On this day, a team under the banner of the Golden Griffin of the Omar Empire passed through the Black Dragon Pass and arrived at the Black Dragon City.
There were hundreds of people in the group, with the majestic silver knights leading the way, and a huge team of retinues and servants. The clothes of these people are all embroidered with the family crest of the double-headed eagle, and they are clearly from the "Spencer Family" of Oma's top established nobles.
Today's Black Dragon City is more than ten times larger than before.
The city is backed by the Alcoron Mountains, and there is no shortage of stone here. Under the unified planning of municipal officials, the refugees quarried stones and built city walls tens of meters high, the first ring, the second ring... until now they have reached the sixth ring.
Seeing this majestic city built on land in the distance, everyone in the Omar mission was shocked.
In the team, a middle-aged man with a brown mustache started talking with a handsome young man with a white face.
"This Black Dragon City is really amazing. It has developed into such a scene in less than a year. It is indeed a miracle. With such a population size, in the empire, only the imperial capital Usenbar can match it..."
"Haha, father, it's just that the geographical location of Black Dragon City is good enough. Ymir doesn't know where she got such good luck. She actually found such a pass and built a new city to the west of the Alcoron Mountains. . This basin has high-level monster resources, zombie tides, and rich coal-rich mines. I heard that large-scale gold and silver mines have recently been explored in the north... This Black Dragon City really has every advantage. Yeah. If you give me this place, I can build a great city!"
"Frank, don't underestimate Ymir. Her talent is recognized by the empire. At least, she can make those tame barbarians obey and work for her. This is not something ordinary people can do."
"Father, don't forget, no matter how powerful she is, she is just a woman. However, I didn't expect that there are so many sub-dragon monsters here. If the flying dragon army is under our control, our Spencer family will definitely It will also become the strongest family in the empire!"
"Indeed. If you can master the 'invincible army' of the Flying Dragon Legion, the Black Dragon City will naturally be out of the question. But then again, how did Ymir make those barbarians so obedient..."
"Why don't we just go and ask Ymir directly? After all, when she meets you, father, she will still call you uncle..."
"..."
The group of people walked not fast.
Not long after, an espionage officer from the Blackwater Tower came over and brought a densely packed intelligence scroll.
"Your Majesty the Duke, all the information has been confirmed. Her Royal Highness the Princess is the 'Prime Minister' of Black Dragon City, well... she is the most powerful person in the city."
"Haha, this is not a lord? It's just a confusing wording. What about Ren Hermes?"
"We have determined that the Lord of Rennes City has no real power and rarely participates in political discussions. Her Royal Highness the Princess and the Council are responsible for the affairs. But..."
"But what?"
"However, I heard that the Lord of Rennes City is the eldest princess's man."
"..."
The system of Black Dragon City is different from that of any other city, and the names of many positions are completely confusing to people.
When the middle-aged man with a mustache heard his subordinate's report, his eyes showed an expected and even slightly sarcastic look.
Haha, what is "prime minister"? Isn't it just the lord changing the term
Hearing this, the young man on the side looked unhappy and asked, "Then Ren is Ymir's man?"
Spy: "Yes. However, it is just a rumor among the people in the city. As far as I know, Her Royal Highness the Princess has not acknowledged this relationship in any public forum."
Hearing this, the white-faced young man felt slightly relieved and muttered: "This is strange. Since you didn't admit it, why didn't you stop the rumors..."
The shrewd luster in the eyes of the middle-aged man with a mustache flashed, but he felt as if he had guessed the truth, and said with a smile: "So, this Ymir is as smart as ever."
After a pause, he said: "If what I expected is correct, she probably expected that the empire would make a fuss about the marriage, so she created such a half-truth as a shield."
The young man listened and his brows relaxed completely.
He raised the corner of his mouth slightly and said, "That's right. She didn't like the many talented people in the imperial capital, so how could she find an unknown person to be a man."
... ..
