Stone Wall

Noah felt mixed feelings as he looked up at the figure suspended in the air above him. A smile tugged at his lips as he gazed at her, one of the few people that had managed to gain his trust. Yet a part of him knew he wasn't supposed to be feeling happy, a part of him wanted him to cast away all of his emotions. To prevented what had happened in his past to reoccur. To prevent that pain from hurting him once more.

He knew the problems it would entail if he continued with their relationship, he knew that he was allowing future problems to now have a higher chance at worsening the already broken state of his mind. Caused by the multiple betrayals that had happened to him.

Yet the scene of her almost sacrificing herself to save his weakened state when Evan had attempted to blow them up along with himself played in his head.

So he smiled. He chose to tread a dangerous path. And he released the stone wall placed around his heart, though only a little bit. "I'm okay. On the other hand, it seems that you've grown stronger since the last time I've seen you." Though it was very faint, he could sense a familiar aura that she tried to conceal. One entailing the establishment of a Path.

Alyssa saw this and revealed a genuine smile, descending to the floor with a graceful fall. "Of course I have. Knowing you, if I stayed still, you'd soon pass me."

"Who knows, it might still happen."

"Good, I'll be waiting then. See you in the finals?"

"Hmm." He nodded, passing by her and not bothering to negotiating for the token. The two of them were introverted people by heart, not much words were exchanged between the two yet it seemed that they're true intentions had managed to reach each other.

Alyssa could indeed try to lead a conversation but she knew that she was pushing it. Knowing Noah, getting a smile and a reply was already good. After all, she knew what his past was like. Retaining the ability to trust anybody after that was surprising. Anybody else would have given up on their humanity already.

The cause of this was Leonel's family. Had it been anybody else that had received Noah after his transmigration into Maest, anybody with ill intent towards him, he would have long cast away any hope he had for humanity, knowing that their greed and negative emotions transcended even planets.

Leonel's eyes widened as he witnessed this silent interaction. This was probably the most Noah had invested himself in a conversation which wasn't with him or during a battle. And even worse was that this was with a girl.

Still, he soon calmed down and walked up to Noah who stared at Alyssa's departing figure. "Hehe. I knew it, before a woman even the most astute hearts can waver."

Noah's reply was a punch to the teenager's gut, making him groan while holding onto his stomach. The transmigrator retrieved his fist and clicked his tongue, not bothering himself with Leonel anymore.

The team on Alyssa's side were also surprised by her attitude. Among the third year students of the academy, the girl was ranked third and termed the Dark Princess, known for her indifferent attitude.

Yet this same girl seemed to reveal one of the most radiant smiles they'd ever seen as she spoke with a youngster two years below them. As for the short interaction the two had, they barely even registered it. As far as they knew, that was the longest she had ever spent on a heartfelt conversation with anybody!

As if sensing their thoughts, Alyssa looked at them with an icy glare while she approached them. The three gulped, interpreting her glare for a warning.

'If you dare tell anybody about this, you're dead!'

On the other side, Noah resumed the hunt for the tokens. His figure flickered as he moved with inhuman speed, scouring the forest with his Silver Dragon Eyes and locating the nearest tokens as he moved. His teleportation skills allowed him to quickly take any token he chanced upon even if they had been discovered by another team. But he limited himself to stealing from Year 1 teams and Year 2 teams who seemed to only have one Adept stage Battlesoul master among them.

This would of course gather a lot of ill intent from his competitors but Noah didn't care. The Year ones weren't a threat to him and he was confident in his team's ability to handle a Year two team as long as there was only one Adept stage individual. After all, they had done it before.

After thinking about it, the team had chosen to separate. He had sent the team a map via the Star Record which contained the locations of the tokens that hadn't been taken, allowing them to spread out and gather more at an efficiency that surpassed the other teams. He could also update the map whenever the tokens in his range disappeared.

The prolonged use of the Silver Dragon Eyes was quite taxing on his Essence but he could deal with that. The true pain was the damage his eyes were suffering due to the continuous exposure to the Essence influencing them, but physical pain wasn't new to him. In fact, he took it as a method to temper them, making a mental note to add this to his regular training schedule.

Noah counted 23 tokens with him as he headed to the next location shown to him by his eyes. The token seemed to rest within the body of a resting bear which seemed to be at the Intermediate Stage. The transmigrator didn't waste a second, his Blood Essence surged as he cleaved down with his sword, cutting the beast in two halves and revealing an unblemished token which flew out.

He moved to acquire it, but his senses suddenly rang, warning him of an attack. He teleported, appearing at the edge of his 30 meter range but still felt a powerful force that threatened to send him flying. Noah frowned and looked forward, past the destroyed land a few meters away from his former positions and set his sight on a teenager with a distinguishable golden hair and eyes and a smirk that seemed to scream 'arrogance'.

'I'm getting tired of the Nolan House's antics. It's really beginning to get on my nerves.'