Noah's question wasn't out of context, and it didn't strictly apply to the Elbas family.

Both the Utra nation and the Papral nation had a fragmented political system.

The raids of the Hive had further divided the forces of the Utra nation into two sides, but the nobles that had joined the Royals weren't considered Royals themselves.

The same was true for the Council and the many sects under its domain.

Having such a divided power was one aspect that had prevented those countries from matching the Empire, and it was also a weakness that the exploration teams couldn't have during the invasion.

After all, their domains would remain exposed if most of their assets were to venture on the other side of the portal, and other organizations could just exploit that temporary weakness.

The Hive and the Empire didn't share that flaw, but the former still had to be wary of meeting a similar outcome. The small number of powerful assets was the unavoidable disadvantage of every new force.

Chasing Demon couldn't risk the current favorable position of his organization just to match the potential gains of the other nations. Yet, the return of the two Demons had given him some insurance.

Though the issue remained, he could deploy at least ten heroic cultivators without weakening the defenses of the Hive too much.

"That would be up to the Council and the Elbas family to decide." Elder Julia answered, but she understood that the Prince's words hid a deeper meaning. "Do you have something in your mind?"

"We can use the Cause," Noah said before turning to dive toward the ground.

Creating a mixed team was necessary to force cooperation between the four forces, but it didn't have more potential allies among them.

Ideally, the exploration teams would see the four forces deploying the same number of heroic cultivators. Yet, the Hive would be in an advantageous position if some of the troops coming from the Utra nation were loyal to the Cause.

After all, they were secret allies, and the nobles would have to cover for any eventual misconduct of the organization that was helping them claiming their independence.

Of course, the Elbas family wouldn't be so stupid to assign the exploration of a new world to disloyal troops. Still, there was a chance that they sent a few of them just to remove troublesome people from their nation, and Noah wanted to make sure that the Hive exploited that possibility.

'I need to prepare for the mission.' Noah thought as he created a small cave when he reached the ground.

There were issues that he couldn't solve before for the time being.

Forging rank 5 Demonic swords would be possible with the current level of his centers of power, but he needed to sacrifice an arm to use it as his core material.

His body was incredible both in terms of power and healing properties, but growing an entire limb would require a lot of time, and Noah couldn't use his rank 5 drug just to forge a saber.

Those drugs were his lifesavers, and he wouldn't use them for something that simply required more time to heal.

Also, he had yet to fuse his two inscription methods.

Expending so many valuable materials just to create something that he would abandon once he managed to fuse the Will-consuming runes with the Elemental forging method was just a waste.

That was one of the problems that inscription masters had to face when they attempted to create items in the heroic ranks. The materials needed for each test were simply too valuable, and they were bound to meet many failures in their attempts.

Noah couldn't just cut one of his arms and hope that the forging would go well in that period, not when he learnt about the portal to the new world.

'First of all, I need to keep the expansion of my mind going.' Noah thought as he pressed index on his right temple and retracted it slowly.

A spherical rune came out of his sea of consciousness, and Noah suddenly felt the pressure inside his mind decreasing when it left his personal world.

The sphere was dark, and it radiated an intense pride as it kept the energy contained inside it still.

That was the second Will-consuming rune that Noah had created during the months before the opening of the portal.

Different from his first rune that used his ambition and greed, the second one used his pride and hunger to function.

Its effects were also different. The saber-shaped runes used his ambition to enhance the sharpness expressed in his individuality and his greed to absorb the primary energy created by his energy. Instead, the spherical rune still used his greed in the same way, but the pride that made it forced that energy to stay still inside it.

That allowed Noah to contain what he intended to use as his core material for his future creations, other than resuming the enlargement of his mind.

'Its power is satisfying, but I still need to test its viability in the forgings.' Noah thought as he inspected the rune. 'Yet, the pressure that it can apply on the walls of my mind is limited since this energy is less dense than the "Breath".'

Noah placed the rune back inside his mental sphere when he confirmed that it didn't lose any energy during the period inside his mind.

The internal pressure returned and weighed on his mental walls, but Noah barely noticed any difference with his usual state.

The primary energy was fundamental compared to the complex structure of the "Breath". That made it harder to control, but also lighter in terms of weight for the training of his mind.

Noah couldn't accept to slow down his growth, but there wasn't much that he could do with his current assets.

'I can only create more of them and fill my mental sphere. Yet, I should make a Blood companion first.' Noah thought as he proceeded to send a series of messages through his inscribed notebook.

He had ignored the issue concerning the peculiar capabilities of his mental energy in that period because he had focused on improving his offensive. Still, he would need to use his full power during the invasion.

So, he needed the spell that had accompanied him since the beginning of his cultivation journey. Also, he wanted to match somewhat the expansion speed generated by a Kesier rune with his methods, even if he knew that it was impossible to achieve the same results.

The elders on the southwestern coast answered quickly and provided him with an updated analysis of the fauna in both the old continent and the new one.

Noah hadn't contacted only them though, and his eyes lit up when he received an answer from the rank 6 automaton.

Thirty-seven's voice resounded in his mind. "The Kesier runes are an expression of pure mental power. They aren't something that can be replicated easily, but I have thousands of researches in that field with me."

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