"You might want to listen to the recent developments in the archipelago before saying your conditions."
Roy spoke before Noah could say anything, the latter gestured for the two elders to enter his cave.
A few seconds later, the three of them were sitting on the ground at the center of the cave, the entrance was closed, sealing away any noise and the curious gazes of the onlookers.
"What developments?"
Noah went straight to the point, he had only learnt the spells that he knew he could find useful but there was far more to do.
He wanted to study the many diagrams in his possession, he wanted to isolate the effects that he wanted to reproduce, he wanted to test the Divine deduction technique, and he wanted to take anything that he found useful from the inventory of the sect.
Each one of those tasks would keep him busy for long periods, he simply wanted to solve all the immediate issues before slowly absorbing the Inheritance.
"Your identity has been revealed, your copy appeared in front of cultivators of the Utra nation. Here, this is a summary that I've prepared for this meeting."
Roy answered as he handed him a pile of sheets, Elder Iris silently sat on her knees with her eyes closed during that conversation.
The sheets described the events in the archipelago that followed the disappearance of the separate dimension.
They covered the discovery of Noah's identity, its connection with the Hooded devil, the matter about the escape tokens, and even some final consideration personally added by Roy.
'No one is aware of who obtained the Inheritance and, even though my identity was revealed, the legal organizations only know that I belong to the Hive, they don't know to which branch I belong.'
The situation was far better than what Roy had hinted, the Hive controlled the archipelago after all, Noah barely felt the need to hide for the time being.
As someone who had remained hidden and had escaped for all his life, Noah could remain perfectly calm when he learnt that information.
"The sect is willing to offer you protection from the continent in exchange for the contents of the Inheritance. You can keep anything that you find useful for your cultivation of course."
Roy said with a smile but Noah's next words made his expression freeze.
"I believe that the sect is bad at telling jokes."
Noah had always been overbearing, he simply rarely had the chance to be in a position of power.
"Don't think that the oath can keep you safe. We might not be able to take your life since you are a member of the sect but there are many ways to seize the Inheritance without causing a backlash from our horned faces. Remember your position and let's have a peaceful transaction."
Elder Iris spoke without opening her eyes, Noah felt some that some sort of pressure accompanied her words but he had been prepared for a similar situation.
In the month and a half in which he had isolated himself, he didn't just sort the contents inside the ring and learnt some spells.
He had also thoroughly questioned the spirit automaton to learn about the many features that the space-ring offered.
The ring was a rank 6 inscribed item after all, its functions weren't limited only to a large space and a vast knowledge!
Noah's "Breath" entered the black ring on his finger and an ethereal figure slowly materialized next to him.
The figure had the aspect of a young boy with long black hair, he was the spirit automaton of the ring!
"Tell them what I can do in case the sect becomes hostile."
Noah ordered as he filled a cup with the wine contained in his space-ring and coldly observed the reaction on his two guests' faces.
"Yes, Master!"
The automaton answered before his eyes shone and he explained in a robotic voice.
"Master can freely decide to destroy all the items inside the ring, he can also just destroy one item at the time to show his leverage."
Elder Iris opened her eyes at those words, she inspected the spirit automaton with interest, she wanted to understand if he was speaking the truth.
"As a last resort, Master can decide to use the Credits inside the ring to activate the self-destruction mechanism. The power behind the blast generated in this way will match the attack of a rank 6 cultivator since the ring is a peak rank 6 inscribed item. According to my calculations, the entirety of the Chasing demon sect would be wiped out in the explosion."
Roy almost puked blood when he heard those words and began to stare at Noah's ring in fear.
Elder Iris furrowed her brows, she had a better idea of the power held by rank 6 cultivators and was quite doubtful about the automaton words.
However, she was only a rank 4 cultivator, she would die even if the self-destruction of the ring matched only cultivators in the fifth rank.
"Would you rather die than accept unfavorable terms?"
She spoke, her brows relaxed when she realized that the blast would take Noah's life too.
Noah shrugged his shoulders and emptied his cup before explaining.
"The Chasing demon sect treated me well but humans tend to lose their reason when wealth is involved. Also, I'm dealing with entities about the Inheritance of a God, I need to put my life as a mortal on the line if I want to negotiate on equal ground."
Noah's uncaring attitude stuck Roy's deeply, he had never seen someone using its own life as a bargaining chip.
"What do you want?"
Elder Iris spoke.
She had far more experience, she could instantly understand that Noah wasn't playing around.
Truth to be told, she was ready to give away as many resources as needed to obtain the Inheritance, she had just tried to exploit Noah's peculiar situation to her advantage.
Needless to say, that approach only worsened the atmosphere in the cave.
Noah smirked before revealing the price that, in his opinion, matched the contents of the Inheritance.
"Simple, I want everything."