without her permission.

    ording to what people knew, she hadyered a few traps that led to small dimensional pockets, all of which were powered by the purple mana stones.

    The only tower that had this even more than she was Princess Riveta''s tower. Being the daughter of the king and queen, she had ess to many things. The number of traps ced with her tower was rumored to have crossed one hundred.

    Noah had never experienced any trouble because Riveta had been the one to initially bring him in, and had marked his figure as not-dangerous, allowing him unrestricted ess to the tower.

    If only Noah knew he could actually spend centuries'' worth of time within the traps. Riveta had been very trusting of him, and he had not disappointed.

    The knight regained awareness inside an ash-painted bedroom featuring a table and chair, one that overlooked the world through the window.

    Shockingly, rather than the castle itself, that window seemed to overlook the very city.

    Even if the sun shone brightly outside, the room was rtively dark and hid the individual sitting behind the chair and table. Still, the Knight could notice the glowing pair of green eyes which had their gaze on the man in his arms.

    "What do you want," A feminine voice reached the expert''s ears and for the nth time in his lifetime his heart fluttered at how great and cute the voice sounded.

    "Him," the knight responded quite somberly. The expression within his armor bespoke of sadness.

    "I know you told me not to return here, but I did so not for myself, but for him," the knight exined.

    The woman remained silent, but the sound of her chair scraping the ground filled the room, then she stepped into the light revealing her features.

    The knight drew in his breath at that sight. No matter how many times he gazed at her, he could not get used to her features.

    Or maybe that was due to the growing feelings of affection within him.

 Chapter 461 461. CURIOUS

    Noah gained awareness in a pitch-ck environment immediately after he passed out. He honestly hadn''t expected that to happen, yet he would see where things were going.

    For some reason, he could feel a weird force act on him even if there wasn''t anything around him. He had no idea he was been carried about.

    His situation reminded him of the first two times he died, only this time he knew that he was alive, but deep into unconsciousness.

    Noah felt he could move his body, but always forgot to, he noticed his forgetfulness but that still didn''t make him take that action. It was weird, but he didn''t bother with it.

    During that period he also didn''t recall the events before he passed out, making him wonder what had happened. Still, something changed.

    A green-silver light suddenly appeared in that dark environment and it gradually grew in intensity. His curiosity was piqued at that event and soon the silhouette of a woman unfolded in his eyes.

    "This is how far back you are," A feminine voice so soothing reached him and he felt chills grow on his body.

    "Who are you?" Noah managed to utter when thedy gradually left the light to step into that darkness, but her figure shone.

    She was gorgeous. His heart shook.

    "He brought you here, and yet you seem to have no recollection of why you''re here," she asked stepping closer and closer to him.

    Confusion sprung up in Noah''s awareness. Her words were vague and strange.

    She noticed his confusion and gazed at him.

    "Look at your hand young man," She pointed out, and only then did Noah have the presence of mind to raise his arms and gaze at his hand. Which he didn''t even know was visible.

    His eyes fell on three deep-yellow cracks each, in his very arms. A wave of pain he had forgotten about swept his senses, and he recalled all that had urred to him.

    He felt his face twist in pain while thedy came closer until her glowing fair hands took hold of his hands.

    "Rest young man. It had taken me a while to get here. I''ll need your partial consciousness to allow you to fully heal. You''re far different from any man I''vee across."

    Noah was panicking, but a wave of sudden calm filled him, and he felt that dark environment begin to wane and wane.

    Noah opened his eyes in a room.

    Feeling groggy he sat up before sweeping his gaze on that room. He ignored most of its detail to raise his hands.

    To his shock they were fine. He felt fine too.

    Wonder appeared in his head, and he tried to recall his time in the dark environment. He couldn''t.

    Noah got down from the bed only to notice his cloth-less state.

    "How..." he muttered, stunned, even if another attire appeared in his hand; from his inventory. He put it on and approached the door of the room.

    Noah ced his hand on the bronze knob, but a strange force warped him from his position. He opened his eyes in a big library.

    He wanted to get worried, but his eyes fell on ady picking through the books on the shelve before him.

    He managed to recall her from his dream. Her features were stunning. Long leafy-green hair. They were so long they would reach her knees.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Her attire wasn''t exactly revealing, but still was. It was a long white dress befitting of a healer, only that it clung to her body, allowing the world to witness her alluring curves in full disy. It had been a long while since Noah had seen apletely normal-lookingdy.

    Still, her endowed body only enhanced her youthful features and beauty. Noah couldn''t exactly describe her apart from ethereally beautiful.

    "I hope you had a good rest young man," her voice sent waves of goosebumps over Noah''s skin. It could make men run mad, as even he furrowed his brows in a tinge of surprise.

    She noticed but didn''t address it. Her gaze was even condescending and a bit disdainful. Noah could almost immediately tell she had had a bad time with men.

    He nodded in response to her words. Not an ounce of power could be felt from her figure, meaning she was beyond him.

    A wave of silence swept over them, but Noah didn''t exactly know what to say.

    She closed the book in her grip with a loud thud and ced it back on the shelve, before focusing her gaze on him.

    She squinted her eyes at his breathtaking features taking note of the fact that he barely had eyes on her body. He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen In her long life. And she had seen many. Unfortunately, his power wascking.

    "I can see you''re confused. Well, I can''t hold that against you. You were brought here unconscious," she ced her hand on her chin falling a bit thoughtful.

    "What are you, young man?" Her sudden question came as a surprise to a silent Noah. He furrowed his brows already defensive.

    Did she find anything? He thought, beginning to bring up different ideas she could ask.

    "Your soul realm. It''s none like I''ve gazed at before," Her words managed to further stun Noah a bit. He had almost no excuse or lies tobat her im.

    "What do you mean?" He was going to y dumb in case she didn''t haveplete proof of her words.

    Her gaze was unyielding.

    "I''m certain you know what I speak of. Unless this has happened without your knowledge. Which I doubt," She exined stepping closer.

    "Please borate," Noah kept himself calm. He had to show her that he truly didn''t understand. But he didn''t do it too excessively.

    "The structure of your mind ispletely different from that of those I''ve seen. It''s fascinating too," her tone had turned curious.

    Noah furrowed his brows and stepped back.

    "The whiteness that surrounds your ind is different from the sea that exists around the thousands I''ve seen," she exined.

    "It had taken me a while to find you in it, and to my surprise, due to your deeply unconscious state, your descent had caused a portion of the whiteness to go ck. It''s strange." She continued.

    "Let''s not even begin with the fact that you were able to damage the very fabric of your body. And your healing almostpletely dealt with it. It was only faster thanks to my help."

    "In short, you''re a whole lot of strange for me," She raised her head to look at him. Her condescending gaze had disappeared.

    "Uh..." Noah tried to speak.

    "It''s almost as if you''re not even human at all," she muttered, but Noah made no reaction whatsoever to her im. He simply made a curious expression too.

 Chapter 462 462. CARETAKERS

    Lady Liya remained silent as she stared at Noah''s face, unable to get a proper reaction from him. She honestly felt uncertain about what she wanted to prove there. But she did it anyway.

    Noah shrugged, making his acting skills reach their peak. He tried not to get worried about what had just happened. He was in enemy territory and acting suspiciously would put him in the limelight. He would hate to be forced out of that nation.

    Lady Liya furrowed her brows at that point, she didn''t know what to do again. If he denied knowing what had urred to him there was nothing she could say. Even if he said he knew, all she could do was ask that she studied him.

    Apart from that, she couldn''t do anything to him. He was the guest of the royal council and they would find it an insult to them if she suggested that she turned him into a test subject, who would most likely die from the many things she would make him go through.

    She heaved a sigh. Only inwardly.

    "You were asleep for about seven hours," she moved to change the topic. For now, she would keep her strange findings to herself.

    Noah felt no surprise by her words. Having slept days on end. A few hours would be considered a nap.

    Lady Liya didn''t like hisck of reaction, but he had barely made any when he rose from his slumber.

    Noah, with all his looks, became a tad bit annoying and maybe disrespectful before the eyes of the expert.

    "He''s been waiting outside for your return, Goodbye young man. Till we meet next time," Lady Liya exined with a nk expression before waving her hand to make him disappear.

    Noah felt his world twist and felt a weird force act on his body as the world seemed to fold, and he opened his eyes in front of a building surrounded by a spectacr garden.

    A bit stunned by both the beauty of the garden and the event, Noah noted how the teleport had been painless. He turned to look at the building and his eyes fell on a great tower.

    His instincts warned him about opening the door. He felt a strong danger from simply staring at it.

    He fell into a bit of marvel, but his attention was pulled to the sound of armor clinking, and he snapped his head to allow his gaze to fall on the yellow armor of a knight.

    "I''m d you''re awake!" the expert jogged forward. His voice was filled with joy and excitement, even relief.

    Noah nodded recognizing the expert as the one he had sparred with.

    Revealing a smile, he allowed the expert take hold of his hands to inspect them.

    "They are really gone," his voice contained a tinge of astonishment, but also confidence. Lady Liya had once again proved to him that she was capable.

    The knight seemed to heave a sigh of relief, and Noah couldn''t help but feel he had truly worried.

    "We should return to your rooms. I have been informed that your arrival to the face of the council will be by this evening." The knight exined and Noah felt pleasantly surprised, even if he went tense a bit.

    He nodded with a determined gaze.

    "Which way to our rooms?" He asked, sweeping his gaze over the garden around him. He wanted to spend hours there.

    "I carried you on our way here. It''s faster that way," the knight exined. Noah furrowed his brows. He might have been unconscious but the thought of being carried embarrassed him.

    A force suddenly wrapped around his body, however, and he watched the knight turn and leap forward in one smooth series of actions.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Unable to protest, Noah braced himself for the things toe next.

    His world became blurred as they shot high into the sky before descending in an arc.

    In that instant, they crossed arge distance, and Noah saw that they wouldnd exactly on ake.

    He worried a bit, but all of it disappeared when the expertnded on the surface of the water and propelled himself forward and upward again.

    They went through that process a few times before the court they had sparred in unfolded in Noah''s eyes.

    The expertnded at that point, and Noah could find his way from that location.''

    Still, the man would not let him go even while he walked down the path toward his room. He wondered where Madison and Bon were. Even Loria.

    Who would think he would get injured badly enough to require assistance from a tier 4 cultivator?

    "Were you assigned to us?" Noah asked at some point.

    "All knights have been ordered to treat you all with respect. So in short we were all assigned to you," the expert exined closely following behind Noah.

    Noah furrowed his brows but remained silent. It''s not like he didn''t like that treatment, he simplycked the essential trust to appreciate it.

    He saw all of those knights as potential enemies. And he knew one day they would be. It was only a matter of time.

    The trip down the passageway soon ended and the doors to their different rooms appeared in Noah''s eyes.

    "Thank you very much for your help," Noah bowed even if he only meant a tinge of his words. It was mostly for politeness and nothing more.

    "No, I am to me for my careless actions," the knight bowed. Noah found it highly ufortable.

    Until he was tier 4 he would never get used to seeing such experts bow before him. Especially when they did it so willingly.

    The knight soon straightened his position and Noah gazed at the line linear space that would allow him to see.

    The only way he could recognize him was his voice.

    "An escort of we knights will return to pick you up," The expert pointed out, and Noah could only nod in affirmation.

    He approached his door and pushed on it.

    His brows furrowed for he felt a presence within the room.

    "I forgot to mention. Your caretakers from the guild council arrived a few hours ago," the knight called out from behind Noah, and when he finally entered his eyes fell on Miranda.

    She sat on his bed with a smile. Her smile was inviting.

 Chapter 463 463. MOUTH OF THE LION

    Noah swept his gaze on the room, his eyes fell on Miranda. It had been a long while since hest saw her and he could already feel her gaze boring into his skin.

    She looked as beautiful as ever, and even memories of their time together rushed into his mind filling him with a sense of want he had forgotten.

    "Sir, Aiden," she stood up gracefully, her eyes clearly stating how ready she was for anything he wanted from her. Noah began to wonder if the other caretakers were like that, or she was just kinky.

    "Miranda," Noah called out lightly. He took light steps towards her and she bowed before him.

    Noah gave a dismissive wave and sat on his bed. Now that she was here he didn''t know what to do already.

    Miranda straightened her position and sat on the bed with him. Silence being predominant between them.

    She still had clear memories of their time together. His stamina was something else. It made her shiver just thinking about it.

    "You will be appearing before the royal council. I suggest you prepare yourself, Sir Aiden," Miranda shattered the silence with her slow and thoughtful words.

    Noah recalled their appointment and nodded. He immediately stood and approached the bathroom. He somehow had an idea of what would happen next.

    Laying in the rxing tub, Noah took note of how the water could boil to degrees that affected even his skin. The normal human would be dead.

    The fragrance of the soap was also a lot to take in. It felt and smelled exquisite.

    Heck, Noah felt like a prince or something in that ce.

    The appointment toe managed to pull him out of his light thoughts, and although he didn''t worry. The mere simtions of what could happen felt heavy.

    Noah hoped none of them took too much of an interest in him.

    His thoughts were cut short by the sight of the door opening. A grin threatened to open on Noah''s face at that point, and when Miranda walked in with only a blue band holding her ck hair together; he knew what was about to go down.

    He swept his gaze on her bare features and shot a light nce at the tier 4 expert.

    She remained silent and walked forward until Noah had her bare skin in his face. He could see her tattoo.

    "May Ie in?" She asked, and Noah almost burst intoughter.

    "After all this, how would I not let you," his grin finally became evident.

    She stepped into the tub after that point and drew nearer. The water''s heat didn''t affect her, but that wasn''t the point, to begin with.

    Noah felt his breathing get rapid as she slowly positioned herself on his barep. Her eyes were already cloudy.

    She was really something else.

    Sliding her fingers up hisp, they went up his chest taking in his defined features.

    Noah wanted to run mad.

    He let out a soft but hot breath, before wrapping his arms around her thin waist and pulling her closer to his house.

    She felt him and smiled.

    Noah''s eyes never left hers and slowly but surely she allowed him in.

    A soft shaky gasp left her lips, and even he felt forced to close his eyes, as he pulled in a deep breath.

    Slow and grindy hip movements began at that juncture. Noah forgot about the bath and focused on the event at hand. He was going to let her take the full brunt of his subconscious worries.

    The sounds that echoed in that bath-chamber were testimony to the event.<novelnext></novelnext>

    .

    .

    .

    Wiping his legs with a cream-colored towel, Noah fell on his bed immediately after he was done.

    A white piece of clothing was wrapped around his waist covering his nakedness.

    He let out a deep sigh before standing and putting on a new robe. This one looking more exquisite and expensive. He had Elder Sarah to thank for that.

    Miranda came out of the bathroom a few minutester. She was silent, but Noah knew it was a result of embarrassment. She seemed tock shame when it came to her advances on him.

    "What do you think we''re going to do there?" He voiced his thoughts when Miranda came and sat on the couch at the edge of the bed. Her silver dress made his senses tingle due to how tightly they held her features.

    "I am uncertain of that, Sir Aiden. Standing before them could mean different things. It could be a light conversation with you all. Or apetition."

    "The rules are as they please. Nevertheless, the basis of what you''ll do is introduce yourself to them," She raised her head to nce at his figure sitting on the bed.

    "Does anything bother you, Sir?" her gaze was quite nk but her voice held worry. Noah furrowed his brows before shaking his head.

    A knock came on the door and their attention immediately turned toward it.

    It was time.

    Noah carried himself forward, Miranda following closely behind him. He had earned her full respect for what he could do behind closed doors.

    Opening the door with a bit of hesitation, Noah watched a group of about ten knights unfolds in his gaze.

    His eyes fell on Madison and Bon and saw their caretakers. They both had female caretakers just like him.

    "It is time," the knight at the forefront who also happened to be the one who had saved him, announced.

    He nodded and stepped out of the room. His expression was light and mostly nk and his tone remained distant.

    The group of a total of 16 individuals began their journey toward the appointed location to meet up with the royal council.

    Little to no words were spoken during that period, as everyone including the knight had to keep their best behavior.

    It wasmon knowledge that in times like that, there could be people secretly watching.

    Noah didn''t know any of that, and his only reason for remaining silent was that he understood that for him; he was going into the mouth of the lion. Hopefully, he returned in one piece.

    The path to their destination was long and featured many branches. They quite literally spent close to an hour walking, before things began to be different.

    The pathway they were on disappeared as a wide grassy field unfolded in the eyes of the expert. Truly thepound of the castle was great in size.

    A small castle appeared in their gazes. Imnted solely in that field. Only from that point did Noah understand just how far away the major castle itself was.

    The castle was ck but featured shining lights on random positions of its structure.

    It resembled a starry sky due to the fact that it was nighttime and the lights on its grand figure were multicolored.

    "We have arrived," the same knight announced and the air turned tense.

 Chapter 464 464. GREETINGS

    The group arrived at the castle''s small ck gate and one individual in Turquoise blue armor stood at its entrance. They were tall, and their presencemanded respect. Even Noah acknowledged them.

    ''An imperial knight,'' he thought, remaining silent on the outside.

    The knights went forward to bear their greetings and also the caretakers. After which they were allowed into the castle walls. It was weird having a castle inside the walls of another castle.

    A wide ck door unfolded in their gazes and it opened even before they could reach it. The group of knights however stayed on the outside, while the caretakers and the winners walked past the door.

    Noah felt a weird pressurend on his consciousness, as they were teleported to a location that wasn''t the castle they entered.

    That door had only been a portal.

    Noah opened his eyes in a cyan-colored environment. A room to be specific. But a in one.

    The ce was weirdly shaped. It seemed as though they were within a spherical structure.

    It took him a while to eventually regain his focus, and his eyes immediately fell on the long floating rectangr object featuring a golden material draping from its figure.

    Before the object Noah now confirmed was a table were seven individuals who sat on magisterial-looking chairs. Their eyes were on them.

    "They''ve finally arrived," A feminine voice rang out from that high ce to reach them.

    All of the individuals had their faces veiled with golden pieces of clothing featuring inscriptions.

    An air of regality and power poured from their highly seated ces. They were like kings and queens.

    "We of the guild council bear our greetings," all three of the caretakers knelt before them in unison, and the winners were forced to do the same.

    "Rise," The same feminine voice resounded, and they did so without furthermand.

    "These are the winners of this year''s tournament of champions," thedy said, and Noah felt a heavy gaze sweep over his figure. It gave him chills.

    "Yes," Miranda stepped forward, her aura somber.

    "Let them step forward with an introduction of themselves," thedymanded.

    "Starting from the third position," she added and Bon flinched.

    He immediately stepped forward.

    "I am Bon, a C-rank member of the Illusory de guild. I greet the royal council," Bon knelt before their high presence.

    "We of the royal council acknowledge your presence." thedy raised her hand in response. Bon stood up and walked back at that point, allowing Madison to walk forward.

    "I am Madison, A C-rank member of the Falling ocean guild. I ask that the royal council acknowledges my presence," she ced one knee on the ground, the other raised.

    "A fine woman you are," thedymented. "We acknowledge your presence."

    "Thank you," she bowed, before finally standing and returning to her former position. Her gaze fell on the stunning Noah as he walked forward with unintentional grace. He was perfect.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I am Aiden; a C-rank member of the Great guild, divine lightning. I bear my humble greetings to the royal council," he felt smug inwardly, but also a bit worried.

    "The council acknowledges you as the first position champion," thedy revealed, spreading a wave of calm in Noah''s being.

    He bowed and returned to his position. That simple event had been hectic for him.

    "Truly a great set you have here with you. Unfortunately, this Is all we will be doing. As you all have witnessed, there are urgent matters to be attended to." she exined.

    "Nevertheless, we announce to you that there will be others who will embark on this journey with you."

    "These are also the seals of the royal family, with it, the nations that have friendly rtionships with us will grant you entry. They have been informed already, but this takes it further." The council member exined while six shiny objects floated down from that high table.

    Rings.

    Noah immediately put his on. The ring didn''t seem that special, but it featured one golden rune in its red stone. That simple detail would be enough to grant them ess to anywhere in the nation.

    They bowed when they received the rings. That was the go-ahead of the royals.

    "Good. We wish you a safe journey," thedy spoke before waving her hand. All six of their figures disappeared at that gesture.

    "He''s different than I thought," one of the seated individuals apart from the woman immediatelymented. He was a man.

    "Far different," the samedy spoke up.

    "Three affinities," another female revealed, calmly. They all had sensed it when he arrived.

    "Is he half-elf?" Anotherdy present spoke. Actually, there were only two males present among the seven individuals. But that wasn''t all of the council members. There were twelve of them.

    Five were out of the nation in wherever they wanted, but it was mainly as a result of work. Gears were moving in the world system and even their nation.

    The nobles had been nning a war for the past century, but they always feared the military power of the royals. Which meant ns that were more than the eye could see were beingid out.

    The nobles knew they could never affect the royal city, but significant damages could be done to the cities and settlements far away from the Elidra.

    "Wind, Lightning, and Ice. He has it all. How does his body handle it?" Another female spoke, genuinely perplexed.

    Dual affinity wielders were known to have issues with cultivation. Sometimes their bodies broke down and many died. Those who survived usually had more power but their bodies and mind suffered it.

    For this reason, most dual affinity wielders usually had basic affinities. Like fire and earth. The few that had both rare andmon were in a league on their own. But due to this, they bore higher requirements.

    This is one of the reasons Elder Sarah had been stuck within the third tier for decades.

    With that understanding, one could finally understand how incredible it was for a human to possess two rare affinities, and not be dead. He even had amon one to add to the shock.

    "We shall keep an eye on him. He might be the key to a breakthrough in the understanding of affinities." The woman who had addressed the winners exined, after which they moved on to deeper topics.

 Chapter 465 465. DISGUSTING

    Noah regained awareness in front of the castle''s entrance. His eyes fell on the shiny surface of the knight''s armors. Their sudden arrival had stunned the officials of the royal pce.

    "That was quicker than I expected," Noah managed to mutter. Nevertheless, he preferred things that way, at least they didn''t make him go through anything annoying.

    Noah got off the stairs with the others. The knights had been in a conversation when they returned. They had stopped now.

    The imperial knight escorted them out of the castle, before bidding them farewell and making the entire structure disappear.

    The group moved on with their lives at that point. The caretakers informed the emissary of the guild council, and ording to Miranda, they would be departing the evening of the next day.

    Excitement was in the air again. Their first destination would be the very borders of the nation. Apparently, they would exin things to them as they traveled.

    The knights escorted them to their rooms and things pretty much returned to how they were.

    A knock arrived on the door at some point. Food.

    However, it wasn''t Loria this time, making Noah wonder what had really happened to the youngdy.

    The meal had been delicious and satisfying. After which Miranda enjoined him in a certain enjoyable exercise.

    Theysted hours and only stopped until it was daybreak.

    Another knock reached their door when it was morning. It was Loria this time around and she looked back to normal.

    She noticed the woman in his room during that period, but being a mere maid, she could only keep her peace.

    Breakfast was served, and Noah enjoyed it. The meals there were unsurprisingly top-tier.

    There was nothing much to do. Or at least there wouldn''t be much to do. The events of the other day made them realize how bad things could ur.

    With their departure so close, even Noah wanted to remain on the safe side. Reckless actions were inadvisable.

    Sweeping his gaze on the court beside him, Noah walked down a hallway. Beside him was Miranda and she kept her silence.

    Taking in the stale but beautiful view, Noah had light thoughts.

    He wondered about his future. His ambition.

    Honestly, all he had as a n was to survive whatever those higher beings would throw at him when the bracelet crumbled. He had never thought past it since he figured he would only have the chance to struggle for his life after that point.

    He believed it would most likely be a monotonous series of events. Nothing much to it. Would he ever be able to kill them and end all that strife, he wondered.

    Would he find out the truth about Speedlings? All those things were uncertainties. Uncertainties he didn''t like but had nothing he could do about them.

    He wished he had simr goals to the people of that nation or world. Something as simple as being a knight or maybe just a member of a guild. Or a merchant.

    His life wouldn''t be that easy. Above all, he wanted to stay alive. Only power could allow him that.

    Noah regained focus on his surroundings when a shiny object reflected its light into his eyes.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His formerly nk gaze fell on two knights and he immediately stopped to perform a head bow. They did the same and walked past them.

    The insides of the royal castle walls were safe. There honestly wasn''t any need for knights to patrol them, but Noah believed it was only for show.

    The afternoon of that day quickly passed. Only about 21 days remained before he could finally advance. About two weekster and the bracelet would crumble.

    Soon it was evening, and all six individuals, the three caretakers, and the three winners gathered.

    They were led by knights to the ce the emissary had dropped them off.

    Noah arrived before the wide path andid eyes on therge group of flying magical beasts. They were tall. It was magnificent how big a beast of that level could be.

    It looked like proper buildings were moving about. Which was why there was need for adder.

    "I hope you have had a good time during your stay," Sir Dere jumped off one of the many beasts to approach them.

    His gaze locked with the caretakers for a moment, and they nodded. Things were already at y.

    "Yes," Bon was the first to reply, the other simply nodded in response.

    "There will be a bit of waiting required. We will be having some special individuals embark on this long journey with us," Dere exined.

    "That will be your new mount. She features a bigger carriage to allow room for the new people," Dere gestured at a bright orange beast. A feathered one.

    It looked like the average bird onlyrger and featuring a strangely downward-curved and thin beak. Its beak was white and so were the edges of its wings and tail.

    Its two feet were silvery, and they glistened in the silver light of the moon. In short, the mount was beautiful.

    On its back was a carriage no more different than the others, only more significant in size.

    The beast was silent and loomed over the rest actually, it was the second tallest beast there. But the height difference wasn''t too much. But the size of the carriage was.

    Noah nodded unconsciously when his gaze fell on the said beast. He also began to wonder who would those people that would join them would be.

    "Please wait inside them. Your caretakers will be behind you throughout the journey, the formation allows that." Dere further exined, gently ushering them toward the beast.

    "Who are these new people that will join us? Is there anything we''ll need to know about them? Just to keep in mind," Noah felt forced to ask when the others didn''t.

    Dere smiled a bit.

    "Great question sir Aiden. As a matter of fact, they are the descendants of some of the more powerful and influential noble families who have long since sworn loyalty to the royal family.

    "But there are two to be exact, and they are the children of one of the five royal families. Which makes them royalty." Dere revealed and the trio went strangely silent.

    Noah felt a wave of anger suddenly burst within him, he threatened to allow his passive elemental skill to slip out. But he didn''t.

    He would be riding with royals, but unlike Riveta he felt certain they would be piles of arrogance and contempt. Disgusting.

 Chapter 466 466. ACCOMPANY

    The revtion almostpletely ruined Noah''s mood. He had never had a great experience with nobles, not to talk of individuals who had experienced the peak of enjoyment and luxury a person could in the Cusk nation.

    Even after they had entered the beautiful and spacious carriage he couldn''t get his mood up. His emotions felt out of hand, he couldn''t exin why he felt that way.

    Even finding out that Riveta had been a direct child of the royals had not made that much of an impact.

    ''Am I going mad,'' he joked inwardly even if his aura felt distant and dangerous. He knew the other had noticed it, but he didn''t like it anyway.

    At that point, he could only hope he would return to normal. And he did.

    As the minutes passed his blood cooled and his thoughts became less chaotic. The dark portions of his mind had seen powerful storms until he finally regained hisposure.

    He hated the past event but felt grateful that he was normal.

    Still, it eventually happened, and the individuals who were to join them arrived.

    There was enough space within that carriage to fit at least thirty humans, and they would all befortable. It felt like a mansion. There were even tables and chairs at its center portion.

    Noah had also guaranteed that no artificial ergement of the space within the carriage had been deployed. He would soon find out the reason for that.

    As a matter of fact, none of the carriages had any of those. Even the ones that had goods within them. Which was strange since they had not utilized storage devices.

    Seven exquisitely dressed figures entered the carriage, and an air of regality and high status filled the room when thest two, making 9, entered.

    All three winners could immediately tell who were the children of the royal family since thest two individuals wore matching attires.

    One was a young-looking man and the other was an equally young-lookingdy. Their gazes were aloof and their aura dense.

    All nine experts were at the very peak of the third tier like Noah, but those two had somethingpletely different about them.

    Was it the overflowing confidence that silently streamed out of their red eyes? No.

    Noah looked for the cause of that instinctive reaction, and he found it.

    Etched into the back of the duo''s necks were a series of markings that made no sense to Noah, but that wasn''t his reason for finding it.

    No.

    Those circr markings radiated something that made even his Speedling portion tremble in awe.

    They seemed unable to be hurt as long as the markings were present.

    Both of them instantly noticed his gaze. He was the strongest person before they arrived and even now he felt threatening. Still, they had heard of the white-haired man. They had respect for him after seeing him in action. Records of the tournament.

    Truth be told, the blonde-haired man desired a battle between himself and the white-haired expert, but for now, he would maintain his royalty. He needed to show them his status was higher. He only wished his younger sister would follow up on it.

    All attention had been drawn to the two royals when they entered, so much so that the seven noble descendants blended into the environment.

    Noah shifted his gaze from the blonde-haired man and the double-colored-haireddy. Her hair featured ck shades and blonde hair. ck was predominant.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Both experts sat down side-by-side, and they felt the attention of everyone present.

    Noah had to consciously withdraw his gaze.

    Sir Dere walked in a few momentster, breaking the tense air that had formed amid the experts. Bon was the weakest, he felt little before those high and mighty cultivators.

    "I wee you, young masters and mistresses. These will be your dwelling ce for the journey we are about to embark on."

    "All your needs will be catered for. More on that will be exinedter," the man talked, gaining their full attention.

    "For now we will begin our march outside the city so we can meet with the rest of the emissaries and properly begin our long journey. I will be your guide throughout. And exin the necessary things," Dere continued, making them wonder what more they required to finally let their journey begin.

    No one objected to the announcement and the expert soon left after making a few other things clear.

    The march began merely a minute after, but the insides of the carriage remained dead silent.

    No one even conversed with their consciousness. Simple silence. Noah preferred staying with Miranda to that.

    Staring out the window that wasn''t evident from the outside, the night-time city remained visually stunning. It felt like the epitome of a new world, especially with the enormous castle at its center.

    The streets were still teeming with men and women and even children. All sorts of trades were going on as the group of over a hundred carriages rolled out of the castle''s walls.

    The sounds from the city were enough to disquiet the insides of the carriage. Everyone did their own thing.

    Noah thought thoughts while staring at the outsides of the carriage. It would be a while before he got that sight again.

    He even began to wonder just how long it would take them to reach their first destination. He didn''t even know which of the nations. But since the Empire was more friendly he expected a journey there.

    He believed, however, that it would take them a while to reach their destination. He didn''t know where it was, but one thing was certain. It was far.

    About an hour of annoying silence had to pass before therge group capable of decimating cities arrived outside of the city.

    They immediately took off at that point, and a proper formation for the flight unfolded before the eyes of the experts.

    Their destination was arge clearing within a certain region of thick vegetation rtively far away from the city. It didn''t take them long to reach though.

    They were to meet up with thest part of the group, but to Noah''s surprise, only one figure existed in therge clearing.

    It was purple, had wings, and featured four legs but it was actually a bird beast. Nevertheless, those details weren''t the most astonishing.

    No.

    It was the fact that the flying beast stood at a level far beyond the fourth tier, and that a man silently sat on it. Awaiting the soon arrival of the group. These were the more perplexing details.

    It would seem a fifth-tier powerhouse and his huge beast would apany them on their journey.

 Chapter 467 467. OUTSKIRTS

    Noah''s gaze was nk and his eyes werepletely focused on the passing terrain below his carriage.

    His icy-blue eyes could fall on other flying beasts. They were spread out in a triangr formation. While his carriage was in the middle. There was one behind them which belonged to the caretakers. And one in front of them, which belonged to individuals like Sir Dere and the othermanders.

    However, at the forefront of the entire group was the purple beast. Huge in size and of a terrifying aura.

    Its mere size was capable of swallowing most of the beasts around it, as its wings span alone could make buildings look small.

    Rewinding about half an hour back; when the group had arrived at the clearing, they had needed to wait a bit to allow themander speak to the cultivator.

    The fifth-tier expert was also a member of the guild council. His power would be necessary for many things. Noah still didn''t know much. He recalled wondering what they were talking about.

    The insides of his carriage were silent, the silver light from the moon washing over the regions made him feel alone. The breeze from the outside couldn''t get in, but the carriage had been made to be cool anyway.

    It didn''t matter to him, however. Since he naturally had a thin membrane of coldness around him due to his affinity.

    His focus was snatched away from the outside world when a figure flew into his line of sight and the door to the carriage opened.

    Wind poured into the room at that event. It was cool.

    Sir Dere had returned just as he promised. He had a light expression on.

    No one spoke at his arrival. The air between them had long since stopped being tense. But no one wanted to break the silence first, anyway.

    Sir Dere wept his gaze on the individuals before him. He could tell what was going on. It was a ssic issue amongst experts who had their own identities and achievement and things to be proud of.

    "Why the tense atmosphere," he went straight to the point. His words managed to catch most of them off-guard, but none made any particr reaction to him.

    Sir Dere took a seat amongst them. He felt their gazes follow his movement. They hadn''t expected that.

    "I believe all this would change as our journey unfolds," the expert sighed. There was silence still.

    "As you all can see. A tier-five expert will apany us throughout this tour. He was assigned to do so even before the issue with the thief."

    "But we cannot ignore the event now that it has urred. There are some really bad people out there wanting to unleash chaos." He paused, but they all listened in further silence.

    "I''vee to tell you a few things. Or at least our current n."

    "We are now on our way to the outskirts of the Cusk nation. East of us is where the empire is. But there''s been spection that whoever had been the thief might n something."

    "We n to lure them out of their hiding spot by making them follow us towards a mana danger zone directly outside the borders of the Cusk nation."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Of course, this is only a safety measure. If truly no one followed, then we would have wasted two weeks only to confirm that." The man continued.

    ''Two weeks!'' All of them eximed inwardly. Even Noah.

    "Yes, we estimate about two weeks before we reach our destination. The beasts will need to rest asionally. The regions we are about to traverse are known for extremely low mana density."

    "It''s an irony that right after those regions separated by a great river is another huge zone almostpletely untouched by us, but flourishing with high-tier beasts and high mana density," Dere exined.

    "Two weeks. That''s a long time only to confirm that we''re not being followed," A man amongst the descendants of a noble family spoke up. He had a frown on his face and his tone was a tad bit overbearing.

    "We know. But it''s just to ensure that you all reach your destinations without dying," Sir Dere replied calmly.

    The person stood up. He looked around his early thirties. Was of the earth elemental affinity and stood at the peak of the third tier. He had short ck hair and a bit of facial hair. Only neatly trimmed and oiled.

    No one had any idea what he wanted to achieve by standing. None of them would be foolish enough to assault a tier 4 cultivator. idents could be reported to have happened. Their deaths would only be sad for a while before new descendants reced them.

    Thankfully the said man didn''t move. He could feel their gazes boring into his skin.

    He returned to his seat.

    He had tier 4 experts as servants, he had been able to do anything he wanted to them. But that would be different now.

    "This is how things would be. But hopefully, after it, we can finally continue on our journey. The empire would be our first destination."

    "How long will the travelst?" the same man asked.

    "About a month. It could be more or less, depending on whether or not we encounter trouble. Hopefully, we don''t." Dere exined and saw that their expressions visibly changed.

    "Our beasts are capable of maintaining this speed for a long period. This is because it''s not their best. But there will be asional breaks," the expert exined.

    Seeing that none of them moved at his words, he decided to change the topic. He required interaction between them. That was one of the many things he was sent to do.

    "How about an introduction of yourselves? It''ll be nice to know the people you''ll spend the next year or two with." Sir Dere voiced his thoughts and saw that they turned a bit ufortable.

    Nevertheless, they all saw reason in his words, and wouldn''t object. The ck-haired man from earlier stood up again.

    "I am Novak. Thest son of the Gerim Noble family," he announced with a loud voice, and a smile appeared on Sir Dere''s face for the first time.

 Chapter 468 468. ACHIEVEMENT

    "I am Madison, of the falling ocean guild," Madison stood. She was the eleventh person to introduce herself to the group.

    She sat and nced at an ever-silent Aiden. His strange behavior had somehow made her unable to speak with him.

    Noah stood. "I am Aiden, of the great guild divine lightning," he announced quite lightly. He was the only person belonging to a great guild. Meaning amongst those of high status he wouldn''t fall short.

    "That wasn''t so hard, was it," Dere eximed pping his hands lightly.

    Noah nodded and sat down. He returned to switching his gaze between the outside world and the carriage. The reflection of silver light that washed over a few ponds in the passing terrain looked magical.

    Washing his gaze over the experts within the carriage, Noah took note of their names.

    The names of the two members of the royal family were Krane and Gina. They were of the Faust Monderi house. But since they had a long line, they were the fifth generation of the house.

    The truth was, Prince Faust himself had only ever seen them once. And that was after their birth. The direct children of prince Faust were nine in number, and each one of them gave birth and the next generation did until it got to the time of Krane and his third sister Gina.

    They lived in quarters around the royal castle but had only gone to the main pce a few times in their life.

    The others were four men and three women. He barely paid attention to them but kept their names in his head.

    Sir Dere tried and seeded in making them interact, but there was barely anyughter. Only small talk, and opinions.

    The hours began to pass and soon Sir Dere left them to their own thing. They would be on that journey for two weeks. Mere hours were not enough to faze them.

    Someone eventually brought about a word, it was a bit forced but was appreciated than the silence.

    "How how about we talk about our achievements," the brown-haired man had suggested. He truly wanted to know a bit about the royal children. And even the man from the great guild.

    His suggestion was well received, but it now depended on who would speak up first.

    "Since I brought about the suggestion I believe it''s only normal that I start first," the same expert added.

    "Uhm..." he muttered falling a bit thoughtful, while the others searched their memories too.

    "Yes!" He eximed at some point, and all attention went back to him.

    "About three years ago. I and a group of four were on a hunting exercise to pass the time. We were going to clear out any packs we saw, and there were many of them," he started his short tale.

    "We arrived so deep into the forest that my skin tingled from the mana around me. I encountered my first tier 4 beast that day." A dark mood seemed to fill the room at that point. Not even Noah could maintain a straight face. Encountering a tier 4 beast meant almost death.

    "A simple centipede. It was huge. Its exoskeleton was dark-red in color and its many legs were nightly ck. Its weird pearly eyes glowed with a deep crimson shade."

    "It managed to eat one of my group members, but during our escape, I had called upon my full power to unleash a fiery attack so hot it managed to stop the beast and allow us to travel a significant distance."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Only one person was lost. I was praised for saving the rest of them. My mana core had suffered severely, however. But I''m okay now." The man whose name was Tion bowed at that point before sitting.

    Surely his achievement might have been quiteckluster to Noah, but he had to admit that apart from his game-changing spells, he knew of nothing that could have such an effect on a tier 4 beast.

    It was impressive that his mes were hot enough to make it stop. Heck, it sounded impossible all of a sudden.

    Silence filled the carriage at that point. Noah started to see those experts in a new light. It would seem they weren''t all just talk and no action.

    Ady stood up this time around. She bowed and began her story.

    "About a decade ago I had been involved in a bandits raid and kidnap. Being a descendant of a noble family I was worth a lot to those criminals."

    "Nevertheless. I had been at the peak of the second tier then. And needed thest push to finally reach the third tier."

    "It would turn out that event had been a great propent. Since a week into the kidnap, I advanced and ended up managing to escape on my own."

    "The leader of the group had been in the middle stage, but my abilities had somehow been able to allow me escape them. I was injured from having to kill about 30 tier 2''s and a lower-stage cultivator in the third tier. But I made it anyway."

    Thedy immediately sat down at that point. Another wave of silence unfolded. Her tale wasn''t as spectacr as Tion''s, but they were impressive nheless.

    The woman''s name was Y. She looked to be in her early thirties and had shot green hair and wore a cold expression almost all the time. She was on par with the two royal children.

    Madison happened to be the next person.

    "This happened merely a few months ago. It was during the tournament of champions. I and my teammate had been decimating the battlefield. When I encountered this guy," she gestured at Aiden, and he watched all eyes fall on him.

    "His skill was scary. I had never been too terrified of engaging in closebat with anyone. He was quick, but I had wits and kept my distance."

    "If any one of you were to engage inbat with him. You''d understand how much of a big deal it is to keep him from you, long enough to piss him off," her words were casual, but they all took it seriously.

    Noah couldn''t be more stunned. The turn of events had taken him by surprise. So much so that a smile cracked on his face. He suddenly felt big.

    Noah watched Madison take her seat. He stood up after her, surprising the others, At this point, things were getting interesting.

    Searching through his many achievements, Noah sifted through the ones he couldn''t say and eventually settled for one of the more recent ones. Heck, he would consider it one of the most outrageous ones.

    "Only about a month ago I was at the bottom of the middle stage," he announced with a light tone. But his voice dripped with honesty.

    He sat down and watched their eyebrows flicker and crease with confusion. Then it hit them.

    Every person that spoke after him felt their stories sound subparpared to his. Most didn''t even believe it. But it was true.

 Chapter 469 469. MIST

    The hours began to pass. Those hours turned into days and those days turned into weeks. The group grew closer to each other. Seeing the same face for days straight was enough to break anyone.

    In terms of closeness, Noah made sure to only maintain an average level of it, he couldn''t let himself get too close to all of them. Chances were they would be enemies In the future.

    Nevertheless, he let himself loose enough to appear fun. And truly he had a great time with them.

    The many breaks the group made during their two weeks of travel allowed them to do things outside of simply sitting and watching the regions pass below them.

    They engaged in activities like spars. He managed to find out what the marking on the royals did.

    His instincts had been urate again. Their defensive abilities were greatly amplified. So much so that even after multiple hits with his full strength and even execution of the first form. They were left unharmed.

    The reality felt surprising. Still, although they could take his hits. Their figures were reduced to rag-dolls. Noah could make them fly across their chosen sparing field.

    The tier 4''s watched those events, and Noah got popr.

    Contrary to his earlier judgment. The royals were actually pretty noble individuals. Gina tried all she could to learn from his battles with Krane.

    While Krane found Aiden a great match. They unconsciously got closer. There were times when even Noah found himself in a tough spot.

    Unlike Krane who usually remained unhurt. With enough firepower, Krane could inflict injuries.

    The other nobles were cool. Noah had noticed three of them had the sassy bratty behavior he expected from individuals of their status. Nevertheless, he couldn''t deny their power and experience.

    It was a tad bit annoying to see those individuals have such great control over their abilities.

    Bon had barely been able to do anything. His only sparring partner was Madison. But even she preferred the higher leveled experts to him. The man worked himself so he could advance. But it would still take him a while.

    Sixteen days had passed since their departure from the Royal City, Elidra. Two days more than expected, but they were right on track anyway.

    ? Noah gazed down at the world below him. The horizon remained beautiful, but he had eyes on the approaching river in the distance.

    It was huge,

    Scanty forests existed below them as the sunlight made everything visible. Hundreds of miles worth of low mana zones expanded below that rapidly moving group.

    The mere presence of the group caused chaos to unfold amongst the lower leveled beast on the ground. While settlements that had seen their passage remained in awe.

    It wasn''t every time one saw a force capable of ending cities.

    The huge river had a wall made directly out of the brown terrain around it. This wall of jagged earth looked artificial and even reminded him of a certain ce.

    Gazing at the huge body of water spanning who knew how many miles in length, Noah watched with amazement as a thick blue mist enter their line of sight.

    No one seemed to be worried by the event, and soon the group entered it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His skin tingled.

    It dawned on Noah and the others that that mist was made out of raw mana. It carried heavy pressure with its presence.

    The mist or cloud wasrge. Spanning a few miles in radius. It was the marking point that indicated that they had reached the rich-with-mana portions of the regions.

    Simply incredible.

    The group changed formation. A circr setup unfolded in Noah''s eyes. Their carriage and the ones belonging to the caretaker andmanders were surrounded by the others.

    Three walls of these flying beasts were created and they all moved at a steady speed to not break the formation.

    Rumbling reached Noah''s ears. A thunderstorm was nearby and it sounded strong.

    Shock waves flew out in all directions. Unfortunately, the group remained too sturdy for that. The collective influences of over a hundred tier 4 experts and even a tier 5 expertpletely nullified the power in the waves.

    Soon shes of light started to reach their position.

    "It would seem we''re entering into the eye of the storm." One of the experts presentmented. Their heads momentarily turned to him, but soon their focus returned to the outside world.

    The air was tense, that moment would determine if their two weeks of travel had been worth it, or not. Truly no one wanted to find out they were being followed by an enemy. It would be too hectic and tense.

    The travel through the center of the storm was mainly silent on the insides of the carriages. The outside, however, was filled with the roaring of thunder. It was incredible.

    That event reminded Noah of his time during the trials to gain membership into the Divine lightning guild.

    The journey was steady. And thanks to the influence of the tier 5 expert, the mist moved to allow full visuals of the entire group.

    After what felt like hours. Which were only minutes. Streams of sunlight began to break past the thick blue mist.

    A wondrous forest unfolded in their sights at that point.

    Things were lush. Even from that distance, Noah could notice the different qualities of the materials that existed there.

    The grass was literally greener. The trees were taller and they could already notice big moving figures.

    A cacophony of roars reached the sky as the tier five bird unleashed its aura on the world below it.

    The event disquieted the forest and soon whiffs of different levels of power reached them. They had reduced their altitude a bit.

    ''I guess that means no one was trailing us,'' Noah wondered even if he sighed. The group moved deeper into the forest. They had a tier 5 beast with them. There really was nothing to fear. Unless of course; something far stronger than the bird and the cultivator was present.

    The urge to jump to conclusions threatened to set in. But Noah recalled the other day when Sir Dere had informed them about their ns to stay a bit in the forest. To make certain no one was trailing them.

 Chapter 470 470. BONE-CHILLING

    Jumping off the big beast, a grunt left Noah''s lips when his two legs hit the ground. He crouched and held his knees, before quickly moving out of the way for the others.

    Immediately sweeping his gaze on the world around him. He saw the experts that had been tasked with creating a clearing.

    They did a wonderful job.

    Those individuals had been sent down a few minutes before the groupnded.

    This had been the trend for the past two weeks.

    The ground was hard. It felt almost metallic to him. Just by staring at it, he could tell a significant amount of power would be required to even make a dent in it. He wasn''t certain he could provide that power.

    The others got off the carriage and gathered together. There was too much in the environment. They would wait beside the beast.

    As if reading their minds, a mighty roar reached their ears. But it was distant. An explosion resounded at that point which unfolded into more explosions.

    One of the many experts seemed to be dealing with a wild beast.

    Noah stayed calm and took in the details of his surroundings. He wasn''t certain whether it was due to the mana, but that ce felt weirdly cooler than normal.

    Heck, he could see his breath. And the sun stood high in the sky. Its intensity however wasn''t exactly dominant.

    The wind that blew across the clearing was, however, hot. Things didn''t make sense. The ambient temperature was low. While the temperature carried by the wind felt high.

    ''Some weird type of equilibrium,'' Noah considered inwardly. There was a first time for everything. And with mana involved, he expected such weirdness to exist all around him.

    "I can''t believe a ce like this exists," Madison stepped closer to Aiden''s tall figure. Her head could only reach below his shoulder. He looked like a giant. Only a beautiful one.

    He nodded at herment, keeping his icy-blue eyes on his environment.

    The envoys yelled orders at themselves, while the rest of the groupnded in turns. A significant amount of space was required to amodate thatrge group.

    The huge shadows of beasts flying above them shaded the area many times. The wind blew violently when a beast wanted tond, and they had to dodge instances like that.

    In less than 10 minutes the whole group was done, and sir Dere approached them.

    Noah''s attention was too focused on the purple beast circling the clearing; for him to quickly notice Sir Dere until he was right beside him.

    Due to its sheer size, the bird had to fly higher than usual to not make the area fall into disarray. Yet, its mere shadow was capable of covering a huge chunk of the cleared area.

    "It''s a big bird," Noah joked when he finally noticed the expert. Sir Dere had been nice and tolerant throughout those two weeks.

    "We will wait for the evening to arrive. If nothing big happens then we''ll begin our real journey," Sir Dere exined.

    The other heard him and nodded in response. That was a pretty simple and basic idea. It still begged the question, however. What if the person didn''t attack?

    Truth be told. Themander and the likes of Sir Dere had nned all those asional stops to create seeming moments of weakness. This would force anyone who was potentially following them to make silly mistakes and attack.

    However, if no one made any move at that point then there probably wasn''t anyone following them. Wasting two weeks after many "Right times" would be in idiotic.

    A camp was made for them and each one of them sat on luxurious chairs. It was nice to stretch their legs after sitting inside the carriage for hours.

    The others engaged in light discussions, while Noah fell into deep thought.

    It was close.

    The time for his advancement was so close it scared him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Five days,'' Noah swallowed hard. He had been so excited about that event before, but now he felt weird. He didn''t know what would happen. Would he need to battle one of Cregar''s avatar or something topletely be set free of the limits of the world?

    He recalled his time in the white environment. The being had said they would meet again in his time to cross over to the fourth tier.

    ''Say, system. Is there anything I have to be worried about?'' Noah asked, trying to clear any doubts, It was a major event so he wasn''t exactly surprised about his feelings.

    [[Not necessarily. I am unable topletely evaluate what will happen. You''ll have to go past the third tier to ess the fullness of me. I am just as limited as you are in some things. At least only for now]]

    ''That''s a whole lot. But in short, you''re also in the dark. At least the portion of you I currently have ess to is,'' he spoke inwardly.

    [[Affirmative]]

    ''That doesn''t instill confidence,'' he sighed lightly. The system remained silent, and Noah moved on. He had a bit of a dialogue with the strange thing, but eventually, he had to focus on the events of the outside world.

    Krane in his high and lofty status gave pointers about cultivating. Most especially directing it to Bon and Madison. He also didn''t hesitate to share experiences of one-on-one conversations with tier 4 experts.

    That topic reminded him of the expert that had promised such to those who managed to get into the Divine lightning guild.

    The others gained a lot from it, but Noah barely cared. He had racked enough to know the basic things.

    ording to Dan, the more of himself a man was, the more power he would get. Those who reached higher levels of power simply became more of themselves. Which was why the path to it was called a personal one.

    Unfortunately, Noah didn''t know if that would work for him. He wasn''tpletely human anymore. He couldn''t be certain the same rules would apply to him.

    The issue was a tad bit depressing. Leveling up ruled out the chances of sitting down to think about himself and what he wanted to be.

    It was quick but also had its downsides. Still, he felt certain any cultivator would give up that personal path for the system''s abilities.

    The evening eventually came and the group set out again. Ruling out the idea that they had been traced. Unfortunately, it wouldn''t be so.

    Far away from the clearing even across the river. A figure stood in the sky. A man. His long ck hair fluttered in the wind and his equally ck attire flowed graciously.

    His eyes were narrowed as if he struggled to look at something. And he was.

    Although the group was whole miles away from him, he could see them. But his gaze wasn''t strong. He made it so. He hadn''t relied on his consciousness to not alert the tier 5 expert.

    He himself wielding power in the fifth tier; felt he could match up to the expert. The only issue was the beast. It would make things difficult.

    The expert saw the group begin on a new course and thought to himself how good it was that he wasn''t alone. He would prove to the elves that he was worthy of their cause.

    At that thought, the night sky around him seemed to twist and bend. He called upon his associates and they answered.

    Two figures stepped right out of his back. It looked as though they had been there all this while.

    "I thought you said you wouldn''t need our help," A female voice seeped out of one of the veiled figures. She sounded dangerous even if she was only a lower-stage tier 5 like him.

    "You offered. I took you up on that offer," he replied and a bone-chilling chuckle unfolded in the world. He hated thedy''sughter.

    "When do we move?" The second figure asked in a calm tone. Also a woman.

    "Let them believe they were not followed," the man responded. His voice dripped with cruelty.

    "A few days then," the calm one replied.

    "They''ll be easy targets. I wonder why we''ve been moved simply to deal with them," the otherdy remarked. But she received no response. They would wipe out the entire group, no doubt.

 Chapter 471 471. CRUEL

    The travel from the mana-rich zone was quiet and quick. The beasts were moving at a pace they had not traveled with, in thest two weeks. Noah remained uncertain whether there was cause for rm or not.

    However, since Sir Dere didn''t mention anything, so he could only believe things were going as nned.

    With the weight of a potential follower gone, the mood within the carriage changed for the better. Being lighter and more rxed.

    It was quite interesting to see nobles and guild members talk to each other in such casual tones.

    The first day passed, then the second and third. This was their fourth evening after leaving the mana-rich zone. They had journeyed an unknown number of miles.

    Although they were still within the Cusk nation, had they traveled that quickly to the mana-rich zone; two weeks would have been far too much.

    With only one day till his pending state was off, Noah felt the tensest. He barely spoke, and only ate a little any time food was brought for them.

    His thoughts were usually tense, but his expression was calm. Every time he saw the experts chatting with each other, he could only think about how he would soon leave their level.

    ''A tier four expert,'' Noah considered inwardly. His eyes were nk while they stared at the world below him. It was mostly forests and rivers. They asionally came across mountains and hills, and of course ins.

    ''Should I jump out or something?'' he wondered, uncertain. His emotions were a jumbled-up mess, even if he tried his best to keep them as light as possible.

    Suddenly the carriage went silent from all the chattering it was filled with before.

    Stunned, Noah raised his head to look at his group. Shockingly they were all staring at him with nk expressions.

    Creepy.

    "What?..." He asked, confused.

    "You''ve been silent for a long while," Madison responded.

    "Two days straight," Gina was the second to speak. She wasn''t lying. But the fact that they kept track was a tad bit shocking.

    Noah tried to wave off their words, but they wouldn''t let him. So he could only sigh and continue to remain silent.

    This frustrated them, but they could do nothing but return to their own things.

    The hours began to pass until it was already midnight Te fifth day was merely hours away.

    Something changed, however.

    Far quicker than Noah could dream of reacting; a ck streak shot past their carriage; packing so much wind force that the flying beast found its figure tumbling in the air.

    A cacophony of roars and screeches unfolded in the world at that point.

    Noah felt his body bounce off the material of the carriage''s insides during those chaotic moments. He tried to get a hold of himself, but couldn''t.

    A few seconds had to pass before the bird beast could regain some of its bnce. By this point everyone was alert.

    Time began to move in slow motion to Noah, but something big hit their mount and the world spun again.

    To the shock of those tier 3 experts. Blood sttered on the carriage, blocking their view of the outside world. At least from that point.

    Noah didn''t even know what was going on, but he guessed for the worse.

    "We''re being attacked, he managed to mutter, but his words were carried by his power allowing all of them to hear him. They hade to the same conclusion too.

    Their mount hit the ground with a ground-shattering thud, and the carriage itself flew off its back, directly smashing through trees until it stopped.

    The carriage''s door burst open an instantter, and Noah''s figure jumped out. He was unhurt, and so were the others. Regardless, the events happening in the sky terrified him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    How had they not noticed the huge ball of mes decimating that force with terrible power?

    Empowering his mind allowed him to see that there were three figures in that battlefield. Two were in a fight with the tier 5 cultivator and his beast. While thest one hunted the different birds down.

    He could see all those because the individuals had notpletely expressed their power.

    To put his terror on a new level, Noah could tell that all three of the individuals were beyond the fourth tier!

    The sky trembled nonstop, and even the heat and shockwaves from the attacks caused the top of the forest around them to catch fire, and trees to be crushed.

    The ground began to shake while they stared at the events in the sky with horror in their eyes.

    Their mount burst through the trees. It was mostly fine, but the part of it that had suffered the impact of the other dead beast now had blood on it.

    They all could tell what it wanted but were hesitant. Noah on the other hand rushed to climb it. The other followed suit at that point. The beast was the size of a 3-story building but they climbed it with ease.

    Their mount was sprinting through the forest in no time. Whilst the battle raged on In the sky.

    The tier four cultivators wereunching their own attacks. Bathing the night sky in multicolored lights. The ground beneath them was also suffering from the event.

    Things were too abrupt and chaotic for Noah to properly process what was going on. He recalled sir Dere and Miranda and wondered if they were okay. He doubted.

    Their mount ran as fast as it could, but with awe and shock in their eyes, all 12 experts watched its head explode into a mess of blood and brain matter.

    Eyes widened and fear deep, they felt the beast trip and crash into a tree. Their figures tumbled and fell with it.

    Noah however, had been quick enough to jump off the beast right before its lifeless body fell. Hended on the ground many meters away and watched the dead beast crash through many trees, before stopping.

    He felt like running, but he knew far too well that for the first time he couldn''t outrun those people. He had recalled one of Riveta''s threats stating that she could put the entire in under her control.

    There were three tiers 5 there, he would die quickly if he made any shy moves.

    The only option that remained at that point was to escape into his cultivation room. He felt bad about that decision. Really bad even. But he would do whatever he needed to escape.

    The thought of bringing the others with him crossed his mind. He decided he would do it quickly so he sprinted forward.

    He was too slow.

    Right before he could reach their recovering figures. A ck figure seemingly teleported before them. Its movement had been soundless and terribly quick.

    Terror.

    Before they could properly react, Noah watched their bodies twist in unnatural ways. All 11 of them. Blood rushed out of their figures, as their bodies became deformed like wrung clothes.

    He had seen the fear in their eyes. It shook him.

    Noah stopped dead in his tracks as deep terror and horror overtook his mind. He couldn''t believe his eyes.

    The figure turned and he saw that it was a she. Nevertheless, he shrunk in disgust when their gazes locked.

    Her features were light and beautiful, but at that moment she embodied the ugliest being he hadid eyes on. After all, her face featured a cruel sadistic smile.

    She enjoyed what she was doing!

    "Eh!... When did you get here," her voice sent waves of primal fear through Noah''s body, but his figure disappeared before she could voice any other words or take action.

 Chapter 472 472. TOO STRONG

    The sky trembled as two figures engaged in a violent brawl, traveling at terrible speeds. The collusion of the fists of these individuals had enough power to make cities suffer. Simply their mere punches!

    The person in this said brawl of untold consequences was the man who had been leading the emissaries of the guild council, and his opponent was the man sent by the elves.

    "You''re strong," the ck-clothed expertmented as he threw punches many times the speed of sound. His opponent clothed in silver attire blocked it with expert arm movements, but all that force needed to go somewhere.

    Waves of pure power generated by those existences barreled out into the world. Thankfully they were already far from the point of the ambush, meaning only the sky suffered it. They were too weak to properly affect it, however.

    Nevertheless, the resultant sound of their attacks swept the miles surrounding them. Chaos erupted in the forests filled with powerful beasts, as two beings far more powerful than them, were headed their way.

    The tier 5 guild council man, remained silent. Truth be told he felt highly disappointed in himself. He had let the group he led be wiped out. He truly deserved death. Notwithstanding, he would take that man with him if it was thest thing he did.

    The leader of the ambush snarled at that silence and delivered a kick to his opponent''s arm. The attack sent the expert shooting across regions of the sky spanning miles in length.

    The guild council member stopped himself with ease, however. He had not sustained any injuries during the flurries of blows his opponent threw.

    He knew that wouldn''t be the case if things drew out for a long period, yet he couldn''t call upon his full power or didn''t want to yet. His bond would suffer it. He didn''t want her to die. But he had to make sacrifices.

    She had been in a fight with a woman utilizing silver sparks. While the second woman decimated the group with her mes. She was violent, her chuckles made him feel sick.

    With deep coldness and fury welling up in his heart, the expert called upon the power he shared with his bond.

    She would be weak only for about half a minute, but that was already too much time. He could only hope she remained in one piece until he came to get her.

    "Tell me. Why?" The expert spoke as a wave of power flowed between the connection he shared whilst he called upon his personal power.

    A heavy aura unfolded in the world at that event. The air seemed to grow stale and the regions touched by his consciousness saw huge cracks opening in their terrain.

    His aura was so dense it felt touchable. His opponent took note of the event and called upon his power, ignoring the question thrown at him. Crimson tornados formed, generating a powerful pulling force on the environment.

    Chunks of the ground below them flew into those constructs and were instantly ground to nothingness.

    "No response. I see. Then I''ll simply take it from your mind," the guild council member roared, before disappearing from his position high in the sky.

    Alerted, the ck-clothed man reevaluated the strength of his opponent and his expression went dark. The cold smile he had on before vanished as he now believed he could die there.

    How would allow that when he wanted to be part of the event the elves were nning? He forcefully summoned his associates even if they were at different points in the battlefield.

    Before they arrived, however, the very air around him turned into a huge river that caught him and his tornados in its violent currents. His constructs dispersed at that event.

    Sharp pain reached the man''s mind barely a second after that point.

    Shock.

    Merely instants into the real fight and he had lost his right arm.

    Primal fear erupted in the expert''s head while his figure continued to be carried by that oppressive brown liquid. His red wind tried to form but it disappeared before it could be anything dangerous.

    A portion of the now whirlpool-like structure suddenly went void and a figure flew through it tond on the man''s chest.

    The shiny surface of a sword gleamed In his eyes, and he swore he would die.

    Unfortunately, luck wasn''t on the side of the guild council expert.

    Two arms arrived in the path of his swords and purple mes erupted in his face destroying his whirlpool and making him fly away from his opponent.

    Stopping himself after traveling a few kilometers, the man noticed his burnt attire. Even with the purple mes, he had remained unhurt. Thebined power of his bond and his power produced spectacr results.

    Thankfully he could still sense her presence. She was weak but alive. That was all he needed to keep moving.

    Due to the burnt attire, the shining symbols flowing up and down the man''s body were out in the open.

    They shone with an oppressive yellow light. And now that he would need to battle more than one expert. He figured he would not hold back.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His brown hair saw precisely half of its mass turning purple. His ck eyes saw their color changing until his eyes shone with a bright, almost blinding purple light.

    His arms saw purple feathers growing scantly on their surfaces. His face remained the same but his skin turned darker, while the symbols flowed to his face too. Their radiance was more dominant now, making his figure shine in the sky.

    He was too bright to miss.

    Right after thepletion of his transformation, the expert felt his instincts react to a movement that had not even happened yet.

    He sprinted forward with horrendous speed. The sky didn''t tremble until he was long gone from that region.

    His motion created a streak of light, but he toned down the light since they wasted mana.

    With his destination already in sight, the expert unleashed an enormous jet of brown liquid.

    He had not been precise with his discharge, but he never aimed at precision, to begin with.

    The three figures who were his opponent saw this and moved. They spread out in three different directions, just to escape the liquid. But the mass detonated, clouding the area with brown droplets.

    Those droplets suddenly began to emit a churning sound, and the next thing; they went up in mes of diverse colors.

    A spectacr light show unfolded in the night sky. Many miles saw this event happen, but what came with beauty was incredible destruction.

    The mes those droplets released were capable of wiping out peak tier 4 cultivators and injuring tier 5 experts. One could imagine what they did to the environment.

    An immense chunk of the ground quite literally disappeared. Turning ck.

    The three experts had been caught up in the event. Thankfully they fared better than the more than 100 miles of ground suffering damage.

    Locating them amongst the explosion, the guild council member ignored the consequences of his attack to shoot forward.

    His figure almost instantly arrived before the ck-clothed man.

    He grabbed him by the shoulder, or what seemed to be his shoulder, since to his shock purple mes covered his figure again. But this time they turned into chains thattched onto his neck, arms, and legs. Binding him.

    They could only do so for a second, however, since they shattered when he expressed his strength on them.

    Nevertheless, that one second was enough for all three of his opponents to arrive in front of him. He had managed to seriously wound them in his former attack since their figures bled even when they executed their spells.

    "He''s too strong," he heard a calm female voice reach his ears, she had been the one with silver lightning bolts. He wondered what they were going to do.

    Time had long since begun to move in slow motion to him. He was a tier 5 expert after all. Only this time, his primal fear made things look slower.

    Purple mes, crimson gales, and silver sparks in the shape of huge skullsnded on the expert''s body.

    Deep pain reached his mind when a spectacr explosion far more powerful than his, barreled out in all directions

    Three nuclear bombs seemed to have gone off since a tremendous portion of the sky and the regions below suffered the event.

    The sheer size of the multicolored explosion would be the size of cities.

    Settlements far away from that battlefield were caught up in the event. Tens of thousands died without knowing what had been the cause of their deaths.

    It took many minutes before themotion settled. A gigantic mass of silver smoke rose to the night sky. The sound of the explosion had been so loud that it reached even the central city, only those with powerful bodies and senses being able to notice the fluctuations.

    The consequences were great.

    The three individuals had also suffered from their own attacks, even if defensive techniques had been in ce. Having lost whole chunks of their powerful bodies. They fared better than the guild councilman who had died moments after the activation of their trump spells.

    The joint attacks of three lower-stage experts had only left one of his arms shooting through the sky to arrive at an unknown location. His bond died instantly too. It had been on its way there. Its body was intact, however.

    Although they had won the battle. All three individuals gazed at that destruction with cold expressions. They might have set in motion events far too terrible and heavy even for them. And that was exactly what happened.

 Chapter 473 473. CHAMBER OF DEEP TIME

    Noah opened his eyes to the white nature of the cultivation room. His entry was frantic and his eyes were wide open. He felt both speechless and mortified.

    He had never expected that end for all eleven of his group. Madison. Bon. He shook from the sheer abruptness of the event. Nevertheless, he couldn''t mourn or anything.

    He hadn''t gotten close enough to allow that. Still, it had ruined his mood. Badly even.

    He sat on the ground for whole minutes wondering what to do next. Three tier 5 cultivators had attacked them. By all means, he shouldn''t be alive. What would he say happened?

    That singr event might havepletely ruined his life. He trembled.

    He considered returning to the guild. But he figured he would be too weak to do anything or escape properly if needed. He wanted to return a nonsuspect. He would need more power.

    This obviously meant he would wait for the remaining hours to run out and undergo his advancement. He believed it could take a few weeks. But at least he would be better off with that type of power.

    The wait began at that point. But he got anxious. An hour passed. Then two hours. He figured whatever had happened in the outside world would have calmed down by then.

    But for good measure, he waited the third hour before, albeit begrudgingly, he stepped out.

    Noah didn''tst three seconds before returning.

    His gaze was dim. And his expression was nd. Noah had stepped out clean but now his clothes were almostpletely gone. His face was covered with a ck substanceChar. His skin featured patches of badly burnt portions.

    His hair had beenpletely burnt off. He bled from most ces on his body. His nose dripped blood from the toxic air he had breathed in.

    Deep pain reached Noah''s mind, but hecked the presence of mind to give them his attention. His thoughts were in disarray.

    It would take him a bit to finally get everything under control.

    Destruction.

    Noah had opened his eyes to a burning world.

    It looked like a major cataclysmic event had urred. Everything was in mes. Noah would not leave his cultivation room after that point.

    It took him a while to heal. But those two seconds reyed in his mind. The power of tier 5 cultivators. It shook him.

    All eleven of those bodies were gone. He would even be more suspicious. Noah found no way out of the interrogation.

    Surely they might not me him for that destruction. But questions on how he escaped would rise.

    A deep sigh exited Noah''s lips. He had changed his clothing and was back to normal. After those hours of thinking. He had concluded that there were bigger events at hand.

    So much so that tier 5 beings were being moved! He was underpowered. And the deaths of the royal children further proved that power was the only thing that could qualify a person in anything.

    Not even their status as descendants of high ranking families had been enough to help them.

    His mood plummeted again. Maybe a mix of anxiety and fear.

    With only about 7 hours till the pending state left, Noah did nothing but sit and think.

    The anxiety about his advancement had disappeared. Now he felt like he needed a major level up, or he might truly die.

    Since there was nothing to do, he yed about with his control over the speed essence. He barely ran these days. Or had not needed to, because of the mount.

    Each time his thoughts strayed to that topic he felt fundamentally bad. It reminded him of the death of Erolia and her family.

    He wondered how the group that escaped was doing. His golems. They were probably destroyed or something. But he had been equally as strong as he was now, so only tier 4 beasts or beings would have been able to achieve such.

    He hoped they were okay or something.

    The hours continued to pass and Noah could only do as much as think. Boredom was immense. His eagerness grew as the hours flowed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    And finally, his moment arrived.

    [Pending state has been lifted]

    [Entity <Noah> will now be teleported to the designated realm]

    [Processing��.]

    [Processingplete]

    [You will be teleported to the Chamber of Deep time]

    Shock. Confusion.

    "Eh��" He muttered wondering what was going on.

    Merely a few seconds after the panel appeared. A weird-looking magical circle containing more than six inner circles unfolded before him.

    However, rather than apply itself on him. Its white radiance intensified until an explosion of what felt like pure essence flowed out.

    Noah''s figure ended you being flung away by the event. But rather than experience pain. His body rejoiced.

    A sense of refresh-ness filled his being. He felt like he had gotten stronger on the spot

    [Step in]

    A shining white panel appeared in his eyes. And his gaze fell on the circr rift in the folds of space.

    The lights within it bent and twisted. But its structure was stable.

    Noah knew he would be okay since it was the system. But he felt nervous anyway. Things weren''t going how he expected them.

    Standing before the said portal, Noah closed his eyes and stepped into it.

    The fold of space applied a strange pulling force on his body, and to his shock, he felt and saw his body break down into tiny particles that flowed into the blinding white tunnel before him.

    His consciousness went dark before he could properly react.

    Noah opened his eyes in a weird location.

    It took him a few seconds to properly regain focus, and when he did he managed to sweep his gaze on his surroundings.

    "Where am I?" he felt forced to mutter.

    His new location waspletely nk. At least in terms of items and structures. His surroundings weren''t.

    The sky looked like a mix of colors, but they were mainly purple in radiance. The sky and the spherical shape of that ce seemed to be made out of a misty substance; purple in color.

    The ground was metallic, but also rocky. It was weird in short.

    A strange event pulled his attention from those details, however.

    A white crack opened in the very fabric of space before him, and an instantter a hand burst out, followed by the entirety of the individual''s body.

    The person was tall, and they shone with an oppressive white light. But he waspletely unaffected by it. He only knew because the purple in the environment fled at that light.

    "It''s been a long while my heir. We have a lot to do before you finally enter the realm of terrible power." A male voice rang out from the tall figure. He sounded excited.

 Chapter 474 474. WATERFALL OF SPEED ESSENCE

    Noah remained silent at the white figure''s words. The light that came from him reduced in intensity. And he moved closer and closer until he was merely a few inches from him.

    The being truly was tall. Towering about 3m in height. His shape was humanoid, but there were differences.

    The crack in the fabric of space closed when the being got closer, and Noah saw that the lighting from his body had stopped shining. Its very skin was white. No apparent features were evident, and he didn''t care much.

    The being picked Noah up. Raising him to his face level.

    He seemed to stare into Noah''s eyes with shocking intensity, even if he couldn''t make out eyeballs.

    "Uhm��" Noah muttered, uncertain of what was going on.

    "You''re weaker than I expected. But I see it is as a result of the aberration of your current state," it stated. The excitement in his voice had been reced by a cold calctive tone. The change was quick. Too quick.

    "Notwithstanding, we will fix this before you leave this ce. No matter how long it takes," It exined dropping Noah.

    Noah furrowed his brows before taking multiple steps back. He could not sense the power of the being. He seemed to be devoid of it.

    "Where is this ce?" Noah asked, starting from the main point.

    "This is the chamber of deep time," the suddenly motionless being replied. Its tone was normal. But stillcked excitement.

    "I know that. But where in Cregar is the chamber of deep time," He rephrased his words.

    "Cregar?" The white figure asked.

    Noah felt taken aback.

    "Yes, Cregar," he muttered now uncertain.

    "I see��" The being went silent. "You mean the you were deposited in."

    Noah frowned.

    "Well yes," he responded, already beginning to generate different ideas.

    "The chamber of deep time exists outside of worlds. It was built by me in a region of the cosmos that remains unreachable to you. It''s a genuine realm of its own. Realms are higher than worlds," the being exined.

    Noah remained silent for a few seconds. That was the first real info about the world he had gotten from the time he arrived in Cregar.

    "Who are you?" Noah asked a bit suspicious.

    "I am a fragment of the god of Speed," He replied calmly.

    Noah lost his cool. Excitement sprung up in his mind. It would seem he was allowed to have more knowledge than usual.

    "Who is the god of speed?" He further pushed.

    "I''m not telling you that," the being replied shaking his head.

    "You''ll learn who I am as you progress. You''ve reached the midpoint between your advancement into the fourth tier. There''s far much more in it than you would think."

    Noah clicked his tongue but didn''tin. He was momentarily okay with knowing he could get answers.

    "I know you have a lot of questions. But as I said. There are damages we must repair and things you understand before you finally break through into the fourth tier and take up the many things left for you, by me," the being continued pacing slowly.

    Noah nodded.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "My breakthrough into the fourth tier," he muttered heaving a sigh.

    "What are these things that need to be corrected," he inquired sweeping his gaze on the environment. He noticed how cool that ce was. And although the colors there were mostly purple, he could still see clearly.

    "That would be the rank of the speed forces energy you are allowed to utilize," he started walking in circles around his now sitting figure.

    "You''re only at the second rank. Before we begin anything. This will need to change."

    Noah furrowed his brows. "You mean I''ll have to cultivate?" He asked an obvious question.

    "Yes," The being replied. "You''ll cultivate for as long as possible until you reach the fourth rank."

    "Uh!" Noah''s eyes widened.

    "Yes. This will give you a better chance to survive what is toe," the white figure stated, nodding.

    Noah frowned. He understood his words, but the fact that he would need to cultivate that long shook him. He didn''t have much time.

    He felt ready to speak when the figure spoke again.

    "You''re not leaving until you meet my requirement. Even if it takes a few millennia," he stated with an authoritative tone.

    Was there anything he could do at that point? He was reminded that he wasn''t in full control. He wasn''t the god of speed. Or his fraction.

    "Before we begin, what do I address you as?" Noah asked.

    "You can call me Ter," the white figure asked, and although it remained a weird name, Noah could only ept it.

    As soon as Noah nodded, Ter waved his hand, and at that simple gesture, a linear crack opened in the very sky of that realm.

    The crack began to expand as white light flowed out of its insides. Noah felt a strange feeling well up in his being and before he knew it, a deep-yellow mass fell from the crack. A waterfall of speed essence!

    "You will submerge yourself in it. This is the best way to cultivate," Ter exined pointing at the rushing mass.

    The waterfall of speed essence roared like a real waterfall, but the essence refused to spread like water. It simply resembled a pir of speed essence.

    Noah remained a bit worried about thatmand, but he approached the mass anyway. Pushing his hand inside the glorious essence, Noah saw that it did not hurt him.

    It felt rxing for his limb even.

    With theck of danger confirmed, he stepped into it and felt his body roar in a wave of excitement and vitality.

    Ecstasy befell Noah and he immediately sat cross-legged and began to cultivate.

    His body improved but he remained at the peak of the third tier. He simply grew in that realm, while his body got used to that purity.

    He would need to cultivate until the third rank then finally reach the fourth. He had no idea how long that would take, and only when he took breaks did he remember to ask if the chamber of deep time had any special benefits.

    ording to Ter, that realm had apletely different time flowpared to the outside world. The rules there were different. But the fact was; it had a faster time-flowpared to the outside world. A month in that realm could mean a day or an hour, he''d have to return to Cregar to know.

    Ter refused to tell Noah anything substantial until he reached the required goal. At that point, he was stuck with that monotonous routine.

    Noah ended up needing a bit over two decades to reach the very peak of the third-speed essence rank!

 Chapter 475 475. SILVER STRAND

    Noah sat within what resembled a pir of essence. He normally wouldn''t be able to be seen, but something about him now allowed even his features to be visible in the deep-yellow color of the speed forces energy.

    His figure churned with power and his entire being palpitated with might. Noah seemed ancient in that scene. But he was anything but ancient.

    "You have reached the very limits of the third rank. This is the true peak of your might in the third tier," Ter''s truly ancient yet youthful voice seeped past the raging pir of essence to reach Noah''s ears.

    His eyes snapped open and a ripple seemed to run through the fabric of the energy.

    He stood before emerging from the pir. His figure shone with a soft light of its own and wisps of essence left his body in order to express the fullness of his power.

    Noah''s features had mostly remained the same, apart from the fact that he now had his white hair had grown long enough to reach the ground like a cape. For some reason, facial hair had refused to grow.

    His eyes shone with a dangerous blue light, but that remained as a result of the oppressing aura that now flowed out of his body. It was heavy. And now he wouldpletely be visible to the world, after all the bracelet had shattered.

    At some point during his over 20 years of simply cultivating, the bracelet had suddenly begun to glow with a blue light, before an innumerable amount of cracks filled it and it turned to dust.

    Noah suddenly felt free after that event. And not just mentally, but also physically. It seemed to have locked in a lot of his influence. But he had no idea just what had happened. Until he returned.

    "What next?'' He asked feeling bored. Twenty years of simply doing the same thing hundreds of times.

    "The fourth rank essence brings about something new. Your evolution would be different, the possible oues have been sought out by me, and will tell some of them to you now," Ter exined, already serious.

    "Due to your partially hybrid state, you will be weaker than normal. The fourth rank speed essence brings about a different system. At least for you," He started.

    "From now on, each time you cultivate it''ll trante into genuine levels in the system. Gone are the days when you required solely leveling. I have received information about the destruction of your mana pathways from the system."

    "Truth be told you should not have had ess to the speed force energy like you did until you got here. But I understand its needs to have corrected you."

    "The second would be the fact that you''ll be capable of taking in other types of energies. But to grow in the understanding of the speed force you''ll need to cultivate only the speed forces essence," Ter paused.

    "This, however, will only be true after we''ve taken the next step into your breakthrough," Ter nodded and the pir of essence receded into the crack in space.

    Noah raised his head calmly, that would be the first real change in a long while.

    The crack suddenly experienced a powerful shaking. It expanded in size, and Noah expected a huge downpour of the essence, but a thin line fell rather.

    The strand of energy remained silver in color. Its light was dim, but the sheer aura and pressure it carried made Noah fall to his knees.

    A sudden wave of dizziness filled his existence, as violent thoughts filled with hunger sprung up in his mind.

    Noah had expected the ne to save him from that power, but that wasn''t the case.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You will absorb this new level of essence and the really painful event will begin," Ter announced.

    "The results will be great, however. Your weakness is also your strength," Ter stated and watched Noah sit cross-legged. He had gone past the stage of considering pain when experiencing it would bring him power.

    The strand of silver essence, far more heavier and powerful than the entirety of Noah''s existence reached his chest, and a wave of pain erupted in his mind. It was blinding.

    Gritting his teeth he felt the essence instantly fill his being when he allowed it. It rushed to his mind and exploded into a wave of power that made his ind look tiny before it.

    It red into a wave of energy that swept his insides. His organs turned into a bloody mess and his core quite literally turned to dust.

    Noah passed out at that point. The pain he experienced being overwhelming for his senses. If only he knew more painful experiences waiting for him after that one.

    On the outside his skin found its surface seeping a significant amount of ck substance. Noah had experienced this during his crossover into the third rank, but this remained the biggest.

    The ck substance resembled a huge pool. As even Ter had to fly upwards to prevent it from touching him. Its stench was incredible.

    A silver light began to slowly pierce the ck substance, however, and Noah''s unconscious body could be seen floating out of the substance. A few secondster and the silver energy buried his body in a cocoon of its power.

    His very nature transformed and the rules that bound him before shattered at the passage of that energy through everything that made him, him.

    Noah''s soul realm remained intact but his soul ind experienced multiple destruction and rebuilding, this only stopped until the power supplied was exhausted, and the changes were remarkable.

    The same thing applied to his insides and his skin. Only after the energy supply had run out did his figure stabilize, or seemed to stabilize.

    The process had only taken about a month, but it took Noah three years before he could regain consciousness.

    His awakening had been silent, but he barely had time to understand the gains since a silver crack immediately opened on his chest as soon as he could move.

    Even more, pain filled his mind and he began to writhe, forcing it to expand more.

    "I have seen this oue. The speed force does not recognize you as a proper Speedling. It wants to leave your body, but its same energy built your body. In short, you''ll die by the time it achieves that," Ter exined still as calm as ever.

    Noah couldn''t respond due to the screams of agony his throat voiced. They were powerful. Capable of destroying structures not meant to handle power in the fourth tier.

    Ter waved his hand and a red magical triangle expanded before him. Its insides featured more than 7 inner triangles but that wasn''t the main detail.

    The aura that flowed out of it felt ancient, but rather than anything spectacring out of it; a shining drop of blood slowly flowed out of it tond on Noah''s figure.

    His writing stopped, but his body exploded into a gory mess.

 Chapter 476 476. BLOODLINE INHERITANCE

    Two shiny objects floated in Noah''s former position. One was bigger than the other and far apart. They were his core and his soul realm, manifest visibly.

    The pool of blood that existed around them would be Noah''s body, but as long as both of them were in safe care, he would continue to exist, only remain unconscious.

    A few months passed as those two objects floated silently before the pool of blood, but something eventually happened.

    The blood which had refused to dry started to move.

    Every drop of Noah moved and rejoined themselves until they became one big spherical mass of wriggling blood substance.

    Time flowed, the days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned to months. The process seemed slow, but when Noah''s shining silver core found energy seeping out of its figure and an invisible mass flowing from his soul realm. A radical transformation urred.

    All three spheres, his core, soul realm, and bloody mass, began to spin around each other. His soul realm became the center of gravity, while his core and mass of blood orbited around it.

    As time passed, the event got faster and faster, until his core and mass of blood had turned into spinning disks around his soul realm.

    The silver lighting from his soul realm shone brighter and brighter until it overshadowed both masses, then the final transformation urred.

    A multicolored light came out of his silver soul realm to flow into his core and his mass of blood, seemingly charging them.

    That energy would be what was called Soul energy.

    His core remained unchanged but his mass of blood became darker and darker until itpletely turned ck.

    After this more energy from his core poured into the ck mass, and the ck mass saw cracks forming on it.

    Not long after, the ckyer on the outside fell off, to reveal the silver, almost transparent mass of liquid on the inside.

    It was strange, but that was what Noah''s new body would be made of.

    Energy stopped pouring from his core and the soul realm took over.

    The system had been assisting the soul realm from the beginning, and now it helped his soul recall his original shape.

    The silvery figure of a man formed soon after and grew solid. Pigment appeared after a few months and hair followed shortly after.

    Noah''s figure soon became evident. There were some changes to his features, but when he hadpletely stabilized, his core and soul realm entered into him, and merely a year after, his eyes snapped open.

    The event caused a wave of invisible power to explode from Noah''s body. His heartbeat became louder and louder, its mere sound spreading ripples of incredible force all around him.

    It calmed down however and his body returned to the ground. His heartbeats had destroyed the ck substance that had turned solid over the years.

    Noah heaved a deep sigh as he regained his presence of mind.

    His eyes had stopped being blue and were now ck. His hair was still as long as ever, but its tips now held a vibrant silver shade apart from the shining white.

    His height had increased by a few centimeters, but they barely mattered.

    Noah''s skin color was just as before, but an oppressive silver light flowed out of his figure.

    "Well done. You have seeded in the first stage. There are still a few more toe," Ter''s voice reached Noah''s ears and he nced up to see the tall figure.

    Noah remained silent, but his figure transformed into a blue streak to arrive before the being.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Ter''s white arm grabbed Noah''s leg and the force he packed in his kick simply spread about around them.

    "I can see you''re vexed," Ter''s voice remained calm.

    Noah''s eyes were cold, he executed a punch on the being''s face, but nothing happened. Only the sound of metal striking metal erupted in the silence of that realm.

    "I advise moving with caution. Your struggles are not done just yet," Ter stated before hurling Noah''s figure away. He only did so knowing his heir wouldnd on his feet. Which he did.

    "What do you mean by that?" Noah spoke but his voice reverberated in the world, oppressively.

    He had reached the fourth tier technically speaking, but the system had not announced anything to him. He suspected there was a disconnection.

    Noah''s body radiated peak power. He had felt like that before, but things were different now. He was different.

    Before Ter could speak, Noah furrowed his brows when pain reached his mind. He copsed onto the ground and didn''t wake up until a few days passed.

    "You''re not out of danger yet. The speed forces energy still rejects you." Noah found Ter sitting beside him when he finally regained consciousness.

    Grunting as he sat up, Noah woke up to a new wave of pain. His chest now featured another crack. But whatever had changed after the first time allowed him to remain in one piece. At least for the meanwhile.

    "borate," Noah spoke in amanding tone. He hated his situation. That crack hurt as heck.

    "What you did during your breakthrough into the third tier has greatly increased the requirement of the speed force energy. You''ll need far much more than a normal low Speedling." Ter exined, and Noah winced in pain again.

    The crack spread until it reached his stomach. The pain was intense. He struggled to remain awake.

    "What am I going to do now," he managed to mutter.

    "The bloodline inheritance left for you might need to be exhausted before you can be okay again," Ter stated standing up.

    "Bloodline inheritance?" Noah asked. He had never heard of that before.

    "Yes, young Noah. There is a bloodline inheritance. You were originally supposed to take it before even having ess to the speed forces energy since only then would you be able to properly utilize it," Ter rified.

    "I''m not already properly using it?" Noah asked a bit surprised but at the same time un-surprised.

    "You''re far from utilizing it. You have only gained the aspect of speed in terms of bodily movement. There''s far more to this unique energy than moving around," Ter exined. But Noah winced again.

    The crack had increased in length.

    Noah remained silent.

    "The Speedlings have a hierarchy, and the hierarchy is set by how pure our blood is. This system leaves many the control of the others, but mainly how much of the speed force we can utilize." Ter began even if he never hoped to finish before the man before him passed out.

    "Directly after the lower Speedlings are the High-Speedlings," Ter waved his hand again, and a red magical Triangle formed before him.

    Another drop of blood releasing an outstanding aurapared to the first, flew out of the triangle to float before Ter.

    "This will be your next evolution. It''s going to be painful, and long. You spent four years bing a normal Speedling. I believe it will take you more to finally reach the status of High-Speedling, but ording to my calctions even that will not be enough to meet the speed forces requirements."

    At that point, the drop of bloodnded on Noah''s figure and he once again exploded into a gory mess. But this time around his blood was red but contained patches of silver-ness.

 Chapter 477 477. MEMORIES

    There existed five levels of the bloodlines of the Speedling species. Birthed by the Progenitor of Speedlings. These different hierarchical stages were determined from birth. The meeting of two High-Speedlings gave rise to another High-Speedling.

    The higher one found themselves in the bloodline level, the more of a natural connection they had with the Speed force.

    Due to the purity of blood being higher than the lower levels, higher-ranked Speedlings were capable of enforcing their will on the lower-ranked ones.

    The five main bloodline ranks. Were Lower or Normal-Speedlings. High-Speedlings, Noble-blood Speedlings, Royal-Speedlings, and Finally Original-Speedlings.

    There was only one who stood higher than the original-Speedlings. And that would be the progenitor of Speedlings.

    The Original Speedlings were the first creations of the Speedling specie. Making them second only to their creator. Royal Speedlings were created by toning down the fullness of themselves. The same could be said for Noble-blood Speedlings who were a bloodline created by the first royal Speedlings toning down the expression of their fullness.

    So on and so forth, with Normal Speedlings being the weakest and less privileged of them all.

    Certain abilities came with their unique bloodlines gotten from the original Speedlings. The higher ranked a Speedling, the more possibilities they could achieve with the speed forces energy.

    Noble-blood Speedling and higher were capable of applying the effects of the speed forces on bodies apart from themselves. There were more but this very ability remained one of the more useful ones, but only when a Speedling had reached enlightenment could they properly utilize their natural talents.

    Noah felt his eyes tremble and he opened them to allow his gaze to fall on the never changing sky of the Chamber of Deep time.

    He made no sound as he sat up and resumed sweeping his gaze on his surrounding. As usual, Ter was floating in the sky staring at him.

    Noah stood and felt a new wave of vitality fill his bones and his skin and his very being. He had never felt so powerful before, but more than that, he had gained a lot of info, and the change in his nature was already beginning to expose itself far more vibrantly.

    Noah saw the world in a different light. He felt like his understanding had skyrocketed, but that would probably be due to his new level.

    Speedlings were different. Far different from humans. Their anatomy wasn''t the only thing but deep to their instincts and thoughts. They were fashioned in a way that spoke ofplete dominance.

    He felt pride the most. Especially now that he had attained the level of a Royal-blood Speedling.

    His body was almost unrecognizable to him. He now featured things he never knew he would.

    An example would be his extra heart.

    Yes, the Speedlings were so different that from the High-Speedlings rank, there was an addition of two hearts.

    Now he had seven in total, and they were wired in ways he struggled topletely understand.

    ording to Ter, he now had two forms, and both forms ovepped due to his hybrid state. After crossing over into the Noble-blood rank, he was considered a proper Half-Speedling and Half-Human.

    For this reason, his extra hearts could be felt even without his transformation.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah had spent thest century mostly in a state of unconsciousness. He had never gotten the chance to test any of his new abilities since thest three evolution had not been enough.

    Even now that he was Royal-blood Ter had told him about forty years prior that he would need to undergo one more before he could finally not be torn apart by the speed forces energy.

    Were he to leave now, only a few centuries would pass before he experienced the same problem. Death would await him at that point.

    "Spectacr!" Ter''s voice was loud and contained the same excitement Noah recalled from long ago.

    "Did it go well?" Noah''s tone was nd. His eyes swept his body and he saw how he had rtively remained the same. But he didn''t feel the same.

    "It went beyond what I expected. You''re dangerously close to the state by which you''ll be unaffected by the speed force''s violence. You simply need one more push. One more evolution and you''ll gain it," Ter exined, while Noah felt his gaze scan his body many times.

    Noah''s features changed after he underwent the evolution into royal blood. His eyes had stopped being blue it ck, and now held a dominant silver shade. A bit of blue could still be seen, however. But the shining silverness of his eyes was dominant.

    That eye color seemed to enhance his gaze. He seemed ancient and even his now higher beauty spoke of such a reality.

    Noah''s natural beauty had gone through a series of evolution. He looked godly.

    His white hair featuring exactly half of its volume; silver, fell to the ground. His muscles were more defined. Noah seemed to havee right out of a sculpture made by the very gods themselves.

    "Let''s get on with it," He swept his gaze on Ter, and the being nodded.

    "Before we get onto it I must tell you a bit of history. I can tell you''ve been curious about us Speedlings. You will learn of this glorious species you''ve now be part of." Ter stated, and Noah waved his hand before sitting cross-legged. He closed his eyes.

    Ter watched this scene with seeming interest, then his voice seeped into the world.

    "The bloodline inheritance you''re about to undergo is what the major part of me nned. Hence you are just beginning."

    "There will be ten of said inheritances, and I''ll exin why in a bit," Ter continued.

    "The progenitor of Speedlings, had nine descendants, whom I exined to you are termed the original Speedlings since they were like him. But were not him,"

    "These nine descendants assisted their father in many things, but it would turn out that their death also wasn''t far."

    "Nevertheless. The progenitor had managed to keep their origin which was the entirety of them, apart from their personality."

    "Noah, you are about to be an original Speedling. By taking in this blood you''ll not only be raised to that level. But you''ll also gain the memories of the ninth born of the family."

 Chapter 478 478. ERSHA

    "The ninth born," Noah muttered. His eyes remained closed and his dense aura flickered. He actively tried to bottle up his power but it was difficult listening to those truths while doing that.

    He focused on it for a second, however, and all his aura vanished.

    Noah opened his eyes to stare at the being before him at that point. A fragment of the god of speed. He wondered at what point a person could be ssified as a god. He refrained from asking, however.

    "Yes," Ter replied. "You shall know her name when you receive the inheritance," Ter exined.

    "It might take many decades toplete, however, Meaning more time will pass on the outside world. But don''t worry," Ter waved his hand and another red magical triangle expanded before him.

    But rather than it beingpletely red. Some of its lines were ck.

    A silver droplet floated out of the triangle at that point and hovered beside Ter.

    "I was never worried before. Let''s just get this over with. I need some excitement in my life. I feel too old for my age," Noah muttered standing. His tone was still nd. It had been a long long while.

    Ter nodded and allowed the silver blood to float until it touched Noah''s chest.

    Taking in a deep breath in an attempt to reduce the pain he experienced. Noah felt a searing hot mass enter his body. A sudden unbearable heat filled his being and he copsed in pain.

    His lips were sealed however, he refused to make any noise. But that onlysted a few seconds.

    Noah parted his lips to voice an ear-shattering scream. His eyes bled silver blood and his bones crunched and broke until they were mush.

    His organs failed and his hearts exploded. That silver blood went past his body to make contact with his soul realm and core.

    A pain originating from his very core erupted forth at that point. This was a new level of suffering. His belly split open and silver blood gushed out.

    His head underwent a gruesome reshaping, as bones poked out of his head in the form of horns, but they shattered and regrew in a seemingly endless cycle.

    This time his Speedling portion came into the limelight. Noah grew bigger as he shivered on the ground. His voice got deeper and deeper until it turned husky and beast-like.

    His skin turned shiny ck, his face became beast-like. He was beast-like but had a certain pristineness that made him different from the average beast.

    He grew in size until he was around 5m in total.

    The process was still going on when a sudden white crack expanded from his back until it reached his head.

    Noah went limp instantly and his body started to disintegrate.

    The process revealed an inner mass. It was pure white and immacte. It looked less beastly and was inclined towards beauty.

    Its size was smaller, about 3m and its skin shone withplete whiteness.

    The fullness of the being couldn''t be made out due to its position. But it closely resembled Ter.

    A thrumming sound sprung into life at some point and a silver light washed over the body before turning solid. Encasing Noah in its diamond-like material.

    As time went on, golden markings and symbols materialized on the silver cocoon.

    Hundreds of magical circles and Triangles materialized around it also. And the very realm experienced violent shaking at certain times.

    A special being was being reborn. It''s worth being far more than even the Celestials in the universe.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Several years passed as the body within the diamond casing experienced its full evolution. When Noah regained consciousness, he would be a different person.

    He would gain the abilities of an Original Speedling, and knowledge of one of the nine descendants of the Speedling race. How lucky he was to take part in that marvelous and terrifying race.

    A race that was said to be on par with the Angels, or close to them.

    The golden light of the innumerable amount of magical circles and Triangles lit up the entire realm.

    The silver light of the chrysalis grew in intensity as the decades passed.

    Ter silently stood in the skies of the chamber of Deep time, watching that event closely. His divine mind had been able toe up with many possible oues.

    But when it came to the nine descendants he could only wait and see. He wasn''t worried, however. All the possible oues were good for Noah. The only variations being in power.

    Noah could eithere out weaker than he should or just normal. Either way, he would spectacr.

    About 150 years had to go by before the sound of cracking unfolded in the realm. This would make it almost 300 years within the chamber of deep time.

    To Noah who had utilized a majority of that period sleeping, however, it would only be a short amount of time.

    Cracks continued to open on the blinding chrysalis and the mere sound would be capable of killing tier 4 cultivators.

    The event remained spectacr.

    Cracks opened in the very realm and streams of silver energy rushed in without Ter''s doing. The descendants of the Progenitor of Speedlings were known for their 100% attunement to the speed force.

    Hence they were termed the Children of Speed.

    Their mere presence made the speed force cheer. Because of this reason essence appeared to celebrate that re-awakening.

    "I see. So this is our origin, Father." A feminine voice reverberated throughout the entirety of the realm.

    Ter remained in his ce among the sky, that event was part of his calctions and for the first time cracks opened in his head and two luminous eyes came to be.

    They expressed deep pain andpassion, but as an earthquake urred due to the event, the eyes were sealed up again. Ter knew the person who would emerge would be Noah.

    "It''s been such a long time. I see you''ve further your ns. I hope ites to pass. And I hope you avenge our deaths." The female voice was calm but held sorrow.

    "Goodbye, Father. Maybe the blessing of speed be with you... And your heir" The shaking became more violent. The entire realm suffered from the event.

    Speed essence had been utilized to build that ce, it was only normal that the essence reacted.

    "Goodbye, my Ersha," Ter''s muttered, but the earthquake overshadowed his voice.

    A groan however filled the entire realm suppressing the sound of the violent shaking.

    A bright white light overshadowed the golden and silver light in the area and an explosion of naturally immense consequences urred.

    Thanks to the nature of the realm; all that power was absorbed. And soon a floating white figure could be seen amongst the skies of the realm.

    Silver essence umted around them and a dazzling throne manifested.

 Chapter 479 479. DARK SPEEDLING

    "This is more than I expected," Noah''s calm voice boomed forth in the area. Something had changed in the way he spoke. He sounded both calm and troubled.

    "Dark Speedlings, huh? Ironic isn''t it," Noah sat on the shiny silver throne. His figure on the throne remained regal and beautiful.

    ording to the immense memories, he had gained, he learned that Dark Speedings were the highest types of Speedlings.

    Only the nine descendants and the progenitor himself were termed Dark Speedlings, but ironically Dark Speedlings had pure white bodies. Such as Noah did.

    His figure; were he to stand would reach a height of 3m. His arms and legs were symmetrical, just like that of humans. Hence, his humanoid nature. But Noah knew he was far from a human.

    His memories of Ersha allowed him to instantly understand the various things he could do with his body. But he had one limit. And that was none other than his low power.

    Many things were unclear due to the fact that his mind remained unable to process those thoughts as they existed in realms even higher than the seventh tier!

    essing them would require him to enter a state akin to his cultivation. He could injure himself were he to try too much.

    Notwithstanding, he had enough info about Speedlings and the universe as a whole.

    He trembled inwardly.

    Some things existed in the cosmos he had never thought about. Things that were far more terrifying, that even the Speedlings struggled against them

    "Do you see where wee from? There are many things I understand you''ll be unable to reach. But as you advance in power you should be able to ess those memories," Ter exined, back to his seriousness.

    Noah made no response. His eyes were closed and his sitting figure continued to palpitate with power.

    Golden markings and runic symbols of the ancient ran across his pure white skin.

    Speedlings were rather athletic in body frame. But their bodies remainedpact with apparently fiveyers of skinpressed with the help of the speed force. Dark Speedlings however had seven of suchyers allowing them impable defense.

    Four golden horns rose out of Noah''s head like a crown, and truly they served as such. But those horns also had their use battle-wise.

    His eyes were zed with three different lights, silver, white, and gold, His hands were armed with six fingers capable of unveiling golden ws.

    His new form had no resemnce to his human form. His face was pointed, almost draconic. It looked humanoid, but its features were pristine and ancient, Especially with the horns.

    Dark speedlingscked genitals. And for this reason, they had not procreated, only formed other beings out of their core. Royal Speedlings however were capable of procreating.

    Most of his features were armed and dangerous, allowing for many innate abilities. He wondered if the system would record them.

    Speedlings were also capable of utilizing all kinds of elements. They didn''t even have to have an affinity for it. They could simply learn it!

    ? Another detail that left Noahpletely stunned Noah was the fact that Speedlings didn''t even usually run as he did.

    A new level of understanding hade with Ersha''s memories.

    "Speed in all aspects," Noah muttered, but the essence around him generated his voice and let it spread in the realm.

    "Yes," Ter exined appearing before Noah''s sitting figure.

    "Speedlings advance through the ranks as their understanding of speed increases. It''s our only goal, and it''s all we need to decimate our opponents." Ter exined.

    "But it got her killed," Noah stated.

    "I have be part of your specie, but it is not enough ording to what I remember. Far much more is required. More power. More understanding. Your speedlings have stayed on one path for a long time. It was your downfall."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You became predictable. Speed in all aspects. So a counter was found. The entirety of that gxy under your control was wiped out." Noah had fallen into a trance.

    "This is all I can ess currently," he opened his eyes.

    "It is already more than expected," Ter replied.

    Silence befell the duo at that point. Noah had be a Dark Speedling. He was also officially in the fourth tier, but therge chunk of power was still kept with the system.

    He knew what he had to do. He wasn''t in a rush, however. He understood why the speedlings were hunted down. He was thest one now.

    The heir of the god of speed. He had already figured that Ter was also the Progenitor of the Speedlings.

    He needed time to process his findings. To test out his power and deal with the beings in Cregar.

    Thankfully he would be returning far more powerful than before.

    Noah''s aura suddenly flickered during his series of thoughts.

    A tinge of weakness filled him and his figure exploded into a huge wave of steam.

    The essence that had arrived as a result of his transformation returned into the realm and Noah''s figure plunged to the ground. Unconscious.

    He had limits in that form. It drained his life force.

    Noah crashed on the ground and proceeded to sleep for a few months. The reason for this was that his life force unlike wounds was the very thing that kept him alive. He needed time to replenish that invisible force.

    Opening his eyes, Noah sat up. His eyes had returned to their silver color, but in his human form, he felt weak.

    "I believe there''s not much you need from me now. You know the mission you have as a Speedling. Thest one. It''s inscribed into your very instincts," Ter started.

    "Although there are many things I can tell you. I''d prefer you learn them from the system yourself. Like the nature of your new body. The new abilities being a tier 4 allows and so on. I''m certain those memories already contain a significant portion of those memories."

    "What about the other inheritances," Noah asked.

    "You''ll have to be tier 5 to handle another one," Ter replied calmly.

    Noah nodded. He didn''t find that requirement a difficult thing now that he had memories of a person literally eras in age.

    "I''ll reach it as quickly as I can," he announced.

    Ter nodded. "The things promised when you be tier 4 shall be given to you by the system," Ter had started to float, and the entire realm was already experiencing a shaking.

    "Always be on guard. Thankfully you''re not strong enough to get noticed by the real enemies. Things will change when you reach the seventh tier, however. So be prepared."

    "On that note, I bid you farewell. My heir. May the blessing of Speed be upon you," Ter nodded before waving his hand.

    A crack opened in the fabric of space at that event and he stepped into the white crack before disappearing.

    Noah watched that event and thought about how lonely that ce was. He swept his gaze on the realm and waited for the system.

    Not a moment toote, myriads of triangles expanded before him. It created a portal and he stepped into it.

 Chapter 480 480. LIGHT AND SPEED

    A tear opened in the fabric of space and a bright portal expanded, to allow the passage of a certain young-looking man.

    Noah regained his awareness in the blue skies of Cregar. His feetnded on a dense tform of air and he ignored the wave of panels that shed in his eyes. Or rather. A silver screen appeared before him and those messages popped in, like aputer.

    This was the first. The systems notification had always been in his eyes, or around the peripherals of his vision. It would seem a change had been made.

    Noah waved his hand at the screen and it dispersed, he would check out its contentster.

    But there was one thing he couldn''t dismiss, and that was the feeling of power that filled him now. His levels finally added up and he broke into the fourth tier, ording to the system.

    The sky darkened at that point.

    His immediate arrival triggered the breakthrough process that those of Cregar underwent. Truth be told Noah hadn''t expected that, but he was eager to test his strength, nheless.

    His power felt boundless, But he knew he had limits.

    An immense dark cloud converged above him, and the sound of thunder shook the regions below him.

    Noah caught sight of tier 3 flying beasts leaving the area. He had arrived above a forest in a location he knew he had not been to before.

    That wasn''t an issue, however, since a massive boulder suddenly appeared in his line of sight. It crashed into his figure and directly turned to dust, however.

    Bits of rocks flying at dangerous speeds fanned out into the world and thends below him suffered the event.

    Noah had not moved from his position. His body had handled the entirety of that event. He didn''t even feel it.

    He lowered his gaze to watch the formation of a certain figure.

    Cregar''s Avatar unfolded in his eyes. The terrain directly shattered to give way to that event, but something changed. The rocks forming the massive figure suddenlycked the will that put them together forcing them to return to normal stone.

    Noah watched that scene, and his mind came to a few conclusions. He believed that the fact that the boulder had done nothing to him made Creagar re-evaluate him.

    He was right, since the cloud grew smaller, but rose in power.

    Noah felt his eyes open to a new world and he saw hundreds to thousands of thin rope-like structurestching onto him. They filled the world around him. Still, he wasn''t in a realm bound by the world. So he simply applied his aura and watched those ropes break.

    The event caused the cloud above him to grow more violent. His mind sensed the power properly entering the fourth tier and growing in it.

    Noah had already gained the ability to properly gauge the level of the world around him. Thends of the Cusk nation had a limit at the very peak of the third tier. Anything above that quality of power would decimate it.

    An explosion of power unfolded before him, however, and he felt forced to take a few steps back.

    Thanks to his added levels Noah would now be ranked halfway past the lower stage. The aura that filled the world around him desired to meet that level, but it couldn''t.

    That tribtion was meant for those crossing over into the fourth tier. Any more. and Cregar would break its own system.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A huge tornado formed below the very center of the converging cloud. Cold winds swept thends. The size and power of the tornado being able to lift whole chunks of the terrain.

    It was a spectacr sight that Noah knew he could achieve, but he simply watched.

    A humanoid figure formed within the tornado, and an almost solid figure appeared before him.

    He wondered if it was ready to fight him, but he doubted. He was right again.

    Huge strands of electricity lit up the darknds and a huge blue bolt of lighting fell on the humanoid mass of highly condensed air.

    The sky shook as the blinding blue sh swept thends. Its radiance remaining visible for many miles. Some saw it and approached it.

    Noah found his eyes capable of piercing the light, however. He didn''t even struggle or squint. His body had truly be amazing.

    He saw that the lightning bolt dealt no damage to the avatar. Rather, it condensed into a crackling armor.

    The light died down and the armored figure was revealed to the world. Its power had grown thanks to that merging.

    It wasn''t done, however. The ambient temperature plunged and a huge portion of the forest below them directly turned to ice and shattered as a result of the rumbling going on in the sky.

    Noah watched those icy chucks shatter and converge on his preparing opponent.

    A huge sword manifested and the figure took hold of it. Its aura zed at that point, and it seemed ready to move when it sensed something.

    A certain staleness swept the world around Noah and he watched cracks open on the armored figure providing it with an expression. Its countenance suggested confusion.

    Noah revealed a cold smile at that point. "Cregar is aware of me now. I cannot hide my other affinities," Noah smiled as he allowed his aura to surge.

    His power was so dense it turned visible. A silver aura unfolded into the world. Many kilometers saw this event ur. And it wasn''t pleasant.

    Truth be told, immediately Noah had seen the floating screen he knew there were a few things that would kick into action. One of them would be his immediate advancement and the other would be the manifestation of his Death lord title.

    But not only that, he had sensed the addition of two new affinities. One was rare. While the other came as a result of his new state. But it was still weird, even ifpletely understood it thanks to his newly gained memories.

    "The affinity of light, and Speed," Noah muttered as he spread his arms and felt thends crumble under the weight of his presence. He felt like a god.

    The cloud above him resumed its rumbling. But the world experienced a sudden rise in temperature, as a blinding light unfolded in the world.

    A blinding beam of immense power and light originated from Noah''s figure to smash into the huge avatar.

    The searing beam of pure silver light immersed the avatar in its structure, and its residue bent ny degrees towards the cloud. Creating a huge hole in its manyyers.

    The event was so bright it could be seen from far away.

 Chapter 481 481. SILVER CLOUD

    Noah remained unmoved after his beam of light surged forward to create a hole in the dark cloud. His authority over the affinity of light was still a bit rusty. Nevertheless, he wasn''t in a rush. His mind was already working to understand the depths of that element.

    Thanks to his new nature, although he was granted new affinities by the system, Noah knew very well that he could pick up a new one and simply learn it. Many rules had changed for him now.

    A strange silence unfolded in the world after that truly spectacr event. Still, the clouds did not disperse and the aura that belonged to Cregar''s avatar did not diminish.

    Quite the contrary even. The aura belonging to his opponent surged and his instincts moved to alert him of the iing attack.

    Noah vanished from his position, however. His figure transformed into a silver streak that pierced the mist that had suddenly formed; to find his opponent.

    He did so quickly.

    Noah arrived before the gigantic blue chest of Cregar''s avatar. It remained in one piece but was missing an arm. He could see that three more were growing. He wasn''t worried, but he wouldn''t let it.

    In honesty, he felt taken aback that all his attack could do was destroy one of its arms. He could only me that event on his low understanding.

    He wouldn''t let that happen again.

    Forming a fist, Noah delivered a terrible punch to his opponent''s chest.

    The sky shook as the crackling figure directly disappeared from his view.

    An explosion reached his eyes a secondter, and he watched a huge cloud of dust unfold in the forest.

    He could already tell that they might end up wiping out that forest in the battle.

    The avatar was sturdy. More sturdy than Noah initially evaluated. His punch managed to shatter its crackling chest piece, but its real chest was left unharmed.

    The dark cloud above them rumbled ready to refill the energy required for the armor, but Noah was quick.

    Thanks to Ersha''s memories, he understood what the affinity of speed meant. It was unlike those of ice and lightning. The affinity of Speed was derived from his new understanding.

    ''Speed in all aspects,'' Thought Noah as he created a silver streak to arrive on his opponent''s head.

    The sheer force he packed made it kneel as its crackling helmet shattered into motes of energy. However, rather than disperse. They converged toward Noah, who tried something new.

    As soon as those sparksnded on his skin, they disappeared. To be made clean and ready for use. His body automated that process. But he ced a bit of his focus on it anyway.

    The avatar had learned from its first two mistakes, and as soon as Noah spent a whole second doing nothing, it waved its sword.

    Ice spread around Noah and the temperature plunged.

    He saw the swording and acted ordingly.

    Noah stretched his fist forward meeting the sword''s edge. Both connected, but cracks spread on the mass of ice and it directly shattered into tiny pieces of ice.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The event startled the avatar, but it remained too slow to do anything. The sky acted at that point.

    A huge bolt of erratic energy fell on Noah''s figure and the avatar. Noah frowned as he crashed into the ground creating a broad crater.

    He had always been clothe-less since he arrive. And although the attack had not hurt him, it ticked him off. Unfortunately, as the seconds passed he could feel the manifestation of the Death lord title take control of his mind.

    In a few minutes, he would be emotionless.

    Noah stood without any struggle even if the cloud above him maintained a steady stream of its electrical discharge. His body even absorbed significant portions of its energy.

    The only thing that suffered was the environment. That singr event had wiped out the trees around him. The ground turned ck and became ash. Noah stood on a rapidly burning surface, but not for too long.

    He shot towards the Avatar which now had its armor in full shape. The cloud stopped pouring energy when it saw that Noah remained unhurt.

    It had utilized more than half its full capacity at that point. As soon as its reserves finished, the tribtion would be over.

    A brawl unfolded in the world at that point. Powerful bangs erupted in the regions. Each of them being on par with explosions.

    The sky never stopped releasing lightning bolts during those few seconds, and Noah never stopped throwing punches. He only resumed utilizing his affinities when he felt satisfied with the number of punches he had unleashed.

    A huge pir of ice rose to the sky at some point. Noah figured he would have ended the avatar long ago were it not for the cloud constantly replenishing its power. It had gotten a bit annoying.

    He had experienced his fill of that tribtion he figured it was time to end it.

    Once again allowing his mental waves to fill thends and sky, the world trembled when it saw that another cloud form above its own.

    The silver and shining cloud remained far smaller in sizepared to the Cregar''s cloud. But speed essence had created it. Its mere weight caused cracks to open in Cregar''s cloud.

    Noah took note of some arriving presence and felt forced to bring that tribtion to a close finally. He raised his hand while standing on the chest of the avatar. He had destroyed its lower half. The energy absorbed.

    Clenching his right hand into a fist he triggered the discharge.

    A blinding silver light flooded the sky as the small silver cloudpletely emptied its reserves to unleash a bolt of terrifying size and might.

    Noah remained unarmed, but the world around him disappeared when the huge mass fell on it. Cregar''s cloud directly disappeared and the avatar below him saw cracks opening on its figure until it shattered, revealing the shining blue orb within it.

    Noah took hold of the orb, crushed it, and felt his skin pull the energy into it. He barely felt any improvement from absorbing that energy, but something happened.

    [You have killed Cregar''s avatar LVL 200]

    [You have gained exp]

 Chapter 482 482. I MERELY JUST RETURNED

    Unlike his time within the third tier, now that he had advanced and the rules had changed, Noah had received a minimized notification of receiving exp whenever he absorbed energy from his environment.

    He had no idea how much of it he had received, but simply knowing that he could absorb mana-based creations to strengthen himself was a lot.

    A huge mass of smoke rose to the sky after the lightning bolt ran out of power, but Noah cleared it. His figure was out in the open at that point, and he brought out an attire from his inventory to wear.

    He had visitors.

    Ignoring the sheer carnage around him, Noah stepped on a tform of condensed air to float upwards.

    Although he could absorb mana-based materials, the reality remained that he wasn''t mana-based anymore. So unlike the experts of Cregar, he couldn''tmand that energy to make him float.

    For now, he would settle for constructs. His mind was capable of making the air around him one massive tform after all. His capabilities had been greatly enhanced.

    Donning himself in a luxurious-looking purple attire, Noah swept his gaze on his surroundings and caught sight of four figures. All humans.

    They neared his figure with caution. He could quite literally smell their fear.

    Noah felt different. Now that the bracelet had crumbed and there remained nothing stopping his real identity from reaching the world, they trembled at the monstrous being before them. He didn''t feel like he belonged to them.

    All of the experts were men, unsurprisingly. But Noah had not the patience to amodate them. His Death lord title was finally reaching its peak. It would take him a while to control it.

    His silver eyes grew colder. Thanks to his advancement, his mind had stopped featuring the two portions and was now back to normal. But now that the title''s passive ability came to y. The silver pir sitting at the very center of his huge ind lost a few of its functions.

    Noah became extremely cold and calctive. His emotions were leaving him after all, and it wasn''t something he could stop. Even if he wished he could.

    With that event came a dark miasma. The stench of death''s ability made itself known. The tier 4 experts drew back at that event. His presence had transformed right before their eyes and it sent a chill down their spines.

    "What do you want?" Noah''s silver eyes gazed at those experts with nkness. His gaze felt condescending, but that wasn''t so. He had forgotten how to feel disdain.

    Or rather than forget, he had be incapable of doing so. Ersha''s memories contained many scenes where she gazed at individuals, not even humans with disdain, so he technically couldn''t forget it.

    No one responded when he spoke. They all regretteding there. Noah not only felt like he could kill them. But he gave the aura that he could do so fairly easily.

    They had watched him battle that unusually strong avatar. It had a prowess halfway into the lower stage of the fourth tier. All of them only had power a bit above that level. Yet. they figured they would struggle in such a fight. But he had wiped it out with one major attack.

    How could a newly advanced feel so strong? They each thought. They had seen the shes of light and the aura of Cregar''s avatar and thought it a thing of joy to wee a newly advanced. The present situation of the country would need such an existence.

    Things were different now however, they all thought they could die there.

    Noah''s silver gaze remained unyielding, but something else caught his attention and the attention of the others.

    His instincts buzzed with danger. Something wasing and it could hurt him, but he wasn''t scared. Hecked the ability to after all. Yet he moved.

    Noah turned into a silver streak that left that area. As soon as he did so a burst of blue mes filled the sky.<novelnext></novelnext>

    All four of the experts found themselves getting seriously injured by the power of the mes. But to their shock, Noah had disappeared. His movement had shattered the sound barrier and caused a burst of power, but the mes nullified it.

    Stopping many kilometers away. Noah wondered what had be of the four cultivators. One had ended up dying in the mes.

    "Reveal yourself," He announced gazing at a certain area far away from him. His instincts had reached a new level of uracy after bing a Dark Speedling.

    His words met no response, but a strange aura filled the world around him. A green light filled the entirety of his surrounding. And a figure became evident quite literally out of thin air.

    The event brought forth no reaction from Noah.

    ''Teleportation?'' He wondered inwardly but soon concluded on it.

    The ck-veiled figure bowed before his presence. A woman.

    "I have been sent to enquire about your identity," A feminine voice reached Noah''s mind. She interacted with his mental waves. They felt sturdier than ever.

    "I am Noah," he responded. "Why have you attacked me?"

    Thedy remained silent as tens of green magical circles expanded around her.

    "He calls himself Noah," thedy said while amid the circles.

    "He has the same aura as the individual you said we should watch out for about three decades ago, It''s far stronger, even." Her words instantly allowed Noah to conclude on the amount of time he had been within the chamber of time.

    "Who are you speaking with," Noah stepped forward, already ready to act if necessary. Thedy''s aura grew violent at that action. He remained silent.

    "I understand," thedy said before the circles dispersed. Her gaze fell on Noah''s figure and he felt hostility.

    "Are you the one called the heir of the god of Speed?" Thedy asked as blue mes sprung up around her.

    Noah nodded, he saw no reason to lie. She seemed convinced that he was the one after all.

    His nod made her aura explode forth with power.

    "The being whose presence remains a stain in Cregar. You will bring about her destruction. I will be the one to rid this world of you!" Her aura, grew revealing her Middle stage prowess.

    "I merely just returned and I''m already being sought out to be killed." Noah sighed; a few of his evolved and new skills came to mind.

