The Rise of the Black Plain

Two days passed, at this moment, Minos and Ruth had already covered almost the entire Valley of the Beasts, which was between the City of Flowers and Santa Clara. At that point in the trip, the two youths had already had some training sessions together. Also, they fought against other groups of spiritual beasts.

Minos had not even come close to causing problems for Ruth during their fights. He could only release his stress on the spiritual beasts that attacked them during that time.

But not all fights were like that against wild boars. On the second day of the trip, Minos and Ruth came across a group of Red Monkeys, a breed native to this region of the continent.

Anyway, this group contained two spiritual beasts that had already achieved the 5th stage of cultivation, forcing the young lady to assist Minos in his battle against those beasts.

This fight ended up being very intense, and the two youths chose to stop to rest for longer than usual after dealing with those monkeys. That caused their trip delayed a little, but it didn't make much difference to them.

Minos was not in a hurry to reach the capital of the Cromwell Kingdom. After all, it was still more than two months before the start of the Spiritual Tournament. And as for Ruth, although she had a bit of a hurry to get to that city before, now she didn't think so anymore.

After starting to interact with Minos physically, she liked to extend the time of the two together. And being alone was undoubtedly a big bonus for both of them! Also, after the tournament was over, she would most likely be stuck in her sect until she reached level 50, so that was a time when she could relax next to Minos.

For this reason, neither of them bothered to take longer to reach the kingdom's capital.

...

At that moment, the sun was overhead, and the winds were blowing hard through the trees, while several birds could be heard.

In an open place, next to a small river, there were two youths and a big eagle in this place.

At that position in the Valley of the Beasts, there were no longer many strong spiritual beasts that could threaten Minos and Ruth. That was because this was the region bordering the City of Flowers, about 200 kilometers from this place.

Because of this, most of the spiritual beasts did not stay in this region since hunting was widespread in areas bordering human territory. So, Minos and Ruth were standing there quietly while cultivating their spiritual energy.

As for their safety, well, that was left to the great white-feathered eagle. White was a 4th stage spiritual beast in cultivation, so it could safely watch over them in a place like this.

Finally, a cracking noise was heard, coming from Minos' direction.

Crack!

It was not as high-pitched as it had been in Ruth's advance, but it was already audible even a few feet away from Minos' body. He was cultivating hard for most of his spare time, so he had gotten the chance to break to level 37 today!

After that happened, Minos opened his eyes and got up from where he was meditating with a big smile on his face. After fighting so many times, he realized that his cultivation speed had increased a little!

And that was indeed one of the possibilities to increase someone's speed of cultivation. Suppose we consider that the cultivation of an individual as a reservoir, which would increase the stored volume at each level of that reservoir. But to keep more energy, one couldn't just cultivate the whole day.

For example, a person who eats a lot can gradually increase the size of his stomach. But it happens little by little!

If it were done in one day, the person would die due to a rupture of the organ!

The same was valid for cultivation. The reservoir could not withstand significant increases at once!

The body had its limits and did not allow a cultivator to cultivate all time. Therefore, even Spiritual Demigods had to stop cultivating from time to time. Of course, they could cultivate for a century without stopping, but more than that would be impossible.

However, there was a way to shorten that interval between each cultivation session. And that was depleting all of your spiritual energy during a fight and then cultivating to recover. As for doing this in regular training, well, it didn't work!

In regular training, cultivators focused on increasing their compression in their techniques. Therefore, they had to take more time to absorb what they had learned before continuing to advance. So, one couldn't use that to speed up the cultivation speed.

Or it could, but the cultivator would not be able to improve his understanding of his techniques... Anyway, this was a choice that no one would make in this world.

Having a high level would be great, but its power would be severely impaired if your technique is not at the equivalent phase.

For example, Minos' current attack technique is in the 3rd phase and could affect a user's 40-meter radius. But if he went up to the 5th stage of cultivation before reaching the 4th phase of the technique, then his technique would remain restricted to 40 meters.

Minos' strength would be equivalent to the level, but not the restriction. And when he faced stronger enemies, they could undoubtedly escape the small area quickly, making the strength of Minos' technique unimportant!

After all, no matter how strong an attack is, if it doesn't hit the target, then it is just useless!

For this reason, the cultivator's mastery over their respective techniques was crucial.

...

After a few minutes, Ruth finally finished her cultivation session when she opened her eyes and saw Minos waiting for her beside the big eagle. She immediately realized that he was happier than usual and soon probed him.

"Hmm, you level up again. Congratulations on that. At this speed, you can reach level 38 before the Spiritual Tournament." She said with the corners of her lips slightly raised. 'It looks like he will give me more trouble in the fights after today...'

"Hmm, thanks. Now we are going to continue to the this City of Flowers. We have to buy a map when we get there, don't forget this." He said as he approached Ruth.

After that, the two warmly kissed while they felt the strong desire for something more in their bodies.

In those days when they were in the Valley of the Beasts, as they had to sleep separately, the two had no other 'game' as had happened in Santa Clara. So, their sexual tension was even higher than before.

"Mmmm!"

After a while, the two finally broke the kiss when they climbed on the great eagle and took off towards the south of this region.

...

Some time passed, and the two were already a few kilometers from the City of Flowers, already having a view of how big this city was.

Minos and Ruth had no information about this city, but the population of that place was already over 1.2 million! And although the Cromwell Kingdom was known for agriculture, there were still many well-represented professions within this state.

And this town was an example of a place developed through the diverse professions that existed in the Spiritual World. Such a place was in a region with few agricultural lands, but it had still developed since it had a strong local trade.

There were array masters, blacksmiths, doctors, alchemists, poison masters, beast tamer, seers, cooks, etc. These were the various professions in this city and what made this place so well-developed.

Upon landing outside the city, Minos and Ruth left White and then began to visit the City of Flowers. And soon, they found out why this place got that name.

There were a colossal amount of flowers in each city's gardens and public buildings. It was indeed an interesting image to see and also brought a pleasant smell to the city.

And, as it was still daylight when the two arrived in this location, they went to a store in the city's central business district, where their carriage coach had indicated they could obtain maps of this region.

They wanted to know where to make their trip, just as they did in the Valley of the Beasts. And it wasn't long before Minos and Ruth arrived in front of a relic store, which had a bird symbol looking at what looked like a map!

'Hmm, this symbol is interesting.' Minos thought to himself with a smile on his face as he entered the store's interior.

After entering the store, he and Ruth soon saw several 'showcases' with different maps and prices. There weren't many people in the store, but there were still six customers and an old man, who seemed to be in charge of the store.

Seeing that the group was talking, Minos and Ruth decided to look at the place before finally looking for the old man's help.

It would not be polite to interrupt them when they entered that place!

At this point, something that interested Minos was said aloud by the old man!