Noah's gaze inevitably went on the golden crown on Lisa's head.
That ornament was a symbol of power, of rule over a country and its citizens.
'Becoming the king of the Odrea nation, marry one of their women, have children, defy the Empire… I've read too many stories like that.'
The hero joins the suppressed country and saves the day against the terrible and awful enemy that only wants more power, giving his everything for the greater good of his subjects.
'Yet, I'm the terrible and awful enemy only interested in power here.'
In a world where humans could become deities, power surpassed any ethics.
'My mother was a good woman, she was abused and was ultimately forced to kill herself because she was weak; June was only a kid when her family started to train her like a beast. Countries, laws, they have no value…'
His mind then recalled the dream in the test of the attitude at the academy.
Noah clearly remembered his feelings at the sight of countless human figures kneeling toward him while he was sitting on the throne.
He felt nothing.
Only the brilliant stars in the distant sky could move him, his ambition continuously sharpened with the passage of time, becoming a pure will that dictated his every move.
He had one regret though.
Lily, the woman that had suffered in his place to give him enough time to become independent, the woman that was happy to see her son choosing cultivation over her.
The suffused moans coming from her room still resounded in Noah's mind and each of her bruises was a weight over his heart, it was only thanks to his innate detachment that he was able to suppress his killing intent when he was in the inner circle of the Balvan mansion.
'I have no interest in that crown.'
He sighed as he reached that conclusion in his mind.
'Well, there is also a problem with my inscription method, I can't really live up to their standards.'
Noah organized his thoughts before giving an answer to Lisa.
"My inscription method can only produce darkness-type inscribed items. Maybe, in the future, I will be able to avoid this limitation, but my experience is simply too little right now."
He was a man of two worlds, he was quite sure that, as his ability improved, he would be able to modify the forging process to better suit his necessities.
Yet, the method always stressed to use an element matching your aptitude, not only absorbing "Breath" of another element required a completely different process, but also its manipulation would be harder.
The aptitude was innate, Noah would find manipulating "Breath" of another element more difficult.
"Cultivation techniques are the same, my level is too low to even create something for me and they are further limited by my element. Both your requests are simply outside the range of my abilities."
Noah's explanation made Lisa wear a disappointed expression.
Of all the outsiders that have come to her country, Noah was the only one that could perform inscriptions, that art was taught only by top-tier organizations and similar.
"Can't you just teach your inscription method to us? You don't seem the kind of person bound by honor if the price meets your standards."
Lisa directly asked for the complete method, in her mind, that was the only solution.
However, Noah shook his head.
"My method is flawed, I believe that it will kill your country before the Empire breaks through the formation."
Noah was being honest.
Among all the practitioners of the Elemental forging method, he was the only one having it quite easy.
He could skip the long absorption processes because he was taking "Breath" directly from his dantian and his mental sphere was always stronger than the purity of that "Breath", allowing him to easily suppress it.
Yet, how many cultivators had the sea of consciousness on a higher level than the dantian?
Noah couldn't think of anyone, he was the only known person that had that quality.
"Is it that dangerous? My men aren't afraid of death! I believe that we will ultimately succeed!"
Lisa didn't give up, the biggest opportunity of her life had just appeared, she couldn't just let it go.
Noah moved his gaze toward Luke and wore a bitter smile before speaking.
"Will you ever store "Breath" in your sea of consciousness?"
Luke snorted and laughed in response.
Yet, seeing the bitter smile that continued to stay on Noah's expression, his laugh stopped, transforming in disbelief.
"A-are you serious? That's madness!"
Noah simply shrugged his shoulders before replying in a soft voice.
"It's just the only method I could learn, nothing much."
Lisa's gaze moved between Luke and Noah with a confused expression.
She wasn't that knowledgeable about the topic of cultivation, she could not understand what they were talking about.
Luke noticed her behavior and sighed as he put a hand over her shoulder.
"My Lady, it's not doable. He is right, most of us would die."
His words seemed to have more weight on her mind since she ultimately gave up at the thought of obtaining an inscription method.
"I can create consumable weapons though. Their power will depend on the materials and on their elements but they should be quite useful for the blue soldiers."
Noah said.
He had already trained with materials that were of a conflicting element, the power of the items created in that way would be lower but they could still be useful in the monthly battles.
Some light returned to Lisa's eyes as she heard those words, the casualties each month were mostly blue soldiers, increasing their battle prowess would surely have positive effects in the long-run.
"That would be enough! What do you need to start? How much time? How many weapons can you deliver for the battle in thirty days?"
A storm of question hit Noah.
It couldn't be helped, Lisa handled all the matters concerning the country, she needed as much information as she could to accurately plan the next battle.
Noah, however, had just begun to imagine the blueprint of that disposable weapon.
Seeing that she was impatient for answers, he could only investigate about their reserves.
"Do you have bodies of magical beasts stored somewhere?"