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nWhile the other rooms on the second floor were already being completed by different competitors who had taken advantage of the opportunity, Minos had quickly completed the challenge in that room.

nTo his surprise, the challenge differed from the previous one and was at least five times more difficult, which he honestly hadn’t expected. Still, he finished it after just a few seconds of entering the room.

nThen, absorbing the room’s prize, which was already stimulating his silver flames, Minos returned to the lotus position, interested in spending all his remaining time on the second floor cultivating.

nWith just over three hours to do so, since all the rooms on each floor had the same time distortion, he would take the opportunity to push his cultivation higher.

n…

nThe three hours for Minos, about six months for those outside the challenge rooms on the second floor, would pass and all 93 competitors would stand face to face in that place.

nThe clock finally struck zero, just before the golden structure on the ceiling opened, revealing the second floor to them.

nEveryone flew to the next floor, not engaging in conflict for the moment, just as Minos thought the beginning of the inheritance would develop.

nRumors about what he and the other six individuals who had entered two rooms on the second floor had spread and now everyone was thinking the same thing. Complete the challenge of one of the rooms on the next floor and try for one of the seven remaining rooms.

nForfex was all smiles as he flew alongside Minos and Soli, while Soli was not in the best of moods, having left her room too late to seize the opportunity taken by her two allies.

nAs they flew what seemed to be a great distance, she asked them both, “What was it like facing two challenges on the same floor? Did you notice anything important?”

nForfex replied, “It was much harder to win the second challenge, but the opportunity I won wasn’t much better than the first. I’d say they’re a step apart, even though the difficulty was very different.”

n“I felt the same way,” Minos admitted. “But I got another insignia, and although I don’t know what it might bring us later on, I have a feeling we’ll find out soon enough. We’ll know the implications of this on the first ten floors of the tower.”

nThey reached the second floor, an area almost identical to the first, with 100 rooms around, each glowing the same color and numbered. This time, however, the True Celestial being didn’t show to the group, and after the last of them landed in the area, the passage to the first floor closed.

nMinos realized yet another implication not explained by the True Celestial, but which this phenomenon would generate. ‘Those who don’t advance in time will lose the inheritance by elimination…’

nThe clock for the opening of the passage to the third floor began its countdown as the members of the group moved into the side rooms. Everyone was keen to finish their first rooms as quickly as possible in order to test what Minos and the other six had done on the first floor.

n‘I have a feeling that the first battle for rooms will unfold here… I should strive to complete two rooms on this floor, or is it better to focus on just one now?’

nMinos wasn’t the kind of guy who feared disputes. But he didn’t decide straight away, thinking first of all to get on with his first challenge on the second floor and the reverberations of what he’d done on the first floor.

nMinos wasn’t the kind of guy who feared disputes. But he didn’t decide straight away, thinking first of all to get on with his first challenge on the second floor and the reverberations of what he’d done on the first floor.

nThis time he entered room number 33, locking himself in less than 30 seconds after the start of their time count on this level of the tower.

nThis time, Minos didn’t face parts of himself or his past. In the room he was in, a golden book condensed in front of him, while the insignia from the second room he had completed floated out of his spatial ring without his command.

nMinos watched without trying to stop what was about to happen, then saw the golden book grow a few centimeters and gain a few pages.

nSpecial characters formed on the cover of the book, attracting Minos’ attention when the name ‘Chaotic Gravity – Level Two’ appeared there.

nSeeing the name of one technique that had made him as strong as he was today—because it was a technique crucial to the formation of the black hole—Minos was naturally interested and touched the book.

nThe next page opened, revealing another passage that caught his interest.

n‘Turning techniques into skills.’

nGulp!

nAs he read this, Minos felt a shiver run through his body and continued onward, reading about what would become level 2 of that technique—when it would cease to be a technique and transform into an innate ability!

nTechniques were limited to the extent that their original creators developed them. But skills grew with their user and could continue to improve as long as there was potential!

n‘I’ve seen several ancient experts who did the opposite, turning their own skills into techniques. Henricus Longus, the level 124 soul fragment, the Goddess of Life, and many others on my journey, they all have done such a thing. But if it’s possible to create this way, the opposite way must be possible, too.

nEverything in this universe depended on balance, appropriate ingredients, measured energy, control, and even luck.’

nMinos leafed through the golden book, gradually understanding the theory behind it to gain an initial idea of how to turn his technique into more than that and make it part of his skills.

n‘In a way, I’ve done it in the past. I’ve gained passive skills from some of my techniques. What this book teaches me is exactly what enabled me to achieve this and how to consciously replicate the process.’

nGradually, Minos felt his surroundings changing, with the extremely strong gravity of the room varying, a sign that he was controlling not the technique—which was blocked by the powers of the True Celestial being—but the skill formed by such a technique!

nMinos’ eyes lit up as he felt a primary control over the skill, also noticing his Physique advancing by 2% as he mastered the new skill.

n‘Perfect! This has not only given me a new skill with greater possibilities than I had with the technique, but it has also raised the quality of my Physique!’

nHe celebrated, determined to stay in this room for the next six hours, already imagining that he wouldn’t be able to compete for one of the seven free rooms on the second floor, given how long he had already been learning his new skill.

nBut Minos already had a pretty good idea of what the second badge he’d gotten on the first floor had done for him!

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