Chapter 86: Chapter 82. Noah’s Morning
"Boss, who did all this?" asked one of the officers as he finished his work, standing in the midst of a pile of bodies with the police chief.
"How would I know? Lately, there's been a lot of these kinds of people. Though I don't really like them, this time, they got the job done," the chief replied, nudging a body with his foot.
Recently, this area had seen a surge of masked vigilantes. Normally, the police frowned upon their actions, considering them illegal, but this time, the chief was satisfied. He despised human traffickers most of all.
"But, boss, so many people died. How are we going to explain this to the higher-ups?" the officer asked.
"What's there to explain? We'll say these criminals refused to surrender and engaged us in a firefight, so we had no choice but to take them all down," the chief replied calmly, glancing at his subordinate.
"Understood, boss!"
Meanwhile, Noah, enjoying the night scenery and the piercing wind, flew back. Of course, the cold couldn't freeze him.
Though flying with magic was slower than using his armor, he made it back to his estate fairly quickly. The trees around, influenced by the Runes, were still as towering as ever. He had already decided to buy the surrounding land to hide his activities and expand his research base.
Upon returning home, Noah immediately headed to the underground training room to study the Dark Seal in detail. He was used to conducting experiments with dangerous items in the training room to avoid damaging his house.
In the pristine white room, he let his hat fly around freely and removed both gloves. His right hand revealed a sinister ring capable of absorbing souls, with a pale purple band and a golden stone. After absorbing several souls, the ring, called the Dark Seal, now gleamed noticeably brighter.
"After absorbing souls, I do feel my magic power has increased," he murmured, rubbing the golden stone on the ring. His sensitivity to magical changes allowed him to notice even the slightest shifts in his inner magical potential.
Turning the ring around a bit, he carefully removed it. In an instant, he felt the enhanced magic energy vanish.
"It seems the power is only active while wearing the ring," Noah noted, realizing the strength disappeared without it. Initially, he thought the ring absorbed souls and directly boosted his magic, but it turned out all the enhancement was contained within the ring itself.
He would have preferred an enhancement that directly affected his body, but he figured wearing the ring constantly or keeping it in his inventory wasn't much different from direct empowerment.
He slipped the ring back on, and the power returned. While the ring offered an easy way to gain magic, he resolved to exercise caution with it to prevent the power from clouding his judgment.
"It seems the ring must be fully saturated to create the Soul Devourer," Noah analyzed the state of the ring, estimating the number of souls he would need to create the book known as "Medjai's Soul Devourer."
"Looks like I'll need a few thousand more," he said, realizing the daunting scale of the task. That would mean thousands of lives. If he were to simply wipe out all the gangs in Hell's Kitchen, that would certainly be enough, but such a high death toll would cause social unrest.
So, he decided not to limit himself to one area. He could move to another location or even another country. For example, Myanmar seemed like a suitable place, given that people there had a fondness for organ trafficking.
"Alright, that's enough testing for today. Tomorrow, I'll head to an uninhabited island in the ocean to test the Rift Maker," Noah decided, stretching as he opted not to replace sleep with training tonight.
Lying in bed, he summoned the Resolve Rune, letting it float in the air.
Over the past few days, he had noticed magical energy beginning to appear in the surrounding environment. He believed this was due to the influence of the Runes. Moreover, he and Lissandra had visited places where Runes had previously been used and found traces of magic there as well.
What would happen if the Runes transformed Earth into a second Runeterra? What would the planet become? Noah didn't know the answer, but he was curious to try. He believed it could be something good. Of course, predicting the future was impossible, but he decided to explore this possibility anyway.
However, he also noticed that environmental transformation only occurred when the Runes were outside his body. When they were inside him, no effect on the environment was observed. So he regularly summoned the Runes outside, allowing them to alter the area around his estate.
When the Runes floated in the air, their energy gradually strengthened not only him but also Lissandra and Gwen. However, he received the most benefit from this enhancement, as he was the Runes' master and could absorb more energy.
As for the possibility of someone stealing the Runes, he wasn't concerned. Anything summoned by the System could instantly return to him with a single mental command, even if it was at the other end of the universe.
Click!
The door to the room opened, and Lissandra entered out of habit. Hanging her coat on a hook, she lay down beside him without a word.
Recently, Noah had been sharing a bed with Lissandra, and he no longer felt embarrassed. After all, what harm was there in sleeping next to such a beautiful girl?
Lissandra, comfortably settled, naturally leaned against him, wrapping her arms around him. The gesture made Noah blush. Lately, her movements in her sleep had become increasingly intimate, making it harder for him to stay calm.
In matters of the heart, he was inexperienced. In both his lives, he had never known true love. Honestly, aside from holding his mother's hand as a child, he had never held any girl's hand.
Though Noah didn't understand much, he cautiously responded, gently holding her hand in his. Feeling the softness of her skin, he sensed a surge of excitement within him, but he managed to control his emotions, avoiding any awkwardness.
Listening to the ASMR of Lissandra's soft breathing, he soon drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, he woke up on time, only to find himself surrounded by darkness as if he were in a soft cloud. A strange, pleasant scent wafted to his nose.
Noah slightly raised his head and saw Lissandra's flawless face with a mysterious smile. However, his gaze immediately fell on the two snow-white peaks rising before him.
"Ahem, ahem!"
He quickly sat up, smiling awkwardly.
"Ahaha, good morning, Lissandra. I'm going to brush my teeth," he said hastily, darting out of the room, where he bumped into Gwen, who was also just waking up and still in her pajamas.
"Noah, why are you in such a rush?"
"Everything's fine, Gwen," he replied, certainly not intending to explain what had just happened.
When he met Lissandra again, he acted as though nothing had occurred.
"Gwen, you've been on Earth for a few days now, but it seems you haven't had a chance to explore. How about we go for a walk after lunch?" Noah asked over breakfast, turning to Gwen. She'd been homebound lately, so he decided to show her the outside world today.
"Sure, sure! I've been dying to see what's out there!" she replied with enthusiasm, her pigtails bouncing with excitement.
"Great. We'll head out after lunch, though I have an important task in the morning," he replied with a smile, pleased to see her brimming with joy.
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