Sarah's question was important. Minos, like his family members, felt a sense of care and belonging to the Black Plain Empire. He had created the state from scratch and made it the greatest power in the Spiritual World.
But he couldn't live in the Spiritual World if he wanted to become more powerful, let alone leave his family behind. As much as there were dangers in Zocarro, it has immense opportunities for everyone. Even the weakest of them could quickly become Grandmasters if they went to Zocarro with him.
That would be enough for them to become Recruits in Armhands, for example.
But Minos didn't want to give up everything he had built up.
He answered all doubts. "I will not leave behind the empire. I will be mostly absent, but I will still look after it from a distance.
I intend to make the empire the most important force in the galaxy. Before we leave, I will make some contacts and agreements with alien civilizations in our galaxy to ensure the growth and security of the empire beyond the Spiritual World. After that, I will leave, but from time to time, either I or an emissary of mine will come to the galaxy to monitor the situation and act on behalf of the empire's development. As long as nothing big goes wrong, this should be enough for it to develop and endure, even with my residence in Zocarro."
"Do you want to create a state like the Mechanic Empire was?" Gloria asked with interest.
"Yes, but a state that will be limited to our galaxy until it can, without my help, reach a level capable of defending itself against civilizations stronger than Irpoll."
"That sounds interesting. If we all go to this place called Zocarro, we could always have someone coming and going. Even if we weren't here all the time, we'd be close to the situation in our state, even if we were on the other side of the universe." Sarah understood what her father had in mind and liked his preference for not abandoning the Black Plain Empire altogether.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"How long is the journey between Zocarro and our world?" Kendrick asked.
"Between 2.5 and 3 years from the Artificial Moon. But it took me and my companions over five years to make the journey between Armhands headquarters and the Artificial Moon. So the whole one-way trip would take 8 to 10 years," Minos said, startling his companions at the great journey he had completed.
For someone as strong as Minos to travel for about a decade meant the distances were truly gigantic.
"No wonder you said you couldn't take many people with you. The costs must be stratospheric." Vico understood it better.
"It took me about five decades to accumulate the wealth necessary to return to that world. Even so, on the way back, my group will have to make a stop to cultivate and gather resources," he explained, showing the reality to those who were interested in leaving the world.
The group stopped talking about the subject, with some of them still thinking about Zocarro, Armhands, what was above level 100, the future galactic empire of Minos, and the journey across the universe. Amid all this, they reached the area where the Mechanic Empire was based on the underwater part of the area.
"If we can get through that enormous sheet of ice in front of us, we'll reach the enemies, Minos," Ruth said as she pointed down.
The Ancestral Sea was mostly frozen in its shallowest parts.
Below the ice sheet, however, the creatures living in the depths had found the best places to live in recent years, places that were difficult for anyone, even Gods, to reach.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Minos looked at the layer of ice several kilometers thick in front of him and moved, using his wings as if they were parts of a shredder.
He made his way to the bottom of the sea, not finding enough resistance to work with as he made his way to the refuge of the aliens from The Adamant Land.
The group followed behind him, observing how useful Minos' wings seemed to be.
Within 10 minutes, he would have successfully crossed the thick layer of ice, a challenge that even the highly skilled apes of Irpoll would rather wait to attempt.
The aliens from The Adamant Land living below that area noticed the negative signals coming their way and went on alert for the problem.
"Shit! Are those stupid apes causing trouble again?" The new Mechanical Emperor, one of the four Gods of the Mechanic Empire who had survived to this day, wondered as his troops moved around the grandiose headquarters they had built in this area.
After a few seconds of preparation, he and his four level 100 companions realized the enemies were not the apes from Irpoll, but the natives of the Spiritual World!
The eldest of them, the only survivor who had been sent to the world to conquer the planet and who had narrowly escaped from Callie years ago, saw Minos' face and went pale.
"Minos Stuart!" he muttered as he pointed in Emperor Stuart's direction, while the other three level 100 men turned horribly pale.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})They all remembered the prediction that if Minos exceeded a certain level, he would wipe their civilization out.
Minos was currently at an absolute peak of level 99 cultivation, enough to wipe out all 21,000 survivors of the original race of The Adamant Land!
"Fuck! We're screwed!" The Mechanical Emperor muttered, fully aware that attempting to reason with Minos would be fruitless.
After one of his countrymen had killed Emperor Stuart's fourth wife, there was no way they could escape without fighting for their lives!
"Get ready!" He gave the signal for war, knowing his chances were slim, but unwilling to surrender his life to Minos without a fight.
As Minos got close enough to the creatures that were already attacking his group, the enemy shots disappeared as he got close enough for his 10th technique to take effect.
Then, under the gaze of allies and enemies alike, Minos revealed the Divine Sword for the last time in the Spiritual World, using the first of his supreme weapon's three movements to destroy the remnants of that race with a single strike.
Divine Sword: Will of the Blades!
Minos injected a small fraction of his energies, causing several golden energy circles to appear in the air at various locations around the members of the Mechanic Empire.
The robots and biological beings of the Mechanic Empire saw a world of blades appear, covering their entire escape space, with over 50,000 blades appearing under their headquarters, slicing the air in countless different paths, making the total area chaotic.
Without even exchanging a few words, ask for mercy, or anything else, the aliens from The Adamant Land were sliced and diced, meeting their deserved end after 15 years since the start of the war!
This was the end of the ancient civilization of The Adamant Land!
