Noah's consciousness expanded. His mental waves resembled a raging tide that covered the world and radiated his aura.
His body found it hard to contain such power, but dark matter soon came out of his black hole and surrounded his mental sphere to increase its stability. Even Noah's amazing body couldn't fully withstand the weight of a center of power in the seventh rank.
Noah lost himself in the sensations that ran through his mental waves. He could see everything in the world, and he could uncover secrets just by focusing on specific areas.
His vision changed. Laws replaced the matter and allowed him to see the true nature of the world.
A piece of the sky far away from his home had a strange structure. The laws in its fabric were too well-ordered to be a natural structure. Noah only needed to focus on that spot to see that the opening to a separate dimension occupied that area.
'That must be the Elbas family's hideout,' Noah thought before moving his attention elsewhere.
Noah's mental waves could pierce the thick seabed and study the red sea below, but they couldn't go deeper than that. The magma radiated a peculiar aura that managed to stop Noah's mind after it explored its depths.
His mind swept the various living beings that had appeared during his seclusion. Some creatures in the human ranks even died due to his lack of control.
The death of those beasts made Noah understand how strong he had become, and he didn't hesitate to test the power a bit more. A rank 6 Eternal Snake appeared in his vision, and he focused his mental waves on the creature to see how deeply he could hurt it.
The Eternal Snake didn't understand what was happening. Its instincts had begun to scream as pressure fell on him. Its dark-green scales broke as Noah's mental waves applied his aura on its body.
His thoughts could become weapons capable of hurting even creatures near the peak of the heroic ranks. Noah could affect the world just by willing it.
Noah did not doubt that he could kill the creature, but he let it go after he felt that he had gained enough control of his new power. His mental waves slowly retracted, but the aura that they radiated continued to spread his individuality.
Lumps of darkness appeared in the fabric of the world due to the ambition carried by his consciousness. Black lines formed in the sky, sea, and ground as his mental waves studied those areas.
Wielding so much power made Noah ecstatic, but he soon grew bored of the world around him. The various laws in the matter made the environment appear entirely different from before, but it was quite dull in his eyes.
Those laws didn't contain any special power. They were simple rules that the matter had to follow to make the world function properly. Once Noah understood them, he lost any interest in that aspect of the lower plane.
His mind was now on the same level as the laws of the world. Noah couldn't feel interested in things that he could bend to his will with simple thoughts.
Only one place managed to stir his interest. The quasi-rank 7 Eternal Snake had changed the world's layout, but that region had survived the many catastrophic events and had resurfaced after the ice left.
Noah moved his attention to the lava lake. That region was mostly underwater, but part of its scorching waters had created a red spot in the middle of the sea.
His mental waves dived deep inside its lava until they reached the origin of that scorching temperature. Noah could see how a giant skull at the bottom of the lake radiated an aura capable of altering the laws around it.
Noah inspected the skull for a while. It had a reptilian shape, but most of its features had disappeared after its power had dispersed in the environment.
He couldn't understand the species of that creature from its skull alone. He guessed that it belonged to a crocodile-type magical beast, but that was all.
The scorching sensation radiated by the skull managed to hurt his consciousness. His mental waves were too ethereal to survive in that place, but Noah could produce more of them to continue his inspection of the area.
'I can take it if I can't reach the seventh rank with my current resources,' Noah thought as his mental waves left the lava lake. 'I will eat it after the breakthrough otherwise.'
Noah didn't immediately resume his training. His new sea of consciousness had given him countless ideas on how to improve his power, but he wanted to wait until all his centers of power reached the seventh rank before approaching those projects.
There were also features about his new level that he had yet to grasp fully, but Noah wanted to elevate his whole existence before testing his limits.
Still, he needed to test something else before resuming his training. The Seventh Kesier rune had become useless after his breakthrough, but Noah didn't want to stop enlarging his mind.
Noah initially began to create improved versions of his spherical rune, but there was a limit to how much he could enhance that method before the breakthroughs of his other centers of power.
Since he couldn't aim for quality, Noah began to stuff his mind with as many spherical runes as possible. Yet, that only led him toward an annoying conclusion.
It didn't matter what he did. Noah couldn't apply pressure on his mind anymore. All his puppets and runes couldn't even begin to make his mental walls budge.
That was the main reason why divine existences didn't remain in the lower planes. Noah believed that he could create a training method for his mind before his ascension, but he had the higher energy. Most experts would find it hard to invent a technique without having access to materials in the divine ranks.
The lower planes had their limits. Noah even guessed that they couldn't withstand the presence of cultivators that were beyond the bottom of the seventh rank.
The invasion of the Eternal Snakes had proven how frail the Mortal Lands were. Noah didn't know the divine leaders' level, but he believed that he could become a threat to the world around him if he didn't ascend.
'Not that I aim to remain here any longer,' Noah thought as he retracted his consciousness. 'I will delay my ascension only to take care of the loose ends here. I also need to prepare for the Immortal Lands, but I won't hesitate to leave once I complete everything.'
Noah could barely contain his excitement at the thought of entering a superior and unknown world. He would finally experience emotions that he had forgotten after living at the peak of the lower plane for so long.
Moreover, he couldn't wait to face all the dangers that the higher plane contained. His power would increase by leaps and bounds once he found hindrances again.
'The next one should be my body,' Noah thought as he commanded his puppets to gather more ice. 'It's quite fitting for the Heaven Tribulation to be the last.'