Chapter 392 - Legendary rank!
Chapter 392: Legendary rank!
Xia Fei was abnormally calm. Fifteen thousand meters per second was way faster than his usual speed, but his legs still had more strength! He had yet to unleash his latent power fully!
“Seventeen thousand! Seventeen thousand meters per second!
“Eighteen thousand!
“Nineteen thousand!
“Twenty thousand! You’re already double your past speed! You’re getting closer and closer to Legendary rank! Keep accelerating!” Phantom bellowed. As Xia Fei continued to accelerate steadily, Phantom felt as if he was the one running.
The scenery on both sides rushed past—no, flew past!
The joy of traveling at extreme speeds was impossible to describe. It felt as if the entire world was under one’s control. The old saying about running a horse to death while trying to get to a mountain was about how something that seemed close by actually required a great deal of effort to reach.
However, to Xia Fei, it was the exact opposite. A mountain several dozen kilometers away did not even take him three seconds to reach—it was merely the time it took to breathe in and out!
Distance? For highly ranked speed ability users, distance was not a problem at all! One could go wherever they pleased. They could be catching penguins in the South Pole at one moment and be sunbathing at the North Pole several minutes later.
A distance that would make people helpless was just a casual stroll to Xia Fei!
Attacks that ordinary people found hard to dodge would appear in slow motion to him as well. He would even have time to take a nap while dodging!
This was speed ability!
The most common yet most difficult ability in the world! Nothing could compare to it!
Xia Fei grew more and more excited, and he felt his body bursting with energy!
He clenched his teeth and unleashed all his potential!
To a top-class speed ability user, being stuck onboard a small warship was very painful, and now he had finally found himself a deserted plain, where he could charge at full force, seeing how weak wind was that it could not even impede his advance and feeling how the pull of gravity was so feeble.
This was not just exercise. This was exhilaration, which came from fighting against nature!
‘My fate is mine to decide, not the heavens!
‘Gravity? Air resistance? They’re all nonsense!
‘This old man will break the eternal and unchanging laws of nature and send those laws scrambling for cover!’
As Xia Fei grew excited, his feet moved faster and faster.
“Twenty-two thousand!
“Twenty-three thousand!”
Phantom lived in that small space of the Moore’s Stone around Xia Fei’s neck, so he had the opportunity to feel the shock and elation that came with Xia Fei’s incredible speed.
When one’s speed reached a certain level, they would not just feel that the scenery was flying past and that distance was insignificant. More importantly, it would feel as if they had become unfettered and that nothing in the universe could stand in their way anymore!
“Twenty-five thousand!
“Xia Fei, your speed is now at twenty-five thousand meters per second! Just a little more, and you’ll reach the Legendary rank!”
“Twenty-six thousand!
“Twenty-seven thousand!
“Don’t give up now! The Legendary rank is just ahead!
“Twenty-nine thousand! Twenty-nine thousand meters per second!”
At this point, Xia Fei’s physical strength was somewhat reaching its limit, his legs getting heavier and heavier. Xia Fei hardened his heart. Once he exceeded thirty thousand meters, he would be at the Legendary rank. He could not give up now!
He stopped going in circles, instead running in a straight line. After all, a circle prevented him from reaching maximum speed.
‘Come on; break through! Break! Break! Break!’ Xia Fei mentally roared.
When a human ran out of physical strength, he could only rely on perseverance, and Xia Fei was a human with an incomparably tough resolve!
At this moment, as his speed broke through the thirty thousand meter barrier, he entered a strange state!
His surroundings became incredibly slow, as if he were watching a movie in slow motion. The blades of grass slowly swayed, while a grasshopper slowly stretched its legs.
The world became eerily still, and there was no sound or color. Everything existed in black and white.
This moment was extremely brief, but it gave Xia Fei an unprecedented shock.
Xia Fei vaguely heard someone calling to him. The voice was very heavy, and he could not tell where it was coming from. The entire world resounded with that heavy and hoarse voice.
Xia Fei perked his ears and tried to listen, but all he heard were muffled words. It was as if someone was telling him a sad story.
It was as if there had always been a wall around him, and he had never had a chance to see what was on the other side. However, today, with a spurt of energy, Xia Fei had finally broken through his wall and seen a completely alien sight!
Alas, this moment lasted for only the briefest of moments. In that period that spanned less than a second, Xia Fei sensed another existence and perceived a great deal of information that he found utterly incomprehensible.
“Xia Fei, your speed has broken through the thirty thousand demarcation! You’re a Legendary rank speed ability user now! A Legendary rank!” Phantom’s voice was as excited as it could get, and he was hollering as loud as he could at Xia Fei’s side.
Xia Fei smiled, but just when he was about to nod his head…
At this moment, there was a new development!
Formidable tearing force tore the Bloodthirsty Ice God combat suit off Xia Fei’s body, and in the blink of an eye, it was nothing more than scraps in the wind!
Without a combat suit for protection, it was easy to get injured! The situation was extremely dangerous!
