Noah's worries weren't groundless.
The three big nations weren't powerful just in name: They controlled almost the entirety of the continent and had the highest share of heroic cultivators.
Also, their areas of influence featured spies or soldiers, especially in those dire times.
After the Coral archipelago obtained its independence, many other nations had begun to strive for the same goal, the only weakness of the big nations had been revealed after all.
That forced the hand of the big nations, they redirected part of their power to suppress and manage the revolts happening everywhere in their domains.
Of course, special attention was given to anything concerning the Hive.
That organization was backed by a rank 6 existence and was formed by the joint power of forces that had freely ruled on the islands for many years, it could be said that the Hive was the strongest organization of the continent after the three big nation.
Also, their peculiar geographical position and the copying technique made those islands virtually unbreachable, having such solid defenses would surely lead to a stable growth.
That's why the three big nations had silently decided to focus on their attempts to create footholds on the continent.
The only weakness that the archipelago had was the need for connections with the mainland to secure a constant stream of cultivation resources, their encampments in specific nations were somewhat expected.
The big nations knew that it would have been impossible to send spies to the archipelago, every recruit would be forced to swear an oath of some sort before being teleported there.
Yet, that didn't prevent those spies from sending reports before officially joining the Hive.
It was enough to mask them as cultivators who had barely managed to escape from an area of influence to make them the perfect target of the Hive which desperately needed manpower.
Just like that, by sacrificing weak cultivators, the three big nations managed to receive a decent stream of information concerning the encampments of the Hive.
Of course, the Hive had expected that something like that would happen but it wasn't too interested in it as long as it continued to increase its human assets, even a spy was just another pawn in its grasp after it swore an oath.
What it didn't expect was that such an approach would have ultimately put Noah in danger.
In the Utra nation, inside a dark bas.e.m.e.nt that seemed to be used as a prison, a few hours after Noah had left the encampment near the mountain chain to reach the Granite Abyss.
A middle-aged man sat on the floor, runes shone over his skin, they affected the area around him with their brilliance and absorbed "Breath" from the matter that surrounded his figure.
The floor and the walls around him seemed to age as he cultivated, that process clearly showed that he was a cultivator in the heroic ranks.
Then, footsteps resounded in the bas.e.m.e.nt, Thaddeus Elbas appeared from the stairs connected to the upper floors.
He was wearing his usual smile but traces of coldness could be seen in his eyes as he began to speak.
"Evan, are you enjoying the new horizons that the Royal family has opened for you?"
Evan opened his eyes and interrupted his cultivation to knell toward Thaddeus, his tone was polite as he replied to him.
"I will be eternally grateful for this chance, Your Majesty."
Thaddeus nodded seeing his reaction and took a small sheet from his sleeve before unfolding it in front of the kneeling man.
"Do you know what this is?"
Evan raised his head when he heard those words, his sea of consciousness began to enlarge as soon as his eyes looked at the rune drawn on the sheet.
"The fourth Kesier rune! Your Maj-"
However, before he could finish his phrase, Thaddeus folded the sheet and put it back inside his sleeve.
"I have a mission for you, complete it and the rune will be yours. You will be finally able to become a true heroic cultivator with it."
Evan kneeled again at Thaddeus's words and replied to him while keeping his head lowered.
"Anything His Majesty asks."
Thaddeus stared at him for some time at that point before taking a scroll from his space-ring.
The scroll depicted a young Noah and a series of information was written under it.
"This criminal can't be left alive one instant longer, who knows how many problems will he cause if not. Even my disciple has suffered by his hands, her resolve to cultivate seems to have crumbled after their meeting."
Thaddeus spoke as he heaved a sigh, he seemed to really care about Ruth's mental state.
"This criminal has left Afria nation and is moving alongside the mountain chain that divides our area of influence with that of the Empire toward the eastern coastline. We don't know his destination but he must return to the Afria nation if he wants to head back to the Coral archipelago. Ambush him there."
As he spoke those words, Thaddeus left the scroll containing Noah's information and left the bas.e.m.e.nt.
Only then did Evan raise his head to study the scroll, his eyes radiated a dark light as he looked at Noah's face.
.
.
.
Noah was unaware that the Royal had prepared a trap for him while he was busy fusing with the Cursed dragon, he was focusing on returning to the encampment in Afria nation so that he could begin to fix his battle prowess.
His centers of power had returned to their peak form: His mind had quickly recovered after battling with the black clouds and he had eaten pieces of the magical beasts inside his ring from time to time, his body was only growing stronger thanks to that.
The only issue was with his dantian.
Noah was cultivating as he flew but part of the "Breath" absorbed was being redirected to his mental sphere.
He needed it to utilize the Shadow sprint martial art which was his best movement method in battle, he couldn't allow himself to be powerless after having caused such a mess.
The journey back to the encampment seemed to be smooth but, when the borders of the Afria nation appeared in his field of view, a sudden dangerous feeling hit his consciousness.
Hundreds of brown arrows were sensed by his consciousness, at once Noah knew that someone was attacking him.