Birth of the Demonic Sword

Noah's mind went black for an instant. When he recovered his awareness, he found himself lying on the dark-red ground of the corridor.

Smoke came out of his back, and a tingling sensation filled his skin. Still, he couldn't see any injury. Even his robe was fine and without a scratch.

'What exactly has happened?' Noah wondered as he rechecked his body.

His black hole was rotating faster than usual, but he couldn't find anything strange inside him. He didn't even feel sore. Everything was fine, and even his fourth center of power soon started to work at its regular pace.

Noah didn't exactly recall what had happened. He remembered a flash of orange light before darkness filled his memories. Those clues could only lead to one conclusion, but that idea was unreasonable.

'That is impossible, right?' Noah thought as he turned toward the hole.

The lightning bolts ricocheting inside the hole were the only element that could cause that orange flash, but Noah couldn't believe that he had survived one of them.

Each lightning bolt was an attack in the eighth rank. Noah had become stronger after the black hole purified his centers of power, but he was still far away from being an existence who could survive those blows.

'The true meaning of evolution,' Noah began to think about a possible explanation. 'Something like that shouldn't aim to destroy matter.'

Noah soon understood that he couldn't find an answer if he relied only on his reasoning. He had to perform a few tests and observe how the lightning bolts reacted before deciding how to proceed.

A piece of flesh from one of the corpses inside his separate space appeared in his hand. Noah neared the hole again and threw the material among the lightning bolts before activating the Divine Deduction technique.

The lightning bolts immediately converged on the piece of flesh. They were too fast for Noah to follow them. Still, his superior awareness boosted by the Divine Deduction technique allowed him to see how they affected the laws in that material.

The piece of flesh had many flaws in its structure. Countless impurities filled its fabric, and the lightning bolts enhanced them when they crashed on it.

Impurities burst out of the flesh, destroying the material during the process. The lightning bolts forced blood and pus to exit the item until it transformed into a small crystal.

The crystal then fell toward the bottom of the hole, passing through every lightning bolt that it met. Noah even heard the sound of the item hitting the ground after a few seconds.

A cold light shone from Noah's eyes. A strange idea had formed inside his mind after that test, and he didn't hesitate to throw more materials at the lightning bolts to see if he had understood correctly.

The lightning bolts forced every material that touched them to evolve. They destroyed the impurities and transformed the items into flawless crystals that fell undisturbed at the bottom of the hole.

'Don't tell me,' Noah thought as shock filled his mind, 'The lightning bolts can't damage something that already lacks flaws.'

That discovery left him speechless, but a lightning bolt suddenly separated from the main array and interrupted his reasoning. The attack crashed on Noah's chest, but he managed to maintain his awareness at that time.

The lightning bolt dispersed inside his body without causing any effect. It didn't even leave any lingering energy in his tissues. It disappeared as soon as it completed an inspection of his existence.

Noah could only reveal a wide smile after witnessing that scene. He stretched his hand toward the crackling net, but nothing happened even after the lightning bolts converged on him.

'Amazing,' Noah thought as he stared at the lightning bolts flowing freely through his hand.

Those attacks didn't seem to notice him. He appeared immune to their might since his body had already reached a flawless state. His black hole had taken care of that process before, so the lightning bolts couldn't get rid of any impurity.

'Most cultivators have probably died during the purifications,' Noah concluded as he stepped outside the hole's edge and began a slow descent.

More lightning bolts converged on him, but they did not affect his tissues. Noah could continue his descent toward the bottom of the hole without encountering any problem. He didn't even feel any resistance.

Noah kept the Divine Deduction technique active in case he found lightning bolts that could destroy him even in his flawless state. Yet, he didn't meet anything that could hurt him during his descent. He reached the bottom of the hole without trouble.

The environment was different there. A shining crystal-like red floor made the bottom of the hole, and part of the walls carried similar features. A single space-ring laid at the center of the area. The ground was empty of any item and resource.

Noah began to walk toward the space-ring, but the lightning bolts above him morphed to take a humanoid shape at that point. The figure landed on the floor between him and the item, and it raised a hand to gesture to Noah to stop.

'Is this a will?' Noah asked himself when he saw the humanoid crackling figure.

The crackling noise radiated by the lightning bolts became more intense after the figure appeared. Noah remained still as he waited for something to happen, and a thunderous male voice soon resounded in the area.

"Do not take it," The voice said, "You don't need it."

Noah inspected the area to search for the source of that voice. Finding it ended up being easy. Every lightning bolt in the hole radiated that sound at the same time.

"What do you mean by that?" Noah asked. "Explain yourself."

The crackling noise intensified once more before the answer arrived. "You already have the tools to evolve yourself. The ring only contains the instructions to recreate this Evolution Pit. Leave it for another heir."

"Can't I take it to sell it?" Noah asked, but a lightning bolt fell in front of him and opened a crack into the crystal floor.

The lightning bolts could hurt even flawless items if the will wanted. Noah wouldn't risk enraging the owner of that inheritance after he discovered that feature.

"You are free to disclose the secret behind this trial," The voice continued. "My only desire is to make the human side stronger."

Noah remained silent for a while before turning to the wall. He patted the crystals on its surface and inspected their structure before nodding multiple times.

"Can't I have these at least?" Noah asked. "I have used your individuality to improve, so I'm technically your heir already."

As soon as his line ended, lightning bolts fell on the wall, and red crystals rained around him. They were all materials in the middle tier that carried the iconic evolution of that expert.

"Leave now," The voice said. "Let me return to my eternal slumber."

"What was your name?" Noah asked as he began to leave.

The expert's individuality had helped him maintaining the empowerments of his ambition. Asking for his name was the only form of respect that Noah could show him.

"Dead don't need names," The voice said before the crackling figure crumbled into a series of sparks that fused with the net above.