And when the Omar delegation came, they were in the mountains hundreds of miles away from Black Dragon City.
Here, dark clouds cover the sun, lightning strikes, and it is a rainy day with a large thunderstorm.
In such bad weather, even large monsters cannot avoid it. On the top of the highest mountain, a tall figure was meditating cross-legged.
"Crack!"
From time to time, a beam of strong light and lightning pierced the sky, as if being pulled, and accurately struck the figure.
After the lightning strike, the figure remained motionless.
It took half an hour for the thunderstorm to gradually dissipate.
The naked figure also stood up. He looked up at the dispersing thunderclouds and said to himself: "It's over again. The body can already withstand lightning of 500 million volts. Look. You can try stronger thunder and lightning next time... "
As he finished speaking, the golden paint-like metallic luster on his body gradually disappeared, and his skin color returned to normal.
And those wounds burned by lightning also healed instantly under the warm sun of the healing technique.
After waving, a huge thunder crow flew down from the clouds, turned into a palm-sized thunder bird, landed on his head, and pecked him affectionately.
This person was naturally Ren En, who was practicing alone in the wilderness.
The method of thunder and lightning tempering is also familiar, so there is no need for anyone to follow him to prevent accidents. Although the Kalatwa Basin has entered the thunderstorm season, it is not always near Black Dragon City.
With the Thunder Crow who can accurately sense the thunder element in the air, Ren can always find the thunderstorm area accurately. So in the past half month, he has been chasing Lei Yun and running around.
Walking to the stone in the distance, Ren picked up his clothes and put them on.
Only then did I realize that my clothes were a little tight.
He raised his eyebrows, feeling quite satisfied, and murmured: "My muscles have grown again."
His arms were worn through the night, and his clothes covered his gnarled muscles. The body that looked like a humanoid monster was covered up, and his domineering aura also subsided.
In the past six months, [Voodoo Master] has finished digesting the magic potion, his fighting spirit has doubled, and the number of gang lines has also skyrocketed; and because of this secret method of thunder and lightning body tempering, his body has become stronger and stronger, [Hercules] The speed of Jue's body refining progress is even more incredible. He has reached the level of "Shen Gang Realm" and his strength is nearly three times that of before.
Even Canosha was shocked by this progress. Not talking about the extraordinary realm, but just talking about the secret method of body refining, she can only reach the "Shen Gang Realm".
The results of Ren's practice in the past six months are comparable to her ten years of hard work.
Ren put on his clothes and wanted to leave, but at this moment, a black shadow passed by and rushed straight towards Ren's back.
It was a fourth-level [Dragon Scale Snow Leopard] that had been lurking for a long time. It was eight meters long, with its four legs and head covered with scales. This is a common sub-dragon creature in the basin. It is fast, can spray ice, and has an amazing bite force.
This kind of monster would give even an ordinary fourth-level extraordinary a headache when encountering it.
The fishy wind hit his nostrils, and it opened its bloody mouth and bit into Renn, as if intending to eat this lone human being.
Ren's ears moved slightly as he listened to the movement behind him, and there was a sharp look in his eyes.
As a conditioned reflex, he condensed a strong purple fighting spirit in his right fist, turned around and punched the huge figure. The flowing fist hit Snow Leopard's lower back as if it had eyes.
"Bang!"
It was as if a bone cracking sound was heard.
The cheetah weighing several tons was blown away by a punch!
The claw that was originally enough to break through the fourth-level magic shield only left a few painless scratches on Ren's golden skin, which disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Snapped!"
There was a loud stamping on the ground, and Ren's figure rushed forward a hundred meters. His fists rained down on him, and he pinned the snow leopard to the ground before he could react and gave it a heavy hammer.
One person and one leopard started fighting fiercely on this hillside.
A quarter of an hour later, there were potholes exploded by external forces everywhere on the hillside. The originally vigorous snow leopard was soaked with blood from the hammer and lay on the ground unable to move.
