Chapter 1429 1429. Frail

Noah performed an honest bow after Miss Void's last line. She had given him an incredible technique without asking anything in return. Even the battle against those strange magical beasts had been nothing more than a performance meant to show her ability.

"This is getting tiring," Miss Void said after heaving a loud sigh. "Go. Don't waste time with the dead. You are only in the liquid stage, but you have managed to open my inheritance. This much already tells me that you want to reach the peak."

"Is the ninth rank the peak?" Noah asked as his ambition began to leak out of his figure.

"Maybe, maybe not," Miss Void replied as she tilted her head to look above. "I wanted to see it, the peak, the realm beyond Heaven and Earth. I lost my chance, so it's up to you now."

Noah could see himself in that gesture. Miss Void wore the same expression that he had when he imagined the distant stars in the sky. She shared his desire to go beyond the white layer that covered Heaven and Earth's realm.

"The world is so vast that a single life isn't enough to explore all of it," Miss Void said in a nostalgic tone. "Yet, even the most s.h.i.+ning place hides black spots. Darkness is everywhere. Always remember this."

Noah nodded before turning to leave. Miss Void began to sing a sad song as she kept her eyes fixed on the barely visible ceiling outside of her separate dimension.

The song stopped when Noah crossed the portal. His superior awareness also stopped sensing that odd feeling once he returned to the outside world.

The portal morphed after Noah came out. It shrunk and condensed to take the shape of an ethereal orb that contained a spherical diagram. Its black lines radiated a pale dark light that managed to obscure the cave, and Noah almost fell on his knees when he realized what he had obtained.

'A rank 8 spell!' Noah shouted in his mind, and his hands carefully wrapped the fist-sized spherical diagram in their grasp.

The Divine Deduction technique activated, and the dark world expanded. The workshop also recreated the fake octopus-like creatures to resume the ma.s.s-production of that peculiar darkness.

Noah prepared for the first activation of his new spell. He needed to memorize the diagram and create the only energy that could make it function. Luckily for him, he had become an expert in the last part.

Understanding filled Noah's mind as he studied the diagram through the Divine Deduction technique. The complexity of those lines left him speechless. He could see how hard Miss Void had worked to create that spell during the process.

'Not the void, nor the higher plane, but something in the middle,' Noah thought as pieces of information flowed inside him. 'A frail layer strengthened and expanded to create a personal s.p.a.ce that belongs only to you. Astonis.h.i.+ng.'

Noah had created wonders throughout his cultivation journey. He had given birth to indestructible monsters and built a world through copies of Heaven and Earth's elements. However, Miss Void's work surpa.s.sed what he was capable of crafting. It delved into a field that Noah had touched only by chance.

The dark world stored the special darkness while Noah studied the diagram. Weeks pa.s.sed while he remained immersed in the wonders that those lines contained.

Then, when Noah felt that he had learnt how it worked, he stored the orb inside his mental sea and made the special darkness flow toward his mind.

Noah didn't need to transform or translate that diagram. It was a spell that worked with a darkness that didn't belong to his existence. Anyone could activate it as long as they had that energy.

The diagram lit up, and a dark light filled Noah's eyes. The world in his vision suddenly changed. He became able to see the threads that kept the fabric of the Immortal Lands together, as well as the void that lingered right behind them.

'Darkness is everywhere,' Noah thought as he focused on the layer between the two worlds.

Miss Void's spell only allowed him to reach that state. Noah had to create the Shadow Domain on his own, but he felt sure that she had given him a few hints on the matter.

Noah stretched his hand and hung it above the line that separated the Immortal Lands and the void. He could sense the specks of darkness that inhabited that place with his mind, and he slowly made his aura flow inside them.

Most specks instantly burst open, but some were big enough to endure the first wave of Noah's individuality and expand. As his true meaning flowed inside that darkness, a third s.p.a.ce formed between the two worlds.

Noah had to adjust the speed at which his individuality flowed inside the darkness to avoid ruining his progress. That s.p.a.ce had frail edges, so he slowly learnt what it could endure.

It took him half a day to envelop his figure in the Shadow Domain and an entire week to stretch it as far as the ceiling of the cave. Expanding it became harder as its size increased, but Noah knew that the process would become easier after some training.

When the Shadow Domain surpa.s.sed the cave's ceiling, Noah moved his finger, and a small slash flew out of his hand. The attack dug inside the rocky layer above him and stopped before vanis.h.i.+ng inside it.

Noah's slash didn't damage the ceiling. As long as it was inside the Shadow Domain, his attack couldn't affect the material world. The black curved line lived in a different dimension.

When Noah willed it, the slash left the Shadow Domain and appeared in the Immortal Lands. A hole instantly opened on the cave's ceiling, but his attack didn't deplete much energy. It was as if it didn't use its power to piece those rocks.

'Incredible,' Noah thought as his vision returned normal. 'Since it's already inside its fabric, the slash doesn't use energy to piece it. Miss Void has created a masterpiece.'

His stash of special darkness was over after that prolonged activation of Miss Void's spell. Noah had barely managed to create a Shadow Domain that reached the ceiling, but the ability had already deactivated.

'Using attacks quickens the consumption of special darkness,' Noah thought. 'The same must be true for the other abilities, so I need to find a better way to create this energy.'

The workshop performed well, but Noah couldn't keep it active during a battle, not while it ma.s.s-produced special darkness at least.

Noah didn't even want to spend long periods of seclusion while he acc.u.mulated that energy. He didn't want to rely on a resource that he needed time to gather since his main focus was his battle prowess.

'It's time to study this transformation thoroughly,' Noah concluded. 'I've already created my darkness from primary energy. I only need to do the same for this one.'

Noah's long seclusion continued for years. He mainly cultivated, but he also spent long periods studying the special darkness and experimenting on his four energies. He even tested his personal arts when he had the chance.

His level slowly rose in that empty environment. No one came to disturb him since his companions were also busy with their training.

An entire century had to pa.s.s before Noah felt the need to come out and resume his exploration of the Immortal Lands. When he left his cave, he sensed that the two hybrids were still cultivating in other spots of the region, and he didn't fail to notice that King Elbas' habitation was also there.