The Rise of the Black Plain

Some time passed, and Minos and Abby had finally arrived in the Kingdom of the Waves capital, Athela!

Upon arriving in this great metropolis, the two left Abby's great spiritual beast in a specific location, where that tiger could be comfortably accommodated in this region.

As there was in Old Stone, in Athela, there was also a large plot of land with various types of accommodation for giant beasts. And after they had done this, the two had immediately hired a coachman to take them to a hotel in the central region of this great city.

Both were in a hurry to get to a hotel, and due to the size of this city, even if they were familiar with a specific location, getting around would take several minutes. That is because, even though this city has only 1 million more inhabitants than Old Stone, its occupied area was nearly 50% larger than this other one!

Athela was quite large, with many buildings of varying designs and heights, parks, and services of practically every type.

And due to the almost complete offer of services in this city, the total area and the movement in the streets seemed much more significant than in Old Stone.

While Old Stone had professionals from all areas, only the profession of blacksmiths was numerous enough in that state. In relation to the other specializations, the number of people was small, and this aspect of Elen's homeland did not attract much attention.

But on Athela, it was different. In addition to having professionals in large numbers of almost every specialty area, the Kingdom of the Waves capital also has a high number of specialists of medium-level grade-2.

In fact, only two spiritual professions could be considered 'missing' in Athela due to the small number of individuals above low-level grade-2, which were the professions of beast tamers and spiritual judges.

For the beast tamers, there was only one high-level grade-2 individual in the town. But that was normal to be expected and didn't change much of the attractiveness of this state. After all, outside the Snow Kingdom, the profession of beast tamers wasn't well-developed.

At the same time, the best spiritual judges were limited to medium-level grade-2 professionals. This specialization was one of the most difficult professions to pursue in this region of the continent due to the small spiritual power of the region's cultivators and the low classification of spiritual techniques.

That limited the development of specialists in this profession in the region because this area of ​​expertise acted directly by making the famous Soul Contracts, among other things as well.

But the focus of these professionals was the soul of themselves and their clients, something that only developed better at high levels. And precisely because of this and because they have low-efficiency techniques, the performance of these professionals was much more complex than others.

The advances in power and mastery over these people's techniques were on average 50% more difficult than for other areas!

But that was a region-wide problem and not something unique to the Kingdom of the Waves.

In addition to the many spiritual options available in Athela, several prominent local organizations also produced common items needed in everyday life. Because of all this and the local services, this capital seemed much bigger than Old Stone, despite the slight difference in terms of population.

And as for the high-level powers in this location, well, from what Minos had heard from Elen and Abby, in addition to the royal family, there were three other powers locally.

These were the Collins, Reid, and Woods families!

Despite having positions in the capital, the main base of each of these families was in their respective territories around the kingdom. But such a thing was normal to find in this region. After all, the most remarkable powers truly needed to have essential bases in the capitals of their respective states.

That also happened in the Brown Kingdom, with the Silva and Miller families, which had essential bases in the City of the Setting Sun despite having their territories.

In cases such as the Nash family, who had their headquarters in the capital of their state, this was also not so strange to happen, especially among merchant families. That's because they didn't produce their items themselves, so being closer to where big decisions could be made seemed like the best alternative.

Thus, these powers could act more readily when specific issues arise, in addition to, of course, experiencing the political schemes more closely.

Anyway, Minos was aware of the local political setup. Still, he wasn't the least bit concerned about it at the moment, as he wasn't going to be here for long. As for this Reid family, he felt he had heard that name before, but he wasn't sure where...

Finally, after traveling for a while through this shining and magnificent city, the couple arrived at the hotel where they were going to stay. From what their coachman had told them, this place was not only one of the best hotels. It was also close to the best local services.

There was a cultivation tower just a few hundred meters away and several grade-2 professional shops on the main avenues in this area. And, according to that man, the beautiful royal palace and the Spiritual Church post in this state were also in this part, which Minos and Abby could visit later.

He had vigorously commended the magnificence of these two sites, not only for the structural beauty of their buildings but also because of the importance of the two organizations. One was the all-powerful ruler of his region, who had led this state for hundreds of thousands of years and was a source of pride for ordinary people.

The other was the faith of tens of millions, being the official religion of the Kingdom of the Waves, the organization that had created many of the local customs.

And although Minos wasn't interested in these last two locations, he had thanked that coachman for the information provided. It was always helpful to hear what ordinary people thought of their own city. After all, this was a way of knowing how things worked locally, something that could make Minos and his friend stay in this town easier.

...

After arriving at the apartment, Minos and Abby simply sat on a sofa in the living room of that place and relaxed for a few minutes. Both were tired from the last few hours of the trip and still had until tomorrow to do their other things.

And as the two relaxed in that spot, Abby suddenly asked. "What are we going to do tomorrow? Are we going to do business already, or do you want to go train at this local cultivation tower?"

And after hearing this, Minos opened his eyes and looked at the glass door on the balcony of this place, seeing the city's night lights. "We will do business tomorrow. However, some of the items I want to buy may not be available, so we may have to wait a few days for them to be produced."

"So, to maximize our time here, let's sort this out first and then train in this cultivation tower until all the items are ready." He finished speaking as he used one of his hands to massage Abby's shoulders.

"Hmm... What about that subject you talked to Elen about? Are you going to try to see how the situation is going for the bodyguards of those two?"

He moved his head in denial and said. "I won't be looking for them around here, as that would be a lot of work and could draw unnecessary attention to us. But Elen said if the two were still around then, they would probably spend most of their time training."

"Maybe we'll find them in the cultivation tower. I heard Elen's bodyguard has been earning many crystals, so he can probably train in this location. With that, if we find them in this place, I don't mind delivering Elen and Elena's message to them."

"OK." After that, Abby got up from that place and pulled Minos by one of his arms, already walking towards the bedroom. "Come sleep with me. We can cultivate after this..."