Pursuit Of Power

Noah walked into the Mercenary Hall with a slightly labored breath. He didn't dare stay in the wild much longer so he had left after a brief moment of rest. This meant that his injuries hadn't healed enough to leisurely walk around.

Rey, although a receptionist, possessed some certain battle knowledge. It was obvious to him that Noah had just gone through a gruesome battle. In the end, he sighed. 'Of course, he's still slightly weak. There's no way he could have won against a Fiend with the strength of a Level 8 Novice Stage Battlesoul master.' That thought helped him gain some self-confidence and reduced the large image of Noah in his heart.

Yet it was all shattered as Noah brought out a large 3 meter humanoid corpse from his World ring and placed it on the floor.

Rey's mind blanked out at the fact that Noah had actually taken down a Fiend and, more importantly, the fact that he had a World ring large enough to fit the body inside! Those kinds of things cost at least a million essence coins! Rey was a practical guy, he had given up on the life of battles to settle for an office. He cared more about money than anything else, battling be damned. The thought of Noah's mysterious background made the image in his heart grow wildly again.

He immediately put on his most flattering smile and walked over to Noah. "Mr. Ron, I knew that such trash could never hinder you. What would you like me to do for you?"

Noah merely rolled his eyes, he knew how people like Rey worked so he didn't put that obvious boot-licking into his mind and spoke out. "Exchange this for the mission prize and get me those items I asked you to safeguard for me."

"Yes sir!" Rey immediately got to work. His assistants arrived to pack up the Fiend's corpse. All of them stared at Noah with pangs of shock, fear and awe pounding into their hearts.

"Hmm, Rey." Noah suddenly thought of something and called out to the receptionist.

"Yes sir." The fawning bootlicker immediately turned around with stars literally sparkling in his eyes, he wanted nothing more than for the man before him to recognize so he could live a nice life after all this. Of course this was only if Noah was indeed a part of a very high ranked Noble Clan.

Of course this was not true, even more ironic is that Noah had almost been killed by the actions of a Noble Clan. If Rey knew this, one could only tell how scrunched up his face would become. But luckily, for now, he did not.

"Get me a protection type matrix, one that focuses on blocking out the senses of others."

Rey was very quick. He was already back within half an hour to hand a cheap World ring to Noah. It contained the resources he had bought and his prize money.

Seeing the contents within the ring, Noah smiled in satisfaction. With this, he could advance to Level 7 of the Novice Stage within 2 to 3 days. He immediately turned around and left the Hall and headed to his apartment.

Noah, once inside, sighed in relief, massaging his sore muscles as he took off his bloodied clothing while heading for the bathroom to take a shower. He made sure to take a long nap before bringing out the items given to him.

The Chaotic Essence Gathering Array was essentially a mat for one to sit on and you could activate its default mode which would gather essence from the surrounding at a faster speed than normal Battlesoul masters. Or you could place in Essence cores in which it would also gather essence at a faster speed.

And the Chaotic Essence Elixir was a greenish liquid within a clear crystal bottle. Noah's Silver Dragon Eyes allowed him to observe multiple essence patterns flowing within the liquid.

Noah wasted no further time. He brought out a hundred Essence cores and placed them around the mat in a certain pattern. After this, he brought out the Interference Array and placed it according to the information given to him.

Seeing all was set, he delayed no longer. He used his essence to activate the Array while he downed the elixir. Immediately, he felt his insides turning as a strong flame attempted to burn him from the inside out, but Noah had predicted this, he simply drove the Blood essence within his body to resist the wild nature strengthening his Essence core.

After a while, seeing the situation had stabilized, he executed the entry level cultivation technique given by the Mercenary Association. With this, his twin Battlesouls flashed into existence as they greedily sucked on the Essence flowing into them. As he did this, Noah also got into stance as he circulated his Blood essence in accordance to the Azure Dragon Art. Although this could prove fatal as if he exerted too much force it would hurt his bones and muscles the same as when he fought, he did it anyway to exercise his control on the Martial art. Letting it flow strong enough to rebuild and strengthen his body but keeping it weak enough to not completely break it down. He felt as his Essence poured out to refine his innards gradually furthering the creation of his Essence Veins, this drained his Essence core but the elixir and Array helped to recover the lost Essence before he resumed the creation of his Essence Veins and so the cycle continued.

So while most people only trained their souls and essence, he trained his body, soul and essence, making him a cross between the Fiends and humans on Maest. But that didn't bother him as he was never from here in the first place. Plus he couldn't be like Fiends who recklessly fused with their Elemental affinity. He had actually thought of that, but his strength was way too low for such and he possessed no intricate and in-depth knowledge about their cultivation path.

So for the three days, Noah moved into multiple stances while creating his Essence Veins. Until finally, he had advanced to the 7th level of the Novice Stage! The creation of his Essence had now reached 70%!

Feeling his increased strength, he smiled in satisfaction relieving the ecstasy he felt in his past whenever he got stronger. Yes! This was what he sought! He sought to seek this sort of feeling. The ever growing feeling of strength was what he sought! Only strength could determine his own future and allow him to remain free from manipulation by others!

This thought ran through his mind as a deep pain was hidden within his eyes.