Chapter 1426: 1426. Portal

'Is this thing for real?' Noah wondered as astonishment filled his mind.

Noah wasn't sure of how much "Breath" a rank 8 dantian contained, but he was almost sure that the diagram had absorbed far more energy than any rank 7 cultivator could store.

'Am I really activating a rank 8 item?' Noah thought as a bit of worry formed inside him.

He didn't know what the diagram did. It didn't seem dangerous, but his senses weren't able to accurately judge matters in the higher ranks. His instincts told him that he had nothing to worry about, but Noah didn't feel completely safe near those pulsing lines.

The diagram was almost active. Only a few weeks of mass-production would be enough to fill the lines with darkness. Noah was near, but part of him hesitated when he realized how much power that item had absorbed.

His first instinct was to create defenses, but Noah quickly abandoned that thought. Nothing he did could protect him from something in the eighth rank. He only had to decide whether he was willing to risk activating the diagram.

'No point stopping now,' Noah concluded while suppressing his fears and continuing with the mass-production.

The diagram began to radiate a mysterious aura as it neared the last phases of its activation. Noah didn't even sense it, but he could feel that something was coming out of the lines.

It was a peculiar sensation. Noah had met magical beasts that could hide from his mind, but he had never sensed forms of energy that his consciousness couldn't perceive. He was using his instincts to understand how that project was proceeding.

At last, the diagram stopped absorbing the peculiar darkness. It didn't matter what Noah did. The lines couldn't contain any more energy. The item was full. He only needed to understand how to activate it.

Noah took out the diagram from the separate space at that point. The dark world shrunk to create a dense environment that surrounded Noah and the item.

He couldn't do anything if the diagram tried to hurt him, but the dark world could give him a small hope. The dense dark matter would try to suppress any harmful energy that could come out of the item.

Noah raised his hand to touch the diagram at that point. The lines reacted to that gesture and began to rotate to create a black oval shape that slowly stabilized.

'Is this a portal?' Noah thought at that sight.

He had traveled through dimensions with his movement techniques, and he had even teleported multiple times with the Warp spell. Noah knew what a portal looked like, so he didn't have any doubt that he saw that shape.

'A portal to where?' Noah wondered as his mental waves seeped inside the oval shape to inspect its insides.

His consciousness couldn't go far inside the portal, but it managed to capture a few images. Still, Noah only saw darkness when he reviewed them. The dimensional door seemed to lead to a black world.

Noah inspected the insides multiple times, but his mental waves always crumbled before going deeper into the black world. That wasn't unusual when it came to separate dimensions and similar areas, but knowing about those matters didn't reassure him.

His worries were still there. The portal could lead to great dangers. Yet, part of his had already decided to explore it, so he eventually took a few steps forward and entered that blackness.

The pressure of a teleport landed on his mind and pressed on his mental walls. Noah felt nostalgic when that sensation forced him to close his eyes, but he never lost his concentration during the process.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself inside a dark world surrounded by the same cave where he had spent the last period. He could even see his workshop keeping the fake magical beasts alive.

Noah immediately turned to look at the portal. The oval shape was still there, and it didn't show any sign of running out of energy. He had time to explore that area without worrying about remaining stuck in that place.

The world outside that dimension moved whenever he took a step forward. It was as if Noah was still in the Immortal Lands but walked inside a separate dimension that was almost inside the real world.

'This is similar to my movement technique,' Noah thought. 'This dimension is so close to the real world that I can see the outside world.'

Noah knew even that field. His old movement technique allowed him to see the lifeforms around him as he sprinted. That dimension was the same, even if far more stable.

The dimension appeared empty, and Noah didn't find anything even after he walked for a while. The rocks and ceiling of the outside world couldn't stop him inside that place, but he couldn't affect them either.

'Am I a ghost now?' Noah joked in his mind, but the situation was stranger than it looked.

At some point, his instincts gave voice to loud warnings, and Noah didn't hesitate to wield the Demonic Sword. Nothing happened in his vision, but he could sense that something was about to come.

A magical beast suddenly materialized behind him. The creature was in the middle tier, it had a small humanoid body, but it had sharp claws instead of fingers.

Its head resembled Night's, but its insides had skin, flesh, and organs. Dark-red scales also covered the entirety of its body. It was a strange creature that Noah had never seen.

Noah's weapon darted, and a flash of darkness filled the separate dimension as the blade and the claws clashed. The beast had tried to cut his neck, but he had stopped it before it could even touch his skin.

The impact flung the creature in the distance, and Noah promptly shot to follow it. However, the beast suddenly vanished before he could hope to catch up.

'Is it an ability of this dimension?' Noah wondered as another dangerous sensation appeared on his left side.

Noah swung the Demonic Sword before even seeing his opponent. He could understand its shape through his mind, and he didn't see anything different from the other specimen.

The separate dimension seemed to be the home of those creatures, but Noah couldn't confirm it before exploring all of it. Yet, he felt that his guess was on point when he saw that three more of those beasts had appeared under him and were trying to stab their claws into his feet.

Noah quickly kicked the air under him to shoot upward, and a few slashes flew out of his blade. Yet, when they reached the beasts, those creatures vanished, and the attacks hit nothing.

'Can they turn ethereal?' Noah asked to himself. 'Is this their ability, or does it come from the dimension?'

Noah saw countless beasts shooting in his direction with their claws stretched forward as the dangerous sensations multiplied. They were all creatures in the middle tier, but their sheer number forced Noah to reveal a few cards.

Snore materialized and launched a dark beam that stopped the entire enemy offensive. Those creatures immediately vanished when they sensed how much power the Blood Companion could generate.

A cold smile appeared on Noah's face as he planned to chase some of those beasts, but a sudden dangerous sensation spread from his chest and forced him to stop.

An opening had appeared on his chest, and blood flowed out of the injury. It was as if one of those creatures had managed to stab him.

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Author's notes: I'm almost done with the third. Should take less than 30 minutes.