"Hahaha! Finally, I can escape this hellhole!" A genius shouted. His robes held the Sun and Moon Sect's emblem.
He rushed to the stairway and began climbing. His foot stepped on the first stair, and instantly, he felt a current of lightning coursing through his body. A light pressure enveloped him, but it was still negligible at the first step.
Soon, he proceeded to the second step. Seeing him safely climb, the other geniuses also rushed to the steps and began their ascent.
5 steps…10 steps…15 steps…
The geniuses climbed slowly but steadily. The foremost of them stood at the 15th step already. However, they found that as they climbed, it became harder and harder to continue.
An all-encompassing pressure weighed on them externally and lightning attacked them internally. It was a cohesive test of both talent and bodily strength.
"What are you doing? Go join them." Damien commented to Jiao Mei. His group of three was still standing on the altar without moving.
"It's safe?" She asked hesitantly.
"Don't ask me, go find out yourself. If you're babied too much, you won't learn how to fend for yourself." He said matter-of-factly.
Jiao Mei hesitated for a few more seconds. It was true that she became far too reliant on Damien since meeting him. Even her recent increase in power was wholly due to his own effort.
It was a shame that her only rival in the Dawn World died, and she still didn't completely understand Damien's ruthlessness, but her trust in him didn't change. She simply realized that Damien was a person, a complex existence that couldn't be defined by his power alone.
Jiao Mei built up her courage and flew to the stairway, climbing it with ease. Her lightning affinity and talent were already high, so the stairway wouldn't pose too much of a threat to her.
She surpassed the competition in seconds, dashing up the first 33 steps without pause. After passing this mark, the intensity of both the pressure and lightning of the stairway increased drastically.
Even then, it only slowed Jiao Mei down somewhat. In the end, this stairway was only a pseudo-trial. It wasn't meant to be difficult, only slightly challenging.
It only took Jiao Mei 10 minutes to reach the 99th step. When she did, she sat down and began meditating. The lightning essence in the air and the step below her were invaluable to her cultivation.
When the geniuses below saw this, they felt the hope in their hearts shatter. Jiao Mei was a true genius! She wasn't the kind of person they could measure up to.
On any normal world of the Dawn World's size, they would be heaven-sent geniuses. They would enjoy all the riches and power they wanted as they sat at the top of the world. Unfortunately, the Dawn World produced not only Jiao Mei, but also the even more terrifying Marcus Strow!
"Hm? Where's Senior Brother Marcus?" A Heavenly Jewel Palace disciple suddenly asked.
"He wasn't with you?" Another disciple questioned back.
"I saw Senior Brother entering the divine altar! Maybe he obtained a lucky chance?"
"But the Eclipse Sect princess also stood on the altar, why is she still here?"
"Because Senior Brother is so much better than her!"
"If he entered the divine altar and was struck by that silver lightning storm, then wouldn't he be recuperating from his injuries right now? He's probably still down below!" A more observant disciple chimed in.
"Hm? But the princess is fine?" The first disciple responded, confused.
The observant disciple smacked his head. "You're too stupid! Obviously, Senior Brother took the brunt of the lightning and saved the princess! She's just being ungrateful and climbing without him!"
"That makes sense!" The surrounding disciples agreed. They sent hateful glares at Jiao Mei. A heartless woman like her was meant to be scorned.
As time passed, more and more geniuses made it to the 99th step. Even Damien and Zara appeared there at some point. Yet, there was no sign of Marcus Strow.
At this point, the Heavenly Jewel Palace disciples began to panic.
"Don't tell me…Senior Brother died?" Someone whispered.
"Who said that?! Senior Brother is invincible! He wouldn't die so easily!"
"Yeah, that's right! It must have something to do with that treacherous princess!"
"Yeah yeah! We demand answers!"
Of the remaining disciples, roughly 50 of them were from the Heavenly Jewel Palace. When their shouts combined into one, it was truly hard to ignore them.
Jiao Mei was sweating inwardly. If they asked her, what was she supposed to say? They would never believe her if she said he died naturally, but if she said anything else, she'd surely cause problems for the Eclipse Sect once they exited the Mystic Realm!
The Heavenly Jewel Palace disciples rushed closer with every second, congregating on her position. But before they could reach her…
A thick wall of silver lightning sprung up from the 99th step, as it danced in the air, the group of youths could clearly feel a familiar aura.
This was the same aura they'd been bathing in for so long!
"The trial land is protecting her!" Someone shouted. This opinion spread like wildfire, making the Heavenly Jewel Palace disciples' faces turn red with fury.
"She killed him! She must've killed him! She killed Senior Brother to take the trial privilege that was rightfully his!"
They couldn't believe it! The Eclipse Sect princess was truly a vile woman! Watching her hide behind a veil of terrifying lightning, they wanted to rip her to shreds!
Sadly, they didn't have the ability to bypass the lightning wall. They could only glare from beyond its reach and hope that they could get revenge in the next trial.
Standing behind Jiao Mei, Damien's brow perked with curiosity. While this phenomenon seemed like his work, it truthfully wasn't.
The trial was actually protecting Jiao Mei.
Damien's eyes narrowed in thought. 'Is it because of her affinity, or…?'
Damien took out the ritual grail he'd stolen from the altar. He could faintly see sparks of white lightning gathering within it.
'So it was this after all? Jiao Mei wasn't being protected, she just conveniently fell within the protection range. Still, this grail…'
After gathering a portion of lightning essence, the grail emitted a slightly holy aura that it didn't possess before. The profundity of its existence suddenly multiplied many times over.
Damien played with the grail a bit, spreading his awareness into it and even attempting to drink from it, but he didn't find anything of note. Everything about the grail evaded his senses.
Despite this outcome, though, Damien still happily kept the veil. After all, the phenomenon it caused on the 99th step was indication enough that the grail was special.
Perhaps he just hadn't met the requirements to understand its specialty just yet.
Nevertheless, after putting away the grail, Damien focused his attention on the giant gate behind him. No matter how much he focused on the ancient engravings, he couldn't understand their meaning. They weren't written in the universal language or any language related to it.
In fact, they weren't related to any language Damien had in his memories. After absorbing both Alaric and the Fifth Primal Sovereign's memories, the number of languages he understood wasn't a joke.
This could only mean that the gate in front of him was primordial. It was a construct that would've been considered ancient even 100,000 years ago when Alaric lived.
The Dimensional Leaderboard suddenly became far more mysterious. How long had it existed? What was its purpose? Why did it possess sole control over these Mystic Realms?
As he watched the ancient gate slowly open and reveal its interior, Damien found himself itching to find out.
