The Rise of the Black Plain

Lately, Emlyn has been much more occupied with monitoring these people within the Spatial Kingdom than she had before.

She had to observe and probe the activities of each of these people living in this location to ensure that nothing strange happened.

Not that Minos was worried about robberies or anything like that. Although risks like these always existed, what worried this young man the most was that these people act carelessly alongside the precious medicines of this place.

Such items could be damaged if attacks damaged their structures. Consequently, this big fox was here to observe the actions of these individuals and prevent, if necessary, unwanted accidents.

But she wasn't unhappy about it. Aside from the fact that this was precisely the obligation she had committed to Minos at the time the two of them had met, she liked the presence of other people in this place.

Make no mistake. Emlyn loved living in this place with her daughter and Minos' occasional visits.. But most of the time, these two foxes were left with little to do in this place.

After all, both she and her daughter hadn't reached the stage of cultivation where they could simply cultivate for years. And because of that, at certain times besides sleeping, there was nothing else to do in this place.

In contrast, with the arrival of these 20 regular residents and the constant visits of other individuals, this place had come to 'life.'

Something this fox appreciated!

A person could greatly appreciate the peace of a vacation or the rest of the weekend. But that would only happen after a hard week at work or months of sacrifice to accomplish your goals.

And it was no different for Emlyn. Working gave a different meaning to her, and when she stopped to rest in this place, this fox felt much better, more fulfilled as if she had conquered a part that was missing in her being!

Anyway, Emlyn was pleased, and with her cultivation increasing by leaps and bounds, this fox had reached level 53 in the time that had passed.

'Minos' forces are improving very fast... More than two years ago, he had achieved his first Spiritual King, me. But now, in such a short time, he already has five individuals of that level!' So, Emlyn thought to herself as she did her work.

"And in less than a year, that blonde girl, Abby, and he should reach that level too…" She then smiled and muttered in a low voice, just for herself to hear. "Will he rechallenge me when he gets to that level?"

Emlyn remembered the last confrontation she had had with Minos. At that time, young Stuart had just reached half of level 45, whereas she was at level 52.

And as might be expected, the outcome of the battle had been as bad for Minos as it had been when the two first fight...

After that, every time Minos got a new advance, he sought out Kyla's mother for a new round of fighting. But he never won, not even in the last fight that happened five days ago, when this young man had a breakthrough to level 48!

That time, Kyla's mother had already reached level 53 for several days, and due to that, Minos had not been able to beat her. However, despite having lost all those fights, things got more and more competitive between the two.

Each time they fought, Emlyn had to use a more significant portion of her powers. And on this last occasion, young Stuart had even managed to hurt this big fox, something he had never done before!

"Ahh, if it wasn't for this missing paw, even when he reaches level 50, I could still beat him one more time..." She muttered in her beast language while feeling a little disappointed.

This victory that she had snatched from Minos in the last fight, in her view, was probably the penultimate victory she would have against this young man...

Her cultivation speed was pretty good, but Minos was a monster out of the curve. Not even a powerful Nine-Tailed Fox beast could compete with him in terms of cultivation speed!

So, even if she reached level 54 before Minos reached level 50, she didn't feel hopeful of beating this young man, as her mobility was limited.

'I better forget about it. Sooner or later, it was going to happen anyway…' She thought about it internally when Kyla's mother finally turned her attention back to the humans who were fighting on that stage.

...

While Elite Squad and those other people cultivated and trained in the Spatial Kingdom, Dry City was sunny right now.

The urban area of this city had grown by more than 50% in the time that had passed, and the streets of this place were even busier than before Minos' trip.

The city had grown a lot and had reached the 180,000 inhabitants mark!

Such growth was mainly due to the agreement Minos had made with Mirya, the ruler of the City of Waters. At first, the deal involved just over 20,000 people, but in the end, things had been a little different...

Minos' soldiers had created relationships with many inhabitants of that place. For that reason, it wasn't difficult for them to get some more people to come to their city outside of the agreement that their young master had made.

And that hadn't been noticed by Mirya, or she hadn't done anything about it...

After all, that woman was just marking territory and had already gained a lot from her previous deal with Minos.

As a result, she hadn't even missed the 10,000 people that young Stuart's soldiers had moved away.

But that wasn't the only factor in the Dry City's population growth. Many other people had come to this place from other states in this region, mainly from the Kingdom of the Waves.

Finally, after Minos's investments with the professionals, he had made Soul Contracts in Wilburg city, the offer of local services had improved exponentially. And with the time that had passed since the arrival of these people in the Dry City, this place now had seven medium-level grade-2 professionals, including Dillian!

These people were from five different professions, the three main ones, plus the specialization of designers and doctors.

Other than that, there were over 80 low-level grade-2 professionals from nine distinct spiritual specializations in young Stuart's town!

Such a thing had greatly improved the quality of services in this town, making this place much more attractive to talented cultivators. And although Minos was not yet ready to open his territory to the world, some stronger cultivators would pass through his town now and then.

Such individuals were only allowed to enter the city after passing a thorough interrogation to prevent enemies from entering the place. And such a thing had been efficient, as no problems had occurred in all that time.

There were capable people within the army who made such a mission achievable. And from that thing, some more citizens from the 5th stage of cultivation had moved with their families to this city.

Subsequently, the planting area of the Black Plain had increased significantly in the past months and now totaled over 3,800 hectares!

With more than 100,000 farmers working in the local fields, the current Black Plain could produce around 13,000 tons of food annually.

This food was almost entirely shipped to Stone Island, generating an annual income of over 100 million low-grade crystals and 1 million medium-grade crystals for Minos' territory!

Anyway, the Dry City was doing very well, and the citizens' quality of life was excellent. Opportunities kept coming, and with each passing day, the local forces grew stronger.

...

While this town 'lived' this sunny day, as usual, Minos was in his office at the local government mansion.

He was doing his job when suddenly Secretary Mia walked into that place and said. "Young master, Sergeant Joey is here to talk about army updates..."