In less than a day, Kent had climbed past 600 steps. However, the more he moved his legs, the stronger the pull—or, more like, the push—that kept threatening to send him flying backwards.

The ice, as he kept climbing, was so thick that his vision started to blur.

However, whenever he felt himself losing consciousness, Runa's warning not to fail snapped him back to reality, forcing him to keep going.

So he continued to climb, and with every passing second, the ice seeping into his body kept bringing him closer to death. It showed no mercy toward him at all.

Eventually, Kent had no choice but to take on his complete dragon form. The cold is seeping past his dragon scales, prompting him to become a True Beasts.

ROAR

He roared, causing the air to shudder, as the mighty Chaos Dragon finally activated his strongest form to conquer the ice stairway.

'Just as I thought, with my complete dragon form, the ice lessens drastically.' With this advantage, Kent started climbing even faster.

In no time, he reached the 700th step, but his dark-gold scaly body remained pristine; not even the ice would freeze it.

"Just what kind of dragon is he? Not even the ice is affecting him," Miryssa asked, a shocked look appearing on her face.

Elsa, Selene, Unity, Runa, Adina, Liora, Enzi, Arien, and Indie looked at each other and smiled. Only they knew that if Miryssa knew the man climbing the ice stairway was the legendary Chaos Dragon, she would probably go down on her knees and bow to him.

All beings who lived during the Primordial Era knew, had heard, and had experienced the overwhelming might of the Chaos Dragon.

He had no equal. Nobody came close to reaching his level of power.

And so, his climbing the ice stairway with his dragon body without freezing to death makes sense.

However, things aren't as simple as they appear.

Back inside the tower, when Runa's True Name had been awakened, Kent couldn't take on her ice with even his dragon body. Of course, he managed to remain conscious, but he was at his limit back then.

If it were to be a battle, he would have been at a disadvantage, which in a way would have posed a dangerous threat to his life.

Yet here he is, perfectly fine and even full of energy as he climbs to the 800th step.

If Runa is asked why she did what she did, she would say it was to see if Kent could withstand that much ice without losing consciousness.

However, if asked, he would say his body adapted to that ice and developed some resistance to it, which he is now building on to climb.

In other words, while the endgame is to gain ice affinity, Kent had already started developing resistance to ice thanks to the coldness entering his body from the start of the climb.

In other words, he gets more resistant to the ice the higher he climbs.

It is unreal.

To resist this potent ice, one would need ice affinity first. However, Kent, despite not having it, was able to develop the resistance, and with that, he keeps climbing.

In a way, it makes him a monster in his own right. If Ice users find out this monstrous side to him, they would be left unsure of what to even say.

"Looks like conquering this trial in a day is possible," Arien said, wagging her nine fluffy tails in the air.

"It seems so. We may have underestimated him," Indie also said, and the rest of her sisters nodded.

It had only been 12 hours since he began the trial, but as he approached the 900th step, it was only a matter of time before he stepped on the 1000th.

"He is not someone we can use common sense to describe, so we didn't underestimate him. We only took an educated guess, and his monstrous self has proven us wrong," Selene added, making her sisters feel better.

Though deep down, they themselves were taken aback by how monstrous Kent is. The higher he climbed, the faster he became.

One would expect him to slow down instead. However, he is doing the opposite.

By the 15th hour, he was already standing on the 998th step. By then, even his colossal dragon form had already started to be coated in ice.

However, Kent didn't let the ice get to him.

He roared, shattering the ice coating his colossal form. He is close to victory, and so he would not stop until he had achieved his goal. Of course, getting to the 999th step is headache enough on its own.

It felt like he would turn to ice just stepping on the 999th step.

Kent lifted his massive claw, the talons trembling under the sheer cold radiating from the 999th step. It is both frigid and poisonous, yet there is something hidden within it that Kent knew if he endured, he would awaken something profound.

Even his dark-gold dragon scales started struggling to withstand the frigid cold.

One wrong move, one hesitation, and the cold would not just freeze him… it would claim him entirely.

He exhaled, a cloud of frost escaping his jaws.

The moment his claw touched the 999th step, a thunderous crack split the air.

BANG!

A shockwave of ice erupted violently, tearing through the frozen domain. The temperature plummeted so sharply that the blizzard itself froze mid-air for a heartbeat before resuming its wild frenzy.

Kent felt something new—something worse than bone-deep cold.

This ice invaded his soul.

A stabbing numbness pierced his mind, trying to slow his thoughts, trying to drag him to sleep.

His mind slowed down. His vision blurred. His wings grew heavy. His heartbeat faltered. His entire colossal form grew extremely dense and heavy.

His body became sluggish, the frost spreading faster than before, eating at his consciousness. If he lost consciousness, then all he had worked for would be for nothing.

On the mountain peak, all the ladies tensed at once.

They could tell Kent was struggling on the 999th step. Just looking at the ice bombarding his colossal form, they knew he was going through so much danger.

However, they were powerless to do anything. All they could do was watch him and hope he endured and stepped forward.

ROAR

Kent let out a mighty roar that rocked and shook the entire ice stairway. The air shook, and the feeling of unwillingness erupted from Kent's colossal form, showing he was determined to see this through.

He suddenly turned back into his dragon form. His horns gleamed, wings flapped, and tail wagged, cutting the frigid air in half.

In his dragon form, he was as heavy as a planet. So he turned to his human form.

Then, with a mighty roar, he lifted his right leg, which felt like a mountain, and stepped on the 1000th step.

His left leg also moved and landed on the last step. Then, like he had lost all energy in his body, he fell face-first and landed with a crash. The ice-cold air stopped, and the entire environment turned normal.

His consciousness slipped away, leaving his body to be encased in ice, forming a cocoon.

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