<h4>Chapter 19: One Year</h4>


    Two weeks passed, and Minos was now at level 23. In that time, he has fought with all 10 guards who were between levels 27 and 28 two more times. From the matches, before he reached level 23, he beat everyone who was at level 27, two at level 28, drew with another, and lost to thest.


    By the next week, he was already at level 23, and although two of the guards had advanced to level 29, it didn''t help them much. Minos just didn''t win a game, which ended in a draw.


    The opponent in that match was the same one who had already beaten Minos twice. His name was Grym. He was 30 years old and level 29 when they fought thest time. He was a muscr, tall man.


    But what impressed Minos was the fact that this guard had a King-grade physique! This was surprising because, generally, you are not born with a Physique with a rating higher than the person''s talent.


    And since Grym had lived his entire life in the Dry City, it was unlikely that he would have improved his physique with external means.


    In the Spiritual World, although it is not possible to increase a person''s talent, they would still be able to advance through the bottlenecks to a certain extent, as long as that cultivator used special means to achieve this. And for the Physique, a person could increase their rating only once during their life, but for that, special means would also be needed.


    However, there would be a limit. For example, for the Physique, it was only possible to increase the ssification by 1 degree. Only a mutant Physique like Minos could continue to improve!


    So, it was unlikely that Grym was born with a Warrior-grade Physique and then evolved into a King. There were no resources in this region for that!


    But despite being a rare thing, it was not impossible for such a thing to happen. Anyway, such an asset enabled Grym to have a good advantage in the battles against Minos.


    He had an innate ability, Mental Chaos, which put the opponent in a state of temporary confusion.


    And since Minos had a much lower level, he was very vulnerable to this ability. However, after reaching level 23, Minos managed to avoid defeat using all his strength.


    ...


    "Mia, call Commander Pyke. Ask him to bring the guard Grym with him too." Minos spoke to Mia as she went to his office.


    "Ok."


    A few hourster, the door to Minos''s office opened, and two men enter the ce. It was Pyke and Grym.


    "Young Master Stuart, is there anything we can do for you?" Asked Pyke with a curious face.


    "In fact, I decided to reward the guard Grym for his performance over the past few weeks."


    "Although he did not win the three games that I had conditioned to receive the Silver-grade technique, he has not lost yet."


    Minos then looked at Grym and said. "That''s why I decided to award you with a Silver-grade technique."


    He then took a silver scroll from his spatial ring and tossed it to Grym.


    Grym waspletely shocked when he heard and saw this. He wouldn''t even dream of having such a thing. Hell, even ck-grade techniques were too much for him!


    Meanwhile, Commander Pyke''s mouth was wide open. He also had an ambiguous feeling of happiness and envy at the same time. After all, this was his biggest dream, after Minos had let them learn ck-grade techniques!


    The technique that Minos gave to Grym was called DayDream. It ced the target in a hallucination, which would disorient him for 10 seconds, and if used during the day, it would have a double effect.


    "Thank you very much, young master Minos. I will train even harder starting today so as not to disappoint you." Said Grym, full of conviction.


    After that, guard Grym returned to his services while Minos and Pyke discussed matters rting to the administration of the Dry City.


    ...


    Time passed quickly, and it was time for the second harvest!


    A month and a half passed in the blink of an eye, and Minos was now at level 27!


    Within the Spatial Kingdom, the youths, Lee and Alison, also increased their strength during this period and were now at level 8. ording to butler Dillian, these two should reach the Transition stage in another month!


    But for butler Dillian, he failed to make any progress. It took much longer for someone at the General Spiritual stage to make progress than at the lower levels.


    To get an idea, while someone with high talent and in a region of high concentration, it could go from level 0 to 10 in 2 or 3 months. And for the same cultivator to go from level 40 to 41, it could take 5 months!


    It wasn''t easy!


    And in addition to gathering an increasing amount of energy, they still needed to have an equivalent domain in each of their techniques. Otherwise, it would be very harmful to continue to move forward in the future.


    And as in higher stages, a higher number of techniques were trained… This really increased the progression time a lot!


    Anyway, today, Minos and the butler Dillian left the Spatial Kingdom to solve the future issues of the ck in since a good amount of crystals would arrive for them soon.


    At this moment, Minos and Dillian were talking in the office when the door quickly opened, and Secretary Mia came through.


    "Young master, the manager Somir is here to see you," Mia said after entering Minos''s office.


    "Hehe, I think this guy came to negotiate. Last time we gave him a good profit. " Dillian said as he drank a cup of tea.


    "Hmmm, send him in, Mia."


    After a few seconds, the manager of the Central Market came through the door of Minos''s office. He looked very well, but he had a serious expression on his face.


    In fact, in thest harvest, Minos'' products sold so well that he was concerned that the young Stuart would not do more business with him due to the 10% fee he had charged.


    That is why he hade here after discovering that the current harvest was about to be done.


    "Nice to see you, Mr. Somir," Minos said with a smile on his face.


    "It is good to see you too, young master Minos. Today I came here to renegotiate the Central Marketmission for the next harvest. "


    "Last time I charged a higher price because I didn''t know the product and it was a small quantity. But this time, I want to make the best price possible for the young master. "


    Minos then asked with an expressionless face. "Oh? And how much are we talking about? "


    "I thought of a rate of 3% of what is sold, it will be little for the Central Market in the first months of business, but over time we will have a good advantage," Somir spoke honestly.


    "Hmm, I can ept that fee, but we can renegotiate this in the future. How about we form a 5-year partnership? " Minos asked. That rate was good, but when trading yielded very high amounts, the Central Market would receive a considerable share!


    Therefore, Minos would renegotiate this contract in the future.


    "It works, too," Somir replied with relief. This was already expected, so he saw no problem with that. The main thing is that he would continue to sell Minos'' items!


    ...


    A year quickly passed. During that period, the Dry City grew steadily and now had more than 40,000 inhabitants. This is because part of the residents of the ck in had migrated to this city, which had been developing a lot in thest months.


    Many changes have urred in the past period. For example, about 100 hectares, now nted in various crops, employed more than 10,000 people in the city!


    The numbers of the Army of the ck in also rose sharply and were now just over 600 members.


    As for the city, the most significant change was the use of spiritual stones in the four matrices. Now, Minos was supplying crystals to all of them every month. This resulted in yet another increase in spiritual density in the central parts of the city, which had made the poption even happier!


    After all, with an increase in spiritual concentration, the cultivation speed of the entire poption was increasing!


    Regarding Minos, he was now at level 33, while Dillian was at 47. As for the youths, Lee and Alison, they were already in the Spiritual Beginner stage!


    Minos had also undergone the first Physique mutation, going from the Common-grade to the Warrior-grade. As a result, the increase in spiritual energy that the Minos Physique''s innate ability provided went from 5% to 10%.


    During this period, there was also a good development in the strength of army soldiers, and many of them were already at their limit, level 39.


    Because of this, the need for spiritual pills was urgent!


    Minos then decided that since Elen had not returned during this period, he himself would go out towards Stone Ind to do business. He also intended to start selling his items in that region, which would also be resolved on this trip.


    After a big meeting with the most important people in the government, it was decided that Dillian would stay to take care of the city in the absence of Minos. Meanwhile, now Cape Pyke and ten other soldiers of the same rank would apany the young Stuart during the trip.


    This was a trip that could take from weeks to a few months, and as they had to go through several unknown regions, there was a need for such strength. Despite not being strong, the ck in still had some regions with the presence of low-level spiritual beasts. This was also a source of ie in the region before Minos arrived.


    There could be other problems as well, so the group was made in the best possible way. Except for Minos, everyone was at level 39!