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 planned, 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 a compromise.
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 can come 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 featured large glass windows allowing the light coming 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 relatively small space.
Pushing the glass door, Noah ignored the bell hung at its top to exit that place. The city's soft breeze caressed his face at that point, and he found himself blankly staring at the raging thunderclouds in the distance. No sounds reached the city but the flashes 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 glanced at it would you be able to spot the light. That's how tiny it was.
The clouds visibly spun around the island, but never went past a certain point.
pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ "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 to communicate 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 almost completely identical to the one he traversed, only that at the end of the street stood the grand tower that was their guild hall.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom
Its structure remained breathtaking, most especially due to the golden lights it beamed into the environment.
With the obstruction of getting his desired commodities being his rank, Noah planned 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.
Placing 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 the lady that had spoken with Lady Yevette.
An eyebrow rose on the lady'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 the lady'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 explained. Although he knew the information, Noah let her explain in case there were bits of information the book left out.
"I believe you plan to advance to E rank. For that you'll need to be successful in 5 F rank missions," she continued.
"Yes," Noah replied allowing his gaze to fall on the large board beside the bar.
The lady immediately noticed his gaze and quickly opened her mouth to speak.
"New members aren't allowed to choose from the board until they succeed in the first one made available to them by the guild," she explained.
"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 blazing 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 black ink.
At the bottom of the paper was a small map pinpointing the area the quest was to be carried out.
pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ 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 you completed the mission," the lady explained seeing a large map float in front of Noah while he inspected it.
Hearing her words and recalling the explanation the book gave on that matter, Noah returned the paper to the lady nodding his head. She immediately placed 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 slacked. 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 planned to go on foot, however, he recalled that there was a well-organized transportation system.
From the book's description, and Lady Yevette's explanation, 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 almost completely 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 glad about it.
"This is it," Noah muttered glancing 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 glass. The wideness of that place, 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; complaining. 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 lights coming 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 blame 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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom
"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 glancing 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 black 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. According to the schedule they just arrived today, no one would immediately begin quests on the first day," the other reassured.
"So how do we explain 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 place 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, according 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," Noah complained 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.
According to the quest paper, the blazing 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 place filled with that many magical plants.
The formerly dim environment changed inside that place. Not only did the ceiling of the dome above them feature yellow lights shining only on that expanse, the hundreds to definitely thousands of plants shining with their own lights further illuminated the area, creating a wondrous scene like none Noah had ever laid his eyes on,
A minute had to pass before he snapped out of his daze, successfully 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 flame-like in nature, and quickly spotted plants that fit the description on the quest sheet.
Walking towards one of such plants, Noah bent down to admire the magical wonder that lay before him.
The blazing roses were more like real flames orange in color, but in the shape of roses! However only the flower part were flame-like, the stem wasn't, but was in a vibrant shade of yellow.
Stretching his hand forward to pluck the rose, Noah successfully completed the action, but a violent wave of orange flames filled his vision barely an instant later.
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. He lay 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 a last 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 plant.
He hardly ever did this, but after a while of being close to above-average magical plants, Noah realized that he could inspect magical plants 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.
[Blazing roses]
[Grade: Low]
[Tier: 2[mid]
[Origin: The roses are made out of the collaboration 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 plant.
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 explosion coming, 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 successfully pluck one rose.
Noah stared at a rose made purely out of flames but didn't flicker or move like real flames. The plant 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 plant from the spot closest to its flower, this caused him to have the flamy 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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom
Storing the plant in his inventory where time wouldn't affect it, Noah swept his gaze on the rest of the garden searching for more blazing roses.
However, his expression darkened at the sight that lay before him. 'How did I not notice,' he thought when his eyes fell on bushes featuring multiple Blazing 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 plants within that garden, Noah gazed blankly 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 successfully gathered the required amount of Blazing roses, only that the reward for that feat was his black 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 a layer of char anyway.
pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ 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 blazing 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 he last remembered. 'Do they never rest,' he thought, mildly irritated.
