UNLIMITED SPEED

Shock couldn't be more evident on Noah's face at that turn of events.

His surroundings continued to be flooded by the intense wave of blue dense essence; which was mana at an unholy concentration.

However, Noah felt astonished to feel his very being oppose the overwhelming energy around him.

His figure lit up with a deep-yellow light almost golden, as speed essence rushed out of his core without his permission.

Noah could sense and hear the energy that currently made him who he was, protest at the fact that mana wanted to take hold of him.

'It's never done this. Why now?' he wondered feeling scared of being left behind.

Noah quickly found himself in what looked like a cocoon of speed essence.

He felt able to hear the communication between those two energies. A strange and very unsettling experience it was.

However, he couldn't focus on that since he began to protest himself. Without the spell currently present around him, he would remain stuck there, and nothing would be able to get him out, since the speed essence wouldn't allow it.

'I really can't stay here. Just this once; allow it to take control of me,' Noah thought communicating with the speed forces' energy around him.

He really didn't know what he was doing, but something within him saw that as one way to fix that situation.

In the reality, outside of Noah's calm mind, his body was trembling and rolling on the solid, nigh-golden cocoon around him.

Noah looked possessed by some kind of spirit, and truly his situation wasn't far from it.

Hours seemed to go by in Noah's mind even if only an instant had passed.

His mind perceived things in what he considered the peak of his slow-motion abilities.

Eventually, what felt like days went by, the battle between mana and speed essence raging forth, while Noah protested in the background.

However, something suddenly clicked in his reasoning, and Noah felt his body return to calm, while the cocoon of speed essence suddenly saw a large crack spreading on its structure.

That concentrated energy soon burst, but instead of dissipating, it flowed back into Noah's core, allowing the spell still around him to function on his body.

Needless to say, Noah immediately vanished when the sea of blue light washed over him.

He had done one thing to acquire that result. But it felt like something he couldn't properly harness yet. Something he would only be capable of doing when his comprehension of the speed force. Yet he did it anyway, and that incident vanished from his memories. A specialty of his new race.

Finding himself in a completely different environment than he was before, Noah felt his figure get flung backward, but he landed on fleshy cushions.

Quickly picking himself up, Noah frantically swept his gaze on his surroundings.

Finding that he was back inside the room where they had walked into a rift, he heaved a sigh of relief.

However, something soon caught his eye.

'Why are they still soon many,' Noah thought laying eyes on a group of grunting humans no less than a thousand in number.

Straightening his position, he ignored his current dirty look and proceeded to scan the room for familiar faces.

Of course, he found a few but didn't bother to walk towards them, after all, lady Edna's voice rang out before he could do anything.

"Welcome back young aspirants," her captivating voice quickly gained the attention of many.

"Once again I apologize for the great inconvenience. The realm had experienced a bit of trouble earlier, prompting your ejection," she performed a slight bow.

'Bit of trouble?' Noah thought, 'There was a hole in the sky!'

"It seems you younglings are both unlucky and lucky," she giggled lightening the mood.

"Due to the impromptu end of the first test, you'll all be allowed to take a thirty-minute break before the second test for today starts," she quickly went straight to the point.

"I'll give a few short words on that after the break. For now, chill," she said immediately, vanishing.

Shaking his head at that turn of events, Noah felt almost numb to the annoyance it brought.

They had literally just exited a battle, only to have thirty minutes of rest before another trial.

Almost everyone within that room followed her instructions, as they sat on the ground to recuperate.

Some had been close to being disqualified before the timely teleportation, while some were safely hidden somewhere during the chaos the realm had experienced, but all needed rest, whether physically or mentally.

A series of low lights shone inside that room, as almost every individual cultivated to refill their cores, or undergoing healing.

Sitting on the ground with nothing to do since his condition remained perfect. Noah felt odd amongst the numbers of experts cultivating.

A few gazes landed on his back during that period, as most wondered how he, a lower-stage cultivator remained totally fine.

'He must have hidden behind stronger experts,' most thought when they saw Ariana suddenly sitting next to him, and her power felt higher.

The duo said no word to each other since Ariana cultivated because her body featured Injuries, though most were superficial.

However, it remained nice to have someone by his side.

'It seems the stage wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be for others,' Noah found himself thinking.

The experts that remained were many, meaning the next stage would just be as competitive as the first.

'Hopefully, I don't mess things up again,' he laughed inwardly but silently felt bad.

The thirty minutes soon elapsed and, Lady Edna returned with her flaming fairy. A still weird sight.

"The second test for today would see you all diving into a pool," she began seeing everyone place their attention on her stunning figure.

"Within this pool, you'll have only one objective: to go as deep as you can, until you cannot withstand the pressure your environment throws at you."

"In there you won't have to fight anything but the pressure. However, you'll have to go past the seventh depth stage," she paused to qualify.

"But this pool features a twist that isn't popular. Rather than the pressure crunching down on you, it's pushing against you. In other words, It'll be like trying to fly, except far harder."

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*Authors note*

I apologize for my inconsistent schedule lately. A lot happened this week. I wrote an important exam, something happened that I had to go for an X-ray(Hopefully nothing important is broken) and I also came down with a cough.

However, these are not excuses, just annoying distractions. Updates will begin normally this coming week.

A big thanks for all your support, they manage to revitalize me single every time. Thank you.