The Rise of the Black Plain

While Minos was still arriving in his territory, the Black Plain Army's new selection had already started in the Dry City!

By this time, more than half of that first day of selection had already passed, but the first contact of candidates was still taking place.

At this point of the selection, only a simple registration was made, from which the competitors would have their identities checked. In this first part, the thousands of soldiers of Minos' forces would check the information of each competitor, considering the time that these people lived in the Dry City.

It was not easy to seek information about the past of thousands of people, but it would be easier if it were done only within this city itself. And precisely because of that, the 6-month rule was already in effect.

Before, Minos could not demand this type of restriction, as there was no suitable local competition. Another problem was that even if he had tens of thousands of soldiers, he still doesn't have that; it wouldn't be easy to research the past of these people outside the Black Plain.

Many residents in the present Dry City had come from outside. Such as places like Stone Island, Yellow City, City of Waters, Maritime City, and some locations in the Black Plain.

And given the number of competitors, it could end up taking years for everyone's background to be analyzed.

For all that, only these people's time in the Dry City would count from now on. But, of course, Minos wouldn't ignore the past of these people coming from outside his territory. However, there was already a simple check at the city's border, where soldiers from the four entry and exit posts were doing this simple search.

But the overwhelming majority of people were just ordinary citizens from where they came. There weren't many subordinates of large families willing to migrate, or instead, maybe their families didn't even allow them to do that.

Thus, it would be difficult for someone with a complicated past to appear in the city of Minos.

This initial contact, fundamentally speaking, was not meant to know if a person came from a specific power. Of course, that had its importance, but it would be difficult for someone like that to show up at this point. So, therefore, the main objective was to determine the type of person that each of these competitors was.

Minos didn't want to employ a psychopath, a troubled person who might have a violent past. Any society needed an order and laws to follow, and he needed individuals who could do that without compromising innocent people.

Even though Dry City didn't have written laws yet, as the city organization was still drafting it, still, there were some oral laws, common sense.

And the soldiers of the local forces were looking for just that. If an individual had been involved in fights, theft, destruction of properties, domestic violence, and many other misconducts, that would be reported soon.

After that, such a person would be out of the selection.

The power of authority could feed some people's inner devil, making them act like invincibles, letting go of their inhibitions and showing their worst faces. Therefore, Minos would not hand this power over to unprepared people, individuals who could not exercise authority without losing their integrity.

He still didn't have a rigorous enough selection to prevent anyone with these defects from being checked, given the army's little strength, but he still wanted to do something about it.

There was room for improvement, and Minos would undoubtedly do that in the future for recruit selections, but things would have to work out that way for now.

Anyway, at this time, thousands of people had already passed through the headquarters of the Black Plain Army. However, the place where the identification of competitors was being carried out was still full of people.

Many who had come had not obtained the information about the change in the rules and only found out about it when they were attended. But no big trouble had happened. These people had just arrived in Dry City from the Cromwell Kingdom, so most of them understood that they couldn't join the army right away.

Other than that, things had gone smoothly, with competitors making their entries using their IDs.

...

There was an open area at the back of the headquarters where some bleachers surrounded a fighting stage.

That place wasn't huge, but it could still accommodate over a thousand people at once. And at this moment, all the seats in these bleachers were occupied. There was even a queue that left the exit gate of that place.

Finally, in the middle of that stage, several stalls lined up organized and numbered from 1 to 50. They were set up in a 5-row system. Each of them there has ten stalls, with some soldiers attending.

And from these five lines, the people waiting in the stands were gradually attended.

Eventually, one of several soldiers guarding that place called for the next in line. "Number 3201, go to stall number 29."

"Number 3202, go to stall number 34."

And on hearing this, two people quickly moved while they had smiles on their faces. "Hehe, finally. I've been here for over 2 hours."

"Don't tell me about it, buddy. I didn't come earlier thinking that there would be more people around here... But, unfortunately, I ended up having bad luck!" The other replied.

"It happens... Good luck to you."

"For you too!"

And shortly after that, one of them arrived at stall number 29.

There were two soldiers of the Corporal rank in that place, a man and a woman who looked to be already middle-aged.

In addition to these two people sitting in chairs in that place, there was a big table, where an array that looked like a big box was supported, showing a blue screen.

"Young man, name and identification, please." One of them said simultaneously as the other seemed to be making some notes on a clipboard that had several sheets of paper.

Hearing this, the man who had been sent to this tent earlier finally pulled out what looked like a transparent disk as if it were a piece of thin glass. "My name is Israel. Here is my identification."

And right after that, the man behind the table took the identification card of Israel and put it in one of the entrances of that array.

As he did so, the array glowed for an instant when finally several lines began to appear on the screen for that item.

- Name: Israel

- Gender: Male

- Status: Single

- Activity: Hunted/Farmer

- Residence: Block South, street 24, number 33, apartment 401

- Age: 28-years-old

- Citizen for: 7 months, 21 days, 19 hours, and 44 minutes.

- Infractions: None

After checking this information and seeing that there was no apparent problem, the woman still sitting there said. "It's okay, Israel. In a week, we will release the list of those who can continue in this selection. Then, if there's no problem, you'll find your name on the list posted on your neighborhood wall."

"Good luck."

"Thanks." After that, this young man quickly headed out of the headquarters, going to his daily business.

Soon after, another person arrived at that stall, going through the same procedure as Israel.

"My name is Alina." A young woman answered a question from one of those two Corporals, already handing her identification array to one of them.

- Name: Alina

- Gender: Female

- Status: Single

- Activity: Farmer

- Residence: Block North, street 99, number 501, apartment 211

- Age: 27-years-old

- Citizen for: 27 years, a native of this city

- Infractions: None

"Okay, young Alina, wait for the result for a week. Then, look for your name on your neighborhood wall." The man said it without much delay, returning the ID to her.

And hearing that, Alina smiled and thanked them both when she finally left that place quietly. 'I will finally be able to compete for a place in the army. The days were passing so slowly... I thought this first day of selection would never come!'

This young woman had been preparing for this for months, and after so much effort, she felt anxious for this event. Finally, the trial she so wanted finally arrived, and in a short time, her life could improve, depending only on her own efforts.

Because of that, Alina was delighted right now, even though she didn't know if she would pass or not. For humble people like her, the biggest problem was not failing, but not even having such an opportunity!