Elias started climbing the pillar of heaven, not knowing exactly how it would help a person awaken their class. Was there something at the top? Or was there some secret in the process itself?
He didn't even have enough strength to pay attention to the other youngsters as he was barely hanging on. Even the slightest mistake could send him plummeting to the ground.
Unlike him, the others were doing much better. Even the weakest of them had climbed higher than Elias, who was giving his all to climb each inch.
In a different space, many people stood surrounded by a myriad of mirrors. But none of the mirrors showed their reflections.
Instead, the mirrors showed the youngsters participating in the awakening ceremony, with the descendants of powerful families as the focus of attention.
"Is that your youngest?" a woman, shrouded in darkness, asked. "I must say, he seems quite lackluster."
Her gaze was entirely focused on Elias, who looked like he could fall any second. His arms were already trembling, with his fingers almost on the verge of breaking.
Next to the woman, stood a middle-aged man. Even when he heard the question, the man didn't respond.
"He hasn't even climbed five meters yet. That looks like the worst performance I have seen throughout the years," another man said, not hiding his smile. "It looks like the Ashborn Family has finally run out of their luck."
"Look at my son, he is already in the lead. He will definitely awaken successfully, getting the greatest class ever." he further said, not hiding his smirk either.
Almost everyone in this place was the Leader of the Founding Families of the Dimensional Academy.
It was a tradition for them to arrive and watch the performance of their descendants during the awakening ceremony. However, this was the first time that the Ashborn Family Leader had arrived.
Many thought that it was because he was expecting a lot of things from his youngest son. Was that young boy really that great?
With the appearance of the Ashborn Family Head, many had started to overestimate Elias Ashborn. But now, that overestimation had resulted in nothing more than mockery.
"If he fails, then it simply means that he was useless from the beginning," Ashborn Family Lord opened his lips after a long time, uttering only a single sentence that left everyone stunned.
They had heard the rumours that the Ashborn Family Lord didn't like his youngest son, but they thought that these were just false rumours.
After hearing his words, they couldn't help but wonder if there was some reality to those words. Did the man not come here to cheer for his son, but to simply watch him fail?
The Ashborn Family Lord didn't look even the slightest bit disappointed at his son's performance. If anything, he seemed like that was exactly what he wanted in the first place.
That left many people wondering. If he already knew that his son was going to fail, then why did he even let him participate in the awakening?
....
Back at the Awakening Ceremony, the first person had already climbed halfway up the pillar before becoming exhausted and barely holding on.
The boy took one hand off and brought out a small gem from his pocket. He placed the gem in his mouth, which immediately helped him recover his stamina.
There were no rules against using external objects in the Awakening Ceremony. Throughout the centuries, these objects had been used for the successful completion of the ceremony.
Just like the young boy, others also placed the gems in their mouths when they could no longer resist the exhaustion. Unlike them, Elias was holding on by himself.
Three hours passed before the first person climbed to the top of the pillar.
A few minutes later, another person reached the top. Within the next hour, all the descendants of the Major Families had reached the top of their pillars.
Meanwhile, many from the weaker families had failed to reach the top. They didn't have treasures to help them, and eventually fell from the pillar.
As they were falling, the hooded figures appeared again. They grabbed those who had failed and disappeared with them.
After seven hours, there was not a single person who was still climbing the pillar except Elias. All of them had either reached the top, or fell to the ground.
Elias, on the other hand, wasn't even halfway up the pillar. He was still climbing on, even after his arms had almost grown numb.
He could only give himself a little relief by giving rest to each of his arms occasionally. Even if it was looking impossible to reach the top, he still kept climbing at his slow pace.
After two more hours passed, Elias had finally barely finished climbing one percent of the pillar.
He was drenched in sweat and his body was literally begging him to give up. He was starting to feel as if he might really die if he didn't give up, but something inside him didn't let him give up.
He was obsessed, just like he was on the day, running alone with his sister's body. Even then, his heartbeat was reaching a dangerous level, but he didn't stop.
"If death it is, then death I shall accept," he mumbled, reaching out his right hand to hold on to something higher.
....
"Is he still climbing?"
"Why doesn't he give up? Does he really think he can reach the top?"
"At this rate, the ceremony won't end until he either reaches the top or falls down. How long are we going to wait here?"
"Do you still think he can succeed? It's only a matter of time before he fails. There's no suspense in it anymore. I'm leaving."
Initially, many observers were curious to watch an Ashborn fail. Now, even after close to fifteen hours had passed, the boy was still climbing like a snail.
They had already grown bored and started leaving. To them, it was clear as day that Elias was simply wasting his time.
As for watching him fail, they could always ask for a recording of the ceremony later. They didn't have to be there personally.
The mirror room, which had been filled with the Leaders of the Major Families, was now almost empty. There was only one person left behind, watching Elias climb.
It was the Leader of the Ashborn Family.
"Isn't that enough? Just end the ceremony." He raised his head, as if talking to someone that couldn't be seen. "He has failed."