The Rise of the Black Plain

A week after the confrontation of Minos and the level 90 Spiritual Demigod...

Minos was at this moment inside a black hole he had just created, using this method to hide his tracks from the Eastern Empire's Spiritual Sage or anyone else who was watching him.

Minos could control his black holes so he, his clothes, artifacts, and small things not be absorbed by the singularity. Because of these characteristics, he could come and go from the Spatial Kingdom and take strange actions without the risk of being noticed.

Outside the black hole, all that an observer could see and feel was darkness and the absence of spiritual signs. So he had traveled to get this map in his hands in the Spatial Kingdom and was now doing what he should to begin his new journey.

Minos cut the tip of one of his fingers with his low-level grade-4 sword, then allowed a drop of his blood to fall onto that ancient piece of cloth.

That map showed a former area of the Evergreen Empire, but that was a floating island that had been abandoned, so its location should no longer be in that state, as innocent people might think.

So Minos couldn't just use that map in the traditional way, heading for the vicinity of that state.

He followed the procedure he had learned from one of the women of the Flowers Kingdom to get the key to the Seraphim Ancient Sarcophagus.

Following his drop of blood coming into contact with that fabric, suddenly, the impurities on it repelled. At the same time, a red glow appeared all over that thing.

Meanwhile, a large amount of energy from Minos' black hole singularity was absorbed by that thing, causing this emperor to frown as he noticed the power of that item.

'That must be at least a medium-level grade-4 artifact!' He pondered, finally realizing the quality of that map, which was also a key to something.

Then, amidst the absorption of energy and its intense glow, that thing changed color, turning golden, until a beam of light shot toward Minos' body.

That beam was not evil and only contained what was necessary for one to be able to access the location that this map led to. So Minos didn't back down and accepted that spiritual key into his mind.

Simultaneously, the map's fabric turned into countless pieces, activating something that made Minos feel like he was entering an illusion.

He found himself in a quiet place, with clouds covering almost all the surroundings and water coming up to his heels.

A tall, muscular man dressed in all-black clothing stood with his back to him, his face slightly turned to the side, revealing part of his face.

He looked handsome, with a sharp appearance. Still, the serious expression on his face made it difficult to consider him friendly.

He then said. "You are late... Perhaps I am no longer in this world."

Minos frowned his eyebrows and asked. "Who are you? What is the meaning of this?"

"I am the one who created this map, Maximillian Flamen. By all means, hurry up. Perhaps you can free me before the damned Maximus and his people overtake me."

"Maximus?" Minos frowned his eyebrow. "Maximus has been dead for a few million years."

"What?" The figure in Minos' illusion turned to him before the whole thing disappeared, and Emperor Stuart's consciousness returned to the interior of that black hole.

After that, he saw all the fabric of the map disappear, but right after that, he began to feel something in his mind, like something calling to him.

Because he was inside the black hole, the sensation he felt at this moment seemed to come from all possible directions.

Realizing the problem, Minos moved, making that black hole disappear and reappear to his observers.

He saw Dry City below him and immediately looked in the direction of where something was calling him.

"Uh?" He opened his mouth, seeing that such a place was to the west, in the direction of the marvelous Ancestral Sea, that colossus three times the size of the Central Continent and one of the two seas which separated that continent from the Divine Continent.

Minos knew that the Divine Continent was closest to the Central Continent by traveling through the Chaotic Sea, which bordered all the great continents of this world and some of the strongest islands. So when he felt that signal coming from the west, he soon realized that the island where the Seraphim Ancient Sarcophagus was located was not on that other continent.

It could only be in the Ancestral Sea, that area of shallow human presence in the Spiritual World!

'Not for nothing!' Minos narrowed his eyes. 'That's why these powers need the map to get to this place. It's off the continent and in a very complicated place!'

"Damn!" He muttered, noting that he would have to travel by boat, for if he traveled by other means, he would suffer.

Seas with powerful water beasts were dangerous for people to travel by flying or through a wormhole, for territorial beasts did not like that.

To them, flying over their territory was like humans flying over cities.

So when humans or land beasts flew over seas with the presence of these beings, they would usually be attacked mercilessly.

Since it was impossible to know where there would be one of these creatures that didn't like to be disrespected in this way, humans always traveled by boat over the sea.

Even Spiritual Demigods would do this depending on the territory they had to pass through!

Since this was a slow method of travel, Minos couldn't help but regret it.

'From what I'm sensing, this place can't be easily accessed if I leave from my state... It will also be interesting if I buy a high-level boat in a stronger state, so I'd better travel to one of those states in the western region first.

I will set off on my sea voyage from the closest location to that point in the Ancestral Sea.' He pondered before making up his mind to leave.

Minos couldn't use wormhole for long ranges, but he could do it far enough away to throw off people watching him.

So after considering that, he immediately activated his Soul Avatar and opened a crack in space, disappearing from the vicinity soon after.

...

While traveling through a wormhole, Minos was using his Soul Avatar to close the cracks in the space-time fabric to prevent his observers from being able to find his destination by analyzing where he had left from.

He had this ability to erase his tracks, so before he even reached one of his army's border posts in Cromwell territory, he had already covered all his tracks.

While the lives of those watching him had been made immensely difficult, he quickly made his way to the teleportation port of that place, intending to head for the Vogel border with the first state in the western region!

'Time to enter this new region...' He imagined before disappearing from there.