    "No worries, after this, you''ll tell me who you are," His figure exploded with a silver light. His essence reserves were still near their peak, and he wasn''t tired one bit.

    Noah turned into a silver streak even if he knew his base form could struggle against her. Their battle remained spectacr.

 Chapter 483 483. COCKY ATTITUDE

    A blinding silver light filled the skies of the still-unknown region Noah had arrived in. The event was closely followed by the roaring of crackling.

    Noah''s attack hit something, but a wave of green mes sprung up at that point. Both energies fought for dominance. One was birthed from a far higher level of energy, while the other was only higher in the fourth tier.

    To thedy''s stupefaction, Noah''s sparks won.

    Being forced to abandon her position she shattered the sound barrier as she flew out of the region. However, as she had found out the hard way, her opponent remained far quicker than her.

    Noah sprinted forward as a path made directly out of silvery-blue ice appeared before him to allow his movement.

    He arrived beside his opponent and delivered a kick to her waist. She disappeared from his point of view, but he could still follow that motion.

    A cloud of dust rose to the sky signifying her crash point.

    Noah refused to move forward, however. He swept his gaze on the environment and took note of the many craters and burnt regions.

    Their less than 2 minutes battle hadid waste to a vast area ofnd. He liked the evidence of the power he was capable of. But she was strong too.

    Somehow she had always managed to remain in one piece. He suspected she had an item that greatly boosted her defensive capabilities.

    Shaking his head when he felt her aura reach him, Noah activated one of the skills he had utilized the most during their battle.

    A huge silvery-blue magical triangle unfolded behind Noah''s valiant figure and several magical circles expanded in front of the magical triangle.

    "Barrage of Icicle beams," Noah muttered, triggering the activation of his spell.

    Huge beams of silvery-blue particles numbering fifty in number burst forward, creating an arc in the sky as they reached the position of their caster''s opponent.

    The results of the beams were terrible. Noah directly transformed an area of more than a 15-kilometer radius into an icy spectacle, but just like the past attacks; that wasn''t all.

    A silver magical circle unfolded high above the said area.

    "Lightning bolt," Noah muttered again, and a sh of silver light filled the region when the magical circle discharged its energy.

    The frozen area instantly turned into ash as the destruction spread even beyond that ce.

    Noah remained in his position still. He knew his opponent continued to breathe.

    And as if hearing his thoughts, a magical circle unfolded right below him, and a pir of vibrant green mes erupted out of it. Noah had long since left his position by then. His eyes pierced the great smoke that rose to the sky and he found his opponent.

    For the first time, she now featured injuries. They weren''t enough to kill her but were enough to make him push on.

    His figure arrived before the still-veileddy. Somehow the material of that cover could withstand his power.

    His fist threw a punch directly at her face sending her high into the sky. He remained quicker even at that.

    Noah arrived in the sky before she could, and delivered a kick to her back, sending her toward the ground again.

    His feet smashed into the terrain for he once again arrived on the ground before her rapidly moving figure could. And with all the force his human form could muster Noah delivered a blow to her stomach making her travel several times faster than the speed of sound.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Wiping the blood that she had spurted, he fell into a bit of thought.

    Waiting for her aura to reach him he furrowed his brows when she didn''t re up as usual.

    ''Has she given up,'' he wondered, vanishing from that area, his departure spread chaos in the area, but hecked any concern for his surroundings.

    "How are you not hurt after all this," Thedy remained on her knees. She knelt in the crater her arrival had opened. It was huge.

    Noah remained silent. But only for a while. He could see she was in pain.

    "I''m faster than your attacks," he responded crouching before her figure. She had a certain scent to her, he had never perceived it before.

    "And why would a newly advance be this strong," She asked raising her head to stare at his divine features. Noah remained the most stunning man she had everid eyes on.

    "Hmm... I''m just that special, I guess," Noah replied, crouching to lean closer. He stared at where he believed her eyes would be and she shivered.

    "Get off me bastard. I''ll kill you," She roared through her teeth as her aura red. Merely an instantter, green mes unfolded violently into the area, and the already destroyed environment further fell under hot chaos.

    "You''re in a losing battle," Noah''s calm voice fell from the sky as he watched thedy slowly float out of her raging mes.

    She remained silent as a weapon finally appeared in her hand. A shining red spear.

    "It enhances my mes even further. Get ready to witness the fullness of my power," She announced.

    "Why are you telling me that," Noah questioned following her movement as she reached his height.

    "I would like you to know what killed you. I have that much mercy upon my opponent," she stated entering a stance.

    Noah shook his head. "Your cocky attitude will be your downfall," he announced already having ns in mind. He failed to underestimate her.

    "I could say the same for you," she responded.

    "After all this, I''ll take your memories and learn of the truth of those that n to kill me. I''ve been under a lot of pressure because of them," he exined.

    "Honestly, I''m quite disappointed that this is all," Noah taunted, even if he had to lie about his feelings. He felt nothing but the will to do just as he said.

    His words hit its target, and his opponent waved her weapon at his figure.

    Noah remained in position, however, and a huge sh made out of green and red mesnded on his chest.

    The attack flung him towards the ground and the event caused a huge crater to form.

    "Now that''s what I''m talking about!" His voice unfolded in the world as hisck of reaction stunned his opponent.

    Noah spat a mouthful of silver blood. The attack had contained Soul energy. The only thing that could hurt his unique body.

 Chapter 484 484. EYE OF THE DEATH LORD

    Thanks to the memories he gained from inheriting Ersha''s blood, Noah realized the unique nature of the bodies of Speedlings.

    Due to their unique disposition. Speedlings were naturally incapable of being hurt with mere physical attacks.

    Their bodies were made from a special essence. Although there were variations and certain exceptions. For Noah who now held the title of an original Speedling that rule applied more to him.

    Unless other things were at y, Noah would be immune to physical attacks.

    Elemental attacks were capable of hurting him since they originated from the soul realm. But elemental attacks or physical attacks became even more potent when Soul energy was infused.

    Upon arrival into the fourth tier. A new type of energy became avable to humans. Soul energy.

    A small but highly potent energy source that could be infused into both physical or elemental attacks.

    Cultivators began the journey of increasing the potency and quantity of their Soul energy while also doing the same for their mana.

    Soul energy was the higher manifestation of a person''s will and experience. And due to this, it was in short created out of the very personality of the individual making it more powerful.

    Hence the more of themselves an individual became, the more potent their soul energy became and the more power their full existence obtained.

    Noah felt nigh numb to pain, and the truth wasn''t far from that, his resistance had skyrocketed after bing a Speedling.

    Therge gash that had opened on his chest closed quickly, however. It drained a significant portion of his core''s content but the terrain around him shattered to reach his figure.

    Unfortunately, it took a veryrge portion of mana to eventually reach the requirement set by the Speed force.

    Technically all that mana needed was to reach a certain level of purity to be able to carry out basic functions in his body. But Speed essence was unmatched.

    "What is that grin," Thedy sounded alert when sheid eye on Noah''s smile. It was cold and distant.

    "Why didn''t you dodge?" She asked eyeing his already healed chest. Noah remained unresponsive. He simply began to float.

    "You''re a freak. I have no words to ssify what you are," she tried to target his emotions. How unlucky she was to arrive at such a time.

    "That''s a pitiful try at taunting me, human," Noah''s cold smile grew as his aura silently surged.

    "You say I''m a freak when you''re the one hiding her face," His smile grew wider even if he felt no real emotions surging in his mind. Only coldness.

    His words were sharp, he saw that her figure trembled after he voiced them, but she remained calm. Noah had started to be dangerous on the spot.

    "From your words, heir of the god of speed I believe you''re not human," she tried to lead the topic in a direction she wanted. Noah wouldn''t let her, unfortunately.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How would a lower existence such as you even know of that title? You make me want to know what''s in that head of yours," Noah crouched in the air, while his aura surged.

    "Let''s kill each other already," he fell silent after those words. Noah sprinted forward at that point. His movement generated a silver streak far quicker than thedy could follow and the shattering of the sound barrier couldn''t be any louder.

    He arrived behind her, but she already expected such an event so she waved her spear toward his position.

    "I''d like to see how strong you truly are," Noah''s voice sent chills down her spine as her survival instincts kicked in.

    Her spear fell on his figure. Or so she thought it did.

    To her boundless shock, she found her weapon in his grip. But he had changed now, he had a battle armor on. A silver and ck armor existed on his figure and it allowed him to withstand her red and green mes.

    "You''re not the only one with utility items. Muilix here is the best," Noahmented raising his left arm.

    Cudgel mmed into his grip and he noticed the cosmetic changes his weapon had undergone.

    Cudgel still featured gold and ck as its basic color, but silver portions now existed. Its base size remained unchanged but it now radiated the level of an item within the fourth tier.

    The appearance of his two soul bonds boosted Noah''s prowess, but for the first time in the battle, and ever; he utilized the innate skill that came with the Death lord title.

    [Eye of the Death Lord[Active]: An ability only those with the grand Title of Death Lords can possess. When activated your eyes gain the ability to see the re of Death, which measures; urately, the chances a person has to die in a battle with you, the bigger the re seen the smaller the chances, the smaller the re the higher the chances. This ability also lets you see if a person has the same title as a Death lord]

    [Cost: 10% of reserves every five seconds. 10% of overall stamina every second]

    [Duration: N/A, Cool-down: N/A]

    "Eye of the Death Lord," He muttered as time moved sluggishly to his perception.

    His silver eyes suddenly saw ck runes appearing on their delicate structure. The world lost its color and everything turned gray. Noah felt a significant portion of his reserve diminish at the activation, but he focused on what he wanted to see.

    Understanding on how the skill worked, flowed into his powerful mind.

    A ck miasma suddenly appeared to originate out of thedy before him. It was rtively big, and the trantion of that size became innate, he knew just exactly how big of a chance he had. In short, he would require a bit of work.

    ''She''s strong enough to be considered 30% difficulty,'' Noah thought to himself. Before immediately deactivating the skill.

    The world regained its color and luster, and he didn''t hesitate to m Cudgel in her face. He sent her shattering the sound barrier while he allowed Cudgel to disappear and his two daggers to appear in his grip.

    The events that followed were aplete demolition. Noah unveiled his terrifying power and prowess in an unforgiving method.

 Chapter 485 485. EMOTIONALLY DEAD

    Noah took light steps in an environment that spoke of extreme damage. ck smoke filled his surroundings, but he remained capable of seeing the areas before him.

    His silver gaze remained on a figureying half dead within a huge burning crater. The figure had its upper body intact. Noah had been brutal in his doings.

    He had somehow fallen into the love of simply cutting people or beasts in half. His method was simple but gory. Still, hecked any concern for his opponent''s pain.

    Arriving before the veileddy, Noah flicked his daggers and shes madepletely out of blue-orange mes and purple mist flew out to m into a certain huge figure approaching that position.

    "A mere beast shouldn''t be allowed into this battleground," His words were cold. The result of the attack had been the explosion of orange mes. The two shes had been enough to set the huge tusked beast on fire.

    Noah made the energy the beast burnt to converge towards his orange and purple daggers, allowing them to replenish their lost vibrancy.

    "This is the end of your big words, human," He remarked even if he felt nothing. His opponent still had her veil on. He honestly wondered how it could remain after all he had put her through.

    Still, blood stained it. Just like shey in a pool of her crimson blood.

    His gaze felt condescending. In truth, his instincts still saw her as inferior. Incredibly so. Speedlings were still capable of acting even if they had been severed in two like that.

    Nevertheless, Noah had to apud her for her prowess. She had managed to keep in a fight for ten whole minutes. But the results were as followed. He had nearly emptied his reserves. Spells cost a bit now that he had advanced.

    It didn''t bother him one bit though, merely a few minutes cultivating, and he would be back to his peak in that aspect.

    She remained silent. Her life force remained strong enough to keep her alive, and Noah knew were he to leave her for a few days she would return to her peak.

    "I''m willing topromise my earlier words if youply and answer all my questions," Noah announced willing to be diplomatic. He had a n.

    "You''ll never get anything from me," She announced with as much hatred as her voice could drip. Noah remained unfazed, however.

    "I''m capable of getting all I need from you without your consent. Even more, because you''re this weak," He revealed, his valiant figure remaining untouched by the carnage all around him. Noah had remained clean. She had never been able to touch him after the first time he allowed her to.

    He had always been quicker.

    "That''s impossible." Thedy snorted trying to raise her hands.

    Noah saw this, bent before her, and stabbed both her arms into the ground. A blood-curling scream unfolded in the area at that point. Due to her base strength within the middle stage, the smoke in the area immediately cleared. Even many kilometers from their figure.

    The ground shattered and deep cracks unfolded in its structure. Her mere scream would be enough to eradicate towns.

    Noah had remained unfazed, however. His eyes remained cold and emotionless as ever. His body remained spectacr enough to withstand that power. She would need to be at the peak of the middle stage to properly hurt him with ease. And even at that, it''ll only be mere scratches.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Eye of the death lord''s skill transcended the realms of normality. Its ability put all things into consideration. The person''s skill, assets, and experience. It was as though it read the person''s mind and came to a conclusionparing it to the user''s power.

    No wonder it cost so much to utilize. The battle had been just as easy as he expected. Thanks to the skill of course.

    "You''ll be dead in a few minutes with that inside you," Noah started feeling her hatred seeping past her veil.

    "Let''s get that out of the way," he announced stretching his hand forward. He would be unable to do that, however.

    Noah furrowed his brows when he saw his right wrist fall off his arm when he got merely centimeters to the veil.

    He had made Muillix return into his soul, so whatever that had been, had full ess to his skin.

    The event remained spectacr nheless. Pain reached his mind as his wristy inside the pool of red blood. His silver blood mixed with it and Noah watched everything turn silver. Even in that state, his body, or in that case; blood, expressed its superiority.

    Thedy burst into hystericalughter at that event.

    "You shall not unveil the servants of the immortals," her tone revealed desperate mockery. She had lost the fight and knew she would die. Everything he didn''t do right was a chance to mock him.

    Noah ignored her other words and picked up his wrist. cing it on the bleeding stump he watched his healing capabilities kick in and he could flex that limb again.

    That event shut thedy up.

    "So you''re a servant of the immortals? More than one�� I see," He started again and saw that she shivered.

    "They must be powerful to set up something that could cut through me that easily," he admitted focusing on the veil. A few moments had to pass before his eyes uncovered the said thing.

    "Intricate. And beyond my level," Noah admitted again. ''I should be capable of messing with it, however,'' he thought to himself. The expansive memories Ersha had gained in her long life involved many things, one of them being the utilization and creation of inscriptions. Rules and so on.

    "They are definitely beyond you. They are the strongest beings on Cregar after all," thedy spilled more information. Noah soon began to wonder if she was that dumb, or if those revtions were not secrets.

    "Why aren''t they here for you then?" He asked already focusing on the small project at hand. Most of his mind''s capabilities were on it.

    She fell silent at that point. Her instincts informed her that he was up to something, but the pain she felt and her slowly vanishing life force made a grim mood befall her. She knew her fate was set in stone.

    Even her masters wouldn''t help as she had acted on her own ord when she had been ordered to leave the scene immediately. She hadn''t expected a newly advanced to be that strong. She regretted her actions greatly now.

    And even her attempts to hurt him failed miserably. He felt emotionally dead. Salt to her already great wound.

 Chapter 486 486. INVADER

    The rules of inscriptions had long since changed for Noah ever since he started the usage of speed essence. For this reason, he had not been capable of getting or learning anything from the inscription books he had gotten from Sir Jon. He wondered how that man was now.

    Speed essence unlike mana; from what Noah saw in his newly gained memories had a will of its own as a Speedling advanced in the various tiers of power. One thing that seemed to bemon in the universe. Simply different standards.

    Due to the unique nature of the speed forces energy, Noah had toe about inscriptions with a different mindset.

    ''Agree with me,'' he articted inwardly. Speaking to the very energy that existed in his core. Noah had formerly known of this truth, but he had relied on the world''s methods. Inevitably failing him.

    Had he been a normal Speedling, further persuasion or deeper knowledge would have been required. But now that his very existence was recognized as the child of speed, things immediately kicked into action.

    Staring at the many invisible lines upon the veil, Noah could see that the very world backed that event up. Whoever those immortals were, they had a close connection to Cregar. But he could mess it up. After that, he would move on to the main event.

    He had concluded that if no one hade to assist her after that battle, then no one would.

    Setting various rules and making many decisions, Noah created something rtivelyplex enough to affect the powerful array of inscriptions before him.

    Apart from the process of coercion needed and the different methods of applying a person''s will, the rules of the inscription were rtively simrpared to those on Cregar.

    Strands of energy ready to carry out the set will of the creator.

    The inscriptions on the veil and around it were triggered when a body considered foreign by the veiled figure became too close to it.

    Its level being within the fifth tier, it was capable of remaining undamaged even in the barrage of attacks it had faced.

    Noah could only see all those now that he focused.

    Opening his palm, Noah watched raw essence seep out of his skin to float before him. Thedy had fallen silent after his question. It had only been moments after he asked after all. His level of processing had reached stunning levels now.

    The multicolored mass of soul energy floated out of his mind at that point. It remained more efficient to ce his will in that mass.

    The droplet of soul energy merged with the mass of silver essence and it trembled violently. Fortunately, the essence agreed to allow those rules and soon the shaking stopped. The mass was ready to be shaped.

    Noah did the usual. He stretched the mass into thin lines and began weaving it into a series of linear-based shapes. Squares triangles rectangles. Basic stuff.

    All he required was as many constructs with the meaning he desired. And what of course was his will? He willed those lines to make transparent any surface they touched. His understanding of light helped there.

    For reference to his creation. Noah allowed a certain silver square featuring inner squares to touch the ground below him.

    Triggering its activation he watched the surface tremble like water and the world''s light twisted, bent, and intensified, piercing the surface to reveal the things below.

    Its effect could only go as far as 50m deep, but it was enough.

    It looked like Noah stood on ss even if the properties of the earth remained. Only the inscriptions generated that event.<novelnext></novelnext>

    When the inscription ran out of energy things would return to normal.

    It felt too easy. But only thanks to Ersha''s deep understanding and memories could he achieve that. Normally a few decades would have to pass before he came to that level of efficiency.

    The event startled thedy, but Noah went ahead and ced the twenty shapes on her face. Some of them directly dispersed due to the veil''s nature. But all that was required was a second. And that time came.

    Only five of his constructs were capable ofnding on the veil, and a beam of light instantly erupted out of thedy''s face.

    The inscription on her veil repelled the pration of light which allowed transparency, while Noah''s inscriptions were made to intensify that event.

    Noah nodded at that event. He wished he could study the inscriptions that made the veil, but even his mental waves crumbled when they got too close. He could only work with a hunch.

    Thedy screamed as the event instantly blinded her. Fortunately, her inscriptions quicklybated Noah''s, and things returned to normal a few momentster.

    Noah remained unfazed, however. Although only a few seconds had been required to achieve that event he was ready to leave that area and understand the world. It had been decades since he left after all.

    She voiced curses at him, but he could only shake his head and ce his hand on her chest.

    The veil stopped any sort of uncovering, but it didn''t protect her mind. Being a Dark Speedling had allowed a weird ability, one that Ersha had utilized many times in her life.

    The ability to infiltrate a person''s mind and steal memories by devouring their soul core.

    A technique that could quite well lead to his death. The only requirement was that the person about to be infiltrated remained weaker than him. The technique resembled the one that had been used to check his memories at the gate of the dragon w city. Only this one worked by devouring the person''s mind as a whole.

    His situation didn''t exactly meet that requirement, but he understood that he could reach a significant portion before he suffered any damages. He could lose memories of what he was about to do, but he did it anyway.

    Noah''s eyes zed with shining intensity as speed essence moved to further empower his mind, Noah made his mental waves seep into her body carried by the silver energy of essence.

    Her anatomy unfolded in his mind, but he went forward for the shining blue light towards her head.

    The instant he reached it, the ability was activated and Noah felt his focus twist and turn.

    Her soul realm attacked him. A mental battle unfolded at that point. But Noah''s consciousness featured just the right amount of help to get him through.

    A wide ind unfolded in his consciousness at that point. Thedy went limp as the whole of her focus went to destroying the invader.

    Silver blood flowed out of Noah''s nose and eyes at that point. He would need rest after that. She was stronger than he thought.

    His violent mental waves reached her blue spherical core and as soon as they came in contact with it a huge chunk vanished. Eaten up by him.

    Thedy let out a thunderous scream of unimaginable agony before going eerily silent. She died instantly.

 Chapter 487 487. VOICE

    Recoiling in pain, Noah sat on the ground while thedy''s lifeless body remained on the ground.

    Her name had been Kir. She hade from a poor background but hade to power after working hard for a long period.

    Her power always possessed better quality than many of her peers. This had brought along with it, an uncontrolled pride.

    Many times she found herself in unfavorable situations due to it, and some had even tried their best to advise her, but when she achieved the fourth tier, it skyrocketed. Being a personal journey her pride had intensified, but she wasn''t stupid.

    ording to her memories, Noah saw that she had never taken anyone far stronger than her.

    She had simply been unlucky encountering him.

    Unfortunately, Noah found, many areas of her memories nk. Like dark. Still, the word immortal remained frequently used after a certain portion of her life.

    "Nothing," Noah sighed closing his eyes. He should have known something like that was possible.

    Who were the immortals? he wondered. They had given him a lot of trouble. Made him take certain decisions he wouldn''t have had they note to y. He wanted to eradicate them.

    Getting up, he felt it would take him a few days to heal the injury to his soul realm. More quality meant damage took a long time to properly heal. Fortunately, he could still do things, only experiencing pain when he exerted himself too much.

    Folding his mental waves, Noah tapped his foot on the ground and ice instantly barreled out in all directions. That event inevitably cooled the environment. The only thing Noah had done to benefit the world around him.

    Even at that, many months would have to pass before those damages could be properly repaired. Those were the capabilities of fourth-tier entities.

    Stepping on a dense tform of air, Noah made Kir''s body and his daggers disappear after her green mana core had shot towards him of course. The system''s functions were still in y. Even the tusked beast''s mana core hade to him a few seconds prior.

    "Where am I," he muttered gaining an idea. Noah sat down on the tform of wind, while he generated a whirlwind. He sat within this whirlwind as he traveled across thends.

    Before he adequately interacted with anyone, he figured he should check out the thing he had gained after bing a tier 4 existence.

    He opened his status panel and gazed at the vast changes in its stats.

    [Name: Noah]

    [Race: Hybrid Human-Speedling[Bloodline: Dark Speedling]]

    [ss: Heir of the god of speed(Divine)]

    [Titles: Monster killer. Death Lord. Ninth born. Child of speed]

    [Level: 206/450] [Tier: 4[lower]]

    [Speed essence rank: 4]

    [Speed force: Silver]

    [Affinities: Lightning, Air, Ice, Speed, Light]

    >>Vessels of Power<<

    [Body>ss stage<]

    [HP: 10,000,000/10,000,000]

    [Strength: 9,000,000 (+2,250,000)]

    [Stamina: 3,000,000 (+750,000)]

    [Defense: 4,000,000 (+1,000,000)]

    [Vitality: Dark Speedling[4th tier]]

    [Mach: 200 [Massively Hypersonic]]

    [Soul core]

    [Soul Energy: 450,000/500,000]

    [Intelligence: 8,000,000(+2,000,000)]

    [Dexterity: 1,500,000(+375,000)]

    [Essence core>Lower Grade<]

    [Speed Essence: 1,248,986/20,000,000]

    [Undistributed stat points: 661,020]

    >Skills<

    >Lightning Affinity<

    [Expert Lightning Elemental mastery(Tier4)]

    [Lightning domain[Active]

    [Lightning bolt[Active]

    [Lightning kes[Active]

    [Lightning chains[Active]

    [Crackling Storm[Active]

    [Crackling duplicates[Active]

    [Descent of the crackling mountain[Active]

    [Crackling beasts[Active]

    [Thunderp orb[Active]

    >Air Affinity<

    [Expert Wind Elemental mastery(Tier 4)

    [Wind Domain[Active]

    [Sky Spears[Active]

    [Gale devil[Active]

    [Zero air[Active]

    [Upliftment[Active]

    [Wind serpent[Active]

    [Sylphs breath[Active]

    [Slicing gales[Active]

    >Ice Affinity<<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Expert Ice elemental mastery(Tier 4)

    [Frozen prison(Tier 4)[Active]

    [Elder frost Golem[Active]

    [Frozen touch[Active]

    [Barrage of Icicle beam[Active]

    [Frozen Movement[Active]

    [Fallen snow[Active]

    [Blizzard[Active]

    [Arctic palm[Active]

    >Light Affinity<

    [Expert light elemental mastery(Tier 4)]

    [Radiant judgment[Active]

    [Holy anger[Active]

    [Starlight[Active]

    [Arrows of Holy judgment[Active]

    [Holy Blessing[Active]

    [Invisibility[Active]

    >Elemental<

    [Elemental aura[Passive]

    [Elemental Embodiment[Active]

    [Elemental armament[Active]

    [Elemental avatar[Active]

    >Speed force<

    [Clones [Active]

    [Avatar of speed[Active]

    [Overdrive[Active]

    >Unique<

    [Unique Berserker(Active)[Tier 3]]

    [Poisonous spheres[Active]]

    [Three musketeers[Active]

    [MARTIAL ART: THE MONKEY KING]

    [GRADE: HEAVEN]

    [MASTERY:28.00]

    [MOVE(S): RUSHING ROD: Execution percentage: 100/100

    [DANCING MONKEY: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [SIDE STEP: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [A THOUSAND PUNCHES: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [MOUNTAIN STOMP: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [WAVE: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [SIX ARMS OF ASURA: Execution percentage:100/100]

    [Soul bounds]: Cudgel, Muliix]

    [Inventory:((Tap to disy items))]

    There were added skills and changed ones. His speed force affinity however didn''t feature any sort of spells. And Noah understood why. Unlike his elements, Speed wasn''t elemental. It was a concept.

    Were he not a Speedling with all his gained memories, that would have greatly confused him. But he understood. Even better, there were abilities not recorded by the system.

    Like the fact that he could take another form. He considered it an innate ability. Like talking or blinking. So not seeing them there didn''t surprise him. Not like he could currently feel surprised anyway. He had also gained one level after killing Kir.

    Noah moved on from his stats to the other prompts.

    "You have gained ess to the inventory of beasts. You will now be given the chance to choose a beast as your pet."

    Noah blinked twice when that event urred. He furrowed his brows wondering why a voice had sounded in his head.

    "I am the system," The female voice articted again, and Noah could only rethink a few things.

    "The system?" He asked out loud and a ping sounded in his head.

    "I never expected this," He admitted recovering from the loud sound originating from his very soul. The system existed there after all.

    "I know you didn''t." the feminine voice replied with a real giggle. Things were getting weird, but Noah could take it.

    "It''s taken me a while to properly activate this function. From now on you will hear my voice whenever you receive a notification. I''ll read them out to you," the system or she announced with excitement.

    Noah furrowed his brows even further, but he didn''t object.

    "So all this while you''ve been the one talking to me," Noah asked still processing the obvious truth before him.

    "Yes, but no. The fully conscious part of me had been locked away from you. But that limit has been removed now. The mission is now in full activation all that you need must be avable for you," the system exined, her voice bouncing from different points in Noah''s head. As if it moved about.

    "I see," he muttered having halted the movement of his whirlwind.

    "Are you feminine because I am a male?" Noah asked.

    "No. The god of speed created me like this. But I can mimic a masculine voice if you desire it. A divine item can do far more than that, even," the system exined, and Noah felt his curiosity get piqued.

    "Is that so? Tell me a few things you can do then," Noah asked resuming his travel.

 Chapter 488 488. THUNDERBIRD

    A whirlwind flew across the skies of the Cusk nation. Its pace remaining rtively steady. The passage of the whirlwind sounded like the roaring of the great wind that it was, but it dealt no damage to the environment.

    Noah sat within the whirlwind, his eyes had lost focus, and stared into the nkness of the spinning gray wind around him.

    He looked idle, but a conversation went on in his mind. The system proved incredibly useful as apanion, but after what it told Noah, he knew there was far more to it than he had seen.

    Not only could the system switch voices. It could actually manifest a physical form!

    The only issue was Noah''s body currently stood unable to handle such a process. He would die.

    It informed him that the peak of the fifth or sixth tier would allow that flexibility. For now, the most it could do was be a voice in his head.

    "So what were you saying about a beast? I believe it should be the pet I was promised," Noah pointed out at some point, and the system paused.

    "As a matter of fact. It is," the system''s feminine voice resounded in Noah''s head. There was a voice literally living rent-free in his head. But it was super important. ''I guess it''s not living rent-free then," Noah considered.

    "Rent-free. Who? Me. We''re talking about your pet-to-be, why are you diverting to rent?" The systemmented on his thoughts. Noah already knew his thoughts werepletely essible by the system, but that ease remained quite unexpected.

    "Nothing, don''t worry. Let''s talk about the beast. What am I to do to get it," Noah promptly resumed on the main topic.

    "Absolutely nothing," The system replied, and Noah watched that same screen unfold in front of him.

    "I''ll do all the work. It was an inheritance, and I''m the brain behind it. Just sit back and watch. You might want to disperse that whirlwind, however," It exined as the space around Noah trembled.

    He quickly dispersed the tornado and stood up to watch whatever was supposed to happen, happen.

    A weird sensation spread in his head. He felt dizzy even if he wasn''t. It felt like apletely new experience, and his body reacted in some way.

    A purple linear tear opened in the fabric of space before him. He still wondered how all those were possible.

    The tear grew wider until it turned oval.

    "You''ll have to choose now," the system stated, and Noah nodded.

    Multicolored lights flowed out of the insides of that tear and soon three objects revealed themselves to him.

    Three oval-shaped objects floated out of the event to hover before him. Noah took in their features while the silver screen before him changed its written contents.

    ? [1: Gorgon. 2: Thunderbird. 3: Fairy]

    He would have to choose one of them, but he desired certainty on which one to choose.

    "Can I have their descriptions?'' Noah asked, and the silver screen before him switched.

    [Gorgon: A deadly creature possessing the form of human females. Gorgons are violent unforgiving creatures who have venomous snakes in ce of hair. Their special ability includes turning any living thing that gazed at them, into stone]

    [Thunderbird: A terrifying bird-like beast with power and authority over storms and lightning. The Thunderbird is a great, fierce hunter who in turn possesses great might in its harness. Natural disasters form at its presence]

    [Fairy: A creature born out of pure magic and light. The fairy is capable of magical wonders and is known for its kindness and supportive nature. The fairy is a powerful creature capable of boosting its master magical prowess many folds]

    Noah stared at those short descriptions after the system read them out to him. His mind worked quickly to allow him toe to an equally quick decision.

    All three of the creatures held great abilities. The Gorgon was probably capable of wiping out whole armies by suddenly appearing before them. The damage would be done before anyone could properly.

    The fairy''s ability to increase its master''s magical abilities also made it top tier in battle. But still, both of those creaturespared to the Thunderbird felt like a horrible match-up.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah would stick to what he wanted. A flying beast. But even better. It made him tremble at its description.

    "You could have simply offered me the Thunderbird. You already know what I wanted," Noahmented immediately choosing the Thunderbird.

    "The rule was to allow you to choose. Your priorities could have changed over the years," the system responded as the eggs belonging to the gorgon and the fairy returned into the hole and it closed instantly.

    "We both know I barely did anything during the centuries within the chamber. But it''s all good then," Noah responded already staring at the cerulean, white, and golden egg before him.

    It shone with a soft light of all three colors and the strange runic symbols of golden intensity expressed a peculiar aura. The metallic nature of the egg allowed it to reflect light.

    It looked like a rare object lost in time but had retained its beauty.

    "What do I do now?" Noah asked even if he already had an idea.

    "Make your blood touch it." The system replied without providing a screen.

    Noah nodded at that point. He bit his thumb with as much force as he could, and the event managed to bring forth a drop of blood.

    Noah''s silver life liquid fell on the slowly rotating egg and silver light flooded the world around him.

    The sound of thunder filled the world around him. It sounded like a heartbeat. A literally thunderous one.

    The event contained enough power to push Noah far from the egg and he watched a multicolored illusory figure spring forth from the egg to appear before him.

    It was huge, but more of all, it was both inviting and repelling at the same time.

    The illusory, but intelligent bird tilted its head at Noah''s strange figure.

    It stayed a while before raising its head to spread its pointed beak as wide as it could. Unfortunately, no sound was generated, confusing the beast.

    "You don''t possess a physical body currently," Noah muttered walking forward to ce his hand on the almost tangible illusory beast.

    It took a step back, however. Noah wasn''t. He couldn''t be after all. Only curious.

    "What do I do?'' Noah asked seeing as the beast''s confusion befell it even more. It tried to fly away from Noah, but it couldn''t fly too far away from the rapidly spinning egg before disappearing and returning to the egg''s position.

    The beast looked like it had gone mad.

    Rather than reply to him with direct words, a silver screen appeared before him.

    [An idle soul has been found within your inventory. The soul will now be merged with the bond-to-be]

    A purple stone flew out of Noah''s figure at that event and the bird suddenly found itself unable to move.

    The purple stone that contained Erolia''s soul floated towards the frantic spirit of the beast.

    It touched it and disappeared.

    A ringing sound boomed forth in the world at that point.

    [Process of Bond''s rebirth will begin now]

    [Time till hatching: 20 days, 23hrs. 59 minutes]

 Chapter 489 489. UNDERSTANDING

    "I see," Noah muttered better understanding the decision of the system thanks to Ersha''s memories.

    The presence of a proper human soul would eradicate the need to tame a wild beast. When the beast hatched, it wouldn''t be a wild mindless beast, but Erolia herself.

    He wished she would arrive in a better circumstance, but he would settle for it. Being a tier 4 beast right after being tier 2 would be very confusing. He would need to teach her control or she could well lead to natural disasters every time.

    The beast wouldn''t necessarily increase in power. But since it would be Erolia and not a bird, he saw it as an advantage. If Noah could feel the excitement, he would be choking on it. Unfortunately, he couldn''t. All he felt was focus and emotional emptiness.

    After the gem merged with the spirit, it exploded into particles of harmless light as the egg itself gained a purple hue amongst the three other colors.

    Noah watched the egg transform into a beam of light thatnded on his chest and disappeared. It dived into his soul realm to reach the pir that now existed there.

    His soul energy flowed forward without his consent, and for the first time, Noah had to reconsider. It would seem his new nature had other ns. That was one of the uniqueness of being a dark Speedling.

    His body could literally take decisions without him. But his will would stand were he to enforce it.

    From the look of things, the beast would get stronger since even speed essence flew out of his core to submerge the egg in its volume.

    The egg would undergo its transformation inside one of the best qualities of essence to exist in the whole universe. Its power would grow into levels Noah had no idea about. He could only wait and watch.

    A steady stream of speed essence and his soul energy remained. Thankfully it wasn''t much. Once in a while, there would be a pause to not exert him too much.

    He could only wait to see the result of that rebirth.

    Moving on to the other things was easy thanks to the system. Truth be told Noah still wanted to visit some basic things about him. But barely an hour had passed since he left the chamber of deep time. There was still time to do whatever he wanted.

    "So what next on the list of things given to me?" Noah asked the system. It replied by exining that most of his reward was the flexibility the system now had with him.

    There were different items. Like the fact that he was allowed to choose a new weapon or the fact that the cultivation room could now mimic the chamber of Deep time. Only in a lesser way.

    Most of the benefits for achieving the fourth tier were the systems themselves. His greatest inheritance. It could literally stop him from dying. Grant him impromptu skills and so on.

    Noah resumed his travel in a whirlwind after themotion of the Thunderbird. He then proceeded to spend the next few days stopping to test some of his new skills and even abilities.

    Noah stood in the sky his right hand crackling with erratic blue sparks. His eyes zed with a silver light and his very body emitted light.

    He looked divine in his human form.

    In his left grip was apletely white sword. Noah swung it casually and a huge white sh flew out of it to m into the terrain and cut many meters deep. The attack was simple and effective.

    Noah raised the white construct to stare at it. He waved his hand and the light that had gathered around him dispersed.

    Light acted as a particle and a wave, allowing a proper method of assembling it. He raised his hand again and sparks appeared out of thin air to construct a crackling blue sword that merged with the blue sparks on his hand.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His level of understanding had grown, and the things he could achieve on his own had skyrocketed.

    Gone were the days when he could only form things out of his essence. Now he could directly apply his understanding of his affinities to the world around him to separate molecules and atoms until he found the element he desired.

    All the elements he desired were around him at the same time. The world was filled with them. Now he could ess that realm.

    Noah waved the crackling sword and watched a peal of lightning in the shape of a sh fly forward with terrible power.

    Its collusion with the ground resulted in a spectacr explosion. A huge charred crater quickly became evident. But whitish-blue ice covered the ck surface, cooling the environment.

    Noah didn''t have to move. All he required was to make his consciousness touch that area and make the temperature plunge.

    This was the real might of elemental affinities. Only when individuals reached that realm could they even term themselves mages.

    Nevertheless, there were many evident differences in utilizing the world''s elements and generating his won, directly out of his essence.

    One of those differences would be that the color of the results of making the world''s will bend to him. But the most would be that they didn''t carry his presence.

    Bending the world''s will utilizing his mind essentially meant no ounce of energy left him, only that the more he did it the more stressed his mind was since it carried the full brunt of that event.

    This however meant the true power of the said individual would not be at y. The world still had control over the elements, meaning the limits it set would be at y.

    The results of utilizing the world''s elements were mediocre to Noah so he decided to show that area, true power.

    The roars of packs of beasts rushing out of the region disquieted the forest before him, but he barely had any concern for those wild beasts.

    Noah raised his hand and his aura surged. Essence left him as it took the form he desired. Silver sparks crackled on Noah''s right palm and he let those violent energies morph into a long sword.

    Danger spread in the world at that event. Noah had built the sword fairly easily but dense, but the mere pressure it carried directly buried that of his other performance.

    He waved the sword at the world before him and a blinding silver light flooded the view in front of him.

    The ground shook when the huge sh arrived on it, and even Noah had to ascend higher into the sky to properly watch what happened.

    Chaos unfolded in the world as an area of more than 20km radius found its trees and rivers suffering the power in that crackling sh.

    The beasts that had tried to escape, died. Many prompts stating he had received exp appeared in front of him, but Noah dismissed the silver screen. The system''s words continued to fill his mind, however.

    The sheermotion was great, but it only served to tell how much power he possessed. Noah knew he couldunch hundreds of simrly powerful shes. He could genuinely wipe out cities. Still, he remained uncertain whether all lower stage tier 4''s were that strong, or simply him.

    He concluded on simply him. He believed one would need to be in the middle stage or higher to achieve that level of potency.

 Chapter 490 490. WAR

    It would seem that area featured many weaker magical beasts since a big stream of different colored cores flew towards him. They numbered a bit more than 100. He could only wonder why thest time hadn''t been like that.

    Still, he recalled the presence of tier 4 beasts. Maybe they had sent them away.

    He stored the essentially useless cores and flew away from that area after letting silver ice spread on the field of destruction.

    Over the course of his nine days of travel, Noah had advanced rtively slowly, but he hade dangerously close to settlements, so much so that he could already sense one. But things were different.

    Multiple tier 4 cultivators were resent in the settlement and it wasn''t even thatrge.

    "Shall I teleport to the guild," he wondered, descending into the forest. He wasn''t looking for trouble even if he knew how could handle it.

    Still, he needed to know the current situation of things. Memories of the emissary of the guild council being wiped out returned to his mind.

    Descendants of a royal house had been caught in the crossfire. He knew that the event would have garnered great issues in the nation. He only didn''t know to what extent.

    Noah toned down the expression of his power. But the fact remained that he wasn''t human. And even magical beasts could sense it. Including humans.

    He started to walk toward the city at that point, while considerations upon considerations appeared in his mind.

    He could return to the guild but that would put him under the oath again. Speaking of which, even if he had basically died many times his human form still carried faint traces of the oath.

    Noah could feel his body getting rid of it, however. He estimated a few years and the oath would be gone from him. Destroyed. He liked the guild though. He still had a few individuals he considered important.

    Before he returned there after a bit more than 3 decades, he figured he would understand the situation of things before leaving for the guild.

    In short, he wanted to test the humans there, but he didn''t want his face seen, even if only him would have such a unique aura.

    A mask appeared in his palm and he ced it on his face.

    The faceless demon mask was an item in the third tier so it couldn''t merge with his face, but all Noah needed was to cover his face with something.

    Unfortunately, it turned to dust a few seconds after it came in contact with his face. Noah had to settle for Muliix''s silver and ck helmet.

    His defensive item had increased in terms of cosmetic beauty and a few other abilities had been unlocked.

    He had learned after checking things out that Muliix could now camouge itself as other attires. An illusion. But normal clothes still felt better to Noah. Still, he knew he would need to let go offort for usefullness.

    Which Muliix''s helmet visible to the world, Noah rose himself up with a tform of air and shattered the sound barrier to almost immediately arrive before the settlement''s gate. A small city.

    His arrival brought forth the rushing of violent winds and dust. The days when his movement couldn''t hurt the environment were over.

    Stopping right in front of the big blue gate he stayed still. Themotion of his arrival had entered the city and his presence scared away the tier 3 cultivators.

    Noah didn''t have to wait long until two streaks flew across the sky to arrive in front of him. Their movement had been slow to Noah.

    A man and a woman. Both individuals within the lower stage. But the female felt ready to undergo a breakthrough into the middle stage, while the man remained a bit far from that point.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah''s silence was deafening, especially with the dark and heavy aura that surrounded him as a result of his Death Lord skill.

    Both individuals gazed at the strange helmet the man before them, had on. The silver light that came out of its eye sockets felt piercing.

    "What is the situation of the nation?" Noah''s voice reverberated through the world before him. He didn''t even apply his power to it, but the world around him still shook.

    Thedy nced at the man and he nodded.

    "Who are you? I''ve not seen a person like you... If you are one," Thedy summed up her courage to speak. Deep down she shook. Her instincts trembled greatly. She had only arrived there for less than a minute but wanted to leave already.

    "I am Noah," Answered the figure, but that barely gave the two experts any satisfaction.

    "What is the situation of Cusk?" Noah asked again. He could smell the fear from his audience. The fear of the many lower-powered cultivators behind the wall. The fear of the beasts rtively close by.

    His nose felt heavy from the different scents he now associated with fear. It was a perk of being a speedling. He understood the reason and made known his intention.

    "I have no reason to fight you and I have note to do that," Noah stated remaining eerily still. Merely hisck of movement disturbed the experts.

    Both experts exchanged nces at that point. The man, if they could even call him a man had said he desired no conflict. Could they trust him, they wondered. The answer was no.

    They would not have lived that long had they trusted the words of people or things so easily.

    Nevertheless, his words brought about a mild breeze of ease.

    "Sir Noah, I am Helena. The second in charge of this city. We have been ordered to allow no suspicious individuals into this city. I''ll have to ask you to leave," she bowed mid-air noticing his inability to float.

    "I never intended to enter. All I need to know is the situation of the nation. Are things good in the world," Noah cleared out.

    "I recently returned after a long seclusion into the fourth tier," he exined seeing that they still felt on edge.

    His words brought forth astonishment.

    "You''re newly advanced," Helena blurted out,

    Noah nodded calmly and he watched both figure float backward in apprehension. He officially was more dangerous.

    "Will I get an answer from you?" He asked already ready to leave. He would go to the guild at that point.

    The duo frowned at that juncture, He didn''t seem ready to do anything bad, they technically had no reason to deny him.

    "You''ll have to have been gone for over thirty years to not know anything," Helena started.

    "Yes," Noah replied. She shook her head.

    "In that case, there''s a war currently urring in the Cusk nation, and it all started due to the deaths of certain highly important individuals."

 Chapter 491 491. BATTLES

    "War... I see," Noah muttered before pausing to allow Helena continue.

    "Yes. The great guilds and certain houses of the royal family haveunched attacks on some big noble families. At least the ones that they suspected were the causes of the mass killing."

    "The rumors about war had grown at that point. And truly one started. A majority of therge noble families in the Cusk nation were found to have defected to an underground order desiring the destruction of this nation."

    "Due to this, tier five battles have raged on. Ten battles in the fifth tier have urred in only this nation. Hundreds of thousands have died. A huge portion of the royal armies'' lower forces have been wiped out and the guilds continue to struggle to maintain order now that their members have been summoned by the royal family," Helena exined.

    "We are actually members of different guilds deployed," she mentioned taking a break from the narration.

    Noah nodded at her words but made no real movement. She had told him almost all that he needed to know. And he had concluded. The events that had led to the wiping out of the royal council''s emissary grew into somethingrger.

    Confusion had been the first event that put the Cusk nation in trouble, but the second one was genuine treason.

    "Let me guess. The central city has remained untouched by this whole thing," Noah voiced his thoughts as calmly as he could.

    Thedy nodded grimly in response.

    "The battles have never reached the central city. The forces of the elves and the defectors know only trouble awaits them in the royal city. And for this reason, masses of people have journeyed towards its outskirts."

    "The economy was already failing, but if further plunged. Food is barely avable for the lower forces, the elves have surrounded and taken control of huge areas at different points in our nation. Farther outside you go, the more dangerous it bes." She sighed.

    "Elves are involved." He spoke falling into curiosity.

    "Yes. They are the main perpetrators. But they better have chances of eradicating settlement with the help of the insiders. The defectors."

    "What are the royals doing about it apart from sending troops outside the city and calling upon the numbers of the guild? I know they have taken arge portion of the map under their control, but if tier fives are involved then the situation should have gotten better," Noah exined.

    "The royals are doing nothing apart from supporting areas with manpower. But many of us still die. The enemy is a different race. Their rules are the same. We find ourselves quite underpoweredpared to them even if we are technically n the same level," her tone had fallen soft and somber.

    "In short, the average power isn''t effective anymore," Noah stated, they both nodded.

    "Those of us with lower powers have been told to guard inner areas like this one. While the stronger ones are on the outskirts of the nation. The real ones keeping things together.

    "You mentioned this before, but where exactly are we?" Noah asked.

    "North of here; the next settlement would be the Barculous region," She pointed in the said direction, and Noah understood just how close to the center they were.

    "We''re deep into the Cusk nation," He stated falling into realization. For this reason, he arrived at another conclusion. The battles he had fought were that close to settlement. Attention would have been gained.

    "Thank you, Helena," Noah bowed. He still had myriads of questions about the ordeal, but he understood why those areas had been free of fighting or raids.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You''re weed," Helena nodded a bit embarrassed. He had been nice to talk to. They hardly had any visitorse by, and even if they did they never let them in due to the royal decree. Anyone could be in the order.

    Helena thought about how bad the situation had been in thest 30 years. She hadn''t beenpletely clear with Noah.

    She had left out the side the fact that the royal council had held a political meeting with the heads of the order and an announcement stating the rules was made.

    Apparently, the elves had just as many tier 5 individuals as the nation did, making hardcore battles almost pointless as they would only lead to more destruction.

    Due to this, the elves had been allowed to further their agenda.

    A century was all that would be given to the elves, if they had not managed topletely take under control half of the Cusk nation''snd area then they would leave. But if they did. Then three different battles would ur.

    Battles between the fifth-tier experts. Battles between the fourth-tier experts and finally one big battle between the third-tier cultivators.

    They hade to that agreement and surprisingly the elves had been eager to ept. The decision had worried those of the lower chains of authority. It was public knowledge that the elves had something in mind.

    Only about 70 years were remaining, and the rate at which they conquered areas seemed like the eventual oue would be a great battle. Probably one of the more spectacr ones in the nation''s history.

    Noah would find out that truth, so she didn''t feel guilty for not telling him.

    ''I will be taking my leave now," Noah announced after his appreciation. He moved backward for the first time in the minutes they had spoken.

    The event startled the duo since Noah continued to feel incredibly dangerous.

    "O... Okay," Helena stammered a bit, exchanging nces with her partner. She had been called from the Iron mountain guild and he had been called from the Hushing wind guild. But they had been together for the past decade, allowing their closeness exist above the average point.

    The head of the three had been summoned by his guild, he would be back in a few days.

    Noah nodded at her reply bowed again and shot out of the area. His departure caused the wind flow to grow violent, but he didn''t care. His figure streaked across the sky, but his body vanished in a white light soon after.

    He opened his eyes in the white environment of his cultivation room but vanished an instantter teleporting to a location he had frequently utilized.

    Noah opened his eyes to the sky of the ce that featured the floating city of the Divine lightning guild.

    His eyebrows creased however when he raised his head and found an empty sky. He lowered his gaze to the ground and uttered a curse.

    An enormous ck crater unfolded in his eyes. Its size was literally many miles in radius. He recalled Helena''s words about ten tier 5 battles.

    It would seem the divine lightning guild had experienced one firsthand.

 Chapter 492 492. CITY OF ORPHOS

    "Have they been wiped out?" Noah wondered out loud, lifting his gaze from the mass destruction below him.

    "Thirty years," he muttered. That was a long time to be away from a ce. He would have been considered dead in all ways. After all, he had even left that realm for a ce outside of Cregar. The universe was vast. Ersha''s memories told of many worlds and beings.

    He doubted that reality. The Grand-masters were too strong for such a reality to exist. Merely the armored statues in their throne room would be able to stop tier 5''s from ruining things.

    Still, the question remained. Where was the city that housed the members of the great guild, divine lightning?

    "They probably moved," he considered as an item he had never utilized before appeared in his hand. Themunication amulet he had been given when he first joined the guild.

    Noah activated the amulet and watched it buzz with golden lights before suddenly going off.

    He furrowed his brows and tried again, but had to conclude that the amulet wasn''t functioning. They could have re-modified things throughout the years he had been away.

    Finding his guild would prove more difficult than he had initially nned.

    Noah returned the amulet to his inventory and swept his gaze on his environment. His mind moved as a n formed in his head. He would essentially need to ask for directions. But only powerful and involved individuals would know where the city had gone.

    The first persons were Helena and her partner. He would need to ask them first, but before he left Noah dived toward the ck crater.

    The formerly crusty brown region had been reced by that crater. Only tier 5''s had that type of power. They could fit whole cities in the darn hole.

    It was also deep. A few thousand meters in depth. It was an immense hole.

    From the sky the crater emitted a faint powerful aura, but now that Noah got closer to it. He understood that the crater still carried heavy traces of the type of power that had formed it.

    It almost choked him, but the amulet which had been given to him by the guild protected him. It had remained safe during his evolution process, and he could resume wearing it when he got out.

    Noahnded at the depths of the dark crater and gazed at the sky from that perspective.

    Due to its vastness, it wasn''t too dark, but he shook his head anyway. When he reached the 5th tier fighting would need to be taken high into the sky.

    Even now that rule applied to him.

    The soil was ssy and cracked, bearing the traces of the huge bolt of lightning that had dealt that damage.

    Yes, just from being close to it Noah could tell which element had inflicted that terrible damage to the environment. There was even a huge pattern spreading in all directions within the crater.

    He took to the sky a few momentster having achieved what he wanted. He simply added it to the list of ces he could teleport to. After all, he felt certain that decades would have to pass before any real life could spring up from there.

    A forest in a crater.

    Teleporting back to the small city headed by Helena, Noah remained outside again, and his arrival once again startled the experts at the gate.

    He unfolded his aura and spoke.

    "No need toe here," his voice boomed forth, but he made it harmless for lower experts, but they had covered their ears due to his loudness.

    "Do you know where the divine lightning city has gone?" Noah made known his request and he felt a consciousness interact with his.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Sir Noah, this is unnecessarymotion," Helena responded, but he remained silent.

    "I don''t know where the guild has moved to. After the battle between them and certain experts of the elves 24 years ago, their Grand-masters moved the ind north-west of the nation.," She exined from wherever she was.

    "I have no idea where exactly, but I know someone who could. She''s far from here. But thest time we spoke she mentioned her connection with a few experts from the great guild. They''ve been all over the ce ever since the guild council''s emissary had been wiped out."

    "Tell me of this person, and I shall go to meet her," Noah mentioned.

    "I don''t trust you enough. She''s my friend. I cannot send someone potentially dangerous her way. Please understand," Helen exined.

    "I do. What can I do to prove my goodwill?" Noah asked, already arriving at a quick solution.

    Helena was silent, so Noah pushed his suggestion forward.

    "I can show you my guild crest stating that I belong to the great guild," He suggested, and her mind gasped.

    "Yes," Noah responded calmly. While parting his robe to reveal his chest. He considered hurting the guild and watched as a crest lit up on his chest.

    Noah felt Helen''s mental waves interact with his chest.

    "I see. That is enough proof. You''re simply a lost member who needs to find their way back," Helen stated, even if she tried to reassure herself. Noah didn''t feel human to her senses, so her instincts were naturally suspicious even if he meant no harm.

    Noah closed his chest at that point and gazed at a certain area far into the city. He could see the tall structures that filled it and even traces of humans.

    "I''ll inform her of youring," Helen spoke after a few seconds of silence.

    "She''s Nora. And is one of those individuals strong enough to be deployed at the outskirts of the nation," Helena exined.

    "She''s based in the city of Orphos. It''s a great distance from our position, but I believe it''s not a problem for you," Helena exined and Noah nodded.

    "I advise you to take this," Helena suggested as an object approached Noah. He stopped its flight with his consciousness shocking her at how easily he had nullified her mental waves.

    "Thank you," Noah announced after checking the map''s contents. She was right, Orphos was a great distance from that region.

    "One piece of advice, she''s a weird and potentially infuriating individual who sees everything as a challenge. She might challenge you when you meet. Please be careful," Helena exined, genuine worry and apology in her tone.

    "I don''t find that an issue," Noah revealed. "I''ll be taking my leave now. I''ll remember the kindness you showed me today," he announced performing a bow.

    "I''ll hold onto your words. I hope they are trustworthy," Helen responded.

    Noah said nothing at that point. He moved his mental waves and sprinted toward the direction of the city of Orphos.

    ''That was convenient,'' Noahmented miles away from that city. But thanks to his emotionless state, joy did not overtake him. He was constantly prepared for anything.

    And that was a good thing since he would need to focus on the journey before him.

 Chapter 493 493. SLAP

    Noah ran across the skies of the Cusk nation. His movement was rapid and powerful, and his path was straight.

    He was already three days into his journey. He had not run all through, however, still taking stops to test out his skills and even cultivating.

    He made time for cultivating and training during his travel. He wanted to reach his guild quickly, but his power came first. It was clear that only power mattered in the chains of events that now existed in the nation.

    A war was ongoing, only the powerful could do whatever they want or be found useful. His power wasn''tcking by any means, but he wanted to increase it anyway. He wouldn''t settle. The fifth tier was still there after all. His mission as thest Speedling also required more power.

    The region he ran across had seen many big craters now filled with water. A huge pond had been ripped open forcing all that water into the environment, creating a swampy forest or region.

    The auras of tier 4 beast reached his mind but he held off fromnding to eradicate them.

    The fauna of the Cusk nation seemed to have improved after all that time he spent in the chamber of deep time, allowing for the existence of far more tier 4 beasts, so why would Noah in his rationality not directly dive downwards to gain levels?

    He was being followed.

    Only about seven hours prior long before he reached there, his instincts had picked up the trace of a foreign presence. They were tailing him. And they had maintained a few miles of distance.

    For a normal human that might have been great, but for him; a Dark Speedling was still not enough.

    He wondered who they were, as only two ideas appeared in his mind. A servant of the immortals as Kir had said, or an elf.

    He had never fought one so he hoped it was thetter.

    Noah could have simply turned and chased after the person, but their presence had appeared out of thin air, and he suspected that they had teleportation devices avable to them.

    So he waited. ording to the map, a mountain chain wasing up and it would allow him to hide for a little while. Helping him intercept whoever the person was.

    The swampy region below him was vast, so much so that he started to believe that not only the pond had resulted in it. Most likely a water mage or many had also been involved.

    Distant roars reached his ears, but nothing could beat his concentration.

    The huge mountain chain appeared on the horizon at some point and a cold grin cracked on his face. He slowly but surely increased his running speed. He had never utilized his full speed ever since he returned, there had been no reason.

    Noah knew if he elerated that much he would lose his follower. And he considered them a source of information, getting to talk to them was important.

    The mountain chain became more and more evident until even Noah nodded at its size.

    He had never been there before, but he instantly believed that thendform had to be the biggest he had ever seen. Even at that, Noah lowered his altitude.

    He could sense two presences on the mountain. Most likely magical beasts.

    His action alerted his follower even if the individuals didn''t stop. They dismissed their former worry and pressed on.

    Noah disappeared in the huge figures of the tightly positioned mountains. His faint presence also vanished and the person elerated the best they can.

    They had tried their best to keep up for the past few hours, but damn was he fast. And he wasn''t even flying. Instead was running on tforms of wind he had created.

    Noah unfolded his consciousness in search of a hiding spot. He found one.

    A cave embedded inside one of the grand mountains.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Behind the view of the mountain chains many kilometers before it, was a vast uneven in. Its grass featured patches of brownness amid its greenness.

    A pond that featured water from beneath the ground unfolded in five blue rivers. Hills and scantly positioned tall trees filled the in and magical beasts pranced its surface.

    That ce looked serene and untouched. And truly it was. Barely any events happened there. Heck, most individuals simply flew across itsnds. Danger lurked in its mountains.

    Noah moved deeper into the cave knowing a minute or two would have to pass before his follower reached that area.

    The cave ended up being empty. And dark.

    His arrival had signaled the two tier 4 beasts restingzily on the mountains, but they made no move. At least for now.

    Noah waited at that point. He buried his power inside his body and waited for the expert to pass. He contemted casting his invisibility spell. But decided against it.

    The spell only made his body invisible, he could still be felt, so there was no reason for it. All he needed was to hide his presence as expertly as possible.

    The seconds passed, and his gaze was light but his focus was at its peak. He would need to move immediately after the expert revealed himself by flying into the open.

    Things would not go as he nned, however.

    Noah''s instincts tingled at some point during the wait and he didn''t hesitate to sprint out of the cave.

    His figure crashed into the in and a huge ball of blue mes arrived on that spot.

    He furrowed his brows as the searing heat loomed over him. That attack had been timed almost perfectly. Unfortunately for his attacker, he was quick.

    His figure exploded into a silver streak right before the mes reached him and he ascended into the sky.

    Themotion caused by the ball of mes alerted the resting beasts, and Noah could only shake his head at the stupid decision his attacker had taken.

    "Found you," He whispered appearing behind his ck-clothed follower.

    He had positioned himself expertly, but Noah was not only quick enough to find him out but was quick enough to get to him.

    His eyes zed silver as he delivered a terrible p onto the man''s face.

    The p sent the expert flying into the in. His impact on the ground opened a big crater, but he was still alive. Noah had ensured not to kill him. Or at least tried to.

    Jumping off the mountain, his departure caused cracks to spread, but he didn''t mind. Noah reached the crater his follower had opened. The man found himself unable to stand or even move. That hit had been improbable. It cracked his skull and made him go partially unconscious.

    Sweeping his gaze on the person''s features he saw that he was a normal human and was not veiled. Still, the expert had a staff and a series of magical items with him.

    Noah shifted his gaze, however.

    A powerful roar and a high-pitched screech reached his ears as mild danger flowed into his mind.

    "Look what you''ve caused," Noah clicked his tongue lifting his head to gaze at the two iing magical beasts. They sounded furious.

 Chapter 494 494. HOLY BLESSING

    An orange bird and a huge green lizard emerged from the mountain, the bird flying and the lizard crawling on the mountain like a wall. Noah saw those beasts approach his position and only saw moving masses of exp. He couldn''t help it.

    "After I''m done I''ll deal with you," He revealed calmly, knowing the man could hear him. A magical triangle unfolded below the man as he took off. A cage made out of silvery ice unfolded at that point.

    Its bars were closely positioned to not allow something as big as a human to pass but could allow viewing of the world around it.

    Noah ascended into the sky willing to deal with the bird first. It sounded confident and proud. He could sense the meaning being its demeanor as clearly as possible.

    He allowed his aura to flow out of his body and silver light filled the in forcing the sunlight to retreat a bit.

    A wide dark cloud unfolded above the in and the sound of crackling thunder shook the world below.

    Cold winds swept the in''s structure and the weaker beasts scrambled for shelter. Beings on a different level were about to engage inbat, merely the pressure they released had killed off many beasts.

    Noah raised his hand and a thin strand of silver lightning reached out from the cloud to arrive in his grip.

    It morphed into a sword at that point. But Noah waited. He waited for the beast to act first since he knew it wouldn''t have any chance afterward.

    The beast stopped drawing closer at Noah''s show of power, instead, it opened its mouth to let out a jet of sizzling orange mes. Noah snorted and waved his stable sword at the creature.

    A blinding sh of silver light filled the world before him as his attack collided with the jet of mes, splitting it into two. Beforending on the bird mostly intact.

    A loud screech of agony erupted from the beast as the sh containing great might sent it toward the ground.

    The instant itnded on the ground the silver bolt detonated, burying the beast in a spreading mass of silver sparks.

    Thanks to the memories he gained from Ersha''s blood, Noah understood the difference between dragons who were the top beasts with breath attacks, and normal magical birds with simr abilities.

    The difference would of course be potency.

    Dragons, no matter their levels were born with great attunement with mana. The fairly above-average quality of a dragon''s mana would be about three times that of humans.

    Yes, that much.

    Dragons existed in ces different from Cregar and even other humans existed in the cosmos. Cregar was just a in the vast universe, and he could only know this due to Ersha''s memory.

    The breath attacks of dragons featured a potency unrivaled amongst all other creatures with the same abilities. That was only possible thanks to their mana.

    Noah switched his gaze to the green lizard. It had noticed the danger in fighting him and wanted to retreat. Noah of course wouldn''t let that.

    The dark cloud crackled with terrible power and silver light flooded the world again. This time arger bolt consisting of other bolts jumped out of the cloud tond on the defenseless lizard. It technically stood at the same level Noah did, so the bolts were able to bypass its nigh-metallic scales.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The beast had not the chance to even voice a cry of pain before it entered a near-dead state.

    "This is too easy," Noah muttered shaking his head. His attack had turned the lizard into a charred ck figure and a great smoke rose from its figure bathing the field with the aroma of finely roasted meat.

    The same could be said for the bird who had lost all its feathers and had been reduced to a ck charred mass. Only beasts at the peak of the middle stage could give Noah a bit of trouble in killing them.

    Higher-stage beasts would make him move with extreme caution. They could kill him after all. In truth, his real level would be close to the peak of the middle stage, or even its very peak.

    Noahnded on the lizard while the sky cleared. He saw that it did not move even if it was still alive. He knew this because he had not received any notification. The loud voice of the system wouldn''t let him miss the event.

    Noah tapped his feet on the beast''s body and made it turn into a chunk of ice after which he shattered it. And heard the system announce to him.

    He only received exp however.

    He utilized the same method for the bird, but killing both beasts didn''t give him any level. It didn''t bother him, however.

    Ironically, only cultivating brought him quick gains. A lot of things had changed now that he became a Dark Speedling loved by the speed force.

    Noah stored their green cores after that event and returned to the silver cage.

    He walked through the bars of the cage as they let him pass without any obstruction. Noah didn''tpete with his creations.

    The man remained embedded in the crater. Noah had not spent two minutes in the battle.

    ''He might die,'' he thought crouching before the barely conscious expert. His p had been that strong?

    Heaving a sigh even if he didn''t feel anything Noah called upon one of his new skills.

    [Holy Blessing[Active]: The act of selflessness is the evidence of a bearer of light. What more evidence is there than to be a blessing even to others? When activated you are allowed to add a 20% buff to the stats of those you wish to bless. Itsts for 5 minutes. This buff is inparison to your stats]

    [Cost: 30% SE Pool. Duration: 5 minutes. Cool-down: N/A]

    "Twenty percent. That''s a lot. Not worth the extra trouble," he muttered as calctions went on in his mind. Were he to make that decision he would be adding two million points of health to the individual''s life. That was a lot.

    Truth be told he desired to see the results of that event. He trusted in himself to be able to kill the man, but he considered it a not-so-good idea even if the only consequence was extra time.

    "You''ll have toe out of that yourself. You have a lot to tell me so don''t die," his tone remained cold and his eyes shed silver. They sent shivers down the individual''s spine. Even if the expert couldn''t see, his ears were still working.

 Chapter 495 495. THE HUNTER BEING HUNTED

    An hour had to pass before the expert could finally open his eyes and regain focus on his environment. Noah had waited patiently for him. His gaze nk and his aura strong.

    "You''re finally awake, human. I had begun to consider simply taking your memories," Noah''s tone felt chilly. His audience''s face contorted in fear. He tried to move but he found himself bound by chains of silver ice.

    The chains originated from almost all points of the cage''s bars. They were sturdy.

    "Please don''t kill me," the middle-aged-looking man begged as he sat up, allowing his dark hood to fall on his back.

    "Yet you tried to kill me. I fail to see your logic, human," Noah''s gaze turned colder and colder. He stood moving to crouch before the man.

    "Why were you following me?" He asked staring straight into the dark eyes of the expert. Noah already desired to kill the man. He was a disappointment to the honor fourth-tier cultivators had. He had even seen tier 3 cultivators with more honor.

    The man remained silent, unwilling to make eye contact with the being before him. His existence told him the breathtakingly beautiful male before him wasn''t human.

    Noah grabbed hold of the expert''s face and the man saw silver ice spreading on his chin. He could kill him anytime he wanted.

    "Did someone send you?" Noah asked, starting to lose patience.

    "Speak," Hemanded and the man shook.

    "No," the expert nodded terror in his eyes.

    "Then what?" hemanded furrowing his brows even if he felt absolutely nothing but desire to leave that ce.

    "I�� I hunted people," The expert announced already shaking. His mind trembled at that disgusting revtion. Thankfully Noah couldn''t feel disgust.

    Still, he understood what the expert meant and shook his head with a sigh. His memories from Ersha were filled with interactions with humans. ''What a pity,'' he thought to himself.

    "You hunted people for sports. In this war?" Noah tried to gain a full understanding of the man''s words. The expert nodded a tad bit stunned by theck of change from Noah.

    Letting go of the expert, Noah stood but maintained his gaze on him.

    "I wasted my time in short," hemented out loud and the man''s eyes winded in realization.

    "I''ll give you all I have gotten from my kills! please don''t kill me! I''ll even stop hunting people, just let me go!" The experts begged frantically. Desperation in his eyes. He looked mad.

    "All that you''ve gotten? What makes you think they will be of use to me," Noah stated tilting his head.

    "Gold coins. Lots of them," the expert stated, a grin almost appearing on his face.

    "With the prices ofmodities spiking due to the war having money will be a good gain," the man tried to make his offer sweet.

    Noah fell silent, ying along with the man''s desperate measures to remain alive. If only he could feel mockery and humor. He remembered what they were though.

    "That''s true," Noahmented cing his hand on his chin.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Yes, yes, young master. I have gold coins evenrge ones. They number thousands. People tend to carry as many coins as they can with them," the expert exined finding ease in Noah''s interest. He could get away with it.

    "That''s interesting. Okay," Noah eximed allowing the expert free of his binds.

    The man was ecstatic. He knelt before Noah and bowed. Noah could smell the evil that poured out of the man''s unseen gaze. There was no remedy.

    "I want everything," Noah announced and the expert instantly removed one of his three rings toy it before him.

    "I keep all the money I get here," the expert stated with a forced smile. He was a good actor, he had lived over a century after all. Only, he couldn''t fool Noah who had memories of someone who had lived millions. Although he could currently only scratch the tips of that immense database.

    Noah allowed his mental waves to seep into the ring and saw the view change. He gained ess to that storage space and saw that the expert had been honest. All colors of coins existed there. Even a heap of gold coins existed in the middle.

    He calcted the total amount and nodded. A bit over 250,000 worth ofrge gold coins existed there. The man would have had to hunt for years to get that huge sum. Even before the way started.

    The cage turned to wisps of light at that point and joy shone on the experts face.

    "Thank you. Thank you very much," the expert stood ready to leave the presence of the being before him.

    Noah remained silent as he transferred the coins into his inventory. His gaze remained on the expert as he began to float away. After the man reached the mountain, he shattered the sound barrier to fly away.

    A cold grin cracked on Noah''s face at that point.

    "One�� two�� three. I let him go," He muttered. "I wish I could feel pleasure from this action," he shook his head as he turned into a silver streak that moved so quickly the sound barrier could barely react in time.

    Noah created a silver streak in the sky as he allowed his aura to unfold into the world.

    He found the escaping expert still flying across the regions and the man tried to speed up as terror overwhelmed his senses.

    He remained too slowpared to his follower. The hunter being hunted.

    Noah''s silver figure arrived at a space the expert had not yet reached.

    Immediately raising his right hand, a sword of dense silver light appeared in his grip. Noah waved that construction of light at the iing expert. And a huge curved silver beam erupted forward tond on the expert''s chest before he could properly set up his defenses.

    The blinding attack severed the man in two before burning his body into nothingness. Light was hot.

    [You have killed human LVL 200]

    [You have gained exp]

    Noah shook his head as a green triangr core floated toward him. He had been too dangerous to be left alone. So Noah had taken it upon himself to rid the world of that monstrosity. He would do the same to any other ones he found. He had the power to after all.

 Chapter 496 496. AFFINITY OF SPEED

    Noah sprinted across the sky on a linear path he had drafted with the use of the map handed over to him by Helena.

    His gaze was mostly nk as he created a silver streak across the skies of the regions below him. He decided against moving at his peak speed since he saw no use for it. That movement was adequate for him.

    After bing a Dark Speedling, Noah gained a better understanding of the usage of the speed essence. The affinity of speed allowed him to achieve things with the speed force he had never thought of before.

    Speed in all aspects. In short quickness in all forms of his being. It could only be derived from connection to the speed force, but its only use wasn''t running.

    Technically speaking, Noah could now apply the speed essence on bodies outside of himself, utilizing that innate affinity and allowing them to achieve the same state he achieved if only in terms of movement.

    He basically could make any material a speedster. But not only that. Speed in all aspects also allowed him to apply that understanding in terms of cultivating, spell-casting, thinking, speaking, and in literally all other things.

    Applying the affinity of speed on other bodies taxed his mind and essence, however. Due to his low power, even he would struggle to execute it properly. But he was already practicing.

    Noah had learned that he could add his affinity to battles, or the execution of martial art styles. He wasn''t running or seeing the world in slow motion, he was simply traveling through the various steps to arrive at that execution faster than normal.

    It was more like enhanced movement, but deeper. He would do it with utter ease, and his mind and essence pool would take the full brunt of it. His body would remain unaffected by any adverse effect moving that quickly would generate.

    The same thing couldn''t be said for other bodies. Unfortunately.

    Noah could theoretically allow a balloon to travel many times the speed of sound even if simply throwing it wouldn''t achieve that eleration. The only issue was that such a body would be unable to handle the force of that eleration.

    In short addition of speed didn''t mean the addition of mass or resistance. Even Noah''s body had limits.

    He could apply his affinity to a nt to speed up the rate of its growth, but if adequate nutrients weren''t avable it would only shrivel up and die. He had sped up the rate of its growth, but he couldn''t perform miracles. Yet.

    Those were the limits of the speed force, at least for his level. That was the reason he needed raw strength and a skill set in other areas. He needed a body that could deliver powerful punches and spells that could unleash terrifying destruction.

    Pets that could ease the work of engaging in battles, and even move about.

    All of those things only became even scarier when speed was added to them. In a battle between equally matched individuals. He who couldnd an attack the quickest would emerge victorious.

    Speed pushed everything forward, but even that concept required other things to reveal its true power.

    Noah knew he could make Cudgel an even more terrifying object. The concept of a balloon trying to travel many times the speed of sound was an adequate exnation. But things changed when a body holding great force and was capable of remaining in one piece, was present.

    Were Noah to apply the affinity of speed on Cudgels material, its destructive ability would skyrocket.

    His affinity could allow a body to move quicker than it normally should, but that also meant as long as the body could resist that pace, the force it carried would be exponential. Especially when that body came in contact with another one.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah could send Cudgel up and down the sky carried by his affinity. He could do it without lifting a finger.

    All those were for movement through a distance of space. More fundamental things like his understanding of topics, reaction to events, and even growth in power, were affected by that affinity.

    He would always be faster than others in many things. That was what bing a Speedling was. But there were obvious limits.

    What happened if his body or soul or core couldn''t handle that event? What happens if a foreign body couldn''t handle empowerment? It would render his affinity useless.

    Noah dived toward the ground at some point. He wasn''t tired, he had only decided he wouldnd. Two days had passed since the incident at the mountain chain and he was already close to the regions of the city of Orphos.

    He wasn''t in a rush to reach the city. After many months of being under pressure, he wanted to taste the feeling of being free to own one''s life again.

    His arrival into that foresty area was silent. He only sensed myriads of magical beasts. But they were weak.

    Noah caused silver ice to unfold in the world around him, and he soon turned arge chunk of that area into an icy terrain.

    He continued to practice the usage of affinity.

    Barely seconds after doing so, he caused all the frozen trees to shatter and converge toward him. He emptied the area of all obstructions.

    But he closed his eyes for a bit and ice spread again but this time to construct the trees exactly how he recalled it.

    Noah continued this cycle of destruction and reshaping for literal hours, even building structures, beasts, and crafted human figures. All the things he could do with his mind and with his ice he tried to do.

    This wasn''t the first time, but the more he did it the more he got proficient, even though he required practice at some point. Only when he actually tried to learn could his rapidness be revealed.

    Noah soon left ice and moved to his new affinity, light.

    The element was erratic and difficult to manipte. Each time he trained with what affinity he usually ended up burning up the environment.

    The peak of light''s power was when it became sma. sma beams and shapes.

    Basic things like swords or other weapons were easy, but when it came torge-scale attacks, even Noah struggled many times to ce the element under control. In truth light affinity and darkness affinity, even amongst rare affinities were some of the hardest.

    Ice or lightning couldn''tpare. Both had mass and were tangible, but light only got tangible when it reached certain normally unachievable densities.

    Noah got better the more he practiced, What took experts with that same affinity literally decades and centuries to master, he did it in days.

 Chapter 497 497. DISADVANTAGE

    The sky was dark and the silver light of the moon swept the lower regions of the nation of Cusk. The rivers, ponds, and even streams shimmered with that magical light as blue motes of light filled certain areas of the lush forest below.

    Mana''s density had skyrocketed, charging everything with its power. Trees that had the sturdiness of tier 3 cultivators existed everywhere, some going as high as the higher stage of the third tier. But that was the highest, and only one or two of such existed.

    Noah continued his sprint on the many tforms of wind his mind was capable of crafting in a matter of instants. He could form seventy of such steps at every point in time, allowing him a sense of ease.

    His destination was less than one-fifty miles away, but he could his instincts could pick up something. And it wasn''t good.

    Noah slowed down his movement speed to see if he could catch sight of anything odd, and he did.

    The sight of huge craters began to unfold in his eyes, They were many and differed in size and color. Noah could even guess how long some of them had been there. But there were craters nheless.

    The sight, even if he had emotions would not have been shocking. Not after what he had seen at the former position of the divine lightning guild ind.

    It only further proved that he would be stepping into enemy territory, even if his destination was after those expansive regions.

    The craters got more numerous as he traveled deeper, but soon they began to recede. At this point, he was less than 70 miles from his position.

    Something worse reced those craters, however, and that was the stench of death.

    A clearnd surface spanning a few kilometers unfolded in his gaze at that point and Noahid eyes on rotten corpses.

    A big fight had happened and it had imed the lives of what looked like thousands. More shamefully, the bodies of those individuals had been left to rot.

    However, right after that ce dome-like structures made out of huge vines appeared in his view and he felt real danger for the first time.

    They numbered a bit more than 30, and had huge mes on their top, signifying their position in the night.

    Noah knew he had stepped into dangerousnds since his consciousness picked up other beings that had sensed him.

    His destination was now less than 30 miles, but he could see the camp of the elves.

    ''So close,'' hemented unafraid. His movement was steady and his eyes searched for any interesting detail.

    Thanks to Ersha who hade across many elves in her lifetime, Noah could immediately know the perks of an Elf. Their connection with the world and mana. All elves had the same traits even across the many worlds Ersha had been to.

    ''Why would they make themselves known so easily,'' Noah wondered finding that event weird. There was a war ongoing. Making your presence known in an enemy territory even if it was towards the edge of the nation was daring.

    Noah would soone to understand why, however, since a huge vine sprung up from the ground to chase after his figure.

    He arced an eyebrow but refused to give the enemy his focus. Unfortunately, his instincts spiked and the world around him suddenly lit up with myriads of magical circles.

    He stopped his motion to make Muliix appear on his skin. Noah watched huge vines spring forth from magical circles. There was nowhere to run. He had stepped into a trap.

    The impact of the vines created a grating sound in the world. The vines had power in the middle stage, but they felt higher. Noah tasted the higher purity of the Elven magic.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He scoffed.

    The sky rumbled as a huge cloud formed above that entangling mass of vines. He poured a significant portion of his essence into that cloud andmanded it to unleash its power.

    A blinding silver light flooded the night sky, and that phenomenon could be seen for kilometers. What followed that event was the roaring of a lightning bolt that spoke of terrible might.

    The huge spark; the size of buildings,nded on that ball of vines constantly trying to break his defense, to burn it away.

    The residue hit the ground and started a big fire.

    Noah appeared in the sky. His figure was covered by Muliixs'' valiant and exquisite material. The battle armor continued to remain spectacr.

    The silver patterns that filled its ck material gave it an ancient feel. And that reality wasn''t too far from the truth.

    In his grip were his daggers and they shone with soft orange and purple light but felt incredibly dangerous.

    Noah swept his gaze on his surroundings and found four figures ascending to meet him at that height. Their features were slightly distant from humans.

    Elves.

    They had glowing staffs in their hands and those staffs closely resembled the one thest person he killed had wielded, only this time runes hovered above the different gems embedded in the staffs.

    One elf, in particr, a male moved closer, and Noah took in his youthful features. He was the strongest in the group.

    "You''re not human. You also don''t belong to mana," the elf spoke, troubled. Noah''s presence generated an unsettling feeling. Especially after they had seen the might in his sparks.

    "You''re not human either, and why have you revealed yourself this tantly?" Noah questioned taking note of the four more individuals approaching them. It felt funny how each one of them had power in the fourth tier. But their standards would be different from the average human.

    Thankfully Noah wasn''t average and wasn''t even fully human.

    "I am the one to ask questions. You''re the one at a disadvantage. Thing," the pale-brown-haired elf snorted speaking those words like a curse. He had suddenly gained hatred for the being before him.

    Noah felt his instincts react negatively to thatment, but his anger-less mind refused to yield. Still, he considered it an insult and wondered if he would get the chance to make the elf eat his words.

    "Nope. You''re the one at a disadvantage. You better answer my question," Noah announced simply raising his daggers. The elves flinched andunched attacks even before he couldplete that action.

    Colorful manifestations of all four elements beamed forward tond on Noah''s position. Unfortunately, their opponent wasn''t one to lose in a battle of the quickest to move.

    Leaving the head of the group alone, Noah moved in a semi-circle, directly iming the lives of the seven elves behind the lead.

    He gained three levels for doing that.

 Chapter 498 498. SPEED ESSENCE POISONING

    Noah''s eyes remained cold and unfeeling as his figure remained covered in a silver light while he spun and made heads fly. Literally.

    The position he had left saw the expansion of a multicolored wave of spectacr power lighting up the night sky for many kilometers.

    He had left the head alone allowing the man to feel despair and real fear. The expert had been too slowpared to Noah. He could only let out a barrage of mes and huge pointy rocks.

    Noah watched the balls of mes detonate, forcing him backward. His figure crashed into one of the dome-like structures, but he took off an instantter to arrive before the panicking expert.

    Noah had experienced a total of 30 percent increase in strength. His power increased by 10% with each level. It was lesser than before but it was still a whole lot. He had grown exponentially in strength.

    Allowing his daggers to disappear, he formed a fist and delivered a shattering punch to the man''s side.

    The elf shattered the sound barrier as his figure formed a descending arc.

    Noah chased after the expert sensing that others were arriving. He caught up to the elf, grabbed him, and sprinted away from that region. The elves followed chase, but Noah had been smart enough to travel in a direction leading away from the city still in the far distance.

    He arrived at a certain point where he had to let the elven male go.

    "You bastard!" The expert roared as his figure emitted a dangerous brown light.

    The ground burst open with power and a huge spike rose from the terrain below them to converge on Noah''s figure.

    He admitted that the expert had been incredibly precise with his attack, but that hardly did anything.

    Noah didn''t want to utilize any shy moves to keep their location secret even for a bit. He had to resort to his wind affinity.

    An expanding burst of violent wind exploded out from his figure turning the rocks into dust. Noah shot forward at the escaping expert.

    "Is this all you have?" He mocked coldly, immediately appearing in front of the speeding expert. His right hand shot forward to grab his neck.

    Noah applied pressure and watched the elf grab him by his nigh-metallic arm. His movement was frantic and he tried to cast a spell. Noah was still faster.

    He spun the expert and hurled him toward the ground before pointing his finger at the descending individual. Huge bullets of spinning wind flew forward to hit the expert with horrendous precision.

    The attacks were terrible. Each one of them carried a significant amount of essence, generating great power.

    Merely four was enough to render the elf unconscious. Noah dived toward the ground to pick up the body. He bound the man with chains of ice before tapping him awake.

    Before the expert woke up Noah forced Speed essence to enter his body. A preventive measure.

    "You bastard. I''ll kill you," stated the elf, a few seconds after he regained consciousness. He immediately tried to call upon his mana, but his face contorted and soon he convulsed a mouthful of blood.

    He lifted his gaze to Noah''s covered face. His eyes were red and his normally pale face had turned deathly pale.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What did you do to me?" He questioned trying to call upon his mana again. Deep pain reached his mind and red blood dripped out of his eyes. His breathing turned shaky and the chill of death swept him followed by pain.

    "You should stop trying to cast a spell. You''re only killing yourself," Noah suggested, nk-toned. What he had done to the expert was the speed essence version of when he drank mana-filled water before the bloodline inheritance.

    Due to his great connection with the world and mana in general, his body rejected that foreign essence and speed essence also rejected him. Causing that violent disy.

    Noah called it Speed essence poisoning. It was especially brutal when he had given the mass of essence further orders to be violent.

    "What did you put inside me?" The expert''s voice shook as a battle went on in his being. He raised his head in unfathomable agony and tried to voice a shot, but only blood poured out of his mind.

    He was dying. Quickly at that.

    "It''s working far faster than I expected," Noahmented casually staring at the violently shaking man. He desired to watch the results of that event, but he needed questions answered. Especially before he reached the city.

    Noah stretched forth his right hand and called upon the essence viting the elf''s being.

    Silver strands flowed out of the man at that point. Rank 4 essence was potent, but Noah could only know its fullness in his Speedling form.

    Truth was he could never test out his full power unless he was in that form. He knew it would be spectacr.

    The elven expert instantly stopped shaking and went unconscious again. Noah carried him and moved from that area sensing some elves reaching those regions.

    He arrived at a small blue pond and jumped inside it, creating a wind bubble. In theory; his body had gone past the level of needing air to breathe. All tier 4''s were like that. But take mana out of their reach and they became crippled.

    "Wake up," Noahmanded, tapping the elf''s face; pulling him out of his agony-induced slumber.

    The expert had been asleep for ten minutes. His condition had gotten better quickly.

    Noah watched him snap his eyes open and his mana threatened to move, but he regained awareness and instantly stopped.

    His arrogant expression had vanished. Reced by bone-chilling fear. What Noah had put him through he never wanted to experience again.

    "Will you drop your attitude and listen to me now?" Noah asked already ready to make him suffer. Truthfully speaking he almost wanted a negative answer.

    The expert sat up sweeping his gaze on their environment.

    ? "What do you want to know?" The elf announced, his eyes somber and his gaze low.

    "Now that''s the right attitude. I want you to tell me everything," Noah gave a cold smile from beneath the Muliix''s helmet. He sat cross-legged and listened to the elf speak.

 Chapter 499 499. DOMINANCE

    Many years before current events. Literally centuries prior. A group of elves hade together in the spirit of strife, jealousy, anger, and mischief.

    They had formed a group formerly known as the factions since they desired anonymity. There had been seven of these Elven factions who had a goal that went against the rules and ordination of the Elven royal family.

    Rumors of the faction had been little during its early years, the only notable information being that very powerful individuals and important ones had been its starters. Those individuals themselves being unknown.

    Soon, the rumors turned into true evidence, but the factions had individuals in high ces, allowing their activities to go unnoticed. Thousands joined the cause of these seven powerful individuals and the seven factions were formed.

    They moved to strengthen their followers, and this seeded with incredible potential. Many individuals entered the fourth tier after many decades, these experts owing their lives to the faction. Further following the goals of this underground organization within the Elven continent.

    What were the goals of the said factions? That was none other than to wipe out the human continent and own the whole thing for themselves. At least that was what was told to them.

    But soon they found out that their mission had been too ambitious. Or at least the lower forces who followed the factions with full loyalty found this out. The hard way at that.

    The human continent; Lidrath, contained three main nations, one of which possessed a military force capable of threatening the other nations. One housed the entity that had put the world in turmoil and the other contained a religious but equally powerful set of humans.

    The one trend was the factions were underpoweredpared to all three nations. Many of the lower forces had long since realized that reality, but they had sworn to follow, even if death would be the oue.

    If only they knew they had been tricked. A lie had been sold to them and with it; power. It remained a natural order that all living beings strived for dominance.

    Dominance was sold to them, but with a lie. A dangerous one. One that sent thousands to their deaths, while the schemers themselves watched from a safe point of view.

    The true goal of the seven elves that started the factions was to stir up the anger of the ruler of the Cusk nation. All seven of them had been around during the millennia-old skirmish that led to the drastic disy of dominance the ruler had done.

    He had wounded the world and had proved that having thergest regions ofnd didn''t mean power.

    The elf Noah had captured exined the events that had urred for the past few decades. Of course, the tier 4 existence knew not of the real goal behind the movement of their organization.

    Noah learned that after the incident that ended up in the total annihtion of the council guild emissary. A series of battles had unfolded in the world.

    Prince Faust who had his descendants killed moved with anger and attacked the noble families capable of deploying tier 5 existences.

    Thousands had died in that week-long battle. But things changed when the Seven factions called upon the support of the noble families on their side.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The event had seen the withdrawal of 10rge cities which had those noble families as leaders. They were now under the seven faction who had presented themselves as a united front, terming themselves ''The Order''.

    The three tier 5 individuals that had been responsible for the mass murder had been revealed, and one of them had been given to the great guild. A battle had unfolded. Thedy lost with barely her life intact.

    A few years of fighting had to happen before the royal council called upon the Order, and a meeting took ce.

    The meetingsted for seven months. High up in the sky. But when both forces returned, they revealed the agreement that had been made.

    The Order had been allowed to continue on their agenda, only that they were given a time limit.

    "One hundred years," Noah muttered gazing at the elf before him. He still had Muliix on, blocking every way for the expert before him to read his expressions.

    "Yes. After this period if we can take control of half the nation''snd area a final three battles will ur."

    "Battles between the fifth tier cultivators, battles between the fourth tier cultivators, and finally a battle between the third tier cultivators," Exined, the elf, whose name had been revealed to be Piron.

    Piron fell silent after about an hour of narration. His audience had been mostly silent onlymenting here and there. But even with that strange and powerful armor, he could sense the great calmness this entity exuded.

    "I believe that is all," Noah stated allowing the many other things he had been told to sink in. There was a whole lot that became understandable, but he still wondered what the royals thought when they formed that agreement.

    Had they gotten bored and wanted entertainment? Or was there more to it than the public could know?

    All that aside, their decision had still led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands. While the remaining citizens lived in constant fear of an invasion.

    ? Prion made Noah understand that the elves still attacked with vigorousness and brutality. The only difference was that the royals did not deploy tier 5s into the conflict.

    If a tier 4 had been the head of a raid, then a tier four would have to be the one to stop him or her.

    There wasn''t a limit to how many individuals could attack the person, however. Which for this reason, it was more likely that a group of four or three tier 4''s would be in such forces leading the hundreds of tier 3 experts.

    "It''s like a game to them," Hemented even if he felt nothing from the whole exnation. He had simply gained information. Hecked any care for the lives that had been lost or the consequences of that war. All he wanted was to remain well-informed.

 Chapter 500 500. SPIRIT CORES

    Prion stayed silent before Noah as he spoke. He had epted his fate. Only it felt unreal that a mere lower-stage cultivator would render him to such a state.

    "What shall be done to you," Noah stated straightening his position. He had been seated throughout the exnation.

    Prion remained silent, well aware of the reality of his situation.

    "Would you have killed me were I in your position?" Noah asked tilting his head to the side. He knew the answer to it. There was war, and from what he had said, killing other tier 4''s wouldn''t be against the set rules.

    "I would have," Prion replied lowering his gaze. His entire existence had gone somber. Truthfully speaking a part of him wanted to fight back. But from what he had seen of the entity before him; he was reasonable and unhindered by emotions. But also powerful.

    Prion feared having to go through all that suffering, he knew for one that Noah seemed like the type to give a quick death. And his logic wasn''t far from the truth.

    "You have spoken the truth," Noah announced. "I''m inclined to not make you suffer." He raised his hand and silver sparks appeared on it.

    "Before you move on, I have a question. And I ask that you honor it," Prion announced, interrupting Noah''s action. His tone was stern and his expression was nigh-uncaring.

    "Go on," Noah entertained the expert, Lowering his hand to stop the sparks from umting. The shimmering blueness of the water around them remained evident and even dominant. It gave that scene a mystical and magical vibe.

    "How is it that you don''t know of all these?" Prion asked genuinely curious.

    "I recently returned from my advancement into the fourth tier," Stated Noah. "Merely about two weeks ago."

    His words brought forth a wave of shock unto the Elf''s face. A level of astonishment he had not felt in a long while made itself known in his aged mind.

    ''Merely two weeks ago!'' Prion couldn''t take in that revtion so easily. He struggled to believe him. Unfortunately, Noah exuded an undeniable aura of honesty. He was in before him.

    "What will you do now?'' He asked seeing the being before him in a new light.

    "I''ll find my guild, the divine lightning guild. I believe most of their anger is due to the fact that they thought I died. It''s a long story you won''t be able to hear about," Noah exined in a matter-of-fact tone.

    "You''re the member that was rumored to have been killed in the attack!" Prion eximed. His words imed Noah''s attention.

    "I was the only one from my guild in the group," Noah exined. "Why?"

    Prion''s expression turned darker at that point.

    "The Divine lightning guild has been rumored to want tounch an attack on arge base even farther towards the edge of this nation. It''ll be a big event, so much so that reinforcement is being called upon from the other bases."

    "The great guild has deployed some of the most terrifying individuals. I understand your power now that you revealed you''re one of them. You all are freaks. I see,"

    "Yes. We aren''t a great guild for nothing," Noah gave a coldugh recalling the experts from the guild. They would have grown in power. He wished he felt excited to meet them. He had to find them first.

    He had an Idea.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Do you know where my guild is? I heard they moved from theirst position," Noah made known his thoughts.

    "I know not," Prion stated.

    Noah nodded his head.

    "I''ll end your life now," Noah announced lifting his left palm, but the expert interrupted him again.

    "Your actions will cause trouble for the Orphos city. They know you''ll be headed there, so they''ll attack. They''ve been holding back, but my death; our death, will trigger them. Losing eight tier fours to one man is a great loss even for us," Prion exined.

    "I understand. Thank you for making it known to me."

    "The least I''ll do to help is wipe them out. I am capable," Noah exined.

    "Those are some cocky words. But you''ve proven that you can handle yourself," Prion burst into mncholicughter. "I pity those who''ll approach you with the mindset I had." He shook his head, suddenly getting an intense desire to witness how far that entity would go in life.

    He believed the forces of the elves would tremble at his power. For it truly was great.

    "Thank you for your help," Noah announced with finality in his tone. He raised his palm and saw Prion bow his head.

    Sparks crackled in his palm, but he stretched forth his other hand to allow a beam of cold mist burst forth, turning the elf into solid ice.

    The sparks in his hand went forward with shattering might, to make that figure crumble.

    Noah failed to gain but he believed he was close to one.

    Unlike humans, elves did not have mana cores, and their only source of power would be their spirit being, which resided in their spirit core.

    Noah had noticed those shiny blue objects fly into his inventory after he killed those seven elves, but only now could he properly study them, even if he already knew what they were thanks to Ersha''s memories.

    Spirit cores, unlike mana cores, were more or less like the soul cores of humans. The only difference was that one was only a portion of the human''s power, while the other contained the fullness of the elf''s power.

    Noah could eat the energy within it, although a lot of filtering would be needed since Elves were more like Speedlings. Only favored by mana.

    He stored the spirit core which held the connection to Cregar itself. He would deal with that matterter.

    Noah emerged from the water silently. Ascended above the trees and sprinted towards the city in the distance.

    Thanks to Prion''s words he knew what to expect, and he owed the city and its residents help. He needed help from a certain woman after all.

 Chapter 501 501. DIVINE INDIVIDUALS

    Noah sprinted through the sky with terrible velocity, He arrived in front of Orpohs''s gate in no time and his arrival inevitably brought forth attention.

    The wind blew violently and the presence of a special someone appeared at the city''s edge. Noah waited in the sky. His eyes were able to overlook the city from above. It wasn''t too big but contained a significant amount of powerful presence.

    Noah sensed the presence of 10 tier 4 cultivators. But they were nothingpared to the amount he sensed in the Elven camp.

    He might have caused a significant amount of trouble for that ce. How they had even stayed in one piece made him curious.

    He believed they hade to an agreement. His actions might have broken whatever agreement they made, however.

    Noah did not have to wait a minute before four figures streaked into the sky to meet him. They were fast and powerful.

    The least powerful person amongst them was at the peak of the lower stage. The rest holding prowess within the middle stage.

    "Who are you?" One of the four men spoke. He looked to be in his middle ages.

    "Ie looking for Nora. I have been sent here by Helena," Noah announced still hidden within Muliix. The night sky remained all around them. And the lightsing from the city had be brighter now that Noah was so close to it.

    He could sense a barrier surrounding the city. For this reason had he not entered it.

    "Lady Nora?" The man muttered slightly confused. His perplexion vanished when the voice of a certain rambunctiousdy exploded forth.

    Another figure burst out of the city to shoot towards their position. Her presence brought about the realization that she was the strongest in the whole city.

    Having power past the midpoint of the middle stage, she would normally be able to give Noah a bit of trouble. Still, she felt more dangerous than necessary.

    ''A probable monster,'' Noahmented in his head taking in her features.

    Nora looked to be in her early thirties, even if her facecked any signs of aging or stress. She had long wavy orange hair. Her eyes were also orange in color. Nora had a big red robe on. This wouldn''t allow anyone to know her shape. At least until she changed.

    "You must be the one sent by Helena," thedy eximed scanning his battle armor. It was weird. And intriguing.

    "Yes," Noah responded.

    "Hmm... I hear you desire information about the location of the divine lightning guild," She revealed and the others could only wonder why that was so.

    "Correct again," stated Noah.

    "Still..." Her tone went cold and her countenance fell.

    "Could you by any chance have killed a few elves on your way here?" She asked and the expressions of the others widened before going cold also.

    They had received an urgent message from the elven camp. They wouldunch an attack on the city. But rather than keep it, they would destroy it. ording to the message, someone headed that way had been responsible for the deaths of a few fourth-tier experts.

    Noah nodded and felt their aura''s spike dangerously. He remained unfazed, however. Opening his mouth to speak.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I am well aware of the trouble I might have caused you. This is why I havepleted my trip here. I''ll help you wipe the attacking forces out," he dered with no signs of hesitation.

    His words managed to take his audience by surprise. And Nora even burst intoughter. Mocking one.

    He remained silent, however. Truth be told Noah had no idea how many experts would be deployed. But since the rule stated that only equally powerful individuals were allowed to attack any city, he knew he would be safe.

    "You who refuses to reveal his face speak such bold words. Not to talk of your power lev--" Her words faded when something became evident.

    It was repulsive but also spoke of power and might.

    The stench of death skill could only be evident to those who had great senses. She would fit in as one of them.

    The second was obvious to every human that met him. He feltpletely different. Almost like an ancient wild beast gazed at them. It was unsettling, but they hid their feelings with a calm demeanor.

    Truth be told, each one of them saw him as incredibly dangerous. Their ringing instincts never failed to remind them of it.

    She cleared her throat, closing her eyes to push back the evidence of her difort.

    She had only met this person for less than a minute she didn''t expect him to do as she had secretly suggested. But he did.

    "I see," Noah muttered allowing his helmet to disappear and his features were out in the open. Bewilderment.

    Two perfectly parted halves of long silk-like hair. One being silver and the other being pure white. His features were incredibly youthful, even if he had a mature vibe to him. Noah still looked like someone in his mid-twenties.

    His skin was fair and blemish-less. His simrly white and silver eyebrows were just the right volume. His eyes beamed with a silver light as many mysteries existed within them.

    His gaze and expression radiated extreme calmness. His eyes felt calctive and also emotionlessly curious.

    Noah''s straight hair fell on his ck and silver battle armor. Muliix had evolved from a simple body suit to a proper battle armor. Its size had been buffed up due to the extra pieces, but its overall weight had stayed the same.

    Noah looked genuinely valiant in Muliix. Each of its pieces now had silver on its surface, making him shiny. The patterns that constantly ran on Muliix''s surface now had silver lights running across the,

    His armor looked both technologically advanced and ancient.

    "I believe this should be enough," Noah replied still keeping the rest of his armor on. He didn''t want to freak them out by making them watch the weird process of his armor literally sinking into his skin.

    "I see why you have that on," Noramented lifting her gaze to exchange nces with the others.

    Heaving a deep sigh as theymunicated with their consciousness, she focused her gaze on the breathtakingly beautiful man before her. His looks had to have been sculpted by the gods.

    Because of him, she believed that truly; divine individual''s existed.

    "Follow me. We have a bit of preparing to do," Nora announced, turning to fly towards the city.

 Chapter 502 502. LUNATIC

    ? Noah followed Nora''s track while the four others flew from behind him. They still didn''t trust him. More so, only fools spout the words he had revealed. He was bound to be trouble and they would be ready to end him when such happened.

    Nora remained silent as they passed the barrier and entered the city. They reached lower altitudes and the eyes of the many individuals within that city fell on them.

    Tier 4''s were normally unnoticeable by lower leveled experts but since the sound barrier shattering was an event too loud to miss, they could look up to see the different individuals in the sky.

    Noah inspected the structures that began to stand higher than him, but he soon lost interest in those normally advanced buildings. He was capable of bringing them down without much effort. There was no need to focus on them.

    The air within the city was tense. Noah''s instincts could feel it. He only remained uncertain whether or not that was how things were all the time, or because of the event that was soon to happen.

    "I see you''ve noticed the tense atmosphere," Noramented utilizing her mental waves. She had seen his eyes on the world below them. Their tension was all too noticeable.

    Noah nodded in response, his gaze never leaving the world below. He knew not where they were headed.

    "We had announced the situation immediately after the message from the elves had arrived. They deserve to know the trouble about to befall them," Nora exined, the softness ofpassion in her eyes.

    If Noah could feel guilt, he would feel a whole lot at that point. Unfortunately, he couldn''t. Still, he had decided to help as a form of goodwill. Or taking responsibility for his actions.

    Their flight was steady and less erratic, but Nora sped up at some point and they reached a tall ck building.

    Five presences existed within it and they exuded distress. It would seem only Nora had her spirit up.

    In truth, they found no way out of that event. Only death awaited them. The elves were powerful, and although Nora remained a really powerful expert, she had clear limits.

    She was the strongest, so she expected experts of the same power level to appear. What a hopeless situation it was.

    Still, the man, or if she could even call him remained unfazed by the obvious issue in the air. His calmness even with a lower cultivation base shook her. She actually found it hard to reveal her distress.

    Nora brought them into the building and the gazes of the five tier 4''s fell on Noah''s stunning beauty. They froze for a second taking a moment to inspect that beauty.

    By the gods!

    "Who is he, Nora?" One of the five experts frowned, his tone struggling to grapple with whether or not he was to be annoyed or shocked.

    "Help," Nora stated, her countenance already fallen.

    Her words brought a wave of shock.

    "Help?" The blue-haired man eximed in a mocking tone.

    "I see you''ve already given up on straightening things out. We did nothing to break the rules. A random human causing trouble isn''t our issue!" He had lost his cool.

    "Wait... Is he the random human?" The man was quick to conclude and seeing Noah nod took him by surprise again. He red afterward.

    "Do you know what you''ve done!" He yelled stepping closer even if Nora stood in his way. She did so not because he could hurt Noah, but rather the opposite.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "He acknowledged his actions and has volunteered to help," Nora exined trying to relieve the tension in the room. She could feel the others getting angry.

    She understood them. Even she wanted to push the me on the man in an attempt to escape from the doom of their situation. But his words although spoken lightly had gripped her.

    "What more could help could he add? He should be the one out there facing whatever monstrosity they would bring out," the expert red at Noah, even if his fear gripped him for doing it.

    The truth was he was only putting up a front. The moment the beautiful man entered an unsettling feeling arose.

    More shocking that he was a middle staged cultivator.

    "I could do that, but I have no idea the number of individuals would be deployed or even monsters," Noah revealed causing the room to fall silent.

    His words took Nora by surprise again. Heck, the entire room.

    "What the fuck is he saying, Nora!? You''ve gone ahead and brought a lunatic into our midst!" The expert''s eyes were wide from exasperation as his face twisted from the same emotion. His words and tone were filled with deep sarcasm and mockery.

    Never in his life had he heard such bold words.

    Did this young man know who the elves were? Their forces were incredible. The average elves considered within the middle stage would wipe the floor with two moderately middle staged humans.

    Not to begin with their pets. He had seen their pets in full disy. The violence those freaks of nature disyed was none like he had seen.

    Only rabid creatures were that violent, yet they were considered pets.

    Nora sighed shaking her head. She felt not an ounce of offense from Julio''s words. He had always been rather wordy. But Noah''s words on the other hand almost made her burst intoughter, and smack his head.

    She felt like whatever power he had, had clouded his judgment.

    Noah remained silent at Julio''s words and tone. He understood the man''s situation. And he had no right to desire revenge. He had put them in that situation. Still, he would show the mere humans before him the power of his specie.

    "That''s taking it too far. You''re a middle-stage expert,pose yourself. Or do I have to remind you of the weaker one," Nora spoke, her tone dropping until it made the room feel cold? Noah felt nothing, however.

    Julio''s frown softened at that point, but he still snorted and tried to storm out.

    "We should cast him before the elves as a sacrifice. I doubt his power would even amount to anything," Julio spoke as he approached the exit of that grey-painted room.

    Nora frowned but said nothing as she watched him move.

    "I can fight you to prove my prowess before the real battle," Noah suggested still calm-toned and the room went silent again.

    "What the fuck man!?" Even Nora felt forced toment vulgarly.

 Chapter 503 503. DEFENSES

    "You can''t be serious Julio!" Nora yelled as she strode forward to catch up to a furious and shaky Julio.

    They walked down a well-lit tunnel that had a private well-reinforced training area. The other eight experts including Noah followed closely behind them.

    "He''s the one who desired a spar, not me. Talk to him. As for me, I''m down to put a cocky bastard in his ce," Julio''s words were harsh. He intentionally tried to hurt Noah.

    Unfortunately, the target of his words felt nothing but willingness to get over that event and be on his way to the floating city.

    Nora frowned but said nothing in the meantime. He was right after all. Instead, she turned to gaze at Noah who shrugged with his nk expression still present. She had no idea what was going on in his head.

    In honesty, even she wanted to see that mans power on disy. She would have challenged him as soon as they met, but their situation forced her mature side out. She was the leader of that group after all.

    "We can talk about this, Julio," She persuaded further, but the man wouldn''t budge, Not when Noah himself said nothing about the whole matter.

    "You''re the one who usually does these kinds of things. Being yful and unserious. Now that we need you to do it in such an important situation, you back out," Julio''s words were sharp and hit Nora.

    Her expression went dark as the softness of her features was reced by indifference. It remained stunning how experts at that level could switch between moods quickly.

    "Get on with it then. I''ll watch," She slowed down until Noah cut up with her.

    "Don''t injure him too much. We still need him for the battle toe." She was pleased with the powerful entity before her. Her senses were sharp enough to notice the bottled danger.

    Noah nodded after hearing her voice in his head.

    She nodded at that point and slowed down until she stood behind the group. The others were silent and simply watched the events y. Things had escted very quickly after all.

    A wide sanded area under the sky unfolded in their gazes at some point. A visible green dome-shaped barrier existed above it and it radiated a sturdiness capable of withstanding power at the peak of the middle stage.

    Julio being the first to reach it walked to the other side while the others walked into the transparent booth meant for spectating. Chairs filled its insides.

    Noah walked forward until he was about 100m from the expert. The ce was prominent--about 500m in radius.

    "You have the chance to back out here, young ma--" Julio''s words were cut short when Noah raised his hand to stop him.

    "Let''s get this over with, the elves might still arrive this night," Mentioned Noah, in a tone that spoke of hisck of care for anything the expert wanted to say.

    Needless to say, his words caused even greater anger to rise in the man.

    ''The angrier they are the easier they fall,'' Noah muttered, activating the eye of the Death lord skill for a second.

    The world lost its luster; instantly turning gray, as ck runes appeared on the silver color of his eyes.

    A dark miasma suddenly appeared to flow out of Julio at that point as the world had stopped moving to his perception.

    ''Twenty-nine percent,'' Noah noted inwardly. ''He''s even weaker than Kir.'' He shook his head deactivating the skill and watching the vibrant colors of the night and the light around him returning.

    It felt weird that even the night sky, although starry and ck, could turn gray.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah knew he could move forward without any worry at that point.

    Julio called upon his power. Being of the wind affinity he and Noah shared some sort of simrity, but he knew not of the other affinities his opponent had.

    The wind grew violent as a tornado sprung into existence, before turning so violent that it became a gale.

    The sand of the training area was immediately unsettled. Noah watched and felt everything around him fall under the power of that event. He remained in ce.

    Not even his hair moved!

    That scene baffled the spectators and even Julio himself. But he was only starting.

    The tornado moved to create a dense cloud of rapidly spinning sand particles.

    Noah stood unmoved before the terrible might of that magical manifestation. He resembled a man before a legitimate storm. And the reality wasn''t far from it.

    Huge arms emerged from the tornado as they flew toward him with horrendous speed and power. One of those arms would be able to put a newly advanced middle-stage cultivator in trouble.

    Noah knew this and moved. Or rather his hand did.

    Raising his arm calmly, shock filled the faces of all experts as silver sparks gathered on that limb.

    An ear-shattering bang unfolded in the world at that point as blinding silver light flooded the view of the watching expert. Even their powerful eyes struggled to pierce that light.

    The discharge made contact with the tornado and chaos reigned supreme.

    The sheer heat Noah''s bolt radiated made the ambient temperature to spike. The scent associated with rain filled that area as the sparks cleared to reveal the results of that sh.

    Noah had only been capable of obliterating the tornado. Julio himself remained in one piece, even if his expression looked stony from bewilderment.

    The expert swept his gaze on Noah''s figure and the chill of fear swept his insides. Noah pointed his arm toward him and he panicked.

    His aura exploded as he went all-out. The fear of death gripped him and clouded his judgment. Or at least that was what the others thought. In truth, Noah put just enough to render the man close to death.

    Another bolt shot forward with an ear-rending roar of might, but its path was met with tens of proper defenses in the middle stage.

    It managed to destroy 80% of those defenses before running out of power, but that was more than enough for Noah to make a real move.

    Hidden within the sphere of gales, Julio felt his survival instincts roar with deafening intensity. How could he bypass that defense? He wondered, disbelief filling his mind.

    But that was exactly what happened.

    A portion of his defense cracked and then vanished, as silver light filled his vision. Julio''s world twisted and spun while pain filled his mind.

    Noah delivered a punch onto the expert''s stomach, sending him traveling faster than the sound of sound.

 Chapter 504 504. QUEEN

    The winds instantly cleared and Noah''s figure was revealed, his fist smoked and his left arm remained stretched from the punch.

    His eyes were calm and his aura stable.

    Julio''s figure on the other hand smashed into the barrier, but he couldn''t break it. He felt like he hit a steel wall.

    The expert remained conscious. And he even managed to stagger his way until he could stand.

    Spitting a mouthful of blood he let his gaze fall on the experts in the booth. Their gaze was stern and even sad.

    Truly the man before them possessed more power than they anticipated. Julio was testimony to that truth. He swore his back had burst open from the sheer might in that fist.

    It was unreal.

    Feeling his insides tremble greatly, Julio let his mana spread until his state calmed and blood stopped flowing from the sides of his lips. He was still in great pain, but being a tier 4 expert, he knew how to handle pain.

    Now that he experienced the power of his opponent, Julio was forced into logical thinking. He had not utilized the spells in his skill set, but even with the one he had unleashed, Noah had been able to bypass it fairly easily.

    In short, he had to be careful. Unfortunately, his opponent wasn''t one that tactics could properly work on.

    "I see you''re okay," Noah sounded from in front of Julio as the bang associated with the shattering sound barrier only urred when the tall figure of his opponent reached him.

    "When?--" Julio muttered, stunned, right before a kick mmed into his face and sent him flying sideways. He dug through the ground with his body, creating a trail while he bounced up and down.

    Noah turned into a silver streak as he arrived on the flying man''s path.

    The world slowed down as he caught hold of the expert and smashed into the ground before hurling him toward another point on the field in one smooth series of movements.

    Julio''s impact on the ground caused a small crater to spread, even if he bounced off his initialnding point.

    The world fell silent at that event. Noah reached the expert in the next second and another round of thrashing unfolded.

    Julio was rendered unable to do much.

    Each time he tried to call upon his mana he would be distracted by the merciless hits Noah unleashed.

    Soon it became pitiful and Nora had toe forward to plead that Noah stopped.

    He had been overwhelming. And did so casually at that.

    Noah left the man with barely any teeth in. His face had swollen badly from the hits but he was still in one piece, just as promised. He had even lost consciousness at some point.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Walking into the tunnel led by one of the four that had met him in the sky. They held a different type of air now that they had seen a bit of his power on disy.

    Mostly his unholy speed was enough to put him as a hard opponent. Not to even begin with his weird power.

    In truth, they all could sense his stark difference, but that was only due to his nature. He felt distant, from humanity.

    But also his power. They could hardly sense it, only that their instincts trembled at his presence. All they knew was he was within the fourth tier and in the lower stage.

    Besides, his skill set had remained mostly unknown. There were a few others there with wind affinity, and it still felt surprising to find that he was a dual affinity holder.

    Noah was led through the tunnel, up a flight of stairs, and into another hallway, this one led to a wide room that had seats in it. Nora had ordered her to do so. She woulde to meet him soon.

    "How long have you been here?" Noah asked the middle-ageddy, his words managed to startle her, but her experience made her able to keep that reaction inwardly.

    "Only seven years," She stated. "I''m rtively new here. The others have been here for over a decade."

    "Have you grown to like it?'' He enquired getting on to something.

    "Yes," She replied. Taking a seat. The seats within the room were lined side by side in a circle. A wide circr table existing at the center of that circle.

    "They have been nice, and the people of this city are also awesome. Some of the lower leveled ones even see me as a mentor. That probably changes when they reach this level," She exined with a soft smile, masking her difort with memories.

    "I understand," Noah stated, falling into a bit of thought.

    "How heavy has the situation of the war been? Is this ce always so tense?" Asked Noah, raising his gaze to stare into the brown eyes of thedy before him. She shifted her gaze.

    "The war has been brutal. I was deployed from a city that had been overtaken by the elves. I managed to escape after the orders came in. The others weren''t so lucky," Her gaze grew dark and solemn.

    "The city isn''t usually tense. Even with arge group very close by,dy Nora has managed to reduce the tension that eventual raids have brought. She''s been here for the past 2 decades, and most of the now-grown people know her as a leader. Or even their queen, and she loves them just as much. But this might be the limits of her power," She exined with a heavy sigh.

    She felt inclined to me the person before her. He was the reason. But ming him wouldn''t change anything. The situation had arrived and there was nothing they could do apart from the face it.

    "I hope they aren''t wiped out. It would be a shame," She sighed again. Her name was Fera.

    Noah nodded and both individuals fell into silence until the sound of footsteps reached their ears. The tiled nature of the floor allowed for any hard object to make lots of sounds.

    Lady Nora and the others apart from Julio strode in.

    "We have received another message," She announced, even if her expression remained dark and stern.

 Chapter 505 505. WAITING

    Within the well-lit room, all ten of the experts gathered around the table, their expressions not so much calm anymore. Death was at that door. Almost literally.

    "Can they be that tant?" Noah''s voice rang out, pulling them out of their thoughts and letting their eyes fall on the spread-out piece of paper on the red table.

    The city had received a message from the elves, and it was still concerning their decision to attack them. But to their shock, they had told them the time they would be arriving.

    Essentially telling them to prepare in response to that revtion.

    "This is usually how they do it. It''s just how powerful they are and how much they can bring to the table," Nora exined.

    "We''re fucked," she exhaled sharply. She wasn''t one to fear death. She had seen it up close too many times in her long life. Her only issue remained with the people of the city.

    The poption of that ce was already close to four hundred thousand. Most of whom knew her. She had been privileged to govern and protect that city even from the starting times of the war.

    That city had be hers. Even the former governor had defected to the elves But had been merciful enough to leave the whole city.

    cing her hand on her head, she rubbed in mental frustration. Merely hours had passed since the announcement, and the battle itself would ur three hours past daybreak.

    The announcement of that time although helpful had put a whole new weight on them.

    "We can try calling upon the help of the royals," One of them suggested and the others nodded to it even if they knew the issue they befell that idea.

    "How quickly will they respond? Daybreak is only about two hours away. Five hours wouldn''t be enough. And we''ve cut teleportation because people of the Cusk are on the side of the enemy," Nora exined.

    "I wish we could resort to that, but the most they will find would be rubble," She heaved another sigh.

    The room fell silent again. Not even Noah spoke, but he did so simply because he decided not to.

    "No use worrying about it all. The best we can do is put in our best for the battle toe. We''ll have to put our lives on the line for these people, or I''ll never forgive myself."

    Nora spoke that way to counter any suggestion that saw them running away from the battle. Funnily it was okay to do that, but that would be putting hundreds of thousands to death. Not to talk of the shame they would have to bear.

    Soon they began to leave to get prepared. Apparently, about four years had passed since they had to fight that way, and although they trained regrly; knowing a battle that would most likely lead to your death was approaching brought a different feel.

    Especially when the chances of survival were next to nothing.

    Potential death was better than certain death. Their situation revealed only certain death.

    "I want you to take the fall for this, Noah," Nora revealed at some point rubbing her temples.

    Noah remained silent, understanding her.

    "But if you really are able to fulfill what you said then I''ll forever owe you my life and help you to find your guild to the best I can," Her tone turned serious and her expression held great worry, but also honesty.<novelnext></novelnext>

    At that point in her life, she would not fight a miracle. Only one could save them after all.

    Noah nodded, instantly deciding that he would reveal as much as he could to do as he had said. Even if he would transform.

    Nora sighed and left the room. They would meet back there in a few hours. Noah could even stand all through that period, but he didn''t. He explored the ce.

    The building was nine stories in height and featured many rooms. Noah walked past a few ones before leaving the ce altogether.

    He found himself within the enclosed region meant for the leader so the city. It reminded him of estates on Earth.

    Speaking of that, Noah now knew he could find it and return there. The only issue being the fact that the finding part could take thousands of years.

    The universe was obviously vast and immense. Cregar existed in an unknown gxy in an unexplored region of the universe. Finding earth could be a life mission. But power was more important for now.

    He exited the estate to walk down the streets of the city itself. The humans were tense and frantic, Actions were being made and defenses were being ced for the big event.

    Even if it was nighttime, the city was still awake as ever.

    If only Noah could feel pity, he would have been choked with it.

    He returned to the estate after almost an hour of exploring. The various experts were still busy. He could only enter the white nature of his cultivation room to cultivate a bit.

    Noah returned after about two hours. He appeared down a certain hallway and made his way to the gathering room. The experts were now gathered. Julio was part.

    His appearance brought a wave of tension and also calm. At least the calm part was for Nora.

    "I thought you had run away or something," She revealed d that he was present. No one in the room understood why she considered him that important. Was it because of the words he had spouted and had beaten Julio?

    Sure that was already a mighty feat on its own, but against the forces of the elves. They would need far more than a powerful lower-stage cultivator to deal with those forces.

    "Let''s go over what we''re going to do," Nora announced gesturing at Noah toe close. Which he did.

