Kingdom

Reducing taxes was enough to start the entire Black Stone City celebrating. At first, Karl had considered whether he should abolish taxes for them forever, but he later had second thoughts. Although he hailed from the Holy Alliance and was naturally a friendly force to the Radiant Church, he had not truly joined the Church. This meant that once his territory developed to a certain point, it would be enough to threaten the very foundation of the Holy Alliance's rule, and a falling out with the Holy Alliance would be inevitable sooner or later.

After all, a typical Peak Saint Realm force was considered top-tier to the Holy Alliance, but the Radiant Church had at least five powerhouses of the same level, not to mention the reinforcements the Church could call upon. However, if one were a top-tier Peak Saint Realm expert, or at the Saint Realm Limit, then unless the Radiant Church intervened personally, no kingdom within the Holy Alliance would be a match for Karl.

Would the Radiant Church personally intervene to deal with a top-tier Saint Realm expert within a territory?

That would be equivalent to digging up their own roots. If that were the case, would future Saint Realm experts only have two choices: join the Radiant Church or leave the Holy Alliance? If that happened, the Holy Alliance would never be able to grow.

Black Stone City.

A powerful Saint Realm leader, high military pay, and extremely low taxes—Karl even promised that all residents belonging to the Sky Wind Kingdom would be tax-exempt for three years. These three factors caused the people of Black Stone City to quickly develop a sense of cohesion. They all hoped they could live under the rule of such a leader forever, because high military pay brought about a powerful army.

And a powerful army, along with a powerful leader, meant that the kingdom would be peaceful; no one would bully them at will. This alone was enough to make the residents of the Chaotic Territory, who had suffered through years of war, yearn for such a life.

Meanwhile, some civilians around Black Stone City, seeing these changes, all chose to migrate there.

Half a month after the banners of the city lord were changed in Black Stone City.

Luo, the steward chosen by the majority of the people, was reporting everything about Black Stone City to the imposing leader before him.

Although Karl had established the current Sky Wind Kingdom, the territory currently consisted only of Black Stone City. Let alone kingdom or duchy levels, even compared to a county level under a provincial level, the current Black Stone City was still far behind.

"Lord, our Black Stone City now has 130,000 residents. If we add the large number of people from the towns and villages around Black Stone City, there are over 700,000 people under the rule of Black Stone City. The army is also expanding rapidly; we have reached five battalion-level units, all at the highest establishment, totaling 9,000 men," Luo said respectfully.

Karl, sitting above, only nodded slightly upon hearing this. After waving him away, he began to ponder in his heart.

He had no direct subordinates in Black Stone City; these people were all recruited on the spot. Even the previous head steward was only kept on because his character was decent, he had lived in Black Stone City for a long time, and he had been one of the former city lord's advisors, so Karl had barely managed to put him to use.

I still need to recruit some trustworthy administrators.

Karl had some experience with management; after all, he was a ruler himself, even if he was in a state of delegating authority most of the time.

I'll start by picking a few excellent ones from the army to train as future officers. Once the territory reaches level three, this Black Stone City will be my foundation.

When he came to the Chaotic Territory, Karl had considered many things. As a Saint Realm expert, as long as he didn't truly offend other experts of the same level, everyone would remain at peace. Even with the thousands of years of chaotic warfare in the Chaotic Territory, the intensity of the war could not affect those Saint Realm experts.

As long as I don't completely restrict proselytizing, although the Church will take a portion of the followers, it won't have any impact on me. It's best not to offend the two great Churches in the early stages.

To completely restrict proselytizing would be equivalent to offending the two great Churches to the death. This was a fundamental rejection of them; if they couldn't be friends, they would naturally be enemies.

Karl didn't need to be like Linley; he just needed to set certain limits. For example, no more than thirty percent of a city's residents could believe in the Church. In this way, even if the Radiant Church and the Dark Church spread their faith into Karl's territory, they would only be competing against each other.

This was equivalent to saying, "I know you want to come, and I'm giving you face by letting you proselytize, but you must also give me face and limit yourself to thirty percent." As for whether the Church would be satisfied with thirty percent of the faith, that was the Church's business. Karl had given them face, and the two great Churches would have to give Karl face in return.

After all, only the War God and the High Priest had the power to completely forbid others from believing in the Empire.

A few days later, Karl picked and chose, finally selecting five battalion commanders. Their strength was average, only at the fourth to fifth rank. As for those who reached the sixth rank, they could fully join some county cities to hold important positions, and seventh-rank strength was enough to serve as a city lord. Karl naturally understood this.

Five people: three fourth-rank warriors and two fifth-rank warriors. These two fifth-rank warriors were also the former captains of the City Guard and the Royal Guard of Black Stone City.

After selecting the five, Karl first chose five third-rank warriors from the lower rankings of the registered residents in the system territory, canceled their territorial benefits, and gave these five spots to the new men.

Karl didn't care too much about the personalities or character of these five people. After all, his rules were in place: first offense, a fine; second offense, expulsion; and if they didn't repent, their heads would roll. This was Karl's requirement for them.

While being strict, he also provided sufficient compensation.

After the five left, Karl did not stay in Black Stone City for long. These five were his military means within Black Stone City, while Luo was the one to execute the strategies Karl ordered.

Outside Black Stone City, about a hundred miles to the northeast, there was a valley with an unknown name. There were no other cities within a hundred and fifty miles, so Karl settled there.

The Laws of Wind were vast and boundless. After improving his talent, Karl had always longed to spend a large amount of time immersed in them, to properly comprehend and absorb them.

Black Stone City was not far from the Dark Forest, which was the main reason many powerful experts were unwilling to occupy these cities. After all, every few to a dozen years, there would be a beast tide. Those who were truly powerful didn't need to risk their lives for mere enjoyment.

In a valley a thousand meters deep, Karl was sitting cross-legged on the top of a large tree canopy. At this moment, a light breeze brushed his face, and the canopy swayed with the wind. Karl himself swayed like a leaf.

Behind his back, he carried a three-foot-long, two-finger-wide sword. Perhaps for many warriors, a weapon of this size was nothing more than a small dagger, but this was the quasi-artifact [Phoenix Cry] that Karl had purchased from the Mall.