Chapter 481 - 481. Middle tier
The clouds that had been formed by Heaven and Earth dispersed, releasing the "Breath" that they contained in the air.
Noah took a deep breath, the dense energy still lingering in the air converged in his position and entered his body to become its nourishment.
The "Breath" contained by the clouds was meant to deal with cultivators aiming to reach the fourth rank of the dantian, it held a power fit for that level of strength.
When it entered his body, it was dismantled and turned into pure energy that Noah naturally absorbed, he felt the liquid "Breath" inside his body being refilled before he underwent some changes.
His skin thickened, it had absorbed the capabilities of the scales of the Cursed dragon becoming extremely hard, the lightning bolt form before had barely scratched it after all.
His muscles bulged before compressing, their density increased by a whole level when the process was over.
His bones experienced the same procedure, they became sturdier and denser, it was as if their quality had reached a superior level.
Even his internal organs underwent a similar enhancement, especially the lungs and heart which also became slightly bigger.
Noah had closed his eyes to analyze the changes of his body, that was a feeling that he hadn't experienced for a very long time.
'Rank 4 body in the middle tier!'
Noah exclaimed in his mind when the process was over.
He had been at the peak of the lower tier for more than ten years by then, seeing his level raise again made him feel completely satisfied.
That was because his body-nourishing method was working flawlessly and he knew that it would accompany him for the entirety of his cultivation journey!
Noah roared at the sky when the breakthrough was over, the power filling his body and his victory over Heaven and Earth made him reach new levels of happiness.
His dragon part had waited for this moment for too long, the hatred that was rooted in its bloodline was finally appeased, part of it at least.
An even stronger hunger followed the breakthrough though.
Noah turned his head in the direction of the Granite Abyss, his reptilian eyes seemed to make out the shapes of the many dragons inhabiting that danger zone.
Yet, he forced himself to calm down as he gulped the saliva that his mouth was producing.
'I've created a mess here, I can't remain any longer.'
Noah thought as he wore a tight robe and turned to fly in the direction of the Hive's encampment.
The main advantage of being a hybrid was the human mind ruling that powerful body.
Obtaining the power of a magical beast would be useless if the cultivator then acted like one, reasoning and planning had to come before instincts and hunger.
Also, even though Noah had obtained an incredibly powerful body, he had lost one of his main fighting methods.
The Three Forms of the Ashura was the martial art that had accompanied him since he had joined the academy but, now, he was simply unable to perform it.
His body was too strong, it couldn't use the little physical energy needed for that martial art, Noah guessed that he would meet the same problem even with other martial arts meant for humans.
'My list of stuff to create is increasing: There is the cultivation technique, an offensive martial art, and Demonic swords fit for my new body. Also, I should start finding ways to create spells, I'm continuously losing fighting methods since my power is increasing too quickly.'
Noah thought as he flew at full speed in the direction of the encampment.
There were two big issues in the cultivation journey.
The first one was the absence of techniques and methods, those in the fifth rank were already incredibly rare, it could be even said that those in the sixth rank were basically non-existent.
The second one concerned martial arts and spells.
One could be a mighty heroic cultivator but its battle prowess wouldn't be able to express its power if it didn't have arts and spells that matched its rank.
The same applied to Noah.
He had become a rank 4 mage a short time ago, the spells up to the third rank that he had learnt became almost useless at that point, leaving him with few offensive methods that could express his true power.
Now, he had even lost his martial art, limiting his offense to the Demonic form spell, the Ghostly claws spell, the Death area spell, and the Mental tremor spell.
That offense was still extremely good, especially considering his newly obtained flames, yet, Noah didn't want to see his battle prowess lower as his level increased.
Martial arts and spells suffered from a fate similar to methods and techniques, they would become rarer as their rank increased, especially those with offensive power.
'My expertise with the saber should allow me to quickly create a new martial art tuned around my body but my priority must be the cultivation technique, I can't be always dragged down by my dantian.'
Noah thought as he ate a small pill that contained "Breath" of the darkness element to refill his dantian.
His last attack against the black clouds had almost depleted the entirety of the liquid "Breath" inside his dantian, leaving that center of power basically empty.
It couldn't be helped, he had used his strongest spell while setting its power in the heroic ranks, simple rank 3 "Breath" couldn't fuel such an attack for more than a few instants.
Luckily for him though, he now had something that other cultivators didn't have: A powerful body!
Noah knew that his physical strength could be used as a deadly weapon and his flames were an excellent offensive method since the liquid "Breath" inside his body was refilled autonomously.
A small piece of the female Cursed dragon's skin appeared in his hands before Noah directly threw it inside his mouth, his teeth easily munched the scaled skin, they had fused with the fangs of a dragon after all.
Just like that, Noah continued to fly toward the encampment of the Hive inside the area of influence of the Shandal Empire, eating the body parts of the magical beasts inside his space-ring from time to time.