"What do you feel?"
Errol asked Ruth, she had always had an exceptionally keen perception of the meaning behind the "Breath" in the air.
That gave her the ability to predict some dangers and even to understand part of their nature, as well as making her extremely talented in the Attunement method.
"I feel as if a wall has been raised around the archipelago. The sea is dangerous, the islands are the same, I think Master has overestimated our power."
Ruth spoke as her pupils shrank when she looked at the horizon, in the direction of the Coral archipelago.
Thaddeus had instructed for her and Errol to lead the reinforcements sent to aid the branch of the academy on the archipelago but they were far weaker than the rest of their group.
Errol and Ruth were simple rank 2 cultivators and only Errol had reached the solid stage, Ruth was still in the liquid one due to her focus on the study of the Attunement method.
"We have fifty rank 3 cultivators who are forced to follow our orders, do you really think that we won't be able to restore a connection with the continent with this force?"
Errol doubted Ruth's words, he was aware that the battle happening on the archipelago was above their level but Thaddeus had sent a small army of cultivators at the peak of the human ranks to accompany them.
Also, their mission only required them to reclaim one island and restore the teleportation matrixes, Errol felt that their power was far more than enough for that task.
It must be said that the political situation on the archipelago wasn't clear to the people of the continent, most of them believed that the legal organizations were in charge, just as the Hive wanted.
"Hmph, we have fifty criminals who are forced by Master's bindings to follow our orders, they'll flee as soon as the battle becomes harsh."
Ruth snorted and replied Errol.
The fifty cultivators that made their force were criminals turned into troops by Thaddeus' branch of the Royal family, just like those sent in the assassination of Samuel Muwlos.
Errol didn't answer her, he knew that she was right but he still thought that they would be able to complete their task.
An image appeared in his mind then, it depicted a young man with long black hair and a cold gaze.
His expression turned to one of sorrow when he thought about the man with whom he had surpassed the trials in the Royal Inheritance.
Noah's identity had been revealed years ago, the information about his crimes was common knowledge in the Utra nation.
Also, some of his feats in his escape had reached the nation, it was when Thaddeus became aware that Noah was a member of the Hive that he decided to send that ship.
"D-do you think that everything we heard about him is true?"
Errol spoke and Ruth immediately understood who he was referring to.
There was another reason behind reclaiming a peripheral island which was gathering information about Noah!
"Vance, no, Noah is a criminal. He has betrayed his family, his master, and the Royal dynasty, our orders are to capture and not kill just because we have to make sure that he didn't share the information about the Royal Inheritance with anyone."
Ruth spoke with a cold tone.
She was aware of the Royal Inheritance, she was Thaddeus' personal disciple after all and her family had greatly benefitted from her position.
Errol sighed when he heard those words, he had always been softer than his fellow students, he was what was generally considered a good person.
"How many years have passed? You and June have moved your respective families near Elbas city and obtained important positions, I've become a captain in the Royal army, Daniel is in charge of a section of the alchemy facility, and Vance…"
Errol stopped speaking, suppressing his memories, he longed for the time when they were simple students, away from all these political struggles.
"Oh, right. You were supposed to convince June to join us, what happened?"
He asked when he remembered that detail.
Ruth answered after lowering her gaze and reviewing the conversation that she had with that wild woman in her mind.
"She said that she liked to be alive."
.
.
.
Noah continued to cultivate in his training room inside the inscribed castle.
His attempts to modify the "Breath" blessing had always ended in failures, the mineral persisted on breaking apart no matter how many times he deduced his mistakes with Divine Demon's technique.
Yet, his centers of power were improving steadily at least.
Cultivating with a rank 4 cultivation technique and training with the Kesier rune in an environment extremely suited for both mind and dantian made his seclusion quite profitable.
Noah would never diminish his cultivation speed for the sake of his experiments, he knew that the centers of power were the foundation of the strength of a cultivator.
That's why Noah wasn't able to defeat solid stage cultivators but just match their power for a short amount of time, his dantian simply couldn't sustain such harsh battles for long periods.
Also, he didn't feel hurried about creating a cultivation technique.
Noah knew that his mind would most likely reach the fourth rank before his dantian neared the solid stage, he could redirect the majority of his focus on the creation of techniques and nourishing-methods after that breakthrough.
The Divine deduction technique consumed mental energy, a higher quality of mental energy would produce better results.
Apart from Divine Demon's technique, a rank 4 sea of consciousness would improve his mental capabilities in ways that Noah couldn't even begin to imagine.
Those were the heroic ranks after all, Noah was certain that once he reached that level, creating a technique would be far easier.
Months passed on the archipelago, the battles had suddenly ceased, leaving the legal organizations in a tense mood.
They couldn't understand why the Hive would stop its campaign after taking control of the least valuable islands in the archipelago, the underground organizations couldn't have possibly ruled in secret for so many years only to reveal themselves to momentarily isolate the archipelago.
They knew it could only be a momentary conquest because they had the support of the continent, the latter couldn't just let the entire archipelago be isolated for too much time.
It was a few months after Noah was stationed on the surface that he received a mental message from Roy.
The message spoke simple words but the orders behind them were clear, Noah was the leader of the human assets after all.
"My mother discovered a ship coming from the Utra nation, it will reach island two hundred and seven in a couple of weeks and it seems to have a decent number of rank 3 cultivators. You can take care of the battle plan."