It was night and Noah was silently cultivating.
Seven vortexes were on his back, constantly absorbing cold and dark "Breath" and pushing it toward his dantian.
In front of his dantian, another vortex rotated between his joint hands, taking in even more "Breath" from the environment.
The process of training both his dantian and his body at the same time was quite taxing for his sea of consciousness and even the stress on his dantian was not negligible.
However, Noah held on.
When the dawn came, Noah opened his eyes.
A sixth of his mental energy was depleted and he felt nothing but tiredness from the intensive training but he was used to it by then.
One month had passed since the events with the other students and Noah never slacked off.
He occupied his new accommodation and made the best use of the higher density of "Breath" by managing to practice in the Dark vortex technique and in the Yin body at the same time.
He had to review his training schedule though as he had to rest after spending the whole night in that way.
'The advancements of my body are better than what I predicted. Since I was already at the peak of the lower tier, I should be able to obtain a rank 4 body before I turn twenty.'
He had the vague feeling that his fast improvements were due to the Seven Hells method.
Noah laid on his bed and was about to take a short nap when two loud knocks resounded from the entrance door.
'Troubles? Unlikely inside the academy grounds.'
He went to open the door only to be assaulted by the worst smell he ever felt.
Vomit, booze, piss, dirt, sweat, all these odors mixed together to create the most disgusting scent in the world.
Noah unconsciously held his nose and looked at the cause of the smell.
There was a middle-aged man in front of his door.
He had long and oily hair, his beard was curly and full of dirt.
Dandruff was everywhere on his face but, instead of being white, it was yellow-brown due to the smelly sweat that continuously came out of his pores.
His clothes were ragged and full of holes, Noah recognized some dark stains on them that emitted even more smelly odors.
A big jar full of wine was in one of his hands and, on his back, a ragged backpack hanged seemingly empty.
Noah was confused and asked with his hand still on his nose.
"You are?"
The man sniffed and cleaned the remains of his mucus with the sleeve of his free hand, adding another dark stain on his clothes.
"I am the professor that you requested for. You are Vance, right? I'm here to teach you about the Elemental forging method."
Noah heard his words but was still quite doubtful.
He picked his token and, to his surprise, it stated that his requested teacher had arrived at the academy.
"Mister Ivor?"
The man nodded.
"That's right."
It took a bit for Noah to accept the situation.
In the end, he simply moved away from the doorstep and lightly bowed.
"Please come in."
Ivor was a bit surprised by his manners and entered the lodging, sitting on the floor next to its entrance.
Noah's new accommodation was more luxurious than his previous one.
It had three rooms with one big bathtub in one of them and a comfortable bed in another one.
The last one was empty which he used to train his martial art.
Ivor drank from his jar while Noah closed the door and looked at the man on the floor, he could not help but think of him as a beggar rather than a powerful cultivator.
Ivor took a big sip and cleaned his mouth with his sleeve before speaking.
"Give me the Credits and let's start with it. Each lesson will last one hour but most of the time I will just resolve some of your doubts."
Noah took out three hundred Credits and handed them to him.
"Mh, so you don't have any talent in the "Attunement" method and you requested for me. Let me give you some warnings first: this method is far from perfect, it involves a heavy burden on the mental sphere, one misstep and your journey as a cultivator will end."
Ivor pointed at his head.
"My sea of consciousness is full of cracks and there is no hope to heal it. That happened due to the backlash of the method so don't come crying to me if you end up in the same situation, you've been warned."
Noah could not help but imagine the life of the man in front of him.
'He lives with a cracked mental sphere all the time. No wonder he ended up in such a state, he must be in constant pain and yet he keeps on living.'
He had tasted the suffering from a damage on the sphere, he knew how painful it was.
'He is indeed praiseworthy for managing to stay sane.'
"The "Attunement" method uses the "Breath" of the world as the language for the inscriptions. It takes years of studies and constant practice to imitate perfectly the behavior of that energy. Its effects will then be within the range of what the "Breath" allows. For example, let's say that you were to inscribe a weapon with the "Attunement" method in order to make it sharper. You would need to learn the 'words' that the "Breath" uses to indicate that quality and then write it on the weapon. The inscribed weapon will then gain the sharpness dictated by the "Breath"."
Ivor stopped speaking and took another long sip of the wine.
He breathed roughly for a few seconds before continuing in his explanation.
"The sharpness of the inscribed weapon will depend on how accurate the translation of the language of the "Breath" was in the material form. It will also never surpass the limits of what Heaven and Earth consider as sharpness."
He took another big sip.
"However, in the "Elemental forging" method, there are no such limits."