UNLIMITED SPEED

Noah blazed through the lands of the dried-up regions with incredible speed. In mere seconds that environment was out of his sight and a valley of golden grass unfolded in his eyes before green grass appeared miles after.

His destination wasn't too far at that point, and soon a thick wall of trees stretching for kilometers unfolded in his eyes right after the valley ended.

Two mountain's stood grandly on both sides of the forest creating a wall of sorts that nothing could get past.

His target was the forest, but he had to move further before he could find that which he was looking for.

Noah slowed down upon entering the forest, he had journeyed literally over a hundred miles to arrive there, there wasn't any need to rush.

Unfolding his consciousness to get a preview of the environment before him, he surveyed the tall and thin trees that the forest consisted of.

A few rivers were running through it. Three in total, and they shone with a blue light even if it was still day.

The rivers met at a certain point to form a wide pool of glowing blue water literally at the center of that large forest.

Noah came to a halt at some point and simply stood still, enjoying the tranquility of that environment. Thanks to the tall trees and their expansive branches filled with green leaves, the intensity of the sun barely reached him.

Only the coolness of shade acted on his figure, coupled with the soft winds that blew from every corner of that forest. Noah felt like he could enter a meditative state by just focusing on those beautiful details.

He could hear rushing water, which was of course the river's journey down its set path. He could hear the fluttering of leaves in the wind. He could even hear the casual growls and purrs of the many beasts that filled the place.

They weren't making noise, however. There was something about that place that permeated with serenity. And Noah could immediately understand why that forest was named that way.

"The forest of equanimity," he muttered recalling the history of the large forest.

Apparently, it had once been part of the valley. But a battle had occurred there many decades before his existence. The blood of tier 4 cultivators had been shed on that battlefield which created a wonderful spectacle.

There was no perfect explanation for why that place suddenly became peaceful, but some said they had seen things in the forest apart from magical beasts.

Recalling the last part of the story forced Noah to admit that there would be danger in that place.

After all, tier 4 beasts ruled the central regions of the fantastical environment.

He'd have to hunt at the edge of the forest, and from the looks of things doing only that would be enough to fill up the requirement of 17 beasts.

"I just have to be quiet," he muttered already doubting his ability to succeed in that.

Thankfully the magical beasts were not in conflict with themselves, even if there were three different species of magical beasts in the forest.

Bears, deer, and apes. All of which had evolved to only possess either the wind or water element.

Noah's daggers appeared in his hand at some point, he had misplaced elder Sarah's sword during the tournament, but he had refrained from telling her.

The daggers would soon be reaching their limit, but he wasn't even close to fulfilling the requirements for their advancement. But that didn't matter much to him at that point.

'Maybe I can try some of my new equipment,' Noah considered, casually strolling down the grassy path before him.

He could already count seven beasts within the range of his consciousness. Three of them were bears and the other four were apes doing their own thing.

He took a few minutes to simply take in the fresh air that filled the forest. He would definitely be returning there sometime later.

Noah took in a deep breath before holding it. He bent his knees a bit, before dashing towards his first target.

His breathing technique allowed him minimize the amount of stamina he was burning, while also letting him achieve a considerable amount of speed.

Noah arrived in the ape's position in no time, and he didn't even halt his movements before running up its large left arm and delivering a powerful kick on its furry cheeks.

His kick almost caused the beast to break the sound barrier as he sent its head smashing into the ground and causing cracks to spread for hundreds of meters.

Noah pulled back before his legs could get stained by blood, but he almost didn't need to make a second move since he had put the ape on death's list already.

The silvery-black ape couldn't even whimper. It tried to lift its 4m tall frame of fur and thick flesh, but it couldn't. Noah had crushed its skull and damaged its brain.

It was only the incredible resilience magical beasts naturally possessed that had kept it alive. Even if barely.

It didn't matter that it featured a splendid orange core or that it was in the middle stage. The kick had disabled it.

Small arrows made out of condensed air manifested around Noah, numbering only a few tens, before shooting toward the ape and ending its life.

The orange core shot out of the beast at that point, and Noah immediately stored it while the ape's large figure vanished from the bloodied scene.

Noah sprinted forward again, and this time he had a sleeping bear to kill. The beast was a mixture of black and grey fur, but he didn't pay attention to that detail.

He arrived before the beast's large back and performed the first form barely a second later.

His daggers were still in his grip, so immediately they touched its skin; holes spanning its entire width appeared in the poor thing, and it died while sleeping.

Fortunately, Noah's attack had been muffled by the beast's thick skin, even if the ground beneath his feet had experienced cracks anyway.

Blood and chunks of flesh flew everywhere. Noah had turned that spot into what a gore fest would resemble. Organs of the bear were stuck to trees, and blood had sprayed the low grass tainting their green color, red.

In a similar fashion, smooth and silent, Noah went on to eradicate the seven beasts he had spotted before moving on to other ones.