The Rise of the Black Plain

"Well, the situation in the City of Waters has changed a lot in the last few months."

"Since that place was in Minos' agreement with the Stokes family, we will not need to hide from that family's subordinates in that place using Mirya. As such, there is no need for us to send her there."

"Plus, due to that previous incident, Mirya lost several months of training, a time she could have learned the complete set of Silver-grade techniques in the Spatial Kingdom."

"For all that, Minos changed the plans related to that city."

"And since you have all the Silver-grade techniques and Mirya does not, you will be the first one to have to stay in that place." Abby said while having an apologetic smile on her face.

She could understand why Elena was a little unhappy about these changes. After all, it was much better to stay in Dry City and have the chance to train in the Spatial Kingdom than to be sent to the City of Waters...

Furthermore, previously Elena was not scheduled to be sent out of Dry City. As such, this woman had been taken aback negatively by this information.

Elena then asked. "But what about Eda? Isn't she already in that city?" 

"Eda has already been there since Mirya went through those troubles. And you former bodyguard, Ernest, has been out of Dry City even longer than Eda."

"So, you will replace Eda, and after she has rested for a few weeks, she will replace Ernest."

"But don't get your hopes up for staying in the Spatial Kingdom for more than a few weeks during the period of turmoil in our region. Constantly, new Spiritual Kings will appear in the army. Still, new enemies, stronger people, will also appear during the war of independence."

"Then, almost all the Spiritual Kings in the army will go through the same thing as you."

"Sigh..." Hearing this, Elena sighed in defeat and commented briefly. "I see. It's a pity."

After saying that, the two women who were talking while sitting in that part of young Stuart's residence finally heard the sound of footsteps coming in that direction.

"You finally returned, huh? I thought you had decided not to come back anymore." Minos said aloud while he had a sympathetic smile on his face.

And right behind him, Ruth came walking in bare feet, walking slowly, as if she was a little sleepy.

Seeing these two people, Elena immediately stood up from where she was while admiring Minos's changes after the last stage promotion.

She then said. "Minos, you are even more impressive than before. Congratulations on reaching level 50."

"Hehehe, thank you."

"Good to see you again, Ruth."

"Hmm."

After greeting each other briefly, they all sat in that spot while Minos had his two girlfriends on his sides and Elena stood facing them. 

"A lot of things have changed in such a short time around here..."

"You are a person who doesn't stop, huh?"

"Haha, wouldn't it be better to say my enemies who don't stop? If it weren't for them, I might have a more peaceful life..." Minos joked with her, but he became serious again and asked soon after. "And how was your journey on Stone Island? I learned about some minor things through Elen, but I don't know the details."

"Sigh..."

She sighed before finally telling them about what happened there when she was away.

"... Anyway, things are tough for Elen and her alliance. After that big confrontation we had a little over a month ago, many Spiritual Kings in the alliance died or were crippled in some way."

"Because of that, the Allen family alliance was able to reverse the advantage we had and are even stronger than Elen's group."

"So, that's how it is..." Minos muttered as he thought about the situation.

Meanwhile, Ruth, who knew quite a bit about the things going on around Minos, then said. "I know that this Allen family is an enemy, but I have to admit that they are very good at what they do..."

"They even managed to get organizations outside that kingdom involved in that conflict."

Abby then nodded in agreement. "Indeed, that noble house on Stone Island seems to have many contacts. We have to keep an eye on them..."

"But do you guys know where these Spiritual Kings who helped the Allen family in that last attempt came from?"

Elena then shook her head in denial. "They were with their disguised, and each of them used techniques widespread in our region."

"On that account, they could have come from anywhere in the northern part of the Central Continent."

Hearing such an answer, Minos sighed. "That's a shame. If we knew about this, we could take some more effective action."

"Anyway, for now, Elen and her allies need to hold on with this situation on Stone Island. Then, when things get more stable for the Black Plain, we can resolve this conflict."

"Hmm, I see..."

After that, the four of them continued to talk for a while longer about these Stone Island matters until finally, Elena spoke about those two Spiritual Kings to Minos.

Upon hearing this, Minos had been delighted with Elena's initiative. It would be very positive for him to receive more Spiritual Kings in his army.

Obviously, it was more interesting to create subordinates from the beginning of each one's cultivation journey, as in the cases of Lee and Alison. But it wasn't bad to receive people from the outside either.

These people couldn't be molded as well as young subordinates. Still, in return, they already offered an immediate addition of power!

And that was very worthwhile!

Instead of having to nurture someone for a few decades, an organization in this position could have regional experts in no time at all.

And as long as the main posts, those of command and greatest trust, were held by the people nurtured from the beginning by such an organization, it wouldn't hurt to have those other people.

After all, not everyone could command!

Anyway, in talking about those two, Minos discovered that one of them was a medium-level grade-2 blacksmith, who was at level 52. As for the other, he was a level 51 warrior.

After learning this, he suggested letting them live in Dry City for the next few days until a spiritual judge from the Miller family could sign their Soul Contracts.

Only after that would he receive those two people in his army!

...

After a while, Elena left Minos' mansion and headed for her apartment in Dry City, where she intended to rest from the long trip she had completed.

On the other hand, young Stuart and his two girlfriends went to the courtyard of that residence, where they could train together.

Minos continued to fight Ruth and Abby every day, something he did to help them increase their respective comprehension speeds. And since there wasn't much time left for him to do this, he usually fought both of them simultaneously.

For Minos, this was very easy, and although it didn't provide enough of a challenge for him to improve his comprehension speed relative to his techniques, he could still improve his control over his power.

That was because, as much as the natural control over any cultivator's power would improve with increasing level, this was not something perfect!

To achieve maximum control over one's strength, one would have to train to know precisely how much power to use in each situation without wasting energy.

And this was so difficult that it was common to hear around the Spiritual World that the strongest cultivators were not the ones with the most brute strength. On the contrary, the strongest usually used the least amount of power to defeat their opponents!

Therefore, Minos didn't stop training with his girlfriends, although today, he was strong enough not to sweat when fighting both of them.

Pa! Pa!

Minos patted both of them on their buttocks and then said. "Come on, my dear girlfriends. I will give you five seconds before I move..."

And then the three of them started.