The Rise of the Black Plain

Chapter 26: Stone Island

Quickly the silhouette of Stone Island could be seen on the horizon. However, due to the enormous size of the island, which was about twice as large as the Brown Kingdom, only a part of the territory could be seen.

Stone Island was a place not only large in area but also in population. Due to its huge mineral reserves, the island had many blacksmiths, which also attracted the attention of the common population, who needed the weapons made by those blacksmiths.

Allied to this, the island had a spiritual density that was on par with the best places in the north of the Central Continent. For this reason, there was a large population that exceeded 200 million inhabitants.

And with such a population, even if spiritual plants did not grow on the island, there were still numerous alchemists and array masters due to the high demand. It was worthwhile for them to live on Stone Island, even if they had to import part of the resources necessary for their activities, as there was a great demand for their services.

However, despite having a good offer for these two types of occupations, the items sold on the island by array masters and alchemists were still limited to grade-2, low-level.

This is because, for specialists above that level, it would be increasingly disadvantageous to stay on Stone Island, where they would have to import much of what they needed. Thus, those who managed to pass this classification, they preferred to live close to places where they could grow their own medicines.

These were the cases of kingdoms near the Black Plain, such as the Cromwell Kingdom, Kingdom of the Waves, and even the Brown Kingdom. There was a good supply of resources needed for these two professions in these places.

As for why Minos was not going to negotiate in one of these places, well… This is because the items sold by him would be more attractive on Stone Island and would also attract fewer problems if the deals were done there.

Even if he were to become a competitor to the Cromwell Kingdom in the future, it would still take a long time for him to affect that kingdom's relations with Stone Island. And as for the Brown Kingdom, Minos did not want the noble families to know that the Black Plain had been recovered and could yield large quantities of crystals.

And he didn't have to worry about being discovered because someone who passed through the Dry City said something to the kingdom's noble families.

This is because, in addition to traders who appreciated information even from poor places, no one of importance would pass through the Dry City, even if they needed to pass through the Black Plain, they would rather camp than enter that city, which could not even offer the same quality that your makeshift camps…

As for traders, most of those who passed through the Dry City were traders from other kingdoms or smaller merchants who had no influence. So, Minos could be sure that, as long as he did not do business within the Brown Kingdom, then it would take a long time for the noble families to notice the change in the Black Plain region.

Anyway, Stone Island was the best option for Minos, and he had also already made an agreement with the merchant Elen Nash.

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Slowly the boat in which young Stuart's group was on began to approach a large port. There were dozens of boats moored on a long pier and also a few ships in another location a few kilometers away. It was really a huge place with a lot of people moving.

At the bottom of the port, a large city could be seen that was at least 5 times larger than the Maritime City, from which Minos had passed.

This was the city of Portland, one of the four major port cities on Stone Island. The city was the main trade route between the Brown Kingdom and Stone Island due to the shorter distance of this region with the Maritime City.

Minos' group said goodbye to the crew that had brought them here and then headed for the port. At that point, there were numerous guards who regulated the entry of people to Stone Island.

At this moment, Minos' group was stopped by a guard, and then he started talking. "Welcome to Stone Island. To enter our territory, you have to pay a fee of 500 low-grade crystals per person."

"Hmm, here it is, 5,500 crystals," Minos said while paying the guard after hearing this.

"Okay, your group can come in." Replied the guard indifferently.

After that, the group of Minos left the port and rented 3 carriages. At that moment, the driver of the first carriage said. "Where are we going, gentlemen?"

"This is our first time here. Take us to a good hotel. " Minos said calmly. He did not know this place, but he would stay in this city for a few days until he went to the Nash family headquarters, where he would meet with Elen Nash.

The Nash family lived mainly in the capital of Stone Island, which was in the island's central region. Minos had obtained this information from the butler Dillian before leaving the Dry City.

However, Minos wanted to know what this port city had to offer before leaving. This is because, despite not being the capital of Stone Island, Portland still had many businesses available. In addition, Minos wanted to find blacksmiths, alchemists, and array masters to bring to the Black Plain. As it would be more difficult to convince someone from the capital, he wanted to start here.

So, even if he didn't do big business here, he might still be able to attract some of these professionals.

As for business in the capital, this would be about selling Minos items through Elen, and it would also be a place that would have a greater offer and better resources for the Black Plain.

In the little more than a year that he had spent, Minos had collected just over 500,000 crystals, the ones he planned to spend on this visit to Stone Island. That way, he was well-prepared to get items that would leverage the strength of his territory!

"Oh! So, it's your group's first time around here. Are you traders who came to do business on the island?" Asked the coachman, with a curious expression on his face.

"That's right. We came to do business on the island." Minos said calmly.

"I understand. Many people like you arrive here daily. I'm going to give you a hint, although Portland doesn't have the highest level items on Stone Island, there's still a lot of good stuff." Said the coachman sincerely.

Minos then asked. "Can you tell me a little bit about it?"

"Haha, of course! Although the best specialists from the three professions are in the capital, there are many alchemists and array masters in our city."

"This is because it is easier and faster to obtain imported resources in port cities. Also, the capital already has its demand met almost entirely by the specialists there."

"So, many of these professionals are spread out in places like Portland. I venture to say that in addition to the capital, only the port cities have a great offer of the products sold by these specialists." The coachman finished.

"Hmm, thanks for the information."

After a while, Minos' group arrived at a hotel in the central part of the city. It was a large building, with 6 floors and a glass front.

This was the Hotel Olson, a high-end hotel that belonged to one of the great noble families on Stone Island, the Olson family. The Hotel Olson chain spread across all the island's major cities and provided one of the best hotel services in the region.

Minos and his group had slowly entered the hotel. It was excellent. Several types of special arrays improved the atmosphere of the hotel.

For example, there were many light arrays and others that controlled the environment's temperature. There were also two large elevators that operated through arrays as well.

Then, a well-dressed attendant answered them. "Welcome to the Hotel Olson. How long will your group stay at the hotel?"

"Hello, we are staying for a week," Minos answered the attendant's question.

"We have 3 types of rooms in our hotel. The simple type would cost 500 crystals per week each. The intermediary costs 800 crystals per week, and the high-level one would cost 1,200 crystals per week each." Said the young attendant politely.

"We are going to have five simple rooms and one intermediate." Minos then took the required amount of crystals and gave the attendant.

After a few minutes, the entire group of Minos was already accommodated in their rooms. As he watched the city landscape through his bedroom window, Minos began to think about what he would do next.

'Today, I have to get some pills for these soldiers who are with me to advance, they have already accumulated the amount of energy needed to go up, but because of their blue-level talents, they cannot overcome this bottleneck without outside help. And as for that young master of the Silva family, he must come after me soon…'

'He should be here in no more than a day. After that, he shouldn't be long in finding me.' Minos thought to himself as he calculated his next actions.