Noah didn't fear for his life, but he didn't want to risk suffering such an insidious injury and possibly lose his fourth center of power. His healing abilities were off the scale, but the heart was too delicate to ignore the danger.
The Demonic Sword roared as it understood his intentions. The weapon was still in his grasp, so Noah only had to place it on his dantian to resume cultivating.
The black star in his heart had become unstable because his darkness's structure had changed when it reached the solid stage. The old harmony didn't work anymore now.
The solid "Breath" was heavier and required a higher density to evolve. The only solution for the current situation was to pour more energy inside the dark star until it found new stability. However, Noah had just advanced, so his dantian was mostly empty. He had to cultivate before he could fill his burning heart.
"Breath" gathered on the blade of the Demonic Sword, which turned it into primary energy that the rune on Noah's waist transformed into darkness. His dantian had long since created a connection with the rune, so the "Breath" was in the solid stage when it reached the center of power.
The gravitational pull then forced the darkness away from the dantian and added it to the black star, increasing its width and traction force. The sphere kept on expanding, and it soon reached the walls of the room, bending the sturdy metal as it pressed on them.
Small bumps appeared on the walls, but they held on against the pressure. Noah's training area had always been extremely resistant in the end, and he had even created a black star there before.
Noah felt his heart expanding as the dense area of the star became wider inside his organ. He had already surpassed the past density, but the harmony seemed still out of reach.
More "Breath" became darkness, and more darkness became dark matter. Cracking sounds came out of the walls of the room, but nothing broke. Yet, the pressure began to go back at him and weigh on his body. Noah could sustain it easily initially, but it became harder to hold his weapon correctly as time passed.
Noah didn't stop filling his dantian with as much energy as he could. He didn't want to get rid of the higher energy for even a second, and he was too eager to see the new power that he would obtain to stop now.
The temperature rose beyond what the lava lake could do, and small cracks appeared on the walls. It seemed that the old structure was about to give in to the relentless pushing force.
The star suddenly began to collapse on itself, relieving the room of some of the pressure that Noah had released. The dark matter converged toward Noah's heart and amassed inside his fourth center of power.
Noah's breathing became ragged as his heart became hotter. The tissues of his organ expanded to make room for the new dark matter. His dantian never stopped absorbing "Breath", but the process appeared to be ending.
The dark matter disappeared from the room and gathered inside Noah's heart, creating a small black sphere that his organ compressed further. His fourth center of power had a star again, but it was brighter. It was a shining blackness that could blind any human.
Noah cultivated until his dantian began to expand at a slower pace. He then switched to training his mind using the Sixth Kesier rune obtained from one of the rank 6 Apes hunted before the summoning.
He inspected the changes with his higher energy only after all of that. His fourth center of power needed to stabilize itself anyway, so an early analysis would have given false results.
The dark matter was the same as before, except for its unusual brightness given by its newfound power. The higher energy was at least twice as dense than before, and containing so much power eventually gave birth to that strange phenomenon.
Noah could create all his previous elements with his new higher energy, and Snore had its agenda. The Blood Companion was already benefitting from the improvement, but Noah intended to review its structure after it evolved independently.
'I wonder what will happen when I become a rank 6 cultivator,' Noah thought, trying to suppress the imagines of an actual black hole from appearing in his mind.
The reaction would be too dangerous at that time, and it could kill him. However, his body would already be in the sixth rank, meaning that the burning heart would be part of him.
Noah came out of his room with the intent to test his new power and found Skully inspecting a rune with the entirety of her consciousness. She could take her of herself, but the rune in her hands was the First Kesier rune. He couldn't possibly understand what she was doing with it.
His doubts didn't last much because the powerhouse noticed Noah's presence and decided to speak to him. "Do you remember the secret ability of those Apes? I should be able to do the same."
Noah understood her point, but he knew her potential better than anyone. The only problem was whether there were conditions to meet for the activation of that ability.
"You are a Kesier Ape," Noah began to explain as he strolled across the room. "You have that ability in you. Still, you once said that the other beasts had sacrificed willingly to the God."
Noah's reply gave Skully an idea. She had tried to make a connection with the rune until then, but she had never tried to force the process. After all, her roars could make any existence in the human ranks bow.
Skully's aura changed as she tried to absorb the First Kesier rune. It became more domineering, but it had some subtle mental waves among them. They worked as orders disguised as angry reprimands of a more powerful existence.
To her surprise, his domineering cry affected the rune. The patch of white fur in her hands began to emit a faint light, and an instinct surging from the back of her mind made her place the shining hair on her forehead.
The whiteness in the piece of fur disappeared at that point, and Skully released an excited growl when she understood that she had succeeded. She had managed to activate the secret ability of the Kesier Apes, even if only on the First rune.
"What about you?" Skully said once she suppressed her excitement. "My underlings told me to watch over your room for fear that something could explode."
Noah knew that the destabilization of his dark matter had probably scared all the cultivators inside the palace. Yet, he didn't expect that Skully would come to prevent any harmful repercussions.
"I think it's time to understand how strong the Ape God is," Noah said as battle intent filled his mind. It was time to understand how strong he had become.