After meeting his crew, Minos didn't waste much time. Over the next few weeks, they would have plenty of opportunities to socialize and talk.
With that in mind, he led his people toward the Naval City area to the west of his territory.
Theoretically, their group's journey would be shorter if they used the wormhole ports to go to the End area and then set out from the northernmost point of the Central Continent to the North Sea.
However, Minos wanted to use this trip to find out how far his sea empire, further northeast of the Ancestral Sea, could go in a northeasterly direction. Thus, he would begin his voyage from Naval City, the closest coastal city to Stone Island.
From there, he and his crew would travel for a few weeks, passing through the underwater territory of the empire until they reached the border between the Ancestral Sea and the North Sea.
...
After a few days of travel, Minos' party was already sailing through the northeastern area of the Ancestral Sea, near the coast of the Black Plain Empire.
After leaving Dry City, it had only taken a few minutes for the group to begin their journey on the Sea Folk boat that had been carrying Minos since their stop in the Marine Empire more than nine years ago.
Twelve days had passed since they left the Naval City closest to Stone Island, and Minos' crew was now approaching the area where Emperor Stuart's Underwater Empire was located.
Since they would be passing the most important underwater city in the area before leaving it for good, the group's boat was already below the surface, where they could see the beautiful seabed of this region.
If one of them had passed through the same area decades ago, they would have seen nothing but dead corals and a sizeable uninhabited space with no beasts, algae, or any sign of living creatures.
That was an abandoned area that would have only a few ships passing overhead as they traveled from the northernmost states of the continent to those further south.
But considering the lack of trade in the area before, even the movement of cargo ships on the surface wasn't that frequent then.
But all that had changed with Minos' naval expansion, which began a few decades ago.
When Minos returned from his journey searching for the Seraphim Ancient Sarcophagus, he had begun building cities in the area and exploring the ocean floor for minerals.
After more than 20 years of working on the seabed in this area, his state had reached a relevant level of local population, and even in this marine area farthest from where the main submerged settlements were, Minos' group noticed the differences he had brought.
In the place where they were, there was a lot of movement of mid-level and low-level sea beasts, with many crafts carrying resources to the mainland, while many others brought people and food from the continent.
Although the underwater part of Minos' empire produced food, not all of the food for humans and land beasts was produced in this underwater area.
Therefore, trade between this area and the mainland was intense.
In addition, the abandoned corals had been improved by beasts, while artificial human cities could be seen in this place from afar, like stars in the sky.
In short, this part of the Ancestral Sea was now alive, much richer in spiritual energy and population density.
When some of the sea creatures in Minos' group noticed this, they were astonished to see that if they moved to the Black Plain Empire, they would have a great place to live.
Minos had invited practically every crew member to join his army, even the dragon.
Some were very tempted to accept the invitation at the end of this journey. Still, others were doubtful because they had their own affairs in their tribes, and change was never easy.
But Minos certainly had enough to feed them all and ideal habitats for the sea creatures in the group.
Seeing this place, which they knew had been abandoned hundreds of thousands of years ago, vibrate, these sea creatures were impressed and more favorable to Minos than before.
"This place is very well-kept for an area that was abandoned until recently." One of the level 91 Sea Folk Demigods said to Minos as he stood next to the brown-haired man.
Standing next to Minos, Ruth smiled as she saw and heard the reactions of her crewmates, seeing this place for the first time in person and enjoying it as well.
"It can't have been cheap to make so many changes like this." The Arctic Whale of the group commented, imagining that Minos had put a colossal amount of crystals into developing this area.
Minos heard this and smiled. "Yes. The amount I spent to develop this area would probably have been enough to raise someone with a Golden talent for about 10,000 years..."
Grant heard this and wasn't surprised. Minos had always invested a lot in his state, in the people who allied themselves with him, in short, in anything that could help the state move forward.
As someone who had seen the Black Plain become a state, grow from a kingdom into an empire, and then become the powerhouse it was today, Grant had a very special feeling for this territory.
"I'm sure this place will be much better in the future." He said with a smile on his face. "This area will be able to suppress the food demand of the empire and its allies and has the potential to be the first barrier against the enemies of the empire."
Minos looked at the man beside him and nodded. "Hmm, it's just a matter of time. We have the mineral, financial, and human resources for it."
As they spoke, the dragon observed a great glow in the distance, a glow so large and powerful that it looked like a star capable of illuminating the entire world.
But it wasn't a star. It was the most important city in this underwater area, the largest man-made city in this area, with more than 20 million living beings currently living there.
'All of this was built in just a few decades?' He looked at his surroundings and then at Minos, impressed.
The effort Minos had put into building his state had been immense. Others in his place would not have done the same, preferring to invest in themselves or even their most trusted men.
However, it was because Minos had taken this alternative path that his state had grown so much, and he now had so many people with potential.
If Minos had chosen the path of investing in only a few people, he would probably have a group of only a few hundred people and would still be the ruler of an area of a foreign kingdom.
But considering the risks he had taken, he had built a huge empire capable of producing food for the whole world, with an army of tens of millions of soldiers and several people capable of becoming Demigods.
Looking at his current success, it was easy to think that his choices were correct, but many would have made many different choices during a similar journey.
Upon reflection, this dragon saw that his leaders were right to support Minos, not only for his talents but also for his intelligence and long-term vision.
As each being in the group watched Minos' beautiful sea empire, they would soon pass the largest underwater city, reaching a crucial point in their journey toward the North Sea.
In the next few days, they would enter the border between the Ancestral Sea and the North Sea, the area where the outposts of the Black Plain Army were located!
