Awakening Instinct!

Realizing this, Minos suddenly shut his eyes, which caused the crowd to jump up slightly, unaware of what he was doing.

"What the hell is he up to?" Tylia couldn't help but exclaim, not understanding this seemingly suicidal move.

"No idea, but Minos never acts without reason…" Suki responded from the side.

Down on the empty field by the tower, Asumi also slightly squinted her brows, curious to see what Minos was planning.

One had to know that the tower similarly suppressed Divine Sense, which meant that one's eyes were pretty much their only way of analyzing the world.

Of course you could use hearing or even smell, but these things were also suppressed back to a mortal level, which rendered them pretty useless.

But still, Minos had no plans of opening his eyes, just taking a deep breath as he felt everything around him.

He hadn't really realized in the past just how strong his senses were, and he had almost started to take them for granted.

It was only now when he was once again reduced to darkness did he remember that those senses could also be deprived from him.

He couldn't help but remember his mortal days, when the world was 'quiet' and lacked 'vibrancy.'

When simply closing his eyes could bring out the fear in his heart, the uncertainty of the abyss and the monsters that he imagined existed within it.

When the only things certain to him were those within eyeshot, the rest of the world seeming to not exist until he could see it himself.

It had been a long time since he had felt that way, and now, for the first time in what seemed like decades, he had experienced it again.

But this time he lacked the fear of uncertainty that followed the young him everywhere, instead his heart was calm and steady, his face flat as the three puppets lunged at him from all angles.

Despite their attacks only being inches away, Minos still didn't move, his mind completely consumed by his current thoughts.

'Instinct… If Divine Sense is to master the known, then Instinct is to master the unknown.'

'Divine Sense operates in the world of light, whereas Instinct thrives in the darkness, even if all your senses are deprived, your eyes slashed, your ears ruptured, you can still 'feel.''

'Because Instinct was created by weak mortals, who understood just how fragile they were, and how easy it was to deprive them of that which they relied upon.'

'Cultivators lacked that insecurity, hence Divine Sense is wide and open, unafraid of destruction.'

'It is exactly this fragility that gave birth to the uniqueness that is Instinct, a sense that is beyond sense.'

'If Divine Sense is a mighty dragon that prowls the heavens, then instinct is a sick lion, one that still hunts in spite of its weakness, because hunger never rests.'

'This is the way of the mortal, this is Instinct…'

Nothing seemed to change with that thought, the darkness still consuming Minos, but at the same time, everything was different.

As if his body simply understood what to do, he instinctively dodged the incoming attacks, moving without even having to think.

His mind was completely empty at the moment, yet his body reacted like he was still in charge, moving in the same way he would.

It's as if the gap between mind and matter had been removed, the two entities that had once been separated by a thin gap, fusing into one.

Like water meandering through a river, raindrops falling from the skies, wind through a valley, Minos's movements were so smooth that they were akin to a force of nature.

The puppets were assaulting him relentlessly, but just like trying to punch the air, it seemed futile, all their attacks missing.

"How is he doing that!" Orino asked in wonder, having never seen such a performance before in his life.

"It's almost like he's using Divine Sense, but that obviously isn't possible…" The Seventh Prince added.

"He can only use the abilities of a mortal right now, which is to say, can mortals really do that?" Asumi said, her mind quickly operating and going over all her knowledge of mortals in an attempt to understand Minos's current performance.

But it went without saying that her knowledge in that regard was severely lacking, after all, the knowledge of cultivators was already endless, so how could she waste her time learning about mortals?

"Regular mortals certainly can't, but Minos is a special case, not to mention none of us even know his origin. Who knows what kind of past he has…" The Seventh replied.

While they were discussing Minos's performance, the fight was still ongoing, Minos's shut eyes finally swinging back open as he mastered this new ability.

'This ability… Is this really something mortals figured out?' Minos thought, his body still dodging instinctively as he pondered to himself.

While Instinct was naturally incomparable to Divine Sense, it actually had a few superior traits, the biggest one naturally being the linking of mind and matter.

Normally, every movement one took required conscious thought, for example if Minos wanted to raise his hand, he first had to 'think' of doing so.

But now those thoughts were unneeded, his body directing interfacing with his mind, the two working in tandem without Minos having to issue any commands.

Of course such an ability wasn't perfect, its biggest weakness being that it could only act on the 'database' that Minos had already created.

For example, if he was faced with a move he had never experienced before, his Instinct would likely fail, resulting in him being injured.

Of course this weakness could be overcome simply by experiencing more and creating a bigger 'database' for his Instinct to draw upon.

The more he fought, the more he learnt, the more advanced his Instinct would become, theoretically reaching a level where it could deal with anything.

Though that was a distant, distant future, and it would come naturally with time, for now it was more important to defeat these puppets.

Just as he was about to reel his Instinct back in and begin fighting for real, Minos couldn't help but pause, an idea having come to mind.

'Can Instinct only act defensively… Is it possible to have it act offensively as well?'

None of the records he had read mentioned anything about an offensive Instinct, and from what he knew, Instinct only seemed to be for dodging, not fighting.

However, just because that was the case for others didn't mean Minos also had to follow the same mold.

Instinct was an ethereal thing, it didn't exist in any physical matter, hence making a change to it was far from simple.

But from the records, Minos was also aware that all those who used Instinct had only awakened it in a moment of life and death.

From that, Minos felt that Instinct was likely what happened when one's desire to live reached the extreme, causing it to manifest.

Since that was the case, if he wanted his Instinct to further evolve, he likely had to apply similar pressure, the only problem was that these three puppets definitely weren't enough.

Fortunately there was still the fourth floor, and from what Minos had heard, it would be the perfect place.

Hence, not wanting to waste anymore time, he swiftly dealt with the three puppets, destroying them in the blink of an eye.

Finally, as the three puppets vanished, the tower summoned the last one, though it was clear it was different at first glance.

Compared to the other puppets that were as big as he was, this puppet was even larger, standing at around two and a half meters.

Its width was equally imposing, big enough to drape a shadow over Minos's body, which seemed miniscule in comparison.

Of course compared to its size, it's real threat was in its cultivation, which had reached the Third-Layer of Mortal Renewal.

At the third stage, one already had 600 pounds of strength, not to mention with the size of the puppet, it likely already had around 400 to 500 pounds naturally.

With all that said, it meant the puppet had around a thousand pounds of strength, which severely crushed Minos's measly three hundred or so.

Even more horrifying, was that despite the puppets size, its movements were incredibly swift, almost instantly arriving in front of Minos.

Fortunately his Instinct acted immediately, allowing him to dodge the move without breaking a sweat.

Having failed its first attack, the massive puppet didn't give up, instead continuing its endless barrage.

Seeing this, Minos felt pressure for the first time, but despite such he didn't act, just giving reign over to his Instinct.

He wanted to force it to its absolute limits, which meant he couldn't interfere, even if it risked his own well being.

If he wanted his Instinct to evolve, he needed it to feel the threat of extinction, so he just watched on apathetically, as if it wasn't his own body at risk of severe injury, or possibly even death.