Ren stood up, looked at the corpse of the monster on the ground, and took a few deep breaths. In the blink of an eye, all the bite wounds on his body that were famous for ordinary third-level extraordinary beings were healed.
It was normal for him to encounter monsters while walking alone in the wilderness, and he was used to it.
If he had been in the realm of the Black Wind Leader back then, he wouldn't have been able to defeat ten of this fourth-level [Dragon Scale Snow Leopard].
But today, martial arts have long been mastered.
In the system dream, it was impossible to get past ten moves against "Umu". His soaring strength and martial arts skills allowed him to easily kill his old opponent.
Renn put away the snow leopard's body and put on his clothes.
At this moment, Ymir's voice sounded from the strange conch-like device next to the clothes.
"Ren, go back to your territory, Omar is here."
"good."
This is the "Goblin Communicator", a biological communicator created by Mr. Tust based on the goblin blueprints.
The function is a bit like a walkie-talkie, which can communicate over long distances under special conditions.
But it's not electricity, but bioelectricity.
These "communication snails" are alive, a pair.
He has one in his hand, and Ymir has one.
... ..
Because Black Dragon City is built on the ground, the streets are not as narrow as Machine City.
The roads are paved with bluestones, and it is very lively with people coming and going.
The visiting delegation from Omar entered the city with a high profile, and this group of richly dressed nobles naturally attracted the attention of passers-by.
However, unlike the treatment in other territories, facing this team that clearly held the title of Duke, the civilians not only did not bow their heads to avoid it, but some bold guys were pointing and whispering at them.
Seeing this, the white-faced young man in the team looked unhappy and muttered: "Huh! These people in the wilderness really lack education. The common people dare to look directly at the high-ranking nobles. They really don't know the slightest bit of etiquette. If this happens in Omar, he was caned a long time ago..."
In Oma, nobles have absolute status.
Commoners must avoid the nobles' teams when they encounter them on the street.
Especially in the territory of the Spencer family, when the Duke goes out, the people have to kneel on the street and wait for the team to leave before they can raise their heads.
Grand Duke House frowned slightly and felt offended, but he didn't say anything.
After all, from his perspective, he could naturally see that Black Dragon City's ability to attract so many refugees in a short period of time was directly related to the city's policies.
The white-faced young man's tone was full of disdain, and he continued: "Father, is this the legendary 'everyone is equal'? Haha, being equal to a group of untouchables is simply an insult to the blood of the high nobles. Sure enough, the 'New Deal' was not implemented at the time. It’s a good thing. It would be ridiculous if commoners could have the same status as nobles.”
Although he also disliked being pointed out by a group of civilians, Grand Duke House looked deeper and frowned, "This Black Dragon City should not be underestimated."
The appearance of the residents of Black Dragon City made him feel incredible.
In other territories, he saw numbness and horror on the faces of nobles and civilians, and they always felt lifeless.
There was no comparison before, so he didn't find out what the problem was.
Now when he looked at it, he realized that everyone in Black Dragon City had a different expression on their faces. It was satisfaction with life, hope for the future... an emotion called "happiness".
This style, which could only be seen in the aristocratic and wealthy classes, is now everywhere in Black Dragon City
Everyone is very busy.
The Duke and his entourage were not welcomed by the residents.
The craftsmen are busy building the city, the security team is busy patrolling, the hunters are busy going out of the city to hunt for wilderness, and the merchants are busy shouting.
The shops on the streets selling fruits, pastries, clothes, and daily necessities were crowded with people.
Seeing this, Grand Duke House thought he had arrived at the Royal Capital of Omar.
Because only in the wealthy Omar Imperial Capital can common people have spare money for consumption, and shops can be so prosperous.
In this city that has only been established for less than a year, are there really so many people who can afford daily necessities such as fruits and cakes for noble families
In his impression, isn't it true that in the hunting city, only shops selling various equipment can survive
These issues are not mentioned in the intelligence.
