The Rise of the Black Plain

A few more days passed...

While the envoys of the Longus family found out about Minos' advance to the 9th stage, his departure, and the capabilities of the new defenses over Dry City, he had reached the end of his journey in the Western Empire.

It was morning. Minos and Starclaw reached the border of that state with Lusmait, finally entering the last domain west of the Central Continent.

Beyond this state, there was only a great sea even larger than the continent, through which if one always sailed in the same direction, one could reach the east of the Divine Continent.

Minos was not interested in making this very long sea journey, and after entering this last kingdom in the west through a wormhole, he began his investigation.

From the hints left by a descendant of the Longus family who passed by the statue of Henricus Longus in the City of a Thousand Races of the Ancestral Sea, the family headquarters or the clues to it should be in a coastal area of Lusmait.

Soon Starclaw was flying toward the beginning of the coast of that state with the border with the Western Empire, from where they would slowly search for what they were searching for.

The kingdom of Lusmait was not large, and since they had already entered that state near the southern coastline, they quickly reached the starting point of their search.

...

From what Giordano Longus had indicated, the second seat of the Longus family should be located on a mountain near the coast of this state.

So when Minos and Starclaw arrived in this southernmost area, they immediately began their search by flying at low altitudes while watching the nearby mountaintops.

"Look for any sign of human constructions, ruins, or even the presence of humans in small groups," Minos said to his mount as he checked his surroundings. "When they came to this area hundreds of thousands of years ago, the Longus family certainly built a place to live in seclusion, hidden from the world.

So even if they are no longer around here, surely their buildings or evidence of discreet constructions have been left behind."

"OK."

"Considering how good this place should be, the likelihood of human groups or families occupying these areas, if they are no longer around, is not small.

The headquarters of that family in such an area should be very interesting for anyone to live away from trouble, in a quiet, unflashy place.

So even if they're no longer around here, there's a good chance we'll find people around that area."

"What will we do with them?" Starclaw asked.

"If they are just current occupants of that land, nothing. Our goal is to reach that family." Minos said. "Either they are here, or there are hints here of where they went. So if others are in these lands we are looking for, we will merely take the information left by these people and leave."

She understood this but was still curious about why Minos was confident he would find something useful here if this family had left the area.

So while checking the surroundings, she asked. "Why do you think we will find traces of where they went if they left the area? Traces can be erased, and depending on the time since the departure from the area, the chances of us finding something are pretty slim."

"It would be that way for normal things," Minos said. "But those people in the Longus family had some items created by a God, Henricus Longus."

Things created by Gods were precious and difficult to destroy. Even the passage of time had difficulty damaging these creations.

Exemplifying this were the various things that Minos had inherited from Henricus Longus.

The ring of the Spatial Kingdom itself had an engraving made by that man, something that had connected Minos' soul to this item for him to use as he wished but also protected his destiny.

Henricus Longus had left such a thing millions of years ago, and yet this worked perfectly!

"Henricus Longus was not a blacksmith or an array master, so he could not create artifacts. But he could create paintings and music like any human cultivator with at least one mental technique.

He left several such items with this family, from records with melodies to even paintings.

There was space on some of these items for his descendants to record messages."

"So that's how it is..." Starclaw commented, feeling how amazing things related to the Gods were.

Thinking about it, she couldn't help but consider how lucky she had been to be saved by Minos, an heir of a God!

"But that family betrayed you, right? Why would they leave something to direct you to them?" She asked after a moment in silence.

Minos said. "The members of the current generation didn't do that, but their ancestors did.

But you are right in considering that they could have deleted any message. They indeed could. But until recently, they didn't know about me, and it would be better for them to leave those clues for me to catch up with them one day.

Even if they had to subordinate themselves to me, it would be better for them to do that than to have no slice of what I inherited from their ancestor."

"But that has changed recently... Now they have discovered you and want to act against you. Couldn't they have changed in the meantime?"

"There wasn't enough time for that. Changing a message in something left by a God is even possible, but it would take a few decades if high-level Demigods did it." Minos stated confidently. "If they knew about me decades ago, I would be dead by now, Starclaw."

"That makes sense." She said as she turned her focus to the mountains near that coastal area.

As silence returned for the two to focus on scouring the surroundings, Minos noticed something that fit what they were looking for.

He narrowed his eyes and looked more closely at a mountain peak where a group of humans seemed to be living.

He then said. "Starclaw, let's check that place out. There seems to be some kind of construction on top of that mountain that leads to the inside of it. Maybe that's our location!"

Looking in the direction pointed out by Minos, this large gray-feathered bird saw that place more closely and promptly prepared for them to land there.

There could be powerful enemies in the surroundings, so the two prepared to protect themselves, flee, or attack.

Meanwhile, they were using their soul senses and sensory abilities to perceive the levels of the people in that place.

In doing so, Minos felt spiritual fluctuations that he already knew!

...