The Rise of the Black Plain

After explaining how the library works to those five people, that woman soon gave them access to the techniques.

For now, they were just getting to know the place, so none of them had shown their intention to start training new techniques. But not only that, switching techniques were not so simple, and they would take some time to finish doing it.

And precisely because of that, they weren't in a hurry!

First, they would change their cultivation techniques to increase their speed of advancement, and only then would they think of others. Other than that, it would be interesting for them to know all the techniques available before doing their respective exchanges.

So, they had to study the subject well.

That was critical and could not be taken lightly. A mistake could mean an even more significant loss in their fighting proficiency!

These were the reasons for four of them.

On the other hand, Abby was just there to watch.

The Miller family's collection of Black-grade techniques was much more extensive than that of the Black Plain Army. Because of this, she had no intention of exchanging her techniques for those available at this location.

But she was curious to see this place.

Initially, with the legacy left by Albert, Minos was not supposed to have much more than 2 Black-grade techniques. However, she was surprised to find that there were already 90 techniques of that classification in this place!

Of these techniques, 9 specialized in cultivation, 32 in attack, 25 in defense, 17 in movement, and 7 in support.

'That's a pretty decent set…' Abby thought to herself, as she knew this place. 'Those techniques can't all have come from that last attack... It seems he's been doing a lot of things before I came here.'

Finally, after getting to know this place, the group continued with its 'walk' through the headquarters, getting to know each essential point here.

There were common parts in this place, like a giant mess hall in the main building, where soldiers could take their meals. In addition, restrooms and common areas were scattered around this place, creating a convenient infrastructure for soldiers.

There was a set of rooms in the building next to the administrative one, where new soldiers could learn about regional geopolitics, considering Black Plain security matters. That was a significant place, which was also used to teach basic strategy methods, things not seen in spiritual academies.

Finally, they met the headquarters' finance and Rewards Hall.

These two places were closely related, and for this reason, they were in the same building.

Anyway, this was a building with only two floors. The army's financial sector was located on the first floor and the Rewards Hall on the second.

And as they entered the first floor, the group of five people could see that there was nothing unusual there, being very similar to the structures of the administrative building.

There were several offices, registration rooms, payment rooms, etc. Things to expect from places like this.

Anyway, the group went to the registration room to find out what time their payments would come and understand more about this place.

...

Upon arriving in a room with several similar spiritual arrays, the group soon realized that there was a much greater flow of people in that place than in other points they had visited.

The people who came and went from there mainly used the arrays of that place, which looked like big rectangular boxes with blue screens halfway up their height.

And at the back of this room, where many of these arrays were distributed along the sides, four people in posts attended newcomers. Two of them were busy helping soldiers right now, while the other two were free.

Seeing this, the group quickly approached one of hers when Joey asked. "Young girl, we are new to the army. What is the purpose of this place? We did think this was just a registration place, but there's a lot more movement than we expected!"

Upon hearing this, a young woman who was there in that place smiled discreetly at the group and then explained. "This place serves mainly to record merit points earned by soldiers."

"Merit points?" Abby muttered as she thought about it. 'This must be the system adopted by Minos so that soldiers can exchange for items in this Hall of Rewards...'

This idea was not strange to Abby. After all, many noble families, as in the case of Miller, used practices like this. Subordinates entered these powers to get better opportunities, and families made it possible through the meritorious deeds of each of them.

So, to get quality items such as Black-grade spiritual techniques, large organizations placed a 'virtual price' on these items. Usually, subordinates could not pay for such items, but they could obtain them through acts that benefited those powers.

So, these individuals struggled in missions and attitudes to achieve the necessary merit to exchange these items!

And that's just what Minos was doing here.

Anyway, while Abby had her thoughts, Robin, who had never seen such a thing, was curious to know how these merit points worked. "How do we manage to win this? And what are these points for?" She asked with a glint in her eyes.

And on hearing the sincere question from Robin, the young soldier who was there with them, she soon began to speak. "By registering in the army, you will earn a minimum amount of points daily, as long as you don't miss work."

"This amount of points, when added over long periods, is equivalent to the number of merit points needed to rise in rank." She explained.

After all, Minos would not require his soldiers to go on missions to rise in rank. As long as they did their daily activities regularly, in the said minimum time needed for each position, they would get the points for promotion.

Such points were daily recorded as soldiers accessed the headquarters' services at the beginning and end of their shift.

"So, we need merit points to go up in rank?" Robin questioned.

"Hm, but don't see this as another hurdle in our path to promotions. That is just a way for the army to know you're contributing in some way. Even if it's just the daily work inside the headquarters." She said promptly.

'I understand! After all, no one would promote a soldier good for nothing!' Robin thought to herself.

The young attendant then continued to explain. "But these points earned with common activities generate practically nothing for us, as they will always be spent on our promotions. So, the essential purpose of this is the second possibility to earn those points."

"Which are through the missions and benefits that soldiers can do or bring to the Black Plain. For example, recently, a group of soldiers, each of them earned more than a thousand merit points on an investigative mission." She said, remembering the Sergeants who had passed through here over the past week.

Hearing this, Barbara, who was also aware of the workings of this type of point system, asked in curiosity. "And how much are a thousand points worth? Is this too much or too little?"

"Each soldier who performs his regular activities earns one merit point per day. In other words, this is equivalent to almost three years of activities!" She replied while there was a certain glint of envy in her eyes. She could buy two medium-level grade-1 weapons in the Hall of Bounty with that amount of points.

And such a weapon was her current dream...

'Oh? So this is how it works… Those must have been the soldiers who researched Peter's kidnapping, hmm, probably!'  Barbara thought about it for a moment, realizing that this wasn't an unfair system.

If she was right in her analysis and these soldiers that this young woman in front of her had talked about were the same ones who investigated Peter's kidnapping, then that would be truly fair. After all, even if they did it in the span of just a few weeks, each of them was taking certain risks with that mission!

Anyway, after Barbara's question was answered, the young attendant of this place continued her speech. "As for these arrays that you can see here, they serve as registers. So, a soldier can check his merit points, transfer and receive them through this place."

"Some soldiers even use this to trade items among themselves, even without the army's involvement in the matter." She finished her explanation while pointing to two men who had just shaken hands as if they had completed a big deal...

Anyway, after understanding this place and how their monthly payment would be made, they went upstairs, where the Rewards Hall was.