    They spent the next half an hour going over the n. They would first plead with the elves and inquire if there was a way to put an end to the conflict before it started.

    Knowing the elves, they believed it wouldn''t work, at that point each one of them would fall into a formation that highlighted their various strengths.

    A battle of wit and stamina would unfold at that point. They would try their best even if it could and most likely would lead to death.

    The daybreak had already arrived an hour prior. Two hours of pure waiting passed before the news was brought to them by the scouts at the city gate. The elves were approaching, but the experts already knew thanks to the grand aura those individuals released even from that distance.

 Chapter 506 506. SIDES

    A chill swept the room and a heavy mood befell all individuals except Noah. Their expressions dulled and their eyes went hard.

    Nora moved forward, approaching the room''s exit. The others followed and soon they were in the sky flying forward to meet their adversaries.

    The entire city had fallen silent. Up to the point that it felt like a ghost city. Terror and the doom of death hung above the residents of the city of Orphos. They all had hope, however. Hope in the power of their new leader.

    Nora could feel the gazes and hopes of her people weighing on her shoulders with crushing intensity. She threatened to lose her cool, but one nce at the expert emanating the stench of death and intense calmness made her calm herself.

    His silver eyes looked onward, toward the direction of the approaching party. The sheer auras that emanated from that point told of the heavy forces, but to her bamboozlement, she found curiosity in those ancient-looking eyes of silverness.

    He had never removed his armor making her wonder why. Still, hisposure even within that trouble could not have been faked. Even she herself struggled. And she was a leader who knew what it mean to be in real hot water!

    Could he have been in a situation worse than theirs? How possible!

    The experts had fallen silent. The more the grouping southward drew closer, the more Nora flew forward to the forefront of the group. Noah on the other hand remained in the back.

    The others saw this and snarled inwardly, especially Julio who had lost face due to him.

    In a matter of minutes; dead silent minutes, the group became clear and the size of the deployed experts made the experts lose hope.

    "Already Twenty-five middle staged individuals," Nora muttered feeling her former confidence experience deep cracks. Her breathing threatened to turn erratic, but there were more.

    Gasps filled the mouths of her team when theyid eyes on 10 grotesque-looking creatures.

    ''They truly are a sight to behold.'' The sides of Noah''s lips curved upward in an unfeeling smile. He called upon the inspection of the said beasts by the system.

    [Krets]

    [Rabid creatures born from an experiment that saw the joining of orcs, goblins, and bat creatures. Krets have the strength of orcs despite their thin nature. They possess the flight abilities of the crimson bats and gather about like goblins. They are extremely violent, but possess no magical abilities]

    Noah read the contents of the silver screen before him, before focusing on the said creatures again.

    Each one of the kret was tall. About 2.5m in height. Their features were thin as their skin featured patches of ck and red with asional brown spots.

    The faces of the krets featured two dark eyes on either side of their heads, and rows of grotesque-looking teeth out in the open. Three ws for hands and a pair of ck reptilian wings.

    They truly were freaks of nature as their upright figure sent chills down the experts. "The embodiment of violence," Noah would call them due to what he sensed.

    Still, before him, they remained nothing more than freaks. His unique nature threatened to allow the entirety of its authority out, but Noah bottled it up for now, lest he caused more trouble for the humans.

    The group of thirty-five beings all within the fourth tier eventually arrived. Nora went forward to speak soon after.

    "Good day," She started, seeing a person alsoe to the forefront of the group. His gaze was condescending and he carried himself with ss and honor. Pride.

    The blonde-haired elf raised his hand to shut her up and she furrowed her brows but made no reaction.

    "We have note to talk,'' his voice was soothing and calm, but pompous. "The agreement has been broken. It also matters not if the human wasn''t acquainted with you, as long as he had caused the deaths of our forces and approached you, then our agreement has been nullified."

    "Can we note to apromise, we can give you something in exchange for peace," Nora articted even if she had nothing in mind.

    "We want nothing of such. And what makes you think we desire anything from you," the elf countered. His light cream garment flowing softly in the wind.

    He was Merian, a powerful expert who had mastered all four elements and had Ice in his grasp. His prestige had been a lot as he had helped the elves conquer and hold onto a fewrge areas within that damned nation.

    Nora sighed at that tant refusal, she fell silent for a few seconds.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "If you have nothing more to say, we shallmence this battle. It is ording to the orders of the higher ones," Merian announced allowing a staff to appear in his grip it palpitated with high-quality mana.

    "Wait!" A masculine voice erupted from behind Nora. Her eyes darted and her head snapped toward the direction of the owner of the voice.

    Her gaze fell on Julio''s smirk and real trepidation sprung up in her being. ''What is he doing?'' She screamed inwardly watching the expert float forward before ring at her momentarily and focusing on the elf.

    Wearing a smile, Julio opened his mouth to speak, but before he did so, he knelt mid-air and the eyes of the watching experts widened.

    ''What a surprising turn of events,'' Noah noted from his position at that back.

    "I ask that you ept me into your force. I am willing to do anything to live," Julio announced with a loud voice and Nora''s aura red with fury.

    She stood ready to attack when Merian spoke.

    "Going on with your n will force out power on you and your city. Beware," the elf warned as the Krets growled, their dark and blood-thirsty eyeballs falling on her figure.

    With eyes zing with an azure-orange light, she calmed herself and watched intently as he spoke.

    "I see you''ve understood the oue of this battle." Merian''s tone shifted to one inviting. His gaze had softened. The elves were always looking for human recruits to add to their force.

    Julio raised his head and nodded.

    "A wise man you truly are," Merian responded with a smile. Lifting his gaze, he studied the other experts and yed on the situation to bring gains to the Order. His merit would increase well after all this.

    Greed and hunger for power filled his mind at that realization.

    "The Order is generous and able topromise. I will allow any one of you who desires to escape death and join us to do so now. You have fifteen seconds."

    His words were like a blow to the determination of the others. They trembled. No one wanted to die. That offer became increasingly favorable as the seconds passed.

    Nora''s eyes widened as she turned to gaze at the people she had worked with for years. Some more than others. She pleaded with her eyes. But life never went as she desired.

    Four departed from the group, their expressions low and filled with shame. They hid their faces from Nora as they floated forward to meet Julio and bow before the incredible group.

    One more person came forward. "You shoulde,dy Nora. There won''t be shame to face. We would be dead to the world," the man suggested, going forward to bow before the elves.

    Nora''s arms dropped in defeat and gloom. She nced at the others and saw their eyes were cold, but they did not join them. Rather they came and gathered behind her.

    Out of ten, six had defected.

    Nora nced at Noah who had not moved and saw that his expression remained as calm as ever. At that point, even she had lost hope in whatever power that man had.

    "Time''s up," Merian announced. "It would seem the rest of you have decided to be unfortunate." An expression of disdain and even pity appeared on his face. But only then did he properly notice Noah''s figure and frowned.

    "You must be the one who caused all that trouble," the highly ced elf noted and the attention of both groups fell on him.

    Noah remained silent and walked forward.

    "Now that the sides have been chosen..." He started, not waiting for the other group to begin. "Shall we end this? I have a great guild to find." Noah''s figure stood before Nora when he muttered a few words.

    "Elder frost Golem."

    RUMBLE!

 Chapter 507 507. I WILL PAY YOUR BASE A VISIT

    A series of silvery-blue magical triangles appeared in front of Noah and cold mist exploded into the environment, even enveloping the entire elven group.

    A dense and heavy presence on par with Noah''s unfolded in the area, followed by the vague emergence of a tall grand figure.

    A zing pair of eyes shone within the mist and danger spread forth in all directions.

    "You will be the first," Noah''s eyes shone with a burning silver light as his figure streaked forward to arrive before the bowing group. He lifted the daggers in his grips as a gust of wind blew forth to clear that mist.

    Noah didn''t care however, his daggersnded on Julio''s shoulders and he curved his sh to behead the man in barely an instant.

    He stabbed his dagger into the man beside him and watched the expert''s figure burst into mes. He screamed and yelled while he plunged toward the ground below.

    Noah managed to kill a third person before having to retreat behind his golem.

    [Elder frost Golem[Active]: The hierarchy of power ranges far and wider across many topics and subjects and beings. Themander of all frozen golems, a being capable of summoning an army of them ording to how much essence is avable]

    [Cost: 30% SE pool. Duration: N/A. Cool-down: 60 seconds]

    The elder frost golem was revealed after the heavy mist cleared even if more flowed out of its figure. It was tall. Reaching a staggering height of 15m.

    It featured a frozen skull and featured one silver horn as long as 4ft. Its eye sockets zed with the silver light seen earlier. A tall staff existed in its skeleton grip and a huge glowing gem releasing intense coldness floated above it.

    The elder frost golem looked and was intelligent, but it still followed Noah''smands.

    "You should stay back," Noah advised a stunned Nora and the others, his gaze was focused on the group before him, he sensed them moving.

    Before Nora could respond, he transformed into a silver streak that shattered the sound barrier to arrive inside the forces of the elves.

    A barrage of mes and jets of shining liquid and even rocks flew forward at that point, a whole second had passed after all. But the sky suddenly shook when the giant figure of the elder golem draped in a silvery-blue attire made out of ice waved its huge staff.

    Tens of magical triangles and even circles unfolded before it, as beams of coldness erupted forward. Their potency beating Noah''s.

    The ambient temperature plunged as the elves found pirs of coldness reaching their ranks and taking over the environment. The krets moved forward but some directly turned to blocks of ice that shattered when they hit the ground below them.

    Noah figured to move the battle away from the city so hemanded his elder golem to summon its golems.

    Waving its huge staff again, the elder called upon as many golems within the fourth tier its reserves were able to create. From that point, it would rely solely on Noah''s pool of essence.

    One hundred golems within the fourth tier came to be! And a heavy presence overflowed into the world.

    Noah had to shield the city with his consciousness to prevent mass deaths.

    The golems were genuine giants standing 30m in height, far bulkier in frame than even the elder golem. But they were weaker in power. Butpared to the average tier 4 they would be considered top tier. Speed essence created them after all.

    The sky was filled with the figures of those golems. During that period, however, Noah moved about iming the lives of the various experts.

    The appearance of his golems which moved forward cause a violent battle to unfold.

    The elves remained skilled. Their spells were still potent against his golems, but he didn''t care.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Cold mist filled the sky as heat, water, rocks, and even sparks raged in its insides.

    asionally, huge frozen chunks would fly out of the moving cloud to smash into the terrain and turn everything around it to ice.

    Noah didn''t mind that his golems were being destroyed, as long as they imed lives too. Which they did.

    Nora and the others could only retreat to not get in that violent mix. They could barely see what was going on apart from the tall figure of the elder golem which had remained in position and sent all sorts of icy attacks into the cloud of chilling mist.

    If the attacks hit the golems they would simply phase through them to explode into a shower of speeding particles.

    Even from that distance her clothes froze and threatened to break off.

    "What sort of a man is he," She trembled watching the cloud travel kilometers from the city gate.

    Noah''s offensive rendered the Krets useless. Those beings could barely do anything before freezing to death. Even some elves fell under the power of his cold. It was made out of speed essence and their bodies could barely fight it.

    To make matters even worse for them. Noah allowed a huge dark cloud to converge above the battle.

    His figure sprinted out of the cloud as a huge bolt fell from that silver cloud to make the cold mist vanish.

    The golems were revealed in full disy. Their numbers remaining grand and oppressive.

    Noah had gained five levels after only a minute.

    "What sort of monstrosity are you," Merians words reached Noah''s ears as he stood high in the sky overlooking the remaining experts.

    Only fourteen of them were left. The krets having been wiped out.

    Noah''s offensive proved too powerful. His reserves and mind had taking the full brunt of that prowess, however.

    A small bottle appeared in his hand, it contained one shining silver pill. Noah retrieved the pill inside it and swallowed it. His core bubbled with essence as 50% of his reserve was replenished.

    Noah ignored the wounded elf. His eyes fell on two of the humans who had defected. Their eyes shook with fear and horror. They would die that day. They all would.

    "After I am done with you. I will pay your base a visit. There should at least be a few hundred experts within them," Noah announced even if he knew his decision would be hard and tasking even for him.

    Nevertheless. He was capable. The only being that could take him on was a higher-stage cultivator. And even at that, he had solutions for such entities.

    ''I have truly be overpowered,'' Noah revealed a cold grin. His feat was unholy. Only two stages above him could give him trouble!

    Raising his hand, Noah let his elder golem run rampant, and it disappeared from its position in a sh.

    The event brought shock and awe to his spectators who were also his targets.

    The wind blew madly as the temperature plunged across the regions that saw the passage of the elder golem. Its figure shed before the experts and it waved its staff, smashing it into some experts.

    The moment it touched them, they turned into sculptures of ice that shattered, only to release a blue sphere that shot toward Noah''s valiant and oppressive figure in the sky.

 Chapter 508 508. SUMMONING

    The battle raged on. Noah with his huge force decimated the elves rendering whatever power they possessed useless. Offense they say was the best defense. In that case; a crippling defense.

    The numbers of the elves began to decline steadily and only after about half an hour of fighting did the mist clear up to reveal an empty sky.

    Noah gazed at the three figures of his remaining golems. They had tried. His elder golem had one of its arms missing, but it remained mostly in one piece.

    The three golems had whole chunks of their bodies gone and one in particr eventually fell apart.

    His remaining two golems flew toward him. Only thanks to the elder golem could they fly.

    They arrived before his figure and bowed. Their size remained dominant, but Noah didn''t care he sat on the elder frost golem and ordered it to travel back to the city.

    The battle had eventually gone forward a few miles. Noah expected more elves to arrive.

    Truth be told he respected the elves a whole lot after witnessing their abilities to defend themselves against that relentless force.

    He had needed to refill his core three times in total just to wipe them out. His stash of pills had decreased by six and he only had 50. One took three days to be concocted which was a whole lot of time.

    Noah contemted his earlier words about wiping out that base. He was going to carry out his ns, but now he understood only through hard work could he achieve that.

    He had gained a total of 11 levels from battling them which was an exponential increasepared to his former stats.

    He had far more power than when he started but he believed nothing less than a few hundred tier 4 individuals would be within all thirty of the dome-shaped mass of vine.

    He would gain an incredible amount of levels but it would take him far more time. Still, he believed he only needed more of his golems. The Elder frost golem could essentially summon an infinite amount of golems, but it would need his essence for that.

    Noah arrived at the city''s walls and passed it. Fortunately, Nora hadn''t gone too far and when sheid eyes on his figure she and the three others including Fera shot forward to bow before him.

    Their figures radiated immense respect. Noah got off the elder golem to float toward their small figures. ''Two men and two women. A nicebination,'' he nodded arriving before them. They were the ones that proved trustworthy.

    "I have done as I promised, even if it would cause you more trouble," Noah exined ushering them to get up.

    "For this reason, I have taken it upon myself to wipe that base out. It''s war, anything goes," he announced and saw that they trembled.

    "I heard that they have 300 tier 4 experts and a few thousand in the third tier," Nora revealed even if she meant it in a way of disbelief. Surely he had limits.

    "Even better," Noah eximed already ready to move. "After this, you will tell me where the guild wasst seen and I''ll leave immediately," He exined.

    "You can call upon the royals to clean up the mess." He turned, ready to leave.

    "Are you really for us, master Noah? You do all this because you said you would." A line appeared between Nora''s eyebrows. Noah understood what she meant.

    "I am neither for nor against you. I''m simply moving ording to what benefits me," he admitted, still backing them.

    "So all this benefits you?" Nora''s features bent in light confusion, unable to properly see how that worked.

    Noah gave no response to her words and simply tapped the shoulder of the elder frost golem. It shot away from that area with blinding speed.

    "Let''s wipe them out," Noah muttered to his remaining forces and they nodded in return.<novelnext></novelnext>

    They arrived before the base of the elves in no time and Noah acted as soon as he told the elder golem to stop.

    Stretching his right palm towards the sky, he unfolded his consciousness and allowed his aura to barrel out with full intensity.

    Noah began to shine with an oppressive silver light and his aura became so dense it was almost tangible.

    The wind blew violently and the area covered by his mental waves saw silver sparks filling their space. Noah opened his mouth to utter one word.

    "Arrows of holy judgment."

    [Arrows of Holy judgment[Active]: All darkness trembles before light. Judgment against thy enemies is passed out with the swiftness of the arrows of holiness and light. When activated, an innumerable amount of holy arrows within 30 seconds, descend from the sky with the fullness of the power of the caster. Dealing great damage to the environment and whoever they strike]

    [Cost: 40% SE Pool. Duration: 30 seconds. Cool-down: 1 minute]

    The sky rumbled with terrible intensity and a blinding series of ovepping silver magical circles and triangles unfolded with power and might.

    Noah took a deep breath as a huge portion of his reserves was depleted.

    Having stretched one arm before the other, a silver construct of pure light appeared in his raised palm. An arrow. Noah''s aura surged as he pulled the arrow.

    ? Tens of small magical triangles appeared at its tip, all pointing at the sky, then he let go of it a secondter.

    A silent streak of silver light reached the magical circles and triangles in the sky and everything changed for the worse.

    RUMBLE!

    Many elves were within the base, but it was toote. Silver light rushed into the world and the sound of battle cries roared forward.

    Then it happened.

    A roaring rain of silver arrows descended from the immense magical circle and triangles. Each one of them being as long as six feet!

    The sky shook as that immense offensive fell upon the world. The bow disappeared from Noah''s grip at that point and he muttered another word.

    "Elder frost golem," a series of magical circles and triangles unfolded before him as cold mist exploded outward to reveal the figure of another elder frost golem.

    Noah allowed the old one to repair itself, as he took two pills to refill his core. Each one of them called upon 100 golems and the weight and pressure of those presences felt like it would bend the sky.

    His first offensive was met with barriers of green light that protected the domes, but Noah did not care, some shattered barely after three seconds under the thousands of arrows.

    Thanks to the presence of the frost golems the weight of that huge and increasing offensive did not weigh on his mind.

    Noah caused the elders to deploy their 200 golems, while he sat on the old one''s head.

    He took another pill and watched as two batches of golems were summoned putting the golems at 400 in total, then he allowed another 200 to be summonsed putting them at six hundred.

    Noah didn''t stop the summoning until his golems reached 1000 in total!

 Chapter 509 509. LOOP-HOLE

    A tiny figure sat upon the head of one of two figures. Each reaching15m in height. His body was donned in a regal-looking armor and his eyes gazed at the destruction that unfolded below.

    Noah had attacked the base of the elves and watched a violent battle that covered a few miles, rage on. His essence never stopped depleting as his elder frost golems assisted the one thousand golems in battle.

    Noah never stopped receiving the notification of receiving exp, he soon began to gain levels, but things were moving too slowly for him.

    It had taken the entire rain of arrows to destroy the multiple barriers each one of those dome-shaped masses of vines featured.

    His golems had rushed forward at that point and a wave of struggle to destroy those things had unfolded. Many of his golems were destroyed by the moving vines in the area, but they overwhelmed them and managed to create big enough holes to unleash some of their abilities.

    Cracks would appear on the faces of the golems and those cracks would expand until they could allow a huge beam of silver-blue mist rush forward, freezing everything in its wake.

    The tier 4 elves had revealed themselves at that point so Noah created a huge cloud that discharged its energy asionally.

    This had worked effectively in distracting the experts in their hundreds. Noah poured huge portions of his pool into those discharges, it was normal for it to be a big enough trouble.

    Some experts tried to approach him so he released another of his multiple spells.

    [Wind Serpent[Active]: With the versatility and power of the wind, call upon an elemental beast known for its greatness in the skies]

    [Cost: 15% SE Pool. Duration: N/A. Cool-down: N/A

    Noah had caused ten of those wind serpents to reach the battle. They were huge actually. Bigger than he expected, and although they took damage quickly, they unleashed tens of whirlwinds that jeopardized the experts and stopped most of them from reaching him.

    Even at that, Noah knew he would need more, which was what he was about to do.

    Standing upon the shoulder of the elder golem continually waving its staff to assist its army, Noah opened his mouth to speak.

    "Gale devil," he muttered as he sprinted high into the sky, right above the violent battlefield Some elven experts noticed his figure and started to ascend. He had cost them a lot in less than 3 minutes.

    A huge magical triangle unfolded beneath Noah''s feet as danger rushed into the minds of the many experts approaching him.

    He allowed the skill to activate in fullness and a pir of wind descended to crash into the ground. It swallowed some experts, but they remained alive.

    An instant after the gray pir hit the ground, a spinning mass was given birth and even more, chaos befell the battlefield.

    Noah had to tell his elder golems to withdraw the golems so they did not fall victim to the power that huge gale created.

    The ground tore and flew towards the violent mass. Only tier 4 cultivators could resist the pool, but when they found objects smashing into their figures they could only fall into grim moods.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Every expert on the battlefield found his or herself being pulled towards the violent gale, and Noah didn''t even stop there. He allowed the cloud above him to discharge its energy on the spinning mass, but rather than destroy it, both seemed tobine and the gale devil transformed into the crackling gale devil.

    The sound of the event became deafening and messy so much so that even Noah didn''t bother to do much in seeing the events going on.

    He returned to his spot on his elder golem as he awaited the arrival of an individual.

    They eventually reacted to the power his crackling gale unleashed.

    Noah saw a river suddenly spring forth out of nowhere to wash his crackling gale away.

    A shining figure appeared in the skies of the battlefield as three shining azure swords manifested out of thin air to stab the cloud and destroy it.

    Noah allowed all this to happen while calling back his golems until they stood right below him.

    He had managed to im the lives of all beings lower that the fourth tier in that period. The tier 4''s were still numerous due to the short amount of time he had utilized.

    "What have you done!?" The feminine voice spoke of power and fury, but she didn''te closer to him. Noah knew the reason for that.

    "I havee to wipe out this base," He announced allowing his mental waves to carry his voice.

    "And you think I will allow that?" Thedy spoke gazing at that dark helmet Noah had on. He had worn Muliix in its fullness after he summoned all his golems.

    "Yes you will," Noah replied. "That''s what the agreement between the Order and the royal council states."

    Thedy fell silent. He was right. The agreement had been only those equally matched should attack each other. They said so in a way that a stronger one doesn''t attack a weaker one. But never in their lives had they expected a weaker one to attack the stronger ones. A loophole.

    For this reason, only cultivators akin to the lower stage had approached him. The rest had tried their bests to destroy the golems. But he could already see that some were ready to directly attack him.

    His existence allowed for a major loophole in the rules, and for this reason, he would be utilized in the many battles toe. And also, for this reason, would his name spread abroad thends.

    "If you have nothing to say I shall continue my offensive," Noah announced after she had remained silent for a few seconds.

    "Have you no respect for the older ones," thedy tried to stall his actions, she found no way out of that issue apart from breaking the oath all of them bore of course.

    They didn''t know he did not have the oath as all those deployed to the battlefield had been asked to take the oath. All.

    "I have no respect for young experts. Which is what you are," Noah announced with a matter-of-fact tone.

 Chapter 510 510. AS I PROMISED

    Noah''s words did not fail to put both confusion and surprise on the faces of the listening experts and even the higher-stage female elf.

    "Let use to apromise," thedy announced soon after. She had evaluated his strength, at that rate he might truly wipe them out. At least the lower leveled elves. That would be a significant decrease in the forces of the Order.

    Although she evaluated that he had the power to wipe them out she believed even he had limits that he would need to face sooner orter. But after unleashing those spells, she had been forced to move after she realized that he had wiped out all the lower-leveled ones and the tiers 4''s were getting injured.

    "Apromise? Nope," Noah announced shocking the entire group. "The group you sent earlier had not wanted to settle for apromise, so I killed them. I am the liberator of the Orphos city. The dread of this war. And I havee to im your lives."

    His pompous words shook the hearts of many listening as they figured his im was true. They had lost contact with Merian only half an hour earlier and had been ready to deploy more experts to the scene to check things out.

    No one doubted his words, they were too big to miss, and too much evidence proved him right. Still, how could he; a mere lower stage expert, a human, have defeated thatrge force? And still want to kill them too!

    They had seen the offensive he was capable of but how could he still unleash that type of power after wiping out the group only a few minutes earlier?

    ''Surely you must be bluffing," Thedy voiced her thoughts but saw that Noah gave no response. Her expression fell.

    "Name your price," she allowed her power to carry her voice in his direction.

    "Tens of levels. Spirit cores. And memories," Noah listed his desires and their faces crunched up in confusion. He spoke strange things.

    "We have none of such things," thedy exined. "Name something els--" Noah cut her short by raising his palm, he wanted to do it and did.

    "If you have nothing to offer that I want, then I''ll continue," he raised his hand but she stopped him again.

    "I''ll break the oath if I have to stop you," she threatened, allowing her expression to go dark.

    "Okay," Noah responded with a shrug as his essence rumbled and he asked his golems to prepare to move out, while his elder frost golems stirred upon the shared essence to summon 100 golems each.

    That skill was bing Noah''s favorite.

    His immediate action startled his opponents who looked upward at their leader, most of the had never seen her before. Only the higher individuals could see her. It was rare to see such individuals of high status. For this reason, most of them strived to be useful and gain merit.

    The golems rushed forward while the elves waited for the orders of their leader. Thedy stood in the sky, her eyes dark from anger.

    Her gaze trembled madly with fury, but also helplessness. Breaking the oath would lead to her death. She didn''t want to die at a time like that, but she also knew leaving things would bring her shame,

    But what could she do when the oath favored the young existence who failed to behave humanly? Her death would almost be for naught. At least a few years ofying low within the order would take away any shame she called upon herself.

    "This is beyond me," She announced to the elves below her, their gazes trembling in horror.

    "I will leave you to your fates. The oath restrains me from harming him due to his level, this is the best I can do for you," She announced waving her hand to allow huge balls of shining azure liquid to manifest and shoot toward the golems.

    Her offensive directly wiped out more than half of their number. The power she held being capable of threatening Noah''s life with ease, but even with that little disy, her figure bent as she coughed blood.

    She frowned as she bowed and moved to take her leave. Noah clicked his tongue even if he felt no emotion from watching his golems destroyed, he simply took another pill and asked his elder golems to summon more while the sky was filled with a dark cloud and the silver sparks crackled within it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah wasn''t going to let her go, unfortunately.

    "I said I was going to wipe this entire base out," he repeated, arriving in front of her escaping figure. His instincts raged at that action but all he did was ce his hand on her shoulder and they both disappeared in a white light.

    Noah appeared within his cultivation room the next moment.He transformed into a silver streak to let go of her.

    "What are you doing!?" She screamed sensing a distance to mana. Something else existed around her.

    "Doing as I promised," Noah shook his head, afterwhich a white light filled his world and he appeared in the skies of the battlefield again.

    "Ah, yes," he immediately raised his palm again. "Arrows of holy judgment." He muttered.

    The sky rumbled again as some experts tried to directly shoot out of that area. Noah let violent lightning bolts fall on them at that point. His offensive put many on death''s door, and by the time his arrows arrived, he became a force unable to be reckoned with.

    The cries of pleas reached his ears, but Noah felt nothing. He was the embodiment of coldness. Only another death lord could do the same as he.

    Noah spammed skills at that juncture. His golems did most of the job, while the bolts that fell worsened the situation.

    The elves remained spectacr in defensive abilities, however. So he called upon the power of the gale devil.

    Noah sat in the sky overlooking the massacre that went on below.

    "Hmm... Let''s have a bit of fun. Sitting up here has be boring," he stated to himself, allowing Cudgel to appear beside him. His divine item floated.

    Noah decided he would utilize his speed affinity on that object as initially simted.

    Taking a hold of the staff he allowed the silver mass of his speed essence toe in contact with its figure.

    The moment the speed essence understood his intentions, it wrapped the entire staff in its spectacr material.

    Noah let go of it at that point, and sent it toward the sky.

    Cudgel transformed into a silver streak that Noah only associated with his movement. It reached the sky and hemanded it to expand.

    The sky trembled and the world shook. The regions wept as a result of what was about to ur.

    Noah moved far away before letting Cudgel fall to the ground with horrendous force.

    Literally in the blink of an eye that immense object crashed into the ground with godly might

    The regions shook violently as chasms directly tore open. Even the city of Orphos; miles from that position saw its walls crumbling!

 Chapter 511 511. RENGA REGIONS

    The region surrounding thending point of Cudgel''s massive figure never stopped shaking. Huge cracks akin to chasms never stopped opening in the area as Noah messed up that ce by letting Cudgel smash into the ground many times.

    He directly crushed tens of experts to death while the rest were put in a state no less than death. The terrible bangsing from that event could be heard for miles, and Nora had to utilize her mental waves to let the city remain in one piece. She could only wonder what that being was doing.

    Probably something outrageous.

    Noah waved his hand and caused Cudgels'' figure to m into his hand. The sky rumbled again and the huge mass fell from the sky with blinding power.

    It was spectacr, magnificent, a show of unstoppable dominance. Noah had ended up clearing the experts even before they could do much.

    The bolt that fell had cleared the huge mass of dust and debris that rose to the sky. It could cover cities, but that area was mostly trees and innds. The craters and areas of dead bodies were also expansive. In short only Orphos was the closest settlement.

    "They weaker than I thought," Noah uttered a logic-defying sentence and if anyone apart from his golems could hear him they would cough blood and rethink their entire chase for power.

    "Oh well, I fulfilled my promise. Maybe stronger existences will arrive one day," he shrugged, knowing fully well that his words insulted the souls of the beings that he killed. Sweeping his gaze over the heavily damaged environment he shook his head in pity.

    The dome-shaped masses of nts and vines had been destroyed and the many bodies of the experts he had killed littered the chasms insides some dwelling within the huge cracks in the folds of the terrain.

    Noah floated downward and activated his power over energy.

    The ground shattered and converged towards him, The vines, the nts, the bodies all flew towards his body being deconstructed into mere particles, it was a strange innate ability he understood only thanks to the memories he gained from Ersha.

    A seeming whirlwind of deconstructed mana-based bodies formed around him. The spectacle being visible for many kilometers.

    Noah felt his power grow as the energy was converted into exp when it reached the suitable amount of purity. A few minutes had to pass before everything died down, but his actions had further jeopardized the area.

    Noah took in a deep breath before deciding to leave that ce. It was still rtively early into the morning, but he contemted staying within the city till the next day.

    His figure arrived on one of his elder frost golems, he had disposed of the golems after some point. He sat on its shoulder and told it to return to the Orphos city.

    Noah fell into a bit of thought. He had gained a total of 66 levels from killing all 394 tier 4 cultivators and the 6 thousand lower-leveled ones coupled with the 11 levels he gained from the initial group. Maxing the total gains at 77 levels.

    A significant number since Noah had already reached the middle stage ording to the demarcation of levels. But it would seem the system only tabted it that way, he had not undergone any spectacr change only that his power was now more potent than usual.

    Being at level 286, Noah stood thirty-six levels above the lower portion of the middle stage. It wasn''t up to half, but with that power, no middle stage couldpare to him. He could now battle higher-staged cultivators and win. In mere hours of arriving there!

    Noah didn''t need to check his stats to know that his power had grown exponentially. He was more than 5 times his former level. His body palpitated with terrible power.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Barely a month into all this and he was already able to battle higher staged cultivators.

    Noah arrived before the city with his aura bottled. Now he was the strongest expert in the entire city.

    Nora and the others noticed him as soon as he entered again. He lookedpletely fine and spotless even. As though he had not juste out of a battle with literally hundreds of individuals at their power level.

    "I have fulfilled my promise, it is time that you fulfill yours, Human Nora," Noah exined heaving a deep sigh. He truly felt tired and only resting could help him.

    Nora and the three other experts remained bowed before his presence, but he didn''t mind. He casually let his elder golem float toward the building meant for them.

    The three of them followed closely behind Nora who followed closely behind Noah. They reached the nine-story building and he caused his golems to dissipate into masses of mist that quickly disappeared.

    "I want to rest here for a day. Have you called upon the royals, how long will they arrive here? I wouldn''t want them to meet me here," Noah exined arriving inside a room only he and Nora entered.

    "I had been uncertain about your situation but as soon as you returned I made the call. They should be arriving in two to three days," She exined shuddering a bit.

    Noah nodded at that point. He fell silent for a bit.

    "Now, about the guild tell me where youst saw them," his voice rang out while he made himselffortable on the bed provided for him. Nora stood with submissiveness.

    "It was only seven months ago I had been on a mission from the royals about a certain region that had been infested with beasts."

    "Even amid the war, magical beasts bing populous is still an issue. I was on this mission and together had been deployed with two tier 4 experts from the divine lightning guild and two others from different guilds."

    "The mission of clearing the undergroundwork filled with bats had been easy, even if three days had passed before we couldplete it," she continued.

    "After the mission one of the two who went by the name Von had invited me to a short trip to their city. Then it floated above the Renga regions." She paused seeing a reaction on Noah''s face.

    "Elder Von," Noah muttered already finding that exnation adequate. The map appeared in his hand and he pinpointed where the Renga region was.

    "It''s quite distant from here," he sighed even if he felt nothing close to exhaustion.

    "They might not be there anymore," Noramented. "It''s news that they are about to make a big move on a significant base of the elves. It''s going to be a big event."

    "It doesn''t matter," Noah revealed still gazing at the Renga region on the map. It was the first snowy ce he would need to go to since he arrived in Cregar.

 Chapter 512 512. RESPONSIBILITY

    "From that point, I believe even I should be able to trace their movements. There are still chances that they are still there," Noah exined folding the paper and letting it disappear into his inventory. There were so many things he had the liberty of not having to hide anymore.

    "If you believe so, I''ll not go against your words," Nora bowed again, and Noah, although understanding the reason for that action opened his mouth to speak.

    "Since when was I worthy of respect?" He asked unable to feel amusement.

    "Since you called upon your golem to assist you in the battle," Nora rified still shaking from the scene that could rey In her mind. His disy had been valiant and dominant.

    Furthermore that he had experienced many level-ups she instantly knew she couldn''t kill him if she wanted. How had he reached the middle stage so quickly? She had no idea but recalled his words about only moving ording to what benefited him.

    "I see. Then don''t overdo it. I might react negatively," Noah revealed even if his eyes remained calm and his tone soft.

    Nora furrowed her brows at that point and she straightened her back in response to his words. She cleared her throat.

    "This will be your room, uh, Noah," She started. "Since you wish to stay a day we won''t disturb your stay," She bowed again before proceeding to approach the exit, which she did and left.

    Noah watched her leave with utter silence and stood when she finally left.

    "I hate disturbances. If you''re here to fight let''s get over with it," his tone was sharp and his eyes cold. His gaze snapped toward the room''s window and he watched the very fabric of space tremble at his gaze.

    "Your awareness is impossible. You truly as powerful as they say you are," a masculine voice pierced the camouge to reach Noah''s ears.

    "If you don''t reveal yourself I will consider you hostile and destroy half this city if I have to," Noah announced, his tone unchanged but he meant every word.

    "I was not sent to fight. But after you killed Kir, things have gotten annoying," the fabric of space shifted and the figure of a man clothed in apletely white garment unfolded in Noah''s eyes.

    He could have tried to bend the light around him to reveal him, but he preferred the person did so themselves.

    "Your prowess has made those less stronger than you unable to be deployed," the masked man continued switching to a slightly different subject.

    "I had to watch your battle with those elves. You''re stronger than you revealed. And even now..." His words faded away and a smile appeared on his features from behind the veil he wore.

    "What do you want?" Noah asked understanding the man''s power. He was well within the higher stage.

    "I havee to announce to you. Five attempts will be made on your life, if they all fail you will be summoned by the immortals themselves. I have no idea what they tend to do to you at that point," the man exined remaining in his upright position.

    "I already killed one of your own. She was weak. What more lives do you need to waste," Noah mocked but his audience remained level-headed.

    "Kir was never meant to fight you. She disobeyed direct orders thinking she could but had been unfortunate to meet a monster like you," The man shook his head in pity.

    "Just like the many who will be deceived by your power. You''re an abomination," the man added.

    "But I guess that doesn''t hurt you. You hold the title of a death lord. I am only able to know this thanks to my encounter with a few ones," the man exined and Noah only continued to stare forward.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It is what it is. The individuals sent after you will be genuine monsters and they''ll be able to give a good fight even for you," the man exined.

    "I doubt," Noah revealed. "Only if they are within the higher stage can they pose any threat. If not forget about it."

    A grin appeared on the man''s face behind his white veil. He had allowed Noah to fall into his real mission.

    "Thank you for admitting that to the world. We shall see that only individuals at that level are sent," the man exined performing a bow.

    Noah understood but he felt nothing from finding that he had yed into the hands of the man. He had never even thought speaking could be some form of validation.

    "Whatever. Get out of here now," Noah ordered.

    The man bowed again at that point. "Till we meet again, heir of the god of speed," he stated and Noah watched as a series of blue magical circles expanded around him and he disappeared when they closed up on him.

    The air stopped being stale at that point and he shook his head to lie on his bed. His mind wandered into the scenes of his battle.

    He had sensed the presence ever since the higher-stage female elf had revealed herself.

    Noah rested even if he didn''t need it, it was nice, however.

    Time passed as his achievement settled. Many found it hard that one man had been able to wipe out a base of the elves. One man.

    Night eventually arrived and Noah only had to wait a bit before the next day arrived. He teleported from within the cultivation room and sensed the arrival of Nora.

    Noah opened the door as soon as she reached it and his senses sharpened to understand that powerful individuals were approaching the city.

    "I understand," Noah stated before she could even speak. "I will be on my way now," he announced walking past her to approach the exit of that building.

    "I advise staying and receiving the praises. The royal family will be more than generous," Nora tried to advertise the benefits of staying.

    "No," He refused. "Take the praise for all I care."

    Nora stopped dead in her tracks simting such a turn of events. Her face twisted, however. She had not the power to hope to do such a thing, and even if they believed she would only be endangering herself as she would be deployed to other more dangerous ces.

    "I cannot steal someone else''s achievement," She yed it off with an honorable statement.

    "You can''t take that type of responsibility, to begin with," Noah countered making her expression waver.

    "Make anything up. Till next time, Nora," Noah announced stepping onto the tform of air before him. He ascended into the sky and shot out of that area, transforming into a silver streak.

    Nora had not been able to say anything since the instant he left five figures arrived with the shattering of the sound barrier.

 Chapter 513 513. BINDS

    Noah''s figure streaked across the skies as he felt the presences of the royal knights withdraw. They hade earlier than expected. It did not bother him however, he was going to leave to begin with.

    His legs moved rapidly as he ran many times the speed of sound, his mind was capable of keeping up with that speed since he could create a tform or make one huge one.

    Miles away from the city he decided to take care of something he had started only a few hours prior.

    The white light of teleportation wrapped his figure and he disappeared from the sky. The streak he createding to an abrupt end.

    Arriving within the whiteness of the cultivation room, Noah waltzed in without the slightest hesitation. He had kept a higher-stage expert within it, but he walked in without fretting.

    "How are you enjoying your binds? They are made from an energy that is capable of killing you," Noah''s tone was calm, and his gaze light.

    His eyes fell on the chained figure of the higher-stage cultivator and he revealed a cold smile. Tens of chains made directly out of his speed essence were connected to her wrists and legs and her neck. Noah had bound each of her limbs with twenty of such chains each.

    They weighed a whole lot, but mostly they prevented her from calling upon her mana, she had experienced a repercussion simr to speed essence poisoning. Only milder.

    Thedy remained silent at his words. Her body featured many cuts and wounds. When Noah hade there he had fought with her. Going on to express his higher level of power.

    Thanks to the unique nature of that room, he could expand it until it reached many meters in size. A suitable battlefield for those experts.

    He crouched before her and ced his hand on her chin, raising her face. She had a ck expression on, and her gaze remained nk. The grey lights that swirled within her eyes had gone low.

    Not being around mana had drained her very existence, The sole energy that powered her had been stripped from her reach, and the energy around her even hated the one within her. It was a state no less than death.

    "Do you relish watching others in pain?" She spoke those words like a curse.

    Noah let go of her at that point.

    "No. I wish I could though. I feel nothing but the willingness to do whatever I want to do," he replied tilting his head and cing his finger on his chin.

    "A disgusting smell reaches me from your figure. You''re one who''s had his hands within the pools of death," She raised her head to re at him.

    "I once wasn''t this way. That wasn''t even too long ago. But that is not the topic of our conversation." Noah exined. "I havee to kill you."

    "You tell me you don''t enjoy the suffering of others and you say that with such boldness and tancy," the elvendy gave a cold smile. Her tone had reduced, and her gaze had fallen to the ground.

    "I said that to let you know my intentions. You will be subject to an experiment after which I''ll take your memories and eradicate the Order from this nation," Noah stated.

    "You don''t have that type of power," She mocked.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Between the both of us I should be saying that," Noah shook his head. "I will have such power soon. Very soon."

    "Just like how you grew in power in only one battle with us," She raised an eyebrow.

    "Precisely," stated Noah. "I will go around eradicating the bases of the Order which would make me grow stronger. It is such a beautiful thing that you all sprung up at this time. Truly fate exists."

    "How does that even work? And they will have you dealt with," She spat at him. But Noah dodged it with ease.

    "Well, they can do whatever they want. I''ll grow stronger and eradicate all of them," He stated once again waving his hand in dismissal.

    "Your arrogance will lead to your death," Stated the elf and she lowered her face.

    "I''ve forgotten how to feel arrogant. All my words are logical and possible, so I''ll achieve them," Noah exined falling silent. His words made no sense but he didn''t look like he bluffed so she could only wonder.

    "Now to the main topic of our meeting. I still have my guild to find," he started.

    "I will now proceed to see the full extent of essence poisoning. It''s one part of my mission on this." He crouched before her again and this time he ced his hand on her chest.

    The event and his weird words startled her but she cared less about who touched her body or not.

    The silver mass of speed essence flowed out of Noah''s hand at that point and he made it instantly seep past her clothes to enter her body.

    Her figure exploded with power at that point and he was pushed back crashing into the wall violently.

    A primal scream left her lips at that point and Noah felt his eardrums tremble madly.

    A vibrant blue light flowed into the world as thedy floated, but she shook violently in pain, trying to unbind herself and stop whatever was going on within her body.

    Some of the chains snapped, but most remained to bound her. Cries of agony never stopped leaving her mouth and soon she began to beg for help.

    The pain she felt remained one she would never be able to bear. The speed essence without anymands from Noah; was violent.

    It tore through her spirit which had all of its mass based on mana. Both energies fought, but speed essence was from a level of power the mana she was exposed to had not reached.

    Noah had to expand the cultivation room to amodate that violent event, spells tried to form but only masses of water fell from different points, her mana seemed more attuned to the form of water, but mes still filled the world around her.

    The event became a proper storm of elements but a silver light always tried to suppress them.

 Chapter 514 514. FAILED SPEEDLING

    "The effects are more evident in an existence that has grown this much with mana," Noah noted creating a barrier of wind before him, even if it was transparent.

    His mental waves always got messed up whenever he tried to inspect that scene with them. Noah had to bend light in such a way that the thick barrier before him looked transparent.

    It worked well since both elemental manifestations were from the same essence and the same person.

    The violent energies that were birthed as a result of thedy''s mana created mes rocks, water, wind, and even sparks. The cultivation room saw huge elemental masses mming into its wall and exploding into waves that could end cities.

    Higher-stage cultivators were closer to tier 5 so he didn''t expect anything less from her.

    The cultivation room remained unchanged, however. It was created from something even past the seventh tier. Nothing in Cregar could damage it.

    The silver lights that showed that Noah''s essence was winning became more and more evident. Her screaming had stopped as she fell unconscious.

    Minutes passed and the manifestation of her mana began to withdraw significantly, and so did her aura. She was dying and the event was getting less violent.

    Something strange urred however, Noah watched a violent wave of invisible energy flow outward and even made his barrier experience deep cracks.

    An illusory figure came out of thedy''s floating. It was normally invisible, but Noah could see them thanks to his level.

    Still, the figure resembled thedy and she even stared at him.

    Both man and spirit stared at each other intensely until visible silver chains sprung out of her figure to drag her soul back into her body.

    An explosion of power erupted at that point and Noah felt his insides tremble as a result of the sheer might within that event.

    A notification reached his eyes and he shot forward in that instant.

    His world slowed down and he activated the innate ability to search for her memories.

    During his incredibly rapid search, however, he realized something fundamental had changed about thedy.

    Essence poisoning saw both energies battling for dominance, his speed essence gained that dominance and began a radical change within her body.

    It reminded him of when he had begun the transformation into a Speedling, but hers was far more violent and led to her soul''s destruction. Hence Noah couldn''t gain any of her memories.

    Lifting his hand off her body. Noah furrowed his brows when he watched all signs of mana depart from her body. She was empty, but essence sprung up in her being and his eyes trembled.

    Her figure wriggled madly as a new aura, onepletely different to Speedlings but almost like it, filled the space around him.

    Noah took many steps backward to watch that event. Her body stopped wriggling and her eyes snapped open. But thedy''s soul was gone. Whatever opened its eyes wasn''t her.

    "This is more than I expected," Noah muttered watching the figure make the chains around her shatter into motes of essence that transformed into a violent wave of energy.

    Her eyes bled and her figure made erratic movements. Noah watched bones snap and protrude out of her shoulders. The insides of her head turned into a blob as it wriggled creepily to allow the appearance of a short stump. Like an iplete horn.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah''s eyes sparkled at that event. Speedlings were beings with horns. One horn was a sign that the Speedling was a High Speedling. No horn meant the lowest of the Speedling bloodline.

    Having half a horn would mean halfway into the power of high Speedling. Noah could marvel at that sight.

    The figure before him growled with rabid intensity, but it seemed tock intelligence. Or rather, he could see its intelligence grow.

    "It''s not exactly a Speedling. More like a failed one," he muttered studying its reaction to his figure. Noah would essentially be the highest-level Speedling it would every eyes on.

    Noah let it stare at him until his instincts reacted. It tried to move towards him with ill intent but he watched it explode in a gory mess.

    The essence within it had reacted negatively to it wanting to attack him. He was the child of the speed force after all. The speed essence within its body had torn itself apart to stop whatever attack it nned.

    Noah stretched his hand towards the mass of blood and watched it break down into a mass multicolored of energy that flowed into his body.

    He heaved an emotionless sigh at that point. Doing it only because he remembered sighing whenever he was stressed or learned new things.

    He gazed at his new stats and saw how he had gained ten new levels from killing thedy. And two extra levels for absorbing her higher leveled body.

    His level would be an outstanding 292.

    He shook his head and exited the cultivation room secondster. He would go over his findings but needed more experiments to reach more sound conclusions.

    His figure resumed streaking across the skies of Cregar. His destination was a great distance away from him, even after that much running.

    The world below him continued to change asndforms and bodies of water zoomed below him.

    Hended at certain points to simply see things. Or just explore a bit. Noah also cultivated as the days passed and he grew in his understanding of speed.

    He advanced through the ranks of the fourth speed rank. Leveling up made all his aspects increase, including the speed essence rank. He would never need to cultivate both separately.

    Ter had told him that cultivating tranted into levels, but he had left out the part that stated also that gaining levels meant his attunement to the rank of the speed essence increased.

    He was in a perfect state. All things worked together for easy and swift growth in power.

    Noah enjoyed the ease even if happiness was far from him. He still preferred that lifestylepared to centuries of cultivating.

    His power was already beyond most people he''d known from many years ago.

    It took Noah seven days of his routine to finally reach the beginning of the Renga region.

    He knew this when a wide blue river unfolded in his eyes. And as he ran across it the ambient temperature decreased steadily.

    The river was split in half. One side waspletely frozen while the outer sides continued to flow. A strange sighting, but he didn''t care since his destination wasn''t too far again.

 Chapter 515 515. PRISON-ROOM

    The skies darkened and the ambient temperature plunged. The wind blew violently and the terrains saw a whiteyer coating their top.

    Noah soon began to run above whitends, and snow fell from the sky above him. The temperatures of those regions were deadly low. Only tier 3''s could properly handle it. Anything less and would die too quickly.

    Being of the ice affinity, Noah had no problem being there. Heck, he feltfortable in that environment. The white surface gave things a new vibe. He had gained the type of power that would allow him to traverse variousndscapes and environments.

    If he could feel dness, it would be overflowing in his heart.

    Miles upon miles of frozen andy snowynd areas unfolded in his nk gaze. Noah studied the environment and even a bit of its beasts, but he mainly focused on sprinting across the skies in search of a floating ind.

    His search would not be in vain since, after only a few minutes of rapid movement, Noah felt a weird aura reach his senses and he couldn''t help but slow down,

    His instinct picked up a presence, one he had not felt in such intensity but knew about.

    "Only a really powerful magical beast can exude such an aura," he considered entering the range of the massive cloud, he could tell what was within it even if his mental waves were mostly restricted.

    Noah traversed the insides of the cloud for what felt like hours, even if only minutes passed. Everything waspletely dark within it, even if he knew the clouds were pure white.

    Soon the sound of rumbling and crackling reached his ears and danger flowed into his head slowly.

    A hugend mass appeared in his sight and Noah noticed how the temperature had greatly increased to one suitable for lower leveled individuals.

    The shing of lightning bolts reached his eyes, but so did the appearance of a figure.

    Noah watched a certain presence enter his range of sight. The world stretched and he appeared within an environment separated from the city below. The pressure of the forceful teleportation mmed into his mind with full intensity, but he barely felt its power.

    Golden buildings appeared in his eyes, while one bigger structure floated right at the center of the area.

    Noah recognized that ce to be the Grand-elders stayed, but only one person had noticed his arrival and approached him.

    "Elder Adonis," Muttered Noah when both their figures arrived within that space.

    His words startled the expert before him.

    "You know me?'' Elder Adonis'' voice revealed his astonishment before he fell silent and inspected the person in front of him.

    He had only reacted to the new presence thanks to the sensors he ced around the city, but now that he looked at Noah very well, his eyes widened in surprise.

    Although Noah had been through a series of evolution he had mostly remained recognizable. In short, his features had only been amplified and not radically changed.

    "I am the one you know as Aiden, Grand elder. A student of elder Sarah," Noah announced before the expert before could pick up memories from thirty years prior.

    Elder Adonis being a man of stunning looks himself, fell into astonishment. His reaction time to that announcement had been practically instantaneous.

    Taking a step back he inspected the man; if he could even call him that, before him.

    Noah had grown vastly in power. So much so that only that reality was enough to make him unrecognizable.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His presence exuded deep danger, and although Elder Adonis stood at the very peak of the fourth tier he still felt the immensely strong middle-stage expert could hurt him.

    "You''re Sarah''s student?" he asked unsure of that truth, even if his memory brought images of Noah''s face and indeed the person before him was the one. He was simply more stunning and powerful. Very so.

    Noah nodded in affirmation and elder Adonis fell into thought.

    "But... You''re dead," the expert found it hard to believe a person of his status would be in such a situation.

    "It''s a long story. But I escaped the chains of death and found myself somewhere far away from this ce," Noah exined nodding his head a few times.

    He ced his hand in his attire and separated the robe to allow visuals of his chest.

    Elder Adonis gazed at that body part and saw the oath''s manifestation, his eyes trembling at that point.

    He felt ready to speak when an aura descended upon them and he looked up to see the figure of a person he knew too well.

    "Grand elder Ezra," Noah bowed seeing the cyan-haireddy floating before their presence.

    "Aiden!" She eximed in astonishment.

    "Yes, grand elder," Noah responded not finding her surprise unexpected in the slightest.

    "You''re alive," She nced between Adonis and the breathtaking young man before her.

    "Yes I am, master," he nodded. "I have returned after many years to take my ce in the guild and help it destroy the Order."

    She fell silent at his words wondering how he even knew about all that. How did he even find them? But the current issue remained that a dead man stood before them. His presencecked the attributes of a proper man. Or rather featured more. Speedlings were higher beings.

    "Before we decided on anything let us get you up there," Elder Adonis exined and the Mater Ezra nodded in agreement.

    They led him into the huge mansion closer to them and rather than the throne room, he was taken deeper into that mansion.

    Although Elder Adonis hid it with expert proficiency, Noah could guess he was ready to go hostile and violent on him if required.

    Noah silently followed them. He watched the huge pirs that held that ce up, pass by as they went deeper and deeper into that grand structure.

    He had an idea of what they nned to do, and he remained okay with it.

    "Here," Elder Adonis gestured into the room they had reached. The door had opened the moment they arrived before it.

    "I understand this is necessary. But I won''t stay too long. I also have many things to do," Noah announced walking into the prepared prison room.

    The moment he stepped in golden chains sprung out from within the room''s golden walls and floors totch onto his figure. Binding him in an instant.

    Those magical chains held a durability only items within the fifth tier could wield.

 Chapter 516 516. DOUBT

    Noah sat within the bounds of an enclosed room. His surroundings shone with golden radiance. He had been within that room for a while now. Five hours to be exact.

    The time for the hatching of the Thunder Bird drew dangerously close. Only three hours remained for that event to arrive and Noah could already tell that it would be transported to the outside world.

    In short, its hatching would lead to something he mostly wouldn''t be able to hide.

    Noah waited for the return of his grand elders, but he believed they would be toote and he''d have to leave his confinement to allow his pet into the world.

    In truth, he could leave just that instant. The teleportation into the cultivation room stood at a level even beyond the sixth tier. A mere tier 5 bind would never be able to keep him in one ce. Not even tier 6 could keep him in ce.

    His eyes were shut and his consciousness remained unfolded in the room. His level normally would be unable to do anything to that ce, so he was genuinely bound. But he would move if he deemed it necessary.

    Elder Adonis had been unfazed when Noah had announced he knew about his n to keep him in confinement.

    He and Elder Ezra had left to call upon others into the matter. The man named Aiden had increased in terms of power. But had also grown distant from humanity.

    His sudden appearance was even something they would need to deal with. He still held the mark of the guild''s oath, meaning he truly was the one. But how?

    They woulde to question him but time was needed for the others to arrive, especially his master who would be a major piece in the grand raid to ur.

    She had been deployed to a region where their guild and other guilds in cooperation had made a base. It would take her a few more hours to reach him at full speed, but there were teleportation nodes made only by the guild.

    Only those who bore the mark of the guild could ess it. The royals had decided not to implement this since some noble families had previously infiltrated their ranks with genuinely special individuals who knew too much but had been stopped from taking an oath that directly took their lives. When the Order called upon their supporters, such experts were able to leave unharmed, or only slightly.

    Such nodes were also expensive to create. Especially when geared towards one set of humans in an organization.

    The great guilds had been allowed to do whatever they wanted since they yed major roles thanks to their experts who were even more spectacr than many of the royal knights.

    Still, nodes only cut the journey short and were at locations that would not allow some type of unexpected raid. Things were very hectic in times of war. All scenarios had to be considered.

    Noah''s silver and white hair fell to his shoulders as his head remained lowered; facing the golden floor.

    The room opened at some point and five figures walked in. The highest leveled person being in the fifth tier.

    Noah finally raised his head after an extra hour of having to wait for the return of the grand elders.

    The event caused gasps to leave the mouths of the figures apart from Elder Adonis and Ezra, however. Noah lifted his silver eyes to gaze at the figures of Elder Von, Anna, and Tiana. Ady he had not seen in a long time.

    Those who felt the most shock were, of course, Von and Anna. Tiana had only been told about the event. Having been too busy to make contact with the man.

    "Impossible," Anna muttered taking a step back. Her eyes were wide and her hands fell on her mouth to cover it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Her features were more vibrant and even glowed. Her power in the middle stage was the main reason for this reality.

    Elder Von could only stare in astonishment. He failed to articte words, but he regained hisposure not too long after.

    Tiana simply stared, gazing into Noah''s silver eyes and feeling her heart palpitate in excitement and also fear. Her power fell short of his. She had managed to reach the fourth tier in all that time.

    She only became a tier 4 expert less than three years prior. For this reason, she had been with the grand elders who had taken interest in her power.

    "What shall be done to him, masters? He is certainly the one we know as Aiden," elder Von broke the silence, turning to gaze at his elders. His power had also grown within the fourth tier.

    Before Noah left, he had been close to the peak of the lower stage, but things had changed now. His power had increased and he stood very close to entering the higher stage. Even he felt he only needed a few months, which would not be a wrong estimation.

    "We shall await the arrival of the others. Mostly Sarah," elder Adonis exined shaking his head. Von nodded at that point turning his gaze to Anna.

    It still took her a few seconds to process the scene before her. Memories of how devastated her best friend had been flooded her mind. It had been a hard time for herself and Dan.

    "I apologize that his reunion urred in such unpleasant circumstances. I am still the Aiden you know," Noah spoke up forcing all attention to his figure.

    It felt like a ghost spoke to Anna and Von, as both had thought him dead long-long ago.

    "Whatever it is that you want to do, I advise you do it in less than two hours. An event will ur soon and I''ll need to be out of this ce by then. I apologize beforehand." Exined Noah. His words were still strange,

    How would a middle-stage expert escape binds that were meant for tier 5 existences?

    Silence reigned at his words until Grand Elder Ezra spoke.

    "We do not n to keep you here long. But it will be more than two hours. We shall eventually let you out," she exined, calm and collected.

    Noah nodded and lowered his head again.

    "Let us go," Elder Adonis announced at that point. He had a tingling feeling that Aiden''s announcement would somehow reveal itself to be true. But how would he escape his binds?

    He would prove even more dangerous if he could pull off such an action. However, Adonis didn''t believe he could. Still, he couldn''t get rid of the doubt spreading in his heart.

    [The countdown has ended!!]

    [Hatching will now begin. You have ten seconds to find a suitable environment]

 Chapter 517 517. SILVER CRACK

    Noah shook his head at that panel. His words woulde to pass. He would need to leave his confinement without being officially left out. He understood that such would put him in even more trouble, but his pet was more important.

    Noah stood up, feeling the chains apply their hold on his limbs. There were separate chains for each of his legs, but they would only draw him back if he moved too far from his spot.

    A white light appeared around him however and his figure disappeared, unable to be hindered by the tier 5 binds. An rm was raised about the escaping of the prisoner, but Noah would never hear it.

    His figure appeared within the white nature of the cultivation room and he immediately teleported to the beginning portions of the Renga region.

    Noah appeared high in the sky. The whiteness of those snowynds remained dominant and the snow falling from the cloudy skies remained constant.

    He felt a heat rise in his being when the countdown reached zero. A white light shone from his chest as his attire was ripped to allow the passage of the violently shinning egg.

    Cerulean, white, and golden lights beamed out of the rapidly spinning egg. And a thrumming sound unfolded into the mostly peaceful, but windynds of the snowy region.

    Noah watched calmly. Understanding that something big was about to ur.

    The clouds darkened and the winds grew even more violent. The crackling of lightning bolts reached the world and Noah felt their power shake him.

    "Already?" He muttered, understanding that the might contained within that cloud could already rival his.

    The event wasn''t out of his evaluations, however. The system had made it known to him that the Thunderbird was highly attuned to lightning. He expected nothing less. Especially after it had bathed in his essence and soul energy.

    The skies grew even messier and the colored lights the spinning egg released became blinding. Lighting up the area like a miniature star.

    The heat in the environment also spiked. So much so that the cold clouds above melted and their reserves fell like rain.

    Amid this event that had spanned over a minute, Noah could already sense familiar presences reaching that ce.

    The guild elders had reached his position, but he didn''t want to be disturbed.

    Shockingly, however, before he could act, he felt those presences recede into the distance. They had decided not to disrupt whatever was going on. He believed elder Ezra had been the cause of this.

    After all, rather than escaping, he had simply reached the outer portions of those snownds. They had even found him in ce.

    Even at that, Noah allowed his essence to act. He unfolded his consciousness and created walls of his elemental affinities.

    Massive grand walls of great intensity and durability unfolded around him inyers. They were circr and seemed like a huge short cylinder in the sky.

    He stopped at that point and focused on the event before him.

    The lightsing from the egg grew in intensity, but suddenly the sound of a powerful crack opening; filled the world, and a wave of power flooded the surroundings of the egg.

    Noah felt that wave of pure strength try to push him back, but it couldn''t. Rather, his eyes were now on the damage of silver radiance.

    A silver crack.

    The cloud grew even more violent but it refused to discharge its energy. Nevertheless the fact that its sparks were all mixtures of the Cerulean, white and golden color, made the skies beautiful.

    Another powerful crack opened on the nigh-metallic nature of the egg. This time the power it unleashed was double the first. So was its sound.

    More cracks continued to open at that point, and Noah felt the power of each preceding crack containing far more force than thest.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The clouds also rumbled louder until everything turned into a mess of powerful sounds that even Noah''s walls could not hide.

    Something eventually changed.

    With an intensity in sound that surpassed the former. Noah watched the cracks that had opened begin to spread even wider like a shattering effect.

    Silver light took the ce of those three colors, but when the shell finally fell off with a wave of power, his eyes fell on a small figure shining all three lights with even better intensity.

    Silver essence swirled around the tiny bird but Noah didn''t care. He felt exactly half of both his essence and soul reserves vanish the next instant, all that power going into the cloud above.

    His instincts raged as the sheer energy the cloud contained skyrocketed until it touched what felt like the very peak of the higher stage.

    A strange and abrupt silence filled the world at that point, but a mighty roaring and rumbling barreled out with the discharge of that cloud a few secondster.

    Cerulean, white, silver and golden lights flooded Noah''s view as that life-threatening bolt reached for the small bird below.

    The event remained nothing short of spectacr and powerful.

    The instant that bolt touched the bird, a reasoning-shattering amount of force unfolded into the world around.

    Noah felt his vision spin as he was sent flying through his walls which experienced huge cracks and fell apart the instant that force touched them.

    His figure flew deeper into the Renga regions as he had been backing it.

    The force cleared the skies for many miles in radius and the sunlight managed to touch thosends for the first time in decades.

    Noah crashed into the snowynds with blinding force and felt his body tumble and tumble, digging through thends with ease.

    He smashed into a small hill and made significant cracks spread through it. But thatndform managed to stop him even if it crumbled merely a few secondster.

    Noah remained on the ground within that rubble.

    Great pain filled his mind in those instants. His insides felt wrecked as silver blood poured from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.

    That force had been born from a massive amount of essence and soul energy which had been greatly amplified in quality and power.

    Noah had even felt soul energy hit him directly. It hurt him since they had stopped being his the moment it entered the cloud.

    He had to stay within that mass of a former hill until his condition stabilized. That only took less than a minute, but he had emptied his core in the process, needing his usual pills.

    The regions had been silent after that spectacr explosion had paved the way for sunlight to touch those snowy regions.

    Immediately Noah''s figure rose from the rubble however, the sound of a deep violent rumble reaching ear-rupturing intensities filled the sky.

    Noah felt something reach out from his body to make contact with the being that had generated that sound. A soul connection was made, but a new silver screen appeared in his eyes.

    [Tame your reawakened soul bond. She is ready to go on a rampage]

 Chapter 518 518. DEFLECTING

    Noah nced up at the sky. His eyes pierced the distance tond on a huge bird shining in the skies. The temperature was plunging again and the environment moved quickly to cloth the sky with a new cloud.

    Noah helped with that event. He disliked the sunlight after experiencing the shade of those cold clouds.

    The regions grew darker by the seconds, but only a cloud formed. Noah set his eyes on his pet and saw that its eyes zed with all three of those grand lights while its feathers featured all three colors but glowed a silver light with it.

    "Do I have to fight it?" Noah scratched his head, questioning the system while blocking the now high-pitched sound the bird released, causing clouds to form.

    How It could generate both rumbling and high-pitched sounds remained a topic of curiosity in his mind.

    ? "Fighting is not necessary. But it depends on your preferred approach. Taming a wild beast usually requires force. But don''t forget all you''re trying to tame is a confused scared girl." The system''s words were straight to the point and allowed Noah to reach a new understanding.

    "I understand. Thank you." He revealed ascending into the sky.

    The spectacr-looking bird caught sight of his figure. The connection between them grew stronger and stronger, but it only saw him as an enemy so it shot forward.

    Noah''s eyes darted in multiple directions, noting the sheer speed his pet was capable of achieving rather casually.

    His instincts tingled when it finally reached him.

    The thunderbird had grown in size, reaching a stunning 50m in only height. Its wingspan being capable of entirely covering Noah''s view of the world.

    So when that huge figure appeared in front of him, it couldn''t be more noticeable.

    Noah felt a violent gazend on his shoulders, but he didn''t care. He formed a fist, shot up above the beast, and nted a punch on its head.

    The world rumbled as the sound of metal crashing against metal filled the skies. The beast disappeared regardless.

    Noah revealed an unfeeling smile at that event. He had felt a bit of resistance when his fist touched his beast, meaning it was already durable enough to not instantly die from his punch.

    A huge crater formed when its descending figure reached the ground. A cloud of fog rose due to the unsettling of snow in the area.

    The next second a genuine roar reached Noah''s figure. The skies instantly turned dark and multicolored lights shed from that dark mass.

    A bolt of lightning fell on Noah''s body and he plunged to the ground. Unable to take that power head-on.

    Pain reached Noah''s mind at that event. His pet was already able to hurt him with its attacks.

    Another huge crater formed when he touched the ground, but he had no chance to rest since thends around him fell into chaos.

    A violent whirlwind that transformed into genuine gales was birthed. Their numbers reaching tens.

    Noah was caught up in one of those masses and felt the power rip through his clothes and create white marks on his recovering skin.

    He was tossed around from mass to mass until the bird could stand and fly toward him with horrendous speed. Speed boosted by the fact that speed essence now ran through its body.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah saw the huge whirlwind he was caught in abruptly disappear. His instincts reacted negatively to that event as he saw golden objects reach his line of sight.

    The Thunderbird was a beast of great power and might, but one of its many features was the golden talons it was capable of retracting and revealing. Its beak was also golden and its feathers could be genuine weapons.

    With each p of the beast''s wings, the sound of thunder reached Noah''s ears, but since it could shoot many kilometers before needing to p again, it was only a bit consistent.

    "I need to get this over with," Noah muttered watching golden sparks run across his body from the talons the bird held him with.

    Merely a second had passed since his pet had caught him in its grip, but Noah could already feel those sharp objects pierce his skin. It could shred his body if care wasn''t taken.

    Appling his strength on that vice-like grip, Noah felt the beast descend until it made his body dig through the ground, in an attempt to stop him from struggling.

    The event truly was distracting, but Noah wasn''t any normal expert. He felt not an ounce of pain from the event, only that dirt got on his face.

    Further flexing his arms, he caused cold mist to seep out of his body with the same intensity as his icicle beam.

    The bird released a high-pitched scream and let him go due to the pain and cold it felt. Its legs had almost been turned to ice.

    Noah smashed and bounced on the terrain spreading craters. But before all that force could run out he managed tond on his feet and sprinted into the air.

    His figure instantly arrived before the massive beast.

    Noah grabbed it by its multicolored feathery tail and hurled it toward the ground.

    Raising his hand, he muttered the words for a lightning bolt and watched a silver triangle unfold above him.

    The magical triangle discharged its energy an instantter. Silver light flooded the world and the roaring of a huge mass of pure electricity disquieted the regions.

    Noah''s attacknded on the huge bird below, but to his inexistent astonishment, it raised its wings topletely deflect that electrical mass.

    The lightning bolt fell on a distant hill and brought it down in an instant.

    "Its feathers are capable of deflecting lightning bolts." Muttered Noah. Watching the beast shake off the chunks of snow and bits of earth on its body.

    It raised its head towards him, unfolded its wings, and voiced a sky-shaking roar.

    The beast pped its wings once and the sound of thunder shook the ground spreading huge cracks everywhere.

    With that single eleration, the mighty beast of immense pride reached his small tiny figure. Noah remained in position, however.

    His eyes beamed silver lights but his gaze felt steady.

    "Erolia," He called out calmly. That simple word stopped the huge beast dead in its tracks and Noah watched his pet tremble when its gaze met his.

 Chapter 519 519. VOICE

    Folds upon folds ofnd surfaces curving and spiking in variousndforms surrounded the duo, Noah, and his giant bird. The white nature of the snow in the area remained apanied by the blowing of the wind. The freezing winds.

    Noah remained in position, unfazed by what had just urred, he expected nothing less to begin with.

    The Thunderbird, which Noah addressed as its true personality. The young girl Erolia.

    Noah watched the eyes of the Thunderbird tremble madly as its light went dim and brighter in those few seconds. His words had called out the human mind within that body.

    Erolia struggled to ovee the violent nature of that body. It wasn''t wholly hers yet. Or rather she owned the body. She knew its controls, only that it remained new to her.

    "Come," Noah stretched forth his hand, even if he understood things wouldn''t be that easy. He watched the bird''s gazend on his hand and saw its eyes ze with intensity.

    A violent high-pitched roar escaped those golden beaks to push Noah backward with those soundwaves.

    The giant beast mmed into him at that point. Their figures shattered the sound barrier to fly across many kilometers until they reached the ground and began digging downward.

    Noah furrowed his brows even if he felt no pain from the event. The sky high above them tried to darken, but the more the cause for the storm went into the ground the lesser its influence grew.

    Thunderbirds were naturally able to cause storms, even without their energy at work. A rule that was set when that specie was created. It mattered not the world they were--storms formed at their mere presence.

    Noah shook his head and punched at its beak. His fist remained too strong for that beast to withstand so it flew upwards. Through the huge hole it had created.

    Noah straightened his figure and sprinted upwards at that point. He would need a bit more to get into the mind of that violent beast, only then could he call upon Erolia.

    Nevertheless, the seed had been nted since Noah watched it shake its head in a struggle to get a strange sensation out of its head.

    The Thunderbird mmed its head into the walls of that hole. It managed to hold itself up with its wings. But it couldn''t p them.

    Noah arrived beneath it, aiming to get pain into its mind.

    His fist crackled with streams of silver energy. Before he moved on, he wanted to test just how much resistance to the lightning element it had.

    The moment his fist arrived on its belly Noah felt all the sparks on his hand turn on him, and the entire hole saw a huge wave of violent silver sparks filling its insides.

    Noah had been bathed by his own attack. Meaning the bird''s entire body remained able to deflect lightning bolts.

    He shook his head allowing Muliix to cover his nakedness.

    The beast kicked at him, but he remained unfazed. Its figure couldn''t move much due to the limited space.

    Noah allowed his daggers to appear in his hands. His aura red and he delivered a kick to the beast''s belly. This time all the strength his body could muster filled that attack.

    The world around him crumbled at the sheer power he was capable of achieving.

    His pet directly disappeared from his view while everything fell into chaos. A violent shaking filled the regions around him as he opened chasms with his mere kick.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah held no concern for the damage his environment suffered so he simply elerated upwards to meet his pet in the sky.

    His attack had managed to crush tens of bones. It was already in pain.

    "I''ll beat the daylight out of you, then Erolia will surface," His aura carried his words and they reverberated across the areas.

    Noahnded on the beast''s head. His daggers fell on its neck at that point and a searing sh filled with only mes fell from their structure to submerge the entire bird in their power.

    An explosion unfolded at that point. Noah created a steady stream of his essence into that weapon, and the system warned him about the probability of destroying it.

    After that battle, he would leave those weapons in his essence. They would need to get ustomed to it or at least be transformed by it.

    The Thunderbird could hardly do anything when that attack filled its view.

    Genuine pain filled its mind for the first time in that battle, its survival instincts took control. Unfortunately, the connection between it and Noah told it there wasn''t much it could do.

    Noah dived into the explosion to find the beast. A flurry of punchesnded on its figure before it could even shoot toward the ground with blinding speed. The ck mass in the sky cleared at that point.

    "Is that enough?" He wondered to himself sensing pain through their connection. Although a connection had been established, Noah understood he had to get Erolia riding that body for the fullness of their bonding to arrive.

    "Maybe a bit more," He decided even before the state of his pet could be revealed through the thick cloud of snow and earth.

    Stretching his hand forward, Noah caused swords of silver light to form and manifest around him. Their numbers crossed a hundred.

    He lowed his arm and watched them streak towards his pet with furious power. What followed was a violent shaking.

    The swords of light created beams of light that heated everything. The snow melted, the ground burnt, then his pet voiced a screech of genuine agony.

    Noah cleared the clouds of dust with his wind affinity andnded on the beast''s body. It had ten of his swords stabbed into its body.

    Its aura had grown weak and Noah could tell it would pass out soon.

    "Can I get to Erolia now?" Noah asked cing his right leg on its head.

    His eyes remained emotionless and the same for his voice.

    The beast tried to struggle but it felt a force take hold of its mind. Its cerulean and golden eyes zed with deeper intensity and then something snapped.

    Noah revealed an unfeeling smile at that point.

    "Erolia?" He called out again.

    "Father?" Its golden beak moved to release a deep beastly voice.

 Chapter 520 520. GREAT POWER

    Noah felt the connection between him and thatrge beast, or rather Erolia, experience a significant increase. His eyes blurred for a second and he felt his mind gain a deeper connection to her being.

    "I technically am your father, as your body was born from my essence. Nevertheless, your mind and existence does not belong to me," His words were borne out of thought and his audience barely managed to get anything.

    [You have sessfully established a <Master-Pet> bond with Entity <Erolia> Specie <Thunderbird>]

    [You have gained new abilities rted to your status as a pet master]

    [Pet cultivation, Soul space, Monster integration, Soul connection,]

    Noah nced at the silver screen, merely acknowledging it. For now, he needed to bring Erolia from the chains of death. The only way he could do that was through the essence that ran through her body but originated from him.

    cing his hand on her beastly body, Noah allowed silver essence to pour out of his figure after dispersing the swords of light.

    The moment he did that a beastly sigh left her mouth and she fell unconscious while the essence ced her in a cocoon. She was connected to the child of Speed. The speed forces energy would do all it could to repair her.

    Noah activated his soul space on her huge figure and watched her body turn into a streak of resplendent cerulean light that entered the white crack that appeared on his chest even though Muliix still existed on his skin.

    That space was a dimension only his pet could ess, and it cost nothing to put her inside.

    Sweeping his gaze on the destruction around him, Noah noticed the clouds high in the sky disappearing since their creator had been subdued.

    He ascended into the sky to study the descriptions of the skills.

    [Pet cultivation: Being the owner of a pet you are capable of forcefully cultivating the power of your pet. Pet owners can only increase their pet''s strength until they reached their potential. Cost of essence depends on the pet''s potential]

    [Soul space: Every pet owner desires privacy with his pet. A unique skill that turns a portion of the owner''s soul into a space capable of housing his pet which is also a soul bond]

    [Monster integration: The topic of a bond between master and pet remains a great mystery. What more height is there than the bond and the master bing one? When activated, the master and pet undergo a phase of bing one, in both spirit and body. This drains both bond and master if energy is not avable]

    [Soul connection: An innate connection between the master and the pet, allows for unrestrictedmunicative abilities]

    Most of the listed abilities had no connection to energy cost. Noah could understand the cost required for making his pet grow in power. He also understood the cost of bing one with his pet.

    The most drain would be on him because the master was the one borrowing energy or power from the pet, depending on how strong the pet was the master or owner would have issues possessing its power.

    But Noah wasn''t any ordinary master. His status as a dark Speedling was proof enough that he had enough stamina to ess a significant amount of his pet''s power.

    Many pet owners needed time and required steady training to go through a phase of unlocking their pet''s powers, but upon their full bonding, Noah gained ess to all its abilities, even if he could not use them until initiating the integration. That was enough.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He would let Erolia heal for the time being. He needed to sort things out with his guild. If they proved difficult then he would not render his help to them.

    Noah disappeared from the damaged environment in a white light--appeared within the cultivation room--then returned to the guild''s prison room. Where the chains immediatelytched unto him again and he sat, waiting for the arrival of his masters.

    They came quickly. A tier 5 aura filled the world around Noah and he felt a certain mental wave grab hold of him and apply pressure on him.

    "I am not at fault. I had announced my intentions from the beginning," Noah spoke even when that pressure applied itself on his mind.

    The door flung open and only grand elder Ezra revealed herself. Her gaze remained cold and her mouth refused to open to speak. Ateast yet.

    "What are you?" She questioned long since sensing the difference between him and humans. Noah''s very nature spoke differently from what she was used to. He wasn''t even a magical beast.

    "A being beyond the knowledge of this world," stated Noah.

    "What does that mean?" She frowned, already annoyed. Noah had been left to do what he wanted, but only because they had somehow trusted him to return. Which he did. Even now, she only felt angry due to the fact that she knew her power couldn''t keep him in ce.

    If he could escape once then he could do it again.

    "It means even if I exined you still won''t understand," he shook his head uttering those words without the least bit of hesitation. Noah''s revtion threw Ezra back. How could he say such? Did he know what she had seen in her long life?

    Still, he was right. She had never felt such a presence before in her life. He spoke the truth, even if it hurt her. Especially more when he revealed that reality with such ack of emotion.

    "You better begin an exnation, or you risk defying the oath you bear," she threatened, already on herst legs.

    "The oath can''t hold me anymore. The least it could do is destroy my heart. One of them," he shook his head in dismissal.

    "I''ll speak when It''s on my terms. If not I''ll leave the guild. You''ll regret such since I''m the strongest expert you have in the fourth tier," he exined equally as emotionless as he began.

    "You speak big words, young man. If I can even call you that." Grand elder Ezra barely knew what to do. His words were too arrogant for someone his level. The news would soon reach them, however. A certainrge event had urred and a whole base of the Order had been wiped out.

    "They are the truth," Noah announced. "I am too valuable to this war for you to dispose of me," He exined.

    "We''ll see that for ourselves." She countered. "You will be pitted against the best of the bests in the fourth tier. You even know a few of them. If you survive then we''ll let you officially re-join the guild. If not, they have the authority to execute you on the spot," she exined with coldness in her tone.

    "Bring whatever expert. I''ll make them subject to my great power." Responded Noah, and he felt the chains binding him instantly set loose.

    One thing he liked about the people of Cregar was their efficient method of solving matters by disying one''s power. And power he held in great quantity.

 Chapter 521 521. GOLDEN-SASHED EXPERTS

    Noah strode down the golden hallways of the enormous pce at the center of the area within the clouds. Master Ezra walked in front of him. But with each step she took multiple floating screens opened before her until they filled the entire hallway, then she opened her mouth to speak, broadcasting into the city below.

    "Attention all guild members. This is a message from your grand elder," She started. "Permission has been given to all middle-stage tier four''s who possess a golden sash to ascend into the clouds. Your elder; Adonis, will be waiting to receive you." She paused after which the screen disyed Noah''s walking figure.

    "This is a fellow guild member. He has challenged you all to battle. And for this reason, we shall hold a tournament of sorts. You all have permission to kill him in battle. But only you. He on the other hand has only the permission to render you into submission. If he ever has such a chance. that is."

    Noah shook his head at that announcement. She nned to make a public spectacle of him and he understood. Still, only he knew that the opposite would be what to ur.

    He would make a grand entrance back into the ranks of the guild and in that way, he would prove his superiority.

    The screens continued to disy Noah''s breathtakingly handsome features. His mysterious silver eyes were nk, and his movement remained unhurried. He moved as calmly as he normally would. Not like someone who was about to battle close to sixty individuals. The rest were out of the guild.

    "You will battle him one by one. But since only a few of you are needed we shall sift through you," She exined when Noah raised his hand. She nced back at him and saw his extreme calmness.

    "Why can''t you make it two against one? It''ll reduce the time needed to test or evaluate them. It matters not to me since they all have one oue. Defeat." His words shook the hearts of the listeners and some of the already-arriving experts fell into anger.

    Elder Ezra furrowed her brows, she wouldn''t consider it to begin with but his next words made her turn cold.

    "Or are you scared of losing too many powerful experts? I cannot kill them but I can beat them until they are unable to move about for months, even years," He revealed and felt like gazes from behind the screens threatened to pierce his body.

    "Very well. If you have that much of a death wish I shall pit you against two of our golden-sashed experts," She exined and the lower leveled cultivators in the city trembled wildly. Almost all other activities were stopped to listen attentively.

    Things were getting interesting. Many wondered who that man was, as there had been newer recruits even amid that war. They felt certain that had an expert with such looks been present, then they would have noticed him. Everyone would have.

    Themotion was great within the city as many began to see famous tier 4 experts enter the screen and cheers filled the city.

    Golden-sashed experts were in short the most prestigious experts in the entire guild. They had been given that level after many battles won and achievements in the war. Even the royal family and knights acknowledged those experts for their power. They were the bests amongst even the best,

    Yet there he was, a man whom many did not recognize but imed to be capable of handling two of those experts!

    It wasmon knowledge that arrogance was the killer of many experts in that world. It would seem that man held both arrogance and imbecility.

    Barely ten minutes had to pass before all the golden-sashed experts remaining in the guild were avable.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah had been brought into a spatially enhanced room a few kilometers in radius. It was big but in. At least that was until Elder Ezra activated one of its functions.

    Noah watched high-tier mana sweep the entire room and sawndsing to be.

    The mana that had been made to wash over that environment created real earth and even hills in the distance and the light in the room turned blue, the higher portions of that ce mimicking the real sky.

    That was high-level crafting in disy. Only someone with genuine experience like a tier 5 individual could achieve such a feat.

    In the span of a few seconds, Noah felt like he had returned to the outside world. The only difference being that the environment before him did note directly out of Cregar''s mana. An expert had been the one to provide the mana for that feat. Still, mana stones existed to keep that ce in one piece.

    A battle in the fourth tier was about to ur it was obvious thosends would see destruction. But the mana of a tier 5 entity was capable of rebuilding the damage many times before it ran out.

    The said cultivators began to arrive and Noah found a few familiar faces, like elder Von, Delh, and even Anna.

    Still, he could already see unwillingness in their expressions. While the others whom he did not know enough shot gazes of anger at him. They felt disrespected by his words.

    "You have heard the rules. But now we need to get those who will be first to battle him." Elder Ezra floated in the skies of that ce, her voice capable of easily reaching down there.

    "We shall settle it with who the fastest are to cross this line," She announced allowing a line to appear a few hundred meters from the group.

    The moment she drew it, however, three figures shattered the sound barrier to try and cross that line. Unfortunately one of the three remained too slowpared to the others.

    The event had startled the others who had waited for her to give a go-ahead. But then they realized the rule had been super vague.

    A smile shone on Elder Ezra''s at that turn of events. "It''s good to see that there are still individuals capable of taking the initiative," She nodded, satisfied.

    "You have your opponents," She announced focusing on Noah who shook his head to take a step forward, cing his foot on a tform of wind and instantly arriving above the duo. He had created no streak.

    "Rushing into defeat. What a pity," He announced spreading his arms and allowing his aura to unfold into the world.

    Noah bathed that environment in a silver light as his aura forced all the cultivators present to rethink their decision.

 Chapter 522 522. FIVE HITS

    A dense and heavy aura filled the insides of that artificial environment. Noah''s figure remained above the surface and his opponent''s eyes went cold and grave.

    "Begin," Elder Ezra announced leaving the battlefield after which she waved her hand and watched a vast blue illusory wall spring forth from the ground encircling the entire ce, and only leaving a bit for the movement of the watching experts.

    Floating screens appeared above the battlefield catching the events that urred within that encircled zone.

    The other experts waiting for them saw this and shot gazes at elder Ezra. His aura remained too strong for someone in the middle stage.

    "I will allow you to go first," Noah announced making his aura reduce in intensity. His eyes zed with silver light and his being felt exalted above those humans.

    The duo exchanged nces at his words and truth be told; they felt d.

    Both of them nodded and Noah descended. Shocking the spectators.

    Did he really see his opponents as feeble? So much so that he couldnd without any weapons in his hands.

    His opponents weren''t naive or arrogant however, both individuals revealed their weapons, and Noah''s eyes fell on a silver sword and a huge crimson and ck hammer shimmering with hundreds of grey inscriptions.

    His gaze remained calm, however. He didn''t need to activate "Eyes of the death lord" to know he could defeat them. He even intentionally hid most of his power.

    "I see you both possess formidable weapons there. So let''s make a wager." Noah''s voice rang out before the two could move.

    "I''ll let you eachnd five hits before I make my moves. I also promise not to block any of them," He announced, and confused expressions appeared on his opponents who shot stunned nces at themselves.

    The crowd watching from the city and the tier 4 experts gasped at that bold announcement.

    "You can go all-out if you desire. And If I end up dying, that wouldn''t be a problem, since you''re already allowed to kill me." He further exined, making his offer sound even more interesting.

    "There has to be a catch to it. right?" The sword user revealed his doubt, but Noah immediately shook his head in objection.

    "There''s no catch. I will do just as I have promised," Noah stated with a gaze that spoke ofplete transparency.

    His opponents furrowed their brows at that point.

    "You can decide not to, however. That would mean you do not trust your power to end me in five moves," Noah taunted.

    "Yes," The sword user revealed. "I don''t believe I can kill you in five attacks. But with the two of us. That might be different." The man once again exchanged nces with the hammer-wielder.

    "Very well then. Come at me," Noah proimed spreading his arms wide.

    "This will lead to your death," The hammer user shook his head in pity after which he went serious. Both experts nodded at each other and their figures disappeared with a powerful bang and the shattering of the ground.

    Tier 4 experts were capable of great eleration. The ground couldn''t keep up.

    Both experts approached Noah with dangerous speed and in the twinkle of an eye, their figures flickered in front of him.

    The ground saw a spiderweb of cracks spreading in its structure as both figures appeared there, their weapons waved.

    Noah saw all this happen, but ording to his promise, he wouldn''t block any of their moves.

    The sword user muttered a few words and the temperature spiked dangerously.

    He swung his silver de with all the power his arms could muster and the moment his weapon reached Noah''s chest it exploded into a linear wave of deep blue mes, born purely out of his martial arts.

    Noah felt the power in that attack make him take a step back, but before he could settle he felt a metallic object smack into his head.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The force sent him smashing into the ground. His face struck the grown and spread cracks in the environment.

    The wave of mes ended at that point. The smoke cleared and Noah revealed himself by standing and dusting his clothes.

    That disy put shock in the expressions of his audience, but his opponent became even more determined.

    "One," Noah raised a finger and watched the experts disappear once again, They sprinted around him with frightening power causing a disturbance in the wind within that ce.

    Even the way the wind moved resembled the outside world.

    A tornado quickly formed as both expertsmunicated with each other. They would unleash their strongest techniques on him, but this time significant portions of their mana would be within them.

    Noah stood within the raging and roaring tornado around him. The might of tier 4 experts was in full disy before him.

    The wind had be violent, containing the type of power able to make chunks of the terrain fly toward it. And that was what happened.

    Noah watched ad felt huge chunks of rocks smash into his figure but he remained unfazed, simply waiting for the moves of his opponents.

    "Fifth form: Grass-root of destiny."

    "Seventh form: de of the burning star."

    Both voices announced at the same time. The heat in the environment spiked and reached zing intensities, While the ground beneath Noah terra-formed into a cage that unleashed spikes that further exploded into speeding shrapnels which additionally experienced a sudden pressure that made everything crumble on Noah''s body with twenty times their original weight.

    Abo of effects. That execution would normally put most cultivators in a sorry situation.

    The second attack extinguished the raging tornado as the sword user leaped into the skies to raise his de and swing it literally hundreds of times. But in merely a second.

    The execution instantly drained him, but the result was a huge sphere of deep-blue mes descending with terrifying potential,

    At least it seemed like a ball.

    In truth that huge sphere was simply apressed mass of all the individual shes, the expert had executed in that second. They all moved at the same pace thanks to the influence of the expert''s mental waves.

    The moment that mass of ming shes touched the ground where Noah had been buried; the most spectacr explosion since that battle began, unfolded into the world.

    A radiant ball of terribly powerful mes barreled out in all directions, turning the ground to ash.

    Even the expert that had executed the attack found tens of deep gashes and patches of burnt skin appearing on his body.

    His teammate managed to create defenses of rocks even if they ended up burning his skin.

    It took a while for the explosion''s aftermath to clear, but everyone already believed they knew the battle''s oue.

    Merely gazing at the massive but healing crater was enough proof. Moreover, when they looked at the person that had executed the attack they felt even morepelled to believe the handsome man was dead.

    A shame.

    For them of course, since barely after a minuteter the charred ground exploded to reveal the ascending figure of a perfectly okay but nigh-naked Noah.

    "Two," He raised two fingers.

 Chapter 523 523. PALM OF SUN WUKONG

    The winds blew violently and the heat in the environment stood at levels far too high for the average human to withstand. The ground burned as craters filled thends within the artificial environment.

    Two men crashed into the ground with a flicker, their figures refraining from achieving high speeds. The great brown and charred dust in the area stirred away from their valiant figures. But they couldn''t care less about it.

    With sweat dripping from their faces, and an expression revealing the gloom of their situation, they watched the winds blow violently until they cleared to reveal the figure of a certain dual-colored-haired man. If they could even call him that.

    His clothes remained tattered and his gaze fell to the ground. His movement looked slow and unhurried, but it dripped with abnormal dominance. How could such an expert possibly exist? His power defied logic.

    "Five," Noah announced apanied by all five fingers of his left hand. His voice reached all ears of the spectators, as silence filled the very world of the guild.

    During the ten minutes of back-to-back execution of only their strongest moves, the audience had witnessed some of the more powerful techniques they had evenid eyes on.

    A huge chunk of that ce now featured a healing crater. Whole habitations could fill it but their executions had been capable of unfolding in spectacr destruction.

    Still, none of it had managed to draw blood from the man. The best they had achieved were white marks that signified they had managed to scratch him. But never went past his skin. Noah had grown far stronger than his battle a few weeks prior.

    Only a higher-stage expert could truly match him in might.

    "ording to my promise now I can make a move," he stated bending his knees as a sign that he nned to execute a technique. What sort of monstrous might could he reveal?

    "Seeing as you both utilized martial arts, I believe it would be disrespectful to not defeat you with only that," he continued, showing how he desired to remove them from that ce quickly.

    "So during your truly interesting disys I had gone through my manual and had managed to learn a new technique," he exined and deep confusion appeared on the faces of all that listened.

    ''What the fuck?'' Many of them thought. How could he have learned a new move within the barrages of attacks, not to talk within only ten minutes?

    "You can give up right now if you desire. You will not be looked upon with shame. You have tried," he exined, nodding his head slowly even if he closed his eyes and allowed his aura to seep out with full intensity.

    A silver light unfolded into the world at that point. A pressure they had not felt before descended upon them and forced all other powers back.

    "It''s called the palm of Sun Wukong. It''s one of the strongest moves. So forgive me if its execution isn''t as spectacr as you envisioned. The more I practice the more power I''ll attain with it. In the meantime..." His words faded away as his concentration reached its peak.

    He had not lied when he said he would not be capable of achieving the best power with it. Nevertheless.

    Noah spread his bent knees until they reached a bnce. He stretched his right arm forward. Keeping it linear he allowed his hand to rise, pressing each fingers against themselves, thereby forming a palm.

    The wind exploded with power at that point, and the silver light in the environment withdrew into his body. His targets remained in position, suddenly unable to believe they could escape whatever he wanted to throw at them,<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah took in a deep breath and lunged his entire palm forward allowing the essence in his body t move in the said pattern required.

    The world seemed to stop as Noah pushed all the power his arm could muster into that attack.

    Due to his affinities having reached a new level after his advancement. The ground saw ice encroaching on its surface. Huge and loud silver sparks erupted out of his small figure and the winds grew even more violent, shining with a radiant silver light.

    All this happened in an instant and an invisible yet silver force flew forward.

    The ground disappeared as the outline of a huge palm; literally the size of buildings, flew out of the silver mist that had risen, to smash into the targets.

    The silver palm unleashed its power on their bodies and Noah watched their figures disappear in an instant, only to appear on the barrier set by Elder Ezra.

    The ground shook at that event and Noah felt a faint weakness fill his arm. He saw his opponents fall to the ground, the power within the palm unable to break the barrier but was able to shake it. Violently.

    It was only at the peak of the fourth tier after all.

    "They are passed out. Too many bones turned to mush. Both on the verge of death even," Noah ryed his findings, appearing in front of their badly bleeding bodies from within a silver streak.

    The moment he said all this the wall around him trembled and blue light filled his view to carry their figures away in its teleportation.

    Noah stood at that point, raising his head to gaze at the many experts across the wall.

    His eyes were calm and he raised his head to nce at Elder Ezra in the distance. Her eyes remained calm, but also cold.

    "Is there a need for another person," Noah asked already having in mind what could happen? What more than to pit him against the more stronger experts?

    "The next selection will be specific," Elder Ezra announced. "Von, Andrea," She called out and the said experts nodded to step out of the crowd. The people knowing full well who they were, parted ways for their passage.

    Noah arced an eyebrow at that turn of events, but he already had anticipated that oue. He would have felt smug were he able to.

    The figures of Elder Von and Lady Andrea walked past the opening in the wall of light.

    Noah inspected both individuals and noticed the dark expression on Elder Von, while Elder Andrea had a stern countenance.

    The one thing both individuals had inmon was the seriousness they exuded. They would not take the monster before them lightly.

 Chapter 524 524. COLDNESS

    Elder Andrea was ady of youth. She looked to be in her mid-thirties and featured almond-colored hair and features that spoke of beauty. She would be above average in terms of looks. But Noah had lost the ability to care about such.

    Her golden and ck robe spoke of how much she stuck to the standards of the guild. Most individuals usually stuck to normal but high-tier robes. Things changed after the war began. They were allowed to wear whatever they desired.

    Funds could not be wasted on things as mediocre as clothing They usually ended up cloth-less after all.

    Noah remained silent before the experts, his gaze pierced their figures to inspect their powers and he could tell how strong they both were.

    Elder Von had always been strong and he knew this thanks to the battle with the unknown cultivator many years prior, butdy Andrea stood on a whole different level.

    Unfortunately for both individuals, all their potential danger remained barely recorded in his mind. Noah had the capacity to take on a higher-stage cultivator. They could never hope to defeat him if they couldn''t defeat individuals at that level.

    If he could feel pity for them, he would. Since only the elder themselves could take him.

    "Are we truly going to do this?" Asked Noah, already seeing that elder Von didn''t desire a fight. But due to his strength, he would naturally be chosen to battle an old friend.

    Lady Andrea nodded her head before elder Von could speak.

    Noah shook his head at that point. He performed a head bow before disappearing from their sights to appear far away from them.

    "I believe both of you would not be naive enough to only utilize martial arts against me," he ced his hands on his sides, and his opponents nodded.

    Noah felt their seriousness from his position and he wasn''t going to disrespect them by not being that way too. But he couldn''t kill them. So he naturally wouldn''t utilize all of his power.

    Gazing through the record of his skills he shook his head finding them all too strong for the event before him. Still, he needed something to work with.

    Stretching his palm forward, Noah allowed spears of ice and wind to gather behind him. Their number reached hundreds even if their size remained on the small side.

    He lowered his arm and watched all that gathered attack shoot toward his opponents with zing violence.

    He had not put much into those constructs, but he put just the right amount.

    Before his many elemental arrows could make contact with his targets, Noah watched a huge wall of mes suddenly spring forth out of thin air.

    Hot winds flew in thend at that point and the ground started to melt at that event.

    "I have trained with some of the best me users In thends. My fire needs something stronger to burn," Elder Von''s voice reverberated throughout thends as his wall of mes managed to destroy all of Noah''s attacks.

    "Impressive," Noah revealed ascending into the sky. His eyes forces on the wall of mes and watched its shrink until it was the size of a man''s head.

    The sheer amount of heat it released could be felt from Noah''s position. Elder Von was following a basic pattern. Compress and addition.

    Pouring more of his mana into the construct he forced it all to collide with itself, shrinking it, but also increasing its power and heat.

    Elder Andrea simply stood close to the expert. She was a woman with the lightning affinity. Noah knew she could unleash a certain level of destruction. They seemed to have a n, however.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You''re well aware that I''m far faster than whatever attack you desire to throw at me. If you''re not, then here I am telling you." He shook his head and allowed another round of arrows to unfold behind him before letting them shoot forward with terrible speed.

    This time, however, Noah added more to those constructs, but it would seem Elder Von''s simple sphere of mes had just enough heat to annihte those attacks even before they reached it.

    Truly the heat was great, but Noah was resistant to it anyway.

    "What an enormous amount of mana," hemented sensing the sheer vastness of the expert pool. It was outstanding.

    Noah wondered what to do at that point, Elder Von wouldn''t stop that dangerous process, while Andrea remained inactive. Waiting for whatever they nned to ur.

    The blue light in the environment continued to intensify. So did the heat. But then something happened.

    The ball of me became too big forpression and portions of its mass flew out tond on the ground and burst into an expansive surge of mes that destroyed everything in its path.

    The sphere trembled violently at that point when its mass suddenly shrunk till it reached the size of a man''s fist.

    The heat in the environment ceased for an instant before returning with full force. But this time its color had changed to purple and so did its radiance.

    Elder Von struggled to hold it at that point so he let it go. It would seem the color of mes indicated limits of cultivators with such affinities.

    Noah disyed an unfeeling smile when a purple mass streaked toward him with horrendous velocity, whilst bubbling forth into a massive ball of violent purple mes.

    The ground disappeared and the air in the environment vanished. Kilometers upon kilometers suffered that event, but the true target only found his clothes disappearing, as hotness dominated his environment.

    Noah remained ready to move when his instincts caught a whiff of a different element embedded within that ball of horrendous mes.

    The mass of raging fire abruptly saw huge bluish-green sparks bursting out of its constitution with an ear-rupturing roar, and the sphere''s overall power directly skyrocketed.

    ''Abo,'' Noahmented. ''A strong one at that.''

    The world moved in slow motion to him at that juncture in those events, and his figure elerated forward to tank that attack.

    He aimed to end the fight as quickly as possible. What better way than to show just how far above them he was?

    Noah crashed into the ball of mes and directly dug past its searing surface. His essence rumbled as he felt his skin sustain burns from that joint offense.

    Coldness tried to seep out of his figure, but it struggled. He poured a huge amount of his reserves into that event however and watched his silver mist barrel out of his figure to dominate the mana-based attack he had entered.

    He was going to turn everything to ice and would do so domineeringly.

    It took Noah a few instants and a significant amount of essence, but he ended up flying out of that now-solid mass to sit on its frozen surface.

    He had turned the mes and sparks into one huge frozen mass that sat on the charred ground for all to see.

 Chapter 525 525. PEAK OF MONSTERS

    Silence. The blow of the winds reduced in intensity, and the temperature in the area dropped to allow coolness.

    All eyes remained set on the tiny figure of a not-naked man as he had changed clothes. His calmly sitting figure struck the hearts of many with utter dominance and power.

    He seemed unworried or unfazed about the fact that he had just turned fire and lightning to ice. For such to ur one would need a greater quality of mana and a better understanding of their element than both Elder Von and Lady Andrea.

    Noah had revealed with a stunning disy, his ability to best them in the elemental field.

    The scene remained etched into the hearts of lower leveled cultivators and garnered respect from higher-leveled ones.

    Still in his rxed position, Noah ced his palm on the huge ball of ice oozing huge amounts of coldness. He then parted his lips to speak.

    "Now that we are done with this, let''s see how much of a resistance you both have to my elements." His words were unhurried, but simply because of that did danger arise in the minds of the two experts.

    Truth be told they had never expected that oue, but. had to ept that the person before them was far much stronger than they were.

    Even the injuries he had sustained had disappeared in a matter of seconds. What more could they possibly do?

    Significant cracks opened on the huge spherical mass and the sound of that event remained deafening.

    Elder Von and Andrea floated into the skies, even if they moved backward.

    The cracks that opened on the sphere became too many and soon its structure fell apart. At least that was what they thought would happen.

    Noah caused the mass to shatter into innumerable amounts of shards. Shards that further collided against each other to manifest as a huge silver spear that oozed massive amounts of cold mists.

    He arrived above the huge spear nodding his head at the grand construct. It was bigger than he expected but contained just the right amount of power. Still.

    "Let me show you what a realbo is," Announced Noah as the sound of crackling unfolded into the world with terrible intensity.

    The sound the sparks that came out of his hand released, quite literally drowned every other sound. But the power it released shook the hearts of many.

    How could one man bear that type of power? Just how vast was his pool? They couldn''t see the color of his core. Not even Elder Ezra had been sessful in that task.

    The silver sparks that came out of his right palm flowed forward before transforming into a waterfall of sparks that fell on the mass of ice and traveled across its structure.

    Once again, due to the fact that both elemental properties were from the same energy source and controlled by the same expert who had deep knowledge of that topic. They bonded together with maximum efficiency and a spear of doom was given birth to.

    A silver radiance filled thends of those artificial regions and the sound of crackling made itsnds tremble.

    The potential power it expressed stood at a level too close to the higher stage. Even in that disy, Noah had needed to reduce the output for the power of that attack to not jump into what would be considered the higher stage.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "After all this, he''s still this strong," Lady Andrea conveyed through her mental connection with Von. Her expression remained dark as the power she sensed in the huge construct stood at a level even she would struggle to handle. She could well die the moment it touched her.

    "He''s Sarah''s student, I''ve seen his power, only in the lower realms. But still. Even at this level, the degree of his might seems boundless," Elder Von sighed.

    "Truly the heavens are unfair in their dealings," He shook his head, knowing what would ur after that point. That battle would end in their defeat even if they normally could take multiple experts at their level.

    His power made no sense, but what could they do about it?

    Noah raised his hand and the construct literally close to a kilometer in length shook. Its weight reaching many tons required a bit of mental concentration to keep up. But it was nothing for him.

    Elder Von shook his head at that point and raised his hand, he would quit before he brought shame to himself by foolishly thinking there was something he could do.

    "I surrender!" The expert announced gazing forward at the mighty expert that was once upon a time weaker than him. The table had turned and he who was once helpless now stood at a dominating height.

    The announcement shocked no one. Elder Von had long since disyed his unwillingness to fight. But the orders of the grand elder were absolute for individuals like them.

    Elder Ezra nodded at that point and he teleported out of the ring. Even if that ring was a few kilometers in radius.

    "Will you not surrender?" Noah faced Lady Andrea who silently and calmly floated in the skies of that ce.

    She looked focused on her right arm and did something with it. Yet she did not ignore Noah''s question, even if she refused to answer it.

    "You are one amazing expert. I have to admit. I am not the best at this level, but I believe there isn''t anyone our level capable of rivaling your power in normal circumstances." She spoke ripping the long sleeves of both her arms to reveal the shining blue lines that existed on their surface.

    Noah remained silent at her words and simply watched that event.

    "I have refrained from utilizing this at casual events. Only doing so when my life is in danger. I can count on one hand the number of people that have forced me to utilize this power as an opponent. None of them are alive today."

    "What an honor to meet someone supposedly my level who would force such great fear into my heart." Her calm expression vanished to reveal one filled with genuine worry.

    "Come Aiden! Show me the true peak of monsters!" Her aura exploded with greater intensity.

    Great sparks flew out of her body and her power surged. Whatever technique she had activated boosted her capabilities many folds.

    Her sparks changed from bluish-green toplete purple, then they gained another shadending at violet.

    Noah watched one crackling spark shoot out of her figure to crash into his construct and demolish half of its mass.

 Chapter 526 526. TABLES TURNED

    ''What an interesting turn of events,'' Noah spoke to himself inwardly. Whilst silently gazing at the remnant fragment of the former ice spear.

    Her spark had been able to destroy a significant chunk. That was a great increase in might. Exponential even. But Noah already knew it had a time limit. After all, why would she shoot toward him immediately after?

    Her movements were rapid. And just like how lightning struck, she appeared before him almost instantly.

    Being someone inclined towards testing, Noah allowed her kick tond on his face.

    The crowd roared with intensity when his figure shot toward the ground to open a significant crater. Suddenly excitement filled the air and hope for the female expert sprung into existence.

    Lady Andrea was a cultivator many knew. Just like the infamous Elder Sarah, she held spectacr power and might.

    She was known for her calmness and even great battle efficiency. This garnered respect amongst the many other tier 4''s who followed her lead with trust.

    With her might alone she stood at the level of those far stronger than normal. The level termed; monsters. But it was general knowledge that amongst even monsters, better monsters existed. Andrea would be ssified as one of such individuals.

    Many thought her to be on par with Elder Sarah after many years. But only she and a handful of others knew that wasn''t true. At least by normal standards.

    Soul state. The name of the technique she had activated.

    Being a skill that had been passed down to her by her father for she waspatible with it, she would call it her biggest trump card.

    The Soul state allowed her to call upon the entirety of her potential in the soul realm. It utilized every ounce of her soul energy and reced her mana with it.

    During the activation, her mana core would virtually shut down and all mana would cease from her body.

    Her soul core would provide her with its entire pool and fill her body with it. This led to an exponential increase in both physical power and elemental power.

    The only issue with the technique was the great drain on her mental capabilities. She would require a few months to return to her peak. And depending on how much she exerted herself she could spend many months in aa. It was the peak of her power after all.

    The cheersing from the city and even the watching tier 4''s faded from the ears of the empowereddy. Her features had remained mostly the same. Her almond hair now floated and featured tints of different colors, and her body saw wisps of multicolored energy flowing out of it.

    Her eyes zed with violet lights, and violet lines and symbols ran across her entire body even her hair and eyes.

    Her presence felt heavy and truly was.

    Noah felt his bodye to a stop and he figured he should leave the hole he had created, but his opponent was nimble in her movement.

    Her figure reached downwards and arrive on his body In an instant.

    Noah felt a hot palm touch his chest and try to burn it. Violet light reached his eyes and the explosion that resulted after the point-nk discharge of sparks contained the power to open chasms in the surface around them.

    Noah felt his body move deeper and deeper until he was flung away in s direction he couldn''tprehend yet.

    Pain reached his mind for the power the bolt had contained dangerously neared the higher stage. Thankfully that still wasn''t enough to give him serious burns.

    The crowd went silent for a few moments. Lower-leveled cultivators had only been capable of seeing a blinding violet light. The events urring behind that light standing at a level far higher than their eyes could follow.

    The entirend area avable to them fell under chaos and it took Noah a few seconds to get his bnce and sprint out of that circumstance.

    He reached the sky and saw a streak arrive in front of him again. Andrea''s reaction capabilities had been greatly boosted allowing for that almost instant tracking of her opponent.<novelnext></novelnext>

    She felt sad to find that Noah had recovered from whatever injuries he had sustained.

    Her fistnded on his face and he was sent back to the destruction he had just left.

    The event didn''t bother Noah one bit. Who stood within the dark environment caused by the rising of dust to unfold his consciousness. The heat around him soared.

    He nodded in approval of her new power but moved to fulfill her wishes. She had asked him to show her real power. He would do just that.

    Thends experienced a great shaking and soon the immense cloud of ck dust saw the emergence of huge icy stakes all shooting toward one figure high in the sky.

    Noah had been able to find her even without leaving his position. Her aura was too evident and her pressure too heavy to miss.

    His attacks being backed up by the speed force arrived on her figure in an instant. She remained too slow for that event and took the full brunt of their piercing power.

    Noah had made the tips of the spikes small and thin enough to pierce even a human. And that was exactly what happened.

    Despite her empowered state, the stakes bypassed her skin, muscles, and bones to impale her from side to side. All five of them.

    Three stabbed into her torso and the remaining two stabbed into her legs. Starting to spread ice on her body merely secondster.

    Blood exploded out of Andrea''s mouth and nose at that point. Great pain filled her mind and her instincts acted ordingly.

    A primal scream of both agony and anger left her mouth and the power in those sound waves shattered the lower chunks of the icy stakes.

    She left the broken pieces in her body, however, to stop blood loss even if she remained in significant pain.

    The crowds grew somber at that sight. Noah had turned the tables in an instant and hispletely-fine figure departed from the cloud of smoke to flicker in front of her.

    With tremendous might in his fist; Noah delivered a punch to his opponent''s chest and her body shattered the sound barrier to almost hit the ground. He was faster, however.

    His figure arrived on the clear ground with a silver light and he delivered another blow to her stomach, sending her high into the sky. So much so that she reached the limits of the room''s ceiling, bounced off it, and shot toward the ground again.

    Noah let her figure hit the ground, and he raised his hand to reveal masses of crackling spears and icy spears that appeared behind him.

    He lowered his arms and watched all of them streak towards her like rain.

    Andrea had managed to remain awake and was struggling to get up on her feet.

    The doom of death filled her mind as she remained unable to recover quickly. Noah decimated her with little.

    The raging sound of those descending attacks reached her ears and she dropped her shoulders in defeat.

    ''Is this the end?'' Her mind struggled to keep up. Her head spun as memories filled her teary eyes. She was going to die. So easily at that.

    The attacksnded on the area and a new round of chaos unfolded into the environment an instantter. Noah shook his head, however.

    "I almost thought you would let her die." His words pierced the great cloud of mist and sparks to reach his target.

    "Of course not," Elder Ezra''s voice seeped out of the same spot. After which the results of Noah''s attacks instantly vanished. Unable to remain in one piece before the power of a fifth-tier expert.

 Chapter 527 527. THE PEAK OF THE FIFTH TIER

    Silence reigned in the fields of the artificial environment. Mana burnt to repair the sheer destruction that had befallen its ins, but none focused on that genuinely spectacr event.

    Rather, their eyes remained on the captivating figure of grand elder Ezra, who stood before a stunneddy Andrea. The expert continued to bleed profusely, but it would take her a while to have to pass out. Tier 4''s were too strong to immediately pass out from simply blood loss.

    With her soul state still on, she remained in a frenzy of sorts which boosted her ability to take the pain. Still, she had not exerted herself too much since Noah had demolished her too quickly even in her empowered state.

    She believed only a few weeks would be required to return to her peak. She turned the technique off and felt all the blood in her face drain.

    Her eyes fell dizzy as her thought process fluctuated too seriously. She mostly felt reverence for Noah''s figure, but she could barely put anything together.

    Fatigue filled her bones and her mind. She seemed brain-dead since she fell to the ground, half unconscious. Her soul energy had been drainedpletely she would fall unconscious very soon.

    "You''ve done your best," Elder Ezra muttered, allowing a blue light to wrap around the expert and tale her deep into the golden mansion where she would undergo healing like the other two experts.

    Noah remained in the skies, toning down the expression of his power. He had won. By andslide at that. None of the experts had been a challenge to him. He remained too strong for such.

    "You almost killed her," Elder Ezra ascended into the skies of the artificial regions. Only a few minutes would have to pass before everything returned to normalcy.

    "But I didn''t," Noah countered moving forward to meet his grand elder. Truth be told had elder Ezra not acted he would have saved thedy himself.

    Elder Ezra remained silent almost uncertain of what to do. Noah spoke, however.

    "I have been fighting a whole lottely, can you just put an end to this? There is a war going on and sending them to battle me would simply be a waste of resources. A major crisis could ur soon and we''d be unable to handle it."

    Elder Ezra remained silent even if she hade to a simr conclusion. The being before her, for she could no longer call him a man, was far too strong for those experts.

    She hated to admit it, but he remained the strongest middle-stage tier 4 she had ever seen in the guild. Maybe ever!

    "Before I give in to that idea, let me ask them." She spoke after a few seconds of silence.

    "Do any of you still desire a battle with him? If any of such individuals exist you cane out now. I''ll give a five seconds countdown."

    Utter silence.

    The city of people that watched had fallen silent. Every tier 3, tier 2, or even tier 1 expert simply kept their mouth shut to see if anyone would be brave enough to battle the monster of great looks.

    "Five," her voice reverberated through the city and even the artificial environment. Pin-drop silence permeated the entire city.

    Noah had disyed such might that even cheers ceased to exist.

    "Four," Elder Ezra almost knew the oue of that event. Were she to encounter someone as strong as him at her level, she would hold her peace to not bring shame upon herself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Three."

    "Two."

    "One." She announced and nodded her head. She felt d that none of them had been stupid enough to rise forth. She could keep the rest of them in good health for any asion.

    "I see. Then this event is over. You all can return to your abodes in the city. I thank you for answering my call," She announced and murmurs seeped out of the crowd whilst the floating screens disappeared.

    A file started and they soon began to leave that ce. Before the experts left, however, they each nced at Aiden''s figure one more time. Mixed emotions filled their hearts, but one of the mostmon was fear.

    None had any idea what they would do were they to encounter such a beast on the battlefield.

    They were monsters in their own right, but he was their king.

    "You. We still have a few things to talk about before you go," Elder Ezra spoke at some point. After all the golden-sashed experts had left.

    Noah nodded and watched a blue light wrap around his body and he appeared in an office room.

    A simpleyout that featured a desk and two chairs.

    "Take a seat," shemanded, walking forward to sit.

    Elder Ezra had a stern expression on. She had a lot on her mind already. The arrival of a formerly thought-dead member, especially since he returned with far more power, would be a major addition.

    "I will not ask you how exactly you got this powerful, but the least I can demand is the events that led to the death of the entire tour group," Elder Ezra started.

    Noah nodded his head in understanding and went on to narrate the event. He did so with so much precision that whatever doubt about him truly being the one was blotted out.

    When he got to the point that featured the description of the tier 5 expert that had killed the sons and daughters of the nobles, she requested him to stop.

    She knew the story after that point, but most especially, the expert that had silver sparks amongst the three tier 5''s had been the one taken by the guild. The reason why they had left their former dweling spot.

    The elves had delivered her unto their hands and apparently the one who had fought the battle had been the leader amongst the grand elders.

    A being that stood close to the peak of the fifth tier and hardly stayed in one ce. He had been away from the guild for many years, but the news had brought him back.

    The battle had been great, but short.

 Chapter 528 528. POISON IN DISGUISE

    Elder Ezra led Noah down the golden hallways of that mansion. She remained silent as she did this.

    It felt interesting to Noah, knowing that individuals at her level still walked within structures. If only he knew that was due to her many visits to the central city.

    During their conversation, she had announced her decision to take him to meet the expert that they had caught. Apparently, she had been stripped of her ability to properly cast spells.

    But rather than destroy her core, the master had simply ced restrictions on it. Both her mind and mana core were locked up. In short only her body was essible, but her binds made even that impossible to utilize.

    "She has been in here for thest two decades. No food no water. But that''s not nearly enough to get rid of a tier five cultivator," Elder Ezra exined whilst they stood before a ck door shining with all sorts of inscriptions within the fifth tier.

    Noah could nce at them and understand a bit of their function. Ersha''s memories of inscriptions were expansive.

    "I understand. She''s bound and cannot hurt anyone. So there''s no need to worry," Noah spoke, already willing to enter that ce.

    "You have just as much confidence as you have power," Elder Ezramented, shaking her head. She ced her hand on the door and watched all the inscriptions emit a resplendent golden light.

    The sound of heavy locks clicking resounded all around them and the door moved open to reveal that its thickness was a meter!

    The door opened with ease and a wide room unfolded in Noah''s eyes. Or rather the feeling of a wide room.

    The room was pitch ck despite the fact that golden lights existed in the hallway behind them.

    Noah instantly knew it was a magical effect. Still, they needed to see the expert in question.

    Elder Ezra spread open her palm and palm-sized magical circles expanded on it. They rotated a certain way and golden lights began to fill the room.

    The outline of a figure unfolded in Noah''s silver gaze and when the entire room got illuminated, he understood just how big that ce was, but most of all the figure that was held up by literally over a hundred different chains.

    Each of her limbs was attached to a series of chains that ended up elevating her figure and spreading them from each other. She even had chains connected to her neck even if they allowed movement. The others were tight and allowed no movement.

    "What a surprise. I''ve not had any visitors in about three years. Or more. Measuring the passage of time is shitty within this ce," a feminine voice resounded in that ce. Itcked any sort of power but was simply loud due to the nature of the room. Genuine solitary confinement.

    Just to show how big that ce was, Noah and Elder Ezra were nigh dot-like before her eyes. That ce had a whole lot of space but only contained her.

    "I see you''ve lost most of your calmness during the years. It''s been three years, however. The world is moving smoothly on without you. You''ll soon be forgotten,'' Elder Ezra attacked thedy''s pride as a cultivator.

    The woman remained silent at those words, they meant nothing to her, after al. Rather, she focused on the stunning man before her.

    She was bound, but her senses were still at work, at least the physical ones. Even from that height distance, their features were clear.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You brought someone unique this time around. Is he even human?" She ignored Elder Ezra''s attempt to hurt her.

    "We havee to gaze at your defeated figure," Elder Ezra taunted.

    "Of the lightning affinity too," She arched an eyebrow with interest.

    Unfazed by the fact that she spoke about him, Noah ascended towards her, he nced at the normal-looking chains. They were made from an alloy that was beyond him. Even if he rained hundreds of lightning bolts with all his essence he would be unable to destroy them.

    He failed to gain the real level of those chains but they were definitely far above the lower stage of the fifth tier.

    With that understanding in mind, before Elder Ezra could reach him, Noah stretched forth his hand and unleashed a bolt of silver lightning on her figure.

    The sound of the discharge transformed into a deafening roar, and the sheer size of the said bolt remained capable of directly swallowing buildings.

    Noah had left that discharge of power more concentrated to allow for maximum efficiency in terms of attack power and damage.

