RD 3 Ch 15

Chapter 15

I blinked away the blinding light as I stepped into a new area, completely alone. There was no door or anything behind me, just a black void that I had emerged from. I put my hands in my pockets and ventured further into the room. Giant, plain columns connected the ceiling to the floor in an otherwise monstrous space. 

"Where are we?" someone shouted.

I glanced to the side to see one of the stronger Initiates that Vincent had recruited entering the same space as me. That confirmed my suspicion immediately. I reached inside my pockets to feel the outline of the talisman still stuck to my thigh. It was suppressing my spirit for anyone who might be watching, and hopefully for any systems the demons had in place. 

"I think this is the first test," I said loudly enough for several other voices to respond. 

The test became apparent. There was another bright light at the end of the hall. A massive set of stairs, each step large enough for a giant to stride comfortably on, started at the floor and ascended into an ellusive mist at the end. 

"Classic," I chuckled. 

"What did you say?" A woman stepped up, judging by the large crystalline staff in her hand, I assumed she was a caster of some sort. 

"Testing steps," I gestured at them. More people gathered. Some of them were looking around through the crowd. 

"This isn't everyone," someone said. 

I shook my head. "No, it's not. If I had to guess, this place will split everyone based on their individual strengths."

Several of the other Initiates nodded along. 

"Whatever this place is, it has some sense of fairness," another said. 

"So is this like a stairway to heaven or something?" Ignoring the comment, a man immediately tried to jump up the steps.

Each of them was floating independently in the air. With light jumps, he shot about 15 steps up before he slammed down on his knees and coughed up blood.

It only confirmed what I thought these were. In many other worlds, they didn't simply use stats as a way to determine someone's strength. No, instead they used a set of a hundred steps, based on whatever strength level they wanted to test. As you see, each step would increase the pressure on the person's body. As you ascended the stairs, it would test not just your stats, but your willpower and your abilities. Using your abilities to increase your strength and resilience was something that was often hard to measure. Thus, the steps. Some even threw other challenges, this was simply a way for the demons to measure each of us.

"Are you alright?" I asked the man who had fallen down. 

"It's like I'm being crushed," he said, gasping for breath, but slowly recovering.

Rushing up the steps like that was not the smartest decision. Every step increased the pressure. So throwing yourself up the steps would be as stupid as, well, dropping yourself to the bottom of the ocean. Who would be stupid enough to do that? 

I walked up to the first step and stood upon it, frowning, and turned back to the rest of the people, ready to put on an act. "It feels like…” I shifting my weight. "The gravity has increased slightly."

Several of the other Initiates joined me on the step, which could hold a dozen people comfortably. 

"Hmm. I feel it too," another Initiate hummed. I took another step, walking up them casually with my brow furrowed. 

"I feel it too," someone else added, having joined me on the third step as we were all testing them. Suddenly, a giant hourglass fell from the mist above. The sand filled the lower chamber only for it to flip before it hit the ground next to the stairs with a boom. The small grains of sand began pouring out. 

"Interesting," the ‘master’ inscriptionist appeared amongst the crowd, looking every which way around the hourglass like a curious old idiot.

I frowned, seeing that he was here with me. Whatever system was in place thought he was comparable to me. The insult was almost too much.

"If I had to guess, we have to see how high we can go on the steps until the timer runs out," someone said aloud, stating the obvious. 

"If you don't stay on the first step," another person shouted, waving at the crowd. There were about forty of the initiated gathered here. 

When I was on the third step, I decided there was no time to laze around. I hopped up several more steps before allowing myself to frown as if I was encountering some difficulty. 

"Is that all you've got, boy?" The master inscriptionist jumped up several more steps above me to prove a point. 

"I think it's dangerous to rush up the steps," I said playing cautious. "Who knows? The difficulty could suddenly increase and crush your bones." I warned him. 

Ignoring my warning, the old man nimbly jumped up several more steps.

I squinted at him, my eyebrows rising in surprise. This phony was surprisingly strong. His combined total stats were just as high as the leaders of the Heroes Clan. That didn't mean anything, though. With his immature understanding of inscription, he most likely wasn't a threat.

However, he continued to mock me, nimbly jumping up step after step. Sadly, none of the steps crushed him like a tin can.

I ignored everyone else and decided to slowly follow him, pretending each step was a greater and greater burden. Truth be told, by the time I landed on the fiftieth step, my actual strength was not enough to completely resist it. My knees buckled briefly. 

"Getting tired, are you?" The old man laughed and skipped up several more steps. Before activating some ability, his skin shimmered white. 

