Ana’s exclamation was loud enough to be heard miles away, making me shake my head in disappointment.

"He wants to engage Victoria in close combat, and after executing such a large spell... Victoria would suffer from rapid mana depletion for a few moments. Noah... he is trying to bet on Victoria’s weakness."

Well, at least there was someone with decent understanding of combat.

Still, even after relaying her analysis, Ashlyn seemed surprised by Noah’s approach.

"What is it?"

I couldn’t let my new tool remain an ignorant fool.

My question made Ashlyn turn towards me, before she shifted her attention to the ongoing fight again.

"Is getting close to Victoria for fighting in close combat worth the efforts required to tank such a lethal spell? I don’t think he would remain in the state to fight. His body would be punctured with the projectiles—"

"He would be injured for sure, but does it matter if the injury can help him to win."

"..."

"It doesn’t matter how much Victoria is able to injure Noah. If he wins at the end, then all the efforts are worth it, even if it means losing some parts of your body in the best case."

Ashlyn simply observed me in silence.

I couldn’t blame her, as not everyone had the mentality to execute extreme measures to win.

With Noah’s physique such a fighting style suited him better, and more than that it suited me the best.

After all I had a regenerative ability that could even put the vampires to shame.

"Is victory at such a cost even worth it?"

Haa...

Ashlyn still had a long way to go before she could have the mentality of someone who would be useful to me.

"It doesn’t matter who wins the battles, as it is the war that decides the victor."

At the moment I felt like I was some sage preaching to my subjects.

Ashlyn didn’t reply to me, though her eyes had an unspoken realization—

Huh?

I was more shocked than surprised, as the moment I had uttered my last words to Ashlyn, Noah had launched a lightning-fast punch directly aimed at Victoria’s abdomen.

Feeling the mana around his hands, the guy didn’t seem to have held back.

The result was as expected as Victoria fell to her knees, the air being knocked out from her lungs.

The situation felt like Victoria had finally been cornered... at least Noah might have felt so.

The protagonist hadn’t yet registered the danger that was coming his way, as the guy had already lifted his right leg, before aiming it at the side of Victoria’s head—

There it was.

Victoria’s sword which Noah had failed to detect... had now pierced the shin of the latter’s leg, making him groan in return.

Within a few moments Victoria managed to stand up on her feet, before removing the sword from Noah’s leg, making him wince in pain again.

"It’s getting dangerous now. Let’s go."

Ashlyn had begun to move even before completing her statement—

Hm?

A bright light surrounded Noah, and soon the mana particles in the entirety of the area were attracted towards him.

This...

Sensing the flow of mana in Noah’s body it was crystal clear to me that he was evolving to become a Gold core.

Evolving his core just after having advanced in the tiers of his rank... seeing Noah’s speed of growth, a new thought had sprouted in my mind.

Noah... the guy had finally awakened.

But wasn’t this a little too early?

From the details of the game that I could remember at the moment, Noah had fully awakened his ability while being in his second year at the academy.

And that was the same time when he had evolved to become a Gold core.

After that Noah’s speed of growth had been fast enough that calling it monstrous would be an understatement.

My presence was bound to have some sort of influence on the journey of the protagonist, but I had considered Noah’s speed of growth to have reduced as most of the villains who had been responsible for pushing the guy to fight till his death... were already members of D.X. and now served me.

The situation at the moment was completely opposite to what I had predicted the outcome of the game to be after my intervention in its original plotline.

Noah had not grown weaker, on the contrary he would now go on to become even more powerful than his past self, as his original ability which was supposed to be dormant for a year was now awakened.

Sigh.

I would now have to work on my own strength, lest I be overtaken by the protagonist.

That would be kind of pathetic for me, knowing I have always been above him in all regards.

Looking at Victoria, who was retreating to create a distance from Noah’s body, I couldn’t help but be amused.

Even after fighting against him in such an intense battle, the girl appeared to be worried seeing Noah’s current state.

"Interesting."

The words left my mouth, making Victoria turn her head in our group’s direction.

"Do you have some idea about what he is trying to do?"

Ashlyn, seeing me walking further towards Noah, asked the question before following behind me.

"What’s there to think about? It’s clear as day... the guy is trying to evolve."

My words were followed by collective gasps from the audience around me.

I wanted to say it was an exaggerated reaction on their part, but I knew it wasn’t.

After all the way Noah was evolving was completely different than how normal cultivators evolved to the Gold core.

A vortex of mana was now beginning to form behind Noah... the same vortex that had appeared during my first rank up.

"Is he going to be fine?"

Hm?

Victoria was walking towards me, while glancing at Noah from time to time.

She really seemed worried about him.

"Well... he won’t die from it."

I could see Victoria giving a small sigh of relief which was barely visible to anyone, but as I was focusing my attention on her... the reaction didn’t escape my notice.