The Rise of the Black Plain
chapter-2676

Minos took the black staff in his hands, closing his eyes for a moment as he felt the distinct and powerful energy of this Supreme grade item.

He didn't readily recognize the value of it, which was capable of adding power even to a powerful individual like Tiolos, but even more important for someone of the 11th stage.

The more opportunities for growth one had, the more absorbable weapons like that could be developed and influence them to even higher levels.

Recognizing the value of the ivory weapon, Minos sensed the artifact's characteristics. "It is filled with enmity and negativity. Whoever absorbs it will definitely become defiant, they will lose pats of their vitality and their mind will be at risk. If the one who absorbs it isn't strong and compatible with the staff, absorbing it would not differ from suicide."

He opened his eyes before passing the item to Tiolos, so this Supreme could better feel the dread behind the ivory staff.

"This..." The native of Zocarro shivered, before looking at Minos full of doubts in his mind. "Why is it like that?"

"It's really strange," Minos said as he watched Tiolos pass the item to Abby. "It could be a natural characteristic of the item. In our universe, there are things that are naturally born positive or negative. There isn't necessarily the involvement of a third party in the formation of something so fearsome.

But we can't rule out a high-level curse or some other phenomenon. Let's not forget that there was a ghost here and, as far as we know, the ship was sailing for a long time in a sea capable of sinking ships of the Supremes."

Tiolos nodded in agreement, while Abby sensed what they were talking about.

"Anyway, there's plenty for us to take from this vault." He looked at the herbs, which, although wilted and yellowed, still seemed to contain enough power to attract his attention.

"Perhaps with Ruth's help and some of our companions, we can bring these resources back to their peak," Minos said.

"As for those books and maps, we'll take them with us. I'll have someone study them over the next few days and look for things that are useful to us."

The three of them set off, with all those items in Minos' spatial ring, including the staff Abby had given him.

The fate of every resource and thing they collected from that ship would not be decided now. With almost five minutes since they finished their fight, it was time for them to move away and continue their journey forward.

"Let's go, Diret!" Minos said as he landed on the bow of the ship next to Tiolos and Abby.

Diret took one last look at the wooden ship, then gave the commands to his men.

Those who had been conscious during the fight took up watch positions around the ship, while gradually those who had fainted woke up feeling horrible.

They would find out from their companions what had happened and have their chance to recover as they slowly traveled back through the long, dark night around them.

...

Seven days later, the group was leaving behind the darkness of the night, with some crew members looking back on their way as they saw that area falling behind them.

"We've finally gotten over this horrible place!" said one crew member as he exhaled.

Although they hadn't faced problems as big as the previous ghost ship over the last few days, navigating in the absolute dark was exhausting, even when there were no major dangers. But as much as they had fought no enemies since that day, they had experienced problems, having faced an electromagnetic storm and a tsunami.

The group hadn't had time to look at the items they had collected on the ghost ship, having almost 100% of the time during those days, remained vigilant, cultivating or dealing with the problems of the journey.

When they left the world of darkness behind, everyone, even Minos, felt a refreshing wave of relief, with a gradual easing of the pressure on them.

Leaving his observation post for his shift of cultivation and rest, Minos turned his attention to the many items in his spatial ring.

As the leader of the group, everything that had been collected on the previous ship was with him, items that he had to decide the fate of 80%, give 15% to Tiolos and 5% to the Diret's group. He had priority in the choice. As soon as he had left someone in his position, he sat down on a chair in one of the ship's leisure compartments to look at everything they had collected.

'223 pieces of armor, 112 swords, 46 bows and just over a thousand arrows, 49 spears and 38 weapons of various types. 90% of them are Divine grade and the rest are Supreme grade.'

"Tsk! Really impressive!" He muttered as he considered how rich and powerful that crew was.

If they hadn't been dead—a very limiting factor—beating them might have been impossible for his group!

'Besides, we have here a Supreme grade absorbable weapon, two herbs of the same grade as the ivory staff and three Divine grade plants... I'll pass these absorbable resources on to Ruth and a group of Herbalists/Alchemists to take care of and make them useful for producing pills and potions.'

He decided how he would divide up the weapons and armor, as well as the consumable resources, deciding to keep the ivory staff for compatibility tests with the crew members and later preparation for eventual absorption. He knew the dangers of letting someone absorb such a weapon, but they had to at least study the possibility. If someone could control it, it would add a lot of power to the group.

Minos also decided who he would pass the books and maps on to, deciding to leave it up to Gloria and some navigators in the Diret's group.

Finally, he reached the last items at his disposal, the metal box and its apparent key, as well as the two closed coffins.

'I'm going to wait until we're further away from this area of constant darkness before we test these two coffins. Opening them could be dangerous, but it's better to understand what's in them and start doing it ourselves. It wouldn't be good if something woke them up without our interference or surprised us at a lousy time.'

He pondered, determined to take a chance.

As for the metal box, he'd rather leave it to be analyzed later, when he had some idea of what the books and maps were about, as well as what the result of opening the coffins would be.