The Rise of the Black Plain

"We collected a thousand spatial rings. In them, we found the following:

- 4.5 thousand grade-1 artifacts;

- 9.3 thousand grade-1 pills, 879 low-level grade-2 pills;

- 4 thousand grade-1 arrays, 102 low-level grade-2 arrays;

- 6.7 thousand Blue-grade techniques and 11 Black-grade techniques;

Other than the everyday items present in such storages, there were about 1.3 million low-grade crystals and 675 medium-grade crystals." Humbert said as he read that information.

He then took his gaze off those scrolls and looked in Minos' direction. "As planned, the soldiers involved in the conflict will be able to divide the low-grade crystals collected equally or give them up and receive the same amount in merit points. As for the other items, they will all be passed on to headquarters."

"Hmm, that's good." Minos said as he nodded in the direction of those people standing there. "Well, for now, you guys can go get some rest. I will be taking care of some planning matters with the army administration, and you will be notified soon."

"Take the time to collect your rewards and prepare for more moments like these..."

"Yes, young master!"

"All right, Mr. Minos."

"OK."

The three people replied simultaneously, just before they stood up and walked out of that office. But, on the other hand, Eliot was still in that place, looking at the surroundings as if he was seriously thinking about something.

Finally, when the door of that office slammed, and he and Minos were left alone, he turned his head sideways and looked at Minos' figure incredulously. "I don't know if I'm getting old, but did you just give 1.3 million low-grade crystals to those 600 soldiers?"

"You are not getting old, father-in-law. That's just what happened here. I gave my soldiers the low-grade crystals." Minos casually  said as he relaxed in his armchair.

Upon hearing such a thing, Eliot narrowed his eyes. He watched this young man for another second without saying a single word. "Why? Do you think your army can't make better use of these crystals?"

What Eliot was asking was basically his culture as a nobleman speaking louder and causing him to find Minos' act very strange. After all, those soldiers were subordinates of this young man and were just doing their duties. Therefore, this Spiritual King didn't think there was any need for rewards here!

He even understood that if these soldiers had fought in their spare time, as in the example of a hunt, the items won would be entirely the right of that person who struggled. But this was a completely different situation from what had occurred today.

Consequently, he had been shocked at the way this young man had 'wasted' crystals!

Minos then looked at Eliot and smiled. "It is not that I cannot use these crystals in a better way, but that doing such a thing is beneficial to me..." He then paused and thought of something. "Father-in-law, where do you think the soldiers of the Black Plain Army come from?"

"Where do your soldiers come from? From your city, of course." He answers, still not intending Minos' point. "Why the question?"

"You are right. My soldiers come from the population of my city. But do you think that the common population can reach the minimum level necessary to join my army without my help? I mean, I help them a lot with local rules and opportunities, but is that enough?"

"A promising young person not only needs to have good innate talent but also good development from the early years in cultivation. As such, such people need to have the opportunity not to have to work for survival in their early years in this cultivation world, and also need cultivation resources."

"But to do so, their families need to earn large amounts of crystals. After all, my soldiers can't just invest in their families and leave aside their own cultivation. The opposite of that, by investing in their own strength, they can even reach a financial level in the future where their entire family could focus on just cultivating."

"With that, it might be challenging for one of my soldiers to support his entire family while at the same time training to become as strong as possible. And such a thing could be bad for me in two ways. The first one, because I would not have my soldiers 100% focused, as some would be trying to help their respective families. Second, my future soldiers would have a more superficial preparation..."

"After all, if such future soldiers had to waste some of their training time working, that would mean less prepared soldiers with more mistakes to be corrected."

"That..." Eliot muttered as he began to understand Minos' thoughts on this matter.

Minos then continued. "What to do? Use every crystal that comes into my organization to build an army with the largest possible numbers, but as a consequence, diminish individual quality? Or allow those most prominent individuals in my army to have benefits and thereby increase the possibility of good seeds arising in my city?"

"It is a difficult choice, but due to the small numbers in question, I believe that allowing these soldiers to have these crystals is the best. That is, such numbers would not make much difference to me, but for these soldiers, it may be their family's chance for ascension."

"And not only will these individuals be able to improve the average strength of their families, but this possibility could further motivate other soldiers to act for the good of the army!"

"That... That doesn't seem illogical."

"But cultivating talented people to a high level can take years. And at the moment, it seems better to have more mediocre level soldiers, rather than fewer distinguished individuals..." Eliot said while having an earnest expression on his face.

Minos then shook his head in denial and said. "No, you are wrong. After all, I offer equal training and cultivation conditions for all my soldiers."

"With that said, if I were to accept larger numbers of people, my organization would need to build new cultivation rooms, increase the size of the headquarters, etc. So there would be several things required to accept more soldiers into my organization."

"As such, it is more worthwhile for us to seek only those best among the many competitors that exist."

"On the other hand, most of my inhabitants are farmers, the people who maintain this city. If every one of them turned into soldiers, it would be a shame... After all, where would their wages come from if no one else could fulfill that role?"

"But... But this action will basically concentrate power in the hands of your strongest soldiers. Aren't you afraid that in the future, these soldier families will become too strong and diminish your sovereignty?" Eliot insisted.

He understood Minos' logic, but it was hard for him not to ask these questions, which were so common in large regional noble houses.

"No."

"I mean, the differences are big, and the way my organization operates is very different from the way the noble families operate. So, it's not bad for me that they develop their families to high levels..."

"And it wouldn't be just one or two families, something that could create a situation in which one of those sides believes it can compete for power. The opposite of that, there would be hundreds of those families, something that would make such a thing impossible."

"Then there would be a balance here, even without considering that I have a much higher cultivation speed than my soldiers."

"Anyway, such a thing will only benefit me since the descendants of these soldiers will be even more talented than them because of this action of mine." Minos said this while having a smile on his face.

He was referring to spiritual evolution, in which cultivators who reached the limit of power allowed by their talents could generate offspring of greater talent than their parents.

"What do you mean?" Eliot questioned him in doubt, not understanding Minos' last comment.

"Hehe, father-in-law, you can ask Abby what I'm talking about. It's something quite interesting, something that will make tens of thousands of people with the Black talent show up in my city in a few decades..."

"Anyway, I'll ask your leave now, father-in-law. I need to prepare some things." Minos said as he rose from his armchair and waved his arm in the direction of his office door.

He didn't mind answering his father-in-law's questions since such a thing wasn't any big secret. But, on the other hand, even if the Miller family started to copy his way of acting, it would not harm him.

So, there was no reason for him not to answer some of Eliot's questions!