Eternal Thief - #676 - 676 Climbing the Stairway

“Of course, I’m going there to pass the trial!”

Hearing Ace’s words, everyone was looking at him strangely. However, no one tried to stop him either. Many of them were taking this trial for the second or even tenth time, but they had never seen Ace before, which meant he was a newcomer.

Occasionally, someone like him would appear, didn’t know how high the sky is and how low the earth is. These arrogant guys thought themselves superior to others and charged right down the stairs, only to end up more miserable than anyone else.

However, this kind of arrogant participant only appeared in the top three races. No human has ever done that before, as they always wait around to watch until someone passes at least a hundred stairs before moving.

But this human was going ahead when the participants were still at the third step, so this drew quite the attention of the others races.

Furthermore, despite his scary appearance, everyone has a good impression of him, especially those demons and devils. But it was too vague and hidden that no one found it strange.

As Ace walked under the eyes of everyone, he was not worried at all since he knew what he was doing.

Just as he was about to pass the humans, the young man from the Atlas family’s impassive voice rang, “You’re making a mistake.”

Ace glanced at the young man with a solemn expression. He could tell he had kind intentions behind those words. So, he politely replied before walking away, “We’ll find out soon, aren’t we?”

The dainty girl was looking at Ace with curiosity and a tingle of blush as she wanted to say something as well but couldn’t collect her courage since she was feeling shy in front of Ace.

The young man didn’t speak anymore and merely grunted before returning to silence and watched the white-haired young man walking toward the stairstep, and there wasn’t a hint of nervousness in his stature.

Some demons, devils, and hunters were also waiting around the staircase as only their most talented and confident youths had gone ahead.

They didn’t block the incoming human’s way since it was against the rules and only watched him with great amusement.

Ace was quite pleased with the union’s rules as no one got in his way, or it was quite a hassle if he had to deal with these guys. He looked at the five-hundred-meter-wide stairway and over a thousand participants already on the first three steps while only fifty of them were on the eighth, and four were on the ninth.

Some of them were sweating as they were having difficulty just moving their foot, but no one was using their Qi yet because it was just the first ten steps, and wasting Qi at the start was a grave mistake.

Ace also picked up his step, placed it on the first staircase without any hint of worry, and climbed the first stairstep. However, the moment he did, a strong pressure enveloped him.

‘100 KG force?’ Ace was quite amused as this force was nothing to him, but when he thought how those participants were only Qi gates realm cultivators, it was enough to test their strength, especially when this force increased with every stairstep.

As for how much it increased, Ace took another step, and the pressure instantly increased by 10 KG, which was still nothing to him. Ace then took another step, and the force increased by another 10 KG.

‘If this force increases by ten at every step until the five hundred steps, this makes it 5,090 KG force if I include the 100 KG force of the first step. How vicious only those with powerful physiques or a large amount of Qi could pass through this hurdle while reaming in the Qi gates realm.’ Ace couldn’t help but look at those demons and devils about to enter the tenth stairstep.

In his opinion, this test was not fair toward races with weak bodies like humans unless they increased the cultivation realm cap to foundation building. The passing rate would be extremely pitiful for races like humans.

Still, it wasn’t his place to comment on it as there was no fairness in this world, and the union seemed only to want the best of the best from every race.

Ace then took the fourth and fifth steps as the force increased by ten kilograms with every step.

Although it was just walking on a normal staircase for Ace, for those spectators, he appeared extremely bizarre because even those demons and devils with powerful bodies were taking their time to take every step since just standing under that pressure would drain their stamina.

But Ace was ascending each step without even stopping for a second, like he was climbing a normal staircase. He was already stepped on the ninth step and was only a step behind the group at the very front.

“He’s using Qi to show off. What an idiot!” A handsome elf youth sneered disdainfully since, in his mind, Ace was using Qi to climb the staircase so fast.

Every participant had the same thought, and they sneered disdainfully since they knew he would be exhausted before he could reach the twentieth step.

Even those participants at the very front snickered in scorn when they saw Ace passing them. They weren’t worried at all.

Those humans, on the hand, were looking unkindly at Ace because his actions were implicating them as a whole. Still, they could do nothing but watch and wait for that guy to fail as quickly as possible to end this humiliation.

However, everyone’s disdainful expression started to change when Ace stepped past the twentieth stairstep, and he was still expressionless, just like when he started climbing the staircase.

Their expression turned into bewilderment when he reached the fortieth step and still climbed without any hint of stopping.

Step by step, Ace climbed, leaving those behind dumbfounded as they were still on the fifteenth step.

When Ace climbed onto the hundredth step, they were no longer calm as they looked at Ace solemnly. But when he reached the 200th step, their face was somewhat pale.

At this moment, no one knew who said it, but this voice was like a thunderbolt in deadly silence, “I-is he cheating?”

The humans were also snapped out of their stupor as their expressions turned nasty, and someone within their group retorted, “Do you guys think the immortals above would allow someone to cheat for so long? He’s a genius of our race, so stop spouting nonsense!”

Everyone nodded their head as they looked toward other races with cold expressions, and their attitude about Ace had turned upside down now. If they were feeling humiliated by his action before, now they were feeling pride as he was climbing the staircase so fast without breaking a sweat.

Even the youth from the Atlas family couldn’t help but scoff, “They are just a bunch of losers. Let’s go; we can’t let that friend climb alone.”

“Right, it must be lonely up there. Let’s keep him company.” A human boy scornfully remarked.

Those races’ faces turned nasty, but they didn’t have words to refute them. Even the top three races were silent. Some even think the trial this time might be easier, but when they saw their race’s geniuses were still only at the fiftieth step and struggling, they threw that thought out instantly.

At this moment, all the humans were moved and riled up as they instantly followed the Atlas family, brother and sister. Ace’s climbing figure gave them hope and courage to think caution to the wind.

In the sky, those ten invigilators were also looking at Ace’s climbing figure solemnly.

Willie couldn’t help but exclaim when Ace stepped on 301st, and his pace didn’t decrease at all, “Is this guy really human?”

Despite his doubts, Joseph gave Willie a nasty look and retorted, “Do you leave your brain in your smithy? Of course, he’s a human!”

Even Joseph first thought that Ace wasn’t human and he was dreaming, but now that he knew it was not a dream at all and race finally gave birth to a prodigy after so many years.

A dark yellow-skinned demon beside the devil sneered, “Why are you guys reacting like this? He didn’t even enter the second level yet. So what if he had a strong physique? Only by having a strong soul could he pass the stairway.”

Jayden quickly nodded her head in agreement and scoffed, “Don’t forget, in the past, our demon race also had a prodigy like him who passed the first level with pure physical strength but failed at the second level.”

Joseph’s expression was clouded by he didn’t have words to refute even Willie didn’t comment on this as their excitement died down!