Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100 Chapter 1450 Isabella's Anxiousness!

While all gazes stayed locked on the screens overhead, Max's form rushed ahead into the core of the ninth level. The fires encircling him writhed fiercely, but they failed to impede his momentum.

The turbulent flame principles that previously built thick walls now seemed shaky in every spot he traversed, their framework growing frail as if an invisible power was dismantling their base.

Eight thousand nine hundred miles.

The figure shimmered softly on the display screen.

Just past that mark, barely over one hundred miles lay between him and the edge of the tenth level.

A thick quiet fell across the observation area.

"He'll soon match my level," Isabella whispered to herself, her face rigid with shock.

Her eyes stayed unblinking as she followed his relentless form. The recall of her prior wager with Max hit her sharply. Back then, she had declared it boldly, convinced he couldn't outdo her in this test. Should he succeed, she would act as his servant for a decade.

Back then, it had come across as a degrading term for him, showcasing her dominance.

Now everything had flipped.

The idea of forfeiting that gamble chilled her to the core. She was the aspiring Saintess. She bore the Imperial Bloodline. Her sense of superiority had been shaped from her youth. Picturing herself trailing after another, tending to them for ten years, was a disgrace she could hardly endure even in her thoughts.

Her hands gripped hard at her sides.

A profound remorse started to creep into her thoughts.

Why had she placed such a hasty bet?

Why had she declared it so assuredly?

Her stare fixed on Max's dashing shape as he neared the end of the ninth level. The fires howled around him like a tempest, but he showed no doubt. He showed no delay. He showed no contemplation.

He just pushed forward.

Within her core, a frantic plea echoed.

No.

No.

No.

Stop.

Please stop.

She kept the words silent, but her whole self yearned for him to cease, to stumble, to ease up just a bit short of the edge.

Yet Max kept his pace.

His shape cleared the last one hundred miles in what seemed like an instant.

The tenth level's border gleamed softly ahead, a slender but mighty divide that signified the domain she had fought so hard to claim.

And then, with no delay, he crossed over.

Max stepped into the tenth level.

A shared intake of breath erupted from the assembly.

Isabella's air hitched in her chest as she gaped at the screen in dazed quiet.

"Max has entered the tenth level. Incredible."

An elder's tone boomed with raw surprise as he eyed the projection. His response rippled through the platform in quick murmurs. The shock showed on almost every expression. Nobody had foreseen Max progressing this deep in the Path to Eternal Flames, much less breaching the tenth level.

The whole Black Dragon Palace appeared briefly frozen.

Plenty had figured he would falter in the early levels and fade out unnoticed. Even those who saw his potential hadn't guessed he would rival Isabella in this challenge. Still, the image on display showed the plain fact. Max had breached the line.

A surge of wonder washed over the pupils clustered near the dome. Hushed talks swelled into loud outbursts as they grappled with the sight before them.

"Curse this boy," Seraphina Vale grumbled quietly, her gaze sharpening as she zeroed in on Max's shape inside the tenth level.

Her prior assurance had started to fracture.

The chance that she could lose the stake with Lady Virelia bit at her ego. That notion alone grated on her intensely. She had been positive Isabella would stay ahead of Max. She had proclaimed it with force. Now, events had slipped from her grasp.

"It's all on account of this boy," she whispered once more, a subtle trace of bitterness flickering in her eyes as she observed the screen.

At the same time, close by, an elder neared Lady Virelia with a soft laugh.

"Hehe, well done, Virelia," he remarked with a grin. "The pupil you chose keeps pulling off feats."

Another elder dipped his head in accord.

"Indeed. First, he seized the Sword of the Sword Sovereign, against all odds. Then he bested the prodigies from the Dark Phoenix Clan and the Heavenly Kirin Clan. And now he's hit the tenth level in the Path to Eternal Flames. Every time we assume we've spotted his ceiling, he shatters it."

A third elder clasped his arms behind him while chiming in reflectively, "Whatever challenge comes his way, wonders trail after. This isn't random. He's clearly a genuine prodigy."

"Virelia, you really excelled at bringing Max to the Black Dragon Palace."

Matthew Grimes advanced with a subtle grin as he commented, his voice laced with evident praise. His eyes lingered on the overhead projection, though his remark aimed at Lady Virelia. "On the petition you filed some months back, I'll greenlight it."

A faint grin crossed Lady Virelia's features at his statement. She nodded her head a touch in thanks.

"Thank you," she answered steadily.

Though her tone held steady, the endorsement held real importance. Matthew Grimes rarely offered such favors. His readiness to back her bid marked a straight nod to Max's worth for the Black Dragon Clan.

Overhead, the screen kept showing Max's form poised at the tenth level's entry. The fires blazed intensely there, deeper and heavier than the ones beneath. Still, Max remained poised, his stance at ease, like he was just surveying a serene vista.

"Hm. The true puzzle now is how deep Max can delve in the tenth level," Victor Veron noted pensively, pulling all eyes back to the display.

The clan leaders and elders trailed his look.

They knew Max's habit well by this point. He avoided blind rushes into unknown ground. He would pause first, gauge the forces and rules around him, and only after decide his step. His poise at the tenth level's gateway wasn't doubt. It meant strategy.