The Rise of the Black Plain

With the start of the day, Minos and Ruth wasted no time and quickly went out to find out the battle sequence during the third stage of the tournament.

And since the young Stuart would have to only fight in one of these Battle Royales, he just needed to know when his fight would take place and who would be against him during this round.

Currently, the segregated groups for this third test were being displayed on the huge screens located in the same square where the competitors had gathered for the second test. And so, the two soon made their way from the central region of the town to the north of Central City.

Like usual, Ruth was dressed elegantly, wearing a long blue dress and her black hair tied in a long ponytail that reached down to her curves. Minos, on the other hand, was wearing plain black trousers and a light green long-sleeved shirt.

And as the two strolled through the capital of the Cromwell Kingdom, they encountered more and more groups of people that were going in the same direction, some of these groups consisted of competitors while some were spectators.

Occasionally, someone would recognize Minos, and they began to discuss the young Stuart's achievements during the second exam with all their emotions.

Since all the competitors had already known the feats of his achievements during these few days, many of them admired him, while there were also others who were afraid at the prospect of facing such an opponent during this stage of the competition...

Anyway, Minos and Ruth arrived at that square not long after, where thousands of people were already bustling about.

After all, despite there being only 4,000 competitors who had qualified for this stage of the Spiritual Tournament, almost everyone who came to the Cromwell Kingdom wanted to witness this final part of the competition.

That, of course, was because the final half of the competition was much more interesting for the audience than the previous rounds!

Upon reaching the site, Minos encountered one of his acquaintances even before spotting his group from the third test.

"Minos! What a coincidence, we came here almost at the same time," exclaimed the young Peter with a wide smile.

He had just arrived at the square when he suddenly noticed Minos' silhouette not far from him.

Minos greeted him and introduced him to Ruth.

With a smile on his face, Peter asked, "So, have you seen which group you are in?"

"No, I was going to do just that. Why don't we check it out together?"

The young Stuart agreed and said while pointing at one of the screens, "Come on."

After passing through the large masses that had gathered in front of the various screens in the square, Minos and Peter finally managed to see the groups on these screens.

"Look, Maxwell is in the 2nd group," upon seeing the first familiar name on the big screen, Peter remarked, the screen had several names in sequence which were divided into 32 groups, each consisting of 125 people.

Ruth, who stood on Minos' left side, was also checking through the list when she suddenly spotted a familiar name. "Your friend Abby is in the 7th group that will be fighting."

After hearing this, Minos continued to read the list while observing his acquaintances in the following order:

- 2nd Group: ***, ..., Maxwell, ..., ***.

- 7th Group: ***, ..., Abby, ..., ***.

- 10th Group: ***, ..., Kara, ..., ***.

- 12th Group: ***, ..., Ford, ..., ***.

- 15th Group: ***, ..., Peter, ..., ***.

- 16th Group: ***, ..., Davy, ..., ***.

- 22nd Group: ***, ..., Luke, ..., ***.

- 29th Group: ***, ..., Mona, ..., ***.

As far as Minos could see, it seemed that the organizers of the Spiritual Tournament had made quite an effort to separate all the participants above level 40 as much as possible. That, of course, was a measure to increase the overall strength of the participants during the final test considering that people like Minos were not easy to find...

And as a result, most fighters would be unable to fight against opponents from other stages, as it would be a waste to group the most talented competitors together!

Troy, on the other hand, was in group 30, while Minos found his name in the list of the last group for Battle Royale, group number 32!

"Hehe, it looks like they left the best for the last!" Peter remarked with a chuckle.

Indeed, it wouldn't make sense to put the most exciting fights during the start of the competition!

That kind of arrangement would cause the spectators to ignore the rest of the fights, or it could even diminish the appeal to put the battles of these best competitors into action!

After all, it was terrific to stimulate spectators while they were getting increasingly anxious for the most-awaited moments!

As to why the Spiritual Tournament organization did that, it was probably to raise funds. During the final part of the competition, whoever wanted to watch the fights had to buy the tickets to enter the grand fighting arena in Capital City.

These crystals did not go to the Flaming Empire sects, but rather to the kingdom that was hosting the event. After all, if there were no gains, then the success of these events would certainly be diminished!