    The bolt quickly ended and elder Ezra shot toward him with anger, but mainly perplexion. She felt ready to speak when Noah spoke for the first time.

    "My attacks cannot hurt her nor can they hurt her binds. She might as well have felt a cool breeze hit her skin," he exined calmly, stopping the elder dead in her tracks.

    "He''s not wrong, The color of his sparks is interesting, but I felt nothing. It''s undoubtedly remarkably stronger for someone his level, however," the bounddy exined, suddenly calm.

    Elder Ezra snapped her head towards her prisoner and furrowed her brows when she saw that Noah''s attack had been able to put her into a state of thought. She looked serious.

    Heaving a sigh she focused on Noah and opened her mouth to speak.

    "Don''t take such actions again lest you make me throw you out. But if you knew your spell wouldn''t achieve anything, then why did you attack her?" She felt perplexed, unable to discern the man''s thoughts from his expression.

    "Hey, kiddo... Why couldn''t I absorb your energy? What sort of monstrosity powers your existence," thedy revealed her thoughts as blood dripped out of her eyes. Her words had interrupted Noah''s initial response.

    "Your body is unfit for my essence. It''ll need to be exposed to more of it to be capable of handling it. Even at that. You''ll still die," Noah exined, his words sounding strange even if Elder Ezra remained rmed by the injureddy.

    His attack had been ineffective against her, but the nature of his essence had been detrimental to her nature.

    Although she remained bound and unable to do anything much, she understood that only more power would help her get out of there.

    Finding someone who willingly threw energy at her was like gold. But Noah''s gold was poison in disguise. Literally.

 Chapter 529 529. DESIRE

    "You should probably spit that out," Noah suggested gazing at the chaineddy. She coughed whole mouthfuls of blood, as the essence fought with the mana within her. Humans unlike elves weren''t favored by the world, meaning a lesser connection to mana than elves. The effects were evident nevertheless.

    "What did you do, Aiden?" Elder Ezramanded moving closer to him. Her expression speaking of her distatse to that event.

    "I didn''t do anything apart from my lightning bolt. She''s the one who tried to absorb the energy within the sparks to improve her power," Noah exined shaking his head with a nk expression.

    Hecked the ability to feel emotions. All that happened did not bother him. They worked for his research even. His mission as thest Speedling was geared towards those types of experiments.

    Elder Ezra frowned deeply at that point before focusing on the emerald-haireddy. Bearing the name Ka, she remained an expert of a mistake unknown background. Or rather her existence dated too many years prior. She had kept a low profile for many decades allowing the public to forget about her. Her actions had never been shy after all.

    All that they could get was that she had been the descendant of a small noble family that had been wiped out during a skirmish with other nobles.

    She seemed to have gained a connection with the elves in an attempt to get revenge. But that conclusion remained mere spections. The guild master had refused to hand her over to the royal family.

    They had been unable to force him into the decision. He remained an expert feared even amongst the ranks of the 5th tier existences. And also his terrible bond.

    Ka had the features of ady in her mid-thirties, she remained above average in terms of looks, like most individuals in such ranks. The only issue being that the luster of an expert at her level had died off.

    After all, even if Elder Ezra toned down the expression of her power, her features were still enhanced by her passive power.

    Blood continued to flow out of Ka''s mouth and soon Noah had to stretch his hand to call upon the essence within her system. It couldn''t kill her due to its amount but had seeded in weakening her. Even if only by a bit. She was still a tier 5 existence in the end.

    "My actions have done you a favor," Noah turned to face his elder whilst a small stream of silver energy floated out of Ka''s body.

    He turned the flowing mass into an orb and allowed it to enter his cultivation room. His silver eyes focused on Elder Ezra who remained unsure of what actions to take next.

    She furrowed her brows and her consciousness wrapped around him as she moved to leave that ce.

    "After bringing a freak to hurt me you leave!" Ka taunted spitting blood and gazing at Noah''s leaving figure. How he had done what he did continued to baffle her.

    He was merely a 4th tier expert yet he had hurt her!

    If there were any greater feats than that, then the standards of power had to have been destroyed in the years she was locked up.

    Elder Ezra pulled Noah out of that room and the strange darkness filled its insides, while the devices that sucked mana into them returned to full power.

    Stopping along the hallway she let him go and asked him to follow her again. In truth, her mind still trembled from what she had witnessed. What sort of monster was he to achieve such?

    It remained even more shocking when the truth was that his attack had been ineffective but his energy had. If he wasn''t utilizing mana then what did he utilize to power his existence?<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I have no idea what to do with you. You were not supposed to be too much of an issue, but I see that things might change," she revealed as calctions ran through her mind.

    A major event was to happen. Sarah had decided to approach the guild''s position. But there wasn''t much time on their hand. In a bit over a week, they would lunch their attack on the said base.

    ''We can use him,'' She considered gazing at the nk expression of the young-looking man before her. He had to be the most good-looking person she hadid eyes on.

    "There is a war ongoing," Noah suddenly spoke. "You will need help in such battles. I will be of great help to you, don''t you think?"

    "What do you think will happen if someone as strong as you appeared in the fields of war?"

    "I''ll reap many lives," Noah immediatelymented. "But I''ll also gain many enemies amongst the ranks of both the enemy and even this nation."

    "I will be considered a great threat to them. They will utilize me greatly but when things calm down I will be too dangerous. And my life will be in danger," he exined showing just how much he had thought.

    "And you still want to join this battle. I''ve seen great individuals die," Elder Ezra tried to get to the bottom of the issue.

    "Yes. I desire to do so," he stated.

    The elder shook her head at that point. "There are still too many things about you that don''t sit well with me. Still, you have shown your worth and ability to be trusted. It would be wrong to not use you. Even till death."

    Noah simply gave a smile even if he felt nothing. Her decision would assist him in getting rid of certain issues. One of them being the fact that he required experts to kill and gain levels.

    Destroying the eleven base in the Orphos region had been great. But now he required more to level up. Even killing middle staged beast would not do much to him now. He either needed stronger experts or a significant number of weaker experts.

    And about the issue of him getting too strong. He had a wonderful solution to it. It would be the first time he had utilized that skill.

    "Before we deploy you, we must get you to understand a few things. Like making you take the oath," Elder Ezra revealed already leading him forward.

    "There no need for me to take the oath," Noah stated in a suggestive tone, and his words made her snap her head towards him. He spoke outrageous things.

    "That''s--" Her words were cut short by the blue light of teleportation that shed before her eyes.

    Elder Adonis appeared before her, his expression slightly shaken.

    "There''s news."

 Chapter 530 530. BRILLIANT

    "News?'' Elder Ezra frowned walking forward to approach the man.

    "Yes," Elder Adonis replied. "We just received news that the elven base at the Orphos region has beenpletely wiped out." The expert exined as even he lost hisposure.

    "What! But they had a higher stage expert with them," Elder Ezra remarked, stunned, whilst she began her march down the hallway. Both Noah and Adonis followed behind her.

    "Images of the site have been sent to all major guilds. The thing or person that wiped them out must have been well into the higher stage. But the leaders of the city were only middle staged," Elder Adonis exined revealing the lessposed side of his existence.

    The more Noah grew in power, the more he understood that higher leveled experts were human at their core. Sure they had levels of experience that remained stunning and impressive. But their interactions were still humanly.

    Their seemingly divine luster had reduced the more he interacted with them. It was either that or his Speedling nature had transformed how he viewed humans in general.

    "What did the royals say happened?" Elder Ezra questioned as they went down a certain hallway.

    "ording to the story of the leaders a powerful expert had shown up to their city and had single-handedly decimated the whole base," Adonis exined a tad bit shocked.

    "I never knew there was someone with that type of freedom. Especially at that level," Elder Ezramented.

    "How strong was the person that was mentioned?" Noah''s voice interrupted their words and Elder Ezra recalled that they had been in a conversation before Adonis arrived.

    A strange air was birthed at that point.

    "His level was never mentioned, Aiden," Elder Adonis revealed. He still felt surprised by Noah''s disy.

    "I see," Noah muttered now focusing on Elder Ezra''s figure.

    "Will you take my suggestion? I see no reason in being bound by the oath. I can be utilized in far more helpful ways."

    "Isn''t that against the set rules," elder Adonismented already understanding what was happening.

    "It technically isn''t." Elder Ezra replied as an idea formed in her mind. It was one she had thought of many years prior, but finding suitable individuals had been a major challenge. Even if she did.

    "I know you understand. But let me spell it out."

    "We had been asked then to make all our members take the oath within a certain period. And we had fulfilled it. But he had been thought dead at that point, and somehow remained unreachable for many years."

    "He is a loophole in the set rules. No one had been aware of his state meaning we aren''t at fault," She exined.

    "Yes," Noah chipped in calmly. "The oath does not bind me. I can take out lower leveled experts, crippling the forces of the elves." His words hit the nail on the head as realization flickered into the minds of both experts.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Brilliant.''Both eldersmented inwardly. The guild now possessed a member who stood outside of the rules of war and could be utilized as such. His power was even remarkable.

    "I understand. But we cannot reveal you too soon. I cannot believe I''m saying this. But there had been ns to recruit several experts who will work as some sort of mercenaries." Elder Ezra started.

    "We aren''t hiring them. But rather convincing them into doing this. The oath stops us from paying anyone anything to fight against the elves. Such individuals would be bound by the oath too."

    "It''s normally hard to find individuals as strong as this who are not affiliated with any major group under the power of the royals. And it''s even harder getting them to risk their lives for essentially nothing," Elder Adonis chipped in. His silver hair flowed graciously while they approached a chamber with a big red door.

    "Yes, but the few that we found might be convinced if someone as strong as him shows up to be part of them," Elder Ezra replied already thinking of scenarios.

    "They feel anger towards the elves, but also require an assurance that they won''t be abandoned."

    "I won''t abandon anyone. I can also protect as many experts under my watch," Noah revealed whilst they walked past the big red door that parted the moment they reached two meters from it.

    A nice orange room unfolded in his eyes at that point, it featured a series of couches that Elder Ezra immediately sat on to continue their conversation.

    "Your words are pretty outrageous seeing as what you''re about to face is a group featuring one of the most powerful races on Cregar," Elder Adonismented his tone light with amusement.

    "I know. But have I not fulfilled by other promises?" Noah responded, focusing on Elder Ezra who had been the one to hear him speak about his ability to defeat any expert thrown at him.

    She sighed at that point, understanding what he meant. Truth be told. She found that event as a way to get rid of him if he proved to be real trouble. He was a valuable member, but things could go south quickly. If he survived the first few missions then she would have a change of heart.

    "Whether or not you can deliver. I will be deploying you into that field. But you''ll have to meet up with the said experts," Elder Ezra moved straight to the point.

    "They dwell in a region within the clouds, cutting them away from the events that ur within the city. In short, they''ve not seen your power."

    "We don''t feed them anything to not trigger the oath. I simply invited them to stay."

    "Will I have to fight again? Don''t you people get tired of it?" Noah shook his head even if he remained unbothered by the reality of his situation.

    "We can postpone the meeting to a few days. I have other things to deal with," Elder Ezra nced at Adonis who nodded In understanding.

    "Like the uing raid upon an elven base," Noah revealed his knowledge about that topic, and both experts turned cold.

    "I found out when I questioned an elf on my way here." Stated Noah, surprising both experts. If only they knew just how much more he did. He decided not to mention it though. He saw no reason for such. He would get what he wanted how ever way.

 Chapter 531 531. CALM BEFORE THE STORM

    The trio spoke a bit more, with mostly both grand elders mainly speaking. After which they left. Noah was allowed to return to the city and dwell within the chambers of his master. Elder Sarah.

    Apparently, she was on her way there, and it was of course because of him. He expected a sort of spar to ur if they actually met again.

    Noah had surpassed the human limits. He had reached heights the entirety of Cregar did not know about, and of course power.

    That line of thought reminded Noah of the issue with the immortals. There would be a few trials before the immortals themselves called upon him. He could only wonder what they desired.

    Still, even in the face of that danger, Noah remained unworried. He couldn''t, to begin with. Still, even if he could, he would find himself okay.

    He had the power to back his actions up. And abilities that made him essentially unstoppable. He would carry out his mission as thest speedling, at whatever cost.

    Noah walked the courts of elder Sarah''s mansion. She had expanded it unlike what he remembered. A big garden of magical nts existed in front of the mansion itself. And although it had been a while since shest attended to it, her garden looked great.

    The mana density that existed within the walls of the mansion was significant, Noah suspected that his master had undergone a breakthrough even within those years.

    Her martial arts would have gotten far stronger and her sparks themselves would reach terrible heights of might and destructiveness.

    ''Will she still teach me her martial arts,'' Noah wondered approaching the front door of the mansion.

    Therge ck door parted ways for his entry before he even arrived at it. And when he did cross the door; a changedyout of the buildings insides unfolded in his eyes. But more than that was the 2m tall figure of a dummy that approached him.

    It had on a refined attire that resembled that of a butler. The features of the dummy were nk but it had a pair of glowing blue eyes.

    "You must be master Aiden. I have been informed of your arrival," a masculine mechanical voice seeped out of the mouthless features of the dummy.

    The system pouted inwardly at that event.

    "My voice can be simr to that if you desire." She chipped in.

    During his journey to the guild, Noah had spent a huge portion of his time simply conversing with the system.

    He had even stopped calling her ''it'' and referred to her ording to her gender. That was her base form after all.

    He could engage her in light conversations or ones concerning his currently essible memories. Thankfully she could ess his mind and find said memories, but couldn''t help him unlock deeper ones since they required far more sturdiness of his soul realm.

    Trying could cause significant damage. But he also had literally millions of years of memories locked away. Or rather inessible due to his low level.

    "I''d rather you remained like this," Noah replied to the system and felt.like she nodded.

    "How may I help you, Sir Aiden?'' The artificial butler asked Noah after he spent a few seconds silent.

    "Give me a tour of the mansion," Noah revealed and it immediately nodded.

    "Follow me," The tier 4 dummy announced and the tour immediately began.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah found out just how much elder Sarah had improved that ce. Even to the extent that the mansion could fly if required.

    There were certain rooms he wasn''t allowed into, and he didn''t push. He saw no reason for such after all.

    The tour had taken an hour toplete since the dummy whose name happened to be York; exined a whole lot of things to him.

    "Is there wine avable?" Noah asked, seated on a yellow couch in a certain room within that structure.

    "Yes," York responded waving his hands to allow three bottles of wine float out andnd on the ss table before Noah.

    A ck cup also appeared and Noah didn''t hesitate to pour himself a drink. The blue liquid within that bottle filled the cup and he quickly chugged it down.

    It tasted sweet and genuinely high-quality. But with the knowledge that elder Sarah always kept the best wines with her, he could only wonder just how good the others are.

    Noah rxed with York nearby. It felt like the days of peace were back.

    He essentially had all he needed to seed in that world. There literally wasn''t need for outside help.

    He feltplete and at peace with his existence.

    Even amid the chaos of war and the threat of powerful individuals, Noah felt like he had regained the days of rxation he should have enjoyed which were ruined by his abrupt quest to acquire far more power.

    He had that power now and the potential to get even more of it.

    "I will dominate the ranks of the humans. I will reveal the power of the lost race and I will rise to ranks unimaginable in the vast universe," he dered to himself.

    All he needed was time and certain criteria''s to be met.

    "I have nothing to do than to wait now. Time Is on my hands. There''s no real need to rush," he muttered to himself again.

    Even if he already had thoughts on what steps to take before the gran ld elder called upon his attention.

    He still required a proper introduction to Erolia as her master and her as his pet. He had a few skills he wanted to test, and one highly important one.

    Nevertheless, since he had spoken to himself, he could do nothing but deiced to rx a bit.

    He felt certain that after that point he would barely have the time to do such. And although it didn''t bother him, he did so in remembrance of the times when all he wanted was for peace to reign in his life.

    This was the calm before the storm.

    Noah closed his eyes after that point, and let himself fall asleep. He ended up sleeping for a whole day.

 Chapter 532 532. EXPRESSION

    Noah moved across the skies of the divine lightning city. His movement silent and his gaze was nk.

    He inspected the events that urred within the city from a height most didn''t expect. Not much had changed in theyout of the city and its vibrancy remained.

    Noah could tell that the individuals within the city felt a sense of safety since they could not be attacked unless tier 5 individuals were at y, and everyone knew what had happened when a battle between two tier 5''s had urred close to the city.

    Noah believed a time woulde when the very city itself woulde under attack, the only difference being that more powerful experts would be at y.

    It would be an event that could happen close to the ending times of the war''s time limit. That great guild was a significant contributor to the offensives of the nation. Taking them out would mean a whole lot, but Noah doubted that reality would evere to pass.

    At least not when he was alive it won''t.

    Even as he stood he could call upon a skill that would push his prowess into the fifth tier. At that point, he''d be unstoppable.

    "They are used to peace. It would seem only tier 4''s are frequently called upon," Noah muttered finding the air a tad bit too lively.

    The guild had agreed on sending only a particr number of experts anytime the royals needed help. The lower leveled ones on the other hand being groomed.

    That didn''t mean tier 3''s were never called, only that those with high chances of survival were such individuals. For this reason, the less stronger experts tried their bests to be of use, but onlypetitively and less realistically.

    Those sent into the battlefield risked being wiped out by the mere shockwaves of tier 4 experts. No amount of training could prepare anyone for such instances.

    For this reason, those who returned were given rewards and periods of rest.

    Although he found things a little tooid back, Noah couldn''t me it on anyone. Regardless of the fact that the cultivatorscked the air of urgency; each one of them had passed the test to gain membership into the guild.

    Their abilities were far above average, making for a generally powerful force. But in those times there was much more needed.

    "What do the tier five''s even do," he wondered arriving on the guild hall of the inner region. It was tall and away from the reach of tier 3 cultivators.

    "nning strategies. Meetings. Or training," he listed the possible scenarios. They could be doing all the three.

    Gazing down at the beauty of the city, Noah scanned the districts for the building he used to stay in but found that it had been reced with a training facility.

    He wondered about the experts who had been with him during his time of joining the guild. Surely they had advanced in power.

    He believed a few of them should have crossed over into the fourth tier, or at least be close to it.

    There was a lot he had no idea about but knew he would get to find out the more he interacted with the people in battle.

    Noah spent many minutes simply sitting at that elevated point until something urred to him and the white light of teleportation flowed forth to make him disappear.

    Noah arrived in the cultivation room and a white crack opened on his chest, a cerulean blue streak shot out of that white crack to transform into arge figure a bit more than 50m in height.

    Golden beaks, eagle-like features, vibrant cerulean feathers with silver patterns abroad its wings, andpletely silver legs. Fierce-looking eyes with cerulean, gold, and silver lights swirling its insides.

    An aura that spoke of real power flooded the world around Noah, it was heavy but didn''t affect him since it belonged to a soul-bonded beast.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah ascended to meet the bird''s height and he watched its intelligent eyes scan his figure.

    "Erolia," Noah called out and watched the giant bird flinch. She heard him and took a step back.

    "You must be confused," he continued, staying in ce. She nodded in response, pleasing him.

    "What are my?" A young feminine voice seeped out of the opened golden beak of the giant bird before Noah and he heard Erolia''s voice. It had somehow remained unchanged even after her integration.

    "You''ve be a magical beast," Noah stated, but she remained unfazed. Calm even.

    "I figured. You''re... small," shemented.

    "Do you remember anything?" Noah asked, moving to more important topics.

    Her multicolored gaze fell to the ground at that point. She fell into thought trying to ess the folds of information she was constantly aware of to find her memories.

    "I do." She replied." We had been attacked by men who killed-" A soft gasp exited her beaks as realization dawned on her.

    essing those memories allowed others to rush in, but her tier 4 mind remained capable of containing them.

    "You''re Aide- Noah. You''re the man Noah, but I now recognize you as master," Erolia spoke, her tone suddenly somber. She seemed to have matured. Most of her emotions couldn''t affect that body. Or rather she remained logical.

    Hardship had changed her.

    "I remember vaguely being in a strange state. I felt free. But I was drawn to someone. You." She exined, deep into thought.

    ''Is my emotionless state affecting her?'' Noah wondered even if the system replied.

    "Only a portion is affected, she remains capable of expressing emotions only that she requires time to understand how to properly do so," the system exined.

    ''I see,'' Noah muttered inwardly. He desired to see the teenager whose life had been destroyed only due to the cruelty of men. He wanted her lively again.

    "I am your master only due to the special bond you now share with me," Noah revealed to thatrge beast.

    Erolia remained silent; going through her memories. She suddenly had ess to ones even from her childhood days before bing a teenager and facing a mortal end.

    "You''ll remain in here for a bit, while I train you on how to control your abilities," Noah announced gaining the attention of arge beast possessing the soul of a certain young girl.

    "For now I''ll tell you all that has happened in the past thirty years," he nodded descending to sit cross-legged.

    Erolia watched his figure calmly and sat also, she felt shocked about the period that had passed.

    "If the noble families that had been the cause for your family''s death remain, then we will make sure to eradicate them," Noah dered and a violent aura exploded forth from the giant beast before him. Her first genuine expression had been fury.

 Chapter 533 533. PUNCH

    "Just how entric are the experts you managed to gather?" Noah''s emotionless tone rang out from behind Elder Ezra who floated before him, ascending higher and higher into the clouds that surrounded the resplendent city.

    Something existed within that vast environment, but Noah remained unable to properly bypass the many tier 5 defenses ced all around him aiming to hide the being''s presence. He determined that it was a magical beast, however.

    It had been three days since heid eyes on the elder. She had asked for his presence at some point and he immediately knew what she desired.

    Now they were on their way to the said habitation within the clouds, it led them away from the city.

    Noah soon found dark crackling clouds existing all around him but elder Ezra''s existence pushed all those energies away.

    "They''ve managed to survive the brutality of this war, you should expect certain types of personalities," she responded not bothering to nce back at him His expression remained calm as ever. Nothing new there.

    Noah simply nodded, understanding what she meant. It mattered not how extreme they were, he would humble everyone with power.

    Their journey didn''tst too long since a cleared-out area unfolded in their eyes and a blue building appeared in Noah''s silver gaze.

    The duo arrived before the building and its front door opened to allow their entry. A living room unfolded in his eyes. It would seem the experts lived together like roommates.

    The moment elder Ezra entered it however, the walls moved and the furniture disappeared as the building took a newyout.

    The entire building turned circr, allowing a wide space at its centers while the rooms of the experts were embedded in the walls.

    The ck doors flung open and a few figures walked into the wide space at the center.

    "There isn''t much time, but I have brought someone as an addition to your group." Elder Ezra immediately started even if not all the experts were present.

    ? Noah felt light gazes fall on his figure, he inspected the individuals around him in return. They numbered a nice number of 12. He would be the 13th.

    ''Six men, six women,'' Noah counted inwardly. ''Not much, but arge group would be too troublesome. Their power also stands at impressive heights within the middle stage.''

    "Introduce yourself," Elder Ezra turned towards Noah while the eyes of all the gathered experts were now on his figure. He felt dangerous.

    "I am Aiden," Noah started "I will be the leader of this group." His rather short announcement put surprise in the mind of his audience.

    "From today onward you''ll answer to me when I call for you. If you have any objections speak up now," he further exined, gazing into the eyes of every single one of them. He could already feel their anger. Especially the males.

    "Is he fucking serious, elder?" One of the males present directed his question to a partially stunned elder Ezra.

    The said expert had the features of a man in his early thirties.

    Sported long, ck, spiky hair. His skin being tanned, told of his history as someone who had trained extensively beneath the sun. Andstly his brawny physique. Even with clothes on, that feature remained too obvious.

    Standing at an impressive height of 6ft 3, he stood even taller than Noah. He was a skyscraper of a man. His eyes were orange and they shone with a wild light.

    Elder Ezra nced at Noah, and her consciousness moved to interact with his.

    "Don''t forget they are doing this voluntarily. They can decide to leave. Do not be harsh," She reminded him, even if Noah made no reaction.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "He''s the one I see fit to lead you. He doesn''t bear the oath even if he belongs to the guild. It''s a long story."

    "So due to your connection to the guild, you believe you''re entitled to leading us?" The muscly expert frowned, now addressing Noah.

    The stunning man before him radiated silent danger, but he had faced death too many times in his long life. It wasn''t new anymore.

    "Mere things like connections don''t matter to me in such instances. Only strength matters. I''m your leader simply because I''m stronger." Noah tilted his head to the side. Eyes emotionless. Daring.

    "This must be a joke!" Another male eximed, genuinely pissed. "Elder, tell us this isn''t true. This clown''s arrogance will be the death of him."

    Ready to address the issue, Elder Ezra found herself stopping when Aiden suddenly raised his left arm.

    "I asked if anyone has an objection. If you do, then raise your hand, please." His actions were a tad bit confusing, but he watched 10 experts raise their hands while the two males frowned deeply.

    They would not be ordered around.

    "I assume you don''t object to my leadership if your hand isn''t raised," Noah stated, scratching an itch in his silky hair.

    His casual actions and tone further infuriated his audience. The willingness to fight seeped out of their figures and Noah revealed an unfeeling smile.

    "Since none of you support my leadership, why don''t I make a bet of sorts?" He started, cutting to the chase. Humans were so simple.

    "If any of you manage tond a hit on me before I decimate you then I''ll not be your leader. But if none of you do then you''ll have no reason to object anymore." His words were outrageous, and even put shock on the faces of the angry men and women.

    "Yes, yes. If you agree simply nod for me," he nodded, but they hesitated.

    "Are you scared? Its twelve against one, and yet you hesitate. That''s disappointing," he shook his head with a disappointed gaze, baiting them.

    They all nodded at that point, and Noah turned to Elder Ezra.

    "Give me a bit, I''ll be done with this quick. If you may, please be our countdown." He pushed the n forward and Elder Ezra nodded, beginning to float. She somehow trusted him to fulfill his words, despite how crazy his im was.

    ''It''s like he wants to lose. But his confidence��'' The elder spoke to herself unable to deny the power she had witnessed. ''What is he?''

    Noah''s immediate decision to start the fight startled the experts, but theyposed themselves and were ready in no time.

    "Three�� Two�� One!" Elder Ezra announced, allowing that room reach its widest point.

    A tense mood befell all 12 experts, as Noah bent his knees to sprint toward them with all the strength his knees could provide him.

    The sound barrier shattered the moment he elerated. His motion generated life-like afterimages that appeared before all twelve experts at once to deliver a mighty punch to each of their faces.

    All twelve cultivators found their bodies barreling backward at the same pace. Regardless of their level, his attack knocked them out cold. They had not even seen iting.

    The entire building shook violently as a result of his unleashed power.

 Chapter 534 534. FLASHY

    The results of the event eventually calmed down. Noah had stopped running at that point and moved forward to awaken hisrades.

    He tapped each of their faces until they regained consciousness and heavy silence filled that room.

    Elder Ezra could only remain afloat. Gazing at that scene with equal silence. She had been capable of following Noah''s movement and had seen just how expertly he was capable of utilizing his body.

    Extensive meditation on Ersha''s memories had allowed Noah to gain an understanding of some other uses. He had to move so quickly and in a form that generated after images.

    "You all have lost to me before you couldnd a hit," Noah dered, addressing his seatedrades. None of them responded to him, only reviewing what had happened with sobriety.

    They had not seen himing, and only his fist had appeared in their sight before everything went dark.

    All of them had suffered cracks in their faces, but they would be healed in no time.

    "That''s not fair. You were moving fast. Too fast," The other male tried to find a redeeming quality in the urrence. He nced at the bulky expert and saw that he lowered his face in defeat.

    "Fair?" Noah responded arcing an eyebrow.

    The wind blew as his figure flickered from his position to arrive before the said expert in an instant. Noah crouched to his level, gazing directly into those ck eyes.

    "Only the weak look for a fair environment. I''m sure you know that, expert." His tone remained as cold as ever and his existence oozed stunning danger. Noah felt terrifying at that point. And truly he was.

    "Now that we have that settled," he moved and returned to his former position faster than the experts could follow. "I''d like to know your names." He revealed, watching the room shrink in size until it was at its initial size.

    "Starting with you," Noah pointed at the bulky expert, but he didn''tin.

    "I am Davis," the ck-haired man announced raising his head to stare at the breathtaking being before him. He didn''t feel like a man or an elf. Or anything he had ever faced for that matter.

    Noah simply nodded and the others got into introducing themselves. The name of the other male that had joined in expressing theirint was Ken. Noah believed both individuals would be of great use.

    Then there was Gary, Kevin, Josh, and Pete. The females were Jade, Cora, Tre, Lora, Jenna, and Naomi.

    He didn''t bother about their past or what they had been doing right before being called. He simply took note of their names. They would be together for a while after all.

    "I believe that issue is solved," Elder Ezra stepped in, shaking her head inwardly. What manner of a man was he?

    "He is the leader of this group, but most especially he''ll be the one in charge of your safety," the elder continued.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I understand it''s hard to believe, but from what you''ve witnessed I''m certain your view of things have changed. Aiden will be the one in charge of your safety. He has given his word on that, and I am inclined to believe," she exined.

    "I was made to know that you all desired safety during this uing mission''s since you weren''t getting anything in return. Only because of this reason did I decide to show you how helpless you are before me. Still, we''ll be working as a team," Noah chipped in his side of the exnation and saw that those experts could only nod.

    He saw this and shook his head inwardly. Surely they had doubts, but his disy had been enough to pass a few points. He was above and beyond them.

    "That''s that. Do you all agree on this?" Elder Ezra continued, furrowing her brows a bit. Their answer at that point would determine how she would move forward. After all, she already had locations that required purging.

    All twelve experts nced at Noah then back at the elder. Since they were not bound by any oaths, they could decide to leave at any time. The first mission would be the determinant for other mission''s.

    They each nodded at some point and a wide smile appeared on the elder face. Noah remained unfazed, however. Things had gone ording to his n. But he knew he would need to gain their trust on the first mission. He risked losing them, or else.

    Not that he cared to begin with. Even if he had been sent alone, Noah felt sure he would take on whatever was thrown at him.

    The only issue remained the interference of the immortals and their people. They could act as distractions. He also wouldn''t underestimate them.

    "Allow me to speak to them," Elder Ezra revealed waving her hand at Noah who disappeared and found himself outside of the building.

    Its outsides had remained the same.

    Noah took a deep breath, allowing his gaze to fall on the empty area around him. A transparent barrier existed that shielded that area from the violent clouds all around them.

    He believed if he dived into that environment he would reach the position of the said magical beast. He simply didn''t know what to expect.

    Muffled rumbling sounds reached his ears and he fell into a bit of thought. Merely the days he had spent within the cultivation room had made him desire to explore the vastness of the world again.

    He wanted to return to the battlefield and witness it. He wished to participate in the raid that would ur in less than a week but understood that his wishes might note to be.

    He would be too obvious even if he didn''t want to.

    "I have be too shy in battle. Only locations far away from the public eye can see my power. Things might go wrong if not." He muttered shaking his head.

    Noah spent a few minutes before Elder Ezra called upon him again. The countenances of the experts were bright, making Noah wonder what had transpired. Still, he didn''t care, since Elder Ezra cut to the chase.

    They would carry out their missions as quickly as possible and in the shortest amounts of time. She began an exnation. Showing just how far back she had nned.

 Chapter 535 535. MASTER

    "I understand," Noah responded to the words of elder Ezra as they finished up on somest details. Elder Ezra had been quick to inform the group of their first mission, which wouldmence in two days.

    They were going to attack a specific city in the northeastern region of the nation. ording to the well-informed elder, it was a city held together by a certain prominent family that had defected during the beginning times of the war.

    Having been a major contributor so far, intel had it that they had deployed a significant amount of their amassed tier 4 cultivators to back up the eleven base about to fall under attack.

    One would think that the elves had an edge over the cultivators of the various guilds. But the experts had the element of surprise. The time of their movement remained only known amongst specific individuals.

    The deployment of the said experts from the city had left it in a slightly defenseless state. They would utilize that space to take out the city.

    Their mission was to wipe out the entire city regardless of the level of the experts. They would be ruthless in carrying out this mission.

    After they had done that, certain items would be ced around the regions in order to watch the actions of the elves when they arrived there.

    Being the first, it was an easy but crucial one. There would be missions that did not involve killing as simply unleashing one''s prowess was not enough to do much.

    Due to the city''s distance, they would need to set out early, which was why they would begin in two days. Noah believed things would go well. It didn''t matter.

    "That is all for now," Elder Sarah dered, waving her hand to allow the ck table before them disappear. The chairs also disappeared.

    The experts fell silent. Only Noah and elder Ezra possessing the confidence to talk.

    "We shall get going now," The elder announced, pleased about the oue of the meeting of sorts.

    Noah nodded and watched the building return to its formeryout and he and the elder stepped out of the door.

    The enclosed area appeared in his sight for the third time that day, and the elder led him out of it. The discussion had been two hours long.

    Noah remained silent while they left the area. The cracking clouds appeared all around him at that point and he relied on elder Ezra to clear them.

    Less than two-hundred meters from the area, Noah''s eyes sharpened and his focus shot to the area far before them.

    Elder Ezra noticed this and stopped, but a smile blossomed on her face.

    "She''s finally here," the elder muttered, even if Noah had arrived at the same conclusion.

    He unfolded his consciousness even though the weight of the clouds tried to oppress his, nevertheless, he caught sight of a rapidly moving figure and their body emanated a significant amount of killing intent.

    "I tried to stop her," a figure beamed before the duo in blinding blue light. Elder Adonis.

    His handsome features revealed a helpless expression as he looked onward toward the approaching expert.

    "She''s gotten strong," Noah muttered to himself. "Very strong."

    The intensity of Elder Sarah''s presence increased rapidly until a huge portion of the crackling clouds abruptly vanished in a circr form allowing her flying figure appear a few hundred meters before them.

    Noah''s silver gazended on her figure and he couldn''t help but shake his head. "You''ve gotten even more gorgeous," his constantly emotionless voice resounded in the environment. His power managed to suppress the clouds to reach her ears.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He sensed her gazend on his figure and felt genuine pressure. She had gotten insanely strong in those decades. Her cultivation base already stood at the top of the middle stage. It would seem having stunted growth in the third tier had made her shoot across the stages with ease.

    "This is mine to handle," Noah addressed the elders, walking forward.

    Elder Sarah remained silent, her figure shining with a soft purple light. Noah could feel her inspect his figure and his movements. Her intent to kill him was also capable of bathing the environment in purple and crimson lights.

    "It''s been too long master--" His words were cut short by the single cyan line that stretched towards him with intense speeds.

    The dischargended on his figure and unfolded into a violent explosion. One that expanded for many meters in all directions. It shattered the clouds in the area to fill them with intense energy.

    The sound of the explosion remained so powerful that even the experts in the blue building felt tremors hit the building and shake it violently. This prompted their attention.

    Each one of them exited the building to arrive within the cleared area. Thankfully the power of the explosion remained incapable of affecting the barrier set up, but its mass still covered the area and blinded the experts from seeing what was going on.

    At least that was only for a short moment.

    The wind suddenly blew and a significant portion of the explosion vanished to reveal Noah''s figure calmly standing in the skies.

    His clothes had turned to rags, but his figure remained unhurt.

    "Master," Noah called out but watched seven more cyan lines stretch towards him in the blink of an eye. All seven discharges struck his figure and another spectacr explosion unfolded in the environment. Its power being seven times more than the first.

    Still, a sudden pulling force acted on the expanding mass to suck it into a center. A tornado unfolded in the eyes of all, and apletely fine Noah.

    "I''ve gotten capable of taking a hit," Noah revealed, even if Elder Sarah suddenly vanished from her figure with a powerful bang

    The watching experts shook at that speed, as they found their eyes barely capable of seeing anything.

    Noah on the other hand watched her arrive before him. She formed a fist as she unleashed the first form, at point-nk.

    The results were spectacr. An explosion of sheer force on par with proper spells barreled out in all directions.

    The physical strength touched clouds in far regions and those magical objects saw their masses disappearing to give way to that intense power.

    Noah boomed across the sky at many times the speed of sound.

    The fight moved locations at that point, as Elder Sarah followed chase. She had unleashed half her power in that simple execution but had not felt him turn into a bloody pulp.

    Noah revealed an unfeeling smile as he created a wind force that stopped him in his tracks.

    Elder Sarah arrived before him again, this time preparing to unleash a kick on his head.

    Noah caught the attack with ease, however, but felt that force destroy his clothes and the clouds in the area.

    He was naked, but he didn''t care.

 Chapter 536 536. HELL-BENT

    "Master," Noah called out again and watched the gorgeous woman before him re with even more power.

    The intensity of her presence grew higher and reached levels that Noah considered could hurt his skin.

    She truly was a monster. Did he not exist he believed no one her level would be capable of properly matching her in battle.

    The purple light in the environment intensified and Noah watched mes spring up from thin air.

    The heat in the environment rose sharply, but he remained unhurt.

    His master saw this and moved to bring her A-game. She truly moved to kill him. But not out of ill intent but genuine hurt.

    Purple sparks came out of her body and Noah nodded.

    "I wondered why your sparks were blue-ish." His tone spoke of how calm he was even in that situation.

    "I see. You''re only capable of utilizing this power at certain times. It probably drains you quicker," his voice was calm and unhurried.

    Even if mes sprung up around him tond on his figure and explode into a mass of expanding purple-ness.

    The cloud disappeared for kilometers around them. The grand elders watched that battle with interest. Elder Ezra already confirmed that Aiden wouldn''t die. But the conclusion remained incredible nheless.

    Sarah was known by many for her monstrous talent, they had trained her for ten years, and after all. Still, she possessed great talent. One that put her on the spot to being severely powerful. Were she to ever reach the fifth tier, even the elders knew they''d have seriouspetition on their hands.

    "Carriers of zing judgment," Elder Sarah spoke for the first time and a huge magical circle expanded in the environment, whilst Noah cleared the mes to show that he had certain ces on his skin brunt.

    He was mostly okay, however, as even those injuries cleared In mere instants.

    The magical circle churned with power and the heat in the environment further zed with intensity.

    Just how hot could her mes get?

    Two figures emerged out of the circle to reveal their might to the world and even Noah felt danger for the first time.

    Humanoid in nature and possessing what resembled wings. These being made purely out of mes stood at a height of 3 meters, Their figures were lean allowing for potential speed.

    For the first time in that battle, Noah allowed silver sparks to gather in his hands.

    A loud crackling sound unfolded into the world as Noah watched purple sparks form armors on the figure of the humanoid being of mes.

    His silver sparks on the other hand morphed into a simple sword possessing exactly 40% of his SE pool Noah was taking her attack seriously.

    "Go," Elder Sarahmanded and the magical circle disappeared the moment those figures transformed into streaks of purple light moving at horrendous speeds.

    They arrived before Noah''s position in no time and swords of mes and sparks formed in their big hands and they swung them toward his tiny body.

    Noah shook his head even if his figure vanished from his position right when their ming swords reached him.

    Flickering behind the ming being on his left, Noah swung his stabilized sword with all the strength his limb could offer.

    His swordnded on the giant being''s shoulder to divide it from its shoulder to its waist.

    His instincts moved as he sprinted out of that environment, sessfully evading the spectacr explosion of purple mes that urred after the being''s constitution destabilized.

    Forming a streak as he tore through the violent wave of mes, Noah arrived before the second ming being.

    It managed to notice his figure in time and raised its ming sword to meet Noah''s descending sword.

    Its efforts were futile, however, since Noah''s de went through its de, to split its tall figure in two, from its head down.

    Noah tapped the wind tform below him to disappear from that region, appearing extremely far away from the battlefield.

    He returned to a position untouched by the wave of mes soon after.

    "I have also be capable of unleashing great attacks," His tone was light and he tilted his head to the side dispersing his sword.

    He felt his master''s gazend on his shoulder, but she made no move toward him. At least she didn''t move from her position, rather, the world around him saw huge bolts of crackling cyan sparksnd on his figure after appearing out of thin air.

    Noah shrugged the attack, however. Only her purple mes were capable of hurting him and he had destroyed her spells.

    He flew out of the mass of sparks, shattering and destroying them to reach his master now high in the sky.

    Noah appeared before her and took in her features, she looked just as he remembered, only that her purple hair now featured tinges of crimson.

    Both individuals stared at themselves for what felt like minutes, while the crackling clouds regenerated themselves to begin to fill that environment.

    That would notst long, however, since Noah watched a magical circle expand below him and saw chains spring out of the purple circle to wrap around his limbs.

    He remained unfazed however and wondered what she wanted to do.

    Barely an instant after that event a sword appeared in her grip and his instincts informed him of the great danger.

    The de of the sword being blue, featured runic symbols of golden radiance. Those runic symbols also spread down to its golden hilt, only that their color changed from golden to ck.

    The de emitted an aura of sharpness and even hotness, almost simr to his daggers, only that his; featured a withering ability. The level of its material was also evident and its heavy aura suppressed even her elder Sarah''s power.

    "An Item within the higher stage," Noah sighed even if he felt nothing in particr apart from a clear understanding of what he was to do.

    His aura intensified even in his bound position, Elder Sarah really meant to kill him, he couldn''t bow his head to that.

    Gazing at his figure with coldness, even if she already felt she suffered injuries from wielding that weapon, Sarah raised her de and swung at Noah''s chest.

    His figure flickered from that point to appear beside her, however. He had moved so quickly even the chains had been unable to shatter quickly enough.

    With cold eyes she watched her binds suffer the full power of her swing and invisible sharpness flew across the skies cutting clouds.

    "I cannot allow you to kill me," Noah spoke from beside her. Practically into her ears. "There''s still too much I need to do."

    "However, since you''re hell-bent on this fight, I''ll give it a bit of added seriousness," Noah announced touching his master''s left shoulder.

    Her instincts roared at that simple event. Her body moved on her own, but she remained too slowpared to her student.

    In the blink of an eye, Noah unleashed a pir of searing silver light. The attack traveled many kilometers, carrying elder Sarah in its breathtaking power.

    When she managed to escape that magical discharge she revealed her badly burnt state. Noah''s attack had turned her skin into ckness, even if it didn''t damage her muscles.

    One attack!

 Chapter 537 537. LADY MELISSA

    The clouds rumbled for many kilometers around Noah. His figure remained in position whilst his eyes fell on Elder Sarah''s figure in the distance.

    His attacks had burnt off her features. Hair, skin, and clothes. Whatever existed as the firstyer of her figure had been burnt ck.

    The experts who had left the barrier area to witness the fight gazed at the scene with shaking hearts. Their eyesnded on Noah''s naked figure, but he didn''t seem to care.

    Rather than seeing his nakedness, all they saw was a being far above them in terms of prowess.

    Noah felt all their gazes and allowed an attire to appear on his hands. He put it on and moved forward towards a stationary elder Sarah. She seemed unconscious even if her power kept her from plunging to the surface below. The ground was unnoticeable from that height due to the clouds.

    Two figures beamed in front of her figure, however. The grand elders.

    "Sarah, you should stop this. You''ve hurt yourself enough," Elder Adonis spoke,ying hands on the charred figure. He could already sense her healing, but she would need a bit more time.

    Noah kept his distance at that point. His stature remained valiant high in that environment.

    Elder Sarah soon regained consciousness, and they all watched a small vial appear in her charred hand, which elder Adonis administered to her.

    Her state improved rapidly at that point. Her features were back to normal in under two minutes, and she picked an attire from her ring to clothe her nakedness.

    "You''ve gotten far stronger than I envisioned," her voice seeped forward to bathe the environment in its vibrations.

    "I am your student aren''t I?" Noah responded watching her figure transform into a zing purple streak to arrive in front of him. She didn''t hold any intentions to fight, however.

    "I doubt you want to fight anymore master. I have gotten stronger than you," Noah revealed, but she made no reaction to those words.

    "What happened? You disappeared without any trace for decades. And now you made a return barely what you used to be." Her eyebrows flickered and her tone spoke of the hurt she experienced.

    Before Noah could respond a figure arrived in the environment. Anna.

    Her eyes fell on the duo and he avoided eye contact with Noah to approach Sarah and bury her in a warm embrace.

    "It''s been a long while, Anna. Dan sent his greetings," a warm smile appeared on Elder Sarah''s face.

    "If this is all over then lets all return to our various ces," Elder Ezra stated, appearing before them.

    She waved her and a blue light shone in the distance. The other experts appeared within the barrier separating the blue building from the crackling clouds.

    Elder Ezra waved her hand again, and she and the other experts before her vanished in a blue light to appear above the city.

    Elder Sarah, Noah, and Anna went to the central region, towards the mansion. York had been outside to give them a wee.

    "So are you going to keep what happened a secret from me?" Elder Sarah spoke whilst they sat before a round ss table, Anna was also in their presence.

    Noah remained silent for a short moment before parting his lips to speak. "I can tell you a bit of what happened the rest will soon be revealed."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You''ve also gained the ability to speak in riddles. I see," She shook her head pouring herself wine and sipping it.

    "We were attacked by the three tier five entities and I watched the group die before me. I had managed to escape with my teleportation, however." Noah started and an eyebrow arced on both elders'' faces.

    Elder Sarah felt stunned since his ability had been able to escape a tier 5 being. While Anna''s mind shook at the reality that he even possessed a teleportation ability.

    "Yes yes. It''s beyond even a fifth tier''s power," he stated nodding his head.

    "Go on then. That might take me a bit to properly assimte," Sarah waved her hands listening intently.

    "After that, I went to a secret ce to train. I experienced my breakthrough there, achieving the fourth tier. After that, I returned to the outside world only about a month ago."

    "My power increased during that period. I fought a few elves, gained information about the nation''s situation, and here I am," he spread his arms.

    "That''s awfully short," Elder Sarahined even if she didn''t say any more.

    "The rest will be revealed in time. For now, I desire to help the nation in this war, but I have been deployed to a location outside of the public eye," Noah exined, poring himself wine and sipping from the ck cup. Anna simply sat in silence.

    "A location outside of the public eyes?" The elder tilted her head to the side.

    "Yes. I do not bear the oath making me a loophole in the war, but mostly because of my power. I can eradicate lower leveled experts," Noah exined and their eyes sparkled with realization.

    "I thought that would be against the rules," It was Anna''s turn to speak. She feltfortable with talking as long as Elder Sarah was around.

    "ording to grand elder Ezra, it''s not, and I can be useful. But for now, I''ll act behind the scene," Noah shrugged at the end of his exnation.

    "Hmm. That''s a good idea. Your might will draw too much attention. Mine already does," she sipped more wine, seeing reason in that decision.

    "If it''s master Ezra then I trust her judgment. Better than her daughter," Elder Sarah nodded, herst sentence catching Noah''s attention.

    "You didn''t have to say that Sarah," Anna sighed shaking her head. She held the ck cup on herp.

    "What? It''s true," Sarah''s eyes darted to the side, revealing an uncaring expression.

    "No, it''s not. You simply have beef with her. Melissa''s decision-making is already higher than yours. You just brute your way intorge-scale battles nowadays," Anna countered and the Elder gasped.

    Before the two could get into any bickering Noah opened his mouth to speak.

    "Is itdy Melissa you speak of? She''s the one who invited me to the guild," he revealed. Those simple words sent waves of shock into the minds of both experts.

    "What!"

 Chapter 538 538. REUNION

    "Yes. But I haven''t heard of her or even seen her since then. She would have forgotten of me," Noah exined. He saw the shock on Elder Sarah''s face and shook his head.

    "You''re saying she''s the one who invited you?" Elder Sarah stood at this juncture in their conversation.

    "Yes, I utilized the image box she granted me to get into the tests even when registrations were done."

    "Melissa brought you into this guild essentially," Elder Sarah seemed to struggle with that reality.

    "Hmm. I had needed to pass the various tests. But yes I got to know about joining the guild thanks to her," he exined, sipping his wine until he emptied the cup and refilled it.

    Anna burst intoughter when Sarah fell on her chair with a dumbstruck expression.

    "Why didn''t you ever tell me?" She ignored her friend to focus on her breathtaking student. If she could even call him that. Noah could demolish her in a fight, but rather than be upset or even jealous she simply found ways to brag about him.

    "You never asked," Noah stated inly.

    "You never asked about most things connected to my life before I reached the guild." His addition caused his master to drop her shoulders in defeat. Noah was right. She had actually decided not to pry to not make him feel pressured.

    After some point she forgot altogether, his improvement wowed her too much for thoughts about his past to properly take hold of her mind. Sure she wondered where a man like him came from but had dropped it at some point.

    Noah chugged down more of the sweet-tasting wine. He watched his master shake her head before picking up a conversation.

    They talked for hours and during those moments Noah found out that much more had changed.

    As a promise to her own master and a tradition of sorts elder Sarah had needed to find a new student. Ironically the person had been ady also.

    Starting her training while she stood in the higher stage, Elder Sarah bounced back and forth from her training with the grand elders and her training with her new student.

    Apparently, the said woman had learned all the various forms within the roiling thunder technique and had eventually crossed over into the fourth tier.

    ? Elder Sarah left thedy covering for her while she returned to the guild.

    "She''s strong and a pretty fast learner, I believe you two might get along," Sarah announced, sipping more wine while thoughts ran through her mind.

    "It would be a pleasure to meet her. But we might not get to meet for a while. Master Ezra has many things prepared for me and my group," Noah exined.

    "I understand, I understand." Sarah nodded, suddenly falling silent.

    "What are we going to do about your training?" She asked, finding the issue a bit troublesome. She had never thought she would be in such a situation.

    "Whatever you desire, master," Noah responded unfazed. His demeanor also refused to change. Both elders had long since noticed his rather straight and apathetic responses to all that had been said.

    "I mean, having two disciples that have mastered the various forms was never against the rules..." She tried to find a reason for her uing decision.

    "Still, you''ve reached a level where martial arts seem useless. At this point I recognize that you''ve always been at that level," She sighed.

    "True. I have always been far stronger than my mates. And that is how it will continue," His gaze never wavered even if his words remained high and even outrageous.

    Unfortunately, he had all the results to back up those words. He had bested even the infamous Sarah in battle. When he arrived at the front lines he would shock the nation.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Anna exchanged nces with Elder Sarah who simply shook her head. Her outrageous student was back.

    "I''ll hold off a bit in bragging about your return, your younger disciple never stopped hearing about your feats. She''s probably gained a certain level of dislike toward you. I even refrained from telling her about the truth of my sudden departure," Sarah exined, shaking her head.

    "I doubt many would believe that I''m alive. I hope to join the front lines soon," Noah exined even if all he wanted was to farm levels.

    "Well then. That''s enough talking. I suppose I should be on my way back," Elder Sarah announced, standing.

    "Already?" Anna asked, furrowing her brows.

    "Yeah, yeah. The raid will happen soon, I have to return as quickly as I can," she rified allowing a new bottle of wine to appear.

    "You can take those. I see you enjoy them."

    "This is new. I thought you were still close-handed concerning your wine," Noah taunted even if he made the bottles disappear before the elder could do anything.

    Elder Sarah''s expression went cold, however. "I''ve not seen you smile once, nor do anything rtively rted to humanness. Have your emotions been locked away or something?" She addressed an issue that had been on her mind ever since their fight ended.

    "The truth wouldn''t be too far from that." Stated Noah.

    "Well do something about it. It drains the fun out of our reunion. I miss the emotions of hate and annoyance you used to reveal during our training sessions," her tone remained cold, even if she furrowed her brows. The matter disturbed her.

    But that wasn''t all. Noah''s presence felt distant from humanity. It wasn''t what she was used to. Her instincts also buzzed asionally. Sure he was strong, but this was more.

    Even before Noah spoke, his existence already felt intimidating. Coupled with his suddenck of emotions. It was more than unsettling.

    Her very being trembled at his. And the whiffs of death that flowed forth from his figure never stopped causing her mind trouble.

    Although she could only perceive whiffs, they were intense enough to make her mood waver. It felt dark and probably was. She simply tried her best to hide her difort. The man before her was her student but felt drastically different from a man.

    "I apologize for the difort." Noah head-bowed.

    Elder Sarah stayed silent, however. She would leave immediately. Just as she had said.

    "I''ll try my best to return after the raid. Both of you shouldn''t get yourself killed," she announced as they arrived outside of the mansion.

    She raised her head to the sky before cing two fingers in her mouth and generating a whistle.

    Noah''s eyes sharpened when a certain presence arrived in the range of his consciousness.

    Arge magical beast appeared above that ce and Elder Sarah floated towards it. Even her flying beast had reached the fourth tier during those yes. Its features had gotten majestic.

    "We won''t," Anna responded while Noah continued to stare at the beast and the beast at him.

    "Aiden, be careful," she spoke, shaking her head when Noah nodded.

    Tapping the beast''s side, both experts watched it shatter the sound barrier to exit that area with a powerful bang.

 Chapter 539 539. GOOD FOOD

    Noah stood within the skies of the divine lightning guild. His eyes scanned the environment as he waited for the arrival of certain individuals.

    He gazed at the vibrancy of the city and wondered what would be of the habitation. Surely they would thrive even higher and higher.

    The sky trembled a bit and a sh of blue light filled Noah''s silver eyes and the presence of thirteen figures arrived before him.

    "You''re here," his eyes scanned their various figures and his gaze fell on Elder Ezra.

    "I will take it from here, master."

    "I trust that you will do as we nned," Elder Ezra nodded allowing the twelve experts to float towards him.

    "We will begin our journey now," Noah announced floating towards the pit that led outside of the guild.

    The experts floated behind him and he didn''t hesitate to bypass the inspectors who simply bowed at his presence.

    Darkness filled Noah''s eyes and he unfolded his consciousness to grab hold of the twelve experts and sprint out of that ce.

    The event caught those experts by surprise, but they remained unable to resist his influence.

    The world around their eyes seemingly stretched and regions covered withyers uponyers of white snow filled their gazes.

    The freezing winds swept their figures but they hardly felt anything. Their bodies remained capable of handling those temperatures, at least to a certain degree.

    "What the hell was that!" The man named Pete voiced hisints. His action had been instinctive but he regretted it mere moments after.

    "I''ll be carrying you across the regions. It''s faster that way," Noah exined, unfazed by the man''s momentary annoyance.

    His answer caught them by surprise, leaving them unable to properly respond.

    "From now on we''re a team. I would like that you all loosened up. You''re doing this voluntarily after all," he addressed another issue even if it didn''t bother him.

    His words touched those experts. Truthfully speaking, associating with him felt difficult after they had seen his power. His apathetic state didn''t help the matter too. He constantly felt distant, damaging whatever association they could have with him.

    "Now before we go on, I''ll appoint a few individuals as leaders under me. I want to see your powers in action so do not expect me to immediately act when we reach our destination," Noah exined.

    "Davis, Cora. I''ll appoint you both as the sub-leaders of this group. You''ll be the ones to make sure they''re all coordinated in their actions lest we kill each other in friendly fire."

    "I ask you all to not see this as a form of partiality. You all will take rounds in being sub-leaders. It seems we might be together for a long time, I want to see your capabilities," he nodded making sure he appealed to their personalities.

    They were tier 4 beings who by themselves had elevated their power through a deeper understanding of their nature. He respected all tier 4''s for that, he had not spent decades pondering his way in life, his path, and who he was. All he had was mostly handed down to him.

    "I hope to work well with you all," Cora bowed before them. She was a woman who looked as old as her early forties. She sported deep yellow hair a pair of sparkling ck eyes and stood at a height of 5ft4.

    Her power stood somewhere past the midpoint of the middle stage. Her demeanor remained calm, and her manner of speech refined. Sure that wasn''t too rare, but those were some of the traits Nosh considered during picking.

    Davis on the other hand was picked because Noah felt like it. He was also strong and seemed like one that had at least been in a position of leadership.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The male expert on the other hand simply nodded at the others. They had all been together for a few weeks. They essentially knew each other.

    Noah acknowledged those experts at that point and he unfolded his consciousness to carry those experts in his waves.

    "Hold on tight," he announced whilst silver sparks flowed out of his body, charging the air around him.

    Noah transformed into a silver streak soon after. The sound barrier shattered and the wind burst with violent intensity.

    The skies of those snowy regions saw his rapidly moving figure zip past them, barely visible.

    They were out of those snowy regions in no time and the normal vast amount of trees, ins, and valleys unfolded in the eyes of those experts.

    They could barely keep up, however. Noah''s eleration being too great for them to properly gain visuals of their environment.

    They settled in soon and enjoyed the ride. He was like a carriage; one moving tens of times faster than the speed of sound. They covered a great distance in mere minutes.

    As a tradition to savor his journeys, Noah liked to slow down at certain points, he preferred reaching his destinations a bit longer than usual, after all, he wasn''t exactly in a rush.

    "We shall make camp here," Noah announced at some point and he descended, alerting the experts.

    He descended towards a small hill amongst many hills.

    The moment his feet touched its surface it trembled with violent intensity. Those experts watched silver ice barrel out to take over the entirendform. Pirs rose to the sky at that point and with each step Noah took; the structure he constructed became moreplete.

    In less than a minute those experts found themselves in a frozen building. The event felt strange but also magical. None of them had any idea how the ice affinity worked, but they believed it would require a proper blueprint to build a house.

    That wasn''t too hard, they were tier 4 experts. But the speed at which he achieved it showed the level of control he had over that affinity.

    "We should get something to eat," he dered searching the areas around them for any tier 4 beast. Unfortunately, he didn''t find any, so he created a long frozen table with enough chairs for them.

    Noah willed it and all sorts of delicacies appeared on the frozen table. They were all the food he had gotten from Riveta. The inventory never let anything go rotten. It even let them remain in their heated state!

    Words could not exin the shock of those experts when the aromas of those delicacies filled the wide hall.

    Noah took his seat first. "Do you not want to eat? Good foodpletes the favorable experience of a journey," Noah addressed their stunned figures. In that war, rations were short, meaning luxury eating remained very-very rare. If only they knew the food they saw was already from decades earlier.

    All of them rushed to take their seats at that point, the mere sight of that table already made the journey worth it. Noah had a lot where that came from. All courtesy of the feasts Riveta''s dummies prepared twice a day only for him for close to a month. He never touched much.

    Those experts felt awkward at the table, but Noah shook his head.

    "What did I say about loosening up?" He tilted his head to the side and saw that they immediately started eating.

    "I''d like you all to tell me about yourself over your food," he spoke, suggesting an idea that allowed for deeper interactions between them and him.

    "I''d like you to go first," Noah pointed at a slightly stunned Lora.

 Chapter 540 540. CONFRONTATION

    The experts continued to speak about themselves, Noah allowed them to give short stories of how they had arrived at the presence of the fifth-tier expert, grand elder Ezra.

    Most of them had been in the third tier around that three decades back, so Noah could term them his mates. They were only weaker.

    The more those experts spoke, the easier it was for them to associate in his presence. Jokes were often cracked and the sounds ofughter erupted from time to time.

    Eventually, they were done giving their backstories and soon all eyes fell on his figure. Noah immediately knew what they desired. Everyone wanted to know the origins of that extraordinary being.

    "I shall hold back on my story. It will be revealed in the times toe," he stated, and those experts furrowed their brows, the smiles on their faces gradually fading. His words had brought back the feeling of distance between him and them. They couldn''t force him to speak but he could ask them to.

    Noah saw this and reconsidered. He stood thereafter, and their gazes followed his movement.

    "I once had a brother. Our rtionship had not been exactly great due to certain circumstances. We never knew our mother and were not of noble blood. But we were doing just okay."

    "You see, the more we grew; the farther apart I found my brother drifting from my presence and love. Then a time that defined my life arrived with a blow. My brother tried to take my life out of envy and anger."

    "He seeded but failed. But that''s a story for another time. What matters Is that I''m standing here. I''ve not seen him since that day," Noah spread his arms before sitting again.

    His narration had pulled the attention of those experts like a ck hole. Hispletely normal but tragic background struck those experts with such an impact they never pre-thought would hit them.

    Silence reigned after that exnation. They had gotten what they wanted, but it left them wanting more and seeing him in a new light.

    A person from that normal background had managed to grow that much. So much so that he could best multiple experts at his level without struggle. An individual that would be considered a monster even amongst monsters.

    Even they had heard the tales of the achievement of elder Sarah, but seeing her get demolished by one attack left too much of an impact in their minds. Noah could very well kill them at their peak. Not one person had the confidence that he or she could take him on even at their full power.

    "Now that that''s done, I believe we can get some rest. Unfortunately, the beds are made out of ice, it would be great if you have mats of your own," Noah reflected allowing those experts to stand.

    They each bowed for the meal, as they had finished it. They each walked into any room they desired.

    The sun went downpletely and the moon revealed its silver radiance, bathing the world below in its magical light.

    Noah went out and sat at the top of the frozen building constantly oozing loads of cool mist. The hill had been thoroughly frozen.

    Gazing at the forest below, Noah sky-gazed in silence, for no particr reason. His ears caught distant roars of weaker-leveled beasts which further amplified the strange serenity of that view.

    Even amid the war, he could find time to just chill. Only due to his power could he do this. He had gotten strong enough to afford personal peace.

    Notwithstanding.

    "I wondered when one of you would show up. It''s been almost two weeks," he remained in hisying position whilst the fabric of space around himpressed and stretched. A figure appeared right beside him at that point. They stood beside his head gazing at the same environment he gazed at.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah continued to lie on his palms ced behind his head. He only opened his mouth to speak to the individual.

    "Honestly I would rather we did not do this now. I like the view of this region, it would be destroyed if we battle," his tone revealed just how less worried he was, even if his opponent to be was already past the mid-point of the higher stage.

    The person remained silent whilst they stood, unmoving. Their blue garment flowed graciously in the cool winds of the world around them. Their ck hair remained in position, however.

    "I thought you all were chatty," Noah muttered straightening his back. He possessed not the will to fight but would do it anyway.

    "I have to admit," a feminine voice reached his ears. "You''re more reasonable than I imagined. Maybe too reasonable. And your calmness. It''s... unsettling."

    "I get that from the expressions of those I interact with," Noah replied, never taking his eyes off the vast world below him. The subtle shimmering of small bodies of water reflecting the moon''s light reached his gaze, further amplifying the scenery.

    "I was informed you had asked for higher staged experts. What makes you so sure you can take one down? We are on the path to the fifth tier."

    "Erm... Taking you down isn''t that hard. Even fifth-tier experts would only be considered a bit of trouble to me," Noah responded quite nonchntly.

    "Such arrogant words from the lips of a mere middle-staged expert. You''re far stronger than you should be, but even you have limits," thedy shook her head for the first time even if her manner of speech remained calm.

    "I know I have limits. But what if I can bypass them," Noah dislodged his gaze from the world below him to allow his silver eyes tond on thedy. That simple action caused the air to fall tense.

    "And how would you do that? Breaking the limits of the fourth tier that is," she asked, greatly amused by his words.

    "No more questions. Are you going to fight me or not?" Noah stood.

    "I was sent to do just that was I not?" She replied and watched Noah shake his head whilst sparks flickered out of his figure.

    "Nevertheless since you''ve intrigued me this much; I''ll hold off our confrontation for a few days. Three days to be exact."

    "I can see you''re on a journey with other experts. I shall follow you on this journey, only I will not be interfering."

    "That''s creepy. Why are you even telling me all that? Or are you scared of dying today?" Noah arced an eyebrow even if the required emotions to feel pleasure from that event were nonexistent.

    "Your words would have been far more touchy were you not devoid of emotions. Death lord. Good try though." The space around Noah''s figure saw orange magical circles appearing beneath and above thedy''s figure. After which she disappeared the moment they closed on each other.

    A sh of orange light followed that event, but Noah remained unfazed, simply shaking his head and confirming that thedy was out of his perceptive range.

    He sat down andy on his palms to continue that rxing activity as though a life-threatening individual had not just appeared to him.

 Chapter 541 541. SPECIAL BEASTS

    The night passed and the group of thirteen experts resumed their journey with Noah carrying them across the many regions.

    His movement remained speedy as usual, but he asionally slowed down when they arrived at unique sceneries, like the one before them.

    The group arrived before an elevation in thend surface, and three huge rocks stood at the edge of a flowing blue river, creating a breathtaking waterfall that fed the forests with its sparkling water.

    The raging of that waterfall filled the environment with its sound and the closer they got the more outer sounds were drowned by its intensity.

    At this point, those experts felt like Noah only considered their journey a mode of sightseeing. After all, hended below and departed into the waterfall itself.

    Sure it couldn''t hurt him, but it felt like he wouldn''t take their mission seriously.

    Those experts waited at the river bank whilst casually taking in the sight of the waterfall even if it wasn''t their first time seeing one. Neither was it Noah''s first.

    So why would Noah need to enter the waterfall if it wasn''t his first time finding one? The reason would reveal itself soon enough.

    The experts waited a bit more than ten minutes before a ground-shaking roar boomed out of the waterfall to drown the raging sounds of that rapidly falling mass of water.

    Danger immediately appeared in the minds of those experts as they stood; weapons out, ready to take care of the event.

    "Don''t worry, it''s only a lower-stage beast. Simply special," Noah''s mental waves interacted with theirs and they watched the entire waterfall tremble violently.

    The falling water burst open to reveal chunks of earth and surprisingly metal.

    A huge figure flew out of that destruction to m into the flowing river created by the waterfall.

    The huge figure rolled and rolled until it eventually came to a stop.

    "Sorry for the ruckus," Noah''s voice drew those experts'' attention from the magical beast that had flown out of the waterfall.

    The huge hole embedded in the very elevation became evident. The water pouring from high above fell but was unable to properly cover its existence.

    Soon enough cracks spread in the veryndmass and that huge chunk of earth threatened to slide off. The water would rush down with even more power, disturbing the area.

    Noah pointed his palm at the huge mass of earth allowing a beam of silver mist to shoot forward. Everything turned to ice at that point. He mended the hole and the cracks in mere instants.

    In quick session to the fix, Noah sprinted towards the shiny figure recovering from his punch.

    The magical beast took note of his approaching figure, but it remained too slow anyway. Noah appeared above the rhinoceros, his fist descended toward it and the beast tried to m its curved horn into him.

    Both connected but the rhino saw its metallic horn give way to the power in that human''s fist. Noah''s blow mmed its head into the water and deep into the ground below.

    It didn''t matter that the beast was more than 60m in size, his fist sent it bowing before him.

    That event created a significant wave that flooded into thends around, filling them with shimmering blue water.

    The experts watched with awe and shock. How had he found that beast deep within the earth?!<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah hade across a metal affinity beast even when it was hidden in the best possible position.

    "I believe it''s been there for a long while. Too much rest," Noah announced approaching the beast as it failed in removing its face from the ground.

    Hended on that metallic surface. It glinted significantly in the sunlight, giving its ash color a nice glow. Like a shiny orb.

    Raising his right arm he allowed silver light to gather on it until his limb became a de made out of searing light.

    Noah waved his hand at the beast''s neck and watched a silver beam-like sh fly forward to sever its head from the rest of its figure. The beast went limp at that point. Dead.

    Dispersing the gathered light, he watched a green mana core fly toward him and stored it. Shockingly the beast did not bleed. Its very insides were made of the same metal that created its body.

    For the average middle stage that beast would possess the best type of defense possible. But its hunter had unfortunately been Noah.

    A silver screen appeared before Noah''s eyes and the system''s voice rang out; reading its contest. He waved it away soon after. He had not gained any levels but had gained a 3% increase in his defense and stamina stats.

    The system addressed the issue even before he could ask her.

    "Killing special beasts awards you with stat additions ording to what those beasts were special for. The metal Rhino had more stamina and defense than all beasts at its level. Even dragons would respect it," the feminine voice of the system was quick to exin.

    "Are special beasts ssified by their rare affinities?"

    "Yes. But there are other types of special beasts, like your thunderbird, a phoenix, a dragon, and a hydra. All are special beasts, even if their affinities might be amongst themon elements."

    "I understand." Noah nodded storing the giant beast in his inventory. He needed its body for certain projects.

    "Sorry for the detour," Noah arrived before the still-stunned experts. They nodded at his words even if they wondered what he needed that beast for.

    It was well known that metal affinity beasts were well sought out in armor and weapons making. Some of the best weapons or armor featured chunks of that beast''s organs or skin.

    Finding them was hard, and killing them was even harder for the average cultivator.

    ''He actually found a rare beast when our senses couldn''t even notice it,'' Davis spoke inwardly. His heart still shook. Just what was the limit to that being''s collection of skills?

    "We can resume our journey now," Noah announced, and they did just that.

    Over the course of the next day, those experts watched Noah find and defeat two more metal affinity beasts. A wolf and a boar.

    By daybreak on the third day, they arrived at the regions surrounding the said city. By this point, no one doubted that he could fulfill his promise of guaranteed safety. He had already done too much to not be worth at least that.

    Rather, they felt pity for the experts they were soon to battle. The results of the event were already determined even before anything major urred.

    This was the certainty birthed by the overwhelming power of the silver and white-haired man.

 Chapter 542 542. BEGIN

    Words were barely exchanged among the experts in the group. A series of mountains unfolded in their eyes and their gazes fell on a circr wall.

    The city of Gesh was situated at the center of these three mountains and although Noah and his group were still a few kilometers, they could see clearly enough.

    "We''ll stop here. I sense inscriptions geared towards inspecting passing objects. Those mountains bear them," Noah revealed whilst he dived towards the many trees below.

    The sun had just risen, signifying the hour of day.

    "What should we do now?" Cora enquired of Noah the moment their feets touched the ground. The mission had officially started and they went over the information that they had.

    ording to Elder Ezra, there were exactly nine tier 4 cultivators within the city. Three were elves. Still, she asked them not to underestimate their enemy despite their low number.

    It was public knowledge that elves were higher than humans in terms of mana quality and achievable power, but not all the time was that true.

    Elder Sarah was considered even trouble amongst the ranks of the Order. She possessed the type of strength to kill elves with added effort, not many could boast of that feat.

    Still, even the humans present in the city were not weak. Sure their numbers had dropped, but it was only smart to leave behind those genuinely capable of keeping that habitation safe.

    In short, they expected strong individuals.

    "I said you both were in charge of strategy. I''m only here in case things go wrong," Noah exined even if his eyes remained on the brown mountains in the distance.

    His eyes could pierce the distance to reveal the said inscriptions. He would need to move closer, but he could tamper with It.

    Noah''s words put a bit of concern on the faces of the sub-leaders, but they had no choice.

    "How can we bypass the sensors? With our number even if we tried to hide our presence, we''d be a significant chunk of energy to the perception of other tier 4''s. Most especially the elves," Cora started, pulling their attention toward her. Noah only listened with his ears.

    "Can we fly high into the sky and dive into the city?" Tre suggested even if those experts shook their heads.

    "We need to remember that there''s the chance of an overhead barrier,making all forms of outer aerial attacks nigh useless," Cora exined and they all nodded.

    "There''s a barrier," Noah chipped in, confirming her words.

    "If that''s the case isn''t this whole thing pointless? The sensors will pick up our presence and the barrier will slow down our offensive," Davis frowned and they fell silent.

    "There''s also the idea of going beneath the city. If we can''te from the sky, then we can enter from the ground," Ken suggested and their eyes sparkled with understanding. Even Noah acknowledged the idea.

    "Still, there''s the issue with our presence. Other tier 4s will sense our iing presence," Cora revealed with a deep frown.

    "I can deal with that," Noah announced taking his gaze off the mountains.

    "Okay then." Cora nodded at Noah before turning to face the experts. "We''ll enter the city from beneath it, and the moment you arrive within it unleash your attacks only after you ensure there''s no other person around you."

    "We were sent to destroy the city. Doing that first will make the experts desperate. Desperation leads to mistakes," Davis further exined, and they nodded.

    "Mind you, we must be quick about it, so when our real opponents arrive we can properly focus on them," Cora spoke, her tone stern, and so was her expression.

    "We don''t need much. This is essentially the best we can do. We don''t know theyout of the city since only tier 4s can fly and inspect its entirety."

    "This is good enough," Noah revealed focusing on their figures. "At some point, I''ll have to tell you guys to leave."

    "You''ll have to forgive me for that for I''ll unleash something dangerous," he exined, nodding. No one would question him, however. Whatever it was they didn''t want to get caught up in it since it would most likely lead to their deaths.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Thank you for informing us," Cora nodded genuinely appreciative. He was scary. Whatever he termed dangerous would be ced closer to certain death.

    Noah nodded before setting his eyes in the direction of the city. The n was simple. Destroy it. But he would utilize that chance to test out new assets.

    "Where shall we begin digging?" Noah asked both sub-leaders. He had already made a decision but only wanted to test them.

    His question put them slightly on edge.

    "Here," Davis announced. "The earth affinity users should start digging from here. Try to make as little sound as possible, and also go deep to ensure our passage isn''t felt, lest we alert whatever safety measure was put in ce."

    Noah nodded at that order. It was only smart that they started as far away from the city as possible.

    Three experts stepped forward at that point. Tre, Pete, and Josh. They each nodded at each other and allowed their gazes to fall on the ground beneath them.

    Noah ascended a bit, whilst the ground shook and suddenly copsed in on itself. Those experts could directly tear apart the fabric of the ground beneath them, making everything as smooth as sand.

    The cylindrical hole already about 200m deep saw its walls getting smooth and they each jumped in.

    One expert could take care of the digging, and Tre did while Josh took care of leaving the path as smooth as possible and clearing the air of any earthy particles.

    Their journey was quick and seamless, the group journeyed the entire length of the said passage with their legs. Or at least they ran.

    Tre could sprint forward and make the molds of earth before her disappear to create long segments which would then be smoothened by Josh. Pete simply ran behind them.

    Tre could create whole kilometers worth of these segments allowing them to arrive at the bottom of the city in less than 2 minutes.

    Noah had unfolded his aura covering their figures.

    Silence reigned amongst those experts when they arrived beneath the city. A few kilometers into it even.

    "We have a problem," Cora revealed grimly speaking to the group, but mostly Noah.

    "The barrier is sphere-like. Also reaching beneath the city," Noah spoke even before she could. "Those elves sure are thorough."

    "What do we do? Interacting with It would alert whoever set it up," the expert furrowed her brows. The barrier was of high quality and the small ascending pathway that had been dug by Tre revealed its green radiance.

    It surpassed the durability of a middle-staged item.

    "What else can we do..." Noah shook his head, allowing a tform of wind to appear and he ascended till he was almost touching the barrier.

    "We''ll break ourselves through and carry out the mission of course," he announced boldly, pulling his right arm back with a fist formed.

    Noah''s simple action alerted those individuals, he was strong, but surely even he couldn''t affect a higher-stage object.

    At least those were their initial beliefs.

    Noah threw a punch with all the might his arm could afford, and the earth above him vanished before the stunned gazes of those experts.

    With a ground-shaking explosion, his attack shattered the magical barrier and blew the ground open.

    "Let the raid begin," Noah announced turning into a silver streak that ascended into the sky; leaving his stunned group, who recovered instantster to shoot into the sky, before proceeding to unleash terrible destruction.

 Chapter 543 543. BEAUTY OF A BEAST

    The skies rumbled and the winds blew violently. The individuals of Noah''s group allowed their auras to run freely whilst they pushed the shock from Noah''s strength to the back of their heads.

    Screams of terror unfolded in the city as those resident to the city found huge chunks of grey rocks mming into their habitations, crushing hundreds and killing a few thousand when they exploded.

    Balls of blue mesnded on the city and turned everything into char. Thousands died without even feeling the heat that killed them. This was the power of the fourth tier.

    Noah watched his people wreak havoc from above the city. His gaze remained calm as always and his eyes scanned the central regions of that city. It was big. So much so that he doubted their ability to destroy a significant portion in time.

    Some of the twelve had immediately traveled miles deeper into the city and he could witness the explosions their power caused. It had barely been twenty seconds but they had already removed tens of thousands.

    "They might be enough if we are given a bit more time," Noah muttered even if he didn''t see that happening.

    The very terrain of the city suddenly saw huge portions giving birth to magical circles radiating dangerous auras.

    Four powerful auras unfolded into the world as four giant''s made out of vines sprung forth from those magical circles.

    "They are already on the move," Noah muttered, shaking his head when nine foreign presences spread in the city and went forward to sh with his group mates. He unfolded his aura and closed his eyes.

    Thanks to his advancement, Noah''s mental waves could reach shocking limits of expansion, he could find all nine of those enemy experts, and also the vine giants.

    The sky rumbled as an immense dark cloud unfolded high above the city its size remaining stunning for the amount of energy that burnt simply for that manifestation would be great.

    Noah opened his eyes and the sky saw a blinding sh of silver light filling it, followed by the roaring of the electrical discharge.

    Noah''s group mates had already begun to flee the area close to the nine experts when they saw that cloud. Noah had utilized his lightning affinity more than enough time for its power to be etched into their minds.

    The results were spectacr.

    Noah had only targeted the exactly 13 tier 4 beings that didn''t belong to him, but the city had suffered the event. Many thousands died as a result.

    His bolts had unleashed their full power on the peak-middle stage tier 4 giants and instantly turned them to ash before exploding in a massive wave of mes.

    The cultivators and elves had it better. Noah had never aimed at instantly killing them, but put just enough to make their figures m into the ground, hurting them.

    One expert, in particr, hadnded inside the 6-kilometer-wide hole Noah''s punch had created. The man speedingly evaluated his chances of winning the battle and tried to flee.

    "One is on the run. Through the tunnel we created. Find him and kill him. The rest of you can now leave the battle," Noah ordered through his mental waves and his real voice carried by his power. That event alone caused huge cracks to unfold in thends.

    They had not spent up to a minute on the battlefield, but it was already time to unleash his assets before he killed them himself.

    Those experts nodded at hismand. Three shot after the fleeing man, while the remaining nine flew high into the sky. Noah''s punch had actually destroyed the entire barrier leaving the sky open for free movement.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "What have you done, you savages!" A masculine voice not belonging to the manner of speech native to the people of Cusk rang out. Followed by the ascending of a pir of bright green mes. An elf.

    "Nothing new to this war," Noah responded sitting cross-legged while still in the sky. A conversation held within his mind.

    The elf in question remained silent at that point while the remaining seven gathered around Noah''s figure even if they kept a significant distance between him and them.

    "The people up there are mad at you for what the order has done to us. Unfortunately, they are not strong enough to properly deliver any major blows. That''s why I''m here. At least we are." Noah exined shrugging.

    Each of those experts nced up to see those experts already more than their numbers. Worry appeared on their faces.

    "Don''t worry they won''t interfere in this battle. I won''t too," Noah revealed. Hisst words drew confusion even on the faces of the experts high up.

    "Confusing? Well sorry," Noah waved allowing white cracks to appear on his chest. A cerulean streak shot out of his figure to transform into arge figure no less than 50m in height.

    An aura of terrible power unfolded into the world at that event. Those experts felt a beastly gaze fall on them while their eyes inspected the huge beast before them. Ignoring its beauty for a short period, they took note of the danger it represented in their minds.

    "It''s goodbye now. Or forever" Noah''s voice came from the beast''s figure and those experts thought he had actually transformed into a magical beast.

    "What sort of monster are you!" One of the elves eximed with that thought in mind. Noah ascended, however, shocking them.

    "She''ll be your opponent now. Goodbye," Noah bowed shooting out of the city.

    "You should also follow," His voice boomed forth, alerting his teammates who chased after him. ''That entire city is done.''

    When Noah and his teammates were out of the city, Erolia raised her golden beak to the sky; voicing a powerful high-pitched cry.

    The world trembled and the sky shook as a huge cloud converged high above the city. The rumbling of lightning filled the world and those experts unleashed their attacks on the giant beauty of a beast.

    Erolia disappeared with a powerful bang while her cloud unleashed its bolt on the world below.

    Cerulean, golden, and silver lights flooded the world as the raging of a multicolored lightning bolt buried all other sounds to ravage its targets.

    An explosion of incredible scale unfolded into the world as the escaping experts watched and felt shock waves hit their figures even from that distance!

    They nced at Noah and felt even more reverence seep into their hearts.

    Noah remained calm as ever, but only he knew those bolts were stronger than even his. His pet truly was a monster. A monster that could hurt him with its casual attacks. Of course, this was due to the nature of the energy that had birthed it.

 Chapter 544 544. FUTILE

    Erolia pped her wings once and shattered the sound barrier to leave her targets suffering her bolts. She did this to escape their attacks, but also as a show of speed and skill.

    Thanks to her nature, she could perform a few sharp turns whilst in that high-speed movement, so the moment she arrived kilometers away from her opponents, she turned and shot back at their figures.

    Her giant body arrived before one man amongst the eight. She did not worry about his features or even cared.

    The expert had tried to utilize barriers of blue mes against her bolts, but they were already ravaging his body.

    With a movement far quicker than the expert could respond to in that situation, she bit his torso with her golden beak. Crushing the man in one blow and killing him!

    Erolia threw the rest of his body in her mouth and moved on to her next target, unfazed by the life she had just taken.

    After her soul integrated with the body of that beast, she had lost the natural ability to feel remorse towards others apart from her master. Heck, she felt joy for making her first real kill, as he would praise her.

    Erolia''s movements were too loud to go unnoticed but the raging sparks existed around her and she remained immune to them. Her targets were also moving in slow motion to her. They were hers for the killing.

    Nevertheless, green mes sprung up into existence, surrounding that area and transforming into a massive barrier that tried its very best to resist the still raging bolts. All those events were only urred during the three seconds the crackling bolts fell.

    "Futile," a beastly voice boomed out of Erolia''s golden beak and she arrived in front of the elf. Noah had told her of their existence and their power.

    They were favored by mana and were essentially like him in terms of the spectrum of energy.

    Her talons descended on the elf but she was too slow, his figure exploded into a wave of mes that pushed her back for many meters.

    A pir of ice and wind shot into the sky to chip away at the cloud, but by the end of the fifth second, it ran out of power.

    A great ck smoke rose to the sky after those few events, but there was gloominess in the air. Those experts searched their numbers and saw that they had already lost someone, and the beast still looked at its peak since the clouds rumbled even louder.

    Erolia inspected her body and found no injuries, so she allowed her influence over the world to reach its peak.

    The skies rumbled and the wind blew violently, a vast storm unfolded in a matter of seconds.

    The event obstructed the visual capabilities of those experts, and their mental waves suffered due to the pressure of the event. Whether those elves or humans liked it or not, the beast they fought was powered by the speed force. Erolia''s might would be second to only Noah''s.

    During their training, Noah had drilled his superiority into her mind with his mere punches. Those attacks sent shivers down her body each time she recalled his blows.

    The portion of her mind that still sumbed to the pride of the thunderbird was calmed after their first hour of sparring. Noah had allowed her to focus on her abilities and they had explored her various spells together.

    Yes, Erolia had spells avable to her and she would unleash them the moment she saw fit.

    She saw fit.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The skies rumbled even more violently as she watched the futile efforts of those experts trying to band together.

    Under the huge cloud above them were nothing less than 300 spinning masses of cold crackling wind. Those experts suffered damage from merely that.

    The ground suffered great cracks and the mountains surrounding the city eventually found those cracks spreading up their surface. The st from the first discharge had already weakened them.

    Erolia stood at the middle stage but like her master; possessed prowess akin to the higher stage.

    A blinding cerulean light flooded the world as a magical triangle unfolded below the experts and below the storm, she had inherited Noah''s new style of spellcasting, and as a matter of fact, she had inherited a connection with the system too!

    She could ess a status page and could call upon her skills by simply choosing. She could hear the system''s voicemunicate with Noah even if he wasn''t around her. She could tone down its voice, however.

    Being a soul bond had allowed her many more things than just the usual. What Noah had ess to through his soul, she had a portion to herself also.

    The magical triangle arrived with an intense humming sound and those experts being too busy with the storms felt another level of desperation hit them with full force.

    "sh of the heavenly pirs." Her golden beak muttered and watched a horrendous crack open in the very fabric of the earth beneath them.

    [sh of the heavenly pirs[Active]: Possessing a grand connection with the sky and its fabric; call upon the very pirs that held the third heavens in a sh of stunning power]

    The rumbling sounds filled the world as something of great power came bubbling forth. It sounded like the rushing of the wind, but far more powerful since those mere vibrations caused the very mountains that still stood to crumble.

    Erolia spent 50% of her essence pool simply activating that spell, and even at that; fatigue hit her mind, but she shrugged it off with the vitality avable to her as a magical beast.

    The culmination of that spell eventually arrived and even Erolia left the proximity of her spell in fear of seriously damaging her body.

    A blinding cerulean light flooded the world, its radiance stretching for many kilometers in radius.

    Even before the pir of cerulean light could reach the sky, Erolia''s storm vanished as though acknowledging the power within that spell.

    The moment that blinding pir ascended into the sky a simrly powerful shining emerald pir fell from Cregar''s sky to m into the ascending pir. Only then did the full power of that spell unfold.

    The resultant explosion was so mighty that an immense crater formed in short moments. The shock waves of that event were so great and quick that Erolia''s escaping figure suffered internal damage from their power.

    Noah felt those shock waves hit him and the entire group, but he already had their figures under his influence. That didn''t stop him from crashing into the ground and spitting a bit of silver blood,

    He watched the very terrain rise and fall in a wave-like pattern, raising folds of the earth till they crashed on his figure and the figures of the others, burying them.

 Chapter 545 545. SHORT WORK

    Noah sighed, while the ground burst open to reveal he and the group werepletely fine. Their gazes however fell on the carnage all around them before ncing at Noah''s figure.

    He shrugged and stood, looking forward to his pet. He could sense the pain she experienced, but thankfully they weren''t life-threatening.

    One of the weaknesses of Erolia''s body was her naturally slow healing pace. It took a lot from her reserves and also stamina to healpletely without relying on external factors. She would be in real trouble was she to find herself in serious wounds.

    Her impressive vitality would drain quickly even for her.

    "You shouldn''t have used that spell after only mere seconds of battling," Noah condemned her action through their connection. Erolia sank back at his words whilst her figure burst forth from the ground to appear on the surface of the destruction around her.

    "I''m sorry master. I''m still clumsy in my decision-making," she sighed through their connection.

    "Are they all dead?" Noah asked already moving on from the issue. He hardly cared about the destruction caused by the expressions of their power.

    "I suppose they are," she pped her wings to ascend into the sky with a bang.

    "Only four died," Noah countered, shaking his head. Due to their bond, he received the exp from her kills, but she couldn''t receive them from his kills.

    In terms of advancing in strength, she could either absorb energy or go through rounds of the pet cultivation skill which only Noah could activate.

    "Eh! Only four!" Erolia approached the group, her huge figure casting a huge shadow on the surface below her. Four green cores streaked toward Noah and he stored them

    "Yes," Noah responded, stepping on a tform of air, he could vaguely sense three remaining presences. But more importantly, the extra entity that had not been there during the beginning of the fight.

    "This is an interesting turn of events," his words unfolded with power and might, reaching regions far from him. He knew who he spoke to.

    "I vividly recall you saying you wouldn''t interfere," he tilted his head to the side, even if he shattered the sound barrier to sprint towards the eye of the massive crater.

    His figure appeared high in the sky and silver sparks came out of his figure radiating violence. A bolt fell on the crater''s lowest and central point but was extinguished before it could hit its mark.

    "I told you I wouldn''t interrupt your journey. But the battle I could." A blue-clothed figure appeared behind Noah''s figure, and afloat beside thedy were three other figures. Unconscious. All elves.

    Noah''s nced at his left side, having followed that quick movement with ease. Her fist mmed into his face and sent him toward the ground. His contact with the ground spread cracks on a small portion of the crater.

    "You see, heir. Unlike the humans of this, and its elves or other species in fact; you have no rights whatsoever. We are allowed to do whatever since you''re foreign. Even more; a bringer of destruction. Just as your pet had revealed," thedy rified whilst her higher-stage aura unfolded into the area.

    The oppressive pressure reached the group members on their way to meet Noah. They crashed into the ground with full force, unable to repel the power of that aura. Terror filled their minds at that point.

    Sure, Noah had revealed his ability to break items in the higher stage, but battling one was a different story. Still, they believed he could somehow survive. But what about them?

    He wasn''t close to them meaning he couldn''t protect them just as he promised.

    The ground shattered the moment Noah leaped into the air to meet his new opponent. She had saved three members of the group''s leaders. Which were all elves. He wondered why she had let the others die. There seemed to be more going on by merely ncing at that scene.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Unfortunately, that wasn''t his main focus.

    "Erolia," Noah called upon his pet, and her colossal 50m figure flickered before that tiny woman with a bang.

    The veiled expert raised her head to nce at that beast''s iing leg. She snorted, lifting her hand to stop the bird''s kick.

    The sheer might contained in Erolia''s golden leg caused shock waves of pure force to unfold into the world. The event pushed the winds away but did not affect Noah''s figure.

    He stared at that scene with as much calmness as he always had.

    "Why didn''t you put all your power into that kick," He spoke even in that tense moment. Thedy still had his pet''s leg in her grip, she could crush it but he didn''t care.

    "I didn''t want to cause too much destruction," Erolia responded, startled that he had noticed.

    "Well, you''ll have to," he shook his head sweeping his gaze on the veileddy. She underestimated them enough to allow that interaction. "She''s a bit stronger than you."

    "A bit?" Thedy eximed in amusement having enough of their open mockery. She hated the confidence that middle-staged being exuded even in that situation.

    She spun Erolia''s figure before hurling her toward the ground. That event resulted in arge crack within the crater and a cloud of ck dust.

    She threw another punch at Noah, which he blocked by crossing his arms before him. He shattered the sound barrier to shoot backward anyway. Noah stopped himself merely after a second.

    Her aura exploded even more powerfully at that point, she caught hold of the middle staged experts in Noah''s group, but a bolt of silver sparks approached her figure again. She waved her hand to try and extinguish it. She did, but Noah''s tall frame appeared in front of her.

    "I promised to protect them," he revealed, calmly lifting his right arm even if it turned to a blur.

    Before thedy could react, she felt her world spin, and her back mmed into the rocky terrain, digging through it for tens of meters. Each new depth unfolded as a crater.

    She coughed a mouthful of blood when she finally stopped moving, and shock would be evident on her features if not for her veil.

    Noah shook his head and turned towards his pet.

    "Take care of her for now. I need to see how well you do against higher-stage experts since we''ll be fighting a lot of them from now on," he exined, watching thedye out of the hole her figure had dug.

    She heard his words and felt insulted. Still, she felt stunned by what had just happened. Noah had shattered all the ribs in her chest, made three of her internal organs fail, and made short work of her struck muscles and bones. And she hadn''t even seen his arm move!

    Only Noah knew he had thrown 70 blows in the span of an instant.

    Erolia nodded at Noah''smand even if she didn''t find thempletely favorable. Her master sprinted out of that area to meet his group afterward.

    "Heir��" The veileddy tried to speak but found multicolored bolts mming on her figure with such intensity that she grit her teeth in tingling pain. She quickly shot out of their range to take that battle seriously.

 Chapter 546 546. READY

    Noah appeared before his group mates with the force of a speeding jet. The ground shattered and the wind blew violently whilst he simply flickered in front of them.

    The event startled them since his aura was out in the open, but he didn''t let it affect them.

    "I apologize for the inconvenience. Are you all okay?" He asked, the recovering cultivators, and they nodded, quite stunned about the turn of events.

    Their eyes caught sight of the explosions in the distance. The shes of light and the roars of lightning bolts reached them. The bangs that erupted as a result of multiple shes reverberated throughout the regions.

    The fight between Erolia had quickly escted into a high-speed battle. Those experts would almost be unable to see what was going on.

    "W... who''s fighting the higher stage?" Cora asked still shaken. She had seen her life sh before her eyes during those few moments under the influence of the foreign expert.

    "Erolia, my bond," Noah responded and watched their eyes widen in a new level of shock.

    They had naturally arrived at the conclusion there weren''t others on the battlefield than them. Still, a middle stage battling a higher stage was akin to suicide. But he seemed unworried, as usual.

    "She''ll be present in the other missions too. And you guys should get over your amazement. I understand there are a few things that don''t make much sense, but this Is the reality of things. To have my type of power you have to cross the bounds of reason," he exined stretching his arm forward.

    Cora held onto him and he pulled her to her feet. The others stood at that point.

    "You should start distributing the devices," Noah announced.

    "What about your pet? Can she handle them?" Davis revealed his concern.

    "I''ll end everything before she dies, so rx and focus on the mission. We''ll take care of the intruder." He assured the man, cing his hand on his shoulder. "It''s my fault after all."

    His added words confused them. But they would do as he ordered. Theck of concern he exuded spread to the entire team as their trust in him grew to levels they never expected. He felt dependable.

    A sh of cerulean and golden light reached their eyes pulling their attentions to the battle far ahead.

    They watched a huge crackling bird-head descend from a resplendent silver cloud to engulf the world below it in a terrible discharge of golden, cerulean, and silver sparks.

    Shock waves unfolded into the regions at that point. That st of power pushed waves of wind across the surrounding areas. Those experts repelled the flying bits of dirt with their mental waves.

    "Things are getting serious," Noah muttered, watching deep-purple; almost ck, miasma engulf the crackling head to transform into rope-like limbstching onto the head to squeeze till it shattered.

    A spectacr explosion reverberated quickly after, sending huge waves of dirt that swept across the surrounding vicinities.

    "Are you alright?" Noah asked Erolia through their connection. He could sense her getting hurt. She had already utilized a significant amount of her reserve in the battle with the middle staged experts, her other attack had further chipped away at her reserves.

    "She''s strong. And utilizes some weird and dangerous illusions born out of her wind and darkness affinity," Erolia exined through their connection.

    "Will you be able okay?" Noah questioned ready to step in depending on her reply.

    "I''ll be okay for a while master. But unfortunately, I will be unable to eradicate her. I''ll tire long before she reaches a weak enough state," she responded, quite disappointed about that evaluation.

    "No worries then. Inform me when you''re ready to switch," Noah replied, whilst Cora shared the devices they would be nting across the area.

    "That''ll be in about three minutes."

    "I''m sorry I couldn''t be of much help, master," Erolia apologized, genuinely saddened by her situation.

    "You''ve done enough. Besides, I never thought you could kill her. She''s an expert sent to battle someone at my level. She survived more punches than most and is still capable of keeping you at bay. She meets the hype," he exined, shaking his head to wonder how strong the next experts sent after him would be.

    At that point, Erolia fell silent to focus on her fight. Noah also closed the connection to focus on the experts around him.

    Watching him simply stand, facing the battle in the distance remained a strange sight. But they figured hemunicated with the experts.

    Their hunch proved urate since the moment Noah turned to face them the distant battle abruptly exploded with more ferocity.

    How had heid hands on such a stupendous beast?

    "We have about three minutes before I''m forced to join the battle. let''s make the most of it," Noah proimed, pulling their attention from the fight.

    "Are you ready? The moment we move out I''ll unfold my consciousness over you as a form of protection. Moving outside of it could mean death, so I''ll warn you before such urs."

    Those experts nodded at that point, their expressions falling stern and their auras reaching high levels of focus.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah equally nodded at that point. "Let''s go," he announced, and their figures shattered the sound barrier at the exact same time, to sprint out of that area.

    They had been given a total of seventy magical items made from high-end inscriptions and runes geared towards surveince and keeping watch of the area.

    The issue of their numbers had been raised, but Elder Ezra had been quick to inform them of their ability to mask their presence.

    Still, expert searching would be capable of finding them even if only the divine lightning guild had ess to those objects as they were new. It should take a long while.

    They weremanded to disperse those items to decrease the chances of finding them.

    They would dig the ground to bury them many feet below the surface. Those items stood at the fourth tier, meaning even if they were one kilometer below the surface they would still fulfill their function.

    Noahmanded them to dig only half that depth while the close they got to the city went a full thousand meters.

    The seconds started to pass while those experts worked at full speed. A sense of desperation to finish quickly hung above their heads as the minutes passed.

    Noah moved about with them, d that Erolia couldst up to five minutes before needing to call upon him. By that point, they had just finished.

    A sh of cerulean light filled the clouded battle area and a figure covered in ck smoke shot out of the clouded area to crash somewhere close to Noah''s figure

    Erolia''s state unfolded in Noah''s gaze at that point. Her body stood rigged with cuts and gashes and blood stains filled her feathers. The impressive light she normally exuded had died down now. Reced with a low dark glow that sapped away her vitality.

    "Master..." Her chipped beak moved to reveal her weak and fatigued tone.

    "You''ve held her back enough," Noah whispered right before she passed out. Her figure transformed into a cerulean streak to enter his chest.

    "Your pet was impressive. But not strong enough!" A feminine voice emerged from within the cloudy and smoky battlefield. Which was also the center of the crater where the city once stood. The wind blew violently and the smoke cleared to reveal thedy''s figure.

    She had suffered injuries during the fight too, her tattered blood-stained attire revealed the many cuts and charred patches that filled her body. Her healing had kicked in, however, and the deep-purple; almost ck miasma she emitted increased the danger she exuded. At least twice the other time.

    "It''s time for you to die heir," her tone spoke of her deep confidence, she had only gotten a bit out of breath. A testimony of just how monstrous her strength was.

    "I would say the same for you," Noah tilted his head to the side, taking light steps forward. Muliix''s splendid material appeared on his figure without its helmet.

    "You should flee," Noah informed his group through his consciousness.

    "Please be careful," Davis bowed before they shot out of the area.

    Noah nodded, allowing his aura to unfold with all its intensity. That event bathed the environment in a silver light.

    Cracks opened in the already destroyed areas, and his aura felt touchable.

    Noah allowed his daggers to appear in his grip, introducing a new level of pressure. Their appearance revealed their cosmetic change, but only he knew what had changed in their nature.

    "I hope you''re ready," Noah raised his head.

    "Gimme a bit," an excited smile unfolded on thedy''s face behind the veil, whilst her dark-purple miasma wriggled strangely until theytched onto her figure to reveal a peculiar battle armor.

    But in addition to that, darkness unfolded into the world, battling Noah''s silver light and he watched a whole army of thatdy''s figure manifest in an instant.

    "Are you ready now?" He asked again and she nodded, but all 2000 of her cloned figures also nodded.

    Noah allowed Muliix''s helmet to cover his face after which he raised his daggers now radiating three light, dark-purple, orange, and silver.

    Making their curved tips touch, he swung both des to create crossed sh that barreled forth in size until it mmed on thedy''s seemingly many figures.

    His huge attack tore through those floating figures to create a cross-shaped area void of those clones.

    Halfway through, however, the radiant shes detonated, unfolding into a violent wave of mes, withering smoke, and silver light, all geared toward devouring all forms of energy in the area.

    The resultant explosion remained breathtaking.

    That was until a horrendous pulling forcended on the region, then everything fell into chaos.

 Chapter 547 547. ASCENDED

    The grounds shattered to converge on the mass of the formerly expanding explosion. It pulled everything towards it as a form of dominance, thus resulting in a chaotic series of events.

    That event gave birth to a massive storm that even Noah had to escape lest he got into more trouble. Still, even within that situation, he nodded in affirmation at the new power of his daggers.

    Having immersed them in a pool of speed essence for days, not only had the withering and explosive abilities of the daggers been amplified to a greater degree, but his attacks now gave birth to a pulling force birthed by his innate ability as a Speedling to devour any form of energy lower than his.

    The event was massive and clothed the sky in its darkness. A huge spherical mass formed at the eye of the pulling force, which had formerly been the explosion of the shes. Another explosion would ensue the moment it couldn''t handle any more energy.

    This was sort of abo, a stupendous one. The attainable power already crossed the middle stage and hiked towards the very peak of the higher stage. Noah had been willing to test it out, but it surpassed his expectations.

    The escaping experts ran with all their might as even if they were already a few kilometers away, the ground continued to shatter. It took all their strength to not be affected by the pulling force taking hold of the area andying waste to it.

    Noah had long since transformed into a silver streak barreling higher into the sky but also farther from it in terms of horizontal distance.

    Even within that mess, he could still sense the presence of his opponent, he believed whatever excitement she had would have vanished. After all, it didn''t matter what she did the moment she was within the st radius of the second explosion she would surely die, or be very close to that state.

    A deep purple and silver light rose from the depths of the pulling force and those lights soon began to struggle against the other. They both belonged to Noah, but they got brighter and brighter as energy was ground till it returned to its original state. Mana.

    It felt strange how although his attack was birthed from the speed essence, it could still utilize mana. Moreover, this was what made it very dangerous. An explosion of pure mana would be disastrous.

    Truth be told Noah had pushed those daggers to their limit. In the moments of waiting for the veileddy to prepare, he had pushed speed essence into the materials of the daggers, and although they could take it due to their prolonged exposure to that form of energy, he had pushed all of the stored essence into that attack.

    He could stillunch smaller-scaled shes, but even at that, the des would need a while to return to their sturdiest state.

    Sure his daggers could take more essence than they could before, but they still were not weapons born purely out of the speed essence. They possessed clear structural limits.

    An eruption of force urred at some point, and the sight of a huge deep-purple; almost ck figure possessing several long arms originating from a spherical body, was revealed to the world.

    Its many arms rapidly struck the shattering ground in an attempt to leave the perimeters of that pulling force. But even at that, chunks of its body were ripped away to converge on the bright silver and purple mass in the distance.

    Noah and the veileddy were escaping in the same direction, but he was faster. While she had to suffer escaping from the very center of the event.

    The fact that she had even aplished such a feat told of her great prowess. It would be harder to kill her than Noah thought.

    Chunks of the huge octopus-like figure continued to break off and fly towards the growing mass of mana like a stream, but the veileddy continued to rebuild those shattering arms whilst she cursed Noah from the depths of her heart.

    Barely ten seconds had passed since that event started, but danger swept thends like a ripple. A whirling sound suddenly sprung into existence, and with it, the pulling force vanished. A sign that it had reached its limits.

    Panic prated thedy''s calmness, and her construct transformed into a spear-like object to streak across the regions with zing speed.

    Noah on the other hand stopped and shot sideways to intercept the escapingdy. She was the reason he had unleashed something that strong, he wouldn''t let it go to waste.

    His figure vanished, achieving massively hypersonic speeds.

    Before the expert could react to the impending danger, she found her construct shattering to give way to the passage of a tiny figure.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah took hold of thedy and in the short span of an instant, allowed speed essence to encase her, after which he sent her shooting towards the roaring whirling sound of intense energies.

    All this happened in but a moment as the regions found a silver streak approaching the purple and silver mass, traveling at Mach 80!

    Before thedy could respond she had gotten dangerously close to the mass. Terror filled her heart when she found her mana unable to affect the silver cocoon she had been ced in.

    A battle cry left her mouth as she called upon her darkness and wind element to give birth to as many armors she could fit on her skin within those instants.

    Unfortunately, her mind still shook from impending doom. The seconds seemed to turn to hours for horror and the fear of death forced her into making a decision. The decision to activate a premature technique.

    It was the most powerful technique that could be possibly learned by someone of her status; a veiled one of the immortals.

    Borrowing power from Cregar herself!

    This was an ability servants of the immortals could afford, but unlike the more talented experts at her level, she had notpletely mastered it, and it could lead to her death. The chances were high.

    Nevertheless, potential death was better than certain death.

    "Born from dust, raised to power. Anointed to serve. Through the veil, a connection was made. Hear my voice oh Cregar; a servant chooses to utilize your power." Thedy chanted these words and her veil lit up with multicolored symbols even she did not understand. Then a cry of agony left her mouth.

    Noah watched the silver streak m into the purple and silver mass.

    An initial st of pure force barreled over thends at velocities far quicker than his peak.

    Noah felt those waves m into Muliix''s material and send him flying, but then the real explosion unfolded and a blinding purple, silver, and blue light washed over thends, followed by an expanding wave of destructive energy.

    The grounds disappeared, as an expanding white fireball ascended into the sky, leaving a column of pure whiteness at its base.

    The heat st from the event made short work of the ground and the shock waves turned the formerly destroyed grounds into even more mess.

    Nevertheless, a series of vast ck magical circles unfolded above the explosion and a pir of ckness fell from those circles to smash into the expanding explosion and obliterate its existence!

    Calmness filled the regions immediately after, but an immensely heavy aura fell on the surrounding miles mere momentster.

    Noah recognized the owner of the presence and felt curiosity fill his mind. But also the realization of that turn of events.

    He truly did not understand what had urred. But the odds of him winning without pulling out his big guns had dropped to nigh zero.

    "Heir of the god of speed. Your existence has been a subject of discussion amongst the many servants of the immortals. Today you have pushed me into this decision. Your existence truly is worthy of the importance given to it." thedy''s voice bellowed across the regions with a level of power that felt choking even for her only audience.

    The ck pir soon disappeared and Noah had to watch it happen. He evaluated his options and shook his head when thedy revealed that her power had ascended from close to the peak of the fourth tier, till she was a Quasi tier 5.

 Chapter 548 548. GLOBAL

    There in the distance, the veileddy stood in the sky; her former ragged clothes now reced by a darker-than-ck robe.

    Her presence felt heavy like never before and her level situated too close to the fifth tier would be the reason for that.

    She wasn''tpletely a fifth-tier cultivator, but at that level, she could consider herself the strongest tier 4 in the whole world. A bit more and she wouldnd in the lower stage of the fifth tier.

    Noah stood still on the tform of wind below him. The difficulty of the battle had just skyrocketed. His base power would never be capable of touching her. From her level to his level, he would consider her a full tier 5.

    ''So this is the power the servants of the immortals possess,'' Noah thought to himself considering abandoning that situation.

    The pressure she released remained unrivaled on the battlefield, but there were moments when it flickered. At the moment she was still trying to stabilize her new level.

    Noah knew he couldn''t take her at his base level, and also didn''t want to have her pursuing him all over the ce. There was real malice present now.

    "Is this an empowerment that willst permanently, or something that''ll die off and leave you in a state close to death?" Noah spoke without making his power carry his voice because he knew she could hear him. He could feel her influence all around him after all.

    "It matters not which it is. All that you need to know is that only death remains for you," thedy spoke spreading her arms with confidence as high as it could get. Surely there was nothing he could bring up to match her power.

    He could battle stages within the same tier, but crossing over to the next tier was an impossible feat.

    Noah shook his head at her reluctance. He raised his hand even from that distance and called upon one of his many spells.

    "Arrows of holy judgment."

    [Arrows of Holy judgment[Active]: All darkness trembles before light. Judgment against thy enemies is passed out with the swiftness of the arrows of holiness and light. When activated, an innumerable amount of holy arrows within 30 seconds, descend from the sky with the fullness of the power of the caster. Dealing great damage to the environment and whoever they strike]

    [Cost: 40% SE Pool. Duration: 30 seconds. Cool-down: 1 minute]

    The sky trembled with terrible intensity and a blinding series of ovepping silver magical circles and triangles unfolded with power and might.

    Noah remained in position even if a significant portion of his reserves vanished to give birth to that magical effect.

    With his right arm still stretched, he watched a construct of pure silver light appear in his grip, a bow, and another object of pure silver light appeared in his second grip, an arrow.

    Noah set the arrow in the bow and pulled upon its silver string. His aura intensified, but thedy simply watched that event ur with calmness. She sensed no danger from his actions.

    Tens of small magical triangles appeared on the tip of the arrowhead pointed at the sky. Then Noah let go.

    The arrow silently streaked across the sky until it reached the magical circles and triangles.

    The sky shook again, this time the very world seemed to weep as a result of what was toe. Then they arrived.

    The sound of roaring flooded into the world, as a rain of silver arrows descended from the immense magical circles and triangles. Each one of those arrows measured 2m in length.

    The regions seemingly shook as that truly spectacr offensive rained upon the world, but mostly upon the veileddy, who snorted at that sight.

    Before even the arrows could reach her, a pir of ckness shot up into the sky to m into those magical circles and triangles.

    The horrendously loud sounds of cracks spreading on those constructs filled the world and Noah watched his arrows vanish before they could even deal damage to the world below them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I am now beyond you. There''s nothing you can do to me," she announced with disdain dripping from her tone. She felt safe. His existence had reached its clear limits, and truly she was d.

    Noah ignored her and took an Essence-recovery pill from his inventory to swallow it.

    "Wind serpent." Another wave of magical triangles unfolded behind him and the figures of five wind serpents emerged from those magical circles. Noah took another pill and called upon more wind serpents beforemanding them to fly toward his opponent.

    Their huge figures shot towards thedy in the distance, but Noah watched a singr beam of darkness shoot out of her palm to decimate that force of ten serpents.

    An explosion unfolded at that point as the beam cut through all ten of them at the same time.

    Noah would not be deterred however, he took another pill, and felt his essence rush back into existence, he remained d that he had such items.

    [Elder frost Golem[Active]: The hierarchy of power ranges far and wider across many topics and subjects and beings. Themander of all frozen golems, a being capable of summoning an army of them ording to how much essence is avable]

    [Cost: 30% SE pool. Duration: N/A. Cool-down: 60 seconds]

    "Elder frost Golem," Noah announced sensing a series of silvery-blue magical triangles expand in front of him, and cold mist exploded forth into the environment, burying him in their fogginess.

    A dense and heavy aura sprung up into existence as a tall 15m figure featuring zing eyes revealed itself to the world.

    Noah was quick to act immediately after even if his opponent had begun tough.

    "It''s all futile!" Her voice was ring, and herughter being carried by her power dealt damage to the world around her. Noah felt that simple expression push him back a few steps.

    Commanding his golem to summon an army of frost golems, Noah had to take another pill for that event to ur, and in the span of a moment, an army of huge bulky figures unfolded into the world. The pressure that they carried remained stunning.

    That force moved out immediately they appeared in the sky, and their movement caused loads of mist capable of covering a city, to manifest.

    Nevertheless, thedy simply shook her head at what she considered a pitiful disy. Stretching her palm forward at the truly mighty army she allowed darkness and wind to gather and condense in the form of an orb.

    The event remained noisy and those vibrations even damaged the golems closest to her.

    Thedy let her attack go and the world saw an immense beam capable of swallowing even thatrge force barrel forth with horrendous speed.

    Even Noah had to elerate to his peak to escape that event. That singr attack would have been capable of wiping out a city!

    Bits of the ck beam touched the ground and those chunks directly disappeared. The area was already too messed up. Some of the buried items had even been uncovered by this point.

    "No more of your weak attacks. It''s time to end this," thedy announced after that casual disy. She already wished she could stay at that level, but that would not be the case. After the empowerment ended she would face the worst bacsh ever.

    "Yes," Noah replied, finding no way out of that situation than his decision.

    "Second nature, unleashed," he spake those words in a whisper, but they carried too significant a consequence.

    Noah felt something within him snap and a harmless explosion of golden, white, and silver light unfolded, or rather, he began to shine, and the world literally shook! For the whole of Cregar took note of a presence far too unique to be missed.

    Those knowledgeable and ignorant across the globe took note of the shaking of their. A global phenomenon that would lead to events not seen even since the beginning of Cregar.

 Chapter 549 549. BREATH ATTACK

    "What was that," Noah muttered to himself, whilst in the process of the transformation. He shed his human skin, going on to take on the durability and realness of his speedling form.

    ? Noah increased in height as bones snapped and growths urred, his aura grew denser and heavier and his power shot through the roof to reveal the peak of his existence without any spells.

    Thedy in the distance watched this event with shock and awe, she had felt and seen the world around her shake the moment the man before her activated whatever it is that he did.

    Her heart trembled at the level of power his presence suddenly possessed, or rather, it seemed to have always been there simply hidden from her perspective.

    In truth, Noah had always been that strong, only that it had been sealed within his human body.

    Unleashing that form now revealed who he truly was to the world.

    "What is your name?" Noah''s voice scattered across thends and the sky effortlessly, its tone had changed. It now possessed an air of mystery and ancientness.

    Stunned by what she had just heard, thedy feltpelled to speak. His voice was both demanding and soothing at the same time. She had truly never heard anything like it.

    Still, in an attempt to prove strong even if his aura drowned hers, she replied coldly.

    "You''re about to die there''s no need for that."

    "No. I''m not," His reply echoed across thends and speed essence flowed into the area, joyous by the transformation. The child of speed had revealed his true self.

    The light reaching out from his figure began to die down after barely ten seconds of its appearance and Noah''s state was revealed to the whole world.

    Standing at 3m in height, his rather athletic frame didn''t seem odd to his audience, his hands possessed six fingers each, and his features were almost draconic but remained pristine

    Four golden horns protruded out of Noah''s head like a crown, and Noah raised his head high to the sky whilst raging rivers of silver essence manifested around him. His eyes shone with three different lights, silver, white, and gold.

    "What are you?" Even thedy felt forced to speak at that sight. He looked both beautiful and dangerous.

    "Something beyond the knowledge of this world," Noah replied inspecting the golden runes that ran across his skin at every interval.

    Although he didn''t possess any genitals, he still preferred to be clothed. So portions of the essence around him floated towards him to manifest into a silver robe of essence.

    He had sent Muliix back into his soul.

    With that the activation of his true nature wasplete, his power had quite literally experienced more than a double increase. Certain abilities that were unavable to him in his human form were now avable.

    Noah''s top speed had also increased to a whooping Mach 500. The power of his spells had also experienced that same boost in power.

    Unlike his time In the third tier as a human wielding the speed force, Noah couldn''t simply empower himself like before. Or rather his current state was the best possible state. His body was made directly from speed essence, his human form was always at its best possible strength.

    His Speedling state was even more spectacr, but it had a downside.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Every second, Noah saw 1% of his hp and his soul energy vanish. That state ate at his very life and his soul energy. It didn''t matter that it had also increased, especially when the deduction was percentile.

    He had less than 2 minutes in that state, but his power would be around thedy''s level also.

    ''I have less than two minutes to defeat her,'' Noah chanted inwardly preparing himself to move. He felt d that revealing his full power could bring him to that level. It was better than any empowerment spell.

    Commanding the speed essence around him to manifest into hundreds of des, Noah knew the consequences of his offensive would be great, but as a speedling he decided he would battle utilizing the very essence that powered him.

    "Since you didn''t want to tell me. I''ll take it from your mind then," He announced causing the world around him to thrum in excitement.

    Noah took a step forward the next moment and his figure plus his offensives suddenly lost all motion.

    At least to the eyes of his opponent that seemed to have happened, even if the truth remained that Noah elerated so quickly that it took the world a few instants to notice that he and his massive offensive had disappeared.

    Noah appeared right in front of thedy and she didn''t seem to notice him until his fist crunched into her face transforming her into a ck streak that struck the ground with a boom and bounced. Each time she made contact with the ground, a crater would form.

    She flew for miles before being capable of stopping herself. Her heart shook as her teeth fell out, followed by blood.

    She had the chance to notice that she had arrived within a forest, before Noah''s spears and swords of essence fell on that area to detonate into waves of erratic and destructive energy.

    Everything fell into chaos at that point, but a silent figure shot past all that chaos tond on thedy''s back with a sickening crunch.

    Noah ignored the waves of violent essence around him, for they did him no harm.

    He picked thedy up by her hair and flung her high into the sky ripping some of her hair.

    Bending his knees he leaped after her, but the entire forest despite its more than 9 miles ofnd area shattered into a mess as chasms opened to swallow whole portions of the forest.

    Noah left with a bang and immediately arrived before thedy''s still-flying figure. They flew higher and higher until only clouds were within their range. Noah waited, however.

    He eventually grabbed her leg and caused silver ice to spread on it, unfortunately, he couldn''tpletely freeze it, still he could shatter her foot.

    She tried to resort to her elemental affinity, but Noah flung her towards the world below again.

    This time he hunched his head forward; opening his mouth to let out a mighty roar. But not only that. The moment his roar ended an immense pir of erratic silver essence, beamed downward from his mouth to devour the clouds and m into thedy''s figure, enveloping her in their power.

    Noah snapped his jaws shut to end the breath attack, but when its residue hit the in thedy had been approaching, all greenness disappeared, the trees vanished, and the small hills evaporated, reced by the light of terribly hot silver mes.

    Noah had turned that in into a hellishndscape with one attack!

 Chapter 550 550. DOMAINS

    Noah arrived on the ground with a shattering bang, reducing the burnt terrain to nothingness.

    His time in that form was drawing closer to its end. He would need to kill her in the next few attacks.

    Noah''s instincts tingled and his figure disappeared from his position to appear high in the sky.

    A beam of ckness had engulfed his former position turning what formerly used to be a vast in into a stupendouslyrge hole.

    The silver mes generated from his breath attack vanished at that point, but they had done their job.

    "The hearts of man is corrupt. ck. Darkness is corrosive," thedy''s voice spread out across the vast hole her attack created.

    Noah could feel a substance eat away at the air around him, he could also see that huge chunks of the ground touched by the ck beam began to fall apart further.

    She had infused her corrosive property into the attack.

    Noah didn''t care since it didn''t affect him. He located thedy''s position andmanded a cloud of sparks to manifest.

    The golden runes and symbols running across his body intensified in their radiance at that event, and Noah saw a silver clouding to be, but it possessed golden sparks.

    His cloud could cover the entirety of the hole, so that was what he did and the next moment an immense bolt containing an unreasonable amount of energy fell on the hole and lit up the entire thing and even the sky.

