UNLIMITED SPEED

Noah sat within what resembled a pillar of essence. He normally wouldn't be able to be seen, but something about him now allowed even his features to be visible in the deep-yellow color of the speed forces energy.

His figure churned with power and his entire being palpitated with might. Noah seemed ancient in that scene. But he was anything but ancient.

"You have reached the very limits of the third rank. This is the true peak of your might in the third tier," Ter's truly ancient yet youthful voice seeped past the raging pillar of essence to reach Noah's ears.

His eyes snapped open and a ripple seemed to run through the fabric of the energy.

He stood before emerging from the pillar. His figure shone with a soft light of its own and wisps of essence left his body in order to express the fullness of his power.

Noah's features had mostly remained the same, apart from the fact that he now had his white hair had grown long enough to reach the ground like a cape. For some reason, facial hair had refused to grow.

His eyes shone with a dangerous blue light, but that remained as a result of the oppressing aura that now flowed out of his body. It was heavy. And now he would completely be visible to the world, after all the bracelet had shattered.

At some point during his over 20 years of simply cultivating, the bracelet had suddenly begun to glow with a blue light, before an innumerable amount of cracks filled it and it turned to dust.

Noah suddenly felt free after that event. And not just mentally, but also physically. It seemed to have locked in a lot of his influence. But he had no idea just what had happened. Until he returned.

"What next?' He asked feeling bored. Twenty years of simply doing the same thing hundreds of times.

"The fourth rank essence brings about something new. Your evolution would be different, the possible outcomes have been sought out by me, and will tell some of them to you now," Ter explained, already serious.

"Due to your partially hybrid state, you will be weaker than normal. The fourth rank speed essence brings about a different system. At least for you," He started.

"From now on, each time you cultivate it'll translate into genuine levels in the system. Gone are the days when you required solely leveling. I have received information about the destruction of your mana pathways from the system."

"Truth be told you should not have had access to the speed force energy like you did until you got here. But I understand its needs to have corrected you."

"The second would be the fact that you'll be capable of taking in other types of energies. But to grow in the understanding of the speed force you'll need to cultivate only the speed forces essence," Ter paused.

"This, however, will only be true after we've taken the next step into your breakthrough," Ter nodded and the pillar of essence receded into the crack in space.

Noah raised his head calmly, that would be the first real change in a long while.

The crack suddenly experienced a powerful shaking. It expanded in size, and Noah expected a huge downpour of the essence, but a thin line fell rather.

The strand of energy remained silver in color. Its light was dim, but the sheer aura and pressure it carried made Noah fall to his knees.

A sudden wave of dizziness filled his existence, as violent thoughts filled with hunger sprung up in his mind.

Noah had expected the necklace to save him from that power, but that wasn't the case.

"You will absorb this new level of essence and the really painful event will begin," Ter announced.

"The results will be great, however. Your weakness is also your strength," Ter stated and watched Noah sit cross-legged. He had gone past the stage of considering pain when experiencing it would bring him power.

The strand of silver essence, far more heavier and powerful than the entirety of Noah's existence reached his chest, and a wave of pain erupted in his mind. It was blinding.

Gritting his teeth he felt the essence instantly fill his being when he allowed it. It rushed to his mind and exploded into a wave of power that made his island look tiny before it.

It flared into a wave of energy that swept his insides. His organs turned into a bloody mess and his core quite literally turned to dust.

Noah passed out at that point. The pain he experienced being overwhelming for his senses. If only he knew more painful experiences waiting for him after that one.

On the outside his skin found its surface seeping a significant amount of black substance. Noah had experienced this during his crossover into the third rank, but this remained the biggest.

The black substance resembled a huge pool. As even Ter had to fly upwards to prevent it from touching him. Its stench was incredible.

A silver light began to slowly pierce the black substance, however, and Noah's unconscious body could be seen floating out of the substance. A few seconds later and the silver energy buried his body in a cocoon of its power.

His very nature transformed and the rules that bound him before shattered at the passage of that energy through everything that made him, him.

Noah's soul realm remained intact but his soul island experienced multiple destruction and rebuilding, this only stopped until the power supplied was exhausted, and the changes were remarkable.

The same thing applied to his insides and his skin. Only after the energy supply had run out did his figure stabilize, or seemed to stabilize.

The process had only taken about a month, but it took Noah three years before he could regain consciousness.

His awakening had been silent, but he barely had time to understand the gains since a silver crack immediately opened on his chest as soon as he could move.

Even more, pain filled his mind and he began to writhe, forcing it to expand more.

"I have seen this outcome. The speed force does not recognize you as a proper Speedling. It wants to leave your body, but its same energy built your body. In short, you'll die by the time it achieves that," Ter explained still as calm as ever.

Noah couldn't respond due to the screams of agony his throat voiced. They were powerful. Capable of destroying structures not meant to handle power in the fourth tier.

Ter waved his hand and a red magical triangle expanded before him. Its insides featured more than 7 inner triangles but that wasn't the main detail.

The aura that flowed out of it felt ancient, but rather than anything spectacular coming out of it; a shining drop of blood slowly flowed out of it to land on Noah's figure.

His writing stopped, but his body exploded into a gory mess.