The Rise of the Black Plain

After the Council Elder left, the guild's Chief Commander said a few words to Minos' group and gave them items that would allow them to collect their awards in the proper places.

Soon after, the General congratulated them once more before sending them on their way through the sect.

Someone led them out of the main area of the city, and their group soon reached the inner area.

When they got there, Rhett said to Minos, "I'll take you to the external area. You can't stay here yet, but that will change soon.

You must collect your merit points in the external city. Once you've done that, find the guy who invited you to the guild. He'll go through the process of making this friend a Recruit and then making you a Junior Officer.

In a few days, you can enter the internal area and begin your new duties."

"Thank you for the instruction, Officer," Minos said sincerely, then followed one of the exits from the internal area and arrived at the outer part of this headquarters city.

...

After saying goodbye to Rhett, the group made their way to the Mission Hall of the external area, where they were soon greeted by the man in charge of the place, an Intermediate Officer.

As soon as he received Minos and the other external members' credentials, the Officer's eyes widened when he saw the mission this group had collected.

"Unbelievable! Have you completed the Black Heart Mission 12.3? Did you really succeed?" This level 106 alien exclaimed as he looked at Minos and the others.

"Hehe, yes, finally someone from the guild succeeded." One of the aliens in Minos' group said.

"How much did it give to us?" Ruth asked.

"2.4 million merit points." The creature said, causing all five surviving Armhands' members to widen their eyes.

If their entire group had survived, each of them would have received 300,000 merit points. But only five of them had survived, so if they divided that amount equally, each of them would receive 480,000 merit points!

However, it was the team leader who decided how to divide the merit points. In addition, the man from the Spiritual World next to Ruth and Minos wasn't a member of the guild yet. His prize would not be merit points but his early entry into the guild.

Minos then said. "I will give you 500,000 merit points each. That should be enough for you to get promoted to Junior Officers in the future and to get resources to strengthen yourselves now that you're Sovereigns.

Ruth and I will each receive 700,000 points."

Neither of them complained, so the Intermediate Officer quickly transferred the points to each of their IDs.

This level 106 Sovereign told those who had lost their Flashdrain parasites. "You should go to the Hall of Records. There, you can get new parasites and make a record of that guy who came from The Blue Field."

With that, the group headed to such a hall, where Minos soon ran into the one-eyed woman who had registered him years ago and told him to visit her when he became a Sovereign.

She was surprised to see him so strong in such a short time after joining the guild, but he still needed to advance to another level to make it worth her while to help him.

But while she registered the Spiritual World native and reimplanted new parasites into the three people who had sacrificed their Flashdrains, she gave Minos some tips and information.

She gave him some names to look for in the inner city once he had completed his promotion to Junior Officer.

With that settled, Minos and his companions would only have to talk to their superiors in their professions or other matters for more information.

But they didn't have to worry about anything. Their promotions would come in the next few days with the orders from their superiors.

There was a little bureaucracy involved, but it was something that didn't depend on them and was guaranteed.

So when they parted ways, these individuals would soon go in search of their friends and teammates to talk about the years they had been away.

They now had plenty of resources and could use them to advance themselves spiritually, to improve their positions, and to help their trusted partners.

That was what Minos was going to do over the next few days!

...

Ten days after Minos' return to the Armhands' headquarters...

Minos had finally been promoted to Junior Officer the day before when Ruth had also become an Elite Soldier, and Rhett had reached the rank of Intermediate Officer.

In addition to them, the group that had stayed in Armhands had also improved in the eight years or so they had been on the mission.

Maximilian had once again progressed in his cultivation and had reached level 103, almost becoming a level 104 being.

The other group members were mostly at level 102, but there were still some at level 101, and one of the men from the Spiritual World had recently reached level 103.

Some of them had become Elite Soldiers in the years that Minos had been away, but only Maximillian had become a Junior Officer, having achieved his promotion a month ago.

But Maximilian fought hard and spent all his merit points, unlike Minos. Emperor Stuart had spent nothing and was now a wealthy internal member of the guild!

After receiving his new rank, Minos didn't move to the inner area. He stayed in his apartment with Ruth, planning to stay by her side while she became an Officer, too.

But he wouldn't have much time to spend with her from now on. Now that he had become a Junior Officer, he had been given new mandatory duties, one of which was to supervise new members of the Armhands, a job similar to the one Rhett did with his group.

To be able to be absent from the guild in the future, he would have to do a lot of missions, which he wanted to start doing right away!

Even though he had just returned from a challenging mission, Minos' life wouldn't get any easier from now on. He would only work harder and harder from that day on now that he was getting closer and closer to returning to the Spiritual World.

But before that happened, he would still have to live in the Armhands' headquarters for a few more years!

Meanwhile, neither he nor his companions in Armhands were aware of what was happening in the Spiritual World, where just over two years had passed since Irpoll had become involved in the War of the Worlds!