The Kingdom's Growth

This understanding was incredibly wondrous. It was as if Carl's past grasp of the Wind Element had been like hearing a bell from several miles away: clear yet indistinct. She could sense the direction of the sound, but couldn't see the bell swinging.

Now, her understanding was as if the bell were right beside her. Carl could see both the sound produced by the swinging pendulum and the pendulum itself, clear as day.

"Grasping a Mystery is like hearing a bell: first you hear the sound, then you build an image of the bell in your mind."

Carl could clearly see that her grasp of the Wind Element, which had originally been only one-fiftieth complete, had grown by dozens of points in just a few short days. This was all thanks to her own understanding.

"My talent among those in the Saint Realm is only barely above the threshold. Even so, my speed of comprehension has increased tenfold. What about those who are naturally far more talented?"

"Surely their speed would increase by more than ten times. I fear it could grow dozens or even hundreds of times."

"A Saint Realm expert with great talent might reach the threshold of godhood in five thousand years. Here, they would need only fifty years—and might even cross that threshold outright."

Carl also understood that sometimes, after cultivating for too long, even if you knew the next step was the finish line, you might not dare to take it.

But here, it would take only a few decades. Carl believed that anyone who had cultivated to the Saint Realm Limit and had the chance to practice here would enter the realm of the gods without hesitation.

A few days later, Carl put her cultivation on hold and left.

Cultivation was important, but so was the development of her territory. It was crucial to Carl's future growth.

The Magic Crystal vein had already been mostly excavated by the army. The remaining deposits were much harder to reach; the deeper underground they went, the more difficult the excavation became.

As soon as she returned to the Material Plane, Carl felt the difference between the two planes.

If the Wind Element's path involved taking a hundred steps in one direction, then with her talent and level of understanding, Carl could see only a dozen or so steps ahead. Beyond that, everything grew indistinct. But in the Miniature Plane, she could not only see all hundred steps, she could also view the pattern they formed from a broader perspective.

The feeling was wondrous, but Carl also understood why there were so few God Level experts on the Yulan Continent.

The Yulan Continent was a Material Plane, where the Laws were extremely obscure. As a result, even Saint Realm experts who had grasped Mysteries could only take one step at a time. Once they could no longer see the next step, they had reached the end of their path. Without some great opportunity, their grasp of the Mysteries might not change at all for hundreds or even thousands of years.

At that point, those Saint Realm experts had only two choices left.

"Necropolis of the Gods" or "travel to a Divine Plane."

Carl didn't have to go to either place. She could become a god in at most two thousand years, and she believed that by then, her cultivation speed would be well above twenty percent. But being able to cultivate here would clearly let her become a god even sooner.

Back in the mine tunnel, Carl saw two warriors standing guard in front of the passage and beckoned to them.

"Seal this passage starting today. No one is allowed inside, and no one is to approach it while mining."

The soldiers knew only that the doorway led to a good place. But Carl had been inside earlier, and they hadn't dared enter.

As for whether they would go in after Carl left, she wouldn't concern herself with that.

After all, she had already given the order. Those who obeyed her would live. Did they really think anyone could pass through that doorway?

No matter how small it was, the Miniature Plane was still a plane. The two planes were connected by a doorway, and the Miniature Plane could directly sense the elemental energies within the Spatial Turbulence. When the door opened, the connection between the different planes would draw in the outside Elemental Power. The resulting attack would be no weaker than one at the Saint Realm level.

Carl hadn't tried opening it a second time, but the first attempt had produced an attack at the Peak Saint Realm level. Even if it was weaker in the future, it wouldn't be weaker by much.

Leaving the mine, Carl soon arrived at the kingdom's capital. The capital was naturally not the tiny Black Stone City, but Red Sun City, the center of the Sky Wind Kingdom's power.

The name Red Sun City, it was said, could be traced back over a thousand years. At the time, it had been nothing more than an insignificant little town. Yet a Saint Realm expert had emerged from that town, known as the Red Sun Sword Saint.

However, the Red Sun Sword Saint had vanished several hundred years after reaching the Saint Realm. Only after it was confirmed that the expert was gone did people begin fighting over the city. Still, none of its successive city lords had chosen to change its name, preserving a small piece of the Red Sun Sword Saint's memory.

As a city that had produced a Saint Realm expert, Red Sun City had developed over the years into a major city. It had naturally become the capital of the Sky Wind Kingdom that Carl had founded.

The walls, over a hundred meters tall, still bore mottled black stains. That was the color blood turned once it dried, a grim reminder of how brutal the battles fought here had once been.

Flying into the capital, Carl landed above the Royal Palace. She rarely concerned herself with the kingdom's development. Most matters were handled by several Level 9 Warriors, with the chief steward, Luo, occasionally optimizing policies.

Luo was of ordinary strength. His comfortable life over the past few years had made him heavier, but his strength had hardly changed. Still, he had a quick mind, so Carl had appointed him the kingdom's chancellor, responsible for its affairs great and small. That was why Kevin and the other Level 9 Warriors consulted with Luo.

"Your Majesty."

Luo knelt respectfully on the ground, his forehead pressed against the cold stone tiles. His loose, purplish-red robe enveloped him, making him look like a bundle of cloth.

"Rise," Carl said, her voice unchanged and her thoughts impossible to read.

At her words, Luo slowly stood, his gaze lowered. Though he was the kingdom's chancellor and stood at the pinnacle of its power, he didn't dare show the slightest disrespect. If anything, having experienced the privileges of power had made him even more deferential. Even standing there, he dared look only at Carl's boots. He wouldn't even think of looking any higher.

"According to the Empire's policies, how many people are in the country now? How many serve in the elite legions? What experts have we recruited? And what are the people's living conditions like now?" Carl asked calmly.

"Your Majesty, the kingdom's population now exceeds 376 million. More than 1.3 million serve in the kingdom's elite forces. Over the past few years, we have recruited thirteen Level 9 experts, more than sixty Level 8 experts, and over three hundred Level 7 experts. With Your Majesty's guidance, the people across the kingdom now have homes and livelihoods. Farmers have land and grain, while laborers have stable jobs. As Your Majesty decreed, the general tax rate is now 2 percent. Merchants pay a higher rate, though after deductions it averages only about 4 percent," Luo replied quickly.