The Rise of the Black Plain

After a few hours, Minos and Gloria peacefully had their meal and then found a place to spend the night in this small village in the Kingdom of the Waves.

Then, after some time in young Stuart's room, Gloria had finished another treatment session with him. With that, they had reached a point where there was practically no more of that substance in Minos' body.

And that was what she had just done at the moment!

She had just finished her efforts to help Minos and was still there with him in that room, a relatively simple place with a small balcony on the right side of the building, a large double bed, and a table with some chairs.

Other than that, there was hardly anything else in that room besides a small bathroom.

And Gloria was just sitting in one of those chairs, looking at the young Stuart next to her, with drops of sweat dripping down his neck and towards his bare chest.

"Well, tomorrow we'll finish solving this whole problem I created..." She said in an apologetic tone, occasionally looking into Minos' eyes but not being able to stare at him continuously as he did with her.

"Hmm, that's good. I don't like having strange substances in my body, hehe." Minos said in good humor. "But what do we do after that?"

"What do you mean?"

"After tomorrow, you will no longer have an 'obligation' to travel with me. You have already managed to repair any damage you had done to me, and I will be fine even if you decide to move on without me..."

"Oh?" She looked at him in surprise, noting that this was indeed true.

"But we are going to the same destination... If you don't mind, we can continue traveling together." He suggested.

"Really? You want to continue traveling with me?" That Spiritual Emperor's eyes narrowed as she teased young Stuart, "What do you want with me, Albert?"

"I don't think you are looking for a ride on my level 59 mount..."

Minos then laughed as he raised his hands to his chest height. "Hehe, damn, you got me!"

And after laughing for a second, he said thoughtfully, looking into her eyes. "But anyway, it's not bad to travel next to someone so strong. You know, I feel protected... In other situations, even at my level, there are still several dangers in this region."

"Is that right? You don't want anything else?" Her light green eyes sparkled in interest. 'This rascal likes to say such things...'

"I want to, but I feel it's unnecessary to say that to you."

She then smiled. "What if I tell you that's unattainable? Will you be hurt?"

"Hahaha, I don't believe it is..."

"You're very confident, huh?"

"Where does all this come from? Or is that just lip service?"

"If you spend the night here instead of your room, you will understand where my confidence comes from," Minos said, showing one of his hands to her as if inviting her.

'This rascal has a lot of nerve to flirt with me like that!' Gloria thought about it silently, evaluating the young man's figure in front of her. 'He's not bad at all, and he's the only one who's ever tried that hard to convince me about it...'

'But he's still lacking in getting me to change my mind about my current state.'

She then stood up from where she was standing, smiling, and said. "You young man will still have to improve to get my attention like that..."

"Good night, Albert."

Hearing such a thing and seeing her leaving that room, Minos did not change his confident expression, interested in the challenge given by that woman.

'You can go now, Gloria, but sooner or later, you will convince yourself on your own...'

'I don't think it will be that hard to change the mindset of a virgin of only 60 years old.' He chuckled as he licked his lips.

"In any case, I'm sure our relationship will last longer than just these few days of travel." He murmured as he prepared to cultivate.

Since Gloria was the Spiritual Church representative for this region, they would surely meet many times in the future. And with that, Minos knew he would have many more opportunities with her than she thought.

In this way, he did not feel dissatisfied with her negative response. The opposite of that, if this were that easy, then he probably would not be that interested in her.

'Anyway, now it's time to cultivate!'

'Maybe I can level up today!' He thought about it after sitting down on his cultivation cushion.

Minos was not training his combat techniques lately because he did not want Gloria to find out how superior his techniques were. After all, this woman was from outside the region and had a better chance of realizing the quality of his techniques.

And as much as this was not the biggest problem, if such a thing were to happen just now, it would probably draw even more storms in Minos' journey.

On the other hand, there was the chance that she would recognize him as the ruler of the Black Plain, something that would go against his plans outside the Black Plain!

So, instead of training all his techniques as he usually did, Minos was just cultivating his spiritual energy.

And this had increased his cultivation speed in the last few days, bringing him closer to his long-awaited breakthrough!

Therefore, this young man was already excited to attempt his breakthrough to level 53!

Solar God Breath!

Then, it did not take long for him to circulate his energies into his cultivation technique, which had better effects during the day but also worked well at night.

After all, this was a Golden-grade cultivation technique and could not have such a weakness!

It was terrific even during the night!

It was just that its effects were significantly increased during the day, making it even better than other techniques of the same quality during such circumstances.

And with that, soon, the medium-grade crystals around young Stuart began to glow brightly. But, in contrast, the energy within them quickly began to diffuse into the air, forming an 'invisible mist.'

Such 'invisible mist' then followed directly into young Stuart's body, quickly making its way around his arms and legs until finally reaching his Spiritual Gland.

Then, as he felt the natural spiritual pressure of that region helping him absorb the energy of those crystals, all the energy passing through his cultivation organ underwent a transformation and then was redistributed to his body and soul.

His body then began to be stimulated, using the absorbed spiritual energy to improve his physical characteristics slowly. At the same time, Minos' soul was receiving this new energy, like a balloon receiving more air inside of it.

And with that, after some time of cultivating, both Minos' body and soul were exhibiting the typical signs of advancement!

His muscles were twitching vigorously, while his face showed an expression of pain. But, on the other hand, his soul was expanding, slowly reaching a new level.

...

Crack!

Finally, after almost 3 hours of diligently cultivating, the typical sound of level advancement resounded from deep within Minos' body, spreading throughout that entire estate he and Gloria were staying in.

Then, young Stuart felt his energies increase rapidly as his body and soul finally stabilized. Finally, his power reached level 53!

After feeling this, he peacefully opened his eyes, smiling in satisfaction as he felt immense pleasure.

'Is this level 53?' He wondered in his mind, standing up and feeling euphoric.

'Such power!

'I've never felt this way before!' He clenched his fists tightly, feeling that even a level 60 cultivator that uses Black-grade techniques would be no big deal to him.

"Hahahaha, I thank you, Gloria!"

"Without you in my way, I probably wouldn't have accomplished this before reaching the capital!" He said in satisfaction.

And as he vibrated in excitement, a red-bladed sword appeared in one of his hands, something he had won from that 60-year-old woman.

...