After the battle with the group of natives interested in Minos' wings, the group from the Spiritual World traveled for 15 days, moving quickly without many stops to rest or explore the areas along their way.
They were on the run from potential enemies who had already been warned by the Sovereign who had survived the battle. Since they didn't know much about these beings, they couldn't take any chances.
If a single being above level 100 decided to go after them to avenge those deaths or to go after them because of Minos' wings, they would be screwed!
So they fled as fast as they could, taking care not to leave any traces but also not taking any chances to collect things.
Taking advantage of the fact that they were still within the area Strin had given them, they moved smoothly, finally reaching the end of the 'safe area' they had so much information about.
But that wasn't the end of their journey. With more than a year and a half of travel between the end of the 'safe area' and Examire, the group continued to follow the map they had received in Kilburn.
...
After almost a month since the battle against the beings interested in Minos' wings, he and his group had relaxed a bit. The distance they had covered in that time was not small, and they were now in an area more dangerous than the region Strin knew well.
As such, the group finally felt that they could slow down a bit, both to be more careful of the area they had begun to travel through as well as to get back to their necessary rest and cultivation.
Today, the group was stopping for the second time since the battle, a time when the group had longed to return to cultivation.
They couldn't get stronger without stopping for a while to meditate, so they couldn't keep traveling like they had been doing lately.
Since they didn't plan to enter any cities on their way until they reached at least nearby Littlemere, a place that was more friendly to space explorers than the others in the area they were in, they couldn't wait to meditate until they were in places with guaranteed safety.
They had to take their chances in forests like the one they were in, or they wouldn't be able to take advantage of the fact that they were in an energy-rich world.
The group hadn't encountered any problematic situations in the last few days, so they were more or less as tense as they had been since their arrival.
Now, part of the group was meditating, while another part was observing the surroundings, and some were eating while waiting for the group to leave the area.
However, amid the group's rest and meditation, they would soon encounter the first being above level 100 on their journey in Zocarro!
...
While Maximilian was controlling the staff and observing the surroundings of the area where the group was standing, he suddenly felt a powerful aura approaching them.
This aura sent shivers down his spine and immediately circulated his energies. He couldn't help but warn his companions who were watching the area to pay attention to this danger.
He swallowed his saliva and hid in the branches of the trees in the area, moving more or less the same way as his men, while he looked up to the sky where what appeared to be a flying boat was coming towards them.
As he focused on this flying boat, he and all the men standing around him saw a group of strange beings on this vehicle that looked very much like a cross between octopuses and humans, all of them dressed in special costumes.
But it was not the appearance of these beings that caught the attention of this group. It was the level of one of them that caused Minos' people to hide while they prepared to act if necessary.
On that flying boat was a level 104 creature!
'Shit! The difference in our levels is brutal!' Maximilian thought to himself as he saw that the difference between the levels of the 11th stage was much greater than the difference between the levels of the 10th stage.
That was obvious, but for someone who had never felt the aura of a being stronger than level 100, this man was obviously surprised. Maximilian also couldn't help but understand a little better how difficult the path to level 114, the highest of the 11th stage, would be.
If the difference between level 100 and level 104 was more than three times the difference between level 99 and level 100, he couldn't imagine how difficult it would be to reach level 114, let alone level 115, the beginning of the Supreme stage.
Thinking about it, he clenched his fists and felt a mixture of emotions.
On the one hand, he felt it might be better to return to the Spiritual World or even go to The Adamant Land, where he would be among the strongest. On the other hand, he couldn't help but think about the interesting idea of living there.
If he could cultivate there for the next 26,000 years, the time he would have to live if nothing went wrong, he would surely become extremely powerful and live much longer than if he returned to his home world.
However, staying in Zocarro would mean that he would have to give up all his previous prestige and live as a relatively "weak" foreigner.
Of course, he couldn't be considered weak since his power was already well above average in this world. But in Zocarro, he was in the same power range as a Spiritual Saint would be in the Spiritual World.
He would be considered an expert, but there would be many people above him who could kill him in an instant.
For someone who had once been one of the strongest in his world and had even lived with that status for a long time, it wasn't easy to make such a decision.
He watched the group pass by with many thoughts in his head, but he was relieved that the creatures on the flying boat didn't stop to talk to them or even deal with them.
As soon as the flying boat disappeared over the horizon, he warned the meditating people to leave the area, feeling that it wouldn't do to stay there any longer.
When they left the area, Maximilian and the others told the rest of the group how powerful the being that had passed them earlier was, surprising Minos and the others with existences above level 100.
That was their first "contact" with anything above level 100, but it wouldn't be their last on this journey to Examire. In the coming weeks and months, their group would encounter many more such beings and have even more direct contact than this one!
