You are all my wings!

Anemiei said.

"She also pays attention to the rankings of other ranks? Wasn't it said that she only had a strong grasp of the [Life and Death Rank]?"

Lyon frowned and asked.

"The Ascension Staircase is connected to the Origin Land, so she naturally has control over it. If it is the [Life and Death Staircase], as long as the historical ranking enters the top thirty, she will take the time to observe and study the other party's talents. If the talents are superior, she may study the mysteries of the other party's talents and use them to transform into a new generation of pure elemental spirits."

Anemi explained:

"If it's another long-term level, she'll usually only pay attention if it's one of the top five in history, so I believe there shouldn't be any problem."

"Um... what if I told you that I achieved the highest ranking in history in the [Investigation of Things] stage? What would happen then?"

Leon was somewhat exasperated. Why did Agniemi have to wake up now of all times?

Wait, why didn't Astalia remind me of this situation?

Was it that she didn't know, or that she didn't expect herself to be so fierce?

"My dear, are you kidding me? Even if you have such amazing talent, this is still the first in history..."

Agniemiy thought Lyon was trying to liven things up.

“I wouldn’t joke like that at a time like this.”

"That……"

Agniemi was taken aback, but immediately chose to believe him, calmly saying:

"Then I'll have to hide for now. You must be very careful. You might be watched by the will of the Origin Goddess at any time. Remember to stay calm and don't silently recite my name in your mind! If her will discovers me, you must immediately sever ties with me and pretend that you don't know that I've possessed you. That might be safer, understand?"

While they were chatting, Feherrotija, who was walking side by side ahead, was suddenly shrouded in mist and disappeared without a trace.

Not only that, Castiglione, who had entered earlier, had also disappeared without a trace.

Lyon's heart tightened slightly as he noticed that a mist was also spreading in front of him, pressing in with irresistible force and enveloping him in the blink of an eye.

Suddenly, the view in front of me turned completely gray.

A strange, graceful, and slender silhouette appeared faintly at the end of the mist.

Chapter 444 Goddess of Origin

Lyon felt a chill run down his spine. Could it be that Agnimi was right, and the will of the Origin Goddess had been cast upon him?

He stared intently, and found that the graceful outline was becoming clearer and clearer.

Beneath the mist, a pair of phoenix eyes gleamed with dazzling divine light, their color hazy yet radiant.

"The first person in history to advance through the ranks of knowledge and understanding?"

A clear, elegant female voice, carrying countless echoes, rang out.

When Lyon heard it, he felt as if his body and mind were being washed by some kind of sacred music, and his soul trembled violently.

After calming down, he spoke in a state of complete clarity:

"who are you?"

Unfortunately, he used up all his time in purification mode today, otherwise he would definitely have turned on purification mode.

Now I can only rely on the basic skills of entering a meditative state that I have developed through meditation.

Who I am is not important.

A graceful silhouette, a voice devoid of joy or sorrow, utterly calm:

"I happened to discover the changes in the historical ranking of the Ascension to Godhood, so I came to see which figure was so amazing."

Could she truly be the will of the Origin Goddess?

"It just so happens that I've stumbled upon my area of ​​expertise. So, after you've finished reading, what are your thoughts?"

Lyon said calmly.

"not bad."

The woman with the graceful figure said, "But it's only not bad. At first glance, it's very strange that your talent is enough to achieve the first place in the history of the [Investigation of Things] stage. Logically speaking, it should be impossible. Strange, really very strange... Could it be that you possess a secret treasure or talent that even I can't see?"

Lyon immediately realized that this guy had probably seen through his physical nature at a glance, and that he didn't actually possess a level of ability that surpassed that of ordinary people.

After all, the reason she is so powerful is mainly due to the six modes, which are the optimized talents of the female protagonist and the villains, and then applied to herself, thus producing an exponential enhancement effect.

"My talents are far beyond what ordinary physiques can describe. You are simply making a fuss over nothing. Do you have anything else to say? If not, I hope you will not stop me from continuing to ascend the steps."

