'I guess my first hunt is over.'

Noah thought that and a bottle containing a dark red liquid appeared in his hands.

It was the Beast's quintessence and its usage was similar to the Beast's essence that he had used in the past.

'I'm not in a hurry to go back, I should just use this and improve while no one is around me.'

Noah was still s.h.i.+rtless so he only needed to apply the quintessence.

He carefully opened the small bottle and smeared its contents on the spots where his seven acupoints were.

The liquid was dense and had a bad odor but its effects were immediate.

The acupoints reacted on their own and began to absorb "Breath" at a fast pace.

Noah immediately put away the bottle and focused on the Yin body, he couldn't randomly absorb "Breath", he had to redirect it through the proper channels in order to obtain improvements rather than harm.

Seven vortexes were created on his back, their rotation speed was incredible, they absorbed "Breath" at a fast pace.

The Beast's quintessence was a potion that momentarily allowed a cultivator to imitate the magical beasts' ability to absorb "Breath", increasing the quant.i.ty of nourishment that their bodies received for a short amount of time.

The "Breath" entered his body and acc.u.mulated on his back, it was cold like he was used to, he knew that the medicine was working correctly.

He then directed it to his dantian in order to refine it before it could nourish his bones.

Since the "Breath" absorbed that way was in such a higher quant.i.ty compared to its normal one, Noah could not cultivate in the Dark vortex technique at the same time or the stress on his dantian would be too much to withstand.

Noah continued to cultivate like that for one week before emptying the bottle of quintessence.

"Fuuu."

He exhaled loudly as soon as the effects of the potion expired and he interrupted his cultivation.

His skin had become even paler and his cold aura intensified.

However, he felt that his strength had increased again.

'I'm still a bit away from the peak of the third rank but I've indeed made some progress.'

Noah concluded after inspecting his body.

He wasn't really sure of how much it would take for his dantian to reach the peak of the gaseous stage and his mental sphere was very far away from the third rank but he was sure that his body was nearing the breakthrough.

'Two years at most and I will face the Pain Tribulation.'

Since in the next rank his body would enter the Heroic ranks, he would face the first tribulation.

'I should go back now.'

It took Noah two days to reach the West gate of the capital.

He had learnt the route by then, which shortened the time needed to return to the Royal city.

When he returned to the room he had rented, he found Ivor sleeping in one corner surrounded by empty jars.

"So, how was your stay?"

Ivor opened his eyes after hearing Noah's words and, as always, it took a while for him to gain clarity.

He didn't answer and simply handed Noah three thousand Credits.

Noah was surprised, he had left him only two thousand Credits and the Moon needles.

"What was the value of my creations?"

Ivor snorted softly and cleaned his nose with his sleeve.

"Those old geezers, they wanted to lower the price because they believed that the items were stolen. Yet, they shut up once they saw the element that the needles had."

Noah waited for him to continue.

"One thousand and five hundred Credits. Sadly, they were two-use weapons or their value would have skyrocketed. You should be proud of yourself, not many inscribed items can silence those arrogant inscription masters. You might climb to a higher social status if you invest more time in the forging."

Noah ignored his words and took out his sabers to inspect them carefully.

He still didn't repair them after his last usage of the Demonic form and their shapes showed some slight cracks.

'My power has increased too much, my current weapons can barely withstand it.'

Every time he used the partial Demonic form, his sabers would undergo a corrosion.

The toxic smoke was too powerful and wild, it was impossible to completely control it even for its user.

'Luckily, the creator of the spell managed to consider my clothes as a part of my body or I would end up naked every time I use it. Sadly, that's the best he could do, this feature can't be exploited in any way.'

Noah injected his "Breath" in the sabers and the inscriptions lit up, fixing the broken spots and sharpening the blades again.

"Those are nice weapons, they might be worth a few thousand Credits."

Ivor judged, looking at the silver blades.

"Did they ask about me?"

Noah could not sell his sabers since they were his only weapons so he changed the topic of their conversation.

"Yes, but I've only given vague answers. It won't be much before they find who you are though, your element is too rare to go unnoticed."

Noah nodded, he expected that much too.

After his sabers were fixed, he put them back in his s.p.a.ce-ring and stood up, signaling Ivor to follow him.

"Let's go back to the guild and find a new habitation."

"What? But we still have more than half a month of paid rent left!"

Ivor complained but Noah just shook his head.

"You said that yourself, I won't be anonymous much longer. I need to start forging and I'm afraid that this whole building might explode due to my failures in my new creation."

Ivor's eyes widened and a big smile appeared on his face.

"Will you stop testing and attempt in something serious?"

Noah nodded and smiled too, he had to admit that he was quite excited by his idea.

"I can now have discounts on rank 4 materials, there is no reason to wait further."

As he said that, he exited the room, followed by an excited scrounger.