Unable to comprehend, but since neither the figure was seen in the first nor in the second challenge, it indicates that Silvester must have already reached a more advanced area.
In that case, let’s continue forward. There will surely be a time when we meet him. As long as we can confirm he’s still here, things will be manageable.
Continuing forward along the crystal-clear ground, what eventually appeared before Violet was a series of long stairs.
There were no further spatial changes. The stone pillars that had stood like guards on both sides had disappeared at some point. Looking around, all that surrounded her was a vast Milky Way. At the end of the crystal floor, black long stairs floated in the air, stretching endlessly towards the sky, seemingly without end in sight.
Although no one was there to explain, Violet could sense that this was probably the final stage.
“After testing strength and intelligence, is the 【Ascending the Godhood】 testing perseverance and mental strength?” Musing to herself, the girl took a step forward.
“Clang.”
The moment she stepped onto the black stairs, the crystal-clear ground behind her, which had been like dispersed bubbles along her path, vanished without a trace. All that remained under her feet was the vast expanse of the starry sky, with infinite long stairs ahead and behind.
“The residual power left by the demon... Is it beginning to manifest? This is the oppression that only a true divine realm can bring.” Violet raised her hand, summoning a burst of light, feeling the increased MP consumption and various changes, contemplative.
The original intention behind this challenge was probably to suppress the arriving individuals to the physical level of ordinary people using the power of the divine realm, then exhaust them both physically and mentally through the prolonged climb, causing them to collapse under the burden. Only those with strong enough willpower could persist until the end.
However, there arose a problem when applied to Violet.
Just like when she battled the Goddess of Withering in the Sky City before, even in a divine realm at the level of a main deity, it seemed unable to suppress Miss Priestess to the point where she couldn’t move at all.
It only brought her a certain degree of burden, which meant that the so-called test of willpower was completely out of the question. It was just that the stairs were so long that they seemed a bit overwhelming to look at.
After all, divine nature and divine rank cannot coexist. Other deities, especially the other main gods, usually wouldn’t just idle around and come here to cause trouble in the domain of the Demon God, not to mention that there are almost no true gods left outside who can act freely these days.
If we’re being honest, beings like the Iv80, like Minchen, are the most suitable individuals to undergo such tests. Even the original travelers probably came here with similar purposes, though they ultimately failed.
While contemplating this, Violet’s steps did not show any signs of stopping. In just a few minutes, she had already walked hundreds of long stairs.
Ahead and behind her were still the black stairs that seemed endless, a sight that could easily evoke strong negative emotions, as if trapped in an eternal prison of never-ending terror. This scene was indeed reminiscent of the Sky Temple, the high tower once known as the Sky Temple in the Sky City.
But the stairs here were obviously much more than a thousand levels.
During this time, Violet had tried flying or throwing seemingly harmless attacks into the vast and infinite night sky.
Although in this space where her strength was suppressed, ordinary test subjects shouldn’t have been able to do such things, Miss Priestess was just so unreasonable.
The results came out quickly.
She could fly, but after flying up, no matter how high she ascended, she could only see endless stairs. It seemed that this space itself had some kind of loop. After descending, she would always return to the position where she initially ascended.
As for why she knew it was the initial position, naturally, Miss Priestess had left a mark beforehand. Violet had a faint feeling that walking through the stairs in this level had some special significance hidden within, rather than the Demon God intentionally wanting to challenge the trial takers.
The attacks aimed into the distance also received no response. Violet even tried summoning a 7th-tier Light Elemental Spirit and commanded it to fly continuously towards the starry sky. However, the little creature only flew out for a short ten seconds before reappearing next to Violet, looking confused itself.
Obviously, this place was not truly amidst a vast galaxy but a small self-circulating space with boundaries. Even if a trial taker fell from the long stairs, they would eventually return to their original position like the light spirit.
There was no danger, just a pure test of extreme willpower.
Violet couldn’t be certain what would happen in more extreme scenarios, such as if she unleashed high-level magic above Tier 10 or used items like the 【Blade of Hollow Mark】 to open spatial rifts.
However, her intuition told Miss Priestess that such actions would likely lead to more troublesome situations, which would be harmful rather than beneficial to her at this moment. Thus, there was no immediate need to escalate matters to that extent.
She continued ascending the long stairs, silently counting the steps she took.
Five hundred steps...
One thousand steps...
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Three thousand steps...
Ten thousand steps...
The girl sped up as she walked, her footsteps almost turning into afterimages as she broke into a run.
Perhaps ordinary trial takers would have been exhausted by now due to the environmental suppression, but it was difficult for a deity to feel tired.
The power of the divine realm had a relatively limited effect on Violet, her speed was astonishingly fast, yet each step she took was solid and steady.
An hour passed, and she had already ascended thirty thousand steps, yet before her stretched an endless expanse of stairs.
It was a truly despair-inducing sight, but Violet remained undaunted. Instead, she gradually revealed a look of enlightenment, like a white phantom speeding across the infinite black stairs.
At that moment...
*Crack.*
A clear sound of splitting came from afar. The girl immediately halted, not a bead of sweat on her face as she looked up towards the sky. In the corner of the boundless starry sky, a crack had unexpectedly appeared, and true darkness of nothingness began to spread gradually along the rift.
“This is...”
The 【Demon God’s Gem】, which had quietly followed beside Miss Priestess since helping her open the temple gates, showing little remarkable performance thereafter, suddenly began spinning rapidly around Violet. Its frantic movements seemed to convey something to her.
Artifacts possessed consciousness comparable to many sentient beings, constrained by their physical forms, seldom revealing their intellect. The 【Demon God’s Gem】’s current demeanor clearly urged Violet to quicken her pace.
It seemed... it was already the final moment.
“I understand.”
Softly soothing the newly awakened artifact, Miss Priestess cast her gaze towards the top of the long stairs. In that distant and endless place, a glimmer seemed to be gradually brightening.
“Don’t worry. Since I’ve come this far, I won’t let the worst-case scenario happen.”