Why was Noah able to fight solid stage cultivators even if his dantian was still in the gaseous stage?
There were many reasons.
The most influential ones were his aptitude and the level of his mental sphere.
Noah had always been advantaged when it came to the sea of consciousness, the level of his mind didn't match at all the normal level that gaseous stage cultivators would have, many of them were still rank 2 mages after all.
Also, his element expressed more power than the others, the huge depletion of mental energy and "Breath" was a normal consequence to those more powerful effects.
Then, there was the variety of spells that he had and the rank 3 Demonic swords in the upper tier.
Noah had profited greatly from the Inheritance, especially when it came to his defensive methods: Heilong, the Ethereal form spell, and the Black hole spell were amazing defensive methods that Noah could apply for any different threat, it could be even said that his defense had no flaws now!
In the end, there was his improved martial art with his flying ability.
Heilong was a rank 4 magical beast, its wings were strong enough to make the huge body of a dragon fly!
When they were coupled with a martial art in the fourth rank and with a relatively light body, the speed that Noah was capable of even surpassed that of magical beasts in the same rank.
All these factors allowed him to explode with a burst of power that could match solid stage cultivators for a short time!
His large variety of spells allowed him to fight safely in every situation and to find a flaw in his opponent's defense.
His martial art allowed him to avoid most of his opponent's attacks when he was in the air, making him also able to escape at will.
His new weapons gave him the ability to execute attacks that almost reached the solid stage, making them a threat even for solid stage cultivators.
Of course, that explosive power couldn't be supported for a long time by his centers of power.
His mental sphere wasn't that of a problem, its level was high for a cultivator in the third rank and Noah smartly used spells that mostly required mental energy for their execution to exploit his advantage.
Yet, the "Breath" stored in his dantian simply wasn't enough to fuel all his spells.
The mental sphere set the power of his spells, leading to huge consumptions of "Breath" since his dantian was on a lower level.
That's why, even if his many methods allowed him to obtain some sort of initial advantage against solid stage cultivators, he wasn't able to sustain those fights till their end.
'I went a bit over my limits today... Well, nothing I could do, the organization from the Papral nation was prepared.'
Noah thought as he found an empty room in the raided deposit and sat on the floor.
A simple looking potion appeared in his hands and he directly drank its contents, the potion was quite precious but it was the least precious one in Noah's ring.
The drug increased the quantity of mental energy produced for a short time, Noah needed it to start refilling his dantian immediately.
'Being in the gaseous stage is a bother but I've just reached this stage, I won't be surprised if I was to face the Earth Tribulation before entering the solid stage.'
The amazing sensation of having the fatigue of his mind slowly swept away by the potion gave Noah time to think about his future prospects.
'I might have a clearer picture of the heroic ranks after I become able to see the world behind the layer around the human ranks, I wonder if I should just wait for the breakthrough.'
Noah had made no progress in the creation of a cultivation technique.
It was true that its creation hadn't been his focus in the six months of seclusion before the war, Noah had used the Divine deduction technique only to improve his martial art and to reduce the number of mistakes in the forging of his new weapons.
Yet, it was also true that he didn't have many ideas about it, the cultivation technique from the Inheritance and the one that he found in the inventory of the sect gave him a general idea but he still didn't know how he could affect the "Breath" contained in the matter.
As for what concerned a body-nourishing method, Noah was even more lost.
Methods that improved the body were very different from each other, they didn't need just better "Breath" but also some specific application that would ultimately modify the nature of his body.
For example, Noah had the chance to choose between two rank 4 body-nourishing methods when he was in the academy: The Way of the phantom, which produced effects similar to his current Ethereal form spell, and the Yin body.
He had ultimately chosen the Yin body because he preferred to improve his survivability but the differences between those two methods were clear.
Even the two rank 4 methods that he found in the Inheritance and the one retrieved from the inventory followed that behavior, they used the "Breath" absorbed through the nourishing method to modify the body in specific and different ways, they weren't limited to a simple enlargement or improvement like with the other two centers of power.
Also, Noah didn't want to limit himself to create a method that just improved his body, he wanted something that gave him additional effects like his Yin body.
The additional effects were the sign of a top tier nourishing method after all, Noah wouldn't accept mediocrity when it came to his creations.
"Prince, I have the report of today's battle."
One of the solid stage cultivators in his group appeared at the entrance of the room where he was cultivating, Noah gestured him to speak without opening his eyes.
"We lost a total of forty rank 2 disciples while five of the captains are injured, some of them even heavily. I don't think we will be able to take over so many islands in only one week if we continue like this, even our mighty sect can't face so many organizations at the same time."
The solid stage cultivator spoke politely, there was even some insecurity when he gave voice to his doubts about the current battle plan.
Noah opened his eyes and decided to reveal some information to appease those doubts.
"Don't worry, the other underground organizations will join us from tomorrow onward."