The Rise of the Black Plain

When the creature finally died, its many body parts stopped moving, receding into its brown gelatinous body.

The surrounding group continued to stand in front of this now-dead creature as it finally fell silent in this dark underground area.

Minos sighed as he swam towards the body while the rest of his people stayed where they were.

But he quickly warned them. "Don't stay outside this crypt. Close the doors to this place immediately. We'll only be safe here if none of the beings we've diverted on our way here enter this place."

Those individuals had already realized that the doors of this place had some kind of special power capable of suppressing the power emanating from the purple crystal at the center of that crypt. So, the less tired members of the group soon joined together to close the grandiose doors in this area.

At the same time, Ruth and the doctor allied to them on this journey went to the two wounded men on the outskirts, while the three individuals who had special artifacts earlier approached Minos and the dead creature.

One of them had a terrible expression as he looked at the broken bracelet on one of his arms.

As much as they had won, this individual had lost the artifact that could make him capable of even hurting mid-level Sovereigns!

The other two still had their devices in one piece but were very tired. They also had bad facial expressions, but they didn't look as bad as that man.

Minos ignored these beings while paying attention to the corpse of the brown creature in front of him.

He picked up his sword and then cut this being in half while using his Bright Eyes to identify exactly how to cut this corpse so as not to damage the monster's valuable organs.

Within moments, the group saw the insides of that brown creature and its strange organs, some of which looked like silver pearls.

These were valuable cultivation resources for beings of all kinds.

The group quickly divided them up according to their contribution to the fight to kill the creature.

The individual who lost his bracelet received most of these silver body parts, while each of the other members who supported the fight received one unit.

Minos and the others who fought more directly received 3 units each before dividing up the rest of the creature's body, with his group taking half of it and their allied group taking the rest.

"What do we do now?" asked the leader of the group allied to Minos.

"All we can do now is sit here and wait. The only 'safe' way out of this place is how we came in. Until the creatures that appeared earlier move on, we can't risk it.

We killed a level 105 Sovereign because of the special circumstances earlier. But those opponents out there are outnumbered, and we don't have the same advantages we had here.

So we'll have to wait a few months." Minos repeated what he had already said to the group before the fight.

"What about this crystal? I can sense that it's quite powerful." Said one of the aliens closest to Minos.

"Let's leave it where it is. The position this monster has placed it in is particularly interesting for protecting this space. We'll be able to take advantage of it during our wait in this place." Minos commented as he looked at the item encrusted in a rock in the center of the area.

He added. "When it's time to leave here, we'll take it out of this area. Unfortunately, it will have to be carried on a spatial ring. As much as it has the potential to avoid spatial and temporal distortions, it's very interesting to have. Creatures will try to get close to us if we use it during our match."

"And who will have it?" asked one of Minos' temporary allies.

He smiled and said. "How about this crystal stays with me until we find another item of similar value? When that happens, your group can keep that other item, or we can make a trade."

They looked at each other in silence for a moment. That was no time for one side to have a problem with the other, and they still had plenty of time to explore The Obsidian Shore.

It was best to accept this deal for now.

"All right. You keep it until we find something of similar value." Said the leader of the other group as he turned away from Minos.

With that, they would soon settle down in that area, some of them starting to prepare what to eat, others setting up tents there.

Soon, they would establish a routine of cultivation, training, and observation of the area. As safe as this place was supposed to be, they weren't going to take any chances.

Of the 16 people there, four would always keep an eye on their surroundings to alert the others if anything strange happened nearby.

The others would be free to cultivate, train, or rest during the four cultivators' watch.

That was the beginning of their journey in this underground area, where they would spend the next few months waiting for the monsters above them to move.

Minos wasn't sure when it would be a safe time to leave. He only knew that, between 7 and 9 months there, the monsters on the surface would no longer be there, and it would be safe for them to move on to the ruin area where they could absorb their resources.

Why couldn't they do that now? That was related to parasites and other types of essences, which, according to Minos, would leave their resources once they entered a certain part of the ruin, a place they would go to after leaving this underground building.

Everyone in the group would agree to follow Minos' words because of his success in bringing them alive to this point in their journey. For the next 9 months, they would cultivate in peace in that place rich in energy and laws!

...

As the group approached the 10-month anniversary since they had entered that underground building, they were finally preparing to leave the place where they had been cultivating since that time.

In 10 months, no one had progressed in level, but they had all made the most of their cultivation time, experiencing advances in their strength and understanding that might have taken 2-3 years in the places they normally cultivated.

Minos was in the early part of level 97 when he arrived there, but in less than a year, his cultivation was already close to level 98!

So, after their 10th month there began, Minos and his would collect the purple crystal from that underground area before they finally began their journey back to the area they had entered this building months ago.

It would only take them two days to get from the top level of that building to the first floor, and then they would open the gate that had protected them from the monsters outside that building reaching them!