“Who has summoned me?!” Qiong Qi roared with majesty as he came out of the portal.
“I don’t see any sacrificial offerings… good, the summoner shall do then.” Clarent stated evilly as if he was some demonic entity.
WHAM!
BANG!
The Dragon Ancestor suddenly whacked the two on the back of their heads, knocking their noggins into the ground. He snorted coldly and folded his arms behind his back majestically.
“How dare you act arrogant before me? When there’s trouble to cause, you fellows best act after me from now on, or else.”
Qiong Qi and Clarent were indignant and unwilling. If it was anything else, these cowards would submit after a good beating, but the right to cause trouble was something they would never give up on!
It defined their very beings and made up their divine values as individuals!
Just as the Dragon Ancestor was about to launch a heavenly palm down upon them, Draco called out to them.
“No need for all the stress, Master. Check the details of the floor.”
Draco smiled and informed everyone. He hadn’t just summoned the stooges, but literally almost everyone residing in his Inner Universe.
This included his wives, Hikari, Roma and Zaine as well as his premier children, Rosella, Loki and the newly born Kuro. Along with them were his other non-pregnant wives, accompanied by his second wave children.
There were also Qiong Qi’s wife and kids, Sheera, Nemea and Sphea, as well as Clarent’s better half, Chrona. The Dragon Ancestor was currently being pulled by the ear by the Phoenix Ancestor for his antics, while Zhulong, Medusa and Hanzo Hisashi whose body had been reformed but not perfected, watched them without saying anything.
There were Alisa and Jenna, the two princesses he had kidnapped on the tenth floor, as well as the various women Draco had abducted during the fork knife floors.
Jessica the Amphiptere was also there, along with the hundreds of Dragon Souls that Draco had freed by defeating the Dovahkiin.
He had even called out the Demon Gods from the Martial Spirit World floors, who all fell in line before the 8 Demon Lords from his bloodline. Paimon was excluded because she was on the cusp of giving birth to his demon spawn.
Truly, the entire lineup had been called over.
Just like Draco, they all received the notification and checked over the floor details, only to be shocked by what they read. The Stairway to Heaven? Whoever climbed to the top would become a God?!
Immediately, many with semi-loyalty and understanding of Draco felt excited. This was the chance to become a True God for fuck’s sake! How could they not be moved to tears?!
The group of those excited included the Dragon Souls, the Demon Gods, the various captured women and Jessica.
The Dragon Souls hoped to reach divinity and use the energy of the stairway to condense new bodies in order to follow Draco in the future.
The Demon Gods thought something similar. They hoped to reach the Deity realm of cultivation – which was called the Celestial realm – which skipped over the entire Immortal realms. With such power, their position with Draco would be secure.
Jessica just wanted to become stronger, as it was in her nature. She had worked hard from being a mere Apex Tyrannosaurus to upgrade herself this far, and if she could achieve divinity, she could become a True Dragon!
As for the captured women, their reasoning was clear. If they could obtain divinity, they could renegotiate terms with Draco. They had come to understand that their existence was temporary and fleeting, only made permanent by their captor’s ‘kindness’ so they were not aggrieved per se.
As for those who understood the depth of Draco’s foundation, they were unmoved, only gazing at those excited with strange looks. The wives and children didn’t need to be said, either they possessed Draco’s power or they had felt his power in their loins.
For them, there was no doubt that divinity was in the bag. The only question was what came after.
The Dragon Ancestor and the Phoenix Ancestor remained unmoved because they had long entered the Immortal realm with their foundation and the abundant Spirit Energy in the Inner Universe. Their current realm had already reached Immortal Kings, and they could even beat up veteran titled gods.
Qiong Qi and Clarent were unmoved because they were originally Divine beings, and it was a matter of time before they returned there. Sheera was Draco’s mount and grew along with him, while Chrona was pampered by Clarent and had endless resources to grow.
Nemea and Sphea inherited Qiong Qi’s divine blood and would become divinities once they grew up, not to mention they didn’t much understand the value of such a thing yet.
Zhulong was a primordial of Draco’s world, and would become an Origin grade entity when the universe perfected itself. Medusa was cultivating using the Demonic Dao source, so the traditional True God power was not that attractive to her.
Aliza and Jenna had since long accepted their task to groom Loki, not to mention their own talents. Zaine had already promised to make them Deities in the future, so they were not moved by this.
Hanzo simply did not care.
The fox girl and the rabbit boy who were designated NPCs that Draco could ‘use’ were dumbfounded, wondering what the hell was going on.
“The stairway can be used by any or all of you, so feel free to try your hand at it. Remember, though, it’s got some pressure, so this is a good chance to test your foundation.” Draco spok
e with a smile.
Hearing this, many shared looks and understood why Draco called them here. It was to hone themselves and use this stairway as a grindstone to remove the impurities in their foundation, as well as test the quality of their existence.
The Tower Spirit could only shake in anger when it saw Draco use this noble event as a means to train his people casually. How dare he? How dare he?!
