Chapter 201: 201. TALENT
‘Is this supposed to be,’ Noah thought Inspecting his already healed skin.
For the sake of experimenting, he increased the temperature to the peak of the middle-stage again, and similar grotesque and mostly charred injuries appeared on his figure.
Noah’s skin burnt till it turned black, blinding pain ravaging his mind due to that extreme practice. But even at that, he still stopped his essence from leaving his core, opting to reduce the temperature instead.
Regardless of his pain resistance, Noah rolled on the floor, cries of agony escaping his mouth, but the barrier stopped any sound from escaping its insides.
His writhing figure caught no attention since the only Individuals capable of watching him, were busy cultivating.
However, immediately the temperature dropped to the middle-stage far below zero, he felt the pain he experienced reduce significantly.
[[Due to your affinity with ice, your body is able to undergo healing when in extremely cold environments]]
It took him a while to actually read those words, but when he did he felt a wave of surprise hit him.
‘Can i do that with all my elemental affinities?’ Noah asked the system.
[[Yes. But it’ll have to be naturally occurring and not filled with mana that isn’t the world’s. You won’t heal if struck by a lightning, ice or wind spell. Those types of memories should be somewhere in Aiden’s memories]]
Furrowing his now regrown brows. Because he found the healing allowed by his ice affinity too slow, he naturally allowed his liquid-like essence to flow.
Eventually finding such memories, Noah felt surprised to find more information under that topic, and he soon realized why he hadn’t noticed them faster.
Technically he knew about that natural feature, but since it was classified as something subconsciously known, he had to actively search for it.
‘So basically it’s common sense,’ Noah thought cancelling the feature of the room. He had quickly gotten bored of it.
Walking towards the platform to get food even if he wasn’t really hungry, Noah tried something new, and it also tasted good.
The aroma of the meal managed to bring a few people out of their trance, but they soon returned to cultivating when they saw that it was Noah.
Noah’s roommates, whose names he didn’t know, and didn’t want to bother to check using the system, cultivated for the whole day, but even that wasn’t enough to significantly increase their power.
Amidst the other subconsciously known information, were interesting things about cultivation.
Apparently everyone had different cultivation speeds. Which was how fast they could absorb the energy around them.
Those who held higher cultivation speed, were termed geniuses since their rise to power would be far shorter than their peers.
But the cultivation technique an individual practiced and what affinity they wielded was also an important factor. How dense mana was in an environment also mattered.
The average tier 3 cultivator would need a few months to really see any changes in his power. And it would take the average lower-stage cultivator a decade to achieve the middle-stage, and probably double to to even triple to achieve the higher-stage.
Those numbers scared Noah, who had barely started his rise to power for five months.
Spending decades to achieve something felt unimaginable. Then again the stronger a cultivator became the higher his life expectancy.
‘All that work only to be randomly killed by a wild beast in the fourth tier,’ Noah sighed recalling the cultivators that had turned to bloodly masses of flesh during the sudden battle.
‘Only power truly matters in this damned world,’ he thought, gazing at the ceiling.
‘Only power matters in any world,’ he added recalling his life on Earth and how those who held authority got whatever they wanted as long as it was available.
Eventually deciding to sleep since the next day would hold challenges, Noah drifted once again into a dreamless sleep.
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A loud voice pulled Noah out of his sleep, and the sight of three individuals standing at the entrance into that room made him get up quickly.
Understanding that the time had come for them to begin their trials, he promptly got down his bed to wait for their words.
The person at the forefront of the trio was a woman who held power one stage above the middle-stage of tier 3, and her colleagues clearly gave her the respect she deserved.
“Form a line before me,” the lady ordered gesturing at the space in front of her.
Promptly moving towardd her front where seven other Individuals had gotten before him. Noah and the group of 43 queued before that powerful expert.
Her expression being that of utter aloofness, she opened her mouth to speak.
“You are going to walk behind us at all times, anyone who fails so adhere to this simple rule could have their chances in the upcoming tests nullified,” she explained sweeping her cold gaze’s on them.
Even Noah felt chilled by her look, and hoped she found nothing weird about him apart from his looks.
Unfortunately reality proved to hold a different idea.
“You,” she called out, pointing at Noah’s figure weirdly stiff figure.
“Get in front of them. Someone with such talent as yours should be at the forefront,” she ordered coldly, not minding the shock on the faces of the others.
‘You’ve just increased my problems woman,’ Noah sighed inwardly.
Doing as he was told while ignoring the glares he received, Noah stood unmoving in front of her.
‘She’s of the lightning element!’ Noah screamed inwardly, experiencing a sense of familiarity from her figure.
‘So we are able to tell each other apart,’ Noah thought at that new discovery.
The sense of familiarity he experienced was as though something within him churned at their closeness, informing Noah of the individuals status.
“Before we move on. I am Lady Sophie. Only those who succeed in becoming part of this guild are allowed to call me that. Just keep it mind,” she stated.
“With that done, let’s go,” she said turning towards the metallic door which was promptly opened by her colleagues, who held power in the middle-stage.
In a single file the group exited the room to arrive inside a wide hallway, where other groups and their leaders could be seen walking towards the same direction.
Every once in while another group would exit a room, each one of them featuring stern expressions, some even nervousness.
Being at the forefront of the group, Noah tried to see if he could spot Ariana, but failed.
The walk in that regally decorated hallway featuring picture frames of people Noah didn’t know, or weird statue’s, and of course golden coloured ceilings and even tiles, lasted for multiple minutes.
Only the sound of footsteps being heard, as everyone kept their mouths shut.
Their numbers eventually got so much that those at the back had to slow down their steps, so as to not bump Into each other.
After multiple more minutes, Noah’s group arrived at the end of the hallway. And surprisingly they didn’t experience the feeling of space twist and the pressure that came with it.
Which made the sight of an Incredibly massive hall, far larger than the one in the Guio district, very much astonishing.
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