The Rise of the Black Plain

"Father, did you have to test me like that?" Kendrick asked in a pained tone of voice as he clutched his stomach with his arms.",

Minos just smiled at his son before looking at the three women in the cultivation room. "Anyway, since everyone is ready, it's time to continue our journey to Oqia."

The four of them put aside their thoughts about how much stronger they were now that they had finished absorbing the items they had acquired earlier.

Kendrick picked himself up from the ground with his father's help as his exoskeleton returned to normal, fully retracted into a crystal embedded at the base of his back.

Despite the pain caused by Minos' blow, he was well enough to walk alongside his parents.

Soon the five of them were on their way to meet up with the rest of the group, from where they would leave for the local harbor.

The boat that Minos had reserved for its services was subject to a daily payment contract. So the crew was waiting for him, and as soon as he wanted, they would set sail for Oqia.

With no further reason to stay on the island, Minos would gather his entire group in the next few minutes before heading to the magnificent local harbor.

On the way, Gloria asked him. "By the way, what did we get from those alien spatial rings? I imagine they left a lot of valuables behind, right?"

"Indeed." Minos smiled in confirmation. "We got 300 million Qilnats, various resources and artifacts of great value, as well as information about galaxies and worlds we didn't know about."

What was the value of knowing about other regions of the universe? For someone who had founded a galactic empire, all kinds of information had their value.

Perhaps Minos himself wouldn't use some of the information he had, but it might be interesting for his children or eventual grandchildren to explore the possibilities he had reached.

For example, the trip to The Enchanted Realm had helped the group a great deal, as the time distortion that existed in that area had allowed the group to strengthen and prepare for their return to Zocarro. Perhaps there were places in the universe that were similar or had the potential to help some of the Stuart family in the future that the group didn't know about yet.

With information, they could achieve many possibilities!

When Gloria heard her husband's answer, she was naturally overjoyed with her gains.

Not only had they received five impressive items that had already increased their power, but they now had even more wealth than when they arrived in Zocarro!

"Good. It looks like we'll have a good trip in Oqia."

"I hope so. If the sea doesn't beat us this time, the future looks quite interesting." Minos smiled as he commented to his beautiful red-haired wife just before the whole group entered the local harbor.

When they arrived in front of the boat waiting for them, the native, who was waiting for Minos' decision to leave, looked at him and asked. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, let's go to Oqia."

With these words from Minos, his group quickly boarded the ship, about 30 meters long, 7 meters high, 11 meters wide, waiting for them to leave the island.

The captain and his crew introduced themselves to their passengers and explained how the trip would go, from emergency procedures in case of any calamity along the way to information about the route and duration of the trip.

The boat trip between the Ganaway Refuge and The Bland Gulf, the northernmost point of Oqia, could take five to eight months, even in a boat as good as the one Minos had hired.

Previously, he and his five companions from Armhands had traveled in an inferior vessel and taken about 9 months to make the journey between the island and the mainland. But with a stronger crew and a more advanced boat, the journey should take a little less time.

Even so, the journey had to be made with great caution, and it would still take them several months to reach Oqia, where they could put their plans into action!

After months of living on the island, they left Ganaway Refuge after entering Zocarro.

...

The first few weeks of the journey passed without the group encountering any dangers that could put them in a life-or-

death situation.

As the members of the group who had made the journey before already knew, the beginning and end of the journey were the most peaceful points. The greatest danger was in the middle of the journey, on the high seas, where the unknown could suddenly overtake them.

Because of the dangers of this journey, none of the group members cultivated in the middle of the journey. They were all following Minos' instructions to prepare for the challenges they might face along the way.

While the weaker ones were in less dangerous positions, the stronger ones stood by to protect the ship and help the crew complete the journey.

As much as this sea could frighten even high-level Sovereigns, the group was already quite powerful, and it wasn't all kinds of danger would be able to eliminate them.

However, they wouldn't complete this journey without facing mortal danger!

Unlike the last time they crossed this dark sea, this time they would face a mortal risk in the middle of their journey!

...

A little over three months after the start of Minos' group's voyage, the ship passed through a very dark area of the sea, where fog covered the surroundings and obscured the view of what lay beyond 10 meters from the observation point.

At its reduced speed, the ship slowly followed the route that the captain had traveled dozens of times in his history in this dangerous line of work.

While the creatures on the ship were paying attention to their surroundings, Minos suddenly opened his eyes and stood up from his position on the highest level of the ship.

Sweat poured down his face as he activated his powers, causing a large hourglass to cover the entire ship.

Then, as his group noticed his reaction and raised their guards and their eyebrows, the body part of a giant creature appeared in front of them, dangerously closing in on them in a way that would surely hit and destroy the ship.

"Oh, shit!" The captain shouted at the sight of a sea monster, similar to the Krakens of the Spiritual World, but as big as a mountain.