The Rise of the Black Plain

Time has flown by, and nine months have passed since Minos' group departed from Nemo Colony.

The newcomers to the group traveling the universe had learned the basics of what was like to travel and the dangers of long journeys by spaceship. One had to deal with the effects of the acceleration and deceleration of the spacecraft every time the vehicle was to stop or depart from a terminal, but also always be prepared for dangers during the journey.

The dangers weren't just distortions in space, capable of generating electrical, spatial and temporal storms, breaking up space and throwing them far from their destination, or worse, killing them. There were also dangers related to space pirates, space bandits, scammers, and much more.

Luckily, this part of the group's journey was not yet dangerous enough to frighten Minos. Even though the group had faced problems in the months up to this point, none of them had suffered or lost anything.

After nine months of travel, they were arriving today at Aether Terminal, with their entire group, a functional spaceship, which Minos had constantly protected during the journey.

Unlike their journey to Nemo Colony, the journey to Aether Terminal had been fraught with problems, with three attempts to take over the crew and kidnap the passengers, four space disasters, and a problem with the ship during one of the group's stops.

As a result, the planned 30 weeks of travel stretched to over 36 weeks by the end of the journey.

But these problems weren't all bad. Minos acted practically alone in most of these situations, winning not only the respect of the crew and passengers, but also the resources of the bandits who tried to take over the spaceship.

This had added several cultivation resources, artifacts, and financial resources to Minos' pre-existing wealth!

By arriving at Aether Terminal today, the group was also stronger and more prepared for the future!

...

While the spaceship the group had traveled in parked at Aether Terminal, Minos' companions were stronger than at the start of their journey, but also eager to continue their journey through the universe.

Arther Terminal was in an area of the universe where the cultivation limit was level 110. Consequently, over the last few months, the group had been getting closer and closer to places where they could all cultivate much faster than in the areas they were leaving behind.

Because of this, except for Minos, everyone in the group had used the last few months of travel to cultivate and boost their strength to their next levels.

Because of their efforts, Hollie and Lily had improved an incredible 3 levels in this period, with Isabella's daughter reaching level 80, and Hollie level 79. Meanwhile, Kendrick had improved 2 levels since leaving the Spiritual World, and was currently at level 84.

As for the women of Minos, Abby has advanced no levels in these months, but she has solidified her unstable cultivation base, reaching a level where she could be considered a true level 94 cultivator. Previously, she had artificially stimulated her advances using 'weak' and impure resources from the Spiritual World. As much as she was stronger than she would have been without these actions, it had destabilized her foundations and made her weaker than she would have been if she had cultivated hard instead of doing what she had done.

But with the problem solved, she could aim for level 95 from now on!

Gloria had improved by one level in those months, having reached level 94.

As for Callie and Vico, neither of them improved their levels, but they both strengthened their cultivation bases, going from being just Gods to actually becoming Sovereigns, cultivators of the Divine Journey!

Over the next few months, they would both be able to pursue their advances to level 101, which they weren't that far away from, given how many times they had boosted their strength with Divine Medicines during the War of the Worlds.

Ruth would still need about two years to get close to her advancement to level 102, while the group's level 102 companions would need a little less than that to get close to level 103.

Both level 102 Sovereigns were already close to advancing when they arrived in the Spiritual World, so their advancements could happen quickly. The level 103 robot and human were a long way from advancing to level 104, being at least four years away from that level.

If they were to travel directly to the Artificial Moon from Aether Terminal, it was almost certain that the two highest levels members of the group would not advance until they reached the Artificial Moon of Zocarro. However, Minos would stop halfway, so the two will return to that planet stronger than they were now.

That was the group's current situation when they heard the captain of the spaceship thanking everyone for choosing his company for this trip, before they left the ship along with the other just over 30 aliens.

As soon as they came across the large Aether Terminal arrivals hall, Minos led his people to the counter to secure their departure for The Enchanted Realm!

The Enchanted Realm was the name of the planet that Minos' superior in Armhands had recommended he stop at before returning to Zocarro.

For the group to reach The Enchanted Realm, they would have to buy tickets from Aether Terminal to Dream Station, from where they would have to make their own way to their target planet, which was supposed to be a few weeks' journey from Dream Station.

According to Minos' superior, The Enchanted Realm was a special place where time passed more slowly than in the Spiritual World, but which was stronger than Aether Terminal, with a cultivation limit at level 114. According to that Zocarro expert, time on his home planet passed at a ratio of 1:10 in relation to Zocarro.

100 years in that world would only be 10 on Zocarro!

With that in mind, Minos was soon at a counter to buy his tickets to Dream Station.

"Our next ship to Dream Station leaves in 35 days..."

The ticket seller explained to Minos and his group about the ticket prices, which, fortunately, they had enough of to guarantee them all places on this spaceship that would leave in just over a month.

However, when they wanted to travel from Dream Station to the Artificial Moon in the future, the group would have to have resources that they didn't have right now!