Chapter 2113: Source

The infection knew that Noah was the six-armed dragon's source. It sent its energy from the creature toward him through an ethereal channel connected to his world.

Noah could stop the energy to end the infection right away, but he let it fly toward him for a while to inspect its nature. He couldn't explain how a mere rank 8 magical plants could overcome his disposable rank 9 dragon. There had to be something unique there, and he had every intention to find it.

The time in his vision slowed down as the ethereal blackness poured potential inside his mind. Noah studied the infection flying toward him and trying to approach his world. That strange energy was dense, and it didn't match the power signature of the magical plant that the six-armed dragon had fed.

'Where does it come from?' Noah wondered as the infection was about to end up on him.

The infection didn't destroy the dragon's innate defenses. The latter simply didn't activate when the foreign energy entered its body, and Noah didn't know how to explain it.

'Is it an innate ability?' Noah asked himself while detonating the six-armed dragon.

The disposable creature exploded and damaged many magical plants with the raging waves of energy that its body released. Most specimens in the eighth rank directly dissolved under that force, and the same went for the infection trying to reach Noah.

The environment didn't react to the event. The other magical plants didn't seem to care that a hole had appeared among their array of roots. Noah could even see the separate reality's base providing more fuel to regrow the destroyed bushes and trees, but the process appeared incredibly slow.

Noah quickly created another disposable dragon through the workshop and sent it downward. He couldn't find answers through a single inspection, but the two gaseous stage opponents weren't a problem, and June was taking care of the liquid stage cultivator. He had the time to perform a thorough study.

Six-armed dragons flew out of the dark world, reached the array of roots at the bottom of the separate reality, and exploded when the infection was about to touch Noah's world. He relied on the entirety of his senses to study that unique energy to find special features or details that he had missed during previous inspections.

A pattern eventually became evident. The infection carried the same type of energy every time. It didn't matter which specimens the dragons targeted. The magical plants always released the same invasive power even if their structure wouldn't usually be able to discharge something so strong.

'They are connected,' Noah eventually concluded.

That was the only possible answer to the strange phenomenon. The magical plants shared the type of energy used to infect other beings, but another problem soon appeared. Noah confirmed that the invasive power couldn't come from the actual roots, branches, and trunks.

At first, Noah had believed that the invasive power was simply unique enough to ignore the structural inadequacy of some weak magical plants and the dragon's innate defenses. However, it soon became clear that the answer was in-between those hypotheses.

The infection could ignore the dragon's innate defenses because it tried to improve those creatures. The branches and leaves that the invasive power forced to grow among the scales and dark matter reinforced the disposable magical beast.

The same applied to the cultivators. The three infected experts featured high defensive capabilities, even if they had sacrificed their sanity and worlds to obtain them.

The infection could bypass the innate defenses by masking itself as a positive force, but its power remained too high for most magical plants. After all, tricking the senses of rank 9 beings wasn't an easy feat, so that power had to be somewhere near the peak of the ninth rank.

Of course, magical plants in the seventh and eighth rank didn't have the structural stability to work as channels for such a dense invasive power. Even some specimens in the ninth rank would struggle to release something so strong. Yet, none of them showed any damage after infecting the dragons and trying to affect Noah's world.

The only possible explanation was that the magical plants didn't send that invasive power. The infection had to have a different source, and Noah sacrificed countless disposable dragons to find it.

Noah's eyes lit up at some point. He left the dark world and let it handle the battlefield. Meanwhile, the space-time array replaced the green spectacle in his vision as he placed a hand on the fabric of the separate reality.

His fingers pierced the fabric of space and created five cracks that expanded as he swung his hand. The five fissures tried to close, but Noah promptly sent his energy forward and forced them to enlarge. A large hole soon took form, but its shape was unclear since the azure light flowing from its insides fused with the natural color of the sky.

Noah obviously knew where the crack's edges stood. He could easily keep track of the two different layers of the separate reality, and his aura expressed his destructiveness to enlarge the passage. The hole soon transformed into a vertical gorge that allowed him to study everything standing under the floor.

The area under the separate reality's fabric appeared empty. The clear azure sky seemed to fill the entirety of its limited space, but Noah eventually found a green spot in the distance. The figure didn't notice him, and he didn't hesitate to launch a massive slash toward it.

The slash made the reality's fabric tremble as it absorbed energy and grew. The figure eventually noticed the attack, but it didn't get the chance to dodge it. An explosion happened before that green shadow could move, and a screeching noise followed the rumbling sounds released by the raging black waves.

Noah knew that his slash didn't destroy the figure. His consciousness had been unable to reach the green figure, but his instincts had been clear. The green shadow was in the upper tier.

The waves of black energy continued to rage, but an array of sharp roots suddenly pierced them to shoot toward the crack. Noah revealed a cold smile when he saw those green limbs stretching toward him at high speed. His instincts screamed in fear, but he didn't move.

When the first root barged inside the other layer of the separate reality, Noah summoned his understanding of space to close the crack. The Demonic Sword also roared while flashing with a dark light. The green limb was about to slam on the center of his forehead, but it lost power before it could complete the attack.

The Demonic Sword had severed the root, and the giant crack had closed before other attacks could reach that side of the separate reality. Noah released dark matter to envelop the severed limb and study it through his enhanced mind.

The green root tried to dissolve, but the dark matter kept it in one piece. The power released by the severed plant attempted to infect the higher energy, but Noah replaced every spot that started to transform.

Something immediately became evident. Noah knew that he had found the source of the infections, and studying it might open the path for a cure.

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Author's notes: I woke up with a cold (damned luck lol). Anyway, it's not harsh, but it did slow down my writing. I still plan to write the second chapter, but it might come tomorrow due to all the delays in my schedule.