When Noah woke up, he found himself in an unknown room lying on a bed.
His mind was foggy and he tried to turn his head to have a better look at the surroundings.
Immediately, a wave of pain came from both his back and head resulting in a grunt from the young man.
"You'd better not move, only two days have passed and your body still needs to recover. Your mind was exhausted too so you'd better not think of using this time forced in bed to train."
William's voice sounded from the side of the bed, he was holding a book as he casually browsed through its pages.
"Did the treatment succeed?"
Noah asked with a low voice.
"You really don't have anything else in your mind, do you? Yes, everything went well and as the nourishment of the first cycle goes on, you will break through the barriers of the rank 1 body and stabilize in its early stage."
William closed the book and took a basin full of a green liquid from a nearby table.
"Drink this, it will work as a meal and speed up your recovery process."
He held the basin on Noah's mouth and slowly poured the liquid inside paying attention not to make him suffocate.
A cold sensation invaded Noah as he forced himself to drink the soup, ignoring the pain he felt from gulping.
When he was done he felt sleepy again.
"I think I will sleep some more time, Master."
Then he closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep.
William shook his head but a smile was ever-present on his face.
'The treatment was actually worse than I thought but he handled it well. Such determination and mental energy, I feel blessed having such a disciple.'
William sat down on the chair on the side of the bed and picked again the book he was reading. He wasn't going to leave his disciple's side until he was fully recovered.
It was only three days later that Noah was finally able to stand up from the bed on his own, though with a bit of effort.
William was still on his side and could not help but feel amazed.
"In only five days of rest, you can already stand up, the advantages of the Seven Hells method sure are amazing. Even your mental energy completely recovered yesterday, I believe that in another day you might be almost at full strength."
Noah was trying to feel the changes in his body while he was standing, he clearly felt the absorption force on his back that was constantly providing "Breath" to his body, speeding its recovery process.
"It is indeed wonderful, Master. I think that after my body is fully recovered and the "Breath" focuses on nourishing it, my strength will exponentially rise!"
William shook his head and realized that it had become a habit of his since when he started his lessons with Noah.
"For now just focus on your recovery and on getting used to your new strength, from next week onwards we are going to spar using the "Breath" every session since its replenishment won't affect your free time anymore."
Since he said that, Noah became excited and wholeheartedly focused on resting.
The following day, Noah went back to his lodging and was overwhelmed by his worried mother's questions.
After managing to hide the dangerous parts and eating more than he ever had in his life, Lily let him free to go back to his room, satisfied with the time she had spent with her son.
Noah's life went back to his previous rhythm with the only difference being his weekly training sessions with his Master becoming more heated.
They would spar all morning and Noah's usage of the "Breath" synchronized with the twin saber style grew in ability with every session, with his Master addressing his fast improvement to the Forging of Seven Hells method.
Yet, his biggest progress was still his mental energy.
By that time he could train with the Kesier rune for five hours straight, apparently his mind got stronger after holding on against the pain of the treatment.
'It seems that the experiences one goes through in life can strengthen the stability of the sphere in the sea of consciousness. The more stable one mind is the more it can endure its exposition to the rune.'
Noah realized this after another night of training in the mental energy.
Two months had passed since that day in the torture room, and he felt that his body had reached some kind of limit, yet his seven acupoints kept on absorbing "Breath" so he tossed the idea of undergoing the second treatment away.
His head hurt, like every night after he stared at the rune for many hours but that pain could not make him flinch anymore.
'After surviving that day, I'm afraid my concept of pain got a little twisted.'
He smiled lightly and then went to sleep.
Early in the morning, when the sun was yet to rise, he abruptly woke up feeling some uneasiness in his body.
He stared at himself and noticed that his pores were secreting some black substance that had a nauseous smell.
Not knowing what to do and thinking that it was an after effect of the Seven Hells method, he hastily jumped outside the window in his room and ran toward the guards building, falling from the first floor only caused him a little discomfort as he activated the "Breath" in his body to reinforce his lower body.
He ran way faster than he had ever done in his life, but he was too worried to notice it.
When he arrived at the first floor of the building he hastily called for his Master.
"Master, help! There seems to be a problem with my body."
William was a cultivator of the age of 41. He had cultivated for more than twenty years. A person like him would notice when someone ran near his room but would usually ignore it since he loved to sleep.
Today though, he was forced to wake up listening to the call for help of his disciple.
He hastily left his room and looked in the direction of the voice.
Noah was covered from head to toe of some black liquid that had a terrible smell.
From his expression, you could see how worried he was.
William, seeing him in that state, smiled at first but then got a bit angry at himself.
'Shit, I totally forgot to explain it to him. If I told him earlier I could have kept on sleeping. Well, how could I know that it would have been so soon.'
He yawned and then rubbed his still sleepy eyes.
Seeing the relaxed attitude of his Master, Noah calmed down a little and patiently waited for an explanation.
"So what's the problem?"
William said a bit irritated.
Noah was surprised.
'Isn't it obvious?'
He thought.
"Ehm, I woke up in the night with this dirt coming out of my body. Could you please explain what is happening to me, dear Master?"
William put a surprised expression and acted like he didn't notice anything until Noah mentioned it.
"Oh that. Well, your body advanced to rank 1."