His eyes landed on the counter and he immediately began his walk toward it. Surprisingly the same lady was present, and his appearance surprised her.
"I'm here to submit the flowers," Noah immediately went to the point, and for some reason, the lady almost choked on the cup of liquid she held in her hand.
Chapter 264 264. F-RANK
"You're here to submit the flowers," the lady blurted out, astonished. Noah furrowed his brows but nodded. He failed to understand why the lady felt surprised by that feat. He had spent six hours doing it, surely that couldn't be the quickest someone had completed it.
"You should be given an award for your accomplishment," she suddenly said, requesting for the paper. "No one has ever completed 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 black-painted room filled with all sorts of things.
Noah could spot mana stones, plants, beast cores, coins, and things he had never laid eyes on before in different heaps.
The lady saw Noah's curiosity and immediately explained to him.
"This is where the recoveries from missions stay before they are sent out to their respective owners. Anyone can place 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 explained gesturing at a small space on the inscribed black floor.
Noah understood what that gesture meant, and didn't hesitate to wave his hand to remove the plants 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 would land on the ground or appear in his grip.
No sooner than he completed his gesture, did the space around them light up with an orange radiance.
The lady 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.
ραпdα nᴏνa| сom 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 place 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 succeeded 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 explained after placing a green stamp depicting his name on the quest paper.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom
"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 explained, 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, large 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 the lady; 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 outcome 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 could complete. According to Leah, Rank F missions only last seven days on their region's board before returning to the outer region where proper tier 1's could complete 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 plants 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 planned for him. Things and events that would make him even better amongst his mates; whoever they were.
Chapter 265 265. OUTRAGEOUS
Playing around with the two golden stars in his palms, Noah walked out of the guild hall feeling gangsta.
ραпdα nᴏνa| сom 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 place 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 the layout 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. According 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 accomplishments 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 a competitive 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 to lay 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 that large 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 finding large 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 clash 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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom
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. The last 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 explained placing 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 explained 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 explained showing a helpless smile.
Noah on the other hand didn't care, heck he felt glad. Not because of the lack of discounts but because compared to his purse the price for the beasts was plausible.
"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 not comfortably, 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, but compared 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 slammed into his mind.
"By the gods! What the fuck do you need that many for?! Necromancy?!" Elias blasted. 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 place 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 placing 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 into laughter.
"No need for that. I understand that my request is a bit out of the ordinary," Noah explained, and he could swear he saw a vein almost pop on the man's bowed neck.
"I'm glad 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,' he laughed 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 explained slowly nodding his head.
"Do I have to pay upfront?" Noah asked already planning his next move.
"Nah, I already planned a shipment from my source. It'll be arriving two days from now," Elias explained.
'Then what was all the fuss about,' Noah complained 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 nineteen-thousand-six-hundred-and-eighty-five small silvers," he explained 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 be coming to get them," Elias explained placing 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 almost completely emptied core was evidence of that reality.
He planned 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.
Placing the rectangular key into its hole, Noah took a moment to glance 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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom
The state of their relationship 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 glad 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 planned 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 slam the door.
Noah could only watch that scene play 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.
pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ The darkness of the island 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 black 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 himself communicating 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 to communicate 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 to come 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 blankly 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 blank 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 that lay before him. Tall black buildings, almost similar to the ones that were in the inner regions, only that their light was only golden and their color was mostly black.
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 almost completely 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.
pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ 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 glancing 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 explained gazing at the center point of the region. However, rather than a tower-like in the inner region, a large skyscraper-like building boldly stood there.
Th almost completely glass 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 hardly come out, and when they do, they usually leave the island 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 explained.
"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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom
"Nevertheless we mustn't dismiss his position. After all, he's the one in charge of us," the expert announced suddenly coming 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 black 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 the large mansion before them. But there was a main one that stretched towards the big door directly across the gate.
