Chapter 428 - 428. Battle prowess
Noah's worries weren't groundless.
His identity and some of his abilities had been revealed to the other underground organizations, it could be said that the information about him was mainstream by now.
It couldn't be helped, he was in charge of the human assets of the organization that had started the attack on the archipelago, it was impossible to remain unknown.
Yet, Noah wouldn't worry too much if that information was contained among the underground organization but he had little hope about that.
Not all the branches of the Hive had joined his sect in the war, many still wanted to maintain peace and continue to slowly increase their power by doing secret deals with the legal organizations.
Because information was a valuable currency, Noah felt quite sure that the legal organizations were already aware of him.
'Even if the Utra nation was to send stronger reinforcements because of our personal grudges, there isn't much that I can do. Becoming stronger is always my only available path.'
Noah thought as he deduced inside his training room in the inscribed castle.
The Chasing Demon sect had quickly built an area that met his standards, Noah was actually surprised to discover that it had taken it so little to create something similar to the training area where he had secluded himself in the six months before the beginning of the war.
The density of "Breath" and the pressure on his mental sphere didn't match it of course, but Noah was still satisfied with the result.
As for his worries, Noah didn't think that the Empire would invest too much in his capture.
After all, he was only a troublemaker that had hindered the events in their training ground for a few years, the Empire had its wars to take care of, it wouldn't chase Noah till the archipelago just for that.
Yet, his ties with the Utra nation were far more personal.
Noah was sure that the Balvan family would never let him go, he had undermined its future prospects by killing three heirs and vanquishing some promising soldiers, he was sure that he was on top of its wanted list.
However, due to the system applied in the Utra nation, noble families rarely had soldiers in the heroic ranks, all the resources and techniques on that level were available only for nobles and trustworthy subjects.
That's why Noah didn't fear his family, he was simply too far away, the Balvan family would just further weaken its position if it was to send powerful soldiers after him.
What worried him was the Elbas family.
Noah didn't directly hurt it, it could be said that he had a worse relationship with the Empire in that sense.
Yet, he was aware of too many secrets.
The Royal Inheritance, the creation of a secret army made of criminals, these pieces of information could single-handedly start a war between the families loyal to the Royals and those loyal to the Cause.
Also, Noah had escaped their control, that feat was a stain on Thaddeus' honor.
That's why he was quite sure that there would be stronger reinforcements from the Utra nation.
'Well, I have to defend this position anyway, I can't go anywhere else for now.'
Noah sighed as he thought about that before drinking a potion to refill his mental energy.
The Divine deduction technique allowed Noah to save hours of thinking, even days, it was an enormous help in analyzing diagrams and mistakes in his forgings.
Yet, it needed huge quantities of mental energy to be activated, Noah constantly requested potions and used his stash of drugs to keep using it.
His deductions at that time concerned his battle prowess and how to increase it quickly.
The Shadow sprint art seemed to have reached its limits, fusing four rank 0 spells was the best that Noah could think of with his current level, he would need to use diagrams of stronger spells or have access to more powerful energies if he wanted to further improve it.
The Three Forms of the Ashura was the same, Noah had mastered it but he wasn't able to modify it without creating flaws in those already perfected forms.
His deductions led him to two options at that point.
The first one was to master a secret art but Noah soon discarded it.
Secret arts could make a cultivator able to push a center of power over its limits but Noah's strongest point had always been the sea of consciousness and his large variety of spells already expressed enough power in his opinion, he was able to fight solid stage cultivators thanks to that after all.
The second one was to create another martial art.
Yet, that option led to another problem: What would this new martial art even do?
Shadow sprint, Warp, and Heilong covered Noah's movement, they were perfect for any situation and Noah could freely choose the one to use according to his opponent.
His many spells, his Demonic swords, the Three Forms of the Ashura, and his explosive creations covered Noah's offensive, he wasn't that deadly against solid stage cultivators but that was caused by his low cultivation level, he had far too many attack methods.
His defense was almost impenetrable with the Black hole spell, the Ethereal form spell, and Heilong, adding some other method would just conflict with the previous ones.
These analyses and deductions were made in a single afternoon where Noah pondered about ways to further improve his battle prowess.
The only conclusion he could reach was nothing!
'Maybe I'm just too greedy for wanting to push my battle prowess even more without improving my centers of power, it might be possible that I've reached the maximum strength that a gaseous stage cultivator is capable of.'
That thought lingered for a while in Noah's mind, he sighed when he decided to give up in finding quick ways to become stronger, only the slow ones seemed to be left.
'I can either study rank 1 diagrams and try to extrapolate the effects that I need or begin the work on my cultivation techniques and nourishing methods.'
All those processes that Noah had thought of would take him a long time and days of deductions, meaning that Noah wouldn't be able to become stronger than he was in the short term.
'I don't see the point on studying diagrams, I can't have better offensive and defensive methods than those that I already have. I have less experience in body-nourishing methods so it would take longer to create something worthy to be trained. I guess I don't have other choices, I need to start the experimentation for my cultivation technique.'
As he decided, his eyes went on the "Breath" blessing under him, his cold gaze shown some uncertainty as he stared at the blue mineral.