Chapter 972 - Then.
White City was the very same city Leonel had dropped from the sky to crush Anared and the Variant Invalid. Truth be told, he had only just remembered that he had traded the Ruby Imperial Pendant he had earned for it. He thought it might be a convenient way to get things started. After all, he didn't have the patience to build a new city even though he was uniquely suited to doing such a thing.
As for what Leonel wanted the city for, it would be a convenient fort. Plus, he still had the enormous spatial Force Art he could repair and use again. Before he could only use it once before it got too damaged. But, he was more than confident in making it even sturdier now. Though, it would take an even more powerful formation to move about in a Fifth Dimensional world.
Leonel wasn't really sure what happened to White City, though. He had dropped it right in front of the Imperial Capital. And, now that he thought about it, there should have been a second city in the surroundings, not to mention the third city which was the one he crashed.
The state of White City should be pretty terrible if it wasn't touched. After all, it wouldn't come out unscathed from such a thing. And, there was also no telling if it was still around the Capital or if it have been moved elsewhere.
Truth be told, Leonel hadn't been paying much attention when he was on his way here. He had been moving too fast and was entirely focused on crashing the Capital to cause a commotion. Well, he had managed to do that, so now he was content with settling down and making some money.
However, when Leonel laid eyes on White City, his brow twitched.
If it wasn't for the fact he could still sense the lingering remnants of his large scale spatial array, he wouldn't have even connected the two cities into one at all. The White City he had once known was nowhere to be seen.
The city was about the same size as it had always been. Since Terrain had never quite fully conquered its own world, its cities were purposely built large so that it could accommodate large numbers of people and enormous sums of resources. This was to say that it was massive, about double the size of a normal large city.
However, what was shocking were the number of people and the hustle and bustle. The economy was booming to a mind numbing degree, Leonel could almost smell the money in the air. But, what was maybe most shocking was that maybe only half the number of people here were actually from Earth. As for the other half, they had clear energy signatures that marked them as alien to this world.
What Leonel didn't know was that White City and the other Skyfall Cities—as they were now known as by the people of Earth—had become hubs for trade and diplomacy.
The other Skyfall Cities had been razed to the ground. But, these two, White City and Black City—the latter of which had once pincered the Imperial Capital with Keafir City—were the two that remained and had become great tourist spots.
Emperor Fawkes didn't allow people to freely travel throughout Earth, but this made perfect sense. The resources Earth had as a talented Earth was far beyond what even many Disaster Worlds could hope to have.
In order to 'hunt' on Earth, one needed to pay an exorbitant price, usually worth more than even the resources one would manage to gather. However, many still bit the bullet and paid this price because the talent of beasts here was far beyond what they could find elsewhere.
The Beast Crystals of Earth provided a unique opportunity to increase the strength of their abilities. Anyone who had any sort of money at all would definitely send their children here. The result was Earth swimming in more money than it even knew what to do with. Let alone robbing a Force Crafting Guild, Leonel should be thinking about robbing his grandfather's coffers.
This was all to say that the city Leonel stood above on his black surfboard treasure—having long since been upgraded by him to the point it could stand hundreds of meters in the air even in a Fifth Dimensional world—was an enormous well of resources…
And yet, Leonel knew he couldn't casually touch it.
Leonel's expression turned cold. There was no way this city was functioning on its own, it was definitely being controlled by someone.
Though Leonel hadn't heard his grandfather laughing, he could very well imagine that old man's brilliant grin. It was almost more annoying that that old man was more handsome than he should be at his age. Leonel almost wanted to tell him that his time was up and to give it up, but he knew that would just make him look even more bitter than he already was.
What was he supposed to do?
He couldn't just kick these people out. Even though half of them weren't from Earth, the other half relied on this place for a livelihood, they had already built their lives and families here over the course of the last three years.
He couldn't use force either. How would the react to someone who just tyrannically took over their home after they had been living in peace for so long?
And he most definitely couldn't just kill them all.
Just from a glance, Leonel could tell that there was practically no one in poverty in this place. Though his grandfather's genocide was something Leonel could never accept, what he did have to accept was just how good of a position it had put Earth in. They were in a place where every Earthener could prosper and benefit without needing for anything.
Leonel stood a distance from the city, hovering in the air with his surfboard.
After a moment, his lip curled.
With a wave of his arm, he sent out several messages. It was about time he begin.
'Dove family, is it? Let's play, then.'