The Rise of the Black Plain

Minos smiled as he heard the concern of the elders and saw how they looked at him with suspicious eyes. They didn't want to insult him, but they couldn't help but doubt his ability to complete this difficult mission alone.

Normally, every two years, they delivered these many bags of Soulbloom to a group of mid-level Sovereigns, who usually had a hard time completing the mission, but succeeded after their ordeal.

But Minos was there alone, and he was only a newly advanced level 105 Sovereign!

How could they not doubt this young human's capabilities?

When the three elders saw Minos, the first thing they thought was he would fail and Armhands would be angry with them if they couldn't help it with more Soulbloom!

"Don't worry, the guild chose me because I can complete this mission on my own. Although there are disputes in every organization, hardly anyone from my guild would make such a big mistake by risking so many valuable resources," Minos said with a confident smile.

It was obviously given to him to expose him to problems that could weaken him and give his enemies a chance to use it against him. But whoever had given Minos this mission knew he could complete it, despite the difficulties he might face.

The three elders watched as Minos summoned the storage item with their Qilnats.

"Are you sure about this?" The most unsure of the three asked.

"You won't be involved in anything that happens after I leave," Minos said, reassuring those men.

One of them sighed and then handed Minos the bags of Soulbloom that were in a space storage item they had already prepared.

"The scent of Soulbloom cannot be contained. Even if it's in this storage item and you store it in another artifact, the scent of its flower will still escape from you and reach up to a few hundred meters before dissipating into the air.

Since you'll be traveling alone, beware of approaching powerful or scent sensitive beings. If that doesn't work, you'll have to fight for a good part of your journey. That amount of Soulbloom would attract even cultivators at our level," said one of those level 113 beings.

Since Minos had the Armhands' symbol on his forehead, it was unlikely that stronger beings would risk themselves for just a few sacks of Soulbloom. But beings who could benefit more from that amount, weaker than these individuals, might find the risks worthwhile.

"I will keep an eye out. Thanks for your concern and warning." Minos stored the resources of interest to the guild in his storage ring after checking that everything was in order. "Now, I bid you farewell. Have a good time."

With these words, he ended the small agreement with these beings, who stayed behind to think about his journey in silence, imagining they would soon receive news about this young man.

Minos didn't care if these three trusted him or not. After leaving the place, he continued with his plans, sorting out the next mission he wanted to do before returning to the guild's headquarters.

As dangerous as it would be to wander around with those plants, he had another place to perform one of his punishment missions close to his way back to Examire.

With only a two-day detour to complete the third mission of this trip, he left Coldgrasp and headed to Dewville, where he had to meet the local leader and make a future prediction for the man.

The missions of the members of the Armhands were obviously compatible with their abilities. Since he was a seer in the guild, Minos had several missions related to his clairvoyant abilities to complete in the coming months.

...

Dewville was an eight-day journey from Coldgrasp, and nine days away from Examire.

But soon after leaving Coldgrasp, Minos encountered a dozen problems in the first two days of his journey to Dewville.

The first to attack him were the residents of Coldgrasp, local cultivators who noticed he had left the city alone and promptly pursued him.

Some attacked him almost immediately after he left the Coldgrasp security zone, intending to kill him and steal the bags of Soulbloom. These individuals were quickly killed by Minos without even using his innate ability to increase his strength. He dealt with the mid-level Sovereigns who challenged him, killing each of them with little effort.

Then, a day ago, a large group attacked him, this time forcing him to use more of his powers against them with a numbers tactic, as these enemies had tried to drive him to exhaustion.

To deal with these level 109 and 110 Sovereigns, Minos used his innate skill and eliminated the entire group of 20 individuals after half an hour of battle.

Everyone he killed on this journey, he collected their bodies, not for Abby to use her divine ability, but for Vico and Callie to take to the Spiritual World on the journey they were to make in a few years.

The corpses of these creatures could surely increase the spirituality of the Spiritual World by a few degrees!

After these battles, he knew he was still being pursued, and with each hour of travel, more beings in his path realized what he had and joined the pursuit.

But on the fourth day of the journey to Dewville, things would change when the first level 113 Sovereign appeared in his path with a group of level 112, 111 and 110 Sovereigns!

...

Seeing 11 creatures between levels 110 and 113 in front of him, Minos stopped where he was and looked back to see that besides this group that had just appeared, those who had been chasing and watching him for the past few days were also nearby.

'In addition to these 11 enemies, there are 31 creatures between levels 109 and 112 surrounding me... As soon as I'm weakened, they'll attack me and steal my spatial ring.'

Minos pondered as he found himself surrounded by powerful creatures that individually were no problem for him, but together, with the goal of killing him, could cause him some trouble and even hurt him.

'Looks like it's time for me to test you.' He cupped his hands over the Hydra Amulet, a mischievous smile forming on his lips, frightening even the most confident of creatures in his path.