After Aurora lay there on the 70th step for two full minutes, a gentle force lifted her and slid her out of the Celestial Stairway’s range.

The next instant, energy surged from every direction, rushing into her like a flood.

She didn’t have to actively absorb it at all. It simply merged straight into the crystal core in her mind.

Aurora had already been at the peak of Tier 9. In the blink of an eye, she broke through Tier 10—her aura still climbing crazily.

Tier 10 peak.

Everyone thought that would be the end.

But her power kept rising.

A moment later, under everyone’s stunned eyes, Aurora pushed straight into Tier 11—and the energy still hadn’t stopped.

It kept pouring in until it stacked her all the way to the peak of Tier 11, and only then did it finally die down.

"This... this is that insane?" someone muttered. Every face was frozen in disbelief.

Grace had explained it before, but seeing it with their own eyes still felt unreal.

"Peak Tier 11... just like that? She passed us?" Skinny Pete blurted, like his brain couldn’t catch up.

"My god," Big Mike complained. "We nearly died a hundred times to get where we are, and she climbs some stairs and just... laps me. That’s ridiculous."

Chris let out a breath, eyes still locked on Aurora. "That’s what people mean by opportunity. This is the kind of insane opportunity that changes your life. Keep going. Climb as high as you can. The higher you get, the bigger the payoff."

"Yeah." The others nodded hard, gritting their teeth as they forced themselves onward.

Aurora steadied her breathing, then gave a helpless little shake of her head.

"Yeah... I really can’t compare myself to you monsters."

But she was easygoing by nature. The frustration didn’t stick.

"You guys got this. I’m heading down first!"

With that, Aurora turned and hurried back down.

Not long after, the second person hit their limit.

Vivian. Step seventy-three.

The tall, Amazon-built woman had been screaming in her head the whole time, Don’t lose. Don’t lose to the Fallen Star Squad.

But the pressure was merciless. In the end, even she couldn’t keep pushing.

Two minutes later, the same gentle force slid her out beyond the stairway’s boundary.

Then the energy came—countless streams pouring into her body.

She felt the terrifying strength flooding in, but she wasn’t nearly as excited as she should’ve been.

Because she’d still lost.

If she’d lost on raw power, fine. That was just reality.

But losing on willpower?

That sat like a stone in her stomach.

And what made it worse was this—every single one of the nine Fallen Star Squad members had surpassed her. Even Emily, who looked soft and delicate, had climbed higher than she did.

Vivian could barely swallow that.

What she didn’t know was that every member of the Fallen Star Squad had been refining their bodies using methods recorded in the Body Refinement Technique. For Vivian to reach this point at all was already insanely impressive.

But no matter how much she hated it, reality didn’t care.

She was weaker than them.

Energy roared into her, pushing her higher step by step.

Tier 10 peak...

Tier 11...

Tier 11 peak...

And still, it kept coming.

The gap between peak Tier 11 and Stage C (Tier 12) required an enormous amount of energy—an absurd amount.

But under that relentless infusion, Vivian was forced upward anyway.

Her aura surged, snapped, and broke through.

She stepped into Stage C in one violent leap—becoming the second human Stage C powerhouse after Ethan.

Vivian sat on the ground without moving, clearly having entered that blank void space to choose her new skill.

After a while, she opened her eyes. The gloom on her face was gone—replaced by pure excitement.

She honestly hadn’t expected this trip to shove her from Tier 10 all the way into Stage C. The speed of that jump was beyond ridiculous.

And judging by her expression, she seemed pretty satisfied with the new ability she’d gotten after reaching Stage C.

"Thank you," Vivian said sincerely, looking up at Ethan on the stairs.

She knew the truth: if she hadn’t followed Ethan’s footsteps, there was no way she’d made it this far.

Grace had only reached step forty-two. Even if Vivian wanted to believe she was a bit stronger than Grace, she’d top out around fifty at best—no chance she’d ever touch step seventy-three.

And if she’d only made it into the fifties, there was no way she’d have reached Stage C.

I’ve made my decision, Vivian thought. Once we get back, I’m bringing my people to merge into Fallen Star City.

She was competitive. Proud. She’d always wanted to prove she wasn’t worse than any man.

And she had proven it—at least compared to most men.

But in front of the Fallen Star Squad, she finally saw it clearly: this was a mountain she couldn’t climb over.

If she couldn’t surpass them...

Then she’d join them.

"You guys keep going!" Vivian called up to the people still on the stairway. Then she stood and headed back down.

While Vivian was breaking through, everyone else kept grinding upward, one step at a time.

By now, every single step felt brutal.

Ethan had reached step seventy-nine. He looked up at what was left, his expression heavy.

After climbing this far, he understood the pattern. Every step increased the pressure in a noticeable jump.

Step eighty was going to be another cliff.

Even he didn’t dare step onto it casually.

He glanced back.

The Fallen Star Squad was still right behind him, stubborn as ever.

What surprised Ethan was Emily.

He’d assumed she’d be the first to collapse.

But she’d held on to this point—and honestly, she looked better than some of the others. That threw him for a loop.

Then it clicked.

Her ability restored stamina and mental energy. She was probably recovering as she climbed.

Even if abilities couldn’t be projected outward here because of the ritual circle, nothing stopped her from using it on herself.

That’s the real cheat ability, Ethan thought, almost impressed.

And it was a good thing. The Celestial Stairway’s benefits were insane—the longer the team held out, the better.

Ethan fixed his eyes on the 80th step, took a deep breath, and stepped up.

A terrifying pressure slammed down instantly.

His knees buckled. His body sank sharply, like an invisible hand was trying to crush him into the stone. Pain stabbed through his skull hard enough to blur his vision.

Ethan grit his teeth and forced himself upright again.

Then he moved—still pushing upward.

Now wasn’t the time to rest. He needed momentum.

"Captain, you’re insane," someone breathed behind him.

Vivian and Aurora, watching from below, couldn’t hide their awe.

They couldn’t even handle the pressure at step seventy. Step eighty was something they couldn’t even imagine.

Ethan moved up, and Chris followed immediately.

The pressure hit Chris like a truck. He almost got flattened, catching himself on his arms as dizziness rolled through his head in waves.

Chris clenched his jaw, then suddenly bit down hard on his own tongue.

The spike of pain snapped him fully awake.

"Up...!" he roared.

Veins bulged along his arms as he forced his body up inch by inch. Then, gritting his teeth, he stepped forward after Ethan.

Behind him, Skinny Pete drew a deep breath and stepped onto the 80th stair too.

The pressure slammed him face-down onto the stone. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

Holy shit, Skinny Pete thought dazedly. I could really go for a nap right now...

But that was all it was—a thought.

As a member of the Fallen Star Squad, quitting wasn’t in his vocabulary.

He stayed pressed to the stone for over a minute, fighting for control of his body. Then he planted his hands, pushed himself up with shaking arms, and forced his next step.

The rest were the same.

Almost everyone who stepped onto the 80th stair got smashed down, pinned like they weighed a thousand pounds. But one by one, they endured it—on sheer willpower and brutally tempered bodies—then crawled back up and kept climbing.