After some time, Minos and Ruth arrived at the residence of the local sovereign, where the two immediately proceeded to his room.
However, this time they did not continue their attempts to get pregnant but rather just lay down on the large bed in Minos' room and slept until nightfall in Dry City.
Minos had been traveling for months at Maida's side. So, in this period, he had slept only the minimum necessary for his body to recover from the physical and mental fatigue he still suffered at his low level.
Even for cultivators, sleeping in a comfortable bed in a safe room and doing it on the ground in the middle of a forest were completely different experiences!
Doing the latter would not kill anyone, in general, or even harm a cultivator's overall condition. However, such a thing did not mean cultivators would not seek comfort.
On the opposite, many powerful experts sought the best possible conditions. They even maintained a sleep routine, even when they no longer needed to sleep.
Cultivation was finite and resources limited. There was no room for everyone to reach the top, and even those in this position needed to relax from time to time.
Thus, Minos took advantage of this, his first day back in Dry City, to rest quietly in his room after reviewing his women and attending to some more pressing matters.
Luckily for him, Ruth was already in Dry City, and he could do this comfortably while embracing this beautiful woman.
...
After waking from his rest, Minos looked up at the ceiling of his room and realized that it was already dark.
As he felt the night breeze coming in through the open balcony door of the room, he looked to the side and saw Ruth's beautiful face resting on his right shoulder.
She hugged Minos' waist, with one of her legs on his waist, holding him tightly, smiling, still in her dreams.
Seeing this, Minos smiled in satisfaction and kissed her forehead. 'Looks like she's been waiting for this for quite a while, huh?'
Ruth naturally should not be as physically tired as Minos. However, after falling in love with him, living in Dry City for almost two years, and sleeping daily with young Stuart, she had gotten used to not sleeping alone.
Or rather, she had become accustomed to only genuinely relaxing and carefree sleep when she was next to him. Consequently, even though she was not as physically tired as Minos, Ruth needed rest like the one this day as much as her fiancé did.
And noticing his woman's deep sleep, Minos smiled and slowly started to get out of that bed, pleased to see her like that.
'Well, I think I'll take a moment to check on Brooke...' He considered this as he quietly put on his clothes, remembering his friend who was still living here.
After arriving at this residence early, Minos wanted to talk to Brooke before his long-awaited sleep. But unfortunately, he had arrived right in the middle of her cultivation.
Because of this, he decided to wait to talk to her, something that seemed appropriate for the moment.
With that in mind, he promptly made his way toward the area reserved for visitors' accommodation in his mansion, passing on his way by Abby's parents and Maisie, who were chatting in the living room of his home.
"Love?" Abby asked in surprise.
Upon opening the front door of his home, Minos had run into Abby coming home from work.
"Are you on your way out?"
"Yes, I want to see how Brooke is doing."
"Oh? Well, I think it's a good idea to do that." Abby nodded at him, remembering how depressed that woman had been about Minos being away for many months right after their meeting. "She's improved her confidence quite a bit in the last few months, but even so, she's still angry that you didn't take her with you..."
Brooke had naturally asked Minos to travel with him for that previous mission. She did not have much to do in Dry City, and of all the people in that place, he and Abby were the ones she most enjoyed spending her time with.
For some reason, she particularly preferred to do this with Minos.
That was why she had tried to convince him to take her on that previous trip. Such an occasion could be a good opportunity for her to know the region, get stronger, and still get closer to Minos.
However, as tempting as her suggestion had been at the time, Minos could not have taken her on such a critical mission.
As such, young Stuart had rejected Brooke's suggestion, and even though she understood his motives, she had been upset with him.
"Hmm, I imagine so..." Minos smiled at Abby just before he planted a kiss on one of her cheeks and moved on. "I'll see you later."
...
"Brooke?" Minos called out to his friend shortly after knocking on the door of her residence, curious to see the improvements she had gone through.
During this period, Brooke had reached level 50, consequently undergoing a spiritual cleansing. And since Minos had heard from the people in his residence about her advancement, he was naturally curious to see her.
Spiritual cleansing did not significantly change the appearance of young people like him and Abby. Still, such a thing did improve every physical attribute of theirs.
As a result, while Minos was unlikely to notice significant changes in Brooke's appearance, he was aware that her body shape could change, as well as her skin becoming cleaner and smoother. In short, she has the potential to become much more beautiful.
And that, yes, made him curious since Brooke was already one beauty in a million, who he knew would only get better as time went on.
Even more so considering how attractive her mother was, even though Celeste was a few hundred years older than Brooke.
And young Stuart's wait did not last long.
After opening the front door of her residence, Brooke looked at the brown-haired young man on her doorstep and almost jumped in surprise.
"Minos?" She said as a beautiful smile formed little by little on her face. "You have finally returned? You don't know how tedious this period has been!"
Hearing these words from the woman who was already hugging him tightly, Minos laughed, admiring a Brooke that made him think Celeste was like that in her prime.
He then said into one of her ears, hugging her slim waist. "Brooke, you are already a Spiritual King!"
"Congratulations!"
She smiled at him, pleased to be praised by one of the few people she genuinely respected in this world.
But as she did so and watched him closely, this woman suddenly used the tip of her pink tongue on her teeth, thinking something while having a sensual expression. "Let's talk inside..."
"I want to hear your stories."
"Is that so?" He asked this as she dragged him into the interior of that place.
"Of course. I wanted to go with you, but since the situation didn't allow it, then I at least want to hear from you about your experiences." She said this as she finally sat down next to him on the only couch in the living room of that residence.
"Well, for starters..."
After that, Minos told the most exciting parts of his journey of terror to Brooke, eliminating some things that were hard to digest and others that were unnecessary for her.
And as much as Brooke already knew many of these stories, as her knowledge was limited to information from regional journals, she had been surprised by several of Minos' experiences.
Among them, the one that had caught Brooke's attention the most had been Minos' situation in the Snow Kingdom with the spiritual beasts of the Endless Snow Mountain Range.
"... After that, I finally returned here." Minos finished his story.
"Minos, your travels sound so exciting." She said this as she touched the middle of his right thigh, smiling as she felt one of his arms on her right shoulder.
She bit her lower lip and said. "But I can't believe you flirted with Prince Snow's fiancée right before him!"
"That is so immoral!"
"Hahaha, that's not even close to the most immoral thing I've done on this trip..." He muttered in a low voice, without Brooke understanding him.
He then said into one of her ears. "As I said before, Brooke, I'm not a good person..."
But before he could continue his words, Brooke decided to go all out. "Minos, shut up and kiss me."
After that, she jumped on his lap and finally got a chance to taste that mouth she had been longing to kiss for months...
...
AN: Mass release of 4 chapters tomorrow.
