After Dillian recalled the subject they were talking about before Minos and Abby arrived, everyone around that table stopped their conversations and turned their attention to Elena and Elen.
Minos then asked in curiosity. "What about the Kingdom of the Waves? Does this have anything to do with the choice of the crown prince?"
Naturally, given his position on the Black Plain, Minos didn't have such good information about what was happening in the region. That was one of his current government problems, but one they couldn't quickly solve.
Getting news from outside depended on many factors. Still, in general, the risk of the Black Plain being exposed to the world was too great if Minos wanted to know too much.
They could find this out through the regional newspapers, but rarely would one of these make it to the Dry City. And even those who came used to arrive months late...
As to send people out to buy or find out this information, well, that wasn't within Minos' possibilities. They had few people to do this kind of work, and there were many dangers involved.
And given the fact that the Black Plain Army needed all the soldiers, then finding out that information wasn't worth it. At the very least, that wasn't the most urgent issue at the moment.
Because of this, Minos didn't know much about regional news. He only knew about the competition for the throne of the Kingdom of the Waves because he had 'taken' this information from the Chambers family.
Finally, after hearing Minos' question, Elen nodded in agreement and began to speak. "In fact, it's about the selection of the heir of the Kingdom of the Waves."
"Oh?" Not only Minos but Abby also exclaimed in interest.
She had been away from home for months, and due to this, she had not received this information. And after hearing from Minos about what he had discovered in the documents of that base, Abby had been very intrigued about this situation in the Kingdom of the Waves.
King Walker hadn't even reached half of his lifespan. So, Abby was quite curious to find out why the Walker family was in such a hurry to decide such an important matter.
"This news has just started to circulate, but it has already reached the largest families in our region. From what I was able to discover in the capital of the Kingdom of the Waves, it appears that King Walker tried to break through to the next level and failed!"
"What?" This time, not only did Minos and Abby exclaim in surprise, but Dillian and Eda did the same.
Such a thing was shocking to them. That's because they all knew that King Walker was already at level 59!
In this case, one of the strongest and most influential people in the northern part of the Central Continent had tried to reach a level rarely seen by those regions!
It was not uncommon for such people to appear from other states in this region, as in the case of Minos' mother. However, it was infrequent, something that rarely happened even in 100,000 years, for a Spiritual Emperor to appear among the regional leaders.
There were even people who reached that level after joining one of the sects of the Flaming Empire. However, these people usually came here little or took their families to new places with greater potential.
Therefore, even if some families had members in one of the sects of the empire, it didn't mean that this organization would have a significant development here.
There were indeed advantages, but not enough for earth-and-heaven-turning changes to happen.
Elen then continued. "You heard right. King Walker tried a breakthrough to level 60."
"What was on this guy's mind?" Minos muttered in a low voice, trying to understand that person's reasons.
When someone tried to break through a cultivation bottleneck, there was always a chance it would go wrong. But, of course, there were ways to reduce the risks of this happening, through pills, medicines, arrays, regions with great spiritual density, crystals, etc.
However, if we consider the chances of the breakthrough being successful without outside help, overall, the first bottleneck had more than a 50% chance of succeeding. In comparison, the second bottleneck would have less than 20%!
As for the 3rd and 4th bottlenecks, these could not be overcome without external help...
And in the case of a person like King Walker, with Black talent, reaching the 7th stage meant trying to overcome the 2nd bottleneck.
Assuredly, there were many factors against this king, but he still tried to make such an advance...
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That's why Minos was curious.
Elen then continued her speech, oblivious to Minos' doubts. "I don't know exactly how or why King Walker tried to advance, as he reached level 59 less than 40 years ago. But the fact is that his body was seriously injured during the attempt to advance, and his vitality was reduced vigorously."
"Malignant Mutation!" Minos commented.
Spiritual cleansing somehow generated beneficial mutations for cultivators.
The process that resulted in this cleansing forced the improvement and evolution of the body's cells as a whole, improving the cultivators' bodies.
That is what resulted in spiritual evolution, where talent could evolve within a specific family...
However, if the stage breakthrough failed, the opposite could happen, and the mutations could be harmful!
In case of failure, this was no different from a bet. Anything could happen, from the individual not undergoing even a single change to even the immediate death of the cultivator.
Loss of limbs, decreased level, crippled cultivation, reduced vitality, and much more. All of this could happen to a cultivator who fails.
And such consequences were known as Evil Mutations in the Spirit World.
"That's right." Elen agreed with Minos. "From what I've heard, even though he failed, it seems the only consequence was the drastic reduction of his vitality. But aside from the fact that he will live for less than he should, King Walker doesn't seem to have been weakened."
"But do you know how long will he survive?" Abby asked.
Elen then moved her head, indicating not knowing. "Hard to say. Some sources say he could live another 20 years. Others say it's a maximum of 10. But because this selection was anticipated and will occur in less than two years from now, that must mean that King Walker's time is not long."
"I see..." Abby commented, thinking about it. 'Due to the level of cultivation of the princes, this decision should happen in less than 20 years... So, the king's time must be less than that.'
"Ah, it's truly a pity for him. He wasted centuries of cultivation trying to reach to level 60…" Dillian commented, moving his head in disapproval.
"Hmm, he is the youngest of the kings in our region... Why such a hurry?" Eda agreed with Dillian.
It wasn't uncommon for level 59 Spiritual Kings to try to advance to the next stage in their final years of life when there was no longer much to lose. However, King Walker was far from the point where he would have to try to escape death...
So, these two most experienced people in the group were naturally disappointed that someone as experienced as King Walker would make such a mistake!
Elena then spoke for the first time. "I think he had some expansionist pretensions."
"Oh? Why do you think that?" Minos asked, staring at the beautiful blonde in front of him.
"It's just my opinion on the matter. King Walker has always tried to manipulate regional powers. He has even acted inappropriately in other states in the region. So, I think by the time he got close to the peak of the 6th stage of cultivation, his greed must have risen to new heights."
"Hmm, that is true. King Walker always tried to interfere in the affairs of other states in the region…" Dillian muttered.
And this wasn't so weird. Being the king of the largest state in the region, his family could be among the three strongest on this side of the Central Continent. And not only the Walker family but other top houses had also tried similar things in the past.
It wasn't easy to keep greed under control when people saw a 'winning path' right in front of them...
"But since King Walker failed, his motivation no longer matters... So, what's really on the table right now is the future of that state. Whose side will your families be on?" Minos asked the two girls from Stone Island.