Chapter 673 673. Will-consuming runes

Noah already knew that, but learning that the issue wasn't with his inscription method only led him to ask another question.

"Isn't there some way to modify this energy?"

Noah was already making use of it through his Liquid dantian, and his body naturally absorbed it.

There had to be ways that didn't only treat it as a source of power, a way to use it as the material to build something outside of Heaven and Earth's domain.

However, Thirty-seven didn't give Noah any hope.

"No. You would have to reconstruct the matter and force it to work in a certain pattern. Only laws can set those rules, and that's not something that you can do with your current level."

Noah fell silent when he heard those words.

He wasn't so delusional to believe that he could prove the automaton wrong.

The latter was pure knowledge, and he could only accept his opinion.

Nevertheless, Noah wasn't ready to give up yet.

'Creation has many forms. I'll simply take another path until I'm able to forge my darkness.'

Noah thought as Ravaging Demon's spell appeared in his mind.

That ability was too in line with his individuality to neglect it due to the differences in the element.

Noah could already spread destruction and release energy with it, and he only needed a method to turn that power in an attack.

The Elemental forging method had already proven itself unsuitable in that aspect, and his wills couldn't cover a vast area.

He needed something else, and the automaton was the only one who could give him a broad explanation of his possibilities.

"Let's say that I would like to use this energy before it disperses in the environment. What are my options?"

Noah asked, and Thirty-seven closed his eyes for a second before reopening them and giving an answer.

"There are more than eleven thousand approaches that cover inscriptions, runes, and formations. Do you want to hear more about them?"

Noah immediately shook his head and decided to be more specific with his next question.

"I need something that allows me to use it during a battle, without long casting periods. Also, it would be ideal if it was similar to my current inscription method."

Thirty-seven took a bit more to answer at that time, but it didn't fail to provide some options.

"I know two inscription methods and a school of runes that might please you. Would you like to hear more about them?"

Noah nodded, and the automaton began his explanation, describing in great detail the features of the three schools.

The two inscription methods didn't interest Noah that much.

The first one used small formations fueled with strong wills that could be quickly deployed if a cultivator had previously prepared them.

Yet, Noah knew the difficulty of becoming a formation master thanks to June, and the thought of spending decades in expanding his knowledge of the needed materials didn't interest him.

Also, he would need to prepare the formations before every battle, expending a large number of precious materials every time.

That didn't suit his combat style at all since Noah mainly pursued sheer power that had no limitations.

The second method applied the theories behind the Attunement method, which forced part of the world around him to affect the energy inside a set area.

However, Noah couldn't understand Heaven and Earth's words even if he wanted to, so he quickly discarded that option too.

Instead, the school of runes was quite interesting.

The cultivator would have to create runes with a specific form and a set meaning, which could be fueled with "Breath" to unleash their effects.

The issue with that school was that its runes were far bigger than those used in the current era.

"Back then, inscriptions were something that only exceptional cultivators could learn. There were plenty of methods that made use of their powerful wills, which created elites among them. Yet, that approach has been abandoned in the last millennia. Anyone with some Credits can receive a decent education now."

Thirty-seven complained as he began to write on a large and blank tome the teachings of the school of runes that Noah had chosen.

Noah eagerly waited for the automaton to finish and left as soon as he handed the tome.

Learning a new inscription method would take years, but Noah wasn't in a hurry, and he already had an exceptional foundation when it came to wills.

Also, he had the Divine deduction technique, which would further shorten the time required to learn that old method.

Noah's schedule changed when he returned to his underground quarters.

The training of his centers of power continued as usual, but he replaced his experiments with the study of the new inscription method.

The method was called "Will-consuming runes", and, as its name suggested, required the consumption of small parts of a cultivator's will to function.

Of course, Noah couldn't directly approach that step.

He had to learn the basics first.

The automaton had been exemplary in his transcription.

He had divided the teachings between the various steps that a student had to master before reaching the level of an expert.

Noah had first to learn to create simple runes that executed basic tasks like slightly raising the temperature in a small area, or gathering cold air.

Then, he had to create runes that could reinforce small objects or increase some of their other properties.

The difficulty of the tasks steadily increased, and Noah could only approach the next step when he could succeed in the previous one while respecting its minimum standards.

Giving a set form to his mental energy and imbuing it with meanings was easy for Noah, but the Will-consuming runes were strict in their requirements.

Noah had to strive for purity rather than intensity when it came to his meanings and then sever them from his mind to mold them in the form of runes.

That act wasn't painful, but Noah felt emptied every time he proceeded to sever those parts from his mind.

He felt as if he was forever losing part of him, which was a sensation that weighed on his determination to improve.

That made him understand why cultivators had eventually opted for more general inscription methods.

The void that he felt every time he created a rune could be enough to destroy the ambition of ordinary cultivators.

'No wonder there were elites in the past. Only elites could persevere in these paths.'

Noah thought as his ambition filled his entire being and dispersed the void that had spread inside him after the creation of his last rune.

Almost three years had passed since his meeting with Thirty-seven, and Noah had spent that time to master the basics of the Will-consuming runes.

That inscription method turned out to be far harder than the Elemental forging method, but Noah managed to reach that level of expertise far quickly nonetheless.

Wills were something that he had trained for years, and that method only required a different application and a lot of practice.

'Now, I can create my runes and set the foundation for my first spell!'