UNLIMITED SPEED

Noah's eyes flickered multiple times in a second, as he took a step back in pure horror. His breathing seemed to get heavier, as the reality of the sight he laid eyes on struggled to sink.

His core floated in two halves, strings of multicolored lights holding both halves in place. A detail Noah felt certain was the only reason he hadn't died yet.

Anger tried to rise in his mind at the planners of the events he currently participated in, It felt wrong to suffer that much damage simply because of a game to join the guild.

However, knowing what would happen if he flared up, he bottled up his anger and tried to think.

A constant stream of pain entered Noah's mind during his contemplation, and he immediately noticed his inability to think too many thoughts without almost fainting.

Unfortunately, nothing within his range of knowledge felt able to cause that damage apart from the bell.

A feeling of loss filled Noah's consciousness at his inability to generate any solutions. Speed essence felt like his only solution, but it did absolutely nothing, simply floating above him. As if waiting for something.

The only entity Noah thought he could gain answers from, was of course the System, But he feared that leaving that place would cause him to restart his journey towards that area, so he opted to look at the sky above him.

Gaining visuals of the immense black box floating above his soul realm, Noah tried to call on it, but nothing worked. He willed his stat panel to be shown to him, and it appeared, but differently than he expected. A blue-black floating screen featuring his stats appeared in front of Noah, and he felt able to touch it, which he did.

Noah's curiosity was piqued by that sight, but he had to return his focus to what he currently needed, help.

"What am I experiencing?" Noah questioned the system, hoping that topic wouldn't fall under the classified banner.

[[This is as a result of the events that occurred within the trial of your mind]]

[[Your mind, as a result of the conflict, has gained split ideals. On one side is your drive to grow stronger and live while enjoying life. On the other side is the darkness that is encroaching into your heart. Due to the amount of time you spent in that fake environment, your soul core failed to differentiate which experiences were real, causing the higher concentration of the darkness within you, thereby generating the clash]]

Needless to say, Noah felt shocked by the system's words and the fact that it gave such an in-depth explanation of his issue.

"In essence; this is my fault," Noah sighed, feeling a pang of pain prick his senses.

The floating screen or panel was left empty at Noah's words, but he didn't require the system to answer his words of realization.

"How do I even fix it?" Noah asked.

[[You'll have to make both sides agree to coexist, or your death is at hand]]

A cold expression appeared on Noah's face at those words. He had guessed that the situation would be dangerous, but the possibility of death changed things.

'How do I do that?" Noah enquired of the system, feeling grateful for its already big help.

[[You will lead yourself]]

An exasperated sigh escaped Noah's mouth, but no air came out. His eyes landed on the strings of multi-colored light and they gained deeper importance to him.

Moving closer to his stationary core currently split in two, Noah felt compelled to lay hands on it. And he immediately did so.

Nothing happened upon contact with one of the halves, but immediately after he placed his left hand on the other half, a violent wave of power flowed through his limbs and nearly shattered his consciousness.

His island trembled violently, but the storms reduced in size since the violent power his core produced was being channeled into another medium.

Blood poured out of Noah's unconscious body, as he convulsed and shook violently. However, his body remained okay at the same time.

Thankfully his roommates were fast asleep going through whatever backlash the trial had brought upon them.

Memories came and went, as intense emotions, ones that Noah had never thought he could produce ravaged his ethereal state.

For the first time since he became a tire 3, Noah understood that although the soul core currently wasn't always directly needed in a battle; with all the power stored up inside its structure, it would be potent enough to fatally damage his foes.

Noah had to keep his consciousness intact to not return to square one. But after a minute of witnessing the battles between the two ideals and experiences, he started to doubt his ability to even do anything.

The storms around him continued to reduce in size, which meant more power was flowing through his ethereal state of existence.

Deep mental pain ravaged Noah's deepest depths. But he very quickly became numb to it, while he tried to place his focus on basically conversing with himself, seeing as his soul core was still him.

Unfortunately, he couldn't do much apart from trying to keep his consciousness intact, an ever-increasingly difficult task.

Noah had to let go at some point, and immediately after he did so, the storms exploded forth with full power, as they even felt more vigorous than before. A very nerve-racking detail.

Noah knelt, as deep pain ravaged his existence, causing his consciousness to flicker dangerously. He threatened to lose consciousness as rends opened on his figure. Fortunately, he felt no pain from that event, only fatigue.

What felt like half an hour had to pass before Noah could stabilize himself. His ethereal figure still featured tears, but he couldn't do much about them, since only exiting his soul realm and returning could fix them. A refresh basically.

Allowing his gaze to fall on his silently floating core, Noah shook his head at that deceiving sight.

His soul core contained enough power to wipe him out if he didn't play his cards well. And during that instant, Noah wondered if fuels termed "Soul energy" existed, but he pushed the topic to the back of his mind before he could get engrossed.

He hadn't achieved anything since he gained the idea of his problem, so he immediately started to listen intently to his instincts, and it of course recommended the use of Speed Essence in that situation.

However, rather than forcing the mass of essence on his island, which remained almost totally undamaged by the storm; he empowered himself with it.

In less than an instant, Noah called upon the power of the minute portion of Essence floating above his island.

The mass of deep-yellow essence, liquid-like in nature, flowed down toward Noah, and a shocking transformation occurred soon after.

Immediately the Speed Essence came in contact with his ethereal figure, Noah felt an awesome wave of pure power fill his existence; pure ecstasy rushing through his senses. His formerly colorless figure, almost transparent, quickly turned deep-yellow.

Not only that, but immediately the mass of energy completely merged with his figure, he ballooned up in size, and soon his figure became as large as his over 5km radius island.