The Rise of the Black Plain

Minos has done nothing so crucial for the Dry City in these three days that have passed. He had only instructed his subordinates to start a census to discover the most talented people in the city. That's because it wouldn't be long before the current number of guards had to be increased.

In fact, the current number was still small, but the city could not create more vacancies. However, this would be different in the future.

Finally, Minos reached level 4 last night and was very excited about his future. Today, he would put his theory to the test and solve the Black Plain problem.

He left with the butler Dillian and two more guards to go to the 100-meter hole in the west of the city. The two guards were adequately chosen by the butler so that there was no leakage about what he would do.

Of course, the two guards had no way of discovering that a Divine-grade medicine would be buried in that place, but… It wasn't good to take unnecessary risks. Other than that, there would be no more people present.

After a few minutes of riding on spiritual beasts, the group reached the area, which had already emptied.

Minos removed the Divine-grade medicine that looked like a carrot from his spatial ring and then threw it in the hole. The young man waited for a while and then spoke. "Grandpa Dillian, try to make that same move as before, on the ground next to the hole. Let's see if that spiritual root will absorb the energy again."

The middle-aged man then followed the orders of his young master, carrying out the movement. He converged a significant amount of spiritual energy directed to the terrain, a few meters away from the hole.

But this time, something different happened.

Instead of the spiritual energy disappearing after touching the ground, it simply created a hole just over one meter deep.

Clearly, the spiritual root was no longer absorbing free energy in the soil!

Dillian smiled after seeing such an ending and then spoke with a gentle smile. "It looks like it's resolved. The young master was right about the problem. Now, you two, help me close this hole."

After seeing this, Minos blew out a sigh of relief and began to wait for the three men in front of him to fill the hole. Now he had a long job ahead of him to build a thriving agricultural city.

But this wouldn't be just any agricultural region. No, it would be a region with crops of high spiritual concentration. At least that was Minos' goal when ordering the artificial lake construction that would receive water from the Spatial Kingdom. With this lake, farmers could irrigate crops planted in the Black Plain, with water rich in spiritual energy and nutrients!

Minos also intended to collect the fallen leaves in the Spatial Kingdom and mix them with the natural fertilizer found in this region. This would produce a type of super fertilizer for these lands.

He couldn't even consume the items from the Spatial Kingdom. Imagine the effect that the leaves of those trees would have on this environment...

"Grandpa Dillian, let's go back. We have to choose the crops that we'll plant... Ah! I almost forgot, has the farming group been formed yet?" Minos started the conversation as the group returned to the mansion.

"It hasn't yet been fully formed, but it should be ready before the artificial lake."

"Hmm, this is good. As for the crops, I decided it would be better to start growing wheat, corn, and rice. These three crops are in great demand in the northern region of the continent and have a short harvest time."

In the Spiritual World, plantations produced a high yield per hectare and harvested quickly. Certainly, these values would be completely different in 'other' locations, under different conditions...

For example, wheat, corn, and rice could be harvested 2-3 months after planting in this world. As for yield, it was between 9 and 15 tons per hectare, depending on the crop planted.

Dillian then nodded and said. "This seems to be the best option."

…

After returning to the mansion, the butler went about his duties while Minos went to his office. He wanted to ask secretary Mia some questions. He needed to develop agriculture for export, but he also intended to dominate the local market with his products.

After all, his products should, in theory, have much more spiritual energy than the food sold in the city. That is why he wanted to divide agriculture into two moments.

First, he would prepare a smaller amount of soil to produce the quantity demanded by the Dry City. Second, he would start exporting.

This had two reasons. First, Minos wanted to increase the overall strength of his city. Second, he didn't have enough labor or even land for planting. After all, it would take time for all the soil of the Black Plain to be recovered.

And hell, they didn't have the seeds either!

As a result, they needed to prepare a small plot of land, begin planting, sell on the domestic market, earn a profit, and then reinvest to create a cycle capable of sustaining growth. However, until they reached the foreign market with significant participation, it could take years.

Anyway, that was the plan.

"Mia, can you tell me who I should talk to so that I can get the food consumption data for the inhabitants of the Dry City?" He asked with a smile on his face.

"Young master, I can help you. No one in the local government takes care of this matter exclusively."

"Okay, so I want you to list the average consumption of rice, wheat, and corn in our city as soon as possible."

Mia responded quickly. "Okay, I'll finish it as soon as possible."

After that, Minos went for a walk in the city. He wanted to look more closely at the life of the Dry City and maybe stop by to eat somewhere.

But he found nothing that caught his eye, even though problems that are typically seen anywhere, he saw nothing but people solving their affairs.

It seemed that besides surviving, people didn't do much more than that in this place. Or they had just wholly accepted the situation that they stopped caring or taking an interest in anything.

It was a genuinely bizarre place!

"Hmm, I better go back and cultivate…"

…

Two more days passed, and Minos was now at level 5. The lake was also completed and filled to half its volume by the waters found in the region.

After hearing about this, Minos emptied the three spatial rings that he had obtained in the Spatial Kingdom and filled them with water from that place.

After repeating this action a few times, the young man finally finished filling the artificial lake. Now they would just have to transform the soil and then produce.

…

Meanwhile, in the Dry City, a rumor was circulating rapidly.

According to this, the sovereign who had recently arrived at the Black Plain was now hiring 200 people to work in local agriculture!

A group of people was talking about this subject in a specific place in the city.

"How absurd. What does this brat think he's doing? What does he want farmers for? Does he think that he can grow in this region just because he wants to?" Said someone out loud.

"Hehehe, maybe no one has told him about what is going on here. It's no wonder that he accepted a place like this." Another person said in disdain.

"Tsh, I heard that they found a way to recover the soil. My cousin works in the City Guard, as you know. He told me that since this Minos Stuart took over local power, the guards had to build an artificial lake and a big hole on the west side of the city."

"According to the commander, the problem in our region would be solved after these two things were done." Said a young man, who was in the middle of the group.

"And do you believe in such a thing? In thousands of years of history, no one has figured out how to resolve this situation. So, how would this young man do it?" Another dubious person questioned.

"I don't know how, but it was said that they were going to pay 40 low-grade crystals a month." Said someone who seemed quite interested in that payment.

'If it's true, I'll surely join the group.' Some people thought to themselves.

Others talked like that followed across the city. Most doubted, but some were hopeful that the rumors were true.

…

Elsewhere in the city, a young woman in a blue dress, blond hair, and green eyes were sitting on a porch. She was a merchant who was passing through the Dry City. And she was also someone from Stone Island who was back from a business trip in the Brown Kingdom.

She was listening to an employee of the hotel that she was in regarding the actions of the new sovereign of the city while thinking about how this young ruler may solve the problem of the Black Plain.

"Minos Stuart, huh… Interesting, I want to see what you can do. If that is true, maybe I can start doing business here before the news gets out…"

"Eduard, we're going to stay in this city for the next month. I want to see if this rumor is indeed true."

"Are you sure, Ms. Elen? This place doesn't seem to be worth it." Said the man who was the young blonde's bodyguard.

"Hmph, if the rumor proves to be true, then it's well worth it. And I'll not lose anything by staying here just for this time."