UNLIMITED SPEED

"What do you want?" Elder Sarah asked harshly.

"I want to begin our training," Noah replied remaining in his know-towing posture. Both individuals were within the luxurious room that featured the door into the training room of sorts.

The mansion looked far bigger than what he had experienced, and Noah understood that only until she knew him better would she show him around.

"It's only been a day, I doubt my words have properly sunk in," Elder Sarah replied keeping her legs crossed while she sat on the one-sitter couch.

Her figure featured a straight purple gown adorned with golden embroideries sewn in seemingly random patterns. However, only someone who had proper knowledge would understand that the embroidered patterns were a formation to deploy a set of inscriptions if she willed them.

"They did immediately you had spoken," Noah replied without moving an inch. In truth, he had only come there that early due to the nightmare, but his actions felt valid nonetheless. He didn't even lie about her words reaching his insides.

Lady Sarah remained silent for about a minute after his words, and her lips eventually curved into a smile, words quickly followed that event.

"I'll ask you that question again after I take you somewhere," she announced arising from her seat to walk towards the entrance.

"Are you going to stay there or will you open the door," she said standing before the door.

'Why can't you do it yourself,' Noah said inwardly but rushed towards the door to push them open for her passage.

She strode past the opened gate to walk down the street. Noah followed closely behind as she led him into multiple streets, his 3D map adding them to its catalog even if the space around it was blank.

The duo eventually arrived before a metallic dome-shaped building featuring golden lights at its top.

The building featured not a compound or any such; simply standing on its own, a few hundred meters from the other structures beside it.

Their figures caught a bit of attention, but only the riders of carriages. Nevertheless, Noah sighted a few members moving down the street behind them. His eyes sharpened to keep their facial features in his mind.

"This is where every monster in this guild meets," Elder Sarah suddenly said, ignoring the bows the people walking behind them threw at her.

"I'd take you in there when I see that you've improved. For now, settle with gazing at one of the most important buildings in the guild," she explained leaving Noah weirded out, but excited nonetheless.

He gazed silently at the large building. His mind bubbling with a bit of excitement, it felt absurd that in less than a week he had already begun to know important stuff.

'I want to see its insides,' Noah thought helplessly.

"This isn't where I wanted to take you, it's simply a stopover," Elder Sarah suddenly revealed, glancing at the right end of the street.

She immediately led him towards the end of the street and a big gate attached to a long wooden wall unfolded in their eyes. Nobody guarded the gate, so the duo simply walked past it.

A grassy ground unfolded beneath Noah's feet, but he didn't mind that detail, after all his eyes were on the shining blue pool in the distance.

Lady Sarah slowly led him towards it, and he could soon witness that magical wonder in all its glory. The pool spanned a distance of about 200m in radius. It was more of a pond, but Noah couldn't tell its depths due to its bright glow.

"What is it for?" he asked in wonder. Thankfully Elder Sarah seemed to be in a state of slight nostalgia and she didn't lash out.

"This is the pool of truth," she replied calmly, "Whoever bathes in its waters is compelled to tell the truth. However, it has limits, but does far more than that and can put the human mind in its humblest state. I'm certain you can already feel it," she explained.

Noah could only nod at that point. He could feel it, by merely being in the water's presence he felt a weird calmness befall him. Even the storms within his mind reduced in size.

"I need you to enter it," she announced after about a minute of silence.

Uncertainty appeared in Noah's mind at that point, his paranoia kicked in and he immediately began to doubt the expert beside him. He feared her asking him a question that would be too personal.

"Do not fear I'll refrain from asking questions that are too personal," she assured hitting the nail on the head.

Even at that Noah stayed still, he didn't fear being rough-handled, and to his surprise, she revealed a piece of information that left him taken aback.

"Look young Aiden, I lied about never taking someone under my tutorship. There was one person, but things didn't go well and I had to end her life with my own hands," she explained. "Unfortunately this led to my big trust issues," she said raising her head to stare at the dark sky above them.

Noah could tell she experienced sadness, and the sight was more than compelling since her state mirrored what he experienced within the illusions of the guild's trials.

"I'll be asking only three questions," she added focusing her gaze on his tall figure. In less than a minute the air had turned emotionally down as sadness permeated their immediate surrounding.

Noah could only sigh at that point before taking off his boots and rolling up his trousers to step into the pool cautiously. Surprisingly his feet touched solid ground barely two feet into the pool.

A strange aura wrapped around his figure at his full entry and surprisingly the system reacted to the aura.

[Presence of a spirit detected]

[Niphilia]

[Spirit of truth[Extremely weakened]]

Noah felt shocked for a moment and to even more astonishment, he witnessed a ripple seeming to spread through the very fabric of reality, and the pool changed.

The presence that he confirmed was the presence of a spirit; grew stronger yet weaker. Feeling the urge to turn, Noah felt his eyes widen at the scene that lay before him.

At the center point of the pool was the figure of a woman, fair in complexion, and blonde-haired. Her pristine figure floated, draped in a white silk cloth that fell towards the now green but still shining water. She looked passed out since she floated with her arms spread and her legs closed, suggesting a state of unconsciousness.

The more shocking details were the black chains attached to her wrists, feet, neck. The chains were then attached to seven black and golden pillars surrounding the pool.