Boom!
Several explosions took place in a few seconds, along with the chaos generated by the people who passed in the area and were now fleeing in despair. Some students left the Spiritual Academy, several vendors, and many passers-by who would typically pass by this place almost any time of day.
After all, this was the capital of the Brown Kingdom, the City of the Setting Sun. And this was one of the main avenues, but still, some attack was happening right there.
As the crowd dispersed, five cultivators from the Spiritual King stage were fighting. Four of them attacked the fifth with a clear intention to kill.
This individual was none other than one of the Brown Kingdom's illustrious generals, Albert Stuart, who was 130-years-old and already at level 51, with a bright future ahead of him.
However, even for someone talented, fighting four opponents from the same stage was not easy. With this, soon, the general was increasingly at a disadvantage.
"Albert, you should have never had absurd thoughts of getting a medium-level spiritual region as a reward given by the kingdom. Hahaha, as if a newly created noble family like yours could do so."
Not long ago, the kingdom was relocating sovereignty over a region particularly rich in spiritual energy, by the standards of this region, of course. Since the former sovereign family in that region had left the Brown Kingdom, leaving several noble houses thirsty for this place.
Finally, due to Albert Stuart's meritorious service, he received that region.
He had expectations of increasing his family's strength in a wealthy place like that. However, this was a resource that his small noble power could not keep.
Another enemy then added with a smile on his face. "Be happy that we'll not touch your son when you die, hahaha, and yet we'll give him the lands of the Black Plain as your inheritance!"
The region of the Black Plain was an impoverished place, sterile and with a spiritual density considerably low in the Brown Kingdom.
"Miserable, don't think I'm going to die without even taking any of you with me." After saying this, Albert Stuart concentrated all of his spiritual energy present in his body in a sphere of black energy.
Simultaneously, his vitality as a Spiritual King, which could provide him with a life expectancy of approximately 1,600 years, was being sucked at an incredible rate. This was transforming him instantly from a young adult to an older man with both feet in the grave.
"Damn, this demented man is going to sacrifice himself. Withdrawal!!!"
At that moment, a big explosion happened in that place, destroying everything along the way in a radius of 20 meters, when three men staggered out. At the same time, the fourth was thrown in a half-dead state.
There were also several objects flying from the place and reaching the surroundings.
...
Meanwhile, a young man with childlike features, brown hair, 1.3 meters in height, dressed in a green uniform, and carrying a backpack on his back was shocked by the surrounding events when a stone more than 1 meter wide approached him.
"AHH!!!"
Unfortunately, he could not escape in time before he was struck.
This was Minos Stuart, 9-years-old and the son of the general who had just sacrificed himself.
He was on his way to meet his father in front of the Spiritual Academy, after his final day of school, before starting his journey into the cultivation world.
He then lost consciousness shortly after that.
It did not take long for the situation to calm down. Soon, several guards came to control the situation and assist the victims of this attack.
"Eh, isn't that General Stuart's brat?" One of the guards who helped in the rescue asked in a low voice.
"Hmm, and it appears that his situation is grave. It's better to take him straight to General Stuart's mansion. Butler Dillian is well versed in spiritual healing. If not even he could help this boy, then we wouldn't be of help either. Take him fast." Another guard said while helping an older man by the side of Minos' unconscious body.
While Minos was rescued, a hoarse voice suddenly spoke inside his mind. 'Boy, your situation isn't the best, tsh, although, despite everything, you also received a chance that many would dream of having.'
Minos then began to speak in a fearful voice. 'Who are you? Where are you?'
'Don't be so scared, despite being on the verge of death, this's the good part. My name is Henricus Longus, and as for where I am, I am in your mind.'
Then the young man asked in disbelief. 'Hen... Henricus Longus, the first God of our world?'
'Hmm, it looks like my name hasn't been completely forgotten, but I wasn't the first God, just the first human to reach this level.'
Soon after, the young man remembered something crucial. 'What did you say? Inside my mind? What do you mean?'
