Of course, it wasn’t all good news.

All the countdowns in the sky had changed.

Seeing this, Noah immediately looked up.

[Otherworldly Race (Ghost-Level): 12 days]

[Demonized Monsters (Human-Level): 313 days]

The Otherworldly Race disaster was only 12 days away. Meanwhile, Disaster Instances and spatiotemporal distortion zones had already begun appearing across Blue Star.

In response, Starfall Country’s Supernatural Management Bureau, along with major Awakener organizations, quickly mobilized to search for Disaster Instances and descent points nationwide.

Thanks to the existence of the Nine Provinces Cauldron, Starfall Country was no longer a heavily affected area. So far, only two Disaster Instances had been discovered, both at Tier 2.

Rose soon sent a message, asking whether Noah planned to enter the Disaster Instances.

After thinking for a moment, Noah replied, "I won’t go. That includes the upcoming Tier 3 Disaster Instances as well. I’ll leave them for others."

"You don’t want the authority granted by the world’s will?" Rose asked in surprise.

"The Ghost-Level calamity no longer means much to me," Noah answered calmly.

Whether it was a Tier 2 or Tier 3 Disaster Instance, the authority gained from clearing them wasn’t enough to raise his Refinement by even one level. As for the special rewards from Tier 3 instances, they were even less useful.

Noah was already at Tier 4. A Tier 3 reward held no value for him.

Hadn’t the world’s will already stopped granting him Tier 3 rewards when the Small Spirit Veins were deployed earlier?

At present, no one else on Blue Star possessed authority. With this wave of disasters, several people would likely obtain it, allowing more powerful individuals to emerge.

"I’ll give you one day to clear the Disaster Instances as quickly as possible. After that, enter higher-level instances and advance to Tier 5," Noah instructed.

"Understood," Rose replied.

Rose and the others immediately took action. With their strength, clearing Tier 2 Disaster Instances was effortless, and even Tier 3 instances could be rushed through at top speed.

There might not have been many Disaster Instances within Starfall Country, but that wasn’t an issue.

Other countries had plenty.

What if their Awakeners were strong enough to handle them?

Too bad.

Those Disaster Instances had already been claimed.

Currently, on Blue Star, the umber of Tier 2 and First Order Awakeners is large, and there are also quite a few Third Order one’s. Overall, this makes humanity many times stronger than it was when the last Ghost Level Calamity descended.

While Third Order Disaster are still uncertain, Tier 2 Disaster Instances are no longer a major problem for most countries. In such a situation, it’s only natural that they would prefer to handle these Disaster Instance themselves in order to gain the maximum benefits.

At this point, the Starfall Country government reached out to these nations and made its position clear:

If you want to clear the Disaster Instance on your own, you are free to do so. However, when the true Disaster descends, you must also take responsibility for dealing with the countless Calamity Disasters that follow. You cannot expect to claim the rewards of clearing Disaster Instance while still relying on Starfall Country for protection, there’s no such thing as free lunch.

Hearing this stance, the other countries were immediately stunned.

They could manage Tier 2 and First Order Calamity Disasters without much concern, and even Third Order ones if their number remained manageable. However, if Fourth Order Calamity Disasters appeared, they would be completely unable to handle them.

Despite Blue Star being far stronger than before, it is still not powerful enough to deal with Fourth Order monsters.

At present, there are only ten Fourth Order Awakeners on the entire planet and they are Noah and his group.

Meanwhile, the difficulty of Third Order Advancement Instances remains extremely high. This terrifying challenge has blocked nearly everyone attempting to ascend to Fourth Order. In fact, most cannot even clear the high difficulty levels, let alone the hardest ones.

Without Noah and Starfall Country stepping in, this Calamity Disaster would still turn into a global catastrophe.

Left with no choice, the various countries had to concede. Even Eagle Federation choose no to persist.

Fortunately, Starfall Country did not push things too far. The teams assigned to clear Disaster Instances still included members from the local countries. In effect, Starfall Country took the largest share of the rewards, while the others received smaller benefits and enough to ease some of their resistance.

Noah, however, paid no attention to these arrangements.

What he cared about was Starfall Country, not a so-called Blue Star Federation.

If the nations of Blue Star refused to accept reality, he wouldn’t hesitate to let the Disaster cleanse the planet first. Although this would negatively impact Blue Star’s Civilization Index in the short term, in the long run, it would likely prove more beneficial than harmful.

With the birth of the world’s will, Eagle Federation’s nuclear threats had also become meaningless. Any nuclear strike would be detected and intercepted by Noah before it could even reach its target.

Having recognized this reality, the pro-Starfall faction currently in power in Eagle Federation no longer mentioned nuclear war at all.

---

While Rose and the others were busy securing permissions, Noah wasn’t idle either.

He began reviewing the things he still hadn’t completed.

After ascending to the Fourth Order, he had gained three additional skill slots. All three were still empty, not because he lacked options, but because none of the available skills were impressive enough for him to choose without hesitation.

If he had to pick one, however, there was only a single candidate:

[Space Blade]

[Quality: Rare]

[Type: Active Skill]

[Description: Space itself transforms into a blade, unstoppable. The higher the user’s spirit, the greater its range and speed.]

This skill was a reward for clearing the Demon-Infested World and originally belonged to the Escaping Void Demon.

Like Dance in the Air, Space Blade had no clear numerical values. Spirit only influenced its range and speed; its actual damage wasn’t specified.

Which, in itself, said everything.

After all, the blade was made of space itself. Unless space could be broken, its destructive power was beyond question.

Noah hesitated briefly before making his decision.

He learned it.

After all, it was a space-type ability. Skills of this kind were rare by nature, comparable even to soul-type skills. Even if its current performance wasn’t overwhelming, it held immense potential, especially at Perfect or even Epic quality.

The moment he learned it, countless memories of cultivating Space Blade flooded into his mind. Techniques, insights, control, all of it was instantly absorbed and digested.

Moments later, Noah shot into the sky, standing motionless in midair.

"Space Blade."

With a slight shift in his thoughts, he activated the skill.

A silver arc nearly a hundred meters long materialized before him, gleaming sharply. It surged forward at a speed of ten meters per second, slicing through the air.

A bird happened to cross its path.

In the next instant, it was cleanly split in two.

Noah dismissed the skill, and the silver light vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.

This... was Space Blade.