The Rise of the Black Plain

Minos and his wives appeared on another platform identical to the one they were on in Gunaway Refuge, but already on the space station of the Artificial Moon.

The moment they arrived there, observing the spiritual laws manipulated by the instantaneous transportation tool, they found themselves in a place with a few observers, none of whom were expecting a group of just four people, even more so a group that hadn't been sick when they got there.

But they immediately saw the station staff moving to clear the way for them, making respectful gestures to them concurrently.

Following the path they already knew, the group didn't need to ask for information about Monk Milo. Before they had even passed the exit, a stocky man dressed in a yellow cloak appeared in their path and identified himself.

"Seniors, welcome to my Artificial Moon. I am Milo, the leader of this place you are now in," he said as he gestured and smiled, scanning them as they did the same to him.

Milo was the level 119 Supreme behind this force, the strongest of the group behind this station.

"Monk Milo, I'm Minos Stuart and these are my wives, Ruth, Abby, and Gloria." He made the same greeting gesture as the bald man in a humanoid version. "We've just passed two of your companions who recommended we look for you."

The monk smiled, nodding his head affirmatively as he took a step to the side to make room for Minos' group to follow him off the platform.

"Where are you going?" he asked, even though he already had a likely answer in mind.

"The Narrow Discus." Minos said the name of the quasar at the center of the galaxy next to where they were, where the three planets that the Sea Serpent had pointed out to them were, but also Forfex's birthplace.

"Ah, yes, I imagined it. Experts like the seniors rarely choose other destinations," he said, already making his way to the spaceship area of his station. "They say that the Narrow Discus is the closest to the Upper Realm that one can find in our universe without having to worry about advancing to the 13th stage. But that place is dangerous and Celestial deaths happen there."

"Have you ever been to the Narrow Discus, Monk Milo?" Abby asked curiously.

"I haven't," he said with a funny laugh. "I've lived here for many years and built up a strong cultivation base. But I'm not an explorer, not even a brave fellow. I've spent all my life in Zocarro and on the Artificial Moon... But I've heard stories of cultivators who have been or come from there."

"Can you tell us about this?" Ruth looked at the man expectantly.

"Certainly." He didn't make it difficult for her, open to this conversation. "But before that, let's set a date for your departure. I have two spaceships, if memory serves, that will be left back for the Narrow Discus soon. We're getting to the first crew and I'll take you to the second one straight away, if you don't make a deal with that group straight away."

"All right." Ruth agreed to wait.

Minos asked, "That's a bit unusual. Of the times I've traveled outside the Artificial Moon, I've never had to negotiate with crews. I've always bought my tickets at the station counter."

Monk Milo nodded, indicating that this was right. "That's the procedure for going anywhere else in the universe via the destinations we have. But the Narrow Discus is a little different. The journey itself to that galaxy is neither so long nor so dangerous. But it is very expensive to enter the stations in the area and the risks of being wrecked there are immense.

Celestials are so strong that they rarely fight on a planet, but in the vacuum of space. This is good for the inhabitants of powerful worlds, but it can be particularly bad for crews who have to park their vehicles for weeks or months at space stations."

"Oh? I hadn't thought of that."

"Things seem really complicated in the Narrow Discus." Ruth said after Minos understood what the situation was like with traveling to and from such a place.

"Anyway, because of the costs of such a large operation, my station rarely brokers deals for those interested in such a destination. At most, I make groups like this available at my station for interested parties like yourselves, or I contact other allied stations to ask for transportation."

As soon as he had finished explaining this, he reached an open area of the station, through which the group could see a huge side tunnel, where several parts of huge spaceships were, with several small bridges connecting them to the path they were taking.

They left this area of the Artificial Moon, arriving at a port of smaller but quite numerous spaceships. Twenty-three vehicles in all were on their way, most of them with technicians repairing malfunctions or even a few individuals standing around chatting.

Minos and his group came across a part of space travel they hadn't known before.

Monk Milo stopped in front of a ship with several traces of damage on its structure, relatively small in size, about three times the ship his group had used to travel to Gunaway Refuge.

"That's the group." This bald man indicated, before, with just his presence, signaling to the men behind that vehicle that he was there.

It wasn't long before three alien men, all of them level 115, appeared at the exit of the spaceship on that bridge connected to where they were.

"Chief Milo," said the man in the middle, then some eyes appeared in the dark part of the spaceship's entrance.

Milo pointed at Minos' group and said, "These experts want to go to the Narrow Discus."

The strongest man in the group, close to becoming a level 116 Supreme, inspected Minos, Gloria, Ruth, and Abby, recognizing their power. He pondered in silence before saying anything, aware that stronger specialists could pay more, but were also more difficult to deal with. He had to be careful about the price he charged or he could easily get a bad deal.

"When do you want to leave?" he asked after a mere nod of greeting.

"As soon as possible." Minos replied.

"My ship has some problems that will keep us idle for another 15 days. If you can wait, we'll be able to travel straight away."

"What about values?" Minos asked.

"About that, we don't charge traditional prices, so I don't have a specific price for the trip. First, we'll come to an agreement that your group will guarantee not to turn against mine after the trip is over and that you'll support us along the way. Second, we'll add a range of possibilities to serve as payment. It could be artifacts, cultivation items, in short, anything more than is necessary for a crew of Supremes to risk their lives."

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