The Rise of the Black Plain

Seeing the beginning of the Marine Empire's island, Emlyn looked at the place with a twinkle in her eye, for when she left her continent decades ago, she had intended to come to this place after getting to know the Divine Continent.

The Marine Empire was based on an island the size of the Flaming Empire, but that wasn't all of its territories. The Sea Folk, the island's rulers, were a unique race that shared characteristics of sea and land creatures. They could live well on the land or in the sea without the limitations that land and sea creatures would have when living in incompatible environments.

As such, these beings had no weaknesses from being in one environment or the other, and their condition was not limited to this island. Beneath the sea surface, where Minos arrived on this island, was an area twice the size of this island, where the sea race ruled supreme.

The Marine Empire was divided between the land world and the underwater world, with a gigantic territory, one of the largest in the entire Spiritual World.

In terms of area, the Marine Empire was second only to the territory of the Sky Whale Tribe, those gigantic creatures that ruled over an area as large as the Divine Continent itself.

However, despite its vast territory and the presence of thousands of different races, the Marine Empire was not particularly overpopulated, nor were there as many Sea Folk as one might think.

A race also blessed by the heavens in terms of talent, the Sea Folk had less than 100,000 members of pure blood.

Aside from the rulers of this state, there were approximately 900 million living creatures living in this territory, not very many considering the size of this state.

By comparison, the Black Plain Empire now had about 3 billion inhabitants but had an area of less than 60% of this territory.

However, more than 90% of the Marine Empire's population lived in the underwater part, and less than 90 million creatures lived in this area, similar to that of the Flaming Empire.

Seeing this place that was almost as rich in resources as the Divine Continent, Minos clenched his fists, hoping to have some luck with the Sea Folk.

Although the Sea Folk were not as complicated as the Elves, who could be terrible depending on how one approached them, the rulers of this territory were not so easy to approach.

'First, I'll get some mercenaries to work for me. I'll use their strength to gain some influence to get close to a relevant descendant of this race.' Minos thought to himself as his ship slowly approached the local harbor.

A mere level 83 Sage wouldn't attract the attention of relevant members of one of the ten most powerful races in the Spiritual World. But if he were accompanied by high-level Sages or low-level Demigods, things might be different.

Aware of how important appearances were, even among the strongest in the world, Minos had already made up his mind to look for mercenaries as soon as the ship he was on docked in the area ahead.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Larany, the land of Queen Nineveh. Thank you for choosing..."

The voice of the ship's captain came over the ship's public address system as it docked in a local harbor, welcoming these newly arrived travelers to the Marine Empire.

Minos and Emlyn soon followed the path to the ship's exit, passing through the port's screening station, where visitors were required to identify themselves.

"Names?" A being in humanoid form but with hair in the shape of squid tentacles and an animal face asked Minos and Emlyn in the common language of the Spiritual World.

"Minos Stuart and Emlyn." He said, quickly answering some basic questions from this member of the imperial forces.

This was not to select who could or could not enter this state. It was just something to identify the visitors. As such, they answered basic questions such as name, origin, and purpose in the state, etc., before being given small identification cards that would be useful if they wanted to use official services on this gigantic island.

After passing through this port, they finally entered the city of Larany and saw how different this place was from the ordinary cities of the Central Continent.

This was not a large city. With only about 200,000 inhabitants, the place seemed quite peaceful at first glance. But the most striking thing about it was not the buildings, which were no higher than the third floor, but the members of different races walking the streets.

The Marine Empire was even more diverse than the Divine Continent!

Here, humans, sea creature races, sea creatures themselves, and land creatures lived in "harmony."

But unlike the Divine Continent, where you'd see many hybrid races, there weren't many hybrids here. In the Marine Empire, mixing bloodlines was considered blasphemy and a serious crime by the imperial family.

Minos and Emlyn were not concerned with local political issues and soon made their way to the city's center, where they thought they would find a mercenary guild.

As a home for refugees from other continents, this place was full of people willing to sell their services to continue living in this paradise for them.

When they arrived in the city's center, Minos and Emlyn came across a square with four mercenary guilds, something impressive for such a small city.

"Impressive! And there are even Demigods in these guilds!" Emlyn commented to her partner as she felt the auras inside the buildings.

It wasn't common to see 10th-stage mercenaries in the Spiritual World. After all, Demigods usually had very important roles wherever they went, casually selling their power to others.

However, there were nobles, royalty, and wealthy people who had the resources to hire even Demigods. Besides, not all 10th-stage cultivators had access to the best resources and lands in the world.

Therefore, in a few places in this world, there were people with that level of strength who were willing to sell their strength for temporary jobs. This was especially true in the Marine Empire, where the cost of living was particularly high.

"Let's see this place first." Minos pointed toward where he felt the strongest aura from these mercenary buildings, eager to see the world's strongest mercenaries and their prices.

With that, the two quickly entered a building that looked like an ancient ruin, but it was not abandoned, and many high-ranking individuals were coming and going from the area.