Back in the pocket dimension that Minos and his group had encountered earlier, 25 years had passed for the group since they had entered this place dominated by the level 124 fragment.

As the fragment had promised them, outside the ruins of this bare mountainous area, there were no dangers for the group. That woman hadn’t acted against them, and those who had stayed outside the ruins had had a peaceful time over the years.

Now the group was separated on the outskirts of this mountainous area, with several small temporary camps on different peaks in the region.

At some of these sites, individuals meditated in silence inside their individual tents, while at others people practiced their skills and techniques, or occasionally chatted, ate and relaxed a bit.

Although this location had no food for them to gather or hunt, groups like theirs always had food with them. What’s more, at the level they were at, they ate more for fun, to relax and entertain themselves, rather than out of a biological need that they no longer had.

But these moments of conversation were not so common. In recent years, the group had only talked to each other in practice fights of members against members, which they did quite often during the period, or when someone started or finished a challenge in the surrounding ruins.

The Sovereigns of the group had been focusing on trying to improve to take the area tests, but by this time, the Supremes of the group had already begun their attempts. The level 124 soul fragment had helped them to classify each of the ruins by level of difficulty and so the group had begun the challenges, starting from the least difficult to the most difficult ruin.

Six individuals had joined the challenges over the years, including Minos, Tiolos, Wovar, Clexvog, Nar and Leger. The other Supremes in the group were preparing after receiving the initial reports from Tiolos and Minos. Even the weakest of ruins could endanger the lives of low-level Supremes!

Consequently, the group was working on getting stronger before going ahead with the challenges.

But of the six who attempted the challenges, Minos and Tiolos had already been through three ruins, while the two giant brothers had visited two of them. Nar and Leger had only completed the least difficult ruin and were currently preparing to challenge the second ruin.

The soul fragment had told them they could test their strength in each of the ruins if they preferred. Even though they had already accomplished the bare minimum, they wanted to test more.

After Minos and Tiolos successfully passed through three ruins, they got new skills, Spiritual affinities and their cultivations accelerated. They hadn’t advanced the level or quality of their Physiques, but they were much stronger than when they entered this place.

As such, they all aimed to test their limits in the ruins as much as they could.

However, they wouldn’t risk it foolishly. The ruins had dangers capable of killing Supremes, so the group had also been behaving carefully.

At that moment, Abby and Gloria were sitting on a stone, observing the surroundings of the black area they were in. They didn’t have a great view to look at, but after over two years of cultivation in seclusion—which felt like 15 years to her, because of Minos’ power—they took a moment to observe their companions training and meditating in the surroundings.

Their group of Sovereigns had dwindled with the stage advancements of four individuals in those 25 years. Meanwhile, some level 115 Supremes were close to reaching level 116, which they deemed necessary to safely challenge the first ruin.

Abby and Gloria were close to their next breakthrough, but they were still a long way from the day when they would take their tests. With cultivation of only level 111, they had to improve a lot to risk this place.

“It looks like we’ll be forced to stay here until we become Supreme.” Gloria sighed at the thought.

“I don’t think so. We’ve absorbed a lot of opportunities over the years, absorbable weapons, opportunities to improve our Physiques, we also have techniques of the highest level, etc. We’ll probably be able to challenge for one of those places when we’re between levels 113 and 114.” Abby disagreed with her as she looked toward where Ruth was in seclusion.

“But we’re likely to be here for a whole century…. Sigh! Our comrades in Oqia will have to wait longer than I expected. We’ve barely entered Uzira and we’re going to be stuck all this time.”

Gloria closed her eyes as she listened to her harem sister and said with a little more optimism, “I see that as a big positive. That soul fragment wants to trap us for the rest of our lives in this place. But all it will achieve is to keep us safe until we are strong enough to travel through Uzira.

Sooner or later we’ll leave this dimension and by then we’ll be better prepared for the challenges of Uzira.”

“Well, I can’t disagree with that.” Abby looked at the red-haired woman next to her.

“What happens if Minos advances in the meantime?” she asked as she looked in his direction.

Minos was meditating in a tent near theirs, close to Ruth. He was due to awaken from his state in another two years, when he intended to challenge the fourth ruin, which Tiolos had already entered a few weeks ago and was still there.

Gloria understood that the advance Abby had questioned referred to the advance to the 12th stage of Minos and said, “I don’t think so. Otherwise, we’ll be here a lot longer than we planned. But even if that happens, it wouldn’t be such a problem, as long as we can maintain our current situation.”

They would soon finish this conversation and focus some time on training their techniques and skills. Without being able to use the advantage of cultivating with the effects of Temporal Sands until Minos finished his cultivation, they intended to spend the next few months fighting each other and the companions at their disposal.

Time would continue for them, with more people feeling ready to pursue their opportunities within the ruins of the area, while others would venture deeper. Soon Tiolos would finish his adventure and Minos would reach the end of his preparations to face the fourth and fifth ruins of the area in succession!