Under the gazes of several onlookers, Kailen paid the large amount of student credits required to climb the mountain, then activated the Asura Enlightenment Physique.
His hair turned deep crimson, alongside his eyes.
His skin, now deep crimson, glowed with crimson archaic runes running across it.
A deep crimson horn was nestled on his forehead, pulsing with otherworldly malevolence.
A thick scent of bloodlust pervaded the environs, causing a couple of students to instinctively back away from him in fright.
"What sort of terrifying physique is this?"
"He’s the Crimson Devil!?"
"Who’s the Crimson Devil?"
"Idiot. Pay attention to things happening in the virtual universe and stop partying all the time."
"Just tell me already."
"Tsk! Alright. Recently, there was a genius who cleared the beginner-stage Ascendant-level version of the Long Hai Training Hall’s tower in just 2 hours, without any failed attempts. He received a ridiculous amount of universe coins and even became an honorary member of the training hall.
Even the Harkers and Darkhavens wanted to recruit him."
Another chimed in, "That’s true. I even heard that he rejected their offers politely, telling them that he belonged to a faction already, and told them that he had to leave the virtual universe to prepare for the academy entrance exams.
However, he didn’t show up for the entrance exams."
"Yeah," a centaur demihuman chimed in, "some assumed he participated in the entrance exams. However, the identity he used in the virtual universe, including his name, was obviously a fake identity, therefore his original appearance could not be traced to an actual person during the entrance exams in the real world."
"Hehehe. So it was him? This guy is really full of surprises. To think that he made a fool of the Harkers and the Darkhavens. They wanted to recruit someone they both wanted to kill so badly, even treating him politely, not knowing that the Crimson Devil was Kailen Darkhaven."
"Hehehe. Apparently, the guy even maintained a calm façade and spoke to them politely with the masked identity, leading them to believe he was some genius from a faraway domain, when he was actually someone they had placed a bounty on and were searching for. I wonder how foolish the Darkhaven Society and Harker Society on campus will feel after finding out about this, hehehehe. This Kailen Darkhaven is a real schemer. To think he’d be only seventeen years old... how terrifying."
Ignoring the conversations, Kailen took the first step on the staircase.
A wave of sword intent washed over him, bearing heavily on him for a split moment before it suddenly disappeared.
"It worked. The time dilation artifact was right." Kailen knew that the reason why the sword intent had disappeared was because of the Asura Enlightenment Physique.
He felt completely unharmed and normal, as if he was taking a breeze in the park.
He took another step.
He passed several students, some seated and some standing at different levels of the staircase to catch their breaths.
Kailen was moving so fast that many wondered whether or not they were hallucinating.
"Is this guy really a first-year rank 1 beginner-stage Ascendant-level lifeform?"
"Must be that physique."
"Have you heard of a physique that can help someone breeze through the mountain challenge? If that were the case, wouldn’t those with special physiques who challenged the Sword Conclave Mountains have reached very high levels?
The Sword Conclave challenges usually have nothing to do with your rank or some physique one may possess, as the only qualification to reach a very high level is usually a very strong perseverance and will."
"I don’t agree with you. Just because some fellas didn’t have physiques that could help them reach very high levels doesn’t mean there aren’t physiques that can aid one in the Sword Conclave Mountains.
After all, most students of the academy have very strong wills. There’s no one who can pass the gruesome entrance exams of the academy without firm determination. Naturally, the academy doesn’t accept those with weak minds in the first place. If it were just a matter of will and perseverance needed to reach high levels in the Sword Conclave Mountains, everyone in the academy would be at the top of the rankings.
The one who just reached the 11th floor is only a second-year student.
Whereas there are senior-year students obviously stronger than him, still struggling to reach even the fifth level."
Groups argued and argued about Kailen’s fast speed and what accounted for his ability to effortlessly climb the first mountain.
However, no matter what conclusion they drew—whether it was pure will, or whether he was relying on the strange physique—he was going to reach the top of the first mountain in the span of a few minutes since he began.
Kailen was moving extremely fast.
Kailen was climbing the first mountain with otherworldly speed.
He didn’t feel any pressure bearing down on him.
While some students were experiencing the torture of their lives, gritting their teeth to climb under the sheer pressure of the sword intent that bore down heavily on them, Kailen was having an easy ride thanks to the Asura Enlightenment Physique.
"I need to hurry up. I’m too slow. If that Lian Yu guy can reach the top of the fifteenth level—which is the top of the fifteenth mountain—and manages to receive Father’s enlightenment, I will regret it. I have to speed up."
A group that heard him speed past them, on hearing him say he was too slow, felt like ganging up on him and beating him to death.
You are climbing the first mountain at this speed, and you are saying you are too slow?
Bro, if you are slow, then aren’t we crawling centipedes?
Oblivious to the thoughts of others, Kailen sped up.
He had to reach the zenith of the first mountain as soon as possible, then proceed to the next one.