Chapter 109 - 109. Challenge
The flight of the air-ship continued.
Thaddeus explained that the trip would have taken one month since the Royal city was on the borders of the Utra continent.
Fifteen single rooms were given to the new students and they had access to a big part of the ship.
There were three common halls: the main deck, the library, and the training hall.
The main deck was for those that enjoyed the scenery from the sky or to meditate in the open.
It was also the place where a large table full of delicacies would appear twice a day.
The library had many books regarding the history of cultivators and of noble families.
The training hall had some small arenas where the cultivators could fight themselves using their martial arts.
Noah had chosen to stay on the main deck but, at some point, a problem presented itself.
"Challenge me!"
June stood in front of Noah who was peacefully cultivating on one of the mats on the main deck.
He was not in the mood to study after his conversation with Thaddeus and he wanted to increase his strength as fast as possible.
He found out that his mind would relax more easily on the deck which increased his cultivation speed.
Therefore, he preferred to meditate there rather than in his room.
However, June never allowed him to focus completely on his training.
'It's already the third day in a row.'
June had begun to challenge every person on the ship since she discovered the existence of the training hall.
In only four days, she defeated every student with the exception of Noah.
She had challenged him too but Noah had deliberately admitted defeat on the first day, he didn't care about the title of the strongest and wanted only to cultivate silently.
Initially, June had accepted the outcome and focused on the other students but then Ruth had said something troublesome when she was defeated.
"I feel that even if all of us were to gang up on Vance, we wouldn't be able to defeat him."
Apparently, her good instincts were linked to her talent with inscriptions.
Noah didn't really comprehend how those things were connected but the descendants of the large-size families started to hold her words in high regard after they learnt about her quality.
Since then, June's battle intent was aroused and she spent her days standing still in front of the sitting Noah, pointing her spear at him.
'She is really stubborn.'
June had the appearance of a beautiful girl but her character was the one of a wild beast.
She would just do whatever passed through her mind, uncaring of her surroundings.
Noah opened his eyes and looked at the woman in front of him, her silver hair moved slightly in the soft breeze of the ship and her eyes shined with a golden light under the sun.
She was dressed in a tight brown soldier suit that left uncovered the upper parts of both arms and legs to facilitate the movements and had long warrior sandals that reached her knees.
Noah had to admit that her appearance was extremely valiant.
However, only one word came out of his mouth.
"No."
All the other students were used by then at the morning commotion on the main deck and stared with interest to see if the outcome would have been different at that time.
After all, they all wanted to see the genius that scored one hundred and thirty-six kills in action.
"Aw, come on. Why are you so hard to deal with?"
June complained and began to push Noah with the bladeless part of her spear.
"Vance, come on, fight me at least once. I will let you cultivate in peace from then on."
Noah was reaching the limits of his patience.
The other two days she limited herself to stand for the whole day in front of him which Noah could easily ignore.
That time though she seemed really firm on obtaining her battle.
Noah heaved a loud sigh and moved away the spear to stand up.
"Will you really leave me alone?"
June's eyes lit up and she nodded a few times before adding something.
"But you need to fight seriously, martial art against martial art!"
"Yes, yes, let's just end this."
He waved his hand and moved toward the training hall, June followed him tightly.
The other students became interested too and moved with them.
After a few minutes, June and Noah were facing themselves in the biggest arena of the hall.
June was already in guard, her body was slightly crouched and her spear was pointing fixedly on Noah.
Noah, on the other side, had just wielded his sabers and he began to speak.
"So, no magic spells, right?"
June nodded but, before she could reply anything, ten wind slashes arrived in her position.
She rapidly attacked with her spear which created a shock wave in front of her, shattering the slashes.
Noah had moved on her side in the meantime and launched a series of strikes trying to enter her guard.
Yet, June's dexterity with the spear far surpassed his predictions.
She smartly used the length of her weapon to her advantage, never letting Noah near her.
More than fifty blows were exchanged in a few minutes.
June defended waiting for a mistake in her opponent while Noah had never given her any time to attack.
'She is indeed really good. Our martial arts are on the same level, I just have slightly more battle experience.'
Noah left a small opening on purpose and June's thrust arrived immediately as he had predicted.
Noah used his left saber to deviate the spear while his right one aimed for her throat.
The spear missed his chest and stabbed his left shoulder while his blade was laid on the girl's throat ready to take her life.
Noah then spoke in an uncaring tone.
"Can I go to cultivate now?"
June looked in amazement at the scene in front of her.
Her spear was stabbed deeply on Noah's shoulder and blood flowed from the injury.
However, there was no trace of pain or suffering in his eyes, only the cold determination to sacrifice part of his body to take the life of his opponent.
She immediately knew that his mindset was on a completely different level compared to hers.
She retracted the spear and bowed, leaving the arena directly after that gesture.
Noah returned to the main deck without even treating his injury.
The other students could not help but tremble a little when they stared at his back.
