The Rise of the Black Plain

Two days passed quickly, and now a young woman was approaching the Dry City.

She used a spiritual beast at the 4th stage of cultivation, which looked like a great eagle. It was completely white, over 2 meters high, and had a sharp beak that was completely yellow.

The young woman had beautiful black hair, a graceful face, and a sensual body, which would make any ordinary person lose their attention for a moment. She was also very well-dressed, with a long green dress and a white hat on her head.

When she was finally supposed to be seeing the Dry City in front of her, she was slowly beginning to see a strange landscape. There was a large part of the territory covered in green.

Obviously, many cultures were growing in these areas.

The place of these cultures was not that large in area, but it would be enough for anyone to notice such a thing. This made this young woman doubt for a moment whether she was really on the Black Plain and, specifically, close to the Dry City.

That's because when she came to this place just over 13 months ago, there was no such thing!

Hence, she was very confused by this, but she decided to go ahead and ask the questions that she had in a second moment.

She slowly descended from the sky on the city's south side, leaving her great eagle in an open place, following her journey on foot through the city. As she walked down the street, she quickly got lost and didn't know where to go.

The place was completely different!

She hadn't seen so many buildings in this city when she came here before! 'How can this place have changed so much in such a short time?'  She thought with a shocked expression on her face.

And indeed, the change that Dry City has undergone in the last year has been simply amazing. Now, the area size of the city had decreased by almost two-thirds. Still, the little more than one-third of the original area remaining was flourishing in the best possible way!

That was due to the four high-level grade-1 spiritual arrays installed near the city's central region. As a result, the areas affected by the arrays soon underwent a significant change.

The empty grounds were filled with new homes, buildings, and those old buildings were improved and expanded to accommodate more people. Meanwhile, the rest of the city has been emptied and destroyed.

All of this was done following Minos' planning for the city. So, there was a lovely appearance in the town now. It didn't look like a huddle that grew uncontrollably, but it seemed well-planned and gave a feeling of convenience and comfort.

The city's shape would look like four large circles that intersected near Minos' mansion if looked from the sky. There were also a considerable number of trees on the streets that could make someone forget that this was the poor land of the Black Plain.

"Ahhh!" The young woman let out a slight cry of surprise, but luckily no one heard her. The reason for such a noise was that she realized that the amount of spiritual energy around the city was at least 50% greater than when she came here last time.

'How did this happen? I thought this place had a spiritual root that sucked out a lot of the free energy in heaven and earth. How did they solve this problem?' So, she thought to herself as she continued to walk around the city.

And eventually, she managed to find the mansion in the middle of the city after asking for directions from people on the streets.

But seeing the mansion also surprised her. The place was at least three times bigger than before.

There were also a lot of people coming and going, wearing the same type of uniform.

In front of the mansion, there was a lush garden with a fountain in the middle. In the background, the building with four floors and many windows could be seen. Although not overly luxurious, it was well done.

There weren't many spiritual arrays since Minos still needed to bring array masters to the Dry City. Still, there were some that belonged to the building before modernization.

Anyway, the young woman slowly entered the building, while her mouth was open in shock at everything she saw.

She finally returned to normal after hearing someone speak to her. "Welcome to the local government. How can I help you." Said secretary Mia, who was at the reception, next to Minos' office.

"Hmm, I would like to see Minos Stuart." Said the young woman quickly.

"I'm sorry to inform you, but the young master is not in the Dry City at this moment," Mia replied sincerely.

"Isn't he? And where would he go?"

Mia then replied nonchalantly. "I can't report this."

"You can not? So who's in charge here? Let me talk to him. I am here at the behest of your young master's mother." The young woman said impatiently.

She was the disciple of Minos' mother, Ruth Miles, who had come with Maisie the last time.

With the time that passed, she was already at level 45. After leaving her last training, she had decided to come to fulfill the mission that her teacher had given to her.

"Oh! So, it was you. Butler Dillian is in charge now. Come with me."

A while later, they went for Minos' office, where Dillian was at the moment.

Dillian was dispatching a soldier when the office door opened, and Mia and young Ruth entered.

"Butler Dillian, this lady is here because of the young master's mother." Mia said quickly before leaving the room.

"So, you're here at the behest of Mrs. Maisie. Can you tell me the reason for your visit?" Dillian asked with a smile on his face.

"My master appointed me the mission to return here after a year and a half since our last visit, but because I completed my recent training earlier, I chose to arrive just before this time."

"She had ordered me to find her son after that time to evaluate his level. If he had reached the 4th stage of cultivation, I should talk about the Spiritual Tournament, which will take place in 7 months in the Cromwell Kingdom, and then accompany him there if he decided to participate in this competition."

"Hm, I see. Mrs. Maisie wants the young master to fight with the younger generation to understand a little of the world." Said Dillian as he held his hands behind his back.

"I think it might be a good idea, but the young master is on his way to Stone Island. And I don't know when he will come back. It could take a few weeks."

"Stone island? Why did he go there?" Ruth asked curiously.

Butler Dillian said vaguely. "As a leader, the young master has his responsibilities."

"But if you want to go after him, then you must look for someone named Elen Nash. The young master must meet with her when he arrives at the Stone Island."

"I understand... In fact, how has this place changed so much in such a short time?" Ruth asked with a curious look on her face.

"Haha, you must be very curious, huh? I will not go into details, but when the young master said that he did not need Mrs. Maisie's help, how can I say… He was not kidding." Dillian replied as he had a big proud smile on his face.

Seeing and hearing this, Ruth didn't know what to say while she was thinking to herself. 'From where does all this confidence come? Even though this place has improved a lot, it still doesn't give you the right to say that you don't need the help of a sect like ours.'

After a while, she finally spoke. "Hehe, it seems that you are very confident in your young master."

The butler Dillian then just smiled but said nothing. He didn't need to talk about Minos' secrets, just because the other side was not an enemy!

Even if she were the mother of his young master, he still wouldn't say anything!

When she saw that her poll was unsuccessful, Ruth just sighed in disappointment. She was really curious about these people. Not only did butler Dillian seem to trust this Minos Stuart blindly, but so did the other people in this place.

Even the last time she came here, people looked at Minos as if he was their savior!

'Never mind. When I accompany Minos to the Spiritual Tournament, maybe I will understand this.' Ruth thought to herself.

"Well, since my master's son isn't here, then I'll go to Stone Island... Until later." Ruth said goodbye and went quickly towards the city's south side, where she had left her spiritual beast.

…

Meanwhile, the boat on which Minos was traveling was rapidly approaching Stone Island. Thus, a  glimpse of the island could already be seen on the horizon.

Minos enjoyed the view of the sea in front of him as he thought with a smile on his face. 'Stone Island, huh. I want to see what you can offer me.'