Perry was speechless.
Noah stood still, his gaze was fixed on him and the pressure that his mind was capable of was completely unfolded.
Perry couldn't move, his mind worked at full speed to analyze the recent events but he didn't find any mistake in his battle tactic.
The only possible conclusion was that Noah had always been holding back.
'He didn't even use an offensive spell, actually, he only used one spell from the beginning of the battle.'
Those were his thoughts as he slowly understood the situation.
He knew that the attack from earlier didn't miss by chance, Noah had purposely held back and retracted his sabers at the last second, Perry couldn't help but feel beaten under every aspect.
Noah's cold gaze coupled with his suffocating aura was a clear message, Perry knew that he would receive mercy only once in that fight.
His legs lost strength and he fell on his knees, realizing that he could have just died if Noah didn't hold back made him lose any will to fight.
"I… I surrender."
Those soft words reawakened the silent audience, they had been holding their breath since the three golems in the encirclement exploded.
Then, they too understood.
Those in the second and first rank couldn't sense the pressure that Noah was radiating but one thing was clear in their minds: Noah had won, he was the strongest rank 2 cultivator of the sect!
Cheers and loud comments could be heard, Noah was a disciple of the sect after all, the other members were happy to see that the power of the Chasing demon sect had increased once more.
Noah stretched his hand toward Perry, a horned face appeared on his palm as he waited for the latter's reaction.
Perry understood the meaning behind his gesture, his hand reached Noah's one and the two tattoos interacted with each other.
Three thousand merit points were transferred to Noah, he nodded at Perry when the transaction was over and pulled his arm to help him stand up.
Perry had still traces of confusion on his face but a tinge of respect had appeared, he was by no means weak but he had been outclassed in every aspect by the new honorary disciple.
"The sect is lucky to have you."
He performed a polite bow as he said those words, Noah shook his head as he patted his shoulder to console him.
"Don't be too hard on yourself. You are definitely strong for your level, you simply never had a chance to beat me."
Noah was a rank 3 mage, just one of his offensive spells would have been enough to destroy Perry.
Perry seemed to understand something, he was a rank 2 mage nearing the peak of the rank after all, being suppressed by a mage on his same level was impossible.
'Unless… Unless he is a rank 3 mage!'
That realization hit his mind and caused waves of shock.
No matter how impossible it sounded, that was the only conclusion that Perry could come up with.
Noah had always been able to react and to analyze each one of Perry's attack and that last burst of killing intent didn't belong to the world of the rank 2 mages.
His mind was in chaos as he stared at the honorary disciple that had already turned around to leave, Perry suddenly felt glad that he didn't provoke him more than that.
'This is settled, now I can finally test the effects of the Sea snake's tears.'
Noah thought as he walked outside of the arena but he stopped for a few seconds when he felt that a few powerful gazes were trying to probe him.
He turned his head and saw that the rank 3 cultivators in the audience had incredulous expressions as they watched him, they were either amazed by Noah's peculiarity or surprised that he had noticed their gazes.
'Oh well, this is a safe environment, they would have found out about my mental sphere anyway at some point.'
Noah covered his figure in layers of mental energy and left the area to return to his cave, his methods couldn't completely prevent the rank 3 cultivators from understanding his level but they could at least confuse the results of their probing.
Roy appeared in front of him as he entered one of the purple tunnels, he had a satisfied expression as he nodded at Noah.
"You did well, the other disciples will respect you from now on."
Noah shrugged his shoulders at that remark.
"If respect allows me to cultivate in peace, then it is welcome."
Roy sighed at that answer and followed Noah as he continued to return to his cave.
"The other factions have taken interest in you, my next days will be filled by meetings with the other rank 3 cultivators because of you."
Roy's comment made Noah slow his pace, he knew that there were factions inside the sect but he wasn't clear about their areas of interest.
"Can't I just join your faction?"
He asked.
Roy was honest and seemed ready to solve any of his doubts, if Noah could choose, he would rather pick him as his captain.
However, Roy shook his head at that question.
"I handle the recruitment and supervise the human matters inside the sect while answering directly to my mother. Also, I'm forbidden from creating a faction: I have the backing of a cultivator in the heroic ranks after all, how could the other factions compete with mine if I were to form one?"
Noah listened to his words and understood a few things.
The first one was that every faction had a rank 3 cultivator in charge, those in the heroic ranks couldn't influence or help in human matters.
The second one was that he would be forced to join a faction at some point, Noah knew that the missions in the building were just the most basic occupations inside the sect, the real gains had to be where the powerful cultivators were.
"Could you tell me more about the factions?"