The world had been at peace for too long, and even the battle against the natives wasn"t enough to appease the divergences that divided the four organizations.
The Papral nation and the Elbas family had grudges against the Shandal Empire, and all three of those forces hated the Hive for the independence of the Coral Archipelago. Those resentments didn"t just disappear. They were still there, waiting for a chance to come out in the open.
The fall of the new continent, the crisis of the winged beasts, and the dimensional portal had simply kept the four forces busy, but it didn"t solve their natural enmity.
The race for the power of the hybrids was just another distraction, but everyone knew that something would eventually happen, and chaos would follow it.
Yet, there wasn"t much that Noah could do about that. Even as a heroic cultivator in the fifth rank, he couldn"t face the wills of such big organizations alone. He could only prepare and try to improve the foundation of the Hive before an inevitable storm hit it.
The fan eventually stabilized, and Thirty-seven summoned a heroic cultivator with a suitable apt.i.tude and level to test it. The Beast Core inside it though had become used to its new body and wouldn"t let anyone use it.
That was just the innate instinct contained in the will inside the Core. Cultivators would have to tame it like they would tame a wild creature, which was usually a tough task if there wasn"t a significant difference in power.
However, Noah was there, and the will inside the Beast Core hadn"t lost its natural fear toward a being that was above it in the food chain.
As expected, the strength of the fan exceeded the might of the original Sharp Eagle since "Breath" fueled it now. It became able to shoot wind slashes that didn"t differ much from spells in terms of power.
However, it didn"t need mental energy, and even its requirements in terms of "Breath" were far lower than the average consumption of the spells. Noah and the automaton had basically created a weapon that allowed every cultivator to shoot an almost countless number of spells without depleting too much energy.
It soon became evident that the experiment had been a success.
"We can improve the anatomy and add multiple features to make it more consistent in battle," Thirty-seven judged, ignoring the amazed expression of the rank 4 cultivator wielding the fan. "The only issue is taming them, but these weapons weren"t meant for ordinary a.s.sets in the first place."
"Agreed," Noah said without moving his eyes from the fan. "We can even create weapons in line with the cultivators" individualities. Every other kind of inscribed weapon will become outdated once the living ones make their appearance."
The automaton nodded. Noah and Thirty-seven had limited themselves to create something that worked, but they could start pursuing specific features now that they had confirmed their success.
The heroic cultivator wanted to keep the fan, but Noah and Thirty-seven needed it as a sample for future projects. Also, the Elder didn"t submit the weapon, which was only working because it feared Noah.
Even without a dantian, the weapon could still use the primary energy inside its body to revolt and attack its owner. After all, it was alive and with the mind of a wild beast.
Noah and Thirty-seven immersed themselves in a long period of research and tests. Their school shared similarities to the formation field when it came to the knowledge concerning the materials to use.
There were countless times when a particular body part would just reject the materials added to its shape, and there were even limits connected to the body part itself. Even after modifying its anatomy, those weapons could only express so much power.
A catalog began to take form, and Thirty-seven diligently noted every interaction between certain species and specific materials. The experimentation had reached a point where Noah could aim to perfect his creation and try to bring out their full potential.
The financial losses of the Hive were immense in that period. Most heroic a.s.sets were busy hunting down worm-type creatures or purchasing them from the other world, and a large number of them were wasted in the experiments.
Elder Austin even had to check Noah"s work at some point. The automaton had started to miss his cla.s.ses, and Noah resembled a hunger-driven monster able to consume dozens of magical beasts in the heroic ranks every week!
The Elder had to see with his own eyes where all those resources went.
Noah simply handed him a rank 4 living weapon in the upper tier and told him to test it.
That weapon had the form of a sack that had a cave metal tube on one end. It was only of the size of an adult"s forearm, but claws-like legs were sticking from the bottom of the sack. That gave the item a menacing aspect, but it wasn"t its most peculiar feature.
That was one of Noah"s latest creations and used a conscious Beast Core to work, which meant that it could perform more complex tasks.
Elder Austin followed Noah"s instructions and let the legs of the weapon pierce his arm as he equipped it. Blood flowed inside the sac at that point, which began to take life as if awakened by that intense flavor.
The Elder showed a surprised expression when he felt the will of the hybrid contained in the Beast Core trying to affect his mind, but he quickly suppressed and tamed it with his superior consciousness. Then, he poured a little part of his "Breath" to see its effects.
The sack enlarged as the "Breath" activated its functions, and red flames came out of the metallic tube. The fire didn"t fly in a straight line though. They morphed and took the form of a tall wolf that jumped directly toward the Elder.
Elder Austin only had to focus his mental energy to suppress the rebellion of the weapon, but he managed to evaluate the power of the flames nonetheless. Using his "Breath" made the fire reach the peak of the fourth rank, which was something that cultivators could express only through spells, except for a few exceptional cases like Noah.
Giving such a weapon to worthy a.s.sets was akin to giving them a spell that didn"t require mental energy to work. Also, the cultivators wouldn"t need to train to use that power, and the only drawback seemed to be its unwillingness to follow orders.
"Is the blood necessary?" Elder Austin asked as he removed the sac from his forearm.
"Yes," Noah answered, "Blood Snakes use their blood or that of their victims to fuel their flames. Even I can"t modify the natural features of the body parts used in the creations of these weapons. I tried already."
Elder Austin simply nodded at his answer and handed the sac back to the automaton that promptly stored it in one of his containers.
"How long until you make something in the fifth rank?" Elder Austin asked at that point without bothering to suppress his interested smile.