Noah had learnt how he had to advance through the divine ranks. Rank 7 cultivators needed to expand their individualities and made them able to affect the laws around them. Their existences had to become complete worlds that could interact with the higher plane.
That belief came from the sum of his clues and understanding. Earth and his experiences in the inscription hall had taught him what a cultivator had to strive for in the divine ranks, but his knowledge about the matter was still vague.
Different ranks usually represented different stages in the cultivation journey. Noah knew that he would be a world at the peak of the divine ranks, but he wasn't aware of the various steps he had to follow to reach that destination.
He could only guess them for the time being. Still, the first step appeared quite obvious now. His individuality had to learn how to take control of the laws around him.
It was the same effect of the dark world, but Noah had to obtain it with the sole force of his existence. His instincts told him that he would reach the eighth rank only when his individuality managed to create a personal domain right in the middle of those divine lands.
His guess seemed to work while he cultivated inside an improvised cave in the mountain chain around Vagona city. Noah sensed the arrival of bottlenecks from time to time, but he could overcome them by training on influencing the world with his individuality.
The cave and the rocky terrain around him had transformed after he spent a few years immersed in his cultivation. Thick black lines ran on the azure surfaces of his habitation, and part of the mountain around him had also turned black after his extensive training sessions.
Noah was growing at an incredible pace, and he was vaguely aware of that. The matter affected by his individuality would still return to its original state after some time, but he was slowly learning how to make those changes eternal.
The reason behind his success in his cultivation came from his experience in that process. The dark world had already shown how to handle a personal domain, and the pride inherited from the magical beasts' world allowed him to affect the laws more easily.
His hybrid status was helping his cultivation, and the same went for his fourth center of power. Features that would generally affect different aspects of his power improved his situation in ways that other cultivators could only envy.
Noah felt that the divine ranks were pushing his existence to reach a complete state that didn't see any difference among his centers of power. He guessed that growing as a god would make him more similar to his Demonic Sword since the blade had four centers of power fused into a simple form.
'It's time,' Noah thought once he felt that his existence had reached a superior level of completeness.
Spending unending years in seclusions had never been his main approach to the cultivation journey. Noah wanted adventures, so he didn't hesitate to take out his pendant once he felt that his power had risen to a decent level.
Snore, the Demonic Sword, and Night came out of his chest and waited for him to wear the robe. They would attack the item if something went wrong and limit the damages.
Noah activated the Divine Deduction technique, and the black hole in his chest spun faster to empower the resilience of his mind. He needed the best out of his mental capabilities to succeed in his task.
The pendant radiated a dark light that became more intense when Noah touched it. A long strand of a black cloth came out of the storage item, and a powerful aura spread in the environment when it landed on the ground.
That cloth didn't have the form of a robe. It was nothing more than a polished strand of a soft material. Still, Thea had told Noah how to activate its properties, so the item's shape didn't surprise him.
Noah undressed and took a deep breath before touching the cloth. The item began to move at that point, and an intense ambition came out of it to fuse with Noah's existence.
A violent surge of energy invaded Noah's mind once the two ambitions met. He felt as if a foreign existence wanted to take control of his thoughts and rule his actions.
Something similar happened to his other centers of power. His black hole slowed down its rotation, his dantian started to leak darkness, and his body felt clunky to move.
The cloth saw its ambition as the core of Noah's existence, and his individuality seemed to agree with that. Noah felt the ownership of his power slowly move toward the item as he remained in contact with it.
Snore and the Demonic Sword gave voice to hisses and roars when they saw Noah in that condition, but he refused their help through his mind.
Noah felt that he could tame that item. He was stronger than ever. The events with Fergie's group had benefited his body, and his dantian had grown well in the last years. He was far past the bottom of the gaseous stage.
His ambition surged while the cloth tried to take control of every aspect of his existence. Pride, aggression, greed, sharpness, destruction, creation, and everything fueled by his individuality came out of his figure and interacted with the item's aura.
The Demonic Sword resonated with Noah's individuality. The weapon roared as it unfolded its aura and helped his existence fend back the power of the cloth.
Noah felt through the influence that reached his mind that he was still far away from that level of power. However, he was against a piece of cloth that carried an echo of his existence. He had an immense advantage in that battle.
The cloth's aura slowly submitted to Noah's existence after the Demonic Sword helped in the battle. The fabric began to wrap itself around his arm and continued until it covered most of his body.
Once the process ended, Noah felt naked. He was wearing a black robe, but he didn't sense its weight. He couldn't even tell where the aura from before had gone.
'A true piece of art,' Noah thought.
That superficial feature had already proven that an expert had created that robe. Noah could sense that his new clothes' black fabric was as sturdy as his skin even if it wasn't its main quality, but he didn't feel the weight of its power.
'Let's try to activate its effects,' Noah thought as he poured darkness inside the robe.
The consumption of "Breath" of an item in the middle tier was incredible, so Noah had to use a lot of his darkness to see the effects of his new clothes. The robe morphed as energy flowed through its fabric. Strands of cloth came out of it to cover every exposed piece of skin.
The robe didn't even spare Noah's fingers. Only a small part of his face remained uncovered, but the hood and scarf that had appeared after that process ended could keep Noah anonymous anyway.
Noah quickly controlled the robe to free his fingers of its cloth, and the fabric followed his orders. A rank 7 inscribed item in the middle tier was following his directives. He had succeeded in subduing something more powerful than him!