The Rise of the Black Plain

Seven days later...

Today, Minos was in a city similar to Examire in terms of housing composition—where many aliens lived among the locals.

In this place, which wasn't as big and important as Examire, being an average city by the standards of the region, Minos stayed in a hotel for aliens in the center of the city of about 100,000 inhabitants.

Yesterday afternoon he had arrived in the city after his journey between the point where he had collected the plant for another mission he had to solve on this journey, and now he was in Coldgrasp to end a negotiation on behalf of Armhands.

As much as Zocarro was a high-level cultivation world, the ordinary things that would happen on weak worlds were very much part of a cultivator's or local organization's routine.

In the case of Minos' current mission, he was in Coldgrasp to settle a negotiation for locally produced cultivation resources that Armhands needed to make special pills, artifacts, and potions.

As was to be expected, the guild sent internal members to resolve such matters through missions. Everything official that happened in the guild was like this. When a guild higi-level member saw an opportunity, they would order missions to be created for the Missions Hall, which was responsible for estimating the need, the value of the mission, its urgency, and so on.

This was how the guild leaders' orders were fulfilled for virtually everything, from assassination missions, resource negotiations, hostage exchanges, special essence gathering, investigation missions, protection, and so on.

The most important missions were usually optional, merit-based activities, while the less "difficult" and more necessary for the guild to function were usually mandatory, such as this current Minos activity.

After arriving in Coldgrasp and notifying the local power with whom the guild was negotiating about his arrival, Minos spent the night cultivating until he felt the time approaching for his meeting today. As soon as he left the alien hotel, he arrived at the headquarters of the largest local force.

"Officer Stuart, please come with me. The elders are waiting for you," said a guard when he recognized Minos' figure.

Minos followed him into the headquarters of the local forces, which were led by high-level Sovereigns.

As he walked through some corridors and internal areas of the main building in the area, Minos ignored the many aliens and natives around him, most of whom were in their humanoid forms.

Although there were countless races of creatures in the universe, and only a few of them had humanoid forms, most specialists—beings capable of changing their body forms—used humanoid body variations when in cities or for more detailed tasks.

Smaller bodies were easier to receive in special environments and facilitated interactions.

In a universe where there were beings as large as floating islands and as small as fleas, it could be quite difficult to interact if everyone kept their body shapes in their natural state 100% of the time.

Minos saw several beings with humanoid shapes and bodies completely different from his own, some of them semi-transparent, others with fur, fish scales, more or fewer eyes, with more or fewer appendages over their limbs, and so on.

Their shape, torso and head, was what resembled human forms, but there were no rules limiting their appendages and appearance.

Minos was used to seeing creatures in these forms and simply ignored the beings in his path until he entered the room where three elders of this organization were waiting for him.

"Elders, it is a pleasure to meet you," Minos said as he greeted the three before the guard who had led him there stepped aside and closed the door to the room, leaving them alone.

"Officer Stuart, we heard you were here to settle the matter of the Soulbloom harvest," said one of the three elders as he gestured for Minos to sit across from them.

Minos sat down on one chair arranged around a small centerpiece in the middle of the living room. "Yes, the guild has sent its communiques to your troops and made the down payment. I'm here today to complete the deal and take the 50 sacks of Soulbloom."

Soulbloom is a mystical plant known for its unique properties in spiritual cultivation. This plant can be cultivated on a large scale and is highly valued for its applications in infusions and teas, which can help stabilize the mind and cultivation base.

The members of Armhands often used it during meditation, sometimes even as ointments and creams that could be used to gradually absorb its essence over hours of cultivation.

But Soulbloom wasn't cheap. A single plant with a few blossoms could cost up to 50,000 Qilnats.

The amount of sacks of Soulbloom that Minos had to pay for and collect could be as much as 100 million Qilnats.

But for a guild like Armhands, this cost was practically negligible!

A member of high talent and ability like Minos could collect that amount of Qilnats in a few years of effort, so the guild that had many such members could do it much faster.

With powerful Supremes on its side, Armhands was so rich that it could give that amount of Qilnats to Minos to come to here to pay for and collect the resource.

Of course, this payment was inaccessible to Minos. Since it was stored in a special device that could only be accessed by those who knew the password, it would be impossible for a guild member on this mission to access those Qilnats.

"Hmm, we have the bags of Soulbloom ready for you to take. But are you sure you can take them back to Armhands? We won't be able to produce any more for two years... If you lose it, your guild will be left without this vital resource," said one of the elders, a level 113 Sovereign, looking at Minos with an uncertain expression.

Could a single level 105 Sovereign bring something so valuable back to the guild?

Even though 100 million Qilnats weren't much for Armhands, the value of those bags was enough to move several weaker groups and powerful cultivators from the Coldgrasp region!

Because of its properties, Soulbloom couldn't be completely contained in storage rooms without letting signs of its essence escape. Even if Minos didn't carry them in his hands, those bags would leave a trail wherever he went!