Chapter 51 - 217-227

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 relatively intact.

It seemed powering the suit would have allowed a defensive function, even if minimal. Which its lack 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 incoming 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 glass helmet he had on almost vanished if not for Mullix's Incredible ability to place 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 display, 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 successfully halved one hundred potions he formerly had.

Of course, now that he had access to rank 2 essence he could brew rank 2 potions, but each took one whole day to brew.

He only had seven available, and he didn't dare use them since they were valuable commodities.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

However, thanks to the new rank, he could run far faster for longer periods.

Having calculated 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 glance 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.

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ 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 mediocre compared 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 the larger they were. Even if their quantity remained relatively 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 nonetheless.

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 become 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 body comes 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 succeed 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.

Glancing at the water-filled space above him, Noah wondered what the other aspirants were doing, and how they were faring.

His mind landed 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 available, 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 planned to act as he did earlier in the fourth stage, but doing so would require more power, since the upside down whirlpools were really large 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 accumulated.

A deep rumble capable of ripping whirpools apart; shook the waters above Noah, before travelling below him. Thus startling Noah who glanced upward in utter shock.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

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 place.

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.

The large 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 into laughter.

'Brilliant,' he applauded 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.

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ He hadn't decided on whether he would dive deeper to attain one of the five rewards placed 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 for later. 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 as large 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 blazing 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 calculation 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 flames, 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 places 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 flames. What exactly the flames 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 uncomfortable, 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 clad in the latex bodysuit which was what everyone wore, floated toward him. Of course, Noah had already sent Muillix back into his body.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

A glance 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 black 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 blankly, trying to catch glances of the inside while taking note of the man's lightning affinity since he experienced a sense of similarity being close to him.

Nathaniel noticed Noah's lack 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 accomplish.

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 that large group was able to get there so fast.

''Damn," Noah muttered laying 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 their latex 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 platforms.

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.

ραпdα nᴏνa| сom '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 blame 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 noticicng 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 instinctively land 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 course laid down a platform 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 explained, gesturing at Noah to walk a bit further into the room of sorts.

"If you claim 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 explained, 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 glare 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 explained with the most arrogant tone he could produce.

He felt the need to lay 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 explain 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 play 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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

"Actually i'm currently exhausted," he spoke lifing his helmet to breathe in the air within that place.

ραпdα nᴏνa| сom That feature remained the only use the air affinity wielders had inside that place. 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 plan 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 particular 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 level compared to the fourth," Noah explained placing 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 available 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 were larger 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 glance at Noah, rather he opted to talk to the nervous cultivators.

"Do you all think its possible for us to simlpy blast our way through them?" Nathaniel asked, his question catching Noahs interest. And he immediately paired the word "blast" to the explosion that allowed him notice them in the first place. 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 black suits.

"We should be able to last for a while. But if the whole place is filled with that many, then we'll have to compromise," 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 accomplish your goal' Noah explained.

"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 deep laughter.

Chapter 221 221. KING

Noah furrowed his brows at the man's words but limited himself to remain silent. His gaze continued to land 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 explained, while the entire structure began to shake. Though not violently.

"I believe something similar to a round object will allow us to accomplish 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.

ραпdα nᴏνa| сom Noah found that an illusory yet solid seat latched onto him, before pushing him backward; away from Nathaniel, who stood at the center of the room. While everyone surrounded him.

No complaints 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 calculations, 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 delay. I simply found this idea too interesting, as it isn't something that can be easily accomplished without high amounts of mana," the expert explained, 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 to completely 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 place, only walls. This allowed them enough mental leisure to open their eyes.

Ariana's eyes landed 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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

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 their combined 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 available 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 the large sphere.

Noah confirmed that their combined 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 their large 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 of comfortably 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 sound coming 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 occasional flash of multi-colored currents and deep but extremely loud rumbling sounds, which were signs of lightning bolts.

So when they found a few seconds later 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 accomplished.

"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 claws city, it tasted exactly how he expected bread to taste in an advanced city. Though their cake remained bad.

