The Rise of the Black Plain

Ten days passed quickly.

By this time, the more than 2,000 new soldiers had become accustomed to their new routines. Each of them had been assigned to their duties and already attended classes at the headquarters.

They had a lot to learn about the Black Plain's potential external enemies and the organization's objectives that they were now part of.

But it had all gone well. The human mind has always been adaptable. That, coupled with each soldier's desire to serve, allowed them to grasp the organization's rhythm quickly.

Anyway, in the days that had passed since the officialization of all those who had passed through the selection, Minos received several reports about the new soldiers, explicitly about young Alina.

She had caught the attention of the local ruler because of her unusual ability, and soon Minos had given orders for what Alina should do.

At first, he wanted to determine what happened to the 'destroyed' items. And for that, Minos had assigned Alina to stay inside the headquarters and participate in a series of tests.

In short, she would test her skill by disintegrating various types of artifacts. With that, other professionals and some cultivators from the 5th stage of cultivation would observe all this closely.

Minos wanted to know if, for example, a disintegrated weapon could be rebuilt with the rest left behind. If something like that were possible, then she could have a beneficial role in the local army in the future!

But this could not be done quickly, and such research would likely take a few months to complete. First, they would have to test Alina's skill with several different materials and then distinguish the residue left.

Were these residues the previous form of the components of the disintegrated object? Or maybe it was something different?

And regardless of that answer, could it be used in any way? For example, would it be possible to build a weapon with this residue with the same or even higher rating? These and other questions need to be answered.

And for that, not only the soldiers would be involved in this matter, but also some blacksmiths, array masters, and even alchemists present in the current Dry City.

These professionals could more easily distinguish substances, as they were the only ones able to create spiritual items locally.

After all this issue of the arrival of new soldiers in the army, almost everything was back to normal at headquarters. The only difference had been the capacity of the cultivation rooms within this property.

As the number of soldiers had almost doubled, the capacity of the headquarters' cultivation tower had naturally already been expanded. Previously, the building had already been built with a magnitude greater than what was used, given that construction was much cheaper than buying the spiritual arrays.

And from the moment the selection had started, the Black Plain Army had already ordered all the extra arrays to meet the new demand after that competition.

...

At this time, Minos was in his office alone while reading some information. And while he was doing that, Mia opened the door to that place and allowed in two elderly men, one of them dressed humbly and the other formally.

One of these people was the current head of the Dry City construction sector. The other was a local government official.

The two were here to talk to Minos about the latest result, the mercenary guild's development.

Minos then got up from his chair and waved for the two of them to sit on the sofa in that office right after greeting them. "Please have a seat."

After that, the young sovereign changed his place and sat opposite the two in the middle of that room. "And then? How is the development of the mercenary guild?" He asked, looking at them one at a time.

Upon hearing this, the more formally dressed man nodded, giving his turn to the construction chief. "Young master, our construction sector has already completed the building of the mercenary guild. Everything is ready in that place, including the necessary arrays and furniture have already been gathered by the families hired to perform this service."

"Oh? That's nice. But what about the organization of this guild? Do we have the people and the rules?" Minos asked, looking at the other man.

Finally, this local government official began to explain to Minos. "Yes, young master, that is already resolved. We created a ranking system for the guild's missions and employees, as well as the rules for this location."

"The rewards for each mission and also the value for someone to post one in the guild has already been established. And as for the employees, we are finishing training the first group."

He then paused for a few breaths and then said. "Even if we don't have staff prepared for the guild's 24-hour operation at the moment, it won't take long for this to be resolved. In 2 months, a maximum of 3, we will have all the personnel trained."

Minos then nodded, indicating he was listening to everything when he asked. "But if I want to open this guild tomorrow, how long can this service work?"

"30 hours a week, young master."

"Hmm, that's not much, but it will work. In a maximum of 3 months, we can get this service working full time, so it's not a big problem."

"For now, let's leave this place open on weekends. These days, part of the population involved with city services work fewer hours. So, we can reach a larger portion of the population operating on these days." Minos said.

Obviously, the local government had a lot of data about the behavior of the local population, such as the average income of citizens, the number of hours worked, etc.

Information of this nature was needed in any city administration, which could help sovereigns predict specific patterns and direct administrative measures. And of course, Minos had such data about the population of the Dry City.

In general, just as many shops in the city didn't open late at night, something similar happened at least once a week when certain professionals had their day off. So, at the end of each week, people who weren't working cultivated and lived their lives.

And such things had already become a cultural habit in the Spiritual World.

It was no use working so hard, getting crystals, cultivating, and living longer if a person had nothing else besides that.

The point of improving financially and in terms of cultivation strength was not to continue cultivated, but rather to enhance the quality of life and have meaningful moments in that person's life.

People grew stronger to protect their interests, loved ones, etc. They earned more crystals to have a higher quality of life, eat more delicious foods, buy high-value items, have moments of relaxation, etc.

Even high-level cultivators would stop their seclusion occasionally, just to relieve some of the accumulated stress. Sleeping with someone you liked, talking to friends, seeing new places, all that, and much more were part of a cultivator's life.

And because of this, long ago, people in the Spiritual World had adopted this practice of resting at least once a week. Thus, on at least one day a week, these people could somehow try to 'understand' why they valued their jobs so much, their efforts to live longer.

No one would want to work harder or live longer if they had nothing but work and cultivation!

And in the Dry City, it was no different. Because of this, and knowing his population, Minos had decided that opening the mercenary guild on the weekend, when many people rested, was for the best.

These people could get to know this new option during their free time, helping to popularize this new place.

"Great idea, young master!" The formally dressed man commented briefly.

After that, the three continued to talk about other matters, things related to the areas of each of those two men.

Many things were going on in the Dry City, and Minos constantly had encounters like this. Sometimes it wasn't enough for Mia to listen and pass this information on to him. In some instances, the young ruler needed to hear about some issues or problems straight from the source.

And at the end of that meeting, it was decided that the local mercenary guild would open next weekend!