Night had already fallen in the capital of the Brown Kingdom.
Meanwhile, in a particular mansion, a young man was gazing at the dark sky with seriousness.
This was Minos. He was mentally preparing himself to enter the Spatial Kingdom from the very moment the butler, Dillian, left his room.
Not long ago, the middle-aged butler was still planning for the trip to the Black Plain, which was supposed to take place in the next few days.
After some minutes had passed and finally realizing that he could have his privacy, Minos then activated the ring on his right hand. With just one thought of his, the young man disappeared from his room.
And almost instantly Minos noticed his entire surroundings change as he began to enjoy the beautiful landscape before him.
It was a vast place with limits that could not be seen.
And in fact, even though it was already a dark night in the Brown Kingdom, this place was still clear, as if it were very distant. This place also had a concentration of spiritual energy that was hundreds, if not thousands of times denser than that of the City of Setting Sun.
There were all types of trees having a population of thousands of each kind, with some even emanating a certain pressure. However, for someone like Minos who was without any cultivation, there was no way for him to exactly differentiate the power contained in all these plants in this place.
And along with that, there was also a large lake near an open area where there was also a large house.
Walking for a few minutes, Minos noticed various kinds of medicines, which according to his knowledge so far, could even help Spiritual Sages!
'Too bad, it will be a long while before I can make use of these resources...' Minos thought as he continued to walk through the place.
Finally, he arrived at the house. It looked more like a beach house with ample space between the lake and the house itself, giving the sense of being an ideal place to cultivate.
Inside the house, there were at least 20 rooms with several bathrooms spread out, three large meeting rooms, one with a table having more than ten seats, and the other two with chairs and sofas. Everything was well decorated, but there was a specific room that caught Minos' attention.
According to the memories he received from the inheritance, there were three spatial rings in that room. In these rings, there were spiritual weapons, spiritual crystals, and numerous techniques which were specialized in cultivation, movement, attack, soul, healing, etc.
"Hmm, as far as I know, the techniques are classified as White, Blue, Black, Silver, and Golden. And what differs between them is basically the conversion of the user's spiritual energy into the techniques, which also respectively results in an output of 40%, 50%, 70%, 100%, and 200% of the energy used to activate the given technique.
If someone releases a Blue-grade attack technique and other releases a Golden-grade attack technique, the second has in fact released a technique four times stronger than the first!
Then the techniques can also be subdivided into phases. According to this, it is preferable to learn a technique with the same number of phases as the cultivation steps required for the 11th step. Because using such techniques will result in an even greater increase in potential during the final stages of cultivation."
In addition to that, in this world, cultivators were limited by the stages of their cultivation and would add only one technique to each stage.
Thus, cultivators had to choose more carefully, because, while it was possible to switch techniques, doing so would require selecting one with fewer phases, which would be quite disadvantageous after reaching the highest level.
The phases of a technique are referred to by its characteristics.
If a technique is limited to a specific area, the cultivator can only increase that area by raising his mastery phase over that technique. But before that, no matter the cultivator's level, characteristics like this would always be limited by the current phase they were in.
"Likewise, the first technique must be one specialized in cultivation, as a cultivator would not be able to gather spiritual energy easily without one. After that, most people would usually choose an attack type in Transition and a defensive type later in the Spiritual Beginner...
Anyway, it seems that almost all techniques here are classified as Golden or Silver. As for these weapons... unfortunately, I won't be able to use these weapons until I reach at least level 60. Before that, I wouldn't be able to handle any of them."
While checking all the spatial rings, Minos found an 11-phase cultivation technique classified as Golden, called Solar God Breath.
It had a unique special effect that doubled the speed of collecting free spiritual energy present in the air during the day, with an exponential increase in later phases.
"Hmm, Solar God Breath, huh... you will be my first chosen technique."
Minos muttered, taking a look at the technique.
After that, Minos concentrated on collecting a few items having the lowest ratings in this location as he knew that there was no use carrying such valuables without having the strength to exercise with them.
He also chose a cultivation technique for the butler Dillian, as this man wouldn't have anything as well rated as a Silver-grade or a Golden-grade technique.
Finally, he decided to spend the next few hours cultivating his newly learned technique until he could reach level 1.
...
"At this rate, I should be able to reach the beginning of the Transition, which is level 10, in less than a month...
