Noel took a deep breath after using that ability. As expected, it drained a lot of Spiritual Energy. But seeing the power behind that phoenix, he knew the Undying Phoenix could become a trump card to defeat his enemy.
'I'm Iadre right now, so the rewards mean a lot to me.' Noel thought for a moment before looking at Dimitri. "It seems that the situation is going to change."
"Are you talking about the Third Prince?"
"Yes. He must be occupied with the current matter, so he wouldn't visit me that soon. So, I'm planning to go back to the Demon Relief Squad's headquarters first before meeting the Third Prince. I'm sure it's going to be easier to handle him that way." Noel sighed.
"At the very least, you have all the alibi you need to handle the matter about the rune." Dimitri waved his hand, telling him that it wasn't a big deal. He would be near as well, so Noel didn't need to worry about the Third Prince.
He might be strong, but Dimitri had enough confidence that he could bring Noel away if he ever tried to kill Noel.
'Indeed.' Noel nodded in agreement.
"Though, I might step over my bound by asking this question. But after some consideration, it seems that I have to ask you…" Dimitri fell silent. "Why do you need to spread the knowledge? If you just use the ability for yourself, people will think it's an ability that belongs only to you. In other words, Spirit Abilities.
"Although it will give a resemblance to the Spirit Enchantment, as long as you don't use it easily until you're strong enough, no one will try to get the knowledge from you," Dimitri asked with a serious expression. He believed this was a safer path for Noel. And with his intelligence, Noel should have considered this path as well.
So, he didn't understand why Noel wanted to traverse a riskier path.
Noel closed his eyes for a moment. He had two reasons. The first one, he wanted to try whether spreading the knowledge would allow him to gain the contribution to helping people. After all, knowledge could be considered wealth, power, and influence.
If he spread the knowledge and changed someone's fate for the better, he could be considered to have helped him. So, he wanted to see whether it would work or not.
If it worked, Noel would gain a huge influx of contributions, allowing him to gain a massive amount of Honor Points. If it didn't work, his name would still spread in all kingdoms, allowing him to gain a lot of options.
As for the second reason, Noel simply believed that the path that Dimitri mentioned earlier was a far longer path.
Noel had Ardagan and the system. He knew that his ability and power would grow by leaps and bounds by taking advantage of the system.
If he raised his power like this without spreading the knowledge and taking risks, he thought that a lot of strong enemies would come after him and he would be too weak to fight against them.
He didn't want to be helpless. So, he spread the knowledge to stimulate the urgency to get stronger as well as to speed up his own progress.
He believed this was the correct path and the only path he could take to surpass Anna Stargaze.
Noel didn't realize that in his previous life, he didn't take this risky path. Yes, he indeed spread the knowledge about the runes, but he didn't do it like this.
That was why his progress in his previous life was much slower than his current progress. Seeing how Anna easily got stronger than him stimulated his desire and urgency to get stronger as well.
And he managed to keep up with Anna, who had knowledge and memories from her past life. If not for this, even with his system, he wouldn't be able to fight Anna.
Though, Anna also contributed to his progression from the information to the fact that she didn't take everything that Noel needed to get stronger.
Noel only knew that he had good reasons to spread the knowledge and replied to Dimitri, "I know that taking the safer path will bring a lot of benefits for me. I can also rebuild the Ardagan Family safely since much time should have passed before I gain the power to do so.
"However, you have forgotten one thing, Dimitri." Noel raised his finger.
"What is that, Young Master?" Dimitri furrowed his eyebrows.
"You've forgotten the existence of Anna Stargaze."
"!!!" Dimitri gasped. He was surprised and confused at the same time. "But Young Master, both of you seem to have understood each other and resolved the hatred between you. Why are you still doing this then?"
"You could say that if I don't do this, I will progress slower than her." Noel shook his head. "Although the misunderstanding between us has been resolved, it doesn't change the fact that I have to surpass her!"
Dimitri looked down, contemplating. He didn't know about the system, the two spirits, and the limit of Demon Crystals Noel could absorb. So, he thought Noel always felt inferior to Anna, forcing him to take this path to stimulate his growth.
Dimitri hesitated for a moment but still said what needed to be said. "Young Master. I don't know if you've realized this, but I think your own pace is still fast enough compared to all people. You are also a genius like Anna, so you don't have to—"
Noel raised his hand, stopping him. "That's enough. No matter how you persuade me, I'm not going to take the slower path. I have my own ambition, desire, and expectation… If I lose a single one of them, I might not be able to reach my goal, Dimitri."
"…" Dimitri fell silent before bowing to him. "Understood. I apologize for my rudeness."
"Well, that's enough. We've got what we need, so it's time to go back." Noel waved his hand, telling him it wasn't a big deal. He glanced at Rose to signal her that they were ready to return to the headquarters. They didn't know what the Third Prince did to the two nobles that dared to take his rune book.
