A Time of Troubles

White Horse City.

It took Soren less than a day to travel from Amber City to White Horse City again.

The once-bustling trade route had fallen into ruin. Falling Leaf City had been devastated by the Orcs' attack, and handicrafts from the Elven Realm and the Half-Elves had lost their market entirely. An Ancient Red Dragon blocked the road to White Horse City. The combined blows had dealt a terrible blow to the region. Worse still was the chaos caused by migrating monsters, which had forced many poorly defended towns and villages to relocate.

Humans might have been numerous, but they held no absolute advantage in the natural world.

Productivity was nowhere near enough to support a population explosion. Human villages could form only near suitable farmland, while many other species still occupied the wilderness that could not be cultivated. Food was the key constraint on the growth of any species. With the transport available in this era, most settlements had to produce their own food. Shipping it from elsewhere meant substantial losses, not to mention the risk of attacks by other creatures.

Unless some vast power completed an undertaking on the scale of a canal transport network.

For now.

That was all but impossible. Along the way, Soren saw many abandoned villages. Most had been deserted because wilderness creatures attacked them so often that dwindling populations and mounting dangers made farming untenable. Without the strength to defend themselves, many small and midsize villages and towns had begun to move or merge.

Golden Creek Town.

It was one town that had risen rapidly during the Time of Troubles.

Soren passed through it on his way to White Horse City. He and Vivian had come here once before with Goria's merchant caravan.

It was also where he had first encountered a