Spark City

Two hundred years was a long stretch of history.

For those in his family who wanted to follow him and could steel themselves to keep cultivating, Carl granted a cultivation boost. It wasn't much—just 1%—but it still offered a chance to break through and become a Level 7 Warrior.

But the fact that power had never corrupted Carl himself didn't mean it couldn't corrupt his descendants.

When the sky fell, the tall would hold it up. That was how many people in the Taros Family thought these days. Those with talent could still bring themselves to persevere, but most felt their own talent was nothing special and gradually gave up cultivating.

At first, Carl had granted every family member a boost to their cultivation speed. But as time went on, he came to accept things as they were. He didn't begrudge those who were willing to cultivate, but for those who reached the Level 2 or Level 3 Warrior stage and then started enjoying themselves, Carl's points weren't exactly falling from the sky. Everyone had their own fate, and Carl had made peace with that.

As the five arrived, Carl didn't speak, because someone else had yet to come.

A little while later, several burly, middle-aged men, travel-worn, came in from outside the courtyard. There were eight of them in all—the Level 7 Warriors of Spark Town.

There were also people who had reached Level 8 Warrior, but they were all young geniuses from the territory who had joined other powers at an early age. They rarely benefited from the territory's support, and Carl had no plans to summon them back.

Once everyone had taken their seats and turned their attention to him, Carl finally spoke.

"The situation in the Anlan Kingdom has changed. I had no wish to get involved, but I've now broken through to the Saint Realm." Carl paused. Seeing the delight on their faces, he continued, "I intend to move Spark Town west and establish a city."

"We..." The men were overjoyed, their excitement impossible to conceal. They were so thrilled they could barely get the words out.

Carl understood what they were thinking. He handed the matter over to his eldest son, then waved for the men to leave.

His eldest son had managed the territory for over a hundred years. Once Carl gave the order to expand, he would naturally find a way to get it done.

Carl wouldn't interfere in the details. He was only mulling over one thing: a Level 2 Territory could register a population of up to one million, twenty times the fifty thousand allowed for a Level 1 Territory. How should he handle all those people?

There was no limit to the number of Carl's blood relatives, but they had to bear the Taros surname to receive the family's cultivation boost. That was why the Taros Family had remained small over the past two hundred years.

The territory was different. A Level 1 Territory was capped at fifty thousand people. Although Spark Town had nearly a million residents, in practice Carl could register only those who had already reached Level 3 Warrior or had the potential to do so.

Now that the territory had grown, Carl needed to fill that twentyfold increase in capacity as much as possible. The people of Spark Town alone wouldn't be enough.

Expansion was therefore a necessity.

"Absorb the nearby towns and villages. First, bring the population up to ten million. That should greatly increase the number of Level 3 Warriors, too. As for whether we should occupy a province after that, we'll see how things go once the city is built."

A city might have an actual population of only several hundred thousand to a million, but as a city-level settlement, it naturally included some of the nearby towns and villages.

Without the basic medical care and good living conditions Carl provided to the territory, a town would be lucky to have a hundred thousand residents.

It wasn't that Carl didn't want to skip straight to taking control of a province. He simply didn't have the foundation for it.

At present, Spark Town had only Carl as a Saint Realm expert, and below him there were just eight Level 7 Warriors. Expecting Level 7 Warriors to control an entire province was nothing but a pipe dream.

After all, a territory depended on its population. But according to the system's rules, anyone registered had to genuinely recognize Spark Town—or, in the future, Spark City. If they didn't, the system wouldn't accept them as residents of the territory.

That had always troubled Carl. His own talent was poor, so few of his descendants were born with outstanding talent. Even with the Battle Qi Manual that could lead straight to Level 9, they still couldn't produce many Level 7 Warriors.

This was common across the Yulan Continent. Many families declined because their most talented member obtained an excellent Battle Qi Manual, but later generations couldn't bring out its full power.

Generation after generation, their strength naturally dwindled.

To avoid this as much as possible, many families chose to marry into one another. This was especially true of the nobility: a spoiled heir with noble blood was worth more to them than a rare genius who appeared by chance.

Winter turned to spring. Carl watched the peach tree in front of his residence bloom and wither, then bloom again after the cold passed. Three cycles of flowering and fading went by.

Only then did Carl see his son.

"Father, Spark City has now been built. We're just waiting for you to choose an auspicious day so we can make its name known." Lin spoke with excitement.

Building Spark City hadn't been difficult. Spark Town already had a population close to a million; they had only needed to relocate, shifting its center somewhat closer to the heart of the kingdom.

As Lin saw it, his father was now a Saint Realm expert and naturally wouldn't serve as the city lord. That meant Lin himself was the obvious choice to become Spark City's first lord.

Within the family, his father didn't care much for power. But Lin wasn't an only child; he had several brothers, even though they had all been lax in their cultivation and died young.

They, too, had children. Of the family's five Level 7 Warriors, only Lin and his grandson belonged to his branch.

Each of his younger brothers' branches also had a Level 7 Warrior of their own.

Lin was now two hundred and forty years old. Level 7 Warriors lived much longer, but only two or three centuries at most.

He didn't have many years left. In the past, the town had been large, but there had been little power to go around, so Lin had tried to look after his younger brothers' descendants.

But now that his father had reached the Saint Realm, he was no longer bound by the limits of a mortal lifespan. Once Lin died, a hundred years would pass, and familial affection would naturally fade.

His father would then be the family's revered patriarch. But who would hold power in Spark City?

Wouldn't it come down to who was more capable?

After all, Lin was already over two hundred. Once his sons died of old age, he had set his sights on his grandson, who was also a Level 7 Warrior. As for the generation of great-grandchildren, Lin had plenty of them, too.

But when it came to his great-grandchildren's children, Lin no longer cared much about them.

Put yourself in his shoes: having lived so long, Lin had inevitably come to care a little less about the ties of blood.