Chapter 48：Second Trial: The Stairs Of Heaven

Yuki held Chi in her arms and took a step forward. She had always had good balance, so she knew she would not fall easily. She got a good grip on Chi and went to take a step forward only to feel a pat on her chest. Then she felt Chi tracing over her chest with her finger. At first, she thought maybe Chi was taking advantage of her, but that thought went out the window when she realized Chi was making line strokes for Chinese characters. "Go… Straight… Path… Straight" Is what Yuki figured out after taking time to sense each one of Chi's strokes. "Got it. Go straight, right?"

Yuki's words received a pat on her chest, and another character traced out as well that read "Yes". Yuki got a good grip on Chi before using her foot to feel around a bit to get an idea of how big of a space she was on. Once she got an idea, she stepped forward in the middle of the next tile. She decided to go heel to toe in order to not accidentally step off the side. With every step, Chi would tap the left or right of her chest to direct her footing so that she did not veer off the path. It was slow going since Yuki was very careful with each of her steps. She knew if she messed up that not only her but Chi as well would fall down into whatever was giving off all the heat below them.

After almost an hour of real-world time, Yuki took her last step onto the small landing. As soon as her foot touched it, her senses came back, and she was finally able to see around her. When she turned and looked out over the path she just took and the hot magma that laid beneath it, she felt beads of sweat form on her head. She could only think that the two of them were very lucky to have not died. "We are now over here, so now what?"

As Yuki asked her question, a light shined under her feet, and the scene she saw in front of her changed. "This is? Stairs?"

"They are indeed." A familiar voice sounded from behind Yuki. "From here, you two will climb these stairs. Each step will apply pressure to your body, weighing you down. The higher you go, the stronger the pressure will be. But there is a catch. Both of you can climb side by side, and both will suffer under the pressure, or one of you can carry the other, and the one being carried will not feel the pressure at all. You have the two choices, so the rest is up to you." Fu Shi gave her explanations and then disappeared. The stairs in front of them were carved straight up the mountain face leading towards the peak of the mountain. She could not see the top due to the cloud bank blocking her view.

She looked at Chi, who was still in her arms, and then at the clock at the side they had two hours left before they had to log out. Luckily, this time, there was nothing too dangerous besides needing to deal with the stairs. "Well… Since I am already carrying you, we might as well stay like this." Yuki said with a smile and then adjusted her hold on Chi. Her hand creeping up to a certain soft mound on Chi's chest. Yuki, of course, was oblivious to this, but Chi could feel Yuki's hand only centimeters away, causing her to blush and have strange thoughts.

"Ryu… I should be able to walk up some of the way, so you do not need to carry me." Chi offered. It was not that she wanted to be let out of Ryu's embrace, in fact, it was the opposite, she found herself liking being very close to Ryu. She even didn't mind if his hand did slide up a bit farther…

Yuki looked down at Chi's pretty face and smiled warmly at her. Yuki found that she had a very big soft spot for this girl. She didn't want Chi to suffer any hardships. She did not know how Chi's real life was, but at least in game, she wanted to pamper Chi and make sure Chi had fun playing. She didn't know why she felt this way, she just did. Maybe she thought it was to make amends for how she neglected Mary and did not help her when she needed her the most. Or maybe she truly just wished to give Chi an enjoyable time in game. But the thought of seeing Chi suffer weighed heavily on her heart. "No… It's fine. There is no need for the both of us to suffer. Plus, you worked hard during the last part of the trial, so sit tight and let me carry you."

Yuki lowered her head and planted a kiss on top of Chi's forehead without much thought before looking up and taking a step forward, and placing her foot on the first step. As for Chi, she stared blankly at Ryu, her hand touching the spot he just kissed. She was confused but at the same time happy. Her ears twitched, and her tail wagged. She no longer wanted to get out of Ryu's embrace. Instead, she cuddled up into his chest, closing her eyes with two rosy cheeks and a smile on her face.

Yuki, on the other hand, was racking her brain on why she just kissed Chi's forehead just now. She thought and thought and thought, but the only thing she could think of was how she used to use this method to calm the younger kids back in the orphanage. Any time they were having a hard time, she would hug them and plant a kiss on their forehead. She looked down at Chi worriedly, hoping Chi was not mad at her, but when she saw Chi nestled into her chest and smiling, she let out a sigh of relief. Luckily she did not do anything to cause Chi to dislike her.

As Yuki climbed, she began to understand that this trial was not as easy as one would think. Each step was weighing her down greatly. Sweat dripped from her forehead as she continued to climb. She had only gone up twenty steps, and her legs were already feeling weak. Chi looked up at her, worry written all over her face. She reached up and used her long sleeves to wipe Yuki's sweat away. After struggling for two hours, Yuki looked at the clock and saw she only had twenty minutes left before she needed to log out. But just before she was able to say anything, a notification popped up in front of her.

*Ding!*

[Due To Tempering and forging of your will and body 45,000 experience awarded.]

Level: 6 → 9/20

"Ryu! I just went from level 4 to level 8!" Chi suddenly announced happily.

"So this was also a way to level up as well… To think that suffering under extreme pressure would allow us to level up like this." Yuki said but then stopped and wondered for a moment. 'Why did Chi level up 4 times as well? Was it because she was in a team with me, or was it because she was undergoing the effects of the pressure but couldn't feel it due to the condition Fu Shi gave us?' Yuki had many questions, but she knew she would have to complete this challenge before she could do anything about it. She did, however, find that after leveling up, she felt much lighter, as if the pressure was not as bad.

Clearing her thoughts, Yuki sat down on the step Placing Chi in her lap. "Chi, I need to log out, so we will need to continue tonight. What time do you want to meet up at?"

"6! 6 tonight!" Chi answered quickly.

"Then we will meet at six tonight then. I will log in first so that you will not have to feel the pressure. So wait until like a minute after just in case." Yuki reached up and rubbed the top of Chi's head as she said this.

Chi blushed and nodded her head. "Mmm, I will... Bye, bye!" Chi quickly logged off.

Yuki looked at the balls of light that appeared when someone logged off, that were floating up into the sky, and sighed. She reached up and pulled Nergal off the top of her head. "With your cultivation, you are doing okay, I see."

"Meow!" Nergal nuzzled Yuki's hand and licked it. This made Yuki smile. She decided to spend a few minutes with Nergal before logging out. Yuki took off her helmet and stretched her arms and legs. She looked down at her white legs and little toes and wiggled them a bit. She really enjoyed this new lifestyle of hers. Before, she always had to be fully clothed just in case, but now she could walk around naked if she wished.

"I wonder how my items and gold are selling..." Yuki picked up the phone that was right next to her and opened the Soul Fusion Online Trading app. It was a pure marketplace application that connected in game. You couldn't put any items up for sale on the marketplace through his app, but you could buy and sell gold as you wished and also transfer the crowns you made to your bank account. Everything was linked to her biodata, so she did not need to log into anything.

Yuki looked at the screen as it loaded up, and her expression froze. She looked at the gold amount first to see that she did not have any gold at all but 300 platinum sitting there. All her potions were sold for 1000 gold or more. On top of that, she had already made over 15 million crowns and some change. "Should making money in games really be this easy!? Never mind, just in game, my total income within a single week, exceeds even some of the established businesses out there!"