Chapter 685: 685. Prey

Flying Demon and Dreaming Demon focused on training and stretching the boundaries of the separate dimension as soon as Chasing Demon completed the array that Thirty-seven had designed.

The yellow sand of the desert lost part of its shine after that project was completed, but no trace of the formation could be seen from its surface.

The formation was meant to hide the separate dimension from Heaven and Earth, so it featured subtle lines that couldn't be noticed from above the sand.

Of course, that was only a precaution.

The Hive wasn't trying to copy the Mortal Lands.

It just wanted to make a tunnel to ambush enemy forces.

That structure wouldn't cause the anger of Heaven and Earth, at least in theory.

However, the Thirty-seven still suggested adding that layer of protection in case the world noticed some similarities with the dimension created by Divine Architect.

The Hive set courses to educate the first batch of inscription masters now that the automaton was free, and a new series of missions appeared on the boards managing the human cultivators.

There was a need to create hierarchies and different organizations among the human cultivators to push their potential further.

The training with the copying technique improved their battle prowess, and the automaton would broaden their knowledge, but they needed to develop a drive.

Only conflicts could give birth to determination and strong mindsets, and the Hive was doing its best to create a favorable environment for the appearance of heroic cultivators.

Even the Empire had different platoons since that feature was needed to create some sort of friendly conflict among the weaker soldiers.

Noah knew about those details because the elders kept on informing him while he was busy training.

The dimension would take years to reach the old continent, so he could wholeheartedly focus on himself for the time being.

His focus was on his inscription methods since they were the key to create techniques and spells that suited him perfectly.

Also, reaching a high level of expertise in both of them would facilitate his creations once he became able to wield laws.

The primary energy created with his "Breath" was his core material, and Noah did not doubt it.

So, he would simply focus on solidifying his foundation until he reached the point where he could affect it.

Of course, his ultimate goal was to fuse both the Elemental forging method and the Will-consuming runes to obtain an even stronger approach that used his meanings as its core.

Yet, he could only immerse himself in endless tests to improve his expertise.

Noah began to forge disposable items again in his free time.

His centers of power had the priority during his seclusion, but he always managed to perform a few forgings and attempt to add runes to his creations.

The first experiments turned out to be failures, and the sound of explosions filled his underground quarters in those moments.

It had been a while since Noah's creation exploded in that way, but he didn't need to protect himself against them anymore.

The first finished products arrived quite soon though.

Noah didn't manage to enhance the same feature of his creations with both his inscription methods, but he found a way to make them work together.

His Instabilities had the same core, but Noah removed the spikes and replaced them with saber-shaped runes.

The blast of the disposable item would create primary energy due to the "Breath" used during the forging, and the runes would absorb it as they shot in the distance.

That reduced the number of materials needed for their creation to one and made the cost of the Instabilities far more sustainable.

Noah only kept a few of them but gave most of his stable products to the Hive.

He didn't need them, and the Hive could provide them to its weaker heroic cultivators since the disposable items had the power in the middle tier of the fourth rank.

Noah didn't need to create another Will-consuming rune for now, and he couldn't forge items that improved his battle prowess, so he limited himself to inscribe as much as he could.

His stash of rank 4 beasts' corpses was vast, and he didn't have much use for them anyway.

He could obtain as much peak rank 4 creatures as he wanted in the new continent, so he didn't mind using the weaker ones to train.

He also hunted a lot in that period, but the rank 5 beast that he could kill were hard to find.

The colonization forced them to join bigger packs to survive, which created crowded rank 5 danger zones.

As for the central areas of the continent, no activity was registered in that period.

The experts formulated hypotheses, and the most approved saw the central lands converting all the excessive energy inside their terrain in the birth of a living being.

That process seemed to be over after the birth of the rank 6 black flower, and nothing else appeared there.

Packs of magical beasts had migrated there, but the terrain was still barren, and they could only feed on the higher density of "Breath".

Noah's body went deeper into the lower tier of the fifth rank in that period, but it didn't obtain any notable increase in its power.

Instead, it was his mind that showed incredible improvements.

Noah's sea of consciousness had already entered the last stages of the fourth rank before obtaining the Will-consuming runes method, and his constant efforts only pushed the enlargement of that center of power further.

'More than twenty years have passed since I became a rank 4 mage. I think it's time to try it.'

Noah thought at some point during his seclusion.

There was a flaw with his Body-inscription spell, which Noah couldn't avoid: His Blood companions became relatively useless at some point!

That flaw had been somewhat eased when Noah began to apply the teachings of the Elemental forging method to the spell, but the core issue remained.

'I can already kill beasts in the fifth rank, and my mind is in the last stages of the fourth rank. Havok and Zac aren't bad, but do I really need them at this point?'

Noah thought and quickly accepted that his body alone performed far better than his two companions.

'There should be no issue with the taming part too, and I even have the saber-shaped rune now. Also, a rank 5 Blood companion will increase the internal pressure inside my mind.'

That last thought was enough to make Noah stand up and exit his quarters to look for suitable prey.