Unwilling to let him get the upper hand, I activated Blood Boil. I could feel my veins swell and my muscles engorge themselves on blood, tightening against my skin. My strength increased rapidly as I took several more steps as if they were a walk in the park. 

The old man then pulled out several items from his spatial ring. They were talismans that he quickly slapped to his body, standing up even straighter. "Well, it seems we've left the rest behind, but that's to be expected. Inscriptionists are another breed. One day you'll learn that, boy." He pointed at me, and I scowled. 

How dare this man call himself an inscriptionist with what little knowledge he held. When I left here, I was going to train several of the Mul Branova for a week and make them better than he was. 

"Don't worry. One day, when you've mastered inscription to the degree that I have, you'll understand how to do things like this." He gestured at the inscriptions on his body. The talismans on his body. Each of them were made on golden paper with thin careful lines interwoven precisely.

I squinted at them, quickly understanding what each of them did. There were several. One was to reduce gravity on his person. Another was one I had not thought of, but it pushed back pressure from all directions. It would be something he would use to keep an object from being crushed. And finally, the third was simply a hardening effect. Though hardening one's skin would be incredibly difficult to move with, it appeared he was hardening whatever that white shimmer was around his body. 

In fairness, they were passably creative talismans he had put on himself.

I pulled out several pieces of A-grade paper and bit my thumb, quickly scribbling out a talisman to match the ones he had put on himself. I then slapped the first two to my wrists, and the third I slapped to my suit, empowering it similar to the aura. It wasn't quite as complete, but the three certainly lessened the burden on me, and I walked several more steps up to match him. 

Now the master inscriptionist was staring at my talismans. "You used your blood?" 

I crossed my arms in front of me. "Some of us were born to be inscriptionists. Others, like you, have likely spent their entire lifetimes learning nothing." I couldn't help it. When it came to inscriptions, I was arrogant as fuck. But it was only arrogance if I couldn't back it up. But I could, and thus, it was extreme confidence in my inscription ability. 

"Oh ho ho!" The old man stroked his beard. "A young pup thinks that he knows everything." The old man pulled out several more talismans. "I hope you won't be as silly to use my talismans for your ascent." He then slapped the three down on the next several steps, hopping over them with ease. 

I squinted at the talismans, immediately understanding their purpose. I began walking up those steps, not feeling the pressure of them. As I pulled out more A-grade paper and scribbled out copies of the talismans he had just made with my thumb, I slapped them on the next three steps and marched ahead of him.

"Don't fool yourself over basics," I said. "If you can actually get me to pull out ingredients to make talismans rather than using my blood. Then maybe you'll be able to touch my coattails." I finished walking up the steps and glared at him in challenge to see what he would impress me with next. 

The old man stroked his beard as he inspected one of my talismans. "Sloppy," he said. 

"Functional," I corrected him. "Being able to make talismans on the fly, that function, is a far more useful skill than hoarding them in my spatial reading and pulling them out when I need them." I squinted at the man. "Because eventually you will run out and what will you do then?" 

"I have been making talismans for over a thousand years," the old man arrogantly proclaimed. "You think I will run out?”

“Compared to me, who can make as many as he wants whenever he needs them? Yes. The ability to instantaneously make functional talismans is far superior to pre-making them. What happens when you come up to a challenge that you haven't made a solution for?" I said, touching the next step only to step back as flames consumed it.

"Oh, do you not know how to find a solution to that?" 

The old man pulled out a talisman and slapped it to the step. This time, when the fire tried to consume it, a cool mist escaped the talisman, creating a path through the fire. 

"Trivial," I said, moving through the opening and touching the next step. Only for lightning to crash down around, I quickly made a talisman and threw it to the side, only for all of the lightning to get sucked in. "However, I made a permanent solution to this step." More lightning was produced as I stood on it. My talisman continued to absorb it. 

The old man and I stood on top of what was the 78th step, glaring at each other. Only for the old man to look down the steps and see all of the other initiated struggling to get even half as far as we had. 

"Well, it's certainly true that inscriptionists stand above the rest," the old man folded his hands behind his back and stared down the stairs.

"Well, that was obvious. Though, clearly those who have mastered inscription to my degree will stand on top.”

“Ho, ho, ho! We shall see about that." 

The old man produced a fan of talismans and slapped them on the next five steps. "Now, would you dare take the next five? I have guessed what elements and their solutions put your talismans down and then expect me to take the risk?" 

"Ah," I waved the hands aside, only to read each of them in turn and grit my teeth before stomping up the steps and seeing, just as the old man predicted, he had produced a talisman to counter each of the effects of those steps.

The old man jumped up to join me and I stared at the next set of steps, trying to understand the pattern and thinking about what I needed to create for a path through.