He seemed completely unconcerned.

"No rush. Facing me directly is also part of the ascension trial, and I still need to observe you further to see what makes you special."

The voice, with its graceful silhouette, remained reliably calm, seemingly devoid of any emotion.

Although the voice inherently contains a variety of mysterious echoes, giving it an infinitely powerful ability to cleanse the soul, it is indeed devoid of any emotional color, like a robot.

It's unclear whether this is the essence of the Origin Goddess or a quality possessed by the will that she differentiated from.

"Face to face?"

"That's right, you'll experience it soon enough."

The graceful silhouette said:

"You were unaware of it at first because your vitality was strong enough to resist the erosion of the invisible death force of the world."

Lyon began to ponder.

These hazy mists are indeed slowly infiltrating the body, both inside and out, at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.

If you don't pay close attention, you might easily miss this detail.

The graceful silhouette said:

"In this [Long Staircase of Life and Death], the boundary between life and death has disappeared. Any living being that enters must undergo countless reversals of the boundary between life and death, seeking life in death and refusing death in life, repeatedly grasping, forging, and sublimating its own life force, in order to have a chance to pass the level. This level does not test any of your knowledge accumulation, but only whether you can cultivate a sufficiently high-quality life essence under this long staircase after removing all magic and special characteristics. This is the most direct test of your potential and endowment."

As she spoke, she seemed to chuckle softly, adding:

"But if you face me directly, you will be able to experience the reversal of the boundary between life and death faster, more frequently, and more intensely than others. You may even have the opportunity to cross the limit of lifespan, cross destiny, and cross time and space in this reversal of life and death. Also, don't think about leaving once you fail to ascend the steps. You may not be able to accept the consequences."

Leon frowned and asked, "What do you mean by consequences I can't accept?"

"It's very simple. If you can't even overcome three life-and-death reversals on your first attempt at the [Stage of Life and Death], then an indelible fear of death will inevitably remain in your mind, and you will be unable to challenge this stage again. And without exception, they all failed to become gods afterward, generally dying from the life-and-death tribulations contained in the enlightenment of godhood. So let me remind you, the greatest genius in history, if you want to become a god, a powerful god, you must seize this opportunity and hone a sufficiently strong life essence."

As she finished speaking, the light in her eyes shone even brighter.

Lyon suddenly became confused.

The next moment, however, what appeared before them was a scene completely different from the Long Stairway to Life and Death.

In a daze, he seemed to see another future where he had not awakened his past life memories, and after growing up in the family of the baron, he was forced to leave home because he was not the eldest son and could not inherit the title, and lived an ordinary life.

This period of time was very long, lasting more than fifty years.

It was as if he was trapped inside another body, observing another version of himself live out his entire life.

You can see another version of yourself who, lacking the wisdom of a past life, is inexperienced, careless, makes countless foolish choices, gets cheated and robbed by a gang of adventurers, becomes penniless and a beggar, and eventually dies of a cold.

In his final moments, as he lay dying, Leon seemed to take over the impoverished body of this other part of his life.

His body, severely infected with a cold, also rendered him unable to move.

When I opened my eyes, rats scurried across the dirty alleyway corner.

Even many magical techniques and properties in his mind seemed to be sealed off, making them unusable.

Am I going to die?

But how could this happen so suddenly?

An invisible force seemed to be interfering with my mind, trying to make me accept the fact that I was about to die.

Fortunately, seemingly due to his past life's wisdom, he immediately remembered that he had once been a math teacher, a scumbag who, despite being a small-town math problem solver, was skilled at sweet-talking and flirting with girls.

'So this is the [Stairway to Life and Death]? It's truly terrifying. I almost mistook it for reality if I wasn't careful.'

'No wonder that guy said that if the challenge fails and the mind is overwhelmed by the fear of death, then it's indeed possible for the person to collapse prematurely when they become a god.'

After a long pause, he slowly cleared his mind of distractions and began to think about what he should be thinking about.

He looked up at the sky, his cloudy eyes searching for any detail he could find in this memory.

