In the imperial palace of Dry City...
Minos was standing in front of the two elders of the Gray Clouds Sect, who had recently advanced to level 80.
One of them was an elder of the Coleman family, who had first come to Dry City with Minos years ago and had not returned to Clouds City in the exchanges of people that the local government had made over the years.
The other had also stayed in the city for several years without having returned to the Flaming Empire since arriving here. He was one of the leaders of the Moss family, the house of Ivory.
But these were not the only Spiritual Sages under the Black Plain Empire or even in that throne hall where they were. Oswald, who was no longer part of the Grey Clouds Sect, had also advanced a stage with the help of his grandson!
So now Minos had three experts from that stage in his network of influence, which gave him plenty of peace of mind for when he had to stay away from his state.
These men could not compare to him, who was currently near the peak of level 76. Still, they could manipulate space and, thereby, more easily counter opponents.
Because of these capabilities related to the 9th stage, even though they were low-level and weaker than this emperor, they were relevant to the empire!
"Elders, you have already learned your new techniques and are armed with equipment of a level equivalent to your current strength," Minos said to those two while having Oswald at his side.
Oswald was in a new cultivation stage, so his appearance had significantly improved, even without him making an effort to manipulate his body.
A cultivator's natural appearance was associated with their body's life force. So when a cultivator above level 70 wasn't manipulating their cells to look younger or different, they would have an appearance equivalent to their vitality and characteristics.
If that person had already reached half of what they were supposed to live, they would have a middle-aged appearance. If they were close to dying, they would have an elderly appearance.
Therefore, Oswald and those elders looked younger because they had more than doubled their previous vitality.
The two individuals of middle-aged appearances smiled upon hearing Minos' words, eager for whatever missions he would pass on to them.
Now that they had reached level 80, they wanted to walk through the Flaming Empire or even the Black Plain to show their acquaintances how strong they were.
Minos then responded to their yearnings. "With that, I want one of you to return to the Flaming Empire to replace the level 78 elders who will leave that place to come to the Black Plain.
The other will work alongside Oswald to develop the wormhole ports of the Black Plain Army."
The most efficient way to travel through the Spiritual World was through wormholes.
Spiritual Sages could create such opportunities for themselves at any time. Still, there was a way to create paths through space that worked 'permanently.'
Obviously, this was not permanent, but as long as Spiritual Sages maintained these paths regularly, they could be used in place of teleportation arrays safely for long intervals.
And with this, Spiritual Sages would not be required all the time to enable travel using these paths through space.
What was the advantage of using this means of travel? Simple, the saving of crystals related to the arrays since these paths were straightforward for experts to create and maintain and did not require crystals to travel through them.
At the same time, wormholes could lead to distances limited only by the level of the experts behind them or by patience.
That is, a level 80 cultivator could make a wormhole that would shorten the distance between, for example, Dry City and Payton. But more than that, only by making a new wormhole could they increase the range of these paths. On the other hand, a level 89 cultivator could go much further with a single wormhole than a level 80.
Anyway, with this alternative, one didn't have to use crystals every time they were going to travel long distances, they wouldn't have to invest in buying the arrays, and they could go farther than these alternatives.
Minos wanted to use this to save his state's essential resources and enable him, in one wormhole, to reach the limits of his territory!
That would greatly help his forces to move specialists around the empire!
Oswald already knew of his grandson's plans for this, and one of those men didn't think it bad to go ahead with the job, letting his companion go to the Flaming Empire first.
They agreed on this among themselves, and soon the three left, two of them to start the wormhole ports project, one for the Flaming Empire.
Minos watched their departure through the local skies, where they could not open wormholes due to the arrays around the capital.
'With this, I will solve the problem of my organization's distance and crystal consumption in a few weeks...
I'll be able to use this to nurture more high-level experts.' He smiled, thinking of the remaining Grey Clouds Sect cultivators in the Flaming Empire, who could soon give rise to new Spiritual Sages for the Black Plain Empire.
Amid this, Sarah approached where her father was standing, coming from a small mission she had just completed.
"Father, did great-grandfather leave?" This 20-year-old, level 55 redheaded young woman asked as she stopped beside her 'old' man.
Minos looked at his daughter, who looked more and more like Gloria. "Yes, he will start developing the wormhole ports with the elder Moss."
"Hehe, that's good. I'm looking forward to not traveling through teleportation arrays anymore." She commented as she showed Minos a spatial ring.
Minos looked at that and saw some criminals' heads. People marked for death that soldiers of the Elite Squad had the mission to hunt down.
Sarah was currently part of this renowned group, not because of her status as a princess but because of her merit.
Because of her position, from time to time, she went out to help the forces of the empire to maintain order in this society, helping her father but also her little brother Kendrick, the local heir.
Crime exists in every society. Even in the Black Plain, where opportunities were not lacking for those with the will to grow, crime and social problems happened.
This had always happened, even in the initial moments of local development, when government hiring rates reached more people than in the present time.
But because of the local characteristics and the firm hand that Minos had in acting against criminals, this state had meager crime rates.
In any case, they existed and were opportunities for young people like Sarah to test their skills within this state without taking risks away from the emperor's domain.
Minos saw that his daughter had completed another kill, becoming satisfied as he saw the head of an old acquaintance in that spatial ring, noting Sarah's combat proficiency.
'Nelson Skinner, uh? It seems that Sarah is stronger than ordinary level 60 cultivators...' He thought, seeing the head of the former ruler of the Black Plain territory when this place still belonged to the old Brown Kingdom, and he was unconscious.
"Sigh..."
'So this fellow ended up dying by the hands of my daughter... I guess that ends our business.' He remembered the crystals that man had stolen from him back then.
...
