The Rise of the Black Plain

Meanwhile, in the Dry City, another day had arrived.

The children of the city were already leaving their homes to go to the Preparatory Academy of the Dry City, at the same time when the city was coming to 'life.'

It was another day of great weather in the city, with a pleasant temperature around 18 degrees Celsius (64.4ºF) and a light breeze that could be felt from time to time through the city's streets.

The smell of food was in the air, while the movement in the streets was already notable for the mornings in this place.

Right now, in a house on the south side of the Dry City, three people were leaving a 7-story building, smiling and talking.

Of the three, one was a little girl who looked to be no more than 8-years-old, wearing a pink cotton dress while carrying a bag on her back. Another was a young teenager, who was about 1.4 meters tall and dressed in a typical uniform of the city's army.

Finally, an adult man looked to be around 30-years-old and dressed casually, wearing a large straw hat.

These three were Lee, his brother, and his little sister.

Lee's older brother, Gryff, was currently at level 36, and he worked two jobs. In the morning, he went to the agricultural fields of the city, and in the afternoon, he worked in a dry wood store.

He was not doing this because he needed more crystals. No, after Lee joined the Black Plain Army, his family was doing very well. Yet, Gryff himself wanted to join Minos' forces.

Because of this, he was struggling to get more crystals to increase his cultivation speed. So, when he reached level 39, he would almost certainly be recruited into the young Stuart's forces!

Anyway, Lee was going to take his sister to the city's spiritual academy, which he did every day when he wasn't in the Spatial Kingdom. After that, he always went to the army headquarters or Minos' mansion.

After some time walking together, Gryff finally turned in a specific direction and said goodbye to the two before taking his way. "Lee, little Ayn, have a good day. I will part with you here!"

"Hmm."

"Bye, big brother! Bring sweets when you get back!" A little girl said this, waving one of her tiny hands to Gryff.

"Okay, little Ayn, I'll see if I can get this."

After that, it didn't take long, and the siblings arrived in front of a pentagonal building, which had five floors and several windows all over the place.

That was the Preparatory Academy of the Dry City, which had been established in the former Black Stars Academy's site.

The place had been completely redesigned many months ago, having lost the star shape it had previously. Now the building was much more extensive. After all, there was now about four times the number of students compared to the old academy.

For this reason, Minos had wisely commissioned the restructuring of this place so that more people could study here.

And when they got closer to the big fence surrounding the building, Lee finally said goodbye to his sister. "Ayn, see you later, pay attention in class!"

"Hmm, bye, brother Lee!" She said with a smile on her face as she waved her red bangs and headed towards the interior of the building.

And it wasn't long before the young Ayn's class started.

In her room, a middle-aged woman was talking about local geopolitics when she asked the class. "Does any of you know what the options are for a youth who graduates from our academy?"

Upon hearing this, several students raised their hands while others were quiet at their desks. Some young people had been here since the beginning of the administration of Minos, while others had been here for just a few weeks.

The teacher then pointed to a thin boy and then said. "Elliot, you can answer."

"Yes, teacher. Ehh, for the students who graduate from the Preparatory Academy of the Dry City, they will go to Mr. Minos' army!" He said with conviction. The young Elliot's father was a Sergeant, and he naturally dreamed of one day being in the same position as his father.

Upon hearing this, the teacher smiled. "Well, you are not entirely wrong, but that is not the only option. And only those, at least, with Blue talent can be recruited by the army. Someone else?"

"I, teacher! Whoever has White talent can go to local agriculture." A young girl said out loud.

"Hmm, that's right. But these are not the only options, and you are not required to enter these areas. Each of you must talk to your parents and choose what you want to do." The teacher said calmly.

"There are other options. You can become an array master, blacksmith, and alchemist too. These three professions are already present in our city. When you graduate in 2 years, these areas will certainly be much better than it is today!"

"But that is not all. Other informal jobs are also very worthy and certainly, have a place in our economy too..." The teacher continued to talk about the current situation of the Black Plain and the options that these children could have when they left this academy.

The city needed specialists from all professions, but it would be more interesting if these individuals were from the Dry City itself. Having immigrants was great, but the city couldn't depend all the time on people coming in from outside!

Thus, making these children understand that there were many options in the Dry City seemed to be the best for this place. At least, that's what Minos believed in when he passed the local geopolitics program.

...

While Ayn was studying at the spiritual academy of this city, Lee was arriving at the headquarters of the Black Plain Army.

That was a place that occupied almost half of the city's central area, with many buildings inside that place. This area was surrounded by walls, while there were two entrances, which were highly guarded.

That was the most critical place in the Dry City, where the defense forces were concentrated and where the valuable Black-grade techniques were!

Therefore, the security of this place was powerful, with more than 400 soldiers watching the limits of this place.

And behind the headquarters walls, there were two bustling buildings in this place.

One was the building with the library, where soldiers stopped to learn their cultivation and battle techniques. The other was like a smaller scale copy of the Dry City Cultivation Tower.

There was no way for Minos to let his soldiers compete for rooms in the cultivation tower, which was a place that would definitely have lines at any time of the day. So, even before that place was ready, a minor version had already been built inside the army headquarters.

'I hope the 4th stage room is not crowded...' Lee thought to himself as he headed towards the soldiers' cultivation tower.

There were only 20 cultivation rooms in this place, which could receive up to 30 people at the same time. Here the soldiers could train for free, changing in 3 shifts so that the maximum number of people could use these rooms.

But there was no room for everyone since the current number of soldiers was above the total capacity of this building...

Minos couldn't do much about it since it was costly to build each of these rooms, and he had already invested in the arena and the city's public cultivation tower.

However, the soldiers were not unhappy. That was already very good for them. After all, it was free!

And most of them had never tried places like this before, so they weren't in such a hurry for the number of rooms to increase.

And it was not long before Lee arrived at the entrance hall of the place and ran to introduce himself at the identification counter.

"Lee, 11-years-old, level 31, Corporal." A short, thin man read Lee's identification while taking a key from the wall behind the counter. "Hahaha, young Lee, today you almost fell apart. That was the last key to the 4th stage room!"

Upon hearing this, Lee sighed in relief and headed for his cultivation room, just after saying goodbye to that man.

...

While the two siblings were doing their things, at army headquarters or the spiritual academy, Gryff had already arrived at the plantation field, where he would work today.

Gryff's job was simple; aside from harvesting, which required the individual mechanical labor of all farmers, he only had to check the plants in a specific area.

There was a simple irrigation system, but farmers always had to check that everything was right to avoid the lack or excess of water.

They also had to avoid the plagues that could appear on any plantation. But it was elementary, and anyone could do it in this world. It was enough to observe the plants daily and use your own spiritual energy to eliminate any plague that might appear.

That, of course, also included wild beasts, which could reach the fields. But this was also great for these farmers since Minos did not require dead beasts to be handed over to the local government.

Thus, some hunters work in agriculture, waiting for some of these spiritual beasts. That was a source of additional income for several of these people who worked in the fields.

'Ahh! This feeling feels truly good...' Gryff thought about it while the sun's rays hit his arms.

Feeling the sun's warmth was indeed a delightful thing and was something that Gryff, whenever he could, took advantage of it...