Birth of the Demonic Sword

Elder Hope, Noah, and Elder Duke immediately set off after the former revealed that information, Elder Morgan and Elder Laurel were enough to take care of the teleportation matrix.

The three heroic cultivators flew at a high speed toward the southern coast as Elder Hope led the way toward her discovery.

They crossed the area inhabited by Poisonous frogs and flew around the domain of the rank 5 Giant sandworm, a large area filled with lava appeared in front of their eyes as soon as the desert was crossed.

Red rivers dug canals across a rocky wasteland, they stretched themselves till the southern coast where the lava fell into the sea, even its heat though couldn't melt the ice formed by the spell of the God of the Empire.

Elder Hope led her two companions toward what she said was the source of that lava, the group flew over the rivers, reaching a red lake that radiated an unbearable heat.

Noah found hard looking at the lake for too long, even his hybrid body couldn't withstand the hot waves that were radiated by the lava inside it.

It was needless to say that the state of his two companions was worse than his as they floated over the lake.

"Do you have any suggestions?"

Elder Hope asked as she looked at Noah, she had reason to believe that such heat could only be caused by magical beasts in the divine ranks.

As he looked at lava, Noah knew that she was right!

An irrepressible hunger filled Noah as he forced his eyes to analyze the lake, his mouth autonomously produced saliva as his dragon's side gave him the confirmation that something extremely nourishing was hidden under the lake.

It took a while for Noah to calm himself down, he felt as the Saber-toothed tigers did when they watched the corpse of their leader being eaten by him, he knew that the corpse of a powerful magical beast was there but he didn't have the power to reach it.

"There definitely something strong down there, I can't be sure about its rank but I know that it's dead. It's probably the corpse of some body parts of a mighty creature and I'd say that there is a high chance that it's something near the divine ranks seeing how it's affecting the environment."

Noah gave voice to his thoughts as he evaluated the area, the lake was just one of the repercussions that the presence of such a powerful being had caused.

"We need heroic cultivators of the fire element and Chasing Demon, he might be the only one able to explore the depths of the lake."

Elder Duke spoke as he retreated higher in the sky, he couldn't endure the heat in the air above the lake anymore.

Elder Hope and Noah followed him, even they were reaching their limits, they would have had to use the "Breath" inside their dantians to remain there.

Elder Hope and Elder Duke began to discuss the matter, most of their plans couldn't be carried out before the connection with the Coral archipelago was created but they still evaluated as many approaches as they could.

Noah, however, was completely silent, his mind was still on the lake below him.

'I wonder how much my body would improve if I could take even a small bite from that corpse.'

That was his constant thought.

Eating magical beasts of a lower rank didn't increase his power by much and even those on a higher level only slightly boosted his strength.

A hybrid needed more "Breath" to advance compared to normal magical beasts and even time took part in that process, Noah could only fulfill his hunger and wait for his body to completely assimilate those nutrients to improve.

Yet, things would surely be different if a divine beast was to be his meal!

Noah was almost sure that he wouldn't need to wait if he had such a nourishing flesh, he knew that his body would most likely immediately reach the fifth rank with just one bite!

"What do you think about that, Prince?"

Elder Hope's voice brought Noah back to reality, he found the stares of his two companions on him as they waited for some sort of answer.

"We should secure the azure plain, that area is the best place to colonize and create a foothold. As for the lake…"

Noah took one last look at the lava below him before releasing a loud sigh and continuing his phrase.

"We can't affect this zone with our power, there is no point in wasting time over something that we can't touch."

Noah's words were harsh but also true.

Elder Hope nodded and gestured to the group to return to the forest of White woods, there was nothing that they could do about that place for now.

As they returned to the forest, Elder Duke went back on the ground to help the other two elders while Elder Hope and Noah flew toward the azure plain.

They began killing the Saber-toothed tigers, the remaining specimens were in the middle tier at best, the two of them could easily kill dozens of them each in one day.

Days went by in that way.

The group was doing its best to be efficient with its time there, they had to make up for the four years of advantage that the three big nations had on the Hive.

The population of Saber-toothed tigers diminished as time passed, Noah made sure to always store the corpses inside his space-ring, his storage device was the best of the group after all, the value of the magical beasts could be easily preserved thanks to that.

Of course, the sudden decrease in the number of tigers opened up the way to other magical beasts that had been cast out in the past.

Weak Poisonous frogs tried to expand their territory and bear-type magical beasts began to descend from the mountain range and invade the azure plain.

The fauna in the plain seemed to be refilled each day, almost undoing Noah and Elder Hope's efforts.

Yet, after a few weeks went by like that, the teleportation matrix was completed and the connection with the Coral archipelago was created!