The Stone Island Merchant

Two days had passed, and Minos had already reached level 9. With this achievement, he was now excited to reach the next stage that day, but before that, he had a somewhat unusual meeting today.

Despite being the local sovereign, Minos had not yet found any local traders. This was, of course, related to the fact that previous governments generally didn't have much to negotiate, while only being a regulator for a few activities.

However, today, a Stone Island merchant had made an appointment to meet him. Minos was excited about this since there was only one possibility for such a thing to happen, which was, that she was aware that he had solved the Black Plain problem!

The young Stuart was waiting in his office along with the butler Dillian, when someone knocked on the door. It was Mia, "Young master, Ms. Elen Nash is here to see you," she was here to announce her arrival.

"Hmm, tell her to come in. I have been waiting for her," Minos nodded with a satisfied expression.

As soon as Mia walked out, a young blonde entered the office.

She was gorgeous, to say the least, with a thin face combined and her graceful curves that were neither small nor large. In fact, her measurements were simply the best to 'CATCH'. She was well-dressed, which made it easy to differentiate that she was not from Dry City.

A man followed her, he was tall, muscular, and had a very relaxed look. 'This must be a guard or a companion of the young blonde,' Minos thought.

At that moment, Dillian whispered to Minos, "Young master, these two are already at the 5th stage, Spiritual General. The young woman is at level 42, and the man must be at level 47."

Hearing this, Minos thought to himself, 'As expected…'

After that, the duo Elen introduced themselves with a smile, "Nice to meet you. My name is Elen Nash, and this is my bodyguard, Eduard."

"Hmm, nice to meet you, I'm Minos Stuart, and this is Butler Dillian," Minos pointed at the seats.

"So, Miss Elen, I'm curious to know what a Stone Island merchant expects from my Black Plain," Minos asked with an expressionless face without wasting much time.

Elen began speaking without hiding her intentions, "Well, as a trader, I always look for opportunities, and the Black Plain seems like an excellent chance for my business," she then continued.

"For the past few weeks, I have been doing business at the Brown Kingdom. And on my journey returning home, I stopped by Dry City to rest.

However, despite always passing through this city when I come from the Brown Kingdom, this time I heard some rather interesting rumors about a new local sovereign. Of course, such things frequently reach your ears when you travel as much as a trader, but investigating the truth wherever you are is critical in our profession," she then looked at Minos with a look of surprise.

"However, it was just too hard to believe the rumors I heard. But if it were true, I knew that it would be something to turn the earth and the sky upside down. So, I decided to stay here for a few more days.

And now that I am aware that the rumors are true, I intend to do business with your territory," Elen finally said calmly.

"Hmm, I understand. But there are many problems for a big deal to be made right now. I estimate that it will take at least a few years before I will be able to do big business with other regions," Minos spoke vaguely after a thought.

After thinking for a moment, Elen continued, "I understand that you are just getting started just now, and any business that is done would have to be something small to start with."

Taking a pause, she smiled, "But I am willing to help you with these smaller things, and even if I don't make a big profit now, I hope that we can form a bigger partnership in the future."

"And as a gesture of sincerity, I can offer to invest in four high-level grade-1 spiritual arrays that will be focused on gathering spiritual energy."

Hearing how much this young woman was willing to invest in their relationship, both Dillian and Minos were impressed.

To give you an idea, the spiritual arrays were basically divided into four grades, and each was further divided into low, medium, and high levels. The difference between these classifications was the strength of these arrays.

An array could be of any type, such as spiritual gathering, battle formations, defensive shields, and many other types, but its power was mainly defined by the classification it was in. For instance, a high-level grade-1 array is 50 times more powerful than a low-level grade-1 array.

This only meant that a high-level grade-1 spiritual gathering array would be able to create an area of spiritual concentration that was 50 times larger than the area that could be created by a low-level grade-1.

However, the spiritual density this array would provide in a specific area would depend on the region's own spiritual concentration and it would also depend on the quantity and quality of the spiritual crystals provided for working of the array and also the array's classification.

