The Rise of the Black Plain

After a few days of traveling with the three members of the Sea Folk, Minos' group crossed the most challenging area of the terrestrial part of the Marine Empire and arrived at a coastal area in the southeast of the state.

From there, the group took a Sanctuary of Visions ship, which the three individuals were allowed to use for their travels, and immediately set off into the underwater world.

The main point of their journey through the terrestrial part of the Marine Empire was to obtain witnesses of the sovereign race on these lands, where they could more easily contact members of the Sea Folk. After that, there was no longer any reason for them to remain in that fugitive's paradise.

And with the superior navigational skills of the Sea Folk, the race that dominated one of the largest underwater territories in the Spiritual World, they quickly and easily began their journey underwater.

For the first few days of their voyage, they simply increased the depth of their ship without encountering any particularly troublesome groups or even underwater cities.

This was the Marine Empire. Hardly anyone would seek trouble with beings traveling on a Sanctuary of Visions ship. Second, due to the local geography, there were no coral reefs or areas inhabited by beast tribes for up to 500 kilometers off the coast of the large island where they had been.

Only after a few days of traveling would they reach the first areas with the presence of beasts and other sea creatures.

However, with their smooth progress, they were quickly approaching the territory of the first tribe they would pass on this journey!

...

When they encountered a glow on the bottom of the sea, Minos' party soon realized they were about to meet the first mermaids of their lives.

As they already knew, mermaids were extremely difficult to find, even for high-level cultivators like the mercenaries in Minos' group.

But mermaids lived in the Marine Empire, and the members of the Sanctuary of Visions knew how to get to their underwater city.

Knowing they were minutes away from meeting the beings of one of the most special races in this world, even the beasts who had spent thousands of years of their lives in this empire were excited about their arrival in such a city.

This was especially true for the men on board, as the mermaids' features were particularly attractive to them.

The mermaids were beautiful, with charming features that could easily enchant even the most demanding of beauty seekers. In addition, they were naturally noble in their gestures and were known to have good hearts.

However, this didn't mean they were stupid, easily fooled, or innocent. Mermaids were very emotionally intelligent and could easily read people's intentions, just like the members of the Sea Folk.

When they encountered ill-intentioned people or enemies, they became extremely dangerous because of their ability to hide, which could fool even the cleverest of villains.

Even if they sensed something wrong with those around them, they would still act sweet, even if they were setting a trap.

The crueler side of these spiritual beings could only be seen when they fought in fierce battles, which was challenging to see, considering how hard it was to find even a single one of them.

So even though there was a brutal side to these beings, few knew about it, and they were famous for their angelic behavior.

But there weren't just female beings within this race. Mermaids were the females, but they were not hermaphrodites. Within their race, there were beings of the male gender known as mermen.

Mermen were like mermaids, half fish, half humanoid. Although they could mate and reproduce with mermaids even in their natural form, these beings had unique characteristics quite different from the females of their race.

Instead of powers related to charm, mental manipulation, etc., mermen had great physical strength and were known for their abilities to manipulate water.

But no one there was particularly interested in these creatures, for even they were no match for some of the mermaids' abilities!

When their group got close enough to this well-lit tribe in the deepest part of the sea, where spiritual roots kept the underwater as clear as twilight, they weren't too impressed to see the first mermen of their lives.

"Sanctuary Of Visions' crew, what are you doing in our territory?" Two level 89 mermen stopped in front of the group's ship, and one of them immediately asked.

Even though they were in the Marine Empire and this tribe was a vassal of the imperial family, it didn't mean that they would let members of the main race of this state into their tribe at will.

The level 91 woman from the Sea Folk there said. "Mermen of the Fish People Tribe, we're here in search of mermaids willing to join us. But don't worry, we will follow your rules and traditions, and I guarantee that no one will do anything they don't want to do with us."

Just because a member of the ruling race of that state was looking for traveling companions, it didn't mean that the people of that state had to accept and do things against their wishes. There were rules in the Marine Empire, but no one was forced to do things they didn't want to do or even to go against their own principles and beliefs.

Not even a member of the imperial family could demand such a thing, so it wouldn't be this group that dared to disregard the customs of this tribe.

"Oh? Looking for adventurers?" One of the two guards watching this quadrant asked in surprise.

His people were naturally interested in adventures and such. No matter how sweet mermaids seemed to be, even the calmest of them loved to travel and go to mysterious places.

Right now, a whole group of mermaids was traveling to the Ancestral Sea, where an island had fallen from the sky a few years ago and had already become known throughout the Spiritual World.

"Very well, I'll escort you to our tribe. Please follow me calmly." One of the two said before swimming towards the illuminated spot the group had seen from afar a few moments ago.

Under the command of the Sea Folk, their ship, which had a giant serpent as its driving force, followed the path of the half-fish, half-human being in the blink of an eye.

Mermen weren't as big as beasts, but even the smallest was about four meters tall.

This individual looked smaller than he was close to the group's ship, but he was huge for a humanoid being.

Despite his size, he swam very fast, and soon, the group came across a city unlike anything they had ever seen before, where several mermen and mermaids could be seen on the outskirts.

'Incredible!' Emlyn thought as she saw one of the most beautiful creatures in the world, with silver scales, blond hair, blue eyes, and a height of about 2.9 meters.

...