The Rise of the Black Plain

After leaving the building they had been in for the past few months, the group of 16 came across the place where they had left the corpse of the level 102 snake months ago.

There were no mortal remains of that or any other creatures there, a sign of what Minos had told the group would happen after they passed through the area.

Fortunately, there was no sign of any monstrous creatures there either.

"Let's go to the center of this place. There's a building that the old inhabitants of this town used to cultivate and benefit from certain natural phenomena in the area. There, we can safely absorb the resources we've obtained so far." Minos said as he moved cautiously towards the place he had seen in his vision of the future.

"Wait a minute." Said one of those beings. "Aren't we going to explore this area more? I believe there are more valuable things for our group in this ruin."

That was a fact. This place had been explored very little, and they had only found resources in one place in the whole ruin. But that place was the size of a city.

The people in the group, especially the aliens allied to Minos' group, couldn't help but think it would be worthwhile to explore more of this ruin.

Minos smiled at his companions' and allies' greed. "There are many valuable things here. But so far, we've only moved to take the simplest and least problematic resources.

We can continue here, but soon, we'll have to fight not only a level 105 Sovereign but several of them and even beings of levels 106 and 107.

Sigh! I consider myself strong. Anyone who knows me knows that." Minos changed his tone as he gestured to his staff. "But even I don't have the confidence to deal with these monsters. If the group has that confidence, then Ruth and I will go alone to the safe area of the ruin. The rest of you can go without us."

'Level 107?' One of those individuals swallowed his saliva when he heard Minos' words.

"Why are there such powerful beings in a place that is supposed to be limited to Grandmasters?" Asked one of the aliens there, who thought that was unfair.

How many resources weren't they giving up because of those damn mid-level Sovereigns?

Ruth commented. "These creatures have probably been here ever since this area started exhibiting the phenomena that make it so famous.

These beings were probably never interested in leaving The Obsidian Shore because of the resources here and opportunities to get stronger, so over time, they've gotten so strong. There are definitely interesting things here, even for high-level Sovereigns, so there are many things we can't collect because of the dangers around them.

We can only give up if we're unwilling to face creatures of the highest power."

That was the truth. The place they were in was so dangerous that they had to pass by enormous riches but pretend they weren't seeing them to avoid their own demise!

The group eventually accepted Minos' advice and headed toward the special place where they could absorb their resources.

"We can return here after we've absorbed our resources. We'll be stronger after that." Said the leader of the group allied to Minos.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Minos said. "We've been here for almost a year now, and things will change when some of you become Sovereigns.

We're no threat to the many Sovereigns in this area as long as we stay away from them now. But that will change if you become Sovereigns."

"And won't it be like that in other places too?"

"There are other places that are less dangerous than this. Anyway, I don't think staying here is a good idea. We have to get closer to the middle of The Obsidian Shore." Minos said as he reminded everyone of their main mission in this place.

Everyone there thought about what their sects had told them to do on The Obsidian Shore.

After a moment, the conversations died down, and the group was soon in front of a white tower in that submerged area.

Minos would lead them through this building until they reached the highest level of that place, where a special phenomenon would cause several of the artifacts and resources they had brought there to change.

Spectral creatures, worms, and microscopic parasites would die or try to flee the area immediately after the group settled down on the outskirts of a grandiose cultivation room illuminated by a strange glowing power source.

Soon, the whole group would understand why Minos had told them not to consume anything before coming to this place, and they realized once again how important it was to have a seer in the group.

Seers rarely saw the future with 100% efficiency. But their visions could help groups like Minos' avoid various problems and improve their chances of surviving a dangerous journey.

So, soon, those who had cultivable items to absorb would begin their seclusion in that safe place, an extremely pure and friendly environment for cultivators like them.

Minos and Ruth hadn't achieved anything useful for them in the short term, so they were merely going to do their normal cultivation there. But three group mates would absorb important resources in this place that would advance them from level 99 to level 100 in the next two weeks!

But these wouldn't be the only advances made by members of the group during this period. Of Minos and Ruth's two Spiritual World companions, the one who was at level 98 would advance to level 99 along with the three who would become Sovereigns at the end of this cultivation session!

...

Time would pass, and, in the blink of an eye, Minos and his 15 current companions would leave the lake they had spent almost 11 months submerged in!

As they left that place with the three Sovereigns he had previously promised would appear on this journey, the whole group was more confident about the future, their missions, but especially about Minos.

Minos had shown himself to be a reliable leader, an effective seer, and a fighter of the highest level. As such, everyone followed behind him as they left that area under his protection.

Leaving that ruin once and for all, the group would soon return to the road they had planned to travel on before deciding to pass through the area near the entrance to The Obsidian Shore, where few had ventured before them.

From there, they would make their way to their next joint target, which would be interesting to explore, but at the same time, would be closer to the area where they were to carry out their missions in this place.