The Rise of the Black Plain

After talking to the manager, William, Del, and his associates quickly left that place, heading towards the place where their ship was docked.

Del wanted to bring in his 'products' as soon as possible so he could receive the spiritual crystals involved in this business.

And as for why he was selling these slaves directly to the Black Market, it was because that way he could get his hands on the crystals in less time.

Like pirates, Del's group didn't have much patience or great intelligence to maximize profits by selling slaves directly at auction. Because of this, it was common for people like them to pass this service on to others.

Of course, that was just one of the reasons this happened. There were also dangers involved in any negotiation. And in this case, generally, the side of the pirates and bandits was the weakest.

Apart from them, noble families and the Black Market itself were the ones who most participated in these negotiations. And organizations like these had great power, enough to exterminate poor fellows like Del and his companions!

They could do an auction on their own, but things would be a little more complicated...

Humans tend to look for rights, regardless of responsibilities, and in this case, such a thing would be fatal.

They could earn more by selling slaves, or stolen items, directly to their customers. However, they would also have to have the necessary strength. Otherwise, the risk of them being tricked, ambushed, killed would be high.

Why pay for something if I can only take it by force?

This was a common thought in the Spiritual World!

Because of this, pirates and bandits would typically prefer to take less risk in selling their 'items,' not getting involved directly with these colossal powers that could quickly crush them.

And as for the power behind Del and his henchmen, well, that wasn't precisely an allied relationship.

The right way to look at this situation was to see Del's group as an 'outsourced force.' They received strategic support, such as ships, simpler weapons, crystals, etc. They could use the influence of the Blood Triangle Pirates group occasionally.

But they weren't actually members of the Blood Triangle Pirates. This organization would never worry about the lives of low-level people like Del or even take revenge if they died!

They were just giving individuals like Del a chance because they needed people from the northern part of the Central Continent to search for a specific item for them...

And that was all.

Del and other pirates could pride themselves on being chess pieces in that organization's plans, boasting of this achievement, but there was no way they could get any further.

Of course, for them, Blue talented people from the 5th stage of cultivation, being a chess piece of such power as the Blood Triangle Pirates was already amazing to them.

See the example of how they were 'respected' by other bandits, like that man, in the nameless city in the Kingdom of the Waves.

But anyway, Del and his comrades knew they couldn't overdo it. They could use the influence of that great pirate group with bandits and individuals of humble origins. Still, against noble families or the Black Market, they would respect them whenever possible, lessening the chances of disaster happening on their side.

...

And so, time quickly passed...

The sun had risen and fallen in the sky, giving space from daylight to night darkness.

The bustling city of Hadia had gradually lost the usual bustle of the streets when night had fully settled.

At this time, all the more than 400 captives who were on Del's ship had already been transferred to a warehouse in the Black Market of the city of Hadia, where they began to be evaluated little by little.

As an institution that catered to the nobility, the Black Market would not sell defective slaves, not even without knowing the slightest information about these individuals. Like age, cultivation level, and obviously checking their talent.

After all, some funny pirates had tried to trick them before, thinking that such a thing would go unnoticed...

And it didn't take long, and even before the sun came up, the group of captives had already passed the primary evaluation of the Black Market.

As Del had said before, there were 414 captives, with 13 of them having the Black talent and the rest having the Blue talent.

Del didn't have the guts to deceive the Black Market, so he had passed on the information without any trickery...

As for the other characteristics, most of the captives were in the 3rd stage of cultivation, with a few in the 4th stage and only those 13 Black talented individuals being in the 5th stage, Spiritual General.

As for ages, this ranged from the youngest, aged 18, to the oldest, who was 412-years-old.

Anyway, after this check was over, the captives were placed in 'more comfortable' places, where they could regain some of their original appearances, making them more attractive to the nobles who would buy them in a few days, at the biweekly auction.

They would have the right to eat once a day, drink water more often, and even see the light of day...

Before the storm of becoming a slave to a noble family, this was a slight improvement for them. Unlike pirates, bandits, and 'businessmen,' members of noble families saw them differently.

While people like Del and William saw captives like Barbara as an item that could generate spiritual crystals, which was better not to be 'broken' before being sold, nobles could act more decisively...

If they killed one of these slaves, it was no big deal. They could just buy another one!

If an object didn't please, then they just destroyed it.

...

Time continued to pass, and another morning had begun in the city of Hadia.

By this time, Del and his three cronies were already seated in one of the rooms in the Black Market, where they eagerly awaited payment for the deal.

The place where they were was not exaggerating in any aspect, as this was a place mostly visited by pirates and bandits, but it had its quality.

There was a leather sofa in the middle of the room, with a few chairs at a table not far away and some decorative furniture.

Other than that, the only thing that caught attention were the paintings on the walls, which had some images that portrayed slavery in the Spiritual World.

It was not possible to know whether or not these paintings were really apologies for this horrific practice. Still, the Black Market used them as actual medals...

And suddenly, the door to that room suddenly opened when a middle-aged and very well-dressed man entered the room.

He was smiling like he'd woken up well, and it wasn't long before he quickly greeted each of these pirates.

"Mr. Del, as always, you are sincere. Haha, but no kidding. It looks like you've harvested a good result this time, huh!" William said, smiling contentedly at the three cronies.

"Hehe, Lord William, we just got lucky this time."

"Don't be modest. It's not easy to see so many Black talented individuals being sold at once! But let's leave the compliments aside..."

"Ehh, we counted 401 individuals with Blue talent. Most of them are under 100-years- old... Of the rest, the 13 with Black talent, only three were over 200 years old, while the others are very young, with less 100-years-old, mostly..."

"With this, we will pay an amount of 504,859 low-grade crystals for the 401 Blue talent captives and 89,566 crystals for the Black talent ones... As a bonus for a great deal, we will round up the value to the 600,000 low-grade crystals!"

Hearing this, the three comrades smiled at each other in anticipation of getting their hands on that amount of crystals.

With such revenue, they could pay for Del's group's pirate operations for the next two years. They could even buy various resources for the crew, along with a few weeks of rest!

On the side of the Black Market, with the auction of these individuals, this organization could earn up to 10 times this amount, so Willian was delighted with such negotiation...

And quickly, William handed a bag with the respective crystals to Del before finally saying goodbye to the three of them and getting back to doing his business in that part of the Black Market building.

Meanwhile, the three associates quickly split the crystals and headed towards where their ship was moored to settle their affairs with their subordinates.

It was time for the pirate group led by Del to take some time off, to take advantage of the perks that a mountain of spiritual crystals could give...

'Hehehehe, I'll rest for a few weeks, and then we'll return to look for that item... It's not worth spending the whole time trying to find a fucking old piece of paper that nobody knows where it is!'