The Rise of the Black Plain
Chapter 102 - 102: Level 38!

Time flew by, and it had been ten days since Minos and Ruth encountered young Abby. Right now, the two were just a few hundred kilometers from the capital of the Cromwell Kingdom.

During these few days, they had been traveling peacefully without encountering any significant incidents in their path. At most, the two would occasionally stop to train their techniques and spar with each other, day in and day out.

In some of the cities they had passed by, there were many unique buildings dedicated to cultivators where they could get training, cultivation, and even fighting rooms.

It was particularly something that Minos had liked so much that he had made a mental note to take this idea to Dry City. These kinds of facilities could certainly help the population to improve their strength even further!

In these places, cultivators could pay to use spiritual arrays that concentrated their full potential on increasing the energy density in small spaces rather than using it in large areas.

The fighting and training rooms were designed well to withstand the residual energy from the battles without having the need for constant maintenance after each match.

That was because these buildings were specially designed by designers and array masters so that the remaining energy of the battles did not harm the structures.

And because of that, these places had become quite trendy among the cultivators passing by, and Minos liked them a lot too!

Meanwhile, Minos was also inching closer to breaking through to the next level!

...

In one of the rooms in the Cultivation Tower, in the city where Minos and Ruth were staying, the two youths were cultivating side by side.

Ruth had her long black hair tied into a ponytail while she cultivated in a meditative position on one of the cultivation pads in the room.

She was dressed in slim clothing, which facilitated movement, but right now, she had a few drops of sweat glistening on her forehead.

Just a few minutes ago, she had finished training her battle techniques and was now cultivating to recover her energies spent during her training.

At the same time, Minos also sat in a meditative position while being shirtless and was only wearing long trousers. But unlike Ruth, he had not trained his techniques before his cultivation session since he felt that he was getting closer and closer to having a breakthrough.

With his Solar God Breath technique activated and several low-grade spiritual crystals shining around him, Minos was constantly absorbing all the spiritual energy stored in these crystals while gradually increasing his cultivation.

Dozens of minutes passed while the spiritual energy within Minos' body slowly started to rise to a new level!

Crack!

A faint cracking sound emanated from Minos' body while his spiritual energy quickly reached level 38!

When he felt that, the corners of Minos' mouth slowly rose up, forming an exuberant smile, showing how happy he was after becoming even stronger.

He then pondered while his eyes still remained closed, 'In a month or so, I should be able to reach level 39... After that, I should start preparing for my progress toward the 5th stage...'

Minos had not yet decided as to what would be his 4th battle technique, one that he would learn after reaching this new stage. However, he was almost sure that it would be better for him to learn a movement technique.

After all, sometimes the best outcome of a fight would be an escape!

'And when I reach the 5th stage, my Physique's degree will be closer to evolving again as well.

Currently, I have a 10% increase in my spiritual energy, but after that, it should go up to 20% as I advance from the 5th stage to the 6th!'

He thought while opening his eyes and then glanced at Ruth while scratching his head.

'Though this will decrease my cultivation speed even more, I'll also become more formidable!' He thought with a self-fulfilling smile on his face.

It was a delightful feeling to be much stronger than those at the same level as you. This gave a sense of greatness and made the cultivator even happier and more satisfied with his training.

After all, when hard work paid off, anyone would feel better about what they were doing!

Minos then got up and patiently waited for Ruth till she finished cultivating. It was already night in this city, so he wanted to return to their hotel.

And it didn't take long before the beautiful young woman also finished her cultivation session.

And because she was stronger than Minos, Ruth could spend a lot more time cultivating than he did, so she usually took much time for her cultivation.

As for an increase in her cultivation, this was far more difficult and challenging for Ruth to achieve than it was for Minos.

She was already at level 46, and in order for her to advance to level 47, Ruth needed to absorb an amount of spiritual energy that was about five times greater than what Minos had required to advance from level 37 to 38!

So, even if she had a good talent and an excellent cultivation technique, she still needed at least another six months of cultivation before she could reach the next level!

Ruth opened her eyes and gazed at Minos while still sitting on the pillow. She had noticed a specific noise during her cultivation session but continued to cultivate without losing focus.

As she glanced at Minos, Ruth smiled, sensing that he had leveled up, "Congratulations on advancing once again. With this rate, you should be able to reach level 39 during the Spiritual Tournament."

Minos then nodded in agreement before approaching her and placing a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Mmm!"

Their kisses sounded for a brief moment before Ruth suddenly pulled away and said with an erotic expression. "Let's go to the hotel. We can continue this there..."

"Hmm."

After that, the two left the Cultivation Tower quickly, heading to a place where they could have their privacy guaranteed...

...

While Minos and Ruth were having fun in their room, a young man with blond hair and green eyes had just caught sight of the city's silhouette as he and his two bodyguards approached to enter.

This was the group of the young master of the Nash family, who had already been traveling to the city for a few days. Young Luke had decided to travel separately from the rest of his family members since he wanted to reach level 41 before starting his trip.

And in fact, he had even achieved it a few weeks ago and finally left Stone Island. So, Luke was now very confident of getting a good place in the upcoming competition, recovering his chance to go to the Western Empire!

Beside him was a person already known by Minos, guard Brian, the one whom Ruth had defeated in Old Stone. He had also cultivated a lot in the past few months before finally reaching level 47!

As for the other man in their group, he was also one of the Nash family's subordinates and was also at level 47.

As they headed towards the entrance to the city, Luke thought, 'With my current level and considering that I am one of the few participants who possess a low-level grade-2 spiritual weapon, I believe that only those monsters with the Silver talent will be able to defeat me...'

Luke was very hopeful for this tournament since it would not be long before one of the representatives of the Elemental Sect came to his family's headquarters to pick up the chosen member.

And so, he longed to fight and be among the first few places in this competition as soon as possible. Thus, finally achieving the dream he had been cherishing ever since the first day he started cultivating.

He aspired to join the Elemental Sect, return in the future triumphantly and then lead his family after his father retired!

Luke then murmured under his breath, "I just hope that there isn't someone like that bastard Minos participating in this competition... That would be very troublesome!"

Minos had left a slight trauma in Luke's mind that even if it did not affect his cultivation, it was still something that had instilled a deep fear within him.

'That miserable one! One day when I come back from the Western Empire, I will teach that guy a lesson to calm my heart...'

Before long, Luke's group entered the big city before them. This was a city of almost the same size as the capital of Stone Island, but it offered some even better options.

That's because, among the numerous kingdoms of the northern region of the Central Continent, the Cromwell Kingdom lies in the southernmost place in the region, being in the closest proximity to the Flaming Empire.

And the capital of the kingdom was also located in a place closer to the Flaming Empire, significantly enhancing the overall general quality of Capital City when compared to Old Stone!

And though it did not directly share the border with the Flaming Empire, the Cromwell Kingdom was only a few hundred kilometers!

This was even closer than the distance between Dry City and the capital of the Brown Kingdom, the City of Setting Sun!