The Rise of the Black Plain

While the most critical members of Minos' forces carried out their activities in the Dry City and the Spatial Kingdom, the local population enjoyed the evolution of local services.

In the little more than a year since Minos' return from the Kingdom of the Waves, the Dry City Cultivation Tower had gradually undergone a transformation, which had resulted in the increased capacity of this place.

By the most recent numbers, this service had increased the number of rooms by about 150% and was now able to serve around 12,000 people simultaneously!

However, as the majority of the population of this city could not afford to cultivate in a place like this every day, nor did they have the time to do it constantly, this place was already able to serve around 50,000 people a month.

And the number of vacancies continued to grow at the same rate as before and would continue to do so for the next few months until the entire Minos and Todd deal was finalized.

The agreement that Minos had made with Todd had already started to be fulfilled more than nine months ago when the first deliveries of the spiritual arrays had begun to arrive in this city. And with that, in less than a year, such a thing would reach its conclusion, which would allow the local Cultivation Tower to grow even more.

As a result of the increase in the vacancies numbers offered by this service, more people were able to cultivate in this location more often. After all, the growth rate in the number of vacancies was much greater than the population growth in this city.

And no wonder the local average  strength had reached level 40 for the first time in the history of this place!

Most of the former Dry City inhabitants, who had lived here since Minos arrived, and who were in the 4th stage of cultivation at that time, had grown a lot in the past period, and practically all of them had reached the 5th stage today.

An example of this was the families of Lee and Alison, in which the parents of this young woman had managed to soar about ten levels each in this period. As for the older brother of that young man, he had managed to reach the 5th stage of cultivation, as well as having joined the army!

These improvements could be seen in many Dry City families, even those who recently moved here.

As a result of this evolution, the number of fights in the local arena has increased dramatically!

Such a place often reached its maximum capacity during the weekends, when many of the fights between more powerful citizens took place.

As for those more trivial fights, which usually took place during the middle of the week, even if they didn't have a maximum audience, there were always at least a few thousand cultivators to watch such events.

Anyway, there was currently a much more competitive atmosphere in the Dry City, with many more people deciding to become warriors and fight on the most prestigious stage there. Hence, the fighting proficiency and the citizens' understanding of such activity grew fast, following the increase in the local average level!

...

In the middle of one of the busy streets of the Dry City, there was a large building in the shape of an 'H,' where some people came and went from time to time.

Generally, most of the people who frequented that place were older citizens, with age marks around their eyes and gray hair.

However, some younger individuals passed by now and then, sometimes walking as if they were wounded. Other times, people with missing limbs would walk around that building, often accompanied by at least one other person.

That was the General Hospital, where Dillian had been applying his knowledge to the teaching and development of medicine in the Black Plain.

Furthermore, this place offered high-quality service to the citizens, with more than 30 doctors at their disposal and low costs for treatments of the most varied types.

There were already low-level grade-2 professionals in this hospital, who Minos had brought from Wilburg through those Soul Contracts he had signed previously.

And with that, the only thing he didn't currently have in this location was a high-level grade-2 doctor, a professional that needed to be at least level 56!

But it shouldn't take long for that reality to change because Dillian had already reached level 52 in the period that had passed!

With the Black Plain's reserve of spiritual crystals and the training arrays of the local Medical School, this man felt confident of reaching that level in just over three years!

At that time, this hospital would finally figure as one of the best in the region!

Anyway, while that place worked as usual, in the vicinity of this hospital, some people dressed in a different set of clothes would calmly pass by from time to time.

These people didn't seem to be coming or going from the hospital, but instead just patrolled the area as if they were watching their surroundings.

They wore similar indigo clothes, from which anyone who saw them up close could see the Black Plain symbol on their left chest and identification on their right chest.

Besides that, few things caught the attention of citizens who saw these individuals.

And amidst the regular patrols of some of these people dressed in these indigo uniforms, some citizens were sitting on the benches in a nearby square, murmuring.

"It's fascinating..."

"Even though I've been living in this city for over a month, I still can't help but be impressed by the fact that the local government hires even people with the White talent for the Municipal Police!" A bald man commented as he looked at a team of two guards who were patrolling that region right now.

Upon hearing this, another person who was there in that square smiled and said. "But it's not as weird as you think..."

"The problem is that it's complicated to see people with White talent above level 29 in our region. Because of this, people from this talent range are rarely hired for security services, especially when we involve noble families or big organizations, which usually have people with Black talent!"

"But in our city, it's different!" The man with a full beard said proudly. "Here, even citizens with White talent can easily reach level 30!"

Upon hearing this person's comment, another individual standing there said. "Truth. My great-grandfather has White talent, and even so, he's already at level 34!"

"And with this level of cultivation, he managed to join the Municipal Police, in the first selection that took place six months ago." He said.

The Municipal Police these men were talking about was the organization created by the local government to patrol, take care of minor problems locally, and maintain the local prison.

Such an organization had been in preparation for many months and had finally concluded six months ago when its first contingent was selected.

The criteria for joining this organization were very similar to that of the local army, except that people with White talent could also join the Municipal Police.

For the rest, this was identical to the army's requirements, including ranks and salaries received.

However, even though the requirements for entry into these two organizations were similar, the police had a completely different purpose than the army, so they attracted another type of people.

The objective of such an organization was not to fight wars or protect the territory but to make urban coexistence as orderly as possible, imposing laws and acting against those who violated those rules.

And because of that, police members didn't need to be as talented as those in the army, nor of such high levels. In fact, most of the time, their service was only administrative and surveillance.

Solving minor problems were the primary function of the Dry City Municipal Police!

And in case something bigger happened in the city, their job was not to prevent these events, but to enable a quick action by the defensive force of that place, the army...