The Rise of the Black Plain

Minos met up with his wives again and spent an evening with them without interfering with the guild's business.

After telling them about his recent experiences and the most valuable item of the artifacts left behind by Artaud, he explained his desire to leave soon to take on more outside missions.

He had just dealt with Artaud, and the enemies would need some time to digest this information and reorganize themselves to deal with him. Hence, he wanted to use the time to do as many external missions as possible.

Right at the start of a new day, Minos would stop by the Mission Hall to let them know he was leaving headquarters to do another external mission.

This time, instead of hunting down a criminal wanted by the guild, he was going to collect a special essence that could be found in an area ten days away from the guild.

...

In the blink of an eye, Minos had set off on yet another mission, this time traveling alone with only the Hydra Tribe Amulet in his possession.

After traveling a long distance, he was about to reach the area where the plant he needed to collect for this mission was usually found.

Minos was now standing in front of a fire in a dark area of the dense forest he was passing through. There, he ate and relaxed a bit from the journey to this point.

He was eager to test the power of the Hydra Tribe Amulet, but he wasn't looking for enemies. If no one tried to approach him, he wouldn't move. He wanted to complete as many missions as he could in the short term, despite his desire to use the amulet.

'Of the 15 remaining punishment missions, 8 are outside of Examire or the guild. I'll prioritize completing them while Artaud is away. I think I can complete them all before he comes back to give me trouble.' The most important thing for him now was to complete these missions, return to do optional missions, gain merit, and grow hierarchically within Armhands.

Before he left for the Seraphim World, he wanted to have at least one Senior Officer in his group, not from among the people who had joined his faction, but from among those who had come with him from the Spiritual World on the recent journey or on their first visit to Zocarro.

He and the others could only advance in rank by earning valid merit points, so it was a duty for them to complete these mandatory missions in the short term.

Knowing Artaud would hunt him down and try to eliminate him as soon as he returned to the guild, Minos wanted to complete the external missions now. When Artaud returned, he could spend some time without leaving headquarters.

At that time, Minos could complete his last mandatory missions and end this difficult phase of his journey as a member of the Armhands and become even stronger.

'After I take care of all this, I'll earn some merit points with an external mission and deal with that guy. I have to prepare for that.' Minos clenched his fists.

He thought he could become an Intermediate Officer and return to compete for a prestigious position within the Law Enforcement Hall in no more than three years. If things went well for his faction, in the meantime, it would be enough to ease the current pressure on his shoulders and give his group the stability to grow.

Minos stood up with a smile on his face, confident that if he carried out his missions this way, he could stabilize his group's situation in a few years.

With a snap of his fingers, he extinguished the fire in front of him, looked to the north, and moved on, traveling out of this gloomy forest in search of the plant, which could be anywhere in an area of over 100 square kilometers.

Fortunately, he was a seer. Even though this area was not small enough for him to search for the plant in question, he was relaxed about the difficulty of this mission.

His punishment missions were meant to discipline him for disappearing for years and not being able to return to the guild in time to avoid having his record expunged. But they were not meant to make Minos' life in the guild impossible.

They were all designed for Junior Officers, people who usually had cultivation levels between 102 and 107. As such, most of the missions for him and his five companions were within their capabilities.

The most dangerous of all was the one in the Magma Barrens, which they had already completed. Aside from that, the other most dangerous missions were the outside missions, not because they were difficult or deadly, but because they endangered the lives of the party members, who currently had too many enemies within the guild.

However, excluding the existence of the group's internal enemies, most of their missions could be completed with minimal effort on the part of the six individuals.

Unfortunately or fortunately, today would not be Minos' day to test the properties of the Hydra Tribe Amulet. After a few hours in the area, he would find the level 107 plant and collect it with ease.

With no enemies to face, he would move on to his next mission, heading west from his current location, where he could reach a city in 6 days, where he would have to conclude a certain negotiation on behalf of the guild.

...

While Minos continued on his journey to fulfill his responsibilities, Jade Chainsaws discovered what had happened to Artaud on the previous mission.

Upon the return of Minos and his party, the faction had discovered that their plan to eliminate him had failed, but they didn't know exactly how this guy had done it.

This morning, however, a letter from Artaud had reached the leader of the faction, who had just read it while meeting with his trusted men at the faction's place.

"So Artaud narrowly escaped... I didn't expect the group Minos had assembled so quickly to be capable of something so extreme," said one of the faction's high-ranking men, a level 112 Sovereign.

"This is very serious. If Minos has such powerful support, how will we deal with him?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, guys," the faction leader said, smiling confidently. "Although the General failed, he made his intention to eliminate Minos clear in the letter.

As soon as he recovers in a few months, he himself will gather a group of peak Sovereigns to hunt Minos down!

Even if Minos is a dark monster and lucky, can he handle a group that will be four or five times stronger than the General?" This guy opened his arms as he looked positively at his group.

"Let's give the General this chance. He'll end the life of that damned Minos for us!"