Raelis watched as the boy strode past them, sinking his feet into the shallow lake. He approached the first Step and stood on it.
Nothing happened, as expected. After all, the first 10 Steps were merely an introduction.
The boy reached the 10th Step with ease, yet once he raised his foot to go for the 11th Step, he suddenly faltered.
He didn't fail right away, but it was almost as if his balance was thrown off.
Even so, the boy brushed it off, stepping onto the 11th, then the 12th and 13th. But when he finally reached the 14th Step, his legs began to tremble.
It was clear he was struggling, and yet, to pass the exam, they only needed to cross 25 Steps.
The boy barely made it to the 16th Step before collapsing into the shallow lake, unconscious.
"Failed," Arius announced as he flicked his fingers, teleporting the boy away.
Just like that, someone's dreams were crushed. All because they failed a single simple-looking exam.
But the reality of it was much deeper.
The glowing white tree evaluated the will of those walking on the Steps. The ones who failed early were considered weak-willed, so they were naturally culled.
But the ones who walked past the 25th Step were candidates who had the bare minimum to be nurtured by the academy.
40 Steps? A real talent.
60 Steps? A prodigy.
80 Steps? A genius above all geniuses.
There were 20 more Steps left to reach the tree, but most dropped out by then. As the furthest someone had gone was 85 Steps.
And that record belonged to none other than Zeri Varekan, the manipulator.
Raelis calmed his mind as he watched the candidates attempt the exam.
It went by pretty fast, with each candidate opting to rush the Steps, thinking that would make them less tired for the final Steps.
That misconception only dawned on them when it was already too late.
A few hours went by, and out of the couple thousand candidates that passed the preliminary exam, so far the numbers weren't looking too great.
Only 785 remained. And this was just the first real exam.
Yet he put those thoughts aside as he watched his siblings step up to face the exam.
Therin, the one who was the sickest, managed to get up to 44 Steps.
Then there was Sylis, who barely made it to 31 Steps.
Out of everyone present, Sylis was the most special as he could see a fragment of some future events.
If he was holding back on purpose, there was nothing Raelis could do about it.
The second-to-last sibling was Auren, the person who clearly acted as if he hadn't seen the note Raelis had left all those years ago.
Despite that, he did surprisingly well, even going as far as reaching the 62nd Step.
Finally, there was Zeri, who innocently skipped over the Stone Steps.
Even as she reached the 62nd Step where Auren had struggled greatly, she hadn't even broken a sweat.
When she arrived on the 80th Step, her expression changed.
A serious look appeared on her face as she took a step, then another. It was obviously affecting her greatly, as he could see the veins in her neck bulge.
She continued forward, her steps cracking the stone below as she finally reached the record Raelis remembered.
The 85th Step.
As Raelis thought she would drop out then and there, she stared at the 86th Step, her hands trembling.
Not only that, blood was streaming from her nose and ears, painting the lake below in red.
Her body suddenly burst into bright pink flame as she activated the Flame Body technique.
Zeri took a deep yet shaky breath and raised her foot, then placed it on the 86th Step, shocking all the people present, especially Raelis.
She... broke her own record?
She positioned herself firmly as her bright pink flames began to die down.
Then, she glanced at the headmaster, and with a cheeky smile, fell unconscious.
As her head was about to hit the Step, an invisible energy enveloped Zeri, floating her over to where the rest of the candidates stood.
"That was an excellent performance," Arius clapped with a wide smile.
He maintained his professional façade as he moved on to the last few candidates.
After seeing Zeri's attempt, their spirits were crushed, so only a few managed to get past the 25-Step mark.
And finally...
"Step up, you're the last one."
It was Raelis's turn.
Raelis didn't pay attention to anyone but the Steps ahead.
He took the first Step, then the second. He went all the way up to the 10th without facing any difficulty.
For a moment, he thought things would change once he arrived at the 20th Step, but they did not.
He continued forward, 30th Step, 40th, 50th...
With each Step, he was left surprised.
And when he reached the 61st Step, he halted.
It wasn't because he felt fatigue or anything.