    An astonishing intensity of heat washed over the surroundingnds, boiling everything till it caught mes, or just melted, lighting the regions up with a deep orange glow of boilingnd.

    Noah ceased the cloud''s power a secondter and felt thedy''s presence barreling towards him at high speeds.

    He shook his head as a sword of gold and silver light appeared in his hands. Noah wielded double des and streaked toward her to intercept her attack.

    He didn''t just move in a straight line, however, turning into sharp zig-zagged curves that would not give his position away.

    This allowed him to arrive beside thedy and swing his swords at her back, detaching her torso from her legs.

    A cry of pain followed that event, but Noah had to shoot backward to escape the explosion of ckness that unfolded in the sky raining more of that corrosive ckness onto the world.

    Not willing to let go of that chance, he allowed Muliix and Cudgel to appear on his body and his grip respectively.

    He sent his staff shooting toward thedy while his armor prevented the ck corrosive gas that rose to the sky from affecting him.

    Cudgel exploded in size, shaking the sky as it mmed into the expanding mass of ckness. It shattered it with little effort but Noah had not seen where thedy was, so he had to make do with allowing his staff to smash into the terrain below, making everything fall into chaos.

    The impact of those explosions could be felt literally regions away, but mostly magical beasts took note of it. And the habitation that did simply reinforced their defenses.

    It wasn''t exactly breaking news to hear explosions region on miles away. They were in a war after all.

    Noah sprinted forward at the huge hole Muliix''s passage had opened. For a testimony of how massive that ck explosion had been, there were still portions mostly intact. Thedy''s attacks were solid-like.

    They were high into the sky, but the ckness stuck to the winds, stuck to the ground corroding it and spreading even more of its corrosive-ness in the world.

    Noah crossed the huge opening to arrive within apletely dark environment, still, he could see the world from the other side that Cudgel had torn through. The insides of that ce were empty.

    His arrival, however, saw both openings closing with blinding speed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You''ve reached the end of this battle." Thedy''s voice rang out from all around him. "Domain of darkness." She announced causing a tremor to travel across the expanse of that void and letting a crushing pressure fall on Noah''s shoulder.

    He couldn''t move however since an equally powerful force came from beneath his figure, locking him in ce.

    "I have to admit, you''ve proved difficult to kill. But this is the end," her voice reverberated though out the world around Noah, but he remained in ce. He didn''t have time to talk. He only had thirty seconds to go seeing as he only had forty percent hp left. Were he to let his hp hit zero that would be death.

    Noah took a deep breath closing his eyes. He allowed his consciousness to flow forth with full power.

    The world rumbled in those instants as he sensed tens of ck beams approaching his figure at terrible speeds. Their power being amplified by the special properties of that domain.

    On the outside, the smooth ck sphere stood in the sky, whilstrge dark magical circles existed all around it creating the properties of her domain. A significant amount of energy had been poured into that spell.

    The beams were close to arriving on Noah''s body when he abruptly exploded into a wave of bright multicolored energy,

    The pressure in that spherical domain tried to affect the expanding sea of brightness, but it was made of speed essence.

    Noah had gained a strange innate ability as a dark speedling. He could deconstruct his body into waves of violent essence. His soul core and essence core were buried deep within that expanding mass, only destroying them could lead to his death.

    The beam ckened portions of the multicolored mass, but they suddenly condensed to reveal his pristinely white figure.

    Noah transformed into a silver streak at that point and he tore through the pressure in the environment to arrive at the position he sensed thedy at. She was now only a flying torso.

    Her movement was frantic and quick. Still, even in her domain, he could achieve speeds she could only dream of. This was only thanks to his speed not being natural.

    Noah''s right hand grabbed onto thedy''s shoulder, but thick ckness mmed into his figure trying to corrode his body. Unfortunately, speed essence existed on a ne anything born of mana would struggle to affect.

    Nevertheless, ck spots appeared on his white skin, but he didn''t worry since there were still six otheryers before his insides could be reached.

    Noah crushed her shoulder, and silver sparks flowed out of his body while they barreled about within the pitch domain. Noah even had his eyes closed since they served no purpose.

    Unfortunately, the power of that discharge was hindered by the domain''s influence. So Noah unleashed his.

    "Lightning domain," he called out, and a huge silvery magical triangle unfolded right from his figure to m into the walls of that dark sphere.

    A crackling silver mass started to swallow the ck sphere from the outside and soon that event wasplete.

    Thedy watched huge cracks open in her domain as it began to crumble, and words could not exin her level of shock. Still, a huge boltnded on her figure and Noah''s.

    Patches of her skin directly disappeared, but Noah rained five more bolts in those moments, greatly weakening her.

    Thedy struggled frantically to escape Noah''s grip, and she almost did since her body erratically released dark beams, damaging the world below, the moment they flew outside of Noah''s spherical domain of terrible electricity.

    Unfortunately for the expert, golden ws shot out of Noah''s grip, digging into her crushed shoulder, while his other hand erratically shed at her flying torso.

    He turned her into chunks of flesh and gore in mere seconds, but before the light of life could leave her stunned eyes, he ced his hand on her charred head and activated his unique memory-eating ability.

    Noah managed to steal a significant chunk of her memories before her soul-core went ck, signifying her death.

 Chapter 551 551. TWO-HUNDRED YEARS

    [You have killed Human LVL 409<Empowered>]

    [You have gained exp]

    [You have gained 15 levels]

    [Your stats have been increased by 150%]

    [You have gained 150,000 stats points]

    [You are now level 313]

    Noah watched a silver screen containing those words and digits appear before his colorful gaze. The system''s voice also announced them, even if he ignored it.

    He felt interested in the fact that he had gotten far more levels than he expected. He apportioned that reality to the empowered state of thedy. Meaning if he fought more of them in their empowered state, he would get more levels!

    ''This has gotten fruitful,'' Noah spoke to himself whilst he assimted the memories of thedy. The thought of being able to gain more by simply killing those experts would have been satisfying if he wasn''t in that state.

    Noah spent a few instants in the sky, eyes closed and focus on the vast memories he had eaten.

    The world around him still raged with fire and corrosive properties, he didn''t mind them, however, since it would be the world''s duty to return that vast in to its former glory. He didn''t expect that to happen anytime soon, though.

    Her name had been Maya. She had been an orphan as long as her memories could take her but had grown in power amongst some small faction from the eastern side of the nation.

    Noah streamed through battles she had fought in, people she had met and even gotten intimate with, but most especially, he managed to encounter certain memories that would give small hints to who the immortals were.

    Her memories were iplete, but he could still get substantial knowledge. Most of her memories had started to get asionally darkened after a shining ck and red rift had opened before her, revealing a murky figure. This had been during her time as a peak stage tier 3 expert.

    She hade out of an underground cave having fought for her life and was barely bodily intact. Her team of seventy experts had died off within the expedition, the great worms they had encountered proving far more deadly than they had anticipated.

    Noah experienced her emotions. A strange event since he believed he had lost the ability to feel anything regarding fear and all the rest. Still, he felt her horror at the scene even if his mind remained calm.

    He arrived at the reason for that event and that would be none other than the fact that the person who had experienced those emotions wasn''t like him. He had stolen those memories after all.

    That still begged the question of why he couldn''t experience the emotions of his memories, but he guessed the death lord''s ability run through all his life experiences.

    Maya''s memories went dark at some point before resuming and time seemed to have passed as she now held power within the fourth tier, and this time she returned to the area her group had been killed.

    A singr attack had erupted from her body to evaporate the entire hill wherein that underground world had been situated.

    Her offensive against the worms began, they had increased exponentially during the years, but even more, they now possessed a tier 4 leader. Their battle had been long.

    Maya had spent a total of 14 hours before she could im the life of the acid-spitting worm possessing features that made it almost impossible to kill. One of them was its quick healing.

    After that victory whole portions of her memories went ck, blocked by whatever power she was under.

    Time skips mostly urred, and her power grew. It wasn''t until she hit the peak of the lower stage that her prowess as a monster unfolded. Her dual affinity for darkness and wind made her a terrible opponent.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah gave up after watching her memories some more, he find out that her dark-purple almost ck attacks were not normal, and had been results of certain experiments.

    Snapping his eyes open, beams of oppressive light shoot into the world around him. He had spent only three seconds watching her more than 200 years'' worth of memories.

    Noah concentrated on his environment, feeling the wounds he had sustained slowly fade away. He had struggled a bit in the battle, but now that he knew he would need far more power against those experts he understood the danger more clearly.

    He even knew he would need to unleash more since ording to Maya''s memories, she had not attained the full power of the technique she activated, even if recollections of the technique''s activation were blocked from him.

    The great ck and purple-ish smoke that rose to the sky bathed a significant portion of the world in his view, but Noah barely had his focus on that anymore.

    He could feel gazes on his body. But they didn''t originate from a single point. Everywhere around him was filled with that gaze, so much so that Noah felt certain the world itself peeked at him.

    The event never managed to faze him, but it did gain his attention.

    He had to focus his gaze on a particr area in the world, he found the direction he and Maya hade from and shot towards it with full power.

    Moving at Mach 500 shaved huge chunks of his stamina, but it didn''t matter.

    Noah arrived at the location he and his group had been sent to. By this point, they had fled very far away from that location and he believed they would expertly hide away their presence.

    Noah still felt the strong gaze shooting from all around him, but he knew nothing wasing for him.

    His golden horns shone with splendor and his skin returned it its pure white state featuring those ancient golden runes that beautified his skin but also had useful abilities. Noah only had about 12 seconds in that state.

    For some reason even if his overall hp had increased thanks to leveling up, he didn''t gain more percentage.

    That state bypassed some rules he expected to be in ce.

    Needless to say, it was time for him to deactivate his Speedling form, and he did.

    Noah watched his white skin melt away like goo before disappearing in the wind. He returned to his normal height, regaining his human features.

    Fatigue like nothing he had ever experienced smashed into his consciousness and Noah felt his vision blur dangerously.

    His bones lost their strength and his body fell limp. His mind experienced a stress level it wasn''t yet used to, so Noah lost control of the wind beneath his legs to plunge to the ground.

    His impact with the severely destroyed terrain caused a cloud of dust to rise, but Noah remained too busy trying to activate the teleportation to his cultivation room. Which he did, before instantly falling asleep.

    He had weakened his human state greatly by allowing his hp reach such low levels, and even his core trembled at the increase it had undergone. His mind went stale due to the low amount of soul energy within it.

    Noah spent three days asleep, and even when he arose he had to spend another day cultivating and relieving his body, soul, and essence-core of the stress they underwent from going past the middle stage till they touched a level of power and quality akin to the fifth tier.

    He, however, expected no less for the feat he had achieved. Simply monstrous.

 Chapter 552 552. ELDER VELSVON

    A white light shone in the skies of Cregar, and the figure of a man possessing long equally parted silver and white hair appeared from the light.

    Noah revealed himself in a sky-blue garment and his feet stood on top of wind tforms. He had appeared many miles from the city he and his group had destroyed, but he didn''t care about it anymore.

    Four days had passed and he expected his group to have left that areapletely.

    "They might have returned to the guild," Noah muttered to himself casting his silver gaze upon the world below. The lush greenery before his eyes exuded stunning serenity. He could sense a few beasts in the fourth tier, but they caused no harm to the world around him.

    Noah had arrived at a regionpletely untouched by the battle, and the area that had been affected had spanned a total of about 200 miles. This showed just how great that event had been.

    And the distant in they hadnded in wasn''t even put into consideration. Noah estimated about 65 miles had seen utter destruction. This was mostly thanks to the huge hole thedy had created. Indeed thend area of that nation was vast.

    Compared to Cregar, Earth''snd area seemed tiny and nonexistent. If that vast amount ofnd area could get affected and not many would notice, that spoke of its immensity.

    Noah raised his head to the sky and promised himself to take every of his battle way up into the clouds, where he wouldn''t gaze at the ugliness of the aftermath of his battles.

    "I should also return to the guild," he muttered to himself, getting enough of that scenery.

    Noah returned to his cultivation room and the next moment he appeared within a vast amount of dark and rumbling clouds.

    His figure tore through those clouds to arrive above the floating city, where he noticed a few changes in the air city''s air.

    The atmosphere felt somber.

    Noah recalled that they were tounch an offensive on a certain elven base and wondered how the event had gone.

    Going through another round of teleportation, he appeared within the enclosed area meant for the grand elders. His presence caught the attention of a certain someone and Noah felt the pressure of teleportation act on his body.

    He didn''t repel it however and allowed his world to stretch and his eyes tond on a series of golden walls.

    "I had thought she was lying. But by the gods, you''re truly alive!" A masculine voice echoed in the world around Noah.

    He raised his head, understanding that he had not been pulled into therge mansion but a single one belonging to one of the grand elders.

    His eyes fell on what resembled a golden hill, as the room around him remained huge in size and volume allowing for that 200ft tall mass of stone, painted gold.

    At the very peak of the hill of sorts was the figure of a cross-legged man sitting atop an emerald praying mat.

    Noah could feel an incredible aura emanate from that figure. The man belonged to the fifth tier and was far above its bottom.

    Still, Noah knew the man for who he was. There was only one bald elder with a face full of beards after all.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Grand elder Velsvon," Noah revealed, performing a proper bow.

    "Oh, quit with the niceties, we both know your status as a death lord doesn''t allow you to feel too many emotions," the elder revealed remaining in his esteemed posture. He had halted his cultivation when he brought Noah in.

    Noah remained silent at that point. He expected no less from the expert, but that speed was something.

    "You''ve changed a great deal. Aiden. You''re barely recognizable. It''s as if you''ve be a different man. Or something even different from a man,'' the elder revealed opening his eyes to reveal the zing emerald light that originated from his normally ck eyes.

    The expert tilted his head to the side when his gaze fell on Noah''s figure and he squinted his eyes as though in search of something.

    Noah felt that powerful gaze m into his figure, but the truth of his existence remained on a ne anything merely powered by mana couldn''t properly uncover.

    "You''ve always had these special traits, but our minds had somehow skipped them," the elder spoke revealing his surprise concerning the matter.

    "I''m unable to see your core," he sighed.

    "I would normally have unleashed a few of my offensives at a being such as you, but Ezra said you were still on our side," Elder Velsvon spoke lifting his gaze till they fell on the bright ceiling of that wide room.

    "Yes," Noah replied never terrified by the level of power that expert held.

    "I have returned from a mission elder Ezra sent me and my group on," Noah exined.

    "She told me of this truth. All of us in fact, but we''re all still too busy topletely deal with some issues. She''s done a great job already," Elder Velsvon nodded keeping his zing emerald green eyes open. That light almost overshadowed his face.

    Silence befell the duo at that point.

    "There are honestly many questions I desire to ask, but I shall keep them for now," the expert inwardly decided to cut his cultivation session short. He stood at that point and allowed the light in his eyes to dim.

    The elder descended from the hill slowly, until hended right before Noah, who bowed again.

    "I don''t see your group with you, why?" The elder revealed his thoughts and Noah nodded.

    "I had sent them on their way far before me, I expected them to have reached the guild and passed on the information," Noah disclosed wondering if they hadn''t gotten there.

    "Have they not arrived?" He asked already preparing to move out or not.

    "Oh, they have. I only wanted to know your reason for not arriving with them yesterday." Elder Velsvon spoke with an ear-to-ear smile.

    "They''ve not stopped speaking about your feats. Come. Let''s go see them," the elder revealed, allowing a powerful force to act on him and Noah, instantly teleporting them from the wide room.

 Chapter 553 553. STARRY FIGURE

    Noah opened his eyes before the blue building in the enclosed area, and the light that shed forth at their arrival alerted the experts inside, and merely instantster the door came bursting open.

    The faces of his group members appeared in his eyes and he saw that their eyes widened in shock. But also relief.

    The moment Noah had asked them to flee, they had. But then the aura of a being close to the fifth tier permeated the environment, but they dared not turn back.

    Still, they had believed Noah would wind up dead, but then the world had suddenly trembled and an equally oppressive air unfolded, but this time far more different.

    After that point, the battle disappeared from their range and they kept on flying across the regions.

    "I see you all made it," Noah spoke, walking forward. He felt the eyes of those experts scan his figure with intensity. They remained stunned by the fact that he was alive.

    "What about the woman?" Davis asked moving forward.

    "I took care of her, as promised," Noah revealed and they gasped. Davis quite literally ced his hand on his mouth. But Noah''s gaze remained.

    "How do you expect us to take that in lightly? You''re supposed to be a middle-stage cultivator," Davis spoke furrowing his brows at the sheer weight of what was revealed.

    "Yet you defeated a higher stage cultivator that possessed might close to the fifth tier," the giant of a man revealed, pulling the attention of the silent elder.

    Noah simply nodded, noticing the bald expert arriving beside him.

    "I do not expect you to take it in. I understand it''s hard to watch certain limits shatter. But since you''ll be working with me more, you''ll see such limits get shattered every now and then." Noah stated, nodding his head.

    "You defeated a higher-stage cultivator?" Elder Velsovon chipped in, genuinely curious now. Those experts had spoken of certain feats, but this was new.

    "A quasi-tier five," Noah rified, watching the elder stroke his bearded chin.

    "This is interesting. Very interesting." The man revealed, falling into a bit of his thoughts.

    Silence reigned at that point, but Noah broke it.

    "Elder. What were the results of the raid against the elven base?" He voiced his thoughts and watched the elder''s eyebrows flicker.

    "I was not aware you knew of that," the expert paused taking a moment to collect his thoughts.

    "I noticed the state of the city. It was offpared to merely a week ago," Noah exined folding his arms.

    The elder sighed at that point, understanding what the stunning man meant.

    "You''re right. And that is because we never managed to conquer them in their entirety." Elder Velsvon announced pulling all attention to his words.

    "The elves proved difficult tobat, and although we had some of the bests in battle, there were still losses."

    "They managed to eradicate a significant portion of the base, but we lost many too. As expected."

    "The battle had raged for three days, but the guild council and the remaining members had to retreat." The elder sighed recalling the experts that had been lost, he personally knew some of the ones belonging to the divine lightning guild.

    If only tier 5''s could participate, he felt certain to be capable of taking many experts his level.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I see," Noah muttered.

    "Yes. As we speak a meeting concerning the matter is being held in the central city. The order is winning, and there seems to be nothing we can do." The elder revealed his frustration on the matter. He hated to watch the younger generation die before they hit their full potential.

    "I''m guessing elder Ezra is in that meeting," Noah fell into thought too.

    "Yes. she''s representing us," elder Velsvon nodded. "The rest of us might cause a ruckus out of the anger in our minds."

    "Then we''d have to wait till she returns to know our next destination,'' Noah spoke addressing the group.

    "I suggest you all rest well. The next mission would most likely be far harder to deal with," he exined, even if he meant the presence of the veiled experts.

    "She should be back in the next few days along with the experts that fought and survived." Elder Velsvon revealed.

    "Thank you for mentioning," Noah bowed hoping the others returned to the building. Only a few of them could properly speak with him, the rest simply remained in the background, satisfied with hearing him speak to the others.

    "Youds can get inside now. I and this young man have somewhere to go," Elder Velsvon disclosed, piquing Noah''s interest.

    "Yes." The expert affirmed and Noah could only nod in return.

    "I''ll returnter with Elder Ezra and we can move out," Noah waved at Davis at the other whilst the pressure of teleportation acted on his figure and Elder Velsvon''s.

    The duo disappeared a momentter only to appear high in the sky of the Renga region.

    The wind blew violently and the white nature of snow permeated the environment. The temperature plunged, but Noah and the elder were unaffected by the event.

    Noah dismissed the details of the snowy region to focus on the expert.

    "Where is it that we wanted to go?" He asked finding their position unfit for a proper location to visit, he could ascend into the sky if he wanted, so there had to be more.

    "Are you aware of the event that urred a few days ago?" The elder spoke, dismissing Noah''s question.

    "Which? I was busy in a battle to notice much," Noah revealed in honesty.

    "Oh yes... But the world shook. Like literally. It was an event that stretched as far as the entire Cusk nation. I have friends who spoke about the event in other nations. It''s also one of the things being discussed in the meeting as we speak," the elder exined staring far into the white horizon. The presence of snow didn''t hinder his powerful visual capabilities.

    "Most wonder what it was, but the knowledgeable understand what had happened. Cregar felt and saw something. That something being you..."

    "At least that was what I was told. My master will speak further to you about it," the expert revealed and Noah couldn''t connect his words to that that would be spoken by a veiled expert.

    "Your master?" Noah''s brows furrowed, ready to go intobat if necessary.

    The world around them trembled, however, and space twisted and turned to reveal a tear in its fabric. The world around them suddenly lost its light, and before even Noah could react a figure silently appeared in their presence.

    "It''s been a while, heir of the god of speed. I can see you''ve grown into something terrible," a masculine voice Noah recognized far too well rang out from the ck but seemingly starry figure of a man.

    "I wondered when you''d show up," Noah wasted no time inmenting, allowing Muliix to appear on his body, his daggers in his grip, and his aura to flow forth with its fullness. "I have unsettled beef with you."

 Chapter 554 554. THATS BROKEN

    Those words were followed by the appearance of a beam of searing silver light that crashed into the starry figure and pushed him backward, albeit the attack disappeared a momentter.

    Noah saw that Elder Velsvon seemed ready to move, but the starry humanoid being raised its hand to stop the man from taking action.

    "Thest we met my finger almost killed you," the figure taunted,pletely unhurt. "Let''s see if that won''t be the case again.

    Noah watched the starry figure vanish from his line of sight and shook his head. The environment already blended with the dark figure seemingly possessing stars in its insides. That ce was its domain, or rather his domain.

    Danger appeared in Noah''s mind when the world around him saw ripples of force spreading in its fabric, the outline of a fist appeared out of thin air, but Cudgel suddenly appeared in front of that speeding limb.

    An explosion of remarkable force unfolded at that point as even Cudgel''s heavy structure, although in normal size, had been sent flying.

    Noah felt his figure pierce the night-like space seemingly stretching forever.

    He stopped himself a moment after but his instincts moved and he transformed into a streak of blinding silver light moving erratically in that domain.

    "Tch!" the voice of the figure rang out followed by its full body. "You''re moving quite rapidly. This body wasn''t meant to travel at such speeds."

    "That means I can destroy it," Noah''s voice emitted danger as he identified the power of that dummy.

    "The peak of the fourth tier," Noah noted, pushing, essence into his daggers, he wouldn''t unleash the same attack as when he fought with Maya, but seventy smaller powered shes flew out of his des after merely swinging them a few times.

    Those shes were powered by speed essence, meaning they almost instantly arrived on the starry figure.

    An explosion of stunning might unfolded into that night-like domain possessing stars. Unfortunately, it suddenly disappeared.

    "That was genuinely strong." the figure giggled. "But it''s still not enough to destroy this dummy."

    Silver triangles unfolded behind Noah''s figure and he watched huge beams of icy-mist-like particles streak forward with terrible power.

    Merely inches away from the dummy and they abruptly disappeared. Or rather, they never arrived on its body.

    Noah felt his instincts take note of something when suddenly, he saw beams of icy particles spring forth from his surroundings to m into his figure.

    Fortunately, because those attacks were made from the speed force''s energy, the moment they were about the hit Noah''s body they destroyed themselves into nothingness, never getting to touch him.

    "Oh..." The figure and even elder Velsvon remained amused by that scenery. There seemed to be a glitch, but the rules were simple. Speed essence would never hurt a child of speed. They were highly favored by that essence.

    "What did you do there?" Noah asked cutting the beams of icy particles short. They had been redirected to him. Now he wanted to know how such happened.

    "Land a proper hit on this dummy first and ill reveal my ability." Things were getting interesting and the mind behind the starry figure wanted to take part.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah remained silent at that point whilst his mind connected the dots from what he''d seen.

    "This starry domain seems endless, but I was never teleported away from the sky. Rather, it was created in our position." He started to speak.

    "Still, it seems as though we''ve left the renga regions due to the vast amount of... space," his eyes trembled when he arrived at that revtion.

    "You''re ruining the fun," the dummy seemingly clicked its tongue whilst it silently disappeared from the sky to appear right before Noah who transformed into a silver streak, arriving where the dummy had been.

    "Still, how did my attacks reach me when no magical counter spell was activated? It''s either I''m wrong or you found a way to manipte the space around us, allowing those beams to reach me instead of you," Noah continued talking, dodging the offensives of the starry figure.

    "You''re annoying," the figure snorted stretching its hand towards Noah''s figure after throwing punches that never struck. Noah also appeared far in the distance.

    Noah blinked and found himself right in front of the figure. He had not moved, neither had the figure moved, but that didn''t change his situation. He had somehow arrived before the figure, close enough to be touched.

    "Gotcha," the humanoid dummy, eximed allowing its finger to shoot toward Noah''s chest.

    The impact with Muliix''s material remained spectacr, but to the figure''s shock, Noah''s figure exploded into a wave of silver sparks.

    "Crackling duplicate," Noah muttered as magical triangles lit up on his real body, which had been directly behind the one that exploded.

    ? Twenty such figures came to be at that point and they all mimicked Noah''s aura and even Muliix. Even his daggers were duplicated.

    The event remained far more than stunning, but Noah didn''t care since he streaked forward with all 19 of his duplicates, all of them moving at equal speeds.

    "Your power is space. It''s already too obvious. It''s even more powerful now that we are within this domain of yours," Noah''s voice rang out from all 20 figures as they arrived around the figure with zing velocities.

    "You could deflect projectiles. Let''s see about erratic moving attacks," his voice rang out from only one figure as the rest unfolded into terrible waves of silver sparks engulfing the figure in their power.

    Noah appeared far away from that event to unleash beams of silver light at the expanding sea of lightning bolts.

    The beams of light, all 50 of them, were charged with the explosion sparks, and an explosion of blinding silver light unfolded drowning the darkness in the area like a star in deep space.

    Noah waited for something strange like a deflection to happen, but nothing urred. He watched the results of his attacks slowly vanish and after a few minutes he couldn''t help but rethink his former evaluation.

    The figure of the starry dummy revealed itself to be in a lying position, its legs crossed on its other knee and its face on its palm. Suggesting boredom.

    "If you understand that I have control over space, then you should also have considered my ability to stretch the very fabric of space nigh-infinitely, making your attacks never reach me." Its words were heavy and what they implied even made its stunning opponent fall into thought.

    "That''s broken." Even Noah had toment on the sheer wildness of such an ability.

 Chapter 555 555. IMMORTAL

    The domain of the starry figure remained vast and seemingly endless. All abroad it were what resembled stars. But like the regions of space, they seemed unreachable. Noah could fly for whole minutes at his top speed and still not arrive at the end of that domain!

    The starry figure straightened his position after Noah''sment. The real owner of the voice being in ces Noah knew nothing about, just like the vast majority of those on Cregar.

    "Not really." The being admitted.

    "Does that mean you''re not untouchable within this domain?" Noah asked whilst calctions ran tough his mind, he found no proper way of dealing with the being if that was not the case.

    "Why should I tell you my weakness? You''ll utilize it against me," the starry dummy snorted.

    "My beams of light had touched you the other time. Do you have to actively stretch space topletely deal with attacks or is it automatic?" Noah voiced again, reviewing their initial exchanges.

    He came to the conclusion that the starry figure needed to actively expand space for such a disy to ur again.

    "What happens when multiple precise attacks areing towards you, unlike an explosion?" Noah wondered out loud again.

    "Try your best," the starry figure shrugged and Noah nodded.

    "Elder frost Golem," he spoke those words and a magical triangle expanded before him to release waves of cool mist. The 15m tall figure of the elder golem appeared at that point and Noah immediately caused it to summon its usual army of golems.

    One-hundred golems all standing at impressive heights unfolded into the world and even elder Velsvon marveled at that sight. Each one of those golems held power within the middle stage.

    Noah immediately sent them forth, and before they even reached the starry figure he could already see vast chunks of sharp ice raining toward the calm ster figure.

    The being watched that genuinely unique offensive approach him, but they were slowpared to their master. Nevertheless, he stretched his arm forward, aiming at them.

    Noah had not seen the dummy utilize any proper attacks apart from its body, so seeing it do that toward his golem made himmand those golems to fan out. Unfortunately, the dummy snorted, bending its w-like grip to the side.

    "The fabric of space is essentially a superfluid, but proper control can see that super liquid generating terrible effects. Space fills any and everything. Contains any and everything." It spoke those words whilst Noah''s golems still approached it.

    "I call this attack, Spatial disarray," the dummy revealed and Noah''s instincts flickered as he watched the fabric of space visibly fold on itself, so much so that the chunks of his army on the path of that circr twist saw their bodies being torn apart in ordance to the movement of space.

    In a mere second 80 of his golems were destroyed. Their body parts ripped away as the fabric of space twisted like fabric or spun like a whirlpool.

    The ripple effect of that event had not reached Noah since he had never been the target of that terrible offensive.

    "I think I''ve met my match," Noah revealed seeing how easily even he could be killed in that attack. It didn''t matter a someone was. Space remained all around them.

    "Maybe, maybe not. You''re not at my level, to begin with. So those in this realm really do not have any such abilities as these. Except for extremely unique individuals. But only a few of them even exist in the whole Cregar," the dummy revealed, lowering its hand seeing as Noah had stopped his golems from marching forward.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Exactly. Those my match have to be far stronger than me, or I won''t struggle like this," Noah admitted, having arrived at that conclusion long ago.

    "True��" It paused. "Are we still fighting, I''m afraid this has turned into an experiment rather than a violent battle."

    Noah shook his head at that point lowering his offensives and making his aura die down. He had considered utilizing his Speedling form, but he didn''t want to abuse that ability.

    "My beef with you will be settled by you giving me insight about the element of space," Noah announced, already wondering if he could study that affinity and add it to his list.

    He had restrained from learning basic ones such as fire or water since they hardly had anything on his already spectacr affinities.

    "I wonder what you''ll need that for. But fair enough. You''ve grown far more powerful than I ever imagined," the dummy spoke, appearing in front of Noah. Elder Velsvon too.

    ? "Why have youe to meet me?" Noah queried. even if he knew there might not be a reason.

    "There''s a lot actually, but I wanted to see you in person after you disappeared for all those years. The bracelet of secrecy I gave you had also hindered me from finding you," the man behind the power of the dummy spoke and Noah found that detail crucial.

    "Who are the immortals?" He immediately asked his next and most important question. "And what is their connection to Cregar? And are you one of them?"

    "Chill, heir of the god of speed. You''re called Aiden by the people of Cregar. We have time to talk. But not here�� in the clouds of this region. My domain is too visible in its white environment. The others will also take note if I stay too long."

    "They probably have, either way." It shook its head.

    "I''ll have to ask Velsvon to bring you to my domain deep in the dark continent," the dummy revealed and Noah could only watch Velsvon''s dark eyebrows flicker.

    "Why can''t you just teleport us there? It''s too slow to journey many thousand miles just to reach you," Noahined nkly.

    "Unfortunately even with all my power I cannot. Only Velsvon can be affected by my teleportation, as he''s my servant. You, on the other hand, will need to be brought physically." The dummy exined, gesturing at the tier 5 expert.

    "But do not worry. I''ll send two others to apany you on this great journey. The passage across the continents can be tasking for only one tier 5 especially since you''ll be with someone weaker. Just inform me a few days ahead of your decided departure. The others are also busy" The dummy assured, and Velsvon bowed.

    "I thank you for your generosity, master." A kicknded on the Elder''s head, however, even if it didn''t manage to affect him in the slightest.

    "How many times have I told you not to call me that," the dummy expressed genuine irritation even if it possessed no facial features. "You can call me by my given name," this time he addressed Noah.

    "I am Thanses. Officially known as the Immortal of Space." The dummy gave a nobles-man bow, disappearing along with the starry domain.

 Chapter 556 556. WELCOME

    The whiteness of the Regna region appeared in Noah''s view again, and the winds continued to blow. Or rather It had never stopped blowing as powerfully as it did. He had simply been blocked from that environment.

    The winds rushed into Noah''s figure upsetting his clothes, but his hair remained in ce.

    "He didn''t even say anything much," Noah snorted, or at least tried it ording to his memories. Still, the revtion the being had disclosed remained a significant sum.

    "You''re a servant of an immortal?" Noah addressed Elder Velsvon. The elder nodded, finding Noah''s interaction with his master unique.

    "Lord Thanses doesn''t conform to the ways of the others. He finds them... uninspiring," elder Velsvon stroked his ck beard. He never thought he would need to exin that to anyone who wasn''t the master''s subject. Talk less; a member of the guild.

    "What do you get for being his subject?" Noah asked unfolding his aura to keep the winds around him at bay.

    "I''m not exactly allowed to say that��" The expert furrowed his brows uncertainly. He however received a message from Lord Thanses.

    "I have been permitted to reveal a bit more details. But most of what you''ll know will have toe from the master himself."

    "Before we move on. Let''s decide when we''d depart from the guild for this journey. A minimum of three weeks will pass before we can think of arriving at the dark continent."

    "That is of course if we don''t encounter an issue. In short, we might as well estimate a month. The expert exined and Noah could only nod.

    Calctions happened in his mind. The issue had to happen just when he had missions with the group. Noah shook his head.

    ording to Elder Ezra, she had mentioned having about 6 such missions already avable. They hadpleted one, leaving five. He estimated a month would be enough to meet all five missions after which he''d take that break.

    "One month," Noah revealed and elder Velsvon nodded in ordance.

    "I thought the same," the expert said further stroking his beard.

    "In that time I''ll arrive as close to the peak of the fourth tier as to not be a burden," Noah nodded, already deciding to take a decision he thought he''d postpone.

    "Interesting!" The expert eximed, suddenly unable to not believe the being before him. "Simply interesting." He voiced a deep boisterousugh born from excitement.

    "So what do you gain as a servant of an immortal?" Noah asked, understanding that the expert had tried to divert the subject.

    The man furrowed his brows finding it difficult to let out that information even if he had been allowed. His master had often spoken of the heir of the god of speed. In truth, most of his subjects had no idea of who he spoke of. Each time they asked he''d tell them the future would answer that question.

    Yet, he had immediately called upon him the moment the man Aiden was in the show. Even going further to call him the said heir of the god of speed. Things would surely get interesting as his master was one to search for things such as that. A fun-finder one could call him.

    The elder sighed, getting ready to speak when his gaze suddenly sharpened and he snapped his eyes towards a particr point far from their position. But in a lower elevation.

    Noah noticed what he noticed and focused on that area also.

    ''They are back?'' Noah wondered finding the presence of more than 50 experts approaching the city below them.

    He was right.

    A tier 5 aura unfolded into the world, and the sight of Elder Ezra''s leading a group entered their view and surprise appeared on Elder Velsvon''s features.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You''re back far earlier than I thought you''d be," the manmented, even if his target audience existed kilometers from him. His power allowed his voice to travel that far.

    Elder Sarah suddenly appeared before them with the sh of a blue light and she swept her gaze on both individuals, wondering what they did so high up. She would address the issueter, however.

    "Vels�� we have a problem," her expression remained stern and the man fell serious too.

    "This might need to involve the others, but they''re too far. Those that are still close will arrive in a few hours. I''ll brief you over it, however��" she exined. "Somewhere less open," she added, finding Aiden''s unyielding gaze quite unsettling.

    Velsvon nodded in understanding, and Elder Ezra finally addressed Noah.

    "Aiden I charge you with weing the surviving group. Seeing someone like you would surely lift their spirits," she gave ame reason for that task, but Noah neither found it annoying nor was he unwilling.

    He simply nodded and transformed into a silver streak piercing the clouds to approach the unmoving group. They waited for the elder.

    "He''s something," Elder Ezramented and her colleague could only nod in agreement. Both elders silently disappeared from the sky after that. The briefing Elder Ezra revealed holding tremendous weight.

    Noah approached the group withx speed, but he arrived before them in no time and his appearance startled the experts, except a select few.

    A ck-haired man approached Noah the moment he made his presence known, and he recognized the man as Apollo. The expert whom Anna had said to be considered on Elder Sarah''s level. At least at that time.

    His looks remained stunning but were nothing to speak ofpared to Noah''s seeming divine beauty.

    "Who are you?" The expert inquired, furrowing his brows. He looked tired but still had a fire in his eyes. Beholding that beauty of a man somehow unnerved him. He wasn''t wrong. Noah''s figure radiated silent danger.

    "I am Aiden and I have been sent by elder Ezra to wee you all." Noah kept his arms folded behind his figure whilst he scanned the faces of those many experts.

    He recognized elder Sarah but she simply smiled at him.

    Apollo furrowed his brows, uncertain of his next decision. At that point elder Sarah floated out of the confused crowd to stand beside Noah.

    "Don''t fret, Pollo. He''s on our side," she nodded giving a slightly tired smile. Noah noticed but remained silent concerning that matter.

    As a matter of fact, all those experts looked tired. Despite the sheer pressure their presence was capable of emitting, they had exerted themselves during the battle.

    They were a gathering of genuinely top monsters.

    Apollo could only give in at that point.

    "I can see you''re all tired from your journey. But most especially, you battle," Noah spoke allowing his mental waves to fly forward and create an invisible sphere, or so, capable of lifting their various figures.

    The event startled those experts but seeing elder Sarah remain calm made them calm also.

    "I''ll take it from here," Noah announced flying across the sky, whilst he pulled them like a carriage mount. He arrived below the city, but to their awe, he ascended until he started to cut through the dark rumbling clouds.

    A style of entry most of them thought was allowed only to the grand elders.

 Chapter 557 557. NARRATION

    Noah pierced the dark and rumbling clouds of the divine lightning guild to arrive above the city. To the surprise of those experts, he encountered no difficulties during their short journey.

    "I have no idea where to gather all of you," Noah admitted at some point, and an idea entered his mind.

    "I can take you towards the mansion of the elders," he suggested and some of them furrowed their brows inplications.

    "I don''t know if that''s right..." Apollo spoke floating forward. He had to admit that Noah had great control over his mental waves keeping everything in ce like that. They feltfortable.

    "There''s really no problem. I''ve been there many times," Noah revealed, shrugging. His words made the man furrow his brows.

    "There''s also the option of simply returning to our various abodes," Elder Sarah announced and the others could only nod in agreement to that suggestion.

    Noah let them go at that point and those experts gradually flew towards their various mansions. They could fly, but he had to walk about. It didn''t matter much, however.

    "Let''s go," Elder Sarah addressed Noah at some point. By that juncture, they were the only ones left in the sky and they descended immediately after that.

    They arrived at her mansion in no time and it looked the same as Noah left it about a week earlier.

    "What about your pet?" Noah asked as they approached the door to the mansion. His master sighed and he immediately understood something bad had urred.

    "He was severely injured and the guild council offered to take care of him till he recovered. Apparently, they are willing because I had been a major contributor to the raid," she exined shaking her head.

    "I see. Just how was the battle exactly?'' Noah asked, cing his hand on the doorknob. He pushed it open and his gaze fell on York''s figure, but most significantly, ady sat on one of the couches.

    Elder Sarah had been about to speak when sheid eyes on that woman.

    "Jane," she said walking into the room, whilst York came forward to offer his wee.

    "Master Aiden," the automated dummy spoke. It would be the Earth''s version of an intelligent robot.

    Noah raised his hand, dismissing it, his focus still on thedy seated. He had noticed her amongst the group but had never taken into ount her rtionship with anyone.

    "Master," the emerald-haireddy uncrossed her legs to assume a morefortable posture. Her gaze fell on Noah''s stunning features and she immediately connected the dots.

    Why had she wished the Aiden her master spoke of had not been him? Unfortunately, reality remained cruel.

    ''He''s beautiful. Her description pales inparison,'' thedy sighed inwardly

    "You''ve yet to properly meet your senior in this discipleship of mine," a smile boomed on Sarah''s face and she took a seat too, calling upon York to order a few things.

    "You must be the one who reced me as a sessor," Noah spoke also taking a seat, one directly facing Jane''s.

    The tired-looking woman nodded and Noah went on.

    "It''s a pleasure to meet you," he said those words even if he didn''t exactly mean them. Jane simply furrowed her brows, unable to ept that the person before her would be better, even if she knew that was the truth. Her gut told her.

    "Be nice, Jane," Elder Sarah shook her head, unable to find anger in Noah''s gaze, but discovered reluctance in the demeanor of her female sessor. In truth both were monsters. But Noah remained the bigger monster. He could decimate even her.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Jane frowned at her master''sment but took those words

    "It''s nice to meet you too," she spoke through her teeth, standing. "I''ll be retiring to my bedchamber now," she announced leaving their presence.

    "Do not take her behavior to heart," Elder Sarah addressed Noah, who honestly never did. "She''s just stressed from the battle. She lost a few of her friends and... a lover." The elder sighed unable to not pity her disciple.

    "I see..." Noah muttered still unable to feel pity for her. He had things to do, and they would take him a while toplete. Still, he wanted to hear a recount of the battle from elder Sarah.

    "I''ll try my best to get along with her," he assured his master seeing the worry on her face.

    Sarah nodded at that point finding sce in the sincerity of his tone.

    "So about my earlier question?" Noah reminded her and the mood sort of fell stale. But the elder quickly regained herposure and began to exin.

    She narrated their journey to the elven base itself and the scenery that they encountered. The slight difficulties they had faced, and the certain things they had put in ce to make their battle easy.

    She narrated the events that urred when they arrived at the said base ad the size of the force they confronted.

    Apparently, the first day had been good, and only halfway through the second day were the monsters of the battlefield revealed.

    The size of the orders force soon became evident and the menace they posed unfolded into reality very quickly.

    Tens of the allied guild members died mere hours after that point.

    The elves had deployed their Krets and they had numbered a staggering 150. Creatures that were destructive to themselves in the quest to snuff the life of their opponent. Noah didn''t need any further description to understand how such would y out.

    But not only the Krets were revealed. A certain magical item unknown to the guild members began to be deployed, along with magical cannons and vine giants.

    The members of the guild suddenly found their mana cores malfunctioning and dying the activation of spells. Elder Sarah had apparently fallen prey to those items and had relied solely on her martial arts for whole hours straight.

    Coupled with the difficulty of dodging cannons and the offensives of those vine giants, and the Krets, chaos was the only word she could ssify the battlefield.

    Many of her subordinates were knocked out of the sky, only to have Krets descend on them with terrible violence.

    The guild members had brought with them a floating castle capable of artillery such as that and even unleashing dummies into the scene, but the elves outnumbered and outpowered them. and soon they had to retreat.

    They had managed to destroy a significant portion of the base, but most of their own had died too.

    "The order is innovative, and it''s like fighting something new every time. It''s even worse since they have humans on their side," Elder Sarah exined heaving a deep sigh.

    She lowered her head then raised it again as difficulty appeared on her features.

    "You can talk, master," Noah assured and her eyes flickered with an emotion he found hard to discern.

    "I have to be honest, Aiden. They terrify me," she admitted even if she only said that from the realization of their situation. "The next time I fight might really be myst."

 Chapter 558 558. SMITHING

    "So you''re scared of dying?" Noah asked, intrigued by her statement.

    "No," Elder Sarah replied. "My fear of death, died many years ago, and I focused on harnessing power," she exined honestly.

    "The real issue here is just how out-powered we are as a force. I''m almost starting to lose hope that we won''t lose the battle and lose our nation in the process," she sighed, sipping wine that was brought to her.

    "I understand," Noahmented. "I''ve seen the prowess of the elves and it''s obvious the average cultivator stands no chance. And even the geniuses amongst us still have limits."

    "The oath was made to set the scale of the battles on fairgrounds but we''re still losing. We need something new orpletely outrageous or we might as well reserve our forces for thest battles which will ur after they take most of ournds." Elder Sarah emptied her cup to refill it.

    "No point in wasting lives if the end goal is the same," Noahmented understanding her logic far too well.

    "This almost feels like a joke. Albeit a cruel one. I feel we''ve been cheated. Badly. Or are being yed right into the schemes of the order," elder Sarah stated, revealing her frustration bit by bit. Noah calmly listened.

    "Our forces are being snuffed out with such pace, it''s scary. They''re intentionally lowering our forces. More tier 4''s rise, but the death rate makes those additions pale inparison."

    "Still, what can we do that we''re not doing already? ording to what I heard the royals are mass-producing tier-4 dummies in the hundreds. We have inscribed giants and potions are being provided, even weapons."

    "We''re essentially doing what the order is doing��" she paused.

    "But they are just better," Noahpleted her words and she nodded, opening her mouth to speak.

    "Better than dummies, they have the krets. Better than inscribed giants, they have vine giants capable of regrowing and repairing wounds as long as there''s mana which is all around them." She exined when Noah also opened his mouth to speak.

    "Better than mere magical weapons, they have items capable of messing with the very powers of the cultivators," his ount visibly sent shivers down elder Sarah''s spine.

    In truth, she had felt real fear when her mana refused to respond to her appropriately. Sure the effects of those items had time limits. But when those items were asionally sprayed upon the battlefield, there wasn''t much they could do.

    "Yes��" The elder responded falling into a bit of thought.

    "You should rest, master," Noah suggested at some point and she sighed, but nodded in response.

    "York." She summoned her butler, turning to face Noah while it approached.

    "Will you be doing anything?" She asked.

    "Yes," Noah responded. "There''s a project I need toplete. Might take me a few days, give or take," he exined nodding his head.

    "Will I see you during those days?" Elder Sarah questioned, certain thoughts flowed through her mind.

    "Most likely not. But I''ll try to take breaks during them, seeing as rtions need to be mended," he replied, addressing Jane''s issue.

    "Thank you," she responded, turning to address York. She left at some point, leaving Noah alone. Who simply drank wine for about half an hour. Their talk had spanned two hours already.

    "The war might feature more than I thought," Noah muttered sipping a bit more wine before standing. He had a few things to do before the month ended, one of them which included upgrading his daggers.

    Noah teleported into his cultivation room and allowed Erolia to shoot out of his chest in a cerulean streak. Her figure unfolded into its giant form, but he simply expanded the room till it was a few hundred meters in size.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Master," she called out having been fully healed already. Her eyes shone with curiosity when she saw waves of essenceing out of Noah''s figure and out of the room''s walls.

    "You can just watch," Noahmented finding herpany almost necessary. There was no reason to leave her in her space if he was the only one. They would be together for a long time he needed to get to know her more. The same for her.

    Noah allowed the daggers to appear in his grip, after which he ced them on the ground and sat cross-legged. Speed essence surged around him as he informed it of what he intended to do.

    Unlike the first time, Noah had simply submerged those des into speed essence for days. Now he nned to do what he would consider proper cksmithing.

    Thanks to the memories he gained from assimting Ersha''s core, Noah could gain ess to a substantial amount of knowledge concerning that topic.

    Unfortunately, Ersha herself hadn''t been much of a weapons smith, but she knew just enough to aid Noah in his quest. At least the portions of her memory he was capable of essing.

    With those two things down, Noah waved his hand and allowed huge chunks of metal to fall to the ground.

    They were the bodies of the metallic beasts he had killed.

    The moment those three chunks of metalnded on the ground speed essence rushed toward them to envelop them in their power.

    Noah allowed soul energy to seep out of his soul core and that multicolored energy appeared around him as a glowing multicolored sphere.

    He needed that essence for something very important, it would be the inner structure of his smithing item.

    Silver essence rushed towards that multi-colored sphere of spectacr energy and merged with it, whilst its structure transformed until Noah got what resembled a forging hammer.

    The chunks of metal began to shrink at that point. Noah strengthened his will in the essence around him.

    He desired to improve the structure of the daggers. He had studied them before and had been able to find suitable ces for improvement. But more than just improving their structure he desired to bring their power up.

    Mana-cores appeared around Noah at that point. It didn''t matter that many of them were in the third tier, he still had enough in the fourth tier present. Combining his essence and mana would only lead to his essence growing more dominant. This would be able to albeit; aggressively, increase the power of daggers.

    He just needed to improve their overall structure, sharpness,bustion ability, withering, and pulling force. The withering ability would need a patch-upter when he found a poison-based nt. For now, he focused on pushing those des as high up into the fourth tier as he could.

    Noah held onto the silver hammer emitting multicolored wisps. That mass cost him 100k worth of soul energy and 10 million points of speed essence.

    The hammer would be capable of almost; if not certainly, one-shotting the average middle-staged expert.

    With Erolia''s eyes calmly watching the process, Noah caused the mana cores around him to shatter and converge on the daggers, while silver essence also followed.

    Streams of liquefied metal carried by speed essence also joined that array of substances and the moment Noah smote the daggers, an explosion of stunning power as a result of the collision of those substances unfolded into the world.

    A weird but intense heat rose into the environment and those substances started to burn, but Noah struck again, and a boom just as powerful as the first unfolded. Erolia moved away to not get caught up in the process but kept her eyes on that fascinating scene.

    After all, the daggers started to glow resplendently, bathing the area in their intense radiance.

 Chapter 559 559. MIRACLE

    Deep within a location, most experts privileged enough to enter the mansion of the grand elders had never been to, the two figures of Elder Ezra and Elder Velsvon shed forth with a blue light, and the air they arrived with quickly spread into the room.

    The room held a series of huge floating screens that disyed the live events of what happened within the city. The two elders ignored those screens to immediately begin to float.

    "So what is it? I cannot help but feel like we''ve entered a mess," elder Velsvon revealed with a difficult smile. He kept his gaze on his female partner in elder-ship and recollections of how they met flowed through his mind. He pushed those old memories away to focus on the issue at hand.

    "You know how way before the war started, the royals had made the guild council put together a party of individuals that would intercept a certain group possessing an item that would be considered greatly dangerous." She started and watched the man before her nod.

    "That same group had ended up being wiped out," Elder Velsvonmented and elder Ezra nodded in agreement.

    "Well, the party of experts had never actually gotten their hands on the item. And we all know what potential it possessed," Elder Ezra exined and the air further plunged stale.

    "Did they find the other parts?!" Elder Velsvon feared for the worse. The item had been one of three orbs which when put together were capable of unleashing a tier 6 individual who had been sealed.

    To the expert''s peril, his friend and also equal elder nodded her head in affirmation.

    "The royals found out that a certain mountain situated on an ind deep into the seas of the nation had been obliterated, they arrived there and found traces of the orb''s presence. In the past thirty years, the order had managed to find all three orbs."

    "We don''t know if they''ll unleash such a being into the battlefield, but merely knowing they have such a significant addition to their forces is enough to shake the nation." Elder Ezra exined, floating cross-legged.

    Both individuals fell silent at that point, thoughts flowing through their minds.

    "What did the royals say about it?" Elder Velsvon asked finding that situation highly problematic.

    "They''ve mentioned nothing in particr as this was only revealed amongst the high-ranking individuals," elder Ezra exined heaving a sigh. Against a tier 6 threat, they would all just die.

    "We were asked to keep this secret for a while. There''s too much going on. Putting the hearts of those fighters in peril will not avail to much. They need to continue fighting like there is a chance," the elder exined

    "Even if it''s very slim," Elder Velsvon sighed, nodding his head.

    "It seems we''ll have to be getting ready for something big. Unless we can reach the sixth tier before that time, we really have no way of participating," elder Velsvon continued stroking his beard. Troubled. He thought mostly to Aiden. He was one of the special beings.

    Elder Ezra nodded and the two fell into a series of other discussions for a few hours. She had not told him all that had urred during the meeting with the royals. That would be for when the other grand elders arrived.

    She hoped that would happen in a few days. Tier 5''s were capable of traversing distances at obviously immense speeds.

    After some point, they reached Aiden as a topic, and both experts shared their views on him. Of course, Elder Velsvon kept the meeting with Lord Thanses secret. Only permitted people could know about that.

    In truth, most were oblivious to the existence of the immortals, only specific individuals not part of their servants knowing of their existence.

    Both individuals agreed on one thing, however, and that was of course that Aiden had the potential to be something great in that world.<novelnext></novelnext>

    There was still much they didn''t know about him, and Elder Ezra was especially shocked when Velsvon told her of the news that he had defeated a quasi-tier 5 being.

    She had immediately wanted to call upon him, but her partner stopped her from such, reminding her that he had been the one to bring the cultivators into the city. He would be with his master.

    At some point elder Velsvon left for his mansion, to take care of a few things. While elder Ezra prepared for the arrival of the other grand elders.

    It was a fact that they were still in peaceful times during the war. She believed that events that would threaten the very city were inevitable and impending.

    The hours passed and those hours turned to days, the other grand elders began to arrive one after the other. She was expecting four others toe.

    On the fifth day, the fourth person to arrive silently entered the city, and they started an official meeting soon after. Something they had not done in over 12 years.

    The discussions were broader than just what the royals had informed them. Stretching as far as calling upon certain individuals within and outside the guild to give ount on specific matters crucial to the interest of the guild.

    The war burnt money and resources, researches were also in progress, and although the royals assisted the guilds, their support would not be enough against therge and powerful force that was the order. The guilds needed to provide for themselves.

    Not many knew, but the order had roots spanning more than 400 years prior. They were already older than all the existing guilds in the nation.

    The guild required many materials and ns were in ce to develop a group of special individuals capable of surging above the standards of the world to achieve great power far more than their peers.

    Needless to say, Noah was mentioned, and his feats immediately intrigued the grand elders who questioned Elder Ezra''s decision of keeping him on the sidelines.

    She exined her point of view and those experts understood her. She was one of the bests in terms of strategy and making great decisions.

    Yet, things were getting desperate. They all watched visual records of the battle against the elven base.

    Imagining that the order possessed six more of suchrge bases was enough to make them worry. The strongest andrgest of those bases currently being shrouded in almost total mystery.

    Elder Ezra exined Noah''s contentment with simply fighting those elves and not receiving anything in return. A good thing considering that offering him a reward for his service would link him to the oath that he did not bear.

    Sure, there were still many things they believed he could not do, but considering the fact that he could easily best the likes of Sarah and even apparently defeated a quasi-tier 5, it was almost foolish not to at least try him out.

    It remained hard to acknowledge some of his outrageous feats, but they needed a miracle. The guilds and their members were losing enthusiasm. An individual such as he could spark a me in their heart.

    "So it''s decided then?" Elder Ezra sighed, sweeping her gaze upon her mates. This was the third day and hopefully thest day of their meeting.

    "Yes. We all vote in deploying him into the main battlefield," a ck-haireddy announced and the others nodded in approval.

 Chapter 560 560. FOURTH FORM

    Eight days had passed since Noah brought the group of experts back into the city and during that time he had made just as many improvements as he anticipated. At least concerning his daggers.

    Having spent a total of 4 days participating in nonstop forging, or upgrading, Noah had ended up using more time than he promised. He had also note outside during that time and had pounded his daggers for those many hours.

    Fortunately, he achieved the power he had hoped to, even if he had utilized almost all his stored mana cores and had needed to imbue almost all his soul energy and speed essence into the very des.

    Something about forging an item that he would utilize needed to feature parts of him. The only thing he didn''t add was body parts.

    At the end of almost five days, a pair of radiant daggers were formed and the power they exuded struck the higher stage and very closely approached its peak.

    Noah spent the next few days testing their power to see just how much essence and weight they could handle.

    Shockingly the daggers were sharp enough to actually draw blood from his body, albeit only once in a while, which was when he exerted their structures close to their peak.

    He couldfortably unleash higher-stage shes resulting in such explosions that he had to send Erolia back into her soul space.

    Noah essentially mastered the daggers, even if he already knew how to utilize them. He praised himself for the outstanding power those daggers could now unleash, even if a voice within his head told him they could have achieved more.

    It didn''t matter, however. That was his first time and he did pretty well.

    The fire-based attacks of his daggers now saw hints of silverness in their mes. His orange fire saw the edges of his mes gaining a silver tinge and this made the heat capable of being achieved, skyrocket.

    The devouring power gotten from Noah''s own set of innate skills had also turned into something even he struggled to handle. At its peak, Noah could see and feel it pull essence directly out of his core. A painful process it was.

    He partly agreed to never call upon that power unless necessary.

    The withering ability of the des had surprisingly seen an increase in capabilities. From what Noah noticed after studying them. The des gained an aspect of the speed essence, which was its ability to fight and devour mana leading to a deconstruction of the said material.

    One could mistake it for a lower form of the pulling force the daggers were capable of unleashing in their shes, but both were fundamentally different.

    The withering process unlike the pulling force would continue until there was nothing left to eat.

    It had stayed true to its original version. All Noah needed was to have his de or shes cut past the skin of his target and the withering ability would finish them if they were unable to get rid of it. Whereas the pulling force could simply be escaped by leaving its range. Its result was also an explosion of initially stored power.

    All in all, the withering ability had been amplified by the speed essence''s violent trait toward mana. It was even more effective since apart from him, and Erolia, no other thing featured speed essence coursing through their veins.

    On the seventh day since elder Sarah returned, Noah appeared within the walls of the mansion, and incidentally, he had teleported right in front of Jane, who almost attacked him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He apologized and immediately recalled his master''s worry. He engaged Jane in a conversation and she had been reluctant at first, but eventually gave in since he never showed any form of anger.

    Noah pulled their dialogue towards the topic of the roiling thunder technique. She had mastered all its forms or at least could execute them to a standard level. She was also of the lightning element.

    Noah had managed to get her to show him an execution of the first three forms which he knew, and truly she had mastered them. Even to a skill level that could best the post-war master Sarah.

    He had also gotten her to show him the fourth form. Static torrent, and if Noah knew how to marvel he would have.

    Due to her affinity for the lightning element, and her years of practice and mastery, just like how the second form Thunder and sh unleashed sparks, the fourth form seemed to be aplete spell.

    Fashioned almost simrly to the first form; Static surge, Static torrent saw Jane assuming one position, but when her hands moved; fist or what-not, a stream of not only pure physical force but also generated sparks boomed forth with such might that the entire building shook.

    That feat itself wasn''t spectacr, but the scene of a figure unleashing what resembled a wide wave or beam of force and shining red sparks were. A torrent of strength and magic.

    Being in the presence of that execution had resembled standing before a raging red river. Unlike the first form, this stood on a different level.

    Noah learned that any form of arm movements could be utilized during the execution of the fourth form.

    She could throw palms and still end up with that result. The first form relied only on punches, while the fourth form taught flexibility, but also how to remain fluid without breaking the execution.

    It relied greatly on the flow of power from the tip of her toes to her upper body. She could not move during that execution as that would lead to its end. Whereas the first form could allow movements.

    Slowly but surely, she warmed up to him a bit, and eventually by the end of the eight-day, Noah could execute the fourth form!

    Jane had witnessed first-hand; the prowess of a genuine genius, if only she knew Noah had been able to do it right after she executed it the second time. Not to break her spirit he pushed it till the second day.

    Elder Sarah had seen them training and had been d, she left to visit her friends in the city.

    Unfortunately, by the end of the eighth day; The day the meeting of the grand elders finished, Noah had been summoned to their midst and informed of their decision to deploy him into the main battles.

    He would go along with the group gathered by elder Ezra and they would participate in the raid of smaller bases scattered across the nation. Eventually, they would move to bigger bases.

    Their group, however, wouldn''t be the only one on this quest. Apparently, the royals had consented in aiding them.

 Chapter 561 561. ASSASSINATION

    "Despite the forces of the order scattered across the nation, there are still regions considered strongholds."

    "ording to what we know, the order already has seventeen cities under their power. Whether small or big. The number of towns under them has crossed fifty. It is sad to say that some towns are willingly submitting themselves to the order. For their profit of course."

    "Due to this, we cannot expect all towns to be on the nation''s side. And anyone with suspicious activities will be snuffed out." Elder Adonis addressed Noah and his group. They had all agreed to follow as long as Noah was with them.

    "Mind you, the cities under their hold arepletely different from their default bases. These cities are either in partnership with the order or have been subjugated. We believe the case here is a partnership. Since all seventeen cities have refused to heed the calls of the royals. And those sent to said towns or cities usually nevere back, or report suspicious actions."

    "The royals have marked out a few sure ones and shockingly they have asked that we infiltrate them rather than cause destruction." Elder Adonis paused, silently sweeping his gaze on that group. They all listened attentively.

    "How are we going to do that?" The expert named Jade raised the question. "We are toorge a group. And will our powers not be too conspicuous?"

    "True. But you won''t be going to just any city��" Elder Adonis stated. "The city chosen was already one of thergest and more sessful ones. And since many tier fours not belonging to any organizations have risen throughout the recent years. Most go to such cities to find something."

    "ording to the little info we gained. The order is always looking to gather more experts. This is what you''ll enter posing as."

    "Experts looking to make money from working for the order. It''s probably better than hunting beasts and selling them," Noah chipped in and the elder nodded.

    "Won''t our size still be a problem?" Cora agreed with Jade.

    "I doubt," Noah answered before Elder Adonis could. "A group this size and not possessing any of the oaths make us less suspicious. Sure our origin can be questioned. It still stands that having this many in one team and not belonging to any organization is rare... and most likely sought out." He exined and thedy could only nod.

    "He''s correct. Knowing fully well that you cannot be hired without bearing the oath, you''ll all seem like a group that has advanced through the years together." Elder Adonis spoke.

    "They could hire you temporarily, but the rules of the oath will apply to you. Even if it''s only temporary. It''ll end only after you''ve fulfilled the task and gotten paid"

    "Unfortunately that isn''t part of the mission here."

    "You''ve yet to tell us exactly why we want to infiltrate the city," Davismented watching the stunning elder nod.

    "You are to go there in search of a person and an item considered important to the interest of the guilds and the royals." Elder Adonis stated, needless to say, he had to exin further for his audience to fully understand the scope of their mission.

    "The person had been abducted a few years ago and we believe has been made to leak vital information, even if it''s against their will. They are one of the descendants of the royals, but had been captured."

    "After seven years the royals finally managed to pinpoint her location, as she had been moved many times throughout the years.

    "The item on the other hand is only a cauldron capable of brewing potions and items in the fifth tier. It''s obvious that it''s important, considering that there''s only of its kind as it produces special effects and was taken along with the kidnappeddy." Elder Adonis exined.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Those experts nodded but it didn''tpletely sit well with Noah and a few others.

    "All that trouble only to rescue a person and steal back a big pot," Noah straightened his back to lock gazes with the elder. A soft smile brewed on the expert''s face at that point.

    "On paper, those are your tasks. But there is still one ordered by the guild itself��wipe out the families in charge of the city." the elder announced with a dark tone, catching them by surprise, even if they understood.

    "We''re well aware that noble families are the ones in charge, so we''ll give you the names and faces of your targets but your mission is the total annihtion of those families." He continued, starting to pace slowly.

    "The royals have held back on taking the lives of defected nobles due to the oath, but you all aren''t bound by the oath and can decide not to carry out the task. You''re not getting any rewards after all."

    "In short, we''re the best bet, since you know we''re all ready to do it," Davis remarked, shaking his head. Elder Adonis nodded.

    "The royals don''t exactly know that we''re sending a group of individuals not bound by the oath, we only informed them that we had a group avable. So I hope you''re all sensible enough to keep quiet about your real rtionship with us. To whoever asks, you''re a member of the divine lightning guild."

    Silence fell in the room at that point, as they nodded in understanding. They were essentially carrying out an assassination.

    "You have three target locations, and a possible fourth." Elder Adonis continued after some time.

    "The three are all the residents of the three noble families that defected. They hold the power over the city and thus also possess strong experts. They also have an alliance with the order ording to what we discovered."

    "Won''t the elves be trouble then?" Tre asked and the grand elder nodded.

    "ording to the information we gathered, those families had ensured the order never interfered with their private life." He paused. "In short, you won''t find any elves in their estates."

    "The mission here is topletely wipe them out as quickly as possible, without letting word reach the outside world. Thus we expect you to divide yourself and attack at the same time." His pacing had gradually increased.

    "Do we haveyouts of the estates and a possible number of tier four experts to encounter in each family?" It was Noah''s time to speak, but the elder shook his head.

    "They allow little to get out, so you''ll all have to proceed with caution. Make sure to spread your strengths amongst whatever group you create."

    "The best that we have are the locations, prime targets, and a few things to expect," the elder revealed, not happy about that reality. But unfortunately, those families kept a whole lot secret, and suspicious individuals would quickly be snuffed out. They had already nearly lost the spies they sent.

    "Let''s dive deeper into what we have, however, and how you''ll deal with the group sent by the royals to aid you on your rescue mission."

    "The royals must only know of this assassination after everything is done. So you have to be intentional about your actions. And of course very cautious."

 Chapter 562 562. RUDE

    Elder Adonis spent the next few hours telling them all that they would need to know and even giving them maps of the said city. The city of Yeldel.

    It was arge city almost on par with the dragon w city. There was still a lot that the w city had over it, but among the cities in the cusk nation, it was around the top 5rgest and more prosperous.

    The three noble families in charge of the city, were the Uro family, the Earl family, and the Opoli noble family.

    To Noah''s in-existent surprise, one of the noble families who had been part of the five that led to the deaths of Erolia and her family was present.

    The Earl family.

    He wondered why a family of that status would go about ruining the lives of others. Then again, they might not have been doing too well before the war. Nevertheless, the mission turned somewhat personal.

    Noah retained that information from Erolia for a bit. He could block her from gaining ess to his mind, but only once in a while did he find a reason to do such.

    Apparently, the royals had sent images of the individuals they would be sending, and Noah had recognized the face of a certain individual. He immediately connected the dots to arrive at a conclusion that shook even him.

    The mission turned even more personal, but he couldn''t get rash.

    The exnations soon finished and they were allowed to rest for a day. They would depart immediately after that.

    Noah had met with Elder Velsvon and the two had agreed to talk when whatever missions they gave him were over. Noah suspected that he would spend more than a month,l running errands, but he couldn''t be sure. He considered that reality, however.

    Noah received a newmunication amulet which had truly been different from the other one he had. They had made a few tweaks to it.

    Elder Velsvon essentially shared his contact. Allowing both to be able tomunicate from great distances. Green mana stones were within the amulet after all. Noah had quickly be important and could receive such.

    Even elder Ezra shared her contact with him.

    Noah spent more time with Jane and a bit with Elder Sarah. She hated how busy he had gotten, but would notin. He was her student and truly she felt proud of him.

    A day was quick to pass and several experts stood high within the dark rumbling clouds of the city.

    Noah had eyes on the twelve individuals in his group, elder Sarah, Elder Ezra, and elder Adonis.

    "How much time do you anticipate your mission will take?" Elder Sarah spoke taking note of the twelve that Noah led. They said a few things about her that she heard. They weren''t offensive, however.

    She believed they wanted her to hear since mental waves would have blocked her ability to listen in on their conversation.

    "About a week. Maybe more," Noah replied. "It depends on how things go. But a minimum of one week. We''ll be searching the whole city after all." He further exined, rubbing the bridge of his nose with a finger.

    The elder nodded at that point and Adonis chipped in his opinion on the matter.

    "The city is also big, and we never gave them any real source material apart from thedy''s face and the cauldron''s appearance. They''ll be doing most of the work," He kept the other task away from elder Sarah''s ears, even if she suspected that there was more.

    "This will be considered an S-rank mission. There are higher stages present in the city, so it''ll require caution." The expert added even if Noah remained unbothered by that reality.

    The higher stage he spoke about were elves and they were not allowed into the estates of the families.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He also felt certain that the noble families felt untouchable. After all, not even the royals had done anything yet. And who in their right mind would take on such a job for absolutely nothing in return?

    "We should get going," Noah announced after a few more exchanges urred.

    Elder Adonis and Sarah nodded at that point, but to their shock, his chest suddenly lit up with a white light and a cerulean streak bypassed the cracks beneath his clothes, and even his very clothes to shoot forward into the world.

    Erolia''s giant figure unfolded in their eyes and elder Sarah couldn''t help but shoot an incredulous gaze at Noah.

    "When did you get this?!" Her eyes never left the spectacr-looking beast before her. The bird was everything regal and beautiful.

    "Not too long ago," Noah responded dismissively. She almost choked on her shock but sighed it off.

    "You never cease to possess tricks up your sleeves. You''ll have to give me a ride on it when you return."

    Noah shrugged in response, gesturing that the others climbed on his pet''s back, he would do the rest.

    "Also, her name is Erolia," Noah announced getting on her back while he created a dome-shaped film of wind around him and the others. They could sitfortably or even lie down.

    Elder Sarah simply nodded, while Elder Adonis cleared his throat, taking in what he had seen. Aiden really intrigued him.

    "It''s rude to not say anything," Noahmented tapping Erolia''s back. His actions and words greatly perplexed all those present, and they watched that scene with interest.

    Erolia seemed to sigh since she lowered her head to gaze at Elder Sarah and Elder Adonis. Both could feel incredible intelligence behind her multicolored gaze.

    "I''m Erolia, nice to meet you." Nothing in the world could prepare the minds of those experts for those simple words, since it took even elder Adonis a few seconds to properly understand what had urred.

    "By the fucking gods!" Elder Sarah streaked out of the area from pure shock. She swore her head had spun when Erolia''s beak moved to release soft words. Her tone like that of a real female.

    "His bird spoke!" Even Noah''s group marveled, standing on their feet in utter astonishment.

    Noah watched Elder Adonis freeze for a little more while, whilst his master returned her eyes still wide.

    "Your pet spoke!" Her mind trembled again. In her life, she had never seen tier 4 beasts speak.

    "Yes��" Noah replied. "Maybe I shouldn''t have told her to." His tone was soft and rxed. As usual.

    He could see that both elders had bubbling questions in mind. "Maybeter." He quickly shattered every chance of allowing them to speak.

    "See youter." He tapped Erolia''s feathered back.

    "Bye��" Ufortable, Erolia spoke again, spreading her huge wings to p them once.

    Her glowing figure shattered the sound barrier to pierce the clouds at unholy speeds. Leaving both elders, once again; stunned.

 Chapter 563 563. SMALLER FORM

    Erolia''s figure streaked across the skies of the Cusk nation, at terrible speeds. Her passage through the regions generated a streak of silver and cerulean light. Mostly cerulean.

    They would be arriving at their destination very soon.

    ording to the words of Elder Adonis, the royals had nned a meeting spot several miles from the city.

    At this location would the two groups meet and essentially rte before heading toward the city.

    Noah''s group had been on that journey for a bit not. About half a day had passed since they left the guild, but they had not flown all through that time.

    Unlike him, Erolia didn''t possess groundbreaking stamina in terms of exerting herself at full speed for extensive periods.

    She could fight at her full power for only hours before her stamina ran out. At most a whole day. This depended on how stressful her opponent was.

    Noah could bring her down in mere minutes, but that was because his strength wasn''t normal.

    Erolia possessed significant explosive power far above the average tier 4. Actually speaking, she remained higher than monsters. But she had clear limits, unlike her master.

    In a bid to not have to utilize his own body for running about, Noah asked her to simply move at about half her full speed after she fell tired the first time.

    At that speed, she could flyfor whole days since she hardly exerted herself too much.

    Besides, half her top speed was still an incredible pace. Most tier 4''s still couldn''t run that fast.

    "Master," Erolia spoke at some point, her senses picking up activity ahead.

    Noah sensed it, and so did the others. It didn''t seem anything dangerous.

    "Ascend," hemanded and she immediately flew into the sky reaching heights higher than the clouds. Noah momentarily gazed at the space above him.

    He wondered if he could leave the by simply shooting outside of it. He felt certain it wouldn''t be that easy. But he''d try one day.

    Erolia flew past the area possessing tier 4 presences. It worried the others seeing as their destination remained only a few miles from that location. About 60 miles or so. That was an easy distance to traverse.

    Needless to say, Erolia arrived at the said ce, but Noah descended first to scout the area.

    He expected the royals to get there in about half a day, but ording to Elder Adonis, there was a structure buried beneath the hill.

    Finding no reason for worry, Noah ascended to meet them again and those experts flew downward.

    Funnily, the others had still epted Cora and Davis as their sub-leaders, they even voted, and Noah could only leave things as they were.

    Davis held the knowledge to revealing the structure. They couldn''t bring it up, however, since that would risk giving out their location.

    "Do you want to return to your soul space? I don''t like that you stay there all the time though," Noah spoke, addressing a still high-up Erolia. The others would call him after they opened the path down.

    "It feels weird being amongst them," Erolia admitted. "But that''s only because they see me as a beast."

    "Then just change," Noah gave her a nk stare and she pouted.

    "Why are you hesitant?" He asked.

    "I fear I might not be what I remember," Erolia confessed lowering her gaze. The clouds existed below them.

    Understanding what she felt, Noah ced his hand on her golden beak. "I''m sure you''ll be beautiful. The speed essence was in charge of hatching you after all," he nodded, his tone assuring. In that short time, Erolia had gotten fond of him.

    She sighed and Noah stepped back.

    Her figure began to glow a bright cerulean, golden and silver light, so much so that Noah could not trace her figure at some point.

    The light grew brighter and brighter, but they were too high up in the sky for those below to notice.

    A few secondster the light started to die down, revealing that the giant beast had disappeared. Or rather, transformed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A small figure, about 5ft4 unfolded in Noah''s silver gaze.

    He immediately recognized Erolia''s human features, even if her beauty had been immensely enhanced.

    She still looked 16 or 17, even if she had spent decades existing outside of her physical state.

    Her hair color had changed to mimic the different colors she normally emitted.

    Three sections of three different colors. Cerulean, golden, and silver. These were now the colors of her hair and they stood out. Her multicolored hair also possessed white tinges at its edges.

    A soft glow seeped out of Erolias clothe-less figure. Her fair skin remained divine-like.

    She inspected her body without the least bit of shame, and when she raised her head to gaze at Noah''s figure, a wide smile bloomed on her face, but also tears.

    Her eyes remained cerulean and they shone with unspeakable joy.

    She moved before Noah could, and the sheer physical strength her body remained capable of achieving, made her shatter the sound barrier.

    She had momentarily forgotten of her tier 4 state, but it didn''t matter. She held Noah In a tight embrace and he returned it before gently stroking her silky hair.

    Erolia continued to sob in Noah''s embrace, a great weight having been lifted from her shoulder.

    Her fear of what she would turn out to be had stopped her from utilizing that ingrained ability.

    The moment she had woken up as herself she knew how to assume a smaller form.

    "I told you you''d turn out beautifully," Noahmented supporting her emotionally.

    She nodded even if her head remained buried in his chest.

    Soon she raised her head to stare into Noah''s silver eyes. They looked divine. She felt grateful.

    "You should get something to wear," Noahmented, allowing an attire he had never worn to exit his inventory.

    It remained too long for her so he cut away its length. Even and the length of its big sleeves.

    Erolia wore the green robe, matching his red one.

    "I feel so light," she eximed with joy, shooting around many times faster than the speed of sound.

    "It''s still a bit strange though," she admitted, floating around Noah. She could float freely despite her energy being the speed essence.

    "Not having wings will take some time getting used to. And also seeing everything from a shorter point of view..." Her eyes sparkled with excellence as she continued talking.

    Something within Noah wished he could enjoy that scene, and the first struggle against his emotionless state urred, but it wasn''t too strong.

    "I give myself a few hours though. My arms and legs still feel weird," she giggled focusing on her body.

    She continued to talk about her newexperience when Pete ascended into the sky only to find a divinely beautiful girl flying around Aiden.

    The scene stunned him and he could only stare at the beauty, momentarily forgetting what he wanted to say.

    Erolia waved at Pete with a wide smile, happy about her state. Before moving closer to Noah''s figure. She still felt safer close to him.

    Noah cleared his throat noisily, and Pete snapped out of his daze.

    "Ah... I... I apologize. We found the path into the underground structure," the man announced and Noah nodded holding Erolia''s hand to descend.

    Pete followed closely behind the duo, trying his best to remain calm.

 Chapter 564 564. SCOUT

    "This is actually nice," Noah muttered to himself whilst he walked down a certain passageway. Well-lit and finely adorned.

    It resembled something straight out of a pce, and the truth was the building which had been kept underground, truly was a pce of sorts.

    Pete and two others walked behind him and Erolia''s vibrant figure. Davis, Cora, and seven others had went deep into the ce.

    Noah could feel the gazes of the three behind him, and Erolia would be the reason for that event, but he addressed them not. Going on into the hall they had found.

    It possessed a long table and a series of chairs able to aodate 40 individuals. The long table had been covered with a fine silver cloth and the chairs looked as stylish as something from the house of nobility.

    Apparently, it was one of the many locations the knights of the royals reclined at when their mission wasn''t too far. Of course, only certain permitted individuals could even be given ess to it.

    They all sat and a strange silence befell the now 14 individuals. Erolia sat right next to Noah, and the sheer amount of beauty and handsomeness both possessed respectively made those experts tremble inwardly.

    They resembled quite well what the children of gods would look like. Breathtaking. Noah was already a lot to handle in public, but now that there was a child, entering the city without causing amotion would be more difficult than anticipated.

    "Speak," Noahmanded at some point. Davis had been staring for too long. He didn''t feel ufortable but wanted to know what the man thought.

    "Uh��" His words faded away for a moment as his gazended on Erolia''s figure. "You brought a girl with you�� surely we''re curious." The expert yed it safe than simply rying his question as bluntly as possible.

    "Yes," Noah responded sweeping his gaze on those experts, they listened attentively.

    "I thought you''d have connected the dots seeing as my bird had disappeared," he continued and saw surprise appear on the faces of Davis and a few others. Pete cringed at that point, he had not been able to tell them anything.

    Notwithstanding, they got the message since their gazes flickered with realization, and their eyes further widened.

    "You mean��." Davis spoke and Noah nodded.

    "Yes, I mean what I meant. This is Erolia," Noah announced and they gasped before falling silent.

    "Yes, it''s me," Erolia giggled waving her hand still ddened by her state, she had not gotten the chance to see herself in a mirror, so she truly hadn''t realized what magnitude her beauty had reached.

    Those experts focused their gazes on her at that point, her smile caught them by surprise. She remained both adorable and terrifyingly pretty.

    "I''m not a big bird anymore�� at least for now," she gestured by pping her two arms. Those simple movements looked gracious and her wide smile seemed to blind them.

    Another struggle against his emotionless state urred, and this led Noah to stroke his chin a bit.

    "Oh�� I�� I see," Davis stammered taking a deep breath and exhaling. Just how many surprises would they get in less than a day? First, his bird could speak. Now it could assume a human form. What next? They wondered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Well yes," Noah spoke, waving his hand dismissively. He still wanted them to get used to his surprises.

    They all fell silent once again.

    "We''re not expecting the royals until about half a day," Cora spoke, breaking the silence and making everything serious again.

    ''What should we do?" She asked Davis even if she wished Noah answered the question.

    "Wait?..." Davis replied, genuinely uncertain. He found no reason to move about. The group sent by the royals would arrive not too long from then.

    "We can understand theyout of this building. It''s pretty big and well kept�� there might be some interesting items, " Kevin suggested, pulling their eyes to his figure and eyebrows rose on some of their faces.

    "Are you suggesting we steal from the royals?" Lora arced her eyebrows the highest, ring at him from across the table. She and Kevin had a thing ongoing. Her words could quickly put the man in a frantic state.

    "Ah�� no!�� of course not�� That''s dangerous..." Kevin''s tone remain unconvincing, but those experts kept theirments to themselves.

    "I and Erolia will scout the city beforehand," Noah announced drawing their attentions from the lying man.

    His words put worry on their faces, but he spoke before anyone could.

    "Don''t worry. We''ll make sure to enter unnoticed. I only want to check if the information given to us was urate. We''d have to do this at some point. Why not now when the other party isn''t present yet."

    Noah''s exnation couldn''t help but sound right in the ears of those experts. They had been asked to be careful around the group from the royals. It was far easier to do such things when they had not arrived.

    Still, that didn''t stop them from worrying. They wondered how he''d get in without being noticed.

    Everyone had long noticed the insane speeds he could achieve, it made him almost untouchable in a battle. Nevertheless, it was usually explosive, even more so for his bird. Or human. They weren''t even sure which was which.

    "The worst that can happen is that I don''t get to participate in the general mission. The assassination will still need to feature me." Noah exined, standing. Erolia did the same.

    "You''re going now?�� But we just arrived��" Cora furrowed her brows getting up. She found his ideapletely smart, but she didn''t like it anyway.

    "Better early than not. You don''t have to worry. I''ll be�� quick." Before anyone could respond a white light shed from his figure. He and Erolia disappeared at that point, leaving those experts hanging.

    "Was that his try at a joke?��" Jennamented, looking disturbed, and Cora could only nod her head with a hum as an answer. She sat down soon after and it took them a while to finally decide on something to do.

 Chapter 565 565. STORMS

    Noah appeared high in the sky, above the hill the building they reclined in was. Erolia stood in the skies with him, her features still bright. Noah didn''t worry though, even if he could, he''d have no reason for such.

    Erolia still had a level of intelligence that would far surpass those her age.

    "Let''s go," Noah announced sprinting forward. His departure caught Erolia by surprise, and the sonic boom he unleashed sent her barreling backward. The force remained remarkable.

    A wide grin appeared on her face as she stabilized herself in the sky, then she propelled herself forward, shattering the sound barrier to disappear from that ce.

    Erolia had been almost 2 seconds slower than Noah, so when the city appeared in her sight, Noah had to grab onto her to descend. This happened in about the same period as an instant.

    Shocked and stunned by the sheer difference in speed, Erolia blinked to find tall trees all around her.

    "There are tier four''s guarding the city''s entrance," Noah exinednding on a tree branch. The vegetation around them was nothing short of humongous. The trees were solid and tall. Even the level of those trees was already in the third tier.

    Erolia nodded, allowing her astonishment to fade quickly. She had to ept that her master could still shock her with his normal attributes.

    Having held her in his arms Noah ascended until he arrived at the top of the tree. He let her go to scan the area.

    The city being a few kilometers from their position already revealed its sheer size.

    Right before its huge ck walls was a clearing about a kilometer away from those tall walls,

    Even from there, Noah could see different pathsing out of the woods to stretch toward the city''s wide gates.

    Carriages rolled in while individuals on foot had to stand in a line.

    ''There are more tier fours here than I expected,'' Noah remarked inwardly,finding that more than seventy percent of those who lined up to enter the city were in the fourth tier. Times of hardship really did produce individuals with power.

    "It''s a hub for fourth-tier experts," Noah spoke, addressing Erolia who hade to the same conclusion. Seeing Noah solemn made her also take their expedition seriously.

    "We should be able to fly past them right? We''re fast enough," Erolia suggested and Noah could not refute her words.

    The entrance into the city was literally wide open, there was even a slight elevation of what looked like metal right at its entrance. To get into the city one would hike that chunk of metal. It didn''t look difficult, however.

    "There also doesn''t seem to be anything scanning anyone," Noah muttered already finding a solution.

    "Still��" Erolia utilized her head. "We might be too obvious. Our movements aren''t exactly silent." She gave a slightly helpless smile.

    "I can reduce the sound of my sprint, but you can''t. You only just got this body after all," Noah exined, and she nodded.

    "In that case, you have to cause amotion," Noah announced, and she considered it.

    "You''re limiting your influence as a thunderbird right?" Noah spoke, still having his eyes on the city.

    "Yes��" Erolia responded, already worried.

    "Impressive. But I''ll need you to let it go." Noah turned to focus on her at that point, she furrowed her brows but didn''t protest.

    "I can end up destroying this environment, ma- Noah," she stuttered a bit. Noah had already told her to not call him master. He found it too revealing and didn''t want to bother her. He''d rather she called him brother, or just Noah.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I know. But when we gain their attention you can just retain your hold on that ability. Let them wonder why a storm suddenly sprung up from thin air," Noah exined, shrugging.

    Erolia found no way out at that point, and she understood what her actions would achieve, she would be able to fly at full speeds without worrying about being noticed. She felt pretty certain that her influence would touch the city even.

    Straightening her back in increased concentration, Erolia closed her eyes to further gain more focus.

    In truth, she had already had great skill for someone who had not even been a Thunderbird for two months.

    She could already control the destruction her mere presence normally unleashed. That was simr to controlling a passive ability. Impressive.

    The winds started to blow gradually. Now that she had changed into her human which neither drained stamina nor essence, Erolia found that her ability to concentrate on specific subjects of her power had increased.

    She wasn''t chunky anymore, even if phantom chunkiness still disturb her. She however, had enough evidence to fight that feeling and focus on letting go of her influence.

    Noah watched the winds begin to grow violent as a dark rumbling cloud, or series of clouds unfolded above them in mere seconds.

    This event darkened the skies of that region, as Erolia''s influence could stretch for many kilometers around her.

    Cold winds swept the regions, upsetting the trees, as the wheezing of the winds grew in intensity. Eventually turning into sky-shaking howls. Then raging roars.

    By this point, the sudden event already alerted the officials at that gate, but they weren''t moving just yet.

    Noah saw Erolia suddenly flinch and she opened her eyes.

    "That''s it," she announced, even if calmness suddenly swept thends. At least only for a second, since directly after that, tens of tornadoes descended from the sky to unleash chaos in the environment.

    The event had been akin to an explosion as terrible shockwaves swept the regions announcing the new level of power at hand.

    The huge cloudspletely blocked the sunlight from touching the world below and the winds grew colder.

    Noah rted that scenery to the arrival of a storm on earth. But this would be in a league of its own. It could well decimate a city.

    The skies trembled as the clouds rumbled with terrible power.

    Soon, destruction was the order of the day and even Noah felt his instincts ring at that scenery. Erolia''s small figure now emitted all the danger it could achieve. It would choke the average middle-stage cultivator.

    During those moments of admiring her work, a rapidly expanding tornado neared their tree as chaos unfolded around them.

    Those huge trees found their trunks being ripped from their profound roots to shoot toward the whirlwind which shredded them into nothingness.

    "We should get going," Noah''s tone remained calm even if the tall figures of what resembled hundreds of tornadoes existed all around them even in the distance. His hair didn''t even flutter in the violent wind. Neither did Erolia''s.

    The sudden storm, or storms alerted those at that gate and they began to close it. Noah found that moment the right time, and together with Erolia, he sprinted forward to shoot past the gates opening.

    The winds blew fiercely into that city, raising huge clouds of dust. Their passage had punched holes in those dusty clouds, but the fierceness of the winds quickly cleared those shreds of evidence.

    To the shock of those individuals; less than a minute into the vast series of huge storms, everything suddenly vanished. And they were left wondering what exactly had happened.

 Chapter 566 566. BLUE WALLS

    ''She constantly holds that much within her,'' Noah spoke inwardly, re-evaluating Erolia''s skill. She already did a lot by containing that much of her influence within her body.

    Both figures appeared rtively high up in the sky and did not stop until they had journeyed many kilometers away from the city''s first gate. There were about four others at certain points of its immense and expansive walls.

    Eventuallying to a stop above a small hill situated across a river, both of them remained high up in the clouds. The city of Yeldel did not possess a barrier protecting it from individuals simply diving into the city.

    Nevertheless, there were multiple high-stage tier 4''s, and not only that. The elves had erected huge green pirs possessing hundreds of inscriptions that ran up and down their length.

    From Noah''s short inspection, those pirs were meant tobat anything that flew above a certain height, so even they remained at a certain altitude. Not too far from the surface, but far enough to remain in obscurity.

    Moreover, they had arrived at a deste area, the ces with thicker poptions were still a few kilometers from them.

    Noah and Erolia tightly bottled up their auras. They remained too strong to not be noticed. In truth, both of them had the strength of higher-stage cultivators even if their power remained in the middle stage.

    "What shall we do now?" Erolia spoke, being able to look many kilometers and spot buildings and even people. She had great visual capabilities, even stronger than Noah''s. He could achieve that feat too though.

    "We''ll follow the map, of course. We''d have to remain as silent as we can, however. I might need to carry you around if that''s the case. But yes," he exined allowing the map in his possession to appear in his hands.

    "We''re not doing much apart from checking out certain locations��" He gazed at the map whilst calctions appeared in his mind.

    Erolia nodded, adopting a sitting posture; her arms wrapped around her knees, while she floated around Noah''s tall figure. Thoughts swirled in her mind as she recalled the moment he had spoken about that mission.

    Her eyes had caught the mes of fury, and he had not rebuked her for it. But continued speaking on how he''d carry out the task of wiping the noble family out if that was the only thing he did.

    She had naturally calmed down, even if she spent a few hours grieving again. After that point, she recovered and was ready. Noah already showed his capabilities in certain things. She trusted his words a whole lot.

    Even more so, she felt grateful for him giving her the chance to be present in avenging her family. A soft smile appeared on her face whilst she continued to stare at Noah. He noticed it but did not address it.

    "Found it," he announced cing his index finger on the map before turning to point it in a certain direction. He had needed to pinpoint their general location since not all thendmarks were included In the map.

    The hill below them remained one of the many missing details. He couldn''t me those who drew the maps though. It would seem many things had changed over the years. Certain things were not as they were before.

    "I believe this hill isn''t even natural, and this portion of the river seems to have been created only to deter mappers," Noah exined, looking at the said hill and blue river. His words weren''t the least bit impossible. After all, beings closer to the fifth tier were at y. Moreover, they were elves too. Cregar favored that race.

    "Ooh��" Erolia nced at the hill and squinted her eyes. Her actions had not possessed any real meaning to them.

    He nodded but gave no real attention to the matter. He didn''t really care for it.

    "Let''s go." He announced, grabbing onto Erolia with his mental waves. He sprinted across the skies at that point, traversing many significant districts. The city stood true to its great size. It could even house smaller cities.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Coupled with the high quality of the residents, no wonder they could defy the royals and not fear too much of a repercussion.

    Their destination was as mentioned by Elder Adonis, a private estate. Its size being about 10sqkm. The full details about the pce were non-existent, but all Noah needed to check was if it truly was there.

    His sprint toward that region in the city was quick. At some point he had started to see portions of destroyednds. Signs of battles.

    Now that he thought about it, there had to have been a group of individuals who revolted against the idea of working with the order. They had probably been snuffed out, hence those craters.

    The poption density shrunk and bits of vegetation filled those former battlegrounds, and soon the blue walls of the estate were in view, and also one of the pirs that watched over the city.

    Noah descended into those scantily ced vegetation. Mostly short trees and tall bushes. He sensed that the soil struggled to repair itself.

    "Tier 4 damage," he muttered when his feet touched the ground.

    Erolia had remained silent throughout the flight. It had not evensted thirty seconds after all.

    "We need to get closer," Noah revealed, despite the danger of the green pir. The map had included its presence, and it had been exined that it wasn''t dangerous as long as one didn''t utilize their powers to fly abovea certain height. There would be an immediate attack on such figures.

    Due to this, all tier 4''s were ordered to walk until they were out of its 1000m radius range. Or simply hover above the ground by a few meters. However, right before the entrance into the estate was apletely clear ground, devoid of any sort of covering.

    This spanned about 500m in terms of distance but surrounded the entire estate. This allowed guards to take note of individuals before they arrived at the estate''s entrance. A clever way to ensure safety.

    Then again, people hardly came there. Noah could almost be 100 percent certain that the security would have gottenx. Still, it didn''t matter. They would be leveling the entire ce.

    Sweeping his gaze on his surrounding, Noah could see that vegetation still stretched forward for a few hundred meters beforepletely vanishing.

    The sun wasn''t at its peak anymore as the day was already nearing its end. Still, the cleared ground before the estate remained hard and dry. For obvious reasons.

    Noah began his walk toward the edge of that vegetation. Uncoincidentally, that was the estate belonging to the Earl noble family. Noah would be returning there to destroy them. He wanted to ensure that they truly were wiped out, even if only a majority of them.

    "Noah�� I sense something," Erolia frowned, staring intently at the ground beneath her. Noah nodded his head in agreement with her words.

    "I do also." He replied looking at the hard sun-smitten ground. Merely minutes after arriving close to that estate they had made discoveries crucial to the sess of that mission.

    "This will be interesting," Noah muttered, raising his head to stare at the blue walls in the distance. There was definitely more going on than the eye could see.

 Chapter 567 567. OLD FRIEND

    Noah and Erolia moved across the skies of that city to find the other states, and luckily all were in the aid position. But at some point that stopped being the main focus.

    After the house of Earl, Noah made sure to check if they picked anything weird up, and sure enough they did. All three of the estates held an aura hidden from the senses of humans. Noah wasn''t a full human anymore, and Erolia was a magical beast. They sensed it too quickly.

    He considered informing the elders of his findings, and he did. They had spoken for about an hour and he had been told to cancel thest part of the mission. The assassination.

    Noah had refused the idea, or rather he had agreed on not allowing the others risk their lives, but he had assured the elders that he could take care of the assassination even while there was an unknown threat.

    They had been difficult to persuade since they worried about the issue of how many hands were at work. There were three target locations and only two avable. He and his bird. He had kept Erolia''s human form a secret. For now.

    Noah had assured Elder Ezra of his ability to take care of the assassination by himself. They had brought up the issue of how silent he could be so he revealed his already-made n. A n he had formted on the spot but was doable.

    He had to convince them by telling them his n, and they saw how it could work. This revtion garnered even more respect from them. And although they had doubts, Noah reminded Elder Ezra of his past fulfilled promises.

    She couldn''t help but trust him at that point. He had fulfilled his words so far and he sounded like he had a solid n, there wasn''t much they could say anymore.

    At the end of the day, he was allowed to dismiss the group if he felt it necessary. He decided he would utilize them even if in truth he could take care of everything by himself.

    A n that saw him utilizing the twelve appeared in his mind and although it would cost him a few pills he didn''t care. He had brought them with him so he would utilize them.

    In the end, the matter was settled and he was also informed that the royals spoke about gaining a few leads in the city. They had left the details to when the group they sent arrived.

    This would make the search far easier. But Noah already knew he had a lot of work to handle. He doubted he''d be able to go around searching with them.

    Having returned to the skies above the hill by teleporting in and out of his cultivation room, Noah descended after spending another hour outside.

    He decided to use the normal means of entry instead of just appearing within the underground building.

    The others were d to see him return, and they asked about themotion that urred a couple of hours earlier. Noah gave them an exnation even if he left out the fact that Erolia''s presence was the reason for that.

    "We created a storm." He had informed them and none found any reason to question further, he had said the reason for that decision.

    He wasn''t going to tell them everything about himself or his pet. He also wasn''t going to tell them about his discovery until it was time for them to carry out the mission. He would then reveal all that he had set up beforehand.

    The group had discovered various sleeping rooms and he was given one. Well lit and decorated. There had even been an addition to a cooling system. All rooms had that. This spoke well of the thoughts of the royals when they built it. For resting.

    They had also found a kitchen with special storage units that kept ingredients from rotting. It reminded him of his inventory, but it was obvious his version was far advanced.

    Two training halls, arge pool, a hot bath, and even a room that featured vibrant mana stones for ease of cultivation.

    They also discovered dungeons below the building. They were empty though. But were for if the group that reclined there possessed captives.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A bit more exploration of the building revealed a series of rooms that had mechanisms to attack anyone not permitted to enter them.

    These details greatly intrigued the experts, but Noah warned them not to go out of hand.

    Three people cooked and they were soon served. The party ate whilst they continued to wait for the group from the royals.

    They only had about eight hours till their estimated arrival. It could take more time, but it didn''t matter as long as they arrived.

    After eating, the group entertained themselves by engaging in spars. Noah simply watched and was chosen to judge them.

    Someone asked Erolia to fight them and she did, even if she decimated the expert. That person had been none other than Davis. The man utilized a big Axe featuring a hammerhead also. He was also skilled in utilizing the cuss. He used a pair.

    Erolia had disyed overwhelming strength and speed when she blocked his hammer-based strikes with her mere palms.

    Each one of those strikes shook the entire room as the expert made sure to exert all his strength.

    Shockingly, she had returned his strike with a fist once, and the expert had found himself flying away from her figure with such force that his arm sockets quaked.

    He could barely lift his chunky weapon after that point and had gone for his twin cusses. Erolia had once again bested him.

    Her agility as a bird seemed to have been transferred to her human state since even she spoke about her Inability to exin that level of prowess. It wasn''t at its peak yet but was already enough to weave through those expert attacks. At least most of them.

    Noah appreciated that event since it allowed Erolia exert herself in her human form. She made mistakes in that battle as truly the man had honed his body to a great degree.

    He could make her tumble and fall even if she stood as rapidly as she fell.

    Soon everyone took turns against her and Noah watched her begin to struggle after some point. Notwithstanding, he found a vibrant smile on her face.

    Erolia felt joy in her heart knowing she could associate with such individuals and have that much fun. Her life before then had been characterized by limitation. Only against those experts did shepletely realize the freedom her newfound might allowed. And oh, how her heart swelled with joy.

    They ended up spending those hours going against her and Noah advised rest since she had almost been fighting non-stop for 10 hours.

    Twenty minutes into that rest and they were alerted by a few individuals that made their way down into the building. The passage that opened into that building made a lot of noise. Making it easy to notice entry and exit.

    Noah wore a ck face mask at that point, and when the group of humans revealed themselves, his eyes fell on a certain man.

    His features looked to have aged a bit since thest time he saw him. But most especially his power had greatly risen as it touched the middle stage of the fourth tier.

    Had Noah not been rendered unable to feel most emotions; he would burst forth with rage and a feeling of deep betrayal. But he remained unmoved, even if he gazed at the features of his old friend, James.

 Chapter 568 568. HYPOCRISY

    ''Imperial knight,'' Noah noted inwardly, walking forward to meet the group of five. Traversing the rugged corridor, the knights stopped before him, while his group came behind him.

    "Knights of our nation, we wee you," Noah gave a professional bow and James who seemed to be the leader of the group stepped forward, his armor clinking whilst it shone with tens of powerful inscriptions.

    "It is an honor to meet a member of the great guilds. We have heard of the feats your guildmates have achieved," James bowed also, finding the nkness of the silver and white-haired man''s voice interesting.

    Straightening their backs, both experts gazed into each other eyes and Noah took note of the changes in James''s features.

    His hair had grown longer than before and he packed it in a simple ponytail. Lines of fatigue and stress existed on his still youthful features. He now looked close to his thirties.

    James possessed a mature vibe to himself, and the air of confidence his figure emitted showed how much he had grown. He had also gotten stronger.

    Unfortunately, Noah would not consider him on par with the monsters he''s met, but his old friend possessed above-average prowess. Noah would need the eyes of the death lord to know more.

    ncing over James'' shoulder, Noah nodded at the others, two women and two men plus James making five in total.

    The air almost turned awkward during those seconds so Noah spoke again.

    "Come, we''ve made food," he announced, gesturing at the rest of the corridor.

    They left for the hall at that point and all of them sat before it.

    Noah''s side possessed all his group members, including Erolia, he had made her wear a mask also.

    Unfortunately, the air grew silent and a bit dull, and it was time for James to speak.

    "My apologies, I forgot to introduce myself," he stood, and the others stood also, startling Noah''s group a bit.

    "I am James, a simple imperial knight of the royal family. Even though my power fell short of the average level, the royal council was gracious enough to give me this esteemed title and position," he exined the reason for his turquoise armor.

    James remained the only imperial knight among the five others, the others donned yellow armors speaking of their normal knight-ship.

    "This is Erod, Mako, Vivia, and Que." he gestured at the four others and they bowed their heads.

    Erod was a man who looked to be in histe thirties he had short ck hair and a pair of softly glowing purple eyes. His eyesplemented his dark skin and good looks, and the calm outlook he possessed spoke of his experience. He wasn''t an imperial knight, but he was the strongest of the group.

    Mako looked the oldest in the group, seemingly nearing his fifties. He possessed long brown hair and a pair of ck eyes. His soft smile at James'' introduction revealed the lines of stress and aging.

    Noah believed the man had spent years stagnant in power since that was the only exnation for his aged look despite his power. He felt weaker than James.

    Vivia and Que were sisters, fraternal twins to be exact. They both possessed long blonde hair, fair skin, and a pair of blue eyes. However, Que looked far prettier than her sister, even if shecked the same incredible strength her sister possessed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Both were twins but Vivia held a far more mature vibe than her sister, they also both looked around their early thirties.

    Vivia was stronger than James but weaker than Erod. Essentially the second strongest. The third being James. Mako and Que felt equally matched.

    All four experts bowed respectfully when they were introduced, they did so mostly out of obligation.

    Noah nodded. "I am Aiden," he announced also bowing before doing the same as James. Introducing his group that is. He left Erolia out, but none could question him.

    Soon all the formalities were done and they could sit and eat. Needless to say, the need for them to speak about their mission came and they did just that.

    Since the group from the royals held useful knowledge they could only wait and listen whilst Jamesid out the information gathered.

    "This is quite a bit," Noahmented, staring at the series of unfolded scrolls before him. He yed with his mask even if he kept it on.

    "Yes," James replied, still curious about Aiden''s full face.

    "We managed to get this only thanks to a few individuals who remained amongst them that hate the rule of the order. Unfortunately, we do not have the type of power to free them of the order''s rule. Or the vile families that betrayed us." James exined, his tone speaking of how much he cared about such issues.

    Hearing Jamesst words almost made Noah shake his head. Ironic how one that had betrayed another spoke wrong about others who did the same. Hypocrisy.

    "Well, we have enough to aid us in this mission properly. I believe we can move out tomorrow," Noah stated uncaring about the fact that he sounded like their leader. He was the strongest.

    They all nodded having spent about an hour going over the info the royals had gotten.

    "I wish us all good luck," Noah announced abruptly standing, his action startled them. "I apologize but we will be leaving now."

    Erolia stood with him and they both left before any more words could be spoken. Noah''s group felt lost at that scene. His sudden change had been very confusing, even more so that he seemed to not care much about the opinion of an imperial knight.

    Those 17 individuals were left in awkward silence, thankfully Cora summed up her courage and addressed the knights.

    She based her confidence on the fact that Noah promised to ensure their safety and his ability to do whatever he wanted even before the face of such authority made her feel safe. In truth, they all did, even if it was hard getting used to.

    Noah and Erolia arrived inside a room and Erolia finally pulled off her mask and she revealed her worry.

    "Noah��" She furrowed her brows in difficulty.

    "Sit Erolia, let me tell you a story." Noah gently tapped the bed he sat on and she did as he said.

 Chapter 569 569. DEEP GUILT

    Barricading the room with his mental waves, Noah began the story of his life as a human on the distant; Earth. He spoke of his life, his jobs, and his former family. He said of his then-friends, his hobbies, and the many things that entailed that lifetime. And of course, he spoke of the fact that he had spent more time in Cregar than he did there.

    He told of the incident that had led to his death and the events after that, he spoke of the system which they now shared, and he told her about the people he met, giving as much ount as he could.

    He spoke about the first town he had been to; Mariw--about the first set of humans he met in that world, he finally spoke about James, about the events they went through together and what he had done for the man.

    He told her about the royals and what they had done to him, and by filling in the gaps, he exined to her how he had been betrayed so much so that death had been his only real escape.

    Noah told her of his many adventures and how he arrived at the guild, how he even arrived at her town. Essentially all that could be considered important. She would be the first person in Cregar to hear of his full experiential ount, and this had taken hours to say.

    Needless to say, Erolia had been greatly astonished, first from the fact that he came from a world that wasn''t theirs which was the reason for his strange abilities, but mainly the fact that he now belonged to a new race.

    The news about James had been a surprise; as all that he said was, and Erolia managed to gain aplete picture of why he behaved a certain way toward that royal group.

    Asking if she wanted to return to her soul space she spent the next hours immersed in the stories Noah told. Her tier 4 mind could perform wonders, as she could watch and quite literally re-live those moments with stunning uracy.

    The morning soon came and she returned with renewed vigor, she already disliked the man named James and since their emotions were connected Noah knew and could talk her out of acting rashly toward the man.

    He felt no anger towards seeing James, who had obviously moved on, things might have been different if he had his full emotions avable.

    Noah had not slept throughout the night, rather he renewed his n and had already begun preparing the items of sorts that would aid the entire mission.

    Wearing a change of clothes, both Noah and Erolia left the room with matching masks on. By this point, the entire group was already ready, they all had info on what they would do when they arrived at the city, however, there was another issue at hand.

    "We are toorge for one group. We need to split," James suggested, stern. He honestly felt disrespected by the group leader from the great guild, but there wasn''t much he could do.

    Even more so to aid his feelings, all five had secretly been given the task to watch that group for any interesting traits.

    Noah made no disagreement with the im, he already thought about it after all. There were neen tier-4 experts in that group, Noah could keep Erolia in his chest for the time being, but their size was already too much, they would need to form smaller groups.

    "We''ll enter as our own group," Noah announced speaking about him and Erolia, in truth he nned to keep her in his soul space until they legally entered the city. "You all can form groups of three or four."

    No one fought against the idea, at least in the meantime.

    "Four seems like a nice number per group, I''ll enter as my own group while the rest of you mix amongst yourselves," James nodded in agreement, his decision to be a group on his own catching their attention.

    They quickly formed a group of four each, leaving fourrge groups, excluding Noah and James'' group, which would mean a total of six groups, even if James was a one-man group.

    They also decided to arrive at the city''s gates at different intervals. There were five gates so each group could pick one even if it would take more time to arrive at a different one.

    "The moment you arrive inside the city I suggest you begin your search. We''ll meet here by the end of the day," Noah exined while a map floated at the group''s center. He pointed at a small piece ofnd a few kilometers from the city''srger districts.

    He had seen it during his journey across the city.

    They all nodded at that point and left the underground building.

    Each one of the groups flew towards its designated entrance. Noah had decided to take the farthest which was literally on the other side of the city, tens of miles away from their location.

    That decision had also not been met with any resistance, but in return, James announced he would be taking the second farthest, which was about 28 miles from the farthest gate.

    They couldn''t help but see a sort ofpetition between the two. No one addressed that awkward issue, however.

    One by one they departed from each other, and coincidentally, James, Erolia, and Noah were left alone in the sky.

    "I wish you sess in your search, Aiden," James gave a soft smile, even if Noah could almost smell the pretense behind it. He slightly bowed his head in return. His mask not allowing any emotions out.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah tapped Erolia and she nodded, he remained about to fly away when James suddenly called out.

    "I feel like I''ve met you before." He revealed and Noah tilted his head to the side.

    I doubt you have... you''d be terrified of me if not," Noah exined calmly, but James took it as an insult. He didn''t show his anger, however.

    "An interesting way to put it indeed��" James held his chin as if in thought.

    "Mhm��" Noah responded falling silent also. "I did have a good friend named James once." He revealed watching surprise light up James'' features.

    "He died in a pitiful incident, unfortunately," Noah further revealed.

    "Oh�� I''m sorry for your loss," James responded, taken aback. He suddenly felt guilty.

    "It''s alright. Funnily, he also aspired to be a knight of the kingdom as many did. I''m somewhat d his namesake at least achieved that," Noah continued giving thatst part to close off whatever suspicion the man could have.

    James gave a difficult smile, deep guilt developing in his chest. Events he had long since buried suddenly surfaced, disturbing him.

    "I''m d I could be a source of dness," James replied already ready to leave.

    Noah simply nodded at the imperial knight. All five of the knights had obviously donned normal attires.

    "If it''s okay with you, we can be friends, in memorial to yourte friend," James spoke suddenly unsure of why he had said such. It felt insensitive.

    "That would be great," Noah replied, faking a smile so that at least his upper face lit up.

    Seeing this, James regained hisposure and managed to extinguish his guilt.

    "I believe we should get going," Noah immediately dered and James nodded, watching both figures shatter the sound barrier to streak across the skies at astonishing speeds. Even his body got thrown backward as a result of their take-off, but he regained his bnce in the sky.

    James spent a few seconds in the sky as though in thought when space quaked behind him and a figure silently appeared.

    "You''re lucky you didn''t get yourself found out. What part of staying a safe distance don''t you understand!?" James reprimanded the white-clothed figure. They were strapped from head to toe in white fabric featuring lines of colorful inscriptions.

    "I apologize sir." The person revealed themselves to be a female. She also stood in the higher stage. Due to his low power, James had been given a personal guard that acted in the shadows.

    James sighed at that apology. "I''m almost surprised he didn''t find out�� So what do you think of him?" James asked still staring into the distance.

    "He''s special, and honestly feels dangerous�� he''s also a light affinity like me," she exined and James could not but feel surprised.

    "Do you think we should be suspicious of him?" James questioned, now focusing on her figure

    "Yes. They all are, but that''s to be expected. Cultivators thatst this long need to have many things up their sleeves," she exined.

    "Nevertheless, I can follow him. He''s oblivious to my presence," she suggested, but James shook his head, feeling sentimental.

    "I could encounter trouble that would need you, my personal guard," he dered, and thedy immediately understood. There wasn''t any need for words so she returned to her invisible state.

    James spent a few more seconds in the sky before shooting forward.

    He wouldter thank his stars for not sending her on Noah''s trail. After all, she would have mysteriously disappeared had he allowed it.

 Chapter 570 570. DAZE

    Noah and Erolia appeared in the skies of a distant region as streaks, and their abrupt stop caused the winds to rush past them with ferocity.

    Noah swept his gaze on the empty sky as though looking for something, he clicked his tongue Immediately after. "They did not follow," he muttered, and Erolia nodded, understanding what he meant.

    The other night when James and his group had arrived, they had left out the presence of a higher-stage cultivator. Noah had naturally been cautious after that point, but he still wished he or she had followed.

    "I still wanted to do some experiments on stronger humans," he revealed, seeing that as a missed opportunity. Stunned by his words Erolia simply kept quiet. Thanks to her amazing nature she had also been able to sense the foreign and invisible presence.

    "Let''s continue. Maybe next time," Noah announced and Erolia nodded in return, they elerated again and the bang from their departure shook the sky.

    The journey towards the other side of the huge city didn''t take too long and when they approached it closer than before, Noah made Erolia enter his chest. The two of them would be too much.

    Noah arrived before a big green bridge that stretched across a hugeke right before the city''s entrance.

    The enormous orange gate in the distance sparkled in the sun''s intensity and remained too eye-catching to miss.

    Floating far above the shimmering blueke, Noah could sense the presence of a few beings, but they were dormant. Magical beasts by nature. He could roar and awaken them in fury, but that wasn''t his task. Theke also possessed certain structures emerging out of its depths.

    Those tower-like structures held no signs of magic, but there were seven of them forming an arc facing the city. They were wider than they were tall. Noah believed they were also for defense.

    Shifting his gaze towards the other side, where the bridge started, Noah could see a stream of carriages and walking humans.

    He could sense the myriads of tier 4 beings, but they did not fly, making him believe they were not allowed to fly into the city.

    In a bid to not cause too much of amotion, Noah flew toward the chunk ofnd that the bridge had been built from.

    His descent caught the attention of many, but they barely focused on him.

    Noah immediately began his walk towards the gate about 1.5km away, it would take him minutes to arrive but he could already inspect the humans and goods that entered the city.

    Although he could directly teleport into the city as he had been inside it before, but he had traveled from the city''s east to its west, spanning about 400 miles. He didn''t feel the need for any more rush.

    The people were calm and Noah even saw that tier 4''s bottled up their auras in order not to kill the lower leveled cultivators. They showed him respect as he passed by them, but they showed no fear.

    It would seem the order, in coboration with the noble families, had created a city where people of various levels coulde and stay and be safe.

    Even though many tier-4''s entered that city each day, the truth was that its true poption possessed more lower leveled experts, But that was to be expected.

    Still, a generous amount of tier 4''s were within the city, even if they worked for the order as their rewards truly were tempting. The greatest rewards that could be given to experts at that level were resources that could aid their growth in power.

    Thanks to the low requirement that the human race hadpared to the elves, a small number of certain items was capable of letting their power rise evidently. If only those experts understood what exactly they absorbed as part of their power. They would flee from the very city. The order was plotting something diabolical.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah didn''t take too long to arrive before the city''s huge, beautiful orange gate. By this point, the queue wasn''t too dense and he could arrive before the more than ten guards at the base of the gate. Each one of them held power in the fourth tier even if their levels varied.

    There were also more than thirty with a prowess at the peak of the third-tier

    Only before that group did Noah begin to notice something crucial, but he couldn''tpletelyy his fingers on it.

    Still, hemended the city for possessing that many experts at only one of its gates, considering that there were five other gates. Even if they were not necessarily as big and beautiful as this one.

    "State your name and what you n to do here," one of the three tier-4 guards that attended to the fourth-tier entries,manded Noah.

    His power was only a bit in the middle stage.

    Unfortunately, all the guards there had one thing inmon, and that would be the orange and green armor that they had on.

    The clinking of armor was very prevalent, but the movement of those many carriages was able to drown that noise.

    The chattering from the queue was even louder, however, coupled with the asional grunts from the huge beasts that pulled the carriages. Those carriages were simr to moving buildings.

    "I am Josh," Noah announced still keeping his mask on. "I am a frence adventurer and I desire to check out the offers of the order. They are in charge are they not?" He stated his reason, even pulling a question out.

    The man nodded.

    "You will pay a sum of five small gold to enter. If you manage to get recruited by the order then your entry fee will decrease to one small gold coin," the guard exined, nk-toned. That scene spoke of a truth that bothered many.

    Due to the state of the nation, gold coins were hard toe by, for this reason, the city of Yeldel increased their entry fee to that incredible amount. Only those who possessed substantial amounts of money would even get the chance to enter not to talk of livingfortably if that was their n.

    Noah nodded his head, allowing a rtively big brown pouch to appear on his palm. Following the reality of that city, he had packed a substantial amount from the vast sum he gained from that vile cultivator.

    Counting that sum. Noah could feel certain gazes on his back. It would seem having a bag full of gold was rare for someone who didn''t enter with a carriage or wasn''t a merchant.

    He gave the said amount to the guard and he nodded.

    "From now on if you do not gain a job from the order entering this city will cost you 2 small gold coins... And also, I cannot allow you to enter until you show me your full face," the guard exined a bit suspicious of him. Then again, he was wary of most people.

    "I''d rather not do that, but okay," Noahmented, pulling down his face mask, and the man before him seemed to go into a daze. He snapped out of it and Noah pulled his mask on again.

    Clearing his throat, the guard stepped aside. "Wee to the city of Yeldel," he announced gesturing at the portion of the gate meant for individuals on foot.

 Chapter 571 571. SECLUDED CAPITAL

    Noah crossed the city''s gate to immediately sprint out of sight, his departure had been silent; as he possessing the affinity of speed, could break certain rules that had to do with how much force his movement unleashed into the environment.

    His affinity for speed allowed him to achieve great speed whilst reducing orpletely nullifying the effects of his movements.

    Almost simr to the effects of the bracelet of secrecy.

    Noah crossed major distances, he had caused Erolia to enter his chest so he needed somewhere to release her into the world.

    He traveled faster than the eyes of tier 4s could follow. In short, he was almost invisible. Speeding up a tall structure, Noah arrived on its t rooftop.

    He let Erolia out at that point and they both left to begin their mission. He wanted to leave the finding of the woman and the cauldron, but he figured he''d help out a bit.

    "Our first target is Keme, a district said to possess already suspicious individuals. It''s essentially a backwater district filled with different gangs, and requires time from the forces of the order to put those experts under control," Noah exined to Erolia even if she knew of this information. What she didn''t know was his thought on it.

    "I do not think we''ll gain anything substantial. It''s just because it''s closer to us. I''ll tell the others of our findings," Noah exined whilst he carried her about the city in search of the said area.

    It remained interesting how a backwater ce could exist so close to the city''s capital.

    They arrived soon enough, and just as the reports said, even if the district was considered a backwater district, it still possessed some nice structures.

    The moment they stepped into the streets without running, eyes fell on their cloaked figures and someone approached them. He seemed hostile.

    *

    *

    *

    All of the others in thebined group arrived at their respective gates and were allowed to pay lesser amounts as long as they entered as one party.

    The process remained easy and soon they were all within therge city. That environment bustled with all sorts of levels, but tier 4''s walked the streets or floated above certain heights.

    The guards that patrolled the various district were within the third tier, while some had power within the fourth tier.

    They weren''t exactly eye-catching as a group, so their movements were unhindered and withoutmotion. Unfortunately, there would be news that a fight had raged in the notorious Keme district and a cloaked individual had wiped out a whole gang.

    The others had at first been skeptical but as information came along the hours and more detail was revealed it was easy for them to believe Aiden had been the one In saidmotion. They believed when the news reported that a shorter individual had simply hung around whilst the gang men were decimated by the martial arts of the said man.

    Those smaller groups each began their investigation, they all had locations that they could search, but as for the biggest location they left it till when they all came together, after all, the said best location with more solid leads was the capital of the city itself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    And even from the distance, it was obvious to the eyes of all, that the order had imed control over the capital. Being a rtivelyrge district, the order had erected a green magical barrier that Noah sensed was already in the higher stage of the fourth tier.

    The dome-shaped barrier was evident from all points in the city as it shimmered and danced with other colored lights.

    Still, that wasn''t all. The barrier remained so dense that it wasn''t transparent, making it a huge green spot In the sight of the city as the district had been built on an elevated piece ofnd tall enough to be seen from all points. Moreover, its lights made it more evident.

    Only permitted individuals were even allowed into the ce but mostly tier 4''s.

