Birth of the Demonic Sword

The lizards didn't have the time to worry about Noah's orders since their instincts could predict the positive effects of the fake cores on their power as a whole. They were naturally attracted to materials that could improve their current state, and nothing in the world could surpass Noah's ambition in that field.

The creatures swiftly ate the fake cores, and Noah inspected how they reacted inside their bodies. His items dispersed and flowed toward specific spots before regaining their original form. It didn't take long before they started radiating Noah's ambition, and nothing of that power seeped out of their figures.

Noah nodded in satisfaction. He didn't want Heaven and Earth to be aware of which magical beasts he marked. His ambition had to remain hidden and leak as few traces as possible to take eventual punishments by surprise. Of course, that would depend on the creatures' ability to survive and evolve, but he believed that specimens capable of reaching the ninth rank had what it took to strive for superior realms.

The lizards immediately experienced an outburst of their hunger. The magical beasts could take far longer than cultivators and hybrids to reach the higher ranks since they often settled for slow and safe improvements, in some cases. That allowed them to accumulate many experiences that would typically transform influences for their evolution.

However, the magical beasts had stricter paths. Their cultivation journeys had harsh limits given by their bloodlines. Those issues grew laxer in the divine ranks, but they remained unable to transform completely according to what they had overcome or experienced.

Noah's ambitions could remove those limits, but he had never been able to create a portable version of that power. However, his new level had allowed him to complete that task easily. After all, those fake cores were nothing more than weaker copies of his ethereal blackness that only focused on one aspect of his existence.

The ambition that flowed inside the lizards made their very fabric reevaluate all the events experienced throughout their lives. They had been unable to do much with them due to their species' limits, but the situation had finally changed. They could feel their bodies striving for a different form that required a lot of energy, so their hunger had instinctively skyrocketed.

"You are free to go," Noah announced after confirming that everything was working perfectly. "Try not to die due to your new hunger."

Noah noticed that a tinge of greed flashed in the eyes of some lizards when they glanced at him. Their hunger was so strong that it almost made them ignore the suppression of his pride and their instinctive fear. Yet, they managed to control themselves since their leaders voiced a growl to force them to move away.

The two leaders lowered their heads toward Noah to express their gratitude and respect before leading their pack away. They picked a random direction in the white scenery and began to dig through the weak sky while eating everything that left the main structure.

'I should probably slow down the release of ambition next time,' Noah thought as he watched the lizard disappear among the whiteness. 'It's still hard to control my power.'

Noah inspected himself before turning toward the large area destroyed to create the fake cores. He was in perfect condition. He didn't feel any strain after defeating the clouds and their powerful attack. Noah didn't feel anything even after the unstable substance stopped empowering his body.

His centers of power had become able to endure eventual drawbacks, and he felt that the same went for the potential contained in the ethereal blackness. Something told Noah that he could use the fuel inside his world without worrying about falling into a mental coma or facing similar issues.

His current resilience made sense, but he still felt elated about it. Still, the true extent of his power remained a bit vague since he wasn't clear about his limits. Noah didn't know how strong he would become after activating the ethereal blackness to its fullest.

The desire to find a worthy opponent appeared in his mind, but he ignored it for now. The environment didn't give Noah many options, so he began to advance as he focused on his current techniques.

His thoughts tried not to involve his companions. Noah had already seen what his companions had developed after their breakthroughs. They were essential parts of his world now, but he wanted to focus on his aspects before deciding how to fuse them with his techniques.

Anger, pride, greed, hunger, ambition, creation, destruction, sharpness, space, and time fused to create Noah's world. Some of those aspects shared similar features, and others felt like different versions of existing parts that carried unique or specific features. Still, they all had special uses, and he wanted to develop a battle style that could express their power to their fullest.

Noah had to divide his aspects when thinking about his techniques due to the stark differences among them. The final slash and his other sharp attacks could express them in the same blows, but that felt almost natural after spending so long fighting with blades. Part of Sword Saint's influence also still affected his battle style, so he didn't consider those blows yet.

However, Noah also had powerful but complicated techniques able to express only some of those aspects. A few of them even had a supportive role and couldn't work as core aspects of an attack, especially when it came to his anger.

Noah had to improve his arsenal to express the entirety of his power. Otherwise, he would turn into a different version of Sword Saint, and his existence wouldn't accept that singular path. He didn't even feel the same dedication toward any individual aspect. Everything was good as long as it made him stronger.

Hence, Noah focused on techniques that he had already perfected, but that would only benefit from a new wave of tests now that he had overcome the breakthrough.

His first ideas involved the workshop and the dark world as a whole. Noah could create strong puppets now, and adding his understanding of time could only help that technique. He could already imagine the insides of his ability working faster than everything else in the outside world and deploying entire armies of powerful disposable troops.

His movement technique felt good already, but he could imagine a few possible improvements. Noah guessed that he could be faster as long as he rebuilt the space-time array according to his needs. His idea came from Sepunia's power since he intended to put a self-made patch on time and space to accelerate during his sprints.

His hunger and greed could transform into a proper devouring technique and add a third powerful pulling force to his arsenal. Noah didn't know how much energy his centers of power would require now, so he needed to be ready for his next challenging battle, especially if he found someone capable of hurting him. He couldn't guess how long it would take him to heal deep injuries without external sources of fuel, so preparations were necessary.

At last, Noah started to add his companions to those calculations. Many were suitable for specific attacks, while others felt wasted in roles that didn't express their nature. For once, Noah felt glad that the sky had decided to isolate everyone since the number of projects in his mind required a long period of isolation.. Luckily for him, he had a lot of time to think about the issue while traveling across the weak sky.