Noah was just a passerby before all the events in the Odrea country, the Empire didn't have any reason to target him.
Now, however, he was the Hooded devil, he was the reason behind thousands of casualties in the ranks of its army, Noah couldn't just hope that they will forget about his deeds.
'I guess that I'm back at planning escapes, why do I always end up in these situations?'
Noah sighed internally as he went to the side of the battlefield to prepare for the fight of the black cultivators.
.
.
.
Months passed without much changing.
Noah would simply stick to his schedule and grow stronger each day as he investigated for an escape route.
Nina gladly passed information to him, she knew that he was set on leaving so she felt unnecessary to hinder his plans.
The truth was that leaving was easy, Noah had just to cross the formation and he would be back in the wilderness.
However, the Empire strictly guarded the borders, it would investigate anyone leaving the country.
His forging though led to positive results in the monthly battles.
The Hidden blasts offered the soldiers another type of offensive, one that could be used after the two armies had clashed.
The soldiers of the Empire found themselves burnt to death or heavily injured without even knowing what hit them, a couple of months had to pass before they identified the cause of those explosions.
Even after that though, there wasn't much they could do about it.
Those blasts had the power of the liquid stage of the second rank, they weren't any different from the spells of the blue cultivators.
Their strong points were their immediate effects and their size: The Hidden blasts didn't need time to be cast and their size allowed them to easily slip between the defenses of the soldiers.
The soldiers of the Empire would often raise their weapons to defend against their enemies only to find a needle in front of them.
It was needless to say that another period of overwhelming victories occurred.
Noah saw his kill count steadily increasing, his centers of power becoming stronger, and his forging ability improving, he felt his whole self being sharpened in that environment.
The Empire couldn't come up with many countermeasures, the Instabilities increased the power of the long-distance attacks while the Hidden blasts performed extremely good in the group fights, its only option was to give its soldiers a better training focused on defense.
Then, the inevitable happened.
Noah had been in the Odrea country for almost two years, he was twenty-three by then when the breakthrough happened.
He was in his room with Nina, diligently memorizing the third Kesier rune while she read a book.
Really few cultivators could dedicate their entire life to their training, it was normal for the others to occupy their days with things they liked.
However, Nina hurriedly closed her book as she saw Noah dropping the sheet in his hands and crouching on the floor while holding his head.
"What happened? Did you hurt yourself?"
Her worries weren't misplaced.
She had seen how Noah never stopped training, incidents during cultivation could happen if the centers of power were too stressed.
Yet, what was happening was the exact opposite of that.
Noah's mental sphere trembled violently, it sent waves of pain that forced Noah to shut his eyes to resist them.
Then, there was an unparalleled clarity.
The tremors stopped, allowing Noah to finally open his eyes and evaluate the changes.
His eyes shone with a blue light as he moved away Nina's embrace and looked at the world in wonder.
The room was still the same but Noah could see every detail in it.
His focus went on the inscriptions that reinforced it and, even though he still couldn't understand their meaning, he could vaguely make out their purpose.
It was similar to a feeling, Noah could sense what those inscriptions were meant to do.
As his focus increased though, he seemed to see some sort of invisible layer that prevented him from looking more in depth, as if the world itself was stopping him from uncovering its secrets.
'The world itself is a prison, what a joke.'
He understood the meaning behind that layer, it represented the limits of the human ranks, it hid the world that only entities could see.
Yet, he laughed at its sight.
It was a loud laugh, Noah seemed unable to contain himself.
'My mind has reached you, Master.'
The master he thought of was William, the one that had introduced him to the cultivation world, one of the two persons that had protected him as he grew.
Twenty-three years, rank 3 sea of consciousness!
Monsters would hide in front of that achievement.
"Are you ok?"
Nina was somewhat relieved seeing that he wasn't hurt but she still couldn't understand his behavior.
Noah moved his gaze on her, his mind was exuding a boundless ambition, the sight of the invisible layer had triggered his deepest emotion.
Nina felt danger.
Noah's mind waves radiated a suffocating pressure, she instinctively retreated to a corner of the room but her mental sphere was still affected by his gaze.
Noah shut his eyes and turned his head, his focus went inside his sea of consciousness as he tried to contain its power.
The third Kesier rune stood proudly over his half-transparent figure, the black roots of the Demonic form spell had entangled around it as the rune completely formed.
Stillness, no waves could be seen in the sea that represented his thoughts, the crystalline water seemed somewhat heavier.
'As I increase the rank of my mind, my thoughts become stronger. I should be able to affect the material world when I reach the fourth rank.'
Then, he tried something that he had stalled for too much time.
The non-refined "Breath" over his sea was immersed in the water, Noah's will was immediately injected in it, his ambition powered the image of a figure jumping from the ground and reaching the sky in one leap.
The "Breath" was refined in no time and Noah immediately redirected it toward his right leg with which he stomped twice on the floor.
A shockwave resounded in the room, Noah lost control of his leg which propelled him in the air, making him smash on the ceiling.