Chapter 256 256. RUNIC SYMBOLS

Gazing blankly at the tiled floor beneath his feet, Noah ignored the bit of noise going on around him, while he tried his best to imprint the image of the floating city and its surroundings.

Around the floating city was a mass of dark clouds perfectly surrounding it like a wall. The dark clouds crackled with lightning bolts of different sizes and they seemed to release a pressure of their own, but the necklace fended it off.

The sheer sounds coming from the bolts of erratic energy were loud enough at times to drown the voice of Lady Yevette while she explained a bit about that place to them.

Apparently, the origin of the floating landmass was confidential information that even she didn't know, though there were others that did. But what she knew was that the place was ancient according to what they were allowed to know. Literally multiple thousand years old.

The city was demarcated into three major regions by three massive walls, and the regions were occupied by members depending on their power level or rank of importance.

The outer regions being for experts holding power from tier 1 to the peak of tier 2. The inner region being home to individuals holding power from the lower stage of tier 3 to the lower stage of tier 4. However that region was separated into two smaller ones, the portion closer to the walls leading to the center region housing experts in tier 4.

The center region was the smallest, but apparently, all the monsters of the guild whether they were tier 1 to tier 4 lived there. As long as the expert was considered very important they would be sent there. Rumors also had it that even tier 5 experts had homes there.

Needless to say, this excited the experts but also informed them of how much importance they had to garner to be valued.

Although the city was separated into three regions, the buildings in all of them looked just as high tier as the best cities that could exist in that nation. The only difference being that there might be more powerful structures in the inner and center ones.

Noah felt able to sense barriers high above them, as even the light from the sun almost couldn't pierce the dark clouds, meaning the environment there would be constantly gloomy. Notwithstanding, that detail didn't manage to faze Noah, who only cared about gaining enough importance, and of course power.

The various lights coming from the city reminded him of the settlement citizens of Earth termed "The city that never sleeps".

"Aiden!" A male voice pulled Noah out of his thoughts. Getting up from his seat, Noah noticed that everyone had eyes on him. His eyes fell on the round room they were currently in, and at the end of the room was a large black sphere featuring runic symbols running on its surface. The sphere being lifted by two sculpted black arms buzzed whenever the hundreds of runic symbols made a complete revolution.

Beside the object radiating a level of power that his mind couldn't grasp were three individuals, one of them being Lady Yevette, and the other being the tier 4 bald man they had seen during the trials.

Just like lady Yevette had said; before any heavy touring would be done they would need to take the oath to fully be identified as a member of the guild. For now, it seemed only the tier 3 experts were present. But Noah couldn't care less about the weaker cultivators.

His walk towards the pulpit where the three individuals stood, began. Noah could feel and sense the culmination of his efforts to join that guild being summed up in the action he was about to take.

The eyes of the other 186 experts followed his movements. Noah had accomplished feats that could be considered stories that would be told in legends. Many could tell from lady Yevette's explanation that the breathtaking white-haired man would be one of those important fellows as he had power available to him. Unfair power.

Noah arrived before the sphere and took the three steps needed to get on the pulpit. The eyes of the bald man and even that of the lady beside him; who he didn't recognize fell on him.

"Are you ready for the oath?" The man asked almost coldly.

Noah limited himself to nod his head in response not minding the expert's tone.

"Good. Place your hands on the sphere and read the oath," the man ordered.

Doing as he was told, Noah felt a wave of information flow into his mind and his soul-core quickly began to crackle with an intense energy while it broke down the non-written oath.

'This is a bit, but it's reasonable,' Noah thought feeling his environment slow down. However, he didn't have his focus on that detail since his eyes were closed.

The oath stated that; he couldn't indiscriminately hurt his guild mates unless it was necessary, or they were in an agreed duel. He couldn't reveal information that was given to him by the guild and was considered confidential unless required to.

He was allowed to travel wherever he wanted but needed to inform the senior in charge of him. And if he were ever summoned during his travels, he would be required to return to the guild to take orders. He could only be exempted from this if returning would be impossible or would take too long than what was required.

It stated that; he wasn't allowed to take actions that could cause damage to the guild in ways that surpassed physical damage, and he was required to protect the guild in whatever way he could depending on the situation. And lastly, he wasn't allowed to join any other guild as long as that oath had not been abolished.

The reward for breaking any of the rules would be to have his body blown apart and his soul-core destroyed.

[Do you wish to take Oath of the Divine Lightning Guild?]

[Tier: 4[Peak]]

[Note this Oath will inscribe itself on your skin and soul core. Only when oath-taker has exceeded the power level of the oath can they be free of it]

[Do you still wish to continue?]

[Yes/No]

Noah heaved an inward sigh before choosing yes. There wasn't any going back, to begin with. Immediately he took that action the runic symbols on the sphere shone with greater radiance before flowing towards his palm; where they began their journey up his arms.

Noah felt pain seep into his mind at that event, but he didn't flinch. His mental waves unfolded on his body to inspect the process.

The multicolored symbols found their way to his chest where they converged, and the crest of the fox with lightning bolts for tails dug into his chest.

Intense pain gushed into his mind at that point but he remained unfazed. Immediately the symbols had dug into his skin, a few of them separated from the still shining crest on his chest to snake up his neck.

Noah saw the symbols seep into his incredible skin leaving injuries in their wake, but the injuries healed as fast as they appeared. The symbols however left no injuries when they got past his skull and soon Noah switched focus to his mind.

Rather than small shining symbols; within his mind the runic symbols had enlarged in size, being far greater than even his island.

His mind on a normal day would fight against that process, but since he had accepted it and saw it as no danger, nothing happened.

The shining symbols arrived on his black soul core to bathe it in their light, but the light also went on to spread across his island like a multicolored river.

Noah's entire soul realm trembled at the power contained within the symbols, but he felt no pain from that process.

The shining symbols and words soon shrunk into a very dense crest, which of course was the multiple-tailed fox. The condensed symbols radiating intense power shot into his core. Deep pain ravaged Noah's senses at that point and he felt forced to hold his head in pain.

The oath settled at the very center of his core and stopped. In the span of an instant, the shape of the crest dug itself on his island. Noah couldn't care less about that detail since he felt he had passed out multiple times while still standing.

Immediately the oaths had found their home in his soul's core, and the still shining crest on his chest died down to reveal a bloodied chest. However, his healing kicked into action clearing the injury.

Noah opened his eyes at that point, but he could still feel pain in his head.

"You can go," the bald man announced, and he did just that.

Further inspecting his body, although the injury left no scar, Noah could tell that something dwelt under the surface of his chest, and he quickly moved to test it.

Sitting where those that had received the oath sat, Noah, switched to his dark side, basing that switch on violence. Soon violent thoughts on how he could tear the person sitting next to him apart flowed into his mind, however, his chest shone with a golden light depicting the beastly crest of the guild.

'I feel pain,' Noah thought holding his head in pain while feeling his chest throb with nigh-intense pain that spread throughout his body; almost sending him into a state of shock.

"I'm really a member of the Divine Lightning guild now," he muttered, feeling both mental and physical pain vanish immediately after he stopped the thoughts.