Chapter 423: Let’s Put Our Head Together

95, 96, 97, 98, 99...

Everyone counted, with Seth, the closer he got to the 100th step, the more unnerved those below became.

They attributed all his success so far to the secret substance he was taking at every interval.

Honestly everyone watching wished they could rob him of whatever magic juice was keeping him going.

Alas taking such a route would only lead to violence which would then lead to death.

Worse, they knew that the option of taking this human with them to the grave wasn’t feasible.

The system only targeted those that broke the rules and unless Seth was dumb enough to react to the taunts he would remain fine.

"Everyone! Listen up!" A voice suddenly boomed, echoing for all of those at the lower steps.

Everyone turned their gaze, focusing on the speaker, it was a candidate of the Felite race.

A race of people related to the feline species, so the speaker looked like a humanoid leopard of sorts.

With a spotted coat of fur covering their body, and a sleek tail swinging behind to regulate their balance.

Flashing his glinting row of teeth the Felite spoke, with a grim tone, his voice scratchy and his language foreign.

Fortunately everyone in this trial was at the awakened rank and could understand his words through will interaction.

So they all remained silent and listened.

Everyone was at their wits’ end on the matter of progressing forward.

They didn’t want to give up, but they all knew that taking another step could lead to them being crushed by the pressure.

This series of circumstances had forced them to be open-minded.

If someone had an idea on how to win this, even if it was a means of stopping Seth’s progress they were open to listening.

"We should all put our heads together, share ideas and find a way to win this thing..." the Felite’s voice boomed.

Eyes began to roll and brows began to crease, and the Felite noticed this.

It was understandable that no one was taking him seriously, after all most just assumed the person who climbed the steps the highest would be the winner.

But the Felite saw things differently, if this really was the win condition, would the system really have failed to mention it?

No, instead it had emphasized something else, something it believed to be the key to winning this thing, a cunning smile curling on the Felite’s muzzle.

As a member of a clever race, said to be not far behind humans when it came to intellect.

It was only natural that this Felite’s thought process was more complex, allowing him to spot what should have been an obvious clue.

At least it was obvious to Seth, and some other clever candidates.

"I know what you’re thinking!" the Felite continued, scanning everyone above and below where he stood.

"But that isn’t the clear condition! Think about it, did the system list a win condition when it gave us a briefing?" The Felite asked, and calmly watched the place go silent.

Hands clasped behind his back, the Felite continued, this time everyone paying more attention to his words.

"See, now you have realized! Instead of chasing goals out of our reach I suggest we band together and find a way to win this," he declared boldly.

The silence held, as everyone fell into thought...

In the end someone found his proposal suspicious and decided to call him out on it.

"But what is your gain for instigating this? Aren’t you afraid that one of us might find a way to refuse to share the win and take this thing all by themselves?"

The Felite turned to the speaker wearing a deadpan expression and spoke.

"Well, at least that would be a better option than letting the human win, wouldn’t it?"

His words caused the area to go even more silent, everyone unable to help but agree.

At least if another person won this trial, it wouldn’t lead to the high probability of their races going extinct.

They would only be worried if their nemesis was the one who won.

Everyone exchanged glances, and decided that the Felite’s suggestion was the best path for them.

The sooner they figured out this trial, the sooner they snatched victory from the humans’ hands.

... Meanwhile, while the bunch were conspiring below, Seth finally took his first step upon the 100th step.

By this point Seth himself was trembling from head to toe, the sheer amount of pain he was going through was simply unimaginable.

Muscles snapped at every slight movement, tendons tearing apart at the slightest hint of stress.

His organs were failing one after another, even his heart was put under overwhelming cardiovascular strain, and was unable to initiate proper circulation of blood.

He coughed uncontrollably, blood leaking from the sides of his mouth.

The blood vessels in his eyes all ruptured, turning his sclera red.

But even this level of visual impairment didn’t block out the glowing page that unraveled before him.

A milestone completion notification by the system...

[Congratulations, Candidate! You have ascended to the 100th step!]

[Your greed knows no bounds!]

[As a reward your current points have been upgraded!]

[Aurum has advanced to Covetous Tokens]

[1 Covetous Token = 1,000,000,000 Aurum]

Seth let out a series of ragged breaths, letting the notification settle as he struggled to read it.

By this point his mind was being plagued by so much strain that his intelligence had regressed drastically.

His thoughts were drastically slow, he was stripped of all complex cognitive capabilities.

Stripped bare to instincts, guided by nothing but his determination and greed.

Seeing the upgrade in points, a hungry grin cracked his bloodied lips, this was perfect, the shop list would be updated to hold more variety in treasures.

Maybe finally he could find what he was looking for!

A treasure that could grant back access to his will stat.

His Aurum balance, which had once more progressed into a long string of digits, had reset.

Seth didn’t bother to check on the shop, not now, there wasn’t time, he needed to cover more ground while he still could.

So after letting his body adjust to get used to the pressure, he set out for the next step.

He moved with a feral hunger.

For some reason he felt optimistic, it seemed a breakthrough was close.

Meanwhile, deep down on a cellular level, a war was being fought in Seth’s body.

And in the chaos of raging cellular activity, another spark ignited.

A silver gene had activated again...