The Rise of the Black Plain

After the emperor's order, Maisie stood for a few moments in that place while people in the surrounding area commented on how irrational her request had been.

If what she was saying was true, then it would be great, and in no time, an enemy of the empire could be exterminated by the Spiritual Church. But they did not want to engage in such extreme actions as the one she was suggesting.

The Flaming Empire had already had complicated relations with the kingdoms to the north for a long time. But after the last major conflict, they had kept hostilities at an 'acceptable' level, with only problems happening on the borders.

There was an area within a few hundred kilometers of each border where the peace agreement signed at the end of the last war was invalid. In this large area, everyone on either side that crossed the borders suffered unimaginable dangers due to the tensions on both sides.

Even low-level people were no exception since there was no way for either side to know who would become a new expert in the future.

For example, the recent attack by Maisie's sect had happened in this area, and for this reason alone, no one had stopped them. But the Vogel family was in a location in the middle of that state, so attacking it would be an actual declaration of war!

And since they wanted to avoid a new war at this time when they had not yet fully recovered from the last one, these people from the imperial family could not help but look down on Maisie's request.

"Sigh..."

'So, now I can only return to the Black Plain to discuss this with my son and protect him.' She thought, still in that place.

'I heard that Gloria went to Dry City, but will she alone be able to do anything? Not to mention that she is from the Spiritual Church and not someone I can trust...'

After thinking about what she should do, Maisie said goodbye to the emperor and made her way to the northern region of the Central Continent.

'Well, it won't be bad to see my son now. I haven't seen him for a while, and I want to see how Ruth has grown after reaching the 7th stage.'

...

Meanwhile...

A few days passed, and the local Black Plain Tournament reached its halfway point.

In the meantime, countless fights and hotly contested matches had taken place in the stadiums of the capital and satellite cities of Dry City.

It had been so well disputed that many tourists and citizens were already commenting on how this competition had already started better than the last editions of the Spiritual Tournament.

In particular, the Minos tournament had been more impressive than the edition of this Flaming Empire sect competition that had taken place only a few years ago.

At that time, the event on Stone Island was one of the weakest in hundreds of years. But it was to be expected. After all, the Black Plain War of Independence had significantly weakened the region and required the local families not to send their most talented youngsters away.

They needed to replace the fallen Spiritual Kings!

So, coupled with the recovery during the peace and the possibility of these talented youths staying in the region, there was no way that the Black Plain Tournament would not have more exciting moments than that past event.

The format of the competition run by Ruth was also different from the other one, so naturally, the regional population had greatly appreciated such an event until then.

Anyway, Minos and his family had been following the data of this tournament that aimed to bring new soldiers into his army. But they were doing this from the royal palace with the notes of administrative soldiers and even the royal instructor.

...

"... So that's what I had to talk to you about today, Minos," Grant said as he stood up, intending to return to his training job in the army.

Minos did not look at that man. Instead, he just continued focusing on the list Grant had left for him to review. "Hmm, I'll talk to you tomorrow." He said as he waved a hand.

Meanwhile, Abby and Ruth were also reading the reports of the most compelling competitors, helping Minos keep track of the individuals with the most potential to join the army.

"With this competition, I think we can bring over 200 young people with Black talent into the army..." Ruth commented as she finished reading the papers in her hands.

Abby then nodded and said. "There are even three people with Silver talent... Not bad for our first competition!"

"Hmm," Minos nodded to the two. "But several of them are from regional royal families, so we have to put some restrictions on them within the army until we have more power."

Ruth then suggested. "We can raise the standards for soldiers trying to get into the Elite Squad. With the recent army selection and the promotion of several soldiers, it's time for us to do that."

Abby nodded. "We already have over half a million soldiers, so raising the standard to make it harder for certain soldiers to get promoted is the best we can do."

"On the other hand, those future soldiers who have no problems on their record, we can just promote them as a reward or something."

"Yes, let's do that." Minos liked the idea of his wives.

After a few moments of dealing with this issue, they finished talking about the future soldiers that would be added to their forces through the current tournament.

Then, Gloria appeared in that place, something quite common to happen at this time of the day since her arrival in Dry City. She had been given an office not far from Minos' and even some people. So, she would come to see her man whenever she finished her services.

"Gloria, what have you been doing recently? You look more beautiful than ever!" Minos looked into the eyes of the woman who had just sat on his lap.

She smiled but only considered that such a thing was another one of his compliments. So, she did not answer him with words but with a kiss. 

"Mmmmm~"

Abby looked at Gloria strangely, thinking that Minos' comment had not been casual. 'She does look prettier...'

But Minos' queen soon made those two stop by touching on a serious subject. 'My love, what will we do about the trade of techniques in our state? There are already a large number of copies being traded across the Black Plain. Even several experts have started producing and selling their techniques."

Anyone with a good understanding of Natural Laws could develop techniques. With this, since there was already a large number of Spiritual Kings in this region who did not focus their time on spiritual professions, nor were they warriors, some had been focusing on developing techniques.

Spiritual Kings could develop Blue-grade techniques and make copies of Black-grade ones.

With this ability and the great regional demand for techniques of that quality, a new market had arisen due to the increase in cultivators capable of producing it.

Ruth then commented. "Previously, original techniques were costly, as only the large regional families had Spiritual Kings to produce them, and they hardly sold them. But with many rogue Spiritual Kings appearing in our state, the supply has increased so much that even small rich families can now buy these techniques."

Unlike the Black Plain, the rest of the region still lacked Blue-grade techniques for its inhabitants. In some places, these techniques were already being distributed free of charge to their population, but hundreds of millions still would love to buy techniques of this quality.

With that, this new market had been developing, and these two could not help but talk about it with Minos.

"Well, naturally, we will tax that market." He smiled. "The Black Plain is opening doors for these people, but they also have to give us something in return when they are successful..."

They momentarily laughed as Gloria looked into Minos' eyes with plenty of affection in hers. "What about higher grade techniques? You need a trade for those too, right?"

He continued holding her waist and said. "Yes, but only by leaving the region will I be able to get in touch with groups or companies that specialize in creating spiritual techniques."

"It will still be a few years before my army has anyone capable of producing anything of the sort... Perhaps you will be the first when you reach level 70." He briefly kissed her lips, smiling.

"Unfortunately, I won't be able to do that. I'm sorry..." She smiled bitterly. "But I can point you to several places in the Flaming Empire for you to visit. We will be going there in a short time, right?"

...