Noah went to the central building of the city at dawn.
Logan was waiting for him with a small troop of soldiers, their expressions were stern and focused, even the atmosphere predicted a bloody day.
"Follow me."
Logan spoke as soon as he arrived and led him toward the borders of the country.
They crossed what seemed a main road toward the eastern border, Noah guessed that it was once used to link the Empire and the Odrea nation.
Then, the road ended in a gorge sided by two tall mountains.
There was no grass nor vegetation on the terrain of the valley, just a lifeless brown ground with shades of red in its color.
"This is where we fought for the last hundreds of years, it is the weakest point of the formation and also the battlefield decided in our agreement with the Empire."
Logan explained.
Noah looked at the environment with apprehension, the valley allowed only frontal attacks, it wasn't a place where one could perform intricate battle plans.
'Hundreds of years of battles have started to change the color of the terrain. The battle will be messier than I thought.'
"How does it work?"
Noah asked after he had a general idea of the battlefield.
"We gather here every month, one thousand soldiers for each side. The rules limit the number of rank 3 cultivators to fifty and rank 2 cultivators in the solid stage to two hundred, the other spots are freely occupied by anyone below that level."
'So, I'm basically cannon fodder, forging the Demonic swords was a good idea.'
Noah nodded at Logan's explanation and continued with his questions.
"When does the battle start?"
"Midday and continues till the sun sets. Then we stop fighting and reorganize for the next month."
"What are the conditions for my release?"
"Kill one hundred cultivators in the solid stage of the second rank and you are free."
Noah halted his questions at those words and turned his gaze to Logan.
His expression was firm, it was clear that there wasn't room for negotiations.
'For how much do they want to keep me here? Do they expect that living here for some years will eventually make me sympathize with their cause?'
Noah could guess their intentions.
He was simply a cultivator in the liquid stage of the second rank and furthermore he had had his breakthrough only recently.
Using cultivators in the solid stage as a requirement would force him to stay in that nation for three years at least!
That was because he would need to have another breakthrough before he could confidently face those strong enemies, he would be forced to fight against soldiers with power similar to his before he could effectively target the stronger ones.
'They are underestimating me.'
However, his actual battle prowess was far higher than their calculation.
Noah had the Demonic form spell as well as the Mental tremor spell, those two attacks relied on the power of his sea of consciousness that was highly atypical for his level.
'I can't directly charge in the ranks of the cultivators in the solid stage but I should be able to sneak out some kill from now and then.'
He wasn't expecting to complete the task directly in one battle but he could guess that it would take him far less than they expected.
"Alright."
Noah ultimately answered.
"You will recognize the level of the enemies by the colors of their robes. Black is for cultivators in the third rank, red for those in the solid stage of the second rank, and blue for everyone else. We have prepared a blue outfit for you, wear it before the battle."
A soldier took out a blue robe from a space-ring and handed it to Noah.
Noah directly undressed in front of the soldiers and donned the new clothes, they were tight, exactly as he liked.
'They must have chosen them after my usual outfit, they are really trying to please me.'
He sighed as he stored his black robe in his space-ring but then he noticed that Logan's troop was staring at him.
"What?"
Logan coughed lightly before pointing to one small boulder in the distance.
"You could have changed there, there are women here."
Noah then noticed that the female soldiers had their heads lowered and some signs of blushing could be recognized on their cheeks.
'Aren't we about to fight a war? How can they think about anything else?'
Noah didn't understand them but he was a special case.
Not only the topic of romance was always outclassed by his training, but he also had never been careful about those gestures.
He had simply chosen to change there because it was the fastest action, he couldn't bother with the feelings of those that were watching.
Truth to be said, his body was extremely fit and his white skin coupled with his cold aura gave him a harmonious but untouchable figure, the women there couldn't help but be attracted by him.
"Can I cover my face, right? I have my enemies too after all."
Yet, Noah's mind was completely focused on the imminent battle.
He had never had a second of peace in his second life, everything had always been about life or death, his eyes could only see the path to power.
"Yes, you can."
Logan answered and Noah took out a black hood from his space-ring.
After wearing it so that his facial features were covered, he sat cross-legged on the ground to meditate.
Logan sighed and set a battle plan with his troop as he waited for the other soldiers to arrive.
Little by little, more people arrived in the valley.
Most of them wore blue clothes while a few of them had red robes, only every now and then a cultivator dressing black would appear.
On the other side of the valley, a similar scene was unfolding.
Soldiers from the Empire were amassing on that part, it didn't take much for them to create a troop made of one thousand soldiers.
The battle was about to begin.