The Rise of the Black Plain

Upon arriving near Dry City, the three youths on the great white eagle began to marvel at the view from above.

There were four times as many cultivated fields at this time compared to when Minos had left the city. And as a result, the whole landscape was much more abundant with greenery, and numerous people could be seen working in these areas.

Presently, this field of culture was located a few kilometers from the city, close to a large artificial lake which could also be seen from a distance.

Looking from the top where they were, the trio could clearly observe the landscape below. The planted land resembled a grid with different shades of green and some patches of colors.

And when combined with the nearby lake, these squares formed a captivating mosaic, creating a beautiful sight to behold.

But, of course, this sight could only be seen from the sky and if one looked at it by standing on the ground, they would not see anything other than large patches of land that were being cultivated.

Witnessing this spectacle, young Peter was amazed.

He had heard that Minos' territory consisted of the Black Plain, but he did not believe that until now. According to him, the young Stuart was only trying to play a prank on him by telling a joke like this...

However, seeing the evident changes in this place, the young man couldn't help but sigh in surprise.

He knew about the Black Plain and Dry City. After all, he was a young man without any support from the large families. And in order to reach the Cromwell Kingdom, he had spent almost two years traveling alone while hitchhiking with several merchants along the way.

And so, he was familiar with what this place had been before Minos' arrival since he was someone who had spent a few weeks here until he started to continue his journey for the Cromwell Kingdom.

'Unbelievable! It seems that Minos indeed has remarkable means!' he thought in awe. He didn't care if the power of Minos' forces was any less than he had thought before. For someone without support like him, joining the Black Plain Army was already a significant advance.

Not to mention that he had heard some of Minos' plans for this place, which had ignited a flame of desire to witness it with his own eyes. And it was indeed a wonderful feeling to be part of the creation of something like that.

So, his anticipation grew which further fueled his excitement to see that this place indeed was like what the young Stuart had described it as.

Meanwhile, the eagle began to descend as the silhouette of the entire city could finally be seen. Observing this, Minos smiled with satisfaction because it seemed that Dry City had absorbed almost all of Yellow City!

Just from the current construction area, Minos could discern that it had expanded at least twice as much as its previous size during his departure!

That meant that Yellow City should be almost empty now, which was a part of his plans for that place.

Gazing at all these changes, Ruth was no longer feeling the same intensity of surprise as she had felt the other time, yet she still couldn't help but admire the ongoing progress here. This place only continued to grow and seemed to be resembling more and more like a big city.

'I wonder how different this place will be the next time I come here...' she thought with a graceful smile on her face.

Given her current speed of cultivation, it could still take her about 2 to 3 years if she wanted to reach level 50, which would be when she could leave the Flaming Empire anytime she desires and roam anywhere.

With that thought in mind, she couldn't help but imagine the magnitude of change this would go through during this period.

Nevertheless, it didn't take long for the great white eagle to land on the city's south side. Soon after, the three made their way to the central region where Minos' mansion was located.

During their walk, the three passed by some guards at the city entrance, who immediately recognized Minos and greeted him with big smiles on their faces, as if their savior had returned.

It didn't take long before Minos' group was already walking through the new streets of Dry City. However, they were not lost. No, since the growth of this place followed the young Stuart's planning, even if the city had gotten ten times bigger, he could still arrive at his mansion without getting confused.

Meanwhile, Peter marveled at every new construction and landscape in this city. To him, it seemed as if this place had been destroyed and rebuilt.

Everything here was different to what he had seen during his visit to Dry City a year or so ago. The streets were wider, there were many lampposts dotting the area, trees were adorning the sides of the streets, the squares were filled with people, and some of the buildings now had over more than five floors.

And after walking for some more time, the three finally arrived at Minos' mansion. The place was even busier than usual and whenever someone passed the trio of visitors, they would soon recognize their leader and greet him with a warm smile.

While talking a few words with these people, the three eventually arrived at Minos' office, where secretary Mia was sitting behind a desk, busy reading a pile of papers.

Mia had been receiving a generous salary lately since she played a crucial role in managing the city. And as a result, the beautiful woman had invested a lot in her cultivation, which has now reached level 33!

But unbeknownst to Minos, he still couldn't discern someone's level on his own. When she saw the visitors who had arrived, Mia quickly received them.

"Young master! You are finally back!" she exclaimed with a sincere smile on her face.

"Hmm, it's good to see you again. But tell me, is Grandpa Dillian here?"

"Yes, young master. He's in your office right now."

After hearing this, Minos immediately made his way to his office, eager to find Butler Dillian after being away for so much time. The old butler was the closest person Minos had to a family, so the young Stuart man missed him a little during his absence for such a long time.

Upon entering his office, Minos immediately caught sight of a middle-aged man drinking a cup of spiritual tea while he sat comfortably in an armchair.

He held some papers in his left hand and seemed pretty focused on reading them.

However, as soon as he heard the door being opened, he swiftly turned his head only to notice that it was Minos and Ruth who had entered the room.

At this moment, young Peter was escorted by secretary Mia to visit the place where he would reside. It was too early for him to get involved in the daily affairs of this city.

Finally, upon realizing that Minos had returned, Dillian let out a sigh of both happiness and relief before the old butler promptly started discussing the events that had happened at the Spiritual Tournament.

Minos told Dillian almost everything that transpired during his trip, except for his moments of fun which he had shared with Ruth, as that would have been of no significant difference to the butler. He was also not the type to boast of his achievements in these matters, so there was no need to talk about it.

Anyway, it was a very long story, which made the group stay a few hours just because of recounting the events that occurred during Minos and Ruth's expedition.

Dillian now knew about the young Peter's enlistment in the Black Plain Army and also about Leroy's death, which could potentially cause some problems since many people already knew about it.

And when he finished listening, the butler just let out a deep sigh.

Memories of his own travel expeditions with his friend, Albert, across the northern region of the Central Continent came flooding back. However, time had passed, and today, he couldn't think of himself doing such journeys again.

After that, Minos finally inquired, "So? What happened here during the time that I was away?"

The butler smiled and then started talking about the most relevant developments. "To begin with, the Black Plain Army now has about 1,200 soldiers. That was established just a few days ago, so many of the new members are still getting used to their new techniques."

"In terms of agriculture, now, in the production that started a few days ago, we have a total of 400 hectares of land under plantation, which provides work for 40,000 inhabitants of our city."

"As for the population of Dry City, we currently have just over 100,000 inhabitants!" The old butler grinned before continuing, "The migration from Yellow City is almost near completion, and it shouldn't take long before all the former inhabitants of that place have started living here."

"And after making all the recent investments, we have a total of a bit more than 2.3 million low-grade crystals available for further investments. I refrained from using those assets so that the young master could better choose how to allocate them." The butler concluded with a satisfied smile on his face.

He was delighted with witnessing the way things were changing in this city. Watching a place develop and flourish was akin to watching a child that you nurtured grow up and conquer the world. So, he was happy and immensely satisfied with his current job.

Minos was delighted with what he heard and then changed the subject, asking, "What about the City of Waters? Do we already know who is behind that place, yet?"

That was an essential issue for Minos.

After completely integrating the population of Yellow City, it wouldn't be long before Dry City began to run out of labor once again.

And that was why they needed to attract people from other regions, preferably, from more distant locations, such as the City of Waters.

"Hmm, we already have some results after weeks of investigation..."