In the 1,000th Step:
Maximus tap on Life Points to quickly adapt to the spiritual pressure.
[+1LP]
[+1LP]
[+1LP]
[+1LP]x197
Feeling the pressure disappear, he continued to move up.
1,001th Step...
1,002th Step...
1,003th Step...
...
21 days later after the start, at the 30,000th step:
"Huh? Are there still people up here?" Maximus murmured as he saw some people resting on the stairs.
After he got to more than 10,000th steps, there were no more people, he thought that that was it, who knew that there were still people here.
Without thinking too much, he continued to climb up.
...
42 days later after the start, at the 60,000th step:
"There are no more?" Maximus thought.
After climbing to the 50,000th floor, the people on the stairs were getting sparser and sparser.
The last one he saw people were around the 55,100th step.
"This should be their limit without Tier 9 talent or extraordinary ability," he concluded.
...
63 days later after the start, at the 90,000th step:
"Huh? Another one? It should be a ruthless person," Maximus said.
He called this person ruthless because he noticed the Celestial Ascent path blessing this person to strengthen his Will.
This meant that this person underwent an illusion trial to get here, which means millions of years' worth of illusion experience.
Without enough courage and skill to finish the trial, taking the illusion trial at this stage is equal to suicide.
As for those he saw earlier, they relied on special physique or something that nourished their will.
...
71 days later, 100,000th Step:
"Finally," Maximus sighed in relief.
He was a little tired these days.
Although he used life points to get here, he still had to bear the pressure himself.
Looking around, he saw two people.
The one on the left is a man with an aspiring aura like a knight.
And the other is like a soft water spirit that can seduce you with a look.
"Another one came in," the man on the left said.
"Hello," Maximus greeted them.
"I'm Ragnar," the man said.
"Maximus," Maximus said with a smile.
Maximus looked at the girl, waiting for her to speak.
"Lilith," she said timidly, contrary to her seductive appearance.
"How long did it take you to get here?" Maximus asked curiously.
"I took less than a day," Ragnar proudly said.
"What?" Maximus asked, checking if there was something wrong with his ears.
"I said, I finished the trial on the first day," Ragnar repeated.
"Fuck!" Maximus inwardly cursed.
"What kind of monster is this?" he thought.
You know, even with a Tier 9 aptitude, you still need time to adapt to the spiritual pressure.
But to reach here within a day means that the spiritual pressure is almost negligible, like a normal day.
"Amazing," Maximus praised, trying to hide his surprise.
"And you, big sister?" Maximus asked.
"I'm the same," Lilith timidly replied.
"She is born in the spirit domain, so it's normal," Ragnar explained, seeing Maximus's puzzled expression.
"As for me, my father is a Tier 9 Cosmic knight, so I received training early on, and with my Tier 9 talent, it's easy," Ragnar explained, afraid that Maximus might not know incredible he is.
"Oh, it's really good to have an Apex Sovereign level father," Maximus said calmly.
"Hahaha, don't worry, seeing your talent, I'll take you as my little brother," Ragnar said, satisfied with Maximus's attitude.
"By the way, why are you still here?" Maximus didn't answer and diverted the question.
"It's because of the dean," Ragnar said fearlessly.
"We need to stay here until the end of the trial," Ragnar explained.
"Why is that?"
"Because the old dean is a show-off," Ragnar said, without providing further details.
"Then we can only wait here," Maximus shrugged his shoulder.
Curious, he scanned Ragnar's status.
[Ragnar Grimthirst: 13 years old
Tier 3 - Mage/Knight
Rank 9 - Battle God Body
Mana Amplitude: 1000X]I think you should take a look at
Looking at his status, Maximus was shocked not by Ragnar's age and strength.
Given that he has a Tier 9 father, his strength as a Tier 3 is already low.
What shocked Maximus was Ragnar's mana amplitude, his mana amplitude is only a little over a hundred.
Of course, Maximus only used about 1,000 years' worth of life points as he was accumulating them.
Considering Ragnar's age of 13, the only possibility for him to reach a 1,000X mana amplitude is by using some sort of time chamber.
This is the benefit of having a Tier 9 father; it's like having a full-level cheat code.
Compared to his system, he still needed to earn and buy resources.
