The technique described in Ivor's book was a method to connect the space inside the sea of consciousness with the outside world.
The cultivator had to use his projection inside the mental sphere as a link where the "Breath" had to pass through.
However, the sea of consciousness was a personal space of the cultivator, it was his same mind, not a place appropriate to store "Breath".
But the Elemental forging method did exactly that: it forced the "Breath" of Heaven and Earth outside of their dominion and refined it through the mental energy of the cultivator, making it a form of energy that could be shaped as the cultivator wanted.
The "Breath" had its own will though, it could even oppose the advancements of the dantian, it was no wonder that it struggled to no end when it was put inside a sea of consciousness.
Of course, a failure in containing it led to a backlash.
That was precisely what was happening to Noah.
The "Breath" that entered his mental sphere self-detonated because he had failed to restrain it and that caused the trembling of the sphere.
Waves of pain shot from Noah's head while he could only endure them, waiting for his mind to stabilize.
After about ten minutes, the trembling stopped and Noah could focus again.
He was incredibly pale and cold sweat was everywhere on his body.
His blue eyes were bloodshot but his expression was more determined than ever.
'I can totally do it! I just need to be more careful and start with even smaller quantities of "Breath". Also, I need to be at peak form every time I attempt on the technique.'
He forced himself to eat a small meal and then went to sleep to recover from the effort.
It took a week for Ivor to appear again in front of Noah's lodgings.
He knocked at the door and waited for more than twenty minutes before Noah opened it.
He smirked a bit seeing his appearance.
Noah was pale with large eye bags under his eyes.
The eyes were enflamed and half-closed and his long black hair were disheveled.
"I don't care if you want to quit now. I had to wait a lot for you to open the door so this counts as a lesson and I want to get paid."
However, Noah simply snorted and answered him.
"Shut up and close the door. I've done it."
Ivor was about to retort when he understood the meaning of his words.
"You what!?"
During the last week, Noah had used all his free time in the day to attempt in the method and, in the end, he managed to store a minute strand of "Breath" in his sea of consciousness.
His mental energy was almost completely consumed to render it harmless and without a will but he had succeeded.
A small black ball of the size of a tenth of a fingernail was calmly standing above the sea in his mental sphere.
It emitted a pressure far superior to Echo's figures which slowly enlarged his sphere.
However, that also caused a constant headache which led to his lack of respect toward Ivor.
"S-show it to me!"
Ivor was still incredulous and asked for some proof but Noah only snorted again.
"And how the fuck should I do it? You only gave me the method to store and refine it. I don't even know what to do with this thing stuck in my head!"
Ivor seemed to remember something and took out another filthy book from his backpack, handing it to Noah.
Noah hastily read through it and sat on the floor to concentrate.
Inside his sea of consciousness, his ethereal figure neared the ball of "Breath".
Mental energy was expended as the water rose from the sea and enveloped the ball.
Noah was using all his focus to insert his will on the "Breath" and finally relaxed when his mental energy and the "Breath" had mixed completely.
What remained in the hands of Noah's figure was a dark blue ball.
Ivor had waited expectantly for more than one hour in front of the sitting Noah.
The process had taken a while but he didn't mind, there was only anticipation in his eyes.
Noah slowly opened his real eyes and raised his index finger in front of his face.
A small dark blue ball came out of his finger and silently floated above it, Noah felt that it could control it like every other part of his body.
"WONDERFUL!"
Ivor screamed, interrupting Noah's thoughts.
"Old man, calm down. My head still hurts."
Since the "Breath" was outside his mental sphere, the pressure had disappeared but he still needed to rest to recover completely.
Nevertheless, Ivor didn't care and carefully neared the ball of "Breath", inspecting it with shining eyes.
"You are of the darkness element, am I right?"
Noah was a bit surprised but nodded.
"I guessed so. This kind of shade can only be achieved with the black "Breath" proper of the darkness element and a crystalline blue mental energy. You have all my praises, your will and mental energy must be top tier to be able to succeed in the method in one week."
Ivor sat and drank a mouthful of his usual wine.
"That ball that you created is the ink that you need for the Elemental forging. Of course, it's quantity is still not enough to do a proper forging but you passed the first hurdle."
He pointed at the "Breath" over Noah's finger.
"That mixture is a form of energy belonging only to you. It's not linked to any external rule and it's the main material of the method. What you have to do now is keep storing it in your sea of consciousness to increase its capacity so that you can accumulate more of it. Remember: never be distracted while you accumulate it and always use your complete focus to restrain the "Breath". You are currently stealing from Heaven and Earth, they will stop at nothing to destroy your mental sphere and take your life with it."