The Rise of the Black Plain - Chapter 2707: Distortion Ahead

Months after meeting Leger, Minos’ group was now in an area further north from where they had arrived in Uzira.

Leger had helped them by pointing out the interesting places he had heard about or even passed near during his first passage through the continent.

Even though this region of Uzira was the poorest on the continent, it was undeniably richer than even special places in Oqia. Not only that, given how large the eastern region was, a group like theirs could certainly travel the area for years and still come across new things.

Minos took the lead of the group during the last few months, using the Nautilus’ Compass to reach the locations indicated by Leger, successfully sidestepping problems and reach opportunities for his people.

In a fortuitous encounter during these months, they even managed to get a chance to improve one of the group’s Supremes!

But in most of the opportunities they’ve had so far, the group’s Sovereigns have been the ones to enjoy their chances.

Even so, months were not enough for new promotions to appear on the team. Now, standing in an area close to the coast, the group faced an unusual opportunity, an unexpected encounter on the way to another location indicated by Leger.

Faced with a spatial distortion, Minos and his companions had their eyes narrowed, each of them wondering what might be on the other side.

They had been following Minos’ lead for the last 11 days, between the place where they had gotten their last chance and the next chance indicated by Leger. Last night, they stopped near this distortion to rest and when they began their journey onwards to Leger’s point, they came across this unexpected distortion.

Even Minos thought that the path they were following would lead them to the place indicated by Leger, but at this point, he was no longer sure.

“Are we really going to go through with this?” one of the Armhands Generals asked Minos, breaking the momentary silence in this forest area with its large trees and little undergrowth.

They couldn’t sense anything that could tell them what was on the other side. Several of them were a little unsure, of course.

Abby, Gloria and Ruth could already imagine Minos’ response when he answered. “My instincts are telling me that this is the best path for us. Let’s take a little risk and move on.”

As confident as he was in his prophetic abilities connected to the Nautilus’ Compass and the Temporal Sands, Minos wasn’t sure what lay ahead. He knew that there would certainly be opportunities, but these could range from situations without extreme dangers nearby to near-death dangers. The fact that it was the best route only meant that there were better opportunities to be had by following this path or that the dangers on this journey would be less.

But even though he was uncertain about what lay ahead, Minos didn’t fear the unknown. His instincts were much more refined after all his experience in the Violent Sea and subsequent strengthening.

Minos then looked at the Supremes of his group and said, “Half of us will go ahead and the other half will stay on the outskirts to protect the group’s passage.

Tiolos, Clexvog and Malie, you three will go with me. The others will stay and help the other members of the group enter the distortion. We’ll give you three to five minutes and then you’ll enter the spatial distortion.”

The three strongest Supremes at his disposal positioned themselves while he summoned Wenni and Walkas, the first time he had done so since meeting Leger.

With a quick explanation of the situation, Minos left Walkas with Abby’s group and moved forward with Wenni at his side.

Entering the spatial distortion, they felt as if the world around them was turning upside down, with a strange noise making them bring their hands to their ears. Meanwhile, the surrounding space seemed to be a gray and white blur, with no ground for them to stand on, but also nothing in their surroundings, whichever direction they looked.

Strangely, they didn’t fall or float away, they just carried on, using the energy in their senses not to be overwhelmed.

A minute later, Minos was the first of them to leave the distortion, coming across a totally different area from the forest they were in moments ago.

There didn’t seem to be any immediate danger around them, but the differences between the previous place and this one were great. This place was a grandiose mountainous terrain, devoid of vegetation, and with several ruins of ancient buildings visible at Minos’ fingertips.

In each of the ruins, shiny items caught Minos’ eye, beckoning him to investigate them. He and his first companions to cross the spatial distortion didn’t do so immediately.

When they stopped on the outskirts of the spatial distortion, they took a deep breath as they spiritually and visually analyzed the area.

‘The energy density here is much stronger than the average of the areas we passed through in Uzira. In addition, the gravity is 10 times stronger, which means it will be more difficult for the group’s Sovereigns to fly through this area.’ Tiolos analyzed the terrain.

‘Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anyone else around here apart from us.’ Another of them considered.

“That seems to be an ancient inheritance,” Wenni said to the group, looking more relaxed than her fellow explorers. “The cultivation world can be repetitive. Wherever you go, experts are worried about dying and will leave their immortal traces behind. These are what we call inheritances, places that preserve the memory and one last spark of a unique and powerful being that exists or once existed.”

“Are you sure about that?” Malie asked.

“Absolutely. Are you seeing these shiny objects in several sites here? Each one is the core of a test left by the creator of this dimension.”

“So this place is an opportunity for us to win prizes and stuff?” Minos looked at the woman next to him.

“Prizes? Not exactly. The inheritances in Zocarro are more about opportunities. Getting an artifact in this place would be difficult. But it’s possible that some of us will be able to inherit techniques, knowledge and even opportunities to cultivate within these tests. In any case, with such an energy-rich dimension, everyone will be able to cultivate much faster here.”

When she had finished speaking, the rest of the group went through the spatial distortion, each of them being surprised by the difference between this place and the previous forest, but also taking their time to recover from the effects of going through the spatial distortion.