    Getting into the secluded portion of the city meant a person showed potential to the order. ording to info and what they gained from the citizens, every day, battles against a certain magical dummy were going on to see if those tier 4''s were qualified to be useful to the elves.

    The magical dummy could attain power as high as the higher stage after scanning the individual''s power. It essentially mimicked their exact level and went 15 percent above it.

    Many would argue that much difference was a lot, but in the times of war, average-leveled cultivators were cannon fodders for the real fighters.

    Noah''s group considered it a fun event when they met that night and shared their various findings but he immediately informed them of his decision to not partake.

    They would infiltrate the insides of the capital to find more clues about their target. He would not be joining them on the inside but when James volunteered to take the test he decided he would at least watch his fight before moving on to preparing for thest parts of the mission.

    Even if they ended up not finding thedy and the item thest part of the mission still had tomence.

    They shared amongst themselves what they had found and Noah happened to turn out with much, followed by the group Davis had been inside. Erod was also within it.

    He confirmed that he had been the one to beat up the gangs, but did not kill them. He had also interrogated their leader and had found out a bit.

    The man had only been at the beginning stages of the middle stage of the fourth tier but had a special item that teleported his target into a smaller space within the bounds of the city.

    Noah had easily shattered the item''s ability on his body and went on to decimate the group without actually destroying a single building. The streets did feature craters, but apart from that the city had been untouched.

    The man had been willing to speak and Noah found out a bit about the matter of the various noble families but also about the cauldron.

    Only because of what he said did they all consider going into the capital. However, not all of them would go in, as the others would go about searching for the whereabouts of thedy. They hoped to find out more about her in the capital.

    Clearing the traces of their presence, the group spread out once again, James would be fighting in two days as the others would enter the capital first. In total, eight of them would be going into the secluded capital.

    That same night Noahnded on a certain mountain miles away from the Earl family estate. Unfolding his mental waves he concealed his actions and began working on inscriptions.

 Chapter 572 572. PROJECTS

    Silver lights shone around Noah''s seemingly floating and cross-legged figure. His eyes remained opened and zed with its silver light. Literally, thousands of simtions ran across his mind and he nitpicked the ones he needed and the ones he found interesting.

    p����d��-��?�ͨ���.�㨮�� His knowledge of inscriptions was incredibly valuable, as the fact that he could now create certain items or runes to fit his needs was enough to understand their value.

    Silver essence spun around his figure, but they never left the bounds of his concealed area. Those essence formed various lines and symbols in subjection to the various ideas that ran through Noah''s mind.

    To fit his needs for the uing attack against the three noble estates, Noah moved to create four different sets of inscriptions that would be required.

    One of them saw him looking to create a series of lines imbued with the sole role of concealing the events that happened within a certain ce.

    Unlike what he could do with his consciousness, Noah needed those lines to generate a field that both acted as a barrier against external forces and internal forces. He needed nothing to be capable of going in or out of the barrier if they were not permitted. At least for a set time.

    The barriers that would be generated by the lines and symbols would be of threeyers, allowing for better security. Still, each of them would need to be in the higher stage in terms of power.

    The second saw him creating lines or symbols imbued with the role of negating the inevitable re of massive power those barriers released.

    This remained a crucial aspect of his creation as he didn''t want anyone powerful to notice anything special had urred.

    The third saw him heavily utilizing his affinity for light to create an array that would disy normal scenes of the daytime, noontime, and nighttime of the various estates.

    This caused him to send Erolia out possessing items he created to record moving images of the environment and all that happened throughout the day, noon, and night of the various estates.

    He required her to ce these said items at four points of the estate''s environment to get a full 360-degree view. He didn''t want blind spots in the illusion.

    He asked her to nt those item''s around the different estates as he would be leaving them for three days straight.

    The fourth project saw him creating items that bore his aura and presence as this would allow him to send individuals who were not him into that enclosed environment. They would be the only permitted individuals.

    Toplete this project,Noah understood he''d need to tune all four aspects of those inscriptions. Especially for the free entry of his sent individuals. He needed them to be capable of leaving and entering as they willed without distorting the barrier and illusions.

    There was a fifth project, but it didn''t have to do with the eradication of the noble families. To allow the first four inscriptions to carry out their purposes, Noah needed to explore the underground system that existed beneath all three noble estates.

    Yes, underground systems, but those undergroundworks weren''t the more intriguing details. That title would be given to the malevolent aura oozing from beneath the domains of those noble families.

    The order brewed something and even those noble families seemed to have no clue. Unless they did, which would make Noah need to at least keep one of their descendants alive to extract information.

    Before the time of carrying out the eradication, he needed to find out what existed under that ce since it ced a threat to his group members and even the entire mission. He hoped to have at least a day go by before the deed was found out.

    The undergroundworksplicated the matter. But he already had a n for that expedition.

    He would conceal himself and Erolia to enter the grounds and understand what was going on.

    Noah could only do so much however, finalization of the various approaches for the four projects consumed a whole day, not to talk about the creation of the orbs that gathered moving images. Essentially a video recorder.

    By the time Noah knew it, the third day of his entry into the Yeldel city arrived, and being early in the morning, he had to set out to go spectate James'' battle.

    ''All this might take more than a week,'' Noah shook his head, allowing the spinning symbols and lines and masses of essence to disappear.

    The bright silver light that existed around him as a show of his mental waves at their densest vanished and Noah revealed that he had been within a dark cave.

    The moment he stood from the tform of wind he sat on, Noah felt an explosion make the entire cave tremble violently. He did not worry, however, since Erolia would be the cause of that event.

    Stepping out of the cave and looking to the left, a bloodied scene unfolded in his silver gaze, but he hardly cared about it.

    A huge white mass streaked across his figure, missing him by mere inches. The said figure smashed throughyers uponyers of the mountain''s density to arrive at a distant portion.

    Thatnd formation was huge but barely attended to, which had; by some miracle, birthed tier 4 beasts.

    A figure flickered before Noah''s figure mere instants after that event and Erolia immediately began to float around Noah, inspecting him frantically.

    "Oh, my gosh! I didn''t see you there. I was having too much fun." Her tone spoke of her genuine worry.

    "It''s alright. I expected as much��" Noah waved her worry off, stepping forward to walk down that tunnel in the mountain.

    "How does it feel interacting with magical beasts?" He asked, not minding that he stepped into whole pools of blood. Erolia had killed all three tier-4 beasts within that ce and the moment Noah walked past their dead bodies they shattered into motes of light to converge on his body and disappear. He stored their cores.

    Even the giant white bat that had almost crashed into him experienced this. As long as his mental waves could touch it he could activate that ability.

    "It was strange," Erolia replied, falling into a bit of thought. "I can clearlymunicate with them��like with humans. But they don''t listen to reason and are ves to their primal instincts. Like constantly angry or deranged individuals. There was no choice but to put them to death." She exined, utterly calm about the subject.

    "Hmm�� even I have limits since I''m not a magical beast," Noahmented, making even the spilled blood turn to usable energy for him. When they left that mountain, only signs of struggle could be seen. Apart from that, nothing else.

    Besides, Noah had reclined at its very peak. Its cold and stormy peak.

    "These tier-four beasts were different than I thought maybe because they evolved within the chambers of this mountain, but they were dumber and more aggressive towards me." Erolia further exined while she floated close to Noah as they left the tunnels.

    "Well maybe the next one will be better," Noahmented when his eyes fell on a snowstorm. The peak of the mountain was a different worldpared to its lower and warmer elevations.

    Noah could put that weather under his control,but he didn''t care to do such.

    Erolia nodded at his words, falling silent, then both individuals shattered the sound barrier to leave the bounds of the mountain. Their departure remained unnoticed due to the situation of that mountain so they silently traveled towards the region hosting James''s battle.

 Chapter 573 573. TRICKS

    It didn''t take long for the duo to arrive before a wide area ofnd featuring hundreds of seats around it. This location remained only about three miles from the city''s capital, so it wasn''t too far.

    The arena contained blue sand, which had its usefulness.

    The seats that had been made avable around the arena were mostly scanty, but a minimum of about one-fifty individuals sat to spectate.

    Already, a fight was going on, but it wasn''t James.

    Flickering close to the area with utter silence, the duo put on their cloaks and walked into the area featuring those high chairs. A short ck 2m wall had been built roundabout the arena, but no one stood at the gate allowing for free entry.

    Noah and Erolia had opted to cross the wall and find a seat. Those chairs were elevated about 1.5m above the ground.

    Those who coordinated the event were elves, at least there were elves amongst them. The rest were humans. All that those individuals did was scan them for any items that could boost their powers.

    The rules stated that only a cultivator''s real power was allowed. Weapons were not even allowed as they could possess abilities that boosted the individual''s prowess too much. Only martial arts; if they mastered any, and spells were allowed.

    The match would end when they removed a chunk of the self-healing dummy. They couldn''t exactly destroy it due to its already higher stage level, but mimicking lower levels allowed the dummy to fall apart when hit with something above that level or after consistent hits.

    All a fighter needed to do was hit the dummy until it fell apart. It would be a bit difficult considering the dummy was 15% stronger.

    Remaining distant from the other spectators, Noah caught sight of James sitting at a particr point on the other side of the arena.

    The moment Noah''s gaze fell on his shoulders the expert dislodged his attention from the ongoing battle to lock gazes with Noah about 900m away from him.

    Noah felt two gazesnd on his body, however. The invisible individual was present. As always.

    James nodded at Noah from the distance and he nodded in return before both experts focused once again on the battle between thedy and the dummy.

    Both figures quite literally flickered across the battlefield fighting at speeds only those in the fourth tier could dream of following. Every now and then sonic booms would unfold into the world as that high sped battle increased in intensity.

    Hundreds of punches, kicks, and many evasive maneuvers Noah could watch that battle as easily as ever. They were even moving slowlypared to what he was capable of.

    Soon spells came into the mix and the entire arena soon became filled with blue mes. With that fighting space being too little for existence in the fourth tier, it was easy enough for thedy''s fiery attacks to fill up the entire space. Thankfully a barrier existed between them and the spectators.

    At that juncture in the fight, only those with powerful eyes could pierce the mes and watch the battle unfold.

    To Noah, those blue mes were simply blue lenses, he could still follow the battle.

    The dummy remained spectacr in its way. In truth, all it needed was a pair of clothing and one would mistake it for a real human.

    Its movements were fluid and its attacks were just as powerful as ever. Thedy soon began to struggle. It would seem the fifteen-percent gap was far more than she could take.

    She had managed to remove chunks of its skin, but that was all. Those wounds even for a human would be considered light. Heck even if a fourth-tier entity lost their arm they could still fight.

    At this point, Noah felt interested in the dummy. He wondered if it could take someone like him on. After all, even he would be fighting it at a fifteen-percent difference.

    The battle ended when the dummy''s fistnded on thedy''s face. Its punch sent her crashing into the ground before bouncing back into the air with great force.

    A kicknded on her side crushing bones and making organs fail. Thedy crashed into the ground and did not stand again. She was still alive but had been knocked unconscious which signified the dummy''s win.

    The attacks had urred in less than two seconds, but Noah had been able to watch it pretty easily.

    "It''s tough," even hemented seeing the dummy''s -obsidian ck surface light up with purple and green lights. The sand on the ground suddenly saw green inscriptional lines lighting up its surface, all those lines converging below the dummy''s feet.

    The dummy repaired its damages as its level rose to its original state.

    Thedy''spanions came and took her away. She had suffered more internal injuries than external.

    It was James'' turn, and their eyes locked gazes again, and Noah saw that the man still did not seem worried.

    That scene remained interesting, making Noah review the expert''s strength.

    ''Could my senses have been deceived?'' He wondered, understanding that even with his great abilities he could still fall short in certain areas. He wasn''t all-powerful and all-understanding.

    Noah usually relied on his basic senses to inspect the levels of humans, but he understood that his ount did not factor in external sources of power.

    Just like how his actual level remained in the middle stage but he could attain close to the fifth tier by transforming. Anyone who inspected him would at most understand that he could threaten higher staged cultivators, but they would not know about his skill capable of taking him one whole tier higher.

    The only skill that could allow him to consider the entire power of an individual was the eye of the death lord skill since it remained something that transcended sense and reason to look into the very aspects of a person,

    If that skill was activated on even Noah, whoever nned to fight him would see exactly how strong he was, all his skills weapons, and technique''s considered. His whole life and achievement in terms of power would beid bare and put in numerical value.

    With that in mind, Noah did no more than activate the Eye of the Death Lord ability. Erolia watched him with interest and to her surprise Noah''s now dark eyes suddenly flickered.

    "Oh-oh�� This is interesting. Simply outstanding," Noah''s lips curved in a cold smile as what the skill disyed could be no less than outstanding.

    James walked down the stairs towards the staff of the match, but his figure red with a terrible amount of dark miasma. Noah had to raise his gaze topletely see how tall that miasma was.

    "It seems our James has gotten many tricks up his sleeve," Noah muttered, understanding just how much of a threat James was to him. A single number appeared in his head, shattering the belief that James was weak.

 Chapter 574 574. EXPLORING

    "Noah, why are we leaving?" Erolia''s voice rang out in Noah''s mind and they streaked past the regions towards a ce only Noah knew they were going.

    "The oue of the battle has already been decided. There''s no need to anticipate," Noah exined, sprinting at speeds incapable of being followed by many.

    "But we could have at least seen his disy��" Erolia pouted, and Noah replied immediately after.

    "I dropped a recorder for that purpose, it''ll return to me when the battle is over," Noah exined. Although he found no reason to wait around, he still wanted to see what his old friend was capable of.

    They traversed the regions until Noah came to a stop above a small forest about 3km in size. Somewhere within those bundle of trees was a pond of shimmering blue water, and just as the leader of the gang he had defeated said; a winged statue sat on the ground, halfway into the terrain.

    Noah did not allow his feet to touch the ground since he now fully believed the words the man had spoken.

    "There are hundreds of traps ced around the pond since only those who know what they are looking for find it. Meaning either permitted individuals or leaked information." He muttered, saying the same words the man had conveyed.

    Apparently, some of the answers he needed concerning the event beneath the domains of the noble families would be found under that pond.

    Noah remained in the sky, gazing at the shimmering liquid whilst the faked serenity of that environment permeated the world around it.

    ording to the man, the most well-known trap was the pond''s ability to teleport an individual to a different location before spitting them out hourster. Dead.

    The individuals that had been unlucky enough to have this happen to them always returned with wed marks all over their figures or missing body parts.

    They believed the krets were the cause of this, or something else.

    Unfortunately, no one had ever properly infiltrated that ce before, only that information had been leaked about experiments going on in certain areas within the city, that ce being one of them.

    "There''s a reason only we are here," Noah spoke, addressing Erolia after filling her in on what he had found out.

    "We have a chance of leaving this ce without dying, but we need to understand how to prate the structure beneath it." He continued.

    "I can sense hundreds of traps that will be difficult for even me to disable. We can''t simply dig. There''s need for a teleportation into that ce."

    "But it''s right beneath us�� isn''t it?" Erolia asked a bit confused. "If we dug deep enough shouldn''t that suffice at some point?"

    "No. I don''t think whatever is beneath us was meant to be essed without magic. I''m certain you can at least sense the interesting amount of mana."

    "We can dig far enough that we even arrive beneath the structure, but that doesn''t mean we can actually enter it. We''ll have to break into it for that and that would cause too much noise��" Noah exined.

    "Not that it''s impossible for me��" He added and Erolia could only nod, even if she still didn''t fully understand.

    "We''ll have toe back some other time. There''s still too much I do not know. The underground systems below the domains of the noble families don''t feature any such thing so it should b easier to enter them," Noah exined.

    "What are we going to do now?" Erolia asked, floating around him with her arms around her knees.

    "We need a three-day recording of the domains and I still need to start creating the said inscriptions. I''d have asked that we simply waited, but we need to understand what is going on beneath those domains. So that''s what we''ll go do now." He revealed his thoughts.

    "It''s still early in the morning today, hopefully, we can be done in two days," hemented.

    "We''re going exploring then," Erolia eximed floating upside down. She cherished that ability for its ease. Her master on the other hand till needed to stand.

    "If you put it that way. Yes��" Noah replied, nodding his head.

    "Let''s go," he announced, grabbing her with his mental waves and sprinting out of that region. They returned to the domain of the Earl family.

    The moment Noah arrived there he could sense his hidden orbs. He ignored them tond on the terrain.

    He unfolded his consciousness immediately and allowed a vast amount ofnd area to appear in his mind.

    Erolia stayed close to his figure as Noah concealed the events that were about to ur.

    Sparks flowed out of his palm as he ced it on the harsh ground. Noah allowed des of light to manifest around him and they stabbed into the ground going through it like hot knife on butter.

    Noah spent the next few seconds as silent as he could be. He created holes big enough for him and Erolia.

    ''I might need to learn the earth element,'' he considered understanding how easy it would have been had he grasped that element. It would take time to learn, and he didn''t have much of it in that situation.

    Jumping into the said hole and sealing them shut with silver ice, Noah and Erolia found themselves traveling through a tunnel far below the surface.

    The deeper they went, the more intense the malevolent aura became, and even Erolia frowned as it had increased to levels she did not anticipate.

    "We''re about to reach its end," Noah spoke stopping the searing de of light from cutting the ground anymore.

    "Carry me," Noahmanded Erolia who immediately allowed herself to start floating. They fell out of the tunnel having crossed more than 2000m from the surface.

    To her astonishment, a wide underground expanse unfolded in her cerulean gaze. Its size, simply incredible.

    But this would not be the more shocking detail, that title would go to the huge pool of ominous radiant deep-green liquid which gave birth to smaller pools stretching towards every point in the underground expanse.

    And to even more of Erolia''s shock, out of those pools came hundreds of grotesque creatures all converging towards one direction. Chills swept her figure and she almost dropped Noah.

 Chapter 575 575. GREEN EYE

    "You okay?" Noah asked Erolia, understanding that her grip on his arms had loosened a bit before regaining its tightness.

    "Yes, yes," she replied, a tad bit embarrassed. Noah nodded and they moved forward, hovering close to the uneven ceiling of that underground expanse.

    "I sense a weird mana. It''s clearer now," Erolia revealed her findings, struggling to not let her face twist in repulsion.

    That ce not only looked repulsive but also gave off an irritating aura only to her instincts. The air within that expanse remained bad to the taste, so they opted on holding their breath. Tier 4''s could hold their breaths for hours.

    "Follow their trail," Noahmanded, speaking about the grotesque creates that filled the walkable surface of the expanse. They all marched in one direction and the more they went toward that direction the denser the aura got.

    Their slow flight towards what would be considered the central point of the expanse revealed just how vast that underground expanse was.

    They encountered huge tunnels stretching towards different regions beneath the city. Rivers of that green liquid filled those tunnels and soon Erolia became overwhelmed.

    "Master��" she called out, closing her eyes in struggle. "Something''s trying to take over my mind�� it calls me... towards the center." Her voice shook and her aura flickered dangerously.

    Her grip on Noah''s arm loosened and Noah had to create a tform of wind.

    "Master��" She let go of him, but he stood. Erolia arched her head backward as a scream erupted out of her mouth and her cerulean eyes gained a green glow.

    Noah watched her struggle but didn''t move to assist her just yet. Her figure shook violently while remaining afloat and her power flowed out of her figure causing a strange gust of wind to manifest around them.

    Noah felt her aura grow thin whilst whatever fought with her conscious mind continued to push.

    [[Will you not help?]] Even the system had to chip in. Erolia was now connected with it thanks to Noah''s connection, so the system could sense her mind falling under foreign control.

    "Is there anything you can do? Like a de-buff of some sort?" Noah asked.

    [[I can, but it''ll only be temporary�� and you have to approve it]]

    [Do you wish to assist Entity <Erolia>[Thunderbird] in destroying mind-control activity?]

    Noah nodded and immediately watched that silver screen disappear. In mere seconds, a cerulean light shone forth from Erolia''s figure and she immediately stopped struggling, to look at Noah in shock.

    "Mas�� Noah!?" Her cerulean eyes shed with confusion.

    "Yes�� What did you see? You were under some sort of trance," Noah spoke, wondering if she had forgotten.

    "I remember��" Erolua responded, even if her tone fell silent.

    "What did you see?" Noah asked again and she focused on his figure.

    "A strange masculine figure�� I couldn''t see his face but his voice called unto me and the world was filled with those creatures, chanting one name��" She paused as if stunned.

    "What?" Noah asked interested in whatever was going on.

    "I can''t recall the name. It''s there.. but I seem unable to ess it," Her multicolored eyebrows creased in struggle.

    "An effect capable of affecting even a tier-four mind��" Noah muttered, telling her not to worry about remembering the name.

    "You''re not affected��" Eroliamented.

    "Yes�� but I believe it has nothing to do with my power. Maybe because of my new race," Noah considered that option and could not but find it suitable.

    Erolia wasn''t exactly too far from him in terms of might. Yet he had remained unaffected while she had found that ability affecting her.

    "I essentially function on a wavelength nothing on Cregar can match up to," Noah exinedparing that situation to how a dog whistle could only be audible to a dog''s ear due to the sound of the whistle vibrating at a frequency only the ears of dogs could interpret.

    "Then does that mean only magical beasts are affected?" Erolia asked. "If so why aren''t all of them in the city simply rushing towards this area?"

    "I believe whoever is in charge has not made the intensity of this ce reach the upperyers of the city," Noah exined. "I sense that tier-five magic is at work."

    Erolia gasped then the cerulean light that filled her eyes flickered with a green hue again.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    "This short?" Noah spoke addressing the system and also analyzing their situation.

    Erolia ced both of her hands on her ears as if trying to block out sounds.

    "Master�� the call has gotten louder. They can sense that I''m different�� I''m strong." Her struggle could not be more evident.

    Noah shook his head asking the system to rid her of the influence and she immediately returned to normal, but now looked tired.

    "Their attacks are getting stronger," Erolia revealed, frowning. She didn''t want to go through it again. It hurt her.

    Unlike normal humans, Erolia had stopped possessing a proper soul ind. She had a soul core, but because her soul had only integrated with a magical beast''s body there were certain abilities she had lost that were traditional to humans at that level.

    One such ability would be her Inability to unfold or even generate mental waves, leaving her stuck to relying on her eyes or her instincts. Thankfully her instincts had been amplified by the speed essence and were almost on par with Noah''s.

    She could sense presences from far away.

    However, simr to the mental waves she could voice a high-pitched noise inaudible to the human ear. Whatever those sound waves touched and bounced off of would be visible to her through an organ in her head attached to the back of her brain.

    This organ received that information and produced colorless images, but thanks to her speed essence being at y it could grant her certain shades depending on what they hit. Humans appeared deep blue to her.

    "I''m sorry but I''ll have to let it ur a third time," Noah exined and her hands dropped in defeat. She did not protest, however, understanding that Noah would never let her get too injured.

    As though waiting for those words, the voices she heard returned with an intensity that made her soul core tremble violently, its gold, cerulean, white, and silver lights flickering on and off as that influence moved to shut down her conscious mind.

    Pain reached Erolia''s consciousness as blood trickled out of her nose whilst she struggled with the powerful green light beginning to manifest in the cerulean environment that held her golden bird-shaped soul core.

    Whenever she transformed into her human form her soul core took the shape of her beast form and vice versa.

    Erolia felt her grip begin to slip and she saw the greenness being to manifest as a cage she could not defy.

    Ominous deep-green light washed over the empty cerulean environment and a proper cage fell on her bird-shaped soul core.

    Whatever was urring was working, rapidly at that since Noah saw that she struggled to maintain her human form.

    He moved at that point, unfolding and condensing his mental waves and aura to create an area overflowing with his presence.

    This event created a silver sphere close to the ceiling of that vast expanse.

    Erolia felt a wave of relief hit her at that point as the voices were severed from her reach and she could open her eyes to look at Noah.

    "You''ve done well," Noah announced, patting her head. His manifest presence took away her pain.

    Their moment of peace would notst too long since the world around them suddenly shook with severe violence.

    Noah could not see what happened on the outside due to his condensed mental waves, but thick pulsating green lines emerged from the rocky ceiling and the very ponds and rivers below them gave birth to hundreds of small green serpents that circled and swarmed the silver sphere floating in that domain.

    The vine-like lines pushing forth from the ceiling stretched forward to make contact with Noah''s mental waves.

    The moment both energies were in contact a tremor shook Noah''s figure and a shock wave expanded from the sphere,blowing those green serpents into nothingness.

    The green vine-like line that had touched his condensed mental waves exploded into droplets of that green liquid. And a crack unfolded in Noah''s condensed mental waves before it shattered to reveal the duo.

    Erolia remained fine, she had been untouched by the whole event, but Noah on the other hand had his right palm on his left eye. His back arched slightly.

    He held onto his face with such intensity it worried Erolia.

    "Do not fear," Noah assured, suddenly rxing. He let his hande off his left eye revealing the changes that had urred.

    "Master?��" Erolia took a step back, gazing cautiously at Noah''s zing green eye. He blinked, however, and that color vanished like it was never there.

    "I have an idea of what''s going on here," Noah revealed.

 Chapter 576 576. MONSTERS

    Noah and Erolia traversed the upper altitudes of that underground expanse. Their figures remained rtively slow. Moreover, they didn''t seem ready to increase their pace.

    Although they had been flying for about 10 minutes, Erolia still scanned the area suspiciously. She also asionally nced at Noah''s figure, hoping nothing strange urred.

    After the incident with his green eye, Erolia realized that she wasn''t being attacked anymore and Noah had set out on that path without telling her anything.

    Their situation greatly confused her, but she could only follow in silence, he had mentioned having an idea of what that ce was.

    "I fell into a trance," Noah admitted at some point. "And in that short moment, I met an individual The supposed ruler of this ce. The order isn''t the ones running this ce. At least not entirely." He exined.

    "From the words we exchanged, the order is using this ce for a project that sees them gaining control of the minds of both humans and beasts alike. The being in full control over this ce had agreed with them and in return for teaching them its ability they gave it magical beasts."

    "Why?" Erolia asked, already immersed. The world around them had blurred away allowing for her total attention on Noah.

    "It feeds on those beasts to supply life to its creation," Noah nced at the trail of grotesque creatures born from the green liquid.

    "So does this mean we don''t have to destroy this ce or something," Erolia wondered.

    "We''ll have to meet up first. We didn''t talk much," Noah shrugged sensing a few auras enter the range of his consciousness.

    Two 3m tall figures appeared in their sights, horrible looking and horrendous smelling. The two beings were riddled with sizzling pores of green puss and asymmetric limbs.

    Both monsters were huge and round, but a pair of tiny transparent wings kept them afloat. Aical sight in that unsightly scene.

    Erolia cringed in disgust taking a step back. Noah on the other hand simply folded his arms.

    "It seems we are not weed," Noahmented.

    "How did you even get the said being to speak?" Erolia felt forced to ask.

    "Oh, I beat it up�� weird how battles of the mind ur. But yeah." Noah stated, and the look on Erolia''s face spoke well of her astonishment.

    "It wasn''t at its peak, and for some reason did not call upon its full power, so I could take advantage of that weakness and milk it of information before my influence was overridden." He shrugged, even if silver sparks gradually flowed out of his figure.

    "In truth, I had been a nanosecond from being brainwashed. That''s why my eye turned green." He stretched his right hand forward to unleash a single strand of electrical energy.

    The bolt containing power at what would be considered the peak of the middle stage flew forward, but right before it touched the first monster a green film appeared on the way deflecting the bolt and causing it to m into the walls of the expanse.

    The area shook slightly but everything went back to normal. Noah''s bolt had not even destroyed the magical barrier.

    "Master your approach has caused this��" Eroliamented recovering from his words. The fact that Noah spoke with deadpan expressions also didn''t help the matter.

    "I know��" He responded, d that the monsters could take a hit.

    "I want you to take care of them while I search for the center of the ce. I suspect it''s been here for centuries but has remained out of the reach of humans.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    Erolia eximed with a loud voice immediately protesting. Noah simply stared at her whilst she said all those words. For some reason, their opponents did not attack.

    Seeing that herint did not affect him she could only sigh, nigh teary-eyed.

    "If you don''t want to get directly you can just use my armor," Noah announced activating an ability Muliix had that he hardly utilized.

    Muliix flowed out of Noah''s palm like a wave of dark and silver particles. The moment those extremely powerful particles came in contact with Erolia''s skin they immediately shrunk to amodate her size.

    Stunned to find herself in valiant battle armor, Erolia marveled at Noah''s items. The one she liked most was the staff. He had used it against her a few times and she not only feared its power but admired it. Unfortunately only Noah could properly lift it.

    "Noah�� what about you?" She asked even if she already loved the feel of the strange armor. She couldn''t utilize its various abilities however, only Noah could.

    "Don''t worry about me," Noah shook his head stretching his arm at the two creatures again.

    "Watching us from a distance is creepy," Noah clicked his tongue unleashing a huge beam of silver light.

    The creatures moved to dodge that attack by flying in opposite directions, but Noah''s beam also divided into two to strike them down.

    To his realization, light affinity worked greatly on those beings since he obliterated both.

    "Interesting," Noah muttered, understanding why he did not receive exp of levels. Those creatures did not have a consciousness of their own and were simply masses of power put together. They did not have individual cores since they were only puppets.

    Due to this simple reason, the chunks of their bodies that had survived the attack burst forth grotesquely to rapidly rebuild the figures of those monsters.

    They returned to existence but not only that. The duo watched them sever their own arms to allow another pair of monsters grow from those limbs, all of which looked different but were simr in essence.

    "Deal with them," Noahmanded Erolia seeing as they blocked his path.

    Sprinting forward he directly tore through their figures, even if mere instantster their destroyed bodies regrew and reattached themselves to restore their state. Another two monsters were born leaving six for Erolia who grinned and unleashed her power.

    "I''m not as strong as him, but I can put up a fight" Erolia spread her arms as multicolored sparks flowed out to give birth to crackling figures all controlled by her.

    With Muliix on her body, she felt invisible. Taking a step forward Eorlia shattered the sound barrier to arrive before one of them. Simply tapping the monster''s round and deformed belly with her fist, the sheer force in that limb caused it to explode from its belly outward. Obliterating over 97% of its mass.

    Chunks of its arms and legs were still present to that monster could regrow itself in mere instants.

    Shooting backward, she dodged the attack of another of the six monsters.

    "This will be fun." She nodded sending her creations forward.

    Noah on the other hand streaked past the expanses with a level of speed that made him untouchable. He approached the center of that ce and arrived at it. But a huge pulsating column unfolded in his eyes and the aura''s that emerged from it caught his attention.

 Chapter 577 577. NOTHING BUT AN ANT

    A vast piece ofnd existed far below Noah''s figure and hundreds of thousands of those short creatures filled it. At every point in time, at least a few hundred of those creatures touched that huge pir-like mass of what resembled a vine but wasn''t. They disappeared every time.

    Huge green vine-like lines the size of buildings filled with the green substance pulsated with such intensity that Noah could hear them.

    The vast number of grotesque-looking creatures at the surface each generated incoherent sounds that filled the wide ce with theirbined intensity. Noisy.

    That huge mass remained attached to the rocky ceiling of that expanse and green vine-like lines the size of buildings existed above Noah too. He suspected they could attack him anytime.

    Those details however hardly did anythingpared to the seven peak stage tier 4 auras that emerged from the huge pir-like mass about a kilometer and a half in height and double that in width.

    Noahid eyes on massive creatures just as grotesque as the ones he left Erolia with.

    The only difference was that they held cores of their own and seemed sentient. Or at least possessed some form of intelligence. The beings had glowing green eyes that allnded on his tiny figure

    Noah looked like a genuine antpared to those massive figures. One of those monsters was about 300m in mere height and they were wide and round, all possessing small wings that should not suit beings as big and heavy as them.

    "This will be a chore. And you''ll just waste mana," Noah allowed his power to carry his words and they echoed loudly in that ce.

    In truth that ce reminded him of the mass of blood, Louis. He wondered if he still stayed in the forest of equanimity.

    His audience made no reaction. After all, how could one man in the middle stage dream of defeating seven such beings at the peak of the fourth tier?

    Even if he knew he could handle all seven beings, from what he had seen that entity could regenerate them many times. It''ll be a battle of who could deplete their reserves first. Noah knew he would lose since he was up against a tier 5 being.

    Shaking his head, Noah allowed his daggers to appear in his hands, and their higher-stage prowess unfolded into the world. Still, they were not exactly at the peak of the fourth tier.

    ''They are weak to the light affinity,'' Noah spoke inwardly casting a spell he had not shown to the public eye.

    [Radiant Judgment[Active]: Light shines in darkness, and darkness cannotprehend it. Call upon a special mass of light capable of dealing both physical and soul damage to those you consider your enemies and are struck by its rays]

    [Cost: 20% SE pool. Duration: 50 seconds. Cool-down: N/A]

    "Radiant judgment," Noah muttered, and a huge silver magical triangle within a white magical circle expanded behind him. The magical triangle spun within that circle as the sound of a lock shattering, shook the area.

    A blinding ball of silver light beamed out of those magical wonders to cast its light on the environment.

    The moment that event urred Noah watched those higher-stage beings groan in agony as chunks of their skin vanished when hit by the light. Even the huge pir-like mass found chunks of its surface burning into nothingness.

    That light possessed an effect that Noah understood, but wondered why it affected those being that way.

    Almost all the creatures on the ground died off when that light hit them, leaving a huge amount ofnd space, empty in mere seconds.

    The lines above him which acted as roots shrunk away, retracting into the huge mass before the light destroyed them.

    Noah made everything born of that green liquid fall under his power in mere seconds. He quickly became dominant. Especially since they did not try to attack it, but rather, hid from the dangerous radiance.

    "Stop it!" A ghosty masculine voicemanded, but Noah would not answer.

    "Stop your monsters from attacking mypanion first," Noah responded sensing Erolia''s state. In mere seconds she had caused the numbers of those beings to increase since they continued to multiply.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The being did not listen and Noah acted.

    "There are more of this miniature star where it came from." He raised his hand as though ready to cast another one.

    The sound of a grunt made the walls of that expanse shake.

    "You''ve killed off hundreds of thousands of my creation," the being protested.

    "That wouldn''t have happened had you responded earlier," Noah replied. "It''s your fault for underestimating me."

    "Besides they are only tier 1. You can easily recreate them," Noah shrugged. The being could not counter those words since they were true.

    "You''re lucky you came at a time I was low on mana, I would have sent my fifth-tier creations after you. But for now��" The ghosty voice exined and at the end of its words, Noah heard Erolia speak to him through their connection.

    Noah deactivated the light at that point and things returned to normal.

    "Easy, isn''t it?" Noah remarked staring at the seven peak stage tier 4 beings. The voice came from the mass.

    "Do not mock me�� human�� or whatever you are. Even the elves fear my power," the voice snorted, calling its creations back into its huge mass. They would heal there.

    "Yeah, yeah," Noah waved his hand sitting cross-legged. Erolia was already on her way.

    "What do you want?" The voice bellowed after a few seconds of silence. It hated that Noah''s eyes seemed to uncover information just by gazing at its mass.

    "I want you to know all about this ce, but also if you can stop helping the order out," Noah exined, holding his crossed legs with both his hands whilst his back remained straightened.

    "And why should I tell you all about this ce? I have no obligation to do such," the being snorted.

    "Do you want us to go the hard way?" Noah raised an eyebrow and the being spoke immediately.

    "Do not underestimate me, human. Even in this state, I remain capable of annihting you," its voice shook the whole expanse, making its warning sound more serious.

    Noah remained silent, activating the eye of the death lord on the massive pir-like mass. Its words were true, Noah stood no chance of actually defeating it.

    After all, the dark miasma it emitted filled that expanse, Noah found that he even sat in that miasma despite his height and distance from it.

    ''Even with my various skills, It''s still a hundred-percent dangerous.'' He stroked his chin in nonexistent surprise. ''There are different powers in this world. Strange to find something this strong here in Cusk.''

    "Have you be dumb?" The being asked, more annoyed than not. Despite its immense strength it still decided to speak with him.

    "In truth, I am nothing but an ant who can do nothing but flee from you if you act... still, you spoke about being low on reserves, why don''t you tell me why that is?�� After all, I can tell that you find me interesting," Noah yed his cards right and hit home on each one of them.

    A deep chuckle akin to an earthquake shook that expanse.

    "Truly intriguing," the beingmented. "Very well!�� I shall give you a small narrative and you shall bother me no more."

    "Go on," Noah responded, adopting aying posture. Hey on his belly before cing his face on his right palm and focusing on the talking mass.

 Chapter 578 578. HEARTS OF THE APOCALYPSE

    It turned out the main reason for the being''s weakness was Cregar. Apparently, an event had urred many days prior and a huge amount of its reserves had been siphoned by Cregar''snds, leaving it with barely 25% of its former reserves.

    Its demand from the order had increased, but that organization simply ignored it most of the time. They still carried out experiments and gave it beasts, but not what it wanted.

    It could not send them away since they were its only natural source of gaining energy. ording to the being, it had existed for over one millennium leaving it even older than Noah thought.

    It understood a vast portion of how Cregar worked and had stolen mana from Cregar for the majority of those years.

    "The world is bing more careful, however. I take portions of the little mana avable to thends and over decades have improved the size I can handle. Even right now I still boast a reserve capable of creating at least 10 tier 5 beings, butpared to my former strength it''s nothing. I need more than half that reserve to keep this ce running Leaving me with little." The being exined.

    "Whenst were you at this your peak strength?" Noah asked.

    "About one-fifty years ago�� Cregar has been finding me out, despite all my improvements. Something is going on and beyond even a being like me."

    "That long ago," Noahmented.

    "Now you risk being a ything for even the order and require as much energy as possible." Noah borated. "Sorry for destroying those creatures�� I''ll make it up to you."

    "You catch on quick�� human. I''ll take your promise. This ancient being needs it," The voice responded.

    "Nevertheless, you use weird but powerful energy. Even I can''t sense it properly. But I feel my mana tremble. What sort of formidable entity are you? In the fourth tier at that." The huge mass exined.

    "Yes," Noah responded allowing a n to form in his mind.

    Spreading his palm, Noah tapped Erolia and made her sit a bit from his figure. She had returned not too long after they started chatting.

    Noah allowed his essence to flow out of his palm, and the result was a massive silver re many times the size of his figure or even buildings.

    Silver light bathed that underground expanse as Noah''s voice sounded from behind the re.

    "This is only twenty-five percent of my reserves," Noah announced in honesty, and the voice seemed to gasp a bit. This caused Noah to wonder what the being had been before bing that mass.

    "Well yes," he closed his palm, making that giant re vanish in an instant. He had reduced the intensity of his essence and thanks to the tainted mana of the being, it could not sense the innate danger that came with being in the presence of that essence.

    "I can currently empty my reserves to feed you��" Noah responded allowing his n to cook.

    "Hmm�� interesting." The voice fell silent.

    "So even you do not know why Cregar is siphoning your mana, and there''s nothing you can do about it," Noah stroked his chin, haven adopted a sitting position.

    "Yes�� I could find out, but I''m low on energy, not allowing me to take a small enough form to traverse the depths below and at least search," the voice exined, and Noah could immediately understand what it meant.

    "You want me to traverse the depths below in search of clues?" He arced an eyebrow and so did Erolia.

    "If you could that would make me indebted to you�� this is an issue that greatly bothers me��"

    "Why don''t you just ask the order? They have bases even within the various tunnels don''t they?" Noah asked, tackling the being with the same information it had revealed to him.

    "I could, but they already seek to destroy me, or at least put me under their control. I have blocked all sorts of ess to this ce to allow our conversation to remain secret. That organization seeks to keep me at its beck and call. I will not settle for that!" The being exined.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Ego," Noah shook his head, understanding its words.

    "What do I gain for helping you?" Noah asked.

    "If you can bring me enough information I might be able to replenish my reserves and not need the help the order provides." The voice exined in a patronizing tone.

    "I see," Noah responded, even if he doubted its words. What stopped it from killing him or simply working with the order to gain even more energy?

    "I ept your offer then. But how long will this expedition take?" Noah asked already ready to set out.

    "It shouldn''t take you any more than two days to get to the site. I can''t reach that far down with my puppets and they tend to go berserk the moment they leave my range which is only within this expanse." The disembodied voice exined, almost immediately after Noahpleted his words.

    "I see. Okay then. Tell me all that I need to know. I''ll like to know what to be careful of." Noah announced.

    "There''s isn''t much only that the pressure from going deeper bes enhanced as that pit is dangerously close to certain mana-rich spots which Cregar has created natural systems to fend off anything foreign.

    "Not even the order knows about this. But you''ll find that there''s a whole lot more space down here than expected."

    "Is that all?" Noah asked. He couldn''t help but feel like he was conversing with a former human. Most of its traits were at least at that level of intelligence. It definitely nned something underhanded.

    "You still haven''t told me what exactly I''m looking for. Another underground expanse? A magical object? Or just to get down there?"

    "Hmm�� you cannot be easily tricked," the beingmented.

    ''You haven''t even tried.'' Noahmented inwardly. That one thousand-year-old being was dumber than he expected, or at least more gullible.

    "I would have preferred not to tell you. But what you search for is a mass of mana. It''s a giant cubical object that Cregar has direct control over. All I need you to do is create a crack on it, one significant enough to leak mana," the voice exined.

    "Is that all?"

    "No�� do even get to the cubical object you''ll have to defeat the guardian at the entrance of where it''s kept�� none of my creations could defeat it even if it only stands at the peak of the fourth tier."

    "If they couldn''t defeat it what makes you think I can?" Noah asked arcing an eyebrow.

    "The Guardian utilizes the light affinity and my creations are incredibly weak to it��" The voice exined seemingly sighing.

    "I see�� then I shall defeat it and open a crack on the object storing all your mana," Noah announced.

    "But does it have a name?" The asked. "The object that is."

    "No��" The being replied, but Noah wasn''t having that.

    "You lied to me about not being able to search the depths when in truth you''ve already found the issue. There are probably more of your lies that I''ll find out�� I''m okay with them, but I demand that you be truthful for the most part." Noah exined.

    The being seemed to have been jolted with electricity since its mass trembled. It had forgotten the words it spoke earlier.

    "Fine�� it is something only the highly knowledgeable know about. The cubical items; as they are many, are called the Hearts of the apocalypse. The only time Cregar dispersed them into the world was when it nned to build something tobat the expensive expeditions of the ruler of the Cusk nation. The end result of that struggle had been detrimental to the entire human continent."

 Chapter 579 579. SEA OF BLACKNESS

    Noah flew within the many underground tunnels of the underground expanse. Of course, Erolia flew with him and the green rivers of goo remained evident below them. Lighting that tunnel up with its mysterious green light.

    "We should be arriving at the section with the hole," Noah announced to Erolia since she could not unfold a consciousness. She nodded, preparing herself for whatever was toe.

    She still had Muliix on and liked it. That way she didn''t have to worry about getting touched by anything within that ce.

    Just as Noah had said, a huge gap in the river suddenly unfolded in their eyes. The ground had copsed on itself reaching depths that they did not care about, but also somehow, the green goo stopped pouring into that hole, leaving the remaining path clear and free of goo.

    Noah and Erolia floated to the ground at that point and noticed how sturdy it was.

    ording to what he had found out from being in that environment long enough, Noah understood that the deeper one went into the ground the more sturdy and robust the earth was.

    Only tier-4s could affect that area around them as the deeper they went, the closer they got to the''s core, only a few having reached its real core.

    The duo began to walk at that point and Erolia could not but marvel at how wide and huge that tunnel was.

    Both figures were tiny inparison to the gigantic walls of that ce. They could stack at least four three-storied buildings and there would still be room. Its width was something else too.

    "We should probably just run there," Erolia remarked, shattering the sound barrier to sprint towards their destination. Noah did the same and reached her before she could even get there.

    The duo stopped before a huge dark hole oozing great amounts of quality mana.

    Noah sucked in the air with his mouth, pulling mana also. He allowed his body to purify that energy and felt some gains enter his body.

    "I should be able to create something capable of gathering mana," Noah spoke out loud, but he figured he would do thatter.

    An incredible amount of mana already flowed outside of that ce. He wondered just how much the being needed.

    Its power was also great, Noah believed it stood at a level very close to the fifth tier! That was the only exnation. Higher stage tier 5 beings would be too much for him. 6th tier would obliterate him in a fight, he couldn''t begin to wonder.

    "Do we jump in?" Erolia asked peeking into the dark hole. In their location within that expanse, there was only utter silence. Only their presence created sound. Noah could hear Erolia breathing without too much effort. Then again he had super hearing abilities, to begin with.

    "Yes," Noah replied. "But we can simply lower ourselves into the pit. Even before we get to the guardian there are still things that we need to watch out for, like the monster in the hole."

    ording to the words of the being whose name, he still didn''t know, there was one hurdle before actually getting to the guardian, and that was the monster in the pit.

    Apparently a serpentine monster of the darkness element. Noah could see simrities between the guardian of the heart of the apocalypse and the guardian of the pit.

    Fortunately for the being, the darkness element was weak to its creations, even if it could still hurt them. Not as intensely as the light element, however.

    Still, the monster remained at the very peak of the fourth tier and wasn''t like the average magical beast. Born from Cregar, it could draw power from the very darkness around it. For this reason, it stayed within deep darkness.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The monster also had control over the entire pit. Only that it was slow to act till they got to certain points. Due to theck of light, the being had been unable to tell them exactly when they would get attacked since its behavior was consistent.

    In short, they were working in the dark.

    The being listed the abilities the monster could unleash and they were basic except for when it got serious. The voice testified that it had needed to send about ten of its peak tier 4 creations to actually best the monster and escape its power. He couldn''t kill it as long as it was in the dark.

    A darkness created directly from Cregar''s mana. Essentially the peak of darkness the world could achieve at that level.

    "We''ll be careful, but scale through," Noah announced and Erolia nodded. Not only was he of the light element, but he was a Speedling.

    Both individuals jumped into the pit at that point and Noah could immediately notice simrities to the woman he had killedst.

    Her darkness; although had gone a different path from Cregars due to her status as a human cultivator, possessed significant simrities especially when she boosted her power to the level of a quasi-tier-5.

    "This is interesting..." Noah muttered, whilst he and Erolia traveled deeper and deeper into the pit by standing on a tform of air that he created.

    Noah closed his eyes to unfold his consciousness. He, however, found out that he could not see anything. Or at least the darkness felt dense even to his mental waves. That had transcended simply the physical.

    Despite that detail, Noah continued their travel. He even closed his eyes since he understood that his organ for sight was useless even if mental waves could not do much, at least in its base form.

    Mere seconds into that journey danger spiraled into the very air around them, and as they got deeper, Noah Could feel a heavy aura ooze with such an intensity that it shook Erolia.

    The aura remained so dense and powerful that Noah imagined tentacles of that aura simply mming into the world around them while they got closer and closer to the real deal.

    The average tier 4 would be unable to cross that portion of the pit but Noah simply continued. He could not estimate their location or their speed. It didn''t seem like they moved since even the air remained stale in that environment.

    "We''re getting closer," Noahmunicated through their connection, and merely ten secondster, his instincts rang with clear orders. Orders that he swiftly obeyed.

    Pulling Erolia closer to his figure Noah raised his hand and said a single sentence

    "Radiant judgment."

    The world around him thrummed as a magical triangle within a magical circle unfolded. At least they tried to unfold.

    Noah felt curiosity spring forth in his mind when he saw that mere seconds after he cast his spell, the magical triangle and circle saw darkness drowning their spectacr radiance, the spell itself never actuallying into existence.

    They had officially entered the depths of the sea of ckness.

 Chapter 580 580. ANOMALY

    The depths of the dark pit trembled with violence as Noah watched his spell get shattered and the system notified him of that reality.

    Erolia remained closer to him, even going on to hold onto his attire. Noah was the only one that could ensure safety in that situation and he still did not seem to fret.

    "Interesting," Noahmented when a beastly roar erupted from below them to send powerful vibrations shaking the entirety of the pit. The noise could be heard from even the top and bottom of that deep pit, but only those at the heart of the event could feel that heavy presence at its peak.

    Were Noah not who he was, he suspected that his skin would have crawled out of terror.

    Before the mighty roar could even end, a dark form appeared before the duo and the shape of a genuine serpentine head the size of buildings, unfolded in their eyes.

    One would wonder how the two could even make out the shape of the dark serpentine head in that dark environment. But that would be none other than because the serpent appeared even darker than the environment, so much so that they could make out its shape.

    The serpentine head remained before them and a growl came out of it to shake the two figures.

    "It''s strong," Noahmented, struggling to see in that environment.

    "We wish to pass�� peacefully!" He announced with a loud voice, but even that darkness was capable of affecting his voice. It reached the monster anyway, but just as he expected, it wasn''t intelligent enough to articte a reply.

    At least a non-violent reply. The moment Noah''s words unfolded into the world the monster voiced another roar before circling their figure with growing hostility.

    "I think it''s about to attack," Eroliamented, eyeing the moving serpent, and she wasn''t wrong since mere seconds after that point, a series of sharp-edged beams of ckness manifested out of the darkness around to shoot towards the duo.

    Noah shook his head at those attacks. They stood at the very peak of the fourth tier, but he could easily dodge them, which he did by simply sprinting about. Unfortunately, he found out that even his movement speed could be hindered by that environment.

    That ce was the domain of the darkness monster, he expected as much. It remained annoying, however. At least to Erolia who could feel annoyance.

    Noah shot downwards, heading for the bottom of the pit and so did Erolia, he let her fend for herself in that environment.

    The goal of that expedition was to reach the bottom of the pit, they didn''t necessarily have to defeat the monster.

    The elemental creature saw this and acted to stop them from escaping.

    Despite the power Noah possessed, his instincts still struggled to grapple with certain information in that environment, so when a wall of darkness appeared before his speeding figure, Noah could not help but crash into it with the same force he had been flying with.

    The impact with that solid mass of darkness shook the entire pit, thankfully he had not crashed head-first into the wall, his instincts had been able to alert him at thest moment, allowing him to cross his arms before his face.

    He remained mostly unhurt, and before long he formed a fist to deliver a mighty punch at the wall.

    The whole ce shook, and the wall shattered only to reveal the formation of several walls manifesting from far below till one appeared before him again.

    Noah furrowed his brows, stretching his arm forward toward theyers of walls Those walls spanned the width of the pit. Massive.

    Noah''s essence moved to follow hismand and it came out as a beam of silver light.

    But once again, the ckness around encroached on his light, and like the first time snuffed the manifestation out.

    "This is wrong," Noah announced. "Speed essence should never lose to mana," his voice thundered as his aura unfolded into the environment.

    The darkness tried to suppress him but Noah would not be having that. His eyes zed with silver lights and his aura unfolded into the pit, but this time the darkness could not encroach on his silver aura.

    "Only light has the authority to eradicate darkness. You are an anomaly," his words were sharp and even Erolia felt her consciousness waver. The event stunned the monster who found its form almost shattering.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Noah raised his right hand, allowing his understanding of the light element to pour out with full intensity.

    A mass of searing silver light swirled above his palm and once again the darkness tried to snuff out his light, but the speed essence that bubbled in his core grew violent.

    Noah felt the pride of that essence rush through his being, disregarding the spell that made him cold and calctive.

    A battle of both forces ensued at that point and Noah felt himself begin to gain ground. Another roar unfolded into the pit at that event, and giant dark serpentine figures manifested from the ckness around to fly towards the duo.

    Erolia saw this and flew before her master, ready to act as a shield against those manifestations of darkness.

    Noah had to focus on winning the battle between light and darkness. Thankfully his growing presence allowed her to utilize her power without facing the limitations of the darkness.

    Golden sparks flowed out of Erolia''s opened palms as she prepared to fend off the 20 serpentine monsters while the real one kept a safe distance. For now at least.

    "Wait!" Noah called out from behind Erolia and she turned to see that motes of silver light now existed around his tall figure, their light shining like the purest of lights due to the pitch darkness around. But also due to the fact that his understanding of light was at its peak, and they were that manifestation.

    That scene would remain etched in her mind for the rest of her life.

    "Noah?��" Erolia furrowed her brows in worry, finding that interruption too crucial.

    "Sorry�� but I will take this win," Noah announced, stepping forward. Lowering his arm, he ced the small orb of pure silver light between both his palms.

    Noah watched Erolia step behind him and he let the swirling mass flow forward quite slowlypared to the speeding serpents.

    Nevertheless, the moment those serpents arrived a certain range close to the orb, their masses exploded into waves of shining blue mana.

    Those masses of mana swirled around the mass of silver light only to add to its power and radiant intensity.

    "Master, what is that?" Erolia inquired, amazed.

    "Like I mentioned earlier�� an item that stores mana." He exined. "We should get going, things are about to get rough. We can''t exactly beat this thing. I''d have to possess tier-five light for that." He announced, watching the very darkness around them shatter to revert into mana and float toward and into the silver sphere.

    The serpent roared again, unleashing more giant serpentine creatures, but they met the same fate.

    Noah grabbed onto Erolia, pointing his palm toward the walls below. He moved his essence once again to unleash a beam of silver light, one that shattered the walls of darkness to unfold into a wave of spectacr light.

    This event disturbed the order that had been set by the presence of the dark serpent, so it moved to unleash its anger on that light.

    Unfortunately, before Noah left he unleashed radiant judgment further messing up the ce with his silver light powered by his weird essence.

    The area never stopped trembling even as Noah and Erolia dug through the heavy darkness, but he had won against the ckness and could allow his light to unfold in the environment.

    Unfortunately, due to the special nature of the darkness he had to make his light act as misty waves that fought and destroyed the heavy darkness.

    A blood-curling roar eventually unfolded from high above them and Noah realized that his orb had been destroyed and the darkness was regaining its power. Rapidly at that.

    He did not fret, however. After all, they had arrived at the bottom of the pit and all he needed to do was step outside of it.

    The moment they stepped out of the pit of darkness, a fantastical underground expanse adorned with all sorts of shining crystals and stones, appeared in their eyes.

 Chapter 581 581. INVISIBLE BARRIER

    Noah and Erolia fell into that mana-rich environment and their opponent could not chase after them again.

    Still, they descended towards the surface, understanding that the pit had only been a tunnel into that beautiful ce.

    Blue walls and all sorts of glowing stones and crystals. Noah felt that the mana density in that ce was strong enough to feed whole cities.

    Both individuals remained silent as they walked across the ground of that incredibly spacious ce. Erolia felt her eyes take in as much as she could. That ce had to be the most wondrous location she had been to in her life.

    Huge mana stones existed in that ce. All of the various colors. There were blue mana stones within that spacious expanse and Noah could only feel like he had hit a jackpot.

    But even more, he found mana crystals which were a grade above mana stones. Mana crystals were just as they were called, crystals of mana. All mana crystals were white transparent gems that possessed swirling blue essence within them.

    Mana crystals could only be found in not just a ce with great amounts of mana, but pure mana. If mana stones were purified to their peak, the oue would be a mana crystal, even if artificial ones were less valuable than the real deal.

    Still, not many knew about those crystals since many years had passed since the fall of the mana density in the human continent.

    Noah saw huge chunks of mana crystals situated at different points of the expanse. Not only did mana crystals possess incredibly pure mana in their chunks, but the smallest of them held far more mana than even purple mana stones. There were even purple mana stones within that ce.

    The fact that he now found chunks of mana crystals, chunks even bigger than the average man, he could not but see the worth of that ce. He saw it as a way to better the guild''s state. They needed more, and that ce held far more than any guild could dream of holding.

    Noah believed it would take only a few months of cultivating for a tier-one to reach the peak of the third tier!

    "I might as well seize some before we battle our opponent," Noah halted his steps sweeping his gaze on that fantastical environment. Greed did not exist in his dictionary, that ce was also of use to him, but he already had a ce that served him essence. He only hardly cultivated.

    That ce would be of use to hisrades, they were the ones he thought about.

    Unfolding his aura in that vast ce Noah began to pull mana stones, and mana crystals out of the terrain of that ce.

    The procedure had to be very delicate as the mana crystals were sensitive. Thankfully Noah knew finesse. He could pull those chunks out in mere seconds, all he asked Erolia to do was gather the mana stones.

    He could do both by himself, but he wanted her to feel needed even if she knew that wasn''t the case. For this reason, Erolia put her best into it. Sure mana stones cracked once in while, but that didn''t matterpared to the many she managed to gather in one piece.

    Even after an hour of gather, all they had done was create a slightly less shiny spot in that spacious expanse.

    Noah had gathered more than 200 mana crystals capable of towering a bit over a human! That gain was enough to create the best types of cultivating rooms in the whole of the cusk nation.

    "This is enough for them to believe us. I can always return here with the elders. I believe they will be very pleased," Noah exined, waving his hand to store the great number of valuable stones.

    They continued on their journey into a certain tunnel. There were many tunnels but Noah felt an unimaginable amount of mana ooze out of one.

    The deeper they went into that ce the more stones and crystals appeared on the wall, until it got to a point where onlyrge crystals remained on the walls and ceilings of the huge tunnel.

    Noah concluded that what he felt was something beyond the fifth tier. He wondered why the being could not just gather those stones and take them to increase its power.

    The close they got to the end of the tunnel the more intense the mana density was, so much so that Noah had to create an item that pulled in that energy. Erolia did the same and her power grew as they walked.

    ''This is too much." Noahmented when they arrived at a particr point. At this juncture, the mana in the environment felt solid like a wall. Besides, a vast dense blue mist now existed all around them, making it hard to see.

    Even Erolia stopped pulling mana into her body. She felt like she was taking in far more than she could handle.

    "We''re gonna have to force our way through," Noah announced, bending his knees, Erolia did the same too. But he allowed a coat of silver essence to appear around their figures like a bubble.

    They sprinted forward at that point and they felt like they dug through the very ground, only tougher.

    Thankfully they were able to scale through and to Erolia''s surprise they arrived at a point that did not feature mist in its air, but now the tunnel was expanding again, into another big expanse.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''Just how big is this ce?'' Noah could not help but wonder.

    Their tiny figures walked past the tunnel and into the giant chamber, and the first detail both individuals noticed was theck of that many mana crystals. There was only enough to light that ce enough for seeing clearly.

    The second detail would be none other than the massive ck and blue box floating at the very center of that ce.

    Noah only needed to nce at it to understand that it was their target. The massive ck box shone with an innumerable amount of moving blue inscriptions. That ce was devoid of mana even if mana had been overflowing in the tunnel.

    Quickly scanning the environment for the third and crucial detail. Noah felt the ground begin to tremble as the ground tore open to allow an 80m tall figure to emerge from the ground.

    ''A robot... or a mecha?...'' Noahmented inspecting the white mass of all sorts of metals shining with a white light of their own.

    The giant mechanism was mainly white in color but possessed purple and gold inscriptions running across its torso, arms, neck, and face.

    A mechanical whirring sound filled the environment and a zing blue light appeared in its eye sockets. Its gaze fell on him.

    The Mecha had emerged from a spot very close to the giant box which was actually bigger than its figure. The perfectly cubical box itself was about 190m in size.

    The Mecha radiated power in the peak of the fourth tier, just as the being had mentioned. It took a step forward and the ground shattered beneath the weight of its figure.

    Noah allowed Cudgel to appear in his grip, he would be using that weapon throughout. He had taken Muliix from Erolia at some point so he also allowed it to appear on his skin leaving his head open.

    His aura unfolded as he prepared to battle and defeat that being. In honesty, he doubted he could achieve that feat. If the being that merely guarded the entrance into the ce was as strong as that, how much more the guardian of the very box itself?

    Erolia remained in her human form. Against such arge opponent being small was an advantage. If she transformed she would almost be as tall as it.

    The Mecha began to walk towards them, its steps shaking that environment.

    There was about 700m distance between them, but Noah would of course not let it cross that distance before he attacked.

    Stretching his arm towards the hard-to-miss target, Noah unleashed a massive bolt of lightning containing about 10% of his vast pool.

    The silver bolt roared as it bathe the environment in its light.

    The Mecha raised its huge white arm to try and block the attack but its reflexes were nothing to show off, so that discharge ended up mming into its huge chest and the sheer force behind that attack caused it to take a step back, shattering the ground, which caused it to fall to its butt.

    The Mecha''s back fell on the box and the whole area experienced a violent tremor. The box remained unmoved.

    Noah did not wait for it to recover, he shattered the sound barrier to ascend higher into that ce. Spinning Cudgel above his head, he allowed his staff to take on the form of a silver and blue crackling mass.

    Noah sent Cudgel toward the Mecha and he allowed it to transform into a massive pir of electricity. He hoped to fry it if it obeyed the same rules as from earth, unfortunately, that would not be the case.

    Noah found that his attack had been made useless by the appearance of a white barrier projecting the sitting Mecha.

    He stayed high up before calling Cudgel back into his palm. It returned in a sh.

    Noah moved when a beam of white light swept past his position, crashing into the ceiling high up and cutting through it easily.

    The Mecha began to stand but Noah rained lightning bolts on its figure only to realize that an invisible barrier now existed around its body protecting it from his attacks. The Mecha could stand and point its arm toward Noah''s figure.

    "You''re annoying." A feminine voice boomed forth from the Mecha''s huge figure. "Die." A whirling sound sprung into existence and Noah watched a wave of violent white light beam toward him quicker than even he could react.

    He wasn''t fast enough to evade it as it was wide-ranged, but Muliix took the brunt of the attack and he smashed and dug through the walls of that expanse. Sending significant cracks spreading in its material.

 Chapter 582 582. ALREADY?

    Sparks flew everywhere and two blurs shifted across the space within the wide expanse featuring the ck box.

    A figure crashed into the walls of that expanse and chunks of that mass shattered to crumble, falling to the ground.

    The figure turned out to be Erolia, and she quickly left that spot to shatter the sound barrier.

    The moment she left, a beam of light hit that spot and blinding white light flowed into the world clouding a huge portion of that expanse.

    The roaring of lightning filled the expanse and silver bolts rushed forth into existence mming into a huge mechanical figure

    The bolt possessed great power and when it struck the Mecha''s arm it exploded chunks of its limb.

    Still, two beams of white light shot out of the Mecha''s eyes to try and m into the figure that had delivered the attack, but huge walls of ice sprung into existence stopping that attack even if Noah who remained behind it was sent flying due to the shock waves that explosion generated.

    A moment of silence unfolded at that point and Noah ascended again while Erolia appeared beside him.

    Their gazes fell on the Mecha before them and they noticed the significantly bad state it was in.

    They had managed to almostpletely destroy its torso as only chunks of its figure now existed connecting its upper body to its leg.

    Sparks flickered now and then and blue mist flowed out often. The Mecha''s face now had its left side shaved off, revealing the ck nature of its insides. Its eye sockets still glowed a vibrant shade, however.

    The chest area of that Mecha remain almostpletely intact, and the duo knew the reason for that.

    There was a human powering that huge robot. Or at least controlling it.

    Erolia heaved heavy breaths and her chest rose and fell while memories of that battle shed in her eyes. She quietly nced at Noah and saw how he still looked okay even if his attire barely stood on his body.

    "I''m exhausted," Erolia conveyed that reality to Noah and he nodded.

    "You should rest then, I should be able to handle the remaining," Noah exined, focusing on her now.

    "But that would be like the fifth time now," Eroliained even if she could not refute that reality. Unlike her master, her stamina wasn''t nigh boundless.

    "It doesn''t matter, you''ve been a great help to me for the two days this battle has raged on," Noahmended her, and she couldn''t help but acknowledge his words.

    Erolia bowed her head in somberness. "I''ll try my best to heal quickly!" She eximed, before transforming into a cerulean streak that entered his chest.

    Noah nodded at that point and swept his gaze on the expanse around him. He shook his head at the destruction all around him.

    He had promised to take his battles high into the sky but that enclosed area could not allow such.

    Their battle, which had been going on for over 48 hours straight, left that expanse in a pitiful state.

    Its walls had been dug many meters in. Noah even suspected they might burst into another chamber within that massive underground world.

    Chunks of frozen terrain, charred spots, and huge craters riddled that ce. It looked like a genuine battle had urred within the chamber.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    How that expanse could even remain standing after going through all that showed just how much the mana in that environment had increased its durability.

    "You should just give in," Noah spoke to the person powering the Mecha. She had barely spoken during their two days of fighting.

    "Fool, you''d have to kill me first!" Her voice mechanized by the robot shook that ce and her robot stretched its hand forward to unleash a violent beam of light.

    Noah shook his head, easily evading that attack. In truth, he had held back during those days. There was still too much he had not revealed to the world.

    That battle was dragging on too much, now he understood why the voice in the upperyers of the expanse had said two to three days would be required to actuallyplete the expedition.

    The battle itself was the longest thing. At least for him, it was.

    To show how much of a monster she and her Mecha was, she had been capable of taking him and Erolia.

    Noah opened his palm and Cudgel''s figure mmed into his grip after shooting out of a pile of blue rocks.

    "I''ve been taking you seriously all this while, but let''s take things up a notch," Noah announced, spinning his staff before him, even if he allowed it to disappear and his daggers reced it.

    Noah shattered the sound barrier to arrive on the head of that giant robot. They had destroyed its barrier and for some reason, the woman never deployed it again, maybe because of how he had made short work of it after it was revealed.

    Noah raised and lowered his des in a simple swing and two multicolored shes fell from those des to engulf the giant Mecha in their power.

    He had unleashed those attacks at point nk. The sound of metal striking metal had been intense, but he had felt the tips of his dagger''s cut through its head after an instant.

    Jumping back as a result of the intensity of that attack, Noah felt his instincts tingle and he could only allow Muliix to return to his skin even if he ced a barrier of sparks and wind all around him.

    A spectacr explosion unfolded into the world merely instantster, and that violent wave of power touched every part of the underground chamber.

    That ce continued to tremble violently. But the blue box remained unaffected.

    Noah watched his elemental protections disappear under the influence of that attack, but it didn''t matter since he had remained unhurt.

    His figure smashed into the walls again and he continued to dig through it until he burst into an open space just as he had thought. Only this time hended inside a pool of shining blue liquid.

    It was shallow and he stood up sensing the sheer amount of mana within that pool. Or rather, the pool itself was liquefied mana!

    Noah nced at it for a second even if his instincts tingled again and he crossed his des before him, parrying the massive beam of light that arrived on his position.

    Searing heat spiraled into the world, but Noah simply pushed that attack to the side.

    The beam of light bounced off his des to m into the walls of that equallyrge chamber.

    "You''ve gotten weaker already?" Hemented, shooting forward to deliver a kick on the Mecha''s face, caving in a significant portion of its metallic head.

    It had not been able to pass through the hole he created so he sent it flying backward; toward the box, which it mmed into and the whole expanse shook, causing boulders to fall to the ground.

 Chapter 583 583. BASTARD

    Noah mmed into the Mecha''s huge chest, he raised his des again even if a punchnded on his figure sending him shooting into the walls of that ce again,

    He clicked his tongue whilst he forced his way out of the crater he had dug with his body.

    The Mecha struggled to get on its feet during that time, but it did and began to approach him.

    Noah only came out of the hole when it arrived before his position.

    "Die!" thedy voiced a roar when the Mecha raised its arms and rained a barrage of punches on Noah''s figure.

    The expanse continued to tremble and loose chunks of its walls and ceiling began to fall off, even hitting the Mecha even if it remained unfazed.

    Seconds passed as tens of blows continued to rain forth on Noah''s figure.

    Unfortunately, that would not go on for too long.

    To the astonishment of thedy behind the wheels, the Mecha''s right arm suddenly met resistance and to her amazement, she watched Noah stand as his left arm stopped the movement of that arm.

    The Mecha''s second arm rushed forward but Noah simply raised his other palm to stop that blow.

    The ground shattered and incredible cracks ravaged the walls of that ce.

    "What are you?" Thedy asked, even if silver-ness filled her vision.

    Noah unleashed a beam of icy particles and the event contained enough force to push the Mecha until its back mmed into the ground shattering it.

    Noah stepped forwardnding on the damaged ground. He took slow steps towards the figure of the huge Mecha.

    He had frozen its head and thedy scrambled to remove thatyer of ice from her face. She began to bash the face of the Mecha to achieve that feat, but the process remained too slow.

    Suddenly, like the rushing of the wind, a sudden rise in his aura filled the entire expanse and the weight of his presence pushed her Mecha''s figure to the ground.

    "Seriously, you should just have given up, this was bound to happen." Noah stepped past the Mecha''s figure as ice spread from his feet to manifest as arms that locked the Mecha to the ground.

    Noah approached the ck box, and when he arrived before it he ascended to ce his hand on its material.

    "During our battle, I''d been seeking ways to actually create a crack on this thing. Seeing as even when you mmed into it you did no damage. It was easy for me to understand that simply raining attacks on it wouldn''t do much." He started to exin as thedy found out that she could not free herself of her bounds.

    "I studied it for many hours and arrived at one conclusion. I really don''t have that type of power... at least not at my base."

    "That bastard sent me to deal damage on a fifth-tier object. I''ll deal with him when I return." Noah shook his head.

    "Wait do you mean a huge tree-like being with green liquid surrounding its domain?" Thedy asked and Noah could only arc an eyebrow.

    "Yes, I do. He sent me here to steal back mana," Noah exined and an annoyed shout ensued at that point.

    "That son of bitch!" The Mecha trembled violently and Noah heard banging. He believed she punched it from inside.

    The Mecha''s chest suddenly exploded as its huge metallic mass fell towards the roof, only for its edges to cut into the ceiling and be embedded in it.

    Mist came outside of the chest and the figure of a human revealed herself to his eyes. Noah did not act since he sensed that interesting events were about to ur.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "That bastard lied to you. Whatever it said was a lie," A white-haireddy revealed herself to his eyes and her features remained stunning, at least to the normal mind it would have. Noah saw her as no more than a simple human.

    "Oh?" Noah eximed leaving the huge box to approach her figure. She was naked but red clothes manifested out of thin air to cover her nakedness.

    "Yes," she replied through her teeth, ascending. She was at the peak of the fourth tier.

    "It told me that Cregar stole its mana and it needed it back," Noah exined, and thedy froze.

    "Well, that''s not exactly a lie, even if he phrased it wrongly... But there''s a good reason!" Thedy eximed, inspecting Noah''s features now that she was so close to him.

    "He told me that thest time Cregar utilized these objects was when a huge event happened. I''m suspecting something important?" Noah exined, and she froze again.

    "That is correct... he actually told you the truth, at least not everything." Thedy heaved a sigh, slightly embarrassed. It had been a while since she stood in the presence of another human. Even if Noah did not feel like one. He at least looked like one.

    She had been deployed there about 7 years prior, after thest person who guarded the ce was moved. She had mostly trained, hoping to reach the fifth tier since she would also be transferred.

    She reached the peak of the fourth tier and required a push into the fifth tier. Noah came and showed her she still had a lot to learn. Never in her life had she seen a middle stage wield such power.

    It made her desire to return to the upper world explode in intensity. What exactly was the upper world cooking? She wondered.

    "Not everything?" Noah stroked his chin.

    "Yes... I normally would have just killed you rather than told you, but you''re insanely strong, and that your partner," thedy sighed again. It had never been recorded that anyone had been able to deal much damage to a guardian. Her reputation would plummet when news reached the higher-ups.

    "Go on," Noah nodded, folding his arms. They could have sorted things out with words. What a waste. Especially when he now had a n to actually create at least a small crack on the box.

    "Well in the beginning, ording to what I was told, there are a few beings simr to the one you met, its name is Tervok. Although the others possess other elemental properties," she started.

    "Many years ago, even before I was born, apparently he had been fifth tier expert who reached a state of nigh-death and made contact with one of the pirs, they had allowed him to gain ess to incredible amounts of mana from Cregar, but had been told that if Cregar ever needed it, it was required of him to give."

    "Well long story short, it reached the peak of the fifth tier and Cregar demanded a portion which it took. It must have told you Cregar took a huge portion, but that''s a lie. He''s greedy and desires to improve in power!" Thedy exined, and Noah managed to connect all the dots.

    "The power within this box is pure enough to push it into the sixth tier, after which it would wreak havoc on thends."

    "Why didn''t it juste here and kill you?" Noah asked, furrowing his brows as possibilities appeared in his head.

    "We''ve spoken. We''ve fought a lot in those seven years, and it tried to convince me to steal mana for it. That''s why I put my pet in that pit that leads here. Still, he bypassed him and reached me. Only once though," She exined.

    "He can''t directly attack me since one word and the higher-ups will be here to exterminate him. Which is why he sent you. There''s also an oath that stops him from killing me. He''s weak to my light-based power."

    "Then you can say he believed in me enough toplete the task?" Noah asked.

    "Maybe... I''ll have to tell this to the higher-ups," thedy sighed, feeling d the both of them could talk things out, but Noah had other interests.

    His aura unfolded with vitality and his figure flickered before her, cing both his daggers on her neck whilst hands of ice manifested to hold onto her figure.

    "Who are you? And I want you to tell me about your higher-ups. Are they the immortals?" His tone remained calm and his words went straight to the point. Thedy''s eyes slowly widened in shock at what was happening, but she dared not move, his daggers would sever her head from her shoulder.

 Chapter 584 584. YOU SHOULD BE GLAD

    ?

    "What is the meaning of this?" Thedy asked. Her tone spoke of her anger, but she remained in ce. Merely the whiffs exuded by the daggers damaged her skin. All he needed to do was apply adequate force and her head would roll.

    Even for tier 4''s, the detachment of their head meant instant death.

    "What do you think?" Noah arced an eyebrow ready to take her seriously if she had any tricks under her sleeves, which she probably did. "I am interrogating you, and I expect answers."

    "I don''t know what you''re talking about," she feigned ignorance, and Noah applied a bit of pressure on her neck, drawing blood even if that blood withered and bits of her powerful skin began to lose vitality.

    Thanks to her peak tier 4 body she could stop that effect from spreading quickly. Were it to be a middle staged expert, they would find their heads withering into nothingness in mere seconds.

    Thedy on the other hand couldpletely stop it. But Noah never meant to kill her.

    "My des possess the special ability called withering. Not only that but alsobustion. Two recipes for utter annihtion of my target. Be careful, I might just identally kill you," Noah''s words were slow whilst his eyes calmly swept her figure.

    She clenched her fists and grit her teeth.

    "They will find you and kill you." She threatened him feelingly slightly smug.

    "Oh oh! You mean the veiled ones?" Noah eximed and her expression froze.

    "How do you know that?" Her expression turned dark and her tone shook slightly. She had heard tales of the might of the veiled ones, the fact that he knew them meant big things.

    "Simple," Noah replied. "I killed a couple of them." He shrugged, and an expression screaming unbelief exploded on her youthful features.

    "Bullshit!" She eximed, almost giggling in astonishment at his words. "They are the best of the best there''s no way someone like you could actually kill one."

    "Oh, you really think that?" Noah pressed his des on her neck. She panicked.

    "I just don''t believe one would be deployed to take care of you," she tried to calm the whole situation. Her life was literally on the line.

    "Nah�� you''re pretty strong yourself. I reckon you''ll do as good as one of those creepy people," he nodded, putting amazement on her face.

    "Really?" She felt her chest swell at the idea, but cynical thoughts flowed into her mind and she doubted him once again.

    "You almost fooled me there." She red. "There''s no way you could kill the veiled ones, they possess techniques that shatter what the world knows," she scoffed cautiously ncing at Noah''s ck, orange, purple, and silver des, releasing simrly colored mists.

    "He isn''t lying." A masculine voice deep and powerful resounded in the chamber and Noah grabbed onto thedy to shatter the sound barrier.

    Their former position which had been on the destroyed Mecha saw a jet of shining blue water radiating a powerful aura engulf that ce and the Mecha; despite its peak tier 4 material, vanished along with a huge chunk of the ground. The attack had dug an incredible hole in the ground many meters deep.

    The whole chamber trembled with violent intensity and more boulders fell to the ground.

    "I wondered when one of you would show up�� again," Noah revealed, arriving at a spot high in that chamber.

    His left arm remained around thedy''s waist even if he ced one of his daggers on her neck utilizing his other hand.

    "You''re quick, just as they said," the floating manmented, even if he vanished from his spot and his eleration caused a huge portion of the chamber''s wall that he backed to vanish, expanding that one chamber into another.

    Noah saw that explosive power and evaluated the man''s power.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Shaking his head, he transformed into a silver streak that arrived at the man''s former position, he did not stop however, since the man crossed the distance between them to arrive back at that spot in barely a second.

    Noah moved, and a chase unfolded. Unlike Noah, the man''s movements were powerful enough to blow away chunks of the walls, and as such that chamber had expanded about twice its original size in less than a minute.

    Blue mist from the tunnel that entered that chamber spread forth at that point and mana remained abundant in that area, except that they all vanished instantster, eaten by the ck box.

    That detail did not concern Noah since all he did was focus on not getting caught by the man.

    The duo stopped at some point and they floated over 500m from each other. That distance was easy to be covered, but the man knew he could not catch his stunning opponent.

    Thedy in Noah''s arms had been capable of following the event, but Noah had never relieved her neck of his dangerous de.

    "You havee to kill me o veiled one," Noah mocked, even if he felt no pleasure from that event.

    "You should have at least tried to escape his arms. I cannot attack fully due to your presence," the man ignored Noah to address thedy in his arms.

    Her eyes widened. But she could not speak since Noah pressed his de on her neck.

    "I see," the man sighed. Throughout the entire chase, he had kept his arms folded behind his back, donning a regal ck and red robe.

    "He is someone highly wanted by our lords, the immortal''s." The man''s voice remained profound and powerful. His figure radiated close to no aura but that wasn''t enough to deceive Noah''s senses.

    He didn''t need the eyes of the death lord''s skill to know the man stood at the quasi-tier-5 level.

    "I will attack both of you together if it means aplishing the will of the masters," the man exined. "You should be d you died for such a cause." He announced when several blue magical circles manifested around his calm figure.

    Pirs of shining blue water shot forward only to manifest as tens of arms all shooting for Noah''s evading figure.

    Explosions never stopped resounding when those huge shining blue arms struck the walls of that expanse whilst the others chased after him.

    Noah shook his head seeing terror appear on thedy''s face.

    "The puppets they send are getting stronger, but that hardly matters, you will all meet the same fate." Noah''s calm voice expanded into the whole chamber as silver light sprung into existence.

    He let go of the white-haireddy even if the world had stopped moving rtive to him. His figure vanished from his position as he elerated to his peak and Noah arrived behind the man. His arm remained folded behind him leaving himpletely open. Or so Noah thought.

    He clicked his tongue when ck illusory arms sprung out of the man''s back to grab hold of his descending des.

    Noah scoffed and unleashed huge shes that engulfed the man''s figure, but he didn''t stop there.

    Casting slicing wind which generated a huge gust of wind possessing sharpness, and arctic palm, which gave birth to a massive palm of snow, only that it engulfed everything, freezing both the shes, the slicing wind, and the man.

    Nevertheless, that disy of power and spells availed nothing since a sh of shining blue light beamed from within the chunk of ice to cut that frozen mass in two halves revealing that the man remained alright.

    Noah saw this and did not hesitate to drop his human form, adopting the pristine nature that revealed the peak of his power.

    The underground systems trembled violently at the expansion of two quasi-tier-5 auras. So much so that even the upperyers caught tremors that shook things until certain chambers crumbled on themselves. Leaving the elves wondering what that was.

 Chapter 585 585. DOMAIN OF SLOWNESS

    ?

    Noah''s 3m figure unfolded with power and might, and he didn''t hesitate to stretch his hand toward the man before him.

    The expert still had his hands folded behind him, but his instincts forced him to move at the sight of his opponent''s iing attack.

    A gathering attack revealed itself before Noah''s palm, light, sparks, wind and essence gathered before him in a violently whirling mass, and the light thebination of those elements generated, shone blindingly. Whilst heat soared in the environment.

    Thedy who had been initially shocked about the sudden transformation saw that scene and moved to save her life, she bolted out of the chamber and called upon her pet.

    Massive cracks opened in the walls of that chamber and the underground systems continued to tremble as a result of the power about to be unleashed.

    The veiled man on the other caused tens of spectacr andrge magical circles to unfold around him, while one in particr far smaller than the others expanded before him and he ced his right hand into it, only to pull out a shining azure sword inscribed with yellow symbols.

    An unfathomable pressurended on that area due to the appearance of that weapon. It was incredibly close to the fifth tier.

    Noah saw this but did not fret, he watched those magical circles discharge huge jets of liquid all capable of seriously damaging a peak tier-4 expert.

    But his attack also reached its peak and he let it go.

    A violent high-pitched roar-like sound unfolded into the world and that chamber directly began to crumble as a result.

    Noah''s multicolored mass remained far smaller than the jets of liquid but it vanquished them as it went for the still-calm man.

    "This battlefield is too little for us," the manmented, raising his de at the iing mass.

    Suddenly, his aura turned sharp and the azure sword shed a blinding ray of light after which the expert lowered his weapon in a nty downward sh.

    There was no discharge of power or sound neither did shock waves spread out, yet Noah watched his attack vanish into nothingness, saw a long ck mark appear on his skin, and watched a line open in the very terrain around him.

    Boulders on the path of that sh suddenly froze in time before splitting in two. And the walls of the already crumbling chamber found a cut silently appearing in their mass stretching for an unknown distance.

    The sound of chaos unfolding in the world around reached Noah''s ears whilst he inspected his opponent who remained in position,despite boulders and huge chunks of rocks falling around him.

    Noah nodded at that sight, utilizing his consciousness to shatter boulders that fell directly on his figure.

    ''That was dangerous,'' Noahmented inwardly, seeing the ck mark that spanned from his left shoulder to his right side, vanish.

    ''Had I not transformed I would have died,'' hemented. ''Or at least be close to dying.''

    Merely envisioning himself running, Noah vanished from his position to flicker in front of the veiled man.

    A kick aimed at his head flew forward; unhindered, for Noah was faster than the illusory protection.

    Noah''s feet smashed into the man''s face, crushing bones and all sorts to send the expert shattering walls as he traveled miles in one direction.

    Noah sped forward, immediately catching up to his figure.

    ''Just how big is this ce,'' he wondered, seeing more chambers open up below them whilst they dug through the terrain.

    The man tried to act, but Noah reached his figure, grabbed him by his neck, and hurled him in another direction.

    But not after discharging a bolt of erratic sparks on his figure.

    The result of that attack was a massive explosion of silver sparks that turned walls into nothingness and the whole chamber vanished when that incredible power touched them.

    Still, an azure sh of light beamed into the world and that mass of sparks vanished to reveal that the man was okay. At least mostly.

    Utter chaos ensued around them even if both individuals were toning down the expression of their power.

    A series of illusory hands came out of the man''s body. His clothes barely stood on his body and he prepared to take Noah seriously. He had revealed his special item and his opponent had brushed its attack!

    Noah possessed as much power as he imed to have.

    "Are you not worried about the destruction of the world around you, o veiled one?" Noah mocked.

    "Against an opponent such as yourself, such concerns are in stupid," the men responded rather calmly.

    "Hmm�� Let''s see just how strong you are."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I was about to say the same," the veiled one responded and both figures vanished from their locations achieving spectacr but horrendous levels of speed.

    Noah was faster, but his opponent could take his blows.

    Several explosions shook the underground systems and tens of chambers crumbled whilst utter destruction became too evident.

    The upperyers shook too, but Noah and the man moved outside of the range of the city revealing just how immense that underground system was.

    It was more than 20 kilometers below the surface level.

    Despite the magnitude of the battle that urred below, the city never experienced a single tremor.

    Noah opened his mouth to let out a pir of silver mes born purely out of speed essence.

    The ground around him melted into rivers of boiling orange and blue liquid. Likeva, only with a blue tinge.

    In less than ten seconds Noah burnt out every chamber in a radius of about 3 miles.

    A deep rumbling urred as the mass of earth above them came crashing down, losing the pirs of earth that kept it up.

    A massive blue river appeared out of thin air to cool the destruction Noah caused, while pirs of liquid also ascended to hold up chunks of the chamber above them.

    Noah saw that those immense pirs cooled, turning into ice, filling the world before him with hundreds of such pirs.

    It didn''t matter since his golden horns began to release a whirling sound. It multiplied in intensity instantster, then an explosion of golden light barreled out in all directions.

    The veiled man watched that light reach and pass his figure faster than he could react, and a strange fear gripped his chest, tightening it so much so that he felt pain and held onto his chest with his left hand.

    The man coughed a mouthful of blood and felt his vision turn dizzy.

    He raised his head only to find an innumerable amount of golden symbols serving as a barrier of sorts where that golden influence existed.

    He saw Noah''s shining figure in the distance as a certain staleness yet vibrancy filled the world around him, but he felt weak.

    "This is stronger than I envisioned," Noah''s voice rang out right before the man''s face. His back was still arced since he recovered from the intense pain.

    Panicking, he swung his de frantically as trepidation grew in his chest.

    However, to the expert''s boundless astonishment, he realized that Noah was still far away.

    He knew this because his opponent''s horns continued to radiate an intense golden radiance in the distance. That light felt oppressive.

    ''An illusion?'' He asked himself but dismissed that idea. Narrowing his eyes he realized that his vision got blurry making that distance a chore to see.

    "Was that surprising?" Noah''s voice sounded behind him, and he swung his de with all his strength, even if it only struck air.

    "What is the meaning of this?!" The man yelled, wanting to sprint forward when five figures abruptly appeared around him. All Noah''s 3m tall frame.

    He waved his de at those figures and watched them vanish like mist, but that didn''t satisfy him.

    The man shot forward but to his amazement, he barely moved from his position as though a force kept him in ce.

    "Let''s end this. This technique is draining," Noah''s voice resounded from all around him.

    "Stunned?" Hundreds of the 3m tall frame appeared round about his opponent.

    "This is a technique you know of as it''s simr to many others, only that its functions are quite different." The hundreds of mirages spoke at the same time, their voices vibrating and generating a truly trauma-inducing scene.

    The man tried to move at that point but this time strength left his bones even if he remainedpletely fine.

    "Why can''t I elerate?" His tone turned low due to unimaginable fatigue.

    "Oh�� that would be as a result of my domain. The domain of speed. But unlike what you''d expect, it steals speed from whoever is within its range and gives to me, while my peak speed is multiplied."

    "To my opponents, it''s the domain of slowness, but to me�� ultimate eleration. At the expense of my targets stamina, of course."

 Chapter 586 586. ALMOST FOUR DAYS

    ?

    "What the fuck are you talking about?" The veiled man yelled, feeling his condition deteriorate. He didn''t know he could feel that tired. He med that situation on his opponent''s strange domain.

    Those hundred figures condensed into one and finally, Noah''s figure in the distance vanished to appear before the man.

    "I have stolen not only your speed but used your stamina thanks to the fact that you tried to elerate," Noah exined finding that his time in that form drew nigh to its end.

    "That doesn''t make sense," the manmented, hissing.

    "I do not make sense, but here I am."

    "You leave me no choice then," the expert announced ready to activate the technique that called upon Cregar''s power. Its activation would push him into the fifth tier. Noah could not allow that.

    Flexing his fingers, golden ws snapped out of them in an instant, and Noah shed at the man''s figure indiscriminately. Turning his upper body into a gory mess in instants.

    [You have killed human Level 450]

    [You have gained exp]

    [You have gained 4 levels]

    [Your stats have been increased by 40%]

    [You have received 40,000 stat points]

    [You are now Lvl 317]

    Noah watched those screens appear before him, after which he deactivated his form.

    His white skin began to melt away quite literally

    Even if it melted into nothingness, revealing his human nature.

    The golden barrier around him naturally vanished after that point and Noah''s pale condition revealed itself.

    He furrowed his brows. He could not feel most emotions but he could feel fatigue and pain.

    The activation of the speed domain had been incredible. He had emptied his reserves even if he got some other things in return.

    Noah did not tell the man theplete truth about his special technique.

    It was true that it negated every form of speed from his target within its reach and also utilized the target''s stamina for him to run, but when the stamina of his targets depleted he would be back to utilizing his own.

    It wasn''t a broken skill since even he had limitations when utilizing it. The moment he was out of stamina he woulde to a halt.

    "Maybe when I battle an army," he muttered; tired, not giving attention to the destruction around. The pirs still existed so he simply left them.

    Exhausted both mentally and physically, Noah teleported into his cultivation room. The quasi-tier-5 man had featured a nice blue core which he had taken

    Immediately going into cultivation, Noah decided that the moment he returned to the surface he would build the various items, and when more days had passed, depending on what they found he would gather the team and carry out the assassination.

    Noah cultivated none stop for about a day and all he could do was replenish his stamina and health. Levels were not gained since speed essence worked on improving his state.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Noah arose with Erolia with him and they teleported back to the underground chamber. He did not find the white-haireddy, neither did he find the box nor the dark beast.

    The only thing that was left was chunks of mana crystals which he eventually spent hours gathering as much as he could.

    Even after 10 hours of excavating huge chunks of rocks and gathering those mana stones and the chunks of mana crystals that were still usable, the duo could only give up, having gathered an incredible amount already.

    The guild would be able to raise tier 5 experts and many more tier 4''s with that resources, he worked for the betterment of his friends.

    Noah eventually returned to Tervok''s position and when he arrived within his expanse he could only wonder what had happened since the huge mass that was his body had vanished from its usual spot. Along with every ounce of green liquid.

    Scores of elves filled the ce so his sudden appearance caught them off guard. However right before he vanished from that spot he allowed erratic bolts to leave his body, burying a huge area in his crackling discharge.

    With his power now increased Noah could see the hike in quality and damage power.

    He disappeared after causing thatmotion.

    "Tervok has most likely been exterminated as the guardian said." Two figures traveled across the night sky. Erolia and Noah.

    Theynded on the mountain they had departed from before and its snowy nature raged around them.

    Noah let it be and sat right on the snow just to think.

    Hours had passed since they left the underground world. They had met with two others who briefed them on the situation.

    Apparently, they had located thedy in question who was actually within the central city.

    They would be moving to rescue her in two days.

    The cauldron on the other hand was nowhere to be found. No one they asked possessed urate information about its location, but at least they had found thedy.

    Noah had been gone for almost four days. Of course, they wondered what he had been doing. And truly he had be suspicious.

    Thankfully,James remained preupied with events within the central city. Apparently, some unnned situations urred during those four days.

    "I have two days to finish the various items," Noah muttered even if Erolia heard. She was mostly silent now. He believed she felt useless to him.

    "I will need you to go get the recorders as I start my work."

    Erolia nodded and took off quickly, leaving Noah alone on that snowy mountain.

    "Three more of those veiled ones to kill and the real deal will begin," he muttered to himself while silver inscriptions were birthed from seemingly thin air.

    Unable to understand why; he sensed that something big approached him. Its magnitude remained obscure due to his limited knowledge. But the event would certainly be a big deal. He felt it in his bones.

    Noah started shortly after, diving deeply into his various projects. Their functions were intertwined making him handle almost all of them at the same time.

    It took Erolia less than twenty minutes to return with all twelve recorders and she could only sit some spot from him not knowing what to do anymore.

    Noah crafted and crafted inscriptions, sometimes discarding them to rebuild. He did so to achieve maximum quality.

 Chapter 587 587. INCREASED MOVEMENT SPEED

    ?

    The winds howled and the coldness of snow swept thends, or at least the mountaintop. Whiteness existed everywhere within a certain region of the mountain, mostly its peak, but that wasn''t the only interesting detail there.

    On a location hard to properly pinpoint due to the ever-present snow storm rivers of silver inscriptions floated across a radius of about 100m.

    Tinypared to the rest of the mountain but that simple sight contained far greater importance.

    Lines and symbols rotated around a singr figure, out of whom new symbols and words manifested to shoot towards the alreadyrge amount of words, lines, and symbols.

    Noah sat in a cross-legged posture, his palms on his knees and his eyes closed whilst calctions appeared in his mind and he made them into reality. It had been only a bit over two days. Only a few hours remained till the rescue of thedy started and thankfully he was actually done.

    Finally parting his eyelid to allow his silver gaze to fall into the world around him, the flowing and constantly rotating river of inscriptions came to a sharp halt.

    Whispering a few words thatrge mass of Inscriptions began to release a churning sound as they flew towards him only to begin to condense into silver orbs. He wouldter divide them.

    The first orb carried the function of concealing the events of a certain range. A barrier. The second orb carried the function of negating eventual res that would ur as a result of the first orb''s functions.

    The third orb could now disy scenes that blended with the win and light in the environment to generate an illusion gotten from the recording of the activities of the three noble families.

    The fourth orb radiated Noah''s presence, and he would bestow that item upon those he would choose. This would allow them to go in and out of the barrier and now disrupt the illusion.

    Noah had tested all four of those objects on small areas on the mountain, They worked perfectly. Even an extra one for future uses.

    The moment all four orbs condensed Noah stood up, and Erolia appeared beside him having stayed outside of her soul space all this while.

    "It is time," Noah announced and the ce trembled. Erolia nodded and the two shot out of the mountain range to meet the others in their agreed location.

    The duo arrived in no time and they found that three others had already arrived, one of them being James, and of course his invisible guard.

    Noah had received the recorder that he kept for James'' battle into the central city. In Honesty the man had barely done much but still won. A show just how much control he could exert.

    "Aiden," James called out seeing the stunning man and his equally stunning partner arrive. In truth, he wondered how a girl that looked that young could possess as much power as she did. It was public knowledge that as one advanced in the various stages of power aging slowed down greatly.

    But for her to have remained that age at that level meant she had achieved a great level from a young age. It was hard to imagine a 10-year-old possessing peak tier-3 prowess. Even at that, the terrible might in the fourth tier was still unexinable. He simply believed she was not human.

    "James. It''s been a while. I heard from the others that you encountered trouble," Noah spoke firsting forward to meet the man.

    James nodded revealing a helpless smile. "The orders people almost took too much interest in me and I had to change that."

    "I see that you seeded," Noahmented folding his arms behind him.

    "Yes�� you had vanished right after I took the stage then," James mentioned. Both of them knew exactly what he was on to.

    "I knew you were going to win," Noah revealed in honesty. "I couldn''t see you, an imperial knight losing to a mere dummy."

    Taken aback by the revtion, James was at a loss for how to respond. He had somehow expected an excuse that sounded like a lie. But hear the saw honesty.

    "You still could have watched. I wanted you to see my moves," the man joked trying quickly to mend whatever awkwardness could spring into existence.

    Noah simply nods his head, not exactly answering the question.

    "I asked around and no one knew where you went," James continued, adopting a light tone while sweeping his gaze on the world around them.

    The meeting location was a rtively big forest. It however featured a clearing, this was where they stayed in wait for the others.

    The night was nearing its arrival. The sunset cast a golden-orange light on the world around creating a nice vibe.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I saw no reason in joining you since I trysted in your ability to utilize the information I provided. So I used thest few days in creating something that would aid our mission." Noah exined, once again telling the truth.

    Seeing the surprise on James'' face just as he expected, Noah spoke again.

    "It''s not much as I only recently picked up the path of inscriptions making. That''s why it took me this long to actuallyplete it."

    "Damn. I honestly didn''t expect that" James admitted, defeated.

    "Can I see the item, I also once studied inscriptions by I left that path many years ago. I still have basic knowledge, however."

    Noah nodded and he waved his hand to reveal the said item he had created.

    A shining blue and silver star-shaped mass of moving words and symbols appeared before them and a strange aura filled the world.

    "What does it do?" James asked marveling at the aura that mass unleashed into the environment.

    "It grants an increased movement speed for a certain amount of time," Noah exined and James raised his head in shock.

    ''Something that advanced and he says he''s only just begun!''

    "That''s pretty in-depth for someone who just started," James remarked, a bit of difficulty appearing on his features.

    "You''d have to understand the very meaning of speed and what it brings. Pretty hardcore stuff honestly. I''d love to try it out. It looks and feels stable." James raised his head.

    "You can," Noah nodded allowing a piece of the star''s pointy edge to break off, floating towards James who allowed it tond on his palm.

    "Just squeeze it and its effects will be generated," Noah exined and James'' eyebrow rose. The simpler the activation of an inscription was the deeper the person understood it. Since that understanding allowed them to optimize its activation.

    "What about a power source?" James asked not yet squeezing it.

    "When activated they feed off of ambient mana," Noah exined further making James feel surprised. Mako and Lora could not help but move closer to the duo to see what was happening.

    Muttering something under his breath James squeezed the mass and watched several blue and silver lines rush forth from his right palm until they ran across his entire body. Bypassing his clothes to reach his skin.

    James did not feel anything for a few seconds, wondering if it had failed. At least that was until a sudden sensation spread across his skin and he blinked in further shock.

    "It''s not invasive. I can barely notice that I have something so heavy on my figure. Its optimization of taking mana from the world around is already amazing. That feat is worthy of praise on its own��"

    "Now let''s test out its effects," James exined out loud whilst those blue lines pulsed with power on his skin before gradually beginning to fade.

    James searched the area before looking up at the sky he tapped his feet on the ground and he honestly didn''t know when his figure appeared high in the sky, almost passing the maximum height allowed.

    The event startled the others since not only did he move quicker than they had expected, his eleration had been utterly silent. Not even the wind moved too much.

    James returned to the ground in the blink of an eye and his eyes shook.

    "Aiden��. Just how long have you been practicing inscriptions?" He stared at his palm. He felt the difference in his speed. He''d need far less to not move too quickly.

    "Less than three months," Noah revealed and silence roared with intensity due to astonishment.

    "Eh?!"

 Chapter 588 588. MAIN PATH

    ?

    Soon the others arrived and only when their numbers reached thirteen in total did anyone stoping. ording to the nid out beforehand, the six others would y certain roles at the rescue point.

    Their destination was a nice tower isted from the rest of the central region. It stood on a hill surrounded by a small formation of trees, big enough to block out the eyes of the public from events urring in itspound.

    ording to the info they had gotten, a number of 5 individuals guarded the perimeter of the tower''spound.

    The path up the hill was also filled with various methods for tracking whoever walked its paths. Thankfully trees also surrounded that path meaning they could bypass some of the methods by simply going off-road.

    Unfortunately, even at that, they would need to cross the wall that led into the tower''spound. It was mainly short, but ording to what they heard possessed some of the best protections avable in the city.

    The tower belonged to an elven official of the order. Possessing a high position, he could obtain certain privileges. One of them being top protection.

    It wasn''t impossible to enter, however, since all they needed to do was go through the main gate.

    It normally would have been hard to carry a group asrge as that through the gate, but that was where Aiden''s inscriptions woulde in.

    All thirteen of them would approach the tower, but about half of them would cause a diversion, while the rest would enter the tower. The six that weren''t with them were in charge of scouting the towers surrounding before the rescue group got in.

    They were also the ones who had gathered all that info, the only issue being that they knew next to nothing about the tower''s insides.

    Information concerning it was scarce, and it was even rumored that oaths were taken just for entering. None of them wanted to be bound by any oaths.

    They were in the dark concerning the actualyout of the tower''s insides, this was the reason, Noah and James would both be going in with four others. Erolia wouldn''t be going with him. They would need to silence the guards or at least keep them busy.

    The group had prepared magical methods for that. Noah wasn''t the only inscriptionist In their midst so he remained silent about being able to lock in the events within that space.

    "At the end of the day, all we can do is rely on each other to carry out certain tasks. We don''t have all the information. But that''s okay. Our abilities have already proved us capable of carrying out this task," James addressed the group, while the others not present listened through amunication amulet.

    "I wish us all good luck and strength." He ended his words and they nodded in unison, except Noah and Erolia of course.

    Before too long they began their journey toward the entrance of the central region.

    Normally to get in they would need to fight their way in, but thanks to the fact that James and three others had gotten in. They were allowed to bring a small group with them.

    They split up and went into the city at different intervals.

    Noah entered with James and the insides of the secured region unfolded in his silver gaze.

    Tall structures that did not look like they belonged to the Cusk nation appeared in his eyes. The area which could be considered a city on its own was abundant with green and yellow lights.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    First due to the barrier that covered the city, and also because of the inscriptions that ran along the streets and the buildings of that region. Also, the magical trees grew at seemingly random positions in the city.

    It looked like they had left the Cusk nation, as even the mana quality in that ce was excellent. The level of power the residents of that region held remained high-end. Moreover, elves were everywhere.

    After thirty years, that sight was to be expected. They had made the central region of the huge city their home. A base for the order and its forces.

    They began their journey toward the region of the city that held the tower. Standing on the eastern side of the city that group walked across the streets and when they got far enough from public eyes they simply started to run.

    Noah never stopped trying to understand the various things he saw, The elves were truly on a different levelpared to those on Cusk. He wondered how they had managed tost as long as thirty years battling that force.

    It took them a bit over twenty minutes to arrive at the small town right before the hill.

    It was bigger than Noah expected and featured far more trees than those who exined had spoken about.

    They blended in since humans also existed within that ce. Either looking to get jobs from the order or already on jobs for them.

    In short, their presence wasn''t suspicious.

    They had decided to move in the small groups they adopted during their entry into the central region and each of them approached the hill in the distance. The tower''s top was already visible even from their position.

    Noah unfolded his consciousness, allowing it to sweep over the hill and inspect most of its details.

    He found nothing exactly catchy to the eyes, especially after their journey through the city.

    Heck, that ce would be considered less shy than what they had seen in previous portions of the central region.

    Still.

    "This is as much as they said it would be. I wonder how they managed to figure them out so quickly." Noahmented as certain details became evident to his superior senses.

    The person that had set up the defenses knew exactly what they were doing. It was a marvel.

    The average tier 4 expert would need to know what they were looking for to find it, if not, it would not ur to their senses.

    The moment they got to the base of the hill their figures sped forth in silence after Noah shared his inscriptions.

    They fanned out, leaving the main path empty.

 Chapter 589 589. MARKS

    ?

    Noah dashed without utilizing the fullness of his speed. His figure weaved through the formation of trees around him, but he wasn''t the only one.

    Fourteen others ran around him, their destination the same. Still, there was something different about the group now, or rather a new detail had been added. James now had in his arms an unconsciousdy.

    Yes, they had seeded in infiltrating the tower and rescuing the person who had been taken. She had been locked inside a dungeon in the tower. Which brings us to the issue now.

    Noah felt in his gut that things weren''t right. The rescue had been smooth. Too smooth. The tier 4''s patrolling the tower had been easily taken out. They weren''t killed, but quickly knocked out and administered sedatives that would put them to sleep for hours.

    Noah took light steps even if they resulted in powerful bursts, but not the best that he could do.

    James sped up, catching up to him, and Noah could tell that he felt the same way thanks to the frown on his face.

    "I don''t feel right," James revealed as they continued to run, he momentarily nced at thedy in his arms. She was beautiful, but that wasn''t what he searched for. She was dirty. Too dirty for someone who had stayed that long with the elves and was milked of information.

    "I believe they would have at least had the presence of mind to treat her better�� after all these years," James exined.

    Noah nced at the blonde-haireddy and nodded. He thought the same too. But even more than that, his instincts tingled but he couldn''t grasp anything.

    "We should remain careful. The operation truly went better than I expected. Our worries might be baseless, however." Noahforted the man, even if his soul realm disagreed. He could sense that even Erolia was worried.

    James furrowed his brows and nodded, before focusing his gaze on the world before them.

    Their destination was on that same hill, five of them had gone to prepare a teleportation point that would take them directly outside of the city.

    Although Noah, James, and a few others more experienced worried, some truly felt they had struck luck. Joyous about the ease they experienced. Yet, even they had to acknowledge the aura of worry theirrades exuded.

    The group arrived at a certain point on the hill and their eyes fell on a group of five standing around a wide area.

    "You arrived on time," Cora had been part of the group and she weed Noah and the others.

    "You can activate the teleport now," Jamesmanded, still worried. They did just as he said and a magical circle containing other magical circles, with inscriptions unfolded in their eyes as four green mana stones floated above the lines drawn into the very earth, powering the teleport.

    A few seconds had to pass before the teleport was considered stable. They all stepped into it and a bright blue light barreled out into the world enveloping their figures after which they disappeared and the magical circles burnt away.

    Noah felt the pressure of the teleport trying to weigh on his mind, but his soul realm remained too sturdy for something of that level.

    Opening their eyes in a different environment, they each felt their gazesnd on the night sky filled with stars. Noah recognized that area.

    It was the hill that featured the underground building created by the royals for their knights.

    Truly they were outside of the city since its lights remained in the distance.

    Still.

    Noah frowned as his silver eyes scanned the group and he expanded his mental waves to grab hold of them, after which pirs of bluish-silver ice and several dome-shaped constructs of silver sparks flickered into existence.

    The pirs of ice bent over the crackling domes, but a golden streak descended from the starry skies, crashing into those defensive manifestations, only to reduce them to nothingness.

    Noah watched this happen, but from the safety of another position. He had moved the entire group by carrying them with his consciousness and sprinting.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The lights from the manifestation of his elements managed to mask his movement.

    Nevertheless, the moment he allowed the groupe outside of his mental waves as they prepared for whatever evil had befallen them, he felt a powerful gazend on his shoulders.

    "Higher stage�� hmm, Its peak," Noah muttered, rather calm. As usual. The same couldn''t be said for the others, however.

    Noah had brought them to another hill''s top allowing them to stare at the sky where the attack hade from.

    The sky trembled soon after, and multiple golden objects flickered into existence, swords of golden radiance.

    Noah allowed his sparks to shoot out of his body again, he could already sense that destruction would fall upon that area unless something was done.

    Another series of dome-shaped constructs made out of his sparks unfolded in the eyes of those stunned experts. Noah added more essence to battle the intensity of the power in the attacks, and only a fewyers shattered.

    Shock waves barreled out in all directions and massive cracks opened in the hill, but it remained in one piece thanks to Noah''s defensive measures.

    "You''re a surprising one." A profound masculine voice erupted forth from the world around them as Noah dispersed those sparks to gaze at the sky.

    His eyes caught sight of a rapidly moving figure which soon came to a stop directly above them. But many meters high.

    Noah remained silent whilst he shared a message among those men and women. He shared a general one but told another one only his group.

    The general message told them to prepare whatever defenses they had as he could not continue protecting them. A lie.

    The non-general one told his group members to prepare to escape.

    Tension was quick to spring into existence, but Noah''s group trusted in his power, even if his initial words worried them.

    "Rats of the royal family. You have fallen right where I wanted you�� now die." The expert whose face could not be seen due to his position and angle, announced as hundreds of golden swords manifested around them, and immense pressurended on that area.

    So much so that the hill crumbled beneath their feet, but they assumed flying.

    "I see�� you were the one he mentioned be wary of�� I hoped we were thorough enough. But it seems that''s not the case." James'' voice rang out, stunning those men and women as he stepped forward.

    Noah simply watched that scene with interest. He remained ready to act, but he would watch his old friend''s powers since even he could feel his aura begin to bubble up.

    "My friends, I will take care of things from here," James announced, pointing his right palm towards the massive golden offensive lighting up the region.

    His brown sleeves turned to nothingness when strange deep-purple and blue marks appeared on his arm to radiate a strange light.

    A silent invisible force barreled out of James'' arm as they all felt a discharge of power even if they couldn''t see it.

    The invisible offensive had been massive since it directly cleared all those swords, shattering them into motes of golden light that quickly disappeared.

    "Oh-oh�� another interesting one!" The peak tier-4 expert eximed with threatening excitement, then he descended to their level.

    But the moment he arrived before them James'' figure exploded with an intense menacing aura,and his power Increased.

 Chapter 590 590. YOUR END

    ?

    Deep purple and blue light shone from James''s figure as he continued to walk forward, until he stood right before the peak stage expert.

    His power bubbled up in intensity as more of those markings came to life on his skin and soon his hair changed color until portions of them held the same colors he radiated.

    James''s eyes turned ck while his irises gained a yellow color creating a strange scene. His clothes crumbled and were reced by ck battle armor possessing deep purple and blue markings.

    An incredible and menacing aura fell on the world around them, as Noah had to protect the others utilizing his mental waves.

    James'' power seemed to cross the higher stage and went deeper into it. A dark one-edged de featuring strange markings on its sharp edge manifested in James'' grip and another wave of pressurended on the environment.

    Noah stepped back as even he felt the weight of the being before him. He activated the systems inspecting function.

    [James]

    [Tier: 4[Mid]]

    [Title: Imperial knight. Bloodline-wielder]

    [Affinity: Water]

    [Current status: Empowered by beast bloodline activation[Dark Phoenix]

    "Interesting," Noahmented,creating distance between him and his old friend.

    The peak stage tier 4 expert chuckled at the disy before him. He liked what he saw but in truth, he had his eyes mostly on the stunning silver and white-haired man. Something about his presence made him tremble.

    James noticed that the man''s gaze had stopped falling on him so he moved.

    "I''m your opponent!" He roared charging forward at magnificent speeds. James'' voice had undergone a significant change. He sounded less human and more beast-like.

    The area trembled at James'' eleration as he chased after his opponent who flickered from his position the moment he charged forward.

    A chase unfolded at the point, but a powerful bang resounded into the world soon after. James'' figure streaked down from the sky only to crash into the terrain below. Shattering it in the process.

    "You''re not man enough for battles at this level. Whatever strange power you have been given cannot-" The man''s words were cut short when James abruptly appeared before him.

    His eyes widened, but he bent his head to the side, evading the fist his opponent had thrown. A massive bullet ofpressed air barreled forth in that direction, traveling as far as the immense strength could carry it, before dispersing.

    The expert clicked his tongue as his shining orange eyes bounced from gaze to gaze, following the flurry of blows James unleashed on his figure but never managed tond a hit.

    The man on the other hand threw a fist thatnded directly on James'' chest piece. The power in his blow remained insufficient to dent the armor but was enough to send James shooting toward a distant region at terrible speeds.

    The man folded his arms behind his back and his orange eyesnded on a spot close to the group, he narrowed his gaze as something became known to him and a wide grin appeared on his aged features.

    The expert looked to be in his mid-sixties, his face featured lines caused by stress, but his eyes remained as vibrant as any youth. He also possessed a head-full of short brown hair and was donned in a simple light-green garment.

    "I almost missed your presence. Impressive." The expert''s profound voice rang out and that group shuddered due tock of understanding, except Noah and Erolia.

    The man remained ready to step forward toward the invisible woman when he frowned and turned to point his right palm at empty space.

    Fifty huge golden swords flickered into existence to streak toward their target.

    James who was on his way back saw this and decided to get even more serious. He allowed his de to appear in his grip again and he waved it at the huge offensive rushing towards him.

    A massive sh of shining blue intensity manifested to swallow those giant des.

    James shot out of his sh to appear before the man again. This time he delivered a kick at his face, which the man caught, but in quick session to that event, he opened his mouth now riddled with sharp teeth and a purple light appeared from behind his throat.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The peak stage expert saw this and felt danger for the first time, he let go of James'' leg to cross his arms whilst shields of golden light emerged into existence before him.

    James let out a huge jet of purple-ck mes making a spectacr heat barrel out into the world.

    He ended up destroying the man''s defensive measures., but the expert managed to escape before too much damage was done to him.

    James coughed violently after that attack. Although he wasn''t at the peak of the higher stage, his mes could touch that level qualitatively, and it hurt his throat.

    He had barely spent five years with that power. There remained too much he had notpletely understood.

    The dark phoenix had more powers than he had mastered, but he could die if he exerted himself too much. Still, he had seen the peak of those who mastered their bloodline abilities. All Imperial knights had one. This was what made them imperial knights.

    Those who died during the integration phase simply died, but those who managed to survive were immediately made imperial knights.

    Lucky enough for James he had not only survived the process but had survived the process of one of the rarest beasts. There were only three others like him.

    James held onto his throat in utter pain. It burnt, but his healing ability kicked in. One of the details that allowed him to even survive the activation of his bloodline.

    ''I still need more time.'' he concluded inwardly. ''After I defeat him.''

    The moment he allowed those words to flow in his mind James watched a pir of golden light rise to the sky. The expert''s real ability wasn''t even the golden light. Those were simply born from his mastery over certain types of magic bestowed upon him by the order.

    "You have managed to harm me. I apud you for that. But I haven''t even begun this fight." The man''s deep voice shook the region.

    The golden pir suddenly saw cracks appearing on its structure, and soon it shattered into an innumerable amount of golden shards that refused to disperse, however.

    The man''s humanoid figure appeared before the eyes of the world, he was now donned in a battle armor made out of his golden light, but the earth beneath him trembled to give birth to giants armed with golden clubs and spears.

    Those earthen giants numbered twenty, and they all possessed sturdiness in the higher stage.

    The expert floated behind his small army of giants as hemanded them to charge toward James.

    Preparing another invisible attack, James decided to take out those giants first before focusing on their maker.

    Astonishment appeared on his features, however, when the ground suddenly saw silverish-blue ice spreading on its surface. And massive spikes of ice exploded from the ground to impale those giants, shattering them.

    James felt a subtle drop in ambient temperature and felt shocked again to find that Aiden now stood behind him.

    ''How did he bypass my senses!'' He eximed inwardly, even if his presence cooled him. Literally.

    "I said you should go." James gave a defeated expression, he had not unleashed all that he could, but from the looks of things, it was clear that he struggled.

    "I have sent them away," Noah responded pointing at the distance. He put those experts on a wind serpent and sent them away from the region. Even Erolia.

    "I will help you battle him," Noah stated seeing James'' expression. His eyebrows now held purple shades too.

    James nodded at that point when his instincts shook and he flew away from that position.

    "Two against one. That''s not fair. But the end is the same. Death." The man announced when huge spears of golden light tried to hit the duo.

    James escaped but Noah remained. He stretched his right hand forward, stopping the massive spear. The event generated a powerful bang.

    "No. Death will be your end." Noah responded, increasing the intensity of his grip on the golden spear, until he caused cracks to spread in its figure and it shattered Into nothingness.

    Unfolding his aura, Noah ignored the stunned gazes of the three individuals on that battlefield.

 Chapter 591 591. WINGS OF FIRE

    ?

    The battle between the trio raged on, and the skies of that region continued to witness huge attacks and powerful explosions that shook the area with their shock waves.

    Noah remained on his toes, nimble. His attacks were incredible and his movement speed caused all who were on that battlefield to tremble. He elerated to points that even they could not follow.

    At some point it was clear that it was more than speed, there seemed to be something concerning his path that made for that immense detail.

    James had never understood why speed was so important until he watched Noah unfold in a terrible disy of power.

    Suddenly, he felt nostalgic. Unfortunately, their opponent would not allow that state tost for too long.

    The expert said a few words and the entire world seemed to tremble, even if it was only that area.

    The expert set up a barrier blocking the events that happened there from reaching the outside world.

    Normally they were too far from the city for most to take note of the battle. And truly no one did. Still, the expert felt pressed to activate that ability since it wasn''t just a barrier but also a domain for his golden constructs.

    Noah, James, and even the invisibledy had to start dodging attacks from all points due to that activation. The expert''s earthen attacks also increased in frequency as he traveled across the battlefield unleashing attacks on the duo.

    James felt his vitality and strength plunge during those minutes. The usage of his bloodline ability really did task his body, soul, and even his green core.

    Still, Noah''s disy made him want to match up, but he couldn''t. It quickly became clear that both of them were never on the same level.

    How that was possible, he did not know. But in all his life he had never seen a middle-stage expert stand toe to toe with a peak-stage expert.

    Even the man trembled whenever he saw Noah arrive too close to him.

    Something happened at some point, though. Noah stretched forth his hand at the man, but the entire ce around them shook.

    James watched strange triangles and circles expand above them, lighting that area up with silver light whilst drowning the golden lights a bit.

    James blinked and suddenly felt like he stood on a vast in surrounded by oppressive mountains. He could hear the crashing of thunder and feel the quality of power around him. Simply astonishing.

    "Descent of the crackling mountain." These words reverberated in the ears of those experts, but before they could gain aplete understanding of what Noah said, an unimaginable amount of pressure descended on the environment, so much so that James fell from the sky like lightning.

    The higher-staged individuals bent their backs when that weight unfolded, but then the sky trembled again and a massive object descended from those huge triangles and circles.

    The barrier the expert had set up flickered with violent intensity as the size and quality of what fell from the circles and triangles were on par with theirs.

    A great amount of heat unfolded into the world as the pointed peak of a crackling mountain became evident to the eyes of those men.

    Only then did the peak stage expert decide to move. Unfortunately, Noah was faster.

    Chains of ice sprung into existencetching unto the very air around them like it was solid, then they wrapped around the expert.

    Noah did not stop there, he allowed crackling chains to manifest before them and wrap around the chains of ice, enforcing their power.

    After that, he sprinted out of the environment whilst encasing the area of that attack in a sphere of wind, sparks, and ice. Noah repeated theyers about thrice before standing to watch.

    He had intentionally not told James of this. In the end, he didn''t care if he died or not.

    Despite theyers of elements, terrible shock waves still swept the world around them, shattering the grounds and causing the wind to blow violently in the area that they traveled towards.

    They weren''t strong enough to do much to Noah. But then he watched a shining crack appear on the outermostyer of the sphere and secondster other cracks unfolded, and the construct began to fall apart and in the process terrible waves of electrical energy gushed into the world, spreading destruction.