The old voice then answered. 'That's right, you are receiving my inheritance, so this fragment of my soul can communicate directly with your mind. As to why this is happening, it is because you have met the requirements for receiving the inheritance.'
'But don't get too full of yourself. It just happened due to your location and the fact that your near-death state has changed your Physique. Due to certain reasons, I couldn't just wait for a suitable heir to come to me, so that's why I came to you.'
Minos then questioned. 'Has my Physique changed?'
'That's right. You should know that there are five notes for the Physique: Common, Warrior, King, Saint, and Divine; originally, you had one of the King-grade, but due to the incident, it was changed to a mutant Common-grade, which can continually evolve into the Divine-grade. This must have happened because you had a Physique with somewhat unusual ability. After the incident, an anomaly was created in your body, generating this rare phenomenon.'
'As for the geographic factor, this region was very rich in spiritual energy in my time. This was one reason I created my Spatial Kingdom close to this place. But I didn't expect the surrounding energy to become so thin after only a few million years... In my days, this place could create Spiritual Sages, but now... Not even Spiritual Emperors could be created in this region.'
'This ended up making it difficult for me to find a suitable heir since to receive my inheritance, the individual needs to have a Divine-grade Physique. And since people are not born with such a Physique, finding someone like this in a place like here was almost impossible, as no one talented enough would stay here...'
Meanwhile, the 9-year-old child listened carefully to the words of this historical figure, so the old voice continued. 'Boy, my inheritance will give you tremendous potential since your talent will be even higher than the Golden talent. However, you must make a promise.'
The talent in this world was classified into five rows. It was White, Blue, Black, Silver, and Golden. It is said that talent is equal to understanding, which is one of the two requirements to advance through the stages of cultivation. The other was the accumulation of spiritual energy.
With talent, someone can progress without bottlenecks to a particular stage of cultivation, depending on what classification his talent was. For Golden talent, for example, the first bottleneck a person finds is at the level of a Spiritual Demigod. And for this, there is a greater than 50% probability that the individual with such a talent will reach this level.
'About what?' Minos asked curiously. Then he heard. 'While I was still alive, I possessed an innate divination ability. As a result, I once had a prophetic dream about a distant future in which this world would face a significant external threat.'
'Few know this, but the truth is that we aren't alone in the universe, and we are lucky that we have never been found by others before. But don't be so scared, their cultivation is also like ours, it's limited to level 100. However, they are much more numerous. For example, while we find a lot when we have 3 or 4 Gods at the same time, these forces even have 10 or 15 of them simultaneously.'
'So, after my dream, I started creating my inheritance, since I couldn't solve the problem in my days, as there wasn't enough spiritual energy in the environment. Don't misunderstand. The problem is that this energy is widespread in the world, and we cannot absorb even 30% of the total. This is also a biological limitation. However, there are still spiritual plants and medicines that can do this, and it is through these resources, we reach level 100.'
'You may not know it, but when you reach level 100, cultivators can double the space and create spatial regions, which we call Spatial Kingdoms. These kingdoms can absorb the energy of heaven and earth and concentrate on the inside, creating true cultivation sanctuaries.'
'To build this place, I spent the last 1,000 years of my life doubling the space five times and building a domain capable of storing an enormous amount of energy after a few million years.'
'Anyway, a few decades ago, the kingdom finally matured completely. So, this is the main part of my inheritance. You must use this space to improve the average level of cultivation on this planet. When it comes to how to do this, after digesting the much information that you will also receive, I believe that you'll have a good sense of how to accomplish this.'
'This is all boy, don't let me down, or this whole world can be enslaved. Finally, I believe that you may end up being unconscious for a few years as a result of your current state and also my inheritance. But this will not be a significant disadvantage.'
Minos then responded sincerely. 'I will do my best not to waste this chance.'
The old voice then said goodbye. 'Good luck. I hope you succeed.'
...
Meanwhile, outside Minos' mind, his body was continually being healed by the efforts of the butler Dillian. However, there was no sign of the young Stuart waking up.
And so, six years passed in the blink of an eye.