The Rise of the Black Plain

In the blink of an eye, a few weeks passed...

After several months since the announcement of the Black Plain Tournament, finally, the start of this competition was coming!

The participants and those interested in this competition had already arrived in Dry City and were eager to celebrate this event.

That would be the first edition of this competition that could in the future become the most important in the region. As such, many had come to this place, filling the hotels and inns of the satellite cities of Dry City and the capital.

So many people had arrived in this kingdom area that the local forces had organized a camp to accommodate tourists a few kilometers away from the ring of cities. 

Not everyone had secured seats in the local hotels and inns, but because of the tournament format, many knew they would be able to attend the events. Thus, even so, these people did not return from whence they came because they could not find suitable places to stay.

The Black Plain Tournament would take place in three phases, each of which would be open to the public in the 20 stadiums in the capital and the satellite cities of Dry City.

Because of this large number of areas for the event to take place, more than a million people would be able to follow the competition daily directly from within the stadiums.

At the same time, spiritual arrays capable of transmitting the competition were spread out in the main local squares. There, tourists and citizens could follow the competition for free while enjoying the local attractions.

Then, even with so many people interested in following this first Black Plain Tournament, everyone who came to this place could enjoy and complete their travel objectives without too much trouble.

Thus, this whole area was in a festive mood on the eve of the opening of this competition.

...

While various festive activities were going on around the common area of Dry City, in the core of the capital, Minos was receiving great news.

After the weeks that had passed since Gloria's arrival, five more Spiritual Emperors had appeared locally, three of them from the army, two from vassal forces of this state.

One was from the Feathered Serpents Tribe, which now had four Spiritual Emperors scattered throughout the headquarters forests of Minos. The other was the supreme elder of the Hayes family, the third vassal power of the Black Plain with the most Spiritual Emperors and the sixth most powerful organization in the region currently.

As for the army members, two of them were the women who had already been at the peak of the 6th stage for almost two years, Celeste and Angela.

After all the difficulty generated by their ages, they managed to break through level days ago, helping to increase the brute power of Minos' organization.

As for the last one to advance, he was standing in front of Minos, smiling at his son-in-law.

"Congratulations, father-in-law," Minos said to Eliot, who had joined his army after the independence of the Black Plain.

Shaking one of Minos' hands, Eliot smiled at this man and ran one of his hands over Abby's head, who was overjoyed by his advancement.

"Hehe, without you to support me, I wouldn't have gotten to this level." He thanked his daughter for marrying a man so concerned with helping her family.

As Abby turned red with embarrassment, Eliot looked at his wife, level 58, and winked at her, indicating that neither of them would sleep tonight.

"Ah, Nicole, you and I are still young... Maybe giving Abby a little brother won't be impossible for us." He said as he hugged his wife, further embarrassing the beautiful Abby, who had her face hidden in Minos' chest.

'How can you say such things in front of us?' Abby wondered as Minos hugged her, and Ruth and Gloria watched the situation with smiles on their faces.

After more than a month, they had already adapted to living together. In many situations, they came to the royal throne room to follow Minos' work and even participate in some decisions.

Ruth had her own knowledge and specialties, usually taking care of things related to managing the army at events and the like. So, she occasionally stood next to the queen and her king in that elevated area of the throne room.

On the other hand, Gloria was the representative of the Spiritual Church and had even more experience and knowledge than the official wives of Minos. Thus, she was also relevant in this place and usually stood in that elevated area, only closer to the stair steps.

But this time, when the workday was over, and they were just talking to Nicole and Eliot, they were standing next to these two, not in their formal positions.

Anyway, Nicole was not bothered by her daughter's embarrassment and said. "When I get to the 7th stage, we'll take care of it, dear. Until then, you'd better behave yourself."

"Yes, ma'am."

While the two lovebirds were planning to give little brother or sister to the queen, everyone started to make their way out of that hall, and Gloria said to Minos. "Congratulations, your army now has over 20 Spiritual Emperors."

"If others outside the Black Plain knew that, you would probably shock even the leaders of the sects of the Flaming Empire..."

"Hehe, it's not just 20. With our vassals, we already have more than 30. If we consider our allies, it's almost 40 Spiritual Emperors." Abby said provocatively, showing Gloria that she was still underestimating them.

Gloria laughed and said. "As I said, it's impressive."

Ruth then asked Minos. "Darling, when are you going to advance in level?"

"Hmm, I guess in about four months." He answered after doing some math.

"Just that?" Gloria asked, surprised that he was so fast cultivating.

"Hehe, my talent is a little high, Gloria." He smiled at her before changing the subject. "Anyway, will you attend my tournament's opening tomorrow?"

Gloria put her doubts aside and answered him. "Of course! I want to see how good this tournament of yours will be." She then looked at Ruth. "You're the one who organized it, right?"

"Hmm."

"What will this competition be like?"

Ruth replied. "There will be three parts in this tournament. All will be open to the public and take place after confirming the participants' ages through the marrow test."

"Also, a competitor does not necessarily have to participate in all parts. As long as one does well in one, there will already be chances for him since, in practice, each part tests different things."

"Oh?" Gloria found that curious. "So, it won't be an elimination competition?"

"It will be, but only within each part of the tournament. Outside of it, whoever fails at one will be able to try the others." Ruth said before explaining the basics of what would happen.

"The first part will test spiritual professionals."

"The second part is made up of group battles. The army places a high value on collective strength, so we'll give chances to people who do well in collective battles but might not be strong individually."

"The third part tests the individual combat skills of our candidates. It is a typical fighting tournament, where we will have several groups with 'n' competitors who will fight each of their group members. The top winners from each group will then fight the best from the other groups until they decide the rank."

"Interesting..." Gloria commented. "But why don't you do a survival test? Those are truly good, but they don't test the ability to survive in the wild, where the event organizers can't control the fights."

"First, because we don't have a place for that. Second, we don't have enough staff. Third, we don't want to risk the lives of our competitors." Ruth explained.

"Funny..." She looked at Minos, not understanding that last part of what Ruth spoke. 

Minos then said. "Testing the survival of candidates in a tournament like this is actually a good thing."

"But at the moment, anyone with Black talent can make a difference in my forces. So, there's no sense in me risking the lives of the few with that degree of talent in my region."

"As long as they pass the normal tests and don't have a complicated background, I will accept them into my forces."

"That makes sense..." She understood his point and no longer questioned it. "Well, your tournament looks like it will be terrific. Not only because of the management but because of the liveliness of the people here."

"Then I'm looking forward to following the opening tomorrow. But answer me something, how do you intend to keep your level a secret?"

"Ruth and Abby have prepared spiritual arrays to protect the area we will be staying in. And with so many Spiritual Emperors attending this event, I doubt anyone will notice my movement to the stadium of the opening."

"Then I'm not worried about people discovering my current level." 

She sighed in relief upon hearing that. "Good. Then, I hope everything works out, and many talents have come to your competition."

"I'm looking forward to seeing the army getting more Spiritual Emperors."