…
Several minutes later, it was possible to bear witness to a strange sight on the plains. Xia Fei stood naked in the grass. He still had his Zephyr combat boots, his left middle finger still had the spatial ring, and he still had his head covering, but the Bloodthirsty Ice God suit was no more, replaced by numerous thin lines of blood drawn across his body.
Xia Fei frowned as he took out a Hongtashan and lit it. At one side, Phantom was heartily laughing. While it was dangerous, Phantom truly found the sight very amusing.
Phantom held his stomach as he laughed. “Alright, stop being so down in the dumps. If your reaction speed hadn’t been so fast, you would have probably been torn to shreds by the wind. That you’re alive is also a sort of blessing. The Bloodthirsty Ice God was never produced for speed ability users, and it’s normal for it not to be able to withstand such intense wind pressure.”
Xia Fei pouted. “That cost me a ton of money. Besides, how am I going to survive in the insectoid territory without a combat suit?”
Phantom said, “This mishap truly has caused a lot of trouble. Without a combat suit, there’s no way of using your high speed. Right, I think you still have the Adjudicator suit that Thuram gave you. Let’s just use that for now.”
Xia Fei nodded, saying in disappointment, “That’s all that we can do for now. The Bloodthirsty Ice God was at least able to endure speed at thirty thousand meters per second, but that combat suit might not even be able to endure ten thousand.”
There was a huge gap between thirty thousand and ten thousand. The combat suits worn by speed ability users emphasized wind resistance, followed by fire resistance and cold resistance. In normal circumstances, speed ability users would not wear combat suits that had not been specifically designed for them.
The Bloodthirsty Ice God was an Eternal rank item, far above Xia Fei’s speed, so Xia Fei found no problem with using it before. However, now that Xia Fei was at the Legendary rank, the Bloodthirsty Ice God failed to resist the wind pressure and was torn into shreds.
For an Eternal rank combat suit to be lost like that was truly painful, but what pained Xia Fei even more was not having a suitable combat suit, for it would severely impair his fighting power.
Putting aside the fact that the insectoid territory was fraught with dangers, where in the world was he going to get a passable combat suit?
“Regardless, you’ve managed to break through to thirty thousand meters per second of speed. You are now a Legendary rank speed ability user!”
Xia Fei smiled. “In any case, it’s not like a combat suit is going to drop from the sky just because I want one. Breaking past thirty thousand meters per second is something to be happy about. We can talk about the rest later.”
Phantom was in agreement. “Isn’t it? While I was flying with you in the Moore’s Stone, my heart almost leaped out of my chest! That feeling was awesome!
“The Legendary rank is a threshold that’s very difficult to cross. The lucky ones will have some significant insight upon passing the threshold. When I broke into the Legendary rank, I felt the essence of the shadow ability and my power swelled. That’s how I gained the title ‘Phantom’. Did you feel anything earlier?”
“Feel anything?” Xia Fei talked as he walked back. “Does self-confidence count? As I got faster and faster, I felt that nothing in the world could stop me. Air and gravity ceased to exist. I’ve had this feeling before, but never as intense as this.”
Phantom nodded. “Even the Bloodthirsty Ice God was torn apart, unable to take your speed; your ability has reached an extremely high level, so it’s only natural for your self-confidence to skyrocket. Did you feel anything else?”
It was only at this moment that Xia Fei recounted how the world had seemed to stop, time and space becoming undefined and color turning black and white.
Phantom’s eyes widened, and he said in amazement, “Did you just say that space froze and became distorted?”
Xia Fei casually replied, “That’s how it was, but it’s extremely brief, perhaps 0.2 seconds? After that, the Bloodthirsty Ice God was torn into shreds due to the wind pressure; I even had to use Crafty Approach to decelerate forcefully and save myself.”
Phantom stroked his chin and began to think out loud. “How could that happen? Has my Master ever mentioned something like this?”
Xia Fei smoked his cigarette as he made his way back. His body was still aching. While he managed to avoid disaster from the destruction of his combat suit by using Crafty Approach, he had a few external wounds. He was strolling right now to recover some of his strength and lessen the pain from his wounds.
Suddenly, Xia Fei felt as if someone had lightly patted his left shoulder. He turned his head in confusion but found no one there.
Xia Fei thought that his wounds were acting up and did not think anymore about it, but it was not long after that someone lightly rapped his right shoulder. This had Xia Fei’s attention now. He could clearly feel a finger stimulating the muscle on his shoulder.
Xia Fei had superhuman senses, and for someone to have gotten behind his back undetected was extremely frightening. He frowned and took up a defensive posture
“What are you doing?” Phantom asked.
“Someone’s here.”
“Someone’s here? Impossible! I don’t sense anything!”
Xia Fei and Phantom glanced at each other. One of them had heightened spatial senses, while the other had heightened energy senses, but this person had evaded both of them. This newcomer must possess an extremely high cultivation!
Even more troublesome was that Xia Fei did not have a combat suit or even a pair of underpants on. His fighting power was less than half of what it usually was, and the sky was beginning to darken, too.