The Rise of the Black Plain

Upon noticing Angela's advancement to level 55, Minos immediately had his attention diverted to where that woman was standing.

At this moment, Angela seemed to have lifted a great weight from her shoulders and had a light expression on her face, smiling with her eyes closed.

But just after the characteristic thud of level advancement resounded through that area, she slowly opened her eyes, pleased with herself for finally achieving this advancement.

She had been at level 54 for quite a while now, and if it weren't for the Spatial Kingdom, constant training with Minos, resources, and a Silver-grade cultivation technique, it probably would have taken her much longer to reach level 55.

And being aware of this, this woman couldn't help but smile in satisfaction as she felt her body filled with energy, a tremendous power that made her feel the desire to go out to fight someone right now.

Seeing this, Minos and Mirya, who had already approached Angela for now, smiled before finally congratulating this woman.

"Congratulations on leveling up, Angela!"

"Hehe, thanks, but that's all thanks to Minos..." She said upon hearing the comment of those two, looking at Minos in gratitude.

Besides those conditions, the fact that she had had time to herself, i.e., was free from Regina's bodyguard job, had also helped her a lot. And knowing all this, she readily thanked him for this opportunity.

And soon, those two women were talking for a moment with Minos watching them until he brought up a serious subject. "Hmm, well, now that you're stronger, you already know it's going to happen, right?"

Hearing this, Angela nodded at him and said. "I'll be at the naval base for a few days, right?"

"Yes."

"Since you have reached level 55 and already have all the Silver-grade techniques, you already have full capabilities to replace Celeste."

"The Nash family has already made a considerable amount of preparations for our action on Stone Island. Besides, the Stokes family's Spiritual Kings are already  at the naval base."

"Then it's about time Celeste left that place to handle a mission on Stone Island."

"I see..."

"When am I supposed to leave?"

"Tomorrow," Minos commented as he began to take off the heavy part of his clothes, which would hinder him in what came next. "Since you've leveled up, let me help you get used to this new strength."

"It will make you better prepared in case something happens on that base during the period that Celeste is away."

"Oh?"

At the same time, Mirya quickly moved away from those two, making room for them to start their match.

...

Meanwhile, in the Maritime City.

At this moment, Eduard was in a meeting at the secret base of the Black Plain Army in that city, something built in secret, below the main fort of this city.

Like the other army posts, such a base had a medium-level grade-2 defensive array.

On the other hand, in this post, besides this level 52 Spiritual King, there were already more than 800 Sergeants around, including some members of the Elite Squad. Furthermore, 2,000 Corporals were already working in this place.

These were the total numbers of soldiers in this place, either stationed in the army's underground base in this city or the Brown family forts.

These were those individuals who were here to replace the thousand or so royal guards who were at this moment in the Dry City prison.

In any case, this place was already operating at total capacity, with every soldier involved in some local situation.

Some continued to spread the word about Dry City among the more ordinary inhabitants of this city. But many had to deal with the constant arrival of individuals from the Brown family, who had been coming here since before the complete break of the Black Plain and the rest of the kingdom.

Ever since the Brown family 'found out' about the potential of the Black Plain, this coastal town had received reinforcements from that organization.

But with the formation of the Counter-Revolutionary Army, things had only gotten worse!

Hence, Eduard was dealing with this, working with the few administrative soldiers on this secret base.

"Lieutenant, recently the number of royal guards in Maritime City has reached the 1.5 thousand mark, and at the moment, they already outnumbered our undercover brothers." A Sergeant standing there said this, looking at Eduard as he updated this Spiritual King on the numbers of enemies already in that city.

Upon hearing this, Eduard continued with a serious expression on his face. He asked about another piece of information related to the enemy numbers in this city. "What about the Brown family's ships? Are they all in operation?"

That was not the only place with ports operated by the Brown family. Maritime City was where the great naval port in this state was. Still, large rivers and lakes in this state connected other parts of the kingdom with the sea.

They were not suitable for large ships to travel, such as cargo ships. Still, smaller warships were able to travel along these waterways.

Because of this, not the entire naval fleet of the local royal family was in this city. 

There were even a few warships around the sea in the vicinity of the Maritime City. Still, they were not significant for Eduard to worry about.

Instead of them, what this man was concerned about were the warships that had been arriving in this city in the last few weeks.

One of those Sergeants who were there then answered him. "There are already 17 warships on the outskirts of the city, and we have information that more ships are coming here."

"According to the information passed on by the Miller family, we can expect more than 30 warships arriving in our city. These ships are intended to defend the maritime part of the kingdom."

"That's terrible..." Eduard commented in a solemn tone.

Acting against the royal guards in the Maritime City would be relatively simple. After all, there was plenty of room here for traps.

But concerning these ships, things could be pretty different!

So, Eduard was naturally worried about having so many threats around this place.

Because even if they were successful in defeating the enemies that came to this city by land, a few of these ships would be enough to destroy this town!

And they would not only lose the precious inhabitants of this place, but also their lives would be at risk!

The Sergeant from before then commented. "But three of those warships around Maritime City are already under our command, Lieutenant."

"Oh?" Upon hearing this, a gleam appeared in Eduard's eyes as he finally thought of something. "Well, since we have some of us among them, let's try to mix some soldiers with the enemies on the other ships to plant some arrays on those other ships."

"When it's time to act, we'll use those three ships to attack the others the moment the army warships arrive!"

Obviously, he and the soldiers from the army naval base had already planned to act together to deal with the naval threats. 

When the time came for them to leave this city, during the attack on the royal troops at land, the naval base would send those warships given to the army by the Collins family.

With this, they could somehow deal against these warships of the Brown family.

The problem was that the enemy's numbers were way above those of Minos' army. And since naval battles depended more on the ships than the cultivators, Eduard was worried about this factor.

But when considering that three of the enemy ships were already being operated by the army, he was hopeful that this could be the key to changing the fate of the future naval battle that would occur around this city!

"All right, Lieutenant." One of them commented as he wrote this down on a piece of paper.

"Lieutenant Eduard, we were recently notified by the Yellow City secret base that a group of about 15,000 enemies is expected to arrive in the Maritime City in the next 20 days.." Another person commented on that as he informed his boss regarding this information.