Noah was in a cave at quite a distance from Slyfall.
Two weeks have passed since he had been chased and he had used that time to increase his distance from the city.
Then, he had chosen to rest.
The scent of the Pink Rose had vanished by then and he needed to recover from the battle.
The cultivators under Gillian had a dantian between the solid stage of the first rank and the gaseous stage of the second one, adding the fact that some of them had a rank 4 body, they were basically on Noah's level.
However, Noah had a rank 2 sea of consciousness that had further improved after the Bloodline Inheritance.
Also, he had ambushed them, making full use of all his techniques and spells, expressing his experience in combat to the best.
'It definitely feels good to use all my power, hiding my strength for so long was becoming too annoying.'
Noah heaved a sigh as he thought of that.
In the Utra nation, revealing his element would have alerted the Balvan family.
There, however, he could simply fight how he wanted.
Information would take a while to reach the ears of the Royals and they didn't have the same influence on that side of the formation.
'I should still try to leave as few witnesses as possible, I don't want another big organization taking interest in me.'
He had virtually suffered no injuries in the fight but his centers of power were still heavily stressed, four months of constant travel were still weighing on him.
Also, Shadow's figure in his sea of consciousness was full of cracks, the last spell from that cultivator had surpassed the limits of what it was able to endure.
'Rank 3 beasts are too weak but the will of a rank 4 creature is too strong, I'm quite sure that I can't contain it. It seems that I found another weakness of this spell.'
The Body-inscription spell was his first spell and was what had allowed him to surpass the other contestants in Eccentric's inheritance ground, it could be said that, if he had not fallen inside Twilboia Cliff, he would still be struggling to escape the grasp of the Balvan family.
That's why Noah valued that spell a lot, not only could it allow him to ably fight when outnumbered, but it was also what gave him the ability to fly.
However, those strong points were slowly being outclassed by his other powerful abilities.
The First Form of the Ashura was way more effective than a rank 3 beast and his running speed had long surpassed his flying one.
'Should I create another blood companion? To what end? Even if I forge it, it still won't be able to surpass the limits of the human ranks, my spells or martial arts would still be the better choice in every situation.'
Noah refused that idea.
'The main weakness of the spell is its requirements, the other one is its uselessness in these middle ranks.'
Having a rank 3 beast against cultivators in the first rank or with a rank 3 body was useful but it became pointless against stronger enemies.
Yet, to have a rank 4 creature as a blood companion, a cultivator needed to have at least a sea of consciousness in the third rank, meaning that he couldn't really use the spell for two entire ranks.
'I should focus on what can increase my battle prowess quickly, namely the Demonic sword and the new technique.'
Noah inspected his space-rings.
There were thirty-two buckets that contained the Undead chameleon's bones immersed in his own blood, their refinement had long ended but Noah didn't have time to resume his experiments.
'I have a basic outline of the sword in my mind but that will require another series of experiments and a long period of time, it's best if I focus on that after I near the center of the continent.'
The Elemental forging method required long procedures and many mistakes to succeed.
Noah had managed to create a shard of his finished product but that was only the simple version of his sword: something created only with two materials wouldn't be sturdy enough to last.
That's why he decided to leave that matter for when he was in a safer place.
'Then, I'm left with this.'
Two scrolls appeared in front of him, they contained the diagrams of his two rank 0 spells.
'Blind wasn't that useful. As my power increases, the number of enemies that rely only on their eyes diminishes, not even magical beasts do that anymore.'
Noah had bought that spell to increase the variety of his attacks but his power had increased too quickly and he was also forced to hide his element for the whole time, he really never needed to use the Blind spell.
'I can't even imagine to use it for what I want to do, I'll just store it for now.'
One scroll returned to his space-ring, leaving only one of them in front of Noah.
'Shadow step spell, rank 0. It was useful to complete my ability to fly and it has increased my battle prowess while I still had a rank 3 body. Its diagram is extremely simple since its power is limited, yet, it's really a pity to not be able to use such a useful ability.'
Noah's idea for a new technique was precisely about that spell.
He knew the importance of abilities that improved the mobility of a cultivator, his last fight using the Warp spell was a proof of the advantage that they could give.
'Martial arts are an imitation of spells, which means that I could theoretically turn this diagram in the forms of a martial art. Also, since my centers of power are on a superior level, I should be able to set its strength to a level that can be useful to me.'
Noah's eyes shone with excitement as he studied line by line each part of the diagram of the spell.
'Also, if I manage to succeed, I might also be able to mix some of the effects of the Warp spell in it. That would create an incredible martial art focused on agility!'