UNLIMITED SPEED

Jumping off the big beast, a grunt left Noah's lips when his two legs hit the ground. He crouched and held his knees, before quickly moving out of the way for the others.

Immediately sweeping his gaze on the world around him. He saw the experts that had been tasked with creating a clearing.

They did a wonderful job.

Those individuals had been sent down a few minutes before the group landed.

This had been the trend for the past two weeks.

The ground was hard. It felt almost metallic to him. Just by staring at it, he could tell a significant amount of power would be required to even make a dent in it. He wasn't certain he could provide that power.

The others got off the carriage and gathered together. There was too much in the environment. They would wait beside the beast.

As if reading their minds, a mighty roar reached their ears. But it was distant. An explosion resounded at that point which unfolded into more explosions.

One of the many experts seemed to be dealing with a wild beast.

Noah stayed calm and took in the details of his surroundings. He wasn't certain whether it was due to the mana, but that place felt weirdly cooler than normal.

Heck, he could see his breath. And the sun stood high in the sky. Its intensity however wasn't exactly dominant.

The wind that blew across the clearing was, however, hot. Things didn't make sense. The ambient temperature was low. While the temperature carried by the wind felt high.

'Some weird type of equilibrium,' Noah considered inwardly. There was a first time for everything. And with mana involved, he expected such weirdness to exist all around him.

"I can't believe a place like this exists," Madison stepped closer to Aiden's tall figure. Her head could only reach below his shoulder. He looked like a giant. Only a beautiful one.

He nodded at her comment, keeping his icy-blue eyes on his environment.

The envoys yelled orders at themselves, while the rest of the group landed in turns. A significant amount of space was required to accommodate that large group.

The huge shadows of beasts flying above them shaded the area many times. The wind blew violently when a beast wanted to land, and they had to dodge instances like that.

In less than 10 minutes the whole group was done, and sir Dere approached them.

Noah's attention was too focused on the purple beast circling the clearing; for him to quickly notice Sir Dere until he was right beside him.

Due to its sheer size, the bird had to fly higher than usual to not make the area fall into disarray. Yet, its mere shadow was capable of covering a huge chunk of the cleared area.

"It's a big bird," Noah joked when he finally noticed the expert. Sir Dere had been nice and tolerant throughout those two weeks.

"We will wait for the evening to arrive. If nothing big happens then we'll begin our real journey," Sir Dere explained.

The other heard him and nodded in response. That was a pretty simple and basic idea. It still begged the question, however. What if the person didn't attack?

Truth be told. The commander and the likes of Sir Dere had planned all those occasional stops to create seeming moments of weakness. This would force anyone who was potentially following them to make silly mistakes and attack.

However, if no one made any move at that point then there probably wasn't anyone following them. Wasting two weeks after many "Right times" would be plain idiotic.

A camp was made for them and each one of them sat on luxurious chairs. It was nice to stretch their legs after sitting inside the carriage for hours.

The others engaged in light discussions, while Noah fell into deep thought.

It was close.

The time for his advancement was so close it scared him.

'Five days,' Noah swallowed hard. He had been so excited about that event before, but now he felt weird. He didn't know what would happen. Would he need to battle one of Cregar's avatar or something to completely be set free of the limits of the world?

He recalled his time in the white environment. The being had said they would meet again in his time to cross over to the fourth tier.

'Say, system. Is there anything I have to be worried about?' Noah asked, trying to clear any doubts, It was a major event so he wasn't exactly surprised about his feelings.

[[Not necessarily. I am unable to completely evaluate what will happen. You'll have to go past the third tier to access the fullness of me. I am just as limited as you are in some things. At least only for now]]

'That's a whole lot. But in short, you're also in the dark. At least the portion of you I currently have access to is,' he spoke inwardly.

[[Affirmative]]

'That doesn't instill confidence,' he sighed lightly. The system remained silent, and Noah moved on. He had a bit of a dialogue with the strange thing, but eventually, he had to focus on the events of the outside world.

Krane in his high and lofty status gave pointers about cultivating. Most especially directing it to Bon and Madison. He also didn't hesitate to share experiences of one-on-one conversations with tier 4 experts.

That topic reminded him of the expert that had promised such to those who managed to get into the Divine lightning guild.

The others gained a lot from it, but Noah barely cared. He had racked enough to know the basic things.

According to Dan, the more of himself a man was, the more power he would get. Those who reached higher levels of power simply became more of themselves. Which was why the path to it was called a personal one.

Unfortunately, Noah didn't know if that would work for him. He wasn't completely human anymore. He couldn't be certain the same rules would apply to him.

The issue was a tad bit depressing. Leveling up ruled out the chances of sitting down to think about himself and what he wanted to be.

It was quick but also had its downsides. Still, he felt certain any cultivator would give up that personal path for the system's abilities.

The evening eventually came and the group set out again. Ruling out the idea that they had been traced. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be so.

Far away from the clearing even across the river. A figure stood in the sky. A man. His long black hair fluttered in the wind and his equally black attire flowed graciously.

His eyes were narrowed as if he struggled to look at something. And he was.

Although the group was whole miles away from him, he could see them. But his gaze wasn't strong. He made it so. He hadn't relied on his consciousness to not alert the tier 5 expert.

He himself wielding power in the fifth tier; felt he could match up to the expert. The only issue was the beast. It would make things difficult.

The expert saw the group begin on a new course and thought to himself how good it was that he wasn't alone. He would prove to the elves that he was worthy of their cause.

At that thought, the night sky around him seemed to twist and bend. He called upon his associates and they answered.

Two figures stepped right out of his back. It looked as though they had been there all this while.

"I thought you said you wouldn't need our help," A female voice seeped out of one of the veiled figures. She sounded dangerous even if she was only a lower-stage tier 5 like him.

"You offered. I took you up on that offer," he replied and a bone-chilling chuckle unfolded in the world. He hated the lady's laughter.

"When do we move?" The second figure asked in a calm tone. Also a woman.

"Let them believe they were not followed," the man responded. His voice dripped with cruelty.

"A few days then," the calm one replied.

"They'll be easy targets. I wonder why we've been moved simply to deal with them," the other lady remarked. But she received no response. They would wipe out the entire group, no doubt.