Birth of the Demonic Sword

Noah followed King Elbas inside the hut, but he stopped his tracks when he saw the powerhouse snapping his fingers to light a fireplace situated on the other side of the entrance.

The hut wasn't big, and it featured only one large room. Wood made the entirety of the structure, and luxurious carpets covered its walls and floor. A round table stood at its center with two comfy armchairs placed on opposite sides.

Noah couldn't help but stare at the scene for a few seconds. With the fireplace as the only form of illumination and no inscriptions, the hut resembled one of his previous world's structures.

"Cultivators lose something when they obtain godlike powers," King Elbas said as a tinge of melancholy made its way through his arrogant. "I've never forgotten what it was to be a commoner."

The powerhouse traced the surface of the table with his fingers before sitting in an armchair. His expression became pensive for an instant only to recover its sharpness when he focused on his guest.

Noah could see the leader of the Royals outside of his role for the first time. King Elbas wasn't only the arrogant expert who wore a crown wherever he went. He was also a thoughtful cultivator who could spend time studying the most basic structure, even if he could already build miraculous items.

Every living being that managed to reach the sixth rank was exceptional in some way. King Elbas was the best inscription master in the world, and his expertise didn't stop at the cultivation field.

Noah didn't see the arrogant expert anymore. In his mind, King Elbas appeared as a creator who had started from simple wood until he had learnt to handle materials bordering the divine ranks.

Mysteries surrounded most of his history. The world only knew that King Elbas had been one of the nobles in the old Utra nation before his coup. No one knew how he had reached the sixth rank without alerting the previous Royal family.

'He is a monster,' Noah concluded in his mind as he sat on the armchair, 'Just like me.'

King Elbas didn't take out wine nor any food as per the customs of meetings on that level. He remained in silence, staring at his guest as he waited for him to begin the negotiations.

Yet, Noah had a different plan. Everything about that meeting was a bait that had to lead to King Elbas abandoning his domains for a while. Noah couldn't appear as if he was desperate to seal an agreement.

Minutes passed while both existences remained in silence. Only the fireplace's crackling and the noise of the storm outside accompanied the two powerhouses inside the hut.

"I thought you wanted to talk about Apes," King Elbas eventually said, and the corners of Noah's mouth curved upward at his words.

He could have held back that smile, but he wanted King Elbas to notice the small victories that he managed to seize during their conversation.

Noah had the upper hand in that meeting. The fact that King Elbas had contacted Chasing Demon after his announcement showed how the Royals' leader cared about the Kesier species.

"I thought pieces of information had a price," Noah replied, and King Elbas showed a smile too. He appeared happy that his guest's resolve didn't crack in front of him.

"My descendants' reports say that you can't handle negotiations properly," King Elbas continued. "They were wrong."

"Your family has been wrong about me since I was a human cultivator," Noah used sharp words to reply. "I hope this outcome doesn't hurt your pride."

A tremor ran through King Elbas' eyes when he heard that answer. Noah had casually hinted at his individuality, but he knew that the Demon Prince of the Hive wasn't someone that acted on whims.

Noah was purposely showing his knowledge to prove that he wasn't a simple newly advanced cultivator.

King Elbas waved his hand, and a large jug appeared at the table's center together with two cups. The powerhouse gestured Noah to taste the wine, but the latter hinted that he had to go first.

"I might have taken an antidote before," King Elbas teased as he filled his cup and emptied it in one sip.

"If there is an antidote," Noah said as he copied his actions, "then it can't affect me."

The flavor of strong wine filled his body. The dark star spun faster as it purified the nutrients carried by that liquid and diverted part of the energy absorbed to his mind.

Noah felt a wave of heat filling his body. It was as if he had taken a bite from a scorching magical beast in the sixth rank when he understood how nourishing that wine was.

King Elbas' smile widened when he saw surprise appearing in Noah's expression, and he couldn't help but comment on the matter. "I could only brew six on these. The material went extinct afterward, and I'm still trying to recreate it. Let me tell you, it's hard to make a rank 6 magical plant out of nothing."

King Elbas was bragging about his expertise. After all, he talked about growing magical plants in the sixth rank due to a hobby. No one could even imagine what he did for matters that concerned his power.

Noah decided to change the approach. He suppressed his surprised face and filled another cup before officially starting the negotiations. "I have found and captured a few specimens belonging to the Kesier species in the human ranks. The Hive is nurturing the pack now. We expect a new Sixth Kesier rune to appear every four hundred years."

King Elbas' eyes flickered as calculations happened in his mind. There was a difference between feeding a magical beast until it reached the sixth rank and pushing it at that level forcefully.

The specimen in the sixth rank didn't have to be healthy or strong. It could even be a pile of fur as long as it had the Sixth Kesier rune on it. King Elbas knew that he could shorten that period to two hundred years if he didn't care about the creature's condition.

"What do you want for a female specimen?" King Elbas asked directly, but he didn't appear too interested. He was already nearing the last stage of the sixth rank in the end. There was a limit to how much those creatures could interest him.

It wasn't even worth grooming a creature until it reached the seventh rank. King Elbas already had a good method to train his mind, and he would find it pointless to invest a lot of resources and time in that project.

"The specimens of our pack aren't for sale," Noah replied firmly, and interest finally appeared on King Elbas' face.

Noah had set up the meeting, which meant that he had something to trade. It also had to concern the Kesier species since he had mentioned it.

King Elbas felt intrigued, and he understood that there was only one way to learn the nature of Noah's goods.

"What do you want?" King Elbas asked, and Noah replied while wearing a cold smirk. "Everything, of course."