A high-level grade-4 array would have an efficiency of 100%, which meant that it would either concentrate all the spiritual energy in the area or convert all the energy contained in the spiritual crystals supplied to the array into free power within that area.

But on the other hand, a high-level grade-1 array would have an efficiency of 20%. However, the difference in their prices was colossal. For an array with a mere 20% efficiency, the cost would be about 15,000 low-grade spiritual crystals!

As for getting an array of the highest quality, you would have to shell out 100,000 high-level spiritual crystals!

And for this very reason, investing four high-level grade-1 arrays in a place that had barely started to develop was something very high, even by the standards of the Northern region of the Central Continent.

Minos took a breath to calm down before speaking, "Oh! From your confidence, it seems that Ms. Elen is convinced that the Black Plain will be successful.

But I want to know what you desire to gain. I don't want to sign a blank check."

Elen quickly responded, "As I said, I only want a  seat at the table when the Black Plain develops. In fact, I would be pleased if I were your only contact within Stone Island.

That would be enough for me," she smiled and didn't say any further.

"That was about the Black Plain, but what about your side? Will you be able to handle the entire turnover of my region with your Stone Island? Don't get me wrong. I'm not disparaging you. I just don't know you," Minos doubted.

He wanted to know who he was dealing with and didn't want to receive 'small' help now just to face some big problems in the future.

Elen didn't seem that she was offended. She knew that this young man did not know her background and replied, "I can understand your concern. Naturally, you do not know who I am, given your past. But I can assure you that when the Black Plain is a major influence, I will cause no hindrance to your relations with Stone Island."

She then continued, "In fact, if you look for Stone Island's Nash family, you will know that it is one of the largest merchant families in our region."

"Hmm, OK. Thanks for the honesty, Ms. Nash. I will consider your offer and provide you with feedback in a week. I hope it's sufficient?" Minos nodded as he looked into the young woman's eyes across the table.

"Okay, a week is enough. I'm staying at the Four Seasons Hotel. You can send someone to inform me when you're ready," Elen agreed before leaving with her bodyguard.

After that, Minos and Dillian were the only ones left in the office.

Soon after Elen and her bodyguard left, Dillian spoke to Minos, "If I'm not mistaken, the Nash family is indeed a big family in the Stone Island. I once heard a rumor that they even had relations with an empire."

"Oh! So, it looks like there should be no problems. But just in case, investigate it, Grandpa Dillian. We have to know if she is not someone with a lot of problems within her family," Minos' eyes narrowed as he asked Dillian.

After all, an exclusive business relationship like the one Elen wanted was no different from a wedding. If even just one of the two sides had a problem, it would affect both parties. When you marry someone, the problems of the other become your problem as well!

Thus, before getting associated with someone, Minos wanted to know about the person well, thus avoiding any future possible problems.

…

Two days passed, and Minos' group was still researching everything they needed about Elen Nash. But today, Minos had a significant thing to do. He was about to step into level 10, the start of the Transition stage.

The young Stuart was very excited about this since he had already chosen an attack technique that he wanted to learn at this stage.

The technique was called Spatial Sword and was classified in Golden-grade, with ten phases. It required the user to use a sword-like spiritual tool.

When the technique was activated, the space surrounding the user would stop for one second, thus ceasing all the objects and living beings for that period of time as long as the ones in this field didn't exceed the user's cultivation level. If that happened, the technique would have a limited effect on that individual.

And during the activation interval, this technique also increased the power of attacks made by the user using swords.

As for the space around the user that would be affected by this technique, this would depend on the technique's phase. In the first phase of this technique, the region within a radius of up to ten meters around the user would be influenced. And it would continue to couple with each phase further achieved, finally reaching over 5 kilometers around the user with the technique reaching its maximum performance. 

With the help of this technique, Minos would have a significant advantage against those at the same level as him. And even if he were to face someone stronger than him, the technique would ensure to slow down his opponent unless the difference in strength was not too big.