Noah's biggest issue in using the Blood drain spell to boost his body's strength was that he could only use rank 3 magical beasts in the process.

Rank 4 creatures gave more nourishment but he simply didn't have the power to fight them.

What happened with Abel was a fluke, his physical strength was in the third rank and he was also injured, making him the perfect target for Noah's spells.

However, magical beasts had a far stronger body than cultivators, Noah didn't have the confidence to beat the latter let alone the beasts.

'I guess, I'll be forced to strive for quant.i.ty over quality.'

Noah thought.

He was inspecting the various boards listing the hunting zones in the Hunter's guild.

'They are quite crowded, as expected.'

He sighed internally as he inspected the low-danger areas featuring large numbers of rank 3 beasts.

'Basically, all the hunters that can't join parties hunting rank 4 creatures are here.'

There were a lot of names next to those zones, Noah guessed that all the cultivators having only a rank 3 body were there.

There were only a few willing to enter areas inhabited by rank 4 creatures, life had way more value than money after all.

'Should I go again in a danger zone? I don't see anything with the same favorable conditions though.'

What he meant for favorable conditions was that he could escape from the powerful beasts living there.

'I need a rank 4 body as soon as possible, I feel like most of the best resources are hidden behind that hurdle.'

A powerful body wasn't only needed to match the powerful beasts' might.

Entering in the fourth rank meant that a cultivator could increase the level of its dantian more freely.

Noah knew that his body was slightly holding back the improvements of his dantian.

After all, his battle prowess was that of a rank 2 cultivator in the liquid stage due to the power of his Demonic form.

Noah was sure that his full strength was enough to wound at least the weaker rank 4 beings.

Yet, the liquid stage was generally the limit of a cultivator with a rank 3 body, therefore it was obvious to think that the body itself would slow down the improvements of the dantian.

'William had to obtain a rank 4 body-nouris.h.i.+ng method before being able to advance to the third rank of the dantian and he was way older than me. I'm incredibly strong for my age but I need to be even stronger if I want to stop being a puppet.'

Balvan family, Thaddeus, and Thaddeus' father could all use him as they wished.

The reason was that he was too weak compared to such powers.

'Running away now can't even benefit me that much. What if I escape in the wilderness and a rank 4 creature from which I can't escape appears? I need to be able to protect myself, my next escape won't be as safe as my previous one after all.'

When he had escaped from Eccentric Thunder's inheritance ground, he was traveling toward the academy.

If he was to leave the Utra nation though, he could meet unforeseen dangers.

His wild dreams could end with just one unlucky encounter and Noah had already resolved himself to never bet on his luck again.

'Quant.i.ty it is. I just hope that the other hunters won't get in my way like Doris did, there is a limit to how much I can kill without being discovered.'

He thought, signing his name under many different boards.

If hunters began to disappear everywhere he went, that would undoubtedly raise some suspect.

As for the strength of those weaker hunters, he was quite confident that he could beat any of them one versus one.

Those hunters had at best a rank 3 body after all, which meant that their level had to be below the solid stage of the second rank of the dantian.

Not only was Noah's battle prowess in the liquid stage, but he was also quite confident in escaping due to Echo's wings and the Warp spell.

'I should also drop the scrounger somewhere cheap.'

He thought, turning to exit the guild.

Time pa.s.sed quickly.

Noah would return to the capital rarely since he was busy with his training.

He would travel to many hunting zones, killing as many rank 3 magical beasts as he could with the Blood drain spell and storing the most valuables corpses in his s.p.a.ce-rings.

Since he had two hundred and fifty cubic meters of s.p.a.ce, the number of corpses that he could carry increased, which allowed him to visit many hunting zones before he was forced to return to the Royal city.

His days were spent in solitude in each low-danger area, training every night next to the piece of "Breath" blessing and using the Blood drain spell when hunting beasts.

His body improved quickly and his finances did the same, yet rumors inevitably began to spread in the Hunter's guild.

That couldn't be helped.

In each hunting zone Noah's name appeared, the number of magical beasts would drastically decrease.

The weaker hunters in the guild were rank 2 cultivators as well but they couldn't keep up with Noah's hunting pace.

His knowledge about the magical beasts was too deep, only experienced hunters could match it, and that allowed him to always be the first to find the most populated lairs in each area.

Also, he could move freely in each environment thanks to Echo's wings which quickened his search for the creatures.

"I saw Vance's name next to the Solitary Mountain, the price of the Winged mouse will diminish soon."

"Don't even tell me that. Two weeks ago, I was in Red Lake in the East of the country to hunt Singing ducks. When I arrived there, I didn't find a single feather left. Only when I came back, I noticed Vance's name in that area."

"That kid from the academy is too daring! I had to sleep outside of the capital for an entire month because I didn't manage to hunt a single rank 3 beast! I say we should coalize and force him to slow down his killing."

The hunters in the main hall of the guild complained to each other in front of a jug of wine.

Their job became less remunerative since Noah focused on hunting.

"He is doing everything by the rules, we can't really do anything to him."

An old hunter said to those seated next to him.

"He killed five hundred rank 3 magical beasts in five months! I don't even have the strength to travel in each of those hunting zones in that period of time! He must be restricted to rank 4 creatures!"