The Rise of the Black Plain

After saying goodbye to his two girlfriends, Minos quickly left the army headquarters, heading towards his mansion.

It was great that he had increased his level, evolved his Physique, and even learned a new technique. However, despite his and his two girlfriends' happiness, they couldn't stop their responsibilities because of this.

Celebrating was good, and they would do it later. But for now, Minos and Abby needed to fulfill their responsibilities so that the local forces would be as well prepared as possible for future threats.

Times were becoming increasingly chaotic, and Minos had even sent an official request for independence to the royal family. Consequently, it would not be long before a full-scale war would start in the vicinity of this territory.

Therefore, he soon raced towards his office, where he had to determine a series of plans, changes, additions, in short, strategies for the Dry City and the Black Plain Army.

...

In a few minutes, Minos had walked all the way between that cultivation room inside the headquarters and his office.

He had greeted many soldiers on the way, the ones who were already at the 5th stage of cultivation and could sense that this young man's cultivation level had reached the 6th stage.

Each of these people had great respect for young Stuart. Still, upon seeing his visual changes and feeling the strong fluctuations of their leader, such individuals couldn't help but admire him even more.

After all, Minos was not an ordinary level 50 Spiritual King that they could defeat if they worked together. No, this young man was completely different and was probably already one of the strongest in the region.

With such thoughts in mind, each of those soldiers couldn't help but greet young Stuart as they felt very excited about the future of the Black Plain.

And it was no different for secretary Mia.

"Young master, congratulations on reaching level 50!" She said this while smiling and placing some papers in front of where Minos was sitting.

"Hmm, thank you, Mia." He replied in satisfaction.

It was very gratifying to increase his power. That is, in addition to becoming stronger more attractive, the increase in vitality would make any cultivator feel like they were on cloud nine.

So, even though Minos knew that level 50 was nothing, just standard level in great empires, he was still in a good mood because of it. 

Regardless of how insignificant his current level was elsewhere, this didn't change the fact that he had grown stronger and that this was very exciting for him!

Therefore, he was smiling even if the times were not easy.

However, it didn't take long for him to put his satisfaction aside and start talking about other things. 

"Mia, I want you to pass on some of my orders to the army later when I go for training."

"OK. What does the young master want me to do?" She politely asked while standing on one side of Minos' desk.

He then continued. "We are going to change the schedule of the army's military exercises."

"Previously, I was going to have one last battle against the army Sergeants, but that won't work out... My strength has increased quite a bit after this breakthrough, and now we have a huge number of Spiritual Generals outside Dry City."

"So, such a thing would no longer be interesting to us." He said as he leaned his back in that chair in which he was.

That made sense.

The last time he had fought his soldiers, he had already had to fight 700 individuals at once... And now, well, the number of opponents would have to increase significantly.

But there was one problem...

Most of the Sergeants who were in Dry City were individuals who had only recently joined the army. In other words, the weakest in this organization.

And to make matters worse, their numbers were only about 1,700 individuals, an insufficient number to fight Minos and still keep the Dry City wall functioning. Thus, the previous plan had become outdated, which no longer corresponded to reality.

Minos had become very strong, and his soldiers had gained responsibility in very distant locations. Therefore, he needed something more compatible with the current times.

"We will keep the military exercises, but the soldiers at the 5th stage will no longer fight me. From now on, every six months, each Sergeant will have to participate in group fights against Spiritual Kings of our organization."

"As for the Spiritual Kings, once a year, at least half of them will have to assemble to fight me." He said with a smile on his face as he looked at the front of his office. "We will start the Lieutenants' military exercises in one year."

Hearing this, Mia suddenly frowned her eyebrows and asked in doubt. "But young master, if we do that, won't our border posts be vulnerable?"

That was indeed a problem...

The army had only 11 Spiritual Kings, counting young Stuart himself, Dillian, and Regina; two were not warriors. So, if everyone else were to take a day off to fight against him, there would be no protectors on the posts. 

Consequently, Mia couldn't help but wonder about that.

"Haha, don't worry, in a year, we will have more Spiritual Kings, and I will only do this exercise with those who are in Dry City." He calmly said.

The army already had some people close to the final levels of the 5th stage, as in the examples of Abby and Viola. Hence, it wouldn't take long for more Spiritual Kings to appear in this city.

And as much as the numbers were not significant, the army would not have as many of its Spiritual Kings outside of Dry City in the coming future. That was because Minos intended to use his allies in future battles, which was part of his plan not to expose so much of the Black Plain's power.

So far, the defensive dome was the main threat his territory seemed to have to the outside forces that already knew about the local changes. That could protect the residents from powerful enemies, while these people strengthened themselves in peace.

But besides that, none of Minos' enemies knew that, for example, there were people as strong as Spiritual Kings at level 57 in Dry City.

Furthermore, he didn't intend to show that kind of strength until it was necessary!

For this, he would use his allies, who also did not need to know these essential details... After all, fooling an ally could be just as crucial as deceiving his enemies! 

Considering these plans, he knew that it would be possible to carry out such military exercises, even if there were a need for part of the army Lieutenants to be outside this city.

"Oh? I see..."

"Anyway..." He then sighed for a moment before looking in the direction of a ring on one of Mia's hands. "How are things between you and Peter? Have you two enjoyed these past few days?"

"We did, young master. By the way, thank you for letting him leave a little early the Elite Squad training." 

Minos was going to send Peter with Lee and Alison to the Snow Kingdom in the next few days. And since this trip could take more than a year, he had allowed each of these people to spend time with their families.

So, Peter and Mia, who were engaged with each other, had taken advantage of this opportunity given by young Stuart.

"Well, enjoy that for another two days. After that, ask him to come and talk to me. I have some directions to give him before his group's trip to the Snow Kingdom." Minos said as he looked at Mia's face.

"OK, young master."

"Give that message to those two as well. They will leave at the very beginning of the day, after talking to me..." 

"Lastly, Mia, try to buy as many high-level grade-1 defective weapons as there are in our city. Let's let Seargent Alina recycle as many of these items as possible so that the army has a more stable supply of low-level grade-2 resources...."