Chapter 1290 1290. Drawbacks
The period after Second Prince's sudden assault was hard for Noah. The second activation of his ambition hurt his centers of power and made them too frail to endure the power that they contained.
His body struggled to contain the strength that it carried. The weight of his other centers of power also became almost unbearable, and only the dark matter flowing inside his tissues managed to keep them in one piece.
His mind felt heavy, especially since Noah could stop the production of new mental energy. Cracks appeared on his mental sphere due to the internal pressure that pressed on its walls.
Noah also felt confused. His body couldn't fully contain his sea of consciousness, so he would black-out for a few instants every once in a while.
His dantian had it a bit easier than his other centers of power due to the almost absence of darkness in its insides. However, the muscles pressing on its walls made it regress by a few years.
The only organ that continued to work correctly was the fourth center of power. Noah's black hole provided every inch of his body with as much dark matter as it needed and prevented him from falling apart.
Noah couldn't leave the frozen structure while he endured that painful process. Ideally, he would need to isolate himself in a safe place and sleep until his centers of power dispersed the accumulated stress and gained their strength back.
Yet, the quasi-rank 7 ice was the most appealing resource in the world after the frozen land created by the divine silver liquid. The creatures that had survived the battle between Noah and the Snakes' leader would kill to take a bite of that structure.
Noah could barely remain conscious in that condition, but his aura still leaked from his figure, and the magical beasts in the world could sense the dangerousness that it carried. They would never decide to approach the frozen structure as long as he remained there.
Noah went through cycles of roars of pain, blood loss, injuries opening out of nowhere, and sudden surges of power while he endured the drawbacks of his ambition.
Snore, Night, and the Demonic Sword surveilled the area around the frozen structure while he remained immersed in his painful healing process. They could understand how harsh that situation was for him, and they didn't hesitate to support him in the best way they could.
Noah's body wanted to fall apart. Pieces of his skin even dispersed their energy when they became unable to contain it. Yet, his dark matter always managed to prevent the worst possible outcome whenever those situations appeared.
Nothing could help Noah's healing process. Any other external energy would only break his already frail tissues and worsen his condition.
He had to wait for his centers of power to become stable while he remained on the frozen structure. His only consolation was that the magical beasts in the world didn't try to take the ice since they were too scared to enter the range of his aura.
Their decision to avoid the frozen structure didn't come only from the fear that Noah's aura caused inside their minds. The surviving rank 6 Eternal Snakes had understood that their leader had lost against him, and that made Noah the new ruler of the world in their view.
His victory had put him at the very peak of that lower plane. He had become the king of the world even if his mind was too confused to realize it.
Moreover, he wasn't a cultivator, so the magical beasts had more respect for his power. Their instincts saw the frozen structure as Noah's lair, which suppressed their innate greed for valuable resources.
Noah felt as if he was in a long nightmare. His mind went dark and played scenes from his memory while his dark matter prevented it from escaping his body.
Chaotic images appeared in his vision, and his instincts reacted at certain scenes. His body would even spit flames on its own whenever he saw some of his old opponents.
Clarity slowly returned to his mind as his condition stabilized. Noah returned lucid only to sense a wave of tiredness filling every corner of his existence.
His mental waves quickly sent a series of reports to his mind once they understood that Noah was conscious again. He became aware of the damage that afflicted his body in a few seconds, and his expression turned grim when he sensed that his cultivation level had fallen.
His dantian had shrunk, and his body had lost some of its power. His mind had also suffered a series of injuries that sent sharp waves of pain to his mental sea.
Each of those problems was quite severe, and Noah could only sigh at that sight. He had paid the price to get rid of Second Prince quickly, and he had to deal with the consequences of his actions now.
Noah straightened himself before sitting cross-legged on the frozen structure. He didn't dare to cultivate in his condition, but he tried to take control of the black hole to improve its healing abilities.
His mind, dantian, and body needed to undergo a long recovery, but Noah wanted to shorten that process by focusing all his efforts on one of them.
The black hole didn't struggle and let Noah direct its action. His fourth center of power redirected most of its dark matter toward his mind and helped it close the cracks that had appeared on its walls.
Noah couldn't think properly with his mind in that condition, so he wanted to fix it before analyzing his centers of power again. The loss of power annoyed him, but he could take his time to get his cultivation level back once he secured his mental stability.
Thin patches of dark matter covered the cracks on his mental walls and allowed his mind to use most of its mental energy to fix them. Crystal-like structures filled those fissures and quickened the healing process while the higher energy took care of the external pressure.
Noah's mind took a while to heal. His center of power was near the peak of the sixth rank, so it needed a massive amount of mental energy to recover.
Noah's mental sturdiness was also incredible, so his center of power took longer than usual to return to a decent state. His mind required forty years to fix the cracks and reach a perfect condition.
His body and dantian had stabilized on their own while Noah fixed his mind. They had mostly suffered from a loss of power, so they didn't need dark matter to heal eventual injuries.
Noah couldn't let the matter about his loss of power go. His ambition wouldn't allow him to remain calm until he returned to his previous cultivation level.
Noah felt like an addict going through withdrawal as he studied his dantian and made sure that it could cultivate again. His Demonic Sword didn't hesitate to fly toward him once he confirmed that he could resume his training.
His dantian began to expand again, and some calm filled Noah's mind when he lost himself in that feeling. The center of power grew quickly since his existence was ready to reach superior levels. Noah returned to his previous peak in less than fifty years.
