Minerva town.
This was a town inside Minerva's Utopia– The separate dimension a sage ranker named Minerva Midea had created to find a capable inheritor for her legacy. With the way things were progressing, this town was destined to become a city.
Minerva's town was surrounded by lush green forests and vegetation on all sides. In other words, the forest was an integral part of the city's ecosystem.
The residential places for rankers and the management staff along with merchant shops were constructed around the tree trunks of giant trees. These tree houses and tree shops would host a variety of rankers.
A small river was flowing through the town, but its source and destination were unknown. This beautiful town would be reflected in the clear water of the river. The reflection of the blue sky gave the town an ethereal feel.
To reach from one shop to another that were located above the trees, various bridges and pools were constructed. The town would always have a lively vibe as soon as the first rays of the dawn bathed it in their illuminance.
Separate dimensions had their own ecosystems. Therefore, there were giant flowers, trees with giant fruits, and extravagantly large mushrooms surrounding the town. Some had even become part of its construction.
This town could only be accessed on a specific day of the week. One had to travel to White Raven city first to get here. After that, they would have to wait for the time when the spatial gates, which appear every week on a set schedule, would accept new challengers.
Today was going to be another new day in which this town would welcome new patrons. After entering the separate dimension, they would stay there for four days. After these four days were over, the participants would be brought outside the separate dimension.
The gates would only open three days after the previous batch of participants were kicked out. However, that only applied to those who participated in the tests conducted on the test grounds. In the separate dimension, the town was known as the safe zone. Those who had never left the safe zone could stay there for an indefinite period.
This was how the birth of a brand-new town took place in another dimension. It was run by the joint venture of the three parties involved– White Raven guild, House Montmorency, and House Derringer.
The merchants and the staff appointed by the three forces could stay inside the separate dimension as long as they didn't leave the safe zone. Each week, they would welcome a new batch of rankers and offer them a variety of services.
However, the town only served as an emergency stockpile for rankers. Those who knew what they were doing would buy everything they needed from White Raven City where it was cheaper.
The three forces controlling the separate dimension had purposefully raised the prices inside the town so that rankers would start drawing comparisons in their heads about prices. Then they would begin preferring to buy in White Raven city and feel smart about their purchases.
After entering the separate dimension once and participating in the testing ground, rankers had to observe a four-week cooldown period in which they wouldn't be allowed inside Minerva's Utopia. The cooldown period would increase as the rankers progressed inside Minerva's Utopia.
The repeat participants would also see a decline in the rewards that they would receive in terms of quantity and quality. However, the testing grounds weren't the only places inside the separate dimension that could be exploited for resources.
Minerva's Utopia was a treasure trove. Its value would only increase with time as long as the people managing the place knew what they were doing. And so far, they were doing an awesome job.
***
The White Raven city. White Raven guild lands. Edinburgh.
This city served as the entrance to Minerva town. As such, it was getting busier ever since its inception a few months back.
It now boasted giant city walls that were manned by various rankers starting from Novice to Adept. One could imagine that these were only the forces that were shown on the surface. The city had many superior rankers guarding it from the shadows at all times.
The city walls did not mean the city would stay inside the secured area. It was still growing outward with various structures still getting built outside the first city wall.
Soon, White Raven city will have multiple districts with this rate of growth in construction and population increment. The city walls would only be used as reference points to distinguish between different districts.
White Raven had tremendous potential for growth. Nearby lands were all owned by a single guild. Since it was completely under one force's control, there were no disputes about its near limitless growth.
It would only take a few decades for the White Raven city to give a challenge to the city of New Beginnings if things progressed at the same prodigious rate. Of course, the city of New Beginnings was also growing, albeit at a slower rate than before. So for onlookers, it was tough to tell if the White Raven was a viable replacement for New Beginnings or not at this point.
The name White Raven had already created hype in rankers' psyches by being in the limelight for so many reasons. The guild's potions were getting sold at record-breaking levels and its tie-ups with two giant houses spoke volumes about its capacity.
Everything was being managed to its optimum level by those at the right place with the right designation. The city's management had turned into a clockwork where the system would take care of any of the problems arising inside the city without any of the higher-ups getting on the case personally.
White Raven city, which was being built in an concentric circle pattern, already had a radius of 50 miles. And this was just the beginning. It housed a variety of shops, restaurants, and other rankers-specific facilities.
Each day, it would welcome several rankers that had come here to try their luck inside Minerva's Utopia. Today was going to be no exception either.
"Lady Zee, it seems we have reached the place."
