The Rise of the Black Plain
-
chapter-2765
The group arrived at the Identification Post a few minutes later when they came across a place similar to a border post, where new arrivals had to go through a search and justify themselves.
Minos stopped next to a counter ahead of his group and got straight to the point with one guard there. "I'm looking for permission for necromancers to go deep into the city."
The moment Minos said necromancers, several of the guards, and individuals there to pick up permits or settle other matters, turned their gazes in his direction.
Necromancers, even those who were enemies of the royal family, were frowned upon in rebel or invader forces across the continent.
Those oppressed by the sovereign forces had such strong resentments that it was difficult to ignore the origin of a necromancer."Necromancers? Tsk! More of them?" wondered one man in the area, seeing yet another group with a necromancer arriving in Hilltop City.
"Necromancers could stay in their caves and never come out into the daylight. The world would be a better place that way!"
Negative comments reached Abby's ears, making her look toward these people. But most of them didn't look directly at her, pretending they had said nothing.
The guard in front of Minos made an unflattering expression, but he carried on with the process of accepting Abby into the city.
"You need to fill in this form and leave your oath," said the man, handing over a special contract that would force Abby to follow what was written there.
Minos saw through the rules of this place and couldn't help but be impressed by the powerful model of restraint adopted by this place.
Abby read the document and mark as read the parts she concluded, while Minos looked around, seeing several other individuals, non-necromancers, signing similar agreements.The agreements there basically said that necromancers and other special types of cultivators would not use their abilities within Hilltop City unless their lives were at risk. And even if they had to protect themselves, they couldn't use lethal force and could only protect themselves. Undead were summarily forbidden, along with negative resources and those capable of causing death.
Negative items, corpses and more could be transported inside space storage items, but under no circumstances could they be summoned.
In addition, one had to accept the local rules and punishments for offenses by following these rules, which, by the way, were far from simple.
Among them, necromancers would have to pay for public damage caused by even people who attacked them!
"Those are pretty strict rules, aren't they?" Minos asked the guard as Abby finished signing the document and taking her oath.
"Yes, of course. The city is ours, not the necromancers'. If any of them want to come here, they have to be prepared for our methods. Otherwise, it's best not to come at all," the guard said in a stern tone, inviting Minos and this group to leave.
Minos smiled at this low-level Supreme, making the guard lower his head afterwards and rethink the words he had just said.
"I'm sorry about that..." The guard broke out in a cold sweat as he felt something strange.
Gulp!
"You can't be too careful." He justified himself. "What guarantee would we have that necromancers in the area aren't infiltrators sent by the royal family if they didn't sign such agreements?"
"That makes sense." Minos stopped pressing the man before asking, "But what's the point of limiting only certain special types of cultivators? I could be an envoy from the royal family and you're not trying to limit me."
"The senior shouldn't joke about that." Advised the guard, before replying to Minos, "In any case, the city has its own methods of dealing with 'normal' cultivators. Our concern is those capable of creating armies of their own."
"That makes sense." Minos looked at Abby and saw that she had finished. 'Someone like Abby, and of a high level, could probably appear alone in the area and make even high-level Supremes emerge from their graves. A single one of them would be enough to cause chaos.'
Soon after, Abby received her ID, and they could move on. But that wasn't before the guard, frightened by Minos, gave the group some more advice.
"... If I were you, I wouldn't go straight to the city center right now. Another group with a powerful necromancer went there earlier. It's possible that you'll be mistaken for their group if you go now. That could get you into trouble."
"Powerful necromancer? What level?" Abby asked.
"That I can't say. All 12th stage necromancers are powerful."
The fact that this city's guards knew what Abby could do didn't mean that they knew her actual cultivation or that of others with powers of the same nature as hers. These guards had items with them that could identify necromancers.
Minos and the others thanked the guard for the tip, but headed towards the city center. They had to recruit guild members, but that could be done later. Now they wanted to go to the most important place in the city to see if they could get the information Minos wanted to find there.
As for the guard's warning, they were grateful, but Minos realized it was worth going against the guard's recommendation and moving towards the central ward of Hilltop City immediately. Something in the center of that city seemed like it would pay off for him, given what the Nautilus' Compass was showing him right now.
They headed back the way they had come earlier, soon arriving at the point on the path where the guards from earlier were. This time they weren't stopped, since the agreement Abby had signed had changed the way those men saw her.
They went deeper into the city, soon coming to an area where even mid-level Supremes walked the streets and the most common type of cultivator there were newly promoted Supremes.
Minos and his group still had to get used to how common early 12th stage cultivators were in Uzira. But Hilltop City was a little out of the ordinary, as it was one of the few places where rebels and invaders could live with a certain peace of mind.
But when they entered a street with several business options, stores and apparently famous restaurants, given the luxury of the area, Minos stopped when he smelled something. Looking back, he spotted a person who had spotted him and his group, too.
"Minos," said a voice that almost everyone in his group recognized.