The Rise of the Black Plain

Minos gestured a few times and created one last seal on two similar artifacts.

He then handed one to Ruth and the other to the level 85 Spiritual Sage. "This is the joint key to this dome. By using both parts of it simultaneously, you can open the city to visitors.

Without one part, the other cannot do the same, so one of you will stay outside the Dry City, and the other will stay inside, controlling the entrance of people."

The two received those items, looking at what looked like a medallion, but had a large pyramidal symbol on them.

"How do we arrange to use this simultaneously?" Ruth asked.

"That defensive barrier does not prevent the transmission and receipt of information. You can still use communication arrays inside this place as you did before." Minos said, teaching these people. It didn't do much harm to the lives of those inside this place.

The only drawback really was that from today there would be no more daylight over Dry City.

The most Minos and his people could do about this would be to create artificial light sources in the surroundings of the new dome, but natural light would not enter there at all.

The people in the group of high-level cultivators heard this and felt that this was indeed a great advance on Minos' part and an unparalleled gift to Dry City.

As much as they would no longer have the privilege of natural light in this place and the entrance of people would be made much more complicated than before, those who lived there would benefit greatly.

Not only would they have defenses that would protect them against cultivators below level 90, but they would also have the opportunity to benefit from the new spiritual density of this city.

Thinking about it, all these individuals above level 80 were happy and in awe of Minos' ability.

"That's almost like a semi-Spatial Kingdom..." Someone commented.

Upon hearing that, Minos smiled, for that was not entirely wrong.

Due to his abilities generated by absorbing the cultivation understanding of the giant skeletons and his technique fusions, he had reached a very high level regarding space manipulation.

He would still have to become a God to develop one Spatial Kingdom from scratch, but he could already create special places like this!

Ruth and Gloria heard that comment and looked at Minos.

"Don't tell me that you can make your Spatial Kingdom before becoming a God?" Ruth questioned him.

"Impossible." He laughed. "At most, I would be able to create a fake-Spatial Kingdom. The problem with it all is that even with the necessary understanding, the energy of a God is required to create such a region of space.

That I would only have if I reached the 11th stage..."

The people with more absurd thoughts in the surrounding area understood this and put their crazy thoughts aside.

He then said. "Anyway, I will do other places like this around the empire in the future. But for now, I will only do this in the main city of the End area and then leave for Lusmait.

I'll do other places like that after I deal with the damned Longus family."

The people in the surrounding area nodded in agreement, understanding that this really would be better.

Oswald then said. "It is not for nothing you want us to spread out around the empire. In fact, Dry City will only need Ruth and the elder Esmond to take care of getting people in here..."

Now that they had seen all about these new local defenses, Minos' men understood why they would no longer be needed there in the short term.

Part of them regretted this, as they would not be able to enjoy the immense benefits of staying there to cultivate in the short term.

In any case, their leader's plans were the best for the empire, so no one else questioned his orders.

After seeing what they needed, they all accepted their missions, and almost none stayed behind after a few moments.

Minos stood next to Gloria and Ruth and a few of the Spiritual Sages near advancement.

Since they were not far from reaching new levels, Minos wanted some of them to stay longer in this place to cultivate and only leave after they reached new levels.

He looked at his women and said. "Ruth, I will have to rely on you to regulate people's entry here. But don't worry, that won't be a difficult job. You just need to keep that medallion I gave you with you at all times, and when you have to do something, infuse some of your energy into it.

But beware. If an enemy tries something against Esmond, don't open the city to anyone. When I return, I will solve any problem there is."

"Hmm, don't worry, I know what to do." She said.

He then said to Gloria. "Get on with your business with the Church and try to advance to the 9th stage while I'm gone. It won't be that hard to do it in this place the way it is now."

She agreed. "I was already planning to do that... As for Church, I will try to move more slowly while you are away. There's no pressure on us, but we'd better not draw unnecessary attention."

"Hmm..."

After that, they returned to the imperial palace, where Minos would finish talking to his weaker subordinates and relevant people in his government.

...

Three days after creating the Dry City Pyramidal Dome, Minos finished his business in his capital and quickly made his way to the End area via his state's network of wormholes.

Due to the practicality of these space paths, within minutes of his departure from Dry City, where the local port had been moved out of the dome, he arrived in the former state capital of the Carline family.

In this place, he would meet his old acquaintance, Kara Carline, the current leader of this area and president of the local assembly.

She was currently level 72 and the most powerful native of the area.

Her parents had retired from their roles when she had overtaken them and now lived in seclusion, trying to advance to the 8th stage.

Unfortunately for them, it was more difficult than they thought to achieve such advancement due to the fact that they had aged while they were only Spiritual Kings.

Even with enough talent to reach level 70, they had great difficulty getting out of level 69.

In any case, upon reaching this place, Minos would not waste much of his time interacting with the ancient sovereigns of the area. Right after a brief tea and conversation, he did what he set out to do there.

He created a Pyramidal Dome similar to that of his state's capital in the main city there to help the locals grow stronger and protect themselves from threats from the north.

After this, without delay, Minos went back to using his state's network of wormholes, this time going to Vogel, from where he intended to leave for the kingdom of Lusmait!

This was the beginning of a new journey for Minos!