The Rise of the Black Plain

"Ahhh!" A scream reverberated through a dark room in a particular residence within the Miller family property.

At that instant, the door of that room opened and allowed that place to light up, as a person dressed as a butler rushed in there. This person then promptly went to the side of a bed, where a young man with blue hair had just woken up and seemed to be sweating considerably.

"Where am I? What happened?" He asked in a shocked tone, realizing the difference in the place he was now in compared to the last memory he had in his mind.

"Young master Cole, you were knocked out and have spent the last three days unconscious."

"What?" The young man said in shock, realizing what had happened. 'Miserable! That bastard used some trick against me!'

"Where are those people? Quick, call my bodyguard!" The young man said agitatedly.

However, contrary to what he expected, the man next to him just closed his eyes and shook his head in disappointment. "Young master, the person who acted against you, has already left. However, the master has found out everything that happens..."

"Oh? Will my old man help me?" The young man asked with a smile on his face.

"The opposite, he said that from now on, you will no longer receive the allowance of 2,000 crystals a month. In his words, 'you will have to work for a living...'"

"What?"

...

In the blink of an eye, six days had passed.

In the meantime, Minos and his group had returned to Dry City after about two weeks of him and his girlfriends being away from this place.

They had not faced any problems on their return to this town, but this was only to be expected. After all, with so many Spiritual Kings in that group, no one would stand in the way of those nine people and three beasts.

It would be foolish to do that, even for someone at the top of power!

But after this smooth journey, they had finally arrived in Dry City last night.

And this time, unlike Minos' soldiers being surprised by the power of the newcomers, this had not happened. But this was to be expected since such people had even gotten used to the presence of a level 57 Spiritual King in the city.

Most of them knew that such a person was not a warrior. Still, every time some of these soldiers scanned their surroundings as they walked through the city streets, they would feel a bit of Regina's energy fluctuations.

That is, this woman's spiritual power was so great that it reached even people hundreds of meters away from her!

As a result of feeling that woman's massive spiritual power, many soldiers no longer found the spiritual pressure of cultivators below level 57 so impressive.

It might not seem like much since there was a slight difference between Regina's levels and those Miller family Spiritual Kings. Yet, the difference was more significant than one could imagine. Such was the difference that a level 57 cultivator would have spiritual energy similar to the fused energy amounts of two Spiritual Kings who were at level 52!

But even if these soldiers had not been impressed by the cultivation levels of these people, they understood that these people were here to add more power to the city.

And that, yes, had made them happy!

Still, someone had to be shocked by the other side's power in a situation like that. Hence, the six members of the Miller family had been jaw-dropped when they arrived in Dry City and felt that dome...

And not only that. Upon entering the area protected by the dome, they immediately realized that they had underestimated the Dry City entirely.

Previously they had come here thinking that any future the Black Plain might have was due to the fact that Minos had probably been very lucky and had fallen upon some legendary treasure. Hence, he had become so strong and done the same to some of his subordinates.

That was what these two individuals believed, as well as what the other ten high-level elders of the Miller family who had not come here thought was the truth about such a place.

At most, the Black Plain would have a chance because Minos and some other people here would be powerful in the future. But, other than that, they wouldn't expect this place to have valuable things...

But the moment they entered such an area, they had all realized what a terrible mistake they had made.

Dry City was no longer a small town in the poorest part of the continent. Now it was an urban concentration with almost 200,000 inhabitants, a place with a much higher concentration of energy than the rest of the Black Plain. And most importantly, an area with a considerably strong population.

Upon entering this town, these people quickly realized that there were nearly as many people at the 5th stage in this place as there would be in the headquarters of small noble families!

That was impressive. After all, it would take a noble family many centuries to build up such a large force. But, on the other hand, Minos had told them that most of these people were just ordinary citizens, people with no professional relation to his organization.

And this surprised them even more!

Typically speaking, ordinary citizens in this part of the Central Continent could hardly reach the 6th stage. In fact, the most talented and fortunate ones usually, at most, reached the 5th stage of cultivation.

As in the example of the people from Robin's family, the shipbuilding family from Stone Island.

But besides these surprises related to the strength of Dry City's population, those six people were also shocked by the other changes in this place. However, they had not asked questions and had only talked among themselves while admiring the new city that had been built in the middle of this dead region.

Finally, Minos had arranged for some of his staff to take those four members of the Miller family to new residences in this city. They would live in those places during the period they would be here to learn those promised techniques.

On the other hand, Abby's parents had moved on to the mansion of Minos, where this ruler would allow them to live in one of the apartments in the visiting area of that property.

...

After dawn in Dry City, it did not take long for each of those people in Minos' mansion to wake up and head towards the dining room of this young man's residence.

He had invited his in-laws for breakfast, which this young man was used to doing with all his mansion's visiting or regular residents.

And with nothing to stop him from following this routine, Minos was at this moment eating his breakfast, sitting next to his beautiful girlfriends and in front of his in-laws and Dillian.

"Butler Dillian, do you have no difficulty breaking through between the 6th stage levels?" Eliot asked in surprise as he looked at the Dillian's figure in admiration.

It had taken him over 300 years to reach level 55 himself, and hell, Eliot was very proud of his cultivation speed. However, seeing Dillian almost at level 53, a person who was at level 45 a few years ago, Abby's father had nearly broken down...

'Silver-grade techniques are that formidable?' He wondered in his mind as he looked at that man with the black mustache.

"Hehe, the young master's resources have helped me a lot, lord Eliot. In the future, when you guys come in..." He then stopped for a second and continued. "Cough! Cough! You will understand."

"Oh?" Eliot said in surprise while still watching Dillian, who was eating a colorful omelet, which was releasing a pleasant fragrance.

And while listening to her husband's conversation with Dillian, Nicole intently watched that butler, who was previously just an ordinary doctor.

As she tasted the food served in this place and felt the energies of each of the foods there, she slowly understood the situation. 'This young Minos must have gotten very rich to get all this...'

'He even has grade-2 cooks in his own house! That's a luxury!'

It wasn't expensive for a Spiritual King to eat meals made by low-level grade-2 cooks every day or even those of the following classification. But having such a cook in your own home was completely different!

So, Nicole was naturally interested in this Minos' lifestyle.

Anyway, after a few minutes, they all finished their meals, and Dillian had left to go to his work. On the other hand, Ruth and Abby had gone to the local army headquarters.

One was just going to train, while the other was going to fulfill her duties in that organization before getting the opportunity to do the same as Maisie's disciple.

Finally, Minos took those two remaining people to another part of his residence, the courtyard where there was that bathtub he constantly used...

When he arrived there, he pointed in the direction of the fighting stage that was there and said to his in-laws. "Father-in-law, mother-in-law, I'm going to pass you the scroll of a Silver-grade cultivation technique. Learn the basics quickly, and then give it back to me so I can do the same thing with those other four later."

Gulp!

"OK!" The two said simultaneously, just before taking off some of their heavier clothing and sitting down on cushions that they had taken from their spatial rings.

Minos then threw the scroll in their direction and then sat down on a wooden bench that was there and began to wait.