Chapter 93 - 93. Wings
Noah was standing on the ground with his eyes closed.
His torso was naked and, on his back, two pairs of black wings were opened wide.
Then, black smoke engulfed the wings and they began to flap at an even rhythm.
Noah's body slowly rose in the air until it reached five meters of altitude.
Noah stayed in the air for a while before carefully alighting back on the ground.
He heaved a long breath while retracting the wings.
'This is as much as I can do for now, humans don't seem too fit for flight.'
In this period of time, he stopped his trip to continue testing his ability to fly.
However, even if he managed to rise in the air, his aerial control was lacking.
Humans were beings that walked on the ground, the sky wasn't their domain.
They didn't have the innate instincts of a flying beast so Noah could only put more training in that field to solve the issue.
'There is also the problem of the mental energy's consumption. Damn, if I hadn't lost more than one year of training stuck in the inner circle now things would be smoother.'
He shook his head and returned to his position on the tree branch.
Since he could not obtain back his wasted time he would just train more!
His mental energy had become his main focus since his strongest spell heavily depended on it.
Noah decided to resume his travel with an even harder training schedule.
His nights were completely devoted to the cultivation technique, while during the morning he pushed his limits on the second Kesier rune.
He would then sleep for a few hours and train his flight as he woke up.
He spent the rest of the time marching toward Shelfan Mountain.
More weeks passed.
Noah's escape had occurred almost two months ago by then as he arrived at the base of the mountain.
In this month and a half of strenuous training, all his centers of power except for the body had become stronger.
He exuded a cold and sharp aura which seemed denser in contrast to his previous state.
He chose to put his weapons inside the space-ring in order to prevent any resemblance with his former figure from being displayed.
His head was covered with a black hood as he gazed at the rocky slope of the mountain.
'On the other side, there is Ebonrest city. The peak of the mountain is classified as a danger zone but its path is inhabited by small villages that live of mining precious minerals. There should be even a public market along the way, maybe I should accumulate some money before arriving at the city.'
He stood still, reviewing the knowledge he accumulated when he set his escape routes.
He possessed a lot of weapons that he had no use of and since he never had to worry about buying anything, he had no idea about the prices of this world.
He began to climb the mountain.
As Noah moved along its path, many simple houses began to appear in the environment.
The inhabitants were mostly men with a skinny complexion, they seemed to be on the verge of starving to death as they carried heavy pickaxes on their shoulders.
Noah ignored them and they did the same with him, there wasn't much cordiality around that place.
He encountered many of these settlements as he continued to move forward and the situation of the residents was the same every time.
'I guess that they are exploited by the family managing the market, I don't sense any cultivator among them so they can only be used for manual labor. I believe that many of them won't survive for much longer.'
The society worked in the same way as the noble families: weak people were exploited to enrich the already powerful ones.
When he was nearing the market, he saw with his mental energy that some of the healthier men stared at him whispering between themselves.
'Considering my luck, this will lead to trouble.'
Of course, he was right.
As soon as he moved for a few kilometers away from the last village he passed through, a group of men with some rusty weapons blocked his path.
Noah recognized one of the villagers among the group and noticed a couple of cultivators between them.
However, he felt no sense of danger at all looking at them.
The man in the middle of the group was tall and wielded a big hammer with both his hands.
He stepped forward toward Noah and spoke with an intimidating voice.
"You, leave all the valuable items in your possession and we will let you live."
Noah sighed and shook his head, he put his hand inside his clothes and materialized one of the weapons of the Lansay family.
After taking it out, he raised it in the air in front of him to show it to the thieves.
"Hey, I've been meaning to ask, how much is this one worth?"
The men were a bit surprised by his young voice but then their eyes lit up seeing the good manufacture of the weapon.
"Haha! That's a good blade! What else do you have?"
'Are they stupid or simply blinded by their hunger?'
How could be possible that a young man traveled alone in this part of the mountain during this period of time?
'I thought that they would have understood something from my voice at least.'
He shook his head again.
"Listen, I need a guide for the market. I can promise some rewards if you do a good job so why don't you drop this act? With your meager strength, you could at best defeat a rank 2 magical beast."
The men's eyes widened again hearing his words.
Laughter began to spread in the group but the cultivators exchanged a concerned stare between each other.
Noah had evaluated their battle prowess quite accurately and that put the cultivators on guard of the young man.
They stared at Noah in silence trying to decide their course of action.
Noah, however, was already at the limits of his patience.
If it was a normal situation, he wouldn't have hesitated to teach these weaklings a memorable lesson but he was doing his best to avoid creating any trace of his passage.
He focused and a pressure began to radiate from his figure which silenced the thieves who raised their weapons in fear.