10 The Decision

After saying his piece, Minos left the room, heading to the home of the other student, Alison, who lived along with her family roughly 10 minutes further from the academy.

While Minos was leaving, Principal Lionel was trying to convince the guardians of Lee and Ralf to not accept Minos' offer.

"Railan, Gryff, the decision is all up to you. Our Gill family would never force anyone to join us. But honestly, I don't see how this brat can be any better than us for your families. If he had so much wealth to be able to offer a Black-grade cultivation technique, then what is he even doing here?"

Lionel then pointed out to make the two completely give up on the thought.

"To tell you the truth, I know a little about that boy's past. Although his father was a Spiritual King, he was nothing but a subordinate of the royal family. And as far as I know, these subordinates would only  receive two Black-grade techniques, which are not normally specialized in cultivation.

So, if he has the two techniques that his father left behind and a cultivation technique, even if all of them are Black-grade, then why not just sell one of these techniques and continue to grow stronger in a region rich in spiritual energy? Why waste his time at this place?

Not to mention that he has no past here in the Black Plain. I don't know what he wants to do, but if you ask me, I think it's too risky. So, I advise you not to hear that boy's words."

Lionel said everything he could think of and knew in an attempt to prevent his family from losing those two boys. 

Despite being a developing family in the central region of the Brown Kingdom, the Gill family was not as wealthy as the great noble families in the capital, so they needed talented members from outside the family to ensure their growth.

They had started to build and partner with spiritual academies in impoverished places in an attempt to get new members for their house. However, they could not force them if someone changed their minds and returned the investment.

Of course, only those who haven't yet entered the family and haven't received their techniques. Otherwise, it would be impossible.

After a few more minutes of conversation, the two left. Of the two relatives, although neither Gryff nor Railan was confident in Minos, Gryff was still very curious about the young sovereign's complete offer.

Railan, on the other hand, was convinced that it wouldn't be worth it to stay in this place. He didn't even want to know what kind of beautiful words Minos would say to him.

…

Meanwhile, Minos and his two guards finally arrived in front of a small house after walking for a few minutes.

The house only had a floor and was completely blue, and had only one window facing the street. But even if it was small, it was well-maintained, giving the impression that the owners struggled to maintain a certain quality.

The young ruler then knocked on the front door.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Not long after, a girl around ten years old with her black hair tied in a ponytail opened the door and called in a loud voice, "Mom, we have a visitor!"

And soon after, a middle-aged woman came running to the door. She had a beauty that could be considered reasonable, a well-developed body, sheen black hair, and a gentle look. 

Noticing that the people by the door were complete strangers, she asked carefully, "May I know the reason for your visit?"

Minos introduced himself with a smile on his face, "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Tasia. I'm Minos Stuart. I'm here to talk about the future of your daughter, Alison. I believe that Mia should have informed you about this before."

"Ah! So, it's the young master Stuart. Please come in. My husband is in the room. We can talk about it there," Tasia welcomed him with a wide smile on her face.

After entering the house, Minos met Pollo, Tasia's husband and Alison's father. He was a tall man in his 40s, but he didn't even have a single hair on his head.

It didn't take long before they started discussing the main subject.

Pollo then asked, "So, young man, why should I risk my daughter's future by making her stay here?"

Minos observed Pollo for a moment before putting all his cards on the table.

"Well, before I came here, I won't deny that it would be stupid to throw away the chance to go to a better place. But now it's different.

I made it possible to cultivate the crops in the Black Plain's lands, which you will be able to see for yourself in less than a month by the time the plants will grow large enough for everyone in the city to notice the difference. But that's not all; the spiritual energy of the Black Plain will begin to increase in 10 years."

Minos then leisurely rested his back on the chair.

"So, I have already solved the two main problems in the region. And now it's only a matter of time before the region develops."

Minos then continued, "But this is not the main point. As long as a noble family accepts your daughter, she will become subordinate and will receive resources. You may not know this, but my father was subordinate to the Brown Kingdom royal family, which is the most well-developed family in this realm.

However, in such a family, subordinates like my father would receive, at most, two Black-grade techniques, which could not be a cultivation technique. They do this to maintain a higher cultivation speed among the original members of the family. And these techniques can only be acquired after many years of service.

In addition, they provide a monthly salary commensurate with their cultivation stage, ranging from 20 low-grade crystals to 10 medium-grade crystals for Body Foundation and Spiritual King, respectively.

And they don't offer anything to their subordinates' families."

Then Minos looked seriously at the man and woman in front of him and continued, "I will offer a Black-grade technique that specializes in cultivation at the moment she reaches the age to start cultivating. I will also guarantee that all the techniques she will receive are, at least, Black-grade. And depending on the services she can provide, there is a possibility that she might also be rewarded with a higher degree.

I will also offer a payment ranging from 50 low-grade spiritual crystals to 50 medium-grade crystals per month if she reaches the level of a Spiritual King... or higher than that, depending on the stage of cultivation that she would be in.

And there is a possibility that the two of you could also be helped in the future. Depending on your daughter's performance, I may even be able to help you two reach level 69 during your lives. However, I won't be able to help you get past this final bottleneck as someone with Blue talent can reach this level at most, even after using special means."

In this world, Blue talent meant that if someone had enough time, then reaching level 29 was certain. From there, that person would have more than a 50% chance of moving on to the next step.

Within the stages, there were no bottlenecks, so a person who reached a particular stage could reach its peak if they continued to cultivate.

As for reaching the 5th stage, the chances were even less than 20% if there was no help from resources like special pills or medicines. From this point, it would be necessary to use such unique resources.

But there was also a limit. To get an idea, with the talents White, Blue, Black, Silver, and Golden, and also with the help of unique items, someone could reach the stages, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th respectively.

After finishing his speech, Minos then waited for Alison's parents to respond.

"This… Do you truly have the ability to do these things? I don't believe that even King Brown could promise something like this!" Pollo said with an incomprehensible face.

Hearing his question, Minos didn't say anything to answer him, but rather showed him a silver scroll. 

It was an attack technique classified in Silver-grade!!

After seeing this, Pollo was incredibly baffled. This young man could take out a legendary technique just like that! It was as if he was showing something very ordinary.

Although Pollo has never seen techniques so well classified, in this world, one could determine the degree of a technique just by looking at it once. That was because the techniques held a certain spirituality within them.

Anyway, after returning the scroll to Minos, Pollo and his family didn't have any doubt that this young man would have trouble fulfilling his promises.

It wasn't long before they had already agreed to let their daughter join Minos' forces.

Soon after, Minos instructed them to bring their daughter to the mansion as soon as she turned 10, which would happen in the next few weeks. After bidding farewell, he returned to his home.

...

And so, another week went by.

Minos trained as hard as he could during those days, reaching level 8. Meanwhile, the three hectares were also prepared, and the crops were already growing in the soil.

Today, Gryff, Lee's brother, finally made a visit to Minos. The guy was very curious to know what Minos' offer would be, and depending on how good it was, Lee could also join the forces of the young Stuart.