The Rise of the Black Plain

The moment their bodies were penetrated by the orange vapor, Minos and Forfex opened their eyes vigorously, at the same time as their badly injured bodies improved in speed visible to the naked eye.",

Forfex, in particular, improved much more significantly than Minos when he fell into the magma of that area, with his body, which looking like a burned piece of wood, returning to its former vitality.

His mind, which had been exhausted for days, felt a sudden awakening as he saw his surroundings again with the energy he had had for most of his journey alongside Minos. He felt so much better that, for a moment, he ignored the fact he had fallen into the magma and nothing had happened to his body, which was still recovering.

Minos felt his improvements as he watched the magma that should previously have been able to destroy his and Forfex's bodies.

'I can't feel exactly how much better my physical and spiritual state is now compared to before. But the fact that the magma is no longer a risk to us means that we are much stronger.

Even if we can't use it actively within The Red Expanse, we will certainly develop impressive capabilities by the time we finish the Millennium Massacre!'

He clenched his fists in anxiety, curious to know how strong he would become by the end of the event.

As he thought this, Minos left the magma and returned to the small black island in that area, where the black stone statues were returning to their original positions, forming a stone path between that area and the place the two competitors had come to.

"Forfex, let's go," Minos said as he caught the alien's mind, reveling in his own recovery as he swam through the magma as if it were just a pool of hot water.

Forfex jumped out of the magma, arriving next to Minos, already fully recovered, his energy back to its peak state.

In just a few seconds, since the essence of the area's flames had penetrated their bodies, they had recovered all their injuries, their degraded mental state, and also their energy.

"I feel amazing, even though I can't actively use what I've gained here," Forfex said to Minos.

"Yes, I feel the same way... But let's continue on with our plans. There are certainly new opportunities awaiting us ahead."

Forfex nodded in the affirmative, then followed Minos off this small island of black stones, using the path formed by the previous statues to reach the continent.

...

Time flew within The Red Expanse, and 90 years had gone by!

Minos and Forfex have traveled a long way in the almost a century since they left the area where they had got the flame essence, having found new opportunities, but also new companions and challenges in that time.

When they left that area, the pair traveled for a while, encountering no other competitors. The area they were in was still a long way from the center of the plane, so the chances of meeting competitors were slim.

After finding two new opportunities in the first 15 years of their journey after the essence of the flames, the two came across groups of competitors more and more frequently over the remaining 75 years.

During this period, Minos and Forfex fought a total of 9 times, 4 of them facing their enemies alone, having eliminated 15 more competitors. But they also made allies on their journey, growing their duo to a trio and then to a group of 5, which had reached the current number of 7 members at the present time.

During the group's expansion, they faced other opponents on 5 occasions, whom they exterminated without hesitation, having eliminated a further 44 competitors together.

The result was excellent for the group members!

With everyone having already received 3 to 9 storage items from competitors killed by the team, they would certainly have great riches when they returned to their home worlds.

Not only that, in the 75 years since the start of the duo's expansion, Minos' team has found 5 more great opportunities to collect resources or absorb essences with the potential to take them further post-exit from The Red Expanse.

Now, with almost 100 years since they began their journey in The Red Expanse, the team was moving forward closer to the central area of the plan, which they intended to reach in the middle of the time they would have to stay there.

With around 400 years to complete the remaining 80% of the distance between their current position and the center of the plane, the group was confident of reaching their goal in time to compete for the 100 spots in the next phase of the selection.

...

Today, the group of seven individuals, Minos and six others, were standing around cultivating, following the team leader's recommendations.

While three members of the group were on guard duty, four level 100 Sovereigns were going through the boring process of cultivating in this place.

Minos wanted to continue cultivating for around 40% of his journey on this plane, so the entire group had quickly agreed on how to do this in the best possible way.

After a journey of weeks from the last opportunity they had encountered, the group was stopping for everyone to rest, with most of them there cultivating, while only 3 of them monitored the surroundings.

The closer they got to the central area of The Red Expanse, the greater the chances of running into competitors interested in taking down their group.

Unlike the initial area in which Minos began his journey, it was no longer so interesting for everyone to cultivate at the same time without preparing to defend themselves against trouble.

Minos was one of the three in position at the moment, monitoring the surroundings while his companions cultivated.

"Boss, shall we increase our group further?" asked one of the team's recent additions, one of the other two men standing guard in the vicinity.

"No. You and Ozzy only joined the team because of your special abilities. Otherwise, I wouldn't have increased the size of the group any further."

The alien laughed bitterly when he heard the answer to his question. "I was lucky, then."

"But even if we find competitors with interesting abilities from now on, we'd better eliminate them. It's not interesting to grow our group too much. That could hinder us more than help us as we move towards the center of the plane." Minos added, aware that the larger the group, the more enemies they would have.

'Seven people capable of fighting above level 100 are enough for us to deal with dozens of enemies at once. We'd hardly have to fight more opponents than that, so there's no need for any more additions.' Minos thought to himself, while his two fellow guards understood his point.

Another reason was that the more allies there were in their group, the more they would have to share the items they gained from enemies, but also the opportunities they found on their way.

So the group would be stuck in that position for a few weeks until everyone had cultivated for a similar length of time and it was time for them to get back to their short-term goals!