The Rise of the Black Plain

Meanwhile, at the imperial family's residence...

Ruth was lying by the main pool of her residence, taking her daily sunbath while looking at her belly with pride.

The opportunity to carry the children of Minos in her womb was incredible for her, and she felt even better than when she had advanced to the 9th stage.

Thinking about her babies, who would be born between 3 and 5 years, she couldn't help but long for the day when she could see their faces.

But Ruth was not alone in this daily moment of hers. Her mother and sister were around too.

With the migration of the Gray Clouds Sect to the Black Plain years ago, Ruth's family had already lived in Dry City for several years.

They usually all had many problems to deal with, and even though they lived so close to each other, they didn't have much time to see each other.

But lately, things have been working out differently. With the peace and advancements of the empire, Spiritual Saints like these two women beside Ruth had been having more time for leisure and other things.

Because of this, Ruth now had the chance to be around her family almost every day, which was important to her since, during pregnancy, women were weakened and needed a lot of support.

"Ruth, try this toast. Cook Shepard's jam is really magnificent." Talia Miles, currently at level 77, said this to her younger sister as she stretched out one of her arms to her sister.

Meanwhile, Elise Fitzgerald, currently at level 79, was standing watching her daughters while holding a furry cat in her hands, her pet.

"Ruth, have you thought about their names?" Elise asked, curious about this important question that her husband, Vince, level 80, had raised the night before.

Ruth would have twins, more specifically, a boy and a girl.

Knowing their genders, Elise and Vince were curious about the names of their first grandchildren.

Upon hearing that, Ruth opened her eyes wider, still not having decided on the names.

"I'm still looking into it with Minos. But I am in doubt about some names..."

They continued talking as they ate, something Ruth had been doing a lot recently, to an even more significant degree than Isabella.

...

While the mothers-to-be of the Stuart family went about their routines, Abby was at the Black Plain Army headquarters, dealing with some matters.

"Your Majesty, some of the men at the army submarine station are raising questions about opening a wormhole port in that site." A soldier said as he stood in front of Abby's desk. "Is there any possibility of that happening in the short term?"

Upon hearing that, Abby frowned and said. "Not at all. That zone is too close to the North Sea, even more so than the position of the End area. If we build a wormhole port there, we'll open a path not only for our allies but also possible enemies to reach the entire empire."

There was this danger for all the spatial paths created by the state of Minos. But the dangers were far greater in that submarine place than in any other area of the empire.

With that in mind, Abby had no interest in connecting her capital to such a place!

"So we will continue sending and receiving resources from the area with the traditional method? With the boats and submarines?"

"That's right. As much as it will cost us more to continue operations there this way, it will be more worthwhile considering the risks we will accept."

After answering that man, Abby continued working for a while longer at the headquarters.

...

Meanwhile, Minos was in the imperial throne room, receiving the group of leaders from the assemblies around his state.

As supreme leader of these assemblies, the emperor had instituted that every 5 years, all the leaders of the assemblies had to move to the capital for rounds of meetings.

This had recently been decided, and last night their first meeting had begun, with a ball at the imperial palace.

But only on this day would they actually begin to talk about the results of their efforts around the empire!

While Minos was sitting on his throne, the various leaders of the areas around the empire were sitting around a large oval-shaped table in the middle of that area, in full view of the emperor.

There were not only the leaders of the empire's assemblies but also the nobles who ruled areas on behalf of the emperor within the Black Plain core and in areas not governed by assemblies.

As such, in addition to the old regional royalty, there were also Lee and Alison, the leaders of the Gill, Nash, Miller, Austin, Parkinson, Cohen, Hayes, and Stokes families.

Most of the old leaders of these families had been replaced by young people of the younger generation, so several low-level Spiritual Saints like Lee and Alison were there representing these families.

But alongside many of them were the old leaders of these houses, who no longer led their families but worked as advisors to the new patriarchs and matriarchs.

Therefore, Minos could see old acquaintances from the War of Independence, such as Liam Gill, Marvin Nash, and several others, all at level 69, from where they could not advance, given their ages.

On the other hand, alongside the new leaders of the empire's assemblies, old figures like the former kings Stone and Snow were there, but also the leaders of the Brown and Cromwell families, the survivors Minos had let live after the war.

These young heirs of these families were at level 70, but the old leaders like Adam Snow and Eugene Stone were at level 69.

Besides them, the leader of the Vogel Assembly, level 79, was also standing around, looking at Minos with nothing but respect in his eyes, seeing how far this fellow had come.

But not only this high-level Saint was doing this, but all the guests were also looking at Minos in silence, sensing his high cultivation.

Minos ran his eyes over everyone there and finally started this meeting. "Alright, I see everyone is comfortable, so let's get down to business.

Tell me about the situation in your areas, what your families and groups have been doing to continue the progress of the empire."

Minos knew only the most general data about the empire. After all, he had many things to worry about. As such, only through a meeting like this would he hear more specific data about each area of his state.

With that, he pointed to where Vogel's representative stood and said. "Let's start with Vogel."

Upon hearing his leader's order, that man stood up and began to speak. "Your Majesty..."