Chapter 253 253. FIFTH PLACE

Shock and excitement couldn't be more evident on Noah's face at that last-minute turn of events. Tiana happened to glance his way immediately after that event occurred and frowned when she saw his bright smile; the first she had ever seen on his face, even if it vanished a moment later.

Noah felt a battle immediately spread out in his mind. The issue remained whether or not he should react happily to her arrival or not. He felt weird showing emotions since he usually hid them behind the mask of a cold expression.

It seemed Ariana had made some other friends since a few experts; all females, ran toward her in excitement no less than Noah's.

She had arrived with two men and they looked to have been through a lot. Ariana looked haggard, whole chunks of her seemed to have nested birds, as dirt and snow filled it. Blood stains of different colors existed on her rag-like attire and face, making some of her blonde and messy hair stick to her skin.

An expression filled with relief and excitement filled her face, and she even sat on the ground while the four experts went to welcome her and her group.

Having stood up in shock at her arrival, Noah sat down with a relaxed thud even if his expression had returned to being uncaring.

A few seconds had to pass before Noah noticed her sweep her gaze on the camp filled with more than 180 individuals.

Her eyes eventually landed on Noah's neat figure, and their gazes immediately locked. A deeper sense of relief shone on her face while she beamed a smile at him. Shrugging and returning the smile, their silent interaction occurred without the notice of others, apart from Senior Tiana.

Ariana held back in walking towards Noah since the three ladies that had run to her threw a barrage of questions at her, ones she looked glad to answer.

The countdown ended in no time and the camp of exactly 187 experts excluding the four cultivators in charge of welcoming them, felt the mountain beneath their feet tremble violently,

The shaking continued for whole minutes until the golden inscriptions creating the barrier around them shone with blinding intensity. A series of runic symbols and even a golden magical circle appeared beneath their feet followed by the light of a far-distance teleportation.

The white mountain saw a golden radiance shine on its peak even going on to pierce the thick formation of trees to reveal its radiance to the world. However, the light suddenly disappeared. Silence immediately descended on the snowy mountain at that point.

Shutting his eyes tight to protect them from the golden light surrounding him, Noah felt the air and the ambient temperature change. A more welcoming atmosphere falling on his senses.

It took a few seconds for his senses to calm down, after which he opened his eyes. Seemingly being connected to his eyes, only at that point did his ears become able to the cheers booming from their surroundings.

Noah furrowed his brows at that event but remained okay. He didn't like the sheer amount of sound coming from the multiple seats surrounding them. But compared to the annoyance he felt from the spotlight above them while their figures stood upon a metallic platform raised 10 meters from the grassy field below them, that was nothing.

The darkness of the night illuminated by the natural satellite of that planet stood above them while cheers filled his environment.

Glancing at the area that held the representatives, Noah could see that all of them stood up in a standing ovation.

"What an incredible show that had been," Elder Adonis's excited voice rang out from above the successful experts. Not even half of their former number had succeeded in the stage, a frightening outcome.

"What a pity it could only last three days or a day to us on the outside," The expert spoke casually descending from the compartment meant for the important individuals. He had changed his clothes; going for a skin-tight black attire featuring a silver coat shimmering with many golden inscriptions.

He stopped descending at a particular height and quickly continued with the event at hand.

"It's time to see how many of you met the requirements," The elder announced waving his hand, and the aspirants saw their rings and bracelets light up with inscriptions of different colors.

The inscriptions running on their rings stretched out to meet the ones stretching out of their bracelets. Both converged on each other to form a beam of light depicting numbers. Immediately after that event, the illusory screens portraying the figures of the aspirants changed to reveal a leaderboard of sorts featuring the name's faces and amount of inscribed stones present in their various rings.

Noah found his face with the number 79 beside it. But to his surprise, someone had gathered more than he. Heck on the leaderboard he occupied the fifth place, with the first person gathering an incredible ninety-nine.

The individual being someone he recognized too well, Noah could only smile.

​ While shaking his head. "Show off," he muttered gazing at Nathaniel's face.

Noah had avoided overpowering experts to steal their stones, and no one had even dared doing such to him. But he understood that the same couldn't be said for the others.

'He probably stole from a lot of individuals,' Noah thought shaking his head, but the matter didn't bother him.

Noah felt both surprised and pleased to find that no one gathered stones lesser than fifty, which meant that the successful aspirants numbering 187 would all be joining the guild.

A cold expression remained on Noah's face while he stared at the massive illusory screen. Very soon he felt someone's gaze land on him. His eyes darted upwards to find that Elder Adonis had his gaze directly on him, but no one could notice their interaction.

The duo felt to be the only ones in the world. And Noah, even if he couldn't see the man's eyes, knew their gazes had met.

Needless to say, worry built up in Noah's mind. He understood that he had been noticed by the higher-ups of that guild but he didn't like that situation anyway.