Chapter 48

Upon stepping onto the 60th floor Amber once again is able to perceive the world through her sense. Turning off her mana and miasma view, she looks around. 'Interesting, there seems to be forest here. So is this a test to see how well one can navigate through terrains then? Well can't be that difficult.'

Shaking her head, 'I didn't actually navigate different terrains myself, I left that up to Draemre. I should have learned how to navigate different terrains. Or at least the basics of navigation. Well I can follow roads on a map,' she sighs taking a step forward.

As she steps through the forest she looks around. 'Haven't I been here before?' With a furrow of the eyes she examines the area once again. Taking a deep breathe in she walks forward once again. Seeing the same tree a third time, 'Yes I am walking in circles.'

"Look at that the steps of misdirection have her walking in circles already. Who would have thought these would be the first actual challenge she would face on these 99 steps. Wait is she already figuring out how to move through the misdirection?"

'Perhaps I should try to feel for what could be causing me to walk in circles,' feeling that the mana and miasma is flowing around her like usual she biwilderly slumps her shoulders down, 'Why am I walking in circles? The mana and miasma is flowing normally. There must be something I can do. Wait could it possibly be. But how. This is strange,' she walks to the left.

Stepping to the left then forward right then back. Keeping up with such strange movements the audience is shocked that she is actually progressing. "Is this blind luck or not? She was walking in circles a moment ago. But now she seems to be actually progressing forward. However as amazing as her speed at climbing this staircase is, we can't ignore those that have manage to reach floor 30 at this point. They may be slower, but it is still five people that have started the climb up the mana stairs."

In the audience someone yells, "We don't care about how far the rest are. It is far more interesting to see how she overcomes the different challenges presented in front of her."

Running into a wall Amber smiles, 'It seems like that is how or something similar. Wait could it be a test of one's ability to analyze spatial distortions. If that is the case then it will only get harder for me. But if it isn't that and it only messes with one's sense of direction,' she rubs her face

Climbing up the cliff she looks around, 'Well I should try to look out otherwise I could be climbing supposedly straight up but end up at the bottom of the cliff. But that might only be reserved for the final step of this set of steps. Well I should use mana and miasma to locate the spatial disturbances,' she shakes of her hands, 'Blindly relying on only my instincts will only get me so far.'

After three more steps she finally manages to actually see the spatial disturbances. The appear to be massive spheres that distort the space around them while being connected to one another. 'Well this explains why I was going in circles, even though I was going straight. This hallway of nodes connects like a giant underground or in this case interspatial tunnel network. Staying above them would be the easiest way to avoid them,' she sighs with eyes closing. Sharply exhaling, 'Not like I am in control of what appears for me to use. This desert is definitely not gonna let e just fly over them.'

As she goes up she reaches the final step that has all these spatial distortions. With so many she gasps, 'This won't be easy to navigate my way through. Even though I can go up, there are just as many nodes up there as there are down here.'

Slowing stepping forward she avoids several of the nodes. However as she rolls under one she finds herself falling down. Looking around she reaches out and tumbles back down a step. Grabbing onto the cliff, she kicks it.

Looking more carefully she can't see why she was teleported elsewhere. As she is confused as to what is going on, the audience laughs. "Look at that she has been touched by one of the moving nodes. While many are easy to determine their location, those moving nodes are more well hidden. Well she be able to figure out how to detect them or will this be the end of her climb?'

As she goes throw once again she jumps throw a gap, as she lands she is sent towards a tree. "Damn it!" Sending a mana rope up she climbs faster back to the step. Stomping around, 'Why am I still being sent into other directions. I am avoiding all those nodes aren't I?' She clenches her fists.

As she is stomping around she gets sent upwards and hits a tree branch. Falling back down she hits another node and her back hits a boulder. Bouncing off of the boulder, she goes through another node and starts fall face first to the previous step. Throwing a miasma hook into the cliff she slows herself down.

Upon reaching the step again she rolls her shoulders, 'I shall just force my way through if I can't figure it out then,' with that she surrounds herself in flame and walks forward. As she walks forward she notices her flames burning right through the spatial nodes.

Smiling she unclenches her fist and reaches the cliff. "Would you look at that, she is burning right through those spatial nodes. Instead of figuring out why, she is just forcing her way through. If her flames are that powerful, the next set of steps will be of no challenge to her," says the announcer.