Spells of the darkness element were extremely rare and they were hard to copy.

Noah couldn't refuse the chance of obtaining one that could be used till the fourth rank, that offer was simply too appealing!

After all, the spells that he could use at that time were the Demonic form and Warp, all his other spells were too weak or unfit for his combat style.

Simply speaking, he needed to have a larger variety of attacks.

"Hmph, you should accumulate some merit first instead of requesting immediately for the spell."

The girl snorted at Noah's proposal, she couldn't just give away a precious scroll to someone she couldn't trust.

However, Noah wore a shameless smile at that rebuke as he replied.

"You control the formation around the country, right? That means that I can't leave without your approval anyway. Just give me the spell and release me after I've accumulated enough merits."

The girl put a pensive expression at that explanation.

Noah's words made sense, he would have left already if he had the chance, the only thing forcing him to stay was the defensive formation of her ancestor.

Yet, he was just a prisoner at that moment, he would need incentives to become a soldier.

"I don't know if you'll really fight for us, I don't trust you."

Those were the words that came out of her mouth after she thought about the situation.

Noah shrugged his shoulders and spread his arms in an uncaring gesture.

"That's your problem, you need to pay the right price if you want to use me. Also, having another spell would increase my battle prowess, meaning that I would be a stronger soldier under your command."

He had nothing to lose.

He had already threatened those soldiers with his own life, there was nothing that could make him back off.

Silence fell on the hall, even the other cultivators felt that Noah's words were true.

They fought because of their attachment to the country after all, their reward was the peace that they achieved with their blood and sweat.

Noah, however, was an outsider, he had no attachment to their land, he accepted to fight with them only to gain some benefits.

"You outsiders are really impossible… Deal, Logan will go with you and explain our situation."

She then turned to Logan.

"Set the conditions for his release and give him one of the rooms at the borders of the city, I believe that he won't complain about the state of those habitations."

She then waved her hands and dismissed everyone except for her two protectors.

Noah stood up and followed Logan in a relaxed manner, he didn't look like a prisoner at all.

When everyone had left, the girl heaved a long sigh and punched the armchair of her throne in anger.

"Lisa, you can't keep on trusting outsiders."

One of the men next to her spoke in a soft manner.

"And what should I do? He is right! This whole country is a prison and we don't have any chance of escaping it! We need help from outside!"

Lisa angrily replied, Noah's words had unsettled her.

"My lady, you can't expect an outsider to go against the Empire just because of a few cultivation resources."

The other man spoke, they seemed to be more than simply guards for her.

"The constant siege of the Empire keeps on weakening us and there is nothing that we can do about that. Our war can only end in two ways: our country gets conquered and we became slaves or an external force helps us win."

Lisa had both her hands on her forehead, the crown there felt heavier with each passing day.

"Are you willing to deplete all our reserves because of your bets on promising outsiders?"

Lisa sighed again at those words.

"I'm willing to do far more than that if that means saving my people."

Meanwhile, Noah was following Logan toward the borders of the city.

Logan was narrating the story of his country in detail, he wanted to give a clear picture to Noah.

"Our ancestor used his life to empower the formation, preventing any cultivator with a dantian in the heroic ranks or above to enter the country. Yet, that was only the beginning of our problems…"

"The Empire has a seemingly limitless number of cultivators in the human ranks, our little country couldn't match the assault of tens of thousands of soldiers, we were forced to make a further deal with the Empire to ensure our survival."

"We gave up all our cultivation techniques, resources, and Kesier runes with a rank over the third to limit the assault of the Empire. We hindered our own cultivation journey to create a fair battlefield between our two nations."

"However, we had overestimated the loyalty of our stronger soldiers."

"Without the resources to continue cultivating, most of our cultivators in the heroic ranks chose to leave the country to join the Empire, those that chose to stay have slowly died over time. It was only a few decades ago that our last soldier in the heroic ranks died of old age."

Noah listened to the story with an expressionless face, he was beginning to understand why that country didn't have any strong cultivator.

"What about creating techniques?"

Noah couldn't help but ask, that really seemed their only option.

However, Logan shook his head.

"Our knowledge has never been that great in that field. When the ancestor died and the other strong cultivators left, every information we had about inscriptions and formations was lost. We are stuck in the human ranks forever."

Noah nodded in understanding.

The Utra nation had the academy and a central power that had accumulated knowledge for two thousand years, the Royals had invested a lot in the creation of inscription masters.

Yet, even the powerful noble families struggled to create techniques, it was no wonder that the Odrea nation suffered from a similar problem.

"Then, why exactly are you giving away scrolls to outsiders?"

Noah could guess that there was something wrong, Lisa had accepted his conditions too quickly.

"Lady Lisa strongly believes that our only hope is in promising outsiders. You are not the first that she has tried to bring on our side and I'm sure won't be the last. She is basically hoping that someone will repay her kindness in the future."

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