The Rise of the Black Plain

Regarding the subdivision of powers in the Spiritual World, empires and kingdoms' classification depended exclusively on two factors. That was the territorial area and the population.

Thus, even if a territory had high-level powers, for example, with the presence of Spiritual Saints, it would still be a kingdom if it had a small population and area.

And for the northern region of the Central Continent, in addition to having small territories and low populations, it was also a weaker place. That explains why there are no empires in this region and why the kingdoms were equivalent in power.

Of course, this was also a consequence of the reality of that region because large territories can only be maintained when a great power can suppress separatist movements.

As there was not much difference between the top families in that region, this led to a subdivision of that part of the continent into several smaller areas, which can only be classified as kingdoms.

As for the empires, it is also not equivalent in power since this factor depends on the size of the territory and the population and not on the strength of the specialists.

However, to withstand the pressures of such a vast region, it was generally necessary to possess at least Spiritual Saint powers to prevent these regions from being divided into several small kingdoms.

However, empires in the Spiritual World go beyond this level, with even Spiritual Demigods in their leadership. But how could these regions differ so much in power?

That is simple. In the Spiritual World, some families are heirs of individuals who have reached level 100, Gods!

As a result, empires or kingdoms with one of these families in their territories would have Spatial Kingdoms. This resulted in many highly talented residents and a more significant amount of high-level resources for these regions.

And that was the difference between the Flaming Empire and the Western Empire.

Despite having territories and populations almost equivalent and even several high-level spiritual regions, these places still had a massive difference in power. That's because the Flaming Empire does not have any family that has given birth to a God in all their history!

That explained why the Nash family valued this one spot so much that they received from the Elemental Sect. As to why they have such contact, such a thing is because Stone Island is not exactly on the Central Continent. So, it was much easier for them to reach other parts of that continent.

Like any large territory located on an island, Stone Island had outstanding naval strength. For this reason, they developed their ships at a higher level than the kingdoms of the northern region of the Central Continent from an early stage in their history.

They also had detailed knowledge of the different sea routes and maps of other parts of that great continent. That was something that the kingdoms of the northern region of that continent did not have!

However, Stone Island could still be considered as part of the northern part of the Central Continent when analyzing some of its characteristics. With the average strength of the population, the spiritual density, the proximity of the island to that part of the continent, etc.

However, due to its location and the benefits of its more advanced navigation knowledge, the Nash family had long been able to make contact with a power of the Western Empire, obtaining the opportunity to send one of its members there every ten years.

…

Anyway, while Luke mourned his significant loss in this situation, Minos had finally found a grade-2 array master!

Not only that, he was fortunate that this specialist had a low-level grade-2 spiritual gathering array for sale.

With that, he spent his 500 medium-grade crystals, having yet to put another 100,000 low-grade crystals in that deal. The problem was that he didn't have the total amount of crystals from that classification to make the deal. So, he had to exchange some low-grade crystals to buy the spiritual gathering array.

And with that, he just needed to wait for a few more days until all the grade-1 spiritual pills he had ordered from different stores in the Old Stone were ready. With that, he will be able to return to his territories and then begin to solve the labor problem of the Black Plain.

But before that, Minos still had some issues to resolve on Stone Island, such as 'visiting' beautiful Elena and making specific points with Elen about starting to market his items. However, even before taking the initiative to arrange a meeting with Elen, she had asked to meet with Minos.

"Young master, Ms. Elen has arrived at the hotel, and she is coming here." One of Minos' soldiers came to inform him.

After a while, a beautiful young blonde woman, wearing a completely white dress, came through the door of the apartment's living room where Minos was. But to Minos' surprise, she was not alone but was also accompanied by a certain young man.

He was a blond, green-eyed young man wearing a long silver robe and had a look of discontent on his face. That, of course, was Luke, who came under orders from his father to apologize to Minos.

'Oh! So, this guy came with her. That must be about the items I took from this idiot.' Minos thought to himself, with a smile on his face.

At that moment, the soldiers in the room left, leaving only Minos, Ruth, Elen, and Luke in the room.

Ruth didn't want to leave, as she enjoyed watching others' problems. After all, in a place like this, where she had a lot of free time, watching those occasions was a form of entertainment for her.

Minos also didn't care that she overheard his conversations, as it certainly wouldn't be a big deal for someone coming from the Gray Cloud Sect, like Ruth, and he wouldn't talk about any secrets with Elen…

She was also a disciple of Minos' mother, so she certainly wouldn't try to harm him on purpose. At least there was no reason for that. As well, she would be leaving soon after the Spiritual Tournament. So, the young Stuart saw no problem with her here.

While Ruth was comfortably seated in a large armchair, Elen and Luke settled on a sofa next to Minos' chair.

"It is good to see you again, Ms. Elen. Can I know the reason for this visit?" Minos asked without making small talk.

"It's good to see you too. I came to talk about the Silver-grade technique that was inside the spatial ring that Mr. Minos collected from Luke." She said with a smile on her face.

'As expected…' He thought while listening to what Elen said. "But before that, Luke, don't you want to say anything to Mr. Minos?" Elen said, looking at the young blond man, who had an embarrassed expression on his face.

While he had a face utterly red with shame and anger, Luke tried to calm himself by thinking about the general situation. 'Calm down… Calm down. Such a moment is for my own good. The most important thing is for me to be able to regain my father's confidence and get this spot for the Elemental Sect!'

'For a nobleman, waiting even decades to get revenge is not the end of the world. When I get back from the Western Empire, I will be able to settle accounts with this guy…' Luke thought as he recovered from the embarrassment of this situation.

At the same time, Minos had the corners of his lips up. He thought. 'Huh, this guy isn't here to apologize, is he?'

At that moment, the blond young man took a breath and said. "Mr. Minos, forgive me for what happened. I made a mistake and ended up attacking an ally of our family without reason. I'm genuinely sorry for what happened."

'Hehe, this guy truly knows how to swallow his pride when he should. At least he's not a complete waste of our Nash family's resources.' Elen reflected, watching the way Luke was acting.

After that, Elen took the initiative and returned to speak. "I am aware that Mr. Minos deserves retribution for what occurred, and I dare to say that if I were in your place, I would also collect my adversary's property."

"But this Silver-grade technique is essential for our family. Although we have several copies of it, letting someone outside the family get one of them could bring a lot of problems for us."

Cultivators could create the spiritual techniques in question with a high understanding and a certain spiritual level. For example, developing a Golden-grade technique would require a person at level 100 to do such a thing. On the other hand, to create a White-grade technique, the minimum required level of spiritual power would be equivalent to level 40.

In order to create copies, this was done from the original parchment of the technique. The only things necessary for this were the materials to store the spirituality of the technique and a cultivator with a certain level.

For example, to create a copy of a Silver-grade technique, the cultivator needed to be at least level 59. For a Golden-grade technique, the person making the copy would have to be at least level 79 to succeed!

Elen then continued. "That way, I would like to negotiate this copy with Mr. Minos. Since it is just a copy, this technique could be sold for at least 2,000 medium-grade crystals. Therefore, we will pay you 3,000 medium-grade crystals for you, as we also offend an ally with Luke's recent actions."

Elen then sighed and said. "With that, I hope that our relationship will not be affected."