The Rise of the Black Plain

While those two fish learned a little more about Henricus Longus' history with this City of a Thousand Races, Minos made his way to the top of that statue.

There were several flights of stairs on his way and many levels of the museum in memory of this ancient expert of the Spiritual World. But Minos didn't stop to pay attention to any of it, and after about half an hour, he reached his goal.

The inside of this statue had no water itself. Instead, it had air, and one there would have to walk with feet and breathe through noses, something created by the rulers of this city in the remote past to honor this human.

Because of this, Minos could move faster than he could swim and was soon on top of the statue at its head.

There was the most critical level of the museum, where the prophetic abilities of Henricus Longus were presented through stories, recorded accounts by the ancient beings of this city, and paintings inspired by their stories and concerns.

Minos saw the place where Henricus Longus had left a spatial ring, behind where the nose of the statue would be. But halfway there, he heard the voice of that ancient God.

"I think the sea must prepare for an unparalleled calamity. In the future, there will be a time when even the Sky Whales will have to join the rest of the Spiritual World in facing the challenge that will arise."

Minos looked back, identifying the voice of this expert.

He was surprised, for this inheritance left there had no test or something like a soul fragment. Some of that God's heirlooms had tests, but others, especially the ones he left to his family and heir, had nothing of the sort.

So when he heard that voice, Minos was surprised, because he didn't expect to find that in this place.

But soon, he relaxed as he realized that that was coming from a sound storage array used by this museum to display the voice of Henricus Longus.

"What if that doesn't happen?" Another voice emerged from that device.

"Then they will perish in front of their enemies and cause the destruction of the Spiritual World as we know it!"

After those words, the recording ended, and the beings on that level of the museum began to talk, finding it incredible to hear the voice of someone who had reached level 100.

More sea beasts reached level 100 than humans in all known history. But even so, while about 50 or so humans had achieved this, only 115 sea beasts had achieved the same.

If one counted the elves and land beasts, the number of Gods this Spiritual World had ever seen would not reach 300.

So anyone who reached level 100, whether terrestrial or aquatic, was welcomed by most societies in this world!

Minos finally stopped paying attention to the words of Henricus Longus, who, at the time, was already expecting something great to happen but wasn't sure what it was.

He then looked at the stone on the wall where the nose of the statue should be on the other side, where a golden key was carved into the wall.

When he put his hands there, the beings in the surrounding area immediately looked in his direction, interested in what this human was doing.

Henricus Longus was intelligent. He knew that if he left his inheritance in a way that would make the seeker act suspiciously, beings from the future might find it strange and prevent such a person from getting to what he left.

So he had left something there that could be considered a challenge to future generations, something that anyone could try, which was why no one had stopped Minos from making his move.

That key was something that Henricus Longus had left, and supposedly whoever managed to turn it would be entitled to a prophetic vision of their own future.

At least, that was the excuse Henricus Longus had given the leader of this city when he left it there.

From then on, countless powerful beings passing through this city would come to this place and take the challenge of this God, trying to turn the golden key and get a vision of the future.

Unfortunately, to achieve this, one had to be very compatible with the key and Henricus Longus, something he had done to prevent people unrelated to him from being able to collect what was there.

He had boosted that item's power when he reached level 100, so only those he had chosen could access such a thing.

Because of this, the people there, who had heard countless times that it was impossible to turn that key, laughed at Minos when they saw this man attempting this challenge that was no longer commonly taken.

Minos ignored the comments in his surroundings and touched that golden key, trying to turn it clockwise.

At first, the key didn't move, so he put more force into it, making his Soul Avatar appear in a small size as he tried to turn this ancient artifact.

No one in the surrounding area knew Minos, much less would be impressed by the abilities of a level 77 human.

It would take something more to cause amazement in these beings!

However, slowly the smiles of those half a dozen creatures began to change, while the entire statue of Henricus Longus began to tremble.

Simultaneously, some of those creatures saw the golden key slowly move clockwise, making a thunderous sound of a lock opening.

"Uh?"

"Will he make it??"

"How is that possible? I've never heard of anyone achieving that feat!" One of the visitors there exclaimed along with the more ignorant ones.

But the museum leader, watching things from a room at the top of the statue's head, looked at Minos and frowned.

'At last, he came! It wasn't a lie!' It thought, remembering the ancient history of this place, of when 800,000 years ago, someone like Minos had appeared and turned that key.

At that time, the person who had achieved this for the first and only time until then said that one day someone like him would reappear in this place, suddenly, without any fuss.

When such a person appeared, someone from this city should immediately notify his clan because this would be the sign that the calamity predicted by Henricus Longus was not far off!

After seeing this, it was shocked, temporarily frozen without being able to react.

Amid this, Minos finished turning the key, causing a remarkable effect on himself!

He began to float over that area while an intense glow appeared in his surroundings, disturbing everyone watching him.

...