Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 1167 - Taming the Old World - Safeguarding Home - 2c

It was Li's turn to conduct the exact same routine inspection on the opposite side of the continent, over in Yino.

Ren had specifically requested this… He wanted them to personally check in on his academy friends, gather a genuine report on their well-being, and bring the news back.

Luna, Liora, and Larissa were stationed nearby. Ren prioritized seeing them whenever he caught a rare moment of downtime. But Liu, Min, and Taro were isolated on the far side of the sister cities, managing their own defensive burdens. Ren simply couldn't find the hours to visit them himself.

Li groaned. He complained loudly that High Command should dispatch an aerial scout for this kind of errand. A decent flying beast could cross the cities in 2 hours, sparing him hours upon hours of bouncing around in a wooden cart.

"Stop whining," Garret snorted. "The trade roads are paved and beautifully flat and smooth now. It won't take that long. Instead of complaining, treat it like a paid break. Besides, you are the right man for the job. You are Ren's friend... Nobody else is qualified for this specific kind of 'reconnaissance'."

Garret clapped a calloused hand on the young man's shoulder.

"Any desk clerk can read a casualty report. But figuring out how the kids are actually holding up under the pressure? Only a friend can see that."

Li let out a long sigh, but he didn't argue.

♢♢♢♢

The journey stretched ahead of him, scheduled to take several hours.

The carriage rolled smoothly through districts that, just a few years ago, had been the absolute poorest slums under the old Goldcrest dominion. These were the outer rings closest to the Wall, historically deemed the worst places to live simply because they were furthest from the safety of the inner city and had a tiny bit more mana in their air.

But looking out the window, Li couldn't find a single trace of the suffocating misery that used to define these streets.

The outer zones were overflowing with life.

The residents walked with a distinct, energetic rhythm. Trade flowed down the avenues with a bustling urgency that these scattered neighborhoods had never possessed.

The economics of their world had shifted… Families that used to scrape the bottom of the barrel now held highly lucrative jobs and contracts.

More importantly, a massive portion of these households now boasted sons and daughters who had breached the Gold rank. These young Tamers were actively prospecting and harvesting premium materials, and bringing home great profits. They operated with a level of efficiency that had been strictly denied to commoners in the past.

And the transformation wasn't limited to the booming economy.

The sheer influx of newly ascended Wood and Earth beasts had revolutionized the local infrastructure. Better materials and vastly denser mana reserves allowed for higher-quality construction.

Li watched an Earth Tamer casually wave a hand, seamlessly knitting a fractured cobblestone road back together in seconds. Homes were insulated and sturdy. Avenues no longer dissolved into impassable mud pits after a heavy rain. Stone bridges spanning the canals held their magical reinforcement for years, rather than crumbling after a few months of neglect.

Beyond the stone and wood, entirely new social safety nets had sprouted. There was solid academic funding and financial support for families facing unique hardships, lifelines that had simply never existed for the lower classes.

Ren's territory had become the gold standard. The neighboring districts were currently scrambling to catch up, watching the South with a potent mix of deep admiration and desperate urgency to replicate the miracle.

Li smiled, his breath fogging the carriage window. He let out a long, quiet sigh.

Looking at the thriving streets, he couldn't help but draw a parallel to his own beast.

Ren's territory was exactly like his plant.

In the beginning, it had been small, weak, and universally despised. The plant was the absolute cheapest, most common beast a person could bond. It was the garbage-tier option people only settled for when they literally couldn't afford a single crystal more. Nobody in their right mind ever bet they'd have a great future on a common plant.

But now, it was massive.

It was an elemental, towering powerhouse.

Just like this city. And it was all because of Ren.

As the carriage glided flawlessly over roads smoothed by high-tier earth beasts, heading steadily toward Yino, Li felt a sudden pang of longing. He wanted to summon his small baby plant right here in the cabin, just to run his fingers over its little branches and pass the time.

But that small beast didn't exist anymore…

The carriage was far too narrow, and a Gold-rank flora beast absolutely did not fit inside a wooden box.

So, Li leaned back against the cushioned seat. He watched the colorful, animated houses blur past, allowing the hours to slowly carry him toward the other half of the world.

The carriage pressed on, eventually crossing into the absolute center of the city.

The economic miracle hadn't restricted itself to the outer slums. The wealthy heart of Yano was experiencing a visible, explosive surge in movement.

Premium materials, exotic comforts, and rare merchandise flooded the central markets with a volume Li had never witnessed before. The architecture itself was mutating too. The towering buildings of the inner rings were suddenly taller, wider, and more complex, rising into the sky with sweeping designs that would have been physically impossible just some years ago.

It was the exact same phenomenon lifting the slums, just applied on a grander scale.

The massive influx of Gold-rank Earth and Wood Tamers had drastically driven down construction costs. With premium materials flooding the market and high-density mana available to reinforce the foundations, architects were treating the city like a canvas. They built structures that openly mocked gravity.

Li stared up at spiraling towers, sweeping domes, and smooth, curving facades woven from stone and ironwood that traditional engineering never could have supported.

And the streets below these impossible towers were packed shoulder-to-shoulder.

The crowds weren't just a byproduct of the booming economy. Li noticed a distinct shift in the demographics. A decent portion of the foot traffic was comprised of refugees. Entire generations of Yino citizens were actively migrating across the bridge, pouring into Yano in search of the absolute safety and sprawling opportunities this side of the continent now provided.

That relentless migration was the exact reason why even the most remote, forgotten corners of Yano were currently buzzing with activity. The entire city was filling up to the brim, corner by corner, absorbing thousands of lives seeking a better tomorrow.