"I didn't mean that, mother..." Abby said in a low voice. "But I can show you that this is indeed true and that the Black Plains can help the family greatly!"
Nicole then looked at her husband with a smile on her face and said in a low voice. "Looks like little Abby wants to show off her strength to us, hehe."
"Hmm, let's see how that develops." Eliot said to her, just before turning to Minos' group and saying. "If it is as my daughter says, then you are also much stronger than people of your level?"
"I know very well about my daughter's capabilities... So, if she can do such a thing, then that can only mean that she must have better techniques than the Black-grade ones of our family..."
"Am I right in assuming that, young Minos?" He asked, still not taking this matter seriously.
To him, this was like what his wife had said. Abby wanted to show them how much stronger she had become after those years away and also use that to somehow help the cause of her lover, Minos.
That's why he had asked that question, to see the expressions of those two and see how far they would go with this farce...
"Yes, you are right. We are much stronger than people of our respective levels." Minos finally answered Eliot while still sitting comfortably on that couch, with one of his arms around Ruth's waist.
"Oh? Interesting..." Eliot said aloud. "So why don't we do a test? We happen to have a training room for 6th stage cultivators in our house. We can do a little exhibition training to test your skills."
Nicole then looked at Abby seriously and asked. "Do you people truly want to do that? There is no need for you to want to prove anything here. We are already satisfied to welcome young Minos..."
"Fine! We'll do as father said!" Abby promptly said as she waved her arm in Minos' direction and pulled him by the hand.
"Come on. I'll show you the way."
After that, the three youths headed towards the most critical part of that house. At the same time, Abby's parents continued in the same place as before, watching them with interest in their eyes.
"Sigh... It looks like little Abby is determined to prove herself to us, Nicole."
"Hehe, she must be in love with that young man.... So, it's only natural that she would support him, no matter what." Young Abby's mother said, just before she got up from that place. "Come on..."
...
After a few seconds, all those people had arrived at a training room large enough for up to 3 people to train simultaneously.
There was a small area there for cultivating spiritual energy, where some cultivation pads were. Then, finally, there was a fighting stage, which covered more than 60% of that space.
At this very moment, Minos, Abby, and Ruth were on that fighting stage. At the same time, Eliot and Nicole were on one of the outer sides of it, standing side by side, watching with smiles on their faces those youths.
Ruth was not exactly a member of Minos' forces, but Abby's parents probably thought so. And even if young Stuart didn't want people to think that way about this disciple of Maisie's, for the moment, he wasn't worried about saying contradictory things.
If he simply said that Ruth was not part of his forces at this time when Abby's parents were dubious about the Black Plain, they might find this even more strange and start asking questions. After all, why wouldn't someone from this northern part of the Central Continent join a force that probably has techniques higher than Black-grade?
So, to avoid unnecessary questions at the moment, Minos had asked Ruth to show her strength along with him and Abby.
Since some of Minos' soldiers already had complete sets of Silver-grade techniques and levels close to Ruth's, this woman's strength could already be seen in the army!
Because of that, this was an exemplary demonstration of how strong some of the soldiers of that organization already were or how they would be in the future!
Also, even though the three of them didn't need to do this since Abby's performance alone would be enough to prove it to her parents, young Stuart had still decided to do it this way. That was because this could make these two, and some elders who would find out about it later, have something to respect regarding the Black Plain.
Minos knew that the Miller family leadership would not accept his terms entirely just because of his relationship with Abby. That might even be true for Eliot and Nicole. Still, neither of those two had the power to influence that entire family. Therefore, he wanted to give at least one initial proof to the experts of this house that the Black Plain might not be as harmless as it might seem on the surface...
He wanted to gain a seat at the experts' table by demonstrating a high-level power, similar or superior to that of several of the elders of this organization. Something that would make the leadership of this family thinks of him more as an equal than as a junior who must be dominated and forced to hand over his belongings!
And with all this in mind, he and his girlfriends soon began their performances to those two Spiritual Kings.
First, Abby made her move.
After she activated her Silver-grade attack technique, almost instantly, ice blades formed in her hands and were hurled towards a target array that was there.
Swooish!
Boom!
After doing that, it wasn't long before the ice blades hit Abby's target, almost as if they were cannonballs, resulting in several sounds of explosions in that place.
"No way!" Eliot muttered while he had a skeptical look on his face.
And it was no different for Nicole. Abby's mother was just as shocked as her husband, with her mouth open as she watched her daughter's movements in silence. 'How can this be? She is almost as strong as me...'
But they didn't have long to be shocked by Abby's power. That's because, just then, Ruth activated her Fists of Pain and made mighty fists form in the air, and then it ran towards one of the arrays in that place.
Pow!
Each attack launched by Ruth was as strong as the attack of an almost level 54 noble!
Boom!
And while feeling the strong winds generated by Ruth's attacks, Abby's parents were even more surprised, not understanding how someone could be so strong at level 51!
After all, they were pretty ignorant about the general characteristics of higher grade techniques than the ones they had access to.
'Unbelievable! This young lady is compelling! What's more, she'll soon be stronger than me!' Eliot incredulously thought about this as he looked at Ruth.
But immediately after that, he looked at Minos with even greater admiration in his mind. 'That boy is fortunate!'
Spatial Sword!
Swooish!
After Minos activated his sword technique, a blade more extensive than the height of an average adult cut through the air toward one of the targets on that fighting stage.
Boom!
"What?" Eliot and Nicole shouted simultaneously, not believing what their spiritual senses were telling them.
'This kid... He... He's already almost as strong as me!' Eliot thought about it as his eyes opened almost to the point of falling out of his eye sockets.
He could accept that Ruth was so powerful. After all, she was already at the 6th stage of cultivation. But in Minos' case, this was simply unbelievable!
Young Stuart was only at the 5th stage, and Eliot and all experts in that region would know that there would be a big difference between the 6th stage cultivation levels. So much so that for people at that stage to advance even one level, they needed to absorb an amount of energy nearly equal to that of certain 5th stage cultivators!
And yet here was Minos, demonstrating an ability five levels above his own!
"Does that serve as proof, father-in-law, mother-in-law?" Minos asked just after he and his two girlfriends began walking off that stage.
....