Rank 1 (1)

"Ouch! Damn why are you so strong, Noboru? You aren't even an Enlightened yet."

A weak Enlightened man spoke with a pained voice. He was merely a rank 1 and of no importance. He had just lost in a sparring match with Noboru.

The man didn't hold back at all. In fact, he went all out and used his primary element to the best of his abilities and yet he still lost to a mere mortal.

Noboru didn't respond to his question and simply left the training room.The young Enlightened he just beat wasn't his first Enlightened enemy of the day. It was Noboru's tenth enemy and tenth win in a row.

Yori told him to rest while he was gone but Noboru didn't care. The time he would have spent waiting was too precious. He needed to get stronger as fast as possible. It didn't make sense to him. Why should he rest when he can work on himself and eventually achieve greatness instead?

He was headed straight for his apartment now after the hard training session. There was nothing for him to do anymore other than wait for Yori to come back with the ascender stone.

As he walked through the central building, he noticed the panic that most Enlightened were in. It caused him to worry greatly. There was definitely something far out of the ordinary happening and he didn't like it one bit.

Just as he passed by the hospital, because it was on the way to the stairs to his apartment, he watched Yuna, Hana and Yori exit almost simultaneously.

It was the first time he saw Hana and Yuna ever. Their unique appearance made it impossible for him not to stare and analyse them thoroughly.

Before long, Yuna stared back at him. Her gaze was almost murderous. Noboru couldn't know it because her mask concealed her face completely.

As he noticed her stares, he shifted his gaze fully onto Hana. She blessed him with a quick but troubled smile before leaving hastily alongside Yuna.

Yori emerged from the hospital soon as well. Noboru noticed his pain without a second passing. He hid his pain well behind a confident walk and a gentle smile but Noboru was too observant to be fooled that easily.

"I'm glad you returned safely, Yori."

"And I'm glad you didn't hurt yourself while I was gone."

Noboru bowed his head for a second or so before gazing at his widely smiling master with curiosity.

"What's happening? Everyone seems distressed and you seem to be in pain. I want answers."

Yori sighed quietly. It would have been easier to simply let Noboru ascend now and tell him everything during the few days spent training after his ascension. Unfortunately for Yori, Noboru wouldn't take no for an answer when it comes to information.

Sigh.

"Alright, Noboru. After I headed out of the city…"

Poor old man Yori's voice sounded scratchy and tired the entire time. He has been through much in these past few days and hours so this was not a surprise to Noboru.

After the explanation was finished, Noboru was surprisingly calm. Not only was his curiosity satisfied but he finally had an ascender stone now and he could immediately test out his combat abilities in the upcoming war.

He was not worried about it in the slightest. He was sure that he wouldn't die during the war. The first stronghold would definitely not fall either. They were far stronger than the jade palace overall.

"I understand. I cannot express how happy I am that you survived this ordeal, Yori. Thank you for letting me in on everything."

Despite his words, his voice was cold like it usually was.

"You should thank Hana too. I would have surely died without her healing abilities."

Yori heaved another sigh and started walking towards the stairs.

"It would be best for you to ascend in your own apartment. You will be passed out for a short while during the process of choosing your primary element. You won't be disturbed and you won't be in the way of others if you ascend in your own apartment."

"I agree."

Noboru followed closely behind Yori as he climbed up the stairs.

In merely a minute or two, they already reached Noboru's apartment.

Once they entered it, Noboru sat down quietly at the table located in the centre of his living room. Yori sat down opposite to him and pulled out the ascender stone out of his pocket.

It was about the size of the upper segment of Noboru's thumb. Its colour was yellowish orange. The texture of the stone was very rough. Rough enough that one could probably get a small cut from it. It exuded a yellowish orange light. This was caused by the extreme abundance of essence inside of the stone. It was too much essence for a stone this small.

Naturally, the ascender stone was forced to push the overflowing essence out. In this case, it was achieved by emitting light.

"This…is it, huh? If I touch this stone, I'll become an Enlightened."

Noboru sounded excited, his demeanour seeming much more lively compared to his usual cold expression.

"Exactly. Just focus on accepting the essence into you for now."

Yori seemed happy as he watched Noboru's excitement.

Noboru, without waiting for much longer, grabbed the stone at last.

His grip was strong and unrelenting as he closed his eyes and felt the essence enter and circulate throughout his body. Doing this took very much focus and was extremely difficult. Partially because Noboru never handled any essence before in his life and partially because it is always difficult to accept and not reject foreign essence.

"Your talent shows even when it comes to ascending, Noboru. Continue just like that."

Yori's words of encouragement made it even easier for Noboru to ascend.

As more essence filled Noboru, it started to concentrate heavily inside of his head. He could slowly but surely feel something growing inside of there. It was his soul. He felt it, he could see it and he could interact with it but it took up no space.

It was a surreal and indescribable feeling which nobody could understand unless they went through it themselves.

The soul being located inside of his head was the perfect scenario. It didn't add another weak point.

As soon as the body part with the soul gets cut off, the maimed Enlightened turns back into a mere mortal and loses all of their cultivation progress and all of their powers.

This possibility was completely eliminated due to it being inside of his head.

As soon as his soul was formed, every ounce of essence in his body rushed towards it and entered it, being stored neatly inside.

The ascender stone inside of Noboru's hand stopped emitting light and became a mere rock as the last bit of essence was absorbed into Noboru's body.

As he opened his eyes again and let the rock fall out of his hand, his vision blurred and he could barely even make out Yori anymore.

Yori sat there quietly as he observed the state Noboru was in. This was natural and nothing out of the ordinary.

Noboru's body grew weaker and weaker, his eyelids becoming unbearably heavy. A few seconds later, he passed out.

Yori chuckled to himself. He felt relieved that nothing during his ascension was going terribly wrong.

He stood up and scooped Noboru up, placing him down on his bed where his body could rest safely.

As Noboru opened his eyes again, he was no longer in reality. There was no sound around him. Everything was white; the ground, the ceiling and even the horizon. He had arrived in the place that Yori told him about. The place where an Enlightened will pick their primary element.