In the blink of an eye, four years had passed since the strange gift Minos had received from a level 110 Sovereign identical to the enemy who had almost killed him and Maximillian earlier.
In those years, he hadn't had a chance to leave the guild headquarters, nor had he encountered the previous Sovereign. From the looks of things, his time to meet that strange tree had not yet come. As for the one interested in him, the creature had shown no reaction during this period.
Minos merely continued with his responsibilities as an external member, fulfilling his obligatory individual and collective missions, doing his Law Enforcer work, and accumulating merit points.
He was already an Elite Soldier, so his next promotion would be to the level of a Junior Officer. However, Minos still didn't feel ready to compete for this position, as he had yet to finish gathering his merit points, and he still wanted to advance a few more times before making his attempt.
So he was still at the same rank as then, with a routine very similar to that of four years ago.
He had fun with Ruth practically every day, carried out his work as a Law Enforcer, trained, rested, studied clairvoyance, and did his obligatory missions when he had to.
His influence and level of contacts grew as time went by, so time and again, he also had to meet with other guild members to do business. In a way, living there was like living in any other city in the Spiritual World.
The leader of a faction (family) had to do business with the leaders of other groups, seek partnerships for the growth of his people, and envision new heights.
He also had to give reports to his supervisors and occasionally have more in-depth encounters with these beings, such as Rhett and the alien who had invited him to Armhands.
Anyway, amid this journey, he had advanced in level once again, something that several of his fellow faction members had also achieved during this period!
With that, Minos was now finally a high-level Demigod or, by local standards, a high-level grandmaster!
...
"Congratulations on reaching level 97!" Ruth congratulated her husband as she hugged him tightly, overjoyed at Minos' progress.
In just over 10 years at Zocarro, he had already reached the end of the 10th stage!
That was impressive!
If things continued like this, he would probably be a God by the time they returned to the Spiritual World!
"Thank you. But soon, it will be you who advances," he said as he squeezed his wife's slender waist.
The other people in their group's cultivation cave then approached the two of them, giving Minos their well-deserved congratulations.
Wana was there at the moment and couldn't help asking him. "When are you going to take the test to become an Officer? I imagine that now you've advanced, you'll be able to face the competition you'll have in the promotion test."
Wana was currently at level 100, having advanced with Minos' help.
As much as Minos' group was focused on improving to resolve the issue of the war in the Spiritual World, beings like Wana could help the group grow faster within the guild. So even if they didn't expect her to help them stop the war of the world, her getting stronger could help them achieve their goals more quickly.
For that reason, no one there saw a problem with having her and other aliens on their side in this place!
Minos answered Wana's question. "I think I'd better wait for my advancement to level 98. Even though I've become much stronger with this new advancement, the difference between the levels of the first stage of the Divine Path is too great."
That was true for all the stages. As Minos reached the end of a stage, he always found it harder to improve his combat proficiency until he advanced further. When this happened, he quickly became much stronger because of the greater difference between the levels of different stages.
Most Elite Soldiers were Sovereigns between levels 100 and 104. As much as he was able to fight against people like that, part of the competition in the promotion exam involved tests that didn't depend on him winning a simple fight but being able to withstand certain situations for longer.
How could he do that with much less energy than his rivals? He could even last much longer than a Grandmaster, but it would be difficult to compete fairly with the huge difference he had to his competitors!
Minos knew that he had 3 Elite Soldiers who were currently close to advancing to level 105, so he wanted to wait until all 3 were promoted or something else happened so that he wouldn't have to face them as competitors.
He would try to get promoted as soon as something like that happened.
He thinks such a thing could happen in another five or six years, which would be long enough for him to advance to level 98.
"That's good," Wana commented to him. "That'll make you a guild internal member in less than two decades here. That'll be a record."
"What do you intend to do when you become an internal member?" Maximillian asked.
He was currently at level 102 but felt he could advance in another three years at most. Apart from him, two members of the group were also at level 102, 6 others were at level 101, and the rest, with the exception of Ruth, were at level 100.
Minos looked at the black-haired man and said. "I'll wait for you all. I'll carry out as many missions as possible while you all become an internal member of the guild.
I'll also gather resources and information for our trip north to Oqia. Then, when everyone is ready, we'll set off in search of our return to the Spiritual World."
They no longer planned to go to Irpoll or The Adamant Land to cause trouble for their enemies before heading to the Spiritual World. They would pass through the Mechanic Empire on their way back, but that would only be for them to catch the universal wormhole that would take them back to their planet.
They knew it wouldn't be easy to get home, but after years in Armhands, they had figured out how to get back.
For the time being, they weren't worried about the journey's dangers back but about getting ready to start it!
The people there who most wanted to return liked what they heard, feeling that they would only have to prepare for another two decades at most, and then it would be time for them to return!
