Two weeks passed, and Minos was now at level 23.
He has fought with all ten guards between levels 27 and 28 two more times in this period. From the matches, before he reached level 23, he beat everyone who was at level 27, two at level 28, drew with another, and lost to the last.
By the next week, he was already at level 23, and although two of the guards had advanced to level 29, it didn't help them much. Minos just didn't win a game, which ended in a draw.
The opponent in that match was the same one who had already beaten Minos twice. His name was Grym. He was 30-years-old and level 29 when they fought the last time. He was a muscular, tall man.
But what impressed Minos was the fact that this guard had a King-grade physique!
That was surprising because, generally, cultivators weren't born with a Physique with a rating higher than the person's talent.
And since Grym had lived his entire life in the Dry City, it was unlikely that he would have improved his Physique with external means.
Although it is almost impossible to increase a person's talent in the Spiritual World, cultivators would still be able to advance through the bottlenecks to a certain extent, as long as a cultivator used unique means to achieve this. And for the Physique, a person could increase their rating only once during their life, but uncommon means would also be needed for that.
However, there would be a limit. For example, for the Physique, it was only possible to increase the classification by 1 degree. Therefore, only a mutant Physique like the one Minos have could continue to improve!
So, it was unlikely that Grym was born with a Warrior-grade Physique and then evolved into a King.
There were no resources in this region for that!
But despite being a rare occurrence, such a thing could happen. Anyway, such an asset enabled Grym to have a good advantage in the battles against Minos.
He had an innate ability, Mental Chaos, which put the opponent in a state of temporary confusion.
And since Minos had a much lower level, he was very vulnerable to this ability. However, after reaching level 23, Minos managed to avoid defeat using all his strength.
...
"Mia, call Commander Pyke. Ask him to bring the guard Grym with him too." Minos spoke to Mia as she went to his office.
"Ok."
...
A few hours later, the door to Minos' office opened, and two men enter the place.
It was Pyke and Grym.
"Young master, is there anything we can do for you?" Asked Pyke with a curious face.
"In fact, I decided to reward the guard Grym for his performance over the past few weeks."
"Although he did not win the three games that I had conditioned to receive the Silver-grade technique, still, he didn't lose any matches."
Minos then looked at Grym and said. "That's why I decided to award you with a Silver-grade technique."
He then took a silver scroll from his spatial ring and tossed it to Grym.
Grym was utterly shocked when he heard and saw this. He wouldn't even dream of having such a thing. Hell, even Black-grade techniques were too much for him!
At the same time, Commander Pyke's mouth was wide open. He also had an ambiguous feeling of happiness and envy. After all, this was his biggest dream, after Minos had let them learn Black-grade techniques!
Anyway, the technique that Minos gave to Grym was called DayDream.
It placed the target in a hallucination, which would disorient him for 10 seconds. If used during the day, it would have a double effect.
"Thank you very much, young master. I will train even harder starting today so as not to disappoint you." Said Grym, full of conviction.
After that, guard Grym returned to his services while Minos and Pyke discussed matters relating to the administration of the Dry City.
...
Time passed quickly, and it was time for the second harvest!
A month and a half passed in the blink of an eye, and Minos was now at level 27!
Within the Spatial Kingdom, the youths, Lee and Alison, also increased their strength during this period and were now at level 8. According to butler Dillian, these two should reach the Transition stage in another month!
But for butler Dillian, he failed to make any progress. It took much longer for someone at the General Spiritual stage to progress than at the lower levels.
To get an idea, while someone with high talent and in a region of high concentration, one could go from level 0 to 10 in two or three months. And for the same cultivator to go from level 40 to 41, it could take five months!
It wasn't easy!
And in addition to gathering an increasing amount of energy, they still needed to have an equivalent domain in each of their techniques. Otherwise, it would be very harmful to continue to move forward in the future.
And as in higher stages, a higher number of techniques were trained… This indeed increased the progression time a lot!
Anyway, today, Minos and the butler Dillian left the Spatial Kingdom to solve the future issues of the Black Plain since a good amount of crystals would arrive for them soon.
At this moment, Minos and Dillian were talking in the office when the door quickly opened, and secretary Mia came through.
"Young master, the manager Somir is here to see you," She said after entering Minos' office.
"Hehe, I think this guy came to negotiate. Last time we gave him a good profit. " Dillian said as he drank a cup of tea.
"Hmmm, send him in, Mia."
After a few seconds, the manager of the Central Market came through the door of Minos' office.
He looked very well, but he had a solemn expression on his face.
In fact, in the last harvest, Minos' products sold so well that he was concerned that the young Stuart would not do more business with him due to the 10% fee he had charged.
That is why he had come here after discovering that the current harvest was about to be done.
"Nice to see you, Mr. Somir." Minos said with a smile on his face.
"It is good to see you too, young master Minos. Today I came here to renegotiate the Central Market commission for the next harvest. "
"Last time I charged a higher price because I didn't know the product and it was a small quantity. But this time, I want to make the best price possible for the young master."
Minos then asked with an expressionless face. "Oh? And how much are we talking about? "
"I thought of a rate of 3% of what is sold, it will be little for the Central Market in the first months of business, but over time we will have a good advantage." Somir spoke honestly.
"Hmm, I can accept such a fee, but we can renegotiate this in the future. How about we form a 5-year partnership?" Minos asked. That rate was reasonable, but the Central Market would receive a considerable share when trading yielded very high amounts!
Therefore, Minos would renegotiate this contract in the future.
"It works, too." Somir replied with relief.
Such a thing was already expected, so he saw no problem with that. The main thing is that he would continue to sell Minos' items!
...
A year quickly passed.
During that period, the Dry City grew steadily and now had more than 40,000 inhabitants. This change was because part of the residents of the Black Plain had migrated to this city, which had been developing a lot in the last months.
Many changes have occurred in the past period. For example, about 100 hectares, now were planted in various crops, employed more than 10,000 people in the city!
The numbers of the Black Plain Army also rose and were now just over 600 members.
As for the city, the most significant change was the use of spiritual crystals in the four arrays.
Now, Minos was supplying crystals to all of them every month. This resulted in another increase in spiritual density in the central parts of the city, which had made the population even happier!
After all, with an increase in spiritual concentration, the cultivation speed of the entire population was increasing!
Regarding Minos, he was now at level 33, while Dillian was at 47. As for the youths, Lee and Alison, they were already in the Spiritual Beginner stage!
Minos had also undergone the first Physique mutation, going from the Common-grade to the Warrior-grade. As a result, the increase in spiritual energy that the Minos' Physique's innate ability provided went from 5% to 10%.
During this period, there was also a good development in army soldiers' strength, and many of them were already at their limit, level 39.
Because of that, the need for spiritual pills was urgent!
Minos then decided that since Elen had not returned during this period, he would go out towards Stone Island to do business. He also intended to start selling his items in that region, which would also be resolved on this trip.
After a big meeting with the most influential people in the government, it was decided that Dillian would stay to take care of the city in the absence of Minos. Meanwhile, now Corporal Pyke and ten other soldiers of the same rank would accompany the young Stuart during the trip.
That was a trip that could take from weeks to a few months, and as they had to go through several unknown regions, there was a need for such strength. Despite not being strong, the Black Plain still had some areas with the presence of low-level spiritual beasts.
That was also a source of income in the region before Minos arrived.
There could be other problems as well, so the group was made in the best possible way. Except for Minos, everyone was at level 39!