Noah was unaware of the ploy brewing under the surface of that peaceful political situation. He knew that Ravaging Demon was up to something due to the recent ambush, but he couldn't imagine the scale of that event.
Also, both Faith and June were part of the organizations probably involved in the ambush. They had better chances to uncover something due to their position.
Noah was still in the mountain chain between the two areas of influence, but the environment had changed after he created the Blood Companion.
Most of the mountains around him had disappeared, replaced by piles of rubble and large boulders. The ground featured many cracks too, and every lifeform had escaped from that territory in the last hours.
The most evident change though was in the amount of primary energy that filled the air.
The environment had so much primary energy that it even failed to disperse. It was as if that lighter form of energy had replaced all the "Breath" in the area.
Noah had tested the abilities of the Blood Companion as soon as he completed it, and the results were in line with his expectations.
Snore was a lifeform at the bottom of the upper tier of the fifth rank. However, Noah had built its body with higher energy. That made its abilities stronger than those of the creatures on the same level.
Also, Noah fueled them with his darkness, which further increased the might that they were capable of.
Snore's abilities caused the release of primary energy too, which could work together with some of Noah's spells.
Blood Companions had always been a powerful addition to his arsenal, but Snore was far above Noah's previous ones in terms of utility, sheer power, and future usage.
Noah had kept in his mind one of the major weaknesses of the Body-inscription spell when he had created the body made of dark matter. He couldn't just waste time building a new body every time the old Blood Companion became too weak for his current level.
Snore was a lifeform capable of growth. It was independent, but connected to Noah and submitted to him in certain aspects. The only problem was its food.
As an existence made of higher energy, only Noah's dark matter was a suitable food. After all, that was the only form of energy capable of empowering and nourishing Snore's body.
That meant that Noah had added another expensive asset to his collection. The Demonic Sword needed magical beasts' corpses, while his Blood Companion required his higher energy, which meant large quantities of his darkness.
The trade though was worth the price, especially when he considered that those special lifeforms were beings that could potentially accompany him through the entirety of his cultivation journey.
The situation with the dark matter wasn't dire right now. Noah had reached the liquid stage, and that made the creation of higher energy easier since he would need to condense less "Breath".
Yet, he didn't expect his burning heart to remain at that level. His new center of power was bound to improve and harmonize with his existence as his body grew in power.
That would set new limits to what it could contain, and there was even a chance that the changes in his darkness would produce different dark stars in the future.
That didn't happen when his "Breath" reached the liquid stage. Still, Noah knew that it would be only natural for the dark stars to have different natures once he started to use even heavier elements.
As for what concerned the Demonic Sword, there wasn't a real solution to its hunger. Its situation had also worsened since it had experienced a breakthrough while Noah was testing Snore's abilities.
The Demonic Sword was unique, even among Noah's creations. Its entire structure worked as body, dantian, and sea of consciousness.
Yet, Noah had learnt that he couldn't consider it according to the regular schools. The Demonic Sword was too unique to fit specific labels.
Noah understood its level and knew that its growth was similar to that of the magical beasts. It would evolve once it had eaten enough to reach the breakthrough.
The living weapon's connection with Noah's individuality though worked as a second hurdle to cross to reach the breakthrough, which was why it had remained in the lower tier of the fifth rank for all those years.
Nevertheless, it had started to advance again after Noah had reached the liquid stage. That culminated in the sword progressing in the middle tier while he was busy testing Snore's abilities.
Of course, that was a good thing. Noah would be able to express even more power after the improvement of one of his core weapons.
However, he couldn't help but worry about the consumption of powerful magical beasts' corpses now that his sword had advanced.
Also, he was slightly annoyed that the Demonic Sword didn't advance before the battle with the Albino Snake. He would have avoided suffering injuries if he had access to that sort of power since the beginning of the fight.
Noah knew why the sword had advanced only at that moment.
Snore was different from the sword both in terms of type of living being and purpose in battle. Yet, it was also similar to the living weapon since it was one of the assets that Noah considered special.
The Demonic Sword had forced itself to advance when it sensed the appearance of a strong rival for Noah's affection. After all, he was a father for it.
The fact that both of them shared a connection with him also annoyed the sword. That almost caused him a headache due to the various emotions sent to his mind.
The sword worried that Noah could neglect it now that it had a more powerful asset at hand. Still, it was also proud to be the first of his living creation.
On the other hand, Snore only felt annoyed by that interaction. Its will belonged to a creature that had lived for more than a millennium, and it couldn't be bothered to deal with those petty things.
Also, it was far more potent than the sword at the moment, so he didn't feel the need to mind the emotions radiated by the Demonic Sword.
Snore would rather worry about its Master instead. Now that it had established a connection with Noah's mind, its vision had broadened, and it could understand the reason behind its name.
The fact that Noah still cared about that time when the Albino Snake had almost killed him in his sleep made Snore worried that it would have to face further punishments to relieve its Master's stress.
Of course, Noah wouldn't do that. Snore was his asset now and even an important one. He would do everything in his power to make it grow since that benefitted him in the end.
Just like that, Noah spent his time meditating in that destroyed and shattered territory, pondering about his next move while the two living beings argued in his mind.