Noah tuned a music in his lips, moving through the tunnels. He was happy to obtain so many high-quality forging metals as they were enough for him to train for a few weeks.
The tunnel was eerily quiet. That's when he sensed something amiss in the surroundings.
"Sizzle"
And so, after a few days of silence, Thundrith spoke to him again. But It was a call to run.
Noah fastened his steps, slowly changing into a sprint. He could feel four presences zooming in from his back. Noah wasted no time as he activated his bloodline.
Like an electric spark, his form vanished. After that, in the position he was before, an earth spike erupted from the ground.
Then a raging ocean of water rushed through the tunnel, following his tail.
"Damn it," Noah cursed, feeling water particles in the atmosphere creating friction against his body, reducing his speed.
Whoever acted now had a high-level perception of water, so that he seemed to be able to control even tiny bits of water from the atmosphere.
He heard the sound of water rushing behind him. That meant that man activated a water spell along with his perception, increasing the strength of the spell twofold.
"Bang!"
Noah slammed himself into one corner, turning to pick up his hammer before falling face-first.
"Sparkle"
Around him, electric current flashed that he applied to the iron pipe inside. He saw electricity conducted through the pipe moving along the tunnel wall.
Because of high voltage, the iron pipe quickly turned burned orange.
The electricity passed through the iron pipe, connecting it with the water spell following him.
"Bzzz..."
Noah saw the dark tunnel lit by blue light and heard a grunt in pain.
"Success..." he clenched the iron pipe hard until it melted down. The water spell also stopped, but Noah knew it wasn't the end.
He turned and ran again.
Using perception had a drawback. Unlike spells, controlling an element with perception was like turning the controlling element directly connected to the spirit.
In that way, if an opponent had perception in an element that could naturally oppose one's own element in perception, the opponent could use it to restrict or even attack the spirit of one.
Noah had an element that happened to be disastrous for every electric conductive element runners.
Noah had read about this from Modrich, as in larger-scale battles, the enemies would first try to eliminate such element controllers.
What Noah didn't know was, if one's perception wasn't higher than the opponent's, trying this attack method might permanently injure their own spirit.
Injuring the spirit was almost like ending the journey as a runner since it had no cure.
Noah also didn't know he could only do this because his perception of thunder was so much higher than his opponent's.
If that were the opposite, he should've fallen, not the enemy.
"Derek...?" A cold, mechanical voice sounded before a charred man twitched on the ground.
"Fallen? On a tier 2 human trash?"
"Per-"
"Shut up..." an invisible wind passed, dismembering the injured man. "Laughable, two of you can't finish a metalist..."
The sand under the tunnel stirred. From it, a slightly panicked voice sounded, "Young sir, he is not only a metalist..."
"Oh?"
"He seems to have thund..."
"Shut up! I was here all the time. I didn't sense him controlling thunder at all. Or are you saying his perception in thunder is higher than me?"
"N-no. I-I..." the sand moved, forming a humanoid shape kneeling before a bald man in full armor.
If one looked closely, they could see a pair of horns protruding from his head.
"Enough wasting my time. I want that metalist to die." The bald-headed man waved his hands.
A whirlpool appeared under his legs as he rushed towards the direction to which Noah fled.
'How could such a young human puppy perceive metal and thunder...' That's what the bald-headed man thought before increasing his speed.
Noah turned the tunnels, changing direction from one to another. Everywhere he went, there was no one.
"Where did everyone go?"
If not for his smart watch making warning sounds of foreign presence, he would've thought those in the gambling area were plotting against him.
"They are stronger… but not in a higher tier."
Or he was already caught by them now. However, their perception of elements was so high.
Noah had always thought in the lower tier, no one could fight with him. That's a little narcissistic it seems.
Noah had believed he could control thunder because of his bloodline. But only after that water perceiver used water elements in the air did he also find out he could do the same.
He just needed a medium, and that iron pipe happened to be such a medium. Of course, he had to train a lot before doing like that man, but Noah was contented with what he had done now.
A bright light came into his view, rushing through the door. He exited the gambling area. He didn't stop as he felt the surrounding air converging on him.
"A wind user?"
Noah cursed, fleeing. He had to survive. The guardians would've already gotten warnings now, and anytime they might reach here.
"Just a bit more time…"
But his once proud luck seemed to become invisible as a terrifying slash of wind fell on his back.
"Ugh…"
-1200
It almost killed him.
"Oh, you're still alive?" came a mocking voice to which Noah raised his head to look. There he saw a man walking…
'In air?'
"Surprised?"
"Yes. First time seeing a bald-headed human cow in the air. I used to see them as steaks…"
"Bam."
-100
"What did you say?"
"Oh mighty, are you perhaps the gods I worship every day?" cough blood