The Rise of the Black Plain

After some time, Elena finally landed on Stone Island in one of the great port cities of this state, Sapphire.

This place was known for its naturally deep ports and its azure waters, the color of sapphires. Hence the name.

But despite these natural characteristics so crucial to Sapphire, this city was also one of the port cities in this state, from where the hundreds of thousands of tons of resources and products of this kingdom came and went.

And like Portland, this medium-sized city had plenty of opportunities, as well as an above-average quality of life for the region. There were associations of the most varied professions and branch offices of several noble families of this state...

Anyway, Elena had just left one of Sapphire's local ports, having passed an immigration post and then made her way into the interior of this town.

'I'll have to hire a carriage from this city to the capital...' So she thought to herself as she walked the wide streets of this city.

She wasn't with any beasts, as she and Elen had previously traveled by boat to the Kingdom of the Waves. After that, at that time, the two had gone to the Dry City in a flying beast, which Elena's friend had taken back with herself more than a year ago.

With that, Elena had left the Dry City here without any mounts, so she needed to hire this kind of service.

And it didn't take long for her to head towards one of the many places where she could hire this type of service.

...

Meanwhile, the local port had a hall with several guards working in what appeared to be small immigration posts.

"The entrance fee is..."

"I see... So you're coming from the Snow Kingdom..."

"No, ma'am, you can't enter our state for free just because you came..."

Several voices could be heard in that noisy place, while many people with baggage in their hands passed by from time to time, while some lines formed.

But that was just the most common part of this royal guard post. If someone walked a few more meters from that place, that person would find a space similar to the previous one but with much less movement.

That area was where nobles and powerful experts passed, where one could get permission to enter this state more quickly.

That's because the local royal family managed to have much more efficient control over their borders than other kingdoms in the region due to the geographical factor!

Therefore, anyone who entered this state had to go through the immigration service at posts like this one in Sapphire.

In any case, while that ordinary post was crowded with people, this unique area was quiet, with only a half dozen people in addition to the guards at this location.

"Uh, the cost of entry for your family is 19,000 low-grade crystals..." A guard from that place said this when suddenly another person approached him and asked something in a low voice.

"I heard from Len that you wanted to talk to me. What's the problem?"

Hearing this, that guard from before stopped talking to the family in front of him while he waited for the crystals. "A few minutes ago, a young Spiritual King arrived at this location." He said.

After that, such a guard received payment from that family and then delivered some similar items to those people while he had a smile on his face. "Have a good day."

After that family moved away from there, that man from before finally spoke again. "A young Spiritual King? That is not common to find in a place like ours!"

"She must be one of the geniuses of the great regional families... Anyway, I'll pass on the information. Give me her characteristics and also the information you gathered."

"All right..."

And it wasn't long before these two finished their business, and that old man left that immigration post. As for the guard from before, he went back to his usual duties, not caring too much about it.

Such a thing that had just happened was not uncommon in this region, as Spiritual Kings were always taken very seriously, no matter their level. However, after the beginning of the tension between the Nash and Allen families, it had intensified even more.

In fact, every time a Spiritual King arrived or departed from one of the state's port cities, guards like the latter had the opportunity to pass forward their information. But, of course, the royal family was not responsible for this. Instead, those who sought such a thing were the noble families, the ones involved in this recent turmoil.

As a result, these standard guards, who had nothing to do with the ongoing war and were not forbidden from selling anyone's information, simply took advantage of opportunities to earn more crystals...

That was an easy job, and it didn't pay badly. So every time powerful people came and went from these ports on Stone Island, the upper echelons of each of these cities would learn this information...

Anyway, it didn't take long for the information about Elena's arrival to reach the right people!

...

Several hours have passed since Elena arrived in Sapphire.

Since her arrival, she had ordered a carriage trip from this town to Old Stone, leaving early tomorrow.

After solving this matter, she hadn't wasted much time in this place, which she already knew, only having done two things. First, she had gone out to eat at some upscale local restaurant, something she hadn't done in a while.

After all, even though there were low-level grade-2 cooks in the Dry City, they still needed a lot of training to meet this young woman's culinary standards.

Elena often ate at places with medium-level grade-2 chefs, so she couldn't help but feel a desire to go back to eating the delicacies produced by such experts.

Second, after having had a good meal, Elena had found a place to spend the night where she could cultivate and rest.

She hadn't slept in a bed for almost a week, and as such, she truly wanted it right now!

With that, Elena hadn't taken long to reach the hotel in question, where she'd taken a long hot shower and then gone to cultivate and then go to sleep.

...

The next morning.

Elena woke up very early after a peaceful night in that hotel room where she had stayed.

After waking up, she had quickly packed her things and eaten a handful of strawberries she had bought in the Dry City. Then, she finally left that place and headed towards her hired carriage.

"Good morning, miss. I've already prepared everything for our journey so that we can leave at any time." The coachman said respectfully, soon after seeing the arrival of the beautiful Elena.

"Excellent. Let's leave right now!"

After saying that, the young blonde got into that carriage, and the coachman did what he had to do until the beasts pulling that carriage started running through the streets of the city of Sapphire.

However, as they moved under the cloudy skies of this early morning, the carriage hired by this young woman suddenly stopped just before it left the built-up area of that town.

"Miss, we have a problem!" The coachman said in a weakened tone as he spoke to Elena through a small window.

After that, Elena quickly got out of that carriage and saw two people standing in the middle of the street, just in front of the exit where they were supposed to pass.

They were two men dressed in armor with different symbols, and both had spiritual cultivation at the 6th stage of cultivation!

Probing these two, Elena soon realized their strength. 'You're at level 51, and you're at level 52.' She thought about it as she looked in sequence in the directions of those two men, who seemed to be laughing right now.

"Miss Elena Neel, welcome to Stone Island after so long away!" The stronger of the two said that.

"You reached level 50, amazing! I'm sure your family would be happy to know that..."

"Unfortunately for you, this will never happen!" The other commented while making a serious expression.

"Oh? And what do you two intend to do?"