Noah took the book and inspected it.
Inside, there was the description of all the procedures that Ivor went through to create his knife.
'Sword creation with the Elemental forging method.'
As soon as he read the title though, he turned his head to look at Ivor and smiled awkwardly.
"Don't you have something that describes how to forge sabers? I'm not that into swords."
Ivor's eyes widened and he took a long sip from his jar before snorting and rebuking his student.
"Who cares about the name that you give to something! If a piece of wood can cut a tree then it's a sword! If you stretch your fingers and use them to cut a man, then your fingers are a sword! Don't dwell on useless things and remember that it's the core of the item that matters, its external shape can be whatever you want it to be!"
Noah still didn't completely believe in Ivor's words.
"So, you are saying that I should just forge a sword with the shape of a saber?"
"Precisely! It took me two years to figure out the perfect composition of those materials to create my knife. Of course, you can't just copy it: your element is different so you will need different items but my experiences will definitely help you avoid useless mistakes."
'If he says that, it should be true.'
Noah could trust Ivor since he understood that the only wish of the ruined cultivator was to see his method passed down.
'I have more magical beasts' bodies but none of them are of the darkness element. I've created something almost stable but, even if I had hundreds of those items, they won't be useful to me at my current level. I should raise the stakes. Also, two months have already passed from my last mission so it's time to gather materials.'
He had a vague idea of which had to be the materials for his first serious creation but he preferred to wait until his dantian had a breakthrough to attempt on that.
Also, there was a lot of testing involved in that plan, he didn't want to neglect his training because of his experiments.
"Ivor, I'm heading out, I need to gather materials."
Ivor opened his mouth to complain but was silenced by Noah throwing a thousand Credits in his direction before exiting the house.
Noah went for the board at the center of the right area of the academy and read through the various missions affixed on it.
He was looking for something specific at that time, he didn't want a common hunting mission.
'Pack of Night panthers disrupting the environment in the perimeter of Arolyac forest bordering with the Nerere country. Exterminate the pack to obtain fifty merit points, bring back the bodies to obtain one hundred merit points as a bonus.'
'Perfect!'
Noah picked up the tabled from the board and moved toward the exit of the academy.
The streets of the academy were mostly empty, all the students were busy with their specialization or outside doing mission.
However, there was still someone that used his free time to improve his social network.
One of those students was Samuel Muwlos and, at that time, he was loudly mocking Noah right in front of the passage for the outside.
"I'm telling you, that match was completely rigged! My poor friend Manuel is still recovering from his injury. You must know that he was that close from matching Lord Daniel in his rate of growth but, due to that immoral fiend, all his hard work has been wasted! If it wasn't for Lord Thaddeus, I don't know what Vance could have done to him."
A group of young students was attentively listening to him.
They were the new batches of students that had arrived during the last year and were mostly from important families, it was natural for them to engage in those kinds of recreational activities.
"I can confirm Senior Samuel's words, I was in the audience looking at their fight. That Vance has surely cheated, otherwise it would have been impossible for him to survive Manuel's last attack. Also, do you want to know the most deplorable thing that Vance has done? He took Manuel's mansion, the symbol of the strongest student of the academy, and isolated himself inside it for two whole months! If this isn't the behavior of a quack then I don't know which it is."
The young students showed disgusted expression as they continued in their stories.
"Don't worry though! I, Samuel Muwlos, will publicly challenge him once he stops hiding!"
'What the fuck are they doing there?'
Noah thought.
His earing had vastly improved since he became a rank 2 mage, he had heard the whole conversation as he neared the exit.
'Why do they even use that area to loiter around? Are they afraid that I might hear them from my accommodation?'
His current house was directly on the opposite side of where the students were grouping, he could not help but find some connections between the two things.
'I don't really care about my reputation but I should stop them before I find a horde of angry students at my doorsteps. Breaking all their limbs would be too troublesome.'
Noah slowly walked toward Samuel's group surrounded by his usual cold aura.
It was impossible to not notice him, his presence was overwhelming unless he forcefully suppressed it.
Yet, what he needed at that moment was exactly that: showing the immense difference between him and the other students.
As the students turned to look at him, they were slightly mesmerized by his figure.
He was of medium stature but his body was slender and harmonious.
The daintiness of his features was enhanced by his white and clean skin and his eyes shone during the daylight due to the power of his mental sphere.
The girls in the group lowered their heads, too embarrassed to continue to look at his piercing gaze.
"V-Vance! Y-you came out of your lodging!"
Samuel stuttered seeing him and the new students showed confused gazes.
They could not match his pure and cold appearance with the one that they had envisioned due to Samuel's stories.
"I never thought that you would still be around, trying to taint my reputation. I believed that what happened to your friends was enough as a lesson."
Samuel remembered the poor state in which the students that tried to ambush him returned and immediately panicked.
"T-that's a misunderstanding! I will never dare t-"
His words were interrupted by Noah directly jumping on him, grabbing his head, and slamming it on the ground.