Quickly the sun began to appear on the horizon of the City of Waters when the day was about to start.
At this moment, some sunlight increased the illumination of this city little by little.
It was another day like any other in this place, with a good climate and a characteristic freshness in the mornings. Other than that, silence still prevailed on the streets of the city ruled by Mirya since the movement at this time was not so great.
Of the people who were on the streets of the City of Waters at this time, most of them had either just woken up or were returning from a night of work. As such, both sides were not thoroughly disposed, as they calmly circulated there without much fuss.
And among these people, tired and sleepy, Minos was leaving the government mansion in this region, accompanied by two beautiful women with green hair.
After showering together, the three of them took advantage of yet another fun session before the young Stuart finally left this city. After all, this was not a good place for 'hunters,' as was the case with the mother and daughter pair...
So, for two, the best was to take the chances that appeared!
At this moment, the three were in front of the mansion's exit gate, where only four guards were watching the place from inside a guardhouse. Minos then looked at the Viola e Mirya and said. "Well, I will leave some subordinates here in this city to do our business. If you have any messages for me over the next few weeks, just send them to one of these men."
"Oh? Well, I will keep this in mind... Ehh, I will not insist that you stay here for a few more days since you must have your own responsibilities..." Mirya said this, stopping to let out a breath. "But, if you are going to visit this city in the future, don't forget to visit us."
Mirya handed a medallion from her spatial ring and gave it to Minos. "With this item, you will be able to enter this mansion without my permission."
Upon hearing this, Minos looked at the medallion in his hand, which had the image of a flower, and then smiled. "Haha, okay. I will not forget this!"
After saying these words, the trio said goodbye. Minos set off through the still little busy streets while mother and daughter returned to the mansion's interior.
"Hahh, I wonder where Minos comes from..." Viola commented to her mother after yawning. She was still tired of the evening activity she had spent with the young Stuart and her mother. So, she was still a little sleepy and tired.
"Hmm, I also have my doubts, but I believe that we will discover this soon..." Mirya was not trying to discover Minos' past. This was a secret agreement between her and him, and she did not want to get the Stokes family's attention.
But she was sure that Minos's identity would not be hidden for long. With the young Stuart's talent, he would certainly go far in cultivation, and sooner or later, he would make a name for himself in the north of the Central Continent.
Because of this, Mirya knew that even without researching his past, she would still find out from where he comes.
...
After that, some time passed, and Minos and his group were already leaving the City of Waters, traveling in a carriage.
They had left three soldiers of the Black Plain Army in that city so that payments would be made to Mirya, in addition to regularizing immigration between that town and the Dry City.
With that, two soldiers were accompanying Minos back to the Black Plain territory, while Lee and Alison were also present.
The two had left the Spatial Kingdom on the same day that the first of the soldiers returned from the Dry City, after settling matters with the group of 50 people they had taken there.
But in that time, neither of them made any progress. Both were already in the 4th stage of cultivation, and currently, they needed more than ten weeks of hard cultivation to achieve a breakthrough.
Anyway, the group was happy to return to their territory, where their families and friends were.
...
As Minos and his subordinates made their way north from the Cromwell Kingdom, leaving behind the territory ruled by the Stokes family and going to the Black Plain, Abby and her bodyguards were arriving in the Dry City!
They had traveled for several days, stopping only to spend the night in a few cities they passed through and, of course, to cultivate. There was no reason for them to travel slowly. After all, Abby had grown up in the Brown Kingdom and knew most of that state.
For this reason, they did not stop to visit new places or even explore unknown regions. In fact, this was not a training trip for Abby. She wanted to see how her friend was doing and spend a few days with him.
In other words, a vacation trip!
Before seeing Minos in the Cromwell Kingdom, Abby had not had much information about this friend of hers. First, he had stayed for years without any development in that previous condition, unconscious, at the same time, when Abby was starting her journey in the world of cultivation, not having so much time for her friend.
Other than that, after turning 10, Abby left the City of the Setting Sun, where she had lived and studied at the Spiritual Academy. With that, knowing about news from her friend had become increasingly difficult for her.
Because of this, she had not heard from Minos recovering. Otherwise, she would undoubtedly have gone to visit him. When the young Stuart regained consciousness, six years passed, and Abby no longer thought she could see her friend awake.
She was also already preparing to participate in the Spiritual Tournament by the time Minos woke up, so that prevented her from obtaining information about him.
Anyway, Abby was someone who valued human relationships and who enjoyed being with her friends.
After all, it made no sense to have a long and lonely journey...
And since she had lost her best friend to one of the Flaming Empire sects, she wanted to spend time with Minos, whom she had several doubts in her mind.
She still didn't quite understand why he didn't go to the Flaming Empire. Even if he didn't go to the sect where his mother came from, there were still many options for him in that place. Not to mention that the Black Plain was not precisely the best place in this world...
Finally, at last, she and the bodyguard, Eda, reached a point where they could both see a great wall. They were on top of a terrestrial spiritual beast when Eda gave the signal for it to stop walking.
"What's it? Why are we stopping?" Abby asked curiously.
"Ehh, I'm sorry about that, Miss Abby. I was a little surprised and ended up reacting without thinking." She smiled and said. "It seems that the lady's friend made some renovations in this place..."
"Wasn't there this wall before?"
"No, at least seven years ago when I passed by, there was no wall as it is in front of us." Eda replied while she looked at this construction.
This wall was quite large by the standards of a place like the Dry City, and it still looked much higher than you usually saw in other cities, almost as if it were hiding something...
"Come on. It looks like there is an entrance a few kilometers from where we are." She said that before the spiritual beast began to run towards the eastern entrance of the Dry City.
...
Anyway, after some time, they finally got close to the entrance gate of that place. And in doing so, several soldiers from Minos' force had already felt the strength of these visitors, which was much more significant than they were used to seeing here.
"Boss, two powerful women are arriving at our gate!" A level 40 soldier came running to talk to the head of that place.
"Hmm?" Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man got up from the chair where he was, trying to probe people's strength within reach of his spiritual sense.
'One of them is at level 42, while the other is at level 48!' He thought about it with a strained look on his face.
"Send the signal to headquarters. They may be enemies!"
After saying that, the man who led this place put on a black overcoat and quickly left the room that he was. He then saw that some soldiers from the rank of Sergeant had already heard about it when he said it out loud.
"Be prepared, we don't know who these people are, but we have to be ready to attack them with everything!"
"Yea!"
After that, they all proceeded to the lower floor of the checking building, which was between the inner and outer walls of the wall.
...
'Ehh? A checkpoint, huh...' Abby thought with a smile on her face, forgetting to probe this place. After all, this was the Black Plain, an impoverished and weak area, in addition to being her friend's territory. So, there was no reason for her to worry about her safety...
However, Eda was different. The moment she saw this entrance and the group of men there, she immediately probed their strength.
"Miss Abby, we are surrounded!" She said this with a concerned expression, already putting one of her hands in a defensive position.
"What?" Upon hearing this, Minos' friend finally realized that 30 men had surrounded them, with the weakest of them at level 40!
As she was taken aback by the local reception, a loud and vigorous voice sounded in front of them. "You two, say your names, and where do you come from? What is the purpose of your trip to the Dry City?"