In the end, the whole pack was vanquished.
Noah used the Blood drain spell to kill all the beasts except for the strongest one.
He needed its blood for the Body-inscription spell.
He then went looking for an empty cave and calmly made preparations for the creation of his new blood companion.
'I have thirty magical beasts' bodies of the darkness element, they should be more than enough for two months of testing.'
He thought as he watched the blood of the Night panther slowly accumulating on an empty bucket.
As he looked at the blood though, an idea popped in his mind.
'What if I use the "Breath" in my sea of consciousness instead of the one in my dantian to fill the blood of the panther?'
Theoretically, the "Breath" had to be used to prevent any rejection from the tattoo.
Yet, what changes there would be if he used the one that he personally refined?
Noah was curious so he decided to give it a try.
There was no need to train in the drawing of the creature since his rank 2 mental sphere had perfectly memorized the appearance of the panther, Noah simply did a couple of sketches to be sure of his capability.
'I don't have time to absorb more "Breath" or the ingredients for the spell would go to waste, I will use the liquid one that I have already stored.'
He had some "Breath" left in his sea of consciousness which was already refined so he decided to use it.
The heart of the panther had already been seized by him so, as the bucket was full, he immediately started filling the blood of the creature with his "Breath".
A couple of hours passed and the "Breath" in his mental sphere was completely expended to fill the blood in the bucket.
The process had taken even less than the last time even if the stage of the "Breath" was the same.
'This is already an improvement! It has reached the standards for the technique so fast! It's probably due to my will inside the "Breath".'
He was already satisfied with the results obtained by applying part of the processes of the Elemental forging in the creation of the companion.
He neatly washed with some water in his space-ring and then began to draw the figure of the panther on his body.
His saber cut precise lines on his skin, leaving black marks due to the refined blood of the beast.
As the drawing was completed, Noah ate the heart of the creature in two bites.
He then focused on his sea of consciousness.
The ethereal figure of a Night panther appeared over the sea.
It pounced toward the walls of the sphere but, as soon as Noah's figure opened its eyes, it felt a force blocking its every movement.
The Kesier runes didn't emit any humming, Noah was simply using the faint connection that he felt coming from the beast's figure to keep it still.
'Interesting! It seems that part of my mental energy was fused into the core of the panther since I used my personal "Breath" to create it. The taming part has become vastly easier.'
Noah's figure neared the panther and immersed it in the sea.
In a few seconds, the image of the panther appeared next Echo's one and the roots of the Demonic form spell entangled around it.
'So easy!'
Noah exclaimed in his mind as he opened his material eyes.
'This is amazing! Even though I would have had no difficulty in taming a rank 3 beast, that doesn't strictly apply for magical beasts of higher ranks! I wonder if I could make a blood companion with a rank 4 beast with my current level.'
He thought about it for a while before tossing that idea away.
'Even if I were to find the blood and the core of a rank 4 beast and use this method to create the drawing, I don't believe that I could tame it in my sea of consciousness. They reached the heroic ranks after all, their will can't be that weak. I should just wait till I'm able to kill one.'
He focused and a panther appeared in front of him.
It had the same size as the original beast but there was a faint sharpness exuded by it.
He tested its power for a while before nodding in satisfaction.
'Its ability to become ethereal is quite useful and it seems that its attack power increased by a bit. Is it due to my will inside the "Breath" used? If that's the case, I just fused together an inscription method and a spell.'
Noah pondered for a bit before finding his answer.
'The Body-inscription spell is already a simplified form of inscription. Since the Elemental forging is an inscription method, it was obvious that I could mix together those two powers. I should never use again the "Breath" of Heaven and Earth to create a blood companion and it would be better if I refine the "Breath" specifically for each companion that I want to create.'
His ability still didn't allow him much flexibility in the will that he gave to the "Breath", yet that didn't mean that it would always be like that.
'I should have given it my meaning of speed or something in line with its innate abilities. Well, it has the power of a peak rank 3 beast anyway so I can't say that I wasted it.'
The added pressure on his mental sphere wasn't much either so he considered the experiment a success.
'I should go back to my accommodation now. I need to begin the forging with the solid "Breath" and I should also focus more on my dantian, I feel that I'm reaching its limit.'
He was about to call back the panther when he remembered something.
'Right, your name should be Shadow due to your ability.'
He thought, patting the companion's head and absorbing it back on his body.
As he returned to the academy, he visited the management building to retrieve the merits points for his mission, he kept the bodies of the beasts of course.
However, when he reached his accommodation, he was met by a strange scene.
Twenty or so female students were calmly waiting in front of the entrance door.
As they noticed his presence, they turned and exclaimed happily.
"The dark prince came back!"