The Rise of the Black Plain

The moment she slammed her back against the thick walls of her apartment, Wana's expression changed as she looked at Minos, feeling the Recruit's 'slap' on her and the pain in her back.

'What just happened?' She asked herself as she calmed down a bit and put aside for a moment the great insult of having to be led by someone of a lower level than herself.

Minos finished locking the apartment door and turned his face to this Sphinx. "Calm down, or we'll have to start this the wrong way. We have 10 hours of training ahead of us. It wouldn't be good for us if you didn't accept me as your superior."

She gave him an ugly look, full of pain and anger, but this time she didn't attack him. "What makes you think you can be my superior? I'm almost a Soldier!"

"You are not yet. As long as we're of the same rank and I'm your temporary teacher, respect me as your superior." Minos said as he approached the creature, revealing some of the terror of his aura, capable of frightening even newly promoted Sovereigns.

"We will have two 3-hour training sessions and one 4-hour session to complete the training given to us by your Officer." Minos changed the subject and talked about what was most important. "We will do it today, tomorrow, and the day after. Is that a good schedule for you?"

She was a little hesitant, feeling it was still unfair for her to be treated like this. Unfortunately, she had no way to seek justice for this humiliation. They had the same hierarchy in the guild. But Minos had been ordered to lead her, so he was her superior until the current mission was over.

Wana had attacked a superior so he could take action against her, and the guild could still punish her if Minos decided to report her.

She retracted her claws and lowered her head. "Alright, this time is fine with me. But before we start, alien, what are those wings? What race are you from?"

Minos answered her, liking the alien's change of attitude. "I am a spiritual human. I got these wings on my journey."

Armhands knew this was not a natural part of Minos' body but an absorbable weapon. However, the guild itself didn't allow members to steal other members' possessions. So, Emperor Stuart didn't bother to hide something that anyone with good connections in the guild would easily discover.

"That's what I call luck." She smiled as she understood the origin of this. However, she could tell Minos wasn't easy even without those wings.

It didn't matter that he was at level 95. His aura resembled that of a level 99 peak monster, even without using his ability to increase his cultivation.

He was strong enough to defeat her even without those wings!

"So what do we do?" She asked him.

"You tell me," Minos said as he relaxed and retracted his wings while observing the surroundings of this beautiful apartment.

Her apartment was over 60 square meters, an ample space considering that he and everyone in his group had small individual spaces of less than 15 square meters.

He asked her. "How did you get this place?"

She laughed to see that everyone cared about space, quality, and respect, no matter where they came from. "Your merit points are worth as much as money. They can help you advance in the Armhands or live better here.

Some guild members take longer to grow here because not only is there a lot of competition for every promotion, but there are also many things we can get with our merit points.

To become a Soldier, a Recruit must accumulate 20,000 merit points. However, our missions pay between 100 and 300 points, and we have many other things to do in the meantime. Sooner or later, you'll use up all the resources you've brought here and need to spend your merit points on cultivation, food, healing, weapons, etc. That will take you longer to accumulate the necessary points and make you wonder if living better in this place wouldn't be interesting.

I could have accumulated my merit points for promotion over a year ago. But no Rank-and-File Soldier was about to be promoted, and at least 20 of my friends had enough points for the promotion exam. I chose to spend some of my points and live better for the time being rather than wait for something I might not be able to achieve."

Competition for higher positions in the Armhands was not only generated by the fact that there were a limited number of members of the organization at each rank. When a vacancy occurred in any position, several people of the lower ranks would apply and spend their merit points to be promoted.

But only a few would succeed. Meanwhile, those who failed would lose their points and would have to start accumulating merit points again for new attempts.

This competition was greater in the lower ranks, as there were more people on the external part of the guild. But even in the internal area, there was competition.

"So that's it." Minos understood why she lived so well, even though she was only a Recruit.

The guild did everything it could to encourage its members to contribute. In a way, providing a better standard of living was a way of giving back to its members.

He knew about the possibility of using merit points to get things in this place, but he didn't know that merit points could be used to buy anything, even better housing.

But it all made sense on second thought, and Minos didn't ask any more questions about it.

"So how do you want to start, Recruit Wana?" He came back to the main topic. "My mission is to guide you, but the kind of guidance depends on your needs. Do you want to spar with me for a while so I can discover your weaknesses, or would you rather talk to me, and we can start working on it right away?"

He only knew he was there to train Wana and help her use her powers better. He didn't know exactly how to do that, so he needed her cooperation.

Wana knew what kind of guidance she needed since her advisor had told her he had created missions for special beings to teach her certain things to help her in the promotion exam.

"I need to improve my fighting skills with my wings. I'm not weak, but I admit I have trouble properly using my wings in battle. I usually only use them well for flying." She was honest, not hiding behind her pride.

Minos understood why he was chosen to lead her and smiled, understanding more about this organization.

"I see. Then let's go to a place where we can fight freely. I have something in mind to help you."