Instead, it was because the next Step would tie him with Auren.
Raelis stared at the Step for a few moments, then stepped forward, tying with Auren, and stepped again, breaking his record.
But Raelis wasn't done yet. He continued past the 70th Step and arrived at the 80th.
This was already within the domain of those considered geniuses among geniuses.
Despite that, there was still one more genius he was competing with.
Zeri Varekan... Raelis thought, and took another Step.
That was when he finally began to feel the pressure.
It was mild at first, but with each consecutive Step, it increased drastically.
So by the time he was on the 84th Step, he was drenched in sweat. His bones ached, and he felt like passing out at any moment.
But the sheer fact that Zeri was slightly ahead haunted him.
He wanted to surpass her.
He wanted to prove to himself that he had what it took to really turn his fate around in his second shot at life.
But something was missing. A reason to keep going beyond this point.
Revenge was his main goal, but what came after?
Nothing. He hadn't thought that far ahead.
Standing on the 84th Step, he couldn't help but gain a sudden surge of clarity.
The empire had always existed with bloodlines being its main way of measuring the worth of a person.
That was also why his life was so unfair.
So even if he got revenge and humiliated or killed all those who had wronged him, the problem was the empire itself.
Past revenge would come a moment of chaos, and in that chaos, Raelis would take control and rewrite the empire's entire way of doing things.
And he'd start off with the one thing that had wronged him most: bloodline discrimination.
It felt as if a fire had lit up in his chest as he realized what it was he was truly after.
The will to change.
Raelis's heartbeat began to increase as faint traces of orange flame appeared around his feet, yet he didn't realize at first.
He took a step forward, almost making it look effortless.
The faint traces of a flame soon turned into more. It expanded up to his knee, then all the way to his abdomen.
But the only thing he was focused on was the path ahead.
The 85th Step, the 86th.
He paused, but didn't stop there.
Raelis kept going, finally reaching the 90th Step to the surprise of all candidates present.
Their voices rang out like a dull noise in his ears as the orange flames reached his neck and swiftly expanded forward, covering his entire head.
Raelis felt a warm, tingly sensation envelop him, followed by a distant bell chime and blue pop-ups flashing wildly in front of his eyes.
<+1 Bloodline Purity>
Flame: ??? Primordial Flame (☆ — Mastery: 99% → 100%)
Raelis waved the pop-ups away and kept walking... until he finally stopped.
This time, he was fatigued.
But he could now rest.
After all, the glowing white tree was only an arm's length away.
With shaky steps, Raelis approached, extended his fiery hand, and rested it against the white tree's bark.
To his surprise, an electric jolt shot up his arm as his vision turned dark.
He hadn't passed out. Instead, the white tree was the only thing visible in the completely black space.
That was when the tree began to twitch uncontrollably, its white leaves falling right in front of him.
And it only stopped once there wasn't even a single leaf left.
A moment of silence ensued when, all of a sudden, the leaves rustled before bursting outward.
They swirled around the air, circling the white tree, and finally taking the shape of a majestic white phoenix.
It sat on one of the branches of the tree, looking down at Raelis.
Suddenly, the white phoenix raised a single wing and plucked a feather.
The white feather slowly fell, its shape twisting into that of a smooth egg as it landed right beneath his feet.
Raelis glanced at the white phoenix and, without uttering a single word, could tell what it wanted him to do.
He leaned down and picked up the palm-sized egg before holding it before the phoenix.
But he soon realized it had already vanished, and so did the completely white tree.
Now there was only Raelis and the white egg standing in this darkness.
But not for long, as he noticed a pop-up in the corner of his vision, and once he focused on it, his eyes widened.
A Phoenix Egg...? Raelis thought, dazed. Is this the reward for reaching the tree?
Yet he couldn't ponder for long, as his exhaustion caught up with him, making him stagger to the ground.
The sight of the familiar lake returned, and yet, the tree was nowhere to be seen.
Raelis chuckled as his vision began to fade.
But before it did, he made sure to store his Phoenix Egg in his pocket.
And just like that, he passed out.