The Rise of the Black Plain

"Can you talk a little more about this?" Abby asked, with a fascinating look on her face.

"One of my soldiers, ehh, had the misfortune to come across certain individuals. We are going to rescue him in the Cromwell Kingdom."

"Cromwell Kingdom?"

"Hmm. Why? Don't you want to go to a place you went to a little while ago?" He asked, smiling at the blue-haired young woman in front of him.

Hearing Minos' tease, Abby just ignored him and asked. "What part of Cromwell Kingdom are you going to?"

"On the northwest coast."

'Northwest coast, huh... That must be where the Cromwell Kingdom's Black Market is.' Eda thought to herself as she understood this rescue mission.

Eda then said calmly. "I understand, your soldier probably has his life at risk, and he may or may not have already been sold into slavery. Am I right?"

"Hmm, Ms. Eda is truly an experienced woman." Minos praised her when he heard Eda hitting the nail on what had happened. He then turned to his friend and asked, looking into her eyes. "And then? Will you go with me?"

'With Eda by my side, it shouldn't be much of a danger... These Black Market thugs will hardly have reached the 6th stage of cultivation, so there shouldn't be too many problems...' She thought about it for a moment, deciding if she would go or not.

'Not to mention Minos is now level 42! He could already fight level 44 people when he was only level 39…I presume he can fight level 48 now!" She watched the brown-haired young man for a moment, feeling even more interest in this trip.

Just for comparison, level 42 had about 220% of the amount of spiritual energy as a level 39 cultivator. Because of this, Abby thought Minos could fight level 48 cultivators, who were individuals with little more than double the energy of someone at level 42.

"Maybe he can even fight someone level 49!" She thought anxiously.

Abby had a curious nature, especially with someone close to her, as was the case with the young Stuart. Because of this, there was a particular interest deep in her being about how strong Minos already was.

And this was just one way for her to find out about it!

After a while of thinking, she finally made up her mind and said. "Alright, I'll go with you. When do we leave?"

He then laughed and said. "Haha, this is great. We're leaving in 5 days from today. So, prepare properly until then."

Minos was pleased with this addition to his group for two reasons. First, with the addition of Abby, bodyguard Eda would also go with them on this trip, which would be a significant addition to the strength of the Black Plains Army group.

After all, Eda was a subordinate of one of the Brown Kingdom's noble families and certainly had one or two Black-grade battle techniques. And at level 48, she could undoubtedly fight even ordinary level 49 thugs!

Second, this was a way for Minos to show these two that joining his army was wise. After all, they only knew how strong the young Stuart was, but not the power he was building.

When they saw the strength of the army Sergeants in action, they would certainly understand more about Minos' capabilities. And with that, they could glimpse a more 'colorful' future by becoming members of his forces.

By the way, the young Stuart wasn't going to stop recruiting just Abby. No, with the Black talent and level 48, Eda was also fascinating to him. He just hadn't proposed anything to her because it would be even more difficult for this lady to accept the invitation.

Eda was a subordinate of the Miller family, not a member, as in Abby's case. And this brought even greater limits for Eda and, consequently, stricter punishments if she broke any of her family's rules.

There was no equality between subordinates and members of a noble family. Subordinates were just members' employees, and that's all!

They had many duties but few rights...

Anyway, Minos hoped to pull Abby to his side, and then it wouldn't be long before bodyguard Eda gave in too!

Anyway, after that, the group said their goodbyes, with Dillian accompanying Eda back to her room. At the same time, Abby went to her room to cultivate, and Minos went to his residence to rest for a while before starting another day's training session.

...

Quickly five days had passed since the young Stuart had invited Abby to join Peter's rescue group.

Today they would finally head out to the northwest coast of the Cromwell Kingdom, where that region slave market was, where Peter was likely to be.

This was a difficult mission, which could take from weeks to a few months, so many preparations had been made in this past period, counting from the arrival of those four soldiers from before.

To start with, in the group of 40 Sergeants that had been formed, all of them being at level 42.

Currently, the Black Plains Army had more than 220 soldiers of that rank, and several of them had already reached level 42. Because of this, it would not be a significant obstacle for the security of the Dry City to be without these troops for a few weeks.

However, level 43 soldiers would stay in the Dry City, as they were the strongest and had to protect Minos territory. Not to mention that they were not very numerous, being less than 20 individuals at this level.

And as for the soldiers who would go with Minos on this trip, they were all adequately equipped with grade-1, high-level spiritual weapons, as well as armors of the same rank!

This was an excellent set of equipment, as there weren't many grade-2 spiritual types of equipment on offer in the regional market.

As for this type of item, the current Black Plains Army had managed to purchase only one more grade-2, low-level weapon in the months that had passed since the Spiritual Tournament.

But this weapon was being used by Sergeants Pyke, who was generally responsible for the security of the Dry City in Minos's absence.

Along with this, all the soldiers had already received some spiritual pills focused on healing wounds and restoring spiritual energy. As Minos did not want to risk losing his subordinates due to the lack of such common items, this was necessary.

And the army had been accumulating pills of this type since the arrival of the two alchemists in the city, precisely so that in times like this one, they would be prepared!

As for the means of transport they would use, it would have to be the traditional carriages. The Black Plain still didn't have the means to have several 4th stages beasts or above, so they couldn't travel individually, as Abby and Ruth usually did.

Minos' forces had to utilize various 3rd stage cultivation beasts to pull carriages where they could travel.

In fact, there were already several carriages in the army, which had been built by carpenters from the Dry City. However, they were only used to transport resources from this place to the port at the Black Plain's coast base or when soldiers needed to travel.

At other times, it was not common for these carriages to be seen on the Dry City streets.

And as for spiritual beasts, well, it wasn't as easy or cheap to buy beasts like Ruth's great eagle in the north of the Central Continent.

At least not if the buyer was trying to be discreet, as was the case with the young Stuart.

Aside from the Snow Kingdom, in the other states of this region, finding spiritual beasts from the 4th stage onwards for sale was not easy! Even across the Brown Kingdom, there was only one spot where there were beasts of that level ahead for purchase!

But Minos wouldn't risk going to the City of the Setting Sun just to buy spiritual beasts...

And as for the other capitals of the other kingdoms, which was where someone could find beasts of this rank outside the Snow Kingdom, well, they were very far from the Dry City, and transporting these beasts was really expensive!

Unless one went to these places to pick up the spiritual beasts on his own, the cost of transportation could be as high as the cost of the beasts themselves!

After all, sellers would not risk damaging a 'product' sold...

Anyway, Minos also had to divide the Black Plain's crystals into many different areas. And the purchase of better-qualified spiritual beasts really didn't seem to be urgent for him.

In any case, for now, the army's current mode of transport had to be enough for them.

And at this moment, there were nine carriages with the same shape and finish, which looked like a wooden box, with smooth lines and no edges. In addition, four spiritual beasts looked like horses in front of each of them, while several soldiers were nearby, waiting for the moment of departure.