Hearing Elen's words, Minos nodded and continued as he glanced at Luke.
"Hmm, that's fine with me, but if there is a second time, then I won't wait for any negotiations."
He didn't really need their Silver-grade technique since he already had numerous of them which Henricus Longus had left. In fact, rather than getting a Silver-grade technique, it was more critical for Minos to get Black-grade techniques.
That is because he had not yet reached a level of strength where he was able to teach Silver-grade techniques to all of his subordinates as if they were common techniques.
Therefore, Minos required a good number of Black-grade techniques to make them available to the soldiers of the Black Plain Army. However, since his father had only left three of such as an inheritance, he didn't have many techniques similar to that level.
And for this reason, Minos prioritized gathering techniques of this degree when compared to obtaining other techniques of a higher grade.
By doing so, not only would he avoid exposing his secrets, but at the same time be able to maintain a force well-prepared for the standards of the northern region of the Central Continent. As for the Silver-grade techniques, Minos would only allow the best and most talented soldiers to learn such techniques even if he had many of them with him.
And for the Golden-grade ones, only he and Dillian would have the pleasure of training and cultivating them. At least, it would take a long time before someone else were to have the privilege to get this opportunity.
'Oh! He doesn't seem to care much about a technique like that. Does he already practice any equivalent classified cultivation technique?' Elen thought to herself, noticing that Minos didn't even do so little as to frown to negotiate for an even higher price.
Beside her, Luke thought with a slight smile on his face, 'Huh? That is just way easier than I thought it would be… Haha, I bet this guy must be afraid of losing our family's alliance with him. But that is just better as it makes things easier for me,'
"Well, since that is the case, I will hand over the crystals to you right away," Elen said, her brows still furrowed as she took a spatial ring out of her bag.
After that, Minos returned the Silver-grade technique which he had 'collected' from Luke and handed it to the young Elen.
The two business partners also used this opportunity to settle the final points of the negotiation of the Black Plain with the young trader.
…
Meanwhile, somewhere close to the borders between the Black Plain and the Kingdom of Waves, there was a zone with some rock formations and a river running between the mountains which led into a cave.
Within that cave was a spiritual beast about 1.5 meters in height, with orange fur on its back and white on its belly. The beast had big brown eyes with an upright pupil and an entirely black snout.
But what would surely captivate anyone if they saw it would be the five beautiful tails which stretched upwards at the end of its back.
Although many people might not be able to recognize this spiritual beast in the north of the Central Continent, if Minos were to see it, he would immediately admit that it was a Nine-Tailed Fox!
Minos knew this due to the God Henricus Longus' inheritance, of course, who had known every kind of spiritual beast during his long life.
As for the Nine-Tailed Foxes, well, they were a breed of beasts from the Continent of the Beasts, a place which existed very far away from Minos' current place.
As for the quality of the lineage of this breed, although they were not among the group of beasts with the best bloodlines, the Nine-Tailed Foxes could still reach level 89, the limit of the 9th stage!
The Nine-Tailed Foxes had a characteristic unique to their breed in the world of beasts, which was the number of tails.
Every tail a Nine-Tailed Fox had represents a stage of their cultivation. So, during their birth, they are at level 0. As for this fox, since it already had 5 beautiful tails, it was without a doubt that it was already at the 5th stage!
The fox then strolled around the cave and after a while stopped to rest beside a water passage. It drank some water before closing its eyes and lying there, showing a big bulge in its belly.
'This place will serve for me to give birth to my baby…'
This Nine-Tailed Fox was a female and was currently pregnant, and that was also the reason why she had come to the region close to the Black Plain.
That is because delivery is a time of great fragility for females, be it spiritual beasts or humans.
With such a thought, if the female who was about to give birth doesn't have a protected place to give birth in, then the last way out for them would be to find a weaker and less exposed area so as to spend the first few days with their child.
But as to why the fox had not chosen the Continent of Beast but rather chosen the Central Continent to give birth, it was only known by her.
'Come out soon my baby, mommy wants to meet you…' the fox said in a non-human language.
