A few more days have passed...
After almost three weeks since the battle at the Longus family headquarters, Minos finally awoke from his unconscious state this morning!
The Longus family doctors had helped him as best they could. Still, without Starclaw's permission to them use pills with strong medicinal power, they couldn't go far in helping him.
Starclaw knew how opposed Minos was to using resources that could destabilize the soul cultivation of humans. For him, the most important thing was not to quickly achieve breakthroughs but to do so without losing spiritual quality, that is, cultivating slowly using only his cultivation technique.
As her mount, she knew he would never allow anyone to give him unnecessary medicine. Since Minos had not suffered any mortal damage, she had not allowed this family's doctors and alchemists to act.
Thus, at most, the Longus family doctors used their techniques to ensure a more accelerated recovery.
...
Upon awakening this morning, Minos felt much weakness in his body, noting the disadvantages of fusing three techniques at his current level.
What he had done should only be considered a combat option for Spiritual Demigods, the only ones who could handle the rebound from creating a supreme weapon.
His entire body was sore, and his soul seemed a bit unbalanced, as if it were a boiling lake instead of its normal calm, less agitated state.
The headache he felt at the moment made it seem like he had been smacked on the head, and his eyes seemed to have become totally unaccustomed to the light.
But Minos had expected these reactions when he decided to punish the leaders of the Longus family. Upon awakening, he tried to endure all these sensations with what he had.
Starclaw was the first who noticed his awakening and, as such, had soon brought him a feast, something she knew Minos loved to use to regain his energy.
Minos looked like a malnourished man when he awoke, but after an hour of slowly eating, his appearance improved somewhat, with his skin returning to its normal color.
He was still much thinner than normal when he finished eating, but his vitality seemed to have strengthened, and even his aches and pains lessened a bit.
"How are you?" Fermo asked as he saw Minos sitting up in the bed he had been sleeping in all these days.
In the surroundings of the room they were in, several empty food bowls, cups, and plates lay where Minos had left them moments ago.
Looking at this hybrid who had just walked in, Minos narrowed his eyes, still feeling several of the sensations from earlier, only less intense.
"I'm fine. I'll recover enough for us to leave this place in a few more weeks." Minos said in a low, rather hoarse voice. "I'll be 100% again in less than a year."
"A year?" Fermo opened his mouth in surprise.
"The costs of power, I would say..." Minos laughed subtly.
"When do we leave?" Starclaw asked, standing in front of Minos.
"In about four months at the most. By that time, I will have recovered enough to have the same strength as when we started our sea voyage." He lay down again.
"What do you intend to do about the Longus family, Your Majesty?" Fermo couldn't help but ask that.
Minos' eyes opened more significantly at the thought of this family. "Those who are willing to receive a Divine Seal may accompany me to my empire. I will send some of you to the Spatial Kingdom, and the others will travel with me and Starclaw.
We need a crew."
"Oh?" Fermo's eyes sparkled with his joy.
"There are how many of you currently? How are your forces?" Minos asked, still lying down.
"Considering the survivors, our group has 42 Spiritual Sages between levels 80 and 89. Unfortunately, most of the family Sages were part of the faction of the former family leader, so over 60 died at your hands previously.
Other than those, we have 650 more members between levels 60 and 79."
There were no children born less than 50 years ago in the Longus family. So there were no people with cultivation below level 60 in the group of survivors.
"That's good. You will bring a relevant power to my army." Minos said, yawning. "Under my command, we will have Demigods in your group again in a few years."
"Certainly, Your Majesty!" Fermo said in glee before remembering the beast tribes that had helped him gather strength with him before he met Minos.
"Your Majesty, some tribes allied with my faction know about your origin. Many are in the dark about the Spatial Kingdom and what is in it, but several are willing to join the Black Plain Empire.
Would you have room for them as well? I can extend the invitation on your behalf if you so decide."
"How many beasts are we talking about?" Minos asked.
"A similar number to the family group. But they are a little stronger than us on average. They don't have as many young men as our group, and they didn't lose any men in the previous battle."
"I see..." Minos closed his eyes and said. "All right, invite those beasts too... Also, prepare a new feast for four hours from now. Wake me up when it's all ready."
Before falling asleep, he threw a spatial ring with the crystals of the mercenaries in Starclaw's direction.
He didn't want to risk going to the Spatial Kingdom and revealing his riches to the mercenaries in his group. So he decided to sleep right there for the time being, feeling that the place was safe enough for that.
Starclaw saw that Minos was already asleep and understood what that spatial ring was about.
At that moment, the door to Minos' room opened, and the Longus family's strongest elder entered.
"I heard that His Majesty has awakened..." He said, eager to talk with Minos for the first time.
But Fermo smiled bitterly and said. "Elder, I'm sorry, but His Majesty has gone back to sleep."
"What?"
"But don't worry, I talked to him, and he intends to take everyone willing to commit to him. So get the family ready. We will be returning to the Central Continent!"
With that said, it wouldn't take long for Starclaw to leave to pay the mercenaries, while Fermo and the remaining leadership of the Longus family would begin preparations.
This hybrid would soon send letters to the tribes allied to him, informing them of Minos' decision.
While Emperor Stuart slept, his forces were rapidly growing stronger!
But while these forces were moving in favor of the Black Plain Empire, someone was watching in the direction of the Longus family headquarters!
...
'So this is where that feeling came from... Let's see what exactly happened here weeks ago!' A white-haired old man made a few hand seals as he stood above the area where the Minos battle had taken place.
Then his eyes turned completely black.
