The Rise of the Black Plain

Meanwhile, on Stone Island...

Elena and Elen were at this moment training in some part of the Nash family palace in the capital of this state, Old Stone.

The two blond women were fighting each other, wearing typical clothing for this type of activity while each of them had their own hair tied up so that it would not get in their way.

As they did so, at least one of the two was running back and forth, dodging, defending herself, and throwing attacks at her opponent, trying hard to keep fighting. 

She had her breathing rate up while her body emitted a thermal sensation that people could feel a few meters away from her. At the same time, her sweat was releasing fragrances into the air, which if they were possible to see with the naked eye, then it would seem that she had a colorful aura over her body right now.

And although she had already reached level 51, Elen was this woman who was trying so hard while being pushed around by Lieutenant Elena, who was only at level 50.

But this was to be expected. After all, Elena had a complete set of techniques of a higher grade than Elen. So, the Nash woman had less power than her friend.

However, the difference was not brutal to the point that she could do nothing about it. On the contrary, they could fight with almost everything they had and still have a good enough fight that they both had certain benefits.

But of course, Elana had the advantage and was suppressing Elen right now.

As such, she wasn't sweating as much, nor did she have a breathing rate as high as Elen's. Furthermore, this Lieutenant of the Black Plain Army was actively attacking her opponent while training more efficient ways to deal with situations similar to this one.

Elena was one level above her, and this Lieutenant needed to train her stamina during fights against stronger opponents, individuals who were likely to take longer to run out of energy than her!

Anyway, while the two were training in that place, the two bodyguards that had been protecting Elena since the war against the Allen family group had started were nearby, watching those two.

They watched and felt the surroundings to prevent strange people from coming into contact with that woman.

That was because, although they were inside the Nash family property, in the past, there had been situations where members of the family had betrayed this organization because of promises from enemies. And in such cases, some nobles of this organization had even died because of such betrayals!

Hence, even in a presumably safe place, these two Spiritual Kings who were in Elen's security team needed to be alert at all times.

But since these people were already at level 55, the two of them were able to accompany the training of these two blondes while they did the surveillance of the area.

"Young Elen is truly very talented and fortunate." One of the two said in admiration while muttering in a low voice to his comrade.

"Hmm, she is exhibiting a magnificent cultivation speed for people at the 6th stage in our region." The other commented in agreement to his teammate while nodding his head and smiling. 

These two were commenting on a great thing that could rarely be seen in this northern region of the Central Continent. After all, cultivation speed was a complex thing that depended on many variables.

For example, having a good talent and a quality technique would greatly help a person's cultivation speed. But this had a limit!

Things like natural or artificial resources could influence such a thing as well, and the natural characteristics of cultivators, such as age. 

Among those resources are pills, medicines, high-quality food, whether chefs prepare this food or not, the level of these professionals, paintings made by spiritual painters, musicians, etc. 

All these and more could increase a cultivator's cultivation speed and understanding.

So, being in a region poor in spiritual energy, with few high-level medicines, few mid-level specialists, little supply of resources, and so on, made local progression very difficult.

Local cultivators relied heavily on spiritual crystals and cultivation techniques while they had almost no opportunity to use other resources, as they lacked sufficient funds. But even if some had these funds, it would still not be enough, as the supply of these unique resources was very low...

On the other hand, even a large family, like House Nash, had to divide its profits among thousands of people, and thus, there wasn't much left to keep for future problems or opportunities. So, most people's wages in this region were meager, and many barely had enough to pay for their families' living costs.

Consequently, it wasn't easy to rise in power in this region of the Central Continent. And this was particularly noticeable when the local cultivators reached the 6th stage when the individual's power level made the first considerably long jump.

Every cultivation stage required a large amount of energy that was much higher than that of lower stages. But before the 6th stage, this was not so significant that a person of noble origin could go many years without increasing their level.

Therefore, people in this region could reach levels like that of the Spiritual Tournament competitors in less than eight years of cultivation.

But after they reached level 50, everything would change!

There would be no more resources that could considerably affect these people's cultivations in the short term. There weren't enough crystals, the techniques were terrible, the professionals were poorly qualified by the continental standards, and so on...

Hence, a Spiritual King would slowly begin to age, losing the best time to cultivate, i.e., youth. And after losing this time, cultivation could increase significantly in difficulty, to the point that people who had already reached, for example, level 57, would spend even centuries to reach level 58!

Anyway, this was the reality of cultivation in this region, which made these two Spiritual Kings marvel at Elen's cultivation speed.

They knew that this woman had a Silver-grade cultivation technique, something that immensely helped this accomplishment. However, the method alone would not be enough for her to achieve such a thing in this region, as the spiritual density around here was very thin.

However, she was receiving massive amounts of crystals through the business with Minos, something that was hers and a few people's and not necessarily the whole family's. With this, she was able to get enough resources to keep increasing her level constantly, even though she was in this region!

"If she keeps this up, maybe in less than 30 years, she'll reach level 59!" One of those two bodyguards said in anticipation.

"Let's see..."

...

While those two were talking, Elen and Elena finally finished their training session.

One of them then sat on a wooden bench, breathing heavily, using a towel to dry the sweat on her pretty face.

Meanwhile, Elena had stood next to Elen, looking at this woman with a smile on her face. "Well, that's all for today. Follow this advice I've given you, and you should improve the mastery of your techniques even faster." She advised.

Previously the two had done this, fighting each other and exchanging ideas on how to improve. However, now Elena was giving the tips, while Elen listened to them, which was the opposite in the past...

Because of this change, Elena couldn't help but smile.

"Aren't you sorry you didn't join Minos' army?"

"Tsk! I'm not a warrior, so I don't need to be the best at my level!" Elen said without bothering to look at Elena. "As long as I can reach a high level and live longer, that's enough for me."

"Haha, I expected you were going to say something like that... Anyway, I heard about some strange things recently. Can you tell me more about it?"

...