UNLIMITED SPEED

In the span of a second Elias' calm demeanor had crumbled, and Noah got able to see his true color. Or something like that.

Elias paced about the place after having startled everyone in the room including Noah, who could only take a few steps back in slight shock. Honestly, he had expected a surprised reaction, but the man had a loud voice, a really loud one. On truly worthy of a merchant.

"Dude..." Noah muttered placing his pinky in his right ear to see if anything would drip out.

A bit more than half a minute had to pass before Elias regained his calm, and embarrassment couldn't be more evident on a grown man's face.

"I'm really sorry," Elias bowed, speaking in a low tone that almost made Noah burst into laughter.

"No need for that. I understand that my request is a bit out of the ordinary," Noah explained, and he could swear he saw a vein almost pop on the man's bowed neck.

"I'm glad you understand," Elias replied raising his head to reveal a smile that managed to creep Noah out.

'I don't feel safe,' Noah thought, staring at the man's attempt to fake a smile. 'He seems ready to strangle me,' he laughed inwardly but expressed only a slight smile on the outside.

"So will you be able to meet my request, or do I have to look for someone else?" Noah immediately asked not missing the faltering of Elias's smile.

"Fortunately I can. But you'll need to wait a bit over two days," the man explained slowly nodding his head.

"Do I have to pay upfront?" Noah asked already planning his next move.

"Nah, I already planned a shipment from my source. It'll be arriving two days from now," Elias explained.

'Then what was all the fuss about,' Noah complained inwardly, not daring to speak such words out loud.

"Okay then," Noah replied. "How much will it cost in total?" he requested.

"I'll be giving you a discount for the first five capped at two-thousand-one-hundred-and-thirty-five small silver coins, then the remaining thirty-nine will be sold at the normal price of four-fifty small silvers. You'll be paying a total of nineteen-thousand-six-hundred-and-eighty-five small silvers," he explained writing something on a brown sheet of paper.

"Okay then," Noah nodded. "I'll be back two days from now to receive them," he said getting ready to leave.

"Before you go, I'll need you to write your name here. To have evidence that you'll be coming to get them," Elias explained placing the paper he had been writing on in front of Noah and giving him an inscribed ink pen.

Instead of collecting the pen immediately, Noah paused. It had been a while since he held a pen, and felt nostalgic for grabbing it to write down his fake name after reading what was on the paper.

Exiting Elias's shop, Noah began his journey to his abode. He hadn't been back there since he began his quest to rank up, and his almost completely emptied core was evidence of that reality.

He planned to refill his core after which he would begin his journey to the central region to answer the call of the letter.

'I hope they let me go quickly,' Noah thought walking through the gate into the L-shaped building featuring a big veranda.

Placing the rectangular key into its hole, Noah took a moment to glance at Ariana's door. They had not spoken since her confession. And although there had been many chances to, she had kept her distance, and so had he.

The state of their relationship now felt hazy and unclear. Coupled with her intentional avoidance of him.

Shaking his head, Noah walked into his room, locking it behind him. He would then spend the next five hours within his cultivation room where he not only refilled his core but also witnessed the still ongoing creation of his first Speed-force stone.

A bit over two days remained till it was done, and Noah allowed his excitement to rage within his mind. He felt glad about the things happening in his life. His long-awaited leveling up was around the corner, and so was his stone.

Noah also spent a bit of time meditating, and he soon found his mind dwelling on Elias's mention of necromancy. Of course, he knew what it meant thanks to Aiden's little knowledge about that topic, and Elias's mention of it meant that it existed.

'So there are individuals who are capable of bringing dead things back to life but only partially,' Noah thought at some point and that was the summary of what Aiden's memory could provide him.

He planned to visit the Guilds library to stock up on knowledge that the normal civilians of the Cusk nation wouldn't be able to get. But he could tell that his limit would be his rank.

Exiting his cultivation room feeling refreshed, Noah's body brimmed with incredible power; which he quickly bottled up. He felt it was time to begin his journey to the central region.

Exiting his room, Noah felt startled to find Ariana also exiting her room. The two locked gazes, but she quickly averted hers to walk back into her room and slam the door.

Noah could only watch that scene play out with an indifferent expression; wondering why she behaved that way. Promptly locking his door to walk towards the flight of stairs, he began his descent.

The darkness of the island illuminated by the city's lights shone on his face, but he didn't mind that sight and began his walk towards a carriage stop.

The center region was towards the northern portion of the city where the huge black wall blocking all view into that environment stood.

Noah had to pay a sum of 4 small silver coins to get a carriage that went towards that side of the region.

An hour had to pass before he arrived in front of the huge wall. There were two lines filled with different types of carriages, and he quickly moved to stand on one.

The constant grunts of the various beasts pulling the carriages quickly got annoying to Noah who found himself communicating with them. The conversation of sorts with the beasts was messy due to his little understanding of how to use his innate ability and the low intelligence of the beasts.

Fortunately, he managed to communicate his intentions to them, even if stronger beasts ignored him.

"What do you want?" One of the five silver armored guards coldly enquired of Noah. His tone suggested that he had been in situations like that many times. Some random person wanted to see how the center region looked. And he also expected a bogus reply from the astonishingly good-looking man.

"I was asked to come here," Noah replied giving up on inspecting the individual's power. The silver armor he wore repelled any mental waves.

"Oh... by who's authority?" the man asked half mocking him, but also intrigued. The same could be said for the others who listened in on their conversation.

"Well by this letters'," Noah blankly replied showing them the stamped letter.

The man's demeanor instantly changed at that point, as he abruptly went on his right knee with his head bowed, and so did all the guards that were present.