The Hive provided Noah and the automaton with even more resources once Elder Austin confirmed that their research was promising.
Generally speaking, Noah didn't have to create too many living weapons since the Hive didn't have a lot of heroic assets compared to the other nations. A hundred or so weapons of various power would be enough to equip even the cultivators that managed to reach the heroic ranks in the imminent future.
Yet, creating those weapons benefitted Noah's individuality, which made his cultivation speed increase consistently. Also, he needed his expertise to rise before he could approach the forging of weapons in the fifth rank.
There was even the issue of making them specifically for the individualities of each cultivator, and Noah couldn't complete that task without a large amount of experience.
The years kept on passing as Noah and the automaton continued to work. Their creations eventually became more complex and featured multiple effects. The only problem that they couldn't fix concerned the unwillingness of the Beast Cores, but that was something that their wielders had to solve on their own.
The connection with the living weapon had to be nurtured personally, and it needed specific behaviors according to the wills contained in the Cores. Wild wills mostly required to fear the user, but the conscious and clouded ones could be quite canny and plot against their wielders. The cultivators had to break their determination before they could use them in battle safely.
The news that Noah was creating a new type of armament spread, and he started to work on commission. The heroic assets of the Hive would report a series of requirements and explain their individualities to Thirty-seven, who would then formulate a blueprint with the catalog built in the past years.
Noah would review everything after the automaton's analysis and decide which weapon to prioritize according to the cultivators' achievements.
Of course, he was still forging living weapons in the fourth rank, and those cultivators didn't need to pay for his work. Those assets didn't have anything interesting for someone in the fifth rank.
There were some of his old acquaintances among the cultivators that requested a personalized living weapon. Bruce, Roy, Sarah, and other members of the original Chasing Demon sect that had reached the heroic ranks in those years gave a detailed explanation to Thirty-seven, and Noah did his best to stick to those requirements.
The fact that weaker existences could express their preferences didn't bother him too much since he saw that as a form of training. Also, he simply refused to fulfill some of their requests when he found them stupid or could hurt the final product.
Living weapons soon began to spread among the heroic assets of the Hive, and most of its cultivators became busy trying to submit them. Some even had to request for weaker Beast Cores since the clouded and conscious ones were too hard to handle.
Noah didn't mind that either. After all, he would just store the weapons that they sent back and create new ones.
The Demonic Sword grew along his dantian too, so he just kept on following his packed schedule and seize valuable time with June whenever he had the chance.
As for June, she kept on researching a way to cultivate in the fifth rank since her breakthrough was drawing near. After studying the schools provided by Thirty-seven for years, she had found a solution to her issue, but she required Noah's help to implement it.
Noah stood inside one of the largest rooms of the mansion and stared at a complex array of shining lines drawn on the floor. June was on the other side of the formation and was wearing an expression that he hadn't seen since their first months as a couple.
She was blushing.
"What's wrong?" Noah asked without even trying to hide his interest in his lovers' behavior.
The two of them had spent so much time together that they had lost any kind of embarrassment toward each other, and June was usually quite straightforward with her desires and requests. Yet, there she was, blushing as she tried to turn her thoughts into words.
"I've found a type of formation that could work in creating the higher energy that I need to cultivate in the fifth rank," June said, "But I need your help in initiating it. Well, any heroic cultivator would be able to do it, but it has to be you."
Noah understood the meaning behind her words only after she explained the method that she had ideated.
When Thirty-seven gave June a series of teachings, he included even old and archaic schools that the world had mostly put aside due to the appearance of more reliable inscription methods. One of them was a type of dual-cultivation that aimed to alter the "Breath" of one of the participants.
According to King Elbas' research, June needed to create friction to obtain higher energy with her aptitude, and the only method that she found to apply that theory involved that formation.
There was a chance that Thirty-seven could have helped her more if she had just asked, but she needed to set the formations by herself to express her individuality. So, she could only work with what she had discovered and apply modifications where the method required them.
The reason why June was embarrassed was that she wouldn't need to do much during that process. The cultivator giving away his energy would do most of the hard work, while the receiver only had to enjoy the procedure.
To put it simply, June would create formations on her body that Noah had to activate according to a slow procedure. Also, that process had to last one entire week and required quite a lot of study.
"Are you wondering if I can hold back for a week with your naked body in my hands?" Noah smirked as he asked that question.
He was joking, but his instincts were really a problem for that method.
"Would you prefer me to ask someone else?" June answered with her usual sharp words, but she didn't manage to make Noah feel jealous since it was evident how she despised that thought.
"I hate to interrupt your work, but I really need this," June said, "I wish there were another way."
Noah simply shook his head at her words and neared her to lift her head and make their eyes meet.
"I don't," He said, but June's expression kept on revealing the struggle happening in her mind.
"Our relationship wasn't supposed to hinder our path toward the higher ranks," June complained, "But now I'm asking you to take a break for my sake! What if I'm unconsciously trying to find a way to slow-"
June didn't have time to finish her phrase since Noah's kiss forced her to stop speaking.
He understood her worries, but he also guessed that June was mostly worried about endangering the nature of their relationship. So, he felt the need to reassure her with a few words. "June, you are the fire behind my creation. Making you stronger can only benefit me."