Noah reached the desert while his mind was still busy analyzing his future prospects.
There was a lot that he didn't know about the higher levels inside the heroic ranks, but there was also a limit to how much he could discover due to his current power.
Most of his thoughts originated from the feelings that his new body gave him.
The secrets behind the higher ranks were hidden inside that center of power, so he could only learn by studying it.
After all, magical beasts reached higher forms of existence only by improving their bodies, and Noah had just done it.
That made him believe that he could learn something about the path ahead of his other centers of power if he understood more about his new level.
Noah focused once the yellow sand appeared in his view, and he could immediately notice how that environment had changed since the winged beasts' crisis hit the new continent.
Cracks had spread through the surface of the desert, forming deep fissures that revealed the azure underground world of the piece of Immortal Lands.
The bright color of the sand mixed with those azure halos created an eerie and silent view.
Noah's body autonomously picked up clues from the environment and sent them to his mind.
Those clues gave Noah a quite detailed knowledge about the status of the sandworms that inhabited that area.
'They have noticed me.'
Noah thought as he descended toward the surface.
He could smell the fear radiated by the weaker sandworms, but it seemed that his presence alone wasn't enough to trigger a reaction in the rank 5 specimen.
Noah's eyes sharpened when he saw that his sparring partner was late, and he released a wave of white flames in a straight line on the ground under him.
His flames broke the surface of the desert and seeped into the underground lair where those creatures were hiding.
Cries of pain resounded in the area, but Noah roared to restore the silence and to convey a straightforward message.
"Come out!"
The rank 4 sandworms in the area couldn't possibly understand that Noah's challenge was aimed at the ruler of the desert and began to resurface.
Noah watched as dozens rank 4 beasts appeared in his view, and he couldn't help but feel some disdain.
Those creatures had followed his orders so quickly even if they already had a leader, it seemed that they were nothing more than bags of meat for the ruler of the desert.
'I wonder if you will come out if I start to deplete your stash of food.'
Noah didn't hesitate when he had those thoughts, he directly shot toward the nearest sandworm and ripped its body in half with his bare hands.
A rank 4 Giant sandworm could reach a length of forty meters, but Noah divided its vast body in two with a simple gesture.
The other sandworms trebled when they saw that scene, but they didn't dare to move, they were too scared that any sudden action might provoke the powerful creature that had descended on the desert.
The raw meat of the creature didn't appease his hunger, and he could barely feel any increase in his power when his body absorbed the "Breath" contained in that specimen.
'I wonder how the Albino snake could be satisfied with such weak creatures. Maybe, I've never truly learnt to settle for the "Breath" in the environment.'
Noah's mind began to wander, but his thoughts were soon interrupted by the arrival in the area of a creature that he knew was stronger than him.
The ground trembled as an immense dune rose in the air and reached a height of two hundred meters.
Rivers of sand fell from the dune, and the shape of a rank 5 Giant sandworm was soon revealed to his eyes.
The creature was as big as he remembered, but he could see that grave injuries and white scars had appeared on its colossal body since their last encounter.
'So, it was still recovering from the attack of the winged beasts. Maybe it was hibernating to hasten the process, but a direct threat to its stash of food has forced it to awaken.'
Noah quickly understood the situation, but he couldn't dawdle too much in that situation since the rank 5 sandworm directly pounced at him.
The rank 4 beasts retreated when they saw their leader shooting toward the small human, they didn't have any confidence in surviving if they remained next to the battle between two rank 5 beings.
The body of the sandworm filled Noah's vision, but he didn't retreat, he simply activated his secret art and waited.
The secret art that made Noah's skin cave in and consumed his muscles when he still had a rank 4 body didn't affect his appearance at all at that moment.
His body was filled with so many nutrients that even the activation of a secret art couldn't affect the state of his muscles.
Then, when the large mouth of the sandworm was upon him, Noah delivered a punch.
'I can't win.'
Noah was immediately able to understand that when his knuckles touched the smooth skin of the beast.
The sandworm was simply too strong, while Noah was only a newly advanced rank 5 hybrid.
His potential was far superior, but even the usage of his secret art couldn't make him match the power of a rank 5 beast in the upper tier.
The fact that the sandworm was injured couldn't influence that fact.
Cracking sounds resounded from his arm, and he felt that the rest of his body would crumble if he didn't do something in the next quarter of instant.
Noah quickly kicked the air between him and the sandworm to perform the Shadow sprint martial art.
He had yet to tune his martial arts to his new strength, but they were his creations, he could somewhat understand the amount of "Breath" needed to balance his new power.
A loud shockwave resounded in the area, and Noah lost control of his body for a few seconds as his figure shot backward.
His body dug a long trail on the terrain as the propulsion of his martial art brought him away from the desert and back to the rocky wasteland.
Noah sensed that a large part of the "Breath" inside his dantian had been depleted to perform that sprint, but the sense of satisfaction that he felt made him completely neglect that thought for the moment.
A clash with a rank 5 creature in the upper tier had barely injured his right arm, and he had even been fast enough to escape at the last instant!
He could now clash against beings that even rank 4 cultivators in the solid stage would avoid!
Noah sat cross-legged when he managed to stop his body and completely disregarded the heat radiated by the walls of the deep trail that he had created.
He wanted to feel his power, he wanted to test his limits, and he wanted to apply what he learnt to his other centers of power.
However, he suddenly felt that three powerful presences were staring at him.