After talking to his army men about the updates he needed to hear, Minos left his headquarters to visit the empire's government before stopping to see Gloria at the local temple.
Later that day, he would care for the needs of his wives and himself, enjoying a bit of pure joy and happiness amidst the preparations for war.
Then, when it was evening in that area, he would go to one of the places where he had left his idols to gather faith.
He didn't expect to achieve anything significant since only a few years had passed since he had placed those ancient artifacts. Minos simply wanted to monitor the progress of his plans regarding the power of faith, something quite essential for one to attain divinity.
Arriving at one of the altars he had near Dry City, Minos was faced with a better situation than he had expected!
'Oh? This idol has absorbed far more power of faith than I had imagined!' He was surprised to see that the item was at more than 30% of its capacity.
That might not seem like much, but in just over two years, this item had accumulated more power than the Veora Family normally managed in two centuries!
'Is it the size of my population? Veora's capital only has a few million people near the area that was previously within the range of their idols.'
There were currently more than 50 million people living within the range of this idol, an impressive number that was largely caused by the onset of the ice age that was just around the corner.
The government of Minos had encouraged people from all over the empire to come to Dry City, especially the abandonment of cities that would be hit hard by the ice age.
That's why the ring of cities around the capital now had a surreal number of inhabitants by the standards of this world.
'Or is it because of my popularity?' Minos wondered.
He had been extremely popular with the inhabitants since he was just a Spiritual Emperor. But now he was worshipped by millions, and many saw him as if he were not a creature of this world but a heavenly being living among mortals.
Some believed in Minos so much that they were willing to sacrifice their lives at his command!
Aware that millions of people loved him, Minos imagined that this was part of the good result of the collection of the power of faith so far.
'Good!' He smiled as he put the idol aside, 'I'll let you continue absorbing this power along with the other artifacts. In four or five years, you'll reach the maximum amount of faith you can store. That will be the time for me to absorb this essence.'
With this in mind, Minos would soon pass by the other three altars around his empire, where the other items that collected the power of faith were located.
Two of them were near the capital of the empire, but two others were in entirely different places and far away from each other.
One of them was located in the End area's capital, which Kara Carline currently rules. This city was currently the third largest metropolis in the empire, with a population of 39 million.
Why was an area so far from the capital so important? Because of the End area's proximity to the North Sea, where the aliens would come from. For decades, Minos and his people had been preparing this place to strengthen it, burying the corpses of specialists there, sending resources and investments, but also specialists.
As a result, the End area had become the second strongest and most populous region in the entire empire, with more than 900 million inhabitants today.
Because of how much Minos had invested in and transformed the area, the population there was extremely loyal to him, as was the population of the empire's core.
The last place where he had items to gather the power of faith was in the underwater part of the empire, where more than 500 million people currently live in the Ancestral Sea.
The second largest city in the empire was located there, with more than 47 million people, almost reaching and surpassing the population on the capital's outskirts.
After passing through these places, checking the status of the six faith-gathering items, and observing the situation there, Minos was ready to return to his capital city.
As he did so, he had a satisfied look on his face, not only because of the magnificent faith-gathering results, but also because of the old acquaintances he had seen on this quick trip.
For example, Starclaw was currently at level 91 and still lived in the underwater part of the empire. On the other hand, Kara Carline was at level 82, while her mother and stepmother were at level 75.
Although Linette and Jade were already of advanced age when they had the cultivation opportunities brought by Minos, they could cross the bottleneck of the 8th stage and become Saints. These two lovers of Emperor Stuart continued to serve him in this area of End and helped Kara fulfill her responsibilities.
Others who served the empire in the underwater part of the state were Elena and Maida, the former currently at level 83 and the latter at level 80.
Anyway, Minos saw other old acquaintances on his quick trip, not stopping for a chat or anything before returning to his capital.
'It is almost time for me to go to the Seraphim's Ancient Sarcophagus...' He thought to himself. 'It will be good if I go there before my agreements with the strongest powers in the world for the technologies we have run out.' He made up his mind, ready to spend more time concentrating on the Spatial Kingdom before venturing into other matters.
Soon, Minos would return to the Spatial Kingdom of his state and take a few more people with him to cultivate in his cultivation shrine.
Months would pass in the blink of an eye amidst the group's seclusion and study in the Spatial Kingdom, with no really important events happening outside of that region of space.
This time, Minos would spend his most prolonged interval in that space without leaving, soon completing four years since the beginning of Willow, Henry, and Aarav's seclusion.
