Birth of the Demonic Sword

Familiar lands appeared in Noah's vision. King Elbas' formation had worked, even if it had teleported the army slightly deeper into the Outer Lands.

Noah expanded his consciousness to study his army. The attack on the Sailbrird family had been a huge success, but his underlings had paid a hefty price.

The four rank 8 magical beasts had suffered severe injuries. They would need years to heal, and some of them might even need to hibernate to fix their body completely.

Divine Demon's condition was even worse, and his species didn't help his situation. He had lost his limbs, and his internal organs had suffered a lot. Only his centers of power were almost entirely fine, which hinted at a quick recovery.

Ian and Jordan were ok. Wilfred had suffered a bit, but his condition wasn't bad. All the rank 8 existences in Noah's army would eventually recover, so his group didn't lose any valuable asset.

The situation wasn't as good for the underlings. The rank 8 existences in Noah's army had tried to shield them from the shockwaves generated by their battles, but there was a limit to how much they could do.

Many rank 7 existences had died during the last confrontation and Gloria's chaotic outburst. Almost everyone who survived had suffered severe injuries, and some even found themselves with destroyed centers of power.

Noah knew that those losses were inevitable. His decision to face Gloria head-on had even limited that number and saved many lives. Still, that wasn't enough for him.

'I can't do much more,' Noah thought while inspecting his army. 'They have to overcome these difficulties by themselves. This skimming process is necessary. I will only recreate the pampered environment of the large organizations otherwise.'

Noah raised his eyes toward the sky. The cultivation journey was ruthless, and even his power couldn't affect that feature. He could only make sure that his underlings benefitted from his ambition as much as possible, but the rest had to come from them.

'At least June and the others are fine,' Noah sighed before covering the entire army with his dark world.

The dark world gained nourishing properties that accelerated the healing process of every existence affected by its currents. Noah couldn't do much for the rank 8 cultivators and hybrids, but the others benefitted from his technique.

The army soon set off to return to the Legion's headquarters. Blue lands eventually filled their vision and marked the beginning of their domain.

The Foolery and the other magical beasts reunited with the rest of the pack. The hybrids returned to their cities, and the cultivators created caves where to recover.

Noah returned to his cave at the center of the lands filled with blue bushes, but June didn't come with him. She had to prioritize the well-being of her centers of power, and long seclusions often followed such intense battles.

'What can I do now?' Noah wondered while reviewing the battle in his mind.

Gloria Sailbrird was a monster, but Noah could fight her techniques back when he activated his trump cards. Yet, he didn't know whether going all-out would have allowed him to defeat her.

'Too strong for average gaseous stage existences, and too weak for those in the liquid stage,' Noah concluded. 'Do I need to plunder every mansion and city in the human domain to push my battle prowess even further?'

The army had gained many resources after the attack. The Sailbrird family was famous for its libraries, so the amount of knowledge and wealth contained in its mansion was incredible.

A meeting would come after every rank 8 existence recovered. Noah and the others had to inspect those resources and decide how to deploy them.

Noah hoped to find something valuable, but he didn't let his expectation go out of control. It was hard to obtain helpful techniques or new weapons at his level. The best he could hope for was to gain a few ideas on how to improve without relying on external abilities.

The meeting eventually happened, and Noah found that his low expectations were on point. The amount of wealth seized in the attack was immense. Piles of Soul Stones and valuable materials had filled the mansion and the cultivators' space-rings, but their inventory didn't have techniques that Noah found worthy of his time.

Noah's standards were spectacularly high. His current techniques came for rank 9 existences or geniuses. Moreover, his abilities were often better than those seized in the attack since he had spent a long time polishing them.

The most valuable aspect of the loot was the copy of the knowledge stored inside the libraries. The Legion and the other rank 8 existences could learn a lot from those notes and books, especially when it came to the complex political environment of the human domain.

Noah focused only on the notes that involved appealing resources or peculiar creatures. He didn't care about the political side of the human domain since he believed that the last attack had turned every organization into enemies.

'I guess it's time to get my hands on the rest of Great Builder's inheritance,' Noah concluded once the leaders finished sorting through the resources. 'I need to improve the workshop. My experiments with the rank 8 creatures aren't going anywhere.'

Noah was a rank 8 existence now. His dark matter had evolved and improved all the techniques connected to its power.

In theory, the workshop was able to mass-produce rank 8 creatures now. Noah had enough knowledge in the magical beasts' field to know how to recreate a rank 8 magical beast, but his products didn't meet his expectations.

Noah had tested that procedure with multiple blueprints. He had tried to create simple and complex magical beasts through the workshop, but his products barely met the minimum requirements to be proper rank 8 beings.

Adding fake cores to those creations didn't help. Noah had wasted many valuable resources to create fake centers of power that could fuel those creatures, but he only managed to obtain a slight improvement in their structure.

Creating those magical beasts also required a lot of time, making the technique unsuited for battles against existences in the eighth rank. Noah had tried to smoothen the procedure, but he didn't obtain great results.

His failures led Noah to a simple conclusion. His expertise made him sure that the issue wasn't in his knowledge or tests. He lacked important information about the superior levels of the workshop.

'The second and third pieces of the inheritance shouldn't help me much,' Noah thought while contacting a few experts, 'But the fourth should finally explain to me how to turn the workshop into a valuable asset again.'

The sole idea of becoming able to mass-produce rank 8 beings during a battle made Noah's ambition skyrocket. He could gain the power to take on an entire organization by himself if he managed to get his hands on that technique.

Yet, Noah didn't trust the Balrow family enough to fly toward its domain without planning a way out. Saul Balrow seemed trustworthy, but he was only a rank 7 asset in his organization. He didn't hold enough authority to reassure Noah.

'I guess I need to rely on that guy,' Noah sighed before his inscribed notebook rang.

"What do you want?" King Elbas' voice resounded in Noah's mind.

"I need you to accompany me in a meeting with the Balrow family," Noah replied.

"What do I gain out of it?" King Elbas asked. "I have an entire library to browse here since I'm not a brute interested only in improving my battle prowess."

Noah hesitated a bit before sending an answer that he knew would appeal to King Elbas' curiosity. "What do you know about the ninth rank?"