Les's assistant was a magician named John Smith. At this moment, John was staring at Allen's relaxed and casual pace in stunned silence, feeling it was unreasonable.
"To be honest, I didn't expect it to work like this," Les smiled bitterly and shook her head, "However, since Mr. Merlins designed it like this, he certainly has his intentions.
"Besides, if you want to see through the truth in the fog, then your mental strength needs to reach at least an 'excellent' level. For outstanding talents, we allow them to take shortcuts."
…………
At the same time, among the onlookers, shouts of surprise suddenly erupted.
The reason is simple.
Because for a full ten minutes, Selena Solomon, who was previously far ahead, stood on the 1,000th step, stopping and thinking.
That engagement was an illusion that only Selena could see. So the onlookers didn't know why she suddenly stopped.
"Is this year's test... really that difficult?"
"Even Selena stopped, it must be extremely rare. But...does the Mage Tower actually not want to recruit students at all this year, but just wants to invite us to have fun?"
"Just for fun, do you need to spend so much money?"
"Your Excellency Merlins is a legendary mage. Perhaps such a feat is just a piece of cake for him."
"..."
…………
Selena stood on the steps and couldn't hear the audience's comments.
When the engagement contract fell into her hands, her hands were trembling slightly.
Many memories about the past flooded into her heart like a tide.
"You are a lady. You must learn to do what a lady should do." The father's stern voice suddenly sounded.
Selena was five years old at the time. On a sunny day, she was lying on the window and saw her two brothers practicing fencing. Her curiosity was about to arouse, so she sneaked out of the house and pestered her brothers to teach her how to practice fencing.
.
Her brothers always liked to bully her, so when they saw her crying, they threw the sword to her and readily agreed to her request.
But all this was seen by her father, Lord Solomon.
The Duke suddenly appeared next to her, took away the sword from her hand, took her back to the bedroom, and coldly said these words:
"Always remember, you are a lady. You should carry silks and flowers, not swords."
The young Selena cried so much that her father ignored her.
From then on, the bedroom with pink wallpaper and filled with beautiful clothes and dolls became her cold prison forever.
…………
"You are a lady. Stay where a lady should stay."
When she was twelve years old, a factory appeared outside Selena's bedroom window. It had tall chimneys that spewed black smoke all year round, dyeing the blue sky gray.
Selena was obsessed with that place.
She likes to sit by the window and listen to the workers passing by downstairs describe the various machinery in the factory: steam engines that spit clouds of mist, blowers that move wind and rain, blazing steel-making furnaces, thunderous mixers... Unknowingly,
, so I longed for the smoky factory and the magical machinery.
Out of curiosity, she once dismantled the chiming clock in the house behind her parents' back, but could not put it back.
Out of curiosity, she sneaked to the factory next door while her parents were not at home, just to take a look at those magical machines in person.
There, she figured out the working principle of the magic steam engine and began to yearn for magic.
But the factory's janitor tipped off Duke Solomon about her whereabouts.
"This is not a place for ladies." My father scolded me sternly.
From then on, she was moved to a room on the other side of the castle.
There were no more factories spewing black smoke in her sight, only rose gardens and green grass.
Socializing, dancing, afternoon tea... became her whole life.
…………
On the light curtain.
At this moment, everyone was suddenly surprised to see Selina suddenly sitting on the steps, with her head lowered, her hands holding her knees, curled up and shivering like a cat that was afraid of the cold.
"This test is too cruel!" This was the only thought in their minds at this time.
They suddenly felt that it was a very lucky thing to have been eliminated before.
…………
Wizard Tower.
"Father of Steam" James Ward stopped the experiment in his hands, silently glanced at the light screen, and shook his head slightly.
"My guess is indeed correct." He said to himself.
Afterwards, he plunged headlong into the experiment at hand again, fearing to waste even a little time.
…………
The second person to reach the thousand steps was not Allen, but Gary Buegaard.
As onlookers said, this student who was born in the colonial plane has long been accustomed to fighting for everything through hard work.
Therefore, in the process of climbing the stairs, he rushed forward like crazy, desperately. Even though he was sweating profusely, his muscles were sore, and his face was pale, he seemed not to notice it.
Unknowingly, he climbed the mysterious thousandth step; and then, like Selina, he also found that he could no longer move forward.
"What the hell?" he said angrily, stamping his feet at the same time, "Shit, you're cheating!"
"Only by overcoming fear can we move forward." A mysterious voice sounded in his mind.
"You're just pretending to be a ghost... Humph, go ahead and be so afraid! I have nothing to fear!"
He cursed, raised his legs and planned to continue climbing, but he hit an invisible barrier hard, his nose was bruised and his face was swollen, and he fell to the ground.
Then he heard a familiar voice coming from the clouds:
"You silly boy, how many times have I told you that you have to think twice before doing things and be polite to others! Don't be so irritable at all times. This will only end up hurting both sides and causing a lot of blood!"
Garib was shocked.
He raised his head and saw in the white mist, a fat middle-aged woman carrying a rolling pin and an angry expression on her face, hurriedly walking towards him.
Then, the rolling pin fell steadily on him.
"Bang!"
It hurts.
But Ghalib did not hide.
He stared blankly at the middle-aged woman in the mist, his eyes were moist, but he refrained from crying.
"Mom, I was wrong..."
He lowered his head and admitted his mistake sincerely.
After being away from home for so many years, he has become fearless, except for the rolling pin that his mother used to clean him when he was a child.
That feeling hurts in my body and in my heart.
But it was hard for him to feel it again.
…………
"Oh my God, Gharib stopped too!" Seeing Gharib stopped moving forward, the onlookers once again heard shouts of surprise.
"Hell, there's something wrong with the stairs!"
"Fortunately I didn't participate!"
"You call it sour grapes when you can't eat them."
…………
After that, Howard also stood in front of the thousandth step.
He took a deep breath and walked up.
"Only by overcoming fear can we continue to move forward." A cold voice sounded.
"Come on, I'm ready." Howard looked calm and his tone was calm.
However, the next moment, he could no longer remain calm and suddenly began to panic.
Because the suspended steps under his feet suddenly disappeared.
He was like a free fall, falling downwards in the clouds and mist.
Under the strong feeling of weightlessness, he tried hard to restrain himself from making an embarrassing scream.
He thought silently: Yes, what I fear most is indeed "falling".
After all, he has been working hard all his life to climb up from a poor family, to Cambridge University, to the Master's Tower, and then to the upper class society.
But he never dared to think about what he would do if he failed.
The feeling of falling is so bad.
…………
"It's really interesting."
Looking at the light curtain in front of him, Merlins was still sitting leisurely in the office and commented with a smile.
"Hey, Merlins, guess what your student is most afraid of?" Toucan asked, "He has been standing on the nine hundred and ninety-ninth step for three minutes and just refuses to take another step up. I
I don’t think he can get first place.”
"Well, I guess, maybe he is most afraid of unexpected changes?" Merlins guessed, "Looking at his cautious look, it seems that he will never take action without making careful and thorough preparations."
"It makes sense," Toucan nodded, "Just like you, timid and indecisive."
"What I call it is careful consideration and careful words and deeds."
"Bah! Shameless!"
Merlins couldn't be bothered with it.
He was still staring at the light curtain attentively.
…………
In the light curtain, Allen shook his head and finally took a step forward.