"It seems that pretty much everyone's score has gone up since the first attempt."

Lucy commented as she looked at the board displaying the results of contestants who already took the test. They already reached the 40th floor and it was time to kick another contestant. Only 23 remain and one has to be disqualified for them to proceed to the next floor. At this point, only the best of the best are left and all got familiar with each other, either in a positive or a negative way.

In the 38th floor, there was a strong guy from the Holy Dominion who was kept chasing after Arthur, wanting to disqualify him, however, the means he used were tricky and annoyed everyone, including the parasite himself. Before Arthur took any action, the poor guy was beaten black and blue by six other contestants, who forced him to use the Escape Ticket and leave the Red Tower.

On that floor, fighting was not prohibited but if one contestant attacks another, all will lose points, which was something no one wanted hence their aggressive and expected retaliation. He asked for it and definitely got what he deserved. With him gone, Arthur didn't have to worry about having pests following after him, trying to kick him out and the rest of the participants played fairly and wanted to climb to the highest floor using their strength alone.

Currently, half of the 23 contestants took the test, and, like usual, the one who has the lowest score will be disqualified. Compared to the 10th floor, the score slightly increased with the Sword God maintaining his first top for four consecutive times.

This time, he scored 44 points, which is a relatively high number. In fact, most were aware of his strength and they didn't purposely fight him, much less provoke him. His nonchalant attitude made him approachable and his lack of arrogance is probably why he doesn't have any enemies, at least not in this tower.

Arthur's turn still hasn't arrived but Lucy already hit the strange large boulder. Surprisingly, her score was second only Ber Von Xin, she used her fusion fire and scored a staggering 42 points, guaranteeing her the second post, for the time being, that is, though it is rather unlikely that anyone can break her score unless they use an ultimate skill.

Her special fire is already known to the contestants so they weren't surprised to see such a high score, the only thing they couldn't understand is how she managed to create it, after all, it should be impossible to fuse to opposite attribute. Arthur tried doing it but it neither worked with Life and Death or Water and Fire, this made him even more proud of his prodigious wife.

Time crept by and, at last, all the results were shown. As expected, Lucy was the second boss followed by Zodiak and Forne. The one who got disqualified was a woman who was half-human half-fairy named Chu An, she used Music Magic like Aneirin but, from Arthur's point of view, she wasn't as strong as the talkative poet, who pretends or actually thinks he's weak.

*Congratulations on passing the test. The 21 contestants who will proceed to the 41th floor are:

1 Ber Von Xin: 44.1 points (100.3 million points)

2 Lucy MoonStar: 42 points (201 million points)

3 Zodiak: 40.9 points (65 million points)

4 Forne: 40.6 Points (60 million points)

5 Ar'wen : 38.7 points (99 million points)

6 Arthur MoonStar: 38 points (75 million points)

7 Maxine : 37.9 points (88.7 million points)

8 Hach'ara : 37.8 points (91 million points)

9 Celes : 37.7 points (55 million points)

10 Void Behemoth : 37.5 points (50.8 million points)

11 Losha Alpenwatcher : 37.5 points (66.6 million points)

12 Sickle Bart : 37.4 points (20 million points)

13 'X' : 37 points (1 million points)

14 King of Jade Amtir : 37 points (12 million points)

15 Lightning Spirit, Raad: 37 points (23 million points)

16 Demon Lord Setros : 37 points (75 million points)

17 Maktis : 36.9 points (36.1 million points)

18 Leo : 36.9 points (800k points)

19 Saber Saint : 36.9 points (80 million points)

20 : G'am Tir : 35.5 points (9 million points)

21 : AXYT-48 : 35.4 points.* (69.5 million points)

Unsurprisingly, Lucy has the highest amount of points because Arthur pretty much gave her all of his points every time they met up. He wasn't interested in any of the items in the Luxury Store, moreover, she finally has enough to buy the phoenix blood, which costs 195 million points. With it, she'll hopefully boost her Yin Power and breakthrough to the middle stage of the Overgod Realm.

She'll need some time to process the blood and doing it during an event will make her vulnerable even if Arthur was protecting her. All those who remain are extremely strong so it's not possible for Arthur to protect her from more than one contestant. The only exception is G'am Tir, who isn't strong individually but since he's the behemoth's companion, they can be considered as one entity.

Furthermore, their low scores don't mean they are weaker than the top spots because they haven't revealed their trump cards yet… at least not all of them. AXYT-48 are the two robots, which fused into one and are not an opponent to scoff at. The robot has an absurdly high resistance to all kinds of attributes and is able to fire cannon blasts embedded with Dark Matter.

…

"I finally have it."

Lucy with brimming with joy as she held a transparent vial containing a small blue drop of blood. A freezing energy was emanating from the vial, just touching it would freeze anyone though Lucy was a unique exception thanks to her special Physique, which was very compatible with the Blue Phoenix blood.

Just like its counterpart, the Blue Phoenix is a mythical creature that uses mainly Ice Magic and although it cannot self-revive, its attack and defensive power are a level above the Fire Phoenix. With the phoenix Ice and the Golden Crow flames, Lucy's fusion flame will become too overpowered but controlling will also become harder.

"It's not a good time to consume it."-Arthur

"I know, I'll do it after leaving the tower." Lucy laughed and gave him a small peck on his lips before continuing to admire the frozen drop of blood.

*****

"I reckon she'll reach Peak Overgod is she consumes the blood."-The Joker

"No, her foundation is solid and the quantity of Mana her Dantian needs is higher than the average. She'll reach the peak of middle stage Overgod, any more would be difficult without any kind of catalyst. But, I do agree that she'll get significantly stronger."

"Hehehe mommy will soon surpass you…"

Saly giggled as she looked at Lucy, who was happily chatting with Arthur. Without a sound that could barely be heard, Saly glanced at the Joker and muttered:

"I'll tell her to kick your ass then…"

Unfortunately, Wolfram clearly heard the little girl. He stretched his hand and grabbed her little held and pulled her closer

"Aw aw teacher that hurts!"

"What did you say? She'll kick my ass?"

"N-no, I didn't say anything!"

"It seems you forgot your place… you need a thorough spanking!"

Saly's eyes turned teary as she tried to escape her teacher's hand but to no avail, she ended up getting spanked until her butt felt numb.