The Rise of the Black Plain

After hearing this, Luke took a quick shower and dressed in a high-end outfit worthy of his position within the Nash family. He then left his room and went to his living room to hear guard Brian's report.

When he entered the room, a tall, bald man, wearing armor with a silver ship symbol, was already waiting for him in readiness. Luke sat in an armchair while holding a bunch of spiritual grapes in one of his hands.

"And then? What did you find out?" He asked with a strange smile on his face before putting one of the grapes in his mouth.

The guard, standing in front of the young man's armchair, then began to report his findings. "Well, to begin with, the young man in question, he is called Minos Stuart. However, there is no noble family with this name on the Stone Island, which proves that it comes from outside our region."

"But we don't specifically know where he is from since we don't know any large families in the north of the Central Continent with this surname. Therefore, I cannot say whether there is a great power supporting him or not." The guard calmly said as he watched the young Luke's reaction.

Luke seemed interested as he listened, showing a smile on his face. He thought. 'There is probably no great power with that surname. It must be just from a small family that has recently ascended…'

'This is great. It means that I can take the risk and do what I want!'

When guard Brian realized that the young master in front of him had no intention of interrupting him, he continued to speak. "In the meantime, he hasn't met Ms. Elen again. In fact, for the past two days, that young woman from the Neel family, Elena Neel, was always with him and his group."

"They stopped by many stores in the city, buying many spiritual weapons, pills, and even looking for a grade-2, array masters. This leads me to think that he truly is a business partner of Ms. Elen, who came to Stone Island to do business with her and buy items for his forces."

"It may also indicate that he does not come from a strong family, as he must leave his region to come here on Stone Island, or that he cannot do so in his region for whatever reason..."

'Hmm, that seems to make sense.' Luke thought as he nodded.

Guard Brian then continued his report. "I also found out that he is staying at the Hotel Olson, which is in the central part of the Old Stone. In addition to him, there are also 11 other people in his group, with all of them in the 5th stage of cultivation, General Spiritual. Of these people, 10 of them are at level 40, while there is a young woman who is at level 45."

When Luke heard that, he frowned slightly and said. "His escort is somewhat exaggerated! Even though most of them are at level 40, 10 of them would still hold someone at level 48 if they were well-trained to work as a team!"

"And there's still a person at level 45… Tsk, even I wouldn't have strength like that when I go on a trip!"

"But this is somewhat contradictory. He has such strength in escorting him, but does he still need to come to Stone Island to do business? Very strange…"

Brian nodded and then spoke again. "But there is something strange about this young woman in question. I bribed an employee at the Hotel Olson and found out that they did not arrive together. And neither of them looked for the other when they checked into the hotel, almost as if they had met for the first time in the past two days."

"As for Minos Stuart, he is only in the 4th stage, Spiritual Warrior, at level 33."

"Oh! He's pretty weak then. Perhaps he is just an arrogant young master who went out to do business for the first time. But this is good. It will be even easier to teach this guy a lesson." Luke said with a smile on his face.

Guard Brian agreed and then suggested. "If I may, young master, I think we should try to separate this Minos from his team, especially this young woman who is with him. Then, after that, the young master can teach him a lesson quickly."

"Haha, you're right, guard Brian. I was right to talk to you earlier. So, stay like this, let's separate these people, and I'll attack the brat later."

...

One day went by, and a group of six people was driving in a carriage to a region with many stores specializing in alchemy close to the central area of Old Stone.

They, of course, were Minos, Ruth, and four more soldiers who were escorting the young Stuart today.

Today Minos would receive part of the pills that he had ordered in the past two days, but he would still have to return to other stores in the next few days to receive all the orders he had placed.

Ruth then started talking to Minos. "You could have stayed at the hotel and sent one of your subordinates to do this and focus on cultivating for the Spiritual Tournament."

"Do not worry about that. I train enough, but sometimes relaxing and getting to know new places can become a powerful tonic. When you do something for a long time, your mind starts to make certain mistakes because there is no rest. That way, relaxing from time to time doing different things can help you solve certain problems more quickly." Minos said without many expressions on his face.

"Oh! You talk like you're a sage…" She said while having a different thought in mind. 'Hmph, you can create any excuse you want.'

After some more time, the group collected their items in some of the stores that they passed and then started to head towards the restaurant, The Barbecue Temple, to have lunch.

However, halfway through, one of Minos' soldiers heard a rumor and stopped the carriage immediately.

"What happened, Sergeant Pyke?"

"Young master, we heard that a grade-2 array master has left isolated cultivation and is receiving new orders. This specialist has a residence on the south side of the city. Should we go there?"

Upon hearing this, Minos was pleased with the news and immediately agreed. That would advance his plans a lot!

The group then made their way towards the southern part of the city, where the array master's property was located.

It didn't take long, and they started approaching a medium-sized building with only two floors. It could not be considered new or old, but it had a silver symbol with a ship.

'Oh! I did not think that the Nash family had an array master of such a level. Why is it that neither Elen nor Elena told me about it?' Minos thought to himself, seeing that symbol.

Soon after, the group started to get out of the carriage, heading towards the building's interior. There was no garden at the entrance. After all, it was just a commercial building. But they noticed that there was minimal movement in the place.

In fact, there were only five other people besides the group of Minos in the place. They were all above level 40, as Ruth had warned the young Stuart, as soon as they got there.

There was a middle-aged man behind a counter just outside the building wearing silver armor. "Hello, visitors, are you here to order an array?"

Minos then replied with a smile on his face. "Hmm, that's right. I want to order a grade-2 array. Are you the array master of this place?"

The bald man then smiled and said. "Oh! No, hehe, the master is in the courtyard on the second floor. He is currently available to receive new orders, but only one person can go up at one time to speak to him."

Ruth frowned and said. "Just one person? What a strange rule."

"Haha, I'm sorry about that, but our master doesn't like to interact with people more than necessary." The tall, bald man replied with an apologetic smile on his face.

"It doesn't matter. I'm going up while you wait for me down here." Minos said as he headed for the stairs that were not far from the bald man's counter.

"Hehe, don't worry about it too much. You can come up here, young man." The man smiled strangely while pointing to Minos.

Sometime later, Minos arrived at a large hall on the building's second floor. In that place, there was no furniture or any other 'item,' just a young blond man dressed in a luxurious silver robe. He was smiling when he saw Minos enter.

'What a strange thing, it doesn't seem right.' Minos thought to himself.

Shortly after that, a low-level grade-2 insulation array was activated.

Such an array prevented people below level 40 from entering or leaving the space around that place. Not only that, but the sound was also wholly isolated.

'Hmm, an array has been activated. It looks like this guy sealed this area.' Minos calmly thought as he looked around.

"Hahaha, now you're at a dead-end! You will not be able to receive any help for at least 10 minutes."

"I want you to know that this is just to teach you a lesson for contacting my woman. If you do any grace after that, so I will not be merciful again!" The blond young man said with a crazed gleam in his eyes.