The Rise of the Black Plain

Within minutes of sensing the advance of the great Sky Whale, the entire Minos group, except for Forrest, was focused on absorbing the vast amount of energy and laws being drawn into the area by the advancing beast.

Spatial Kingdoms were special!

When a God folded the space of a certain region and created one of these cultivation sanctuaries, the spiritual richness of such spaces was precisely the folding of space.

A God fold not only separated the area into a secondary space that was incredibly difficult to access, but it also acted as a collector of energy and laws.

At the "nodes" of the fold, all forms of energy from the Spiritual World were drawn into the Spatial Kingdom, like a drain that draws all the water in a bathtub toward itself.

In normal situations, this "drain" would simply cause the flow of "water" toward itself to be high. But reality changed a bit during relevant breakthroughs, like that of the beast in question.

To support the progress of the beings in those Spatial Kingdoms, during their progress, those "nodes" would become stronger, and they would draw more energy and laws into those spaces.

This was not something remarkable in the advancement of a low-level being or an ordinary being. But when a being from one of the strongest races in the world was ascending to the 10th stage, things were different.

Even though that space was damaged and incomplete, features common to the Spatial Kingdoms still worked!

The moment that creature's cultivation reached level 90, and its body and soul 'attracted' large amounts of energy and laws, that space's node would immediately increase the number of laws and energy in that space's pocket.

As the spiritual pressure of the area increased, even for 'ordinary' level 92 Demigods, the area had suddenly become much more interesting for cultivation.

It would be like this for the next few hours, so almost the entire Minos group was already cultivating in that area of the temple where they had tried to get weapons earlier.

Only Forrest was too strong to be affected by this progress and did not fall into a state of meditation.

As he watched the people in his group cultivate, he looked toward that beast and noticed that it was quickly solidifying its cultivation base at level 90.

'Impressive. He is so talented and strong that even advancing with the help of outside resources, his aura is as solid as someone at my level.' Forrest thought to himself as he saw this creature's body trembling as it grew with his advancement.

'Sigh... I hope he doesn't come at us. I want to try and get that weapon when the spiritual situation in the area returns to normal.' Forrest looked at the large axe he had been forced to put aside for the moment.

The spiritual pressure in the area had significantly increased, so trying to get one of these weapons out of where it was would be much more difficult now.

So he wasn't working on getting that weapon right now.

As he watched the area, keeping an eye on his group and occasionally watching the whale's transformation, Forrest suddenly realized the end of the sea creature's reclusiveness.

The great whale changed shape and transformed into its humanoid version, leaping out of the lake and appearing dozens of meters above the surface.

His humanoid body looked slightly smaller than before, but his musculature seemed much more developed, as if he had lost unnecessary points and strengthened what mattered.

His dark blue eyes glowed as his terrifying aura was still free, and he looked at himself and felt amazing.

Progress was something gratifying for any creature, beast, human, or elf!

But while enjoying his new abilities, this whale looked at one area and then two others, noticing the three groups of humans meditating around this pocket of space.

'Enjoying the benefits of my advancement, eh?' He smiled as he looked directly at where Forrest was, noticing this level 93 human looking in his direction.

'Spiritual Church, uh... Well, you're not my target this time, so I'll leave you alone.' He closed his eyes and expanded his senses, searching for one of the portals in this area.

It was not uncommon for creatures of this race to have hundreds of thousands of small 'fish' following them around the oceans of the Spiritual World, as the remains of what they ate were often of great value to others.

When this creature saw those humans enjoying the benefits of his progress, he saw no problem with it, as it was no different from that.

But then he became more serious, feeling that he could now resolve the situation in the Flaming Empire from months ago. 'My target is those two damned dragons!'

With that in mind, after identifying one of the portals in the area, he left without further ado, causing not only Forrest but everyone else in the space to sigh with relief.

However, it was not a permanent relief. What had kept the peace in that pocket of space was that very creature. Now that he was gone, some of the people there might become bolder!

...

Hours later, Minos' group finished cultivating after the spiritual pressure in the area returned to normal.

When he opened his eyes and saw some of his group already standing next to the large artifacts in the area, Minos sighed, feeling that his strength was 1% stronger just for taking this opportunity.

It seemed small, but if he could improve by 1% daily, he could change levels quickly!

Best of all, this improvement came from absorbing the free energies and laws in the atmosphere with his cultivation technique. It was something that was 100% beneficial to him and his group, something that not only could not harm their foundations but could also help solidify unstable foundations!

Noticing how much stronger those who had not advanced since the beginning of this event, Ruth, Isabella, and the level 89 Sage from Forrest's group, were, Minos smiled and said.

"Let's finish our business here quickly, folks. The other groups in this space or coming in the next few hours won't be so peaceful. Let's grab what we can and head for the next pocket of space!"

With that, those not already around the artifacts in the area soon moved on, and Forrest returned his focus to the large axe.

...