Jacob and the other candidates were slightly taken aback.
Initially, Anon could not go past a single step. With great difficulty, he reached the second, and struggling for a while, he arrived on the third.
However, as ti passed, the rate at which he scaled the stairs slowly began increasing. He stepped onto the fourth, then the fifth, sixth, seventh...
Tenth, twentieth, thirtieth...
The hundredth step!
The rate at which he scaled upwards slowly began matching theirs and then even surpassed them.
Before they realized, Anon was alongside so of them, then surpassed them, reaching Jacob who trailed behind the fourth worlders, and then even passed Jacob.
As Anon scaled upwards, each step saw a bolt of taphysical lightning pry into his mind realm and strike the manifestation of his willpower.
However, the mighty sun had beco so powerful that even upon being struck, there was little to no visible damage. As ti passed, the very slight damage would completely stop appearing.
Anon’s mind was filled with more and more clarity as he ascended the staircase.
.....
As expected. Even against common logic, sothing that should not happen, happens. We aren’t even within the Holy Land’s area of effect, aning that whatever is so unique about him isn’t directly connected to Earth itself.
The Lightning Reckoning Orb observed with a peculiar mix of emotions.
On the one hand, Anon was the young lord, it would be sowhat honorable to have such an heir.
But, on the other hand, Anon did not wield lightning.
It would be a sha for this dinsion, that its master was not in tune with lightning.
Even if he becos the master, and even if he’s a destined Overlord, there’s is no way he becos an Overlord via the path of lightning. It would be too shaful when there’s Jacob.
Jacob does not have such a destiny, however, which Overlord did?
Jacob might very well be capable of completing such an impossible feat, because becoming an Overlord is molding one’s own destiny.
Besides Anon, I also see it in him.
Indeed, it’s very rare for such individuals to appear at the sa place, sa ti. But this is the Holy Land of the Human Lord.
Though it was slightly worried by Anon’s pace, it was not hopeless.
One should not be confused by Jacob’s speed of ascent. His potential is so high that he even resonates with the entire dinsion. With the help of this trial, his willpower will slowly be molded.
If his potential is truly as extraordinary as it seems to be, it would not be impossible for him to touch upon the cosmic ruling in this trial.
As for Anon...
Can your will truly last?
.....
Under the effects of the lightning’s destructiveness, Anon’s willpower underwent a state of rapid transformation.
Back in the mind-swallowing abyss, every ti he devoured wraiths and cursed spirits, his soul underwent evolution.
Due to the sheer quality of his soul, his will was nurtured by it, undergoing a very natural process of strengthening.
However, now that his willpower was being destroyed, every ti the manifestation of his willpower was damaged, his soul would actively nurture and heal his shattering will, strengthening it through a process of destruction and construction.
Comparatively speaking, the process in which his will grew firr was even faster than through the mind-swallowing abyss, however this path was not sustainable.
To heal the damaging will, the soul squeezed out its own potential to nurture Anon’s will. But potential was limited, and unless the soul underwent evolution, eventually the soul would have no strength to nurture Anon’s will.
Eventually, his soul would’ve nurtured and strengthened his willpower to its utmost limit. Every piece of damage thereafter, would need a lengthy period of ti to be fully healed by his soul.
At this ti, Anon stepped onto a platform.
Behind him was the fleet of stairs he ascended, and in front of him was a second fleet of stairs leading to an even higher level.
This platform was akin to a resting spot, or a checkpoint.
Turning, he looked down.
Most of the fifth worlders were in the lead.
There were so fifth worlders with slightly weaker wills, and the fourth worlders with stronger wills moved at a similar speed to them.
Behind them, between the more ordinary fourth worlders and the extraordinary fourth worlders, Jacob could be seen.
Anon paid little attention to those below Jacob.
’Hmm,’ Anon silently observed. ’Previously, he was amidst the third worlders, now he has even passed so of the fourth worlders.’
Anon focused on Jacob.
When Anon’s dark gold eyes saw the expression on Jacob’s face, his heartrate suddenly spiked before returning to normal.
For so reason, he felt strange.
Anon turned around and unhesitatingly stepped onto the second set of stairs.
Imdiately, over a dozen bolts of destructive lightning rattled his mind realm. For the first ti in a while, Anon felt his will tremble.
In the first staircase, only a single bolt of lightning pried into the mind.
In the second, over a dozen.
On the third fleet of stairs, more than a hundred!
.....
Jacob stepped onto the platform separating the first and second fleet of stairs.
His eyes, initially dull, refocused.
Beads of sweat trickled down his visibly pale face, however his feet did not stop moving. He did not take any breaks.
From their previous conversation, he ca to realize.
