Chapter 1123: 1123. Alone

Noah didn't feel any pressure when he crossed the edges of the strange sphere. Still, the world in front of him changed drastically once his eyes became used to the new environment.

The yellow radiance disappeared, and his consciousness could expand freely. Noah found himself in a dark environment that had countless small white dots in the distance.

Noah couldn't fail to recognize that scenery. That image had been in his mind since his attitude test in the Royal Academy. What had appeared in front of him was the starry sky that he had dreamt through his cultivation journey!

Panic built inside Noah's mind as he understood where he was. The darkness around him didn't have any matter, and the stars were clear in his vision. He was inside the void without any protection!

Noah quickly suppressed his consciousness and covered his figure in a layer of dark matter, but he soon saw that the void there didn't behave as he expected.

His mental waves didn't disperse when they were outside of his sea of consciousness. They flew freely and undisturbed. They even appeared smoother in their motion.

The same went for his body. Noah was flying in the complete emptiness, so he didn't have the slightest obstruction. There wasn't matter to slow him down.

'There is no "Breath",' Noah thought after he dispersed his protections.

The environment was barren. The absence of matter made it devoid of anything that Noah could absorb to refill his centers of power.

'The void is the absence of laws,' Noah concluded. Luckily for him, the void in that separate reality didn't affect his mind, so he could study it in complete safety.

Noah had seen the void many times in his life. His attacks always opened large cracks in the world's fabric, so that blackness wasn't an unusual sight.

Having the chance to study it without facing its dangers was an irreplaceable experience. Still, he soon understood that the void wasn't special without its threatening capabilities.

Being in the absence of laws made his movements and mental waves smoother. Noah felt that he could fly faster than ever there. His attacks were also stronger than usual since they faced no suppression from the environment.

Yet, there was nothing else to see. The void was only an empty space that didn't interact with anything.

'I should save my darkness,' Noah thought as he inspected his surroundings. The lack of "Breath" prevented him from cultivating, so he couldn't refill his dantian even if he wanted to.

Noah was alone in the area. His consciousness spread to its limits, but he couldn't find any of his companions.

That felt strange since the group had entered from the same spot, but the Royals' tracking inscriptions began to make some sense now. King Elbas must have known that they would have ended up in different areas of the void.

Noah wasn't the type to remain still and see if something changed around him. He was an explorer, and the stars shining in the distance gave him a destination.

He began to fly at moderate speed, kicking platforms of "Breath" to push himself forward. That method allowed him to spare some darkness while giving him enough acceleration.

The void appeared infinite. Noah spent days flying toward the stars without seeing any change around him. His consciousness remained unfolded, but he didn't sense anything either.

The stars didn't become closer as he flew forward. Even as months passed, the scenery in front of him remained the same.

It was hard to keep track of the passage of time in that environment. The same went for the distance that Noah had covered. He could only rely on the spinning of his dark star to calculate them but knowing the numbers didn't help his current situation.

Noah never stopped. He didn't know how to exit that separate reality, but he guessed that he only had to fly in the opposite direction.

He didn't test that before because he didn't know how that environment worked. It would have been a problem if he teleported in a random spot of the yellow sea when he exited.

No planet appeared in his range. Noah had initially guessed that the separate reality would imitate the universe's structure, but it seemed empty.

The months became years. Noah felt slightly annoyed that he couldn't cultivate for so long, but his mind's growth appeased that feeling.

Noah didn't need to use his spherical rune anymore because the Seventh Kesier rune was far better than any training method. Yet, he had recreated it in that environment.

It only took a bit of dark matter and some darkness to rebuild the rune. Noah had gladly sacrificed a small part of his precious energy to continue his training.

Even if Noah had yet to find his companions, his journey wasn't lonely. Night spoke a lot during the flight, and it often made appreciations to that dark environment.

The Pterodactyl didn't call it perfect due to the absence of the laws, but it liked how there was no light whatsoever.

Of course, it complained that Noah was flying toward the only trace of light, but it didn't do anything reckless to stop him from reaching his destination.

Something finally happened in his third year of continuous flight. His consciousness came in contact with two different kinds of mental waves, and he quickly changed direction to meet the existences behind them.

"It's you," First Prince said through his consciousness. He stood next to First Princess, and the two Royals stared at Noah while revealing a tinge of disappointment.

Noah neared them without any fear. He didn't like to work with the Elbas family either, but the two Royals could lead him toward the only expert that knew something about that place.

Moreover, he had already fought against First Prince during his attack on the Royal Academy. He didn't fear him even when he had worked together with his sister and defensive formations. He barely felt any danger now that he met him there after centuries of training.

"Where is your Father?" Noah asked in a plain tone, and the Royals' eyes sharpened when he addressed them and their leader in that way.

Yet, they were in the same situation, and they didn't want to face Noah if necessary. The sensations caused by his ambition were still vivid in their minds. It was only normal for the Royals to respect him now.

"He should have gone toward the stars," First Princess replied as she showed the red marks on her hands.

The marks had turned into arrows that pointed toward the stars, and the red lines on First Prince's hands had gained the same shape.

"Let's go then," Noah said as he began to fly in that direction. The Royals didn't like that he had immediately acted as if he was their leader, but they didn't object and followed him.

The trio resumed their flight, and Noah noticed that the two Royals had a more advanced method to save "Breath" in that environment. They had small runes under their feet that emitted soft shockwaves that pushed them forward.

"What do you know about this place?" Noah asked after a few weeks spent in complete silence, but the two Royals could only shake their heads at that question.

"This is a test for us too," First Princess replied.

"We can't rely on our Father's might," First Prince said as a bit of arrogance leaked out of his figure. "Everything would be too easy otherwise."

Noah didn't refute that statement. A strong backing was an incredible advantage in the cultivation journey, and the Elbas family had the most powerful one right now.

Once a few months passed, the three unfolded consciousnesses saw another change in the area around them. They didn't find another companion, but their minds sensed something peculiar nonetheless.

The trio's minds found a small white light hovering in the darkness. They didn't notice it initially because it was hard to keep track of the distance there. Still, they immediately understood what it was when their mental waves touched it.

The three experts felt a tempting sensation invading their minds. Their very existence saw that small light as the best nourishment for their individuality.

The group had found their first raw law!