As for these spiritual crystals, even if there are millions of them here, they're all of such high quality that my body wouldn't be able to withstand the amount of energy contained within them.
At least not until I reached the Spiritual Saint stage."
The spiritual crystals in question are also subdivided into three types in the Spiritual World: low, medium, and high concentration, with high concentration being 10,000 times richer in energy than the low concentration and 100 times richer than those of medium concentration.
Low-grade crystals are designated for people between levels 20 to 49, medium-grade for levels 50 to 69, and high-grade ones for those above level 70. The levels also indicated the stage at which the body could support the energy contained in each of these types of spiritual crystals.
The reason why those below the Spiritual Beginner stage are unable to cultivate with crystals is straightforward. The Body Foundation stage focuses on preparing the body to support the spirit's future power. In contrast, the Transition stage focuses on spiritual development, which would begin to be strengthened from the next stage.
"I will have to find a way to get these low-concentration crystals when I reach the Spiritual Beginner stage. Even if my father left a decent amount, six years have passed, and I will still need them to do business in my territory.
I think I should go back, or Grandpa Dillian may notice my absence.
Although I do trust him, I can't talk about this heritage right now. At least I will wait until we move to the Black Plain...
As for this region, I think I can try improving the overall quality of the terrain and increase the spiritual energy of this place with the help of the Spatial Kingdom.
Well, I will have to ask Grandpa Dillian to help me gather the information that can guide me in planning what to do."
After that, Minos used the ring once again and went back to his room the next moment and slept through the night.
...
By the time Minos woke up in the morning, the butler, Dillian, had already left to settle some pending matters. And according to the cook who had prepared his breakfast, the butler had left a message that everything would be ready for the trip by the afternoon.
Since the Stuart family was a newly promoted gentry, consisting solely of the late general and the young Stuart, there were not many beasts or carriages for long-distance travel, thus requiring the need to rent this service.
And despite not having large quantities of things to take along, there were still about 20 servants and ten guards who remained even after Albert Stuart's demise. So, Dillian needed some time to collect all the necessary carriages.
...
Time passed, and soon it was afternoon, with 12 carriages traveling along the south side of the capital and heading towards the Black Plain. This place was about 4,000 kilometers away, close to the border of the Brown Kingdom and also two other kingdoms of equivalent strength.
The trip in question was supposed to take less than a week using carriages pulled by spiritual beasts that resembled more like horses. They were third-stage beasts that could cover up to 1,000 kilometers a day.
...
Meanwhile, in the City of Setting Sun, in a Silva family palace, two older men were playing chess while drinking tea. One of them was dressed in an entirely silver robe and had a calm look on his face as if there was nothing to worry about.
This older man in a silver robe had white hair and a big beard. His name was Otis Silva, the current patriarch of the Silva family, at the Spiritual King stage, level 57.
As for the other, he was Willian Silva, level 52, one among those responsible for the death of Albert Stuart, at the behest of the older man before him. He had gray hair and was dressed in a black robe and expressed a thoughtful face that would make anyone walk away.
"Patriarch, the brat Stuart left the city a few hours ago, and is heading towards the inherited territory, the Black Plain, along with all the remaining servants and guards.
He also appears to have fully recovered a few days ago."
Willian Silva informed, taking a look at the patriarch of his family and then continued.
"Should we attack them while they are traveling?"
Otis shook his head, taking a pawn in his hand.
"There is no need. I have heard that the boy had awakened, but he is already 15 and hasn't even started to cultivate. And now he is going to a place that can barely produce Spiritual Warriors."
After making a move, old Otis then continued. "Even if he has his father's talent, it would still take decades, or even more than a century, to reach Albert's cultivation. In contrast, we are already above level 50 and only continue to strengthen ourselves.
And we still have a big family with hundreds of experts.
Even if he wants revenge, his chances are minimal. Forget about him and his followers. Even the butler Dillian would have no hope of trying to harm us."
After that, the two continued to play until the patriarch won the round of chess.
Then the two said goodbye, while Otis remained in the room while looking at the side porch when he thought with a wide smile on his face. 'With the Red Valley in our hands, the Silva family will be able to grow substantially in the coming decades.
Hahaha, and even with all their financial might, the Miller bastards will not be able to block us!'