The Rise of the Black Plain

At first, Minos hadn't planned to send Lee and Alison on such a mission to the Snow Kingdom. Instead, he would do this travel himself sometime in the future to settle business matters related to beast tamers' techniques and the purchase of beasts for his army.

The Black Plain Army had a small number of beasts to transport groups of soldiers and the resources from the Dry City. In fact, almost all the beasts that his organization had were beings bought from the local citizens.

After all, it was not easy to buy many beasts without drawing the attention of the regional powers since the transport would be very flashy. As such, young Stuart had to be satisfied with the beasts that were in Dry City, beings of low level and weak lineages...

Consequently, his army had few mounts for the soldiers, and most of them were below the 4th stage.

However, for a force that aims to become the strongest in the region in the coming years, not having appropriate mounts for the soldiers was a problem.

That is because a power with a high regional level needs to have fast and efficient means of transportation that could 'shorten' regional distances. Only in this way could an organization have more stable control over its own territory and also over others...

On the other hand, a state that exports large amounts of resources would need many beasts to pull the wagons to the ports or different forms of transportation. As such, Minos would need to have a significant number of beasts in his organization in the future.

And precisely for this, he needs to do business in a place like the Snow Kingdom, the leading state in the region in this matter!

Such a place was famous for having many guilds focused on the profession of beast tamers, where copies of specialized techniques or mounts could be easily acquired.

Not only that, the variety and quality of these things found in that state were far above what could be obtained outside the Snow Kingdom. Hence, such a place was the best for Minos to do his business.

And he couldn't wait too long to have these things, given the fact that he would soon significantly increase his population and consequently the local food production.

Besides, of course, the fact that his soldiers would need suitable mounts to pursue enemies during the coming war.

Therefore, as the war was getting closer and closer, he had decided to give this mission to these three.

As for why he didn't do this before, well, that was because of a lack of need and resources. First, because there weren't many beasts in the Black Plain region to be tamed, there was no demand for techniques for beast tamers in the Dry City.

And second, because the Black Plain did not have enough crystals previously to maintain all the services of Dry City and still invest in such beasts. After all, this territory did not have a financial reserve previously.

As for why Minos specifically wanted Lee and Alison to do this, well, there were two reasons for this. First, this young ruler wanted to prepare these two to become future regional leaders, and as such, it would be good for them to travel around the region and make contacts.

Such a thing would be a good experience and would finally put into practice the things these two had learned in the past years.

Secondly, Minos needed to send people he could trust and who would not be missed in the army in the short term. And since these two had grown up following this sovereign's ideas, as well as being strong enough to protect themselves from most regional dangers, young Stuart had chosen them.

But although the two were already considerably strong, the difference they would make in short-term battles would be slight.

On the other hand, the chances of them participating in a larger battle and dying were not slight.

With that stated, this would be a good opportunity for these two not to get involved in short-term high-level battles and still help the Black Plain by doing those deals in the Snow Kingdom!

Minos then said. "Don't worry. You two are already at level 43, and Peter is at level 46. So, unless a level 51 Spiritual King decides to act against you, no one else will be able to threaten your group."

"And something like that is unlikely to happen..." 

"Hmmm." The two nodded their heads as they agreed with Minos.

In fact, there shouldn't be that much danger for them. After all, they were intelligent enough not to provoke people gratuitously, and the chance of an expert of this level appearing in their way was relatively small.

There weren't many Spiritual Kings in this region, and hardly a 6th stage individual would bother with Spiritual Generals who hadn't even reached the final part of the 5th stage.

So, unless they were very unlucky, they probably wouldn't have to fight such strong opponents.

"This journey should take at least one year... So, you two will certainly get stronger in that period, and the dangers will be even less." Minos said while having a thoughtful look on his face. "You will only need to be careful with beasts during the journey. But we will give you some maps with paths that do not pass through hazardous forest regions."

"OK."

Lee then asked. "Master, what will we do in the Snow Kingdom?"

"You will buy beast tamer specialized techniques of Blue-grade and Black-grade. But, on the other hand, I want you to order some beasts that will serve as mounts and to pull wagons and carriages."

"I will ask Mia to pass on to you the quantities and types of beasts when the time comes for you to leave." He said.

"All right."

"Finally, I want you guys to try to look for the Meyer family..."

...

Minos talked for a few minutes with those two, giving them various information regarding this mission they would have to do in the Snow Kingdom.

When he said goodbye to those two, young Stuart went directly to the place where several of the Elite Squad soldiers were training and fighting, where Celeste and Angela were at this moment.

"You two, come with me." Minos said as he waved to them and walked away from those dozens of soldiers.

After that, the three of them came closer to the shores of the lake, a somewhat quieter part, where there were just a few people quietly cultivating.

Minos then removed two silver scrolls from his spatial ring and said. "Celeste, this is the last technique you will be able to learn before you reach the 7th stage of cultivation."

"Hmmm." She made a sound of appreciation, while she couldn't hide the look of happiness on her face.

She then took one of the silver scrolls from Minos' hand and listened to this young man's voice once again. "After you master the basics of this technique, unfortunately for you, I will have to send you to one of the army bases. You will stay there for a year until you are replaced by someone else."

"After that, you will come back here, and you will stay around here for some time..."

Gulp!

"OK." She said as she clenched her fists. 

Celeste truly wanted to stay in the Spatial Kingdom as long as possible. Still, she understood that she needed to fulfill her duties in the army, especially at this very dark time.

"But take advantage of this remaining month to reach level 55. Unfortunately, we won't have many opportunities to train together in the future. However, I still want to do that at least once after I reach level 50."

After saying that, Minos saw that woman nod to him before finally walking away from there and starting to learn that technique, he had lent her.

He then looked steadily into Angela's white eyes and said. "Well, this is the third technique you will be able to learn. It is a movement technique, something that will be very useful to you in the future."

"OK." She murmured as she received that scroll from Minos' hands.

"With Celeste's departure, you will be the only human capable of training these Elite Squad soldiers with the same vigor as her. So, for now, I intend to leave you around for at least the next seven or eight months."

"Enjoy that time because, after that, I will most likely send you to one of the army's border bases."

"On the other hand, since Celeste will not be able to train with me after her departure, then I'm afraid you will be her replacement..."

"Also, I want you to start training with Emlyn after that woman leaves."

"OK."

After that, the two finally went their separate ways. Angela went in the same direction as Celeste to learn this new technique.. In contrast, Minos went towards a quieter place where he could train calmly.