Chapter 333: 333. Decoy

Noah was unaware of the conversation between Dwight and Roy, he didn't know that an organization had already become interested in him.

He didn't have another plan, the map of the archipelago had other interesting opportunities but they were all handled by the factions of the Utra nation and the Shandal Empire, he didn't want to expose himself to them.

Since there was nothing he could do at the moment, he chose to explore the market on island one hundred and thirty-two.

He planned to cultivate and sell his useless items while periodically checking the map store, he was sure that another opportunity would arrive if he waited long enough.

The island had various stores, they covered most of the cultivation's fields.

Inscribed items, magical beasts' corpses, techniques and spells, potions and pills, every kind of resource useful in the cultivation journey could be found there.

However, for someone like Noah who had lived in the capital of the Utra nation, the variety of goods was lacking.

The inscribed items were mostly in the first rank, those in the second one were considered masterpieces and sold at exorbitant prices, Noah didn't want to waste money in something unnecessary;

The magical beasts' corpses were somewhat satisfying but those in the heroic ranks and in a good state came from the archipelago, Noah could only find rotten and decomposed corpses when he looked for creatures of the darkness element;

The techniques and spells were in the second rank at best while martial arts and body-nourishing methods only reached the third one, they were also heavily overpriced, Noah found himself unable to purchase anything that could interest him;

As for potion and pills, Noah limited himself to the purchase of a few reagents for the breakthrough of his dantian, there was a chance of failure in the process so it was better to have more than one of them.

The rest of his trip to the market was spent selling his useless items and sorting his space-rings.

Noah didn't want to concentrate all his wealth in one ring but he also didn't want to have too many of them.

When his trip was over, he had only two rings who had two hundred cubic meters of space each.

Inside of them, his weapons, scrolls, items, and materials were orderly organized according to their purpose.

'I got rid of all the useless drugs, materials, and weapons, only those that could link my identity to Noah Balvan are still in my rings. I've managed to gain a few thousand Credits today but my finances will just decrease if I continue to travel through the islands and purchase information without any kind of income.'

Noah thought as he moved to the now-familiar map store.

Using the matrixes and purchasing information was expensive, even after selling all his useless items, Noah's finances only amounted to one hundred and twenty thousand Credits.

'I guess I can't help it, I'll just have to find an occupation if I become too short on money.'

He had already thought of using his capabilities as a hunter and inscription master to make a living but he preferred to leave that option for last: Those two professions would inevitably expose something about himself, he would rather join an organization and use it as a cover.

The usual greetings of the middle-aged woman welcomed him as soon as he stepped in the store, Noah simply nodded before inspecting the shelves.

He was just passing by, only a few days had passed since he updated the map, there was no point in doing it again so soon.

Yet, a tag on an empty shelf attracted his attention, making him stop in place.

The empty shelves held information about different topics and the one in front of Noah had a familiar name written on its tag.

'Hooded devil.'

Noah read the tag in his mind while keeping an expressionless face.

Two thousand Credits then appeared in his hand and he carefully laid them inside the shelf without retracting his arm.

The crystals disappeared and the shelf lit up, a stream of information ran from his hand to his mind in a few instants.

Noah had paid for the most detailed report, he would pay any price to know how far the investigation about him had gone.

'The Hooded devil, a cultivator that has joined the Odrea nation in its battles against the Shandal Empire. Darkness element, cultivation level unclear. Witnesses have confirmed that he has survived the ambush of a rank 3 cultivator and that he can perform inscriptions. Possible identity: Noah Balvan, criminal of the Utra nation. The Elbas family has issued an arrest warrant and some of his abilities match those of the Hooded devil. Further information about Noah Balvan is to be found in the Utra nation. Current location: Odrea nation.'

As the pieces of information entered his mind, Noah was first surprised by how fast a connection with his real identity had been made.

Yet, toward the end of it, he became confused.

'Current location? What does it mean?'

"How outdated are these reports?"

He immediately asked the woman as he retracted his arm.

"These have come yesterday, they shouldn't be more than one month old."

The woman replied with an interested expression but Noah just nodded at her answer and left the building to return to his habitation.

'Don't tell me that they are still covering me!'

That was the only explanation that he could come up with.

His escape plan only needed for the Odrea country to open the formation so that he could pretend to escape toward the depth of the continent, he didn't ask for anything more.

Nina's face appeared in his mind, followed by those of the cultivators with whom he had shared two years of his life.

'Those guys, this wasn't necessary.'

He could imagine what they had done.

Placing a blue soldier with a black hood in a monthly battle that followed Noah's departure would have been enough to fool the Empire, the decoy didn't have to fight after all, its figure would be enough to give Noah more time to escape.