Weeks passed after the battle near Vonduhr.
The official report was that the soldiers from the Muwlos family had been assaulted by bandits and the young heir, Samuel, lost his life in the process.
However, among the large-size families, the truth was clearly known.
The families loyal to the Cause thought that by using a noble heir that was also a former student in the academy, the reaction of the Royals wouldn't have been so harsh.
Yet, their expectations weren't met and they suffered quite a loss.
The soldiers in their mansion were more valuable than the criminals that they faced.
The Royals could refill those numbers at ease while the nobles had to slowly nurture worthy guards, it was clear who had been the winner in that event.
That's why their plans were delayed and an apparent peace returned since there hadn't been consequences after that battle.
Noah vaguely guessed much but he simply didn't care.
He had been busy selling all his useless items and buying new weapons and materials.
He also absorbed Abel's remaining blood, slightly boosting the strength of his body.
Ultimately, he gained the piece of "Breath" blessing, one hundred and ten thousand Credits, two new inscribed sabers, new rank 4 materials, and a large number of potions from the mission.
Even though he was still angry about how he had been used by the Royals, he had to admit that his gains when he worked with them were always extremely satisfactory.
BOOOM!
An explosion rang out from the reinforced room of his accommodation that made the whole building tremble.
Noah had resumed his experiments in the Elemental forging method but he still couldn't obtain some good results.
The bones of the Undead chameleon had successfully mimicked the proprieties of his blood but the toxic smoke would always corrode the material, even if at a slower pace than before.
Yet, at that pace, Noah was somewhat able to mix the two materials.
Though, as the corrosion began, the equilibrium between the two substances would break, creating a chain reaction that ultimately led to an explosion.
"Do you want to destroy the whole house?"
Ivor shouted, appearing from the other room of the habitation.
"Why is it so hard! And why do they always explode!"
Noah's curse resounded from the center of the reinforced room.
The inscriptions on the wall were starting to lose their light, it seemed that they had been through a lot in order to reach that state.
"It's already the tenth time and the power of the explosions has gradually grown! Usually, that means that you are getting closer to forge something stable but I'm worried that the building won't hold till that point."
Ivor commented, adding something else.
"Maybe it's an issue with the material."
"Of course, it's the materials!"
Noah answered loudly before laying on the floor.
'Since my body is still on the third rank, its blood can't completely affect the chameleon bones, it simply doesn't have the power to do so. Should I wait for the breakthrough?'
It wasn't even half a year since he became eighteen, even if Abel's blood had boosted his strength quite a bit, the peak of the third rank was still at some distance away from his grasp.
'No, that would take too much. I should just hope that the other nine bones will benefit from the prolonged refinement.'
He still had nine sealed buckets containing the magical beast's material immersed in his blood.
Apparently, due to his blood being too weak, one month of refinement was far from enough.
Noah sighed and stood up, two white sabers appeared in his hands as he did that.
Those weapons were the new inscribed items that he had bought.
The inscription on them vastly increased their durability, allowing Noah to feel at ease in case he was forced to use the Demonic form again.
He found out that the inscribed items that could fix themselves were rare and extremely valuable, that's why he had to settle for the increased durability.
'At least they are in the second rank even if only in the low tier. They should be able to keep up for a few battles.'
As his mental sphere enlarged, his Demonic form would become stronger, hastening the consumption of his weapons.
'I really need to forge a weapon with the smoke of my spell otherwise I would have to stockpile inscribed weapons forever.'
He had returned to his usual training routine.
Yin body and Dark vortex during the night while Kesier rune, Elemental forging, and martial art during the day.
However, the improvements of his body and dantian were not as slow as before due to the big piece of "Breath" blessing placed on the ground.
He had still more than one month of paid rent so he simply focused on his cultivation.
Like that, days passed.
Explosions would ring out every day, threatening the integrity of the reinforced room.
Ivor began to exit the habitation as soon as he felt that his student's creations were about to explode in order to avoid an increase in his headache.
However, one day, there were no explosions.
Noah was overseeing the forging of his eighteenth bone.
The black smoke slowly seeped into the reddish piece of magical beast.
After more than two months of refinement, its color had changed and even its internal composition was heavily modified.
The two substances mixed and their shapes changed according to Noah's control.
Its circumference diminished, increasing the density and the sturdiness of the item.
Its edges became sharper and a pointy tip began to form on one of its sides.
Then, the corrosion began.
Noah was prepared, he had seen that same reaction happen seventeen times already!
He hastily removed the incubating membrane, letting the leftovers of the process disperse in the room.
Smoke and broken dark-red shards fell everywhere as the item between Noah's hands diminished in size.
From eighty centimeters to fifty.
From fifty centimeters to twenty.
Noah was cutting off every part that was nearing the explosion point, controlling the chain reaction that would lead to a complete waste of the rank 4 material!