"Oh, right," Ethan said. "Miles—Celestial Stairway’s finished, yeah?"

"Yeah. It’s done." Miles’s eyes were bright, like he’d been waiting to say this. "I had the second echelon test it, and I personally picked over a hundred Fallen Star Guards to try it too. The results were insanely good."

Ethan leaned forward a little. "How good? Give me the details."

"Most of them tapped out somewhere between the 40th and 60th step. Almost everyone got a one to two Tier boost."

Miles’s grin widened. "But the craziest one was Calvin. That kid’s willpower is terrifying. He forced his way up to the 70th step."

"Nice," Ethan said, nodding. "I knew he had that kind of grit. Glad I wasn’t wrong."

Calvin hadn’t had Ethan’s True Sight to find the weak points in the pressure. He’d climbed to the 70th step the hard way—just raw toughness.

That wasn’t talent.

That was stubbornness bordering on insane.

Ethan’s gaze sharpened. "How’s he been lately? Any bleeding-heart crap?"

"No," Miles said immediately. "These days, when he’s not out on missions, he’s in the arena grinding combat skills. He barely talks to anyone. No bleeding-heart behavior." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Good." Ethan nodded once. "Then later, Henry—heal his missing hand."

Henry nodded. "Got it."

Ethan turned back to Miles, puzzled. "Wait. You didn’t try the Celestial Stairway yourself?"

At Miles’s level—Stage C peak—there was no way he hadn’t been tempted.

Miles laughed. "No. Didn’t touch it."

"You guys said the Stairway only gives you one shot at absorbing that energy, right? Then of course I waited for you to get back, Captain."

He pointed at Ethan like it was obvious. "You can see the weak spots in the pressure. If you guide me, I can probably climb a few more steps. I’m not about to let you all leave me in the dust."

Then his tone turned even more smug.

"Honestly, I could’ve hit Tier 13 already. But I held myself back. I know the pressure spikes hard with every Tier. So I stayed at Tier 12 peak."

"I’ve only been using the Body Refinement Technique to strengthen my base—no Tier breakthrough. I’ve been saving it for when you came back."

Big Mike’s eyes bugged out. "Damn. You’re seriously that sneaky?"

"That’s not sneaky," Miles said, giving him a look of pure contempt. "That’s called having a brain."

"Alright," Ethan cut in, amused despite himself. "Enough. Let’s go. We’ll do the Stairway now—I’ll call out the path for you."

Miles’s excitement snapped back. "Perfect."

...

With Miles leading, they headed to a cluster of buildings at the rear of the compound.

This was one of Fallen Star City’s key zones—

The training complex.

It wasn’t just one facility. It was a whole integrated area: arenas, the Celestial Stairway, a gravity field Miles had built by studying the Ritual Circle Compendium, and a set of enhancement chambers—upgraded from the old energy-gathering ritual circle Henry had designed, then improved and expanded by Miles.

If you asked any Enhanced in Fallen Star City where they wanted to be, this was near the top of the list.

But it wasn’t open to everyone.

Getting in required points.

Fallen Star City ran on a points system. Low-Tier Enhanced could earn points by working inside the compound—construction, manufacturing, maintenance, logistics, anything that kept the place running.

They could also farm—grow crops or fruit trees—and trade food and produce in for points.

High-Tier Enhanced had a more direct option: go outside, hunt zombies, bring back crystal cores and supplies, and cash them in.

In Fallen Star City, points were hard currency.

You could use them to exchange for supplies and crystal cores. You could also use them to buy access—tickets into certain training facilities.

The basic arena time was cheap: ten points an hour. Basically the cost of ten steamed buns.

And it was worth it.

The arena’s floor and walls were built from a special reinforced material, tough as hell, with ritual circles layered into the structure. You could go all-out without worrying about wrecking the place.

If you didn’t want to spend points, you could still train elsewhere—but if you damaged any Fallen Star City buildings or roads, you paid for it.

Unless you left the compound and trained outside.

The gravity field cost 100 points an hour. Besides the reinforced flooring, the field constantly generated increasing gravity inside. Long-term training in there was insanely good for building raw physical toughness, which was why plenty of high-Tier Enhanced treated it like their favorite hangout.

The enhancement chambers were split into three grades: low, mid, and high.

Low grade: 1,000 points per hour

Mid grade: 2,000 points per hour

High grade: 3,000 points per hour

The reason for the tiers was simple—each ritual circle used different crystal cores. According to Miles, the low grade burned Tier 8 cores, the mid grade used Tier 9, and the high grade used Tier 10.

Different core Tiers meant different effects. Ethan and the others knew that firsthand.

As for the Celestial Stairway—that wasn’t something you could access just because you had enough points. You needed Miles to personally approve it.

Fallen Star City’s population had already passed four million. There was no way it could be managed the way they’d run a fifty-thousand-person compound.

Miles’s points system really was the only way to keep it functioning.

Right now, almost every training area was packed—some people sparring, some grinding alone, some pushing their bodies until they shook.

If nothing else, Fallen Star City’s hunger to get stronger was real.

They followed Miles deeper into the complex until they reached a tall wall at the very back.

Celestial Stairway had ninety-nine steps, towering high enough that even from outside the wall, you could see it rising within.

At the gate, several Fallen Star Guard members stood watch.

"Commander! Deputy Commander!" The moment they saw the squad, they snapped straight.

Ethan nodded. "Good work."

Then they pushed open the stone doors and walked in.

The Celestial Stairway stood ahead—almost a one-to-one replica of the one in the Void Realm. The instant they crossed the threshold, the pressure hit them, heavy and immediate, like the air itself had weight.

Ethan looked at Miles. "Go. Left side—about an inch in."

"Got it."

Miles walked over, didn’t hesitate for even half a second, and stepped onto the first stair.

He followed Ethan’s guidance precisely, climbing step by step.

His jaw clenched. Veins stood out along his neck. But he kept moving.

He made it all the way to the 90th step.

On the 91st, he managed to push only half a foot onto it before his body finally gave out. No matter how he fought it, he couldn’t complete the step.

The 91st was a wall. A true barrier.

Still, Miles looked satisfied. He’d hit 90—meaning he hadn’t fallen behind anyone else. For him, that was enough.

Then the energy flooded into him.

His Tier jumped—cleanly—straight into Tier 15.

Ethan reached into his spatial storage ring and pulled out everything Miles would need to go from Tier 15 to Tier 18 peak, then handed the crystal cores over.

Miles might not have been out there fighting with them, but as Fallen Star City’s "head housekeeper," his workload—and his value—were no less than anyone’s.

Ethan wasn’t about to short him.

A while later, Miles’s aura surged again and again as he broke through repeatedly, until he finally reached Stage B (Tier 18) peak.

Tier 12 to Tier 18 in what amounted to a short stretch of time.

The speed was ridiculous.

Ethan crossed his arms. "By the way, Miles—what abilities did you get when you broke into Stage C and Stage B? Tell everyone."

Miles nodded. "Alright."

"For Stage C, I got Wind Blade Barrage—a wind-type AoE attack."

"For Stage B, I got a special one: Damage Transfer. I can transfer damage onto someone else. But there’s a limit—it caps at two times my own strength. If the damage exceeds twice my power, I can’t transfer it."

He paused, then continued, shifting to his Innate Abilities.

"For my innate set—Stage C gave me Radiant Blink. I can instant-move to a spot about thirty feet away. It’s kind of like your Teleportation, Captain, just shorter range. And since it’s not a spatial-type ability, it can be blocked more easily. But for dodging, it’s still pretty good."

"And Stage B gave me Radiant Blade—a powerful single-target attack."