The captain of the inscribed s.h.i.+p happily took the Credits and welcomed Noah in his quarters.

His att.i.tude drastically changed after Noah paid him, he became more hospitable and he tried his best to satisfy Noah's needs.

A small table was filled with the best food and wine that the s.h.i.+p had to offer, Noah found himself having dinner alone with the captain, only a few servants were in the room apart from the two of them.

Of course, Noah used that chance to gather as much information as he could about the Coral archipelago.

The name of the captain was Cody, he was a former cultivator in the Papral nation who was exiled in the archipelago due to some minor crime.

According to his words, the political situation in the Coral archipelago was quite far from Noah's expectations.

Each powerful nation had sent their representatives to colonize some of the islands that made the archipelago a long time ago but they all had different criteria for the selections of their envoy.

The Utra nation had sent professors of the academy escorted by royal soldiers to set up a branch of the academy.

Their job was to gather resources that would be sent back to the main country for research or cultivation purposes.

The environment of the archipelago was completely different from the one of the continent, some materials could only be found there.

The Shandal Empire didn't have a specific reason to colonize the islands, it simply did that because the other two big nations were doing it.

That's why it sent old and retired soldiers, their professions varied from the slave trade to anything they could get their hands on, leading to a disorganized control over the territory.

The Papral nation, instead, had a strict code of conduct.

Its cultivators emphasized balance and diligence, leading to a large number of minor crimes.

Simply speaking, the Papral nation used the Coral archipelago as a prison without bars, it would just send troublesome cultivators there and leave them be.

Yet, that was the situation of a long time ago.

Time had pa.s.sed since the archipelago was colonized and the different factions slowly merged to form a more uniform political situation.

It couldn't be helped, every human had its own ambitions, being far away from the landma.s.s gave them a lot of freedom.

Little by little, the citizens of the archipelago began to feel like an independent country, forcing the rulers on the continent to enforce a stricter control over their envoys.

Each one of the three big nation sent some trusted representatives to take control of their respective factions, restoring the barriers between the countries.

However, once an idea was created, it was almost impossible to destroy it.

Whispers about independence still resounded in the islands, the rumors spoke about an underground organization that secretly interfered with the powers sent by the continent.

"What's the name of this organization?"

Noah became extremely interested once the conversation with Cody reached that point.

Noah was a criminal in the Utra nation, the Royals had a complete profile of his strength.

Also, he was wanted in the Empire, even if it wasn't aware of his facial features, it still knew his abilities.

'I had initially thought that I would be joining some minor organization controlled by the Papral nation. Yet, between another big country and an underground society, I obviously prefer the latter.'

Noah knew himself, there was a high chance that he would become an enemy of the Papral nation too if he was to become too close to it.

Yet, an underground organization was perfect for his plans.

'Its members must be constantly hiding from the ruling powers, meaning that I can be as secretive as I want. Also, it might have a way to smuggle people back in the continent without alerting the big nations.'

Noah didn't forget his purpose.

He needed to reach a country where he could gather resources and develop, the Efrana nation was the best choice according to the information that he had.

However, he wasn't so delusional to think that he could simply fly toward the Papral nation and then walk to Efrana, the events in the Odrea nation had clearly proven that feat impossible.

That's why he had decided to join some organization that could lead him back to the continent while he was still flying over the sea.

Yet, realizing that a secret society existed had opened a more suitable path to him.

"My Lord, I'm just a simple sailor, how would I know matters related to those powerful forces?"

Cody didn't answer his question, he lowered his gaze on the golden cup full of wine and began to eat again.

'That's a lie.'

Noah was sure of that fact.

He had lived in a place that had secret organizations, the citizens there simply called them gangs.

He knew that the name of those gangs was well known in the minds of the common citizens, a name could inculcate more fear, it created a real threat.

Noah showed some displeasure, he silently sipped from his cup, keeping his gaze on the fat man in front of him.

Little by little, he showed more of his aura, Cody's habitation became colder as time pa.s.sed.

Cody was a rank 2 cultivator in the gaseous stage with a rank 4 body, he wasn't weak for the average level of the cultivators in the human ranks.

However, in front of Noah's rank 3 sea of consciousness, he could only lower his head, his face began to exude cold drops of sweat that fell on the plates below him.

After a few minutes, Cody couldn't handle the silence anymore and sighed while placing down his cutlery.

"My Lord, you have to promise that you will never tell that I've revealed this information to you."

Cody seemed extremely serious as he spoke those words, Noah couldn't help but be slightly surprised by that.

'It's just a name, why is he so worried?'

Those thoughts didn't prevent him from nodding at Cody to accept his condition.

Cody lowered his head and used one hand to prevent the sound of his words to disperse in the room before he finally whispered a name.

"The organization is called Hive."