The Rise of the Black Plain

Another day passed, and the population of the Dry City was making the most of the city's cultivation tower. The place had been operating 24 hours a day, and it was practically crowded at all times.

Some people were already planning to train in such a place at night, so even at dawn, there were lines in this place.

And those who couldn't find a room in the cultivation tower also tried to cultivate in the unique building, which was right next door. First place could win the generous 500 crystals prize, so that place was also becoming very popular these past few days.

And so, things were going well for the citizens of this city.

...

Right now, it was already night in the town when two carriages were approaching the north entrance of the wall of the Dry City. One seemed to carry many items, while the other was a regular carriage for transporting people.

When they saw these carriages approaching the northern entrance to the Dry City, the soldiers of those posts were immediately on alert.

"Visitors!" Some soldier shouted as he spotted the two carriages.

Every time someone arrived in the town, all the soldiers were prepared to act as if these visitors were enemies of the Black Plain Army. They did not want to allow another enemy group to pass through the city gates, as they had before, so they were much more careful than before.

Upon hearing this, the Sergeants on standby at this post soon left their rooms and prepared to check on this coming group.

It was not common for people to arrive at night, so they were even more anxious than usual.

"Calvin, Toby, Joan, you three are coming with me. We will monitor the arrival of this group." A tall, thin man said in a calm voice as he took an ax from one of the tables in the room where they were standing.

The man who spoke was the leader in this turn, someone at level 42. The other three were at level 41 and were the strongest in this place. Aside from those 4, there was still 16 additional level 40 soldiers in this place, all armed and wearing spiritual armor under their military uniforms.

Each of them had a grade-1, high-level weapon, and armor so that the group's fighting proficiency was increased to the maximum that they could!

The Black Plain could not yet afford grade-2, low-grade weapons for soldiers. Each of these cost a lot and was not easy to find in the markets. After all, many people were willing to buy these items.

And upon hearing what the leader had said, the two men and the woman he had called by name rose from their posts and looked at the horizon, from where the carriages were coming.

They were in a room at the top of the wall, where the highest-ranking soldiers commanded the place.

Due to the wall being very high and wide, there were small buildings inside the wall in each of the four entrances!

These were the places where soldiers stood.

The wall was 6 meters wide, and between that space, there were two gates at each end and a checkpoint in the middle of the two.

At this time, the two gates were closed, as it was night and a period when there was not much movement in this place.

However, only one of the gates remained open during the day. The other was only opened when the soldiers confirmed that the visitors did not come from any enemy families.

"We will wait until they get closer. And then, we will probe the strength of the group before we open the first gate." The leader of the post said out loud as he left the stairs behind, reaching the point where visitors were received.

After a few seconds, the two carriages finally stopped in front of the closed gate, from which several lights from inside could be seen.

Seeing this, the coachman in the front carriage frowned. 'Ehh? Has that been here before?' He wondered in curiosity.

This man had worked with carriage hire in the Kingdom of the Waves for decades, so he knew much of northern Central Continent, including the Dry City.

At the same time, as the two carriages stopped in front of the large entrance gate, one of the soldiers finally spoke in a low voice. "The strongest one is only at level 40."

"There is no danger!"

"Hmm, open the first gate, let's meet these visitors..." One of the three who were on level 41 said out loud. But, of course, if it was someone just that level, they could quickly deal with this situation if they were enemies...

And it didn't take long for the outer gate to rise slowly. Seeing this, the old coachman frowned, seeing a large group in front of him.

Only in large cities and in border regions did it have checkpoints like this!

So, he was very impressed with this place. 'Wait a moment...' He suddenly remembered something and decided to probe the strength of these people.

He was not a warrior, but he could still probe someone's strength since he was at level 40.

'What? There are at least 20 Spiritual Generals in this place!' He thought about it while he had a look of shock on his face. 'Am I in the right place?'

'Well... if this isn't the Dry City, then it's time for me to retire...'

Soon after that, the first carriage finally stopped inside the wall when one of the soldiers approached the group and said it out loud and proud.

"Welcome to the Dry City." He stopped for a moment and then continued. "Identify yourselves and say what your purpose is for you to come here!"

At the same time, when these words were being spoken, the three people who were in the front carriage finally got out of there and came face to face with this group of soldiers.

They were a girl with light skin and curly hair, an adult woman who looked to be in her 40s and had a tired expression on her face, and a tall, strong man who had deep dark circles on his face.

That was Peter's family, who he had sent to this place.

His father then stepped forward and said. "Hi, these are my daughter Lizzie and my wife, Rita. My name is Wade, and we came here from the Kingdom of the Waves at the encouragement of our son, Peter."

"Kingdom of the Waves?" One of the soldiers frowned.

Not many people in such a realm knew about the Black Plain. The Yellow City people had already fully migrated to the Dry City.

At that moment, the leader of the post suddenly asked seriously. "How does your son, ehh, Peter, know about this place? What is his relationship with the Dry City?"

Upon hearing this, Wade tried to hide his dejected expression when he said it. "I don't know about all the details, but before we came here, our son told us that he had joined the army. We just found out that this place he was talking about was the Dry City about four days ago when he told us."

Upon hearing this, the woman named Joan stepped forward and asked. "Did your son participate in the Spiritual Tournament?"

"Yes, he did."

"Chief Drogo, I think this is Sergeant Peter's family." The woman said in a low voice. She didn't know Peter, but she had heard about him.

After all, Peter was someone with Black talent, recruited by Minos in the Spiritual Tournament. As a result, many soldiers already knew about this young man who had joined the army a few months ago.

"Oh? If so, where is Sergeant Peter?" Drogo asked curiously.

Upon hearing this, both Peter's family and the two coachmen who drove the carriages bowed their heads, regretting what had happened. None of them knew what Peter's situation was.

Was he alive? Had he managed to escape?

And while Peter's mother and the little girl started to cry again, Wade took a deep breath and began to tell what had happened during their trip.

"That was what happened..."

"Ah... I'm sorry about that... But rest assured, the young master would never abandon one of his. If Sergeant Peter is doing well, we will certainly bring him back!" Calvin said while he had a convinced expression on his face.

Minos had been spreading his way of thinking to the soldiers of the Black Plain Army for a long time. He believed that one would still be weak regardless of a person's level if one were alone.

With that, only a solid and united group could survive in this violent Spiritual World.

And for that, Minos certainly would not treat badly, nor would he abandon any of his subordinates!

"Open the entrance for this group and let the headquarters know about what happened to Sergeant Peter. Let's send out a search group!" The group leader spoke as he directed Peter's family to the area protected by the wall.