The Rise of the Black Plain

After a few minutes of walking through Dry City, Minos and Ruth finally passed through the gates of the Beast Park, where hundreds of different creatures lived.

Upon doing so, Minos immediately felt the freshness of nature in this place, which despite being inside Dry City, was large enough to make anyone inside think that this was a large forest and not a tiny park.

And sensing some of the lush nature built by the Feathered Serpents in his city, Minos felt a pleasant sensation in his being.

For him, the built part of a city was vital, but what pleased him was nature.

Therefore, he felt terrific in this place full of spiritual beasts, where he did not take long to reach one of his friends.

"Big brother!" A thin voice, sounding like that of a young girl in her early teens, reached Minos' ears as he walked alongside Ruth into the interior of that area.

Upon hearing that, the two realized whose voice was and looked toward where a fox with orange, white, and black fur, with five tails, came running towards them.

"Kyla!" Minos said in surprise, pleased to see that young beast he had seen grow up in the Spatial Kingdom.

Ruth then smiled at that young Nine-tailed Fox, seeing the animation of that 'little' being that had just jumped on Minos. "Kyla, you are already at level 47. Congratulations!" 

"Hehe, I'm almost at my mother's stage!" Kyla said this excitedly as her tails wagged frantically, and she felt Minos' hands playing with her big neck.

"Not bad, Kyla. When I am to leave this region, you will finally be able to accompany me on my travels without running into great danger." Minos remembered the desire Emlyn's daughter had always had. "Are you interested?"

"Is that true, big brother?" She looked at him as her eyes sparkled in anticipation. "Will I be able to travel with big brother?"

"Of course!"

"When I go to the Flaming Empire to meet Ruth's family, I will take you and your mother with me."

'Meet my family?' Ruth imagined such a thing happening, blushing more and more.

And as Kyla licked Minos' face in happiness, the big fox with six tails finally came to the side of those three.

"So, you're finally back, huh?" Emlyn asked Minos as she sat down beside a tree, along with a giant serpent that was accompanying her.

"Young Minos, it is good to see you again." Gaia, the Feathered Serpent, said this in a happy tone, pleased with the progress of that young man.

"Hmmm."

"It is good to see you all again."

"But anyway, my trip has caused me to stay away from Dry City for quite a while, but I believe that is why we will resolve the current situation quickly."

"Really?" That serpent asked in surprise, not expecting something like this since the war only seemed to get more and more animated as time went on.

"Yes. I managed to solve a few problems during this trip, and even if we still have to deal with enemies for a few more months or years, they won't be in the current quantities."

"At the very least, we will be able to finish the war of independence and begin building my state."

"That's good to hear..." Emlyn commented in a low voice, feeling that she could finally rest more peacefully.

She was a spiritual beast, a being that naturally felt an attraction to battles. However, battling from time to time was completely different from fighting wars!

Consequently, even spiritual beasts like her did not like to live the uncertain war life for prolonged periods. Even more so in her case, as she had the option of peacefully living in the Spatial Kingdom!

With that, Emlyn was looking forward to this challenging period coming to an end.

"Anyway, I came here today to see how you are doing..." Minos put 'little' Kyla aside and looked at Emlyn more seriously. "How was this period for you? Any problems?"

But Kyla's mother just closed her eyes for a minute, shaking her big head. 

After a period of silence, she said. "We haven't had any big problems."

"Some daring humans came to Dry City while you were away, but none of them were strong enough to challenge us."

"In the end, those two women and I eliminated each of them... Anyway, it was no big deal."

"Oh? What about your cultivation? I heard that you reached level 57 even though you had to dispose of your time to help in the war..." Minos said this with a complicated look on his face. 

"Hmm, I have advanced recently."

"Emlyn, I'm sorry. Our previous agreement didn't..." 

But realizing what he was saying, Emlyn cut Minos' words off with her sincerity. "Don't worry about that. I was willing to make myself available to Dry City of my own free will."

"And even though supplies have dwindled in the last few months, that was expected in any case. So, I just did my part to help solve the problem faster."

The supplies of spiritual medicines had been immensely affected because of the restrictions imposed on the Black Plain by the enemy kingdoms. And since these items were important not only to alchemists but also to beasts, individuals like Emlyn were damaged during this period.

After all, unlike humans, beasts cannot use crystals to cultivate and had spiritual medicines as their leading cultivation resource.

Because of this, with the decrease in the supply of these items, Emlyn had naturally been disadvantaged. 

In addition, she was also not in the Spiritual Kingdom, where she was supposed to stay as per the agreement with Minos.

Therefore, young Stuart felt bad for demanding more than he should from her.

"Anyway, I wouldn't get much more than level 57 even if the situation was better. So, it's all right, Minos." She said sincerely, looking into the small eyes of the human in front of her. "I don't mind that, we are partners, and it's natural for me to help you and sometimes lose some things."

"Hmmm." He nodded at her before finally remembering something. "Speaking of resources, I think we'll be able to get the supply back to normal in the next few days."

"While I was traveling, I managed to collect many cultivation resources from my enemies." He smiled as he remembered the wealth left behind by the many opponents he had faced during these months of travel.

Minos had already delivered the spatial ring with those items to Mia, which had added over 200 thousand medium-grade crystals and 50 million low-grade crystals to the local coffers. At the same time, the number of grade-2 items was over 3 thousand, not counting the thousands of Warrior grade spiritual medicines left behind by his enemies.

Because of this, that young man knew he could temporarily solve the problem of the low supply of spiritual medicines for the beasts living in Dry City.

On the other hand, with the withdrawal of the Kingdom of the Waves troops, the possible departure of the Kingdom of the End from the local conflict, and the action with the Snow family, Minos was already counting on the fall of the restrictions against his territory.

"Is that so?" The serpent asked in curiosity, pleased to hear such good news.

"Yes, I will meet with the regional leaders in a few days. After that, I believe regional trade will begin to return to normalcy."

"That's great!"

After that, the group chatted for a few more minutes until they finally said goodbye.

Emlyn continued in the Beast Park alongside her daughter since Minos would soon be leaving to trade with the regional leaders, and she would have to stay to protect Dry City in case of need.

As for the two humans, they promptly headed towards the government mansion, where Minos intended to rest from his long trip.

But halfway to that place, Ruth suddenly asked about something puzzling her. "Minos, why are you so confident about the end of the war?"

"Uh? Abby didn't tell you anything?" He asked in surprise since Ruth had always shown interest in standing by his side while he worked.

But the truth was that Ruth did not have that much interest in the administration of her fiancé's organization. She thought that might be it, but in trying to keep up with Abby, this black-haired woman had discovered that it was all very boring.

Thus, Ruth had uncovered that what she enjoyed was being around Minos.

"I talked to her about the local situation when I first got here, but I didn't delve into her more recent plans..."

"I see..."

Minos then smiled and said in a low voice. "Well, to make a long story short, I will soon have more allies, or rather subordinates, than enemies."