The Rise of the Black Plain

"She managed to improve in this period that has passed since the last army report?" Minos asked with a gleam in his eyes.

Alina was essential to Minos' plans in the Black Plain, as she solved a specific problem.

After she joined the army about two years ago, a few months later, the team formed at that time to investigate her innate ability had managed to understand such a thing and how it could be helpful in the local army!

With such a study, those individuals analyzed how Alina used her ability and the residue left behind after the objects disintegrated. And they concluded that this residue, to a large extent, could be used to produce spiritual items!

So many objects that blacksmiths or array masters had produced could be reconstructed using these residues. The only thing that would have to be added in the production of artifacts with these recycled resources would be those components with their own spiritual energy, which generally come from living beings.

Examples of this are items of animal and plant origin.

The residues of these items could not be reused, as they did not contain spirituality, as the spiritual energy dissipated after Alina used her ability.

And because of this result, in the case of spiritual pills, these residues were practically useless. After all, most pill ingredients needed to have their own spirituality, as in the case of the medicines.

But to produce spiritual weapons, Minos' main objective, this young woman's ability, had proved very suitable. Because, although items like this also demand resources with their own spirituality, such a thing was only a tiny fraction of the ingredients!

The main thing in a weapon was minerals and the spiritual forging practiced by blacksmiths. In other words, with Alina's skill, the Black Plain Army could recycle old, defective weapons to produce new items that could even be higher ranked!

And that had brought many possibilities to Minos' forces!

Often, a spiritual weapon would break, as had happened with Minos' previous sword. After that, they would no longer be of use.

That's because repairing a weapon that has been damaged to the point of breaking into pieces would be extremely expensive. Hence, few people would undertake such a task unless the weapon was precious.

To give you an idea, repairing a weapon so damaged that it can no longer be used could reach 50% of the price of a new weapon, of the same rating!

Also, every time a weapon went through a repair, it would lose some of its efficiency and endurance, sometimes even lowering its rating. And for this, many weapons were simply abandoned or sold at a low cost after being damaged.

And that was precisely the opportunity that the local army had conquered after Alina's entry into this force!

With her skill, Minos intended to buy defective weapons from all the citizens of the Dry City and use the residue of these materials for the army's blacksmiths to develop new weapons for the soldiers.

Anyway, after Joey heard Minos' question, he smiled and said. "Young master, she has improved a lot. She is currently at level 35 and can disintegrate items up to medium-level grade-1 classification."

"Oh? That's good. While this is still not that significant for the army, these medium-level grade-1 components can still be used in the production of weapons from a level above!" Minos commented happily.

Such a thing was actually possible because the materials found in the world could have a variable range of potential and could be used to develop spiritual products of different classifications.

Basically, what determined whether an item would be used to its full potential would be two things.

The first one was the level of the expert involved in producing that spiritual artifact. Professionals with greater control and understanding of their techniques could make the best use of each component during their work!

The other was the possibility that there might be an ingredient of more significant potential among the blended resources, something that would make it possible to produce higher-ranked items from various components of lesser potential.

And for that, Dry City blacksmiths could complete these two points to produce higher-ranked items from the residue left behind by Alina's disintegrated weapons.

For this reason, Minos was pleased with the information Joey brought, even though Alina could only disintegrate medium-level grade-1 objects.

"I let her learn a Silver-grade cultivation technique, but still... It should take a few years before she can disintegrate low-level grade-2 weapons." So, Minos thought as he made some mental notes.

Finally, after some time talking to Joey, the two had finished their business and said goodbye.

That old soldier had talked about some internal affairs of the army, like the case of Eduard's current job.

This man was one of the few Spiritual Kings of the Black Plain, and he had been sharing some of the local responsibilities with the others of the same stage. Among these was guarding the army's naval base!

And this responsibility was just what this man was doing at the moment.

Every four months Ernest, Eduard, and Eda had alternated shifts there to protect the interests of the Black Plain.

And such a thing had had results about four months ago when the Allen family had finally discovered that marine base of Minos' army. Such a thing was part of that Stone Island organization's plans to try to steal Elen's business, and they hadn't rested until they got it.

At that time, Minos had already established such a shift schedule at that base, and Eda was the person who was on standby there four months ago. And when the two sides had met, when they felt this woman's spiritual power and had their offer denied, the members of that family had attacked her.

However, with the 'new' Eda in that place, when she had already reached level 51, and with Silver-grade techniques, she had faced and killed 3 Spiritual Kings of levels 51, 52, and 53 of that family!

After such an event, the Allen family had no longer sent people to that place due to the deep fear of the organization that could leave someone so strong in that remote place!

What kind of power could nurture people with such combat proficiency?

Only those organizations from outside the northern part of the Central Continent!

It was easy to accept that a young Spiritual Warrior, like Minos during the Spiritual Tournament, could fight people from several levels above him. After all, the cultivation differences in the 4th to the 5th cultivation stage were not that significant.

But one couldn't accept that in Spiritual Kings. The difference at each level at this stage of cultivation was just too big!

For this, that family hadn't dared challenge the 'mighty' organization behind that naval base.

But even if there had been no recent threat to that location, Minos intended to maintain this shift scheme among the Spiritual Kings in that location. After all, he couldn't know when someone powerful might show up there, disrupting his business.

And as the only Black Plain outpost where they could export their resources, he was willing to constantly leave a Spiritual King there. So, at least that place would have good protection against possible threats.

The main problem wasn't even the Allen family but the possibility of relatively strong pirate groups finding that location. And even if that had never happened before, Minos had to prepare for the worst.

'Hmm, looks like I'll have to send Ernest to that place in less than a week…' Minos thought as he reflected on what Joey had told him.

Eduard was already finishing his shift, and it was almost time for this young sovereign to send that man's replacement to protect that place.

Pa! Pa!

While he was thinking about this matter, his office door was slammed twice, and then a young woman with blue hair entered that place...