A circular table was placed at the center of the residential area of the cultivators in the second rank.
Noah was sitting on a simple chair together with the five disciples that were waiting in front of his cave, they had invited him to join them for a talk and he didn't have a reason to refuse.
Noah strived for a peaceful environment where to cultivate, as a member of the sect, it seemed right to at least maintain friendly relationships with the other disciples.
Yet, as the minutes passed, he started to become impatient.
"Zach, right? Have a taste of this wine, I personally bought it on island forty-nine."
"Why don't you tell us more about yourself? I bet that your story must be amazing!"
"You sure are good looking! We should go together to the brothels on island ninety-nine, I bet that they will give us a discount if you were to come with us!"
The conversations of the disciples differed a lot from what Noah had expected.
'Did they invite me just to have a drink? Where are the prideful stares from before?'
Noah thought as he kept shaking his head every time someone asked him a question, he simply continued to take sips from his cup, waiting for the conversation to reach the important topics.
However, it seemed that their chit-chats had no end.
"The Chasing demon sect has really a shortage of female cultivators, we are forced to go on the surface every once in a while or we will go crazy!"
"The best wine is found in the islands number twenty and below but this one isn't bad at all!"
"Where do you come from? Are you a native of the archipelago? Did you come here from the continent?"
'Are these the normal conversations that cultivators have? Damn, I miss June's surprise attacks, they were easier to endure.'
Noah sighed as he remembered the silver-haired wild girl that only wanted to surpass him.
'She might have surpassed my cultivation level already thanks to the inheritance… Oh well, I have wasted a lot of time escaping after all.'
His mind began to wander as he reviewed the events in the Utra country, the words of the disciples around him became a soft background noise as he lost himself in his memories.
'I wonder what happened to Ivor… Now that I think about it, he was the person closest to me in the eyes of the Royals.'
Ivor was only interested in passing down his inscription method, his mind had been on the verge of falling apart for a long time, only his obsession allowed him to endure the waves of pain that his cracked mental sphere constantly radiated.
'He is either dead or imprisoned.'
That was the obvious conclusion that Noah reached.
He knew that investigations about his background had been made after his disappearance, he was entangled in too many obscure matters after all, the Royals wouldn't just let him go.
However, Noah didn't feel bad about him.
There was a tacit understanding between him and Ivor, the latter knew that Noah had many secrets and that he would eventually leave so he did his best to pass down his knowledge.
Noah, instead, knew that Ivor's life was hanging on a frail thread, only a soft blow was enough to take it away.
'He would have approved my actions, his inscription method is alive and I'm planning to surpass all my predecessors. I should have left more wine though.'
"Zach? Zach! Are you listening?"
Noah's thoughts were interrupted by those words, he returned to reality only to find out that the five disciples were staring at him with displeased gazes.
"No, I wasn't. Listen, why don't you just get to the point? I am busy."
He couldn't endure the chit-chats any longer and just gave voice to his thoughts.
The disciples were surprised by his rash words but they quickly recovered and wore stern expressions, the friendly smiles from before disappeared in less than an instant.
'That's more like it.'
Noah liked that behavior more, even if it was slightly threatening, it was honest.
"New disciples usually pay their respects to their seniors."
The strongest of the group spoke, his peak rank two cultivation level was radiated together with his words.
"Seniority is a matter of strength and no one on this table is stronger than me."
Noah arrogantly replied.
His dantian might have been weaker than that of the disciple but he was a rank 3 mage!
That difference in power could surpass any larger reserve of energy.
The disciple didn't like Noah's words and his eyes sharpened as he spoke to him in a calm voice.
"Oh, would you like to prove it? I, Perry Seaborn, challenge the new honorary disciple to a battle! Do you have the guts to accept the challenge?"
Perry's words made the other four disciples gasp in surprise as they moved their gazes toward Noah, eagerly waiting for his answer.
However, Noah directly refused.
"No."
It was a simple word but the atmosphere created by Perry's heroic challenge was disrupted with it.
'It was a waste of time.'
Noah internally shook his head as he stood up and moved to return to his cave.
"Wait! Don't you have any honor? First, you claim yourself as the strongest among us and then you refuse my challenge?"
Noah turned his head only to see that even Perry had stood up and was pointing his hand toward him.
Noah simply shrugged his shoulders at that reprimand as he explained his intentions.
"What's the point of fighting? Why would I fight only to prove my strength? Pride is for the orthodox sects, we fight for benefits."
The disciples listened to Noah's words and their eyes widened in understanding, they couldn't help but think that his mindset was that of a proper demon!
A tinge of shame appeared on Perry's face as he listened to his words, Noah was right, they were assassins and criminals, what kind of honor would they even have?
"The winner gets a three thousand merit points from the loser, is that ok with you?"
Perry changed tactic which worked as he hoped.
Noah became immediately interested in that offer and turned completely to face the man at the peak of the second rank.
"I accept your challenge then."