Stone Island

Soon, the silhouette of Stone Island could be seen over the horizon. However, due to the enormous size of the island, which was about twice as large as the Brown Kingdom, only a portion of the territory was visible.

Stone Island was a place not only vast in its area but also in population. This was thanks to its rich mineral reserves, causing many blacksmiths to come to the island, which further attracted the attention of ordinary people, who needed the weapons made by those blacksmiths.

And along with that, the island had a spiritual density that was comparable to the best places in the north of the Central Continent with good spiritual density. And for this reason, it boasted a large population that exceeded over 200 million inhabitants.

And with such a population, even though the spiritual plants did not grow on the island, there were still numerous alchemists and array masters due to their high demand. Therefore, it was worthwhile for them to live on Stone Island, since there was a great demand for their services even if they had to import many parts of the necessary resources for their activities.

However, despite having good demand for these two types of occupations, the items sold on the island by array masters and alchemists were still limited to low-level grade-2.

That is because, for those specialists above that level, it would be increasingly disadvantageous to stay on Stone Island, where they would have to import much of what they needed. Thus, those who managed to pass this classification preferred to live closer to places where they could grow their own medicine supplies and get the other required resources easily.

These places included kingdoms near the Black Plain, such as the Cromwell Kingdom, Kingdom of Waves, and even the Brown Kingdom, which always had a good supply of resources needed for these two professions.

As for why Minos was not going to negotiate in any of these places but on Stone Island, well… this was because the items sold by him would be more attractive on Stone Island but would still attract lesser problems if the deals were done in such territory.

And even if he were to become a competitor to the Cromwell Kingdom in the future, it would still take a long time for him to be able to affect that kingdom's relations with Stone Island. 

As for the Brown Kingdom, Minos simply did not want the noble families of the Brown Kingdom to know that the Black Plain had been recovered and could even yield large quantities of crystals.

And Minos was also not worried about being discovered because those passing through Dry City and informing something to the kingdom's noble families.

That was because, other than the traders who seek information even from the poorest places, no one of great importance would pass through Dry City. 

Moreover, even if people like such had to pass through the Black Plain, they would rather camp than enter that city, since the city could not provide the same level of services as their own temporary camps...

As for the traders, most of those who passed through Dry City were merchants from other kingdoms or smaller ones who had no influence. Minos could be sure that, as long as he stayed out of the Brown Kingdom, it would take a long time for the noble families to notice any changes in the Black Plain.

In any case, Minos had already made a deal with Elen Nash, which made Stone Island even more attractive to him. For all that, he had decided to start his business on this island, outside the Black Plain!

Slowly the boat carrying the young Stuart's group began to approach a large port.

Dozens of boats were moored on a long pier and also a few ships were in another location a few kilometers away. It was a massive place with a lot of people moving around.

At the bottom of the port, a large city could be seen, one that was at least five times larger than the Maritime City, which Minos had come from earlier.

This was the city of Portland, one of the four major port cities on Stone Island. This town was the main trade route between the Brown Kingdom and Stone Island, attributed to the shorter distance of this region from the Maritime City.

Minos' group then said goodbye to the crew that had brought them here and headed for the port. At that point, numerous guards regulated the entry of people entering Stone Island.

Minos' group was also stopped by a guard, who began speaking. "Welcome to Stone Island. To enter our territory, you have to pay a fee of 500 low-grade crystals per person."

"Hmm, here it is, 5,500 crystals," Minos said, paying the guard.

"Okay, your group can go in," replied the guard indifferently.

After that, Minos' group left the port and rented three carriages. As they sat in the carriages, the driver of the first carriage asked, "Where are we going, gentlemen?"

"This is our first time here. Take us to a good hotel," Minos said calmly. He did not know this place, but he planned on staying in this city for a few days before he went to the Nash family headquarters to meet with Elen Nash.

The Nash family mainly lived in the capital of Stone Island, which was situated in the island's central region. Minos had obtained this information from the butler Dillian before leaving  Dry City.

However, Minos wanted to know what this port city had to offer before leaving. Despite not being the capital of Stone Island, Portland still had many businesses available. In addition, Minos hoped to find blacksmiths, alchemists, and array masters in order to bring to the Black Plain since it would be more challenging to convince someone from the capital. Thus he intended to start from here.

And even if he didn't make a significant deal here, he believed that he might still be able to attract some of these professionals.

Regarding the business in the capital, it would be about selling Minos' items through Elen, and it would also be at a place that would have a more significant offer and better resources for the Black Plain.

In the little more than a year that he had spent there, Minos had collected just over 500,000 crystals, and he planned to spend them on this visit to Stone Island. That way, he was well-prepared to get items that would increase the strength of his forces and also the population!

"Oh! So, it's your group's first time here. Are you traders who came to do business on the island?" asked the coachman with a curious expression.

"That's right. We came to do business on the island," Minos nodded calmly.

"I understand. Many people like you arrive here daily. I will give you a hint, although Portland doesn't have the highest level items on Stone Island, there's still a lot of good stuff," said the coachman sincerely.

Minos then asked. "Can you tell me a little bit about it?"

"Haha, of course! Although the best specialists from the three main professions are in the capital, many alchemists and array masters are in our city.

This is because it is easier and faster to obtain imported resources in port cities. Also, the capital already has met its entire demand from specialists there.

So, many of these professionals are spread out in places like Portland. I venture to say that, in addition to the capital, only the port cities have a great offer on the products sold by these specialists," the coachman finished.

"Hmm, thanks for the information," Minos replied.

After a while, Minos' group arrived at a hotel in the central part of the city.

It was a large six-story building with a glass front.

This was the Hotel Olson, a high-end hotel which belonged to one of the great noble families on Stone Island, the Olson family.

The Hotel Olson chain is spread across all the island's major cities and provided one of the best hotel services in the region.

Meanwhile, Minos and his group then slowly entered the hotel.

It was truly excellent since several types of unique arrays were used to improve the atmosphere of the hotel. For example, there were many light arrays and others that controlled the environment's temperature. Two of the large elevators operated through arrays as well.

After a brief walk, a well-dressed attendant greeted them, "Welcome to the Hotel Olson. How long does your group intend to stay at the hotel?"

"Hello, we are staying for a week," Minos answered.

"We have three types of rooms in our hotel. The simple type would cost 500 crystals per week each. The intermediary costs 800 crystals per week, and the high-level one would cost 1,200 crystals per week each," the attendant explained politely.

"We'll have five simple rooms and one intermediate," taking the required amount of crystals, Minos then handed it to the attendant.

After a few minutes, the entire group was already accommodated in their rooms. And as he gazed outside the window appreciating the city landscape, Minos began to contemplate his next move.

"Today, I need to obtain some pills to allow the soldiers with me to advance. They have already accumulated the necessary energy, but due to their Blue talents, they just cannot overcome this bottleneck without external assistance in the short time that we have. And as for that young master of the Silva family, he must be coming after me soon…'

'He should be here in no more than a day. After that, he shouldn't take long to find me,' Minos thought as he calculated his subsequent actions.