Power Gap

During the next few days, James continued to spend time with Noel following her all over the sect where she healed many different people.

Apparently, the sect had paid her not only to heal all those people but the Matriarch of the sect.

When Noel told James this he was surprised that Patriarch Colton was actually married.

He was so surprised because the entire time Patriarch Colton had been acting as if everything around him was normal while his wife had been deathly sick.

'Something like that I can respect because if it had been Cara or Noel I would be losing my mind.' James thought to himself with a frown while glancing at Noel who was in front of him.

During the past few days following Noel James had grown considerably close to her especially since they spent all their time together.

In addition, at night Cara had been training James on his sword skill nonstop. Even though the training was hard James found it rewarding since it improved his body while also letting him get closer to Cara.

James felt that the more time he spent with the two the more cemented they were in his heart. They were now at a point where James questioned if he would ever even allow them to leave.

Besides that, an interesting thing that James learned about during all of his training was the existence of sword skills.

Sword skills are hidden abilities stored inside an artifact or other type of weapon. There were also other skills that were in Artifacts but James hadn't learned much about those yet.

However, the sword skills James did learn about were high-value moves that could be used with the help of a high-grade artifact or sword.

Apparently, all Artifacts at the Dao Forming Realm or higher have some sort of skill or function that can be used in combat or for general use.

In Cara's case, her frozen sword can be used to freeze other things that it comes in contact with while also being able to form an ice wall when necessary.

As for James, he had spent a long time trying to figure out what exactly his sword does but despite a lot of probing with his Qi there had been no progress yet but, Cara promised there was some sort of skill within it.

"Ah James, you're just the person I was looking for." Said a voice suddenly as James was walking taking him out of his thoughts.

When he and Noel turned around they were surprised to see First Elder looking at them with a smile.

"First Elder! It's good to see you, how have you been?" James said happily.

Among the Elders and all the Disciples besides Cara and Noel James had the best impression of the First Elder who had taught him how to cultivate at the beginning.

It hadn't been long since he started on his path but it has been a lot easier thanks to First Elder's initial guidance.

"I'm well thank you, and I see you have been doing good as well." First Elder said smiling as he glanced at Noel who had stepped in front of James protectively out of reflex but now seeing it was First Elder slightly backed off.

"Anyway, the reason I came here today wasn't for chit-chat. Next week we will be holding the Inner Disciple trials. It's the test we use to gauge whether or not you're ready to move up. From your cultivation alone I think you should participate." First Elder said shocking James.

He had been wondering how he was going to move up from Outer Disciple since he wanted to be near Cara as soon as possible, "That sounds great I will be there." James replied in agreement.

"Good, the test will be at the front entrance of the sect 5 days from now, see you then." First Elder said before disappearing from his spot at a speed James couldn't even comprehend.

'Just how powerful is First Elder?!' James thought in confusion after seeing such a spectacle.

If James would have been paying attention he would have realized that Noel didn't even have a surprised face and was still following First Elder easily with her eyes, 'Mediocre.' Noel thought to herself.

From this point, James continued following Noel to somewhere different besides the disciple area for the first time. From the look of it they seemed to be heading to the peak of the mountain.

Despite Noel being there to cure the Matriarch, James had never even seen the woman and much less seen Noel heal her which was very strange to him.

You would think that since the Matriarch is in such a high position that she would be healed first but that didn't seem to be the case for some reason, up until today at least. The peak of the mountain is where everyone in the higher levels of the sect lived making James assume they were going to visit the Matriarch.

As James was walking he had a sudden thought, "What kind of injury could someone married to the Patriarch get considering how strong everyone is?" James asked curiously.

When Noel heard this she smirked slightly before talking to James while walking, "Do you consider Patriarch Colton and some of the other elders really powerful? Maybe you even consider them almost the top of this world?" Noel asked James honestly making the gears in his head begin turning.

"Hmm, I would say they are the strongest people I have ever met and I would think that they are at least in the top 100 in the world." James said honestly as he thought about it for a moment.

Patriarch Colton and First Elder had told James when he first arrived that there were many sects that were a little bigger than their own but the Martial Sword Sect was still considered a great sect. So James thought that the head person of such a place must be considered very strong.

"Wrong, they aren't even in the top 1,000." Noel said with a smile as she turned around to look at James' shocked face.