Birth of the Demonic Sword

"So," June said as she analyzed the black star contained inside the cubical formation, "This is what made the great Noah Balvan worried."

June then remained silent for a few seconds while she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Yet, she could only guess that Noah had amassed a large amount of "Breath" in one place.

"What exactly is that?" June eventually asked as she turned toward Noah, who was sitting cross-legged at some distance from her.

Noah wasn't meditating. June had arrived while he was inspecting one of his new creations, and he didn't mind spending some time teasing her.

He remained silent as his gaze moved between the various inscribed items lying around him and the cubical formation. In the past days, he had forged random weapons to see how far his higher energy could push materials at the bottom of the fifth rank.

The results had always been exceptional. Noah's higher energy would improve the outcome of his forgings, and he often ended up with items that he couldn't usually make without an extensive period spent performing tests.

As Noah acquired more experience with the higher energy though, he started to feel that it was still an imperfect form.

Noah began to pour more darkness inside the cubical formation. The only way that he had to improve the current form of the higher energy was to push the black star toward a denser state.

Also, he needed to find a way to carry that vast sphere around. Increasing its density would reduce its width in theory, which would save him from asking Thirty-seven a method to compress it.

June knew that Noah was ignoring her on purpose. The last time that they had seen each other, she had pressed to remain with him because Noah had helped her create her higher energy.

She wanted their relationship to benefit both of them instead of being the only one asking for help.

Nevertheless, she understood the magnitude of Noah's experiments when she analyzed the dark star. Noah's procedure didn't even come close to the safe dual cultivation that they had done in the past. It was a weapon of mass destruction that he exploited to elevate his darkness.

June crouched behind Noah and hugged him while he poured his "Breath" in one of the links that would send it inside the cubical formation.

"I wanted to protect you," She said as she laid her head on his back. "Yet, I can't protect you from yourself."

Noah revealed a smile at that point. He knew that his methods were reckless and dangerous, but that was how he had reached his current level.

It didn't matter if he had to cut one of his arms or spend entire years going mad to create his darkness. That was how Noah discovered and advanced, and his ruthless approach made him create wonders.

"Just like I can't stop you from you from being yourself," Noah said as he stretched to lie on her lap. "We strive toward the individualities at the beginning of the journey, and they end up limiting us in one path. We are who we are, June."

"And we are together," June concluded his phrase and lowered her head to kiss him. It was time for the couple to have the moment of intimacy that they had delayed since her return in the neutral city.

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June came and went in the separate dimension. There was an entrance inside the Hive's training area of the neutral city, so she could go there whenever she wanted.

It was still a peaceful period. The matter with the ambush had been suppressed by the invading forces to preserve that temporary peace, and the invasion of the old continent wouldn't happen soon either.

Daniel had the training area all by himself and would cultivate there, while Faith was still nowhere to be seen. Only June had interacted with her during the period after the ambush.

"Here," June handed Noah a luxurious letter.

The two of them were sitting in front of the dark star, taking care of their matters while giving in to their desires when they felt like it.

The number of inscribed items lying on the floor of the separate dimension had increased, and the massive sphere made of darkness had become far bigger in the last period.

Noah had continued to cultivate, forge, and pour his "Breath" inside the cubical formation. He had reached the point where he was waiting for his higher energy to take another step forward in its evolution before approaching the next stage of his experiments.

Yet, that procedure took time since Noah had to pour massive amounts of darkness to increase the density of the dark star now.

He had added that procedure to his schedule since he wasn't in a hurry to complete his project. He would add fuel to the huge sphere whenever he had "Breath" to spare.

Focusing only on his experiments would slow down the improvements of his centers of power, and that wasn't something that he was willing to do.

Noah opened the letter and found out that it contained a list of sects with short descriptions next to them. Faith had signed that letter too, and the aura that the signature contained made Noah sure that it wasn't a fake.

"She has been investigating Ravaging Demon's affiliations," June explained as she played with one of the Instabilities laid on the floor. "This list isn't much, but the internal matters in the Papral nation are quite messy. No one is willing to talk unless the Council steps forward."

"This is already great," Noah said as he memorized that long list of names before storing the letter. "The Hive will eventually clash with Ravaging Demon's factions. Gathering information is the best that we can do now."

June's focus wasn't on him. She kept on looking at the inscribed items in the fifth rank sparse on the ground. Any expert would pay a lot of Credits to get their hands on one of them, but Noah couldn't even bother to store them.

Of course, Noah had his reasons for that. He wanted to have everything connected to his higher energy in his view to become more familiar with it.

Noah started to pour his darkness inside the cubical formation. It had become a habit for him to do it whenever he was over with his training. Yet, something different happened at that time.

The darkness in the outer layers of the dark star began to collapse and fuse with the layers below. That triggered a chain reaction that made the whole sphere condense and reach a new level of density.

Noah directly stood up and moved toward the borders of the cubical formation. It seemed that his higher energy was finally ready to reach what Noah considered to be a perfect state.

The lines of the formation shone as powerful flares erupted from the condensing sphere. It was as if the star wanted to send away some of the weaker energy contained in its form.