UNLIMITED SPEED

Crashing onto the ground without any care for his lower body; Noah sat on the ground, his mouth releasing hot breaths. Sweat dripped down his forehead and face, but none of that perspiration affected his attire. The magical attire seemed to have dirt-repelling abilities.

Sweeping his gaze on the experts around him, Noah saw that they were in similar states, maybe even worse. In truth, his body wasn't exactly tired, but the fatigue that came with an empty core placed even him in a deep desire to rest.

Not an ounce of Speed Essence existed in Noah's core, and for the second time in his life on Cregar, he understood what being drained of energy felt like.

Heavy breaths continued to raise his chest, but thankfully they were done with the test.

'Nine hours in total of practically non-stop casting,' Noah thought bringing out a potion, and immediately chugging it down his throat.

This being his fourth bottle that day, Noah could only close his eyes to utilize it; convincing himself that it was for the best. At some point during the test, he had to cut costs by further reducing the amount of essence poured into each electrical discharge.

A cool yet strangely warm feeling flowed down Noah's throat to arrive on his spherical core. The liquid which was the potion; seeped into his core and a reaction immediately occurred.

Settling at the bottom of his black core, Noah watched as liquid-like essence began to bubble up until his core reached a half-filled state.

A tinge of that essence seeped out of his core to wash over his insides, vanquishing the fatigue he experienced.

In less than three seconds, Noah felt at his peak, but the same couldn't be said for his mind.

Mentally he couldn't say he felt drained, but not at his peak. Due to this, Noah gained a better understanding of why the sturdiness of one's soul island mattered in battles. Thankfully, it had been sturdy enough to allow him to manipulate the Speed Essence efficiently enough to generate the adequate amount of power needed to meet the points requirement, and not have a mental breakdown.

"You all did wonderfully well," Lady Edna announced while the dummies and barriers slowly vanished. "Before I let you go to rest, I want to wish you luck on tomorrow's trial, as I will not be your coordinator," she smiled before suddenly vanishing.

'Why does she do that,' Noah thought shaking his head in wonder. The various group leaders immediately began gathering the experts under their leadership.

This of course meant Noah had to walk towards lady Sophie, but he searched for Ariana anyway. They had not spoken since the first day, and although he didn't find it necessary, he desired to talk.

Unfortunately, by the time he could spot her, she had gathered in front of her now group of nine experts. However, their gazes managed to lock, and she smiled at him even if her face radiated exhaustion. Moreover, she even looked pale.

A slight smile shone on Noah's face toward her, and he quickly turned to walk toward lady Sophie. That had been all he needed. Noah could feel the change happening inside him, but he decided to not place too much focus on it.

The groups immediately began their journey toward the hallway entrances in the distance. That trial had been the only one that they could directly walk towards their rooms without having to go through teleports or spacial doors of sorts.

Most groups had to jog towards the entrances as a result of the exhaustion the experts experienced, and this was true for Noah's group, who looked on the verge of fainting.

Eventually arriving inside their room, no one bothered to chat or partake in any social activity, as each person walked towards his or her bed to immediately begin their resting.

Noah on the other hand, branched toward the food ordering platform to get food.

'That was unfavorable,' Noah grimaced laying on his bed to sleep. There hadn't been much he could do after eating than rest, so he had decided to try the soul core potion an action he now found stupid for taking.

The bitter substances flowed down his throat but didn't get to his belly, rather they spread through his body to move toward his head.

Upon arriving there, Noah felt it try to force itself on his brain, and this resulted in pain. A panel even popped up informing him of the incompatibility between the potion and his mind.

His Speed Essence instinctively flowed through his body to get rid of the substance, which it did effectively.

This of course leaves us to the scene of Noah casually laying on his bed with the intense desire to sleep, a side effect that his energy didn't seem able to fix.

With no thoughts on what the next day would hold, Noah closed his eyes to immerse himself in his desire to sleep, and in mere seconds he was sound asleep.

*

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*

Opening his eyes after what felt like the best sleep of his three lives, Noah sat up to find that his five roommates were busy cultivating, and before he could react properly a knock sounded on the door, and lady Sophie and her two group members followed.

"I see you all had a good night's rest," she commented walking into the room. However, the eyes of her audience were on her different attire. All three of them wore something different than what they had on before.

Lady Sophie featured a darker-than-black satin gown, fitted so much that it emphasized her curves that had been non-existent when she wore long garments.

At the lower portion of the streamlined gown was a thigh-high slit revealing her legs up to the beginning of her thighs.

On her chest were golden embroidery patterns intricately sewn to converge in the shape of what resembled a lying beast with multiple tails made out of erratic lightning bolts. The beast resembled a fox, at least from Noah's inspection.

From that short inspection of her attire, Noah felt a meaning within the strange crest, and to his shock, he found that his view of her figure changed. Lady Sophie had a dense barrier of sparks so thin that they were invisible to the naked eyes only his senses could feel them. However the same didn't exist for her group members, who were dressed in fitted suit-like attires black and also featuring a similar crest.

'So higher ranked members get some sort of powerful outfit,' Noah wondered, 'Or is that a barrier made by her,' confusion tried to seep into his mind.

Lady Sophie felt his inspecting gaze and her mouth opened to speak. "It's a barrier created by the attire. Made by the best inscription masters we have in our guild. It'll allow us to be ready for any battle-like event," she explained waving her smooth and straight brown hair in ways that beautified that scene.

Her hands featured long thin gloves, totally black, but they radiated a sturdy aura. It seemed even elegant-looking attires were made for battle.

'What a weird world,' Noah thought glancing at his attire and the crest, all that remained for him was to gain the crest and he would officially be crowned a member.

"It's time to go," Lady Sophie announced, when a black cape featuring the same crest, suddenly materialized behind her. Just before she turned toward the door, Noah managed to realize how she had gradually stopped being cold to them, and a smile couldn't help but crack on his face.

The group walked out of the room only to suddenly arrive in a totally different environment!

The sound of cheers immediately found its way into Noah's ears, and he felt his heart tighten in emotional pain. In less than an instant; a part of him turned his dark side on, and Noah let it happen.

They had arrived inside an enclosed field surrounded by rising walls of seats filled with humans.

Nostalgia mixed with anger regret and pain, coursed through Noah's now raging mind. This, of course, caused the space around him to react to his emotions. Yellow sparks began to appear around him, and the wind tried to pick up, even that space experienced a steady drop in temperature.

However his rationality pierced the raging storm that was his emotions, and he soon began to worry about being seen. This thought process allowed him to turn calm for a bit, enough time to switch sides again and Noah felt his mind become devoid of emotions after the switch.

Noah's icy blue eyes seemed to glow in that bright environment. All three categories were gathered in that area and a beam of white light stood above them illuminating them, but obstructing their total view of the world outside of the light.

Noah however, didn't seem to care about the light shining from above, Speed Essence flowed into his eyes and he felt able to see everything in that environment.

There was a large curved illusory screen portraying the confusion of the aspirants who had walked out of their various rooms to suddenly arrive there.

The cheers continued to echo in Noah's ears, but he felt no emotion towards it. Although that scene reminded him of bozolom, his eyes remained calm, merely inspecting everything with an intense desire for details.

Before much could be done, a loud voice boomed around them.

"Good day aspirants, welcome to the last stage of your trials!" the male voice announced pulling everyone's attention to the sky.