Shing—
The blue light barrier covering the entrance of the staircase finally began to crack, and under everyone's expectant eyes, it shattered into millions of tiny bright sparks that vanished after several seconds.
"The barrier broke!" someone shouted, and everyone's hearts tensed as they looked at the new text.
[Staircase to Wealth is now open.]
As the text appeared, no one could hold back any longer, and they all charged toward the stairway.
"Well, then we should get going," Senior Julian said. After everyone had entered the stairway, he took a step forward and vanished from sight.
"Victor, after this is over, we'll talk about the matter of the faction," Sarah said before stepping forward and vanishing as well. The butler Leon shot Victor a cold glance before also entering the stairway, leaving him as the last person standing.
"Well, here goes nothing," Victor muttered as he took a step forward and vanished from his place.
Victor felt the world around him go dark for a split second, and upon entering the tower, he wasn't too surprised—he had experienced this multiple times in his last life. Still, his stomach churned a bit. His eyes widened when he felt a familiar sensation.
"Double Dungeon," Victor's heart quivered for a moment because he had once encountered a double dungeon, which was the last place he visited before transmigrating.
'No, this is not the same place,' Victor thought, as this space did not look even remotely similar to that place and then he looked around.
"So this is the Staircase to Wealth, huh?" Victor mumbled as he looked at the massive staircase made of pure gold in astonishment, he looked at the stairs and them stretch beyond the clouds and estimated that there has to be over atleast 10,000 steps. He tried to see squint his eyes and see what was above the clouds but couldn't. He activated his Akasha Eyes, and then he spotted with more clarity, a huge rectangular platform floating high above.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
One by one, everyone was teleported onto the first stair, and gasps of astonishment followed.
"Damn, look at this—it's made of pure gold!" someone exclaimed, eyes bulging in disbelief seeing a glimpse of the treasures that the place would contain.
"No wonder it's called the Staircase to Wealth," a woman said with awe.
"Staircase to Wealth? It should be called the Staircase to Heaven—the stairway ascends directly into the heavens," another person muttered nervously.
"I just wonder what's at the top floor… could there be SSS-rank treasures, the highest rank?" a young man said in a daze.
"Tsk, SSS rank the highest? You must be a low-ranker," someone sneered in disgust.
"There are treasures higher than SSS rank?" another person asked, only to be met with cold, disdainful stares.
Woosh.
While the crowd murmured, someone suddenly charged forward, attempting to leap over the steps. Some people watched indifferently, while others smirked knowingly.
"Ahhhhh!" The person's scream echoed as his body turned to ash, silencing the entire place.
[Offender has tried to skip stairs and has been punished.]
[Trial has started.]
[Step on the stairs one by one.]
Victor saw everyone start walking up one by one, so he also took his first step. As soon as he placed his foot on the second stair, he felt a crushing pressure trying to force him onto his knees.
"What the fuck?" Victor cursed. Some people noticed his struggle and began to mock him.
"Idiot, you must have a trash bloodline. Otherwise, you wouldn't feel the pressure so quickly," someone sneered. Victor grit his teeth as he tried to resist the pressure.
Sarah, Julian, and Leon also noticed Victor in his disguise and raised their eyebrows.
'Did I judge him wrong?' Sarah frowned.
'Impossible. I was sure I sensed a formidable bloodline in him,' Julian thought.
'Heh, that's what happens when trash dares to talk to the young miss so casually,' Leon smirked—though his smugness vanished the next moment, just as Julian's and Sarah's frowns disappeared, when they all looked back at Victor.
[???? Bloodline is reacting.]
[Akasha Tree has detected pressure on bloodline.]
[Neutralizing pressure.]
"Huff… Huff…" Victor panted heavily, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead as he used all his strength to resist falling to his knees.
[Neutralization successful.]
As soon as the notification appeared, the crushing pressure vanished immediately. Victor wiped his sweat form his forehead and stood up once again.
"Damn, I nearly got crushed," Victor said as he stood up and started walking up the stairs. This time, he did not feel any pressure at all, it seemed like it did not exist in the first place seeing how easily he was climbing up.
Sarah and Julian, who saw this, smiled and nodded their heads before resuming their climb. But not everyone was having a easy time climbing the stairs.
"Ahhhh!" As Victor continued walking, he heard someone shout. He turned and saw a young man struggling to climb the 13th step from the 12th step, he looked to be the first person who was having difficulty. The young man's face was drenched in sweat, as if he had just run a marathon or been splashed with a bucket of water.
The man shouted desperately while slowly lifting his leg, clearly struggling to take another step. His face turned bright red as he gritted his teeth and used all his might. The crowd watched in pure disdain—if he couldn't even climb past the 13th floor, it meant his bloodline rank was very low, they assumed it was the lowest G Rank.
In the Staircase to Wealth, the stronger your bloodline, the less pressure you felt and the higher you could climb. Many who reached higher steps displayed extraordinary future potential, and top factions sometimes recruited them based on these results. This had happened every time the Staircase of Wealth appeared throughout history.
"FAIL."
Victor saw the word appear above the young man's head. Suddenly, an invisible and powerful force hurled him backward, and he plummeted straight back to the starting line.