The reason why Noah chose to go after the rank 5 material was simple: It was the only report that seemed somewhat believable!
'I don't actually believe that there will be a rank 5 material but maybe there will be enough rank 4 ones to make a good profit.'
Those were his thoughts as he walked back to his cave.
Bruce sent him away after he had decided his mission, Noah had only to await further orders in the meantime.
'The batch of rank 4 medicines is too unreal, not only are they extremely hard to craft, but it is also impossible for such a valuable shipment to be unguarded.'
Noah thought about the second report, in his mind, the rumor was either fake or a trap purposely set by the Papral nation.
'As for the Inheritance ground, that's simply impossible.'
Noah didn't know too much about Inheritance grounds but he had been in two of them.
They were usually created by powerful beings in the heroic ranks, it would be extremely unlikely for them to remain hidden in environments filled with experts.
The archipelago had been inhabited for centuries after all, many cultivators in the heroic rank had already investigated its surface and even its exoskeleton, something so valuable like an Inheritance ground wouldn't have escaped their eyes.
'Bruce said that the ship will sail in two days, I have time for another Dantian's opening, then I will focus on returning to my peak form.'
Noah did exactly what he thought.
Another cultivation session was completed that night and, with the help of the Sea snake's tears and the liquid "Breath" in his circulatory system, he was completely healed in less than twenty-four hours.
A buzzing sound resounded in his mental sphere in the night of the second day, Noah picked his notebook and nodded internally when he heard the message carried by Bruce's mental imprint.
He dressed in his usual tight black robe and his hood was momentarily laying on his shoulder, he didn't need to cover his identity inside the sect after all.
His mental energy swept the contents of his space-rings one last time, his Instabilities and Hidden blasts were there as well as his pairs of black and white sabers, he couldn't have been more ready.
Then, he left his cave and went in the direction of the residential area of the rank 3 cultivators.
When he arrived there, he found that some disciples were gathered around a cave.
Noah recognized some of their faces from the training area used to exile the troublesome members of his faction so he neared them without hesitation.
'All in the second rank and their behavior is quite surprising, it seems that Seth was right.'
The disciples in front of the cave had stern expressions and their gazes revealed their dense battle intent, they were ready to fight to the death if needed!
The disciples noticed Noah and opened a path for him, some of them even bowed at his sight.
It couldn't be helped, not all the members of the sect had seen his battle against Perry but rumors about his strength had already spread around the sect.
Perry had gone all out during that battle but Noah had managed to defeat him with only one spell, that feat alone put him far beyond the normal rank 2 cultivators.
"Is this the captain's cave?"
Noah asked as he turned his gaze toward one of the disciples that had bowed.
"Yes, captain Clive always waits for all the members of his team to gather before opening the entrance and brief us about the plan."
The disciple politely answered and a slight smile appeared on his face when he saw that Noah nodded to him.
Clive was one of the captains directly under Bruce, he was one of the five unfortunate rank 3 cultivators that chased Bruce's delusions.
He was the one appointed with the raid of the ship belonging to the Utra nation so he would be Noah's captain for that mission.
Minutes passed and more disciples arrived in front of the cave, Noah counted twenty-five rank 2 cultivators when the entrance of Clive's habitation opened.
A slightly fat man appeared in his vision, he had long white hair combed in an intricate ponytail and long gray braids as his beard.
"Come in, the briefing won't take much."
Clive spoke, he waited for all the disciples to enter before closing the entrance.
Yet, as the crowd passed next to him, he stretched his hand to stop Noah from reaching the depth of the cave.
"Captain?"
Noah asked in confusion, he stared at Clive, waiting for an answer.
However, Clive was silent, he simply stared at Noah with a gaze that revealed his steadily increasing surprise.
Noah could feel that the mental energy of his captain was trying to inspect him but he seemed far weaker than the other rank 3 cultivators when it came to the sea of consciousness, Noah could completely protect himself this time.
'Our mental spheres should be on the same level, I can't understand much either.'
Noah thought as he tried to analyze Clive, he seemed in the gaseous stage of the third rank but he couldn't understand anything more.
"Amazing. When the leader told me about you, I thought he was joking. It seems that you really are a rank 3 mage, how did you do it?"
Clive honestly asked, it seemed that the matter was really important to him.
"Hard work and lucky encounters, I think you know that there aren't shortcuts when it comes to cultivation."
Noah lied.
His biggest advantage was that his mind as a transmigrator had been already stable since his youth, leading him to have no restrictions when he trained at that young age.
That advantage, however, was now gone.
He had reached the third rank faster than anyone in history but everyone at his age had a completely formed mind, his hard-work coupled with his mature mind had only allowed him to have a higher starting point.