The Rise of the Black Plain

Upon hearing Peter's last comment, the three people accompanying him looked at him for a moment while they had curious expressions on their faces. Of course, the statement this young man had just made was quite big, but still, he had said it as confidently as possible.

Consequently, these people looked at this city with even more interest.

The place looked pretty decent, with good infrastructure, which even resembled the pattern found in big cities. And even though the total local urban area was not significant, they could see that this city was quite active, even in the early evening.

The excellent lighting helped in this factor, but several stores and services were operating at the time, which generated an active 'climate' in the places where the carriages passed.

And seeing this, each of these people had their own thoughts.

'This place is much better than last time... No, it's completely different! To say they destroyed and rebuilt would be more accurate!' So, Joey thought to himself as he inspected down through the city streets.

'Tomorrow I'm going out to see this place! Even if I still need a few days of rest, I can't help but find out what happened here!' This old man thought about it while feeling intrigued by Minos' methods.

He wanted to know how such a change could happen in one place. Joey hadn't been to this place in a few decades, but he knew no changes should have occurred in this region.

Even if the local sovereign wanted to keep it a secret, it would only be temporary, and sooner or later, someone would find out. Consequently, if this place had changed a long time ago, then he probably would have heard something about it already!

So, Joey was pretty sure there hadn't been much time since these changes happened.

As for Barbara, she had her doubts about this place, but she wasn't as curious as Joey. 'As these people rescued me and they even gave me this ride here, I will stay in this place for a few days while I recover. I'm going to take a look at this place just to pretend I'm interested, but I can't believe what Peter is saying!'

Barbara was the least familiar with the reality of the ancient Black Plain, so she didn't find this place so impressive. To her, this was just a well-kept city, which had an amount of spiritual energy just above low concentration.

Therefore, for her, who had served a noble family from the Kingdom of the End, this place was still below her desired standard. Sure, the things Peter had said were very tempting, but were they true? Barbara wasn't sure.

As much as they had spent several weeks living as slaves together, at the end of the day, each of them was still strangers, coming from different places. So, there was a certain skepticism on the part of this woman, who had always tried to keep her reason above her emotions.

And finally, Robin was the one with the most position on the fence of the three. She had a slight interest in getting to know this place, like old Joey. After all, she had left Stone Island to visit the north of the Central Continent.

She wanted to experience the life of a traveler, discover new places, cultures, fight against wild spiritual beasts, in short, get to know this incredible region. So, since she was already in this place, getting to know this region was something that pleased her a lot.

But on the other hand, like Barbara, Robin also found it hard to believe that this town could be as good as Peter said. Moreover, Robin knew a little more about the Dry City than the woman from the Kingdom of the End, which made her doubt this place a little.

Of course, she was surprised to discover so many differences between what she had heard from this place and what she saw right now. But more than being shocked by this different reality, she was skeptical. 'How could such a humble place give rise to someone like this man, called Minos?' She wondered.

Talent, cultivation techniques, and resources. Those were the top three things that would get someone to the top. Without one of them, it doesn't matter if you had the other two. It wouldn't be enough. And rightfully so, Robin was doubtful about this place.

There shouldn't be talented people around here, as people like that would try to live in the best places. Without talented people, there wouldn't be many good quality techniques because there definitely wouldn't be people to produce them. And lastly, if there weren't any of these last two factors, then there wouldn't be good resources either.

After all, talented and well-equipped people were the ones who had the financial power in this world. In this way, specialists from the different professions available in the Spiritual World would not waste their time in places without 'well-born' people.

Consequently, resources would be scarcer in places deprived of those people.

And lastly, natural resources were not 'born' in impoverished places, as any valuable item needed large amounts of spiritual energy to develop!

But, there was no such thing in this region...

For all that, Robin was still not so interested in this force that she had saved her.

Anyway, as the carriages moved, Peter, who was enjoying the silence inside that carriage, was thinking about his family right now. 'I wonder how they are? They must have been apprehensive about me...'

This young man had been missing for over a month, and his family was undoubtedly quite worried about him. As far as they knew, this young man's destiny was quite dark, and they could never see him again!

Even though they knew Peter was still breathing because the army had the mark of this young Sergeant's soul, they couldn't tell what state he was in. Maybe he had been living in hell, being tortured in every way possible...

There was no way they could have known.

And Peter was aware of it. So, right after those traveling companions of his stopped talking, this young man couldn't help but think about his family.

...

While the group was traveling in the same carriage as Peter had divergent thoughts, the other freed captives who had traveled to the Dry City with them expressed similarly divergent reactions to the sight.

None of them knew the city of Minos before, as most were low-talented people who had never left their regions before being enslaved. Because of this, they didn't learn about the history of this place.

But they could see that this was a decent place. After all, the buildings had suitable structures, the people on the streets were well dressed, even if many of them were simple, like them. There were no individuals wearing collars around their necks, just as there were no screams of pain in any of the places they had passed.

This place didn't remind them of the harsh reality of slavery!

"This town looks pretty decent. Look, several guards are patrolling the streets, people cleaning up the city, as well as smiling citizens!" One of the former captives who had requested to accompany Minos' group said happily.

"True, given the movement of this place, it shouldn't be difficult for us to get jobs!" Another person commented as he looked out of the carriage that was transporting them.

And at this moment, finally, one of those people asked the soldier who was leading the carriage they were. "Sir, we were told before that we could join this organization of yours. Is that true?"

Hearing this, the soldier who was leading that carriage smiled and said. "It's up to you. If you pass the selection, then yes."

"And what are the requirements for this selection?" He asked.

"There are several requirements, but to summarize, you must have a minimum talent equal to Blue, be a long-standing resident of the Dry City, and have committed no infractions. If you meet these requirements, then you can participate in the selection." The soldier explained.

"Oh? So, this is simpler than I thought. But how hard do you think it is to pass this selection?"

"Hehe, it's not easy, and it's going to get harder in the future." The soldier said with a friendly smile on his face. He was happy to join the army before things got more popular around here... "But there are many services in this town that can help you improve your strength even if you don't make it into the army."

"There are no unemployed people in the Dry City. In this, you can rest assured, you will certainly be able to live on your own and have your things. Even low-level spiritual arrays and pills!"