"Wait, what do you mean with that?"
Noah stored the dark blue ball back in his sea of consciousness.
The pressure returned and, with it, the pain but he endured it as he did with any other form of training.
If storing "Breath" in the mental sphere could speed up its advancements, Noah would gladly bear the pain that it caused.
"Well, did you really think that you could take away the "Breath" without consequences? Your tribulations will be way more dangerous than those of other cultivators. It is recorded in the various experiments with the method."
Noah became irritated again.
"Recorded where?"
Ivor seemed to think of something and smiled awkwardly before taking out another book from his backpack.
"It seems that I forgot to give you this. You know, with the state of my mental sphere it"s easy to forget many details."
Noah took the book and read through its pages.
There were many experiments recorded with the insights of the cultivators on their sides.
Noah could vaguely guess that there were hundreds of years of tests recorded in the book.
"The value of this knowledge is immense! It spans from ways to better tame the "Breath" to experiments in increasing its density inside the sea of consciousness."
Noah looked again at Ivor, he could not help but wonder how such a shabby character was in possession of all those data.
"Does every pract.i.tioner of the Elemental forging method have access to all this knowledge?"
Ivor took a big sip from the jar before answering.
"Even though this method is recognized as a valid branch of the schools regarding inscriptions, the requirements are too harsh and the dangers that come with it scare away most cultivators. It"s hard to find someone with a strong will and a st.u.r.dy mental sphere willing to take such risks only to attempt in an incomplete method."
Noah"s eyes narrowed.
"You didn"t answer my question."
Ivor coughed lightly, putting again the previous awkward smile.
"There are no more pract.i.tioners in this method, they are all either dead or mentally unable to be of any use. I"m the only one who is still trying to keep the method alive, that"s why I affiliated with the academy. I needed to find someone who could make the best use of our acc.u.mulated knowledge."
Noah replied with a suspicious voice.
"Don"t tell me, did all the pract.i.tioners die because of the method?"
"Well, not everyone. Some of them gave up on performing inscriptions along the way. Let"s say that only nine out of ten died or ended up in my condition."
Noah stared at Ivor for a long time before sighing.
"It"s not like I had any other options. Also, if I manage to make something like that knife, my power would rise exponentially."
"I guess I"m now the only heir to the method, am I right?"
Ivor nodded.
Noah"s face became stern.
"I want all the data, techniques, applications, and advice that you have. Don"t leave anything behind or I will never attempt to do something this dangerous again and your precious method will become history with your death."
Ivor nodded again.
"Deal. As a matter of fact, I can already make you my disciple and live here with you. I can give you pointers every time you have a doubt while you can focus completely on increasing the amount of "Breath" stored in your sea of consciousness."
Noah shook his head.
"No, I won"t focus completely on it. Actually, I intend to slow it down, just this much of "Breath" is almost my limit. I have no intention of betting my future on an incomplete method, I will continue practicing in it only because it should be my best hope in creating techniques in the higher ranks."
Ivor took a long sip before falling deep in thought.
Noah could see how the effort hurt him as he continued to drink from the jar every now and then.
After about ten minutes, Ivor gave him his answer.
"It seems the best option, I became too excited seeing that you had succeeded in the first step in only one week. The slow way is the best one in this method since one mistake might ruin you forever. However, I stand for what I said, I will live here and help you whenever you need me. I just need some Credits to afford the wine, you wouldn"t leave your poor Master suffering the whole time, won"t you?"
Noah rolled his eyes and replied.
"How much do you need?"
Ivor scratched his beard and spoke in a soft voice.
"Oh, about one hundred Credits every week."
Noah"s eyes widened and he could not help but raise his tone to reprimand him.
"That"s more than four hundred every month! I only have a bit less than five thousand Credits! What kind of wine are you even drinking to be this expensive? Can"t you find another way to ease your pain?"
Ivor shook his head.
"It is indeed a very expensive one done by an alchemy master. I guess I might lower the quant.i.ty a bit though if you really can"t afford it."
Ivor began to count with his fingers while gobbling large quant.i.ties of wine from his jar.
Noah felt a bit of pity looking at him and sighed again.
"He is even willing to suffer in order to see his method being pa.s.sed down. Well, I can always make more money with some specific mission while I can"t underestimate the value of an experienced cultivator on my side the whole time."
"Fine, four hundred every month, nothing more. Mind you, they need to be enough even for your food supply. Here, give me all the information you have on the Elemental forging method."
Noah handed him four hundred Credits while Ivor unloaded all the contents of his backpack.
There were more than ten books, all in a poor state.
Ivor then began to point at each one of them, explaining its contents.
It was at that moment that Noah remembered something and claimed Ivor"s attention.
"There is another condition for you to live here."
Ivor raised his head and waited for Noah to speak.
"You need to take a bath."
Noah said, pointing at the bathtub in the other room.