When the day had wholly dawned, the group resting inside the cave was already awake and cultivating.
Peter and Maxwell had been badly injured the night before. Even after the pills and cultivation, the two were still very weak. After all, even with the spiritual energy that they had, they would need at least 2 or 3 days to recover fully.
On the other hand, after cultivating for a few minutes the night before, Minos was already fully recovered from the energy expenditure he has had to fight with the yellow monkey.
That morning, while the three were having breakfast, Minos found out a little about the past of the two young men he had saved. Maxwell was a member of a noble family of the Snow Kingdom, a region east of the Kingdom of the Waves.
As for Peter, he was an ordinary person, who had cultivated on his own in his region, in the Kingdom of the Waves, and came to test his skills at the Spiritual Tournament.
For reasons that Minos did not know, Peter had not joined any noble family in his region, even after discovering his Black talent.
After having breakfast, Minos then decided to make his move, trying to lure Peter to the Black Plain.
The young Stuart's forces did not have many members with such talent. In fact, there were only three people like that, who were the two youths, Lee and Alison, and the butler Dillian. So, Minos had to take the chance to recruit anyone with Black talent who seemed willing to listen to his offer.
"Peter, you said you were going to help me if I needed to, right?" He asked mysteriously.
Upon hearing this, the short-haired young man raised his head and said in a resolute voice. "Yes, as long as it is within my capabilities."
Then Minos said with an expressionless face. "Hmm, you said you didn't join any noble family in your kingdom. Why don't you join my forces?"
"Ehh?" Maxwell almost spit out his drink when he heard Minos' offer. He had commonly spoken that, as if to say, 'the coffee is over.'
So, Maxwell found it a little strange that Minos was trying to get a subordinate. There was no subtlety. He went straight to the point at once...
"But you don't know anything about my past, aren't you afraid of the problems you might have for that?" Peter said with confusion. It would be a great favor for him to join a large family. He just had no luck...
Anyway, entering the power that had prepared a monster like Minos seemed attractive even to young Maxwell, let alone Peter.
And, of course, they didn't know that the force behind Minos was the Black Plain...
"It doesn't matter, as long as your problems don't come to us in a short time, then everything can be solved. But think about it calmly. There are still many days of Spiritual Tournament."
After saying this, the three finished eating and then cleaned up the cave before finally leaving this place.
Today, they would continue their journey to the center of this forest, where Minos would hunt the young Leroy.
...
Meanwhile, in Capital City, many people accompanied the recent events and even discussed what had happened the day before.
Many battles had been captured by the surveillance headquarters in that forest, transmitting these images to the audience in the place where the competitors had traveled to the second test area.
"Dude, you needed to see Ms. Kara's performance yesterday. She killed a 5th stage spiritual beast on her own!" A young man said to a friend who was at his side.
"Hmm, I heard that. But although this is very good, it cannot be compared to what Minos did. He is only a Spiritual Warrior, but even so, he can also kill a 5th stage beast!"
"Are you serious? I heard this rumor, but I didn't believe it. I can only believe in something like that when I see it with my own eyes!"
"Hahaha, I understand you. I didn't believe it myself when I watched the fight!" The young man's friend said out loud.
Meanwhile, many other people commented on the performances of the best participants so far.
The main one was the young Troy, who had fought and won, against two spiritual beasts of the 5th stage of cultivation yesterday!
He had the most significant cultivation and was also considered the most talented of the entire group. And even if there were others with Silver talent, those others were still months younger than him, which was giving Troy the overall advantage.
As for the partnership between Leroy and Davy, the two kept a low profile while fighting only with beasts from the 4th stage. But this was nothing done on purpose. It was just that, like Minos, the two had been teleported to one of the bordering regions of that forest.
Consequently, the two had not faced any powerful beast. The same would have happened with Minos if it had not been for Maxwell and Peter's sudden appearance!
...
While the competition was taking place in the forest where Minos was, in the Flaming Empire, there was a piece of land with a few square kilometers of area in the City of Clouds.
A young woman with brown hair and eyes was drinking tea outside her home in a quieter area.
In this place, there was a garden with many flowers, a white table with four seats, and a magnificent view of the city, which was not far away.
And this woman who was drinking tea in that place was Maisie Coleman, the mother of the young Stuart. She had just finished cultivating when she received the news that her father was coming here to visit her.
And as it was nothing unusual to happen, she had decided to wait for him in this place. 'At this moment, little Minos must be participating in the Spiritual Tournament... I wonder how he will do.'
'I hope Ruth will return as soon as possible to tell me about her time with him...'
After that, an old man, with white hair and beard, arrived at the place where she was, with a smile on his face.
She then asked while finding her father's expression curious. He seemed very happy with something. "Did something happen to you? Why are you smiling?"
The old man then laughed and said. "I met a person..."
...
Time quickly passed, and Minos and his group were closer to the central part of the forest. They had fought against some 4th stage beasts and a single one that was already in the 5th.
Other than that, the only surprise was that Minos and his group came across Abby. But she had already formed her own team and did not want to have to stand by the young Stuart right now.
The poor girl could not look at him the same way after the previous flirting.
Because of this, the two groups went in different directions after talking for a while. Minos was not bothered by Abby's reaction, as he already expected something like this.
However, the most important thing was that one of the people in Abby's group had spotted Leroy the day before!
With that, from what Minos had heard, it seems that his theory was, in fact, right. Leroy was going straight to the central region of the forest, where this examination was being carried out.
And it wasn't long before Minos and his two companions found a place to spend the night. This time, they found no geological structure suitable for them to rest, so they decided to camp near a river.
They decided to divide the shift between them, in which someone would be on the lookout while the other two could cultivate or rest.
...
Right now, Maxwell was watching the surroundings while Peter was sleeping.
On the other hand, Minos was sitting in a meditative position while his cultivation technique, Solar God Breath, was circulating.
There were many low-grade spiritual crystals next to Minos when his energy was increasingly at the limit of level 38!
'Oh? It looks like I'm going to go a few hours ahead of schedule!' He celebrated in his mind.
Crack!
Suddenly a tiny sound was heard, coming from the direction where Minos was sitting on the floor. The sound was low, but Maxwell was still able to catch. After all, they were in the middle of a forest, and silence was almost always prevalent.
'He managed to advance during the competition! This is truly good.' Maxwell silently applauded Minos' achievement.
At this point, Minos' energy had finally crossed the threshold of the previous level, and he was now at level 39!
'Hehe, just a little bit, and I'll be able to reach level 40!'
Minos was very anxious to get to the 5th stage. From this point on, he would probe his surroundings much more easily. That was indeed a big difference, which could even improve the cultivator's fighting performance.
But not only that, at each stage of cultivation, Minos' techniques would become even more potent, and he could still add one more of its to his repertoire!
'With my current speed, I will only be able to reach level 40 when I return to the Black Plain...' He thought about that when looking at the starry sky of this forest where they were.
...
Soon another day had passed when Minos and his two allies were getting closer and closer to Leroy's trail.
Minos' group had already realized that their target had an ally, and those two had already discovered that they were being pursued. With that, they were already preparing to fight!