UNLIMITED SPEED

A frown appeared on Noah's face at the once again dangerous twist. He honestly had expected that the test to be tweaked to fit his seemingly low power, but once again the planners, or as Lady Edna put it, the higher-ups had moved to change things.

"It seems they've taken a liking to you," Lady Edna said to Noah utilizing her mental waves. "I also saw your battle with your fellow aspirants, and I'm impressed," she added immediately floating upwards.

An even deeper frown shone on Noah's face, but he had already come to terms with his situation. He wasn't allowed to empower his body with energy, but his healing wouldn't be counted as empowerment.

'Fifty thousand points in strength. I hope it's enough,' he thought heaving a deep sigh before his face went expressionless. He could feel the gazes of the masked individuals beside him, as they had begun to consider him a dead man, as he was unlucky enough to fall into such a predicament.

Noah consoled himself with an exciting thought though, 'The higher-ups already have interest in me,' he mused, lifting the metallic ball when given the go-ahead.

The ball of metal felt extremely light to his body, but there wasn't any excitement since an added weight fell on his palms signifying the beginning of the first grade.

Every individual present carried the ball in an overhead position since it remained the best way to keep their balance.

The second grade arrived and Noah felt only another slight press, nothing else. The watching experts were in shock, but it remained only those that hadn't seen his monstrous prowess were fazed.

The third grade came, and Noah had to get relatively serious, as the ball's weight had tripled maybe more. The one-minute time felt like hours to Noah even if he wasn't struggling, at least to his focused mind he wasn't.

Eventually, the fourth weight grade arrived, and someone yelled to be relieved of that weight. Noah however, felt his confidence rise. He could immediately confirm that he would succeed in that test since even though the weight of the ball had increased drastically, he felt his joints lock in place, and felt compelled to crouch his knees and slide his leg backward to properly distribute the weight of the ball. A good sign of his resilience.

A few individuals had died during that period, but Noah couldn't listen to them, only his pride and goal of surviving sounded in his ears. At some point during the two minutes his bones cracked and his joints quivered, his skin tore, and his palms bent unnaturally, but he healed almost as fast as the injuries appeared. This of course tasked his already almost empty core.

The ball suddenly lost all its weight at some point, and Noah felt it get raised from his hands. His focus fell on his environment, and the first thing he noticed was the metallic smell of blood, but also the lack of silence in the room.

The room was filled with the sound of clapping coming from over one hundred individuals. Needless to say, Noah felt surprised to find that he was being clapped for, then again, he realized how he was on his knees and blood stains were all around him. The weight of the ball had caused him to kneel, and the experts watching had seen his struggle, but he succeeded. A lower-stage had succeeded in a test meant for middle-stages, this reality inevitably riled up the next batch, and for the next five batches, only 10 individuals in total failed.

For the first time since he arrived in Creagar, Noah had a positive effect on his audience, and because of this; he gained his first genuine respect from powerful individuals that mattered in that nation and guild.

*

*

*

"You did great today," a young-looking man, who had the attire that spoke of his identity as a member of the Divine lightning guild, smiled at Noah just before shutting the door on his face.

Heaving a light sigh, Noah turned to face the room. This of course was the room he and the others that had been recommended stayed, and to his non-surprise, it looked scanty.

The eyes of his still existing roommates fell on him, but there wasn't any happiness in them. He had sighted them inside the sphere, but their interactive situation wouldn't allow them to talk to him.

'Only five of us,' Noah thought in disappointment, walking deeper into the now seemingly really spacious room. Their eyes followed his movement, but no words were thrown at him.

Arriving at his designated bed, Noah climbed onto its top, immediately laying on it. They only had a bit more than six hours till the next day began. It wasn't much but was still something.

Seeing as it would be focused on their minds, Noah didn't hesitate to sleep, but not after reviewing what had happened during the trial he had just overcome.

'I had to go on my knees to remain alive,' he thought blankly staring at the ceiling. He almost had no recollection of how he had gotten on his knees since his mind had been focused on keeping his arms in place and maintaining his balance. In essence not dying.

Having already evaluated his strength in the pond, Noah found it no surprise when he continued to realize how weak he was in the myriad of monsters dwelling in that world.

However, even if he remained really strong, he felt unable to settle for being a local champion. The tiny portion of his mind that had stepped into the realm of the speedlings wouldn't allow it. Nonetheless, he was grateful for the strength he had. Which caused an internal conflict of trying to find the balance between his desire for more and appreciating what he had, since most did not have it.

Noah found himself heaving sighs during his moment of reflection. 'I sigh a lot,' he giggled, experiencing a strong sense of melancholy.

In truth, he felt tired of his lack of knowledge, and the desire to change it had gotten immensely stronger during the second test of the day, or rather the over a week in total he spent in them.

'Hopefully, the next trials don't have such time differences,' Noah thought slowly drifting from the topic of his sad situation.

'How do they even achieve such wonders,' he pondered, 'Is time an affinity,' he continued, ' But no one ever mentioned it.'

And so, Noah continued falling into topics that got him curious, but even the multiple thoughts and inner discussions merely lasted a minute. His mind continued to move faster than normal, but he wouldn't notice it.

Noah eventually drifted into some well-deserved sleep, he hadn't slept throughout his journey in the pond, nor did he sleep when in the different realm. In essence over a week had passed since he last slept.

A knock on the door immediately pulled Noah out of his sleep, the ears of experts at his level had been fine-tuned enough for such ease.

His eyes fell on Lady Sophie, and he immediately wondered why she and her team had disappeared after the first test.

'It's time," she announced to the now twelve experts in the room. More of them had survived.

Noah hadn't spoken to them in a week and didn't plan to do so anytime soon.

However, before Noah got off his bed, a series of clothes appeared on his bed at the wave of his hand, and he didn't hesitate to wear them.

The attire that had been inside the ring consisted of a tight-fitting black body suit, featuring a turtle neck, and an overall jacket reaching his heels.

The midnight black jacket featured a series of golden-colored inscriptions, and Noah immediately understood that the material wasn't just any type of fabric. 'Definitely from a magical beast,' Noah thought admiring how great the material felt.

On the heart side of the gold-embroidered jacket was an orange gem. Obviously a mana stone. And to Noah's surprise immediately he wore the black heel-high boots, the full attire caused a reaction to the system.

[You have equipped attire: Crackling Overcomers]

[Set: Bodysuit, Jacket, Boots]

[Stat: Def: 9,999]

Immediately that panel appeared in his eyes, a golden glow shone on his figure before dying down.

'I'm ready,' Noah grinned.