Apart from the occasional murmurs in the room, the traveling experts were mostly silent. The journey had retained its nerve-racking effect on their minds, but occasional 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 particular 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 uncomfortable, 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, laid 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 of lasting weeks without rest, they didn't struggle apart from having to regularly 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. Occasionally, 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.

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ That relatively 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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

"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 placed 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 succumbing to the upward force while moving faster, Nathaniel had to decrease their moving speed.

He'd occasionally 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 their large numbers they were beginning to struggle.

Noah considered those sets of persons stupid.

'Anyone who's remotely smart will leave their best potions for later. From the looks of things, we won't last 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 become their ending point. Or such a place 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 flash of deep orange light, and everything returned to normal.

The cultivators had poured more mana into the construct at Nathaniel's command.

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 contemplated 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 elated experts. His gaze landed 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 tubes latched 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 gaze landed 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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

Gaining a vague level of comparison 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 one complained about that peace. Compared to the occasional 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 revelation of Noah's power left him disappointed. Nonetheless, 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 explained, 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 available to him.

They were considered above-average experts to be able to even get a shot at becoming 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.

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ However, the planners 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, translated into the hope of actually getting the rewards at the tenth stage.

Chapter 224 224. ELIMINATION

Hope, the underlying belief that any particular 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 explained shrugging inwardly.

"I see...okay then. Though you should get prepared for entry into the seventh depth. It might prove troublesome," Noah warned.

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ "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 the last struggle into the seventh stage.

An illusory yellow battle armor appeared on his figure after the prior appearance of a similarly 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 successfully 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 similar 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 flashed with blinding intensity, shockingly vanquishing the powerful push that depth stage had on them.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

Shock inevitably appeared on the faces and in the minds of the experts, as they found their bodies able to comfortably float around.

Casually floating about inside the pond, Noah immediately adjusted to the water's lack 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 available, 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 planned 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 flashed 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 the large 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 too large, 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. The last 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 planned to eliminate him first, and his instincts considered them trouble.

Chapter 225 225. CHAINS

"Forty-seven against one. That's plain 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 become trouble was well within their moral compasses.

Gritting his teeth at their lack of response, Noah glared at each one of them straight into their eyes shielded by the glass 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 accomplish 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.

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ 'Dammit!' Noah exclaimed 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 flared 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 planned 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 manipulated the movements of the chains with his mind, and immediately after they arrived on someone's solid figure, he tightened his grip.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

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 second later. 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 place.

Silence prevailed in that area for a second or two, as everyone still present struggled to understand what just happened, even Noah.

"Fuck!!" Noah exclaimed in utter shock and excitement. The effects of the chain's abilities had been outrageous even for him. Although the flashy 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 flames 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 burnt large 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 multiple layers 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 out large 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 not complete.

Chapter 226 226. COUNTRY BUMPKIN

"That was inconvenient," Noah groaned, spitting blood out of the hole that had appeared on his glass 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 black 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 thought comparing the amount of essence he calculated 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 translates 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 calculations, 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 glass 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 successfully 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 accomplish 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 accept 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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

"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 clearly lacking.

"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 accept my offer if what I reveal catches your eyes," Eric spoke before taking any action.

ραпdα nᴏνa| сom "I promise to accept 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 similarly 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 calculating 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 can come 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 play 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," Noah laughed heartily in response.

Chapter 227 227. DISTRACTION

"Excuse me?" Eric muttered, taken aback by Noah's words.

Noah didn't even bother to glance 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 a large amount of the excitement he had for the rewards, but still wanted to see them nonetheless.

"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 occur.

The sound of high voltages going bizarre flew out in all directions, followed by an intense flash of deep-yellow light.

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ The lady tried to wrap herself in a series of fiery defenses and succeeded. 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 plan of taking everything activated the "Finish" function available 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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

'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 place 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 display 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 relatively respectful tone.

Simply frowning tat the man's once again shameless words, Noah took the advice in them nonetheless. 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 the completely 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 explained, but Noah understood the hidden meaning behind his last 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 places 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 explained a tad bit disappointed, but also glad 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 according to what I've been told."