Chapter 502: 502. Dragon's claw

Those four years of seclusion had given Noah incredible gains.

First of all, his sea of consciousness had continued to enlarge, the fifth Kesier rune, the "Breath" inside it, and the relentless activation of the Divine deduction technique had pushed that center of power deeper inside the fourth rank.

His body had also improved, Noah had often eaten pieces of rank 4 magical beasts during his seclusion to placate his hunger and raise his rank, his body had almost reached the peak of the middle tier by then.

Yet, the biggest breakthroughs concerned his Elemental forging method and his martial art.

While his rank 3 cultivation technique autonomously raised the level of his dantian, Noah had focused on creating the cultivation technique that he would use once reached the fourth rank and the offensive martial art that he lacked since he had become a hybrid.

The Divine deduction technique and his expertise with the sabers made the task concerning the offensive martial art rather easy, it wasn't the first one that he created after all.

The only issue that he had had during the testing phase was that his "Breath" would be always depleted after only one execution of his forms, his liquid "Breath" simply couldn't fuel a martial art performed with his powerful body.

Things changed once he entered the solid stage though, Noah became able to test his forms more often, quickening the creation of his martial art.

In the end, he created only one simple form, the most common of the attacks of the sword wielders, a slash.

Of course, that form wasn't as simple as it looked.

Noah had taken inspiration from the Nails of the Kamaitachi and from the Three Forms of the Ashura to create his personal attack, something simple but that suited every situation.

The power of that slash could be found in his incredible physical strength and in the sharpness that the "Breath" consumed during its execution carried, Noah was obviously using the "Breath" that he refined inside his mind to activate it, just like with his Shadow sprint martial art.

The real power of that attack though could only be seen when its execution was coupled with a secret art.

Noah hadn't chosen that simple form casually, that slash was the result of countless tests performed while he activated his secret art.

The secret art that Noah had chosen forcibly quickened his metabolism, consuming the nourishments that his body contained to surpass its limits for a few seconds.

It was needless to say that such an increased physical strength had to be matched with a similar amount of "Breath" when performing a martial art, which forced Noah to create a simple form rather than an intricate one.

He knew that, once his expertise with his martial art increased, he would create new forms but he was happy to have at least that for the time being.

The creation of a rank 4 cultivation technique took longer instead.

During his last weeks of seclusion, Noah had to stop all his other training and experiments to focus on forging his first rank 4 item and to finally bring his expertise in the Elemental forging method in the heroic ranks.

Noah had to dig deep inside his dragon's instincts to thoroughly understand the hunger of the magical beasts and create a meaning that suited his needs.

What came out from the fusion between his ambition and the endless hunger of the beasts was an insatiable greed.

There was something that he had neglected as he forged though, he didn't remove the ring around his dantian even after he had reached the peak of the solid stage.

As it turned out, the suction force of his rank 3 cultivation technique was so strong that the solid "Breath" inside his dantian began to boil without the need for a reagent, suddenly causing the Heaven Tribulation.

Noah had been ending his forging at that moment, he had even resolved himself to stop the first lightning bolts with his body if the situation needed it.

Luckily for him, he had managed to finish his first rank 4 item before the first lightning bolt struck, allowing him to use his martial art to defend against it.

Noah had closed his eyes after the Tribulation ended, he immersed himself in the feeling of having all his centers of power in the heroic ranks as he checked that his rank 4 cultivation technique worked as intended.

"Breath" of the darkness element continuously entered his dantian through the opening where the black ring was, the whirlpool at its center made the "Breath" converge in the insides of his center of power, the process slightly enlarged his dantian as it continued.

His half-transparent figure floated in front of the opening, his will had been specifically made to prevent any leaks and to quickly imbue a meaning that Noah needed in the "Breath", Noah could even stop storing "Breath" inside his mental sphere now if he wanted.

'The Black hole cultivation technique is working perfectly, I've even solved the issue about the limited usages of the Shadow sprint martial art with it. All my centers of power don't have a slight trace of Heaven and Earth's will now.'

Noah thought as he opened his eyes and took a deep breath, the area around him darkened as he did that.

'I feel different.'

He felt lighter after all the traces of Heaven and Earth's will had left his body but he also felt that something deeper about him had changed completely.

'I am my own entity now."

Noah felt the need to roar at the sky after he thought that but he restrained himself from doing so since he felt three presences nearing him.

Noah turned only to see Elder Iris, Roy, and Bruce flying toward him, they were wearing concerned expressions as they analyzed his body.

"It will go back to normal in a few hours, this is just a temporary drawback."

Noah explained when he understood that they were worried about the state in which his body was after the usage of his secret art.

The truth was that he only needed to eat something for it to return to its peak, Noah didn't even consider it a drawback in his mind.

"This is good, I thought you had hurt yourself to improve your cultivation speed."

Roy spoke as he breathed a sigh of relief, he was really worried that he had suffered some injury.

"It seems that even the matter concerning your cultivation technique is set, I believe the Hive can stop providing you "Breath" blessings."

Elder Iris spoke as she moved her gaze on Noah's bloodied low-waist, she was curious about Noah's creation but she knew that every cultivator had its secrets, some matters simply couldn't be probed.

"What was that attack? Did you learn a rank 5 martial art? What is it called?"

Bruce asked, he had mistakenly taken Noah's attack for a rank 5 martial art.

Noah didn't correct him and thought for a few seconds about a name for his martial art before answering him.

"Dragon's claw."