However, as usual, the Tower Spirit was unable to do anything and could only watch like the cuck it was.
The first to go were the ones who were most excited, the Demon Gods and the Dragon Souls. They took the first step and seemed to display expressions of shock, as if they didn’t expect whatever they were feeling.
Nevertheless, they steadily took a second step, then a third and more. Even though their expressions became serious and more grim with each step, they still advanced continuously. If they were unable to climb the first 10 steps with ease, then they should forget about ascending a total of 99 steps.
After they went up, Jessica, Alisa and Jenna were prompted to go. The three beauties of different species also climbed steadily, their expressions changing once they felt the pressure the Tower was talking about.
However, just like those who came before, they still managed to walk up the steps without faltering. After this group, the wives went up. Hikari, Zaine, Roma, Sheera, Chrona and all the other concubines went up the steps.
Apart from Sheera whose expression changed, not even the concubines showed a trace of difficulty. Hikari, Roma and Zaine especially went up the stairs like they were normal steps, soon surpassing even the Demons Gods and Dragons Souls in the lead.
They only slowed down around the final steps, with Zaine stopping on the 69th, Roma on the 76th and Hikari paused on the 91st. Chrona reached the 88th step while Sheera was already panting at the 56th step.
Ophie was also stuck on the 45th step, Natasha on the 53rd, Verita on the 34th. It couldn’t be helped, Verita was a pure human with no powers, it was a miracle for her to have even come that far. The other 28 human concubines weren’t even worth mentioning.
As for the Goddess Descendant concubines, they all hovered around the 50th steps.
Next, it was time for Clarent, Qiong Qi, the Dragon Ancestor and the Phoenix Ancestor to show what they were made of. The four of them seemed to glide upwards without even needing to land, their faces calm and unmoved.
The four easily reached the 98th step and stopped there, gazing down at the rest while waiting patiently. Hikari, seeing that someone else had gone so high, stopped pretending to be stuck and quietly walked up to meet them.
This did not bother Zaine and Roma as they both knew that this sister wife of theirs was truly special. The fact that she would halt her own progress because she didn’t want to hurt their feelings only made them love her more.
“This is a form of tempering, so let’s keep it like this.” Zaine suggested to Roma.
Roma sighed. “I was just about to use my abilities, but you’re right. It’s better to temper our base form and foundation rather than just eliminate the pressure and climb.”
If Zaine and Roma wanted to reach that height, it was not hard, Zaine only had to go full succubus mode and release her royal bloodline, while Roma would have to activate her Ultima Sunt abilities, and they would be there in a snap.
But none of those on the 98th step had used any abilities, rather relying on their innate foundation to reach there. By steadily resisting the pressure until it became standard, they could also temper their own bodies and better their foundation.
That was why Draco had released them all here, not for them to achieve any of whatever bullshit divinity the Zower offered. This was also precisely why the Tower Spirit was fuming to the point where it was hyperventilating.
Aliza and Jenna stopped on the 61st step, showing their solid talent. Then again, these two princesses had been nurtured by Zaine and were of divine descent from their original world.
Jessica had only recently transformed, so she halted at the 60th step. The strongest Demon God was at the 56th step while the weakest was at the 45th step. The strongest Dragon Soul reached the 78th step while the weakest reached the 71st step.
Finally, it was time for the kids to go up. Nemea and Sphea bounced up the steps while Kuro, Loki and Rosella used their power to float above the steps casually, not even recognizing any pressure. They simply zipped up the stairs until they reach the same position as their respective mothers.
Loki hovered around Zaine, wondering why his Mommy was wasting time here when she was far stronger. Zaine laughed and caressed her son’s cheeks. “Sweetie, you can go up to mama Hikari and wait for me, okay?”
Loki nodded. “Okay mum, I will.”
Rosella was also prompted by Roma to wait with Hikari at the top, and the young Gypsy understood much more than her idiot little brother. She quietly flew over and landed on Hikari’s back, seating herself there calmly.
Loki also flew over and hovered behind his older sister.
Rila was the one who had it easiest of them. As an Origin Goddess, a mere divine pressure was like normal air to her. She eventually reached Hikari’s place and jumped on her back as well.
Kuro simply landed near his mother’s snout, where he was assaulted by a loving lick that almost sent him flying one step down. Aggrieved and embarrassed by his mother’s love, he acted tough and rejected any more pampering, which made Hikari sad.
Draco’s other children also di
d not face much problem, the little tykes running up the stairs like normal children would. They had fun playing catch and causing trouble while they climbed, leaving the other fellows speechless.
At this point, everyone’s position had been set, and now it was just left for them to climb their way steadily to the top. This would likely take time, so Draco directly sat cross-legged and began working on practicing his Refinement Tradeskill again.
He had long reached the point of 2% above perfect, needing to reach 5% above perfection. However, for the life of him, he could not figure what other means to use to go further unless he invested a crazy amount of time on this stage alone.
