Noah continued his experiments in his underground facility which soon began to be sieged again by a barrage of bolts of lightning launched by the black clouds in the sky.
Elder Ian continuously destroyed them but more clouds gathered in less than half a day, even he started to wonder about what kind of act was angering Heaven so much.
Yet, Noah spoke to him only when he needed more resources, he had bought almost one hundred slaves with a rank 4 body and requested for the same number of rank 4 creatures by then.
That high number of purchases eventually caught the attention of the stronger forces in the area, it didn't take much before the Empire discovered the encampment that the Hive had set.
Cultivators with a rank 4 body usually had a rank 2 dantian, it was normal for the big nations to keep track of those trades, especially when they happened in their area of influence.
Once that information reached one big nation, it quickly spread through the entirety of the continent.
However, none of the big nations acted, they had their own problems and attacking an encampment in a neutral nation wouldn't give them any benefits.
On the other hand, all the nations and cultivators looking for a way out of the control of the three big nations saw the encampment as a sign of hope, some of them even started to make preparations to migrate there.
Of course, the Hive had set other encampments throughout the continent but none of them was as eye-catching as the one in Efrana nation.
The reason behind such visibility was Noah and his purchases.
One day though, the black clouds didn't form again after Elder Ian destroyed them.
Silence reigned in that area inside the mystical fog, it seemed as if everything happening inside the underground structure had suddenly stopped.
Noah was sitting in the experimentation area, some traces of the corrosive black smoke still lingered in the air before they dispersed in the air.
He was alone, the entirety of his facility was empty, no traces of slaves or magical beasts could be found and even the wall in front of him didn't have anyone chained on it.
Normally, once emptied his resources, Noah would request more of them but that didn't happen.
He sat still with his eyes closed, it seemed that his mind was engrossed in something so important that he didn't care about planning his next move.
'How would I describe myself?'
Noah thought.
No one could answer that question for him, no one had never become close to him enough to understand the depths of his personality.
'I'm ambitious but that's a given, I need to focus on the small nuances that define myself.'
His ambition was something that defined his entire self but that also gave birth to all his different traits.
'I'm cold and aloof, arrogant, selfish, cynical, overbearing, and ruthless, this should cover what can be considered as bad traits. Yet, many magical beasts behave in those ways.'
Noah knew himself deeply, the Elemental forging method had forced him to understand what drove his life, it was normal for him to have a clear understanding of himself.
'I'm hardworking to the point of sacrificing myself without minding it too much, I'm focused and determined, and I'm strong.'
Those thoughts concerned what he considered his good sides but Noah didn't stop his brainstorming there.
'I have been a lone cultivator, a prisoner, a criminal, a soldier. I'm a bastard that has managed to rise to power but that it's still unable to exact its vengeance. I'm something that wasn't supposed to exist.'
His analysis even concerned his past, the events that had turned a twenty years old transmigrator with no care for life into a cultivator ready to sacrifice everything to obtain more power.
'My personality definitely resembles a snake-type magical beast but I don't want to settle for something that isn't the best. It seems that I need to do some research.'
Noah opened his eyes after his thoughts reached that point.
He knew magical beasts very well, it was his field of specialization after all.
That's why he knew that his personality wasn't fit for a dragon, those creatures were prideful and shining, they didn't match Noah's uncaring and reserved attitude at all.
Also, almost all the magical beasts would form packs to increase their power, hierarchy was something deeply instilled in their nature.
Noah, instead, was a loner and he was one due to his choices, that aspect of him didn't seem to find a match in the world of the magical beasts.
A message was sent to Elder Ian who then redirected it to the Coral archipelago.
Noah's request that time concerned the archives of the Hive and even specific researches that had to be purchased in other countries.
For the first time after graduating from the academy, Noah felt the need to study magical beasts more deeply.
A pile of books and scrolls were soon sent to Noah's underground structure.
The topics listed on their pages focused on dragon-types and snake-types magical beasts which were Noah's main target, he hoped to find a species that had the characteristics that he was interested in, no matter how rare it was.
The amount of information that the Hive could gain access to was immense, more and more books were sent to Noah's underground facility as he continued to be immersed in his studies.
The world was vast, filled with strange and peculiar creatures, Noah learned names of magical beasts that existed only in legends but which existence had never been confirmed.
Then, he found something that seemed to perfectly fit him.
'Cursed dragon, a wingless species of dragon-type magical beasts of the darkness element. It is said that this particular species of dragons has been punished by the world because its flames surpassed the boundaries set by Heaven and Earth, the latter removed its wings and reduced its reproductive capacity, bringing balance among the strongest kind of magical beasts. Cursed dragons couldn't compete with other species of dragons after having lost the ability to fly and were exiled in the depths of the Granite Abyss. It is unclear if this species is still alive since its specimens have not been seen for many years.'