'Moreover, according to what seems to be the will of the Origin Goddess, the Long Path of Life and Death requires facing the limits of life and death countless times to cultivate life essence in order to pass? Her not leaving is to test my talent? To confirm whether I truly possess the talent to become the greatest in history?'

Why does she insist on judging me by my natural talents?

'Regardless, I need to deceive her with my performance during the Long March, to make her believe that my talent surpasses her observations, to convince her that she has simply never seen a special genius like me before, and to dispel her doubts about me.'

He had absolutely no thoughts about Agniemi.

After being reminded by Anemi, he immediately used the Deception on himself and solidified the effect of the Deception with 5 copies of the Essence of Reality and Illusion. At this point, his stock dropped to 50 copies again.

The deceptive rhetoric was: 'All my memories of Anemi are a black box of memories that cannot be opened on my own. They can only be unlocked by Anemi's telepathic communication.'

Non-real fraud can deceive all conceptual forms and all things that do not actually exist.

Therefore, memories, which are similar to information in the brain, can also be faked.

However, since non-real deception consumes a lot of mental energy and illusory essence, he doesn't use it often.

How do I complete this level now?

Is it about facing death with equanimity to complete this life-or-death reversal? Or is it about being able to turn the tide every time one faces a desperate situation in this illusory life?

After a moment's thought, Leon decided to try his best to keep this illusory version of himself alive.

The phrase "seek life in death, and refuse death in life" convinced him that living as long as possible might be the right answer.

But what should we do with this body right now?

'I just can't use my original methods anymore, but if I learn them again, I might have a chance to use magic. And although I haven't taken up a supernatural profession, I have trained, and I still have some residual magic power.'

Thinking this, Leon silently recalled all the micro-magic he possessed, meditating on the images and imprinting them into the mind of this illusory life.

A moment later, his eyes flickered, and he actually succeeded.

A flame appeared at his fingertips, which he flicked in front of him, setting the trash in front of him ablaze.

Soon, as the temperature rose, his body, which was on the verge of death from a severe cold, began to sweat and he felt a little better.

'Next, we'll use water-based healing magic.'

As expected, he succeeded again. With the various perfect magical techniques he had mastered in his life, he quickly relearned them and successfully resolved this predicament in his life.

Subsequently, this illusory life was manipulated by him. Using the basic skills of a con artist, he rose all the way up, survived several near-death experiences, and successfully advanced to the fourth rank, slightly extending his lifespan.

However, this is the limit.

This illusory life has many limitations. First, there is the limitation of knowledge. He knows many high-level mysteries, but he just can't use them in that illusory life.

Only basic knowledge can be used.

Those at the intermediate level and above need to find their way in the virtual world.

Secondly, there are limitations imposed by his innate abilities. Also, it seems that due to the illusory nature of his body, he cannot activate his special mode and cannot encounter any familiar women. Apart from the shared world background, everything else is completely different.

Finally, when he took over this part of his life, he was already very old and had accumulated too many hidden injuries.

No matter how skilled he was, he could not resist the decay of his body and died of illness at the age of 145.

In the instant of death, mysterious characters suddenly flashed before my eyes.

[First reversal, reversed death three times, extended lifespan by 81 years, awarded one fragment of the Life-type Authority]

Immediately afterwards, the mysterious text dissipated, transforming into a fragment of a power that was slightly smaller than the previous ice-type power, which landed in his palm.

However, although this fragment of authority was much smaller, the mysterious characters engraved on it seemed to be only slightly simpler than his Ice Time Dual-Element Authority Fragment.

It is evident that this fragment of authority is of fairly good quality.

But before he could be happy for long, he found that his field of vision had returned to the state he had been in before, where he was talking to what appeared to be the will of the Goddess of Origin.

"It's alright, your first performance wasn't bad, but you're still far from being the most talented in the history of the 'Genius of the Path of Knowledge'. You only showed your cunning and excellent basic magic skills, but you didn't show your true potential."

The graceful silhouette seemed to carry a hint of doubt in her voice:

"Fine, let's do it a few more times."