    Noah nodded his head at that scene, understanding why what happened had been so.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    In a bid to save James, the invisibledy attacked the insides of the sphere. Helping the attacks the peak stage expert had unleashed.

    Noah knew his magic could not handle the destructive power of two higher-stage experts.

    Even he would struggle to fight them without calling on the power of his Speedling form.

    Staying in his position Noah allowed the events to unfold before he decided on what next to do.

    Soon enough he caught sight of James shooting outside of the range of that overflowing attack.

    "Enough of all this!" The peak stage expert proimed. Throughout the battle he had managed to sustain heavy injuries, but only from Noah''s hands. That crackling mountain had worsened his state, but he could still fight.

    Another pir of golden light tried to rise out of the expanding sea of sparks, and it did, only to shatter into nothingness soon after.

    Noah put those sparks under his control and made them mess with the man''s power. He saw a figure shoot out of the mess flying toward him, so he made two massive palms manifest from those terrible sparks and they mped on the man''s figure from up and down.

    Noah clenched his fist to allow those two palms to remain in position, but the man exploded with power blowing up those crackling palms to continue to shoot toward Noah.

    A battered James suddenly appeared on the man''s path and he quickly stretched out his arms side by side.

    Wings made out of purple mes flickered into existence by reason of his arms. Even if those mes did not directlye out of his limbs, but existed about a meter from them. They were huge.

    Mimicking a pping wing, James shattered the sound barrier to shoot towards the man with his wings of mes now burning with greater intensity.

    Many meters before they collided, the peak staged expert allowed massive swords to shoot toward his iing opponent, but he watched them miss due to James'' sudden burst in agility and speed.

    Right before the duo met, James abruptly came to a halt and his de reappeared in his right hand.

    Stretching his sword towards his left side, James swung, and his wings of fire swirled around his sword to unleash a gigantic sh born out of those deep purple mes.

    The size of that attack and its close dangerously range made the iing expert unable to evade it.

    That attacknded on the expert and he voiced a scream of agony an instantter. The mes refused to pass him. Instead, the moment they came in contact with him, they began to burn on and around him.

    James dropped to the ground after that attack. Void of all his strength.

    Noah took this as a sign to move, and although James'' strange attack had lit a me of curiosity, he moved to end that man.

    His daggers appeared in his hands and he poured essence into their fabric pushing their power up momentarily.

    ''I should try my best not toe in contact with those mes.'' Noahmented inwardly.

    Bending his knees he transformed into a streak with those heavy des in his hands.

    Due to the pain the man suffered, he would not stay still, so Noah couldn''t directly stab his daggers into him. So he did something else.

    Coming to a halt merely meters from the man''s general position Noah raised his arms to unleash two huge shes of purely withering power!

    Thanks to their size they enveloped the man in their size, but instead of shooting toward the region before them, Noah caused both shes to cease moving.

    It looked like time had been ground to a halt since those shes retained their shapes.

    Noah didn''t stop until a silver screen appeared before him notifying him of the man''s death.

 Chapter 592 592. SEVERE TASK

    ?

    "I didn''t even get to ask him who he was," Noah shook his head allowing his attacks to disperse. Thanks to James'' mes and his withering shes the man had ended up into no less than bones.

    Bones that fell to the ground but turned into dust before they even touched the surface.

    Noah descended to meet James. He was back to normal now, even if he looked as pale as death. He also bled from his mouth, nose, and ears.

    "You look like shit," Noahmented, arriving before the imperial knight. Hey on the ground groaning a bit.

    James tried to giggle but he only coughed out blood and his expression contorted in pain.

    "You''ve exerted yourself too much. Because of your strange power," Noah spoke, lifting James off the ground and putting his right arm around his shoulder.

    "It''s a pretty long story. One I''m not allowed to share." James exined limping. He realized that he had a few broken ribs and his left leg featured fractures. He would live, however. His bloodline power had put pressure on even his bones. The sudden release of that power had caused damage.

    He felt both light and heavy.

    "I see. Understood." Noah responded, allowing a tform of wind to manifest below them. Then he ascended with James.

    ''We''ll need toplete the assassination quickly. But I need them to leave first.''

    "Let''s find the others, they shouldn''t have gone too far�� hopefully," Noah revealed, wrapping James in his mental waves before sprinting.

    He had to cross miles worth ofnd area before he arrived above a chain of hills surrounding a small formation of tall trees.

    "We have returned," Noah announced and his voice didn''t have to carry power before it reached his target audience.

    Less than twenty seconds after his words, the duo watched several figures ascend from within the woods to approach them.

    The air was somber when theyid eyes on James'' bad state.

    "The man is dead, even if I have no knowledge of who he is and why he attacked us," Noah exined and he could see relief appear on their expressions.

    All eyes fell on James after that point and he understood why.

    "You mentioned someone told you to remain careful about the man. Who is he?" Noah voiced the thoughts of all who were there.

    James nodded.

    "It''s only fair that I tell you who he was seeing as he endangered your lives."

    "You all know that I got into a little skirmish with certain individuals and during my time in the central region, I can say I''ve made enemies willing enough toe after my life."

    "But this person we just killed was an expert in charge of keeping the tower safe. I had gotten info that he stays in the shadows most times and he''s the reason many are okay with taking oaths so he didn''te after them."

    "I believe he''s the reason the rescue was so easy. Meaning we have to leave quickly or we risk getting caught in really troublesome events." James slowly exined.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ��?��m "I guess this means farewell for now," Noah announced, ready to initiate their departure.

    "I too sense a certain darkness iing. I don''t like it." Noah admitted, and those men and women could only nod.

    "We can separate immediately. I doubt the death of a peak stage tier four will go unnoticed for too long." James sighed letting go of Noah''s arms. Erod stepped forward to help James stand, but he raised his hand to stop him, at least for a bit. He had something to say.

    "Before we go, I want to say voice my gratitude for the great help you all have rendered to the royal family. I''ve heard of yourpetence from my people and I will put in a good word for the members of the divine lightning guild."

    James slowly swept his gaze on Noah''s group while he spoke. It was necessary to address them.

    "I also voice my apologies since we''ve brought more trouble than not. I hope we get to work more in the future," James bowed before his features contorted in pain. Erod stepped forward at that point and he exchanged nces with Noah, before nodding and beginning to fly.

    "Till next time!" James eximed as they ascended. The five of them shattered the sound barrier to leave that region. They activated a teleport during their flight and all five vanished in a bright orange light.

    Silence remained among Noah and the thirteen, Erolia included.

    "Noah." Davis stepped forward understanding what must be done next,

    Noah continued to stare into the distance even after the five had disappeared. Thankfully the invisible woman had also followed them.

    There was a different issue now.

    As he stood, he could feel a certain gazend on his figure. It didn''te from a particr location, but from all around him.

    The feeling soon faded and he could focus on the group who had been waiting in silence.

    "We don''t have too much time. The death of the expert would soon spread amongst the various powers. They''ll be on guard for a long time." Noah started.

    "I would have wished we had at least another day to properly prepare you for the things that I have nned beforehand. But as things look, the assassination will have to be carried out this very night."

    Those words instantly put them on edge, but Noah opened his mouth to speak.

    "Do not worry, however. I will make sure all things work out smoothly," He announced, calming them.

    "Erolia," he called out and she quickly drew nearer.

    "Not all of us will be returning to the city. I will first return to set the stage thene back to take those who will be tasked with destroying the noble families. Understood?" They all nodded in response.

    Noah approved their reaction and a white light wrapped around his figure then he disappeared. They were tasked to first protect themselves whilst they waited for him.

    An awkward silence permeated their midst, there was also tension. Even though he had assured them of safety, those experts could not help it. They were about to carry out a severe task in a city filled with powerful elves.

    To their surprise, Noah didn''t spend up to ten minutes before another white light unfolded in their startled gazes and he reappeared before them.

 Chapter 593 593. I FEEL... AMAZING

    ?

    Noah allowed his silver gaze to arrive on the figures of the 12. They had been with him for a bit now and he essentially knew them.

    The air was tense and thanks to his earlier words they understood that he hade to choose those who would return to the city. A hectic event it truly was.

    "Four of you will be returning with me to deal with two of the estates. I on the other hand will deal with thest one. The Earl family''s abode." Noah started exining and they each listened attentively.

    "This is how it would go, I have set up measures that would keep the events urring within the estates secret. The chosen four will have five minutes to deal with their designated spot. After which you''ll be in trouble."

    He paused, sweeping his gaze on those men and women. From what he saw most of them did not want to return to the city. Thankfully they were those he didn''t even n on taking.

    "Jenna, step forward. Jade step forward." Noah called out and the duo flinched even if they did just as hemanded.

    "Josh, step forward. You too Davis." The two stepped forward quickly after, and the others calmed down. Cora on the other hand had been willing to go.

    "You are the four apanying me," Noah revealed spreading his right hand. A silver mass appeared on his palm and that silver mass parted into smaller chunks and floated toward the four.

    "These bear my presence. With them you''ll be able to enter and leave the barrier I set without making it unstable." He exined.

    "Crush it and you activate its function. But that''s forter when we arrive in the city. Now, however, I will empower you." Noah exined and their eyebrows rose.

    "Empower us?" Jenna asked, and Noah nodded, stretching his left arm forward.

    "I advise that the rest of you step back a bit," he revealed and the others directly jumped backward several meters. None of them trusted his use of words. A bit would probably be enough to kill them.

    The four before Noah felt their heartbeats increase. They could almost hear theirrade''s words offort. Real fear gripped them. But they remained in position. Expectant.

    "Holy blessing," Noah muttered, pointing at Jenna first. He could smell her fear when his stretched-out arm saw triangles and circles unfolding around it.

    A triangle unfolded both on Noah''s abdomen and his forehead. He sensed a significant portion of his reserves vanish at that point, then saw simr-looking circles and triangles appear on Jenna''s body.

    She freaked out a bit; raising her hands to gaze at the phenomenon. Confusion was still evident on her features when Noah suddenly shone a bright silver sh and so did her figure.

    Jenna''s aura instantly exploded with power and intensity as an incredible pressurended on her surrounding and she felt her power skyrocket.

    An invisible shock wave unfolded into the world around and the ground shattered to give way to that incredible power. Jenna unknowingly began to float as her figure now shone a resplendent silver light.

    Her hair floated mysteriously and even her eyes held evident silver shades. She now carried an addition of 20% of Noah''s stats. In her long life, she had never felt that strong.

    "I feel�� amazing," Jenna revealed and her voice shook the area. Due to the suddenness of that increase in power, she; for obvious reasons, hadn''t mastered control over herself, allowing for that leakage of power.

    Noah nodded and took an essence pill. His reserves bubbled up and he pointed at Davis who trembled when he saw that, but he was ready now. He too wanted to experience that power.

    So one by one Noah blessed them with 20% of his stats and shock waves of power followed by bursts of silver light unfolded in the deep forest.

    Soon all four of those experts continued to ooze terrible power. The others suddenly regretted not being chosen.

    "We will leave now," Noah announced and Erolia nodded along with the four. They still marveled at their new power.

    During those moments, Noah exined to them what was happening. Those experts shook when they realized that only 20% of his full power could generate that effect.

    They had heard of buffs that boosted the capabilities of experts, but this was different. It felt like they had crossed over into the higher stage. And the truth wasn''t too far from that.

    "Let''s go," Noah said, and he took them into his cultivation room, but darkened their eyes and consciousness with his power.

    The moment they arrived in his cultivation room they teleported into the city. They were before the Opoli noble family''s estate and Noah could already tell that they had discovered the presence of the barrier, but no one had the type of power to bypass it.

    Not only were the barriers higher stage quality and even close to the peak of the fourth tier, but the fact that they were born of speed essence made it practically impossible for those middle-staged experts to bypass it.

    "Jeanna, Josh. You both will be taking the Opoli family. Utilize what I have given you before going forward." Noahmanded and the duo stepped forward. Their figures still emitted silver light, but the expression of their power had been kept on a low.

    "You have about four minutes."

    They crushed the small orbs of light and watched a strange mist envelop them. It felt like Aiden. They nodded and went forward.

    From the outside view, everything was normal, even the four could not see anything out of hand, but Noah allowed the barrier to flicker and they saw its silver nature. It epassed arge area.

    Noah nodded when the duo were in and teleported with Davis and Jade. They arrived at the Uro family''s abode and the duo entered after activating the item.

    Noah and Erolia arrived before the Earl family''s abode and he could already sense her hatred.

    "Calm down," Noah ced his hand on her shoulder and she furrowed her brows even if she nodded.

    "I will let you do whatever you like, just be careful, okay?" He revealed, activating the inscriptions that gave birth to his aura.

    Erolia didn''t need to have Noah bless her with 20% of his stats but he did so anyway and sent her forth to wreak havoc.

    Noah on the other hand stayed outside of those barriers, ready to receive them when they finished the task. In the meantime, he conversed with the chatty system.

 Chapter 594 594. MESSENGERS OF DESTRUCTION

    ?

    The moment Davis and Jade stepped into the barrier they each felt a certain force try to repel them, but the defensive measures Noah set up recognized the aura they carried, allowing them to cross without shattering everything.

    "That was�� interesting," Davismented, ncing at his partner for that task.

    Jade was a woman who looked to be in her early thirties, she possessed short brown hair and a pair of glowing green eyes. She stood at a height of about 5 ft4.

    "We already have attention on ourselves," Jade revealed, gazing at the world below them. She could already sight about five individuals approaching them, all in the fourth tier. Two were in the lower stage and the rest were middle-staged experts. The strongest stood at the very peak of the middle stage.

    "State your business," the man at the forefront of the group directed his words at the silvery figures that had appeared inside the domain of the noble family.

    Less than twenty minutes earlier they had discovered that a barrier now surrounded them, not allowing anything or anyone to leave. They believed it was the doing of the Order, but after establishingmunications proved to be impossible, they thought differently.

    Still, the nature of their current situation had not fully dawned on them. Was the Order doing something, or was this the doing of a foreign power? Still, who would attack them in a city filled with that many elves?

    Davis and Jade remained silent towards the middle-aged man''s words.

    "Are you with the Order? Inform them that the entire family of the noble house is present and they do not condone such actions in their territory. It goes against the agreement!" The man yelled, visibly angered by the event.

    "That''s good to hear. Isn''t it?" A wide smile appeared on Davis''s enlightened features as a giant ck sword manifested in his grip.

    Jade chuckled, relishing the strength she experienced. A shining green and pink bow appeared in her grip and her aura intensified. So did the light she emitted.

    The duo quickly transformed into miniature stars as the empowerment they received was based on the light affinity, their figures shone brightly and even produced a strange heat.

    "Who are you? And how dare you invade the territory of the Uro noble family!" The expert''s aura began to seep out of his figure, anger bloomed on his features as he prepared to battle the duo. It was five against two even if two of the five were only at the peak of the lower stage.

    "We are messengers of destruction. The actions of the Uro family have brought this upon them," Davis announced, his words stunning Jade who struggled to keep herughter bottled up.

    Davis shattered the sound barrier to streak toward the man since they were many meters from each other.

    "I guess," Jade chuckled drawing her bowstring. The air around her grew troubled as the wind gathered to manifest as a shining green arrow empowered by the bow and her elevated power.

    The event transformed into a huge storm that saw her at the center of the event. Even Davis took note of the attack being prepared, he did not stop, however.

    Swinging his giant ck de at the middle-aged expert draped in a flowy, luxurious-looking grey robe, Davis poured the entirety of his physical strength into that simple execution.

    An explosion of wind force unfolded into the world before the de even touched the expert.

    The event had been powerful enough to send the others behind the man shooting toward the estate in the distance.

    "Oh-oh," Davis eximed when he saw that the man had parried his de with another sword. Unfortunately for the expert of the Uro family, his weapon crumbled into dust instantster.

    "That was a peak-middle stage weapon made from the bones of a wyvern�� how did--" His words of astonishment were cut short when Davis''s fistnded on his face. The expert almost instantly arrived on the ground due to the immense force in that punch.

    The ground shattered into different depth levels. Manifesting as a deep crate with the man at its bottom.

    Unfortunately, Davis didn''t have time to attack his opponent again, he nced at the iing experts who had been sent flying and shook his head only to turn to focus his gaze on Jade in the distance.

    Her attack was ready and his instincts roared.

    ''Is she going to take the entire estate in one go?!'' Davis screamed inwardly as he evacuated that area with immediate effect.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    Jade closed her eyes whilst the wind around her obeyed her everymand. She fell into ecstasy for the power she experienced did things to her.

    When her gathering ability finally reached its limit and she saw Davis leave the area she could only let go of the attack to watch it in action.

    The moment Jade let go of the massive arrow of shining wind, the sheer power it exploded with upon eleration pushed her backward.

    The arrow streaked across thends of that area and every inch it flew across fell into utter chaos, as the winds were powerful enough to tear the ground even from that height.

    The two middle-staged experts tried to set up a barrier but they failed and were quickly overwhelmed by the power in that attack.

    The arrow fell on the estate and it looked like that would be the ending for those living within it when the green barrier abruptly flickered into existence to sh with the huge wind-based attack.

    A blinding white light erupted into existence with terrible might as both magic fought for dominance.

    The grounds of that area never stopped shaking, and cracks unfolded in the terrain whilst the barrier continued to fight with the arrow.

    Shock waves continued to barrel forth into the world and the wind force was so dense it was far more visible.

    Davis saw this and clicked his tongue. They had limited time in that form so he had to help.

    Letting go of his giant de even if it began to float, he closed his eyes to call upon his water affinity while he searched for a powerful spell that suited that battlefield.

    Finding it, Davis''s eyes snapped open to reveal that a new light now existed in their structure.

    His aura unfolded with greater intensity instantster, as several azure magical circles expanded above his head and below his feet.

    The very air around him began to vibrate while smaller circles expanded around him. Belting the circles above and below him.

    A spinning azure mass quickly appeared before him and he stretched forth his right hand to clench it in his fist.

    An explosion of light and force urred at that point for tendrils of azure liquid the size of small rivers manifested through the narrow gaps in his fist.

    The azure light the water released rose in intensity as those tendrils further converged many meters before him, revealing the sword-based shape that they took.

    Davis exhaled sharply at that point, and the huge shining de beamed forward to m into the barrier.

    Words could not exin the sheer power that surged into the world at that event.

    The cracks that had been opened before expanded until they almost resembled chasms.

    The barrier began to flicker but still held on, unfortunately for those who activated the defensive measure another massive arrow fell on the barrier and everything ended.

    The spinning arrownded on the very estate and transformed into a massive explosion blowing away a significant portion of that domain. A huge crater formed.

    The duo had seeded in shattering something past the mid-point of the higher stage. A feat that would have been impossible if not for the addition of Noah''s stats.

    Theymended themselves only for a few seconds before moving forward to take care of every living thing they found within the domain.

    They indeed became the messengers of destruction.

 Chapter 595 595. APOCALYPTIC MESS

    ?

    Jenna and Josh arrived within the barrier and just as expected, they found that several individuals were already alerted to wee their entry.

    "We have work to do," Jenna muttered, even if her words could be heard by Josh. The duo gazed forward only to find several figures floating above the estate, all of which were in the fourth tier.

    There were seven individuals present on the enemy''s side, and only two of them.

    Amongst the three families, the Opoli family remained the strongest. Possessing more experts in the third tier and the fourth tier.

    Even now the duo could sight about 50 experts all wielding power in the peak of the third tier. They all looked ready forbat just as their tier 4 elders did.

    One of them slowly flew forward. The air was tense, they knew whoever arrived were intruders. The event remained astonishing nevertheless.

    "State your business," thedy announced standing about 20m away from the duo, her aura carried her voice and she was audible.

    She stood at a level that remained close to the higher stage. Even now, she felt like she could cross over that very instant. She also looked rather young. Forty-ish.

    The issue clearly disturbed her since her brown eyebrows creased and her long hair danced with her movements. She radiated reluctance.

    "We havee here to carry out the will of our master," Josh exined, feeling exalted. The silver light he radiated made him feel god-like. Or the messenger of a higher being. Aiden certainly ssified as someone of higher status.

    Still, his words managed to put a bit of surprise in Jenna''s mind. She yed along anyways. After all Aiden had done, he deserved to be called their master.

    She even felt willing to make him one if he could bless her with that incredible power all the time.

    "Your master?��" Thedy furrowed her brows but soon shook her head to not lose focus. "Does your master know who we are?"

    "He very well does. But it matters not," Josh''s aura red and intensified, along with the silver light he emitted.

    The event pushed thedy back a few steps since even Jenna stepped forward.

    "There are seven of us and only two of you. Your master has sent you to your deaths," thedy frowned even if her chest trembled at their power. She couldn''t clearly sense their levels.

    "Yet you fear our presence�� Well, no worries, we will cut you all down," Josh announced, and the ground below them started to shake until huge fissures opened. The noise remained terrible.

    "You have no idea what you''re doing. We could benefit from each other. There''s no need for any fighting!" Thedy tried to reason with them, even if her hopes for a peaceful interaction slowly drained away.

    "Higher powers demand your death, and the deaths of the nobles for betraying our nation. You should have expected this." Jenna was the one to reply. The air around her turned hot as she prepared for action.

    Even from their distance, they could sense the gazes of those experts far away, they stood only an instant from exploding in power.

    Thedy''s countenance fell at those words as understanding dawned on her and she couldn''t see any way out of that violent event.

    "I see�� so be it then," she announced shattering the sound barrier to return to her people, their auras unfolding violently quickly after.

    "Shall we?" Josh announced even if the ground continued to tremble below them.

    Jenna nodded and her figure exploded with spectacr greenish-blue mes.

    The heat in the environment skyrocketed as both experts unfolded their consciousness.

    Their mental waves encountered the others in the distance, but the duo attacked anyways.

    The ground shattered to give birth to huge chunks of earth. Seven of those earthen spheres manifested around the duo, but the phenomenon caused destruction in the estate. They were still outside its walls.

    Josh made those masses begin to spray chunks of earth on the estate in the distance and the sheer magnitude of that attack covered everything in sight.

    The offensive had been powerful thanks to the speed those small rocks traveled at.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    Jenna backed that offensive by calling balls of mes into existence. Those huge balls of fire sped forward before unfolding into powerful and expansive explosions.

    Shock waves barreled out into the world due to that event, but the barrier Noah set up kept all those effects bottled up within that area.

    Unfortunately for the duo, they saw that the explosion quickly cleared and a yellow barrier unfolded before them, revealing that their targets had been unscathed by the joint attacks.

    Josh shook his head at that point before shattering the sound barrier to almost instantly arrive before them.

    His fist went forward, mming into the barrier with terrible power. To the astonishment of those experts, everything quaked as a result.

    Josh possessed an addition of 20% of Noah''s strength stats to his. Even he marveled at the sheer power avable to him now. Also, his stamina felt boundless.

    A rain of blows fell on that barrier and each second they allowed him to go on; cracks continued to appear on their defensive, and they moved.

    The seven experts allowed the barrier to vanish right when Josh punched forward, making him lose his bnce since his fist met air.

    Spells erupted into existence the moment that opening revealed itself, but greenish-blue mesnded on that area and everything fell into fiery chaos.

    "Tch," Jenna clicked her tongue crossing her arms before her, she closed her eyes for a second and opened them again, a bright orange magical circle expanded below her and giants of orange, blue, and green mes streaked outside of the magical circle.

    That spell remained one that had been collecting dust in her skill belt due to its high mana cost and terrible pressure on the mind.

    But now.

    Huge 30m giants of greenish-blue mes possessing arcs of orange mes above their heads arrived on the battlefield and the ambient temperature spiked.

    Those giants of mes could act on their own thanks to the little sentience the activation gave them from Jenna''s soul energy.

    With this, all ten of those giants could attack one expert at a time, reducing the stress from the two cultivators.

    Josh''s figure shot out of the fiery area to overlook things from a higher perspective. He nced at Jenna who remained in the distance but supported with terrible fire attacks.

    He nodded and the ground beneath them began to tremble. Soon, huge boulders departed from the rest of the terrain to float around the expert.

    He remained tinypared to those manifestations of power, but hemunicated with Jenna and she stretched her left hand towards all twenty of those boulders, and mes shot towards them to set them aze.

    The event had been nigh-blinding, as those boulders transformed into small stars that lit everything up.

    Doom fell on the experts of the Opoli family, thedy tried to escape the annoying battle with the giants of mes, but she could only feel trepidation enter her chest when her fiery opponent detonated just to stop her from leaving.

    The explosion had been powerful, so much so that it touched almost all the others fighting.

    That second of distraction had been enough for Josh to stretch his arms forward and those ming boulders shot toward the estate and its people.

    The grounds trembled and the wind blew greatly as it increased in temperature. Those masses fell toward the estate in seemingly slow motion but quickly arrived on the ground and an explosion followed by other terrible explosions unfolded into the area.

    So much so that even Jenna and Josh had to stick together for protection.

    All the tier 3 experts were dead at this point, but just like the Uro family, a barrier existed around the estate.

    Still, Josh and Jenna continued to rain fiery boulders on the area, messing everything up until they got to their targets.

    Rivers of molten rocks flowed across the enclosed region since the area quickly became an oven when nothing got past the barrier. Including heat.

    The duo transformed the entire region covered by the barrier into an apocalyptic mess.

 Chapter 596 596. CRATER

    ?

    Noah remained on the outside of the location belonging to Earl noble family. Time continued to count in his head whilst he stayed outside silently. Waiting for the four minutes to pse.

    He teleported away from the Earl family''s location to arrive before the Opoli family. Just in the nick of time, he saw the figures of Jenna and Josh departing from the barrier.

    Everything still looked normal thanks to the illusions he had created, but only he and they knew that utter chaos existed on the inside.

    The duo had returned and they were back to normal. No silver light came out of their figures and their powers remained at their normal level.

    At the end of the day they needed to hunt down the tier 4 cultivators one by one until they killed them off.

    Sure their wide-ranged attacks had dealt terrible damage to the environment, but to properly kill the experts, closebat had been required. At least to some degree.

    "Aiden," Josh called out, looking weak. His clothes were charred and his skin possessed burnt patches. The sheer heat within the barrier had burnt him that much merely seconds after they lost the empowerment.

    Thanks to her fire affinity Jenna was only pale.

    Noah grabbed onto them with his mental waves, after making some changes to the barrier''s functions, then streaked across thends to arrive before the Uro family''s location.

    He had to wait a bit more before Davis and Jade emerged from the barrier. Their figures looked stained but they had sustained no injuries that did not heal right before their empowerment ended.

    They exchanged a few words after which Noah made the same changes to the barriers.

    They returned to the Earl family''s location and continued to wait for Erolia, whom Noah could feel relief build up in her heart, despite the sadness she still experienced.

    Still, before Erolia came out, Noah decided to take a look at the insides of the barrier. He brought those experts with him.

    An expansive area unfolded in their eyes, but the first detail they all took note of was the fact that the entire area had be a massive crater!

    The next would be the dark clouds up above them.

    Terrible bolts thundered up there and it was astonishing how not a hint of that sound could be heard on the outside.

    The crashing of thunderbolts was so loud that the ground never stopped trembling.

    The next detail that would be evident was the huge masses of smokeing from several points in the crater.

    The air was hot as a result of the charred surfaces.

    The battle had ended since the clouds did not discharge their sparks, opting to simply announce the power their creator possessed.

    There remained not a single standing structure in the whole ce. After all, that ce was a big charred crater about 40m deep.

    Thest detail that stood very evident would be the shining cerulean, gold, and white light shining at the very center point of the dark clouds.

    Several green lights floated around that light.

    Noah''s eyes could pierce the radiance to see that Erolia had remained in her human form, and the green lights around her were mana cores from the fallen experts.

    The group of five suddenly felt a powerful gazend on their figures. But Erolia knew Noah''s aura far too well.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    The light she radiated vanished as she flew towards them, fast enough to arrive there in seconds but slow enough to not have shattered the sound barrier upon initial eleration.

    "Erolia," Noah called out tilting his head to the side. He stared at her downcast gaze knowing exactly how she felt.

    Still.

    "How do you feel?" He asked, cing his hand on her head. Her features remained untouched by the world and its dirt.

    "I want to rest for a bit," she replied, raising her head to gaze at Noah''s eyes. His silver eyes locked with hers and he seemed to get lost in her master''s thoughts.

    Noah nodded and she lowered her head before her figure started to glow cerulean light after which she transformed into a streak that entered the white cracks on his chest.

    "Time to go," Noah announced, leaving the area with the others, he made changes to the barrier before teleporting in and out of his cultivation room to arrive at the area he had left the others.

    The event startled those experts, but they quickly calmed down.

    They had spent less than 8 minutes waiting.

    "It''s time to return to the guild. We can decide to fly across the expanses, or just teleport." Noah addressed the group after giving them a few minutes to ask their colleagues how the event had gone.

    "Teleporting will get us there faster, but I''m sure you all want to at least gaze at the world again," Noah exined even if he knew that was the opposite.

    Who would choose traversing miles over nigh instantaneous travel?

    The answer was simple. No one would. Especially experts who wanted to leave the city''s perimeter as quickly as possible.

    They caught a hint of Noah''s intentions and gave awkward smiles and mumbled replies.

    Noah nodded and ascended.

    "I''ll be back in a bit." He revealed, not waiting for replies.

    He ascended a bit over 200m in the air before unfolding his mental waves to prevent words from getting out.

    Noah contacted Elder Ezra and informed her of thepletion. He even sent her images of the destruction the experts had wrought on the estates.

    Needless to say, she had been pleased. Noah also told her how he had made the barriers allow ess from the outside, but it would take a total of four days before their reserves ran out.

    Of course, that was if someone powerful didn''te to directly shatter it.

    He made that decision to allow their tracks to die off for a prolonged period. People would enter not knowing what they had stepped into. Only to find out they couldn''t leave.

    It would require at least a peak stage tier 4 expert, maybe two to destroy each barrier.

    Noah returned to the ground after speaking with the grand elder.

    He began the journey with the group after that point. Letting them fly individually since he wasn''t in a rush.

 Chapter 597 597. PUREST MANA

    ?

    The rumbling of clouds drew nearer and nearer and soon; Noah with his group of experts arrived within the familiar environment that was the rumbling clouds surrounding the city of the Divine lightning guild.

    His oath shed when he arrived on the insides of those clouds and for the first time since the journey, he took hold of those experts with his mental waves and shot forward.

    Their figures shattered the sound barrier as they arrived close to the city.

    Their arrival had already been noticed, and soon multiple shes of lights appeared around Noah and the twelve right before they arrived above the city.

    Elder Ezra, Elder Velsvon, Elder Adonis.

    Noah halted before their figures and felt their eyes scan the entire group.

    "Aiden," Elder Ezra spoke, floating forward.

    "You arrivedter than we expected."

    Noah nodded to her words.

    "There were a few hups here and there," he exined, nodding his head.

    The group ended up spending three days on their journey back to the guild, and during those days they encountered wild beasts.

    Rather than fight such beasts, Noah sent the twelve to deal with them while he stayed back.

    He watched their powers unfold and how well they could work together.

    Nevertheless, there had been an issue that managed to weigh on his mind: the gaze he felting from all around him.

    Noah had felt the whole world look at him for all those days. It vanished for short periods only to return with greater intensity. An issue he did not know how to solve.

    "Is that so��" Elder Ezra said, and he nodded.

    After that, the twelve were moved to the building that they stayed in and realized some new features had been added.

    Noah on the other hand followed the three grand elders into the castle at the center of the clouds above the city.

    They exchanged words with him, and he got to find out officially that the city of Yeldel had realized the annihtion of the three noble families.

    It was interesting how information could go around so quickly.

    Noah went forth to Elder Sarah''s mansion. His arrival excited her, and she ended up getting herself drunk that night.

    For the first time, Noah watched her lose her coolpletely. After several hours of drinking, of course.

    He found his master rather adorable. Or at least what he saw would be ssified as that.

    He went on to spend a few days in her mansion.

    Having held back from revealing the various resources he had harvested, Noah decided it was time.

    He teleported into the castle of the grand elders and he watched the whole ce tremble as its defensive measures reacted.

    Elder Ezra appeared before him right before the entire ce activated its tier 5 attacks.

    "What is it?" She asked raising an eyebrow in surprise and slight annoyance.

    "You''ve never done this... Especially out of the blue. Is there something wrong?"

    "No... but I have something that greatly concerns the guild," Noah stated.

    She furrowed her eyebrows. Understanding how serious Aiden was, she couldn''t help but find his wordspelling.

    "Ok... unless you don''t want to be killed, you should never repeat what you just did," she warned, frowning. How he of a lower cultivation level could bypass the various defenses without effort intrigued her.

    "Don''t worry. I won''t die."

    Elder Ezra clicked her tongue even if she called upon her colleagues.

    "What is this thing you want to speak of?" She asked whilst they walked down the hallways, going towards the throne room for all grand elders.

    "I''d rather speak when you all are gathered," Noah revealed, shaking his head.

    She remained silent after that point. Although utterly curious.

    It remained astonishing how there existed a person who could still keep her in that much suspense.

    ''This world really is filled with interesting experts beyond my knowledge.''

    Noah did not open his mouth until he was in the presence of five grand elders.

    Elder Ezra, Adonis, Velsvon, Uriah, and Montel.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    Their exalted gazesnded on his figure and continued to study him.

    Despite his middle-stage level, Noah felt stronger than the average higher-stage.

    At least their vast knowledge could allow them to see that reality.

    What he had to say had to be something of great consequence.

    Utterly unfazed by the sheer amount of power present in that room, Noah swept his silver gaze on the golden chamber around him.

    He remembered the giant golden armored figures possessing power in the fifth tier.

    He continued to inspect the room, before simply stepping on a tform of solidified air.

    Noah waved his hand before the rather interested gazes of those experts and in the blink of an eye a huge heap of shining stones flickered into existence.

    The event ended up being capable of drowning other lights in that ce, and the mana density instantly exploded.

    So much so that blue mists almost instantly appeared in therge room.

    "I found this on my rather adventurous expedition," Noah announced, seeing those experts rise with shock.

    "And I thought I should give them to the guild since the times are hard."

    He swept his gaze on them and saw real shock on their features.

    "You should use this to nurture powerful experts. This should be more than enough to raise hundreds of tier four experts... maybe even fifth-tier cultivators." He exined, before allowing silence to reign.

    "Aiden... how?" Elder Ezra broke that quietness, as went forth to float before the crystals and mana stones.

    Although there were in a heap, Noah had been thorough enough to stack the mana crystals in a proper heap so they didn''t shatter, thereby ruining their value.

    She picked a mana crystal and took a deep breath.

    A trail of blue mist flowed out of the crystal to enter her nostrils and her aura flickered.

    "That''s the purest mana I''ve tasted..." Her words trailed into non-existence.

    "Sure..." Noah nodded his head whilst those elders circled the huge mass. Noah and Erolia had gathered a whole lot.

    The sheer amount of blue mana stones in there remained stunning. The other colors too. But most were within the yellow range to blue.

    Then the crystals.

    Those elders inspected the mass, but no one touched it apart from Elder Ezra.

    There had to be enough mana there to push them into the sixth tier!

    "How did you get this?" Elder Veslvon asked, having a bit of understanding.

    "An underground cave," Noah replied. "In Yeldel."

    "How?" Elder Ezra asked again. Her question was more out of disbelief.

    "What happened to this cave?" Elder Montel asked.

    "It crumbled," Noah answered, shattering his hopes.

    "You managed to get this much... how did they not find out themselves," Elder Adonis was the one to speak now.

    "Its location was rather special. I cannot me them for not finding it."

    "This is incredible." Elder Ezra remarked at some point.

    "I know. That''s why I want you to use it in building our guild members. This war requires terribly powerful experts. Raise such entities." Noah exined.

    Those elders could not but fall silent. Noah wondered if they desired to use the resources before them to further their power or something.

    If that turned out to be the case he would take his findings and do as he pleased with them.

    "You''re correct." Elder Uriah spoke. She had been silent all this while, but several times her gaze had jumped between Noah''s figure and the mass of shining resources.

    Noah nodded at her words.

    "I will take my leave now," he announced, even if his figure shone with a white light and he disappeared from that room.

    The elders remained unfazed by the event, but a heavy silence reigned in the midst. It took a few minutes before they finally started talking again, excitement and disbelief present in the air.

    The guild was about to explode in strength.

 Chapter 598 598. PINNACLE

    Chapter 598 598. PINNACLE

    The days passed and Noah started to cultivate at some point. He aimed to break through into the higher stage before going on the adventure with Elder Velsvon.

    His growth progressed steadily and he made sure to bring Erolia along with him. The pet cultivation skill saw him refining her core with his own essence, and the purer her core became the more her level increased.

    Magical beasts were rather simple in terms of cultivation. Their entire power remained based on their core''s quality.

    Erolia was only a bit different since she could shift between forms to assume a human shape. Noah also found that the more she advanced the older her appearance grew. Soon she looked to be in herte teens.

    Her features were amplified, attaining levels that would shake the hearts of men. Looks that could cause nations to go to war.

    It only took about two weeks of constant refining for her to reach this point. Noah also advanced and by the end of those two weeks, he exited his cultivation room with a stunning level of power.

    He now stood at level 352. Marking his entry into the higher stage. He wished to grow higher but during those days he had gone on small errands. Mostly for Elder Sarah. But most times even the grand elders would request his help.

    A few more days passed after his breakthrough and he stabilized his power in the higher stage. During that period he also pushed Erolia''s power into the higher stage and she spent more time in her soul space to fine-tune her new power.

    Stepping out of his cultivation room, Noah appeared in the spacious living room of Elder Sarah''s mansion. Jane sat on one of its sofas, but his sudden appearance had not startled her. Noah went and left as he pleased.

    "Aiden," she called out, following his movement with her gaze. Now she couldn''t even sense his power. He stood at a level that left a massive gap. Her senior continued to remain extraordinary.

    "Jane," Noah responded,ing to sit before her.

    She smiled and made another cup appear on the small table. She filled the small cup with wine and made it float towards him. Noah took hold of the brown wooden cup and poured its golden-colored contents down his throat. It left no effect whatsoever.

    "Master went out�� training with the others. After your breakthrough, it''s clear how much she desires to advance. The items you gave her also helped a lot, but she''s still not yet calm." Jane exined, heaving a sigh. She herself only just came out of a three days cultivation session. She would be returning in about an hour.

    After Noah had returned from the castle of the grand elders, he proceeded to give both Jane and Elder Sarah mana stones and crystals. Of course, he hadn''t dropped everything for the grand elders.

    In merely two weeks Elder Sarah had cultivated so much that she also neared the end of the middle stage. Noah believed in about a week she would attain the higher stage. That itself spoke of her sheer determination and hard work.

    Jane had been forced to follow in the footsteps of her senior and master, if not she would be left behind. She ended up crossing the halfway point of the middle stage but was still far behind her master.

    The mana crystals gave thergest boosts. Merely small chunks of their mana were enough for days of cultivating all three vessels of power!

    Noah had given both of them over 20 each, Jane had only been able to exhaust two in thest two weeks. Not only was the mana they stored abundant but due to its quality it took time for her body to break it down. Even elder Sarah struggled.

    The first thing they had needed to do was wash their existence of the lesser quality mana. Before refilling their mana cores, soul cores, and body. Only after this point could they even begin to think of advancing.

    However, after that arduous event that took them about a week to finish both experts could finally experience a rapid increase. In truth, they had only been cultivating for about a week.

    "I see�� you''ve also been grinding hard, you''re equally close to my level," Noah spoke, savoring a bit of the wine.

    Jane gave a helpless smile. She knew Noah only tried to make her feel better.

    "Your level? Even if I reach the peak of the higher stage I don''t think I''d be able to match you in a fight. Even Master said the same thing. I literally have no hope." She drank more wine after her words, but Noah shook his head even if he remained silent. Opting to look at her.

    Jane blushed.

    Their rtionship had grown a whole lot now, and the addition of gratitude made a mixture of emotions that transformed into infatuation. Jane tried to keep it on the low, but Noah''s stare made her heart thump.

    "I''m setting out�� an errand for the grand elders," Noah announced, deciding not the make the woman any more awkward.

    His words almost made Jane''s expression fallpletely.

    "They ask of you an awful lot nowadays. Why can''t they just send others to overwatch them?" Jane spoke, furrowing her brows.

    Noah shrugged.

    "I guess they trust me." He said.

    "Tell master if she returns anytime soon." He spoke, now standing at the exit.

    "And maybe if you reach the higher stage soon we can continue training. I still need to learn the rest of the forms." Noah suggested, leaving.

    He had been unable to witness the bright light that shone on Jane''s features. She stood and immediately went straight to cultivating.

    Noah stepped on a tform of wind and ascended into the skies toward the location of the mansion.

    After the deposit of the materials he gave to the grand elders one type of errand had been moremon, and that would be none other than the task to watch tier 3 experts be tier 4.

    Things were different this time around though.

    The moment Noah reached the point that connected the guild hall of the central region to the clouds, he saw three figures descend from the clouds.

    Elder Uriah, Elder Montel and Elder Adonis.

    His eyesnded specifically on Elder Adonis and he immediately saw that Elder Ezra''s words had been correct.

    "So you''ll be watching me cross over into the fifth tier," Elder Adonismented with a little chuckle, even if his eyes were closed and his eyebrows creased every now and then due to the flickering of his aura.

    He had reached the pinnacle of that realm. The fourth tier couldn''t hold him anymore.

    "That would be so," Noah responded before exchanging nces with the other elders. They departed from the city to a region that would hold that event.

 Chapter 599 599. NEW FIFTH TIER EXPERT

    Chapter 599 599. NEW FIFTH TIER EXPERT

    All four experts flew towards a certain area still within the icy fields of the Renga region. That location had been specifically picked for that event, and two things were factored into that decision.

    The first would be distance. The location had to be far enough from the floating ind to not cause trouble, but also close enough for the event to be transmitted.

    The second would be the mana density in that specific area. Several rivers of liquified mana ran across the area boosting its appeal for an expert about to enter the fifth tier.

    The moment they arrived at the location, Noah could immediately sense the barrier that surrounded the ce. He believed Elder Adonis would be ced inside it since the barrier remained something within the fifth tier.

    He wondered if he could touch that realm by activating his speedling form.

    The fifth tier, unlike the fourth tier, wasn''t a total ascendance into a new type of realm, it was simply a continuation. Of course, it brought about an immense increase in power. Nevertheless, it remained simr to going from tier 1 to tier 2.

    "What are we even supposed to do now? You have set everything in ce," Noah spoke, gazing at the enclosed area. Elder Adonis floated into the ce to sit on a ck praying mat.

    They on the other hand, simply stared at him while he cultivated.

    Several mana crystals had been ced around the area to further boost the mana density. Even elder Adonis had needed to wash his existence of the lesser quality mana, but for someone at his level that had required several mana crystals.

    He remained among the monsters of the guild. After all, he was the only tier 4 amongst the grand elders.

    "We wait and watch of course." Elder Uriah stated, tilting her head slightly. "Or do you mean to ask why we''ve called you to join us?"

    Noah nodded at her words and she gave a light smile.

    "You''re an exceptional expert. And seeing as you''ve now entered the higher stage we saw it fit to allow you to witness a tier-five breakthrough firsthand."

    "Experience in these types of things will help you grasp just how much you require to enter this realm," she exined, and Noah saw reason in her words. Still, he hardly cared.

    The path of Speedlings was a bit different from humans. He was both.

    Noah and the female elder exchanged some words, while Elder Montel remained silent. Even if his attention was also on their words.

    The sky trembled and their gazes ascended. The world was reacting to the breakthrough about the ur. Noah had witnessed that scene too many times, but this time a difference was evident. At least only to him.

    The gaze of the very world around him was both on his figure and Elder Adonis. He could sense it far clearer than he had ever felt it and he trembled, but no one noticed since the clouds converged above them.

    The sky rumbled with terrible intensity as sparks of several colors crashed, sending terrible sound waves shooting everywhere.

    The winds blew furiously and an icy tundra of sorts sprung into existence. Nheless, the figures of the two fifth-tier experts remained untouched. They stood too powerful for such events to affect them.

    Thanks to being in their presence, Noah could enjoy that same privilege without unfolding his aura.

    The cloud that had converged on elder Adonis remained immense, spanning several miles in radius while featuring a hole at the center no less than 3km in size. The barrier itself was about 4sq-km.

    Within that hole, sparks formed, and their quality could be sensed even from Noah''s position. He felt certain that even he would be close to the fifth tier if they struck him.

    Elder Adonis continued to contemte his existence while cultivating. The more of himself he became the more power he would achieve. He had long since decided his path, but he needed to prove to himself that this version of him deserved to enter the fifth tier.

    He seeded.

    The skies roared and a blinding white light poured out into the world, flooding the visions of anyone too weak for that level.

    Thanks to his higher-stage power, Noah could somewhat see what was going on.

    A massive bolt fell on the expert and turned his environment into a giant charred crater. Fortunately, the barrier stopped the damage from spreading.

    Nevertheless, shock waves dug deep into the terrain and fissures appeared, causing the area to fall into disarray.

    That bolt had been at the very peak of the fourth tier, even if its quality inched towards the fifth.

    A giant gray smoke rose to the dark skies, but the clouds above were ready to deliver another bolt.

    A massive discharge of multi-colored sparks fell from the skies and this time its power made the entire region shake with terrible intensity despite the existence of the barrier.

    By this point, the insides of the barrier were falling apart, but Elder Adonis remained floating and cross-legged, even if his clothes had disappeared.

    His skin had turned charred and he experienced pain like never before, But that was the process. His very existence had to get rid of the lower realm to take a step further. He was very close now.

    Noah watched with difort. The gaze of the world was cing pressure on his shoulders and only he could experience it.

    Elder Adonis absorbed every ounce of the bolt''s energy to fuel his body and his skin fell like paper even if new ones regrew, At some point only his head and chest area featured flesh. The rest of him being mere bones vibrating with power.

    New flesh regrew to cover him. His insides and outsides took a step forward and after several minutes his aura exploded with fifth-tier power. But that wasn''t all.

    The moment the cloud saw his increase in power it roared with mighty intensity and converged to make streamline all its remaining energy.

    Noah felt a terrible pressure fall on the area. Only thanks to the experts around him could he remain unscathed. Even a higher stage would die in that ce.

    Elder Adonis finally rose when the clouds converged until they were only about 1km in radius. The loud crashing had stopped and only a low rumble could be felt, but that indicated a level that many only dreamed to attain.

    Sparks gathered in Elder Adonis''s left hand. Those white and violet sparks converged into a simple sword-shaped mass. But that manifestation could give birth to tens of tier 4 experts.

    His silver hair fluttered in the silent winds of the area and he ascended a bit, ready for thest step to stabilize his breakthrough in the fifth tier.

    Minutes had to pass before anything significant happened.

    No discharge urred, but shock waves barreled out from the barrier to reach regions far away from that location.

    A blinding white light followed by the roaring of thunder descended into the world. At this point not even Noah could see what urred in that light.

    Still, Elder Adonis waved his lightning de at the violent bolt, but rather than deflect it, his de released an invisible shock wave that halted the bolts for an instant, then his right hand grabbed onto the sparks and his existence pulled it into his body.

    An explosion urred at that point, but the blue barrier remained standing.

    The light gradually died and a figure brimming with power at the lower stage of the fifth tier unfolded in the eyes of those experts.

    The mood instantly changed for the better, as the forces of the Divine Lightning guild now possessed the addition of a new fifth-tier expert.

 Chapter 600 600. TRUTH

    Chapter 600 600. TRUTH

    It took a bit for everything to calm down and Elder Adonis simply floated, silently assimting the gains of his new level.

    His silver hair fluttered in the new winds and his figure shone with a resplendent violet and white light.

    "How do you feel?" Elder Uriah went forward. The barrier disappeared the moment she ced her hand on its surface.

    A dense gust of wind unfolded from within the released barrier and even Noah felt the charge those air particles now carried. They mix with the rest of the world and things were quickly back to normal in that aspect.

    "A-mazing," Elder Adonis responded, still stunned that he had attained that level of power. "Everything is different. I never knew��" His words were lost into mumbles. The expert exuded astonishment, but also excitement.

    "Yeah yeah." Elder Montel waved his hand even if he felt d about the breakthrough. It had taken Adonis a bit more time to reach that level, but his base remained great thanks to that.

    Noah could only continue to stare at the expert while he exchanged words with the two grand elders.

    It didn''t take long for the scene to change, however.

    "Aiden�� what do you think?" Elder Uriah asked, and Noah tilted his head to the side in uncertainty of what she asked.

    "Attack him." She stated, and he stroked his chin as though in thought. Elder Uriah opened her mouth to speak at that point.

    "We''re already stronger and I don''t want to risk killing him. It''s public knowledge that even though you only recently entered the higher stage your power far surpasses that measly level. You''re the safest person here to attack him."

    Noah nodded without saying a word. There was no need.

    "Also give him your best," she added, albeit he made no reaction. He understood that his best would be his Speedling form. That was a no-go.

    The two grand elders moved back while Elder Adonis simply revealed a light smile. His features looked brighter.

    Noah crossed his palms before his chest and stretched them towards the young-looking man before him.

    His aura intensified as he unfolded his consciousness till it covered an incredible amount of distance. Silver light started to seep out of his figure and the very area that his presence touched glowed with a soft silver radiance.

    A dense pressure fell on the area, for although he understood that he simply couldn''t call upon the peak of his prowess he would call upon the best he could.

    Needless to say, even those experts marveled.

    The weight Noah unleashed on the area caused portions of the terrain to directly shatter. Huge fissures expanded in the area as he did great damage for simply showing his power.

    Elder Adonis could not but shake his head even if he trembled inwardly. Already, Noah was far more powerful than he was in the fourth tier.

    Very quickly after that phenomenon started, the sound of rumbling exploded into the world and a rather small sphere of crackling silver sparks unfolded before Noah''s crossed palm.

    Not being more than the size of a man''s head, it remained nigh insignificantpared to those he normally released in his middle-stage prowess.

    Nevertheless, Elder Adonis''s eyebrows flickered when the power bottled up in that mass became visible to him.

    The vastness of Noah''s energy pool stunned him. He almost couldn''t wait to understand how strong he had be. Once upon a time, such a manifestation would put even him in a hard spot.

    Noah didn''t take long to answer the expert''s wishes.

    The moment the silver bolt appeared, a blinding silver light unfolded into the environment and the sheer pressure it emitted reached terrible heights.

    Despite the horrendous rumblings it roared with, the crackling sphere would not destabilize and detonate. Even Noah testified to the fact that had he tried such at his middle-stage level he would have struggled to keep that massive offensive under control.

    But his expanded understanding and capabilities allowed for rather interesting types of offensives, Noah could see himself approaching the fifth tier at a rapid pace.

    The silver light swallowed his figure, but Elder Adonis''s light could beat that one in terms of intensity. The two existed in whole different realms, and although Noah''s light would be considered Barely seven seconds had passed since all these urred and Noah finally let go of the crackling sphere.

    unapproachable to the fourth tier, in the fifth tier it was interesting at best.

    Barely seven seconds had passed since all these urred and Noah finally let go of the crackling sphere.

    Elder Adonis had moved back a few hundred meters, but the bolt arrived on his figure the instant it left Noah''s control.

    A blinding explosion unfolded into the world and a sea of sparks manifested with terrible intensity. The magical manifestation could be sighted literally miles from their location.

    Noah shook the region with the might of his attack, and he nodded in approval. But only at its power.

    The expanding mass of sparks stopped expanding to converge on itself till they were non-existent suddenly.

    "That was interesting," Elder Adonis revealed, allowing all of Noah''s attack to spin on his right index finger. He hadpressed it until it was no more than a pebble-sized disk.

    Noah simply nodded, still not willing to speak.

    Elder Adonis sped the mass in his hand and vanquished it. That was the prowess of an expert in the fifth tier. An attack capable of wiping out whole cities had been quenched that easily.

    "Try again. And I somehow know you''re capable of unleashing more at the same time. So please do that," Adonis nodded at Noah.

    Understanding what to do, Noah simply stretched his right hand rather casually but called forth ten of those crackling spheres.

    That show of power put surprise on the faces of the grand elders.

    "Damn," Even Elder Montel had to remark. In his long life, never had he seen such an exceptional expert. Noah had the potential to be the most powerful expert in the entire guild. His current level spoke of that great possibility.

    Nheless, Elder Adonis continued to tank those attacks effortlessly and the region never stopped shaking. Adonis realized that he could not throw an attack.

    One; because he had barely any energy in his core, and two, because he understood the consequence of even considering unleashing an offensive.

    It was said that battles in the fifth tier were able to shake the entire nation. And several fifth-tier experts could testify to that truth.

    The chains of fate continued to move as the entire drew nigh to a season in its existence that would spell a new era for the creatures that existed on its surface.

    Noah never felt the gaze of the world leave him after a certain point. From the look of things, a significant event drew nearer and nearer, but he would wait until certain things were in ce before he took any major decision.

 Chapter 601 601. TUNNEL

    Chapter 601 601. TUNNEL

    The event continued for a few hours and only when Noah revealed that he was low on essence did they decide to stop.

    Elder Adonis could leave for his chamber to properly stabilize himself in the fifth tier. His eyes had seen things that day that rather baffled him. He never imagined the gap between the fourth tier and the fifth tier to be so wide.

    Noah on the other hand could see his limits rather clearly. The fifth tier was even more amazing than he had anticipated. Elder Adonis had not thrown a single attack all through but had left a significant impression on Noah.

    Now he began to wonder just how terrible the sixth tier was, not to begin with the realm even above that one.

    He concluded that even now he still had a long way to go. If not for events piling up back-to-back, he desired a long cultivation session of no less than twenty years. He believed the fifth tier would have been his by then. Maybe even the sixth tier.

    Unfortunately, that would not be the case. The moment Noah left the site that had managed to remain in one piece thanks to Noah suggesting that they take their disy high into the sky, he returned to Elder Sarah''s mansion. But his heart would not remain in one ce.

    Why did he feel watched so much? He had experienced the same event too many times to not understand what was going on. The very world stared at him with troubling intensity.

    Noah let the event remain at the back of his head for the next few days. After Elder Adonis''s breakthrough, he had not been called to over-watch the breakthrough of the lower leveled experts.

    On the other hand, Noah dedicated himself to cultivating. News about the ongoing war continued to be supplied to the guild and he was even allowed premium ess to those level of information.

    The guild had kept the news of their newly gained resources a secret from the rest of the world. Even the various breakthroughs were kept secret, and only guild members knew of it.

    A new vibrancy had erupted in the city. Experts that showed talent and dedication were allowed to take part in utilizing the new mana stones or crystals.

    Sure, at some point all experts would have the same privilege, but for the sake of maximizing the resources, only those who showed far above-average talent were considered.

    Things progressed steadily in the city. And apparently, due to the deaths of various experts and the sheer amount of help the guild contributed in thest battle, they could use the welfare of their members as an excuse to minimize the number of experts they sent to the front lines.

    A few more weeks passed and the might of the guild exploded. Now that resources were in view many of those experts could finally reveal their prowess and cultivation speed.

    Heck, the only reason cultivation was so slow for them was due to the low quality of mana that permeated the human continent.

    Noah had essentially brought forth a way to shatter the limits their environment set.

    In those weeks even elder Sarah broke through the limits of the middle stage and advanced into the higher stage. Not only her, but Noah could also count a handful of experts that entered the higher stage.

    However, only then did other higher-stage experts that the guild previously possessed, reveal themselves.

    He had only considered it before, but surely Elder Adonis had not been the only higher-stage expert. And he had been right.

    The guild possessed twelve experts in the higher stage before, but those experts had been mostly dedicating themselves to training and hardly showed up in public. Only Elder Adonis, due to his status as a grand elder.

    However, thanks to the addition of the new elders the guild had a total of 20 experts in the higher stage. A massive force seeing as Noah was part of that number and Elder Sarah.

    Noah had encountered them a certain day when he was summoned to the golden castle. Those experts had been there, and about half of the old higher stage was past the halfway point. The others nearing the end of that realm.

    They had been willing to exchange words since, despite the fact that they barely showed up publicly, the elders still informed them of various changes.

    In short, they had heard a lot about Noah. And even testified to his power.

    Those men and women had been with the guild for more than a century. The grand elders trusted them far much more than most.

    After that day, they had each gone into seclusion. Apparently, an event would be urring and the royals asked for the help of the guild.

    The guild had not beenpletely informed what the task would be, but the royals had asked about Noah, revealing that they had heard of his achievements.

    The grand elders had been forced to reveal that Noah had broken through into the higher stage.

    After that point the royals had shifted through various questions thrown at them, leaving the elders uncertain.

    Still, Noah had been asked to be on standby. There was the possibility that he would be honored.

    He, however, remained neutral.

    As the days passed Noah grew in the higher stage. The speed essence he now had ess to could change depending on his level.

    After certain points, he''d test out his skill and see the increase in their capabilities.

    Unfortunately, he understood he''d need a long period to even dream of reaching the fifth tier, and that would nevere.

    At some point, he was asked by the grand elders to go on a small mission to recover something being transported from one location to another location by the other guilds.

    It was meant to be delivered to the divine lightning city, but in a bid to make sure nothing entered the city that could leak information, Noah had been sent to meet the party that delivered it.

    He had considered taking the group of 12 with him, but they too were busy cultivating.

    Noah had been generous enough to grant them ess to resources.

    He had to give it to them himself to not trigger the oath the guild bore.

    So he let them do what they were doing and set out on his own. Even Erolia remained in her soul space.

    As usual, he sprinted toward the direction of his destination, but barely seconds into his journey something changed.

    Whilst zooming across the regions, Noah felt a sudden ripple effect m into his figure, but the eventcked any force, but he had stopped instinctively since he sensed powerful magic.

    Noah narrowed his eyes as something became evident to him.

    He raised his hand and touched the world before him. To his non-existent shock, another ripple unfolded before him as though the very fabric of space around him had be liquid.

    Noah noticed the staleness of the world and suspected that a higher power was at work.

    Various considerations appeared in his mind, but before he could arrive at a proper answer he felt the world apply a terrible pressure on his figure.

    Gravity seemed to have increased hundreds of times as his figure shot toward the ground with blinding speed. His body unable to fight that force.

    He was about to m into the terrain when a huge hole lit with various lights expanded before his eyes.

    The pit-like tunnel allowed for his entry into the terrain and only when he had fallen into it did it close.

    Leaving the region untouched as though nothing significant had urred.

 Chapter 602 602. EMPTY PARADISE

    Chapter 602 602. EMPTY PARADISE

    Noah continued to fall thanks to the terrible force acting on his body. The tunnel he now determined he had fallen into remained bright, as several lines of light stretched toward its seemingly unending depths.

    All the colors of the rainbow were present and bright. He could only wonder where he was being taken to.

    ''Is this the doing of the world?'' He wondered sensing that the deeper he went the hotter his environment became. At some point, his clothes started to burn. However, that was when the heat suddenly vanished.

    Noah continued to fall for minutes. He did not tumble in the air but fell with his face facing the dark depths of that ironically shining tunnel.

    The walls of the tunnel were ck, while those lines of colors hundreds in number ran across its length. Its width was alsorge.

    The insides of the tunnelcked air, meaning Noah suffered no burns for traveling that fast without the protection of his affinity.

    He had tried to unfold his consciousness but they were negated by a more powerful force. He could only wait at that point.

    Things eventually changed in that strange environment, a white light entered the gaze of a patiently waiting Noah and the more he drew nigh to it, the more intense it got.

    So much so that when he had been about to cross the light which he identified as the end of that tunnel, he crossed his arms on his eyes to not blind himself.

    The moment Noah crossed the light he felt gravity more or less return to normal and he found himself falling into an immense transparent pool.

    The pool shone greatly with azure light, but he couldn''t even call it a pool due to its size.

    ''More like an ocean,'' hemented inwardly.

    Hundreds of massive pirs worth of that liquid stretched towards the upper portions of the area. Like pipes connecting the world to that mass and supplying it with its contents.

    Noah unfolded his consciousness but his mental waves could notprehend the sheer size of that body of liquid.

    It didn''t take him too long tond inside the liquid, and although he had already sensed it while he approached it, Noah felt his body tremble at the touch of that body of liquified mana.

    That was the purest mana he had evere in contact with.

    Another pressure acted on his body and he immediately began to sink, but Noah activated the function of his body and moved to at least make gains.

    His body could absorb mana and make it usable for him.

    Still, Noah determined that simply absorbing the liquid around him would be wasteful, so hemanded his consciousness to scoop as much as it could.

    The mana remained terribly heavy, but he managed to get a small pool worth of that pure mana before his soul ind grew weary.

    Noah continued to sink and the vastness of that pool honestly made his curiosity spike. He had been sinking for several minutes straight but the bottom seemed to not exist. At least not yet.

    During those minutes he managed to obtain more of that liquified mana until he ended up arriving beneath the sea of mana.

    Once again, an area filled with air unfolded in his eyes as he began to fall again. The area had stone walls and it remained immense in terms of size, but the sheer amount of magic he sensed around him almost deafened his senses.

    Noah had arrived in a region lit by the shining sea up above. He could sight lush greenery, forests,kes, rivers, and even mightyndforms.

    A fantastical scenery unlike what he had ever seen on Cregar, but the ce was void of living creatures.

    ''Empty paradise,'' he remarked inwardly, sweeping his gaze on that immense environment. He understood that it existed far below the surface. Almost like a different dimension

    ''This ce isn''t suitable for anything less than the fourth tier,'' he concluded,seeing as the mana density in that ce far outweighed the rest of the world.

    Anything less than the fourth tier would die from pressure and ironically; too much mana.

    Unfortunately, he didn''t get to spend more than ten seconds when a teleport acted on his body, and the scenery changed.

    Noah opened his eyes in an earthen passageway, he scanned the environment with his eyes wondering why whatever power that had brought him there,had done so.

    A strange wind blew within that passageway and Noah looked forward, towards its end.

    "Come..." a whisper in the wind called out, and he immediately followed its words not sensing any danger just yet.

    The insides of that rather huge passageway featured azure veins running across its length. He sensed mana being carried in those veins, but did not know their use.

    However, the light those veins produced was enough to light up that ce properly. The walls were once again ck and the azure color gave it a magical vibe.

    Noah followed the soft wind rather casually, he still didn''t understand what was going on but for some reason, he couldn''t run in that ce.

    Not only that he couldn''t call upon the rest of his affinities.

    He asked the system why that was so and its reply remained pretty simple.

    He had entered the domain of an existence far more powerful than he, and one of its rules was that no magical affinity beneath its level could be utilized.

    "Can I break out of here?" Noah asked the system.

    "Yes. Simply essing your cultivation room would lead you out of here, but you won''t have a dwelling ce on the surface of Cregar, since Cregar has summoned you. The entirety of the is its domain."

    "Besides, we both know you aren''t leaving," the system giggled, even if her tone had been serious seconds earlier.

    Noah nodded his head. The fact that he could leave anytime silver gaze fell on a wide area possessing seven immense pirs that surrounded a floating piece ofnd and their bottom could not be provided him the luxury of proceeding without fear.

    It didn''t take long to arrive at the end of the tunnel and behold his silver gaze fell on a wide area possessing seven immense pirs that surrounded a floating piece ofnd and their bottom could not be seen due to the dark depths of that ce.

    All seven pirs being of seven different colors caught his gaze, but what stood in their center demanded his attention.

    Noah lowered his gaze and they fell on the center of that strange chamber. His eyes arrived on a transparent pink sphere no more than 20m in size.

    Its material seemed to be made of gas, yet it looked solid. Motes of multicolored light silently appeared and disappeared in its mass and a certain vibrancy existed about it that Noah remained unable to properlyprehend.

    The transparent sphere floated above the statues of four opened palms featuring several ancient multicolored words and markings running across their obsidian ck surface.

    A flight of gray stairs featuring strange symbols etched into their surface unfolded right before Noah.

    The stairs led right to a bridge connected to the floating piece ofnd, but other tunnels led to that ce and each one featured stairs that led directly to the sphere below.

    "Wee Noah�� I''ve been expecting you for a long time now." A feminine voice rang out in the area and everything in the chamber including the pirs glowed brighter, before dying down at the end of the voice''s words.

 Chapter 603 603. DELETE SUCCESSFUL

    ?

    Noah walked down the flight of stairs, approaching the sphere at the center of the chamber. The moment the voice had sprung into existence he felt a gazend on him. He recognized that gaze, but there was a difference now.

    Cregar didn''t have to stare at him through the lens of the world. She could establish eye contact directly with him.

    "I''m guessing you''re the world?" Noah spoke, standing across the bridge that connected the rest of the chamber to the floatingnd. He nced at its depths and his instincts roared.

    "Indeed�� and you''re at the center of the world," the voice responded, and all lights in the ce intensified only to die down when her words ended.

    Noah stroked his chin whilst thoughts rushed through his head. He couldn''t feel anything from standing before that transparent sphere, but he didn''t have to do much to understand that she stood at a level he couldn''t begin toprehend yet.

    "Why have you brought me here?" Noah asked, his tonecking enthusiasm.

    "For reasons I''m certain you have an idea of. But before we go on,e closer," the voice revealed, and Noah feltpelled at a biological level to respond. His human side couldn''t do but obey.

    Nheless, he could withstand the voice to take a deep breath. He was also a speedling.

    Noah stepped forward, crossing the gray bridge that had no railings, meaning he could fall and meet no resistance.

    The idea did not scare him though.

    He arrived on the ind and it trembled.

    "This is the core of Cregar. Shatter it and you will make everything crumble," the voice announced and Noah could only nod. He had no reason to do such.

    "Why have you summoned me?" Noah asked again, and he felt a frowning gazend on his figure.

    "I thought I could overlook the things you''ve done to your mind. But this will be an issue that would hinder this conversation." Cregar spoke. Noah remained silent since he understood.

    "I need you toprehend emotions�� and you will," Cregar announced, and Noah felt an invisible force bind him till he was unable to move. It could crush him without much effort. But it hadn''t.

    The instant that urred, the motes of light within the pink transparent sphere intensified in both numbers and radiance.

    The entire chamber trembled as an illusory hand manifested from the light the sphere emitted, and Noah was pulled closer. The arm looked feminine and the moment it touched Noah''s forehead he lost consciousness and fell into a trance.

    Noah found himself standing in a dark cold environment. His eyes scanned the depths of that pitch darkness and it was endless. He continued to look around in search of a light source, then one appeared.

    "Oh, my child. In your search for power, this is what has befallen you." Motes of pink light appeared to gather before Noah''s figure. That tender feminine voice touched him in ways he could not begin to exin.

    The motes of light revealed an illusory woman with features he couldn''t see no matter how hard he tried, despite her standing right in front of him.

    "You search for light when you have been blinded. I will reinstate your sight," thedy revealed, cing her left palm on the side of his face.

    Noah felt warmth bubble up from within his being and before he knew it, she hugged him.

    Several cracks unfolded in the very fabric of the darkness, and light peered in through those cracks. The cracks continued to increase in number and size and eventually, the darkness crumbled like ss.

    Noah snapped his eyes open, and he took in a deep breath before falling to his knees.

    He sped his right hand on his chest and something he had almost forgotten swelled in his being.

    He felt happy!

    "What did you do to me?" Noah asked, eyes widened.

    "I have only removed the barrier that existed," Cregar responded.

    [Passive skill <Stone Heart> has been disabled]

    [Loading��.]

    [Processing reboot��.]

    [Error!�� Error!�� Error!]

    [Reboot failed]

    [Core of the skill not found!...]

    [Processing delete��]

    [Confirming delete...]

    [Delete sessful]

    [>Stone Heart< has been deleted from your skillset due to its core material not existing in the database again]

    "Incredible," Noah eximed, sensing all his emotions seep back into existence. Suddenly there was a restored vibrancy he hadn''t been able to see due to the influence of the skill.

    It would take him a bit of time to process that change, but he could adapt rather quickly. He remained a Speedling after all.

    Noah stood.

    "Thank you," he said, revealing a soft smile. Apathy was nice�� but the color of emotions was even nicer.

    "Very well," Cregar responded. "Shall we begin?"

    "Yes�� but before we do, how did you do that?"

    "I utilized my authority as the world you had been born in to remove that manifestation of your title," Cregar stated.

    Difficulty appeared in Noah''s features.

    "But I wasn''t born here��" He revealed, suddenly rethinking his words. He had never considered the opposite.

    "That is what you think, man of another world. Your soul has only integrated with this body. But your vessel was born here."

    Noah felt astonishment fill his mind. He immediately questioned the system.

    ''Is this true?''

    [[Yes]]

    That was all he needed to hear and his mind began to spin at the thought, even if he calmed down rather quickly.

    "That''s an�� interesting discovery," he muttered furrowing his brows. "Who was this person before?" He asked.

    "That would be a story for another time, young Noah. We have serious issues to face," Cregar announced, and Noah nodded.

    "Yes. Why would the world summon a mere fourth-tier expert like me," he gave a soft smile.

    "I have not called you here by reason of your power level. No... Rather, as a result of your status as the heir of the god of speed."

    "The one fate spoke of�� the one they say is destined to bring destruction to the whole of Cregar. That is why I have summoned you." Her revtion shook that chamber.

    Noah''s eyes widened as those weighty words fell on his ears, and his chest tightened as a result.

 Chapter 604 604. WHAT IS COMING?

    ?

    "Destruction?" Noah asked rather disturbed, ess to his feelings fleshed out his reaction, and Cregar seemed content.

    "Yes destruction," Cregar responded, and Noah could almost feel her nod.

    His eyes wandered a bit as he took in some details of that ce even if his mind remained on the topic.

    "Who are these people that say I am the destroyer?" He asked after several questions popped up in his head.

    "You don''t have to heed their words. Theyck the full information and have reacted as a result," Cregar waved his question off with another revtion.

    "You mean the immortals?"

    "Precisely�� my children," she revealed and he felt forced to exim a bit.

    "The Immortals are the children of Cregar?" Noah furrowed his brows even if the dots connected. He understood why the veiled ones could attain power that felt close to Cregar.

    "Yes. I understand they have sent their underlings towards you, so I shall repay with what I have. Even if it might not be much," Cregar exined. Her tone had been constant since the beginning of the conversation. Light.

    "Will they stop after this? It''s gotten pretty annoying having to watch my back for them. I see it as needless deaths."

    "I understand. I had seen those battles ur."

    "Then why didn''t you just stop it? I''m sure the people of your children are important," Noah asked tilting his head slightly.

    "Why would I? I had been wanting to see the full capabilities of the being that disappeared for three decades. Your sudden reappearance and new power intrigued me. You have lived up to the expectation," Cregar exined.

    "You brought me here because you''re satisfied looking at me. I''m sure you are, seeing as your gaze remained on me when I''m outside." Noah clicked his tongue.

    "I also apologize for that. But it was necessary. I had to see you, but also make sure you didn''t suddenly disappear. There isn''t too much time. Had you left again aiming for the next tier it might have been toote when you returned."

    "Hmm. Well. You still haven''t told me the real reason I''m here. Surely it''s not only to tell me how great I am. Before your power, I''m nothing."

    "You''re right��. I have brought you here for two reasons. One is to warn you that your life will soon be demanded by the administration of Cusk. Second is to exin a bit of what is toe, and why you are significant in this narrative," Cregar exined and Noah felt light surprise fill his head.

    "The royals are asking for my head�� that''s not too surprising, but why?"

    "News of your extraordinary power has been told to them. And the said person made you a threat before the eyes of the royal council," Cregar stated.

    "Hmm��. I guess that would be James?" Noah asked as the corner of his lips curved in a rueful smile.

    "Affirmative. He has advertised you as a major threat," she announced.

    "Old serpents are never to be trusted." Noah sighed even if his eyes grew dark.

    "I''m guessing that''s why they asked for help�� damn. All the higher-stage experts will be fighting against me," his thoughts lead him to a difficult realization.

    "Yes��"

    "And you tell me this because you believe I have some way to escape the predicament?" An eyebrow rose on his face.

    "Yes��. But I can suggest staying with me till-" Cregar was cut short.

    "Absolutely not!" Noah retorted even before she could finish. He heaved a sigh and sat cross-legged on the ground before holding his ankles.

    "I''d like to deal with this myself. No hiding for me. Thank you for the info anyways. I would have been caught by surprise if not for you," Noah nodded revealing a wide smile.

    His words seemed to stun Cregar. And the truth wouldn''t be too far from that. Who in their right mind would reject help from the world? The entire. She could bury Cusk if she willed. Or cripple it.

    "I understand, heir of the god of speed. I await what you''ll reveal three days from now," she said.

    "Eh. Three days!��" He eximed, before sighing and clicking his tongue. "It changes nothing though. I''ll be ready by then."

    "Now unto the next thing?" He tilted his head to the side.

    "Yes��" Cregar paused. "I''m afraid the world has very little time to continue existing, for something Ising and opposite to what they think the prophecy saysyou''re the one who mounts the stage of destiny."

    Noah frowned deeply and his lips parted to release words.

    "What ising?"

    "Destruction. That is all I can say for now. Laws bind me from revealing everything to you. You''re not in the scope of power to affect what is toe so you''ll have to advance in rank," Cregar exined, sounding rather disappointed.

    Noah burst intoughter at her words, even if he stopped not too long to give a mncholic smile.

    The system had simr rules, and he had needed to wait and grow until knowledge could be revealed to him.

    "That''s also not too surprising. I only wonder what binds a world�� the universe?" he wondered out loud even if Cregar remained silent.

    "What am I to do concerning this destruction that would befall you?�� seeing as your the world."

    "I have called you here to ask you that. But I understood you would not have an answer prepared, so I summoned you here to establish contact. These meetings will be often as long as you walk the face of Cregar," She exined.

    "Nah�� I have an answer. It''s the panacea�� simply more power." Noah stood, honestly hungry for more information.

    He wished she had not called him only to tell him he could not hear the rest of the details.

    "That truly is a universal remedy," Cregarmented.

    "Still�� why do you think I''ll help fulfill whatever prophecy was spoken. I have my own battles to fight. I could just leave this ce when I attain more power," his features went cold as he directly stared at the pink sphere.

    He could swear he locked gazes with Cregar. His humanity trembled.

    "That also is a possibility. But you do not know any ce that could fit you apart from here. If I died before you reached the appropriate tier you''ll also die due tock of a habitat," she exined.

    "I have ces I can go," Noah revealed even if only his cultivation room could fit that description.

    "Then go there. I see no reason in staying on this if there really is a ce you can go. Besides,I sensed a mighty item buried within your soul. It''s the reason you manage to escape my awareness."

    Noah remained silent. He had already seen that oue. Yet he yed along anyway.

    "Thank you for telling me the ns of the royals. As for your prophesy... well I won''t make any promises," he revealed

    "Besides I don''t possess adequate information to find your announcement for destruction important."

    "About that�� I can''t tell you anything due to thews that bind me. But I never said the same about others who possess simr knowledge," Cregar revealed, and Noah felt taken aback.

    Almost instantly; understanding dawned on him,and he saw a way around the issue.

 Chapter 605 605. REBORN

    ?

    An eyebrow rose on Noah''s face as the idea Cregar intended to pass across gained dominance in his mind. A grin appeared on his features.

    "I understand," he muttered, allowing his mind to wonder a bit. He recalled the meeting he was to have with the immortal of space.

    "Good," Cregar replied, Noah almost sensed some sort of humor in her tone. "I understand you will be departing now. Your readiness to leave remains too evident. You want to put your time to good use."

    Noah nodded, remaining silent. His mind already considered various things he would set up for the uing events. He had something in mind. A simple skill he had not used in a very long while.

    "It is goodbye then, o heir of the god of speed," Cregar announced and Noah felt a particr pressure act on his figure. The world trembled and for a second he thought he saw a woman standing before him.

    The image barelysted a second since he opened his eye to the skies of Cregar. He threatened to plunge to the ground, but a tform of wind appeared below his feet and he could stand high up in the sky.

    He recognized that location as where he had been running past before Cregar intercepted his journey.

    Noah furrowed his brows as he gazed at the world before him. It had been long since he saw it in the lushness as he did now.

    He took in a deep breath and the world seemed toe alive anew. A wonderful experience,he thought.

    His interaction with Cregar had notsted an hour so the task he had been sent to achieve was still in view. The day already felt long, however. A phenomenon that remained rather rare.

    As an expert that could enter a meditative zone for days on end, mere hours usually failed to make him feel that way.

    "Noah?" He heard Erolia speak from within him, and a smile bloomed on his face. Her figure quickly shot out of his chest and her humanoid figure appeared before him, eyes widened.

    Noah felt the urge to chuckle, and he did. Her reaction to his now normal state made him d.

    "You''re�� bright," she revealed, poking his chest. Noah chuckled even more. He missed being able to express his emotions, now he valued that ability more than ever.

    "Bright? That is a rather weird representation of my new state. Or old state turn new,," he ced his hand on his chin as though in thought.

    "It''s weird too�� but that''s how my mind can describe you�� bright. Before you felt dull and gray�� or colorless.."

    "Maybe it''s something that has to do with my nature as a magical beast," she revealed, speaking sense that even Noah agreed to.

    "But yes, I have returned to normal. I thought you would have noticed since it''s happened for a while now��" This subject made him wonder.

    "I don''t know. When Cregar pulled you in... I kinda could not see anything," she revealed. Her eyes danced up and down Noah''s features, he seemed like a new person.

    "Hmm alright," he muttered, understanding the situation. He didn''t expect less from a being that level. He had literally met the world. That event had to hold some terrible implications.

    Noah nodded his head randomly.

    "You can return to your soul space now. I don''t want to-" He was cut short when Erolia frantically shook her head in disagreement.

    Despite the rough action, her multicolored hair simply bounced gracefully while her head shook, never getting ruffled.

    "Let''s go together, it''s been ages since I saw you!" she eximed as her figure began to release a soft cerulean light mixed with tinges of gold and silver.

    Noah could only give an understanding smile while she transformed. The light became blinding and in the blink of an eye a ratherrge cloud formed before him and he sensed the presence that Erolia exuded in that beastly form.

    She shot out of the white cloud to circle Noah''s figure whilst traveling at high speeds. Her master could sense the excitement swelling in her chest.

    Before he knew it he sat on Erolia''s feathery back while she flew towards their destination. It was a simple location in the forest. It would be highlighted by the runes given to him.

    It acted as some sort ofpass and now that he was close it shone with a greater golden light and the second he arrived above the ce, even he could sense the presence of the others.

    They were a group of middle-staged experts, so his arrival would have gone unnoticed were it not for the terrifying beast that suddenly beamed above them to cast a huge shadow.

    Erolia''s mass had increased by about 20% after her breakthrough into the higher stage. Her natural aura as a magical beast made that area tremble.

    Noah descended while Erolia decided to explore the area. Curtsy demanded that he at least held a conversation with them, especially now that he felt reborn.

    Three females and two men. All in the peak of the middle stage. That level of power had be the default level to actually make some impact on the events that urred during the war.

    "Master Noah," one of thedies floated forward. They had brought a big badger as their ride, and it shook at Noah''s arrival. Magical beasts had far better sensespared to humans.

    "Good day. I''m sorry I arrived a bitter than I had anticipated," Noah apologized taking steps in politeness. They were from the ming heritage guild.

    That organization had been rather tiny decades earlier, but fate had allowed its leaders to stumble upon resources that quickly increased the strength of their top members, and here they were helping the great guilds out.

    Thedy shook her head with a polite smile even if some nervousness could be fished out in her expression.

    In fact, they all felt nervous. Noah was the most stunning man they had everid eyes on.

    "We didn''t have to wait much. You arrived far sooner than expected. I am Helen," she exined as their feet touched the ground.

    Helen was ady who looked past her mid-thirties. She had a head full of ck hair, a pair of sparkling orange eyes, and had a ming red robe which masked her petite features. She stood at the height of 5"4, leaving Noah almost a full foot taller than her.

    The others came forward to introduce themselves to that high level expert. Personally, they could sense nothing from him. No hostility, or power.

    But that reality was what made them nervous to begin with.

    Quickly they invited Noah to sit around a short table and red mats with wine served to him.

    "I''m sure you have what they sent me to get," Noah said after sipping some wine. Helen nodded and he sipped more.

 Chapter 606 606. HUG

    Chapter 606 606. HUG

    The item Noah had been sent to retrieve was a rather strange object under production by theing together of the guilds. Or at least the guilds with enough resources to spare for that project.

    A powerful magical ring that held the type of pressure capable of crushing even lower stage tier 4''s by them simply being in its presence.

    Thankfully a storage item had been created specifically for that ring. This was what Noah would see when they handed the item over to him.

    Not even he knew what was within it. He also didn''t care now that he knew he would be ganged up against by reason of the order from the royals.

    The meeting with the members of the ming heritage guild remained short. Noah had made it so on purpose.

    Erolia''s figure suddenly loomed above them and he ascended to the skies to meet hispanion. The experts from the guild could only wave him goodbye in awe of his beast.

    Noah met and even exceeded the standards they had set in their minds concerning the great guilds. From his looks to his power level to his beautiful yet terrifying beast.

    They each wondered what it would be like to interact with such experts daily. Not to talk of having an entire guild full of them!

    The journey back to the guild''s floating ind was snappy. Noah delivered the good and didn''t even bother to ask what it was.

    The elders also noticed the change in his existence. He had stopped being dull.

    He left them with questions, and they could not ask too.

    "By the gods! Is this real?" Elder Sarah''s voice boomed on the insides of her mansion, and were it not for their enclosed location her voice would have been able to catch the attention of an entire stadium.

    As such, the entire mansion trembled and she alerted a meditating Jane.

    "Master you should be careful with your expressions��. Sheesh," Noah clicked his tongue in faked annoyance.

    Her voice had been loud, but it did not hurt him one bit. He was truly worlds above her in terms of levels despite being in the same stage as her.

    "How do you expect me to remain calm? You''re back to the Aiden I''ve known for decades now."

    "Yeah�Cyeah, I''m back now�� hopefully I don''t have to adopt such a state again or something," Noah walked past his master, she had encountered him the moment he entered her mansion.

    He sat, feeling at home for the first time in a while. Comfort wasn''t much of a focus before, thanks to the stone heart skill.

    She turned to face him, still feeling strange.

    Soon enough Jane rushed forth into the room and Noah nced at her before tilting his head to the side. Surprisingly she instantly sensed the difference in his gaze.

    Jane had been the only one who had not properly known Noah before the skill changed him. So the person she saw sitting remained an essentially different person.

    "Jane�� I see you''ve been Improving," Noah remarked and he watched her eyes widen in shock.

    "Here we go again," Erolia''s voice rang out in his head, and he struggled to bottle up hisughter, even if he managed to. For some reason, she didn''t like Jane.

    Jane''s gaze bounced from Noah''s figure to her master''s and she could only remain still.

    "Master��"

    "Yes-yes. I know. The bastard''s suddenly normal," Elder Sarah scoffed.

    "I don''t know why this is such an event," Noah adopted a nk expression.

    "Jane you can return to your room."

    "Yeah she should," Eroliamented again expressing her strange dislike.

    "Ya''ll should calm down really," Noah sighed having to battle threedies at the same time. He almost wished he couldn''t feel the pressure of their gazes on him.

    A wave of seriousness swept the room at that point, and Honestly, Noah had not expected that level of severity.

    He decided to take their emotions seriously.

    Before then, he had been unable tomunicate properly with them. He had sensed Jane''s feelings towards him and Sarah''s longing for one of her old friends. Her second and best student.

    Noah stood, approached Elder Sarah, and did something he had never thought he would do. He wrapped his arms around her neck in a rather warm embrace.

    "I''m sorry, master."

    Silence

    Elder Sarah took a deep breath before returning his hug. She spent a few seconds in that embrace before a powerful bang swept the room.

    Noah''s figure shot through the building and he ended up bursting through most of its length.

    "Who told you you could hug me?" Elder Sarah asked in faked rage, her vibrant purple hair dancing gracefully in the wind her punch had generated.

    Noah could only chuckle.

    "I thought an olddy such as you would be starved of some sort of affectionate expression," Noah mocked yfully.

    "Ehh! Do you wanna die you son of a--" Her words were cut short by her sudden eleration. The ground shattered as a result of her movement despite the higher-stage reinforcement protecting the building.

    Noah managed to get on his feet the instant her figure shed before him. He raised his left arm to block her kick. And the entire building had been nearly blown away.

    Jane had to set up most of the barriers she could deploy, and she still almost died as a result of the sh!

    Noah had a cheesy smile across his face seeing his master''s leg on his arm.

    "You''ve gotten slow, ma''am," he stuck his tongue out for an instant knowing fully well what was about to happen.

    "Oh," Elder Sarah''s tone scrapped the ground whilst violet sparks flickered silently but dangerously around her figure. "Let''s see who wouldn''t be able to keep up."

    "You might die," Noah mocked again even if his hands moved to block her nine blows in the span of an instant. They felt stronger now that she had advanced.

    "Still not enough," Noah teased vanishing from her sight. His figure appeared behind her and she spun mere millisecondster, unleashing a punch in the process.

    Unfortunately, Noah vanished again and appeared a few meters behind her.

    "Tch." She clicked her tongue straightening her figure to nce at him. Her eyes swept the environment, a worried and frustrated Jane, her destroyed mini castle, and of course the terribly powerful person before her.

    She felt d that she could rte to him as she did many years prior. He felt like a lost son returned.

    If only she knew her student would soon be taken away again. Ironically.

 Chapter 607 607. NOSTALGIA

    Chapter 607 607. NOSTALGIA

    Noah and Elder Sarah ended up not sparring for the full course. They would destroy too much and that would cost money. Although Noah was worth more in that guild after his recent achievement, it would still be troublesome.

    He spent a few hours with his master before moving to other things. Firstly he spent a day in his cultivation room meditating and cultivating.

    After that amount of time had psed he returned to the city to meet up with Elder Velsvon.

    Noah walked into a rtivelyrge room moderately adorned with luxurious-looking items, but that would not be his focus.

    "I heard a rather interesting thing happen from my master," Elder Velsvon''s voice sounded in the room and the man appeared before him.

    "Why would you teleport in your own mansion?" Noah asked scanning the room to take a seat on one of the five green sofas arranged in a circr formation around a simple transparent ss table.

    "Because it''s easier," the expert replied,giving a soft chuckle. The white and yellow lights in the room bounced off his amber-colored robe shimmering with green inscriptions.

    Noah nodded and watched Elder Velsvon walk towards the sofas to take a seat directly across the ss table facing Noah.

    A wave of silence swept the room and Noah could only allow a bottle of wine and two cups to appear on the table.

    "What did you hear?" He asked, making the bottle fill the cups up with his mental waves.

    "That a certain someone met with the world," Elder Velsvon replied taking the brown cup up. He gently stirred the violet contents within it by swirling the cup.

    "Hmm. Well, I admit that it did happen. But I''m here for a slightly different reason," Noah exined not even touching his cup.

    "Can I guess?"

    The elder proceeded when Noah nodded.

    An eyebrow rose on the elder''s face. Things were getting amusing.

    "The n was and is to have you dead�� Adonis will even be amongst those sent to kill "Cregar must have dislodged some info about the decision of the royals�� seeing as you sound rather stale despite your new state of normalcy," Elder Velsvon revealed, and Noah could only nod in affirmation.

    "I came here based on that revtion�� we will be leaving after all of that is over," Noah announced taking up his cup.

    An eyebrow rose on the elder''s face. Things were getting amusing.

    "The n was and is to have you dead�� Adonis will even be amongst those sent to kill you. You essentially have no way of escaping unless you run now."

    "I also cannot disappear since that would be utterly suspicious��"

    "All this changes unless you have a n though. You have proved to be more than you seem. Even if you already seem like a lot�� a whole lot."

    "You are right. I do have a n. A n that will not cause you any trouble."

    "A n that will fool even tier five experts?" Elder Velsvon asked, filling the cup himself.

    "Whether it fools all the fifth-tier experts or not does not matter. Only that it will work, and we can begin our journey to the dark continent to meet your master. I have a lot to talk to him about," Noah exined, not willing to give any further info about this great n of his.

    "I see," Elder Velsvon stroked his chin.

    "I understand you do not n to tell me anything more?"

    Noah nodded.

    "Very well. That''s even good for me. I want you to surprise me," the man chuckled even if the whole thing had put him in deep thought.

    "I will inform the others about my decision to embark on a journey after tomorrow." He grunted as he stood to his feet.

    Noah stood too, bowed, and disappeared.

    Elder Velsvon could only sit to ponder on the various events that were about to ur, and for the first time in a while he felt saddened by the decisions the royals had decided to make.

    They utilized one of the favors the guild owed them to ask for this, and since the favor had been bound by an oath thanks to the paranoid royals, the guild could only agree.

    After all Noah had done for them, it felt dishonoring to have to put him down that way.

    "Where is this nation going," the man sighed before vanishing to who knew where.

    Noah appeared in Elder Sarah''s mansion, inside his given room and he could not but suddenly feel an intense wave of nostalgia.

    Funnily she had held off from touching the interiors of his room. It looked exactly as he remembered before disappearing three decades prior.

    It showed how much she cared for him. He could almost confirm that he had a higher position in her heart than Jane did.

    That detail didn''t matter much though. He would have to leave again for who knew how long.

    "I''ll be unable to participate in the war," he muttered, cing his hand on the yellow walls.

    His silver eyes scanned the room and certain items that had been there before he left entered his gaze.

    Thanks to the extra protection deployed around that room and its general position, their small fight had not touched that ce.

    "That''s convenient for me. I will be able to handle other things during that period. But��" He paused before closing his eyes.

    A soft mncholic smile appeared on his features. He had almost forgotten what it felt like to miss someone. And maybe a bit anxious about how things would be from that point onward.

    He of course felt certain about his n. It only felt sad knowing he would have to leave after merely months with his old friends.

    The war still had a long way to go.

    He clicked his tongue shaking off those burdening emotions.

    "At least I''ll have you with me," Noah spoke addressing Erolia. She could sense his feelings and he could sense hers.

    Erolia could only remain silent. Her master''s feelings about leaving a ce he had known for a long time hit her deeply.

    Noah ended up spending a bit of time simply pondering on the things that were to happen. Only Jane was in the mansion. But of course, was cultivating.

    The elders had summoned Elder Sarah, he had a hunch about what they nned. After all, they were about to kill her student, and the event would happen in a day.

    Noah visited the twelve and they shared amon shock concerning his state, he had a bit of fun with them and learned of the new developments. They were advancing fast after seeing his might.

    He could be considered their teacher even if he never taught them anything.

    He still inspired them to push forth toward power though. At least to those who were determined to make an impact.

 Chapter 608 608. RELNI

    Chapter 608 608. RELNI

    The third day finally arrived and Noah could only sit in his room, waiting. All preparations having concluded.

    He felt certain his n would not fail. Still, thend of Cregar had many surprises.

    Finally, something came up. Hismunication amulet lit up and Elder Ezra''s voice rang out from within it. As usual, she asked him if he wasn''t too busy and asked to meet at a certain location outside the guild.

    Apparently, a few other higher-stage cultivators would be waiting for him there too. She finally mentioned that it would be the thing the royals asked them to do.

    When the call dropped he almost burst intoughter. He didn''t, only because he recalled what the things soon to happen, and all the humor In his situation vanished.

    "I''m going to die today," he sighed, muttering to himself.

    "Master," Erolia''s voice came from within him tofort him.

    "Don''t worry, don''t worry. I''m alright."

    "I guess."

    Erolia could only remain silent. She recalled his n and how painful it would be for him, but could only follow along.

    Noah stood and teleported out of his room.

    Not too long after, he reappeared outside the rumbling clouds that surrounded the guild then shattered the sound barrier to travel towards the ce he had been called to.

    It remained only a few miles from the guild''s general position, so it didn''t take Noah long to arrive there, and he immediately sensed four other experts.

    ''All higher stage�� as expected,'' hemented inwardly descending a few hundred meters to meet up with the four experts. He knew them all.

    "Aiden." The only female in the currently present experts called out but in a rather slow, almost sleepy tone.

    She was Relni. A woman that looked past her mid-thirties but remained gorgeous. Her silky long ck hair and emerald green eyes made for that detail.

    Relni was a top expert with an affinity for ice and wind. Yet she joined the divine lightning guild and established her position as one of its strongest.

    "It''s been a bit. How have you been," Noah responded, inspecting her rather ssy; slightly weird attire.

    She donned a simple flowy ck gown but covered herself with a thick furry white, ck, and gray coat.

    It wasn''t weird per se, considering the snowy nature of their location. But she was an ice affinity expert, and wind affinity to boot.

    Plus her peak tier 4 level. She could essentially walk around that area naked and not feel cold.

    Relni''s smiley expression froze and her eyebrows rose in amazement. She could instantly sense the color that now existed in his words.

    Noah chuckled at her reaction. The others floated forward having heard his down-to-earth question. During their initial encounter; to those experts, Noah was no more than a powerful dummy due to his formerly stale nature.

    Things seemed to have taken an interesting turn, however, since during their five minutes of interaction Noah showed traits of a normal human, even if his existence still felt strangely distant.

    "Why are we even here?" Noah asked. "I have things to do back at the guild�� important things."

    They yed dumb for the time being.

    "We''re waiting on the others to arrive before actually moving. Even I don''t know," Relni revealed, yawning. Her starry ck gaze scanned Noah''s figure and she failed to hide her sexually inclined intentions towards him.

    Relni always had a dreamy, half-asleep look, which more or less suited her defined features.

    She also liked Noah and thought she could get down with him. Unfortunately, that wouldn''t be the case.

    "Give them a few minutes," Uno revealed, the only me mage present there.

    They could only agree with the man, and truly after a few minutes, other experts arrived. At that point, Noah could only feel tense.

    It wasn''t that he thought his situation was bad or anything, he had anticipated that oue. But the fact that they would send that many just to kill one person spoke badly of not only the guild but the entire kingdom.

    He contemted, seeing reason in his consideration.

    "Should it be considered as a sort ofpliment?" Erolia asked, ''Were I normal�� I would truly die here.''

    ''Or maybe it''s because I''m not normal that they need this many��'' He contemted, seeing reason in his consideration.

    "Should it be considered as a sort ofpliment?" Erolia asked, counting ten higher-stage experts.

    That force would normally be able to subdue weaker nations. But thanks to higher-level experts such as the fifth and even the sixth tier, tier 4''s were merely slightly strong.

    "I will see it that way," Noah responded feeling the built-up tension vanish.

    Truly their intuition wasn''t wrong. The guild saw it fit that many experts be involved to leave no chances for escape.

    With the arrival of the tenth expert, the atmosphere between those men and women changed. Noah could immediately tell��

    ''It''s time.'' He sighed inwardly.

    Slowly but surely he watched those cultivators spread out around him forming a circle that featured him at its center.

    He took up his acting skills.

    "What are you all doing?" Noah frowned expressing his confusion and even slight worry.

    No one responded so he stepped forward. A bad decision.

    The second he moved, he felt the auras of all ten experts crash into his figure, and it felt like gravity skyrocketed.

    Still, to their shock he remained in one ce, seemingly unmoved by the ordeal. But now he had a grim dark expression on him.

    "What is the meaning of this?" His words unfolded rather slowly his tone spoke of his growing fury.

    Seeing that they weren''t getting to him, Relni stepped forward.

    "I could swear you had this in consideration�� but let me spell it out, Aiden. The royals have asked for your head, and we will be the ones to deliver it to them." She announced, and the others reacted by revealing their weapons.

    Their aura''s skyrocketed and only then did Noah''s figure tremble. The weight of their presence''s affectedhim. A good sign.

    A wave of confusion swept his expression before it seemed to dawn on him what was happening.

    "I see��" He muttered putting up a show.

    "But all of you put together aren''t enough to put me down," Noah announced, and his aura exploded forth with peak intensity. He ended up bathing the entire ce in silver light as the weight of his existence was revealed to all.

    A terrible shockwave barreled out in all directions mere instantster, as fog, and thunder clouds flickered into existence with raging intensity.

    The event managed to push those experts back a bit. No one had expected a newly formed higher-stage expert to be that strong.

    Nevertheless, they were ten of them and one of him.

    No one led the fight, so everyone was free to attack as they pleased. As such, multicolored attacks sprung forth into the world.

    The clouds Noah''s presence had unleashed darkened the area for several kilometers, so the light of the different elemental attacks were vivid and radiant.

    Nevertheless, the rumbling of thunder was drowned by the attacks of ten higher-stage experts who had honed their skills to nigh perfection.

    The result was a mighty bang, capable of leaving gigantic holes in entire cities. But thanks to their position high up in the sky. Only shock waves traveled through the sky, while strong winds swept the grounds far below, even if no real damage was sustained.

    One-third of the whirlwinds and clouds were blotted out thanks to the size of the explosion, as even those experts had to erect defensive measures to shield themselves.

    Thergest cloud, however, did not vanish. Meaning its creator was still alive.

    The smoke and remnant chaotic mana cleared by reason of Relni''s influence and astonishment appeared on their faces when empty space unfolded in their eyes.

    ''Has he been disintegrated?'' They wondered inwardly, even if their existences found it hard to believe they could kill him in one go.

    Wasn''t he the one to defeat a quasi-tier 5 while being in the middle stage?

    Yet, the sight before them could not lie. Noah was nowhere to be found but his clouds were around meaning he had survived.

    "Where is he?" One of them wondered out loud. He was a man and had an affinity for lightning.

    Relni frowned deeply, realizing that she could not sense him anymore.

    "Be vignt, watch out for-" Her words were cut short by the soft gasp she voiced when the ck sole of what was clearly a bootnded lightly on the right side of her face.

    She had only been able to nce at the kick with the side of her eye before she felt an immeasurable force akin to hundreds of times the normal pull of gravity act on her entire body.

    The sound barrier shattered as her figure was sent flying several tens of times faster than the speed of sound.

    Her colleagues had only seen her figure shoot past as a streak of light before they couldprehend what happened.

    Noah''s figure had suddenly appeared and kicked her away. They had been unable to follow or even sense his movements!

    Relni smashed into the barrier erected around that battlefield. It remained hundreds of kilometers in size allowing those experts to go all out if they desired.

    The impact had been terrible, but like all experts at that level, Relni had protections passively active around her body.

    Nevertheless, the side of her face that made contact with Noah''s boot sustained a terrible bruise as pieces of flesh directly off. In addition, her back, neck, and head ached badly.

    Noah clicked his tongue at that sight. He didn''t wish that any of them died at his hands since the entire event remained outside of their control. Still, their willingness to kill him made him reconsider.

 Chapter 609 609. GAZE OF THE CRACKLING DEVOURER

    ?

    The event that saw Noah''s sudden reappearance managed to daze the remaining experts. But for barely a second.

    The next instant and they were raining attacks on his figure, yetto their ever-growing astonishment they found silver streaks moving to and fro the attack area.

    Noah was dodging their attacks by running around!

    mes, sparks, water, earth, and wind, rained on the area in various forms conjured by those experts, but heutilized his greatest trait. Speed.

    "This is bad!" One of those experts eximed while huge chunksof red rocks manifested out of thin air to shoot toward Noah''s general area. They exploded mid-flight, sending speeding rocks everywhere.

    That portion of the sky never stopped trembling, as the powerful explosions that urred when two or more elemental attacks collided continued to rage with intensity.

    The whirlwinds that had appeared thanks to Noah''s power had vanished. Snuffed out by the power of nine higher stage tier 4 experts.

    One would think that such an overwhelming disy of force would put the hearts of those cultivators to rest. Maybe if their opponent had been a less impressive expert that would have been the case.

    But they were battling Aiden, and the new development did not help their case.

    "We''re not getting anywhere with this," Another of them revealed their axiomatic situation.

    Relni had been knocked unconscious, but icy-blue and green mist leaked out of her figure to keep her afloat.

    No one had the chance to check her out, and when another presence unfolded on the battlefield, they could only focus on the battle before them.

    Noah summoned his Elder Golem and it instantly drew essence from him to summon a hundred frozen golems. Those golems managed to tilt the scales of the battle by a bit since they gave Noah a break from the rain of attacks.

    ''Just one of them should be enough,'' he whispered inwardly, allowing his eyes to shoot toward Relni''s position.

    "Just one and I''ll allow this to end," Noah chanted sprinting towards the expert. His eleration left a silver trail and those experts could not but understand his intentions.

    Unfortunately, they remained slow�� too slowpared to the heir of the god of speed.

    Noah arrived in front of Relni''s figure. He caught sight of her injuries but ignored them to raise his right arm.

    Sparks gathered around that limb to form a de in an instant, and he snappily brought it down on her figure severing her figure in two clean halves.

    At least this would have been the oue had a palm not appeared on the path of his attack.

    Noah''s de of sparks exploded upon contact and his instincts roared at the power of the person before him.

    Before he could run, however, he felt a wave of raw force wash over his figure and he was sent flying backward.

    Noah clicked his tongue after he managed to stop himself. His internals trembled and he coughed silver blood.

    "The battle only just started, why are you interfering already��. Adonis."

    "I am here to make sure none of them gets killed. The guild will lose one highly important expert. We can''t suffer another of such loss," Adonis exined calmly with Relni in his arms.

    Eyes emotionless and gaze nk, Elder Adonis remained floating, his existence unbothered by the various auras in the area.

    "Will you end the fight now? I have no chances against you," Noah asked, seeing reason in the expert''s words.

    "I don''t know what your n is. But we both know you have more in you than you''re showing�� Are you willing to die?"

    Noah remained silent. The intuition of a 5th-tier expert remained a hassle.

    He swept his gaze on the world around him. The higher-stage experts were still at their peak even if they looked wary of him.

    "Don''t try anythin-" Adonis''s words were cut short by the bang that followed Noah''s sprint.

    He shot towards the me mage, Uno, and would arrive before him in mere instants.

    Adonis sighed at that sight even if his figure silently flickered from his position.

    Only when he hadpletely vanished did a powerful burst unfold, and due to his initially close proximity to the barrier, his movement ended up shattering that side of the barrier, making everything flicker violently.

    Adonis arrived in front of Uno at the same time Noah did. And the barrage of ice spears, lightning bolts, and wind desnded on the barrier he set up with his consciousness. He deflected all of Noah''s attacks easily.

    Uno had barely been able to blink, and he instinctively realized how much Aiden had been holding back.

    ''I would have died." Bewilderment supported by real horror unfolded in the expert''s sturdy mind.

    He felt d Elder Adonis had stepped in.

    Willing to put up a show, Noah moved towards his next target, and Adonis went forth to meet him there. This back-and-forth sh continued for a while.

    Noah had been unable tond a hit on any of his targets. Adonis was incredible. Or the fifth tier was.

    "You all are dismissed. I have something to discuss with him," Elder Adonis announced at some point, and although they had difficult expressions on them, they could only obey his orders.

    Despite Noah''s supposedly low level, it became evident that he stood at a level they were simply too underpowered to handle.

    They each bowed and left, Adnois gave Relni to one of them.

    After the higher-stage experts were far enough he waved his arm and a barrier well in the fifth tier manifested around them. It was in the shape of a simple sphere.

    "You''re really something," Adonis sighed shaking his head whilst a golden short table and two red mats appeared before him.

    "Do you care for a drink? It''s good," Adonis asked, sitting on the floating mat.

    Noah considered the offer for a second, after which he transformed into a silver streak and arrived before Adonis to take his seat.

    They weren''t enemies to begin with.

    "What is this for?" Noah asked after Adonis poured wine for him in a small cup.

    "Nothing much. More of a farewell talk or something��" The expert paused.

    "I wish this didn''t happen. I speak for the entire guild when I say we are heavily indebted to you. I personally will tell your tale. I owe you for this level of power after all," he exined, losing his gaze in the skies around him.

    It was a sad day for the guild.

    "Was there no other way?" Asked Noah, even if he knew the response.

    "No. The royals utilized a favor that was tied to an oath."

    "It''s one of those moments when you wish you had not made such a promise. Especially when you had confessed the vow with utter confidence." The elder sighed. "Life."

    "No one anticipated they would use their favor in such a way, though. We will hate them for this. But nothing can be done."

    "I see��" Noah muttered having alreadye to terms with his situation. He took up the drink, gulped it then stood.

    "Are we gonna continue talking or fight?"

    "You''re a funny one," Adonis chuckled even if his figure vanished from his position only for him to appear several kilometers from that area.

    A massive silver bolt fell on his former position charging the air. Fire flickered into existence and a powerful st of heat and multicolored mes expanded in all directions even if it died soon after.

    "Will go all out now?" Adnois enquired, sipping thest of the wine in his cup before storing it.

    His golden robe danced softly in the winds and his silver hair fluttered gracefully��untouched by the chaos in the environment.

    Noah opted to remain silent while his power bubbled up. He summoned another frost golem as the other one had been destroyed by the higher-stage experts.

    An army of giant ice golems appeared in the sky, followed by Radiant judgment, Blizzard, Wind serpents, hundreds of Sky spears, and Ten crackling beasts.

    To push his attacks to a new level he called upon all two of his domains and the weight of all those skills caused a terrible pressure to fall on the area.

    "You truly are an exceptional expert that I have to admit is the best I''ve seen in all my life," Adonis remarked somberly,even if a wide smile appeared on his face.

    Raising his left hand at the hundreds of radiant offensivesing his way, Adonis took in a soft breath.

    "Gaze of the crackling devourer," he muttered simply and the entire area within the spherical barrier trembled violently. The very air thrummed with brilliance and strange excitement.

    The skill of an expert in the 5th tier had been unleashed.

    A blinding sh of golden light appeared at the end of his words as even Noah felt the move of an immense amount of mana and could only cover his eyes before they evaporated.

    The instant the light disappeared all of Noah''s attacks vanished along with it.

    Silence

 Chapter 610 610. TRADING BLOWS

    Chapter 610 610. TRADING BLOWS

    Stunning silence unfolded in the sky. And were it not for the fact that only those experts were present, many would have sworn reality glitched since all of Noah''s attacks vanished without a trace. Not even wisps of his energy being spared.

    "Damn!" Noah eximed under his breath. He had swallowed several essence pills to make for that immense disy of power. A pity, he thought.

    "You really went ahead and wiped out my attacks. If you ask me, that''s no fair," Noah clicked his tongue browsing through his skills.

    Adonis burst intoughter that could be heard even from his position. The world naturally carried the voice of that expert now that he was a tier closer to the peak of power in the world.

    "Why didn''t you lose your apathy earlier than now? We would have been good friends."

    In response to the elder''s words, Noah waved his left hand in dismissal retaining a disinterested gaze.

    ''In this form, I can''t use all my skills,'' he revealed inwardly, seeing that skills like Elemental embodiment, Avatar of speed, Clones, Overdrive, and a few others were locked. He didn''t find that reality too surprising though.

    He knew of those limits even before stepping into the battlefield. Part of his preparation had been concerning that topic.

    The only skill avable that could give him a unique boost was ''Elemental Armament.''

    [Elemental Armament: Behold, the power and raw essence of the elements have coagted and transcended the lower realms to be physical items capable of being attached to its caster. When activated, ''Elemental Armament'' provides a 500% increase to users'' defense stats and a 300% increase to all elemental-based attacks]

    [Cost: 75% of essence pool. Duration: 2 minutes. Cool-down: 5 days]

    [Bacsh: -50% to defense-based stats -40% to attack power of all elemental skills. Duration: 2 days]

    "I guess I''ll have to work with what I have," Noah sighed, deciding on his next set of actions.

    "Show me your power Aiden. Surely you have something that would catch the eye of an expert such as myself," Adonis taunted yfully from the distance.

    Taking a shining silver pill and cing it in his mouth, Noah''s essence bubbled up in quantity. Thanks to the remnant essence from the previous spells he could quickly meet the requirements for Elemental Armament.

    "Say, can I just call you Adonis since we''re about to kill each other?" Noah asked, finally activating the skill. His aura changed instantly. A change even Adonis raised an eyebrow to.

    "Yes, you can."

    "Okay, Adonis. This isn''t really important, but I have a name different from what you all know me with."

    "Oh?" Adonis showed interest in the subject.

    "Yes. It''s Noah. ''Noah'' could be considered my real name... It honestly is." Allowing a soft mncholic smile to grow on his features, Noah''s silver gaze fell to the world below.

    "Tell it to my master, I never got the chance to," he raised his head to gaze at Adonis in the distance.

    "Very well," Adonis responded. "Noah."

    Nodding his head with a soft chuckle, Noah''s figure exploded with power and radiance.

    He had managed to hold off that event to speak his mind, but now even he could sense that it was time to close that chapter of his life. From that day on, he would cease to be a member of the divine guild and would be considered dead.

    After all, he would be faking his death... by truly dying.

    With rumbling intensity, a huge dark cloud quickly formed above them. Its range filled the insides of the barrier so much so that Adonis had to expand it.

    The cloud crackled and reverberated with terribly powerful bolts. Adonis felt admiration and sadness grow in his heart at that sight.

    "He truly is the best," muttered the expert beneath his breath whilst he silently watched.

    Bluish-silver, vibrant green, illustrious gold, and white colors zed forth from Noah''s figure. Rather than act like light, this manifestation acted like waves of liquidy-mist. A weird sight indeed.

    Ice burst out from that location to manifest as two huge wing-shaped figures, the winds blew violently as they got dangerous enough badly injure experts at the peak of the fourth tier.

    Both the low temperatures around that disy of light and power, plus the sharp winds were already beyond the capabilities of the peak of the fourth tier.

    In short, Noah had quickly achieved an almost quasi-tier 5 attack power. At least his affinities. His real level had not undergone any change.

    Despite the intensity of the light show, Adonis could still peer into the events that urred within the light and he watched a spectacr armor born out of pure elemental power appear on Noah''s figure.

    The battle armor being bulky had most of its frame built out of solidified silver ice. Adonis did not know ice could be that sturdy in the fourth tier.

    A breastte and gauntlets made out of crackling silver sparks, a cape made solely out ofpressed gales and searing silver light.

    An icy helmet shining with golden light zing from its eye sockets. A pair of wings born out of ice featuring raging sparks at its feathers.

    And finally, a de made of pure light that possessed green, silver, and white orbs swirling around its length representing all three elements apart from light.

    Noah''s figure exuded strong pressure, confirming that his full capabilities had exceeded the fourth tier, but not the fifth tier.

    The light zing around his figure finally died off and his form was revealed to the world. This time around a thinyer of golden and cerulean light existed around him like a sphere.

    "I did not expect this," Noah revealed seeing that some of Erolia''s traits had been featured in the spell''s activation.

    He took a deep breath and exhaled softly. The pressure and impact of that skill on his mind remained evident to him. He could lose that form if he lost focus.

    "Are you done?" Adonis''s voice rang out, pulling his attention from himself.

    Noah replied by nodding.

    "Very well," Adonismented, even if his figure flickered from his position and a burst of wind and force as a result his eleration unfolded.

    Noah squinted his eyes while his headache subsided for the time being. His perception of things was altered, and the world moved sluggishly in his gaze.

    He caught sight of Adonis and understood the expert was out to kill him.

    So he moved.

    His figure transformed into a multicolored streak at the simple p of his icy wings. The power in that p would have badly injured an expert in the higher stage, and the burst of cold mist that expanded, as a result, would have put the individual in a near-death state.

    Noah ground his movement to a halt, then turned to face his opponent who had changed trajectory the second he disappeared.

    Waving his de at the world before him, a blinding wave of multicolored light exploded forward at that simple swing.

    The raw essence of all four of his elements beamed in both harmony and violence. Almost like a massive sh.

    But rather than have sharp edges to deal damage. The entire mass itself was the damage dealer. As such, there was no need for a specific shape.

    Adonis halted his movement when he saw that massive wave of elemental energy approaching him at zing speeds. The average higher stage could only die before that colossal offensive.

    Raising his right palm, Adonis felt his skine into contact with that mixture of essences.

    He raised an eyebrow at the violent energies that tried to break his body down on a molecr level. That strange offensive Intrigued him.

    Nevertheless, he poured his energy into the mixture.

    The result was a palm-shaped hole instantly appearing in the several kilometers thick wave of elemental essence. The remnant energies could only disperse.

    Noah clicked his tongue even if he had anticipated that oue.

    At that point, his figure began to crackle more evidently with silver and golden sparks. Those sparks snaked forward to converge in several points, generating bright light.

    The light died down mere instantster and fifty humanoid figures revealed themselves to the world.

    Each being 10 meters in height, the crackling humanoid constructs each generated a level of sound akin to several rumbling clouds. As such their presence drowned all other sounds.

    Noah sent them forward and they fell like lightning; streaking towards Adonis and reaching his figure nigh-instantly.

    Their movement speed had been shocking, leaving Adonis unable to dodge. All fifty figures converged on him at that sight of weakness.

    Still, a wave of golden light exploded from within the convergence, and Noah watched his creations explode when the power of a fifth-tier expert washed over their material causing them to grow unstable and detonate.

    Before Adonis could move, however, Noah waved his de several times, and as such huge waves of multicolored essence beamed toward the expert''s figure.

    Still, a massive hole appeared in the sea of elemental essence and Adonis floated out of the chaos, his figure undamaged.

    "Those were strong, but not strong enough."

    "Besides, simply hurling attacks from a distance is getting repetitive," Adonisined, raising his hands before his chest to form fists.

    "Let''s trade real blows."

    Noah nodded and his sword melted away into raw essence to tightly warp around his hands. He raised his fists and pped his wings once to propel himself toward his target.

    Noah arrived before Adonis in a blink, and his left fist dove toward his opponent''s face.

    Confident in his ability, Adonis raised his palm to block that punch.

    But to his astonishment, he felt an immense wave of force travel the length of his arm whilst elemental essence beamed out of Noah''s fist upon contact to swallow his figure in their power.

    So much so that Adonis''s figure transformed into a streak that mmed into the barrier to make everything flicker violently.

    "Tch. With thesepressed to such small sizes, their power should have been doubled, if not tripled."

 Chapter 611 611. GRAVE

    Chapter 611 611. GRAVE

    Powerful bangs reverberated in the sky as that battle continued to rage on. Even if now, its end drew nearer and nearer.

    A silver and golden streak shed now and then, their conflict sending terrible shockwaves to the world around.

    Each time both streaks made contact, huge waves of elemental essence would beam forward to cover arge area, pushing the golden streak backward.

    Noah and Adonis fought to the teeth, and to the astonishment of the tier 5 cultivator, he realized that Noah''s strength could at least send him flying. He only yed along, however.

    Feeling energy burst forth in his veins, Noah sprinted forward further propelled by the p of his remaining wing.

    During the minute-ling battle, Adonis had managed to shatter one of his wings, even if he could still utilize the second one.

    The expert had dealt that damage rather easily.

    ''My time is running out,'' Noah revealed inwardly. His eyes fell on the countdown of the skill. He had less than 50 seconds to go.

    He had to go out with a bang.

    Flickering before Adonis for the nth time, he rained blows spanning hundred in number and the sheer force of his punches caused another wave of force to riddle the sky. That battle zone had long since be unconducive for tier 4 cultivators.

    Adonis clicked his tongue whilst he raised his arms before his face, blocking those punches effectively.

    Noah stopped for an instant and the elder saw that opening. His eyes gleamed with a dangerous light as he caught one of Noah''s arms tond a blow directly on his opponent''s belly.

    Thanks to the 500% increase in defensive stats, Noah didn''t directly explode into a gory mess of flesh and blood.

    Instead, his insides rocked intensely and when he mmed into the barrier, his figure ended up spreading cracks in its material.

    Noah coughed blood as pain spiraled into his consciousness. That was the first time Adonis had been able to deal significant damage. His defenses were wearing out. After all, the expert had also shattered the cerulean and golden barrier around him.

    Adonis shed in front of Noah and decided to rain punches on his opponent.

    Fortunately, Noah transformed into a streak that escaped the deadly barrage.

    Yet, shock waves washed over him and he felt his insides tremble even more.

    "Despite my holding back, It''s still very surprising that you canst this long against a tier-five expert. Maybe it''s because I''m newly advanced. Or you''re that much of a monster."

    "Does your potential not know end?"

    Adonis sprinted forward, only to flicker above Noah as four afterimages all lowering their fists toward him.

    ''Bad!'' Noah''s instincts raged as he wrapped his remaining wing and cape of gales around himself.

    A thunderous boom reverberated across the sky an instantter and cold mist unfolded, clouding that area.

    Adonis waved his arm once and all that mist cleared to reveal a badly injured Noah.

    "You''re still alive? You''re beginning to make me really want to see you perish," Adonis gave a defeated smile.

    "I''m sure I''ve made others feel the same way," Noahmented weakly. He still had his arms raised around his head even if his lower body had suffered damage.

    Noah''s wing and elemental cape vanished upon contact with the expert''s offensive. His icy armor now featured several holes in its structure.

    Holes that revealed the burns and bruises Noah''s skin had sustained.

    Before then, it was true that Adonis had been holding back a whole lot. But now even he felt riled up to end Noah.

