The First Cultivator - Changing Existence-Chapter 744: Island Development -

Skymender observed the island with interest. Not far from the shore were a large amount of stone ruins. There were so many that he could confidently assume that a large city had once stood here.

The island was so large that it was difficult to see its ends. At the very least, it was far bigger than the Royal Capital they had departed from.

The boats docked and a few people began to depart. These were the heads of the Royal Capital. It included the King, the Royal family, and important officials.

On the boat, everyone waited for nearly a day before they returned and began to allow everyone to depart. Guards took stand and made sure that everything was orderly.

It was a difficult thing, to move an entire city to an island orderly.

Many things were brought off board, and many people began to work. Some set up camps for the next few days, while most began to build houses for the future.

Many materials had been brought, as it was quite difficult to get abundant building materials on an island.

Thousands upon thousands of tents were set up and filled to the brim with people. Skymender was put in a higher quality tent area, one filled with guards. As a soldier, he still had special rights. It helped that he was the only known survivor of the war.

The days passed quickly, and Skymender was quickly tasked with assisting the creation of houses. They were essentially building a city, and all hands were on deck.

Those who worked were given slightly better living conditions, while those who refused and did the bare minimum received only what was necessary to survive.

Since they were starting from scratch, the Kingdom could only run on a merit based system without any physical currency. After a month, Skymender received a house for all of his hard work. It was small, unadvanced, and made completely of stone, but it was much better than simply living in a tent.

A year soon passed since they had stepped onto the island. Large fields took up more than half of the island, houses were built and streets were paved, and a small palace was built on the small mountain in the center of the island.

After the last year, they had essentially successfully started anew. There were very few people living in tents, and almost everyone had similar jobs. It was all about building and farming. Naturally, there were also the guards. The only other jobs were government positions. However, the people in those jobs had been in those jobs since before they had come to the island.

On this island, where they were essentially in their own world, there was little greed and very little crime. It was expected for about a single crime to be committed a week, and for such a large population, that was incredible. A major part of this was the government's generosity. They made sure that everyone, regardless of status or working, received enough food to survive. They also ensured that those who worked hard received adequate rewards.

Even Skymender could not help but admire the current King and his government. Unfortunately, it was bound to be short lasting.

By now, the Faceless Empire had surely marched on the Light Ocean Kingdom and discovered the ash beyond the wall. They would have found Skymender's code and begun building ships. After perhaps another year, they would probably reach the island.

Until then, Skymender wanted to begin exploring the island. The ruins were never fully demolished, and had been explored a bit. In the current situation, most of the information found was public.

However, Skymender would not believe anything he had not verified himself.

After going through some hoops, he managed to find his way onto a small ruin exploration team. They were ones who had been tasked with trying to find anything about the people that had lived here previously.

He had been able to get on so easily because of his work ethic. His contributions were high, and in this society, they were viewed as an indicator of social status.

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With his contributions, he was welcomed onto the team with open arms.

Over the next few months, they carefully explored and examined the ruins. Skymender understood a little bit about ruin excavation, but he learned a lot more while on the team. During a particular adventure, Skymender was rubbing his hand across some stones as he walked, and felt that one was loose. He examined it, and after pushing it with all his strength, which was an extraordinary amount of force, the wall began to move. Some sort of mechanism revealed a dark hallway.

His team members were astonished, and instantly dropped everything, lighting torches and walking into the hallway. As they walked deeper, they saw drawings on the walls.

This was something rarely seen within the normal ruins, but here, it was everywhere.

The drawings depicted gods, sacrifices, mountains and seas, kings and servants, legendary swords, and countless other things. Some scenes were hard to decipher. If given time, they would most likely be able to, but everyone present was far more interested in seeing what was deeper than exploring these surface level drawings.

Eventually, the hall opened up. Stepping into the large room, their torches lit up a large portion.

Naturally, Skymender could see everything. In fact, he had always been able to see these parts of the ruins, though not in great detail. It had taken him a while to find the method to open the entrance, as the stone these ruins were made out of were, for some reason, hard to see through. It was even harder than seeing through sand.

However, now in this hall, he could see everything. What was drawn on the large wall ahead was astonishing, and he forgot to move while the others began to try and light up the entire area. Eventually, the room was fully lit, and everyone noticed that carved onto the wall ahead was a large map. This map was far larger than any of them had ever seen.