The warriors and their families flew toward the west on the Transportation Plate.
A couple of hours later, everyone left the Twilight Dusk Family's Empire and entered the Lightning Manor's Empire. Most of the people here hadn't traveled at such incredible speeds before. After all, there were around one and a half million kilometers between Icy Bastion and the Lightning Manor's Empire.
The Transportation Plate changed directions as soon as everyone entered the Lightning Manor's Empire and flew towards the northwest.
As Shang felt the world rapidly pass below him, a certain feeling appeared inside him.
When he had left the Lightning Manor's Empire, he had been a criminal. Shang had been a helpless True Path Stage warrior in a world filled with powerful Mages.
Only when he had met the Temple of Blood did Shang actually get some semblance of security again.
Then, he stayed in the Temple of Blood for around 500 years, over two-thirds of his entire life.
And now, he had returned to the Lightning Manor's territory, and this time, he wasn't a criminal.
Instead, he had essentially become a valued employee of the Lightning Manor.
Back then, Shang had been a plus one for an Assistant Supervisor for a Development Area.
And now?
Now, Shang was about to join the most secret and probably most important part of the Lightning Manor.
Of course, while that was what Shang was expecting, he couldn't fully trust that result.
After all, the fact that he was a warrior might become an issue.
Would the Lightning Manor be willing to support him? Of course.
But would they be willing to support him to the extent that they would give him an actual opportunity to fight in the grand tournament for the spot of a Mage King?
That definitely wasn't certain.
After another hour, the Transportation Plate began to slow down and eventually landed.
Shang had been here before, and he recognized the surroundings.
Right now, everyone stood in front of a town, and a very special one at that.
Compared to all the towns Shang normally visited, this one was run by warriors.
The walls of the town weren't as huge as Icy Bastion's, and there also were only three Archmages in total in it. Even more, these Archmages were all at the Initial and Early Archmage Realm.
The Magic Circles protecting the town were weak and unimpressive compared to Icy Bastion's.
All in all, this town appeared way too weak to survive in the wilderness. After all, every couple of months, an Ancestral Beast would probably appear near it. What then?
Well, that was why the town was special.
It was the biggest settlement in a wilderness curated by the Lightning Manor.
The surrounding 50,000 kilometers had been isolated by the Lightning Manor. They had contracted a lot of Ancestral Mages to keep the borders at the 50,000-kilometer mark isolated.
The rule was that only beasts at the level of the strongest warrior in the territory would be allowed to enter and live there.
Stronger beasts would either be intimidated into running away or directly killed.
This created a very fitting world for the warriors. They were still being put under pressure, but they had an actual chance at fighting back.
Of course, the Lightning Manor also sometimes put criminal Mages into the territory and promised them a lesser sentence when they managed to kill warriors.
With all of these things combined, the Lightning Manor had created a small little world for the warriors where they were in danger but not so much that they would need to fear their extinction.
Naturally, as not to break the balance, very powerful Mages also weren't allowed to enter. If a Mage wanted to enter this little world, they would need to gain permission from the Lightning Manor.
The three Archmages that lived in the town were here just to run the Magic Circles and to craft equipment.
Yes, it turned out that Mages were more fitting for crafting equipment than blacksmiths or warriors.
At least for now.
There definitely was a way to forge even better equipment, but no truly impressive smith or similar had appeared yet.
Back when Shang had been here, the town had been quite different.
Instead of being filled with warriors, the town had been filled with a lot of Mages that studied different Development Areas and gathered their findings. There had also been a couple of Summoners, Spiriters, and warriors, but they hadn't been in the majority.
50,000 kilometers to the west of this little town was a humongous lake called the Lake of Birth.
The Lake of Birth was the place that housed Development Areas 21 to 40.
Development Areas 21 to 40 were for natural development to see what people would come up with, and all of these Development Areas had been created by the Lightning Manor.
These Areas were all on top of plateaus jutting out from the Lake of Birth. Of course, the plateaus weren't natural. They had simply been created by a couple of Earth and Metal Mage Lords.
The Lake of Birth also had thriving wildlife in its waters, but the beasts from the lake were not allowed to attack any humans, and that rule was enforced by the strongest resident of the Lake of Birth.
A resident Beast Lord living at the bottom of the lake.
The presence of this Beast Lord kept wild beasts that didn't belong to the Lake of Birth away from the Development Areas, and it also was the very thing that allowed the Zone Beasts to enter the Development Areas.
One could say it was the gatekeeper.
However, even though it was the gatekeeper, it actually didn't manage the beasts of the individual Areas.
That was up to the Supervisors.
The gatekeeper only allowed beasts to enter or exit the Areas, nothing else.
Back when Shang had jumped down from Area 23, he had arrived on top of the lake, and since he had jumped down from the southern end of Area 23, he had also traveled to the south.
Near the shore, he had found a couple of Mages, and they had told him the way to the biggest town.
"Alright, we're here," Mistra said to everyone as the Transportation Plate touched the ground.
SHING!
The Transportation Plate vanished from below everyone's feet.
"Welcome to your new home!"
