The Rise of the Black Plain

Following the conclusion of the Dry City battle, the local forces had ended the day with 4,300 fewer Spiritual Generals, those who had given their lives for this city.

Most of these individuals were formerly members of the Gill family. Still, there were a few hundred soldiers from the Black Plain Army among those numbers.

On the other hand, nine Spiritual Kings from Minos' forces had perished in this day's battles, six of them from the Gill family, two from the Cohen family, and one from House Stokes.

But these numbers went much further when looking at the number of wounded who needed medical treatment, something that had passed 8,000 individuals.

With that, of the 20,000 or so Spiritual Generals who had left Dry City to protect it, less than 8,000 were in a position to continue protecting this place in a short time!

As for the Spiritual Kings' numbers, they were not as bad as that. Still, about 20% of the survivors were severely injured and would need time in the General Hospital.

These had been the combined results of the three large groups that had defended Dry City today.

Consequently, today's losses had been significant for this city's forces, which did not have numbers as promising as their opponents!

However, the sacrifice had not been in vain!

With these many dead and wounded, the local forces had given a mighty blow to their enemies, having eliminated about 38,000 Spiritual Generals and 30 Spiritual Kings this day!

As for the numbers of seriously wounded, only the Counter-Revolutionary Army forces would know how to answer such a question.

In any case, the group that attacked Dry City had lost many warriors, even several cultivators at the middle part of the 6th stage.

On the other hand, Minos had somehow frightened the enemies, something that could mean more peaceful times for the people of this city.

Was this good?

Maybe for those local people, but not for Minos.

After all, as much as he wanted to protect his city, fighting in this place was definitely more advantageous for him because of the local defensive dome. In addition, there was still the issue of being underestimated, something he would no longer be from today.

With that said, despite some gains, overall, Minos sensed the bitter taste felt by those involved in wars.

You fight, you struggle, you win some confrontations, but you still end up losing important things, even when you win.

And with this in mind, he discovered resource gathering around his city, something that could at least pay for today's material losses.

"Anyway, it's a shame about everything that happened..."

"But still, we managed to collect the storage items of all the enemies and allies killed on the battlefield."

"The items of the allies that belonged to the army have been returned to our organization, while the rest of the contents of those rings will be handed over to the families of the dead in the coming days." Grayson, a Lieutenant of the local army, said this as he reported the results of the item collection to Minos.

"As for enemy belongings, we managed to collect 39,000 spatial rings, 125 million low-grade crystals, 37,000 medium-grade crystals, 160,000 copies of Blue-grade techniques, 402 of Black-grade techniques."

"Finally, we collected over 500,000 resources from the various spiritual professions."

"Soon, many of them will become available for Sergeant Alina to deal with..." That Lieutenant said this as he finished his report to Minos.

Upon hearing that, Minos nodded to that person, without saying much about such a matter. "Very well."

"Let the local government use those crystals for the best and try to sort out the artifacts less useful to the army."

"We will sell them at the Mercenary Guild."

"All right, young master!"

"As for the Gill family and the other organizations that lost something today, we'll sort that out in the next few days..."

"Now I will have to go away for a few days..." He commented as he looked at Dillian standing there, who had reached level 54 recently.

After these words were said, several people there showed their lack of haste in solving that problem raised by young Stuart.

Then, it did not take long for him to leave that hospital next to Ruth and Abby.

...

"What is it, Ruth? We who fight, but you seem the least excited here..." Abby asked in a soft tone, playfully joking with that black-haired young woman.

Upon hearing this, Minos was silent, watching the expression of his girlfriend, who seemed to be bothered by something at the moment.

"Oh, I feel bad that I can't help you, Minos..." Ruth said in a low voice, feeling helpless at this moment.

"If only I were on the battlefield, we..."

"No. It's not your fault, and it wouldn't make as much difference as you think." Minos interrupted his girl, trying to ease her concern.

