The First Fight

Four days passed, and the entire harvest had been sold. 

And after the success of rice, many families inquired about the other crops that had also been harvested in the Black Plain. And as a result, the 10 tons of grains and cereal were all sold in the blink of an eye!

That was because these items were so rich in spiritual energy that after eating just a few spoons of them would help the ones who were in the first and second stages of cultivation to easily achieve a breakthrough in their levels!

One had to know that, in these stages of cultivation, spiritual crystals couldn't be used even if one wanted to cultivate with their help, but the spiritual energy in the food could still be used. And even though the amount of spiritual energy in food was much less than that in the crystals, it was still something that could make a big difference.e

As a result, these types of energy-rich crops were something which were always in high demand, and when coupled with the low price of commercialization, the products of the Black Plain went viral within Dry City.

Minos now had 49,500 crystals in his hands; of this, he would leave 32,000 to pay new farmers who would cultivate the other six hectares of land in the next 2-3 months, and in addition to that, he would start building the Black Plain Army's headquarters from the remaining amount.

He could start recruiting in three months when the new harvest would also be ready, and Dry City would again have enough funds for the new hires. He would also open a spiritual academy at that time!

As for purchasing spiritual pills that could help those with talent below the Black rank, Minos planned to let these guards reach the peak of their stages first before giving them the pills.

The reason was that none of them was at level 39, which was a bottleneck that was hard to pass without outside help for individuals with Blue talent. And not only were the city guards not at that level, but not even Minos' guards had not reached that level, with the strongest among them being only at level 38.

…

Meanwhile, in the Spatial Kingdom, things were very calm as usual.

But there was something different in the place today. Because besides Minos, there were three more people cultivating in front of the big house near the lake.

These three were Butler Dillian, Lee, and Alison.

As to why they were here, well… That was because, for the butler Dillian, he didn't have much work lately as the city didn't have enough funds for the necessary changes, so he could only concentrate on cultivating and getting stronger for now.

And training in the Spatial Kingdom would significantly increase anyone's cultivation speed in the North of the Central Continent. As for Lee and Alison, the two had Black talent and could advance faster if they trained in a place with a high spiritual concentration, such as the Spatial Kingdom.

Thus, Minos convinced the families of these two to let them go through Minos' 'SPECIAL TRAINING.' But, of course, the young Stuart didn't elaborate on what this training included since it wasn't good for others to know.

As for the two youths, Minos wanted them to get stronger swiftly. So, he decided to invest in these two by letting them live within the Spatial Kingdom for a year, which according to him, would be enough time for the two to reach the Spiritual Beginner stage.

After that period, they could cultivate outside the Spatial Kingdom using the spiritual crystals.

And to keep where they were during the year as a secret and not tell about anything here to anyone, Minos also promised the youths a Silver-grade technique.

He was now at level 21, but he was facing a problem. All this long, Minos had only cultivated and trained alone, and so he didn't know just how strong he would be in a real fight.

Thinking of that, he planned to start training with his guards.

Considering the ability of his Physique, increased energy, and coupled with Golden-grade techniques, Minos was confident that he wouldn't lose a fight against someone up to level 27 or 28.

So although he wasn't sure to win, the young Stuart assumed that he could face some challenges only from that level. Below that, he would undoubtedly win, and there would be no point in it.

Then, Minos sought Commander Pyke to talk.

…

After telling Mia, Minos finally received Pyke in his office.

"I heard that the young master was looking for me. How can I help you?" Pyke asked as soon as he walked into the office.

"I want to find someone to train with me. Ask some guards between levels 27 and 28 to come and see me in the courtyard behind the mansion," Minos said with excitement.

Hearing Minos' order, Pyke was both surprised and confused at the same time. First, because this young man before him didn't seem like the type who cares about such kinds of things, and second, since what he was trying to do should normally be impractical for most people.

After all, it wasn't common to fight against the higher cultivation levels in these regions.

For a moment, he just could not wrap his mind around Minos' words.

