Chapter 1333 1333. Cave

Noah left the shop after he completed Thea's requests. He wasn't worried that she could leak the details of his individuality. Every inscription master had to swear oaths that protected the customers, so he only needed to accumulate Soul Stones now.

The inscription hall of the Balrow family would probably give him a job if he asked, but Noah didn't want to waste time in Vagona city anymore. He had even decided to abandon the idea of mass-producing Instabilities since that would take a while.

The Instabilities were cheap to make. One magical beast could give Noah enough materials to forge even forty of them if it were big enough. However, he would rather create a single valuable item than use so many nutrients for something that he had to sell.

The robe could cost up to two thousand Soul Stones, and Noah had the vague feeling that he would require all of them to purchase it. Thea had to build an item in line with his individuality, so his ambition could play its part in the process.

Moreover, Noah needed to buy something that could allow him to fly freely. He had vaguely understood how expensive that would be, so he had to sell a masterpiece to accumulate enough money.

'What should I even build?' Noah wondered as he left Vagona city and shot toward one of the mountains around that plain.

Noah had a few ideas, but he would create a blueprint only after completing his hunts. He had to adapt to the materials that he found.

Leaving the city made Noah feel refreshed. The pressure radiated by the five rank 8 existences had always weighed on his mind in the past months. His instincts had never stopped sensing threats during his stay.

The pressure of the white sky soon replaced those powerful auras. Vagona city fended off those radiations, but they came back as soon as Noah returned in the wilderness.

'Maybe I can do something about this blinding sky,' Noah wondered as he let his senses guide him toward the nearest lair.

"It is the most hateful thing in the whole world!" Night exclaimed in his mind when it heard his thoughts. "I need to destroy it! Don't you dare to use your weakness to hold me back!"

Night had become used to the fact that the light couldn't kill it anymore, but it couldn't forget the experience of its first ascension. It hated the whiteness that filled the Immortal Lands with everything it had. Its feelings were so intense that they even affected Noah's emotions.

'I need to destroy it to reach the stars anyway,' Noah replied through the connection with the Pterodactyl. 'We only need to go through the various steps of the human world. It's not my first time climbing to the apex of the food chain. I only need to do it again.'

Night became silent after it heard those thoughts. It knew that Noah wasn't lying, and it trusted him to succeed. Its vague memories about its first ascension made it aware that its master was the strongest newly ascended existence in the world. His growth would be exponential once he seized what he needed.

Noah ran through the flourishing mountain chain until he arrived in front of a large cave that radiated a dangerous area. His superior awareness told him that a series of rank 7 magical beasts hid in its depths, and his instincts confirmed that he could handle the hunt as long as he was careful.

Yet, while Noah was about to enter the cave, his superior awareness warned him about the presence of multiple threats behind him. His instincts also told him that those auras didn't belong to magical beasts. Some cultivators were trying to encircle him.

'It should be impossible for the Crystal City to be already here,' Noah thought. 'This only makes me desire the cloaking device more.'

Noah heaved a sigh while he entered the cave. A lair of magical beasts was the perfect place to counter an ambush. He could rely on his hybrid features to make up for the numerical disadvantage.

The pursuers didn't stop running in his direction even after using their mental waves to inspect the cave. Ordinary cultivators couldn't sense the magical beasts as well as him, but that lair had enough creatures to make their presence impossible to miss.

'They aren't stopping,' Noah thought as dark matter flowed out of his chest and took the shape of a massive snake that engulfed his figure.

The events with the Twelve-legged Queen had revealed part of his abilities to the Crystal City, so Noah found it hard to believe that its members would follow him in a lair.

However, he was almost sure that he didn't offend anyone inside Vagona city. If his pursuers didn't come from the Crystal City, they were probably after his abilities as an inscription master.

'I would have agreed to talk inside Vagona city,' Noah thought as a cold expression appeared on his face, 'But we are in the wilderness now.'

Noah always had a reason to kill other cultivators. It didn't matter if they wanted him alive. Their dantians were resources that he wouldn't dare to miss.

He even had the chance to seize their storage spaces now. It had been impossible to force Bertha's item due to the restrictions of the Crystal City, but Noah believed that he wouldn't have problems against weaker forces.

Seven rank 7 cultivators in the gaseous stage entered the cave after confirming that Noah was inside it. They wore black robes, and tight hoods covered their faces.

"We need him alive," One of those hooded cultivators said as the group walked through the rocky environment. "This Defying Demon shouldn't have many resources, so his only value is in his abilities as an inscription master."

The other members of the group nodded at those words, but they soon hesitated to proceed when they lost track of Noah's aura. The seven then exchanged a glance before dispersing through the various branches of the cave.

Noah seemed to have completely disappeared, but those cultivators had already confirmed that the cave didn't have an exit. He had to be inside. It was only a matter of finding him now.

Soft steps echoed through the silent cave. Low snores resounded from the deeper parts of the lair and made the cultivators wary of the creatures resting inside that place.

Noah's disappearance had already messed up with their plans, but they weren't willing to give up on obtaining an inscription master just yet. The value of those experts was immense, especially for small organizations.

'I don't recognize those clothes,' Noah thought as he stared at the group from a peculiar hiding spot. 'Some of those auras feel familiar, but I can't put a face on them. They must have been among the crowd in front of the inscription hall.'

Noah was inside Snore. The Blood Companion managed to suppress his aura, and a layer of dark rocks disguised the creature as part of the environment.

Noah stared at the group's movements while he remained hidden, and he decided to act only when one cultivator neared his position. The expert walked slowly, but dark energy suddenly began to gather on the cave's ceiling. Snore launched its dark beam before the existence could even understand what was happening.

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Author's notes: Same as yesterday, but you should receive the next chapter far sooner this time.