Ronan readied himself just outside the first step, waiting for the event to start on the principal’s signal. Since there were a hundred eyes on him at once, he pretended to do some light stretching and show how laser-focused he was.

However, his calm and collected pretense broke when he caught a glimpse of a smiling Percy Draco. Although the elder brother said nothing, Ronan knew that smile very well. Since childhood, in fact.

It was a provocative smile saying ‘Alright, let’s see how far you can go, Junior.’ A smile Ronan hated as it reminded him that Percy was the champion here and he was still a challenger. He had yet to prove himself.

A fire burned inside Ronan’s eyes. Although unlike Percy Draco it did not turn scarlet, one could see a distinct spark in Ronan’s eyes; the shine of brilliance!

“I’ll show you…” muttered Ronan as he regained control over his emotions.

He had made up his mind to reach step number 61, and he showed his intent right from the start as the signal to start the Ascension came from Principal Chanakya.

Ronan’s aura exploded with force as he practically chose to skip one step at a time for the first 10 steps. In a flash, Ronan was on step 10, the pack struggling on steps 1 and 2.

The green, yellow, and blue houses were aghast as audible gasps could be heard from their members, especially the older ones who had given this test multiple times.

The strategy this time around adopted by the majority was to wait a full 30 seconds before ascending a single step. However, Ronan Draco simply decided to make all kinds of planning look petty in front of him as he ascended the mountain like a boss, one step every second.

Only moments had passed when Ronan reached the step 20 mark, whistles and applause raining down on him from the red house, the support for his climbing speed at maximum from his housemates._.

‘COME ON, RONAN!!’

‘THAT’S THE WAY TO GO!’

‘DON’T SLOW DOWN!’

‘SHOW EVERYONE WHO’S THE BOSS!’

‘BREAK PERCY’S RECORD!’

The shouts from Bhakti house students were strong. To the ordinary students, Ronan looked invincible at the moment. He climbed at a blistering pace that was practically unheard of. However, to the more experienced people gathered, it was an act of foolishness.

“Idiot!” exclaimed Percy , as he looked at his little brother climb. He was disappointed in the approach Ronan had taken.

“Foolish boy.” the Blue House Master said as he looked towards the Red House Master, who had a serious look on his face.

“The second one doesn’t seem to have the common sense of the first, climbing so fast it would be a miracle if he reaches the 40th step. Breaking his brother’s record? Impossible!” the Yellow House Master commented.

“It seems like the seniors of your Red House did not educate your star well, or his arrogance made him choose to not listen to them. Either way, how shameful for the red house.” the Green House Master said with a sly smile on her face.

The Red House Master could only listen to these comments without a retort. She knew better than anyone about the nature of the Pressure Ascension event. The very idea was to build fatigue in one’s muscles as the higher gravity would make moving forward, breathing, and blood circulation inside one’s body more difficult with every passing step.

In such conditions, recovery at every step was critical, as without rest one could only go as far as the tolerance of their muscles allowed.

Theoretically, anyone could climb the mountain once they were level 35, since level 35’s had the strength to walk from step 98 to 99 and to step 100. However, it was the entire process of climbing from 1-98 that made taking the 99th step that much more exponentially difficult.

Hence, under such a test, Ronan’s approach of brute forcing his steps to climb forward was the most useless method out there.

Ronan could feel it in his legs once he crossed step number 30. His muscles were starting to feel the pain, the accumulated fatigue of climbing 30 steps had begun to bear down on him, his lungs wanted a break and his legs demanded rest.

However, it was exactly at this moment that Ronan Draco’s mentality differentiated him from the rest of the crowd. While others only valued success in any way possible, for Ronan Draco, excellence was his only goal.

Ronan did not want to be first if it meant that he had to scheme and measure his way to the top. If he did not have what it took to get to the top in a breeze, he would gladly fall, fail, and pick himself up to try again.

Ronan was not afraid of failure, he was afraid of mediocrity. His aspiration in life was to be the undeniably strongest, and not the schemingly strongest.

