The Rise of the Black Plain

"After arriving in the capital of the kingdom, I discovered that young master Leroy was killed during the second test of the Spiritual Tournament. And it wasn't difficult to find out who was responsible for this since thousands of people watched him being killed..." the man said without a change in his tone.

The old man frowned and asked in a cold tone. "Oh? And who is this person? To have the courage to kill my son, he must be very confident!"

Upon hearing the question from the supreme elder of the Chambers family, the man in question sighed and answered, "Nobody knows what family he hails from, since he didn't use a surname during the competition. I believe it will be impossible to take revenge for young master Leroy..."

"Hmph, there is no one we cannot deal with. Tell me the whole truth right away!"

The old man's eyes narrowed.

"This... This young man is called Minos, and he was one of the finalists of the Spiritual Tournament..."

Upon hearing these words, the old supreme elder almost wanted to spit out a mouth full of blood.

That was one of the few powers that they couldn't handle!

This was not any less than a slap on his face.

Although the Chambers family did not belong to the ten strongest powers in the northern regions of the Central Continent, it still had contacts with the group of assassins known as the Scourges of Devil.

And thanks to this, they could easily hire any assassin from this organization who even had the strength to deal with some of the royal families in this part of the continent!

Because of this, the supreme elder of the Chambers family was very confident in avenging his son's death.

And, depending on the power behind Minos, the Supreme Elder would not only kill the person responsible for his son's death but also enslave the rest of his family to make their life a living hell!

That was the only way for Leroy's father, Wallace Chambers, to be able to calm the deep hatred in his heart.

Despite being more than 600 years old and at level 55, Leroy was his only child. Consequently, the old supreme elder was completely distraught by his son's demise.

However, if Minos had traveled to the Flaming Empire, this old man would not only have to forget to get revenge for his son, instead he would have to hope that this young man did not recall any offense committed against him by any of the Chambers...

'I don't believe it! How did little Leroy provoke a person of this caliber?' The old man wondered with a desolate look on his face. He never thought that he would have to deal with his son's death and to make matters worse, he couldn't even avenge him!

Putting his thoughts aside, the Supreme Elder asked in an even colder tone, "And why is bodyguard Jeff not here? Was he also killed?"

"As for that... Well, he certainly didn't die since his soul signal is as stable as ever. But I didn't receive any information about his whereabouts."

The subordinate then continued.

"The last time he was seen in Capital City was when young master Leroy was killed. And after that, he seems to have disappeared..."

"That bastard! He clearly doesn't want to take responsibility for what happened!" The old man snorted in anger. "Put a reward on his head. I want that coward to pay with his life for my son's death!"

"Understood, Supreme Elder!"

...

Meanwhile, in the capital of Stone Island, Old Stone, three people were busy chatting in a living room with a newspaper lying on the table before them.

Finally, the woman in the group spoke with an uncertain tone, "Given the newspaper's retraction and this person's name, I believe there is a strong possibility that this finalist of the Spiritual Tournament was responsible for the death of young master Darell..."

Upon hearing this, the other two men who had been accompanying her sighed in defeat. If this was the case, then there was nothing else for them to do. It would be impossible to deal with this person...

At this moment, one of them finally broke the silence and suggested. "Well, I think we should return and report this to the patriarch. And let's also take the opportunity to check on the condition of this Minos Stuart. Since we have to pass through the Black Plain anyways, it wouldn't hurt to take a look."

"Hmm, it's not a bad idea!" the other man while a sly smile appeared on his face as he suggested, "On second thought, why don't we direct the patriarch's wrath towards this young man? He has the same name as this suspect that we were chasing after and he also happens to be the son of someone that our family has killed!"

The man then continued further.

"With that, we'll have fulfilled our duty and at the same time prevent the patriarch from punishing us in the place of the real culprit behind Darell's death. And as for that brat, him being eliminated would be the best for everyone!" The blond man finished speaking his suggestion with a proud smile on his face.

In his opinion, Minos would serve as an excellent sacrificial lamb to avoid the worst fate for the three of them!

This was indeed a genius move, utilizing a probable enemy as a scapegoat to avert the problems within their family!

The other man, who had suggested making a visit to the Black Plain earlier, Dennis, finally nodded in agreement, "That's right. Ms. Sarah, we have no reason not to do what young Austin has suggested! This would be like killing two birds with one stone!"

Upon hearing this proposal, the woman suddenly smiled. "Hmm, that sounds like a good plan. We will be departing in the next two days and then deal with this guy."

...

Anyway, while several schemes were being unfolded behind the curtains, things in the Black Plain were getting better every day in the past weeks that had passed.

By now, Secretary Mia had already carried out all the necessary arrangements with the Nash and Cohen families, who promptly helped Minos' territory in obtaining the skilled professionals required for the construction of the cultivation tower and the arena.

At this time, two people whom Minos had met in Portland had arrived at Dry City. Among these two, one was a blacksmith, while the other was an array master.

Initially, when the two had heard Minos' offers back then, they had refused since they couldn't find any assurance in the words that the young Stuart had told them.

However, the two ended up getting very curious when some of their less talented relatives approached them, telling them that they were interested in moving to the Black Plain.

And naturally, after hearing this, the two were quite shocked and tried to understand what might have made their relatives consider such a bizarre proposition.

Anyway, the two found out about the quality of the food sold on Stone Island, which supposedly had originated from the Black Plain. And intrigued by this and the other information they had heard from Minos, the two decided to go with these relatives to check if all of this was true!

And when they arrived in the city, they were all taken aback by this place and decided to stay right after talking to the young Stuart for a few hours.

Although both of them were professionals skilled in fields that were high in demand within Dry City, they ranked only in the high-level grade-1 in their respective professions. Therefore, at the time, the support they could provide was not great to the extent that they could help Minos' forces significantly.

However, that would make a difference for the average population of Dry City. Currently, there were already many people in the city who could buy weapons and low-level spiritual arrays. So, having these professionals would significantly improve the quality of life of these inhabitants.

Furthermore, it was also better for them to not import everything they needed!

After all, these products often arrived slowly and were undoubtedly more expensive, even after the subsidies given by Minos!

Anyway, apart from the two specialists, Wendi had also moved to Minos' city!

She had traveled here shortly after returning to the Maritime City in order to resolve the many doubts that she had in her mind ever since she bought the food from the Old Stone market.

And much to Wendi's surprise, Dry City already looked almost as good as Maritime City in terms of amenities and it still had better opportunities, in areas such as city government, local agriculture, the army, a public library that was for any citizen to use, high-concentration spiritual foods, and spiritual pills at low, affordable prices!

Considering all of this, even though there was still not a better range of products offered than the ones of Maritime City, this place already had many advantages concerning the location from where Wendi had arrived!

And not just that, in Dry City, the inhabitants only had to pay an annual tax of 1 low-grade crystal! That in itself was 20 times cheaper than what she had to pay in her old city!

This amount was not much when considering that it was just for one individual, even if they were at a low-level or unemployed, even 20 crystals per year was not much.

However, Wendi's family consisted of ten people, and among them, only 2 of them were employed. 200 crystals was already a considerable pressure for people like Wendi!

With that, after witnessing the changes in Dry City, she was told not to talk to anyone about it and was even welcomed to bring her family here.

That was a measure to prevent rumors from spreading in Maritime City, where there were many people who were related to the great noble families of the Brown Kingdom.

Finally, Wendi understood what was to be done and quickly brought her relatives to the city, just telling the officials that she had found a better place. She hadn't even mentioned to them that this place was Dry City...