    Coughing a mouthful of silver blood Noah felt the insides of his chest burn with intensity. Yet his head; although aching, felt relief.

    After all, Adonis had removed the weight of most of the elemental armament''s manifestation.

    The only thing that remained rtively intact were the gloves he made from the elemental essence avable to him. They still shimmered with glory and power, thrumming with vibrancy��ready to attack once again.

    Noah lowered his arms slowly and felt them ache badly. Despite all the defenses deployed beforehand, It still felt like he had taken a direct hit.

    "Fuck," he eximed under his breath, taking note of another injury.

    Several bones had turned to mush in his arms and they were almost unusable. His chest featured broken bones that stuck out from beneath his skin but were unable to break past thatyer of flesh.

    Needless to say, blinding pain gushed into Noah''s head. Thankfully his healing kicked in. But it was slow. An expected oue.

    Adonis silently watched and a tinge of pity inevitably appeared in his mind. Noah had lost all sorts of vibrancy and was in agony.

    "I will end it quick," announced the grand elder, forming a fist with his right hand. He pulled his arm backward, momentarily ncing at the tform of wind his opponent used to stay up.

    Ready to unleash the killing strike, Adonis took a deep breath only to blink and Noah appeared right in front of his face.

    "I''m still going out with a bang," Noah gave a weak smile even if his handstched onto Adonis''s neck and his figure began to glow dangerously releasing all the lights associated with his affinities.

    "Good luck with the war," Noah remarked and closed his eyes.

    transformed into what resembled a ball of ss riddled with cracks.

    What followed that wave of force was a massive explosion of Understanding what was happening, Adonis let his arms down, not willing to put up any defense. He would honor thatst wish.

    Noah''s figure continued to shine brighter and brighter, until��

    A shock wave unfolded within the barrier and it instantly transformed into what resembled a ball of ss riddled with cracks.

    What followed that wave of force was a massive explosion of light,mes, and speed essence that had turned violent.

    With a sound intensity akin to a nuclear bomb going off, and an expanding sphere capable of overshadowing cities, Noah''s core detonated and the power contained in him grazed the fifth tier, thereby shattering the barrier and unfolding into the world around.

    Terrible heat spiraled into the icy terrain and ice melted into water, which further evaporated. Snow clouds close to that explosion were directly blotted out.

    Thanks to their height, the damage that should have been done to the environment mostly spread in the sky.

    Still, chunks of violent speed and elemental essence fell to the ground, and holes opened in the terrain.

    The ground and air boiled as that area quickly lit up with the vibrant red of molten rocks.

    It looked like a firestorm had appeared at the center of that cold region.

    Still, a golden veil fell on that environment and everything came to a halt. Like time had stopped.

    "Gosh�� that monster really touched the fifth tier before his death," Adonis''s voice reverberated in the environment as the power of his presence acted on that area.

    The explosion cleared and the molten grounds cooled down by reason of his presence, even if certain changes were happening.

    Pirs of golden light moved around carving something into the ground. All being supervised by the expert.

    Adonis now appeared as a glowing golden figure in the sky��Like a god descended from the heavens.

    Only when the effects of the explosion had died did the golden veil vanish, but Adonis continued to glow in the sky. His figure remained in one position all that time.

    Due to the intense light he radiated, not many would have been able to see what urred beneath his radiance.

    But the tier 5 elders who had been watching that battle from their various locations found astonishment appearing on their faces when their gazes incredulously caught sight of the hand-shaped burns on Adonis''s neck.

    Noah had detonated with his hands holding on to Adonis''s neck, and surprisingly the power he achieved in his death had been able to damage the expert.

    "You really left with a bang," Adonis chuckled even if the burns on his neck vanished without a trace.

    His figure beamed out of that area not too long after, but he had left a series of golden words engraved into the very terrain and pulsing with his power to ensure they would not be washed away any time soon.

    "HERE LIES NOAH, ESTEEMED MEMBER OF THE DIVINE LIGHTNING GUILD"

 Chapter 612 612. POWER AND DOMINANCE

    Chapter 612 612. POWER AND DOMINANCE

    Deep within an unknown region in thends of Cregar, the figure of ady sat cross-legged, floating in a seemingly endless area brimming with vibrant purple light.

    Thedy''s eyes snapped open when a certain piece of information got to her. Hergracefully floating hair experiencing a tremor.

    Deep purple eyes almost akin to gems gleamed with brilliance as for the first time in a while she took her attention off something rather important.

    Amongst her siblings, it was public knowledge that the heir of the god of speed had returned to their world, and although he had led to the death of a few of their servants, the world had still called upon him.

    Setting up a meeting that although they had tried to take part in; were denied ess.

    A strange and rather infuriating issue.

    Still.

    A purple screen appeared before the radiantdy whose face shone with youthful vibrancy but pulsed with an ancient vibe. That feeling wouldn''t be wrong since it was true that she had been around for several millennia.

    Having somewhat been discouraged in the affairs of the heir, she felt confusion seep into her mind when the scene of the death of the same heir yed out on the screen.

    This had been transmitted by one of her brothers. The king of the sky.

    Her gaze shifted, inspecting several details in the video. She couldn''t believe her eyes.

    "What is the meaning of this?" Her words rang out as though she spoke to someone right in front of her.

    Nevertheless, a tremor in the purple radiance she emitted unfolded and the voice of a man reached her ears.

    "From the looks of things he actually died." The man revealed the obvious, and she red at the space in front of her.

    "We sent several scouts to search the area, but all they could find was the inscriptions made by the tier five being, Adonis," the man''s disembodied voice exined. In truth, he wasn''t actually there.

    "Scouts?" Thedy asked, her voice containing a tinge of annoyance.

    "Not just any type of scouts. But not to disrupt thews I had to send only fifth-tier scouts. And they brought back all the details they discovered."

    <nulli>Silence.

    "He died�� so <nulli>easily? I understand he had gone up against a fifth tier, but it shouldn''t be that easy. Did he not have means to escape even us?"

    "That was due to Thanses''s help though�� maybe he had truly hit thest of his potential," the man tried to make sense of the scenes.

    "True�� but you have seen the teleportation skill he utilize." She paused. "It evades even our powers. I refuse to believe he had been cornered. There has to be more to this," she spected, nodding her head.

    "Watch for now. He had met with one of Thanses''s servants. They might have plotted something."

    "You say this even if you sound uncertain�� maybe he truly his dea-" The man was cut short.

    "Just do as I said, watch out for Thanses''s next action, but don''t agitate the bastard. We don''t want what happenedst time to repeat itself."

    The man remained silent even if she understood that he would do as she said. He dared not do so after all.

    Despite their status as Immortals, there were still those of higher power, she was one of those higher powers.

    After she sensed that her brother''s influence had vanished she could only fall into thought herself.

    Truth be told, after Noah had been summoned by Cregar and they were shut off, she had fallen into confusion and was still in confusion.

    ''Is he not as dangerous as the prophesy says?'' She questioned a major source of her drive to eradicate the being titled the heir of the god of speed.

    Heaving a sigh her gem-like eyes closed shut again and her figure zed with intense purple light. The scene of Noah''s death yed in her mind, troubling her. She wondered if their troubles and worry were over.

    Still, the Immortal of Time could not shake off the feeling that things were not over yet.

    Quite the opposite, she sensed in her being that the very things they hoped to steer away woulde to pass and she feared greatly for the world.

    .

    .

    .

    Deep within the dark continents, in a region soon to be revealed, a certain individual stood amid a in known as the in of Shadows.

    It had been named this due to the creatures that walked its surface at certain times of the day. Shadow beasts.

    The individual being ady, began to float whilst remaining still, as though awaiting the arrival of something.

    And that case wouldn''t be wrong since not too long after, a new presence arrived on the field and apletely ck cloud formed above the area.

    Within the sky already past sundown, the manifestation of that dark cloudpletely shielded all sorts of light in that still serene in.

    Yet. Thedy''s figure began to glow and soon her radiance became far too distinct to not notice.

    The deep purple and yellow light her figure exuded caused the very grass below her to glow the same shades.

    The dark cloud rumbled despite theck of sparks in them. The outline of a draconic being formed by reason of the movement of the clouds and zing crimson eyes flickered into existence.

    "Princess," the voice growled with enough intensity to shake that region. "Have I not warned that you never returned here? For that, I shall end you."

    Finally, thunder rumbled and the power distinctive to that of a being past the beginning stages of the fifth tier roiled forth with might.

    Spiralling pirs of darkness fell from the sky. Their numbers crossing hundreds.

    The instant they touched the ground, strange shadowy figures all about 20m in height manifested. The creatures resembled giant humanoid figures in massive battle armor. But some resembled giant beasts.

    Thedy remained still despite the sheer force manifesting around her.

    Finally, a crimson pir fell from the dark cloud and an ominous aura seeped into existence.

    Compared to the rest of the shadowy figures, this particr one remained leagues above them in terms of power.

    Heaving a soft sigh whilst her starry golden gaze remained listless, thedy opened her mouth to speak with a soft tone. "I havee here to talk... just like thest time. But this time-"

    She cut her own words short by allowing her aura to flow forth and the entire area lit up with a deep yellow light simr to an ocean wave expanding with power.

    Her influence stopped every other thing except the crimson shadow being.

    Slowly lifting her left arm, a strange orange energy gathered above her palm with swirling intensity before shooting towards the sky to sh with its power.

    "-I havee with dominance and with power."

    Her simple statement gained even more weight when her energy ended up punching a massive hole in the dark clouds and half of the shadowy figures vanished due to that loss of energy.

    That disy would be the first win of a battle that had been put on hold for several centuries.

 Chapter 613 REVENGE

    613 613. REVENGE

    Within the walls of the golden castle belonging to the grand elders of the Divine Lightning guild, inside a certain chamber, the figure of ady bound by chains connected to the ceiling revealed itself.

    Her figure sat on the ground whilst several feet of chainy around loosely, even if her wrists were connected to those chains.

    Due to her head being bowed, her face was covered by purple hair which had grown severely untidy.

    Her ck dress featured several holes in it even if it shielded her nakedness enough.

    In truth, she looked homeless.

    The chains she had been bound with shone with vibrant golden runes, and even the ground she sat on had runes etched into its surface all glowing with golden radiance.

    They were measures to stop thedy from calling upon her mana.

    The entire room measured about 50 sqm and was painted yellow but illuminated with golden lights.

    A simple ck door remained the only sign of an exit. It didn''t matter to thedy though. She had no means of escaping after all.

    As such she sat silently��waiting for the day of her release.

    The ck door eventually creaked and slid to the side, allowing entrance into the chamber.

    Elder Adonis walked in, his eyes soft from slight reluctance andpassion.

    "Sarah." He called out, addressing his friend. They had grown closer during the thirty years of the war.

    Elder Sarah remained unresponsive, and he closed the gap between the two of them.

    She reacted.

    With a snappiness quicker than the blink of an eye sheunched herself toward him to deliver a powerful kick.

    A kick Adonis caught easily.

    "Sarah," he muttered again, seeing her recoil because of the punishment of the oath she bore. She coughed blood even if she raised her head to re at him.

    Her crimson eyes zed with razed intensity as animosity poured out of her existence. Despite the existence of tier 5 binds the air around her figure got charged and purple sparks flickered here and there.

    An impressive sight.

    "Don''t talk to me," she clenched her teeth to speak, the oath acted on her despite its limit being the peak of the fourth realm. Still, she could withstand its punishment thanks to her higher stage level.

    "I only came to check up on you, it''s been over a week but you remain hostile. You''re hurting yourself too much," Adonis exined letting go of her leg, even if it flickered again, aiming for his face. He caught it and the ten others she tried tond.

    Still, on the 12th he allowed her kick tond, and it felt like she had struck a metallic wall.

    "I deserve more than that honestly, and although I know you understand our reasons it still hurt you," the elder looked truly saddened.

    Elder Sarah frowned in anger seeing sadness on his face then proceeded tond tens of blows on his figure. Both her legs and fists yed a part in this.

    She hated that expression. He reacted as though it was his student that had been executed. She almost ran mad from fury.

    She punched him until her fists and feet bled, but Adonis remained standing. Enduring her method of venting. That was the least he could do considering he had ended Noah''s life.

    Still, Sarah''s punch suddenly lost its power as pain and sadness overwhelmed her mind. She hated to find herself in that weakness, but it couldn''t be helped.

    Warm tears streamed down her cheeks as her expression crunched up in exploding emotional pain.

    Hurt ravaged Adonis''s chest at that sight. Sarah remained one of the strongest individuals he knew, that sight showed how much the decisions of the guild and the royals damaged her.

    He ended up pulling her closer in an embrace whilst she sobbed in his arms.

    This continued for not too long before she finally calmed down.

    "Did he suffer?" Elder Sarah asked at some point, her voice cracked from sobbing.

    A soft smile bloomed on Adonis''s features. He recalled how he felt it was an honor to witness the death of such a spectacle of an expert.

    "No. His exit was a dramatic one, and we both know how he was."

    Elder Sarah heaved a deep sigh at that point even if she chuckled at the thought of what Adonis said.

    "He was a bastard with a jumble of surprises. I thought they had ended only for him to pull a new one out." Suddenly those memories felt precious. She would treasure the time she spent with that man.

    The duo ended up in this long conversation that saw Sarah recounting her experiences with Noah. Most were during the days of his training. He had only been a measly third-tier expert.

    This had been her way of letting her pain subside. Adonis yed along. He still found it entertaining since he never knew Noah personally.

    Unfortunately, she didn''t have any recent ones because he had only just stopped being emotionless when he was once again snatched away from her. This time she had no hope of ever seeing him again.

    "The whole thing is hard on the others too. None of them had the guts to show up here after thest time. That''s why they sent me."

    "We had tried to bargain our way around his death, but the royals would not budge. Apparently, an imperial knight reported that he was rather suspicious and said he was a threat that needed to be eradicated... Those bastards."

    Sarah''s eyes sharpened at that piece of information. Adonis could instantly tell what thoughts ran through her mind. After all, hostility seeped out of her very existence and he felt chills.

    "Why didn''t you tell me that earlier?" Her tone had fallen dark again.

    "You were still�� touchy," the expert averted his gaze.

    Sarah''s mouth fell open and her eyebrow rose.

    "What did you just say," she red at him.

    The expert cleared his throat.

    "We managed to get the name of the imperial knight," Adonis revealed and he regained her full attention.

    "I won''t tell you now��till you promise you won''t make a fuss anymore, you have to see the expressions on those geezers at the thought of approaching you," he chuckled.

    She gritted her teeth even if she nodded.

    Even Elder Sarah understood that the only reason she had not been released was because of her tendency to cause destruction. They couldn''t kill her. Not after losing Noah.

    Ironically, his death had increased the value of all the other experts in the fourth tier and even below. In reality, the appearance of such an expert had to be once in centuries.

    Adonis squinted his eyes and she rolled her eyes before stepping back.

    The elder nodded and waved his hand.

    The metallic binds set loose and she could move freely.

    "Now we should get you-" Adonis was cut short by the violet bolt of sparks thatnded on his figure with a terrible roar.

    "-Cleaned up." He revealed a nk expression.

    Elder Sarah''s mouth opened in surprise.

    "You really are a fifth-tier expert now. I had been wanting to meet but they said you were stabilizing your power," she nodded in affirmation, flexing her wrists.

    "Oh," Adonis scratched his chin. The attack had been absorbed by theyer of protection he had around himself at all points. But even if that had not been present he would have still been fine.

    "Let''s go. Staying over a week in this rag has been ufortable," she picked the ck dress with her pinky, ncing at its various holes. One existed rather close to her chest.

    "Oops, you could have seen my boobs."

    "You''re un-serious," Adonis retorted instantly, rolling his eyes in a nk expression.

    Sarah gave a cheeky giggle inching closer. "Do tier-five experts still feel sexual arousal?" She asked purely out of curiosity but her demeanor remained yful and suggestive.

    "Leave me. Wait till you get here," Adonis hissed in response turning to approach the exit.

    "Ohe on. You''re the only person In the world I could ask these types of questions," Sarah whined, following closely behind him as they continued to banter walking down the various halls.

    "He said he had another name... it was Noah," Adomis revealed when she had gotten q change of clothes.

    "He said he wanted you to know."

    "Oh..." her crimson eyes gleamed with resurfacing pain, but she took a deep breath regaining her cool.

    "Let''s go." Sarah took the lead as they approached the throne room of the Grand elders��resolve forming In her chest

    Despite her now calm demeanor, Sarah already had a simple n in her head. She would find the knight that lied on her student and kill him.

    Even if it were thest thing she did; she would have revenge for her student and knew darn well the guild wouldn''t stop her.

    I hope you enjoyed it!

 Chapter 614. SUMMONING

    614 614. SUMMONING

    Major events never ceased in the world of Cregar. The war remained the highlight of the human continent. While the elves could only recoil as their name was tarnished��even if they never helped.

    The other continents remained in the background, specting, waiting for something even more grand to ur to entertain them. The whole war remained okay with them as long as they were not in the crossfire.

    Yet, in various locations several unique events took ce, events that would unfold into even grander urrences or greater implications.

    One of these smaller events being the decision Noah made days before his death. Or what was considered his death.

    .

    .

    .

    Sitting in his cultivation room, Noah browsed his various skills in search of something suitable for his situation.

    In truth he wasn''t looking for a solution since the very second Cregar had mentioned the n of the royals, he knew what would solve his problem. His current activity saw him checking others that would assist his main choice.

    Of course, this skill was none other than the skill that allowed for the creation of a clone.

    [Imperfect Image of the Speedling heir[Active]: Call upon a clone made from the depths of the Speed Force and your core as a Speedling. It is physically identical to you and has ess to 75% of your full power and speed, apart from your ''Bloodline'' abilities, ''Title, and ''Speed force-based skills. You can only summon two of these clones]

    [Cost: 90% SE pool, 80% Soul energy pool, and 45% Soul core fragment per clone. Duration: N/A. Cool-down: N/A]

    [Summoned Clones: 0/2]

    [Warning: If the clone is destroyed, the user will fall into aa as a result of the damage of 40% of their soul core. If both clones die at the same time user will likely die]

    He read the skills description and despite its warning, he already knew it would be his go-to.

    It had changed from ''Speed clones'' to ''Imperfect image of the Speedling heir'' at some point after utilizing his bloodline form.

    It remained the only thing that could make him experience death without actually dying.

    "The skill says it has no cool-down, but it''ll still take a while for me to replenish my soul energy," Noah shook his head. It sounded like a scam.

    "Before you pull out a whole manual book on the reason for this, I understand," Noah shut the system before it could even start.

    [[Impressive of you to anticipate my reply quickly enough. As a matter of fact, I have five reasons. But you don''t wanna hear them]] The system replied even if she sounded disappointed.

    For some reason, the system had gained more humanity in her voice and interactions now that he stopped being emotionless.

    Maybe it had always been like that but he simply never noticed.

    Erolia could only giggle in the background whilst listening to that conversation.

    Now that he could feel dness, Noah found it pleasant to know she could always participate in their dialogues thanks to his connection with her.

    In some ways, It had stopped being ''his'' system, but ''their'' system. The days of feeling utterly lonely were over.

    "Yeah. Yeah," he waved dismissively.

    "Still, it''s been a while since I used this skill, is there anything you think I might need to know?"

    The system remained quiet for a few seconds too long and Noah got ready to speak again, but the iconic silver screen appeared before his gaze along with her voice.

    [[Well, for starters, the reason you need all that for the clone is because after its creation; its functionality is dependent on the amount of information present. The soul energy and soul fragment are both carriers of your very core nature]]

    [[Controlling the clone will be akin to a third arm; rtively easy. But it willhave obvious limits. It''ll only be able to carry a portion of your consciousness and will require your main body to function at all]]

    [[At its death, the fragment of your soul core in it will be shattered. It will be a violent experience, but thankfully since your main body is still alive your soul will naturally begin to rearrange the shattered portion, but you cannot be awake during the initial process]

    [[Also due to its imperfect state and your heavily low level you can only handle certain skills before even you give in to fatigue]]

    "Why?"

    [[Do not forget that you will not just be feeling some sort of pressure, you will be splitting your mind into almost two halves and depositing it into the clone''s empty mind. After that point any heavy skills you cast through it will still be felt even by your main body]]

    [[Though this is due to your low level. Things will change even in the fifth tier]]

    Noah could only nod in understanding. Staring at his left palm he clenched it in resolve.

    "After this mess let''s break through into the fifth tier. We''ve spent too much time this weak. Our power is getting outdated," he exined, getting on his feet.

    [[What are you gonna do now?]]

    "I''m summoning the clone of course. I need to get used to its feel before the big fight."

    "Erolia, prep yourself for a fight with my clone," ordered Noah. And although she didn''t stop floating she nodded.

    She''d formed the habit of simply floating about. At times Noah wished he had that ability. Every space seemed to be void of gravity to her.

    Tapping the skill, Noah tapped once again at the message of confirmation from the system. His eyes danced around for a bit after he confirmed the activation.

    Then it happened.

    A strange sensation akin to falling swelled In his belly and he frowned.

    His belly tensed and to his shock, he spat a mouthful of silver blood.

    Still, right before it touched the floor several magical runes appeared to emit a soft silver light that made the mass of blood hover above the ground.

    The red, silver, and white runes no less than five in number expanded at that point, transforming into

    full-blown magical triangles and circles. They even expanded past Noah''s feet.

 Chapter 615. DARKENED

    615 615. DARKENED

    The inscribed circles and triangles were mainly red and silver, but the floating silver blood remained the center point of the entire event and eventually, It fell to the ground.

    The second Noah''s blood touched the magical inscriptions, a burst of silver light unfolded into the room and a strange wind gushed forth, pushing even Erolia away.

    <nulli>Stunning.

    The center of the triangle and circles quickly became blinding as the light visibly took shape.

    Still mesmerized by the entire event, Noah felt taken aback when the light abruptly vanished and he could see a figure before him.

    "Oh," he eximed softly,ying eyes on a replica of himself. Only that this replica had ck hair.

    He approached the figure. It was naked, had its eyes closed, and exuded no aura. Funnily it featured no genitals.

    <nulli>"This is very weird��!!" Any further words were cut short by the severe pain that spiraled into his mind.

    He felt like his head had been split in two and was being pulled to separate the halves. The reality of his situation was not too far from that sensation.

    Still, he felt so much pain that he fell to his face as though <nulli>dead��but was only limp. The shock had been terrible.

    Silver blood flowed out of his nose and ears, but the real event happened on the inside, where a clean line appeared on one side of his shimmering soul core. Tremors ravaged his soul ind.

    The portion featuring the line slid downward, revealing that it had been cleanly cut by an invisible force.

    The severed part tried to float away, but multicolored tendrilstched unto it from the exposed insides of his silver and ck core.

    A small battle of pure forceunfolded, but the skills provided by the system had a 100% sessful activation rate. As such, those multicolored tendrils could only lose.

    The severed half disappeared at that point followed by the multicolored substance that was his soul energy.

    A terrible tremor unfolded in Noah''s soul realm, but nothing could be done.

    The transfer had beenpleted. A simple golden line floated out of Noah''s head totch unto the clone''s forehead signaling the connection between the two.

    A spectacr change urred to the physical features of the clone.

    Little unstable portions of his features solidified and it took the form of Noah''s current features based on the information avable to it.

    This fluid alteration was only possible thanks to Noah''s blood originating from <nulli>speed essence.

    Its ck hair changed to mimic his silver and white hair and its height was altered to match his exact length.

    It took a few seconds for this process to beplete, but after it, the clone''s eyes snapped open to reveal identical silver eyes.

    Its gaze swept the room and fell on the figure of a clothed Noah stillying on the ground.

    There was intelligence in its silver eyes.

    <nulli>"So this is a more advanced clone," he muttered through the lips of the replica. Despite the half-unconscious state of his real body, he could still make use of his mind within the clone.

    <nulli>"Interesting��"

    Noah recovered soon after and trained with the clone, mapping out its features rather easily.

    It took a test of faith to make it appear before Elder Sarah, and even she couldn''t tell the difference.

    As such, Noah interacted with the others utilizing his clone.

    On the day agreed that they should kill him, he had considered simply vanishing, but he required total freedom, there were still things he had to do in his life.

    The war wasn''t too urgent to him. Particrly now that he had delivered a whole lot of resources to the guild.

    From that point on he had done enough, now all he could do was hope none of his close friends died.

    Sitting cross-legged in the cultivation room, Noah had his eyes closed as he concentrated on doing two things.

    One of which was fighting, but the other remained more technical. To make his death even more convincing he had to erase the traces of the oath on him.

    He had to do this at the exact moment his clone detonated since anything before that could raise questions.

    All he did was simply get a hang of the oath, he had been doing so for the past couple of days and now he believed it was ready.

    Speed essence helped greatly thanks to its natural affinity to deal with mana.

    He still had to be cautious though, since even though the oath had already washed off significantly during his evolution into a Speedling, It remained vtile enough to nearly kill him.

    It was obvious a tier 5 expert had created the oath.

    Multitasking whilst engaging in a battle made even he sweat. Something about the usage of those skills pushed even his great stamina to its limits.

    Maybe because it was a skill rted to the speed force. Normal elemental magic barely did anything to him until he spammed them.

    Not having the full capabilities of his mind avable for usage took the greatest toll, and he almost wished he never made that decision.

    Noah heaved a heated sigh as beads of sweat broke on his forehead to stream down his face. His attire was now drenched in sweat and his hair stuck to his back.

    Fatigue told in his expression and his chest had begun to rise and fall in a rhythm gradually growing in intensity.

    <nulli>"Fuck." Even he eximed, his voice mostly being a whisper. At this point, the other experts had been sent away, and now he and Adonis stared at each other.

    The battle before then had been heavily based on spells, thankfully the expert asked for a brawl. Still, due to the limits of his clone, it couldn''t wield his physical items, like Mullix, his daggers, and so on.

    He hoped that changed in the fifth tier. But for now, he neared his limits terribly. Nevertheless, he closed his eyes to focus on the fight.

    By the time he grabbed onto Adonis''s neck, he pushed all his efforts both into dispelling the oath and creating mental cushions.

    <nulli>Still.

    At the instant of the clone''s detonation, Noah felt intense heat burst on his insides, yet that remained bearablepared to the surprisingly deafening bang he felt in his head!

    His consciousness darkened instantly��the mental cushions having been powerless before the damage of a shattered soul fragment.

    I hope you enjoyed it!

 Chapter 616 616. NATION OF SAINTS

    Chapter 616 616. NATION OF SAINTS

    Somewhere above a vegetation-filled region, two figures streaked across the skies, their passage remaining mostly silent due to the speed they traveled at. The best their passage caused was a zipping sound.

    Elder Velsvon swept his gaze on the world around him. He did not find that sight any more interesting than it was, he had seen simr things many-many times.

    His eyes remained nk and he caught sight of a few battles unfolding on the ground below.

    Two tier-4 beasts fought to gain dominance. He wasn''t bothered though. After all, he had left that area seconds after.

    He remained one of the two streaks traversing the skies. His figure released a simple green streak by reason of his simrly colored attire.

    But the person beside him unfolded as a silver streak. But more than that, the line was a trail of silver sparks generated by his movement.

    This person was none other than Noah.

    The elder shook his head taking note of Noah''s interest in the world below. Although they had been traveling for ten days Noah continued to pay attention to the boring world below.

    Then again, he was only a fourth-tier expert. Elder Velsvon could turn that entire region into a shadow of its former glory. Nothing in it could help or fascinate him.

    At least for now. They were still in the bounds of Cusk, he knew things would change the moment they left that nation.

    "Do you want to stop for a bit? Maybe we might find something interesting here," Elder Velsvon suggested at some point, and although Noah remained mostly unresponsive, the expert could sense that he liked the idea.

    Noah nodded, diving immediately. Instant''ster his figure crashed into the ground below and a crater opened. He hadnded on his feet.

    Elder Velsvon floated slowly to meet him.

    "Why do you have to be so uncaring about the world around you," the elder scolded with a soft chuckle. He had concluded that Noah usually got carried away.

    "If we fifth-tier experts were like this, there''d be no forestry in the whole of Cusk."

    Noah scratched his head revealing a defeated smile. "I forgot."

    Elder Velsvon shook his headnding on the ground. He clicked his tongue at its shattered state, even if chunks of rocks scattered in the surrounding thrummed only to suddenly converge towards the crater, returning it to its former state.

    Noah did not find that event surprising, though. That wasn''t the first time the expert utilized his earth affinity.

    The abilities of the grand elders of the guild had always been in profound mystery.

    They hardly utilized their affinities leaving it unknown to most. But from what Noah saw, it would seem all of them at least had an affinity for two elements.

    Even Adonis who preferred to utilize his lightning affinity had a second one.

    Of course, dual affinity holders were rather rare. So finding that many in one guild spoke of the reason they had attained their status as the best even among the three great guilds.

    The ground rumbled at that point as pirs and walls sprung up to manifest as a small earthen house.

    The expert waved his hand and paint gradually spread on the building''s walls,beautifying it.

    A rather handy ability.

    "I''ll check the area as you suggested," Noah announced after spending a few minutes within the building,

    Velsvon waved his hand dismissively sitting on a brown couch that appeared from his storage ring,

    Noah left at that point, and he would not return until a few hours passed.

    In the meantime, Elder Velsvon reported to his master. Lord Thanses.

    He had been doing this every two days since they began their journey, and each time he did so he was forced to recall how shocked he felt when Noah appeared in his mansion four days after his death.

    A death even he confirmed.

    With a demeanor second to strolling in, Noah had revealed himself. Perfectly fine.

    The elder had burst intoughter for several minutes. After which Aiden announced his readiness to leave. He had sounded bitter but there was no other choice.

    "What a man," the elder sighed at some point during his deep thoughts.

    He had his consciousness on that region, so he could see Noah''s movement and his location.

    lights����vel Still, as a form of respect, he made sure not to gaze at him too much. Noah could sense him after all.

    They would be together for quite a while, and though their start was rough due to Noah''s emotions in y he knew he would eventually warm up to him and they would be good friends.

    So far they had only reached the edge of the Cusk nation and based on their direction they would need to cross the Papine nation. A.k.a the Nation of Saints.

    It would be a somewhat troublesome passage, but he preferred that to crossing the empire where too much trouble could be stirred up by reason of his presence.

    He had been to the Papine Nation a couple of times, and each time it had ended up in one annoying skirmish or another. They were a strange nation. But he could not deny their power.

    Blessings. Abilities akin to deviants in Cusk, but were weaker than the average Deviant. Still, their strength depended on certain factors.

    In addition to these blessings, they also walked the cultivation path; even if their naming system stood out in the whole Human continent.

    The measurements remained rather simr to the rest of the continent, however.

    Their next destination would be the giant continent, but thankfully they would not have to cross its entirety. It was thergest continent after all.

    Thanses had servants in the giant continent and they would take a teleport thereby cutting the journey to the dark continents by more than half.

    However, the gap between the Human nation and the Giant continent would be far more troublesome than whatever they would face crossing the Nation of Saints.

    Just thinking about it gave the elder a headache. That wouldn''t have been all had the master not spoken about providing help in crossing the gap between the dark continent and the giant''s continent.

    In truth, Elder Velsvon hardly believed he could handle the journey. There was a reason the dark continent had remained mysterious to most of the world.

    This would firstly be because of the literal darkness that surrounded the borders of that continent. A darkness that would make even fifth-tier experts struggle terribly.

    There were other things that Elder Velsvon did not want to think of.

    But after reaching the dark continents the trouble would have ended.

    "For now let''s even leave Cusk," muttered the elder. They would meet up with two others at the very edge of the nation. Other servants of Thanses.

    Noah returned at some point and the two had dinner.

 Chapter 617 617. RESEARCH PURPOSES

    Chapter 617 617. RESEARCH PURPOSES

    The duo resumed their journey at the breaking of dawn, and the more they neared the end of that nation the more vegetation began to recede.

    Also, the power of magical beasts in the area increased drastically, but the best Noah had seen was the higher stage of the fourth tier. He barely had any interest in them, however.

    Only if he took hold of an even stronger beast would he be able to feel its impact. After all, he still nned to enter the fifth tier before actually reaching the dark continent. And from Velsvon''s words, their journey would stillst months.

    Currently, only a small dead iny below them. The sun''s power was revealed on that vast wastnd. It looked natural, as there were no water sources in the area.

    Yet, thanks to the presence of mana, there were still beasts whose natural abilities had adapted to that environment. The war also did not touch that ce.

    Then again, the duo had done their best in making sure they left any areas featuring battles. This also was not a location anyone would want to be in since it remained empty of anything interesting.

    "We are here," Elder Velsvon announced at some point, and they slowed down to aplete stop.

    Noah furrowed his brows unfolding his mental waves. His reach was now impressive for someone of that level, but that wasn''t the main reason. He couldn''t sense anything. At least not anyone.

    "I don''t sense anyone though."

    "Me too, Elder Velsvon replied giggling. "But we don''t need that to know they are here."

    Noah scratched his head sweeping his silver gaze on the world around him. The winds blew and the crusty dry grounds suffered the power of the winds.

    They waited a bit, and something finally happened.

    Yet, before the physical appearances of the beings, Noah''s instincts roared and he almost prepared to attack, when the ground far beneath them burst open to reveal a colossal figure. A magical beast in the fifth tier.

    But not just that. The sky above them experienced shockwaves and another huge figure flickered before them. Its appearance had been too quick to be considered a movement technique.

    ''Teleportation.''

    Four tier-5 presences revealed themselves, the remaining two appearing on their magical beast.

    A massive purple centipede several kilometers in length, even if most of its figure remained under the surface, and arge four-legged turquoise bird with wings made of what resembled metal due to its glistening in the sun.

    It sported two obsidian ck eyes and one white eye on its forehead.

    A figure stood on the Birds head, gazing at the figure floating before him.

    "So this is the one master Thanses has asked we escort�� the heir?" A masculine voice thrumming with raw power burst forth and the entire region trembled as a result.

    "He seems interesting," the second person revealed. A woman. Amongst the three fifth-tier experts present she was the strongest. Possessing a cultivation base beyond the lower stage.

    The impact of her voice had been normal. She did not intend to frighten Noah, unlike the man.

    But of course, Noah remained unfazed.

    "Oh�� brave I see," the male expert eximed when a terrible pressurended on Noah''s body so much so that he crashed into the ground. His eventual position not being too far from the immense centipede.

    Furrowing his brows, Noah locked gazes with thedy and he found that her eyeballs were ck while her irises glowed yellow. A strange sight especially whit her long flowy dark hair.

    Her purple and red robe fluttered in the winds, but the air of regality she exuded suppressed most of its influence.

    She was magnificent.

    ''What should I do?'' He wondered inwardly. Surely the expert wasn''t asking for a fight? The oue remained evident. At least in his base strength.

    With his other skills, he could attain a level of power far superior to all of them put together. Unfortunately, at a severe cost.

    Another wave of pressure fell on Noah''s figure amid his thoughts and the ground shattered around him, making him fall to his knees.

    He lowered his face as his expression grew dark.

    "Tch�� nothing spectacr here-" The experts'' demeaning words were cut short when Noah suddenly stood.

    An eyebrow rose on his features and he increased the pressure. Unfortunately, Noah vanished from his position, attaining a level of speed normally impossible for someone his power level.

    "Eh." The expert''s red eyebrows rose in surprise, when an armored figure appeared before him, with a spectacr dagger ced on his neck.

    Noah revealed MulIix and his daggers and Erolia''srge figure stood behind him too. Even if her size remained mediocrepared to the expert''s beast.

    Annoyance seeped out of Noah''s existence and the passive skill gained from his title as a death lord came into y

    [Tyrannical presence[Passive]: Immediately your anger is kindled, an aura that inflicts a type of fear only those who carry simr titles can withstand, unfolds. When activated, your presence creates illusions of terrifying beings from the abyss. Those properly affected by the ability, regardless of their power level; including beasts, experience a 20% decrease in all aspects of their power. This number continues to climb the more terrified they are of you]

    Of course, there was arge limit to how much he could affect an expert in the fifth tier, but that addition was noticeable nheless.

    The expert swore he saw at least two other simr armor-d individuals even if they vanished when he blinked. He wasn''t scared, however.

    Noah had reached the expert''s position in less than a second and only thedy had clearly seen his eleration properly. Thanks to her proximity of course.

    His leap ended up further shattering the ground as all the sound he generated was a whoosh.

    He had been able to startle a fifth-tier expert, but also thanks to his affinity for speed. It added effects not even he fully understood.

    Elder Velsvon burst intoughter at that point, pping at the show both experts had put up.

    "That was something," he revealed, appearing before the duo lest they actually unleashed attacks. Lord Thanses remained rather strict on his instruction.

    "Yuno, that should be enough, you''ve seen his potential. I never expected less. This guy cheat death right before my eyes," the elder continued to chuckle.

    Noah lowered his dagger and MulIix receded into his skin. Erolia remained around, however.

    "You''re something," Yunomented touching his neck. He had sensed the withering ability within it.

    "Where did you get that de�� It''s terribly efficient."

    Noah preferred to ignore the expert to float closer to Elder Velsvon.

    Clicking his tongue Elder Velsvon opened his mouth to speak.

    "Look what you''ve gone ahead and done. He''s already been through a lot from higher powers. It would be preferable if you hadn''t done that."

    "Yet you watched," Yuno revealed a side eye, ring at the expert.

    "Hahaha��. That was for research purposes." Velsvon chuckled sneakily closing his eyes whilst patting Yuno''s back. The expert''s re intensified.

    "Stop your banter. We should simply introduce ourselves and get going." Thedy''s voice interrupted their conversation. The two could only obey.

    Noah felt cranky but bottled up his feelings.

    She approached them and the region trembled when the centipede returned to its underground world.

    Its size remained spectacr to Noah. So much so that he could not but watch it dig the terrain to bury its body. He had neverid eyes on a living beingso big.

 Chapter 618 618. MOUNTAIN CHAIN

    Chapter 618 618. MOUNTAIN CHAIN

    With all four experts now gathered together because of a higher power, they could now introduce themselves.

    "I am Yuno, the lord of a small town outside the borders of this nation. It''s pretty much tiny, but is filled with individuals who have trained under me for decades."

    The expert, Yuno was a man who looked to be in his mid-forties, he had a head full of spiky long red hair with a tinge of ck at its tip.

    His facial features were blemish-less, and despite his spiky hair, he remained a man of refined taste, sporting a soft-looking red-ck suit with a long red coat.

    Thanks to his fifth-tier level his eyes constantly shone with a soft gray light. They resembled gems. Noah did not like him, however.

    Yuno stood 6ft in height.

    Seeing Noah remain unfazed by his words he opened his mouth to speak. Unfortunately sensing that the expert was about to say unfriendly wordsdy Edna raised her hand, shutting him up.

    lights����vel Her listless gaze swept all three of their figures, and Noah felt truly inspired by her presence. She felt ancient�� like a god.

    "I am Lady Edna. But you can just call me Edna. I am a simple servant of Lord Thanses. I had been training when he asked that I escort you on your way to his domain," she exined, giving a curtsy rather unique to those who had been groomed as royals or nobles.

    "I am Noah, most know me by the name Aiden, however," Noah stated bowing his head. He did not know why, but she left a good impression on him.

    Was it her voice that sounded unimpressed, or unbothered by anything? Or her emotionless gaze? Or het yet respectful demeanor towards someone of far lesser power like him?

    Noah could not ce his hand on it, but he felt something.

    Lady Edna nodded in response. She looked no less than the age of thirty, but her strange eye color and stable demeanor spoke of age far beyond his.

    Her robe covered most of her features, but her face already spoke of above-average beauty.

    She didn''t seem like the type to care about looks though.

    "Now that we know each other, let''s get on with this��"

    Lady Edna went on to exin the various challenges that came with leaving the nation in that particr direction.

    Fortunately, they would not be an issue thanks to the presence of such powerful experts.

    "Still, we have to walk for a while before resuming our journey in the sky?" Noah asked furrowing his brows.

    "Yes, for the sake of not attracting too much attention. I did tell you we''d be crossing over the nation of saints. They are pretty meticulous bastards despite their religious beliefs." Elder Velsvon exined.

    "But then we''d be trekking over an area ofnd that is filled with even fifth-tier beasts all restrained to those environments by ancient magic," Yuno added, they were sitting on his magical beast. Even Noah admitted that she was beautiful. Only inwardly, however.

    "It''d only take a few days to cross, at least if we do not encounter trouble. This is our way of respecting their values of sorts. We''d be paying for it with our time." Lady Edna exined and Noah could only nod.

    ''I hope we encounter abit of trouble,'' he revealed inwardly. He did n to break through into the fifth tier before getting to the dark nations.

    ''Maybe I can do it before even reaching the giant nation.''

    The basis for the fifth tier had been set, the fourth tier being the mostplicated of that realm, the next rtively major breakthrough would be transitioning into the sixth tier.

    The fourth tier was essentially the groundwork for the fifth tier, but the two levels were worlds apart in terms of a power gap.

    "Are we going to interact with the people of the Papine nation?"

    Silence.

    "If there is no need then we will not," Lady Edna stated, and Noah nodded.

    Not too long after, they began their journey. They would be flying to the next region on Yuno''s magical beast.

    Noah had been inclined to ride Erolia but for the sake of respect, he decided against it. She remained in her soul realm, waiting for him to call upon her.

    The journey was mostly silent. Those experts did their own thing without bothering the other person, and so did Noah. Elder Velsvon tried a few times to bring up conversations but failed miserably.

    Yuno simply had nothing to say, while Lady Edna seemed focused on something. She also had her eyes closed and sat cross-legged.

    Noah on the other hand wasn''t in the mood. He had been that way for the past week or so. One of the costs of being able to process emotions was of course emotional pain.

    He tried to run away from the truth, but ironically the truth remained fast enough to not only catch up but overtake him.

    The said truth being that he wasn''t happy. He also missed his friends, knowing that he would not see them for who knew how long.

    He also still recovered from nostalgia and memories. His suffering being sponsored by his mind actively reminding him of what he lost.

    ''I think I''ve spent enough time brooding,'' he heaved a sigh at some point, ncing at the world below. They were zooming past regions and the sight felt strangely calming.

    Although he could not see it, he remained somewhat capable of sensing the presence of the fifth-tier centipede. It traveled the regions as fast as they were, but its distance from the surface remained impressive.

    Noah could bet it was at least a few kilometers from the surface of the world, and at times it''d have to travel deeper, or swim through waters just the keep up.

    "We''re here," Lady Edna announced at some point, standing.

    Instinctively, their gazes followed hers and Noah''s eyes fell on a rather impressive sight of an especiallyrge mountain chain.

    The mountain chain surpassed any he had seen in his lives, and it stretched for several miles, acting as a border. A literally immense one.

    Despite its size, it was a simple wall, only that it had been created by someone terribly powerful.

    Noah sensed high-level magic, but it didn''t matter.

    The flying beast had to ascend to cross its top, and even Lady Edna''s beast had to climb the jagged mountains since it''d have to disrupt the foundations of that wall to dig past beneath it.

    The sight had been something interesting, but the instant they flew past the wall, Noah felt an explosion of mana m into his face and he became aware of several auras previously blocked away by the wall''s magic.

    The second they crossed the wall, the magical beast dived to the ground. Their entry had been swift and they had managed to remain off the radar.

 Chapter 619 619. PIPE DREAM

    Chapter 619 619. PIPE DREAM

    Lady Edna''s beast quickly buried itself under the terrain and could resume its travel.

    Jumping off the beast''s back, Noah had no trouble getting off that 180m tall figure. Tier 5 beasts were literally colossal.

    The terrain thrummed with mana and he could sense it by reason of the vibrancy of life around him. The forest featured tall trees that dwarfed their figures.

    "Our destination is that way," Lady Edna revealed pointing.

    ''This will be long,'' Noah concluded inwardly, unfolding his consciousness, he managed to gain a rough idea of the various obstacles on the path before them. Thankfully since most of them were terrain-based he knew they could easily deal with them.

    The giant centipede''s try at burying itself had been loud. Thankfully Lady Edna had been capable of shielding most of it. Unfortunately, even that could not stop cracks from opening in the terrain. It was a beast several kilometers in length after all.

    The fifth-tier bird on the other hand would be walking with them. It remained a regal beast, and Noah couldmunicate with her if he wanted.

    "We have some creatures on our trail," Elder Velsvon revealed at some point. He remained unbothered, however.

    The expert simply inspected the tall trees, as though he felt curious about them. They reached heights thatpletely dwarfed them. Only the beast on their side could challenge those gigantic trees.

    Noah struggled to keep his attention on all aspects of the area covered with his consciousness. The very ground was at the peak of the fourth tier, and certain portions went above that in terms of quality.

    He could begin to absorb the ground around him and find gains, but he would require a whole lot to experience real improvements. He needed fifth-tier materials.

    "There''s a pressure this ce exudes. It might be too much for you-" Noah cut Elder Velsvon short by shaking his head.

    "I''m fine," he reassured, walking forward to draw near to Lady Edna. In truth he truly was. Only certain expressions of his existence would be snuffed out despite his normally exceptional skill.

    The average fourth-tier expert would be almostpletely incapacitated in that environment. The fact that he could even move already spoke of his greatness.

    Lush vegetation, cool soft winds, genuinely beautiful scenery, new sights, and an air of peace. All these revolved around that area even if the air of peace remained a facade. Danger lurked in the corner.

    Still, Noah could enjoy that new location. It was the first time he had been outside of Cusk. Exempting his time within the chamber of time.

    "Do you want out?" Noah asked Erolia, but she refused. He felt slightly disappointed.

    "Thest time I was here had to be at least seventy years ago. Not much has changed," Elder Velsvon brought up a topic, hoping those cold and distant experts would at least entertain themselves.

    Especially Elder Edna. That was the second time he would meet her in his life, and she had been as mysterious as she was then. And this was at least a century prior!

    Then he had only been a weakling in the fourth tier. She on the other hand had already crossed the fifth tier. Her power equally seemed as boundless now as it seemed then.

    "Then I had been here on a personal quest to test and advance my strength," The expert gave a boisterous chuckle. "Good memories of a youngd searching for power at all means."

    "I''ve crossed these regions severally, but something feels different now," Yuno revealed eyeing the surroundings.

    "We''re children of Cregar, you do not have to worry. Nothing can ovee us," Elder Velsvon announced even if the ground beneath them rumbled and burst open to reveal four huge gray ws.

    Of course, all four experts flickered from their positions to assume higher altitudes. Noah had been capable of keeping up with those experts, but they had reached the sky in a single leap despite that short notice.

    His right arm touched a tree and dug into its bark to keep him from falling. Now at a safe distance, he cast his silver gaze on the world below; searching for their attacker.

    "Strange," Noah muttered swearing that he had caught sight of a w. He squinted his eyes finding nothing.

    ''There''s no way it disappeared so quickly!''

    Finding no clue since his senses surprisingly failed him. He followed the movement of the tier 5 bird. It had remained unmoved by the event but was now stationary.

    It released a low prow of sorts and a sound wave far more powerful than expected unfolded into the environment in an instant.

    Noah found his back digging into the tree bark as that invisible force made short work of everything of lower quality.

    ''Fuck,'' he eximed inwardly as his internal organs suffered from that event. He gained himself and fled the area understanding what the bird had decided to do.

    Unfortunately, he didn''t have enough time to leave before another wave of force, this time whitened due to its density, unfolded.

    It sounded like a nuke went off since everything within the area of about a kilometer disappeared. Ground to bits by the power of the bird''s simple wind-based attacks.

    Despite leaving the 1km radius Noah still felt raw force sweep past him and he gasped, coughing blood before crashing through a tree and falling to the ground.

    His consciousness grew blurry as pain ravaged his mind. He could withstand it, but the damage suffered had been significant enough to make him want to pass out.

    The attack of the fifth-tier beast had been interesting. Itpletely bypassed his outer protection to reach for his insides. It had to have been born from magic.

    "Jeez��" He muttered vaguely seeing a white light beam out of his chest. Erolia. She called out to him. But his eardrums had been destroyed.

    "Can I even win against a fifth-tier beast?" he giggled, coughingblood severely. Suddenly his desire to kill a tier-five beast before he broke through into that realm looked like a pipe dream.

    ''I''m fucked.''

    Noah passed out after that point.

 Chapter 620 620. THE SCARLET GRAVEYARD

    Chapter 620 620. THE SCARLET GRAVEYARD

    Noah came to being not too long after the event. His healing kicked in and he was back to normal in no time. Of course at the cost of essence. He was left basically empty.

    Noah woke up to the experience of floating without his will. His eyes swept his surrounding and he found the other experts around him. They had resumed their journey, but they walked close to the giant bird this time.

    A dazzling youngdy walked with them; Erolia. And the moment she saw that he had regained consciousness she jumped at him.

    Noah was let down by whatever force had kept him afloat. It had been Yuno''s doing.

    "How long was I out?" he askedinspecting his insides. He sighed in relief seeing he was okay.

    "About an hour," Erolia revealed, now calm. She could quite literally feel her master''s wellness. Before then she had been dealing with her worry silently.

    The others halted their steps to observe that scene��The sight of a fully growndy no less of a jade beauty all over an equally stunning man felt quite intriguing to those experts.

    They all could sense the simrities between the duo, especially the weird energy that powered their existence. It evaded even their senses, but they expected as much. He was the heir of the god of speed after all.

    "It''s a good thing you''re awake now," Yuno cleared his throat, even he was curious about the beauty that had appeared right after Noah passed out.

    Noah''s attention finally fell on those experts, but something else in the environment caught his attention.

    Among the cluster of huge trees, equallyrge stone statuesy around, seemingly randomly positioned in that environment.

    That would not be all, those strange statues exuded powerful magic, and despite their ancient-looking state, they managed to fill the area with their magic.

    "What is this," he asked, furrowing his brows. His instincts already reacted negatively.

    The stone statue he inspected had the shape of a giant baby, only that its face was thebination of a grown human, a bear, a monkey, and an eagle. Creepy to say the least. Especially with the unsettling smile that had been carved into its features.

    Strange red patterns pulsed on the statue''s surface, and the very soil beneath it had turned scarlet. Its surroundings were also void of nt life.

    "These are the ancient statues of Tensiro. They hold great meaning to the saints of the Papine nation," Elder Velsvon started, grasping Noah''s attention.

    "Although most of their origin is unknown, It is known that some of them are gateways to separate dimensions."

    "These expertly crafted dimensions contain challenges fashioned after whatever the creator wanted. Each statue houses something different."

    "Okay�� but why do they pose trouble to us?" Noah asked already on the same page. He frowned deeply now.

    Something felt terribly wrong about those ugly statues. Each one had amalgamated features of different beasts. None resembled the other.

    Elder Velsvon''s tone fell grim. "They are used as protection by the saints. And are hostile to anything that does not bear the mark of a saint, or does not exude a simr aura to this enclosed flora."

    "This is a region where many met their end. A cruel and brutal fate." The expert shook his head in pity.

    "It is called the Scarlet Graveyard."

    An air of severity fell on that group, even if it quickly vanished.

    "We only just arrived here... after a few miles of walking. Dealing with them will be easy for us." Yuno revealed inly, opening his palm.

    Bronze runes flickered into existence and they broke up into bits that floated toward everybody present there.

    "Bearing this mark allows us to mimic the influence of the saints. But it requires a steady stream of mental waves to function. So we needed you awake.

    Surprised by that level of preparation, Noah allowed that rune tond on his palm, and he stared at it trying toprehend itsponents.

    It wasplex.

    "How did you get this," he questioned, feeling his mind establish a connection with it. It required a considerable amount of mental energy. Or rather, it put pressure on his soul ind.

    Furrowing his brows he turned to Erolia. "You will have to return into your soul realm�C" he was cut short when he saw that a rune simr to his appeared on her forehead, and the pressure on his mind almost tripled.

    Noah furrowed his brows.

    "It stretches to anything you have a soul connection with," Yuno revealed, as a rune identical to his appeared on the right wing of his pet. It was significantlyrger.

    "I see," Noah nodded, finding the process convenient.

    "So I get to remain outside," Erolia stated, content. She remained at a touching distance from Noah.

    "We can move on now," Lady Edna who had been silent all this while finally spoke.

    Their passage through that region had been uneventful. After donning the runes even Noah''s instincts calmed down. The statues in the area could not attack them or did not recognize them as strangers.

    Still, he felt chills run down his spine at the sheer amount of statues nted in that region.

    Easily hundreds.

    The sight of giant bones belonging to both beasts and humans riddled that area. Those remnants of life had turned scarlet and pulsed with an aura identical to that of the statues.

    Apparently, those skeletons would be animated with the magic of the statues to hunt down whatever entered that region.

    After the lifeform had been killed their corpse would be part of the army of that cursed location.

    To show how terrible that ce was, not even magical beasts approached it. Now at the center of the area, Noah could experience the malevolent presence in that region. It was heavy.

    Even he didn''t feel confident in being able to take care of that immense amount of offensives. Tens of Thousands of undead warriors already existed around that ce.

    One would even think flying would solve the problem. But even atop the trees were huge skeletal figures. Kept there for aerial offensives.

    ''Terrible indeed.'' Noah concluded at some point.

    That area void of life saw his group traversing itsnds��untouched by the normally violent nature of that region.

    The entire region had been quiterge, and it ended up taking them a full day to cross. No breaks. After which they arrived in an area filled with vibrancy and life.

    Unfortunately, that vibrant scenery would not continue for long since not too long after that they arrived at the edge of the entrance of the Papine nation.

    It was thest hurdle they would need to face. The Chasm.

    It was a cater-like spiral cavity directly outside the forests. And despite its significantly low elevationpared to the terrain they had been traversing earlier, it still exuded dense magic of ancient origins.

    lights����vel ''This is at least a four-hundred meters drop,'' Noah concluded inwardly, whilst inspecting the jaggedndforms that filled the insides of thatndmark.

    Its size was easily immense. Stretching as far as they could see from that position.

    "This was something done by a tier six battle," Lady Edna revealed, and Noah could only marvel at the size of that cavity.

    Hundreds of miles ofnd area rendered useless by reason of the conflict between horrendously powerful individuals.

 Chapter 621 621. CORRUPTED BARMUS

    Chapter 621 621. CORRUPTED BARMUS

    The group proceeded down those steep elevations and descended into the great chasm. Noah realized that it was far deeper than he had anticipated. At least as they descended he noticed this.

    The great chasm had be an ecosystem of its own��thanks to the great magic that had caused its existence. Even from their position, he could sense various auras filling that ce.

    But above all other auras was that of the chasm itself. Far far away from their location small ck clouds hovered above certain regions, but an evenrger one hovered above what seemed to be the central point of that great location.

    His instincts spiked anytime his eyes fell on that certain cloud. It stood still in the sky.

    "Those regions contain threat levels far into the fifth tier. Most of this ce has even been left unexplored. We have a path, however. It''s the safest," Lady Edna revealed, floating till shended on a cliff. They all did.

    Right below them was the rather usual sight of vegetation. Weak beasts even in the third tier roamed that environment.

    The crater had different levels of depths and they each contained a flora and fauna of their own. Beasts that have been there for centuries, bathing in that aura.

    Even Noah expected some type of changes in their abilities. He also expected to see new things, but for the time being their journey was peaceful.

    ''The vegetation is already different,'' Noah wondered staring at pink shrubs and tall blue trees. Of course, they weren''t exactly harmful.

    The very environment felt peaceful, probably due to the low level of beasts around them. Their very presence scared those creatures away.

    For the time being the beasts he saw were rather recognizable, except that certain features were altered to suit that environment.

    Things would change as they spent hours walking, however. The trees grew taller and the presence of the chasms aura became slightly more evident. But there was a dramatic spike in the power of creatures present in that region.

    It remained safe, however. The best they had seen were middle-stage tier-four beasts. But their level wasn''t the fascinating thing.

    They were almost if notpletely mutated.

    They had encountered a sleeping dog the size of entire buildings. Its fur had been grey, except that it featured strange patterns on them. Those patterns ranged in color and exuded the aura that permeated that environment.

    Noah had considered alerting the beast, but it looked too peaceful. He had let it slide.

    The next series of beasts simply avoid them.

    That trend would change, however.

    "We''re essentially changing regions now," Lady Edna revealed pointing at the visible change before them. A literal line separated those pink trees and mostly blue bushes. They had not changed elevation thanks to the path they took, but it didn''t matter.

    They had reached the portion of that region with the strongest beasts. ording to Edna. The next portion of the crater would be empty of wild beasts. The flora itself would be the trouble there.

    The second Noah stepped past that line he felt a wave of mana density m into his figure.

    ''Jeez." he felt forced to exim, Erolia felt the same way.

    Their journey remained peaceful, but they reached a wide clearing. The trees there were barely as tall as the ones they saw before. The fifth-tier bird quite literally dwarfed them.

    The sun streamed down from the sky filling that ce with golden light. The short brown grass swayed softly in the wind and the purple trees seemed to glow in the radiance of the sun''s light.

    Thatrge clearing exuded serenity. It seemed like a different cepared to the rest of that area, and that was already a lot considering they had not encountered any trouble yet.

    Unfortunately, that would only be an illusion.

    The fifth-tier beast voiced a soft growl alerting its tinypanions.

    The others had already noticed too but were barely moved.

    "Just one higher-stage beast," muttered Noah, dealing with the little itch that had manifested on his beardless chin.

    It had been a while since hest grew a beard. He wondered if he was even physically capable of that anymore.

    The ground trembled beneath their feet as the entire group halted their steps to check out the strange creature. It did not seem like anything Noah knew and truly it wasn''t.

    The trees before them parted to reveal a rather short figure no more than 3m in height. It had the form of a leopard, only that its fur waspletely white and ck spots existed on it.

    Its feet were like those of elephants and its tail resembled that of a scorpion��huge and crimson.

    Its eyes glowed a ck light as it bore its jagged metal-like teeth whilst wisps of a strange bronze energy seeped out of its muscr build.

    Despite its short heightpared to other beasts at its level, Noah could immediately understand that it would be a formidable opponent.

    The fifth-tier experts barely reacted, however.

    "A corrupted Barmus," Yuno revealed, shaking his head ready to send his beast forward. She would crush it. Literally.

    "No. Let her handle it," Noah shook his head turning to the expert. Startled by his sudden decision, Erolia considered it for an instant but stepped forward.

    "Hmm�� alright," Yuno shrugged.

    Noah nodded and turned to focus on Eorlia who nced at him for a second before further approaching the beast.

    The winds whooshed softly acting on Erolia''s multicolored hair while she took steps forward.

    "You can see you''re outmatched here," her words seeped out with barely any killing intent, but the beast remained stationary. its dark eyes were nowpletely fixed on her vibrant figure.

    "I see�� you''re maddened of sorts," she concluded stopping about ten meters from the beast.

    "A corrupted Barmu-!" Her words were cut short by the burst of speed her target erupted with. The ground shattered beneath its figure as it elerated forward, but surprisingly it did not go for her!

    Erolia''s figure flickered to sh with it.

    "I''m your opponent," she frowned. It had tried to attack Noah who remained unmoved of course.

    The ground shattered beneath the duo as a small crater unfolded with a shockwave.

    Her arm had connected with the beast''s face and its strength managed to surprise her. Unfortunately for the Barmus, that was all it could achieve.

    Erolia flexed her arm and ended up sending it flying faster than the speed of sound.

    Its figure smashed through kilometers worth of trees only to m into a huge rock that shattered upon impact.

    Those experts could only praise her at that sight.

    Furrowing her brows, Eorlia''s figure shattered the sound barrier to zip toward her target in an instant. The force of her movement rtive to that of a huge canon.

    The beast had barely recovered so it couldn''t dream of evading hering blow.

    Nevertheless, Erolia''s fist connected with the beast''s left arm and despite the amount of force she had pushed into that blow, the sound of metal striking metal resounded in the environment as her fist bounced upon contact.

    The event ended up almost making her trip on her feet, as she stepped backwards to regain bnce.

    Shocked, she rained a series of blows each ending up unsessful.

    "Impossible," she jumped backward, creating distance.

    Her blows had made a mess of the area around them and had kept the beast in one ce, but it wasn''t dead.

    Her confusion was cleared by Elder Velsvon''s words.

    "Corrupted Barmus''s are known for calling upon the very earth around them to gain a type of defense that puts them even stronger than many metal affinity beasts."

    "In short as long as it''sconnected to the ground below you''ll probably need fifth-tier power to kill it in one go." The elder gave an excited chuckle after his exnation.

    Erolia could not but find surprise unfolding in her mind.

    Suddenly, now she could notice the bronze miasma seeping out of its figure with even more intensity, and now its formerly ck spots had turned to the same color, pulsing with a type of power she was encountering for the first time.

    The beast parted its jaws to voice a powerful roar. The ground fell under its authority and converged on her figure in an attack.

    A huge cloud of dust rose in that region by reason of that offensive, but Erolia appeared in the sky and the wind blew to disperse that dust.

    The beast had disappeared and was going after Noah again. Fury sprung forth in her being, and the sky trembled because of her influence.

    In the blink of an eye and with explosive might, tornadoes appeared on its path, and further damage was dealt to the environment.

 Chapter 622 622. FLAW

    Chapter 622 622. FLAW

    Her attack had only been able to halt the beast''s movements. But only for a bit, since it burst through those twisting masses of wind to approach Noah in a maddened rush.

    Its movement was quite slow for a beast its level though. As such it didn''t take Erolia a full second to appear on its path.

    Her fist rushed forward and connected with its left eye, sending it flying.

    The Barmus turned into a bullet, shattering trees and the ground in the process.

    "What do I do?" She muttered to herself as her feetnded on the ground. Her instincts moved and she jumped to the side evading the jagged spikes that exploded out of the ground to reach tens of meters in height.

    "Physical attacks don''t do much to it and it has high resistance to wind attacks�� then."

    Erolia caught sight of the Barmus rushing towards her and this time earthen clones manifested beside Its sprinting figure. Despite its wild mind, it remained quite intelligent.

    Unfortunately, that would not be enough to stop the force that was Erolia.

    Golden sparks flickered around her figure as the sky darkened in an instant,and a huge lightning bolt crashed on the world below. It''s descent like a mighty roar.

    Even the experts in the distance had to shield themselves from the power in that offensive. Not that it could hurt them.

    Elder Velsvon shook his head. They had seen that attack before. After all, Erolia had been the one to deal with the beast that had attacked them the other time.

    The fifth-tier beast mount had stepped back after seeing that it hurt Noah. It let its weakerpanion make short work of their ambusher.

    Noah had not seen it because he had been knocked unconscious��but she had transformed that area into a charredndmark.

    Even he understood that her affinity for lightning was much greater than his. The amount of power she could attain from little work far surpassed his. But he remained stronger overall.

    The trees turned to ash and several meters of ground surface was blotted out by the power in the bolt. The attack charged the air and the scent of rain and char filled that ce.

    The cloud that had unleashed that attack continued to crackle in the sky.

    Erolia''s eyes searched the ground in search of her opponent, and she found it.

    Its earthen clones had disappeared, and it had stopped moving; stunned to a halt by the power in the bolt.

    Smoke oozed out of the beast''s figure but Erolia frowned when she saw that it remained almostpletely okay.

    To add to her annoyance it didn''t take the Barmus too long to regain its movement. But things had changed this time around.

    Now, the Barmus considered Erolia a greater threat than Noah. In truth, were it not that its feet remained connected to the ground it would have either died or ended up in a state close to that.

    "I have to get it away from the ground," Erolia snarled as her hair fluttered in the winds. Her graceful aura was simr to that of a god.

    Despite the strength of its opponent, the beast would not run. Quite the opposite. It wasn''t going to hold back anymore.

    Strange bronze runes expanded from the beast''s feet as the battle leaped in intensity. Its aura intensified and the bronze miasma it exuded increased so much that its figure was barely seen.

    The ground shattered as though a heavy weight hade upon it. Though the reality would not be too far from that.

    Erolia watched with interest as a giant illusory figure simr to that of the Barmus was constructed by those bronze runes.

    Its size had to be over ten times the beast''s real size but despite its material being pure light, it still upied space since trees were crushed by its structure.

    The runes that had expanded previously, appeared on the beast''s forehead and a terrible pressure flowed forth into the world.

    "Its power has jumped. It''s probably a skill limited by time."

    The full manifestation had onlysted seconds, and the moment the Barmus called upon its full power it voiced a roar amplified by its projection.

    That region shook when those sound waves unfolded on itsnds.

    ''What does it want to do with such a big body?'' Noah wondered seeing as the Barums''s projection was bigger than even Yuno''s beast, which was already colossal!

    He also wondered if its defensive ability had been affected negatively because of the skill''s activation.

    His thoughts were cleared when Erolia shot forward to deliver a blow directly on the beast''s forehead.

    Once again the high-pitched sound of metal shing against metal resounded in the environment with an intensity capable of killing third-tier beasts, or even injuring lower-stage tier 4''s

    ''It''s crazy sturdy!'' Erolia screamed inwardly as her instincts screamed to leave the way.

    The projections scorpion tail streaked towards her with reflexes that could almost match hers.

    She dodged and its struck thin air, but a beam of purple energy burst out of its stinger to pierce the distance. That purple light momentarily matched the sun''s radiant intensity even if only for a second.

    The energy had been pure poison and corrosion capable of making waste to the best of materials. It also possessed firepower worthy of being called monstrous.

    Having dodged the attack by a hair''s breadth Erolia appeared in a location that allowed her to witness that beam''s firepower. She swallowed hard.

    "Don''t let its size fool you--" This was Lady Edna addressing Noah. "It''s currently at its peak in terms of prowess."

    Even Noah considered stepping in, but he hadn''t formted a real n to kill it. That was his first time encountering such a beast.

    "What is its weakness then? Or can only fifth-tier energies kill it?" He questioned her, ready to learn.

    "Look closely, since you''re not the one fighting it''ll be easier for you to notice its w."

    Not offended by her response, Noah cast his gaze on the radiant bronze figure that was the Barmus''s projection.

    The projection wasrge and exuded an aura in the peak of the fourth tier, Noah noticed strange lines at the base of its belly, the liquid-like portions of its figure, and just when he was about to begin his search all over again he noticed something intriguing.

    Something Erolia would not be able to notice due to her distance in the sky.

    "I see it," Noah muttered and a chuckle escaped his lips. He tapped his forehead lightly with his palm

    "Ignore the avatar, go for the Barmus itself," Noahmanded Erolia who had been raining attacks for the past minute nigh-non stop. She had also gotten used to dodging its tail attacks.

    Slightly startled by Noah''s voice in her head, Erolia shifted her attention from the massive figure before her and she could immediately catch sight of a significant w.

    Despite the projectioning from the runes around the Barmus, there remained a gap between the Barmus''s figure and its powerful projection. A gap that lookedpletely exploitable.

    Erolia also noticed how the Barmus itself never moved but its projection could turn to face whatever direction she went.

    Two huge ws.

    In the split second Erolia had utilized to inspect the beast, it unleashed another of its tailed attacks which she dodged, but this time her figure shot towards the base of the gigantic figure. Its size made it hard to notice those ws.

    With renewed vigor, Erolia approached the ground at blinding speeds and the Barmus seemed to have understood her n since its scorpion tail stretched towards her to unleash another purple beam, but Erolia dodged it with ease,ing out of harm''s way.

    At least that was what she thought.

    "Eh!"Her lips parted when a huge second scorpion tail appeared directly in front of her right after she dodged the first.

    Sparks appeared in front of her at the same time that a massive beam of purple energy beamed out of the scorpion''s tail.

    The attack''s power had spiked at least thrice the normal one!

    It had been waiting for that opening.

    The beam ended and Erolia found herself shooting across the sky. Her clothes now barely remained on her figure, and entire portions of her hair had disappeared. Her skin remained fine, even if she sparkled less now.

 Chapter 623 623. CERULEAN CLOUD

    Chapter 623 623. CERULEAN CLOUD

    Noah''s figure appeared on the path of her uncontrolled flight and he caught her in his arms. The moment he touched her speed essence flowed out of his palms to deal with whatever effects the corrosive beam had.

    Fortunately, her base defenses had been capable of blocking almost everything.

    "Should I take care of the rest?" Noah whispered.

    Erolia shook her head. She appreciated hising but she didn''t want to seem weak.

    Noah nodded and let go of her.

    Erolia resumed her flight as she decided to reveal more of her abilities. Unconcerned by her almost naked state she closed her eyes for a second even if a purple beam shot towards her again.

    Noah threatened to do something at that sight but he sensed something and decided against it.

    ''This battle is over.'' He shook his head creating distance.

    A cerulean circle expanded behind Erolia''s figure. It wasn''trge, only as big as her back. Golden spear heads rotated within the circle and a white crown appeared on her head.

    A golden robe born from raw sparks manifested on her body as the illusory image of arge bird pulsed out of her figure only to vanish immediately.

    Her presence exploded with greater intensity and the regions around her saw golden clouds manifesting from thin air.

    Several white and cerulean markings appeared on her skin and face, as her eyes lost their luster to gain a nk light. One detached from emotions.

    The purple beaming her way had started to move slower to her eyes, yet she raised her right palm to let it sh with that poisonous power.

    The collusion unfolded in arge explosion even if the corrosive gas quickly cleared to reveal that she was alright. Unaffected by the offensive.

    By this point, Erolia''s eyes glowed bright with white, and her face shone with significant intensity. Her aura felt totally different yetpletely the same.

    This contrast was because this remained the first time Erolia activated that skill. It cost her a lot but pumped power into her existence. She felt exalted above all others.

    Still keeping her right arm stretched forward, her essence moved and the circle behind her gave birth to eight tail-like manifestations made from gold, silver, and cerulean sparks.

    Those sharp-edged tails shot towards the Barmus''s projection with a roar.

    A third scorpion tail flickered into existence and all threeunched a coordinated attack at the descending tails.

    Unfortunately, Erolia made her tails evade those attacks and four of eight went to wrap around the projection''s figure. She closed her palm and the tails tightened around the projection so much so that cracks started to spread on it!

    The remaining four tails went for the Barmus at the bottom of it all. But for the first time since that manifestation, the Barmus moved, and its projection vanished the instant it did.

    The tails shed with the beast''s figure and exploded upon contact, now its body emitted more of that bronze miasma.

    The instant the beast gained its bearing again its projection exploded into existence and all three of its scorpion tails shot straight for Erolias figure in the sky.

    Shaking her head at that scene, Erolia sped her hands wishing to see the extent of her power in that form.

    Once again the illusory image of arge feathered bird pulsed from her figure and the golden clouds above her transformed into pirs that stretched towards the iing scorpion tails.

    An explosion barreled out the moment both energies collided and the sky shook from the impact. Both energies remained spectacr.

    The explosion cleared to reveal that one of the Barmus''s tails had been destroyed, but Erolia would not give it any break, she sped her hands again and this time the sky grumbled at her request even if it obeyed.

    Her golden clouds vanished and cerulean ones reced them.

    A heavy weight pressed down on the world forthose clouds rumbled with pure white sparks.

    The crashing of thunder caught the attention of every powerful beast in the chasm. That battle had grown rather big.

    This wouldn''t have been so if Erolia hadn''t decided to demolish her opponent''s peak form.

    Normally, many simply went for the real body since it was at its weakest in that form.

    Corrupted Barmus''s were rare to encounter thanks to the process that was needed for one to evene to be. How they even encountered one was already surprising.

    And usually, parties of higher-stage experts would gang up on one of those beasts to take it down. The fact that Erolia had a chance at taking it on spoke of her monstrous might.

    The fifth-tier experts watched with real attention. The battle remained impressive.

    The Barmus growled at the sight of those cerulean clouds it was at itsst leg, the activation of that skill cost it huge amounts of mana and it couldn''t absorb ambient mana quickly enough to match its expenditure.

    There was also the fact that after each activation it would be tired. The beast saw no way out of that fight. Its opponent was terrible.

    Still, it wouldn''t run.

    With her hands still sped Erolia allowed a single white bolt to fall from the sky, and the discharge of the bolt''s lightpletely drove the sun''s radiance away.

    A horrendous roar followed the arrival of the crackling mass, and when itnded on the Barmus''s bronze head, it ended up mming its face into the ground, as huge cracks expanded on both its material and the terrain.

    For the first time since that fight the structural integrity of the projection came under real danger. Its bronze light began to flicker but it didn''t shatter.

    "You''re really sturdy aren''t you?" Erolia uttered words for the first time since she activated that skill, and her tone sounded too distant from what she normally sounded.

    It reminded Noah of what he was before the destruction of the ''Stone heart'' skill. It worried him a bit.

    "Well, if this Isn''t enough to end you, I will ept my defeat with humility."

    What followed her words was the sound of rumbling. Its intensity was far greater than any that had unfolded during that battle so far.

    The cerulean clouds crackled with power as they merged to form one great bright colossal cloud.

    Erolia voiced a few inaudible words and the aura and light she exuded plummeted. However, in return, the pressure of that singr cloud exploded.

    Something big urred within that gaseous mass, and its power felt so choking that Noah found it hard to believe it was Erolia fighting.

    "We should probably leave this ce," Lady Edna revealed, beginning to float away from that area. The rest followed her lead.

    Having somewhat recovered from the initial offensive, the Barmusunched purple beams even if to its surprise a powerful pulling force acted on them pulling them towards the cloud, which devoured those energies only to add them to its power.

    The Barmus did this a few times within 30 seconds, but it gave up due to a strong sensation taking over its senses.

    Terror.

    For the first time since that battle, the Barmus felt fear; an emotion it wasn''t used to but understood very well.

    It growled at theing attack even if it instinctively knew it couldn''t do anything. And for the first time, it made moves to save its life.

    The projection shrunk in size, increasing its density but making it easier for the Barmus to move around.

    Erolia would not let it escape, however. The circle behind her gave birth to eight tails again and they kept the Barmus from running.

    Each passing second spelled doom for the now frantic beast, then finally, it felt death hang over its head as though it were physically present!

    The shining white cloud pulsed when the attack it had been cooking reached its final stages and gaps appeared in its structure, for the power it held within it caused it to disperse.

    With grandiose and might the said attack revealed itself.

    A massive bird born out of an amalgamation of sparks, wind, and even fire.

    Its figure shone with all the colors of the rainbow and its power felt too high to be within the fourth tier.

    Erolia had created something with quasi-tier-five power, and she wasn''t hesitant to unleash it

    OOOHMM!

    The sky almost bent at the movement of that bird-shaped mass.

    Terrible heat sts scorched the earth below as the chasm ecosystem was disturbed.

    At this point, it wasn''t a question of whether the Barmus could survive or not; It definitely wouldn''t.

    The real question was how much trouble would they face for that massive offensive?

    The birdnded on the Barmu''s projection and it roared onest time before its world went blinding then a pop reached its ears.

    Its awareness went ck afterward as the impact of the attack ravaged that region and shook several regions around. So much so that beasts at deeper depths of the chasm arose to check what had made such a ruckus.

    Tens of auras in the fifth tier exploded into existence and a cacophony of roars caused by weaker beasts unfolded.

    Erolia passed out when the shock waves of her attack washed over her.

 Chapter 624 624. CANYON

    Chapter 624 624. CANYON

    Erolia awoke to find herself in Noah''s arms. She grunted, instinctively flexing her fingers and toes, then she gasped softly.

    An intense wave of fatigue rushed into her senses and she could onlyy back in his sturdy arms. Ironic.

    "Good, you''re awake," Noah''s voice reached her ears and she parted her eyelids again to look at him for a second before shutting them. They were in the sky, and the sun''s brightness hurt her.

    "How long was I out?" She asked, even if her intuition told her it hadn''t been too long.

    "Just a few minutes. We are sorta on the move now."

    Erolia sighed in relief and the duo remained silent for a while.

    "What was that skill?" Asked Noah. He could open up her skills using the system but preferred to ask her instead.

    "Ascen-" She fell asleep from exhaustion, and Noah could only giggle softly. She looked adorable.

    Erolia''s figure in his arms transformed into a mass of light that entered his chest and he could utilize his arms now.

    He sighed.

    "She caused us trouble only to fall asleep," Elder Velsvon''s voice resounded beside him. The man chuckled and Noah smiled a bit even if his daggers appeared in his hands.

    Lady Edna and Yuno floated until they stood on both of his sides.

    "What are we gonna do now," Noah asked scratching his head with the base of his right dagger. He knew many-many things by reason of inheriting Ersha''s memory.

    He could almost bet that the only person who knew as much as him on the topic of the universe was Cregar herself. But outside of those specified subjects, he didn''t know much.

    Still, he could make judgments based on certain experiences Ersha had gone through. Those memories weren''tpletely clear but he could vaguely see and remember words.

    In the face of at least twelve presences in the fifth tier, he knew only one option. Run.

    "What do you think we could do?" Edna asked, rather interested in his state of mind. The disy of his pet''s strength had put him up there in terms of respect. She was certain he had more to offer.

    Noah considered her words for a bit, but huge masses of smoke rose from different points in the chasm each one of them carrying heavy presences.

    The jumble of roars did not stop, as several collisions of energies unfolded.

    Agitated by the movement of those giants in the fifth tier, fourth-tier beasts could only unfold in razed fury towards each other. It quickly became a mess.

    "I believe the only thing we can do is avoid the entire thing," Noah stated, revealing a helpless smile. The number of auras there was getting almost too much for him.

    ''At this point will I really be able to kill a fifth-tier beast?''

    "That is the right choice. Our mission was never to kill or hunt. We''re only travelers. And travelers avoidmotions if they can." Lady Edna exined.

    "It''s only a shame we were the ones to kindle the mes of this mess."

    A powerful gust of wind swept their figures and Yuno''s beast appeared in the sky with them.

    "It doesn''t matter�C" Yuno grunted,nding on the back of his feathered pet. From that point, they would be flying.

    "�CThe officials of the nation will deal with it themselves."

    Elder Velsvon floated forward too and Lady Edna joined. Noah nodded in response to those words even if his eyes sharpened and his gaze shot to his right side.

    A powerful screech reached his ears followed by the appearance of a tailed flying beast in the higher stage of the fourth tier. It was massive.

    Noah casually swung his right dagger at the beast, severing it in two in one fell swoop.

    Intense orange mes burst into existence on the severed portions and trails of energy shot towards Noah''s figure.

    He let the dagger eat all that energy tho. Even if it barely filled it up.

    A higher-stage beast had been decimated in literally one strike. He felt too strong for the fourth tier butcked the type of firepower required for handling the fifth tier. At least in his base form.

    He still wasn''tfortable in revealing the best of the best in terms of his arsenal. His transformation would be that peak.

    Still, he didn''t know if he could breach the gap between the fourth tier and the fifth tier with its activation.

    He would have tried were he not in a group.

    Noah stepped forward to arrive on the beast''s back.

    "Brace yourselves��. We''re going hyper-sonic," Yuno revealed as gray inscriptions appeared beneath their sitting figures to hold them in ce.

    Noah conjured a barrier of wind around himself.

    The beast raised its head to voice a loud screech as though taunting the other fifth-tier beasts approaching them, then it pped its wings once.

    Bam!

    The sound barrier could only crumble at that eleration speed; as the beast transformed into a turquoise streak traversing the distance. Its passage shook the sky.

    At that speed, it didn''t take them too long topletely escape the chasm''s regions and the danger that followed it.

    But right after the chasm was a gorge separating the chasm from the rest of the nation''snds. That demarcation couldn''t do much against flying beasts, though. Canyonsy past the gorge.

    The winds wheezed past the mount''s figure trying to catch up to it, but she remained faster.

    "We''re about to cross a region guarded by Papine''s soldiers. She''s speeding up now," Yuno conveyed his intentions mentally.

    "Officials?" Noah asked making sure his consciousness touched those experts.

    "Would they not follow in a chase?"

    "They normally would..." Lady Edna revealed, suddenly standing. Shockingly, despite their velocity her hair did not even flutter!

    "But he''ll deal with that," she announced, pointing at the ground. Noah followed the direction of her finger, and he quickly caught sight of what she meant.

    The massive figure of a purple centipede burst forth from the scorched grounds, making a mess of the kilometers around it.

    But that wasn''t all, something else had emerged from the ground with it.

    ''Another fifth-tier beast!'' Noah gasped inwardly, the rush of their situation told on him.

    Due to their speed, he could only catch sight of their battle once before they were out of view.

    He had not even been able to hear the sound of their sh.

    "He''ll cause a big enough distraction. Hopefully, that''ll give us time topletely escape them."

    Noah nodded and looked forward, prepared for what was toe, and he immediately saw it emerging on the horizon.

    Huge buildings stood erect on the elevations of the canyons pulsing with unknown power. Even Noah sensed high-tier magic.

    However, at that exact moment did their mount explode in speed, and cracks appeared in Noah''s protection, but he fixed it.

    ''I don''t think they can stop us,'' Noah concluded inwardly, and he wasn''t wrong. A second didn''t go by before they reached and crossed the area possessing those buildings.

 Chapter 622. FLAW

    622 622. FLAW

    Her attack had only been able to halt the beast''s movements. But only for a bit, since it burst through those twisting masses of wind to approach Noah in a maddened rush.

    Its movement was quite slow for a beast its level though. As such it didn''t take Erolia a full second to appear on its path.

    Her fist rushed forward and connected with its left eye, sending it flying.

    The Barmus turned into a bullet, shattering trees and the ground in the process.

    "What do I do?" She muttered to herself as her feetnded on the ground. Her instincts moved and she jumped to the side evading the jagged spikes that exploded out of the ground to reach tens of meters in height.

    "Physical attacks don''t do much to it and it has high resistance to wind attacks�� then."

    Erolia caught sight of the Barmus rushing towards her and this time earthen clones manifested beside Its sprinting figure. Despite its wild mind, it remained quite intelligent.

    Unfortunately, that would not be enough to stop the force that was Erolia.

    Golden sparks flickered around her figure as the sky darkened in an instant,and a huge lightning bolt crashed on the world below. It''s descent like a mighty roar.

    Even the experts in the distance had to shield themselves from the power in that offensive. Not that it could hurt them.

    Elder Velsvon shook his head. They had seen that attack before. After all, Erolia had been the one to deal with the beast that had attacked them the other time.

    The fifth-tier beast mount had stepped back after seeing that it hurt Noah. It let its weakerpanion make short work of their ambusher.

    Noah had not seen it because he had been knocked unconscious��but she had transformed that area into a charredndmark.

    Even he understood that her affinity for lightning was much greater than his. The amount of power she could attain from little work far surpassed his. But he remained stronger overall.

    The trees turned to ash and several meters of ground surface was blotted out by the power in the bolt. The attack charged the air and the scent of rain and char filled that ce.

    The cloud that had unleashed that attack continued to crackle in the sky.

    Erolia''s eyes searched the ground in search of her opponent, and she found it.

    Its earthen clones had disappeared, and it had stopped moving; stunned to a halt by the power in the bolt.

    Smoke oozed out of the beast''s figure but Erolia frowned when she saw that it remained almostpletely okay.

    To add to her annoyance it didn''t take the Barmus too long to regain its movement. But things had changed this time around.

    Now, the Barmus considered Erolia a greater threat than Noah. In truth, were it not that its feet remained connected to the ground it would have either died or ended up in a state close to that.

    "I have to get it away from the ground," Erolia snarled as her hair fluttered in the winds. Her graceful aura was simr to that of a god.

    Despite the strength of its opponent, the beast would not run. Quite the opposite. It wasn''t going to hold back anymore.

    Strange bronze runes expanded from the beast''s feet as the battle leaped in intensity. Its aura intensified and the bronze miasma it exuded increased so much that its figure was barely seen.

    The ground shattered as though a heavy weight hade upon it. Though the reality would not be too far from that.

    Erolia watched with interest as a giant illusory figure simr to that of the Barmus was constructed by those bronze runes.

    Its size had to be over ten times the beast''s real size but despite its material being pure light, it still upied space since trees were crushed by its structure.

    The runes that had expanded previously, appeared on the beast''s forehead and a terrible pressure flowed forth into the world.

    "Its power has jumped. It''s probably a skill limited by time."

    The full manifestation had onlysted seconds, and the moment the Barmus called upon its full power it voiced a roar amplified by its projection.

    That region shook when those sound waves unfolded on itsnds.

    ''What does it want to do with such a big body?'' Noah wondered seeing as the Barums''s projection was bigger than even Yuno''s beast, which was already colossal!

    He also wondered if its defensive ability had been affected negatively because of the skill''s activation.

    His thoughts were cleared when Erolia shot forward to deliver a blow directly on the beast''s forehead.

    Once again the high-pitched sound of metal shing against metal resounded in the environment with an intensity capable of killing third-tier beasts, or even injuring lower-stage tier 4''s ''It''s crazy sturdy!'' Erolia screamed inwardly as her instincts screamed to leave the way.

    The projections scorpion tail streaked towards her with reflexes that could almost match hers.

    She dodged and its struck thin air, but a beam of purple energy burst out of its stinger to pierce the distance. That purple light momentarily matched the sun''s radiant intensity even if only for a second.

    The energy had been pure poison and corrosion capable of making waste to the best of materials. It also possessed firepower worthy of being called monstrous.

    Having dodged the attack by a hair''s breadth Erolia appeared in a location that allowed her to witness that beam''s firepower. She swallowed hard.

    "Don''t let its size fool you--" This was Lady Edna addressing Noah. "It''s currently at its peak in terms of prowess."

    Even Noah considered stepping in, but he hadn''t formted a real n to kill it. That was his first Not offended by her response, Noah cast his gaze on the radiant bronze figure that was the Barmus''s 10:47

    projection.

    time encountering such a beast.

    "What is its weakness then? Or can only fifth-tier energies kill it?" He questioned her, ready to learn.

    "Look closely, since you''re not the one fighting it''ll be easier for you to notice its w."

    Not offended by her response, Noah cast his gaze on the radiant bronze figure that was the Barmus''s projection.

    The projection wasrge and exuded an aura in the peak of the fourth tier, Noah noticed strange lines at the base of its belly, the liquid-like portions of its figure, and just when he was about to begin his search all over again he noticed something intriguing.

    Something Erolia would not be able to notice due to her distance in the sky.

    "I see it," Noah muttered and a chuckle escaped his lips. He tapped his forehead lightly with his palm

    "Ignore the avatar, go for the Barmus itself," Noahmanded Erolia who had been raining attacks for the past minute nigh-non stop. She had also gotten used to dodging its tail attacks.

    Slightly startled by Noah''s voice in her head, Erolia shifted her attention from the massive figure before her and she could immediately catch sight of a significant w.

    Despite the projectioning from the runes around the Barmus, there remained a gap between the Barmus''s figure and its powerful projection. A gap that lookedpletely exploitable.

    Erolia also noticed how the Barmus itself never moved but its projection could turn to face whatever direction she went.

    Two huge ws.

    In the split second Erolia had utilized to inspect the beast, it unleashed another of its tailed attacks which she dodged, but this time her figure shot towards the base of the gigantic figure. Its size made it hard to notice those ws.

    With renewed vigor, Erolia approached the ground at blinding speeds and the Barmus seemed to have understood her n since its scorpion tail stretched towards her to unleash another purple beam, but Erolia dodged it with ease,ing out of harm''s way.

    At least that was what she thought.

    "Eh!"Her lips parted when a huge second scorpion tail appeared directly in front of her right after she dodged the first.

    Sparks appeared in front of her at the same time that a massive beam of purple energy beamed out of the scorpion''s tail.

    The attack''s power had spiked at least thrice the normal one!

    It had been waiting for that opening.

    The beam ended and Erolia found herself shooting across the sky. Her clothes now barely remained on her figure, and entire portions of her hair had disappeared. Her skin remained fine, even if she sparkled less now.

 Chapter 623. CERULEAN CLOUD

    623 623. CERULEAN CLOUD

    Noah''s figure appeared on the path of her uncontrolled flight and he caught her in his arms. The moment he touched her speed essence flowed out of his palms to deal with whatever effects the corrosive beam had.

    Fortunately, her base defenses had been capable of blocking almost everything.

    "Should I take care of the rest?" Noah whispered.

    Erolia shook her head. She appreciated hising but she didn''t want to seem weak.

    Noah nodded and let go of her.

    Erolia resumed her flight as she decided to reveal more of her abilities. Unconcerned by her almost naked state she closed her eyes for a second even if a purple beam shot towards her again.

    Noah threatened to do something at that sight but he sensed something and decided against it.

    ''This battle is over.'' He shook his head creating distance.

    A cerulean circle expanded behind Erolia''s figure. It wasn''trge, only as big as her back. Golden spear heads rotated within the circle and a white crown appeared on her head.

    A golden robe born from raw sparks manifested on her body as the illusory image of arge bird pulsed out of her figure only to vanish immediately.

    Her presence exploded with greater intensity and the regions around her saw golden clouds manifesting from thin air.

    Several white and cerulean markings appeared on her skin and face, as her eyes lost their luster to gain a nk light. One detached from emotions.

    The purple beaming her way had started to move slower to her eyes, yet she raised her right palm to let it sh with that poisonous power.

    The collusion unfolded in arge explosion even if the corrosive gas quickly cleared to reveal that she was alright. Unaffected by the offensive.

    By this point, Erolia''s eyes glowed bright with white, and her face shone with significant intensity. Her aura felt totally different yetpletely the same.

    This contrast was because this remained the first time Erolia activated that skill. It cost her a lot but pumped power into her existence. She felt exalted above all others.

    Still keeping her right arm stretched forward, her essence moved and the circle behind her gave birth to eight tail-like manifestations made from gold, silver, and cerulean sparks.

    Those sharp-edged tails shot towards the Barmus''s projection with a roar.

    A third scorpion tail flickered into existence and all threeunched a coordinated attack at the descending tails.

    Unfortunately, Erolia made her tails evade those attacks and four of eight went to wrap around the projection''s figure. She closed her palm and the tails tightened around the projection so much so that cracks started to spread on it!

    The remaining four tails went for the Barmus at the bottom of it all. But for the first time since that manifestation, the Barmus moved, and its projection vanished the instant it did.

    The tails shed with the beast''s figure and exploded upon contact, now its body emitted more of that bronze miasma.

    The instant the beast gained its bearing again its projection exploded into existence and all three of its scorpion tails shot straight for Erolias figure in the sky.

    Shaking her head at that scene, Erolia sped her hands wishing to see the extent of her power in that form.

    Once again the illusory image of arge feathered bird pulsed from her figure and the golden clouds above her transformed into pirs that stretched towards the iing scorpion tails.

    An explosion barreled out the moment both energies collided and the sky shook from the impact. Both energies remained spectacr.

    The explosion cleared to reveal that one of the Barmus''s tails had been destroyed, but Erolia would not give it any break, she sped her hands again and this time the sky grumbled at her request even if it obeyed.

    Her golden clouds vanished and cerulean ones reced them.

    A heavy weight pressed down on the world forthose clouds rumbled with pure white sparks.

    The crashing of thunder caught the attention of every powerful beast in the chasm. That battle had grown rather big.

    This wouldn''t have been so if Erolia hadn''t decided to demolish her opponent''s peak form.

    Normally, many simply went for the real body since it was at its weakest in that form.

    Corrupted Barmus''s were rare to encounter thanks to the process that was needed for one to evene to be. How they even encountered one was already surprising.

    And usually, parties of higher-stage experts would gang up on one of those beasts to take it down. The fact that Erolia had a chance at taking it on spoke of her monstrous might.

    The fifth-tier experts watched with real attention. The battle remained impressive.

    The Barmus growled at the sight of those cerulean clouds it was at itsst leg, the activation of that skill cost it huge amounts of mana and it couldn''t absorb ambient mana quickly enough to match its expenditure.

    There was also the fact that after each activation it would be tired. The beast saw no way out of that fight. Its opponent was terrible.

    Still, it wouldn''t run.

    With her hands still sped Erolia allowed a single white bolt to fall from the sky, and the discharge of the bolt''s lightpletely drove the sun''s radiance away.

    A horrendous roar followed the arrival of the crackling mass, and when itnded on the Barmus''s bronze head, it ended up mming its face into the ground, as huge cracks expanded on both its material and the terrain.

    For the first time since that fight the structural integrity of the projection came under real danger. Its bronze light began to flicker but it didn''t shatter.

    "You''re really sturdy aren''t you?" Erolia uttered words for the first time since she activated that skill, and her tone sounded too distant from what she normally sounded. It reminded Noah of what he was before the destruction of the ''Stone heart'' skill. It worried him a bit.

    "Well, if this Isn''t enough to end you, I will ept my defeat with humility."

    What followed her words was the sound of rumbling. Its intensity was far greater than any that had unfolded during that battle so far.

    The cerulean clouds crackled with power as they merged to form one great bright colossal cloud.

    Erolia voiced a few inaudible words and the aura and light she exuded plummeted. However, in return, the pressure of that singr cloud exploded.

    Something big urred within that gaseous mass, and its power felt so choking that Noah found it hard to believe it was Erolia fighting.

    "We should probably leave this ce," Lady Edna revealed, beginning to float away from that area. The rest followed her lead.

    Having somewhat recovered from the initial offensive, the Barmusunched purple beams even if to its surprise a powerful pulling force acted on them pulling them towards the cloud, which devoured those energies only to add them to its power.

    The Barmus did this a few times within 30 seconds, but it gave up due to a strong sensation taking over its senses.

    Terror.

    For the first time since that battle, the Barmus felt fear; an emotion it wasn''t used to but understood very well.

    It growled at theing attack even if it instinctively knew it couldn''t do anything. And for the first time, it made moves to save its life.

    The projection shrunk in size, increasing its density but making it easier for the Barmus to move around.

    Erolia would not let it escape, however. The circle behind her gave birth to eight tails again and they kept the Barmus from running.

    Each passing second spelled doom for the now frantic beast, then finally, it felt death hang over its head as though it were physically present!

    The shining white cloud pulsed when the attack it had been cooking reached its final stages and gaps appeared in its structure, for the power it held within it caused it to disperse.

    With grandiose and might the said attack revealed itself.

    A massive bird born out of an amalgamation of sparks, wind, and even fire.

    Its figure shone with all the colors of the rainbow and its power felt too high to be within the fourth tier.

    Erolia had created something with quasi-tier-five power, and she wasn''t hesitant to unleash it

    OOOHMM!

    The sky almost bent at the movement of that bird-shaped mass.

    Terrible heat sts scorched the earth below as the chasm ecosystem was disturbed.

    At this point, it wasn''t a question of whether the Barmus could survive or not; It definitely wouldn''t.

    The real question was how much trouble would they face for that massive offensive?

    The birdnded on the Barmu''s projection and it roared onest time before its world went blinding then a pop reached its ears.

    Its awareness went ck afterward as the impact of the attack ravaged that region and shook several regions around. So much so that beasts at deeper depths of the chasm arose to check what had made such a ruckus.

    Tens of auras in the fifth tier exploded into existence and a cacophony of roars caused by weaker

    beasts unfolded.

    Erolia passed out when the shock waves of her attack washed over her.

 Chapter 624. CANYON

    624 624. CANYON

    Erolia awoke to find herself in Noah''s arms. She grunted, instinctively flexing her fingers and toes, then she gasped softly.

    An intense wave of fatigue rushed into her senses and she could onlyy back in his sturdy arms. Ironic.

    "Good, you''re awake," Noah''s voice reached her ears and she parted her eyelids again to look at him for a second before shutting them. They were in the sky, and the sun''s brightness hurt her.

    "How long was I out?" She asked, even if her intuition told her it hadn''t been too long.

    "Just a few minutes. We are sorta on the move now."

    Erolia sighed in relief and the duo remained silent for a while.

    "What was that skill?" Asked Noah. He could open up her skills using the system but preferred to ask her instead.

    "Ascen-" She fell asleep from exhaustion, and Noah could only giggle softly. She looked adorable.

    Erolia''s figure in his arms transformed into a mass of light that entered his chest and he could utilize his arms now.

    He sighed.

    "She caused us trouble only to fall asleep," Elder Velsvon''s voice resounded beside him. The man chuckled and Noah smiled a bit even if his daggers appeared in his hands.

    Lady Edna and Yuno floated until they stood on both of his sides.

    "What are we gonna do now," Noah asked scratching his head with the base of his right dagger. He knew many-many things by reason of inheriting Ersha''s memory.

    He could almost bet that the only person who knew as much as him on the topic of the universe was Cregar herself. But outside of those specified subjects, he didn''t know much.

    Still, he could make judgments based on certain experiences Ersha had gone through. Those memories weren''tpletely clear but he could vaguely see and remember words.

    In the face of at least twelve presences in the fifth tier, he knew only one option. Run.

    "What do you think we could do?" Edna asked, rather interested in his state of mind. The disy of his pet''s strength had put him up there in terms of respect. She was certain he had more to offer.

    Noah considered her words for a bit, but huge masses of smoke rose from different points in the chasm each one of them carrying heavy presences.

    The jumble of roars did not stop, as several collisions of energies unfolded.

    Agitated by the movement of those giants in the fifth tier, fourth-tier beasts could only unfold in razed fury towards each other. It quickly became a mess.

    "I believe the only thing we can do is avoid the entire thing," Noah stated, revealing a helpless smile. The number of auras there was getting almost too much for him.

    ''At this point will I really be able to kill a fifth-tier beast?''

    "That is the right choice. Our mission was never to kill or hunt. We''re only travelers. And travelers avoidmotions if they can." Lady Edna exined.

    "It''s only a shame we were the ones to kindle the mes of this mess."

    A powerful gust of wind swept their figures and Yuno''s beast appeared in the sky with them.

    "It doesn''t matter�C" Yuno grunted,nding on the back of his feathered pet. From that point, they would be flying.

    "�CThe officials of the nation will deal with it themselves."

    Elder Velsvon floated forward too and Lady Edna joined. Noah nodded in response to those words even if his eyes sharpened and his gaze shot to his right side.

    A powerful screech reached his ears followed by the appearance of a tailed flying beast in the higher stage of the fourth tier. It was massive.

    Noah casually swung his right dagger at the beast, severing it in two in one fell swoop.

    Intense orange mes burst into existence on the severed portions and trails of energy shot towards Noah''s figure.

    He let the dagger eat all that energy tho. Even if it barely filled it up.

    A higher-stage beast had been decimated in literally one strike. He felt too strong for the fourth tier butcked the type of firepower required for handling the fifth tier. At least in his base form.

    He still wasn''tfortable in revealing the best of the best in terms of his arsenal. His transformation would be that peak.

    Still, he didn''t know if he could breach the gap between the fourth tier and the fifth tier with its activation.

    He would have tried were he not in a group.

    Noah stepped forward to arrive on the beast''s back.

    "Brace yourselves��. We''re going hyper-sonic," Yuno revealed as gray inscriptions appeared beneath their sitting figures to hold them in ce.

    Noah conjured a barrier of wind around himself.

    The beast raised its head to voice a loud screech as though taunting the other fifth-tier beasts approaching them, then it pped its wings once.

    Bam!

    The sound barrier could only crumble at that eleration speed; as the beast transformed into a turquoise streak traversing the distance. Its passage shook the sky. At that speed, it didn''t take them too long topletely escape the chasm''s regions and the danger that followed it.

    But right after the chasm was a gorge separating the chasm from the rest of the nation''snds. That demarcation couldn''t do much against flying beasts, though. Canyonsy past the gorge.

    The winds wheezed past the mount''s figure trying to catch up to it, but she remained faster.

    "We''re about to cross a region guarded by Papine''s soldiers. She''s speeding up now," Yuno conveyed his intentions mentally.

    "Officials?" Noah asked making sure his consciousness touched those experts.

    "Would they not follow in a chase?"

    "They normally would..." Lady Edna revealed, suddenly standing. Shockingly, despite their velocity her hair did not even flutter!

    "But he''ll deal with that," she announced, pointing at the ground. Noah followed the direction of her finger, and he quickly caught sight of what she meant.

    The massive figure of a purple centipede burst forth from the scorched grounds, making a mess of the kilometers around it.

    But that wasn''t all, something else had emerged from the ground with it.

    ''Another fifth-tier beast!'' Noah gasped inwardly, the rush of their situation told on him.

    Due to their speed, he could only catch sight of their battle once before they were out of view.

    He had not even been able to hear the sound of their sh.

    "He''ll cause a big enough distraction. Hopefully, that''ll give us time topletely escape them."

    Noah nodded and looked forward, prepared for what was toe, and he immediately saw it emerging on the horizon.

    Huge buildings stood erect on the elevations of the canyons pulsing with unknown power. Even Noah sensed high-tier magic.

    However, at that exact moment did their mount explode in speed, and cracks appeared in Noah''s protection, but he fixed it.

    ''I don''t think they can stop us,'' Noah concluded inwardly, and he wasn''t wrong. A second didn''t go by before they reached and crossed the area possessing those

 Chapter 625. HUMANITY

    625 625. HUMANITY

    ''We simply didn''t want a chase,'' he shook his head, rxing now. He almost doubted if there was a need for Lady Edna to deploy her beast.

    Then again, if the expert considered it necessary, the abilities of those saints had to be something spectacr.

    ''I''m sure we startled them. It isn''t every day you see an object moving at hypersonic speeds.''

    Yuno''s beast did not slow down even after wheezing past those structures. This continued until even the canyon was out of view and little by little small settlements began to unfold on the horizon.

    "We should descend somewhere close," Lady Edna announced and Yuno nodded, pointing at a rtively small mass of trees which his bird descended towards.

    Theynded sessfully and all four of them leaped off the huge bird.

    "We''re officially inside Papine now," Elder Velsvon announced, taking a deep breath. "The nation that almost wants to go to war with Cusk."

    "Here you will find many creatures not native to thends of Cusk. This ce has a higher mana densitypared to our beloved nation."

    "I can tell that much," Noah stated, shaking his head. He swept his gaze on the lush greenery around them and quickly ignored that detail. It was nice but not spectacr anymore. "Isn''t she rather�� huge to travel with us," Noah suggested raising his head to gaze at the pretty bird. He had to raise his head properly and even at that her head was barely in view due to how close he was to her figure.

    180m in height wasn''t a joke.

    "Eh�� you''re right. She''s humongous." Yuno''s eyebrows quivered and his bird voiced aint.

    "She doesn''t like being called big," the expert announced, floating to pat her side.

    ''Even if she Is,'' Noah said. Inwardly of course.

    "Yet that isn''t a problem," Yuno revealed, spreading his hand to allow strange azure runes float out of his palm.

    The air thrummed and the ground shook. A huge azure magical circle unfolded below Yuno''s beast slowly. Gradually her figure started reducing in size, and in less than a minute she became small enough to stand on Yuno''s shoulder.

    Seeing Noah''s interest in that manifestation the expert opened his mouth to speak. "This technique forcefully maniptes her size, but it''s been perfected, so it doesn''t hurt her. it''s all temporary, however, and it needs a constant stream of energy to run."

    "All of whiches from me of course."

    "Will that cost affect you in a fight?" Noah asked understanding the parameters to keep a steady flow of essence. It could either be manual or automated.

    He determined that the expert had set its consumption to be automatic since it would allow him to fight.

    But even that simple program required a high level of skill and he had to dedicate a portion of his mind to simply running it.

    "In a fight? I''d release it then. It''s far safer to have her in her normal size to assist me in a battle." The expert shrugged.

    Noah was about to show his disappointment when the expert spoke.

    "But no. Its presence is too negligible to affect my battle prowess significantly," he exined, not hiding the pride in his tone.

    "I see�� alright."

    "We should get moving now," Lady Edna called their attention back to their primary focus.

    Due to their illegal presence and the fact that the nation was filled with relentless entities, she determined that they would travel on foot for a while before resuming flight.

    This was to throw the officials off their scent. They would be in search of a massive flying beast but that did not exist anymore.

    Just ording to her words less than ten minutes after theirnding, the skies trembled as several flying beasts streaked by; in search of the beast that had bypassed them, more so at an astonishing speed.

    ns unfolded in their gazes as huge portions of greenery remained plentiful. But Noah wasn''t satisfied with not interacting with the saints, but he could not disobey Lady Edna. He respected her.

    Moreover, their journey was still long, and they still had the hurdle which was the gap between continents. It would be simply childish to want to go on a tour of the nation.

    ''Maybeter,'' Noahforted himself inwardly, following silently.

    Once again words were barely exchanged. Everyone simply followed Lady Edna''s lead. Valleys, mountain chains, rivers, ins even the outskirts of huge settlements reached their eyes during the days they spent walking.

    With each passing day, Noah felt his mind draw closer to insanity. He longed to know how that society worked.

    Also, the fact that those men and women remained a mystery to him didn''t help. In honesty, there was no evidence that they would spend the next few months together.

    By the end of the fifth day, they had walked a great distance but it remained negligiblepared to the full length of the nation.

    It was nighttime, Lady Edna had announced that they would be resuming flight the next day. Noah knew that would spell the end of his chances of seeing anything.

    They built a simple campfire ording to Lady Edna''s wishes and each one of them sat around it.

    Noah''s had a dark expression sitting before those burning orange mes. At this point, he greatly considered moving.

    ''I''m a speedster, nowhere is too far for me�� I can simply interact for a few hours before leaving again,'' he affirmed to himself. Yet he could not stand to take his leave.

    Deep within his thoughts, consideration, and desire held him in position, a war where each side fought for dominance.

    Noah furrowed his brows at some point, his eyes had been stuck gazing into space, but to the outside world, he had been staring at the mes.

    He raised his head to look forward and surprisingly found Lady Edna''s gaze fixed on his figure. His thoughts changed and he regained hisposure.

    "You seem in distress, heir," her voice rang out in his head as he felt her consciousness interact with his.

    "It''s nothing," Noah replied, and she fell silent. She sounded exactly as she did in real life. Disconnected from the worries of the world. Unimpressed, maybe.

    "Is it concerning the journey?" Her question made Noah''s heart skip a beat, she noticed his reaction, as for the first time she saw more humanity in his rather divine features.

    "What is it?" She questioned realizing her question had struck home in his mind.

    Unable to resist and unwilling to tell a lie Noah conveyed his intentions.

    "Is that so��" She responded after listening. Noah almost face-palmed himself.

    "Is that all?" She asked, and he nodded already unwilling to go. Not after her reaction.

    "I believe it''s not a problem then�� mere hours will barely impact our journey. Even a few days wouldn''t do much. Our destination is still far ahead," she exined.

    Noah froze.

    He considered her words and felt skeptical.

    Was it some type of test for the expert to see how good he was at making hard decisions? Since despite the reality of her words those hours or even days would be an addition to the speed of their journey.

    Lady Edna saw this and addressed it.

    "I have no hidden meanings than I have spoken. You''ve always been free to do as you wished. Our task was to apany you to the Master," she exined, gaining Noah''s rapt attention.

    "Heir, the truth is that as long as you remain willing to see our master we are bound by his order to follow you around so long as you eventually get to him."

    "You would be the lead of this journey if you knew your way to the dark continents."

    Noah felt taken aback.

 Chapter 626. CURRENCY

    626 626. CURRENCY

    Noah stood high in the skies. The darkness of night expanded all around him as the moonless sky remained rather stale yet subtly peaceful. The winds rushed into his face and he let them y with his white and silver hair.

    His appearance had barely changed as he advanced through the stages. Due to the significantly short period it took him to ascend the tiers, his youthfulness had not only been retained but also refreshed. Noah still looked to be in his mid-twenties.

    However, this would not be the topic for the reason he stood high up in the sky.

    Suddenly, something drew his attention from the endless horizon. Lady Edna.

    "You should find a settlement not too far from here. At least based on your movement speed. I believe interacting would satisfy your thirst," the expert exined staring at the horizon too.

    "You might find certain things different though. Be prepared to adapt even if you won''t spend too much time there. I believe you''ll learn from this experience."

    "After all it is a cultivator''s innate desire to experience the varieties of the world they one day hope to stand above."

    Noah nodded, agreeing with her words. A few thoughts appeared and shattered in his mind and he eventually decided to speak.

    "How will I meet back with you guys? I understand that you''ll continue from here. "

    "I knew you''d mention that," Lady Edna revealed opening her palm on which a ck stone appeared.

    Noah tried to inspect that object but her aura red for a bit and that event captured his attention. This was the first time she had unfolded in power. Before then her very figurecked an aura.

    In the instant her aura unfolded a wide portion of the sky around them saw a yellow light appearing, only to shrink till that radiance existed around thedy like a halo. Only that it existed several inches from her skin.

    That yellow light further condensed till they became lines that fused with the ck stone to grant it yellow inscriptions.

    Noah watched that process with utmost attention, making sure to not miss anything that had happened. His silver gaze fell on those shining lines now glowing on the ck pebble.

    They did not form any real words or any proper shape, but Noah understood that that wasn''t their real function to begin with.

    The moment those lines merged with the ck stone they immediately began to emit an aura identical to that of the fifth-tier expert. It was mild but evident.

    ''A simple method of blessing items with one''s aura,'' Noah spoke inwardly.

    She stretched her palm towards him, which shattered his series of thoughts.

    "Take this. When you need to find me just crush it with your consciousness. It''ll create a traceable trail of my aura. At least the bits that evidently escape my grasp," she exined and Noah could not but further respect her.

    The effect of her creation was rather simple but to even reach such levels of potency spoke of skill.

    "We probably won''t be too far from you, so it''ll be easier to find me," she stated and Noah took the stone from her to store it in his inventory.

    "By not being too far you mean you''ll still be within a few regions from me. Maybe tens," Noah chuckled. His chuckle hung in his throat after a second or so seeing as the expert did not so much as blink. Like an automated bot. Creepy.

    Noah cleared his throat and she nodded to float away from him. They would begin their journey in the morning.

    Exhaling as though he had not been breathing for a long time, Noah cast his gaze on the world again.

    The night was young and now that had had means of finding the experts he could spend a bit more time than initially nned.

    "Maybe a day," he muttered. It wasn''t much, but all he desired was to dwell among those people for a bit.

    A few more thoughts unfolded in his mind as a basic n formed.

    Sparks eventually began to flicker around his figure as silver currents ran across his, hair, face, eyes, and even clothes. The air around him quickly got charged and he remained prepared to move when a tap arrived on his shoulder.

    "Fuck-!" Noah leaped forward, utterly startled. He had not sensed any presence.

    "I apologize, it is me," a voice sounded in his mind. Lady Edna.

    "Jeez," he took a deep breath cing his hand on his chest in relief. His features contorted as he red at the expert unintentionally intentionally. "Please try to announce your arrival at the very least."

    "I am sorry," Lady Edna responded politely. Noah had ended up creating several meters of distance in that short burst.

    He approached her now. "What happened? Do they have a problem with my decision?" He voiced a part of his worries.

    "Oh, no. I simply forgot to give you this," she stated as an object streaked towards Noah who caught it with his mental waves to inspect it.

    It was a simple ck bag. The objects on its inside jingled and clinked.

    "Coins? I have lots of that," Noah stated, showing confusion.

    "No doubt you do. But you seem to forget that we are no longer in Cusk," The expert stated.

    It took Noah less than a second for her words to click. And needless to say, sincere surprise appeared on his features.

    Noah wasn''t one new to the art of traveling and changing locations. But all the while he had been doing so he had never needed to change currency. As such, its need had naturally skipped his mind now that they had crossed borders.

    The fact that their mode of traveling remained one he was used to also didn''t help the matter. It hardly seemed they had truly left an entire nation.

    The pursended on his palm and he opened it to find the new currency that he would utilize in that nation.

    From what he saw, the people of the Papine nation did not adopt a system of coins like the citizens of Cusk did.

    "That is called Gin. It''s named after the god that they believe in. Gin Lin Xue. It''s the manifestation of the purchasing power being utilized in Papine."

    Noah stared at those cleanly cut crimson chunks of metal no less than an inch in size. On each of them, a simr engraving stood. He failed to understand it since that was his first time seeing such a mark. An interesting sight.

 Chapter 627. LINGUA FRANCA

    Chapter 627. LINGUA FRANCA

    A silver streak zed across the skies cutting the winds as it traveled at horrendous speeds. Noah was of course this streak and he was on his way to the first settlement he encountered.

    The regions were silent but breathtaking. He had stumbled upon a rtively small forest that featured trees whose leaves glowed an azure shade, lighting up that area in one spectacr light show.

    That would not be the only beautiful detail, however. Rivers that shone with vibrant green shades and hills that had blue veins pulsing at their base and top.

    The flora of those regions spoke of the high mana density. Cusk could note close to that level of beauty. And this was the world being effortlessly breathtaking!

    The various shadesing from the world below more than made up for the starless and moonless night sky.

    It didn''t take too long for his eyes to fall on the light of a settlement. A city.

    Noah descended at that point, at least to a certain altitude. The moment he ran mere meters above the surface; erratic strands of the discharge from his movement made contact with trees and they exploded, leaving charred lower portions.

    His mere movement had be dangerous for the environment. This further made Noah yearn for the realm outside the fourth tier.

    Not too long again and the sole of his boots touched the soil of that region.

    "I should probably get rid of this shy outfit," Noah muttered to himself and did as he suggested.

    In less than a minute he had a simple ck robe on. There was no remedy for his hair, so he simply tied it in a ponytail. A part of the robe had a face cover which he put on and was essentially ready to go.

    Noah stepped forward and his figure blinked through the environment to reach a location a few kilometers from his former position.

    The city was closer now and he found borate pathways. The closer he got to the settlement the more the trees started to recede and soon there were only strange pirs standing erect on the sides of the roads that led to the city''s entrance. At least one of its entrances.

    The scenery was deste and silent. Noah could inspect those structures, but they were carved out of ordinary stone. They exuded nothing that could interest him. There weren''t even engravings that would do much to capture his attention. The only purpose for their existence seemed to be for the sake of details or something.

    ''Maybe they had too much money on their hands,'' he wondered.

    Noah raised his head and clicked his tongue at some point. He moved again, generating a streak as he closed the gap between that ce and the city''s walls.

    "Finally," he muttered through the material that covered half of his face.

    Noah''s silver gaze fell on the source of light that had been calling him from the distance.

    A tall cobalt-blue wall unfolded before his eyes. Despite its considerable height, the wall could not hide the boisterous city that seemed to be set on a massive hill since buildings spiraled upwards toward the very top of the hill.

    Miles upon miles ofnd area stretched forth and the various lights being produced by the inhabitants of that city lit the night sky.

    It was beautiful, to say the least.

    Noah lowered his gaze and found a trail of individuals, or parties of individuals descending from the sky to begin their march toward the city.

    All the pathways he had seen earlier converged to be onerge road that led straight to the gate.

    ''I didn''t know we could fly. At least till this point,'' he thought to himself suddenly wondering if anyone had caught sight of his streak. It didn''t matter, though. He attained a level of strength that made himck fear for certain things.

    Noah joined the queue and it felt rather nostalgic seeing as that mode of gaining ess to cities was still utilized even in that nation.

    The chattering from the rtively long line quickly got to him. And for the first time in a while, Noah felt at a loss.

    "A differentnguage?" He muttered to himself as the world seemed to stretch in his eyes. That realization shook him.

    "Syst-"

    [[You don''t need to ask]]

    She responded even before he could speak.

    [Analyzing Lingual database��]

    [Analyzingplete]

    [Language found in system''s database]

    [Zhemin]

    [Lingua franca of the Papine nation]

    [Host will now undergo Lingual update��]

    Noah felt his mind buzz at that point, but he remained calm.

    As he stepped forward in the line; the chatter of those men and womening off as inordinate and unintelligible, he felt a stream of what he could only describe as raw knowledge or understanding flow into his mind and something seemed to click in his head mere seconds after.

    Noah blinked in realization. The words whooshing past him had gained proper meaning in his mind. Shock and amazement filled his head. The system and its handy abilities managed to put a smile on his face.

    He could understand the words being thrown about as though he had never not understood them.

    "This is amazing," he muttered to himself, and he realized that even his speech had changed too. He spoke like them.

    "Erolia?" He called.

    "I understand too," she responded with as much awe as him.

    Anytime they wanted to, they could switch to their initialnguage.

    "How wide is your lingual database?" Noah could not but ask.

    The system chuckled.

    [[You couldn''t begin toprehend it. There arenguages here only gods understand]]

    "I''d love to learn one of those," Noah quickly replied staring a the screen before him with interest. The letters disyed by the system had equally changed. He still understood them.

    "Your ess level is low." The system responded in a nk tone, but this time around a silver screen did not pop up.

    "How long have you been remain as a voice in my head?!"

    "Uh�� Forever?"

    "And you''re just doing that now? Do you know how awkward it is to both hear and read the same words spoken to you?"

    Another chuckle unfolded in his mind and he sneered. Their inward banter continued until Noah arrived before the individuals standing guard outside the gate.

    "And you''re just doing that now? Do you know how awkward it is to both hear and read the same words spoken to you?"

    Another chuckle unfolded in his mind and he sneered. Their inward banter continued until Noah arrived before the individuals standing guard outside the gate.

    He had seen them the moment he arrived, but now that he stood up close, he could inspect those 8-foot-tall armored men.

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