The Rise of the Black Plain

At the same time, as the local citizens were celebrating young Stuart's advancement, the news about such a thing had finally reached the ears of the Miller family envoys!

Those four people had taken much longer than the rest of the population to find out about it since they didn't have many local connections. But, on the other hand, they also spent much of their time training in the local cultivation tower, away from the turmoil that was going on in this city.

But even those three experts had to go out to rest once or twice a day. At times like those, they usually sought to inform themselves about the local situation. After all, they were allies of the local army, and they even had already taken part in a great battle on behalf of this place.

So, they needed to know the least about Minos' actions, such as strange movements of the army, things that might indicate some danger to this city.

So, they had finally found out about this a few moments ago, when the young Spiritual General, who was part of this group sent by the Miller family, came to inform them of this news.

Eliot had already sent a message to his fellow family members, not long after he found out about such a thing. 

It had also taken him a while to find out about it since only the soldiers knew that such an occasion was scheduled to occur at headquarters today.

Hence, Abby's father had only found out about it from his wife after that young man had returned from the Spatial Kingdom earlier in the evening.

After Eliot communicated with that Spiritual General, this young man passed on this information when those Spiritual Kings took a break from their daily training to dine at a local restaurant.

"So, he has already reached level 50..." The level 54 Spiritual King said in a low voice as he understood how important this news was.

Since they were already allies, the stronger Minos was, the better it would be for the Miller family. Hence, these people couldn't help but value such a thing.

"That was truly fast!" 

"We haven't learned the second Silver-grade technique since we got here, but he's already achieved a breakthrough." The Level 53 Spiritual King declared while sighing internally. "At this rate, this place will develop at an even faster rate than we had previously estimated."

"Yes, perhaps young Minos really can transform the Black Plain into a strong state!" That level 54 individual agreed as he remembered everything he had discovered about this place.

They already knew of the many opportunities this place would have in the future because of the possibility of producing foods rich in spiritual energy. But having the means to become rich or strong, having a fortune or an inheritance, etc., was no guarantee that a place or someone would reach the top!

Opportunities could be wasted. Talents could be damaged by mistakes, bad luck, and so on. In short, someone or something would have to go through countless trials before reaching an important position, influential to the point of being respected by all.

And knowing this, these experienced experts had a vision that the Black Plain Army had a future as good as the future of a man carrying treasure on his head.

He could have the luck or strength to protect himself and become a feared expert, or he would probably die in the middle of his journey and have his treasure taken by others.

That last option was the most likely to happen.

But upon finding out about Minos' advance, these three had realized that in the blink of an eye, the Black Plain Army had become much more solid, distant from this unwanted possibility!

They obviously didn't want Minos' forces to fail since that would be terrible for them. But they would not stop thinking about the possibilities here.

Therefore, they thought a lot about the challenges of this place and Minos' chances of success.

Archer, level 55, then spoke for the first time. "Hmm, you are probably right. But let's put the future aside for a moment..."

"Eliot has invited us to visit the young Minos. So, we should take the opportunity to congratulate him and further increase our connection with the Dry City."

'Now he must be stronger than me... That means that in our family, most likely only the supreme elder and the patriarch are as strong or stronger than him.' So, Archer thought to himself as he waved for the people in that place to follow him towards the local mansion.

'That's great! If he and young Abby get married in the future, my Miller family will have endless opportunities!'

'All we have is to endure the difficulties for the time being!'

...

And it wasn't long before several visitors came to young Stuart's mansion to congratulate him and talk about the future of the Black Plain.

Among them were some prominent figures in the Dry City, people like the leader of the Central Market, owners of some of the most prosperous businesses here.

Such individuals did not influence young Stuart's decisions since everything they had gained came from the actions of this ruler. However, these people still had importance since, apart from the army, they were the ones most capable of nurturing warriors for the Dry City at the moment.

Hence, Minos would not refuse to welcome such people on a few occasions, as those individuals could help the local army to have better-prepared soldiers in the future.

But besides being positive to have a good relationship with the financial powers of his city, it was also good for these people to be on Minos' good side. After all, they owed a lot to this sovereign and depended on him to keep developing themselves.

So, they didn't want to miss the opportunity to improve their relationship further and perhaps get more benefits...

On the other hand, those Spiritual Kings from the Miller family had arrived at that mansion almost at the same time as Todd and his bodyguard.

That nobleman from the Cohen family was still in the Dry City since his previous visit to Minos when he had brought that news from before.

Todd wanted to stay in Dry City for a while to find out more about the problems of this place. He wanted to understand the variables that his family would have to deal with if he tried to make a military rather than a business deal with Minos.

And upon receiving the information that Minos had reached the 6th stage of cultivation, this young man had rushed to the sovereign mansion, ready to talk about that with this local ruler.

Todd already knew how monstrous Minos was. After all, he had watched this sovereign's battles during the Spiritual Tournament. And even if he didn't know how strong young Stuart was now, he already considered the young Stuart an expert on the same level as the strongest elders of House Cohen.

Consequently, he had made up his mind about what to do here!

...

"Todd, this place is truly crowded!" The bodyguard of Minos' trade ally said this in a low voice while looking apprehensively at the people in that place.

Such a person was only at level 50 and was not as experienced as those old 'foxes' from the Miller family in that place. So, he was still not used to finding so many regional experts in one place...

Hell, even when his status increased in the Cohen family, he hadn't encountered so many Spiritual Kings at once!

And in fact, the current occasion had a remarkable amount of regional experts in one place. That is, counting this bodyguard, there were 11 Spiritual Kings in that part of the local government mansion, with the strongest of them already at level 57.

Not for less, this man was somewhat apprehensive...

Gulp!

'That must be that legendary poison master who killed the former patriarch of the Garza family..' So, he thought to himself as he looked at the people in that great hall and heard Todd's voice.

"Hmm, there are a lot of people here..."

"Many people want to tighten their ties with Minos and the Black Plain."

"Then we can't be far behind!" He said before finally drinking the transparent contents of a cup and heading in the direction of Minos.

...