The Rise of the Black Plain

After descending from the ship at one of the docks in the local port, Del and his two associates headed towards Hadia's old town, where they could have fun until dawn.

The pirate group commanded by Del had arrived in the early evening, so it would be a few hours before they could start doing business around here.

With that, those three pirates would satisfy some carnal desires while killing time.

Anyway, it didn't take long, and the three were already passing through the busy streets of this city...

If Peter were here, he would see how different the people in this place were compared to the Dry City. While there was not much social difference between the ordinary people on the streets in Minos city, in Hadia, it was completely different.

In Dry City, if a stranger tried to guess someone's origin just by showing up, he probably wouldn't be right. Apart from the army soldiers, who dressed alike, the inhabitants, for the most part, dressed and behaved very similarly, as if they were of the same class.

In contrast, in the city of Hadia, one could easily tell the social status of people passing through the streets of this place. There was a first group that was easily recognizable, having a characteristic metallic collar at the neck. These were the slaves.

Another group that could be easily identified was the nobles. They weren't seen much around here, as the proportion of people with that background in this place was really limited. After all, while a few dozen nobles passed through Hadia every day, thousands of more people of different origins passed and lived here.

The nobles dressed very well, had an arrogant and authoritarian demeanor, in many cases even looked up as if they were the chosen ones from heaven.

But perhaps what attracted the most attention about these individuals was that they were constantly being accompanied by many slaves, in many cases women...

As for other social groups, pirates and bandits could often be confused with one another. They behaved very similarly and came to this city for precisely the same purposes.

And they usually looked the same kind of dirty, wearing aged, dirty clothes, sometimes with some of these individuals walking the streets shirtless, showing chest and back scarred and tattooed.

Lastly, there was the business class of this place. They were the individuals who actually made the Black Market work. Such a group facilitated the exchange of financial resources of the nobles, with the 'items' collected by bandits and pirates.

It was easy to recognize them. If one saw a well-dressed person, but without a crowd of slaves, plus bodyguards, then only Black Market traders were left.

Anyway, this was a city where social classes were well defined, which could be very good for some people, of a high standard, but very bad for those with lower expectations of this population...

...

Anyway, while Del and his cronies were having fun at Dirce's Brothel, the group of captives had already noticed that they had been stopped for a few hours.

At this point, after approaching the mainland, the temperature was not so high, having become much more comfortable for those people who were trapped inside that ship.

Allied to this, today, the group of more than 400 captives had been fed and watered in larger quantities. After all, they would soon be sold at the slave auction, so they needed to look a little better.

Because of this, Del had authorized all slaves to receive food and water more regularly until they were passed to the Black Market in the city of Hadia.

The slave auction was a biweekly event in Hadia, where many slaves were auctioned.

Usually, some lots were divided between the talent of the slaves, with lot 1, with captives with Blue talent, who were generally used in manual service, in crop fields, mines, etc.

And then there was lot 2, which contained captives with Black talent that were commonly used in human reproduction or as human cauldrons.

As for numbers, generally, lot 1 had a quantity of 30 to 50 captives, while lot 2 had 3 to 6 slaves. It wasn't easy to get people with Black talent. After all, there weren't even many people like that in noble families...

But there were always one or two options at the auction for people who wanted to buy captives of the lot 2. Although the north of the Central Continent hadn't had any major battles in the last few thousand years, this was not a peaceful place!

Problems were coming and going constantly, and the rise and fall of families were not uncommon here. Hence, the supply of slaves with Black talent was almost constant.

Of course, there weren't usually many of them being auctioned, but it wouldn't be hard for a noble family to get even ten slaves like that in a year!

Anyway, right now, Peter and Joey were sitting in their cells inside that ship, talking in low voices.

Suddenly Barbara, who was in the same cell as Peter, approached them and said. "It looks like we've arrived at the place where we will be sold."

"Hmm, we've been out of action for some time now, and they even gave us more water and food... That must be because we're close to meeting their expectations." The older man said this while sighing inwardly. What would happen next was uncertain and extremely dangerous.

If they were lucky, they would live for a few years while they were used for human reproduction. But if they were unlucky, they would probably have their cultivation sucked out in a short time, and then they would be sacrificed...

Reproduction was not as simple as it might seem at first glance, so they could gain several years with a situation like this.

The more significant the difference in level, the lower the chances of fertilization occurring. This was the biggest obstacle to this. But not only that, but a difference in the rank of the Physique also somewhat lessened the chance of a child being fathered.

For example, if a person with a Common-grade Physique had relations with someone of a Divine-grade Physique, the chance of fertilization occurring would be zero. This is because, while talent was related to the soul, the Physique was associated with the fleshy body.

Thus, a considerable distinction in the quality of the cells involved in the process would make fertilization unfeasible!

But even if they had similar levels and Physique of the same degree, it was not easy to conceive in the Spiritual World. The higher the level and the higher the rank of the Physique of the two, the chances of successful fertilization would decrease.

This was a way for nature to protect the balance in the world.

Otherwise, in a short time, the average force of the planet could jump without there being sufficient resources for it beforehand.

Thus, people with high levels and good ratings in their Physiques had to 'work' to conceive. In contrast, weaker people and with lesser Physiques were more suitable for reproduction...

So, if they were a little lucky, maybe they could earn a few years of life...

Peter then looked at the two of them and said. "Where do you think we'll be sent?"

"I don't know either. Until a few months ago, I never had left my kingdom..." Barbara replied sadly, as she remembered everything that had happened in the meantime.

After that, Joey then said in a hoarse voice. "There are some families in the Cromwell Kingdom that are notable for their use of slave labor. Perhaps we end up in the hands of one of them."

"I know two of them, one is the Chambers family, and the other is the Bowen family. Although they are not top-tier families in the Cromwell Kingdom, they are still quite powerful and influential."

Hearing this, Peter felt that he had already listened to one of those names somewhere when his eyebrows began to pull together tightly. He then remembered something. "What was that guy's last name again?"

"Chambers? Leroy Chambers!" He muttered under his breath, recalling what Minos had told him and Maxwell during the second test of the Spiritual Tournament when the young Stuart was hunting that guy.

"What a coincidence!" He spoke in a low voice while still having a look of surprise and shock on his face.

Seeing this, both Joey and Barbara were curious to know why Peter reacted this way to these names. She then asked. "Peter, do you know someone of these powers?"

"More or less, but he's already dead..." He replied without giving too much detail. Even if he were in this terrible situation, Peter wouldn't cause trouble to Minos by him telling things that he shouldn't.

After all, Peter was one of the few people who had participated in the Spiritual Tournament who knew about Minos' origins and the fact that he hadn't gone to the Flaming Empire.

If word got out that he was left behind in the north of the Central Continent, there would surely be a storm over the Dry City not before long!

So, Peter wouldn't say anything to anyone about these critical matters, both because he had his loyalty to the man who saved his life and he wanted to protect his family, who would probably be living in that place!

He then looked down and thought. 'No wonder that guy was so disturbed... Growing up in a family like that... It's like the saying goes, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!'