Chapter 426 426. INVITATION
"You should not leave your house for a few days. Lay low," Noah suggested immediately after his figure appeared before the building Erolia lived in.
Their presence startled those on the inside as shock filled their minds due to how quickly the duo now a trio, had returned.
If only they knew that the real battles had ended in less than thirty minutes of them reaching the bandit's hideout. The hour extra had only been as a result of the walking tired people.
Erolia and her younger brother nodded frantically, while Herald rushed outside with an expression that expressed his joy.
The others rushed outside too, but Noah ushered them in. He still feared that the head of the bandits was alive.
"I doubt that," he muttered arriving inside the bedroom he had lodged in. It was still the same one he had been using for the past couple of days.
"He looked dead already. Only alive by sheer willpower," he added to his reasoning. Nevertheless, he couldn't be certain unless he was. He would need to wait a bit before arriving at that state of mind.
The sound of commotion soon got to the gate those closer to the town's entrance were awakened.
Astonishment was the first emotion to fill the air, followed by even more astonishment, as no one in their wildest dreams had expected them to return. Free.
The event spread like wildfire but most stayed skeptical. After an hour passed, however, their fears went out the window.
"What had happened?" People began to ask the returners, and they were not hesitant to explain it to them, however, when they discovered that the man they described had disappeared most could only wonder what had happened.
Noah furrowed his brows wondering if not letting the hideout bury them had been a good idea. He had nothing to fear of the town, so it didn't matter much to him.
The night passed quickly, it had already been thirty days since he had entered the pending state. That day would be the thirty-first.
He felt glad knowing that he would soon be out of tier 3 and into the whole new realm of tier 4.
Noah made sure to keep a low profile, by simply sprinting faster than anyone could follow him.
The town now had nothing to offer him, but he wanted to make sure the bandits head did not return for some sort of revenge.
From his point of view, Noah could see that the town now had a new liveliness to it. Not that it mattered to him or anything. He visited the kids silently and stayed with them for hours on end. They had become a lively bunch now that their plan had succeeded.
Noah knew that at some point he would meet the town's head, but to his shock, the man did not come that day, neither did he come the second, nor the third.
He had decided with Erolia that he would stay four days before confirming that the bandits head had died, after which he would leave.
The announcement saddened them, but that was his decision.
He honestly had considered taking them away from the town as it wouldn't be anything hard, but their safety would most likely be compromised.
Nevertheless, he would give them several mana cores to cultivate. He believed the kids would reach tier 2 in no time and maybe even cross it until they reached the third tier.
He didn't know how long such would take, but he had a space ring containing about 30 cores. That number didn't bother him since he never needed it, nor ever think to sell it.
Noah hoped exposing them to such qualities early on would help their cultivation base become far more robust than the norm. It was the best gift he could give individuals at their level. Maybe even overkill.
'Hopefully, their bodies don't explode,' he had thought being serious about his hope.
He himself didn't know what would happen to him if he absorbed something at the fifth tier. He would probably die. Instantly at that.
The morning of the fourth day came and Noah announced his gift to them, making sure to give them clear instructions on how to use it.
He had utilized his mental waves to stop most of their scream-like gasps from reaching the outside.
They were ecstatic, even Herald couldn't force his excitement into his aged composure.
Before he left, he made all four of them share one core to confirm that they wouldn't immediately die.
To his surprise, Aald directly crossed into the second tier and his power continued to climb after merely half an hour. The other kids weren't far behind as they too reached the second tier.
Herald advanced at the same pace as them. Having laced the required resources to increase in strength their bodies drenched themselves in the high-quality mana available to them.
Noah began to reconsider the amount he wanted to give them but shook the idea out of his mind.
After only three hours of cultivating, Aald revealed a power at the peak of the lower stage of tier 2. Erolia, Jor, and Roy following closely, within the second tier also! They continued to cultivate.
Herald revealed how he had been able to reach the peak of the second stage only a few steps forward and he would reach the higher stage, but the core ran out of mana.
The orange color of the core dissipated into strands of light marking its total exhaustion.
All three of them opened their eyes as they had cultivated for four hours straight and when they did, Noah watched their eyes widen in wonder and shock before they passed out.
Noah believed the session had been tasking. Their bodies had needed to break down the mana at the third tier and although they had handled it far better than normal, they would require rest to properly absorb the gains.
Noah left them after a while, making sure to lock their door and even sealing it with a bit of ice.
Only a bit of force from the inside and they would open it.
At that point it was already afternoon, and not having anything to do with the kids he decided he would stay in his room, away from the heat of the sun.
Noah did just that, but a bit after an hour, he received a knock on his door.
Noah felt surprised to find that the town's head had sent a group of three individuals to deliver an invitation.
Kius had invited him to his house to give him personal thanks for his actions for his town. He would be going there that evening, after which he would leave the town.
'So nice of him to invite me to his house,' Noah had said inwardly confirming to the three men that he would go. All he had to do was wait for time to pass.
If only he knew the things that were about to occur, he would not have accepted the invitation.