The Rise of the Black Plain

While Kendrick and the rest of his group were getting on with the political matters necessary to continue growing in power and resources in The Enchanted Realm, Minos had experienced another 75 years in The Red Expanse.",

Coming up to 180 years since he began his journey in the grand plan to compete for the places in the next phase of the Celestial being's inheritance, Minos had experienced many things.

After another 75 years, he had faced another 60 enemies alongside his 6 allies, having eliminated all the opponents his team had come across.

None of his allies had been seriously injured in these battles, with Minos helping them both with his ability to strengthen them, but also with his temporal power, capable of even reversing time for injuries.

Minos' abilities have proved powerful in this test over the last 180 years, with his team taking advantage of these abilities to reach their current position.

As well as collecting more space storage items over the last few decades, the group had also found three more great opportunities available in The Red Expanse.

In one of them, Minos benefited from having the chance to absorb a feather from a true seraph, coming from a being that was supposed to have the cultivation of a Supreme being.

Others in the group took more advantage of other chances. Not every fortuitous encounter for the group was the kind that would benefit everyone, like when Minos and Forfex had the chance to absorb the essence of flames.

In short, the group didn't find as many opportunities as they had in their first 100 years of travel. So they moved further towards the center of the plane, and are now about 44% of the way to their destination.

...

As Minos' group moved north, having got signs they were close to a new opportunity, the member of the group with the best visual capacity suddenly sounded a warning signal.

"There are enemies ahead." An alien with a humanoid form but a slime frame said in a worried tone as he saw the largest number of competitors he had seen on this plane since the day the thousand competitors saw each other. "There are a few dozen of them!"

"Dozens?" Forfex asked as he narrowed his eyes.

The largest number of enemies they had faced simultaneously was 16, a very large team they had come up against 6 years ago.

"There must be about 50 competitors in that group ahead." Said the alien who had alerted the group.

"What should we do? 50 opponents won't be easy to deal with, even with Minos' help." One of the group members, with power less associated with brute force, commented in concern.

Not every genius was necessarily a special warrior. Everyone had their weaknesses and for that, there were external techniques. By not being able to use anything other than their innate abilities, many of the initial thousand competitors didn't have the best conditions to fight in this place.

Some of them were experts in cultivation, others in tracking, some had extreme defensive skills but little brute strength, etc. As Minos was very strong and could strengthen his companions with his skill, there was no one in his group with outstanding fighting powers.

The group was much more focused on support skills, the kind that could take them to as many opportunities as possible on their way to the center of the plan.

So not everyone was confident about taking on a group of 50 opponents.

Minos asked his companions. "Don't you find it strange? Such a large group appearing in our path?"

Forfex narrowed his eyes, seeing where Minos' thought led. "Do you think they're deliberately waiting for us?"

"Yes. And if that's the case, diverting the path won't make any difference. So our only alternative is to face them." Minos got his point across, showing the more fearful of his group that they might not have a choice.

"Is that so?" One of the five aliens asked, while the one who had alerted the group watched the 50 or so enemies, taking a closer look at the situation ahead.

"That... That seems to be the case. They're in formation, waiting for something. Either that something is our group, or this really is a big coincidence." Said the observer of the group.

"But how? Everyone we meet on our journey, we killed, leaving no witnesses."

Minos said in a confident tone. "Everyone in The Red Expanse is a genius in their own right. Some have monstrous combat skills, others have impressive support skills. Someone may have had some kind of foresight or foreboding about us.

Think about it, we've already defeated over 100 enemies. We have over 100 space storage items with us. Defeating us would give even a group of 50 enemies a lot of resources."

"Thinking along those lines, the enemies might also be interested in eliminating a powerful group for the 100 places at the end of the selection." Forfex added.

"It's possible..."

The men there looked at each other as they moved more slowly, more and more certain that it would be better to fight than to flee.

"But if they know about what we have or what we're capable of, fighting them could be much more difficult than we can imagine." Said the one with the best defense in the group, looking specifically at Minos.

"That's true. But my powers are inevitable. No matter what they try, they won't be able to stop me," Minos said, slowly seeing the enemies on the horizon. "Remember, just because we're all geniuses doesn't mean we're equal. There are some who are stronger than others for this Millennium Massacre test."

That was a fact. From what everyone there already knew from having shared their experiences of finding the infinity seal with each other, finding the seal wasn't necessarily something for those destined for it. It could happen to anyone, even someone not that talented.

Obviously, one would have to be quite strong and talented to access the seal, since the places of inheritance left by the Celestial being were difficult to access. But there was no special condition that had to be met for those who wanted to access such an opportunity. By reaching its location and coming into contact with it, one could gain it.

In Minos' case, he had only predicted where he should go because of a special item used by the enemy who wanted to steal his 'destiny' with the infinity seal and the Incorruptible Heart. Otherwise, his encounter with the inheritance would have been completely accidental.

In other words, not everyone there was necessarily the biggest monster in the universe!