"A problem?" Lionel asked in surprise as he looked at the worried expressions on the faces of those two subordinates.
By the time this man had seen the arrival of this father and son in this residence, he was already starting to get excited that Lee and Alison had come to this place. But seeing those two arriving alone to meet him, in addition to the expressions on their faces, Lionel was starting to lose his good humor.
"What happened?" He said, just a moment after his previous question.
"Boss, I don't even know where to start..." Railan commented in a low voice, looking to Ralf's side and sighing.
Hearing this, Ralf soon voiced his opinion. "Maybe we should talk about Black Star Academy first, dad..."
"Uh? Is it that serious?" Lionel insisted as his brows furrowed more and more, and the muscles in his body began to tighten.
Railan then took a deep breath and began to explain. "Yes, boss. There's this problem with the Black Star Academy..."
"Uh, well, how can I say?"
"It doesn't exist anymore."
"What?"
"In fact, the Dry City is completely different from what it was when we left it over four years ago. Now that place has more than 100,000 inhabitants, and the family academy has been completely remodeled."
"Currently, that place is called the Preparatory Academy of the Dry City and is under the administration of the local city government, headed by that young man, Minos Stuart."
Hearing such a thing, Lionel rose from his chair in shock, with his mouth wide open and a look of disbelief in his eyes. "It can not be! How could this have happened? Where did the crystals come from for such development?" He said without thinking, looking back and forth from where he was, as he tried to understand this.
"And there's a lot more, Mr. Lionel…" Ralf commented soon after the silence had filled that place.
This young man then explained everything that he and his father had witnessed in the Dry City. From the opportunities that any citizen could have, the production of food with high spiritual concentration, and the little bit of Minos' strength that they both had seen.
Obviously, they hadn't tried to guess the average power of the Black Plain Army, as neither of them could verify that sort of thing at their current levels. Not only that, this was not a common topic in the Dry City, as few people truly knew the exact numbers and characteristics of the army!
Thus, father and son could only give their boss a crude estimate of what they had learned about that location.
Anyway, after hearing the whole story of those two individuals, Lionel had a dismayed expression on his face as he understood the new reality of the Dry City.
"I was negligent!" He muttered in a low voice, feeling an unusual heat on his face.
Lionel was concerned about this situation in the Dry City. That's because he understood very well that such information could be a unique opportunity for him and the Gill family. However, it was undeniable that things would have been much more favorable for them if they had discovered this before!
That is, the most vulnerable moment in the Dry City was undoubtedly over. At the moment, any invasion would be significantly more complicated than it would have been a year, or perhaps two, ago.
That's what was irritating this man!
He did not know the number of Spiritual Generals, the presence or not of Spiritual Kings in the current Dry City, or even the defensive dome of that place. But he understood very well that with each passing day, that place would grow stronger.
After all, with foods of high spiritual concentration, it wouldn't be difficult for that place to get a lot of funds!
'Damn it! I hope it doesn't cost so much to my Gill family…' So, he thought as he started walking around that place, deciding what to do.
Lionel then sighed and said. "Okay, you two did well on this mission."
"You can take a few days off, and tomorrow your rewards will already be with my secretary for you to receive."
"Thanks, boss!"
"Thank you, Mr. Lionel!"
After the two happily thanked, it wasn't long before father and son left that place, heading towards their family residence. Both were tired from over three months of traveling back and forth to the Dry City, and now they couldn't think of anything better than resting.
As for this Dry City business, even though they were both a little sorry they hadn't been a part of it, they weren't worried about what was going to happen next.
Because they hadn't reached the level where they would be involved in problems like these and were both sure that the Gill family would defeat the forces of the Dry City...
Finally, Lionel hadn't stayed at his residence either, as he had a lot to talk about with his superiors in the Gill family. He was just a low-status nobleman and couldn't make such important decisions.
Consequently, he now needed to denounce the discoveries of those two subordinates so that the family would initiate a response to Minos' offense!
That young man had stolen something from the Gill family, and now this organization had the perfect justification for invading the Black Plain without drawing the attention of other regional powers.
That was an excellent opportunity for them!
"That brat... Humph, he was fortunate to be able to develop in peace for so long." Lionel considered the matter, with a slight smile on his face, as he walked through the main administration building of the Gill family headquarters.
'But now it's over, hehe. I don't know how much you got, but soon this will all be ours!'
...
Midnight had finally reached the Yellow City region, where the group of Minos had been doing their business beforehand.
By this time, finally, the Soul Contracts of Celeste and Mirya had been completed, and this group was already preparing to return to the Dry City.
After all, even though it was night, the worst time of day to travel on the roads of the Central Continent, none of these three cultivators needed to worry about it.
With an average of combat proficiency at the 6th stage of cultivation, this group could be considered very strong, and there were very few places where they would be in danger in this region. So, there was no reasonable reason for them to stay one more night in that abandoned city!
Now that those two women had committed to defending the information and the future of the Black Plain, they wanted to get back to the Dry City as soon as possible.
Minos was close to having a breakthrough to level 49, so he couldn't help but be anxious to return home. Because, despite the fact that he could already enter the Spatial Kingdom with these women alongside him, he was hesitant to do so in the Yellow City, where they might become vulnerable.
Finally, the two women were also eager to join Minos' army. In Mirya's case, this was because she could learn several of the Black-grade techniques and being able to receive a decent amount of medium-grade spiritual crystals!
That could further increase this woman's cultivation speed.
As for Celeste, in addition to not liking being in a place with the Yellow City where she could be vulnerable, she was also curious to learn about Minos' forces.
In the time that had passed, she'd only heard the basics from Neal, things any citizen would be able to know. But just such information had been enough to generate some interest in this woman's mind.
Anyway, as the three were very interested in this return, it didn't take long for them to say goodbye to Norman's group.
....
