A New Chapter

There were over a dozen Level 7 nobles, some holding the rank of baron and others viscount. Once they acknowledged the rule of Karl, the commoners under their jurisdiction were also counted toward the control of Spark City.

Over the past decade or so, the normalcy of Spark City had quickly reached its expected peak. After all, Spark City could only be considered an ordinary city; above it were strategic fortress cities and provincial capitals.

Six million people was the limit that Karl could manage while still providing a viable living environment for those in the city; any additional population could only reside in the surrounding towns and villages.

By this calculation, the total number of people currently under the control of Spark City was just over twelve million.

Under normal circumstances, selecting one million Level 3 Warriors from a population of twelve million—a ratio of one in ten—might seem difficult, but this was the Yulan Continent.

Except for a small number of women whose natural physiques were weaker than men's, the vast majority of people reached the level of a Level 3 Warrior by the age of thirty. Once these individuals reached this level, they received support from Karl, not only in terms of living standards but also through potential cultivation bonuses.

These various benefits not only motivated them to strive to become Level 3 Warriors but also allowed them to achieve faster cultivation speeds once they stepped into that rank.

Under such support, a pattern emerged: from beginner to Level 3, most people struggled with their cultivation. However, once they crossed the threshold into a Level 3 Warrior, their cultivation speed increased significantly. Many would start training at six or seven, barely becoming Level 1 Warriors by fifteen or sixteen, reaching Level 2 in their early twenties, and only breaking into the Level 3 rank during the physical peak before thirty.

Yet, after reaching Level 3, they would typically possess the strength of a peak Level 3 or Level 4 Warrior by the age of thirty-four or thirty-five. Such strength was sufficient to serve as a squad leader in the Security Team, commanding a group of ten. If they persisted in their cultivation, they could usually reach the level of a Level 5 Warrior before the age of fifty, which was enough to qualify as a mid-level leader in Spark City.

Such mid-level leaders could only command a hundred men in the Security Team, but those hundred men were all at least Level 3 Warriors. If placed in a military formation, they would be capable of leading three thousand troops—a force sufficient to make Level 6 Warriors flee in terror, with only experts of Level 7 or higher capable of handling them.

Spark City had now turned a new page. After more than a decade of development, the population of the territory was over ten times what it had been, and this larger base naturally led to the birth of more exceptional individuals, with geniuses gradually becoming more common.

These geniuses, who could reach the level of a Level 7 Warrior through their own efforts, benefited from the territory's support; while others might only reach Level 5 by fifty, they would have already reached Level 6, with the most outstanding among them even touching the threshold of Level 7.

Over the past decade, Karl's policies for Spark City had not changed much. Level 3 Warriors were still eligible to take the assessment for the Security Team, and as long as they passed, their status would be significantly elevated. It was precisely because Karl controlled the iron mines in his territory and the rare mineral sources purchased through the Mall, securing a solid economic foundation, that he had the confidence to do this.

After all, within Karl's territory, the treatment of a Level 3 Warrior was comparable to that of a Level 4 Warrior elsewhere. Based on this alone, those who became Level 3 Warriors had no desire to go to anyone else's territory.

This was Karl's open strategy, which led to a gradual increase in the number of Level 3 Warriors born within the territory, while Level 3 Warriors from other places also flocked to the area upon hearing the news.

Currently, in Karl's territory, there was a quota of one million, and of that million, nearly sixty percent were Level 3 Warriors, twenty-five percent were Level 4, ten percent were Level 5, and the remainder consisted of Level 6 and Level 7 Warriors, with a very small number of Level 8 Warriors.

As the territory's strength increased, the points Karl could obtain also rose. He now earned nearly twenty thousand points daily. With such high-efficiency returns, even after deducting the costs of his daily idle cultivation and the necessary maintenance for the territory, Karl still had a surplus of over fifteen thousand points.

On average, Karl could accumulate thirty thousand points every two days. While he saved most of these, a significant amount was still spent on the residents of the territory.

After all, when it came to improving aptitude, Karl did not just focus on his own family. He was never stingy with those who performed exceptionally; if their aptitude was lacking, he would buy it for them. Once their strength reached Level 8, he would directly upgrade their aptitude to Level 9. As for anything beyond that, Karl currently lacked the ability to improve it.

Even so, the change in the strength of Spark City was rapid. The eight individuals who had reached Level 7 strength during the Spark Town era were now at least at the mid-Level 8 stage, while those who had been Level 6 were now mostly at the mid-to-late Level 7 stage.

Coupled with the incoming nobles, most of whom possessed Level 7 strength, the vast majority had reached the level of Level 8 Warriors after joining Spark Town.

With nearly twenty Level 8 Warriors, this was the confidence that Lin Taros had to go and fight on the battlefield. Even if some needed to remain behind to guard Spark City, Lin could still lead over ten Level 8 Warriors.

Relying on these ten Level 8 Warriors, although Lin Taros had not reached the level of a Level 9 Warrior, his status belonged to the tier just below it, and this status had changed completely the day before.

Within the bloodline of Karl, a Level 9 Warrior had finally appeared.

The Spark Duke and the Black Stone Count—this was the foundation that Spark City represented within the Resistance Army.

As Karl's eldest son successfully stepped into the rank of a Level 9 Warrior, relying on strength that could easily kill Level 8 Warriors, he quickly established the prestige of the Black Stone Count on the battlefield. Throughout more than a decade of chaos, the number of Level 9 Warriors in the Resistance Army grew, reaching nearly fifty at its peak.

For those kingdoms in their prime, this was a force that could not be underestimated, let alone for the declining Anlan Kingdom.

In the third year after the Black Stone Count broke through to Level 9, Karl's grandson, Colin, also successfully broke through to Level 9. Under Karl's instruction, he joined the battlefield and quickly displayed the prowess of a Level 9 Warrior, eventually being enfeoffed as the Black Iron Count by the Golden Grand Duke.

With one Duke and two Counts in the Taros Family—three titles above the rank of Marquis—many no longer dared to look down upon the Spark Duke, who had never personally taken the field.

When the bells rang to signify the new year, the Anlan Royal Family, having held on for nearly twenty years, finally chose to give up. The increasingly hopeless darkness forced these royals, who had enjoyed the status of royalty for hundreds or thousands of years, to admit that the Anlan Kingdom was beyond saving.