A few weeks later...
After departing from where the Longus family's message was, Minos and Starclaw traveled quickly along the path they had taken in the western region without attracting attention wherever they passed.
They left Lusmait without any problems and then moved through the Western Empire until they reached the Veora Kingdom. From there, Minos and his mount reached the Black Plain Army post further south in the Vogel area.
That had been yesterday when they entered the empire's wormholes network and finally moved all the way across the continent, easily reaching Snow's area this morning.
...
Upon reaching the End area, Starclaw immediately spotted the mountain ranges on the horizon of that area, where snow-capped peaks stretched for thousands of miles.
This was in stark contrast to the outskirts of the largest city in that area, where there was lush vegetation and warm weather at this time of year.
But what struck her most was not the sight of the Endless Snow Moutain Range, the largest mountain formation in the Spiritual World, but rather the spiritual poverty of the area.
After spotting that natural landscape, she couldn't help but comment to Minos as she walked out of the local wormhole port. "That place is truly poor. It amazes me that there are localities like this in our world."
Minos bitterly smiled, considering the local quality had already improved since he had dominated the northern region.
Before him, this area could barely nurture high-level Spiritual Kings. But currently, it could even give rise to Spiritual Emperors, and people at that stage could cultivate in the area even up to intermediate levels of that stage.
But for a level 87 beast, the area was impoverished.
"It's been worse... And it will get better in the future." He commented as he walked beside her, seeing the group of people waiting for him near a local port.
The news was spreading fast, and some local nobles were already at the port where Minos had asked for a ship to be prepared for him and Starclaw.
When he passed Vogel's post the day before, he had sent this order, as he would have to travel by boat and would need a new means of sea transport.
The one he had used to reach the island of the Seraphim Ancient Sarcophagus had been destroyed by Darren, the great level 99 whale.
This information had reached this city minutes ago, and the Snow family was already aware of it, while the Black Plain Army already had Minos' ship ready to leave.
Starclaw saw those weak people near the local harbor and muttered. "It's impressive that someone like you appeared in this place."
"Actually, I am from a worse place than this." Minos laughed. "And until recently, that guy over there had a higher level than mine."
Seeing Adam Snow, the man Minos was talking about, Starclaw opened her mouth, noting this man's level 69 cultivation.
'Minos is currently at level 80... Is that serious?' She looked at him with narrowed eyes, wondering what cultivation speed that was.
Humans cultivated faster than beasts, but this more than 10,000-year-old creature had never heard of such high talent.
Therefore, as they arrived in front of the representatives of the local noble powers, she remained silent, reassessing her master's position.
She thought that Minos had impressive combat skills, but she didn't expect that he was also a cultivation genius.
She knew he wasn't old, but estimating someone's age at their cultivation stage was difficult. Thus, she thought he was at least a few centuries or even close to a thousand years old.
Little did she know Minos had only decades of experience in this world!
While she was thinking about the possibilities, Minos was reunited with old acquaintances from this area.
The former King Snow was there with his son, Ambrose, the current leader of Snow's Assembly.
Besides them, their wives and even the son of Ambrose and Misty were there, along with some patriarchs of local families.
In general, the people there were Spiritual Emperors, but there were a few Spiritual Saints, normally young people who had taken over the local families in recent years.
In the entire northern region of the Central Continent, the old leaders of the area before the Black Plain Empire had abdicated their positions for their sons and daughters to take their places.
These sons and daughters did not have the same limitations as them, as they were young and did not have the same past as them.
Thus, many individuals of Ambrose and Misty's age were there to greet Minos.
Minos was in a hurry, so he did not unwind the conversations, merely greeting those people and promising to help this area develop further in the future.
Those people were also impressed by Minos's fine company, noting that he had either won a new woman or had obtained yet another specialist for the empire.
Many of them greeted Starclaw, pushing this beast away from her thoughts about Minos' extraordinary talent.
When he managed to overcome these people who saw him as if he were a god, Minos finally caught up with his soldiers waiting for him in front of the entrance to the yacht that he and Starclaw would be using.
There he saw Celeste, level 71, and Grace, level 72, waiting for him in formation.
"Your Majesty, we prepared this low-level grade-4 yacht as quickly as we could, given the short time," Grace said as Minos signaled for them to relax.
"Hmm, that will do." He said, smiling at the two.
After a few words with them, he didn't take long and got on that ship with Starclaw, quickly saying goodbye to everyone in the surrounding area.
"That's all folks. Go back to your things. I will be traveling for the next few months, but I hope to hear good news from all of you when I return victorious!" His yacht slowly drifted away from that harbor.
Those who knew what Minos would do clenched their fists, anxious for his return and the distancing of the greatest threat that had ever reached them.
But Celeste and Grace couldn't help but feel apprehensive, for they knew that Minos would face more powerful beings than he could on this journey.
"Sigh... In the blink of an eye, we can no longer do much to help him." Celeste commented as she closed her eyes and remembered when she, Mirya, and others of the Black Plain old guard were actively helping Minos.
Grace was part of that group, although, at the time, she was not as strong as Celeste.
She said. "There is nothing to do. His Majesty is much more talented than we are... But we can help him greatly by keeping order and peace in his domains." She looked toward the direction of the large city where they were standing.
"Here, we can enforce his rules, show the populace where all the good things they have come from, and direct the empire to an even better position." Grace smiled as she looked back toward the ship setting off eastward.
"As His Majesty has always said, alone we may not be influential, but together we make a big difference!"
