I Ascend to the Divine Throne through Arcane Means

During this phase, the soul pressure Lis was enduring had gradually begun to affect his thought process and memory status.

However, Lis also discovered to his surprise that as the pressure approaching its limit increased, the strength of his soul and will had also been slowly and gradually improving, much like steel being continuously tempered or a diamond forming under high pressure, slowly becoming more resilient.

Time passed slowly within the dream realm, and Lis had long forgotten the time in the outside world, fully immersed in the inheritance. He was thankful that, in the dream space, the spirit body needed neither food nor sleep, or he would have been lamenting the wasted time.

...

The third stage, from step sixty-one to Ninety Steps.

As Lis moved closer to the end of this stairway, the pressure he was bearing had gradually begun to exceed the limits of his normal cognitive abilities, causing the process of receiving the inheritance to be continuously interrupted by this painful pressure.

His soul felt like it was carrying a mountain on its back, and the heavy pressure made Lis's thoughts slow down.

"Huff~ Huff~"

Even though he was in the Dream Space, Lis couldn't help but kneel on one knee atop the stairway, his body trembling slightly, his contemplative and memorizing state shattered over and over again by the pressure on his soul.

Every time this happened, Lis felt like his soul was painfully about to shatter, crushed into fragments by this overwhelming pressure.

But even after waking up countless times, Lis continued to resist the pressure and pain brought by the inheritance, never thinking of giving up.

I won't fall here!

With his tenacious will, he forced himself to continue to receive the Ascension Technique's inheritance time and time again.

Below the stairs, the black cat looked at Lis with concern.

That figure, standing at the Seventy Steps, appeared so resilient in its eyes. Since the black cat had entered the Dream Space's Black Temple to protect the Sphinx's inheritance, countless years had passed, and it had seen the person who made it the farthest in this third trial.

The strongest person before Lis had only just managed to make it to Level 45 before failing.

Keep it up, Lis!

The black cat could no longer contain its excitement, standing at the bottom of the stairs, gazing intently at Lis's silhouette.

Just then, the cat saw Lis's figure sway, as if he was about to fall.

Is it still not enough?

But reaching the Seventy Steps was already quite impressive; perhaps there would be another chance in the future.

The black cat's heart skipped a beat, but it quickly consoled itself, knowing the difficulty of receiving the inheritance.

Sometimes, the black cat couldn't help but wonder if only beings that were also Legendary Arcanists could receive the master's inheritance.

However, the black cat soon noticed something wrong; Lis's figure had steadied quickly, and he even took another step upward.

What... what is this situation?

The black cat was somewhat confused about the situation, wondering why Lis's status had suddenly improved, but it didn't matter, it was better if he could keep going!

...

Lis himself knew very well what had just happened.

From the sixty-first to the ninetieth step, the inheritance corresponded to the content in the Ascension Technique about igniting the Will of the Divine Fire and tempering the Elemental Divine Power.

The Will of the Divine Fire, created by Sphinx, unlike the Divine Fire of divinities, is a manifestation of the Arcanist's soul and will, the crystallization of the soul's origin, the ultimate expression of supreme will.

Undoubtedly, this process demands extremely high willpower from an Arcanist, the bare minimum being that of a Demigod Level.

Therefore, within the inheritance, Sphinx specially left a spiritual tempering method that not only forges the willpower but also gradually enhances the Soul Strength, named "Sphinx's Divine Forging Technique"!

This unique method for tempering spiritual power used by a Legendary Arcanist is akin to the Body Forging Technique used by warriors. However, this is markedly rarer, considered by Sphinx for those who inherit it who might not possess great strength, uniquely combining myriad techniques and his own experience to summarize.

Lis did not find a similar method for exercising the spirit at the "Judgement Flame".

Therefore, as soon as Lis acquired the "Sphinx's Divine Forging Technique", he eagerly learned the Divine Forging Technique, honing and refining his willpower.

It was only fitting for the work of a Legendary Arcanist; Lis soon achieved significant improvement from the Divine Forging Technique, continually sharpening his soul and will against soul pressure, resulting in no small breakthrough.

This allowed Lis, who was close to his limit, to finally take a small sigh of relief.

Yet, Lis did not stop his pursuit of the inheritance. The time to act is now, not to rest after one success and not when depleted after two, as the third attempt would exhaust completely.

...

One year after facing the third trial, Lis was already standing on the last few steps. Find adventures at empire

Even with the help of "Sphinx's Divine Forging Technique", the unceasingly intensifying soul pressure exceeded Lis' limits of endurance.

Lis now looked pale, his whole body trembling, enduring immense agony of the soul, a pain that could not be described simply as bone-piercing or heart-drilling.

Lis had no spare consciousness to worry about other matters, barely moving forward on the verge of collapse. Besides this fragment of will to pursue the inheritance and remember the Ascension Technique, he had no capacity left for thought.

Recorded on the steps from ninety to one hundred were not the complete details of Sphinx's Ascension Technique, but his conjectures and experiments about consolidating a Divine Position and exalting a Divine Country in the future—extremely precious wealth. This represents the unceasing research of a Legendary Arcanist even in the last moments of his life.

However, Lis no longer harbored sentimental thoughts. He appeared akin to a vegetative person, laboriously memorizing Sphinx's Wisdom, one word and one Magic Rune at a time.

Not knowing how much time passed or where he was, Lis trudged on like a walking corpse, his only thought to persist a bit longer.

At some point, Lis finally completed the inheritance of these steps, and his body subconsciously moved onto the next stairway.

For some reason, no new inheritance flooded his mind, and that soul pressure that had peaked vanished without a trace.

Lis stood on the hundredth step, his will still tense, and he had not yet recovered his senses, looking around blankly.

There were no more steps before him.

He was now standing at the highest point of the hundred steps, facing the Divine Throne that shimmered with a rainbow of lights.

Only now, emerging from the depths of the inheritance, did Lis gain some lucidity. He tried to crack a smile, wanting to express his joy unrestrainedly, but he found he had no strength left. The will that he had been maintaining till this moment now finally collapsed, and an infinite tiredness welled up in his soul.

He was exhausted!

But Lis continued, using the last of his will to control his body, to sit upon that most exalted Divine Throne.

Boom!

Endless rays of multicolored light began to furiously swirl around Lis, who sat upon the Divine Throne, and the entire Black Temple resounded with thunderous roars, as if celebrating the arrival of a new master after countless years!