The Rise of the Black Plain

After walking for some time through that outermost area of Athela, Minos found a place where he could hire the local charioteer service.

He intended to move around this city, so it would not make much sense for him to keep going back and forth on foot. 

He could even move faster than the local carriages considering his cultivation level. However, this would draw too much attention from the local inhabitants, which would increase the chances of his plans being foiled.

And knowing this risk, he preferred to follow a 'softer' strategy, in which he could circulate faster than just walking around, but without attracting the attention of prying eyes.

In this way, he quickly obtained a means of transportation to start his business here!

"Sir, where shall we go?" The coachman asked soon after realizing that Minos had already settled into the inside of that carriage.

Upon hearing this, Minos looked through the front glass of that carriage, which was open, and showed the part where coachmen controlled the beasts that moved such means of transportation. "I am looking for someone, but I am not sure where to find him..."

"But I think that he will be somewhere with little movement, where people in a risky situation would normally hide in a city like this."

"What?" That coachman frowned his eyebrows. "Maybe he's looking for safety while waiting for some local service? Like medical help?"

"Hmmm... Something like that."

"Do you know of any place like that? I would thank you very much if you could help me find such a person." Minos said this while throwing a small bag with crystals in that man's direction.

Noticing the number of crystals this customer was willing to 'gift' to him, that coachman quickly changed his tone, becoming more confident in promoting his services.

"Don't worry, young master. I know a few places. But besides that, I know some brats who live playing in the streets around the local suburbs..."

"They will surely help us!"

"Oh?"

"Then I'm counting on you!" Minos replied in satisfaction, finally resting his back against his seat as that carriage began to move.

...

After a few hours, Minos had already passed on two different places that the coachman had taken him.

However, after using his spiritual sense to investigate those areas in question, Minos had not found any powerful spiritual fluctuations, something he was in search of.

He already knew that Wilfred had reached level 51, something the Cohen family had informed him months ago. Thus, considering that Blake was only one level below his older brother about four years ago, Minos knew that such a target should be at least level 50.

So, after doing his searches in those two areas and finding no one at that stage, Minos quickly realized that none of his targets were around there.

Not only that, while searching for Blake, Minos had also paid attention to the spiritual fluctuations of arrays. After all, such items could prevent spiritual probing by cultivators outside the area of influence of arrays with that feature.

An example of this was the defensive arrays of Dry City, which prevented people from inside that defensive dome from probing the strength of people outside it, and vice versa.

But Minos had not found any arrays like that in the vicinity of those two places.

Hence, before the sun had even set on the local horizon, Minos and that coachman set off toward where some young vagrants used to do their business.

...

Upon entering an area where there were some abandoned buildings and insufficient lighting, Minos soon faced dirty, poorly dressed, extremely miserable people of different ages.

Some were around campfires with torn blankets, while others used tree leaves to cover their bodies as they slept on the ground.

However, in the middle of this precarious place without primary housing conditions, several children ran around, chasing small animals or even fighting with each other.

However, not all of them were the same. Some looked more childish, looking for some fun amid the surrounding misery. But others seemed more serious about their positions, with determined looks in their eyes.

And precisely, these sharp-eyed individuals, who behaved like gang members, were the ones that the coachman hired by Minos had pointed out to him.

Noticing such a distinction, Minos was not slow to understand why that old man had brought him to this place.

'These people must know the Athela's underworld.' He pondered this as he watched the alleys between the abandoned buildings, from where several of those more serious children seemed to be watching their surroundings.

And it was not long before he and that coachman reached the back of one of those buildings.

There, several children with explosive arrays on their belts seemed to be guarding the entrance to that place.

"Brats, step aside and let us in!"

"Don't you see the young master next to me? He has a service for your group!" That coachman started the conversation with those youngsters who were protecting the area.

Upon hearing that, none of those children changed their behavior, just having looked in the direction of that masked person.

But as they were only children who had barely started cultivating, they could not estimate Minos' cultivation level. Because of this, none of them were frightened in front of this stranger.

"What do you want?" One of them tried to force a grave tone, trying to sound more than he was.

Minos then went straight to the point. "I am after a person, and if you help me find him, I will give you a high reward."

"If the service gets results later today, I will give you 50,000 low-grade spiritual crystals. If you can give me results within two days, I will pay you half the amount."

"After that, I will only reward you with 10,000 crystals."

Gulp!

Not only did those children swallow their saliva in shock, but also that coachman, since Minos had rewarded him far less than what he promised to those brats.

'This person truly is wealthy!' The old man thought about it, trying to understand Minos' origin. 

But just like those kids, he did not have what it took to estimate Minos' level. So, he could only wonder where such a generous person had come from.

On the other hand, Minos was not worried about what these people would do after dealing with someone as generous as him.

Not because he was unconcerned about them spoiling his plans, nor because he trusted strangers. But instead because by ending his affairs with these people, he would cause all of them to have the same fate as Troy and Ford.

To spend a few days unconscious due to the Infinite Dream!

And with that, he was confident in using these people to his advantage!

"Are you serious? We're not going to let you fool us just by talking such a catchy number!" The same young man from before said this, but now with a much thinner tone due to the mental disturbance, he had just suffered.

"Hmmm." Minos nodded to those youths while giving them a small bag.

Seeing this, those two looked at each other before finally deciding what to do.

"Run!" The two shouted as they ran off in different directions.

However, before they could even run for a single meter from where they were previously, the two fell to the ground, already passed out.

"Well, let's go talk to their leaders..." Minos said in a calm tone, just before kicking the metal door that those young men were protecting.

Noticing all this, that coachman almost fainted from the sudden change there.

At one moment, he had thought that the young master who had hired him would be deceived. But just then, as if by the will of the masked person, those two fell to the ground like sacks of potatoes.

'Terrible!' He thought about it as he felt a heat running down between his legs, wetting his clothes.

But soon after, the old man followed young Stuart to settle those matters with the underworld people, the ones who had the best chance of directing Minos to the places where he would have the best chance of finding Blake.

"Well, let's do business..."