Noah's days became slightly different.
He would still forge in the morning, memorize the Kesier rune in the afternoon, and cultivate during the night, yet, when he went back to his room, Nina would follow him and remain with him till morning.
That relationship was quite casual, they were just relieving each other's stress after all.
However, Noah appreciated her company.
Being always on the edge would ultimately lead to a breaking point, Noah wasn't aware of how much he needed to relax until he eventually did that.
He found his mind clearer after he began to take those mental breaks which made him further enjoy the nights spent with Nina.
She, on the other hand, simply wanted to spend time with him.
Noah soon learned that the soldiers of the Odrea nation would often engage in those kinds of relationships, the monthly battles were a constant attempt on their lives so they simply wanted to make the best out of time between them.
"Did you become faster?"
Nina asked Noah as she watched him forging the Instabilities.
She would remain in his room sometimes and stare at him in wonder as he created weapons out of magical beasts' bodies.
Inscriptions were a practice reserved only to a few cultivators, most of them didn't even know that there were different schools in that field.
"Yes, I can make four of them every day now."
Noah's ability increased as he continued to forge, he had become used to the form of the Instabilities, reducing the time needed for their creation.
"How many will you deliver to the army? Your secret stash should have reached twenty bombs already."
She had noticed that Noah kept some of his creations for himself but she didn't care much, if Leo agreed to that behavior, she had no right to interfere.
"Most of them, I just keep one every now and then. I'm alone after all, I don't need that many of them."
Noah spoke the truth but he wasn't being completely honest about his reasons.
The Instabilities were powerful but they were also heavily limited.
They had a wide area of destruction, meaning that Noah couldn't use them in a one versus one battle.
Also, he was nearing a breakthrough, those weapons would become unsuitable for his power after that.
He was just storing a few bombs for unexpected situations, it was always good to be prepared for any event.
"Do you simply like to train or there is a hidden reason for that?"
Nina would probe Noah from time to time, she knew that he had many secrets but she still couldn't figure out how he became so diligent in his cultivation.
Noah placed one bomb in his space-ring and took out more materials from the one belonging to the Odrea nation, the one carrying all his requested beasts.
Meanwhile, he thought about Nina's question and the memories of both his lives came to his mind.
He clearly remembered the powerlessness that he felt when his previous life reached a dead end, he was just a normal man that couldn't have success in the modern society and didn't feel any attachment to it.
Then, he was reborn only to be stuck in the same situation.
Bastard son of a noble family, forced to witness the abuses endured by the only person that loved him and surrounded by what he initially thought were superhumans.
Yet, this world offered him a chance to obtain power.
His situation wasn't good but he gave his everything only to take the few steps that ultimately brought him to his current level.
The constant training, the unflinching willpower, the endless schemes and plans that barely got him through his misadventures, everything piled up till that point.
"Once you know how powerless you can be, it's hard to see anything different from the road to power."
That was a simple reason but it was enough for Noah.
Nina seemed satisfied with that answer, she could understand his feelings when he said those words.
She was born in a prison after all, her life was spent under the shadow of the Empire, she knew powerlessness too well.
It was with a bitter expression that she replied to him.
"The next battle is in one week, I wonder how the Empire will react."
.
.
.
One week later, the two armies faced again each other in the valley.
The same thing as the previous month happened, only on a larger scale.
Noah had provided more than one hundred Instabilities that time, their joint power could rival the wave of spells of the blue cultivators.
The Empire didn't come up with many countermeasures in one month, it simply decided to split the defensive spells into two parts: the first one to defend from the spells and the second one to defend from the Instabilities.
That tactic, however, had many flaws with the most important being the fact that there were fewer cultivators performing spells each time.
The Odrea nation had two powerful long-distance attack methods after all while the Empire only had one, it had to divide its troops to prevent one of those methods from devastating its army.
It was obvious that a weaker defense would create more victims but the Empire was still willing to pay that price to maintain a sort of balance in the battle.
Only around two hundred blue soldiers of the Empire died during the launch of spells and Instabilities that time, those were still huge losses but they were somewhat acceptable.
That outcome forced Noah to focus the blue soldiers for the entirety of the battle, no red cultivator dared to expose himself to his sneak attacks.
'They have indeed learned… I can't force an opening in their formation with this little difference in numbers.'
Noah thought, aimlessly wandering on the battlefield.
The tactic of the Empire revealed itself successful, the battle ended with only a bit more than three hundred casualties on the Empire's side and a few dozens in the Odrea's one.
His disappointment though didn't last much thanks to a joyous Nina happily following him after he came out of the Mausoleum.