After the discussion ended, the assets of the three forces began to explore the city to see if they could find something valuable. A few rank 4 cultivators belonging to each faction joined the inspection too since there was a limit to what the troops in the human ranks were able to sense.
The city didn't have any precious material. The Empire had already taken away anything valuable before the first battle. Yet, the buildings and the defensive formation were still there, and they were assets that the experts of the three forces could use and study.
The formation behind the blue pillars wasn't exceptional, but the Empire had built that city for the sole purpose of analyzing the evolution of the central lands. It featured many useful buildings, and it even had vast cultivation areas for the experts stationed there.
The leaders of the armies eventually decided to divide the city into three parts and use it to accommodate their troops. After all, there were many large habitations there, and they could even make use of the blue pillar in case the Empire decided to retaliate.
Of course, no one expected the Empire to attack. The three forces had managed to win while being in a disadvantageous position. It would be simply suicidal to try and reclaim the city now that they had gained the territorial advantage.
Noah didn't return to the Hive's domain and dug a cave in the outskirts of the city. He didn't need a proper training area since he mostly cultivated and meditated in that period.
Any experiment would consume years at his level, so he preferred to improve centers of power rather than immerse himself in one of his many projects. Also, the war would require his presence often, so it was better to focus on things that he could interrupt whenever he wanted.
The battle against Countless Wings left him almost unscathed. The detonations of the butterflies had burnt his skin in some spots. Still, those injuries would heal in a matter of days.
As he analyzed his battle, his confidence solidified. It was evident that he was on the same level as those old monsters even if he had yet to defeat one of them. His battle prowess mainly came from his darkness, but his spells were powerful in general. Also, the fact that he could use his martial art together with the Demonic Sword gave him access to a threatening and relentless offensive.
After all, Noah was never really fighting alone. All his opponents had to face two beings capable of expressing a battle prowess in the fifth rank, and that had perfect coordination. Even the most experienced cultivators would find him troublesome to deal with.
It didn't take much before envoys from the other organizations started to knock on his and the Elders' doors.
The armies had fought together in that battle. The allied troops didn't fail to notice the advantage of the rank 4 Elders of the Hive. The strange weapons that they wielded were simply too flashy to ignore.
The allied troops saw how those weapons were able to launch a seemingly limitless number of attacks with power similar to the enemy spells. Such items were simply fantastic, and the cultivators wielding them didn't even seem to suffer from any kind of drawback!
It was needless to say that both the Council and the Elbas family became immediately interested in the living weapons, especially since they showed clear connections with the magical beasts' world.
Both organizations expected that the Hive would come up with something after the events with the other world. They had Noah in their ranks in the end.
Yet, they didn't expect that he could create something so useful so soon. After all, most of their experiments were still in the testing phase.
Of course, the reason behind their failures in the past forty years was that they had mainly tried to replicate Noah's body. Even if they had consulted him on that matter, the heroic cultivators of the two organizations weren't willing to give up on obtaining the power of a hybrid.
That led to countless failures and deaths that they had kept a secret from the world. Decades had to pass before they accepted that Noah had spoken the truth and moved toward other experiments.
The envoys of both organizations tried to set meetings to discuss the living weapons, and they even named exorbitant prices just to analyze one of them. However, the Hive wasn't willing to give any information just yet.
Chasing Demon had decided that the Hive would wait until all its heroic assets obtained a suitable living weapon to create a market with those items. That was something that would have to wait for the end of the war when the thirst for those new assets reached its peak.
Noah would have considered meeting the envoys if that led him to meet June again, but the Elbas family didn't deploy her during the war. He expected that since the Royals wanted to show the power of their bloodline on the battlefield, but he still wanted to check up on her growth.
He knew that it wouldn't be a problem for her to hide her new energy. June still had access to her previous cultivation technique and could absorb normal "Breath" of the lightning element from the environment. However, he couldn't wait for the moment when he could just walk with her under the astonished expressions of the Royals.
He had to respect her wishes though. June still needed to take complete control over her family and leave the Royals on her own. She wouldn't accept Noah's help on the matter.
The days spent cultivating passed quickly, and the next battle eventually arrived. The three armies divided themselves again to attack three different cities built on the central territories in control of the Empire.
They were similar to the city that they had just conquered, but they featured far more habitations meant for human cultivators.
The Empire was famous for having the highest number of cultivators in those Mortal Lands, and it had maintained that record even after the Council and the Elbas family had become more open toward the commoners. The arrival of the new continent had been the Empire's great chance to obtain habitable territories for its insane number of troops, so most of its cities were just meant to accommodate them.
The troops of the Hive moved toward their target with their usual formation. The hybrids would face the human cultivators, while the heroic assets would fight in the sky.
Noah found a familiar face among the enemy rank 5 cultivators. Peaceful Storm was waiting for him with his warm smile radiating its usual calm aura.
"Demon Prince," Peaceful Storm greeted him when the battle below them began. "How many talismans are you going to make me waste this time?"
Noah didn't speak, but wielded the divided Demonic Sword and used the Merging spell to launch himself at his opponent. He was set on aiming for the kill in that battle.