When Duke House saw this, he felt that the people here were incredibly wealthy.
He knew about low taxes, but... how could simple low taxes support the operation of such a large city
Now that commoners and nobles are equal, how can lords ensure that their rights are stable
Questions popped up one after another, but they reached a dead end.
He was still enjoying the dividends brought by the centralized power of the lords to the nobility. For a while, he could not understand this social system that surpassed several stages of the entire era.
Everything he saw before him felt "unreal".
It was as if someone had deliberately arranged a stage play for them to see this completely incredible scene.
... ..
The more they looked at it, the more surprised they became. Everything in the city dazzled the members of the envoy from the Aura Imperial Capital.
I originally thought that I was going to a remote rural area to "go to the countryside", but I didn't expect it, but it seemed that I was here to gain experience.
Grand Duke House also pricked up his ears and listened, interested in hearing what the residents were saying.
On the street they passed by, a young man and woman were kissing and embracing each other, as if they were celebrating something.
"Oh, Ilona, let me tell you some news. I passed the selection and successfully enlisted in the army. Not only will I get free food and accommodation, but I will also be allocated genetic potions. In three years, I will be able to obtain permanent resident rights!"
"My dear, maybe it won't take three years. I heard that Uncle Carter's son joined the army just a month ago, but because of his meritorious service in battle, he is already a second lieutenant officer, and now the whole family is a permanent resident of the city. "
"Oh, praise our great Lord Rennes! I will also work hard..."
".."
Duke House frowned when he heard this.
This special military service system is also written in the intelligence.
He knew that Black Dragon City had recruited a large number of troops, but they were not noble knights.
This is simply unimaginable in other territories.
The army is not a noble knight, how can they ensure their loyalty to the lord? .
Grand Duke House walked forward slowly with doubts.
At this moment, his attention was drawn to the ground, and various sounds came from scattered in his ears.
"I heard that the great swordsman Lambert is also here. Yesterday he went directly to Black Dragon Academy to apply for a swordsmanship teacher. Such a powerful swordsman, because he offended the nobles in Oma, no one dared to use him..."
"Mechanical Grandmaster Fielding is also here. I heard that he came because there are more top-notch mechanics in Black Dragon City than the 'Omar Royal Academy of Sciences'..."
"Anyway, I came here for Master Cavo. I heard that he is the honorary dean of Black Dragon Academy and occasionally teaches classes in person..."
"Have you bought the 'social pension insurance' just issued by the city hall?"
"Of course! It doesn't cost much, and the money is all tax deductions anyway. When you get old, and you can't hunt for wilderness or participate in labor, the territory will pay for the pension..."
"Do you want to go hunting? There are additional rewards for opening up the wild west..."
"..."
There are people from all walks of life on the street, and they talk about all kinds of topics.
Grand Duke House's expression became more and more solemn upon hearing this.
Although I don’t understand what those policies are about.
He also saw that residents were very satisfied with these policies.
Moreover, in less than a year in this world, the residents of this city actually have a "sense of identity" and "a sense of belonging"
In the words of these residents, they all aim to become a "permanent resident of Black Dragon City" and are proud of becoming a "permanent resident".
This is what scares Duke House the most.
Black Dragon City was born, and both empires faced the problem of population loss.
Originally, this was not a big problem. After all, with the influx of people, the key is whether they can stay.
Once Black Dragon City collapses, everything will disappear.
From everyone's perspective, Black Dragon City's "low tax" and "equal everyone" policies are noisy for a while and will collapse sooner or later.
Glory City can become a noble kingdom, and according to their history, Black Dragon City will definitely follow in their footsteps.
But now, instead of collapsing, it is becoming more and more prosperous!
Seeing this, Grand Duke House realized that if Black Dragon City continues to develop, the aristocratic system may face an unprecedented crisis and even shake the foundation of the empire!