The Rise of the Black Plain

A few days later...

At the Black Plain Army headquarters, there was a large room in one of the buildings in the administrative sector where many items were stored.

However, unlike what any soldier passing through the Reward's Hall would find, in this other place, the items were all defective and therefore not suitable to be distributed or sold among the members of this organization.

There were two types of artifacts available to the soldiers in the army. One was those simple weapons that could be used in training or by lower-ranking soldiers. These items were loaned to the soldiers.

The other type was the artifacts sold to the soldiers through merit points in the organization's Reward's hall.

However, the day would always come when repairing one of these loaned or sold items would not be worth it. Therefore, weapons and all sorts of artifacts would lose their usefulness, ending up in places like the one in question.

But besides the soldiers' weapons in bad condition, there were also items collected from all over Dry City in that room!

In fact, after months of discovering the usefulness of Alina's innate ability, Minos' army was constantly buying up damaged artifacts, especially those produced by blacksmiths, which could be recycled.

With such a scheme, the local citizens could sell their defective weapons, which would be too expensive to repair, and receive crystals that could help them buy or rent new items.

On the other hand, these weapons, shields, items produced by blacksmiths would be sent here and wait for the moment when Alina would disintegrate them.

Such a thing was not immediate since there were items of different ranks and a higher demand for higher quality items.

Consequently, Alina would usually use her innate ability first on those higher-ranked items within her capabilities, leaving the others for a second moment.

And right now, the items that this Sergeant could disintegrate were those of high-level grade-1 classification.

Thus, those artifacts below this rank, the majority of the items in that location, and those of higher level, the minority, had to be put away until she had the time or conditions to disintegrate them.

But occasionally, she would finish doing that with the high-level grade-1 ones and start working on the lower-ranked ones. After all, the weaker soldiers also needed quality items to train and do other services.

And sooner or later, she would get stronger and would finally be able to handle those grade-2 items, which at the moment, she could not work with.

In any case, every time she disintegrated those items, the army would get resources to develop new artifacts, which could be one lever above the recycled item!

So, the sector run by the army blacksmiths was in constant operation, with no shortages of resources, producing decent amounts of weapons and defensive items weekly.

And because of this, the quality of the items sold in the Reward's Hall had been increasing since the arrival of this young woman!

...

While the army's Reward's Hall had lines going out the door, Alina was walking towards her workplace, next to the sector run by the army blacksmiths.

She obviously didn't work in that storage room. After all, that place already had its purpose. Besides, since her function was directly related to the smith art, she had no reason to work elsewhere.

Hence, she once again was arriving at her work station, near where the resources of that sector were located.

"Sergeant Alina, I'm afraid you'll have to work hard in the coming weeks, haha." So, one of the blacksmiths of that place said, right after seeing that woman entering that area.

Such an individual was a high-level grade-1 blacksmith, who usually helped Sergeant Alina in her activities here.

She was already doing the incredible service of disintegrating the artifacts. So, other people delivered the items to be disintegrated, cleaned the area, stored the recycled resources, etc.

And since there was no one better to recognize the resources used in forge than blacksmiths, the people helping her were precisely the soldiers who had decided to follow this specialization!

Anyway, hearing that soldier's joking tone, Alina frowned and asked. "Has something changed?"

"Yes, two things have changed." He then began to explain. "First, since you already have your foundation consolidated, the army has changed the people who will work with you from now on..."

He then pointed to an old low-level grade-2 blacksmith. "See there. Now he will be the leader of your division, who will work with you when you go to disintegrate high-level grade-1 items."

Upon hearing this, Alina immediately looked in the direction of that blacksmith and understood what was going on. 'Well, it's normal for someone more skilled to participate in the process. After all, dealing with better materials requires superior knowledge and power.'

"And what's the second thing? Why did you say I will have to work hard in the next few days?"

"The second thing is the main thing, hehehe."

"The items collected around the naval base have just arrived at headquarters, and those of high-level grade-1 classification, have already been sent here..."

"And adding with those that already existed in our storage, over 6,000 items at that level are available to you..." He said with a smile as he tapped her shoulder. "Work hard. The army is counting on you."

"6,000?" She repeated in a low voice as she understood the situation. 'That will truly give me a lot of work for quite a while...'

'But I have to deal with it as soon as possible, since only then will I be able to help the army become even stronger!'

'How amazing would it be if all our combat Sergeants could use low-level grade-2 items?' As she motivated herself for such a task, she wondered, already excited about the future.

Each time she disintegrated an item at the limit of her powers, Alina needed to use a considerable amount of her energy. As a result, it was not easy for her to deal with so many items in a short time.

But despite the difficulty this would pose for her, this woman was not too bothered by the fact that she would have to deal with a more significant amount of work for the next weeks or months.

That was because she was very grateful to the army. This organization had made it possible for her to reach level 40 so quickly and helped her raise her family's quality of life.

On the other hand, she was a native of Dry City, one of the people who had seen all the transformation of this place since the arrival of Minos. Along with this background, those opportunities made her a much more committed person to this city and the local army.

So, she really couldn't wait to help the army get these resources, which at the moment was only a few steps away from her.

And with a mix of positive feelings in her being, it wasn't long before Alina put those assumptions aside and headed towards her destination.

"Sergeant Alina, good morning. My name is Magnus, and from today on, we will be working together."

"Good morning, Sergeant Magnus..." And soon, she and that blacksmith began the first disintegration of the day.

...

While Alina struggled to help young Stuart's army get more resources, this young man was at his residence with his two girlfriends.

The three had already had their traditional breakfast and, at this moment, they were heading towards their respective goals.

Minos was leaving to go to his office while the two women headed towards the local army headquarters.

As they parted, it didn't take long for the two women to start talking as they walked through the already busy streets of this central part of Dry City.

"Ruth, did my mother talk to you?" Abby asked in a low voice, without looking at that woman's face, feeling a little embarrassed.

The black-haired woman nodded in agreement upon hearing such a thing while a slight redness spread across her beautiful face. "Hmm, she called me to talk yesterday afternoon..."