Chapter 1399: 1399. Like

Clamors resounded in the distance after the Steeled Boar died, and some of the hybrids roared at the fake sky to join Noah's cry. They wanted to celebrate his victory and announce to the world that he had succeeded in a feat that everyone thought to be impossible.

Noah's pride reacted to those roars. He felt instincts buried deep inside him awakening and resurfacing over his mental sea when he heard those hybrids acclaiming him in a language that humans couldn't understand.

His species had surpassed the hybrids, but the instincts that came from the magical beasts' world were still inside him. Noah could create a pack if he wanted. Part of his audience already considered him as a leader worth following.

Still, his greed soon overcame that feeling. He had completed one of the hardest trials in the second layer, and he couldn't wait to see what reward Supreme Thief had prepared for him.

Nothing happened even after a few seconds passed. Noah didn't know what he had to look for, but it seemed that the Steeled Boar didn't carry the answer.

Noah then stored the creature's corpse and flew toward the Boar's lair since it was the only place that could contain the reward for the challenge.

As the magical plants entered his vision, Noah could immediately sense that something in the area had changed. The magical plants were quickly wilting, and their energy flowed toward the center of that livable land.

When the magical plants died, a surge of energy spread in the environment. Noah walked toward the source of that phenomenon and found a strange fruit laid between wilted trunks and fallen leaves.

The fruit was small, no bigger than a man's fist. It was dark-green, and a series of soft spikes covered its surface. Still, its most striking feature was the massive amount of energy radiated by its figure.

"I must warn you," A male voice resounded behind Noah as he was about to pick the fruit. "That's an Uwan, the fruit of the death. It contains enough energy to repopulate an entire forest, but a powerful poison fills its insides. That's the innate defensive ability of that species of magical plants."

Noah's senses didn't feel any danger, so he picked the fruit before turning toward the hybrid. He saw a tall hairy man with short black hair and yellow eyes politely staring at him outside the dead forest.

"You are?" Noah asked as his gaze returned to the strange fruit.

"Don," The man replied. "You must be a new talent of the Legion. This is my first time seeing you here."

Don wasn't one of the weak hybrids that had followed Noah throughout the second layer. His cultivation level neared the last part of the liquid stage, and his body was also about to enter the range of the middle tier's peak.

He was an expert of the second layer, one of the few hybrids who could approach the most challenging trials and have a chance to win.

"I'm not part of the Legion," Noah replied honestly. "Why did you warn me? Do you want this fruit?"

Don felt surprised to hear that Noah had entered the inheritance without joining the Legion. His eyes flickered, but he tried to maintain a calm appearance in front of Noah.

The hybrid had sensed that something had changed after Noah had spoken to him. Noah wasn't treating him as a friendly bystander. He had started to view him as a potential threat.

Noah's actions had no malice. His reaction was the result of years spent as a lone cultivator. His caution never allowed him to lower his guard.

Don didn't understand how Noah could be there, but he had accepted his reaction more easily after learning about his situation. It was only normal to be cautious inside an inheritance filled with hybrids belonging to the same organization.

Still, his instincts startled him. Don's centers of power were far above Noah's, but the latter managed to trigger his instincts. The hybrid could sense that Noah was extremely dangerous.

"We don't steal from our kind," Don replied with a tinge of pride in his voice. "My words were only a friendly warning. The energy inside Uwan's fruits is dangerous if left untreated. I know a procedure, but I'm afraid that I can only purify sixty percent of its energy."

"I will handle the purification," Noah said before recalling something. "Do you know where the other hard trials are?"

"Harder than defeating a Steeled Boar near the peak of the middle tier with your bare hands?" Don asked as one of his eyebrows arched.

"Yes," Noah replied. "It's pointless to leave their rewards here. I might as well seize them."

Don remained silent for a second before exploding into a loud laugh. His voice became high-pitched as his laughter continued and made Noah think about monkey-type magical beasts.

"I like you," Don eventually said once he managed to suppress his laugh. "The Legion definitely needs someone with your guts. I will show you the harder trials, but you won't like what you'll see."

Noah's curiosity became more intense when he heard that. He stored the Uwan's fruit and stepped off the forest to follow Don, who waited for him before setting off.

The duo flew through the deeper lands of the second layer without saying much and stopped only when they reached the locations of the more demanding trials. As Don had predicted, Noah didn't like what he saw.

"This asks you to survive for a thousand years without eating and cultivating," Don said once they reached a deep fissure.

"This wants you to dig a hole as deep as the entire layer," Don explained when they reached a part of the barren land filled with deep pits.

"This is my favorite. I almost didn't believe the seer when she divined it," Don said once they reached the peak of a tall mountain. "You must turn this whole structure into dust. Of course, you can only use your bare hands."

Noah began to understand how the second layer handled the harder trials at that point. They were harsh, but most of their difficulty came from the time required to win them.

Both hybrids and humans could improve on their own during that time instead of performing useless tasks for entire centuries. No reward in the middle tier was worth that kind of effort.

"Are they all like this?" Noah asked after the duo crossed the mountain.

"Yes," Don replied. "I'm afraid you took care of the last decent trial in the whole second layer. All the others require so much time that you would obtain greater improvements by cultivating in a random land in the outside world."

"What's the hardest of them all?" Noah asked at that point.

Noah didn't want to waste time, but he might invest a few decades every now and then in one trial since they didn't require much effort. If he then happened to reach the upper tier before completing it, he would simply leave the challenge alone.

"The hardest isn't something that you can clear at your level," Don said. "I've seen your battle against the Boar. Perfection won't be enough there. You won't survive it."

"That's something I'd like to decide," Noah replied.

Don heaved a sigh before changing direction to move deeper into the second layer. His mouth opened to give voice to a line that made Noah even more curious about that challenge. "Trust me. You won't like it."

****

Author's notes: I need an hour or so for the next one. Will publish it when it's ready.