Grandpa Augustus always used to tell him a quote while he trained, “When your mind asks you to stop Ronan, that’s when you know you are 40% to your limits.”

Remembering this, a smile came to Ronan’s face. Even though he could have potentially rested at step 30 and proceeded slowly from then on out, Ronan chose to stride forward unperturbed.

When he crossed the 40 step mark, everyone thought that with certainty it was where Ronan Draco will falter… That was where he would fall. However, contrary to everyone’s expectations, just as fast as Ronan went from step 10 to 20, he climbed steps 40 to 50.

The clamor at the base of the mountain intensified, everyone’s gazes focused on one man and one man only, as they could not believe their eyes at the feat being performed by the Red House’s freshman.

Even Percy looked on with a face of disbelief when Ronan went from step 50 to 51 at the same pace. It was because after step 50, the increase in gravity was not 0.2G anymore, but a whole 0.5G!

It was like climbing 2 steps at once, yet Ronan still did not slow down, which was testament to the strength of the boy.

Every House Master stood from their seat as they went towards the very edge of the viewing platform to see the phenomenon in close proximity, as they could not find words to describe Ronan’s climbing pace.

‘Does the boy feel no fatigue?’ was the question every House Master had in their mind. However, little did they know about how Ronan felt at that moment.

Ronan had completely lost feeling in his legs at that point as even taking a single breath was laborious to him. However, the only figure in his mind was the number 51/61 .

Ronan’s legs had responded to his willpower, although with a bit of a delay now as he took three seconds now as opposed to his usual pace of one second to climb to steps 52, 53, and 54.

When he lifted his leg to take step number 55, everyone watched tongue-tied as they saw Ronan Draco with his fingernails dug inside his palms to the point they were bleeding, take the step with his teeth gnashed.

56!

The entire Red House erupted into celebrations as they lost their damn minds when Ronan broke Percy’s record and entered the history books.

Even the Red House Master took off her hat in joy, screaming at the top of her lungs, giving a sonic boom to the air as she launched her fists up in delight.

He had already long sealed his position as first place the moment he went past step 25, but he had bagged the all-time record as well!

However, deaf to all the cheering that went down below, Ronan only had one figure in his mind as he took step 57, then 58, and finally 59.

At that moment, Ronan’s knees buckled, his consciousness threatening to fade away as his brain no longer received enough blood from his heart under the high gravity environment.

Percy, who was smiling at his brother breaking his record a moment ago, looked extremely serious as he saw Ronan fall to one knee. It was a precarious situation for Ronan, should he lose balance , he might fall a series of steps resulting in major injury.

Ronan’s sense of balance had started to become distorted as the world spun around him. However, despite all that, Ronan Draco crawled his way to step number 60.

It was at that moment Principal Chanakya saw the whites of Ronan’s eyes devoid of any pupil inside, as the boy had lost all consciousness. Even so, the unconscious body of Ronan chose to hurl itself over step number 61, before Ronan passed out with his fists raised to the air on that step.

The principal himself had to rush down the mountain to save the brat from tumbling down.

The Red House was in an uproar of madness, while the other house students could not help but applaud the feat that Ronan Draco had achieved. Friends or rivals, everyone respected greatness and Ronan’s performance today , that had moved everyone’s hearts as all four House Masters clapped for the boy.

84 seconds… That’s how long it took Ronan to climb 61 steps as the others were still struggling on step number 3, displaying the difference between heaven and earth and just how far he was from the pack around him.

Nobody knew Ronan’s situation currently , nobody knew that he had passed out , as everyone assumed that Ronan was fine, it was only the principal who carried the unconscious boy on his shoulder who truly realized the sheer willpower that the boy had to have climbed the last 2 steps of the mountain without being conscious.

Chanakya was not someone who was in the mortal levels of power below 100. He was a veteran who had founded this very school since day one. Seeing many prodigies and many unique talents.

Yet, holding Ronan over his shoulder as he rushed him to the infirmary, Chanakya could feel sweat trickle all over his back as goosebumps formed over his body as a question formed in his mind… A frightening thought in his subconscious that told him, ‘Guided properly, just how far could this boy go?’