<h4>Chapter 26: Stone Ind</h4>


    Quickly the silhouette of Stone Ind could be seen on the horizon. However, due to the enormous size of the ind, which was about twice asrge as the Brown Kingdom, only a part of the territory could be seen.


    Stone Ind was a ce not onlyrge in area but also in poption. Due to its huge mineral reserves, the ind had many cksmiths, which also attracted the attention of themon poption, who needed the weapons made by those cksmiths.


    Allied to this, the ind had a spiritual density that was on par with the best ces in the north of the Central Continent. For this reason, there was arge poption that exceeded 200 million inhabitants.


    And with such a poption, even if spiritual nts did not grow on the ind, there were still numerous alchemists and array masters due to the high demand. It was worthwhile for them to live on Stone Ind, even if they had to import part of the resources necessary for their activities, as there was a great demand for their services.


    However, despite having a good offer for these two types of upations, the items sold on the ind by array masters and alchemists were still limited to grade-2, low-level.


    This is because, for specialists above that level, it would be increasingly disadvantageous to stay on Stone Ind, where they would have to import much of what they needed. Thus, those who managed to pass this ssification, they preferred to live close to ces where they could grow their own medicines.


    These were the cases of kingdoms near the ck in, such as the Cromwell Kingdom, Kingdom of the Waves, and even the Brown Kingdom. There was a good supply of resources needed for these two professions in these ces.


    As for why Minos was not going to negotiate in one of these ces, well… This is because the items sold by him would be more attractive on Stone Ind and would also attract fewer problems if the deals were done there.


    Even if he were to be apetitor to the Cromwell Kingdom in the future, it would still take a long time for him to affect that kingdom''s rtions with Stone Ind. And as for the Brown Kingdom, Minos did not want the noble families to know that the ck in had been recovered and could yieldrge quantities of crystals.


    And he didn''t have to worry about being discovered because someone who passed through the Dry City said something to the kingdom''s noble families.


    This is because, in addition to traders who appreciated information even from poor ces, no one of importance would pass through the Dry City, even if they needed to pass through the ck in, they would rather camp than enter that city, which could not even offer the same quality that your makeshift camps…


    As for traders, most of those who passed through the Dry City were traders from other kingdoms or smaller merchants who had no influence. So, Minos could be sure that, as long as he did not do business within the Brown Kingdom, then it would take a long time for the noble families to notice the change in the ck in region.


    Anyway, Stone Ind was the best option for Minos, and he had also already made an agreement with the merchant Elen Nash.


    Slowly the boat in which young Stuart''s group was on began to approach arge port. There were dozens of boats moored on a long pier and also a few ships in another location a few kilometers away. It was really a huge ce with a lot of people moving.


    At the bottom of the port, arge city could be seen that was at least 5 timesrger than the Maritime City, from which Minos had passed.


    This was the city of Pornd, one of the four major port cities on Stone Ind. The city was the main trade route between the Brown Kingdom and Stone Ind due to the shorter distance of this region with the Maritime City.


    Minos'' group said goodbye to the crew that had brought them here and then headed for the port. At that point, there were numerous guards who regted the entry of people to Stone Ind.


    At this moment, Minos'' group was stopped by a guard, and then he started talking. "Wee to Stone Ind. To enter our territory, you have to pay a fee of 500 low-grade crystals per person."


    "Hmm, here it is, 5,500 crystals," Minos said while paying the guard after hearing this.


    "Okay, your group cane in." Replied the guard indifferently.


    After that, the group of Minos left the port and rented 3 carriages. At that moment, the driver of the first carriage said. "Where are we going, gentlemen?"


    "This is our first time here. Take us to a good hotel. " Minos said calmly. He did not know this ce, but he would stay in this city for a few days until he went to the Nash family headquarters, where he would meet with Elen Nash.


    The Nash family lived mainly in the capital of Stone Ind, which was in the ind''s central region. Minos had obtained this information from the butler Dillian before leaving the Dry City.


    However, Minos wanted to know what this port city had to offer before leaving. This is because, despite not being the capital of Stone Ind, Pornd still had many businesses avable. In addition, Minos wanted to find cksmiths, alchemists, and array masters to bring to the ck in. As it would be more difficult to convince someone from the capital, he wanted to start here.


    So, even if he didn''t do big business here, he might still be able to attract some of these professionals.


    As for business in the capital, this would be about selling Minos items through Elen, and it would also be a ce that would have a greater offer and better resources for the ck in.


    In the little more than a year that he had spent, Minos had collected just over 500,000 crystals, the ones he nned to spend on this visit to Stone Ind. That way, he was well-prepared to get items that would leverage the strength of his territory!


    "Oh! So, it''s your group''s first time around here. Are you traders who came to do business on the ind?" Asked the coachman, with a curious expression on his face.


    "That''s right. We came to do business on the ind." Minos said calmly.


    "I understand. Many people like you arrive here daily. I''m going to give you a hint, although Pornd doesn''t have the highest level items on Stone Ind, there''s still a lot of good stuff." Said the coachman sincerely.


    Minos then asked. "Can you tell me a little bit about it?"


    "Haha, of course! Although the best specialists from the three professions are in the capital, there are many alchemists and array masters in our city."


    "This is because it is easier and faster to obtain imported resources in port cities. Also, the capital already has its demand met almost entirely by the specialists there."


    "So, many of these professionals are spread out in ces like Pornd. I venture to say that in addition to the capital, only the port cities have a great offer of the products sold by these specialists." The coachman finished.


    "Hmm, thanks for the information."


    After a while, Minos'' group arrived at a hotel in the central part of the city. It was arge building, with 6 floors and a ss front.


    This was the Hotel Olson, a high-end hotel that belonged to one of the great noble families on Stone Ind, the Olson family. The Hotel Olson chain spread across all the ind''s major cities and provided one of the best hotel services in the region.


    Minos and his group had slowly entered the hotel. It was excellent. Several types of special arrays improved the atmosphere of the hotel.


    For example, there were many light arrays and others that controlled the environment''s temperature. There were also tworge elevators that operated through arrays as well.


    Then, a well-dressed attendant answered them. "Wee to the Hotel Olson. How long will your group stay at the hotel?"


    "Hello, we are staying for a week," Minos answered the attendant''s question.


    "We have 3 types of rooms in our hotel. The simple type would cost 500 crystals per week each. The intermediary costs 800 crystals per week, and the high-level one would cost 1,200 crystals per week each." Said the young attendant politely.


    "We are going to have five simple rooms and one intermediate." Minos then took the required amount of crystals and gave the attendant.


    After a few minutes, the entire group of Minos was already amodated in their rooms. As he watched the cityndscape through his bedroom window, Minos began to think about what he would do next.


    ''Today, I have to get some pills for these soldiers who are with me to advance, they have already umted the amount of energy needed to go up, but because of their blue-level talents, they cannot ovee this bottleneck without outside help. And as for that young master of the Silva family, he muste after me soon…''


    ''He should be here in no more than a day. After that, he shouldn''t be long in finding me.'' Minos thought to himself as he calcted his next actions.