The Rise of the Black Plain
chapter-2568

Abby sighed in defeat as she rose from her chair, her heart in her hands.

"If you want to go again, be careful. Take Otis with you and be ready to summon our dead warriors," she said and threw three crystals in Kendrick's direction.

He took them without a problem and said, "I'll take Grisdi as well. She came out of seclusion the night before with a new cultivation of level 108."

"Good. But be careful out there. Your father could return from his trip at any moment, so there's no need to risk too much." Abby advised.

"When are you leaving?" Gloria asked as she sat down beside Abby.

"In a couple of days. I'll just wait until she's settled with the Records Hall and then we'll go. I've already put Hollie in charge of the hall, so I'm already prepared."

"Otis, can you get ready in the meantime?" Abby asked the robot standing with them.

"Sure. I'm always ready." He looked at them with his mechanical eyes.

The last few years had been very good for him and the other members of the Minos faction. For the most part of them, they had taken their chances with cultivation, meditated a lot, and had opportunities to grow with deadly challenges when they left their headquarters.

They didn't progress as fast as the Minos, but because some of them had already made progress before their leader left, and also because their cultivation base was "smaller" than his, they could make such rapid progress.

However, unlike Otis, the humans in the group who were at level 107 had only reached level 108 during this period. As for the members of the faction who had been in Zocarro long before Minos and the others, some of them improved, but others didn't.

For individuals like Sender, who was already at level 114, advancing was a Herculean task that was difficult to accomplish even after a millennium of arduous cultivation!

Those who had advanced before Minos left would take a while to get stronger again, and the same was true for the few who had advanced in the years since he had left.

But they were all stronger with their high-level artifacts, the possibility of having Abby's dead warriors on their side, and the advantages of having the strongest faction within Armhands behind them. For most of these individuals, these were reasons enough to consider themselves stronger now than they were a few years ago.

With Otis' answer, Abby dismissed him. Kendrick stood there for a few moments, listening to the two women discuss the current situation of Ruth, who was at level 108.

Ruth had risen to the rank of Senior Officer and was on the major battlefield of the Armhands' allied forces in the war against the Firestone Mines coalition. With her ability to regenerate, she helped the allies to better resist their enemies without getting directly involved in the battle.

"Ruth will return to the guild in a month at the most." Gloria said to the young man, who had been unaware of certain news for some time.

Even though several of them were at headquarters, it wasn't uncommon for them to go weeks without seeing or talking to each other. Sometimes this happened because their responsibilities didn't coincide, because they were in seclusion, or even because their missions interfered with each other's rest or cultivation.

Kendrick had spent some time without such direct interaction with his family, having cultivated in seclusion for a few months since his last departure from the headquarters.

"What about this black liquid business? Is the Commander pressuring you? There are only 10 years left before the break he gave us expires." He asked the last thing on his mind before he left.

"The Commander is faithful to his promises. He must be watching us, but he hasn't tried to pressure me about Minos' return and the start of the experiments yet," Abby said with a sigh.

As much as he wasn't pressuring her, she couldn't help but feel more and more pressured about these experiments. She needed Minos to return. She trusted he wouldn't fail, even so, as long as he wasn't with her, she would have all the pressure of a Supreme's expectations on her shoulders.

"Sigh... I hope he won't be late." Kendrick said as he stood up, not taking the time to say goodbye to the two of them and leaving to attend to other matters.

With Kendrick gone, the two women spent some time looking at each other in silence, thinking about Minos and how he should be.

The two women were the only ones in the whole family who hadn't left headquarters during those years, so they were the ones who felt the 'delay' in Minos' return the most. Without the adrenaline of war to make them feel that time was passing more quickly, they felt that much more time had passed in the meantime than had actually passed.

"I think I'm going to join the war," Gloria said as she looked at the blue-haired woman sitting next to her.

"Don't talk nonsense. Minos will be back soon and I need someone to help me run this place." Abby refused immediately. She was already too busy with her help and did not want her to leave.

She wasn't Minos, who could cultivate quickly, intimidate everyone, and make the gears of the Law Enforcement Hall turn easily. Everything was more difficult for her, even though she was also influential.

"I will help you for another six months. If he doesn't return by then, I'll join the battle. I have to earn merit in this war, too." Gloria sighed as she temporarily gave in to Abby.

"Very well. Six months is enough time for me to prepare." Abby relaxed as she postponed Gloria's plans.

"Anyway, Minos won't let us down. What really worries me is Vico and Callie's journey to the Spiritual World and their eventual return."

Abby looked at Gloria out of the corner of her eye, aware of the woman's genuine concern. "They should be fine. But I'm also looking forward to their return. How long must it have been for them since we left? I wonder what's happened to them?"

"We'll find out soon enough. 20 or 30 years go by faster than you think."

The two continued to chat until they, too, said their goodbyes and went to their own activities within the Armhands' headquarters.