The Rise of the Black Plain

The Spiritual Church was not necessarily an authoritative organization to the point where lesser powers had no freedom because of their regional presence. On the contrary, most of the time, the church focused its attention on maintaining the order of things rather than getting involved in the decisions of sovereign institutions.

What they did in the region in terms of intervention was similar to the relationship between local powers.

The royal families dictated how the regional population should live in this region, while the noble families used rules in their territories that did not infringe those of their superiors.

At the same time, these nobles guaranteed the laws in their cities, where each property had the rules of its owner, which had to be within the limits of the superior ones.

That was a social mechanism that grew in specifications and details, from top to bottom. And as such, the one at the top, the Spiritual Church, dictated a smaller number of laws, which covered more problematic, shall we say, higher-level situations.

But more general laws would hardly reach the community, as they were not many and aggravating situations were rare.

And so, the regional families had a lot of freedom and accepted to share what they had with the church in exchange for regional protection.

But as great as this may sound, this was only true because there was no expectation of growth for the regional organizations.

The regional families had been in balance for a long time, and regional conditions did not allow much room for power advances disproportionate to the level of local experts. Consequently, the church was in a very comfortable position in which it did not have to worry about problems.

And without problems, they did not intervene excessively, which, therefore, guaranteed the freedoms of the regional powers.

But would that happen for a growing state?

The Spiritual Church would probably not care about a state with its potential below its own level. And with that, it could indeed have a good time with more substantial organizations than those of the northern region of the Central Continent.

As an example of this, there were places like the Flaming Empire in the Spiritual World that had such an organization wholly rooted in their territories.

But what if a specific place could reach the same level or even surpass the power of that organization?

That was the problem!

The Spiritual Church had relationships with higher-level states, those with Demigods in their ranks. But in those places, instead of being the dominant power, they were generally associated with its larger organizations, manipulating those populations when needed.

But would they be Minos' associates without him having enough power?

It was effortless to make alliances on equal terms when both sides were on the same level. But with such a big difference between the church and the Black Plain, that organization would hardly treat young Stuart with the equality he desired.

In this case, sooner or later, Minos knew he could suffer from the Spiritual Church if he tried to get their help now.

That would be like a deal with the devil!

In the first moment, the young Stuart most likely would not feel any adverse effects and would still be able to take advantage of the deal. But in a second moment, things would change!

Anything could happen when the lower side started to show signs of possible competition with the higher one!

So, even though the church was not as terrible as other organizations on this continent, Minos did not want to make deals with them that would put him in a bad position.

He then looked at Joey and replied, after thinking for a while, "When Angela reaches level 56, I will go on a trip through the region..."

"I will go to threaten some families, solve old problems, in general, things that can decrease the number of enemies in the Black Plain."

"So, make preparations for some changes in our bases around the territory," Minos said while having a serious expression on his face.

The Black Plain Army bases were places from which faster attacks could depart without Minos' soldiers and allies constantly having to go back and forth from the Dry City.

They had enough strong cultivators to last a few rounds with the most substantial enemy specialists and good defenses to protect those resting in such places.

But with this plan, Dry City would be without Minos' presence. Consequently, he needed to make some shift changes!

"Who does the young master want involving in this?" Joey asked.

"Celeste and Angela will return to Dry City and defend this place alongside Abby's father and Supreme Elder Miller until I return."

Abby's father was already at level 56 and had a complete set of Silver-grade techniques. So, his combat proficiency was very close to that of Celeste, who had just moved up a level.

As for Supreme Elder Miller, well, he was at level 58, and as much as he was not going to level up anytime soon, he had already learned three Silver-grade techniques.

Hence, by choosing these individuals to stay in Dry City in his future absence, Minos was guaranteeing combat power capable of stopping even 4 level 59 Spiritual Kings, something close to his current limit.

That way, he could travel and settle his affairs without much worry!

"And who will be staying in their places?"

Minos then answered that. "We will send soldiers from the Elite Squad to command operations and two elders from the Miller family to protect the two bases."

"We will send Pyke to the Yellow City post. He has already reached level 50 and is one of the soldiers with the highest morale within the army. On the other hand, Barbara will go to the City of Waters post."

"I heard that after reaching the 6th stage, she was eager to fight... So, I will give her that opportunity." Young Stuart commented with a smile on his face.

"Hahaha, looks like she's excited." Joey laughed, remembering how far they had come after the difficult time on the slave ship that had taken them to Hadria.

At that time, Joey, Peter, and Barbara had suffered through life as captives, almost having their lives ended by the bloody fate that most enslaved people suffered.

So, he could not help but smile as he remembered that Barbara, who had suffered so much, even before she became a captive, had reached such a stage.

'She must be thinking of taking revenge...' Joey thought about it as he remembered that the family to which Barbara was subordinate had been exterminated before she was sold to a pirate group.

"Finally, we will send those other two elders of the Miller family who had come to Dry City with me when I went to visit Abby's home."

"All right, young master. I'll pass that along and leave everything in preparation for when Lieutenant Angela reaches level 56."

"Hmm, very good."

After that, the two continued to talk about some problems concerning the war, standard reports in this organization, which served to keep the local sovereign aware of what was happening in his territory.

But after finishing listening to all the bad news brought by Joey, Minos finally had some peace right after that old soldier left that office.

"Sigh..."

'Well, if I'm going to make this trip through the region, I'll have to get a different flying beast from the members of the Feathered Serpents tribe...'

'Otherwise, my identity will be easily noticed, even when traveling away from the cities.' Minos pondered over this, sure that this time, that serpent would only hinder him when moving around the region.

'But it will be a shame... If I could travel alongside one of the elders in that tribe, the trip might be twice as fast as in 5th stage beasts.'

"Hmm, I think I'll fly with one of them to the Flooded Valley and then make the rest of the trip with another beast." He muttered as he looked at a little green plant on his desk.

There were not many cities between Dry City and the Flooded Valley. And considering the capacity and speed of the mount he had been using, young Stuart was sure he could travel directly to that place without making many stops.

With that, he could hide his movements!

"Well, I'll sort that out later... Now it's time to train!"