Chapter 422: Not Fair!

Candidates hit their limits pretty quickly, the ones at the top unable to make it past the 109th step.

While the others hit their limits pretty quickly, only one soul within the trial was progressing at a steady pace.

Struggling with the same intensity as he had been even at the very first step.

The human.

It was an unbelievable sight, almost like the anomaly of a creature could draw from an endless well of strength.

They kept eagerly anticipating that the human would hit his limits any time soon and instead he repeatedly broke their expectations.

"What the hell is that human drinking..." a raspy voice rang as a reptilian humanoid of sorts spoke.

A candidate from a race Seth didn’t recognize...

"Yeah, whatever it is, it’s definitely the secret to his tireless ascent..." a candidate from the sunburn race growled.

Grunts and growls of agreement reverberated.

With all eyes on Seth and the lack of discrepancy he showed while partaking of the elixir, it was only natural for the others to connect the dots.

Greed simmered in the air around him, hostile auras flaring all over the place.

As they all sat and prowled like predators in the dark.

Alas these were a group of helpless predators, who had their hands tied, they could only watch but couldn’t touch.

Acting against this human was literally tantamount to a death sentence.

They saw an example laid right out before them, and that was enough to snuff out any consideration.

Leaving them helpless...

"Fuck this! If only he wasn’t human," a candidate from the wendigo race hissed in spite.

The others nodded grimly, they couldn’t help but lament.

It was true, if this guy wasn’t human no one would be as interested in his downfall like they were now.

After all, the human was only at the 87th step, not even at the highest step yet.

The only reason everyone had an eye on him was because unlike the others, if Seth passed this trial, it would be a catastrophe for other earthlings.

Armed with an incarnate of greed, subduing the humans would be several times more difficult than it was even now.

They all needed Seth to fail, or else their fates and the fate of their races would become dire.

The candidate from the mermen race standing at the peak of the 109th step gave the struggling figure of Seth a single glance.

The gills on his neck pulsating, his expression darkening dangerously as he let out a low mutter.

"Hmmm, whatever, we will worry about him when he gets here, till then..."

He turned his gaze back upwards, staring at the flight of stairs glowing with a bronze luster, seeming to stretch upwards as far as the eye could follow.

He couldn’t help but wonder...

"Where is the limit the system spoke of?"

...

Meanwhile back on Seth’s end...

Unlike the other candidates he did not have the liberty to pay focus to anything other than himself.

Panting hard, his knees trembled, almost giving in to the pressure.

Sweat dripped down in large splatters, forming a pool beneath his feet at each step.

His vision shifted between a blur and clarity far too conveniently.

By this point the only thing keeping Seth on his feet was pure determination and focus.

A single moment of distraction and his bones would crumple under the pressure.

He tracked his progress through gritted teeth...

"The 87th step, huh?" he gasped breathless, his face deadly pale, and his foot abnormally swollen.

All the blood in his system surrendering to the intense strain and flooding his lower regions.

His mind clouded, slow and clunky, it was almost like he was mortal again.

He had gotten so used to thinking fast, being dragged back to this pace seemed so... unnatural.

He groaned laboriously, willing the shop tab to unravel.

Seth couldn’t be sure how much longer he would last, but he at least hoped he’d earn enough points to qualify for a treasure that could turn his situation around.

After spending what felt like hours climbing this flight of torturous steps, his will to see things through to the end had been extinguished.

He just wanted a solution to his problem at this point.

The row of treasure unraveled before him in the form of a list, scrolling through the entire trove packed with top-notch treasure.

Enticing enough to stir the interest of anyone in the awakened rank.

Seth really couldn’t believe his eyes, he actually came across a few Saint-grade treasures!

One had to realize that if not for him ascending to this grade personally he wouldn’t have been familiar with this concept at all.

The system had never produced a treasure of this grade before...

Heck, even his Primordial Flash Sale System hadn’t offered him a treasure of this grade.

These were unimaginably valuable items, but they still weren’t what he was looking for.

Items and elixirs lay in bountiful quantities, yet he wouldn’t be able to wield any even if he actively sought one.

Seth let out a long sigh, his shoulders sinking, shifting his focus back to the next step as he dismissed the shop list.

Sensing he still had energy to go off of, he took a deep, slow breath, gearing for movement.

His joints creaked as bones scraped against each other under the forceful pressure.

Every move under such strain was torture, especially since he was a creature that by every law of logic shouldn’t have been able to climb this high.

Fortunately the elixir was doing a great job in steadily nourishing his body, keeping it in a state of continuous growth.

With heavy breaths he moved, under the eyes of the spectators rooting for his demise, his feet rose.

And though slow he got to the next step eventually... then the next, and the next after that.

The scene simply didn’t make any sense!

Everyone couldn’t help but conclude, as they watched Seth progressively reach heights even they couldn’t handle.

It felt unfair...

Seth was obviously cheating, but it seemed the system didn’t care...

Alas, it was too late to realize that the system never spoke against using other means outside one’s own prowess.

So they could only watch, in silence and helplessness.