The Rise of the Black Plain

Upon entering the apartment where Abby was staying, Minos gave her a friendly hug for a moment. Then the two went to the bench there, just after the young woman with blue hair closed the door.

"Well, let's sit and talk." She said, indicating to the side that there was that bench.

The two sat side by side on two wooden benches that were there in that open kitchen. Minos watched her for a moment, seeing the way Abby dressed for sleeping.

Of all the women Minos had had intimate relationships with, Abby seemed to have a closer personality with Ruth. However, there was still a big difference between them.

Before associating with Minos, Ruth was a virgin who did not care about the affairs of others, as long as it did not affect her. As for Abby, she was a devout virgin who could even try to interfere in the lives of others, as if she had the right to express an opinion...

And she showed her way of thinking about her clothes well. While Ruth was more 'accessible,' even sleeping without a bra, Abby seemed to be totally closed off to the outside 'world,' covering every bit of her body that could attract attention.

As for the other lovers that Minos had, they couldn't be compared with Abby... Elena was not as 'wild' as the mother and daughter duo of the City of Waters, but she could be following those two paths. After all, Elen's friend was still very young and had a lot to 'give'...

Anyway, Minos could not leave this impression that Abby gave him. It may seem small to use the way a person dresses to judge her, but the truth is, that was an important detail.

After all, how a person acts when is alone is what really defines her as a person!

So, the way Abby dressed to go to sleep was making the young Stuart understand a little more of his friend. Even if that in itself did not give him all the details about her, that was relevant information for him.

'Hmm, this will be interesting...' He thought about it while having the tips of his lips slightly pointed upwards. Minos was not someone who would try to get along with all the women involved with him, but that didn't stop him from wanting his friend.

Abby and Minos were very close at the time of the Spiritual Academy. Still, fate separated them for several years, and now that young child had grown up to become an attractive woman. And hell, the young Stuart truly liked how Abby had 'grown up'...

In addition to that, Abby gave him the feeling that it might not be so easy for him, and that made the young Stuart even more determined to flirt with her...

At this point, Minos finally put his thoughts aside and said. "I'm surprised to see you here. I thought you were a little angry at me."

Hearing that, she looked at him sideways while she had a thoughtful expression in her eyes. "Your previous invitation was very shameless, but I decided to forget about it." She then stopped to think for a moment, probing Minos' spiritual power.

'Hm? Level 42! As expected, your cultivation speed looks as good as it did before the Spiritual Tournament...' She thought about it. Abby knew that Minos had grown very fast since he had been unconscious until he was 15-years-old.

She then said. "Anyway, if I were stronger than you, I would give you a beating for what happened, but since I couldn't even beat you before, I'll just forget about that nonsense."

Minos then laughed and said. "Oh? That's right?"

"Hmph, but don't think you can do what you want just because you're stronger than me!" She complained but without showing any irritation. She was just playing with Minos. Of course, she wouldn't want to be treated like someone weaker, but that was just a conversation between friends and not a disagreement.

"Then? It looks like you didn't come here for your old friend to show you the pleasures of life, right?" Minos teased her with a smile on his face.

Abby immediately blushed at Minos's words, looking away from the direction of the young Stuart's eyes. "I wanted to see how you were doing and maybe spend time here with you, like at the time of the Spiritual Academy."

"Hahaha, I understand. Well, leaving the jokes aside, you are always welcome in my house, but don't cause too many problems, OK?" He said, taking one of Abby's hands and holding it.

"What problems can I cause?" She asked curiously.

"Well, I don't want you to talk about this place with other people after you get out of here, okay?" Minos said seriously.

He, in fact, already had his own plans for Abby, but he didn't think attracting this young woman to his side would be like the other people he has dealt with so far.

Abby was her good childhood friend, but she was a young girl from the Miller family. So, it would not be easy to convince her to join his side, using only Black-grade techniques and spiritual crystals. That she certainly already had!

Because of this, the young Stuart wanted to take it naturally with her.

Abby then replied, looking Minos in the eye seriously. "I can do this, but why do you want to hide this place? If more people know about how much this city has improved, you can get a lot of investments."

"It is not the time for you to know my motivations, but spreading the news from this place would be very damaging to me. You understood?" He said, shaking the girl's hand a little.

'Why does he say it would be harmful to him?' Abby asked, trying to understand her friend's words. But she did not conclude anything. After all, Minos had not been open about his own goals for her, as he had been with Elena and Elen.

"Okay, well, I'm going to keep the information from this place to myself. But I have another question. Why are you investing in this place? I'm sure you could do better in another region."

Abby was very curious about how Minos could make a place like this go through such a transformation, but she thought it futile to ask him. That certainly should be the young Stuart's secret, and he wouldn't go out and talk about it with outsiders, as was the case with her.

Even though they were childhood friends, the two had already started cultivating years ago. And they understood the dangers of the Spiritual World. So, Abby would not ask such a naive question about the origin of Minos' resources.

With that, Abby put that curiosity aside, at least for now. But what could not help bothering her a little was the fact that Minos was investing his resources in a sterile place, such as the Black Plain.

Considering that he could improve even a place like Dry City, he certainly could do very well in other areas. And instead of investing in a population with a majority of White talent, he might get a place with average Blue talent!

That would certainly be more consistent. That was what Abby believed!

"Haha, you are curious about this, huh?" He smiled at her, letting go of the girl's tiny hand. "Well, it has to do with what I said before, but this is not the time for you to know about it. However, you are wrong to think that it is a waste to invest in this place."

"Oh? And why do you say that?" She asked with a playful look on her face. She knew that even if many resources were invested in someone with low talent, it would just be a waste. After all, someone with White talent could, at most, reach level 49 using external resources. But even this would not be simple to achieve in this region of the continent.

And how it would be almost impossible to change someone's talent... So, investing in people like that would not pay off, even in a weakened place, as was the case of the north of the Central Continent.

It was impossible to change someone's talent unless something like what happened to the young Stuart was repeated. But even that was very difficult to happen. After all, Minos had absorbed a fragment of the soul left by a God!

There weren't many Gods, even looking at all of human history, and leaving a soul fragment was very costly, even for people who reached level 100!

So, what happened to Minos was certainly something unique, which might never happen again...

Minos then looked at Abby's smiling face and began to speak. "Abby, I wasn't kidding when I said it wasn't a waste to invest in this place."

He stopped for a moment and then thought. 'It may not be the best investment, given that it would really be better to do it elsewhere, but I don't have that option. If it weren't for this place being delayed, my inexplicable resources could attract a lot of danger to my side!'

"Let me ask you a simple question."

"Say it."

"Do you know what humanity's average talent was like 10 million years ago? How about 30 million? 80 million years?" He asked, showing no change in his expression as he looked deep into Abby's eyes.