"amazing"
"outstanding"
"Meh, sapphire is still better."
The whole crowd was anxious to see another show like Sapphires, so they paid close attention to Wilder as he made his way up the steps to heaven.
11th step
12th step
Wilder was becoming slower and slower the further he went on the steps to heaven; he was clearly approaching his limit, but with all the strength he could muster he managed to take one final leap and landed on the 13th step.
At this point, he was completely exhausted; in fact, he couldn't even move after landing on the 13th step.
*challenge failed
The robotic voice from the steps sounded in Wilder's ears; naturally, it was a robot and couldn't account for what Wilder had just gone through—the sheer will it took to achieve all that, the sheer determination, it all blew past the AI like wind.
But the people knew; they knew what it took to get to that point at this age. They knew Wilder was the most dazzling on this stage apart from sapphire.
"Nice turn of events, huh." The old supervisor turned to look at the head instructor with a smile.
He was happy; it wasn't like they wanted to stop funding the academy; they just wanted to know that their money wasn't turning into thin air, and with just these two outstanding cadets, they could rest assured that there will be more in the future.
"It was," said the head instructor, who also nodded.
Contrary to the old supervisor's speculations, he didn't know anything about what Wilder planned to do in the first place, but he was happy he allowed Wilder to go challenge the steps to heaven.
Two geniuses are always better than one
"You all get carried away so easily, no wonder you missed such a diamond the first time," once again the lady in the white lab coat's voice resounded.
She had a red apple in hand as she took a small bite from it; if Wilder were here, he would be able to recognize this person with ease.
This was Liam's mother.
After Anya and the others set off for Savage City, Wilder logged off the game, but in the middle of the night, Liam's mother snuck into his dorm and basically kidnapped him in his sleep. She took him to the lab in their home training facility and continued running several tests on him.
It was to the point that Wilder had to ask the system for help many times, but it gave him no real help at the end of the day. He got released by her, but it was a gruelling experience.
Now she had come to the academy to watch
"What do you mean, young lady?" The person who spoke this time was the old supervisor.
He wanted to know all the details.
The first time? They nearly lost the boy, or what?
"Look, it's starting," Liam's mom said, not paying any heed to what the supervisor said.
They then turned to look at the steps to heaven once again. Wilder was exhausted and couldn't go on anymore, and the steps had already declared the challenge to have ended, so what was the lady in white babbling about?
After staring at Wilder, who had taken a cross-legged position on the 13th step, the supervisor frowned.
Wilder was showing signs of extreme exhaustion; it looked like he would faint at any given moment.
As they looked on, their confusion slowly turned into a frown, and later it morphed into absolute shock.
The two old men in front had their mouths hanging open in shock.
"Hehe, you finally noticed it, huh?" Liam's mom spoke in a mocking tone.
Everyone believed that Wilder was only second in this group of cadets.
They believed that Wilder, although talented, could not meet up to Sapphire; after all, she was their princess, and even though he was in the enhanced human stage, he could only bow
But they were wrong—terribly wrong. Wilder was not in the enhanced human stage, till this moment he had not broken through, right now he was only in the peak human stage.
Even at that, he had managed to reach the 13th step on the stairs to heaven.
"That's the exhaustion phase? Is he only just now breaking through to the enhanced human stage?!!!" One of the senior instructors exclaimed
The people who knew what was going on went silent for a few seconds as they stared at this spectacle in absolute awe.
The exhaustion phase? Wouldn't that mean that he was still at the peak of the human stage? Did a peak human stage expert make it all the way to the 13th step before feeling tired?
How? Why? That didn't make any sense. When did common sense turn upside down?
"cant be…" Noland was the most surprised; in fact, he felt downright bothered.
"I was ambushed by a peak human stage expert and lost? Impossible!!" He couldn't believe it, and he didn't want to believe in it.
It was just too embarrassing.
Even his cronies couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculousness of this situation: a peak human stage expert beating up an enhanced human stage expert. It was unheard of.
In fact, it was downright impossible; the difference between peak human stage and enhanced human stage was like the difference between night and day and wasn't easily crossed.
"Your surprise is only just beginning; I want to see the look on the face of you old tarts when you see that this talent is no longer yours." Laim's mother laughed in her head as she sat beside the main chair.
She had worked hard to enable Wilder to achieve his potential just for this. This look on their faces made her feel happy.
Boom-
Several sounds erupted from Wilder's body as he sat on the 13th step; at this point, he was sweating all over his body and his hands were shaking.
This was the exhaustion phase; he was now in the process of breaking through to the enhanced human stage.
Even though he felt tired, he also felt some sort of relief. He had made it to the 9th step and still didn't feel the exhaustion phase coming on, so he had to push himself, he had to go far and beyond. Now that he had successfully made the exhaustion stage appear, he was elated but couldn't muster the strength to express it