After Isabella's big and quick funeral in Dry City, everyone involved, especially the family, returned to what they had to do.
Some people, like Lily, were dispirited but still tried to focus on what they could do from now on.
The weakest of the Stuart family, but also some of the great hopes of this world, had to turn to cultivation and raise their levels as soon as possible. No one knew what might happen in the short or medium term, but if there was a chance for them to become stronger, they should do so to help the forces of the world in the future.
That was especially true for Abby, who could even bring Gods back to life to help the Spiritual World.
The further she went, the more the world powers would thank her!
As such, she would soon shut herself away in seclusion in the Spatial Kingdom of her state with the weaker members of her family.
Meanwhile, Gloria wanted to cultivate as well. Still, at the moment, someone had to look after the state and make the best decisions for the future of the family and the empire.
So she was in the Spatial Kingdom along with the others, but unlike Abby, she would be running the state from such a place instead of focusing on cultivating.
She was aware of Minos' plans regarding the Spiritual Church, as well as the need to bring specialists from the Evergreen Empire to the north of the continent.
That would not be easy, nor would it happen overnight, just because Maximilian had left the Spiritual World at Minos' side. Therefore, she would have to work on ways to increase her position and influence for a while until she achieved what her husband wanted.
How long would that take? No one could say for sure. But given what they would learn about the enemy forces in the coming days, it would eventually become clear that it would take months or years for her to succeed.
In the meantime, they would still have to deal with the alien invasion and the catastrophic effects of the Ice Age!
...
So, the first few days after the alien invasion passed, and the world was relatively quiet for most of those days.
Many groups lost important members, but the alien terror wasn't as immediate as many had imagined.
However, this did not mean the aliens could live harmoniously with the natives. That was only a temporary condition due to the situation of the group of invaders trying to begin their project of domination.
The alien forces had lost far more men on their arrival in the Spiritual World than the most pessimistic of their projections for that arrival!
The Spiritual World had lost about 45% of the men they had deployed around the North Sea that day, but the aliens had lost 60% of their men who had fought in the core of the North Sea and 40% of the remaining individuals who had later fled that area.
That meant that they had lost 60% of the strongest group and 40% of the weakest group, which was the most numerous group consisting of biological and artificial individuals between levels 80 and 95.
Even though their total number hadn't decreased much, they had lost a lot of people and a lot of specialists.
As a result, the survivors reevaluated their situation during these first days in the Spiritual World after finding a place to call home.
It had taken them three days to find the ideal location, decimate the local population, and begin building their elemental defenses.
After that, the group began the still ongoing process of reviewing their options and reevaluating their plans.
The goal was still to dominate the Spiritual World and decimate the planet's weaker populations. But now the group on this planet was waiting for news from their state, where a new leader should have been chosen by now.
Until then, the world would have some peace before the local alien forces began to expand their territories!
...
Meanwhile, in the Mechanic Empire...
The news of the old Mechanical Emperor's death had already reached that state, as the man's vital signal had gone out days ago.
By the time the group of survivors in the Spiritual World had managed to contact the forces in The Adamant Land, a new ruler had already been chosen to take the place of the enemy killed by Minos!
The Mechanic Empire was startled by the news from the Spiritual World, and several experts were already discussing what to do. But nothing had been decided yet, for with the rise of a new leader, only that individual could decide what to do.
The chosen one, a cousin of the former Mechanical Emperor, had gone into seclusion after ascending to the position of emperor, a common occurrence in this state.
Such a person was only a level 99 Demigod, so he had to increase his cultivation to lead the empire.
In the meantime, no one was going to make decisions for him, and he hadn't given any orders himself because he didn't have the best information, and the situation in that world didn't seem that desperate.
Nor could he send reinforcements so quickly, for his state had enemies to protect, and they would first have to study how their remaining forces would behave in the Spiritual World.
If they received worrying data, then the state could send more powerful reinforcements. But if the forces in that world managed to get their project off to a good start, then the state could wait or even send weaker reinforcements.
So the state was just studying the matter, trying to identify the weapon Minos had used and its origin, as well as preparing to counter the power of the enemies' faith.
Meanwhile, the Gods at their disposal continued their duties of protecting the Empire's territory and keeping an eye on the enemies' movements in the part of the universe where they were.
The region where the Spiritual World was located was weak, and only that world had powerful beings. But the place where The Adamant Land was located was different, and there were several planets not too far away with powerful beings.
...
Meanwhile, Minos and his crew continued to travel toward the enemy planet, still several weeks away from their destination.
As similar as his ship was to that of the aliens, Minos' ship was still a notch below the ships of the Mechanic Empire. If the alien party had taken six weeks to travel between their starting point and the Spiritual World, it would have taken Emperor Stuart's party twice as long to get to The Adamant Land!
So, the group on that spacecraft continued to travel while they were concentrating on cultivation or training, preparing their plans for where they were going.
