Noah completed the improvements on Snore's body between his hunts and his experiments with the martial arts. The thought of focusing on recreating other elements had crossed his mind, but he eventually suppressed it.
He didn't know what triggered his ability to recreate elements. There wasn't any fixed pattern. It was a sensation that started from his instincts and dawned upon him once it could take the form of thoughts.
That field was too vague to explore when he had so many projects ready for him.
His stash of corpses returned to its previous state quickly since the domain of the Hive was incredibly large by then. The hybrids that failed to maintain their reason helped refill his space-ring too since the creation of living weapons was still on hold.
As for his martial arts, Noah had chosen to create forms that could match the Merging spell to add a powerful device to his survivability. Having a movement technique that could match the might of the second form of his martial art would be a great addition to his arsenal.
Finishing to improve the Blood Companion gave him time to inspect the spells obtained from the Shandal Empire. They were two diagrams with power in the fifth rank and meant for darkness cultivators, but only one of them appeared suitable for his darkness.
The first spell had healing effects. Its name was Dark Womb, and it enveloped a cultivator in a thick membrane that accelerated the recovery of tissues and centers of power.
However, Noah's individuality didn't fit that ability at all. He had initially thought that the healing properties inherited by the Yin body would help him activate the spell, but his darkness appeared incapable even to create the membrane.
Of course, Noah didn't give it to the inventory of the Hive even if he couldn't use it. His higher energy had just started to show its true potential. There was a chance that it could become a fuel capable of activating spells that didn't match his individuality.
Yet, Noah would have to modify the diagrams of the spells and rebrand them so that they could use his dark matter. That was something akin to creating a new inscription method, which was impossible now since his higher energy had yet to reveal all its properties.
The second spell made use of a peculiar property of the darkness element. Its name was Black Mark, and it worked as a venom capable of weakening any living being over time.
It was different from the Death Area spell. The Black Mark spell added a layer of toxic "Breath" to every ability and affected the centers of power of any existence once it entered their system.
Noah had fewer hopes for that spell, but it turned out that the destruction of his individuality suited the venomous properties of the Black Mark perfectly. It changed the structure of the actual venom, but it kept its insidious power.
The spell required a few modifications to express its full potential when paired with Noah's darkness, but it was a useful ability that would make his attack far more dangerous. That even applied to his mental attacks since the venom had ethereal properties.
The tests with his martial arts went well. Noah eventually created forms that could express his physical strength and match the effects of the Merging spell.
The process took two years, and there were still a few adjustments that he needed to complete before he could use it in battle properly. However, the most challenging phase was over. Noah had almost taken the first step toward the creation of his school.
Meanwhile, he increased the pressure that the second rune in his mind applied to its walls. A headache was nothing compared to the threat of a rank 6 existence aiming for the Divine technique inside his sea of consciousness.
Faith reappeared in that period, and she managed to visit Noah a few times since she knew about the separate dimension. She used those visits to give him a complete overview of what she had discovered about the Ravaging Demon sect in those years, and what she found sounded problematic most of the time.
Ravaging Demon's followers had roots everywhere inside the Papral nation and in a few regions of the new continent. The damage that their betrayal had done to the Council was immense, especially since they didn't limit themselves to leave.
Many of the rebels were experts that covered essential roles inside the Council and owned secret information. They had used their knowledge to raid important buildings and places inside the new and old continent to seize as many resources as they could.
Also, the fact that the old continent had seen a continuous emigration of assets for the new continent allowed them to claim a large area of the Papral nation under their banner.
Faith believed that Ravaging Demon would reappear there once his issues were gone, and she agreed to ambush him with all their firepower at that point. However, the Elbas family's protection made the task quite dangerous, especially after losing so many resources.
The two of them even talked about June. She had yet to reappear since the end of the war against the Empire, but Noah understood her actions. Every asset under the Royals was busy preparing for the imminent clash, and she couldn't disappear for a few years anymore.
Those times were too tense. Even the smallest clash would bring the organizations back into an all-out war. Still, none of them would be able to seize a complete victory due to their poor state, rendering all their struggles pointless.
It would take a while for Noah and June to see each other again, and they would probably stand on opposite sides of the battlefield by then.
Something unexpected happened in that period. Elder Julia received a sudden communication from Chasing Demon that led her to join a meeting that saw the powerhouses of both Hive and Empire.
When she returned from the meeting, she contacted Noah and the two Demons in a hurry to reveal that the Empire had asked to be part of the destruction of the Ravaging Demon sect.
That was an odd request for an organization that had just lost a war. The Empire even had restrictions when it came to its influence on the political environment. Still, God's Left Hand didn't hesitate to reveal why she wanted to help the Hive.
The powerhouse of the Empire had been discreet with her communications, and she didn't even release her plan. However, she admitted rather quickly that she wanted to work with the Hive only because of Flying Demon.
God's Left Hand had seen Flying Demon in action. She could immediately link his individuality to the god that had left her to follow God's Right Hand in his journey in the Immortal lands.
Hence, seeing Shandal's individuality again gave her a hint on the current situation.
Two identical individualities couldn't appear in the cultivation world, but Flying Demon's aura had features that only Shandal could have. So, God's Left Hand could guess that he had met her Patriarch somewhere.