In the central part of the Ancestral Sea, the island where the Seraphim's Ancient Sarcophagus was located was floating hundreds of kilometers above sea level.
But below that place, several icebergs that didn't exist a few months ago were floating in the sea at various places, and a huge chunk of ice the size of Albano was not far away.
Hailstorms with sheets of ice so hard and cold that they could slice through the bodies of Spiritual Saints were occurring in various places nearby. Icy winds blew from side to side, while the sky was extremely cloudy and gray as if a storm was brewing.
On the island where the men of the Spiritual Church were standing, they were all bundled up, unable to protect themselves from the cold with only their spiritual energy.
As these men watched their surroundings with desolate expressions, the main door of the great resting place of the old experts of the Church suddenly burst open, startling them all.
But as they turned their attention to the entrance, the surrounding Demigods immediately sighed in relief as they saw a tall, strong man with long brown hair walking out of the place.
"Your Majesty..." One of them murmured to Minos as the level 90 man looked around, feeling the cold outside the building where he had spent the last few months.
"The Ice Age is finally upon us..." Minos muttered, feeling the icy winds of this area but in no immediate danger. With a body as strong as a dragon's, he had a very advanced resistance to temperature that could protect him from heat and cold.
Even so, the catastrophic situation in the world was still capable of worrying Minos. Even though he wasn't in any danger, he immediately summoned special cloaks from his spatial ring to wear over his high-level grade-4 armor.
"Your Majesty, was your journey successful?" A level 97 Demigod asked aloud, speaking loudly because the noise of the strong winds in the area would naturally prevent his voice from reaching Minos.
Minos nodded positively. "Yes. Now it's time for me to leave. My state needs me now that the Ice Age has begun." "Be careful. Avoid the use of wormholes, Your Majesty. The Ice Age catastrophe is already causing disasters all over the world. There's no way to know what's happening at great distances from where we are!"
Minos nodded in thanks for the man's concern, already looking toward the Black Plain Empire, which was a few weeks' flight away from this point.
Using wormholes, it would only take a few hours to get there. But simply flying would take much longer, even for someone with Minos' current abilities.
Aware of the danger of using wormholes, he didn't make the mistake of manipulating space now. He simply jumped into the air and flew in the direction of his state, leaving this place behind.
He had obtained a few items for his people over the past few months, and he was pleased with the results. With 7 'new' high-level grade-4 items in his spatial ring, he felt it was high time to return to Dry City.
These items would be enough to equip 7 high-level Demigods with the highest quality items available in this world!
His wives wouldn't be able to use such items due to their cultivation and the demands placed on them. But Minos had obtained defensive items for them, which should be enough to protect them when the war started.
'My time wasn't wasted. These items will help me a lot... I just didn't expect that the Ice Age would start before my return and that it would be so extreme.' Minos thought, flying and dodging the many dangerous atmospheric phenomena currently covering a large part of the Spiritual World.
If before one had a 0.1% chance of encountering strange and dangerous phenomena on their way across this great world, now that chance has increased to 30%!
It might not seem like much, but it was a lot. That basically made it almost impossible to travel long distances without encountering high-level problems. Not only that, but it was enough to make it unattainable to travel through wormholes that had not been established earlier.
Wormhole networks like those that existed in the strongest states of this world might still be useful. However, for a cultivator to use their skills to shorten their journey was now so dangerous that it wasn't worth trying.
Worst of all, the current disaster had only just begun! As the years passed, it would continue to develop until it reached its peak and worst moment, when things would be much worse than they were now.
If the chances of getting into trouble now were 30%, at the peak of the Ice Age, they could be 60%, maybe even 70%!
At that time, getting out of the few safe places in the world would be a deadly challenge!
That's what Minos was worried about right now!
'It seems that the war of the worlds will take place amidst the storms of this chaotic era... I don't know if this is good or bad.' Minos thought, imagining that the chaos over the Spiritual World might hinder not only the alien strategies but also the world defense group's.
But there was nothing for him to do but prepare for battle in the middle of the Ice Age.
'I hope this will help me when I need it.' He looked down at his hand, which now bore a small tattoo of six wings.
Then he continued on his way back to Dry City, a journey that would take him over a month due to the impossibility of using wormholes. Not only that, but he would also have to dodge the many strange phenomena along the way.
Fortunately, Minos' skills were currently very high, and few things could bring him down. After almost two months of traveling, he would arrive at Stone Island, from where he wouldn't hesitate to use his state's network of wormholes to return to Dry City.
With this return, it was time for him to bring all the most important people of his state into seclusion in the Spatial Kingdom, their last preparation before the Continental Tournament, scheduled to take place in less than five years.
Not only that, but the treaties he had with many of the tribes and powers of this world would soon come to an end. So, it was time for him and his state to work hard to make the last technological leap before the aliens arrived!
At this rate, two years would quickly pass after his return from the Seraphim's Ancient Sarcophagus!