He now knew very well.
Anon had changed, or maybe, this was his true self.
Maybe, only now, he did not bother to hide it.
Those that had died before, all of Felix’s friends, the lissa girl, that Catharina, and the Andrew boy, Jacob realized that Anon simply did not care.
About Felix, Anon lacked any type of feeling.
It wasn’t that he disliked them, but it was just simply, a pure lack of that particular human emotion.
If it was Anon, would he even bother to save Felix?
Naturally, the answer was no.
Jacob knew very little about Felix’s situation. Only, the Cinder Fiend was likely dead, because the Lightning Reckoning Orb said so.
He could only trust its words.
With what it had revealed, he did not disbelieve.
However, Felix.
Jacob saw Felix at the ti.
No second world stellar fighter was going to be okay in that situation.
Jacob had beco desperate.
Who knew how long had passed in the real world?
Who knew what Felix’s situation was like?
Anon wasn’t going to care if he beca the successor.
The other successors?
No, definitely not!
Jacob had seen how the most powerful of these successors watched Anon.
But what about himself?
Yes, they may know who he was, but at the end of it all, he was just another young master of so greater family.
His status made it so that they would not easily offend him, but as for going out of their way to help him?
Tsk...
In this world, relying on oneself was the only right way.
So he kept ascending.
Even if it felt as if soone was prying into his skull and poking at his brain, he would clench his hands, nails digging into flesh.
Even if the world was spinning, and his body felt as heavy as a mountain, he would clench his teeth, causing his teeth to crack under the biting force.
Even as his consciousness faded, he would bite his tongue to stay awake. He was a second world stellar fighter, so he would stay awake.
Ruthless to one’s enemies if it ans to protect those one cares for!
Even more ruthless to oneself if it ans saving those one cares for!
For a brother he walked along the rope of life-and-death with, he stepped onto the platform separating the second and third fleet of stairs, and unconsciously, he began his third ascent.
As his heartbeat grew more agitated, his surroundings crackled. Black and white lightning intertwined under his feet.
His aura unfurled and traces of purple lightning crackled in his surroundings.
Jacob’s eyes focused on the path above.
In the depths of his eyes, the purest form of golden lightning blossod.
For a ti, the world was utterly silent.
His consciousness spread out, far and wide, father than ever before.
He could see without his eyes, and hear without his ears. He saw more than any eye could, and heard more than any ears was able to.
Shock, envy, apprehension, disappointnt, anger, unwillingness...
When he turned around, looking down, Jacob finally saw with his eyes again. His entire eyes shone with crackling streaks of golden lightning.
Five levels below him, Anon was the closest to him, however he had long surpassed even Anon though, he had not realized.
As for everyone else...
He suddenly felt that they weren’t worth ntioning.
The disparity between himself and them was simply too large, he could not see them in the distance.
My Destined Lord, congratulations.
The dinsional core manifested.
Jacob’s golden eyes, crackling with lightning, shifted to this dinsional core.
"I wish to return to the Blood-Drip Jungle," Jacob paused. Looking at Anon, he continued. "I wish for Anon to return as well."
The Lightning Reckoning Orb shone, and the space around Anon warped.
Appearing before Jacob and the dinsional core, Anon gaze montarily stayed on Jacob, and then he emotionlessly voiced.
"I do not wish to return," Anon plainly stated.
He turned to the dinsional core, saying. "You said sothing about Heaven’s Edge Domain."
As you wish, young lord.
The dinsional core was obedient, however Jacob’s face changed.
Before he could say anything though, an otherworldly power swallowed Anon’s figure, causing him to disappear from Jacob’s sight.
.....
"My willpower grew to such an extent that I achieved genuine true mastery over my body," Anon assessed. "And yet, I still lost to Jacob."
The view in Heaven’s Edge Domain was unlike any other.
Sitting in a ditative position atop a rock that jotted out of a chaotic river that led to the edge of a waterfall, Anon took in a deep breath, calmly gazing at the world before him.
For as far as the eye could see, a purple hue blanketed the skies of the Heaven’s Edge Domain, almost like the skies around the ti of a most beautiful sunset.
This waterfall was directly connected to an infinitely long river that spanned far into the lands.
There were many more waterfalls connecting to the river, creating an isle in the form of this endless river that separated two rows of waterfalls...
The nurturing aura that manifested as a brilliant purple blanket seeped into Anon’s glabella as his eyelids grew heavier, to his alarm.
"Sleepy?" Anon rose an eyebrow.
Even without months of sleep, with such a strong soul and willpower, it was not a problem for him who was physically in the third world.
Yet this environnt...
"Damn..." Anon genuinely did not look forward to the nightmare he was about to suffer.
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