"The enemy was powerful, and having an extra specialist would definitely help to some degree. But we still wouldn't be able to kill King Brown, even with your help."

"Consequently, the negative results for the Black Plain would still be very similar to what we had today."

Abby then added. "On the other hand, any involvement with an outside power could cause a lot of problems for the Black Plain in the future..."

"So, it's truly not your fault that you have to hang around here without being able to help us!"

"Yes, but..."

Minos then took her hands in his and looked deeply into her eyes. "Ruth, next time you come here, we can try to work this out. But for now, just have fun and enjoy your time here on the Black Plain."

"I'm sure the empire is not as interesting as it is here..." He joked with her.

"Hehehe!"

"Hahahaha!"

...

After a while of walking around Dry City, laughing and chatting, those three arrived at the sovereign's residence, where they could rest for a while.

However, just after passing through the entrance door of his residence, Minos came across a specific person. She was a brown-haired, beautiful woman with white skin but with a particular tan that made her much more attractive.

She had a spiritual array on her neck, something that was sealing her cultivation and making her somewhat pale at the moment. But that did not diminish her grace, something she had inherited from her mother.

That was obviously Brooke Parkinson.

"Minos! Finally you..."

"Uh?"

"Abby?" Brooke said in surprise, not understanding why this blue-haired young woman was in this place.

"It can't be..."

"Don't tell me he kidnapped you too, Abby?" She asked as she approached that young woman who seemed not to be in her best state right now.

"Hi, Brooke, it's good to see you too!" Abby said in satisfaction as she hugged her friend and smiled.

Abby then blushed and said. "But you're wrong, I wasn't kidnapped by Minos, and I've been with him for years..."

Brooke's eyes almost fell out of their orbits upon hearing such a thing. "Huh? Can you repeat that?"

But while Minos and Ruth were partially ignored, it did not take long for that woman to shake her head from side to side and change the subject.

"Forget about it. We can talk about our lives later. The most important thing now..."

"What happened to you? Minos, do you look injured? Did you fight against the Brown family?"

"Ahh! I'm glad nothing bad happened to you..." She agitatedly said as she observed the bruises on Minos' body and realized that they were not serious.

"Hmm, I fought with the Brown family..."

Gulp!

"So? Don't tell me you guys were defeated? Didn't I tell you that their group was too strong?"

"But... You didn't find any members of my family, right?" She asked, worried.

And while Brooke was saying everything here, barely giving Minos time to respond, she had approached this young man. Celeste's daughter started healing his body, something practical for her since she had a helpful support technique for assisting the wounded.

"Brooke, you seem more concerned about me than my two girlfriends, hahaha," Minos commented as a smile formed on his face. "Don't tell me that after that spanking, you fell in love with me?"

"What?"

As the three women blushed, Minos laughed once again, feeling good despite his latest losses. 'Ahh, being surrounded by 'flowers' is truly the best of therapies...'

But after thinking about that lightheartedly, Minos did not take long to look more seriously at that now silent, embarrassed young woman. "Anyway, Brooke, you don't need to worry. We defeated the enemy forces in today's battle."

"As for your family members, the only one of them I could find was your father..."

"What?" Her pupils contracted rapidly as her face turned even paler than before.

"Don't worry. I didn't fight him..."

"Sigh!"

"But your mother did."

"What?"

"Anyway, he's in the local hospital, so if you want to visit him, we can arrange for that to happen."

"However, it is important that you understand that your life will be different from now on. You will need to get used to, tolerate, respect certain things while you are here."

"Don't think that I will make exceptions just because you are my friend!"

Gulp!

"Fine." She said promptly, without questioning.

She did not quite understand everything happening, but Brooke was smart enough to adapt to the new circumstances.

And because of her trust in Minos, her acceptance had only been easier!

...

In any case, after the previous events, the reality of the Brown Kingdom, of the region, had been changed considerably.

And with that, eight months passed in the blink of an eye, while news of the Black Plain's war of independence constantly surprised this part of the continent!