The Rise of the Black Plain

Not long after defeating Ayla and the level 98 elf, Minos arrived at the location of Aurae.

When he reached the elven city in the center of the island, he was able to personally observe the Tree of Life not far from the small elven city, where normally only beings of that race could enter.

The tree was huge, beautiful, and exuded a powerful aura full of vitality.

Minos felt good when he smelled the scent of the leaves of this gigantic tree, something as ancient and relevant to this world as the many spiritual roots around the planet.

"Incredible." He murmured as the two level 99 Demigods led him to where Aurae stood with Vico Travisani.

Of the current Gods of the Spiritual World, Vico had been the first to arrive on Elves Island to accompany the Continental Tournament.

Not all of them would come, but the presence of at least half of them was expected for this event.

Feeling Minos' aura, Vico didn't take long to say goodbye to Aurae and return to his group, which had just arrived on Elves Island.

Aurae left the wooden house she was in and stopped in front of her small dwelling to see Minos and two of the tribe's elders arriving in what looked more like a village.

"Minos, you look better than ever." She complimented as she saw the brown-haired young man standing in front of her.

Minos made a gesture of greeting and said. "I am far from your level. But thank you for your words, Your Excellency."

"Hmm, I heard about your disagreement with Vico." She commented, looking deeply into the eyes of this young man who had hidden something so critical from her and the others. "You are a box of surprises, Minos."

Minos laughed softly. "I play with the cards I have. I had the option of choosing someone who would help me or risk being targeted by all the Gods of our world. The choice was easy..."

She laughed when she heard that, not disagreeing with his logic, although she would have preferred to know about such medicine before Henry used it.

Aurae had someone she thought was more capable of absorbing a Divine Medicine than Henry!

But what was done could not be changed. Besides, Henry had succeeded, and now the Spiritual World had 'one' more God because of Minos.

She sighed and said. "Well, let's not talk about something that can't be changed. Have you settled your business with Ayla?"

He nodded affirmatively while the two level 99 elves next to him showed Aurea what had happened.

When she understood what Minos had done, she was pleased and said. "Very well, now you have no more problems with my tribe. Remember this after I give you access to the core of the Tree of Life.

Elves are proud and often harm others for the sake of the tribe and the Spiritual World. But everything we do, we do for good reasons, and we are not beings who do not negotiate.

Everyone wants to profit, and we are no different. But we're here to save the world, not to get into trouble with humans."

"Hmm, I know. Thank you for being so direct, Your Excellency." Minos said.

"Okay, now these two will take you to the place I assured you you'd have access to. You'll have until the start of the Continental Tournament to take advantage of this opportunity." She said as she walked away, preparing to leave to attend to other matters.

"Thank you for the opportunity. I'll do my best to get to level 92 before the aliens arrive." He said before watching Aurae disappear.

Standing next to the two elves, Minos listened. "Come on, let's not waste any more time." "Do you know how to get to where we're dropping you off?" One of the two asked.

"Yes. I studied some old books about you." Minos said, lying since his knowledge came from the memories of Henricus Longus. "I know that I will have the opportunity to cultivate in the underground lake where the source of life is produced. Even though it is a fantastic place, it has its dangers and can lead even unprepared cultivators astray. That's why even high-level elves don't stay there for long."

"Exactly. You're a human, so you might not be able to stay as long as Her Excellency guarantees. Use this device if you feel you have to leave early." One of the elves gave Minos a pendant.

The other said. "Also, be careful in this place. Usually, only top elves are allowed to do this, so there may be some kind of challenge or resistance to your presence in the lake.

If you're not careful, you might even die."

"I'm willing to risk everything," Minos said before thanking them again for the opportunity but also for their concern in warning him.

As terrible as the elves were in many ways, they were honest when they promised something!

Soon, Minos was standing in front of the entrance to a tunnel full of roots in the walls, where he could feel a strong spiritual fluctuation concentrated underground.

"You'll be going alone from now on." One of the elves said as he stopped in the middle of the path. "Good luck on your journey. I hope you succeed and return the favor by helping in the war of worlds."

With these words, Minos continued on his way until he reached an underground area surrounded by bars and small roots that completely covered the walls and ceiling of the area.

In the area, which looked like a crypt of roots, Minos saw the top of the area, where there was a golden root from which drops of a special kind of liquid dripped, colored like a rainbow.

Below this drip was a small pond with a radius of about 6 meters, where Minos felt that it was 30 centimeters deep at the shallowest point and 70 centimeters at the deepest point.

Seeing the ceramics in the area and some statues made by the elves, Minos felt like he was fulfilling a dream.

This place was as valuable, if not more so, than the volcano where the giant skeleton of the ancestral dragon god lay!

Here was the source of life, the potentially most valuable place in the entire world, where even mortally wounded Demigods could escape certain death if they were brought back in time.

That was one of the strengths of this place. Still, it was also special for its spiritual cleansing abilities, which could boost the level of talent and physical quality of those who meditated there.

As one of the highest spiritual forms in this world, it wasn't even impossible to learn rare laws of nature that went against one's natural affinities.

With this in mind, Minos didn't hesitate and immediately took a bath in the small lake before starting to meditate in its deepest part.