Though the evaluators and some experts who oversaw the tournament might come from the Flaming Empire, the majority of the people involved were from the region where the competition was being hosted, especially, of the royal family of that place.

Therefore, it was quite necessary for these powers to receive enough reimbursement to cover the expenses involved during the hosting of this competition.

Although the arrival of numerous tourists from other places to witness the tournament could stimulate the local economy to a certain extent, it was very limited. Moreover, these generated resources would go to the families involved in those businesses and not directly benefit the royal family...

And not all sovereigns shared Minos' perspective, who might be content with the local development even if it didn't directly benefit him...

After getting what they were here for, Ruth turned to Minos and asked, "Are you planning to watch these fights?"

"Maybe I will watch this guy, ehh, Troy, fight. Since his battle takes place on the same day as mine, I won't lose anything by observing this match," Minos replied.

He then sighed and continued, "But for the rest of the time, I plan to continue training in the Cultivation Tower. Later, I can learn about the results from others."

"Hmm," Ruth nodded in agreement.

The young Stuart then turned to Peter and said, "Well, I will be going soon. If you see Maxwell before the fight, wish him good luck on my behalf."

"I hope you can make it to the last part of the Spiritual Tournament too!" Minos then spoke with a smile on his face as they bid farewell to Peter.

Peter nodded with a resolute look, "Okay, you can leave it to me. I will also try my best to make it till the next part!"

There would be 4 Battle Royale fights each day, starting today and continuing for a total of eight days. Minos and Troy would only have their battles on the last day, while Minos' friends were divided among the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 8th days of the tournament.

Anyway, after learning about his group, Minos and Ruth quickly left the square and headed towards the Cultivation Tower.

He had a whole week to cultivate and train before finally his fight. And he was pretty excited about it. Given his enthusiasm about battles, after all, this time he would be fighting against 124 people!

That was something that Minos had never done before, but he had already started making his plans for this match. And even if there was no one above level 41 among his group, having to face this sheer number of opponents could be considered pretty challenging!

So, this was going to be an excellent training for the young Stuart!

As for those participants who would have to fight against Minos, they were not very happy about this. But at least they could console themselves and find some solace in the fact that killing was not allowed in this test...

Many of them were afraid of him since they didn't know why Minos had killed Leroy.

After all, everything they knew was told to them by their acquaintances who had seen or heard about Leroy's beheading.

So, they couldn't be sure if young Stuart was a bloodthirsty cultivator or something else... Hence this was a relief for some, knowing that at least their safety would be guaranteed by the Spiritual Tournament!

...

Hours passed, and the fights had already started!

From the first group, a level 41 young man was the last one standing in the arena by the end of the battle, and he had managed to secure his place in the final part of the tournament.

Unfortunately, in Maxwell's group, Minos' acquaintance was not able to emerge victorious. There was a level 42 cultivator in his group, and even though some of the participants joined forces to face him, he still managed to win the fight!

That was undoubtedly the best fight of the day.

The winning competitor had fought against over half of his opponents, defeating all of them!

And even though he was utterly exhausted and laden with injuries by the end of the fight, he still managed to get through this ordeal through his sheer merits!

This young man was Roger Aguilar, an 18-year-old who had a Black talent. He hailed from the Cromwell Kingdom and was a member of one of the great noble families in the kingdom. Anyway, he had been the second to advance to the final part of the competition and was considered one of the favorites to reach the top 10.

"Did you see Roger's fight? He is truly phenomenal with his spear skills! I don't think I will ever forget how bravely he fought and defeated dozens of cultivators who had joined forces against him," a young man who had witnessed this battle exclaimed enthusiastically while walking through Central City's streets along with his friends.

"Hmm, besides that guy named Minos, I don't think that anybody else has Roger's ferocity!" one of his friends remarked.

But suddenly, a young girl interjected, "Idiots! Have you forgotten about the young master Troy? I bet 100 crystals that he will put on an even better show during his fight."

"This is different! Troy is already at level 44! So, he can easily beat these 124 opponents. But for Roger, he had to draw strength from where he hadn't even known he had before!" the young man replied with a sigh and continued. "Roger's fighting prowess is second only to Minos!"