Noah spent the following weeks continuing his tests with his new center of power. He needed to become used to its limits before focusing again on the higher energy that it contained.
Noah would study how long it took for the dark star to return to its peak, how quickly he could withdraw the higher energy, and how much of his darkness he needed to divert on his heart to refill it.
After all, that was a completely new organ, even if part of it still acted as his heart. It was different from his other centers of power since he had almost two centuries to explore their functioning and limits.
Noah forged, experimented with the Will-consuming runes, and even started to work on the living weapons again.
It was needless to say that Thirty-seven felt excited when Noah told him that they would start working together again. Still, that feeling only became more intense when the miraculous properties of the higher energy showed their effects on the organic inscriptions.
In the past, Noah had used his primary energy to perform the Elemental Forging method on weapons that had a different aptitude from his. Using his darkness would lead to rejections that increased the failure rate of the forgings.
Yet, such rejections didn't appear when he used his higher energy.
That discovery surprised even Noah. The higher energy was a product of his darkness in the end, and it still carried the features of the darkness aptitude. Rejections would only be normal in its case.
However, it seemed that the pure meaning of creation carried by the higher energy was enough to make up for the difference in the elements. The outcome was even slightly better than usual!
It was worth noting that the living weapons created in that way would carry a trace of Noah's aura, which made their attacks somewhat impure since there were different elements fused in one being.
That didn't affect the power of the weapons. Still, it worked as a signature that revealed the identity of their creator.
Noah didn't mind that after-effect for now since the living weapons had yet to enter the international market. Still, it was something worth keeping in mind in case he was to forge weapons for cultivators outside of the Hive.
Once the peculiarity of his creations became famous, any expert would be able to recognize his works.
His stash of magical beasts had started to become thin in the last period. Between the two healing sessions, the countless forgings, and feeding the Demonic Sword, Noah was starting to lack food for himself.
The only things that had stopped him from going outside and hunting for more creatures were his eagerness to study his higher energy and the fact that he could use part of the energy in the star to appease his hunger.
Yet, it had reached the point where Noah was seriously risking emptying his stash, which led him to come out of the separate dimension to hunt in the territories near the neutral city.
June had returned on the surface already in that period. She had to lead some minor cleaning operations in a danger zone for the Elbas family, and she would use that opportunity to visit Faith, who was still somewhere in the Council's domain.
Noah reappeared in the underground training area and found Daniel cultivating in the corner of the vast room. There was a large cauldron in front of him, and strands of dim light would come out of it.
It seemed that Daniel had stuck with his previous cultivation technique even after discussing his individuality with Shandal. Still, Noah guessed that there were minute differences that he wasn't able to notice.
Noah didn't know anything about alchemy, and Daniel had one of the rarest elements too. Darkness and light had many mysterious features that only their owners could understand.
Daniel interrupted his cultivation when he sensed Noah's arrival, but a disturbance in the environment soon claimed the two cultivators' attention.
Noah felt anger rising inside him as his body understood what was happening. His body was able to sense the arrival of a Heaven Tribulation even before its dark clouds gathered.
'Why does Heaven keep doing it?' Noah thought before shooting toward the surface.
The truth was that he had expected a Tribulation to come when he first created the higher energy, but the lack of reactions from Heaven and Earth made him ignore that matter.
Yet, the reaction arrived now that he had reappeared as an existence with four centers of power.
Noah flew above the neutral city and gazed at the dark clouds accumulating in the sky. Elder Estelle and the other rank 5 existences were already there and looked at him with helpless expressions.
Noah wanted to tell them that he would lead the Tribulation away from the city, but his mind suddenly expanded at the sight of the orange sparks running through the clouds.
A lightning bolt fell from the sky while his mind was still wandering in that sudden enlightenment, and it hit him directly on the chest, throwing him back on the ground.
That event surprised the rank 5 existences on the scene. After all, the Tribulation had the power of the lower tier of the fifth rank, and they had seen Noah fighting against cultivators at the peak of the gaseous stage.
They would have never imagined that the famous hybrid of the Hive couldn't react in time against that lightning bolt.
It soon became evident that something was wrong with that situation, and the experts made the silent decision of taking care of the Tribulation before it fell on the city.
However, before any of them could attack, a draconic roar carrying human words resounded in the area. "Don't touch it!"
The experts froze in place and turned toward the crater created by Noah's fall only to see a figure flying away from the city at high speed.
The clouds decided to chase after Noah, ignoring the dumbfounded experts that limited themselves to stare at the leaving Tribulation for fear to incur the Demon Prince's anger.
Noah flew toward the central territories until the city was nothing more than a dark spot in the distance. Then, he stopped and waited for the Tribulation to catch up with him.
The black clouds quickly gathered above him again and started to release lightning bolts aimed at his chest. Their target was the fourth center of power.
Noah didn't defend. He closed his eyes and let the lightning bolts hit him and hurl him on the ground.
His body felt sore after the impacts, but his mind was still lost in the sudden enlightenment that the Tribulation had brought.
'I see,' Noah thought as he slowly stood up from the crater that he had created with his fall and lifted his arms so that his palms would face each other.
The clouds didn't wait for him and started to release more lightning bolts toward him. Yet, Noah ignored them and focused on the higher energy in his heart.
'This energy is meant to create the world.' Noah thought, and black sparks formed between his palms.