The Rise of the Black Plain

Meanwhile, in Zocarro...

Minos, Ruth, Maximillian, and two other members of their group that had come from the Spiritual World to this place were leaving the wall of the Armhands headquarters city for the first time in over four years!

Next to the four humans and one robot from The Adamant Land was the furry level 105 individual who had led the selection process they had participated in years ago to join the guild.

As this being walked in front of them, he explained. "You know the guild's rules well, especially you, Soldier Minos. So don't cause any trouble for me when we're out there.

We'll stick to the plan, and if anything has to change, you'll talk to me before you do anything stupid."

"All right, Officer Rhett," Minos said as Maximillian and the others nodded affirmatively.

"If you follow the guild rules and things go minimally well for us, everyone here can return to this place better than they are now." He said as he stopped in front of the exit post of that fenced-off area and looked back.

"Every action of yours and even mine can generate merit and big differences for the guild, no matter how small we are today. So be prepared to act on behalf of the guild.

It's not impossible that in addition to merit points, we'll earn the respect of our superiors."

That was just as important as merit points if they really wanted to achieve positions of great distinction within the guild.

With good contacts and a good reputation, one could be favored in disputes over resources and promotions.

The people in Minos' group were already aware of this, so they didn't say anything, but they also didn't think of any dangerous ideas, such as an escape attempt during the mission.

Even Maximillian was committed to completing the current mission and eventually returning to the guild!

"Officer Rhett, where are you taking this group?" A level 106 alien stopped Minos' group on the inside of the exit post at that part of the great wall.

"Officer, we've received one of the missions relating to the Bellowing Garden incident." Rhett took a respectful stance and explained. "This group will assist me during this reinforcement mission. My superior authorized me to take them there and let them show their worth to the guild."

"Oh?" The alien who had stopped them looked in the direction of Minos' group with interest.

He didn't know these five individuals. There were tens of thousands like them in the guild, so it wouldn't be an internal member working on the wall who would know them.

But knowing that they had been chosen for this mission was enough for this being to understand that powerful people in the guild either believed in the potential of these external members or wanted to eliminate them.

The second option was possible but unlikely, so he imagined that the potential of these five was great.

'A maximum of five teams like this will be sent to help solve this problem. That should be the only team from the external area that gets involved. And even then, there are Grandmasters among them.' This level 106 being looked at Minos and Ruth.

"All right, boys, clear the way for our friends here." He said as he stepped out of the way of Minos' group and added, "Good luck to you. If you make it back alive from this trip, look me up. I'd like to hear your stories."

Rhett didn't say anything since that was an Intermediate Officer, someone a Junior like him couldn't go against.

The group left the wall area and quickly moved along the peak there, where they soon descended the stairs until they reached the place where the 'elevator' they had arrived in was.

However, they wouldn't be leaving from the same place they had arrived.

"Aren't we going down to the city?" Ruth asked Rhett.

"No. There are two ways we can leave headquarters. One is the one you used when you first joined the guild. The other isn't as interesting for getting onto this floating island. Still, it's very good for leaving without having to go through Examire." He explained.

Meanwhile, something similar to a cable car took shape in front of them at the place where they thought they would enter the 'elevator.'

As they entered the thing, they looked around carefully until they saw that it was similar to the elevator they had used to get there in some ways.

The moment Rhett activated that structure, it moved in a straight line as fast as the speed of light until, in just an instant, they felt that cabin stop, already in a totally different place from the top of the floating island they were on.

Even though their group was so strong, the five of them there with Rhett couldn't help but feel dizzy as the urge to vomit surged through their beings.

But despite feeling unwell, they quickly controlled their powers by circulating their energies in such a way as to reduce the strange symptoms caused by this special displacement.

"Your bodies haven't got used to this kind of spatial displacement yet. Don't worry; in time, you'll learn to cope better." Rhett laughed as he watched these people.

"Where are we?" Ruth asked, surprisingly having been the first to recover from the state the activation of that thing had put them in. "By the way, how did we get here? I can't even see Examire from where we are!"

"That's natural. We're 50 kilometers from Examire; more precisely, we're behind the mountain range where the city is hidden. That's why we can't see our home from here. In any case, this is a quick and useful form of travel over short distances.

If one day you want to access the artificial moon of Zocarro, you'll have to be able to endure a trip like this for much longer." He said, while the four worst individuals in the group gradually improved their expressions.

"We'll continue our journey to the Bellowing Garden from this point. I'll give you 10 minutes to finish recovering, and then we'll continue as planned." He said as he turned his senses to the surroundings of that area.

"That's quite a method of transportation," Maximillian commented as he looked at Minos. "Have you been able to understand anything useful about this technology?"

"No. Zocarro's level of technology is a few degrees above that of the Mechanic Empire. This must be a way of traveling quickly in a world where gravity is too strong for us to easily alter space. I'll try to learn a bit about this in the future.

Now, let's focus on the mission in front of us."

"Hmm."

Everyone agreed, quickly focusing on recovering until they would leave that place shortly after their arrival.

For the next few days, they would travel to their destination, the Bellowing Garden, where an unauthorized war between guild members and a rival force was raging!