…
Another day passed, and Minos had already collected another round of spiritual pills in the different alchemy stores which he had previously visited.
And since there was not much for him to do on Stone Island now, Minos was already preparing to leave Old Stone.
But before that, there was something of much importance for him to do before he left this place, it was to meet the graceful Elena, tonight.
By now Minos was almost ready to leave as he checked himself in the mirror.
Minos was wearing gray jeans, and a long-sleeved blue shirt that was paired with a comfortable black overcoat, nodding in approval of his attire, he left his room before heading towards the exit of the place.
Noticing that Minos intended to leave, Ruth approached and asked, "Where are we going now?"
"Hmm? I'm going to Elena's residence, but I think it's better for you to stay here…" Minos said provocatively.
"Huh?" Hearing his words, Ruth's face was completely red with embarrassment and irritation. Just remembering that woman's peculiar behavior, she was already feeling uncomfortable.
She then turned and left, heading for her room and leaving behind a trail of loud and crisp footsteps which was enough to make anyone know that it was not the right time to talk to her, 'He really will do 'that' with that bitch…'
Meanwhile, accompanied by four more soldiers, Minos was heading towards the south side of the capital of Stone Island, the place where the Neel family's mansion was located.
Not long after, Minos' carriage drove through the Old Stone until they could see a beautiful mansion on top of a mountain.
A large space of the mansion was covered with trees and a small road leading to the mansion's entrance.
At the point the carriage reached the gate they noticed that it was over 3 meters tall and had a beautiful red hammer symbol in its center.
This was the symbol of the Neel family, a family of blacksmiths!
Upon arriving at the Neel family's mansion, Minos soon noticed that there was a stark difference between this place and the Nash family's palace. While the latter had a large building, with no other buildings nearby, the Neel family's mansion could be seen as a collection of different structures that formed a beautiful mosaic.
In fact, seeing from a distance, one might as well think that this was just one large building, but upon closer inspection, it would be revealed that they are indeed different buildings and in between these places, there were buildings of varying sizes and colors.
Minos admired the beautiful landscape created by the combination of these buildings until a guard stopped his carriage.
"Welcome to the Neel family. Please identify yourselves and declare the purpose for your visit," the guard asked politely.
A soldier who was in front of Minos' carriage responded, "Hmm, the young master Minos Stuart is here to visit Ms. Elena Neel."
The guard smiled after hearing this and replied while making some hand gestures to the soldier who had responded, "Oh! I understand. Ms. Elena has already given her permission for Mr. Minos to enter. Please follow that path."
After a while of following the guard, Minos' carriage stopped close to Elena's residence, and the group of four soldiers remained there while Minos alone followed the guard for the rest of the path.
It didn't take long before he arrived at a four-story building that had a fascinating shape.
It appeared as if several squares were stacked together to form two different models. One of them consisted of glass balconies, while the other was embellished with large windows surrounded by a beautiful brick wall.
Minos then made his way up to the top floor, where Elena's residence was located.
Ring!
There was a low-level spiritual array that simulated a bell's ring.
Soon after that, a beautiful young woman with blond hair opened the door.
The woman was wearing a short white dress that accentuated every detail of the sensual silhouette of the beautiful beauty, Elena.
She indeed was charming, enough to the point where even heterosexual women would feel attracted to even her.
With a smile on her face, Minos continued to gaze at her slowly and in a few moments said, "It's good to see you again, Elena. I will be leaving Stone Island soon, so I came here to have that special 'dinner' of yours."
"Oh! That's right?" Elena asked as she approached Minos slowly.
She brought her lips close to the young Stuart's ear and whispered sensuously, "I hope you're prepared to taste my meat. It's truly spicy. I hope it's not too much for your taste…"
"Hmm, although I've never savored this kind of flavor before, I'm sure that I can handle it," Minos said with a smirk before pulling Elena's thin waist.
"MMMMMMM!"
Their lips touched as they began to kiss feverously before pulling and nibbling each other's lips, meanwhile, Minos had started to explore Elena's alluring curves while she also both hands behind the young man's neck as if she was forcing her lips even more into his.
It didn't take long before the two went into the apartment…