One year quietly passed by.
Noah didn't have any enemies in that part of the continent so his travel had been extremely peaceful.
Also, most of his time had been spent in seclusion, improving his centers of power as much as he could.
The countries in the area of influence of the Empire that he had crossed worked in the same way as the Soprad nation: they were filled with slaves forced to work for the mining of Vostum.
It couldn't be helped, Noah had always stayed near the western coastline and that material was what allowed the commoners of the Empire to cultivate, its demand on the market couldn't be met by just using one country.
Noah had chosen to avoid the other encampments that he found along the way, he had learnt everything he could from Ross, there was no point in meeting other soldiers and risking to incur in troubles.
That kind of travel allowed him to focus cultivation and, due to his dedication, some breakthroughs had finally arrived.
The first one concerned his body, his dantian had nourished it for a long time, making it reach the peak of the lower tier of the fourth rank.
His body had then stopped improving, if Noah wanted to continue training it, he would need a rank 5 body-nourishment method.
The second one concerned his dantian.
More than three years had passed since he became a rank 2 cultivator and more than one year had been spent while having a rank 4 body.
With the "Breath" blessing maintaining a high density of "Breath" everywhere he cultivated and his rigid routine, Noah had reached the liquid stage of the second rank of the dantian.
What surprised him in that breakthrough was that he had not needed to use the Earth pill or any other resources to help in that process, his mind had improved too much after the Bloodline inheritance, his mental energy was enough to force the compression.
As for what concerned his mind, after the breakthrough of his dantian, he had been able to store liquid "Breath" in his it, further increasing the internal pressure on his sphere and improving the effects of his martial art.
Though, the power of the art remained in the third rank, Noah knew that the issue was on the power of his will.
'Soon my mind will reach the third rank, that's when I will actively resume my forgings.'
Noah was in a cavity that he had dug in a tree, he was using that moment of rest to return to his peak condition.
He had understood by then that the power behind the will that he could impose on the "Breath" depended on the power of his mind.
Even if his emotion was strong, the level of his sea of consciousness still prevented him to create extremely impactful wills, lowering the power of his creations as a consequence.
He would use liquid "Breath" in his forging after all, he wasn't sure that he could control the process as well as when he used the gaseous one.
'My Yin body is finally complete, it won't become stronger unless I find a new nourishing method; my dantian has enlarged since it entered the liquid stage, my reserves of "Breath" are enough for a prolonged fight; my mind is nearing the limits of the second rank, the constant internal pressure and the Bloodline inheritance will make me reach the third rank quite soon. There is no point in avoiding danger zones anymore.'
The reason why he had crossed inhabited countries in the first part of his journey was that he still had no confidence in entering danger zones with his level.
The fight with the leader of the worms in the Bare Dungeon had made quite clear that he was still too weak to face rank 4 magical beasts alone.
However, his dantian had finally reached the liquid stage of the second rank!
That was one of the basic requirements to defeat a rank 4 creature.
Of course, Noah wanted to test his actual prowess.
The tree where he was resting was at the borders of a danger zone called Leston forest.
That area was the fastest way toward his destination, avoiding it would mean wasting months of travel.
Also, Noah couldn't find any reason to avoid it: danger zones usually didn't have human settlements and were harder to investigate, his tracks could be covered more easily.
He was still on the run after all, crossing inhabited countries would only leave a trail of his passage, Noah didn't believe for one second that his short hair could cover his identity.
'The map says that the forest has a few packs of wolf-type magical beasts and that some of them are led by a rank 4 creature. It isn't exactly the safest place where to test my current power but it will have to do.'
Wolves couldn't fly and they only had slow long-range attacks, Noah had nothing to fear from them.
What he was worried about was that the map gave him no information about the other magical beasts in the area, Noah knew only the name of the forest and that it had strong wolves in it.
'Fighting strong beings improves the sturdiness of my mental sphere and I need to be sure that my power is enough to kill a rank 4 creature. Too many things will change once my mind enters the third rank, I need to know that I can defeat it.'
Noah had put most of his plans for the future in hold, waiting for his mental sphere to have the breakthrough.
Simply speaking, he had three projects for the future.
The first one was to bring the power of his martial art in the fourth rank and his mind was too weak to do so.
The second one was the creation of the Demonic sword, having a rank 3 sea of consciousness would allow him to better control the process and to insert a stronger will, it was worth delaying its creation since he was relatively safe now.
The third one was the creation of a blood companion from a rank 4 magical beast, Noah had decided to play it safe and to wait for his mind to reach the third rank before attempting in that feat.
'It's time.'
The sun disappeared on the horizon, leaving its place to the night.
Noah exited the cavity he was in and calmly jumped on one of the branches in front of him, he was going to hunt!