The Rise of the Black Plain

The time between Minos' entry into the special crack and his arrival on the other side—a totally different dimension from the red ground he had gone to previously—passed in the blink of an eye. However, Temporal Sands told him something different from what his eyes and feelings were telling him.

'At least 100 years have passed since I left that dimension—100 years for me. But how long for my group?' He asked himself as he noticed the change in his biological age between then and now.

But he had no clue how much time had passed for his group in Uzira. When he arrived at the site of the second phase of the inheritance of the True Celestial being, he spotted the competitors he had fought against or even allied with centuries ago.

Minos immediately spotted Forfex, whom he had first allied with in the Millennium Massacre. The alien nodded in his direction, with an expression on his face that wasn't sad, but wasn't happy either.

He also saw Soli, the woman he had seen on the last levels of the final pyramid of the event back then. Minos had won the pyramid by going further than all his competitors, but this woman had performed second best at the end of the Millennium Massacre.

Minos saw the sentient plant being and a blind individual, remembering very well those years he had spent in the celestial being's pyramid and the period before, when he had traveled for centuries through The Red Expanse, fought and seized many opportunities.

But not everyone who had finished the Millennium Massacre, the 100 individuals who had slots for this second phase of the inheritance, were there. Only 93 competitors were there today, something that Minos and his opponents quickly noticed.

As they looked at each other, they also distinguished where they were, what appeared to be the center of a building, from where they could see a low ceiling above them, about 6 meters high, but they couldn't see what lay beyond 200 meters away. Only darkness awaited them beyond that limit.

Blue lamps at some points on the ceiling of this area illuminated the surroundings, where, this time, they could feel a much higher energy density than they had experienced in The Red Expanse.

'The Red Expanse was a tough place to cultivate to higher levels. Back then, I spent over 400 years in this dimension and only raised my cultivation from level 100 to level 103. It looks like the test for the second inheritance phase will be different.' He basically concluded the same as his competitors.

As they contemplated the first minute in this special dimension, the semi-transparent humanoid figure of the True Celestial appeared in the middle of the area, this time not looking as gigantic as before, although still physically imposing.

Everyone put aside their thoughts to observe the figure of the powerful existence behind this inheritance.

As soon as he had finished forming in this place, causing a terrifying aura to press down on everyone there, the True Celestial began, "My chosen ones, you have come a long way and are here to compete for the final spots in this competition.

Today we have 93 of you, but in 100 years, we will only have 10 who will go forward to decide who will succeed me on my throne in the Upper Realm."

Eyes glazed over as several contestants felt their blood run hot, eager to get to their places and continue their journeys of power.

"In this second phase of my inheritance, you will have a shorter event with different rules from the previous challenge.

In The Red Expanse, your strength and combat prowess were tested.

Now, you will have mental tests aimed at separating the genuine geniuses of cultivation and understanding from those who are just good warriors.

The Arcane Pillar has 100 floors. On each floor, you will stay for 1 year until the doors to the top floor open. The 10 who reach the top floor of the tower will automatically secure their places in the next phase of my inheritance."

Some of them found this challenge very simple, but the True Celestial wasn't finished with his explanation.

"Every 10 floors of the tower, you will find several rooms. From the 1st to the 10th floor, there are 100 rooms per floor. From the 21st to the 30th floor, there are 80 rooms per floor. From the 91st to the 100th floor, there are only 10 rooms per floor. Only someone with the badges for at least one room on each floor of the tower can access rooms on higher floors.

In other words, accessing one room on the 100th floor will only be possible if you have the badges for at least one room on each floor you have passed.

In addition, each room can only be completed once."

Minos immediately understood where these rules would lead them. 'There are 93 of us, so on the 11th floor of the tower, 3 of us will be unable to move on, which will probably lead to some of us fighting.'

But Minos and several others who thought the same were wrong about something.

"However, until a room is completed, each room can be accessed by different competitors. Once competitor A has accessed room 1, they can no longer access room 1 again and will have to move on to one of the other rooms until they complete one of them.

If one cannot complete at least one room on each floor, they will lose one of their body parts from the body of True Celestials."

"That..."

"Will we be killed?"

Several of them opened their mouths in doubt.

The True Celestial explained further, "No. But once you lose all the body parts of a True Celestial, you will no longer be part of my heritage and will be sent to a chaotic region of the universe. Your chances of dying there without being a Celestial will be 99.9%, so be prepared."

Some of them had gotten other parts from True Celestials, just like Minos. Some of them would have one to three opportunities before being sent to certain death.

"What happens if someone survives the challenge but doesn't have the necessary insignia?" Soli asked.

The True Celestial smiled. "There are two scenarios for that. One, fewer than 10 individuals make it to the top floor with the necessary insignia. In this case, those who make it that far will fight each other to complete the final 10 spots. Two, if we get the 10 individuals through the normal rules of this inheritance phase, the survivors will have their memories erased and will be sent back to where they came from."

'Oh?' Minos narrowed his eyebrows, seeing that this test was complex.

"As with the previous challenge, your cultivations will be at the absolute beginning of level 115 and will not increase while you are here, even if you cultivate to become stronger.

You can't use external weapons, let alone techniques. You can only use your divine and innate abilities.

In addition, you cannot prevent each other from entering the challenge rooms. You can only fight each other if each side involved has already entered at least one room on the floor you are on. Otherwise, you are forbidden from fighting each other.

If you have no further questions, you may begin." With his words, several lights in the place came on, revealing what was in the darkness where they couldn't see until a few moments ago.

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