UNLIMITED SPEED

"The effects are more evident in an existence that has grown this much with mana," Noah noted creating a barrier of wind before him, even if it was transparent.

His mental waves always got messed up whenever he tried to inspect that scene with them. Noah had to bend light in such a way that the thick barrier before him looked transparent.

It worked well since both elemental manifestations were from the same essence and the same person.

The violent energies that were birthed as a result of the lady's mana created flames rocks, water, wind, and even sparks. The cultivation room saw huge elemental masses slamming into its wall and exploding into waves that could end cities.

Higher-stage cultivators were closer to tier 5 so he didn't expect anything less from her.

The cultivation room remained unchanged, however. It was created from something even past the seventh tier. Nothing in Cregar could damage it.

The silver lights that showed that Noah's essence was winning became more and more evident. Her screaming had stopped as she fell unconscious.

Minutes passed and the manifestation of her mana began to withdraw significantly, and so did her aura. She was dying and the event was getting less violent.

Something strange occurred however, Noah watched a violent wave of invisible energy flow outward and even made his barrier experience  deep cracks.

An illusory figure came out of the lady's floating. It was normally invisible, but Noah could see them thanks to his level.

Still, the figure resembled the lady and she even stared at him.

Both man and spirit stared at each other intensely until visible silver chains sprung out of her figure to drag her soul back into her body.

An explosion of power erupted at that point and Noah felt his insides tremble as a result of the sheer might within that event.

A notification reached his eyes and he shot forward in that instant.

His world slowed down and he activated the innate ability to search for her memories.

During his incredibly rapid search, however, he realized something fundamental had changed about the lady.

Essence poisoning saw both energies battling for dominance, his speed essence gained that dominance and began a radical change within her body.

It reminded him of when he had begun the transformation into a Speedling, but hers was far more violent and led to her soul's destruction. Hence Noah couldn't gain any of her memories.

Lifting his hand off her body. Noah furrowed his brows when he watched all signs of mana depart from her body. She was empty, but essence sprung up in her being and his eyes trembled.

Her figure wriggled madly as a new aura, one completely different to Speedlings but almost like it, filled the space around him.

Noah took many steps backward to watch that event. Her body stopped wriggling and her eyes snapped open. But the lady's soul was gone. Whatever opened its eyes wasn't her.

"This is more than I expected," Noah muttered watching the figure make the chains around her shatter into motes of essence that transformed into a violent wave of energy.

Her eyes bled and her figure made erratic movements. Noah watched bones snap and protrude out of her shoulders. The insides of her head turned into a blob as it wriggled creepily to allow the appearance of a short stump. Like an incomplete horn.

Noah's eyes sparkled at that event. Speedlings were beings with horns. One horn was a sign that the Speedling was a High Speedling. No horn meant the lowest of the Speedling bloodline.

Having half a horn would mean halfway into the power of high Speedling. Noah could marvel at that sight.

The figure before him growled with rabid intensity, but it seemed to lack intelligence. Or rather, he could see its intelligence grow.

"It's not exactly a Speedling. More like a failed one," he muttered studying its reaction to his figure. Noah would essentially be the highest-level Speedling it would ever lay eyes on.

Noah let it stare at him until his instincts reacted. It tried to move towards him with ill intent but he watched it explode in a gory mess.

The essence within it had reacted negatively to it wanting to attack him. He was the child of the speed force after all. The speed essence within its body had torn itself apart to stop whatever attack it planned.

Noah stretched his hand towards the mass of blood and watched it break down into a mass multicolored of energy that flowed into his body.

He heaved an emotionless sigh at that point. Doing it only because he remembered sighing whenever he was stressed or learned new things.

He gazed at his new stats and saw how he had gained ten new levels from killing the lady. And two extra levels for absorbing her higher leveled body.

His level would be an outstanding 292.

He shook his head and exited the cultivation room seconds later. He would go over his findings but needed more experiments to reach more sound conclusions.

His figure resumed streaking across the skies of Cregar. His destination was a great distance away from him, even after that much running.

The world below him continued to change as landforms and bodies of water zoomed below him.

He landed at certain points to simply see things. Or just explore a bit. Noah also cultivated as the days passed and he grew in his understanding of speed.

He advanced through the ranks of the fourth speed rank. Leveling up made all his aspects increase, including the speed essence rank. He would never need to cultivate both separately.

Ter had told him that cultivating translated into levels, but he had left out the part that stated also that gaining levels meant his attunement to the rank of the speed essence increased.

He was in a perfect state. All things worked together for easy and swift growth in power.

Noah enjoyed the ease even if happiness was far from him. He still preferred that lifestyle compared to centuries of cultivating.

His power was already beyond most people he'd known from many years ago.

It took Noah seven days of his routine to finally reach the beginning of the Renga region.

He knew this when a wide blue river unfolded in his eyes. And as he ran across it the ambient temperature decreased steadily.

The river was split in half. One side was completely frozen while the outer sides continued to flow. A strange sighting, but he didn't care since his destination wasn't too far again.