Birth of the Demonic Sword

'The first trial of the separate dimension was surpassed, the reward was thirty intact rank 4 dragon corpses.'

'The labyrinth at the end of the bridge leads to different trials, the reports from the survivors of the other organizations speak of peak rank 4 dragons in each of them.'

'A team managed to break through the labyrinth, the sole survivor has gained five dragon's eggs as a reward.'

'The third trial is still inside the labyrinth, reports speak about an endurance test.'

'The third test is inflicting heavy losses to every organization, the exploration will be halted momentarily for the teams to reorganize.'

'The third test was completed today, four rank 3 cultivation techniques and six rank 4 martial arts were rewarded to those that had completed it.'

Reports arrived endlessly in the Chasing demon sect, the disciples read them with vivid interest while they went on with their lives.

The underground organizations were managing to hide the information about the separate dimension from the legal ones but the representatives from the continent soon understood that something was going on.

It couldn't be helped, the Hive had always strictly controlled the archipelago but its grip on the islands was weakening.

That was caused by the large number of powerful cultivators employed in the exploration of the Inheritance ground, some matters on the surface were neglected to focus on the dimension.

Yet, instead of being happy about that, the legal organizations became suspicious.

Soon, they used their methods to make a deal with the Hive, joining the exploration of the dimension.

A truce was made, the rewards of the Inheritance ground were too appealing to lose them over the control of the archipelago, the greed of the legal factions won against the orders of the continent.

As a matter of fact, the continent was unaware of the dimension, the legal factions were stalling on providing that information to make the most out of it.

After all, if the continent was involved, they would lose all the rights over the resources contained in the dimension, they would rather gain as much as they could before the information was spread.

That intention was shared by the Hive which used all its methods to contain the information in the archipelago.

A long period of peace followed, the powerful cultivators in the organizations were too busy with the Inheritance ground to handle the petty matters of the surface, only the weaker rank 3 cultivators were left to oversee them.

The leadership for the matters of the surface was also appointed to some cultivators in the second rank, with most rank 3 cultivators in the dimension, they became the most powerful asset in the human ranks.

There were some exceptions though.

Bruce and Seth had avoided joining the exploration of the Inheritance ground, Bruce cared too much about Sarah's condition, he didn't want to leave her alone while she was injured, and Seth was too busy managing the matters on the surface with the lack of manpower.

Roy was the same as Seth, he had to make sure that the manpower sent in the Inheritance ground didn't affect the position of the sect in the archipelago, losing its grip on the islands was too easy now that their most powerful human assets were away.

As for Noah, even though he couldn't join the exploration of the separate dimension because his cultivation level was too low, he still greatly benefitted from that situation.

The lack of manpower forced the sect to be more generous with the rewards to its missions, the disciples would complete more and more missions with each passing day, attracted by the huge sum of merit points rewarded with each one of them.

Noah, as the strongest cultivator in the second rank, was considered of equal importance with the weak rank 3 cultivators left behind.

He had access to the most important and rewarding missions, he could even lead a team at some point.

"Captain, will you join the exploration of the dimension once you reach the third rank?"

One disciple asked as soon as Noah and his team appeared on the matrixes inside the sect.

"That's the plan."

Noah answered, he lowered his hood and undressed his bloodied robe as he jumped off the matrix.

The last mission required for him to stop the sailing of a ship belonging to the Shandal Empire.

Those loyal to the continent in that organization wanted to smuggle some of the resources gained in the Inheritance ground to gain favor in the eyes of the Empire so Noah was tasked to stop it and steal its contents.

Of course, a huge battle occurred but Noah's team was more numerous and he was in the first line, the soldiers on the ship had no chance to survive.

"How I envy you. When the separate dimension was discovered more than two years ago, I thought I had found my chance to improve quickly. It was disappointing to know that only those in the third rank had a chance to survive."

The disciple spoke again as he too undressed.

More than two years had passed since the exploration of the Inheritance ground began, the reports about the many trials had never stopped reaching the sect.

'Just a month ago, a rank 4 cultivation technique was rewarded to those that had surpassed the seventh trial… Dammit, I hope they don't exhaust all the rewards before I enter it.'

Noah thought as he reviewed the last report about the separate dimension in his mind.

The rewards for each trial had always been resources, techniques, or spells in the third rank but the appearance of a rank 4 cultivation technique had rekindled the greed of the various organizations.

"Go to rest, I'll call you if I need your help in another mission."

Noah dismissed disciples under him and moved toward the missions' building, ignoring the bows that the disciples were politely performing.

When Noah reached the building, he went directly to the second floor.

The room was almost empty, all the rank 3 cultivators were either in the separate dimension or handling the most relevant matters in the islands, the missions on that floor piled up since there weren't enough cultivators that could complete them.

Noah went for the desk, his tattoo interacted with the formation and an egg the size of a man's head was placed there.

The egg was the item that the legal organization was trying to smuggle, it was one of the dragon's eggs rewarded in the second trial of the separate dimension.

The egg disappeared from the desk and a huge number of merit points were given to Noah, that number though saw a sharp decrease once he made his purchase.

A small scroll appeared on the desk, Noah opened it only to see that an intricate rune was depicted on it, his mind immediately began to enlarge at that sight.

'Finally, now I can fully focus on reaching the peak of the solid stage!'