While Abby, Ruth, and Gloria were dealing with the affairs of the royal wedding, thousands of spiritual beasts were crossing the borders of the Black Plain, traveling toward the central part of this territory.
After days since Minos' order for the local government to lead the reforestation operations of the central area of this state, the initial plans for that goal were already beginning to come into operation.
The beasts of the Flooded Valley, along with the races of that area and other beasts from other parts of the northern region interested in the Black Plain, had already begun to move toward this state. Not only that, many of them had already organized essential resources for the reforestation of that area. As such, several carried all sorts of items as they traveled through the region.
Some were traveling with massive tree trunks, as seen with a group of Diamond Monkeys crossing the Black Plain right now with a 200-meter-long trunk on their backs.
On the other hand, others brought precious minerals, dead vegetation, and even fewer animals to graze the areas to be reforested.
With this, in some regions of the Black Plain, colorful waves of migrating living beings could be seen at any time of the day, sometimes tens of thousands of humans traveling side by side with thousands of wild beasts.
It was a situation not often seen!
But this was what any visitor flying over the Black Plain would see in the four counties of this state at almost any time of the day!
That was the local development effort, Minos' plan to make this place a gigantic fortress.
...
As beasts and humans continued to enter the Black Plain, a few days passed, and the royal wedding got closer.
However, while the development and satisfaction of the entire local population broke records daily, an early wedding gift arrived for Minos!
While he was sleeping next to his women in the lake house of the Spatial Kingdom, Emlyn was awake next to her daughter, watching Virtus with wide eyes, surprised at what was unfolding in front of her.
'I didn't think he would move so fast...' She watched the large body of that Feathered Serpent vibrating with the explosive spiritual energy in its body.
Virtus had already been at absolute regional peak for months, having for many weeks trained hard in this cultivation sanctuary and fed on King-grade spiritual medicines provided by Minos.
Because of this, he could literally advance to the 7th stage at any time!
He had not advanced until then, not because of a lack of energy in his body, as this had already been solved by coming to this place. No, the problem had been something else, his own potential.
If it had been Emlyn in Virtus' condition, upon reaching the peak of the 6th stage, she would have immediately advanced to the 7th stage since her talent was superior to his. However, that serpent had to be calmer than her and more calmly understand the Natural Laws of this world to make such an advance safely.
Therefore, Minos had wondered if Emlyn could overcome such a Feathered Serpent and become the first creature to become a Spiritual Emperor of his forces.
Virtus could advance any time, but that could be in a day or a year!
In any case, this serpent had reached the best state to advance just on the eve of Minos' wedding and was currently in the middle of its advance to the 7th stage!
With that, as two similar furry foxes lay side by side, watching that serpent coiled up in one of the troves of trees in that area, pulses of energy were leaving that body, drawing the attention of the soldiers in the surrounding area.
"Look at that! It looks like elder Virtus is about to advance!" One of the Elite Squad members said this out loud, in a tone filled with reverence and happiness.
He and others there felt incredible to witness the 'creation' of the first Spiritual Emperor of the Black Plain. But not only that, watching the advancement of any living being could stimulate weaker cultivators!
That was noticeably better if the advancement was from beings of the same species or even practitioners of the same type. But an advance by itself already made a lot of difference, even for beings of different races.
That was particularly true for most of those soldiers, individuals at the latter part of the 5th stage, those levels far below Virtus'.
With that, soon, each of them was sitting on the outskirts, eyes closed, as they tried to feel the laws resonating with that being.
The same was true even for the instructors of these individuals. Among them were Eda, level 55, and Viola, level 52.
...
When Virtus' advance was almost ending, the trio in the main room of that lake house finally realized that there was something 'wrong' going on due to the constant pulse lighting up their room.
Because of this, Minos was the first to get up to see the problem, quickly noticing their wedding gift.
"Virtus will become a Spiritual Emperor in 5 minutes..." He casually commented to his women, causing them to get up from that bed suddenly.
After running to the window side of their room, the two saw Virtus' body, which now seemed to have gone into a scale-swapping mode.
"Unbelievable!"
"I didn't think he would get that so soon!" Ruth was the first to comment since she was the one most aware of the difficulty of beings of this region or average talent advancing to that stage.
"Hmm, shall we take a closer look?" Abby asked the two before they all left that place in hurried steps.
...
After a few seconds, Minos was already at Kyla's side, massaging that fox's large ears, while he and his women watched the completion of Virtus' advance.
Shortly after arriving there, the pulses emitted by Virtus' body ceased, while a gigantic cocoon seemed to form around his body.
After that, such a thing sucked in a large amount of spiritual energy from the surroundings until it began to move, with many cracks spreading through various parts of the cocoon.
Crack!
Then the 30-centimeter thick cocoon exploded into countless pieces, exposing a serpent of colorful scales, wings opening to a length as long as its own body. Finally, its large head seemed less crude than before, with a refinement hard to ignore.
As he opened his large vertical eyes, an incomparable glow broke from them, making all the people there watch these changes in his figure with open mouths.
"Hahahaha, finally! I finally made it!" He shouted in his spiritual voice, spreading his great satisfaction with himself, feeling more vital than ever.
Finally, Virtus' cultivation base had stabilized at the beginning of the 7th stage, officially making him the first spiritual beast of this strength range in the Black Plain!
"Congratulations to elder Virtus for reaching level 60. From now on, we will be able to do much more for the future!" Then, Minos approached that individual and said sincerely, smiling as if he was the one who had the breakthrough.
After that, Abby, Ruth, and Emlyn expressed their words to that being, happy for his advancement.
"Haha, thank you. Well, if it weren't for young Minos bringing me to this place, it would have been impossible for me to reach this level so soon..."
"Then it's all due to that opportunity you created!" He was sincere, showing his gratitude to Minos.
"Well, now that you have advanced, how about staying in Dry City for the next few days to attend my wedding? After that, I will discharge you to go and join the rest of the Feathered Serpents dealing with that matter on the Black Plain."
"Oh? That sounds good to me!"
"Hmmm." Minos nodded to Virtus before looking at the soldiers in the surrounding area and saying. "Well, it's time for you all to get ready to leave this place!"
"The Spatial Kingdom will be closed to all of you for the next 30 days, so get your things before we head back to Dry City."
"Yes, Your Grace!" Almost all the humans there shouted simultaneously, quickly heading towards their tents.
Many would like to stay there as long as possible, but with the gift Virtus had given them all, they had a lot to digest over the next few weeks.
So, staying away from this place during Minos' honeymoon would not be missed much by them. Hence, they had smiles on their faces as they gathered their things, already preparing to celebrate this extraordinary moment on the Black Plain with their families!
