Chapter 10 : the 80th celestial step.
The beast on the 80th celestial step were fewer than the previous ones, on slightly more than a in total but they looked so fierce and unequaled, only second to the ten thousand beasts above them.
"Sorry for disturbing You guys, continue as you were, I'm going to take a break here for a little while, ill leave here soon enough and you won't even know I was here," Adriel said with a humble tone this time.
He hoped to gain a moment of respite after all the tearing and hammering his soul have been through.
But how could these fiendishly strong Fierce beasts give a flipping hell about how bad he felt, instead they felt they got slapped in the face.
their feelings of pride hurt from the fact that Adriel didn't take the initiative to form an innate link with them to condense his martial soul.
"How dare this puny human look down on us'
'We are the strongest beast in the world second only to the ten thousand divine beasts!'
'You dare ignore us!!'
Their hearts began to boil in rage and they opened their mouths and began to shout angrily at Adriel.
Surprisingly though they didn't send forth their aura yet instead all the beasts on the 80th floor turned to look at a distinctly ghoulish giant monkey in their middle, the guy was floating cross-legged with his eyes closed.
The atmosphere grew tense even without them releasing any pressure
Adriel frowned, he found it strange that these guys could talk and he had somehow managed to make them think he was looking down on them and only had his eyes on divine beasts.
'Something must be wrong with all the beasts on the nine celestial beasts step, I mean how can they just turn hostile when I don't form an innate link with them"
Adriel let out short coughs trying to then he also looked in the direction of the white monkey and said: " there seems to be some misunderstanding here, I'm not looking down on any of you, I'm not even here for the divine beast but the special beast above them."
Immediately he said that the white monkey opened its crimson red pair of eyes, Adriel felt stabbing pains in his soul when the pair of eyes landed on him, the beast didn't say anything for a while, it just started frowning.
"There are no beasts above the ten thousand beasts puny human but there are beasts as strong as them such as me, my Evo-potential doesn't lose out to divine beasts" the white man spoke, its voice was rough and gruff.
"I've waited so many years and no other human has been able to reach the 80th celestial step except you, but that's as far as you go because there is no way you can resist our combined pressure, even the strongest of the divine beast on the 90th step can't take it either"
"So I suggest you form an innate link with one of us, it will be worth your while human" The white ape declared.
He tried to sound nice but his appearance gave away his ruthlessness and even leaked out threatening aura's
Adriel couldn't help but sigh in his heart, had the system not said anything he would just give up ascending and condense a martial soul here unfortunately his sights were now on that beast, and he would give up on it even though his soul was weak.
"I'm sorry but I have to decline your offer big whitey" Adriel gave his answer calmly and prepared for the inevitable.
The white Ape wasn't in a hurry to unleash its aura yet instead he said"Even if you manage to pass us with a stroke of luck, there's no way you can continue climbing so the best divine beast you'll get is the lowest of all divine beast unlike us the peak of all fierce beasts!" Then he paused and asked again but this time his tone was domineering as if there was no room for refusal "will you form an innate link with one of us now?"
Adriel didn't reply, he just secretly continued recovering his soul energy.
Seeing Adriel remain silent for long the white ape finally couldn't remain calm anymore and shouted "Want to step forward, did you ask your daddy this titantular Ape if he agrees, fellow king beasts lets show him our power so he can know just how dangerous we can be"
As soon as he said that the beasts on the 80th step all grew angry and unleashed their auras.
The void trembled the 80th step shook slightly!
When the insurmountable auras reached him, Adriel's face fell, he felt like hundreds of mountains were pressing down on his shoulders trying to crush him to mush.
Their auras were not only oppressive but also had different elements mixed with them, fire, ice, darkness, earth!. A burning sensation and a freezing sensation. Hit Adriel head on and crushed with powerful earth filled auras, worse of all was the darkness creeped into his soul and began to torture him.
The pressure was ten times stronger than the previous celestial step and the pain that came along with it was so unbearably that the urge to just initiate physical contact with any of these beasts and make them in his martial soul rose in Adriel's heart, but only for a brief moment though.
He gritted his teeth and tried his hardest to resist the pressure, he wanted to take a step forward but he couldn't, the force opposing him was just too strong.
'damn I was too hasty this time, I should have rested on the 65th floor' Adriel berated himself in his heart under the hostile malevolent pressure.
If souls could sweat, beads of sweat would have appeared on his forehead, and his whole body will be socked in it too, still, he could feel the numbness in his heart.
Things were looking grim and if a change didn't occur soon, he would have no choice but form an innate link with any beast on the 80th realm and condense his soul.
"Think, think, think, there has to be away, I can't lose this opportunity, who knows when I'll find another beast that can make the divine beast forge show a reaction."
Suddenly an idea lit up in Adriel's mind and he thought of the mysterious energy dwelling in his beast space, he always had a feeling that the uses weren't limited to just beast evolution or master space awakening.
'If I can channel the energy around my soul it should be able to offset the pressure from these hateful bastards!'
Adriel pondered a bit then a weak smile gradually resurface on his face.
Under the fervent gaze of hundreds of beasts Adriel closed his eyes and sat down cross-legged, he steeled his heart and tried to forget the pressure pressing him, soon he managed to enter a deep meditative state then he focused his awareness to feel the existence of the mysterious energy in his beast tamer space.
Some seconds later he began to envision himself as a vessel for it.
Soon he managed to make the mysterious energy stir slightly.
Immediately after it did the system message came alive once more
[You have successfully managed to gain rudimentary control of them ??? Energy ]
[Midas touch Lv 1 as advance to Midas touch lv 2]
[Rewarded low-grade soul-nourishing divine light]
A noble pure white light appeared from nowhere and enveloped the entirety of Adriel's soul, and slowly his battered began to heal, soon his whole soul was fully healed and devoid of any injuries but the pure white aura didn't dissipate and continued nourishing his soul!