Still he couldn't do anything. The teenager who stood before him was a Year three student who had placed a solid foot into the Adept stage. And unlike Alyssa who chose to hide her Path, he wantonly released his aura allowing Noah to perceive the Path of the Body within him.
Unlike the situation with Lucas, the transmigrator was sure that even if he and his teammates worked together, they still would be unable to defeat the Nolan house genius. Someone with a background like that wouldn't be as easy to kill as a mere bandit.
"This is mine, peasant." The Nolan genius smirked as he held onto the token, looking down at Noah with a clear expression of disdain painted across his face.
Hearing this, Noah merely gazed at him with an apathetic gaze before disappearing, not responding to the teenager's words at all.
The boy's eyes reddened at the pure apathy he received. Embarrassment filled his expression as he stared at Noah's former position. 'How dare you?! How dare you ignore me like that?!" Yet he couldn't release his seething rage, he was among his teammates. Teammates that had followed him not because of friendship but because of the political connection between their families, he really could not afford to lose his calm before them.
So he could only bottle up his anger before he faced them with a smile. "It seems the trash knows his place." They were people belonging to families his House wished to make use of, and although they weren't of the same status as him, they still held enough power to disrupt the plans of his House. Their interactions in this competition would serve as a building block for their future collaborations, so he really couldn't mess this up.
The three of them stared at him and though they tried to hide it, he could clearly sense the same disdain and mockery he had just released towards Noah. A vein almost popped on his forehead, but he still kept a calm face and laughed it off. "Come on, let's go. There is still time till the end of this stage."
They nodded, all revealing calm expressions as they allowed him lead the way. He obliged, turning his back to them while inwardly burning with rage. 'Just wait you bastards. I'll show you. Especially that fucking Noah. I don't know what you did to anger a Council member of the House, but I'll gladly show you your place. Orders or not."
***
While the Nolan boy seemed intent on making Noah's life hell, the transmigrator had honestly forgot about him the second he teleported out of there. If he made an effort to list and recognize the faces of those who annoyed him, he would have filled up the amount of memories he could store in his brain.
He and his teammates had chosen to regroup since the first stage of the competition would soon come to an end. After counting, they realized they had managed to gather 73 tokens, a rather significant amount.
"With this, we should have secured a position among the top 5." Argos smiled as he leaned onto the tree beside him, happiness filling him as he realized coming to know Noah was one of the best things to have happened to him. The guy was truly great at everything. 'He's a walking cheat code.'
Leonel nodded. "We only have to survive the next stage and make sure to pass at least two rounds of the last stage. After that, we should be able to claim a position among the top 20. It isn't high but the rewards would be worth it."
Noah suddenly held onto his sword's hilt and glanced upwards. "Time's up, the transfer is happening now."
The three nodded, readying themselves for the challenge ahead before a silver light covered their body and teleported them away. Soon they reappeared in the middle of what seemed to be a wasteland, hints of destruction plaguing the land everywhere they looked.
"Goddamn." Leonel whistled as he saw the wreckage before him. "This is gonna be harder than we thought."
Noah, on the other hand, frowned. His hand grazed the air, causing slight ripples that were almost impossible to see unless one really strained their eyes. Through the intricate connection to his spatial element, he could easily tell when the space around him was weaker or stronger as this was connected to his ability to teleport.
An example would be that, in a place with a weaker spatial force, his teleport range would increase and the amount of Essence needed to drive the Spatial Edge would decrease while if the force were stronger, his range would be limited and his Essence consumption would skyrocket.
At the moment, he could tell that the dimensional pocket they were in possessed the same spatial force as the last, down to the very detail. This meant that either the academy possessed two identical dimensional pocket or that they were still in the same pocket. If it were the latter, then he really didn't understand how it could possess contrasting environments. And he wondered if the academy created or found such a world.
Still, now wasn't the time to dive into such deep thoughts. He roused his Essence and Blood Essence as he felt a swirl of wind above him. That swirl grew larger and stronger before a terrifyingly large tornado appeared causing each and every one of the contestants in the vicinity to drop their jaws at the grand and powerful natural disaster happening before them.
"Fuck." Noah cursed. He, who had lived two lives, found himself shocked at the large tornado before him. But he soon calmed himself and smacked his teammates in the head. "Run, dammit. We have to make it to the other end!"
The three students snapped out of it and vigorously shook their head. The four circulated their Essence, executing their respective defensive measures against the terrifying winds smashing against them.
The other teams that had been teleported there also executed theirs…
… Only for bolts of lightning smash into random and unfortunate students, tearing their defense apart and immediately sending them into a comatose state before the lifesaving function of the competition teleported them away.
The students gulped as they stared at the humongous tornado that raged before them and the wide storm of lightning that sought to destroy all that jumped into its range. A single thought passed through all their minds at that moment.
'How the fuck is that a natural disaster!'