The Rise of the Black Plain

"Let's inform the family about this!" Railan answered his son's question with a serious expression as he clenched his fists in frustration.

He felt he had made a colossal error of judgment in joining the Gill family and not even listening to the offer Minos had to make at that time. But thinking about how his life might have been different if he'd acted differently back then didn't make sense. It was crazy to think about it for more than a few moments!

After all, he had already made his decision, and years had passed. Then, now it was too late for him to think about it.

The Gill family would not accept that he and Ralf would simply leave this organization, as they had been receiving the resources of this power for a long time. But, on the other hand, the local forces of the Dry City would also not accept people from abroad, cultivators already committed to other regional families...

Consequently, he could not go back, and now he had to bear the consequences of his actions. He was a subordinate of the Gill family and would remain so no matter how unhappy he was right now.

As an individual who recognizes his own place, Railan had immediately thought that the only way he could gain anything from it would be to inform his family about this problem in the Dry City. That way, he could at least get some out of this situation!

Anyway, upon hearing his father's response, Ralf nodded in agreement while also looking quite disappointed. He also felt the same way as Railan, as regional powers generally didn't value people who had already switched organizations.

That is because there would always be the risk that these individuals would change sides when a difficult situation presented itself, or even if a stronger power tried to attract them.

Even if the risk of this happening were the same for other people, there would always be a question of whether or not these other people would betray their organizations at critical times.

While as for known traitors, well, that would be a certainty!

'Ahh, it's truly a shame…' Ralf thought about it internally as he sighed heavily. "Are we going back to headquarters tomorrow morning?"

Railan then made a gesture of denial and explained what they should do. "No, tomorrow will be too late for us. Think about it, the sovereign of this place robbed the professionals and the Black Star Academy building, a place financed by the Gill family."

"This means that this city already has a problem, a disagreement with the power that supports us... So, we can't risk staying here for too long. Otherwise, something bad could happen if our former acquaintances discover us!"

"That way, we must leave immediately!" He said this, looking up and down the street, feeling vulnerable right now.

The trip back to the Dry City had been a long one, and so would their return. And considering the danger of the two of them staying longer than necessary in this town, Railan was already looking forward to leaving this place.

"I see… You're right, father. If we stay here, we run a lot of risks, in addition to wasting even more of our time!"

"Yes, by the way, it's a good thing we bought those fruits earlier. We can use one of them to prove our information..."

After that, the father and son pair made their way out of that town, returning towards the Brown Kingdom region where the Gill family was located.

...

A few more hours passed, and by this time, the movement in the streets of the Dry City had already diminished considerably. In addition, the various gastronomic fragrances launched in the early hours of the night in this city had already dispersed since most establishments of this type had already closed.

It was almost midnight in this region, and by this time, a large part of the local population was in their homes, sleeping or diligently cultivating. And it was no different for the young sovereign, who was at this moment in the courtyard of his residence, along with his favorite companions.

Abby was sitting on a wooden bench, dressed in a discreet white dress, while Ruth was facing Minos, on a small platform that was there.

She wore a typically battle-female outfit, black, while trying to hit the body of the shirtless young man who was facing her.

Minos had begun to fight Ruth daily since her arrival in the Dry City, something he always did to her at this time of day. But unlike what had happened during the trip to the Spiritual Tournament, young Stuart, instead of just losing to Ruth, now always beats her!

However, these victories were not by a significant difference. After all, with an almost complete set of Silver-grade techniques, Ruth was slightly stronger than a level 54 regional noble like Celeste, whom Minos had previously defeated.

Hence, the young sovereign needed to strive to defeat his mother's disciple, using all his capabilities to weaken her defenses and ultimately defeat her.

But even if they were relatively balanced matches, Ruth couldn't help but realize that it was impossible for her to go beyond that right now. She had just reached level 51 a few weeks ago, while Minos was already halfway to level 49!

With that, the young man's restrictive techniques began to affect her more and more. So, she had no choice but to defend herself and try to seize any opportunity that presented itself.

Unfortunately for her, Minos seemed to have an absurd understanding of battles. He was always a few steps ahead of her!

As a result of all this were the many defeats she had already suffered for him in the days that had passed since her arrival in the Dry City. And as previously wagered, after her first loss to young Stuart, Ruth had told him about her innate ability!

This young woman's skill wasn't one of the attack kind, as she'd said earlier, but it was something that certainly had a lot of use. That's because Ruth's Physique of Saint-grade had developed a support-type skill, Regeneration!

The main point of this ability is in its name, which is the regeneration or healing of her body whenever she is injured, poisoned, etc. Such a thing allowed her to be in much better physical condition than people of her level. Plus, her recovery was tremendously better than people who went through the same injuries as her.

Also, although she can't use all the qualities of this ability on other people, some of them she could!

For example, Ruth couldn't save the life of a mortally wounded person. Still, she could keep him alive longer until a pill, or a doctor did their job!

Another possibility was the treatment of minor injuries. But these things would depend a lot on this young woman's level, and only when she passed the 7ª stage could she do more about it.

As her ability possibilities increased with a possible promotion to Divine-grade Physique, well, Ruth didn't even think about it. After all, where would she find Divine-grade medicine?

It was ridiculous to think about those impossible dreams...

Anyway, when Minos found out about Ruth's innate ability, he was pleasantly surprised and could see how amazing such a thing was.

As much as this young woman had not reached the level to use this skill in a meaningful way in other people, for herself, such a thing was a substantial guarantee!

Because of such ability, she could definitely impose a much higher endurance than people of her level due to her accelerated recovery. And when her cell regeneration reached the point of healing wounds at speed visible to the naked eye, she would surely reach a level beyond her combat proficiency!

How terrible would it be to face an opponent who recovers almost as fast as he gets hurt?

Minos was eager to find this out!