Meanwhile, Ragnar only needed to open his mouth and someone will feed him the needed resources.
As for why Ragnar's mana amplitude is only 1,000X and not more, it's because that's the limit that someone with Tier 3 strength can achieve.
For Tier 1, it's 3X mana amplitude, for Tier 2, it's 10X mana amplitude, and for Tier 3, it's 1000X.
After being shocked, he continued to look at Lilith.
[Lilith Soulheart: 23 years old
Rank 4 Elemental Mage
Rank 8 Aptitude
Mana Amplitude: 10,000X
Fit: 108]
"Another ruthless one," Maximus thought.
Although her mana amplitude is not the highest which can be achieved at Tier 4 (100,000X), it's still amazing.
After all, it took Maximus a thousand years to reach 100X, so to reach 10,000X, Lilith must have put in at least a hundred thousand years' worth of study.
"108?!" He nearly blurted out as he noticed the fit value.
"Is it possible to exceed a hundred?" Maximus questioned himself.
After inquiring in the system, he confirmed that it is indeed possible.
Furthermore, the additional fit value can multiply the daily points generation.
For example, if you can normally get 1000 points with a fit value of 108, it'll be multiplied by 8, making it 8,000 points.
Knowing this, he turned his attention to the silent Lilith.
Normally, he didn't have much motivation to find another wife, but Lilith's contradictory stature of being seductive and innocent at the same time is really tempting.
As for the points he can get, which is 800 million life points daily, heh, that's just an addition, maybe?
As he walked towards Lilith, she became visibly nervous.
"Hello," Maximus greeted as he unceremoniously settled next to her.
"Uh, H-hello?" Lilith didn't know what to say for a while.
Ragnar, who came back to meditate, saw this and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? This new little brother of mine is a little courageous," Ragnar murmured.
He knew something about Lilith's background, although not as grand as his with a Tier 9 father, but equally unfathomable.
"I heard you lived in Spirit Domain. Can you tell me about it?" Maximus said with a smile.
Rule no. 1 with shy girls: take initiative and be shameless.
"This..." Lilith looked at Maximus, thinking about what to say.
"Um... The ruler of Spirit Domain is Freya Soulheart, and... and it's beautiful there," Lilith said hesitantly.
Although she lived in the Spirit Domain, she was kept in a castle and didn't know what the outside looked like.
This was her first time outside, which is why she was so shy.
"Soulheart? Isn't that Lilith's last name?" Maximus thought.
"Oh, do you know the Apex Sovereign?" Although he was shocked, he calmed down and asked.
"It's m-, I don't know," Lilith nearly slipped and almost mentioned 'my sister'.
Although it was a known fact among other powerhouses, her sister had told her to hide their relationship.
"Why don't I tell you a story?" Maximus said playfully, realizing that this little girl didn't know much.
Rule no. 2: If she can't speak, make her comfortable.
"Alright!" Lilith said excitedly.
Although she didn't like talking, she certainly liked someone who could tell her interesting things.
"Then I'll tell you about..."
...
91 days later, 9 days before the 100-day deadline.
"Can you continue the story of how the princess escaped from the castle?" Lilith said to Maximus excitedly.
In 20 days, Maximus had captivated this innocent little girl with his storytelling tricks.
During these 20 days of flirting with Lilith, he also monitored his wives through his system.
Apparently, it also had this function, which was very convenient.
After some probing, he came to know that Lilith was the little sister of Freya, a Tier 9 powerhouse.
This nearly scared him to death, as how could a little Tier 3 ant have the guts to trick an Apex Sovereign's little sister?
"But I already told you that," Maximus had a headache.
This story had already been repeated at least a hundred times, and he was nearly numb.
In desperation, he even changed the version of the story so he wouldn't get bored.
But this seemed to stimulate Lilith even more, making her more excited.
"Anyway, just tell me her other tricks for escaping the castle," Lilith said, shaking his hand and looking pitiful.
The reason Lilith was fascinated with this story was that one day, she wanted to be that rebellious character.
Just thinking of rebelling against her sister made her excited.
She needed Maximus's story to give her more confidence.
"Then let me tell you how the princess tricked her sister, the Empress..." Maximus said with no other choice.
As he was telling Lilith the story, there was someone who reached the 100,000th step.