The Rise of the Black Plain

As soon as Minos spoke into the minds of Gohoc's beings, using the local native language he had learned from the level 103 robot, the strongest creatures on the planet trembled with fear. They found themselves once again in the terrible situation of being invaded by stronger beings.

Just as they believed they had finally escaped the clutches of superior civilizations that enslaved them, a new faction emerged, obstructing their path.

It was a cold shower for these creatures!

Minos' aura was so much stronger than the leaders of The Adamant Land who had taken over this world in the past that no native dared to stand up to him. They merely prostrated themselves before Minos, accepting his supremacy.

"What are we going to do with them?" Abby asked, her eyes wide with anticipation.

Unlike the natives of the two planets they had recently conquered, they had no history with the poor Gohoc. This was a precautionary mission to avoid future problems, but they really had nothing more to justify aggression against this civilization.

Minos said. "I'll leave a seal on all the Demigods in this world to make sure they don't betray us. Each successive generation will be bound by contracts with the aging Demigods, ensuring their allegiance to the Black Plain Empire after the previous generation's demise.

I don't intend to exploit them in the same way as the Mechanic Empire did. The universe is vast. If these beings want to get stronger, they'll have to leave their little world and go to The Adamant Land themselves. They will join our forces of their own free will. We just need to leave the opportunity open and eventually, it will happen."

That's what happened in most of the universe. Slavery was used much more as a punishment than as labor. Selfish interest made most intelligent beings in the universe work as a team.

This civilization was limited to level 97. Others that would come under the rule of the Black Plain Empire could go further, but were limited to level 100. Through Minos' plans, he intended to make it possible for these beings to reach the area of the galaxy of The Adamant Land where they could exceed such a limit.

Is it possible for these civilizations to maintain a working relationship?

Thinking of the being at the peak of his world's cultivation, would he wait in silence for his death or try something else to evolve and live better and longer?

Minos believed that most would choose to join his empire or at least follow its rules, as long as the rules weren't too oppressive.

He was part of a Zocarro guild that forced people to join the guild initially. Even so, most who joined the guild stayed in it even when they reached prominent positions.

This was because Armhands, although strict with its Recruits, was extremely helpful to beings interested in growing in power!

Minos didn't intend to be so strict with these civilizations, so he thought his results with them would be much better.

He advanced towards the strongest natives, signaling Vico to help him identify and bring to him all the local Demigods.

He would spend the next few days imposing seals on the bodies of the strongest in this world, but without acting brutally against this civilization.

He made it clear how strong he was and forced his position on this society. But he demanded almost nothing of those beings, only that Gohoc's natives not turn against the forces of the Spiritual World and follow the laws of his empire if they entered his domains.

From that moment on, Gohoc would no longer be an inferior civilization that could only serve the Mechanic Empire, but a civilization with the right to leave its planet and cooperate with higher-level forces.

The beings on this planet didn't have complete confidence that they would be free with Minos as their ultimate leader, but when his group left a few days after their arrival in this world, the local natives would gradually come to believe in him.

...

About seven weeks after arriving in Gohoc, Minos and his group made their way all the way back to The Adamant Land.

Almost 14 weeks had passed since they split up to deal with the four remaining worlds before returning to the Spiritual World.

Upon arriving in The Adamant Land today, the group was met with the expected. None of their three remaining companions on their current mission had returned yet.

Minos left the quasi-Spatial Kingdom where the spatial distortions of the wormholes connected to this world were, heading towards the place where the robot had told him it had left the bodies of dozens of robots he could revive.

Vico, Abby and Gloria followed at his side, noticing the destruction around this planet, for the first time having the chance to explore more of The Adamant Land since coming from the Spiritual World.

"Minos, I'm going to travel around this planet to explore the place. Do you have a problem with that?" Vico asked with enthusiasm.

"Go ahead. Try to get back before eight weeks. By then the group should be assembled, ready to set off back to the Spiritual World," Minos said, imagining that everyone in his group wanted to do a bit of exploring in the lands of the aliens of the Mechanic Empire.

Gloria and Abby were also interested in exploring the area, but they wouldn't go too far from Minos.

When he was finally alone, Minos would reach the place where the metallic corpses of the Mechanic Empire's robots lay.

He then summoned a giant skeleton from his spatial ring, from where he intended to use the chaotic energy of the huge bones to revive the robots with preserved bodies in their surroundings.

There wasn't enough natural energy for Minos to revive all these metallic and artificial beings at once, so his work there would be repetitive for the next few days or weeks.

But with nothing better to do, given the fact that he didn't want to advance a stage in this place, he began this work while letting his companions explore the planet.

...

Minos would spend the next six weeks working to revive all the 10th stage robots that were fit to be revived.

Ruth and the level 103 human would return from their journeys, successful in mastering the civilizations they had visited during these weeks in similar ways to what Minos had done on Gohoc.

With only the level 100 robot left to return, the group would spend the next three weeks rebuilding some areas of The Adamant Land, using the help of the robots revived by Minos, to create the initial bases that their empire would soon use.

Over 70% of The Adamant Land's infrastructure had been destroyed in the war between the Irpoll and the Mechanic Empire. Amid these ruins, the group worked to re-establish some of the less destroyed outposts.

But after another three weeks, the level 103 robot would return so that the group could finally head to the Spiritual World to prepare for the galactic expansion of the state of Minos and the departure of his family for Zocarro!