UNLIMITED SPEED

Noah stepped out of the carriage to climb down the ladder. Quickly after he was Bon, Madison had been the first to get down.

Surrounding them were yellow-armored individuals, who according to the ranking system of the royal city were Knights. But Noah didn't know that.

About seven of them gathered before them as they got down, each of them holding power within the fourth tier.

Their eyes were fixated on the figures of all three of them. It would seem even they knew about the winners of the tournament of champions and knew the rewards. Who wouldn't want a tour of a different nation and even another continent.

Sweeping his gaze on the small garden behind him, Noah nodded inwardly at how lush things looked inside that place.

Even he could feel the mana in that environment. It wasn't a matter of his changed status, the higher the mana quality was, the more evident it was for a body as weak as his.

"You will be taken to your assigned rooms. Due to the earlier issue, your appointment with the royals will be shifted from tomorrow. Hopefully the day after," Sir Dere explained, walking before them.

Even he silently marveled at the small garden by the pathway into the grand castle in the distance.

All three of the winners nodded at his words, then he turned and bowed at the seven knights.

"We will leave them in your care," He stated and the clicking of metal sounded as they nodded at his words.

"Follow us," One of them commanded when he stepped forward.

Noah saw Dere return to his carriage before the emissary began to travel farther and farther into the massive compound of the castle.

The group of seven led them away at that point. A tunnel connected to a different segment of the humongous castle unfolded in their eyes, and Noah took in its features.

The tunnel itself was made out of the same material the castle was, a clear glass-like build, but still, it wasn't as spectacular as the rest of the castle, only reflective. On the inside however it was painted a nice silver shade

The tunnel was long and wouldn't allow them to see outside, so all three of them were stuck in the middle of the seven knights. A bit nervous to speak.

"You're the one bearing Aiden, Isn't it?" One of them from the side moved closer to Noah, his action had caught the attention of the others, but they said nothing.

Noah had to be honest, the identical armors really made it hard to identify who was who, they were even all the same height.

"Yes," Noah responded, and the knight nodded.

"You must be Madison, and Bon," he pointed at the other and they nodded in affirmation.

"We saw your battles, and I have to say we were impressed," the expert continued, moving a bit from Noah's figure. Even with his armor, Noah was taller.

"We find it flattering that you would say that," Madison was the next to speak, her tone was soft and respectful. Her black dress which clung to her skin but also had an overflowing piece at the sides connected to the arms, made her walking look graceful.

And it was.

"It's the truth," the person on Bon's side chipped in. Madison walked in the middle of the two males.

"I didn't know prowess like that was possible In the third tier," The man on Bon's side continued.

'You haven't met Sarah then,' Noah said inwardly simply nodding his head at the man's comment.

"The last set was less spectacular than you were," The expert on Noah's side added and they chuckled.

Then fell silent.

"Why do you like masks so much? I saw you wore them a whole lot during the tournament," One of the three yellow-armored men in front of the group asked.

Noah furrowed his brows.

"They make me feel safe," he admitted. "And besides they look good." His second reason sounded mundane, but most of their attention was on the first one. Safety. They could understand what he meant.

Another wave of silence swept over them as they continued their walk towards who knew where. Only the knights knew where they were going.

They all remained in silence until the knights led them down a branch tunnel where eventually a silver-painted hallway filled with a series of doors unfolded in their eyes.

The place was huge, Noah expected a big room, but what he saw took him completely by surprise.

A wide silver and gold room expanded in Noah's bamboozled gaze.

"What the fuck," he felt forced to mutter.

The room was big. Too big. The biggest sleeping room he had seen in his life on Cregar especially since it only had one king-sized bed which had a couch at its edge.

To put it in comparison, the room was a tad bit larger than a football field, and its ceiling was high, adorned with about seven large chandeliers powered by mana stones.

The king-sized bed stood at the very center of the room. It felt isolated in that large space.

Noah felt it a bit odd, but there was nothing he could do.

The knights left informing them that they had been asked to take them on a small tour of the allowed portions of the castle.

It was weird to see tier 4 experts act as mere patrollers of the castle's compound.

Noah didn't feel hungry and didn't feel the need for a shower. Some of the things within the bathroom were new to him.

He would require testing which he wasn't ready for.

Apart from that, his stay in the room was eventless. Nevertheless, he got himself busy by pondering the issue of the black figure that had appeared and stolen the orb.

At first, he honestly didn't care about the orb thingy, but now that an existence as strong as that could actually be involved, he knew for sure that things were far more serious.

He wondered what the orb was for. It felt dangerous, maybe like the one Riveta gave him.

His hunch was correct, but he didn't know it was, so he simply kept himself busy with the thought.

Needless to say, he started to feel anxious about the entire ordeal. He didn't want to experience a tier 5 attack on the receiving end.

Noah continued to bathe himself in his thoughts and quickly he moved to the most pressing issue.

The fact that he was even in the royal castle.

His hatred for those people burnt like never before, but he couldn't show it. Heck, it would even be better to gain their closeness since he would need it at the end of the day.

It was far easier to bring down an opponent which you knew about.

The force of the royal family already looked incredible and scary. After all, they could utilize tier 4 experts as mere patrolling officers.

There was even a magical spell that forced even tier 5 cultivators into walking. The reality was he was completely outpowered.

Nothing he knew he could do could help him win a battle with them. He would need to be at least tier 6 for that.

The peak of known power on Cregar. He on the other hand had already confirmed the existence of a higher power level.

"The seventh tier," Noah muttered, shaking his head at the thought. What type of power would such individuals be capable of?

The urge to advance increased in him at that point, but he knew he was already at his best.

"Hopefully the path to tier 5 doesn't take too much time," he muttered satisfied by the feel of the bed. Truly it was worthy of a place like the royal castle.

A knock sounded on Noah's door and he immediately knew who it was. Or were.

It had been about two hours since the knights left them, their tour was to begin

He was right.

He saw that three yellow armored men waited outside with Madison and Bon.

He didn't know what the colors of the armors meant as of current, and he didn't hesitate to ask.

The knight gave a great explanation.

There were 7 main ranks and one sub-rank of the royal castle's forces. The different ranks were identified by the color of their armor.

The first and lowest rank was the No-armor rank.

The name spoke for itself. They were essentially individuals at the farthest end of the spectrum. They were usually new recruits and individuals in the third tier.

Most were allowed to join because they showed above-average talent.

The amount of no-armor soldiers the royals had under them numbered about twenty thousand.

They were normal soldiers identified by the multicolored vests they wore; featuring the crest of the family. They were sent to all parts of the Cusk nation

Noah had not seen it earlier because the experts could make it disappear, but the crest of the royal family was an hourglass possessing four beast-like heads.

It was situated on their chest piece, helmet, and of course, back.

The second rank which was one step above the no-armor rank was the Brown armor level. They were mostly patrollers of the city itself but were rather low leveled, as the majority of them were still tier-three cultivators.

Apparently, the royal family had about sixteen thousand of them. They were experts close to the peak of the third tier, and could also be sent out on different tasks rather than patrolling the city.

The third rank was the red-armored individuals. They mostly guarded the castle gates as Noah had seen, but many times they were deployed out of the city's gates. All of them, however, were in the fourth tier.

The real amount of red-armored individuals were kept away from the public since those assets were important, being in the fourth tier. Notwithstanding, the Yellow armored man told him that they were certainly over a thousand!