Victor cursed inwardly and then looked at the sword in his hand.
"Hey, Camelia, how do I change the form of this sword?" Victor asked, scratching his head and looking awkwardly at Camelia for help.
"Hmph, you're really quick to ask for help now that I've signed the contract," Camelia huffed, which made Victor a bit embarrassed. She floated close and observed the sword with narrowed eyes.
"Hmm, from what I know, there hasn't been any weapon that could change its shape, you know..." Camelia said with a pause.
"So you don't know," Victor said with a frown.
"Don't be impatient. Since soul weapons are connected to the soul, why don't you just try giving it an order to turn into a different weapon?" Camelia instructed.
"Is that so? Fine—turn into a dagger," Victor narrowed his eyes and looked at the sword as he commanded, but nothing happened.
'Maybe I should call it by its name,' Victor thought.
"Nemesis, turn into twin daggers," Victor said, but still nothing happened.
"Nothing happened," Victor said, looking at Camelia and thinking she might be useless, which caused Camelia's eyebrows to twitch in irritation.
"Hmph, there's another way, I guess. It's a simple application—like how a fire mage can turn a simple flame into a fire dragon by imagining it. Try imagining in your head that your sword turns into the weapon you desire," Camelia snorted, then added after some thought while looking at the sword in Victor's hand.
"Is that so?" Victor blinked and nodded. Then he imagined his sword turning into a spear.
Woosh
The sword in Victor's hand shook and immediately transformed into a spear in the blink of an eye.
"This ability is really handy. This is the first time I've seen a weapon with this ability," Camelia mumbled. Even though it was a simple ability, it was still very useful, as one weapon could replace all others and complement techniques requiring multiple weapons.
Then this time, Victor imagined twin daggers, and the spear transformed into two daggers with black blades and glowing red lines.
'Can it turn into defensive items?' Victor thought—and the twin daggers suddenly expanded and turned into liquid, enveloping Victor.
"Victor!" Camelia panicked when she saw this, fearing something had happened to him, but then stopped when she saw the next scene.
Instead of Victor, there now stood a person wearing gleaming black knight armor with glowing red lines all over it.
"Holy— I look cool!" Victor exclaimed. He hadn't expected it to work at all.
"Heavens, this weapon can also be used for defense! Try creating weapons!" Camelia's eyes widened as she spoke, and Victor nodded as his armor creaked.
Woosh
"It really worked!" Victor's eyes widened behind the helmet as the familiar sword appeared in his hand, which Victor changed from sword to dagger to chains.
[You have completed the trial]
[You will be teleported out]
[Staircase to Wealth is vanishing]
Victor blinked when he saw the notification until Camelia opened her mouth casually, "Huh, looks like it's over."
Victor saw one by one the treasures start to vanish from his sight, which caused his heart to bleed, but he couldn't do anything and sighed. Then a white light enveloped him along with his weapon and Camelia in spirit form, and they vanished.
---
Below the Top Floor
The sky was completely crimson as heavy killing intent filled the entire atmosphere. Many of the low-rankers had already passed out, unable to bear the pressure. Only the high-rankers were unaffected by the situation, though they were still kneeling on the ground with sweat dripping from their foreheads.
Thud. Thud.
A few more of the rankers fell unconscious on the ground.
Woosh.
"Huh, the pressure's gone," Julian—who was in the best condition among the others—said as he stood up, sweat dripping from his forehead. He looked up to see the crimson sky vanish, replaced by the normal blue one.
"Looks like it's over," Sarah said with a sigh of relief. Even as a high-ranker, she had never felt such killing intent in her life, despite having killed so many that she'd lost count. Just as she spoke, a notification appeared.
[Staircase of Wealth is vanishing]
[I Am Even More Low Profile has completed the trial]
Swoosh.
With a blinding white light, Victor appeared on the ground. He looked back and saw the entire Staircase of Wealth glowing white before vanishing from sight. Just as he was marveling at the scene, Camelia's voice rang in his head, "Victor, you've got company."
"Hmm?" Victor's eyes narrowed slightly as he saw a group of male and female rankers surrounding him, their eyes filled with greed.
"Hey kid, what did you find at the top?" the man asked as he released all of his pressure—now that the restriction placed on them by the Records was gone—his aura laced with killing intent.
'He's not affected? Could he be a higher ranker?' The man frowned when he saw no visible change in Victor's expression.
[???? Bloodline has neutralized the killing intent]
'Tsk, with such weak killing intent he's trying to intimidate him?' Camelia, who was watching from the side, scoffed.
"Kid, you'd better tell us what you got and hand it over, or else—"
Thud.
Thud. Thud.
His words were cut short as, under Victor's calm gaze, everyone around him fell to the ground one after another like dominoes within seconds.
"Butler Leon?" Victor's eyes widened in disbelief as he saw the person who had intervened. He hadn't expected it to be Leon.
"Tchee" Butler Leon said with a sneer of disdain as he stepped aside like a professional butler. Sarah and Julian walked toward Victor with smiles, and although Victor flinched slightly, his eyes narrowed when he caught the greed glinting in Sarah's gaze.
"Congratulations, Victor, for clearing the Staircase of Wealth," Sarah said with a smile, to which Victor simply nodded.
'Makes sense... so Sarah ordered him' Victor realized that Leon had helped him not out of goodwill but under Sarah's command.
"So, Victor, have you decided to join my faction?" Sarah asked, still smiling.