It was impossible, or, at least, it should have been.
Noah walked toward the volcano with an unwavering gaze. He didn't have to explain anything, and there was no point in gloating in the surprise that his rank had caused.
The others could see his whole existence. Primary energy would form naturally around him, and his body absorbed it every time he breathed. He didn't hide it. He couldn't just suppress himself at that level.
The many emotions that ran through their expressions were all justified. Noah had barely crossed the eighty years' mark, but he had already stepped on a level that countless cultivators failed to reach.
Elder Austin didn't know how to react. It was as if his brain had frozen in shock when he sensed Noah's aura.
The Elder had been considered a genius back when he was a rank 4 cultivator. Reaching the fifth rank in one hundred years wasn't something that many existences could do. After all, some cultivators could spend centuries in the fourth rank as they immersed themselves in their individualities.
Yet, Noah had done that in a bit more than forty years. Heck, he had gone all the way from being a commoner to a feared existence in the time that it took the Elder to go from the fourth to the fifth rank.
Noah had already been called a monster, but there weren't words to describe his latest achievement.
The four cultivators that had greeted him didn't fail to notice his scales and the peculiar features of his hair. It was clear that something had happened to him, and that seemed connected with the sudden transformations.
However, here he was, still in his human form, with a rank 5 dantian and a flying sword that radiated a power similar to a rank 5 magical beast.
"He's one of them!" Thaddeus shouted in the midst of his disbelief.
Elder Austin shot an angry gaze at the Royal, but Cecil intervened before him. He placed a hand over his son's shoulder and shook his head. The meaning behind his gesture was clear: Thaddeus had to let it go. Whatever plan or scheme they had for the most famous criminal of the Utra nation, it was too late now.
The truth was that Noah's sight was disheartening for those cultivators. They didn't lack resources, and they had trained for most of their lives too. They were even improving their power steadily.
However, Noah's growth was unreal. One day he was just a rank 2 cultivator that had managed to escape the control of powerful organizations; the other his power was enough to affect the political affairs of countries that had lasted for millennia.
Noah didn't mind that Elder Austin didn't follow him as he went past the barrier around the volcano. Certain events were hard to digest and could break a cultivator's will. He needed to stay alone for some time, and Noah wouldn't complain about that.
A crowd of cultivators appeared in his view when he dived toward the underground of the volcano. Red rivers shone on his face, and a series of inscribed tents filled the few areas without magma. Cultivators were flying above them, behind a few ethereal screens that depicted the natives' cities.
They immediately noticed Noah's arrival, and the same disbelief that had struck the existences outside filled them too.
Noah couldn't possibly know it, but bets were going on among some of them. The stakes concerned his growth, which was a topic that those heroic entities were interested in discussing in their social circles.
Many of them believed that Noah would reach the fifth rank after the one hundred years' mark, and some of them even thought that he would hurt himself and remain stuck at the fourth rank since his growth was too insane.
Nevertheless, all of them lost their bets.
There was an apparent unwillingness in their expressions. Noah appeared simply unfair to them. However, pride soon appeared among some of them.
Only then did Noah notice that most cultivators in the encampment came from the Hive and the Papral nation. There were even ten rank 5 cultivators belonging to those factions.
Noah recognized Elder Justin and Elder Julia, but two more rank 5 cultivators were wearing the robes of the Hive next to them. They were the elders in charge of the Coral archipelago and the Lutren nation, and Noah only knew their names, but he couldn't assign them to a face.
'This must have been a way to balance the presence of the powerhouses from the other nations.' Noah thought.
Sending so many rank 5 cultivators was something that the Hive would never do under normal circumstances. After all, the four of them and Elder Austin made all the rank 5 assets of the Hive. That was what the other forces believed at least.
However, the Elbas family and the Shandal Empire had deployed their rank 6 existences. Even all those powerful troops could barely make up for their commitment.
Noah neared the elders since they appeared to be too amazed to move and performed a quick bow to greet them. That gesture made them return to reality, and the two strangers didn't hesitate to announce themselves.
"I'm Colleen, and I run the Archipelago. It's an honor to meet the Demon Prince." A woman with dark skin, long and crispy black hair, and unusual white eyes said.
"Ingrid. I handle the Lutren nation." Another woman with fair skin, short brown hair, and a pair of shining red eyes said.
Except for the two Demons, the rank 5 assets of the Hive were all there.
As they finished their presentation, Elder Austin entered the underground area and joined them. Noah could see how even Cecil and the others had returned, and his eyes crossed June's for a brief second before focusing again on the Elders.
Once Elder Austin managed to let go of his sour feelings, he was all smiles every time he looked at Noah. After all, the Hive had now eight rank 5 cultivators, which was something that he was incredibly proud of.
The others shared his happiness. It didn't happen so often that someone reached their ranks, but they couldn't find anyone more fitting than Noah. Also, he already had his dome in the new continent. The Hive had basically expected his breakthrough.
"What's the plan?" Noah asked at some point, "Do we just wait and see how the battle between the powerhouses unfolds?"
He didn't like that idea. As long as the natives remained free to act, there was a chance that the compound inside him could be triggered again, and he was quite sure that he couldn't pull another miracle off.
The forces of his world had to take control of the situation until they managed to reverse engineer the transformation and find ways to stop it.
"You would be surprised, Prince," Elder Julia said as she revealed a confident smile.
Elder Ingrid then finished her phrase. "We are going to war."