Dawn passed quickly, and Minos had already prepared to leave and meet the merchant, Elen Nash. He wanted to start doing business with Stone Island as soon as possible, opening doors for even more significant growth of his forces on the Black Plain.
After leaving his room, Minos had breakfast in the apartment's living room while talking to some soldiers. Some of them were at a table full of dishes, spiritual fruits, bread, cold cuts, and some morning drinks. The rest were standing while talking to each other.
At that moment, Minos spoke seriously. "Sergeant Pyke and three others of you will come with me while the rest can stay and train."
After that, it wasn't long before Minos' group left to head towards the Nash family headquarters. However, when they passed through the corridor where their apartment was to go to the elevator, an unexpected encounter happened.
…
'Ahh, this hotel is not a bad place to spend the night…' Ruth thought to herself as she yawned. She had just woken up and was getting ready to leave when she saw a table full of delicacies in her apartment.
"Oh! Breakfast has already been delivered to my apartment. They are truly efficient!" She murmured in a low voice, smelling the incredible fragrance that came from the table with the breakfast she had ordered earlier.
She then looked at the plates with several fruits, sandwiches, and two jugs of orange juice. After that, she started to eat happily while judging each item's spirituality.
Chomp! Nhoc! Nhac! Nhec!
'Mnn, it tastes excellent, but the amount of spiritual energy that is in most foods here is average at best.' Ruth thought, finishing eating an apple, which was completely red.
And in fact, when compared to items sold in the Flaming Empire, the spirituality contained in these foods marketed in the northern region of the Central Continent was indeed poorer.
That's because the Flaming Empire was a territory that had several regions with high spiritual concentration.
In this way, the cultures planted in these territories were necessarily richer in spiritual energy. As for food of animal origin, it was also left behind since there were animals of a higher level in places with greater spiritual density.
As for these animals in question, they are variations of spiritual beasts in this world. Like humans, there are spiritual beasts with different 'talents,' but no one categorizes this distinction as a talent.
Such a thing is a classification for humans and elves. For beasts, they are said to have different lineages.
And how many lineages could be more or less intense, depending on two things: the breed of the beast and the purity of the lineage.
That means that even the purest of horses could not yet be compared to a dragon with an impure lineage.
Because of this, spiritual beasts of weaker breeds that could not go far in cultivation were generally referred to as simply animals in the Spiritual World. This is because these beasts were limited to a stage of cultivation, which they would not have developed their intelligence yet.
To give you an idea, for spiritual beasts to reach the intelligence of a human, this was something that happened as soon as they reached the 5th stage of cultivation. This was equivalent to a human being able to feel and use the power of heaven and earth in the same stage.
For a human who has reached level 70, someone can live temporarily in the form of a soul and possess another person's body or even build a new one. As for the spiritual beasts, in this same stage, they would be able to take a humanoid form and even could conceive children with humans!
Anyway, spiritual beasts limited by their breed to level 39, the limit of the 4th stage, can be called animals in this world.
After a while, Ruth finished her meal and headed for the elevator on the floor where she was staying. However, at that moment, a group of five men was coming towards the same elevator.
When Ruth finally started to think about where she had seen these people from, Minos slowly stepped out from behind one of the soldiers and became visible to the sexy curvy girl in front of the elevator.
"Ahh, I found you, Minos!" She said, satisfied. This would make her job easier. Now she just had to take this young man to the Cromwell Kingdom, she thought…
At that point, Minos, who had been surprised to be recognized by someone in this place, finally began to evaluate the young woman in front of him.
She had a delicate face, which showed that she was not much older than him and had well-defined curves, which would make any man stop to appreciate them for a few moments.
She was a beauty in a hundred thousand!
As he assessed the beauty of black hair in front of him, Minos thought to himself while he had an expressionless face. 'From where do I know this girl? There should be no way for me to forget someone like that!'
He then said. "Have we met before?"
"Don't you remember? You are truly the worst for not being able to recognize someone you met a little over a year ago." Ruth said with a tone of displeasure.
"Just over a year?"
At that moment, Pyke stepped forward and spoke to Minos. "Young master, I think this young lady was accompanying Mrs. Maisie for just over a year."
"Ah! So, it's you. Why are you looking for me? Didn't I already say that I have no interest in your Gray Cloud Sect?"
Ruth then said with a smirk on her face. "Hmph, you're an ungrateful person who doesn't know what you're missing. If it weren't for my master, you would never be able to join our sect!"
"But today, I'm here to tell you about the Spiritual Tournament, which will take place in a few months in the Cromwell Kingdom. My master told me to come here and tell you about it and if you were already at least in the 4th stage of cultivation…" At that moment, she stopped talking because, due to the surprise of meeting Minos at the same hotel where she was staying, Ruth had forgotten to probe Minos' strength.
"What? How can that be possible?" She said as she looked at Minos in shock. That's because she realized that he was already in the 4th stage of cultivation, at level 33!
That was unbelievable for her because in just over a year, this young man breakthrough from level 0 to level 33!
Due to his previous cultivation speed, she already expected him to reach the 4th stage of cultivation before the Spiritual Tournament. However, he was already at this level now, and it was still months before this competition started!
So, she was surprised!
To give you an idea, people with Silver talent, like the young Ruth, took an average of almost three years to achieve this. As for those with Black talent, most of them took an average of 4 years to reach this stage.
'What a monster this Minos is. Did the master make a mistake in saying that he had Black talent? Such speed is very unbelievable for someone with Black talent!' Ruth thought to herself.
Meanwhile, Minos held his hands behind his back while he smiled. He had a good idea of why she had been so surprised all of a sudden. So, he had decided to let her take a breath and recover from the shock before continuing their conversation...
"Let's talk inside my apartment." Minos said as he headed back to the room from which he had left earlier. After that, he went to his room and settled in an armchair that was there.
A few seconds later, Minos finally broke the silence and asked in a curious tone. "What is this Spiritual Tournament? And why does my mother want me to participate?"
Ruth then regained her composure and responded sincerely. "The Spiritual Tournament is a competition made by the sects of the Flaming Empire, in the northern region of the Central Continent."
"Once every eight years, this tournament is held in one of the kingdoms of this region, in which the objective is to bring the greatest talents to our empire. That is also a great opportunity for the geniuses of this region."
"The first three places receive generous rewards, while the first place also gains a Silver-grade technique."
"
That is also a good chance for the geniuses in this region to get to know each other."
"Because even if most of them lack the talent to travel to other parts of the Central Continent. Many of them will still rule important families, sometimes even becoming kings of their kingdoms."
"Therefore, the Spiritual Tournament is considered one of the events of great importance for the region in which you are. As for why my master wants you to participate, it must be so that you know how big the world can be." She finished with a smile on her face.
'Mnn, interesting. Even if I don't need this technique, I will still be a leader in this region of the Central Continent, and that is why I must meet the future specialists here. That is also a good opportunity for me to fight those of the same generation as me...' Minos thought to himself as he cracked his fingers with a thoughtful expression on his face.