The Rise of the Black Plain

After some time, Ruth had finally received permission to enter the Dry City without the need for her to be accompanied by soldiers.

Upon receiving this liberation, she promptly headed towards that central part of the dome, where most of the urban zone of that city was located within this protected area.

Ruth let her great eagle stay on the outskirts of town, as she usually did at the other times she had passed through here.

Having massive beasts on the streets of a city, or even in the skies, was not ideal, as this would always have the potential to cause a disturbance.

As in White's example, it had to move its enormous wings to fly, which always created strong wind gusts wherever it went.

And in human cities with large concentrations of inhabitants, these places would generally need rules of coexistence. These things would make certain activities practicable. As in the case of the ban on the use of flying beasts on local buildings....

Anyway, White soon went on its way, looking for an ideal place for it to rest in the open terrain of the inner area of the dome. And it didn't take it long to find the other beasts from the 5th stage of this place...

...

Quickly Ruth entered the built-up area of the Dry City, passing some places she didn't know. Still, she knew very well where to go. After all, this place followed a pattern, and as long as a person knew about that pattern, it would be pretty easy to move around here.

As she carefully observed the local changes, this young woman had been examining most of the people she saw on the streets, as well as those in buildings near where she was passing.

It was evident that the population of this place had grown stronger, as the improvements she could see would result in such a thing. But Ruth wanted to be sure how much this place had improved during this period.

'Incredible! Previously, when I was leaving this place after the completion of the Spiritual Tournament, the number of Spiritual Generals in the entire city was barely a hundred. But now I've felt over a thousand of them while walking these streets!' She thought about it with a satisfied smile on her face.

She hadn't even come close to army headquarters or the other three entrances to the wall. Still, even so, she had felt all these energy fluctuations...

Moreover, after a short walk, she detected fragrances in the air that she had not noticed previously in this location. That was something that could only be found in cities with more than half a million inhabitants in this region of the Central Continent!

'Looks like there are already medium-level grade-2 alchemists in this town... That is a remarkable advance!'

'But I am also able to smell several fragrances released by low-level grade-2 cooks...' So, she thought for a moment, right after passing a restaurant that had an elegant layout and where several people were already coming and going.

"That's great!"

"It looks like I'll hardly have to make any sacrifices staying in the Dry City for a few months, hehe." She muttered happily, with a sweet smile on her pretty face.

Ruth might like Minos and everything, plus, of course, she understood the potential of the Black Plain in this young man's hands. But that didn't change the fact that she had grown up in an empire where services were on an entirely different level!

So, even if being in this place with Minos could make up for many difficulties, those problems wouldn't disappear just because of that. Otherwise, they would continue to exist but would become 'bearable' due to his existence.

Among those problems was gastronomy, something Ruth couldn't bring from the empire with her...

After all, unlike pills, arrays, weapons, spiritual foods needed to be prepared on the spot and by qualified specialists. Hence, she could only be content with the quality of the local food while she had to stay here in the Dry City.

And such a thing was not as easy to do as it may seem!

Culinary tastes are very individual things. But, additionally, as someone who grew up in an area where grade-3 cooks were numerous, this young woman couldn't help but believe that the food produced by humble grade-1 cooks was of poor quality.

And unfortunately, they were the best that existed in this city of Minos before...

Anyway, even if there were a big difference between low-level grade-2 and low-level grade-3, that would already be an improvement that would make things much easier for Ruth!

After all, she would typically eat meals in her homeland in establishments with medium-level grade-2 cooks prior to her level 50 promotion and in establishments with high-level grade-2 cooks following such an event. That's because it was what this young woman could spend on her regular earnings as a disciple of the Gray Cloud Sect.

Of course, occasionally, she could use resources given by her family to visit grade-3 professionals. But in general, such a thing would rarely happen, as she couldn't use most of the services of these professionals.

That wasn't weird since such services were charged in high-grade crystals!

And Ruth didn't have many of those, even considering her position in the Miles family. In fact, she had none, as only the Spiritual Emperors of such an organization were entitled to obtain some of these.

Even these Flaming Empire Spiritual Emperors would have no more high-grade crystals than the Minos region's Spiritual Generals would usually have medium-grade crystals!

Only the Spiritual Saints of Ruth's homeland managed to have a few thousand of these crystals after gathering for many years...

Anyway, because of all this, this young woman was already delighted that there were now more professionals of grade-2 classification in the territory of Minos.

...

Finally, Ruth entered the outer area of Minos' mansion shortly after receiving authorization from the guards watching the entrance to that place.

It was still too early, and the government mansion was not open to the public at this time. However, some officials were already on standby.

After doing that, Ruth wasted no time and found the higher spiritual fluctuations of that place. She had the impression that she would discover Minos more quickly. 'One at level 47, one at level 48, and the last at level 52!' She thought to herself as she still walked across the mansion's outer lawn.

"Incredible!" She said in a low voice, finding it all very interesting. "This level 52 person must be Dillian..."

'Minos is the one at level 47 or 48? But…' She then paused for a moment while going up the stairs to the mansion's residential area.

She had finally noticed that the two people of levels 47 and 48 were in the same place... And after pausing for a moment, Ruth was even faster than before, with a look of doubt on her face.

...

Upon arriving at Minos' residence, Ruth promptly entered that place after greeting the housekeepers there, people who already knew her and who knew of her relationship with the young local sovereign.

So, she hadn't had any difficulty making her way to Minos' room, where she and this young man had spent some warm nights...

Finally, she entered that place she already knew very well, while her face was slowly getting more grave. Before, she had thought that Minos might be having breakfast or talking to those other people.

But upon arriving in this young man's room, she had realized that the truth was a little different from what her imagination had thought.

That place had several women's clothes in a big closet, while a few pieces of clothing were folded on top of the big bed in that place. At the same time, the sound of a shower could be heard by Ruth.

'He's with another woman!' So she thought briefly until the young Stuart walked out the bathroom door, wearing only a white towel around his waist.

And right behind him, Ruth could see a female shape, who had blue hair and wore a white robe.

"Ruth?" Minos exclaimed in surprise, seeing the black-haired girl standing beside his bed...