'It's big,' Noah thought placing 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 the compound.
"The person you've come 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 black-clothed figure followed that event almost crashing into Noah who dodged in time.
The figure flew through the open gate to land and roll on the downhill street.
'What the hell-' Noah exclaimed 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 could complete his action.
"Good reflexes," a female voice rang out in front of Noah as he laid 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.
The lady 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 he laid 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 the lady'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 place.
"Go. Take care of him. If he dies its on you," a cold voice exited the lady'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 become alone with the certainly higher-stage woman.
"You're next," the lady 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 5ft4 lady clothed in the guild's black garment; leading him towards a door directly parallel to the entrance door.
"Walk in," she ordered at the open door, and Noah did according to her words.
A wide cream-painted room around 200m in radius unfolded in Noah's still nervous sight. The place 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 the lady, 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 explained calmly.
"You are the second to last 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 the lady vanished before his eyes.
Speed essence rushed into Noah's mind to empower it, but the lady 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 occurred when the attack prepared by the lady failed to land 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, the lady 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," the lady 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 flared 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.
Glancing at his wrist, Noah saw how his attire in that spot featured long tears, causing him to shake his head.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom
A deep-yellow magical circle expanded beneath his feet at that action, and an illusory battle armor quickly encased his figure in its light.
The lady 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, the lady 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, the lady 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 succumb to the blinding pain ravaging it.
Unfortunately, the lady 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 that landed 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," the lady 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 the lady come in.
"You're already fully healed," she exclaimed 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 explained sitting cross-legged on the floor.
ραпdα nᴏνa| сom 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-clap 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 planted a trap, but not you," she spoke as her face twisted to show her irritation.
Noah could only keep a blank 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 accept if you didn't like it," Noah quickly spoke.
"Cause I'd gain something of course," she replied slamming 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 places 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," Noah complained.
"It doesn't matter. Cultivators are supposed to accomplish 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 collar 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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom
"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 explained.
"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," Noah complained 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.
The lady 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 it landed on her figure.
Noah sent two more in quick succession 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 similar 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 declared 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 place 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 declared. Her voice was almost inaudible amid the loud erratic sounds the large 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 place turned blinding yellow, but no explosion occurred.
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 black daggers buzzed and palpated with power, giving rise to the black and purple mist that always exited their structure.
ραпdα nᴏνa| сom '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 become 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 placed all his bet on that instinctive action, and it had succeeded. However, his arms were barely holding up.
More than half his sleeves had disappeared and they revealed black 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 exclaimed, 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 plan.
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 she launched 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 slashes that converged to form an X.
Two slashes 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 collapsing.
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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom
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 relatively close to that position and damaging his kidney.
Blood tried to flow through Noah's mouth but he crashed into his storm before such occurred. 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 black 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 Noah lay 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 could complete her action.
The explosion managed to push Elder Sarah away. And out of the storm of lightning bolts came large 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 flames formed out of her flaming arms to shoot toward Noah's incoming 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 flames on her arms. She barely moved from her position after the explosion, as not even her high-grade clothes were fluttered. Her flames had naturally destroyed Noah's spears, but the spears had done enough to damage the flames causing them to detonate.
Glancing at the barely standing Noah, she marveled at his rapidly healing face.
Feeling the blood that dripped out of his face come to a stop, Noah frowned deeply, he had honestly thought he'd die. Thankfully his body worked overdrive to not allow such an outcome.
"This is abuse," Noah complained. "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't complain about an act you utilize on others," she explained 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.
ραпdα nᴏνa| сom "This is me humbling you. Only after that is complete can you bow to be trained," she declared 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, nonetheless, 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 become 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 explained 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 black 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.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom
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.
Noah laid eyes on an incoming shower of tiny needles made from flames. 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 black 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 exclaimed 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 explained.
"On the playing 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 display the crest of the guild, only that her name stood beside it.