"This… Is the young master sure to face such a huge difference in levels? I don't want to look like I'm despising you, but that is a considerable difference, it can cause you harm," said the commander, making an earnest face.

Minos replied while drinking a cup of tea from the table, "Don't worry. I don't think that fighting through the levels is trivial. But due to my high-grade techniques, there would be nothing challenging if I were to fight against people weaker than that."

Commander Pyke then stopped to think for a while. Indeed there is a big difference between the quality of the techniques of different degrees. And he had seen Minos distributing Black-grade techniques as if they were tomatoes, he knew that meant the young man was training techniques at an even higher level.

After thinking this through, Pyke concluded that there would be no problem. "Okay, I'll immediately get them together."

After saying this, he said goodbye and Minos returned to focus on some fundamental issues of Dry City.

…

A few hours later, Minos was waiting for the group of soldiers with whom he was going to experience his first fight when he noticed Commander Pyke finally arrived with a group of men.

There were ten guards, with six of them at level 27 and the rest at level 28.

In fact, initially, there were supposed to be 15 guards at levels 27 and 28, but five of them had advanced to level 29, while three had advanced from level 27 to level 28.

"Hello everyone, let's get to the point, starting today, I hope that some of you can help me train daily. Of course, since you still have your responsibilities, I'm not going to occupy you at the same time."

Minos then continued, "Today, I want to fight someone at level 27 to see how I do. As for the others, you can watch if you want, or you can leave too."

He then asked, "Is anyone willing? And don't worry, you don't have to take it easy. You can fight the way you normally would."

However, there wasn't much reaction from them after hearing him. 

But suddenly, Minos thought of something interesting.

"How about this: we'll fight here for a total of three weeks. I'll fight two people each day, but the one who once fought me will have to wait for the others too. At that time, anyone who is able to beat me three times will win a Silver-grade technique."

After hearing Minos' brag, the eyes of the ten people present in the courtyard almost popped out of their eye sockets. A Silver-grade technique just to defeat someone who was 6 or 7 levels weaker than them!

Some of them were already very excited about it while they were thinking. 'This is going to be a piece of cake, hehe.'

Even Pyke was impressed and wanted to participate in it. But, unfortunately, given his level he knew that there would be no way for such a thing was going to happen.

'How unlucky!' he could only sigh, shaking his head.

He had been proud of his accomplishment in cultivation, but now he felt that it was all useless.

"You can choose the order among yourselves, but those at level 28 have to be last in the group," Minos said, holding his hands behind his back. He then thought to himself. 'You suppose it'll be easy. Hehe, I just want to see it.'

After a few minutes of discussing the order, one of the guards at level 27 introduced himself to Minos, "I would be the first to try, young master."

This guard was Jov, 29 years old, 1.8 meters tall, and black-haired. He had entered the guard eight years ago after reaching level 20.

"Very well! Commander Pyke will be the judge of this fight, and the fight will end when either of us is exhausted or surrenders," Minos said, preparing himself.

Everyone agreed with this and other rules and the fight was about to commence!

"Are you ready? You can start now," Pyke said excitedly.

For simple people like him, watching such games was a pleasure that made his blood boil!

At this moment, Minos held a blunt sword, while Jov wasn't using any weapon. This is because the attack technique of the guard did not require one.

Jov activated his technique with 60% of his power, which he thought would be enough to win this fight. His technique was a Black-grade that he had received from Commander Pyke through butler Dillian.

The name was Destroyer Fist, which created an energy fist, that would attack whatever was in its way when activated.

'Hehe, this should be enough,' moving his fist at Minos, Jov laughed in his mind, while already imagining having a Silver-grade technique in his hand.

At the same time, Minos dodged the fist coming towards him while activating the Spatial Sword, freezing everything within a radius of 20 meters, but since Jov's level was much higher than Minos', his speed was only slowed down and not stopped.

This sudden change caused everyone around, including Jov himself, to realize something was wrong. And their expressions slowly began to change.

That was because the difference between the levels of the two was not that of one or two, but a whole 6 levels!