The Golem Mage

From the mages’ perspective, they finally understood that with each twenty-fifth step. It’s like an upgraded dimension of sorts, just like how illusion began on the 26th step, it was clearly designed to weed out those with weaker mentalities, as the Origin World envoys don’t only want human geniuses,

They want geniuses with at least some talent in mental ability; otherwise, taking such a mage would be a waste of time, since mages with weaker mental talent find it hard to enter the high-rank realm, and even if they manage to breach the gap with pills later on, it always takes a steep amount of resources to push them to the next level compared to others with normal or gifted mental affinity.

This is another aspect of the first trial, which is why the minimum requirement was for the mages to be able to stand firmly on the 26th step before they would have qualified, to many of these talented mages from the top academies, such mental illusions or hallucinations weren’t enough to stop them; though they could see the illusion, however their Tier-6 mental strength was already manifesting to the point that they could discern right from wrong on the 26th step, and it wouldn’t be enough to halt them.

However, this wasn’t true for everyone, there were always going to be some mages who couldn’t surpass it; basically, over 80% of the participants were going to be disqualified after the end of the first trial.

Meanwhile the 51st step to the 75th step are the places occupied by various captains, vice-captains, and some exceptional mages; there were some who had given up on going further and just sat in a cultivation position under the pressure of the steps while looking down at those still walking ahead.

At the 75th step, only ten mages stood there: Babatunde, the captain of the Ember Citadel; Dragov, captain of the Bloodline Academy; Vincent, captain of the Battle Mage Academy; Takeda, captain of the School of Silent Night; Kaelus Blade, leader of the Blades Clan mages; Raizo, captain of the Crimson Dawn Academy; Shen Lao, the grand disciple of the Shaolin Temple Academy; Roderic Vale, the son of the Argent Guild master and leader of their team; Zuberi Afolayan, captain of the Ashmaw Academy; and lastly, Lucien Aurell, captain of the Solarium Sanctum team.

The other captains and vice-captains were just below, occupying the region of the 71st to 74th steps(for captains) and 60 to 70th steps (for the vice captains and some exceptional mages).

These ten individuals were the ones on whom the three elders, who were supposed to invigilate the scene, were focused on the most.

They pretty much didn’t care whatever fight happened; as long as no one was killed, they wouldn’t intervene or be bothered by others.

In fact, they had initially watched Alec when he burst in with explosive force, feeling he might join those ten they regarded as top-tier geniuses. However, when he seemed to be stalled at the twenty-sixth step, and even his team surpassed him they threw all expectations of him out the window as they believe he has a weak mentality however that wasn’t the case.

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Alec, who felt he had had enough of catching up with his past, finally raised his head only to realize that most of the attention placed on him earlier had mysteriously wilted away, now the ones who stared at him were those who looked at him with either gloating or disgust.

But Alec didn’t care that much; he then started to move again, this time without rushing, he just walked at a very calm pace, going through the illusions one at a time.

[+1 to mental stats.]

Out of nowhere, Alec saw a notification pop up before him, and he realized that while the elders might have used the stairs as a test, they might not truly know its main purpose Alec believed that the 26th to 50th steps were there to temper the mental powers of those who went through them naturally, without just rushing out.

However, he still felt that if he mentioned such an ability of the stairs to them, they wouldn’t take him seriously, because they were already lofty figures who acted like everyone else was an ant and wasn’t worthy of their presence.

Just then, the old man in the middle spoke again.

“Thirty minutes left.”

Immediately those words left his mouth, the mages who had been resting below and those who were resting on the stairs, trying to accumulate strength before they pushed forward again were jolted by an incredible shock.

There hadn’t been any mention of a time limit; they were just learning now that there was indeed a limit, and most of them felt they had wasted a lot of time, especially those who hadn’t even started climbing yet and were stopped by the bullies.

“Arrrggg! Move out of the way!”

A shout rang out like a spark, and fights broke out instantly as everyone tried to push ahead of each other, with so many people piling on, there wasn’t much space; the only options were to knock others down and take their spot to advance.

While all of this was happening, Alec kept walking like he owned the place, using the illusions to temper his mental strength, there were limited ways to train his mind, so now that he had found one, he was hell-bent on taking his time, even if it meant earning just one more mental point.

However, the fact that he wasn’t looking for trouble didn’t mean others wouldn’t look for it, many had already started to look down on him, after assuming he wasn’t that strong because of how slowly he moved on the stairs.

And when he eventually reached the 45th step, someone finally tried to stop him from getting to the 46th step.

The mage on that step was exhausted, having burned through most of his stamina rushing up the stairs, he didn’t know how many minutes were left of the thirty the old men had given, but he was sure that if anyone climbed higher, he’d be in a bad state when the repulsive force crashed down.

Because if he couldn’t withstand the pressure, he’d be forced down countless steps, and seeing how slowly Alec was walking, he believed a single attack would be enough to disrupt whatever state Alec was in.

So he acted, as he compressed a fireball into a tight beam with far greater destructive power and shot it forward like a laser. It was fast and hard to dodge, especially when under such a gravity environment but Alec simply swayed aside when it reached him, then leaped onto the 46th step and karate-chopped the mage with his left hand.

The remaining minutes before the timer ended were spent with Alec jogging, right up until the old man in the middle called for the end of the first round.

By the end, Alec was on the 60th step, a tier typically occupied by the slightly stronger members of the premier institutions, while the steps 61 to 70 were held by various vice-captains and other standout mages.

Steps 71 to 76 were occupied by captains of the major academies, with only three captains making it to the 76th step.

Those three were Dragov Dragonmir, Babatunde Ignis, and Kaelus Blade; they were the only ones who managed to reach the 76th step before the timer ran out.

As for Alec, the attention that had been on him earlier disappeared instantly not that he cared, if anything, he was more than happy to be out from under most people’s discerning eyes. Meanwhile, others on his team drew fresh attention.

Lucas Blade, Brandon Gordons, Knight Gordons, Pale Zero, and Endrick took positions from the 75th down to the 71st step, with Lucas at the 75th and Pale at the 71st, though many knew these stairs were mainly meant to eliminate the unworthy, the War God Mage Academy had students standing on steps many below had dubbed the “captain-rank” stairs.

Though they weren’t the only team with multiple members that high, but it still surprised many who had written them off as one of the weaker academies of the Northern Kingdom; now those onlookers decided they’d better pay more attention to the War God Mage Academy.

Some even started to think Alec was just a front to hide the team’s true heavy hitters, since he hadn’t shown anything “worth fearing.” On the contrary, eyes shifted toward Lucas and Brandon, who had reached the 75th and 74th steps, respectively.

Only the captains of the Northern academies knew

that anyone underestimating Alec would be shocked very soon.