The Rise of the Black Plain

Upon discovering the resources of these spatial rings, Minos immediately decided to keep one of the Saint-grade medicines for future use.

This medicine didn't have much affinity with any of his family, but if he kept it with him, he could use it to upgrade someone's physique in his army, people who had King-grade Physique and could achieve the Saint grade. Another possibility was to hire a grade-4 alchemist to make pills with it.

But the second medicine was exceptionally compatible with Gloria, who had an innate ability related to mercury, the same as the medicine he had just received.

While moving through the tunnel with his group, he said to Gloria, who already had the Saint-grade medicine in her hands. "Take this. The next time we stop, I want you to eat it and absorb its essence. It will strengthen your innate ability and also help you reach level 82."

Gloria was at the peak of level 81, even closer to level 82 than Minos was to level 83 when they entered this room.

Knowing this, Minos knew it wouldn't hurt his wife and could help the group increase their strength a bit more.

Gloria took the thing from Minos' hands, feeling the compatibility she had with it.

This was the fruit she would have to use if she had been born with a King-grade Physique and wanted to upgrade it to a Saint-grade. Luckily, she didn't need to evolve, as she was born with the highest possible Physique, and only Divine-grade medicine would help her evolve that part of herself.

However, as much as she didn't need to evolve the quality of her Physique, Gloria and everyone else there could increase the quality of their characteristics with such medicines.

The women of Minos saw her storing a gray plant in her ring and were happy for her, noting that they might have secured some more advancements in these first moments of theirs in the ancient home of the dragons.

Forrest noticed Minos and Gloria's good fortune but said nothing, happy to see another of the women there growing stronger.

He knew Minos was probably only in this Spatial Kingdom to help his wives. Seeing that Emperor Stuart was doing well in his goal, Forrest was naturally pleased, as it would mean a better future for his plans.

Not only that, the stronger these women were, the less problematic their group's journey would be!

...

In the blink of an eye, a whole week had passed since the stabilization of the Ancient Dragon Spatial Kingdom portals!

In those days, Minos and his group left the underground area they had explored in their first hours in this space and returned to the surface, where the wooden dragon roamed and protected the area.

But this time, unlike when they first arrived in this Spatial Kingdom, their group did not encounter that artificial creature.

The space pocket they were in was not small, and there were many areas for that creature, from which it could hardly perceive humans like them moving around in distant areas.

Therefore, when Minos' group returned to the surface, they did not fight right away but concentrated on finding valuable resources in the area.

Using the information they had from the Spiritual Church or the Pantheon of Honor, their group went to where there should be interesting things for 9th-stage people.

They spent the last three days doing this, and they were involved in some confrontations with beasts in the area, as well as complicated situations caused by the spatial instability of that place.

The day before, their group was standing around resting when suddenly, the pressure on them increased significantly, and they were chased by destructive lightning.

At the beginning of this incident, they thought they were being attacked by another group that had entered this space with them, but that was not the case. As they tried to defend themselves and fight off these attacks, they realized that these were just natural phenomena!

For the first time in their lives, they were faced with a complicated Spatial Storm, something that was unlikely to happen in ordinary places but which has the power to kill even Spiritual Sages!

Some people in the Spiritual World thought that the phenomena in the North Sea were Spatial Storms, not conscious beings trying to protect their domains.

As a result, many of the experts from the central continent disregarded the recent concerns raised by the Western Empire's emperor.

Whether that was the case or not, Minos and even Emperor Quinn could not say for sure.

But what the emperor's group with Forrest encountered that day was indeed a terrifying phenomenon of the Spiritual World's nature, something that could happen in this space due to its instability.

Fortunately for them, Demigods were quite resistant to such phenomena, and their group had been saved by the combined powers of the two 10th-stage experts with Minos.

After that incident, they found some more useful resources for their group, especially for the Church's personnel, who had not seen much improvement like Minos' group.

...

In the middle of the forest where Minos' group had arrived, two high-level Sages were meditating while the rest were watching the surroundings.

After consuming some resources, pills, and medicines, they had found the day before, two of Forrest's group mates were concentrating on trying to increase their capabilities!

One was trying to raise his Physique grade from King to Saint, while the other was trying to reach the 10th stage!

Forrest had not brought just any people into this space. He had chosen some of his most trusted men who were about to make crucial breakthroughs. As such, some of them were already trying to take advantage of this opportunity to develop their strength.

Minos and his wives had not accomplished much in the past few days; they had gotten things for their army but nothing useful for those within this Spatial Kingdom.

However, in the past few days, Gloria had successfully absorbed the medicine Minos had given her and finally reached level 82!

Meanwhile, Minos had been feeding the level 89 hybrid in his group with the King-grade medicine he had received from the previous rings, helping him to get closer to level 90.

He didn't have high hopes of raising this hybrid's cultivation stage during this event, but he had fed it well to bring it closer to a breakthrough.

Unlike pure humans, beast-human hybrids had characteristics of both races, so this hybrid could absorb resources without risking destabilizing his cultivation base.

But he had to use his cultivation technique, unlike beasts who could simply process these resources by going to sleep and waking up stronger later.

Without much time to cultivate in this dangerous place, it might take him longer to progress there than if he were outside of this place with the resources Minos had given him!

Anyway, while they were in that area, there was a sudden cracking sound from one of those two cultivators!

...