Creating with the dark matter felt strange at the beginning. Noah had never met such a peculiar material, and assembling it in the form of a living being broadened his vision for what concerned its potential.
The higher energy could change form freely. Noah would forge it in the shape of a body part only to see it transforming into a gas whenever he wanted. Then, it could return to its solid form without losing the features that Noah had inscribed.
It was mysterious and atypical, but the possibilities that it opened were also incredible.
That wasn't always a good thing, especially in the initial phases.
Noah's understanding continued to grow as he continued to build a body, and that forced him to reconsider some of the initial parts that he had created.
He would suddenly find better ideas to put into use, or a sturdier structure, or even a completely different ability that was possible only thanks to the properties of the dark matter.
The fact that he had reached the liquid stage didn't help in the matter either. Noah's existence had taken another step toward the world of the laws after the breakthrough, and his mind would peek at it more often now.
His sessions of meditation became longer since his mind kept on reaching for the laws and understanding how to wield them better. That made him find more ways to improve his previous creation, which led him to review what he had been building.
It was a cycle where creating the body of the Blood Companion led to an increase in his understanding, which then made Noah review and modify what he had built previously.
Of course, that wasn't bad either. It only increased the amount of time that Noah would spend on that project.
Noah didn't let his eagerness to improve his battle prowess take the better of him and wholly focused on creating the best body that his expertise was capable of building. He even started over at times when he found structures that were far better from those that he had used before.
He didn't mind taking his time though. After all, Thirty-seven had yet to come up with a modified version of the Body-inscription spell, and the two of them would have to fuse their separate works at some point.
Nothing changed both in the separate dimension and in the outside world in that period. The three invading forces kept on growing and preparing for the attack on the old continent, and their assets focused on harvesting as many gains as they could from the new territories.
There wasn't a set date in their alliance that dictated when they would resume their offensive, but the atmosphere in the new continent became tenser as they years passed.
That wasn't the result of internal conflicts or specific meetings. The three organizations were keeping track of how many Heaven Tribulations appeared in the skies of their allies' domains to check their growth.
The Hive had surprised its allies in those years due to the troops from the Odrea nation. Still, the other forces had seen their fair share of breakthroughs too.
Almost fifty years had passed from their first attack on the Empire by then, and every organization had obtained valuable territories other than more experienced troops. It was only normal for all of them to see positive results in that period.
The more positive results appeared, the more the war drew near.
June eventually returned to the separate dimension and found Noah immersed in a black cloud that didn't let any light touch its surface.
The cloud would take the shape of a long, scaled body at times and return to its gaseous form whenever Noah found some instability in its structure.
There were even other features that became visible whenever the cloud turned solid. June could see a pair of large feathered wings too, and she even saw a claw once.
Also, the overall size of the creature was massive. It was even bigger than the Lazy Whale that had died in the war against the Empire!
It was evident that Noah was building some colossal monster that didn't exist in the world. However, June couldn't help but sense an absolute harmony in those forms.
Noah didn't forget that he had to create something functional. The Blood Companion needed a form that the will of a magical beast could control. It had to be a proper living being.
He couldn't just add every battle-related feature that he could think of. There had to be a harmony in the creature that he was building so that it could express its power without causing any internal conflict.
Also, Noah was trying to tune it with his darkness since his "Breath" would fuel the creature's abilities. That meant creating something in line with his individuality, and that wouldn't give birth to any rejection with his darkness.
In his idea, the dark matter would make the Blood Companion's body, his darkness would fuel its abilities, and its every move would generate primary energy in the environment.
The creature would express the peak of his creation since it made use of all the energies that Noah could wield. Its existence would even be one inclined to destruction, which would complete the representation of his individuality.
"Why am I not surprised that you started to create a monster as soon as you advanced to the liquid stage?" June asked when she saw Noah coming out of the black could.
"The surprises have just begun," Noah said as he wore a smirk and lifted his hand to show her the black sparks.
June felt as if she was dreaming. It had never happened in the entire history of those Mortal Lands that a cultivator had been able to wield two elements!
Yet, as she analyzed the sparks further, she realized that they didn't belong to the lightning element. Instead, they radiated the same aura of the cloud, meaning that they belonged to the darkness aptitude.
Noah didn't wield two elements. His dark matter could recreate the lightning bolts of the Tribulation, but it remained an evolved form of his darkness.
"The maker has found his tools, and now he wants to play," June said in a soft voice. She was the only one that knew the entirety of Noah's individuality, so she could understand the path that he had taken with that energy.
"No one knows about this," Noah said, ignoring her previous words. "I still need to study how to use the imitation of the other elements properly before showing it in battle."
June couldn't help but feel happy when she heard that. She was the only one aware of Noah's secrets, and that made her feel as if they had their world that they weren't willing to share with anyone.
"What do you think you will do with it?" June asked as she took Noah's hand. Dark sparks came out of her palm too, and they entangled themselves with the black sparks.
"I only have a vague idea," Noah said as he pulled June closer. "Copy the elements, the matter, the world, and, eventually, Heaven and Earth."