Chapter 1474 1474. Dragon
Noah settled in Yellnbel. Even if he wasn't a member of the Legion, the hybrids in the city didn't complain when their leaders gave him one of the most luxurious habitations.
Yellnbel was a city featuring simple buildings, but Theodora and Wilford managed to give him a large house with a few significant benefits. The structure could gather "Breath", and many of those rooms had inscriptions that reinforced its fabric.
Noah could train freely inside that structure. With the invasion on hold, he and his companions could focus on turning the experience gathered in the past battles into actual power. That break was something that they all needed after defeating many guilds.
Noah's potential had skyrocketed after his many victories against solid stage cultivators. His dantian wanted to improve, and the true meaning that it contained propelled the organ faster toward the superior stage.
The centuries spent in the wilderness, and the many battles had made Noah's existence ready for the solid stage. He only had to invest time to reach that level now.
Noah's aura grew. The influence of his ambition increased, and a dark halo began to loom around his habitation. It was as if the world wanted to create a separate area featuring a night that covered only Noah.
The breakthrough grew closer with every year that Noah spent in seclusion. Wilford had given him interesting leads on potential Blood Companions, but the world was too messy now. Noah preferred to focus on his foundation while the environment around him became easier to explore again.
The magical beasts' domain featured spies of the Crystal City. Many human organizations were hunting for the experts that had delayed their invasion on the Outer Lands. Noah was truly safe only inside the Legion, and he didn't dare to waste that peaceful time.
Still, before he could complete the last step before his breakthrough to the solid stage, Ian contacted him. It seemed that new troops had appeared around the pagoda, and most of them featured white robes adorned with purple drawings.
That event had to happen. Noah knew that far too well. His group had killed two solid stage cultivators from the Crystal City and one from the Sailbrird family. It was only normal for them to join the invasion in the hope of finding him.
Ian explained how the invasion had changed after the arrival of those new troops. The Crystal City and the Sailbrird family didn't care that they couldn't hire guilds for the task. They sent their core forces through the pagoda and started expanding their influence in the nearby regions.
Those organizations had also sent rank 8 cultivators meant to keep Theodora and Wilford busy. They had joined the invasion, even if their political satiation made them unsuitable for maintaining control of those regions.
Noah didn't immediately join the fight. He didn't care that the Legion was on the losing end of the invasion. His cultivation level was about to improve. Nothing mattered more than that.
However, Noah soon understood that he couldn't reach the superior stage with regular training alone. Even his vast accumulation couldn't push him toward the solid stage. He needed to fulfill some requirements dictated by his ambition to complete the breakthrough.
His ambition had allowed him to reach the liquid stage, and the same had to happen with the solid stage. Noah's existence already desired the breakthrough, but he had to fuel that emotion with actual achievements.
'My body is also about to reach the upper tier,' Noah thought after studying the reports accumulated in front of his habitation's door. 'I might complete two breakthroughs if these battles give me enough potential.'
Noah decided to leave his habitation after he reached that conclusion. He wouldn't miss the chance to hurt the Crystal City, and his existence required battles anyway. It was better to fight against the invasion than remain inside Yellnbel for who knew how long.
When Noah reached the pagoda, he found a familiar face among the troops that defended the structure. Miss Canson was among those troops, and she led a group of liquid stage cultivators that seemed connected to her cultivation level.
Miss Canson's cultivation level had reached the liquid stage, and she revealed a livid expression when she saw Noah joining the troops deployed by the Legion.
It was clear that Charles' defeat weighed on the Crystal City, and Miss Canson didn't even try to hide those feelings. She mainly felt angry, but traces of fear leaked into her expression whenever her eyes fell on Noah.
Noah cared so little about liquid stage cultivations that he had almost failed to see Miss Canson as he focused on the solid stage experts among that small army.
The pagoda featured more than ten solid stage cultivators and countless weaker experts. It seemed that even the Crystal City struggled to provide an entire army of powerful existences, but Noah didn't mind killing them now that he had the chance.
After a life spent fighting, Noah could immediately imagine the best and worst outcomes in every situation. He knew that he wasn't far away from forcing the Crystal City to deploy rank 8 cultivators only for him, so he had to inflict as much damage as possible before the organization inevitably compelled him to escape.
The other troops from the Legion let him pass. Those armies created a long corridor that led directly toward the frontline. The hybrids wanted to see him fight, and Noah wouldn't deny them that chance.
Noah noticed King Elbas among the troops. The Royal had also decided to join the battle after Ian's continuous pleads. The hybrids wanted every valuable warrior in those battles, and he couldn't think of anyone other than the experts who could face solid stage cultivators on their own.
Noah stared at the enemy troops in front of him and deployed the dark world. He had completed other blueprints during his seclusion and battles against the guilds. His four additional blades and arms had become a reliable but old technique.
The dark world condensed around his figure as his workshop activated. A roar came out of the black cloud when the unstable substance filled his black veins and forced his technique to use his new power as the base for its creations.
The workshop consumed an immense amount of dark matter to build a new body around Noah's figure. Two massive limbs covered Noah's arms, and the same happened for his legs. A large piece of scaled forms also replaced his torso, and his draconic helmet enlarged as his body morphed.
Before the invaders could even understand what was happening, Noah transformed into a giant dragon that roared at the enemy troops. His cry inspired the other hybrids and made them change into their beast form.
Jordan wasn't an exception. She was the first to follow Noah's example and transform into her beast form. Other hybrids soon followed her, and the army from the Legion quickly gained messy features.
The cultivators around the pagoda took a step back when they saw so many liquid and solid stage experts transforming. Even the mindless hybrids in the seventh rank were enough to frighten those humans.
The cultivators soon understood that their peaceful days spent expanding were over. It was time for the Legion to strike back.