19 One Year
Two weeks had passed, and Minos now had reached level 23.
And during these days, Minos has fought with all ten guards between levels 27 and 28 two more times. Before reaching level 23, he beat everyone who was at level 27, two at level 28, a draw with another, and lost to the last.
By the following week, he had already reached level 23, and although two of the guards among them advanced to level 29 during that time, it didn't help them much either. Although Minos didn't win a game, it still ended in a draw.
The opponent during the last match was the one who had already beaten Minos twice. His name was Grym, 30 years old, at level 29. He was a muscular, tall man. But what impressed Minos was the fact that this guard had a King-grade physique!
That was surprising because, generally, cultivators weren't born with a Physique which had a rating higher than that person's talent.
And since Grym had lived all his entire life in Dry City, it was also unlikely that he might have improved his Physique with external means.
Although it is almost impossible to increase someone's talent in the Spiritual World, cultivators would still be able to advance through the bottlenecks to a certain extent by using some unique means. And for the Physique, a person could increase their rating only once during their lifetime, but the ways one would be obliged to achieve that were uncommon.
However, there was a limit to how much they would be able to possibly increase their physique as well, which was to increase their physique classification by a single degree.
Therefore, only a mutant Physique like the one which Minos had could continue improving!
And so, it was unlikely that Grym was born with a Warrior-grade Physique and was further evolved into a King.
There were simply no resources in this region for doing so!
But despite it being a rare occurrence, it could not be said that such a thing was impossible to happen. Anyway, such an asset enabled Grym to have a good advantage in the battles against Minos.
Grym had an innate ability, Mental Chaos, which would put the opponent in a state of temporary confusion when used.
And since Minos had a much lower level than him, he was very vulnerable to this ability. However, after reaching level 23, Minos had managed to avoid a defeat by using all his strength.
...
With a quick bath after the fight, Minos went to the office and called Mia.
"Mia, call Commander Pyke and also tell him to bring guard Grym with him as well," Minos said to Mia as she entered his office.
"Ok," Mia nodded before turning around just as swiftly as she had entered the office.
...
A few hours later, the door to Minos' office opened, and two men entered the place.
They were Pyke and Grym.
"Young master, is there anything we can do for you?" Pyke asked curiously.
Minos shook his head and then smiled.
"I have decided to reward guard Grym for his performance for the past few weeks."
The eyes of the two men widened as they stared at Minos as he continued.
"Although he did not win the three games that I had conditioned in order to receive the Silver-grade technique, still, he didn't lose any of the matches."
Minos then looked at Grym and added, "That's why I have decided to award you with a Silver-grade technique."
Minos then took a silver scroll from his spatial ring and tossed it to Grym.
Grym was utterly shocked by what he was hearing with his ears and seeing with his eyes. He wouldn't even dream of having such a thing. Hell, even the Black-grade techniques which they received were too much for him!
At the same time, Commander Pyke's mouth was wide agape. He had an ambiguous feeling of happiness and also envy. After all, this was his biggest dream after Minos had allowed them to learn Black-grade techniques!
Anyway, the technique that Minos gave to Grym was called DayDream.
When used, it would place the target in a hallucination, which would leave them disoriented for 10 seconds and if used during the day, its effect would be doubled.
"Thank you very much, young master. I will train even harder starting today itself so as not to disappoint you," Grym said with conviction.
Although it would not be much for Minos, but to Grym who didn't even have a Black-grade technique before, and now having received a Silver-grade from him, had resulted in great respect and awe in his heart for the young sovereign.
After that, guard Grym returned to his services while Minos and Pyke discussed matters related to the administration of Dry City.
...
Time passed quickly, and it was now time for the second harvest!
A month and a half passed in the blink of an eye, and Minos was now at level 27!
Within the Spatial Kingdom, the two youths, Lee and Alison, had also increased their strength during this period and were now at level 8 already and according to butler Dillian, in just another month, these two should be reaching the Transition stage!
But for butler Dillian himself, the middle-aged man had failed to make any progress as it took much longer for someone who was at the General Spiritual stage to progress than the ones at the lower levels.
To get a rough idea, someone with high talent and in a region of high concentration could go from level 0 to 10 in just two or three months. It could take the same cultivator about five months to go from level 40 to 41!
It wasn't easy!
