The Rise of the Black Plain

When the subordinate of Minos, representing the group the emperor had left at the disposal of Julian's men, stood up to speak, everyone paid attention to this high-level Spiritual Saint, curious.

Many there already knew that Minos had finally become a de facto member of a high-level power of the Divine Continent, the Pantheon Of Honor, a few months ago.

Knowing this, they were curious to hear how the relationship between Minos and this organization was going, as well as the deeds of this group from the Divine Continent in the Black Plain Empire.

Those people led by three Spiritual Demigods who had arrived almost at the same time as Minos in Dry City years ago were still in that territory, so many of those who knew about it were eager to hear about their deeds for the first time.

That man from the Black Plain Army then said. "Your Majesty, after these months of development and various works, our group has managed to overhaul the empire's entire spy network.

With the help of Elder Julian's envoys, we connected our Vogel family observers in Lusmait with several of our contacts around the continent.

We now have observers in almost half of the continent, from the Evergreen Empire, the Flowers Kingdom, Lusmait, and the Western Empire.

We still have to improve our network of observers within some states in the western region, but that should be sorted out in no more than a year.

In any case, we have successfully connected to the continent's two Pantheon Of Honor member groups. Most importantly, we are now connected to the Pantheon Of Honor headquarters.

We can now send local information with a delay of only 3 days to that continent but also receive information with the same delay."

Julian's men had guided the Minos staff very well in these two and a half years, having developed not only the empire's network of contacts but also made possible several state advances concerning fulfilling the demands of the Pantheon Of Honor.

At first, this group that had presented itself to Minos in the Dry City thought that the Black Plain Empire would take a long time to achieve autonomy concerning the demands of the Pantheon Of Honor. But after less than 3 years of acting locally and seeing local progress, even the level 91 Demigod was shocked.

According to their initial expectations, they were supposed to stay around 20 years in the Black Plain to help Minos' group. But after that period of acting locally, they had concluded that in no more than 5 years, they could already leave back to the Divine Continent!

The state was growing much faster than they had assumed, and the army had made it much easier for them to integrate locally through the many men who had been made available to help them.

Because of this progress toward the Pantheon of Honor, Minos was beginning to envision the day when he could benefit from this organization!

By the time he returned to the Divine Continent for the Pantheon of Honor meeting, he could start forming partnerships before the Continental Tournament.

By that time, he would no longer need the support of Julian's group and his faction, and he might have enough to attract the members of that organization not for his future potential but for what he could already do then.

So, listening to that soldier's entire account, Minos couldn't help but be pleased with how things were progressing.

"Hmm, very good. Continue working hard to establish the parameters recommended by Elder Julian's staff." Minos said to that person before finalizing that part of the meeting.

There was also information regarding the advances made by Gloria's faction in the Spiritual Church. Yet, Minos was already privy to that data, and not everyone there should know about his interests in that organization.

Their faction in the Church had grown over the period, but it had not been anything significant enough to change their situation significantly.

The old faction members had grown stronger with the resources and opportunities created by the Black Plain Empire, and factionless Church members had joined them.

But that increase in numbers had been unimpressive, representing an increase of only about 3% from 2.5 years ago.

Unfortunately, there was no way they could grow much more than that, as both the war and the existence of the other factions of the Church were a major hindrance to membership recruitment.

Fortunately, Gloria had managed to make some alliances with smaller groups within the Church and grow her faction's influence a bit more.

For the moment, the major factions of the Church were all focused on war, so Gloria's growth had not drawn attention, and they had not encountered significant problems on their way here.

Anyway, with everyone there having presented their findings, Minos moved on with this meeting, giving some orders, opening opportunities for these leaders, and presenting his intentions.

The Ancient Dragon Spatial Kingdom could open its doors to the continent at any time, so everyone there should be prepared for the imperial family's immediate departure to that place once it showed itself.

Besides, with Emlyn currently at level 78, it would be time for Minos to leave for the Continent of Beasts to seek new support for his interests in the North Sea in a few years.

Everyone there was already aware that Minos intended to investigate that area, even if several of them did not know exactly about the threats that made the strongest of that state look so much in that direction.

As such, they all expected that with Emlyn's advancement to level 80 and the Ancient Dragon Spatial Kingdom, Minos would set off on a new journey that could leave him out of the state for years.

They had to take advantage of the moment of peace and Minos' presence locally to continue improving their forces and creating stronger pillars to sustain the empire without its powerful leader.

"... Anyway, the war in the south of the continent has not yet entered a stage where we should worry, but we must prepare for its end.

It may last a few decades, but if Vico or Maximillian make a significant breakthrough in their plans, the war's end could be closer than we think. So keep that in mind. Prepare for the unexpected." Minos said as he ended today's meeting.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

All the people in the surroundings said as they rose from their seats.

With that, this day's meeting was over, but this group would still meet again for the next few days to deal with other matters!