The Empire had finally given up on its last territory in the new continent, but the heroic assets of the three factions didn't waste time in celebrations just yet.
The detonation of the forest had affected countless human assets on both sides, but no heroic cultivator seemed to care about their well-being as they dived toward the ground.
There was a priceless piece of knowledge hidden under the burning trunks and the vast column of gray smoke that rose from the terrain. The Second Life formation was too powerful to give up on retrieving it just because the Empire had decided to burn everything.
Even a few sets of lines would have great value in the hands of those experts. Reconstructing the entire formation just with them would be impossible, but it was the beginning of a project that could eventually lead to the possibility of cheating death!
However, the Empire had been thorough with its destruction. It didn't leave anything valuable for its enemies to plunder.
The war that had seen the experts of the world fighting to kick the Empire out of the new continent had ended. Yet, the losses on both sides had been so devastating that such outcome barely felt like a triumph.
Many heroic cultivators had died, and the various clashes had required countless resources to provide protection and fight the defensive measures in place. The losses on the human assets had been massive too, which would inevitably lead to slow growth in the following years.
Wars were expensive, and the only ones that could benefit from a victory often were the future generations of cultivators since they would have access to a broader range of resources and territories. Yet, for the current age, the only assets that had gained something were those that had a water aptitude.
The gains of the invaders were a large chunk of territories, the space-rings of the fallen, and the Divine Stele. Also, the experts that had survived the battles had acquired a lot of experience when it came to fighting in the heroic ranks and expressing themselves.
Those heroic cultivators were bound to have a more natural way toward the higher ranks from that point onward. After all, nothing could beat real life-threatening struggles when it came to improving their understanding of themselves.
All of that would take time, but the three organizations weren't in a hurry to chase after the Empire in the old continent.
The Empire had controlled the central areas of the landmass for millennia. No one knew what to expect from the home of a force that had been able to put to use two formations that belonged to myths and legends.
There was even the countless number of slaves that worked to keep its economy running!
Everyone in the invading forces believed that they would have to face stronger opposition in the old continent, but there was no point in attacking now that they were at their weakest.
They had just severed every connection of the Empire from the most valuable landmass of the world. Its growth was bound to stagnate now that they had isolated it back in its original home.
Meanwhile, the three forces could grow and recover from the losses suffered during the war and even aim to surpass their original peak. They had too many possibilities at hand now that they could divide the entirety of the new continent among the three of them.
The three factions had already decided to build a neutral city around the stele. It would have a political system similar to that once enforced in the Coral Archipelago, but the control of the central governments would be stricter to avoid another Hive.
They would even assign the territories according to how close the domains of each faction were to them. The Hive, for example, would obtain control of a large part of the central areas since it controlled the opposite coast.
Of course, the width of those territories depended on the actual value that they had. Since the central regions were still mostly barren, the Hive ended up obtaining the largest share of land among the three factions.
Those long battles ended up improving the political relationships among the three forces. There were still unforgivable grudges between specific assets, but the presence of a common enemy not too far away forced them to stick together in a sort of natural alliance.
Also, there was always the threat that the records about the god of the Empire were wrong. The god could always return to the Mortal Lands in a matter of decades instead of millennia.
That unknown variable was the connection that the three invading forces shared, and that compelled them to remain in peaceful terms if the god returned and requested a price for their arrogance.
Noah didn't care too much about the division of the spoils of war since most of those resources didn't concern him directly. None of the fallen had a darkness aptitude, and most of the riches in their space-rings would go in the inventories of the three organizations.
He could ask for a list of those gains later on and take what interested him.
What mattered for him now was to absorb all the insights that he had gained during the battles. He had to make the necessary preparation for the breakthrough of his body too. He also needed to create his higher energy so that he could start working on all the projects that he had in mind.
After conveying his intentions to Elder Julia, Noah left the battlefield to return to his dome in the territory next to the lava lake.
Noah didn't do much at the beginning of his seclusion. He spent most of his time eating, cultivating, and using the Divine Deduction technique to evaluate his possible approaches to the creation of the higher energy.
He also went out to hunt at times, but he didn't eat all his prey since he needed to store some of them to feed the Demonic Sword during his period of hibernation.
The truth was that Noah could approach the limits of the middle tier far sooner. After all, he had eaten many dantians in the battle for the last territory. His stash of magical beasts and hybrids had even refilled after the experiments with the living weapons.
Yet, he had to improve his mind first, or he would end up like the natives, which was an outcome that he wouldn't risk.
The only issue was that he didn't know how strong his mind had to be to control the instincts of a creature in the upper tier. That forced him to abuse the innate properties of his mental energy for a few months before he felt confident in taking the last step toward the breakthrough.
In the end, he ate until familiar drowsiness enveloped his mind and put him in a deep sleep.