Chapter 1407 1407. Halls
The victory in the first hall of the underground hall made Noah confident in his battle prowess. He had managed to defeat more than fifty peak middle tier opponents without taking any break.
That feat put him among the best liquid stage cultivators in terms of battle prowess. The golems didn"t reflect the power of actual magical beasts at that level, and Noah had even invented specific techniques for that trial, but his strength was undeniable.
The trial didn"t offer Noah much time to rest. The one-week rule was effective even after he cleared the first hall, so he had to focus on bringing his centers of power back to their peak during those days.
Noah wanted to study the dark-blue metal, review his previous battle, and improve his abilities to make them even more perfect for the trial. Yet, the one-week restriction forced him to disregard everything to focus on his centers of power.
Most cultivators would struggle to recover after such a battle, and the same went for some hybrids, even if their resilience surpa.s.sed what simple humans were capable of doing. Still, Noah had the black hole, so his condition returned to its peak even before his time ran out.
His fourth center of power also sensed Noah"s need to recover quickly, so it redirected its energy to improve that process. Noah was ready for the next hall in six days.
Noah didn"t waste time. He left for the next hall as soon as he recovered. A new path had appeared on the walls, and his consciousness sensed multiple presences when he entered it.
The golems in the second hall activated when Noah stepped inside the new tunnel. Their number was almost the same as the previous phase. There were only two more of them there.
Noah didn"t have to think nor plan anything. He knew what he had to do, and he had also acc.u.mulated experience in that type of battle.
Golems moved in his direction as soon as he left the tunnel, and Noah didn"t hesitate to activate his abilities. Snore, Night, the Demonic Sword, and the octopus filled his dark world that expanded to cover most of the battlefield.
The second battle went even better than the first one. Noah had polished some aspects of his battle style after the experience gained in the previous hall, and he had learnt more about the golems.
He could exploit their structural weaknesses better and destroy more of them in a shorter time. He even resorted to maim a large group to lower their dangerousness and have an easier way through the battle.
The second part of the trial went smoothly. The walls soon darkened, and "Breath" seeped out of their fabric to allow his recovery. Noah didn"t even wait for that energy to fill the hall and sat on the ground to rest.
In a bit more than six days, Noah was ready to fight, and he shot toward the tunnel that had opened after his victory to face the third hall. An army of golems filled his view again, but their numbers didn"t worry him.
It seemed that the trial wanted to test his mental resilience other than his overall battle prowess. Noah didn"t have the time to think about Supreme Thief"s intentions during the challenge, but he began to guess that the expert didn"t intend to make the "strength" tower only about physical power.
The tower wanted to force any contestant to stop relying on their "Breath" and mental energy. It was a subtle difference that many ignored, but it marked the difference between Noah"s success and failure.
If the Supreme Thief wanted to limit that tower to the physical strength, Noah wouldn"t be able to use his dark matter. The fact that almost every expert was unaware of the existence of the higher energy wouldn"t stop a rank 9 expert from preventing its usage.
Instead, Noah had managed to exploit physical techniques that relied on his dark matter throughout the entire second layer. The dark vessels were part of his body, but that didn"t change the fact that they fed on his higher energy.
The third hall went even better than the previous ones. Even if Noah didn"t have enough time to review his battle, his prowess against the golems naturally improved.
His attack became more precise and began to consume less energy. His new techniques also grew in might as he kept using them against those enemies.
The same went for his companions. Night had an innate insight that allowed it to find weak spots in its opponents, but Snore and the octopus had to learn from the battles to hone their skills. Still, the process went smoothly, and they soon brought their efficiency to its peak.
An almost identical challenge followed the third hall, and that trend continued even for the fifth and sixth battles. Noah had spent weeks inside that trial already, but he didn"t appear able to find its end.
No thoughts filled his mind. Noah barely had the time to recover, so he couldn"t waste any second in pointless reasonings. He could only accept that he would review everything once the trial was over.
When Noah approached the seventh hall, he soon discovered that something was off. He had become so used to the golems" presence that he could immediately understand that the next room featured different opponents.
His worry mounted as he approached the exit of the tunnel, but his expression became determined when he saw that the seventh hall featured a single opponent. It was a bigger version of the golems, and its size reflected its superior power.
"Is it in the upper tier?" Noah wondered as he studied the golem.
The creature didn"t activate while he was inside the tunnel, so Noah had enough time to study the new challenge. The seventh hall was taller than the others to accommodate the bigger golem, but its other features were identical to the previous ones.
The golem didn"t seem to be completely in the upper tier. It appeared to rest among the two levels of power, and its body carried features that belonged to both of them.
Part of its rocky skin was identical to the other golems, but a few chunks carried crystal-like characteristics that hinted to a superior level. The same seemed to apply to its insides, and that gave Noah hope to win the challenge.
Noah had already tested his power against a body in the upper tier. Jordan had barely bled when his fingers stabbed her palm, so he knew that his power wouldn"t allow him to fight opponents at that level.
Yet, the big golem"s uneven body would allow Noah to focus the weaker parts and inflict enough damage anyway. The fight was everything but hopeless. There was even the change that it would be easier than the previous ones.
When fighting against multiple enemies, Noah had to save his strength and limit his attacks" power. However, a single opponent would allow him to go all-out and unleash the entirety of his energy on it.
"I"ve come this far," Noah thought as he stepped out of the tunnel. "No point in going back now."
When Noah touched the pale-azure ground, the golem activated, and screeching noises filled the hall as it moved toward him. The creature then stopped and half-crouched to pull its fist back.