UNLIMITED SPEED

Noah closed his eyes to savor the feeling of his gained levels. Although he hated the fact that he was in the weird pending state, he couldn't ask for anymore. He was satisfied knowing that his advancement wasn't too far away from him.

The pillars of light and the magical circle beneath him shattered into motes of white light before disappearing into nothingness and he was able to open his eyes and focus on his surroundings again.

His eyes fell on the stunned figure of the sphere's humanoid portion.

"How did you do that?" Its voice rang out, and Noah could tell that it felt shocked.

"That was high-tier magic. The highest I've gazed at In my long life," it remarked, floating closer to Noah, who raised his hand with renewed confidence.

"I'll leave it to time to reveal it unto you," Noah declared keeping his laughter under wraps, but it seemed his joke didn't get across to the non-human.

"I see," it replied. "I hope the time comes soon." The sphere and the humanoid figure began to recede slowly from Noah's figure.

"I also noticed what you did with your words. I have chosen to not give you the privilege of seeing my laughter," it replied nodding its head before turning into a shapeless mass and returning to the sphere.

Noah watched them depart slowly and wondered why it hadn't just teleported away. A reason appeared in his mind and couldn't help but shake his head at how much characters that mass of blood contained.

"What do I call you? I don't know your name," Noah called out, and he swore he could sense excitement for an instant before the sphere turned; even if it had no need for that.

It stayed silent for a while as if willing to build tension before its pristine voice rang out.

"I am known by all my underlings as He who bled. But you can call me Lord Louis. Or just Louis," He explained, and Noah nodded in affirmation.

"I hope to see you again Aiden. If that truly is your real name," Louis commented before his spherical mass disappeared in a blinding red light.

Needless to say, Louis's words caused a wave of surprise to wash over Noah, and a smile couldn't help but appear on his breathtakingly handsome face.

Noah swept his gaze on the scene of the destruction below him and took in a deep breath. That region suffered from his simple action, as gales came to life just because of it.

The countdown of his empowered state now had about 2 minutes left. The battle with Gorno hadn't taken too much time.

"Where should I go now?" He muttered noting the new items that had entered his inventory. He only had two minutes before he fell into his weakest state, and he had to decide where to go, to spend the next two weeks.

He considered the guild, but simply pushed it to the side. He had been given a month to spend outside of the guild and he intended to do just that.

'Riveta,' Noah sighed.

Although in the outside world only about two or three days had passed since he left, he had spent about 12 days in total within the dungeon.

"Power is nice," Noah muttered turning into a blue streak that made no sound whatsoever. Thanks to the bracelet still on he could move about unnoticed. But it reminded him to check the amount of time left.

"How fast a year flies," he shook his head streaking across the dark lands in search of a particular plain.

He only had roughly two months and a half till the bracelet crumbled and it didn't manage to get him sad. He would already be tier 4 before then.

The wide plain eventually unfolded in Noah's consciousness. He slowed down a bit while he approached Riveta's tower in the distance. He did that as a way to sort of rethink his decision.

She had proven to not be a bad person, even helping him when he was going to die, but he still didn't know whether or not she had done it because he said he could escape.

'I'm overthinking this,' Noah sighed. Truth was, he knew she wouldn't do anything to him. She had nothing to gain from such, so he was most definitely safe. It had only become a habit to let his fears rule his mind before taking such decisions.

"Should I show her my empowered state?" Noah muttered with a slight giggle. He considered waiting till everything died down but his instincts told him he would be unable to do much.

A sigh exited his mouth and he allowed his consciousness to spread out while his aura flared. She would be unable to sense him due to the bracelet, but if he caused a bit of commotion she would undoubtedly see him.

A bolt of lightning the size of whole buildings burst out of Noah's figure to shoot high into the sky, lighting up the night sky with its regal blue radiance and shattering the silence that the plain possessed in abundance.

Not even a second passed and Noah felt a consciousness far beyond him grab hold of his body.

"Oh my!" Riveta's voice seeped into Noah's ears as her figure directly appeared in front of him; moving far faster than his eyes could follow. The event had been soundless, but Noah knew she had sprinted towards him.

It was incredible, to say the least.

A smile remained on Noah's face as she scanned his body with evident surprise.

"The higher stage of tier four," she muttered shooting a shocked glance at Noah. "I can feel the comprehension of your elements overflowing from you. You've taken hold of a level of power that is astonishing."

"In such a short period at that," her tone was fairly quiet and it expressed her disbelief.

"I will need to stay in your tower for about two weeks," Noah announced, disregarding her question for a moment. Her frown made him answer her quickly, however.

"It's just temporary," Noah admitted, not finding any reason to hide that truth. He almost felt certain that him becoming a tier 4 in two months' time would be more astonishing to her, and everyone that knew him.

Riveta's eyes widened in bewilderment, and she even took a step back.

"I've heard and seen secret arts capable of giving experts more power, but none as grand as this. You crossed a whole tier, Aiden," she exclaimed, but soon regained her composure.

"Yes I did," Noah nodded finding another burden lifted off his shoulders. With the destruction of the bracelet drawing nigh, he found it nice and reassuring to reveal some of his spectacular skills.

People would be more stunned when they find out that he didn't even use mana and he wasn't fully human. A time would come when it would stop being a secret. And that time was already upon him.

He had to make good use of his encounter with an expert like Riveta. But he would still be careful.

"You sound as if it's just a normal occurrence. Having such a skill would be considered a trump card. An outrageous one at that." Riveta folded her arms and furrowed her brows.

"I can only use it once in a few years," Noah lied. He needed her to underestimate that ability.

"Even so, it's an immense addition to a person's skill set," She commented strangely excited. "Besides years are like days to experts at my level."

"Yeah, yeah," Noah waved off her excitement when he saw his timer hit twenty seconds.

"Can we go in now?" he asked in a pleading tone trying to hide his impatience, even if he failed. At least his poor acting couldn't fool someone like Riveta.

​ Riveta furrowed her brows and her incredible mind connected the dots and came to a quick conclusion.

"Your time in this state is about to end isn't it?" She shook her head, but Noah remained silent.

His reaction was weird, but when the power he radiated suddenly plummeted, and his face lost all its healthy luster; she confirmed her thoughts.

Noah lost consciousness too.