The Rise of the Black Plain

Two weeks after the group's return to Armhands, all fourteen newcomers had more or less adjusted to their new surroundings after the long journey from The Enchanted Realm.

In particular, Minos' eight companions were aware of his plans for dealing with the enemies within the guild and their impending departure for the Magma Barrens.

In two weeks, they would depart for the area, and they would be gone for a few months, traveling back and forth from that fiery hell to deal with any assassins who might follow them.

Aware of this, the group had been working to prepare for this temporary separation, with Minos setting up his new faction and bringing over some of his old contacts within the guild.

...

Despite the difficulties, Minos had secured good lodgings for his companions in better locations within the guild, as well as purchased some resources, artifacts, and books for his people.

Today, he had secured a place for his faction to meet or even use as a training and cultivation ground.

After sending some of his sons to deliver the news to the guild members he had invited to join his faction, he and all of his 13 companions who had traveled with him over the past few years gathered there.

Near the mountains of this floating island, Minos had bought a second cave, much larger than the one he had purchased for his family to meditate and train in private.

This place for his faction could hold up to 30 people at a time, an ideal size for a faction, unlike the 6-person cave his family had been using for the past few weeks.

In this place, decorated with various high-level artifacts from his experiments over the past few decades, Minos and his companions were chatting as the guests began to arrive.

First came the one-eyed alien, followed by Rhett, and then the supervisor of the group of recruits there. Then, three of Minos' old friends who had left Maximilian's faction joined the beings in this large cave, which was of a high level, even by the guild's standards.

After using 3 million merit points, Minos had convinced even a stranger to ignore Jembei's threats.

Jembei had already announced that whoever sided with Minos would be against him and would suffer the pressure of being his enemy.

Still, 3 million merit points were a lot, even for the former owner of this cave!

As soon as they entered this expensive place, Minos' old friends in the guild were surprised to see that he had access to such a cave.

"This is impressive!"

"This cave can easily help us cultivate to the high level of the 11th stage!" One of these newcomers to the cave said.

"Tsk! But even more impressive than the cave are these artifacts! How did you get them, Minos?" asked the most intelligent of the beings there to consider joining his faction.

Among the items displayed around the cave were the valuable items from the previous auction that Minos had obtained from the storage artifacts of their victims in the Ganaway Refuge.

These guests of his had cultivations between level 104 and 109, so they obviously saw value in these useful artifacts even for the strongest rulers.

Minos smiled and said. "I will give these artifacts to those who contribute the most to the faction. How I get them is beside the point, hehe. The important thing is that no one will come to claim them."

Those people who were still unsure about joining him stopped and looked at the artifacts in silence. Some items there were of the absorbable type, so once you absorbed them, you would live with that artifact for the rest of your life.

The non-absorbable ones would probably be easier to conquer, as they could be easily recovered by the faction later. But even they were of great value, as the people Minos had plundered over the past few decades were not normal.

Some of these Armhands members went to this meeting with Minos already intending to join the faction of their old acquaintance and friend, like Rhett. But others were still undecided, not knowing if it was worth putting themselves in the crosshairs of many powerful people in the city to be with Minos.

But even the most undecided among them, the overseer of Minos' eight companions, quickly decided when he heard Minos' comment.

"I hope I can help the faction become stronger from now on. Please accept me into your group." Said the man in charge of the group of eight.

Minos smiled as he looked at the alien, enjoying seeing how quickly he made up his mind.

Soon, the others did the same, swearing their words of loyalty to Minos and how they wanted to be part of the faction's journey of growth.

By leaving seals on the bodies of each of these new members, Minos confirmed their acceptance into the Faction.

"From now on, meet here daily, if possible. I'll be leaving soon to carry out a special mission and try to deal with the problems you can already imagine are waiting for me. Try to protect and guide the Recruits in the group." Minos told them, pointing to his eight companions.

With the group's agreement, he explained what he planned to do together with Ruth and three of the group's four officers, who had to carry out a mission in the Magma Barrens.

"So you're going to risk it anyway..." Rhett commented worriedly, imagining how risky it would be for the group to go directly to the Magma Barrens as soon as they returned to Armhands.

But he didn't try to talk Minos out of it. After hearing the faction leader's full motivation, Rhett agreed this was indeed necessary.

Without such a risky move, they would be in the enemy's sights for months, giving the enemy several chances to kill them!

"I'll get you some information about this area, Minos. But be careful. Don't underestimate Jembei's influence. He may not be the greatest danger to you in his group." Rhett warned.

"I know. We'll be careful." Minos said solemnly.

'I just hope he doesn't play all his cards against me in this move... Otherwise, it will be very difficult.' Minos thought to himself, curious about Jembei's next move.