And along with gathering an increasing amount of energy, they would still need to have an equivalent level of mastery in each of the techniques they were training in. If not, the consequence would be very harmful if they continued to move forward in the future.
And since a higher number of techniques were trained in higher stages, this further increased the progression time a lot!
Anyway, today, Minos and Dillian left the Spatial Kingdom to solve the future issues of the Black Plains as a good amount of crystals would arrive soon.
At this moment, Minos and Dillian were talking in the office when the door quickly opened, and secretary Mia rushed in.
By this time, the two had gotten used to her barging in and leaving them speechless.
"Young master, the manager Somir is here to see you," Mia said soon after entering the office.
"Hehe, I think this guy came to negotiate. Last time we gave him a good profit after all," Dillian chuckled while sipping on his cup of tea.
"Hmmm, send him in, Mia," Minos nodded.
After a few seconds, the manager of the Central Market came through the door of Minos' office.
He looked very well other than the solemn expression on his face.
In fact, after the last harvest, Minos' yield was sold so well that now he was concerned that the young Stuart would not do any more business with him because of the 10% fee which he had charged last time.
That was why he had come here in such a hurry after discovering that the current harvest was about to be done.
"Nice to see you, Mr. Somir," Minos greeted with a smile.
"It is good to see you too, young master Minos. Today I came here to renegotiate the Central Market commission for the upcoming harvest.
Last time I charged a higher price because I didn't know the product enough and it was a small quantity. But this time, I want to make the best price possible for the young master."
Minos asked with an expressionless face as if this didn't concern him at all, "Oh? And how much are we talking about? "
"I thought of a rate of 3% of what will be sold, although it will be little for the Central Market in the first few months of business, but over time we will have a good advantage," Somir spoke honestly, feeling a certain pressure.
"Hmm, I can accept such a fee, but we can renegotiate this deal in the future. How about we form a 5-year partnership?" Minos asked. That rate was reasonable, but the Central Market would receive a considerable share when trading yielded very high amounts!
Therefore, Minos would renegotiate this contract in the future.
"It works, too," Somir replied with relief.
Such a thing was already expected, so he saw no problem with that. The main thing is that he would continue to sell Minos' items!
Because he knew very well that if he didn't get this time's harvest, it was possible that he would have to shut his business down as the customers would simply deny buying any other grains.
...
A year quickly passed and during that time, Dry City grew steadily and now boasted a population of 40,000 inhabitants. This change was due to a big part of the residents of the Black Plain migrating to this city which had been experiencing significant development in the last few months.
Several changes had also occurred during this period. For instance, about 100 hectares of land was now devoted to planting various crops, and providing employment to more than 10,000 people in the city!
The number of members in the Black Plain Army also rose by a great number and was now over 600.
As for the changes in the city, the most significant change would be the use of spiritual crystals in the four arrays located in the four directions of the central region of the city covering a third of its whole area.
Now, Minos was supplying crystals to all of them every month, resulting in more increase in spiritual density in the central parts of the city, which made the population even happier!
After all, along with an increase in spiritual concentration, the cultivation speed of the entire population was increasing!
As for Minos, he was now at level 33, while Dillian was at 47. Lee and Alison, the two youths, were already in the Spiritual Beginner stage!
Minos had also undergone his first Physique mutation, advancing from the Common-grade to the Warrior-grade. And, as a result, the increase in spiritual energy that the Minos' Physique's innate ability provided also doubled from 5% to 10%.
During this period, the army's soldiers also made a good development in their strength, with many already reaching their limit, level 39.
And because of that, there was now an urgent need for spiritual pills!
Since Elen had not returned during this period, Minos decided that he would go out to the Stone Island to do negotiation regarding the future business between the Stone Island and the Black Plain with Elen and her family and also buy some pills while on this trip.
After a meeting with the most influential people in the government, it was decided that Dillian would stay to take care of the city in Minos' absence. Meanwhile, the now Corporal Pyke and ten other soldiers of the same rank would accompany the young Stuart during the trip.
This was a trip that could take from weeks to a few months, and as they had to go through several unknown regions, there was a need for such strength. Despite not being strong, the Black Plain still had some areas with the presence of some low-level spiritual beasts.
And before Minos' arrival, that was also a source of income in the region.
Other than that, there could be other potential problems as well, so the group was made in the best possible way, in the group everyone, except Minos, was at level 39!
