The Rise of the Black Plain

The night passed peacefully in the Dry City.

The city's janitors had cleared some of the streets in the central region, and many people had gone about their nightly work routines. Such as the case of soldiers of lower ranks who were doing patrol duty.

Finally, with the dawn of the day, several people could be seen walking through the streets of the city while their eyes were lowered, anxious for their well-deserved rest. Then, they went to the different points of this city, where their respective residences were.

A shift had just ended, and the morning soldiers had already taken up their duties, thus allowing the night party to return to their homes.

Anyway, it was 15 degrees Celsius in the Dry City at this time, and the sky still had a slightly darkened tone, characteristic of early mornings.

The typical freshness of this region could be felt by anyone leaving the house at this time, while the birds were already singing, making pleasant sounds throughout the town.

And in the middle of this early morning, a woman wearing a black shirt and trousers, snug to her slender body, was running through the streets of the western part of the city. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, while tiny beads of sweat could be seen running down her forehead.

"Hah... Hah..."

Wherever she passed, breathing sounds could be heard as she ran at a considerably fast speed. With such speed, if she wanted to, she could cross this city in just 10 minutes from one place to another.

Anyway, after running for nearly an hour on the lane exclusively for rushing citizens, Mia finally started to slow down.

She did this every morning as a form of training for the movement technique she had learned at the headquarters of the local army.

As an ordinary cultivator who neither wanted to battle nor pursue any specialization, Mia just trained so that she could live longer. Therefore, in addition to her cultivation technique, which she always took time out to cultivate, she had learned some techniques specialized in defense and support.

After all, to live longer, she also needed to have a minimal defensive capacity, even if it was to defend herself and escape!

Consequently, unlike people like this secretary's boss, people like Mia didn't bother to train powerful techniques, focused on battles.

Because of this, Mia had learned a movement technique as soon as she had reached the 4th stage of cultivation a few months ago. Anyway, the best way to raise her understanding of movement techniques was precisely to move, and for this reason, she ran every morning through the city's streets.

Obviously, movement-focused techniques didn't just involve the speed-related part that a cultivator might have in a run. No, despite this being the point most affected by this type of technique, other issues could be improved using them.

Like, for example, a cultivator's 'willingness' in a fight. That basically involved how a warrior's body behaved in battles, such as when one side tried to dodge the other's attacks, the body's instantaneous reactions, more efficient ways to move, fight, etc.

All this and more could be improved through the use of movement techniques.

However, as an ordinary citizen, it is clear that Mia didn't care about these points and was just trying to improve her running speed!

Finally, the young Stuart's secretary stopped near where she was living to take a breath as she spoke to some neighbors.

"Good morning, young Mia. Are you finishing your morning run?" A young man with dark circles in his eyes asked her as he moved lethargically.

"Good morning, Wally. You know me, I always do, hehe. And you? Did you happen to change your shift on the city's patrol? You look tired…" She said with a slight smile on her face as she saw Corporal Wally in front of her.

"Yes, I had to do this to help a friend..." The two then talked a little more until finally, they parted.

Mia had to go to Minos' office early in the mornings, so she didn't have much time to talk more with a neighbor.

Her work started every day around 9 am when she would meet with local government officials. They talked about the latest updates from the city at this time of day, things Mia needs to know before Minos arrives at the office.

After that, she had worked in Minos' office until the afternoon, when she would go out to solve other problems. In general, this woman's boss made decisions almost daily, and she was the one who put these matters into practice on most occasions.

The butler Dillian usually helped her with these matters, but he still took the smallest part of the work. Of course, the butler had a higher rank than Mia, so he made more decisions and went out less than she did in handling these administrative matters.

...

Anyway, soon, time passed, and Mia was already in the government mansion of the Dry City.

Right now, she was in a large room in that place, where about 20 to 30 people were sitting in different positions. A few rows of tables and chairs were in that place, which was at different heights, just as seats in a theater would.

There was a wooden platform in front of those tables, with a red wooden table, in the center of that part of the room.

Finally, while each of those people was allocated that place, Mia was already talking about daily business with these other employees at that red table.

She wore a delicate silk dress, in blue color, which, at the same time, heightened her measures, but without being erotic, being balanced in all aspects.

After all, this was a work area, not a nightclub...

Anyway, as the people in front of her occasionally got up to talk, giving their reports, Mia asked an old man who was standing there in the middle of that group. "Builder Jordan, how is public construction going on in our town?"

Hearing this, the old man named Jordan rose from his chair and quickly straightened his shirt before beginning to report his news. "Ms. Mia, I have many things to report. First, the construction of the Dry City police complex has just started to be built."

"Recently, we received an increase in revenue for civil construction, and we were able to advance the start of construction of this place a little. As for how long it will take us to finish, ehh, if everything works out and we get all the materials, then I believe that in one year and maybe a few months, it will be ready."

"Oh? That's nice." Mia commented.

Jordan then continued his talk, talking about the various constructions related to local public services. "Next, we have the construction of the city's tower, the city's hospital..."

After a while, Jordan summed up everything he had to say about the Dry City construction sites. First, talking about the part of the services and then summarizing the statistics on the construction of residential buildings.

Finally, other people in that room also started reporting their updates to Mia.

"The laws and its respective punishments of the set of Written Laws of the Black Plain are already ready to be published. However, we are holding this until the city's police are developed, together, of course, with completion of the construction of the local prison." Someone said this briefly.

"Hmm, this will take a while to happen. It has not even been decided how the trials of possible criminals in our city will be carried out..."

"Truth. And the police itself hasn't even been created yet. So, planning for this organization is still in its origin, and it could take several months before we have a contest..."

...

"We recently reached the mark of 1,300 hectares of agricultural land, and our projection for the next harvest is..."

...

"The Dry City alchemy guild needs Blue-grade techniques. Unfortunately, we have few options, and our students are having their potentials wasted because of this..."

...

"Hunter groups are not keeping up with the beasts that are appearing in our neighborhoods. Many of them attack at night when we don't have enough people to protect the crop fields..."

...

And so, the meeting continued for a while longer until it finally ended.